NAASR CELEBRATES WITH SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Aug. 31, 2006

The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
will present an evening of discussion, with pictures and video,
entitled "Searching for Armenia: An Inner and Outer Journey," at
8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, in the First Armenian Church Auditorium,
380 Concord Ave., Belmont.

The participants in the discussion will be among those who took
part in NAASR’s June 2-18 Armenian Heritage Tour, the first such
trip NAASR has sponsored in over a quarter of a century. (NAASR’s
initial Armenian Heritage Tour in 1967 was the first of its kind in
the United States.) The participants will share their impressions
and recollections, and photos and video from the trip will also be
shared and discussed.

Taking in the Armenian Republic and Karabagh, portions of Georgia,
and much of today’s Eastern Turkey, the 2006 tour was led by Professor
George Bournoutian, a historian at Iona College in New York. Over 20
people accompanied Bournoutian on the tour, many of them visiting
places they had never been before or from which their parents or
grandparents had come nearly a century ago.

Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). Following the
discussion there will be a reception at the NAASR Center, across from
the church. The bookstore will be open, with a special discount for
the evening of 20 percent off all items.

NAASR will be celebrating its 50th anniversary on Sept. 30. A symposium
on "Armenian-Turkish Dialogue and the Direction of Armenian Studies"
will be held at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, from 9 a.m. until
1 p.m., featuring five leading scholars from various areas of Armenian
Studies. The symposium is open to the public at no charge.

The NAASR Gala Banquet and Celebration of 50 Years will take place
that evening at the Royal Sonesta, with a reception, dinner and a
program that will include a keynote address, a retrospective video,
music and dancing, and surprise announcements. The banquet is open
to NAASR members and non-members alike. Interested parties should
contact NAASR as soon as possible for information on reservations.