HUNDREDS PACK FLAG MEETING CITY STANDARD TO DIP AS ARMENIAN MEMORIAL.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

GLENDALE - During a special meeting that drew nearly 500 people, the City Council late Tuesday reaffirmed an earlier decision to lower the city flag at City Hall today, instead of the American flag, to recognize the Armenian Genocide, which is traditionally commemorated every April 24.

Armenian-Americans of all ages, some speaking through interpreters, packed the City Council chambers, City Hall lobby and Parcher Plaza outside, to stress to city officials the importance of recognizing the genocide. A dozen police officers were on hand to control the crowd.

Many urged the council to lower the American flag, as it has done in the past three years, to honor 1.5 million of their ancestors who died between 1915 and 1923 in the Turkish-ruled Ottoman Empire.

``It's very important to remember the people (who died in the genocide) and respect them,'' said Hasmig Aslanian. ``It was violence against humanity.''

``Every single person here has someone in the family pass away, killed in the genocide,'' she said.

The Turkish government has denied a genocide took place - a stance that has fueled Armenian-Americans' efforts for recognition of their plight for decades.

The City Council earlier this year had adopted a new policy that calls for using the city flag, instead of the American flag, to mark the genocide and other events that are significant to the local community.

The policy was adopted because lowering the American flag to commemorate the genocide last year deeply divided the community and sparked an aborted recall against then-Mayor Gus Gomez. Many felt that Old Glory should be reserved for major U.S. events and figures.

Some in the audience agreed with the policy, including Levon Marashlian, an Armenian-American and a professor of history at Glendale Community College.

``(Lowering the American flag) divides the Glendale community. It divides the Armenian community,'' Marashlian said. ``It does nothing to push the recognition of the genocide forward.''

Newly appointed Mayor Rafi Manoukian said he called the special meeting not so much to ask his colleagues to reconsider the flag policy, but rather to give the Armenian-American community a chance to speak its mind.

``The goal is to provide a forum to a large segment of the community who want to address this issue,'' he said, noting misinformation has been rampant.

The issue of whether the city should lower the American flag has been a hot topic of discussion in local Armenian television stations for the past month.

Gomez, who was ill, was absent from the meeting, which got off to a rocky start when Councilmen Bob Yousefian and Frank Quintero arrived two hours late. They were in Beverly Hills to receive a genocide recognition proclamation from the governor.