Why Turkey’s World Cup zone at Grand Park is ‘shocking’ and ‘offensive’ to Armenian community

The massive, 3,050-square-meter pop-up with large, red signs and balloons was visible from the sky when NewChopper4 was overhead.

While the nation of Türkiye may be successfully showing off its sports diplomacy skills during the 2026 World Cup, the team’s visit to Los Angeles has triggered painful memories and provoked historical grievances from Southern California’s Armenian community.

This week, Türkiye rented Gloria Molina Grand Park to set up the “Türkish Vibe Zone,” which was meant to create interactive fan experience and promote its national soccer team, especially for the historic match with Team USA Thursday. (Team Türkiye stunned the world Thursday evening by defeating the United States.)

The massive, 3,050-square-meter pop-up with large, red signs and balloons was visible from the sky when NewChopper4 was overhead. While the installation under the slogan “Türkiye is here” may seem harmless, Armenians in Los Angeles expressed anger and frustration, with some calling it a blatant provocation.

LA Councilmember Adrin Nazarian, one of the Armenian officials in LA, said what Türkiye set up at Grand Park is shocking and politically motivated, accusing the country of “abusing” LA’s hospitality.

“Turkiye is Here? No. The City of Los Angeles is here, and we extend no welcome to Genocide deniers or advocates of lawless aggression,” Nazarian, who is of of Iranian-Armenian descent, said. “We welcome athletes and their supporters as our guests, but our guests should leave their dictator’s propaganda at home and get it out of our park.”

The gesture is especially more offensive since LA is known to be home to the largest Armenian diaspora with a Armenian Genocide memorial set up at the very downtown LA park, Nazarian’s office told NBC Los Angeles.

Armenians’ animosity toward Türkiye stems from the 1915 Armenian Genocide, during which the Ottoman Empire systematically killed an estimated 1.5 million Armenians.

The deep historical trauma continues to reverberate as Armenians believe Türkiye has not taken accountability for the genocide amid ongoing border disputes in the region, according to Dr. Benjamin Radd, political scientist and senior fellow at the Burkle Center for International Relations at the UCLA International Institute.

“(There is) a lack of any proper, formal recognition, acknowledgement and accountability of what Türkiye historically had done,” Radd explained. “And then, in the present day, the conflict Armenia has had with Azerbaijan — and Türkiye siding with the Azerbaiijanis as sort of ethnic kinfolk — has exacerbating tension.”

However, Radd believes Türkiye’s Grand Park display may have more to do with its own diplomatic ambitions, not the purpose of provoking the Armenian community in LA, largely because of the ongoing war in Iran.

“There’s a tension on Türkiye as possibly being the next phase of diplomacy between the United States and Iran, between Israel and its partners,” Radd said. “It’s at an interesting political and diplomatic crossroads where it can play these multiple roles.”

Türkiye, which should be aware of the existence of a large Armenian community in LA, may also be sending a signal to the Iranian diaspora and Jewish-Americans.

“If the Türkish government is trying to basically give a diplomatic show of force, it has arrived now as a diplomatic power, as an international player that is to be respected,” the political scientist said. “It wouldn’t be surprising that it’s using a very large and public venue like what we’re seeing here as the place to showcase its arrival on the global stage, not necessarily as a slight to the Armenian community.”

The nine-day pop-up at the downtown LA park was expected to wrap up on Friday.

NBCLA reached out to Music Center, which operates Gloria Molina Grand Park, to see whether county officials discussed the conflict between Türkiye and Armenian people in LA before renting out the space but did not receive a response.

NBCLA also attempted to speak with officials at the Türkish consulate in Los Angeles.