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The purple flower emoji introduced by Facebook on the occasion of the Mother’s Day has caused controversy in the Turkish media and among internet users, blaming Facebook for a conspiracy against Turkey through introducing a feature of explicit similarity to the symbol of the Armenian Genocide Centennial.

First appearing in 2016, the violet flower emoji came as a further range of reactions to Facebook Like button in between other regular reactions, allowing to respond to posts with a “thankful” sentiment. Facebook has added this feature on a temporary basis, so it may disappear once the occasion is over.

“Does this “thankful” flower symbolize the Armenian genocide?”, “What is the concealed message by Facebook through introducing this flower,” “The Armenian plot of Facebook against Turks,” and other similar headlines are common throughput Turkish media, claiming the popular media platform showed solidarity with Armenians and honor the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.

Among justifications to support those claims are arguments that the flower had been widely popularized in 2015 as the symbol of the Armenian Genocide and largely associated with the Genocide.   

To remind, the flower called ‘forget-me-not’ was chosen as a symbol of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide marked in 2015. The graphic image of the symbol was developed by Sharm Holding, who said the flower was considered a symbol of God’s presence in the Middle Ages. The forget-me-not has five petals, each of which symbolizes the five continents, where Armenians settled after the genocide.

Apart from that, in the basis of the etymology of the word forget-me-not lies the same meaning in different languages, i.e. “Remember!”, which was the main message of the Armenian Genocide Centennial.