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Prof. Gerard Libaridian
Department of History
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
FIFTH MEETING OF THE WORKSHOP FOR ARMENIAN/TURKISH SCHOLARSHIP TO
CONVENE AT NYU
Public Session Scheduled for Sunday, May 14
The next meeting of the Workshop for Armenian/Turkish Scholarship
(WATS) will convene at New York University, May 14-16. This will be the
fifth meeting of this important undertaking. The three day gathering
will start with a session open to the public, from 7:00-9:00 PM in
the Hemmerdinger Hall, Silver Center, 100 Washington Square East,
1st Floor.
Organized by Professors Fatma Muge Gocek (Sociology, University of
Michigan), Gerard Libaridian (History, Michigan), and Ronald Grigor
Suny (History, Michigan), previous meetings of WATS were held at
the University of Chicago (2000), University of Michigan (2002),
the University of Minnesota (2004) and in Salzburg, Austria last
year. The fifth meeting is being hosted by New York University and
the organizers are joined by Prof.
Paul Boghossian ( Philosophy, NYU). The theme of the workshop
this year is “The Boundaries of Genocide: Intentions, Histories,
Peoples.” “Dialogue is an ideal that often ends up with one side
talking and the other appearing to listen,” commented Prof. Ronald
Suny. “In discussions about the Armenian Genocide of 1915, neither
side – Armenian or Turkish – seemed to understand, or even hear,
what the other was saying.
How could the deportation and massacre of hundreds of thousands of
people be metastasized into a civil war that never occurred? How could
one blame the victims for their own deaths? This workshop has been one
of the most exciting and productive scholarly initiatives in the last
five years that has brought Turkish, Armenian, and other historians
and social scientists together to present research and talk about the
fate of the Armenians and other minorities in the last years of the
Ottoman Empire.” The evening session on May 14 will serve to acquaint
the general public with the work of this initiative. In addition to
introductory comments by Prof. Boghossian and officials of the host
institution, Professors Gocek, Suny and Libaridian will present reports
on various aspects of WATS and answer questions. The public is invited.