Workshop Considers State of the Art of Armenian Genocide Research

The Clark University Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies will host a ground-breaking workshop on the Armenian Genocide, on Friday and Saturday, April 9 and 10.

The State of the Art of Armenian Genocide Research: Historiography, Sources and Future Directions will gather leading scholars of genocide to consider the current state of research on what has been known as “the forgotten genocide.” The first of its kind, this workshop occurs at a crucial time in the development of political relations between Turkey and Armenia, and workshop findings could be significant to current political developments.

The public is invited to attend an open discussion by key participants, titled “The Armenian Genocide: 95 Years Later – Academic and Personal Reflections,” from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, April 9 in Tilton Hall, Higgins University Center.  Strassler Center Director Debórah Dwork, Rose Professor of Holocaust History, Department of History, will moderate. 

Renowned Turkish historian, expert and scholar activist Professor Taner Akçam, Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marion Mugar Chair in Modern Armenian History and Genocide Studies at Clark University, is coordinator and academic host of the workshop. The Arsham and Charlotte Ohanessian Chair at the University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts (Professor Eric Weitz) and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) are co-sponsors.

Workshop session participants will provide an overview of the state of research and the material available in various archives, as well as create serious discussion around the fundamental questions in the field of Armenian Genocide research.

World events demonstrate that a contested past has the power to influence present-day politics. Cooperation among distinguished scholars at the Clark workshop will aim to make history a tool for reconciliation rather than an impediment to that end. The Strassler Center workshop, planned to coincide with the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, aims to make clear that denial is no longer an option.

To contact the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, telephone 508-793-8897; email chgs@clarku.edu; or visit online at www.clarku.edu/departments/holocaust/.

The Armenian Genocide and Clark experts in the news:

Kaloosdian-Mugar Chair in Armenian Genocide Taner Akçam wrote an open letter to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan that was published in the Istanbul newspaper Taraf on March 13. Akçam’s many subsequent interviews included a live interview, via satellite, on Haberturk TV.  Today’s Zaman news columnist Orhan Kemal Cengiz writes:  “… One of the most popular television channels in Turkey held an open discussion on the events of 1915 in Turkey. There were two historians in the studio, and one was joining in from the U.S. via satellite. The two in the studio were just repeating the ‘official Turkish history’ thesis, but the academici from the U.S. was fighting quite passionately against the official narrative of 1915. He is Turkish historian Taner Akçam. Akçam has been fighting against official Turkish history for quite some time. To ultranationalist Turks, he is a ‘traitor.’ For me, he represents the conscience of Turkey. …” [Today’s Zaman is one of two English-language dailies based in Turkey. It is affiliated with The Times of London.]

Mouradian sends dispatches from Turkey

Khatchig Mouradian is a journalist, writer and translator currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark. His articles, interviews and poems have appeared in many publications worldwide. Most recently, Mouradian has published a series of dispatches from Turkey, as he travels with a delegation of nine commentators and journalists from the U.S.  The group met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, on March 19.