ARMENIA – THE UNANSWERED QUESTION
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Dec 4 2007
On Tuesday 6th November, Aegis Trust and Nottingham Student Aegis
Society, in association with Nottingham Playhouse, a pre-show talk
for Beast on the Moon to look at the history behind this compelling
play took place.
Richard Kalinoski, author of the play was kind enough to join in
the discussion, and explained how writing a story like Beast on the
Moon was a way for him to learn more about the subject that he didn’t
really know about. After marrying an Armenian-American in the 1970’s,
Richard was keen to learn more about the subject, and by writing the
play hoped to try and understand the effect that such horrific events
can have on people who have experienced them, and how they strive to
come to terms with them.
Giles Croft, director of the play and artistic director for Nottingham
Playhouse said that when he first saw the play years ago, the emotion,
power and resonance of the play really struck accord and stayed
with him. When planning the current season for the Playhouse, that
resonance kept ringing through his head and compelled him to put the
play on here in Nottingham.
I was very grateful to have Dr. James Smith, Chief Executive of Aegis
Trust, the anti-genocide organisation based at the Holocaust Centre in
Newark, join in the discussion. Despite other commitments to another
talk organised by Nottingham University Jewish Society that night,
James was able to create enough time to attend this discussion and
give his invaluable analysis of the word ‘genocide’ and how it is
applied to atrocities around the world and throughout history. As he
explained, Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish lawyer who coined the
word in 1943, had looked back over mankind’s history and seen how
although individuals are imprisoned for acts of murder, Governments
that are responsible for the deaths of thousands to millions of
people, somehow manage to get away with it, unpunished. He went on
to explain how it’s very easy for governments and countries to try
and justify huge numbers of innocent people dying through civil-war,
religious differences or defectors, but mass murder is still genocide
no matter what reason you use.
James also highlighted the important point that atrocities like
these and the repercussions they cause can have on an affect on the
descendants of these people, whether on the side of the victims or
the perpetrators, and resolving these issues is required to move past
them. A question from the audience which I’m really glad was asked,
was what we as individuals can do to help try and stop atrocities
like those, such as in Darfur today, from happening. James explained
how one of the biggest reasons is that people just don’t know or care
about them. The more that awareness is spread and action taken, the
more likely governments and institutions are to act upon them. He also
highlighted the way that people can get involved with organisations
like Aegis Trust through their website.
At this point Giles noted how interesting it has been during rehearsals
and performance to see the cooperation between Karine (Seta) an
Armenian, and Youssef (Aram) a Muslim, and how they have been able
to work around each other to ensure a positive working atmosphere.
I tried my best to organise a representative of the Turkish community
to participate and explain Turkey’s position on the Armenian question,
but unfortunately no one responded to my requests. As a result,
I did my best to relay this information, explaining that Turkey,
though admitting that people did loose their lives during the civil
war, they do not accept the events that took place as genocide.
>From websites such as the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism,
I explained how they wished to highlight events prior to World War
I, particularly the war between Turkey and Russia, and how Russia
had sought to undermine the Ottoman Empire’s strength from within,
stirring up unrest between the Christians of Armenia and the Muslims
of Turkey. This resulted in the formation of revolutionary groups such
as the Hunchak and Tashnak Committee’s, who encouraged backlashes
against the native Turks within the Empire, hoping that they would
retaliate with violence and lead to intervention from the European
and Russian powers, to gain independence in a ‘Greater Armenia.’
I closed by adding that Turkey has opened its archive of records and
documents completely, and that an attempt to form a joint investigation
into genocide claims between Turkey and Armenia had been turned down.
Haniel Riviere-Allen then proceeded to talk about her grandfather,
Hagop Arevian, an Armenian whose father had been imprisoned by the
Ottoman Empire and had his forearms cut off by his captors as an
act of humiliation, because they likened the Armenians to pigs and
forced him to eat as such. She talked about how Hagop had fought for
the French at the Somme, and after being injured by a bullet to the
head, he survived and went on to fight with the French Foreign Legion,
determined to continue fighting against the Turks. When the opportunity
rose, he jumped at the chance of being part of a 5000 strong troop
of Armenians, in particular fighting in the battle against General
Moustapha Kemal in Syria, September 1918.
The final speaker, Hugh Goddard, Professor of Theology and Religious
Studies at the University of Nottingham, gave some fantastic
information on Muslim-Christian relations in history. He talked about
a book he had written on the subject, and how he was corrected by a
reader who pointed out that there was nothing referring to Turkey
and Armenia’s relationship. Having assumed that this conflict was
based on an ethnicity issue, he was glad to have been corrected,
and duly went about correcting this oversight. He also looked at how
such fractures could be reconciled in the future, and how difficult
such a resolution would be. Religious disputes will always be a highly
contentious issue, with neither side wishing to lose pride for their
country or religion that they have defended so vigorously.
Unfortunately, there is no single answer to this difficult question,
but countries and individuals need to find some way of overcoming
them in order to restore peace between one another.
Bringing the talk to a close, Haniel told the audience about an
upcoming event on Wednesday 16th January, 2008 where the documentary
‘We have drunk the same water’ by Serge Avedikian will be shown,
and a debate will follow with Dr. Claire Mouradian, a specialist in
Armenian history.
Dr. Smith also re-emphasised the importance of individual actions,
not just writing to your local MP, but working together with like
minded people, and organisations like Aegis Trust.
Unfortunately time was always against us for this talk with the stage
needing to be setup for the performance, but I did manage to end with
what I see as a very important message to the audience; governments
and organisations thrive on their ability to mislead the people that
they rely on, for their own personal gains of money, territory and
power – don’t be sucked in by whatever means they use to blind you,
do some work for yourself and find out the truth on your own.
I would like to extend my special thanks to all of the speakers who
shared their time, knowledge and experience with us. It was a great
discussion that I am extremely proud to have been a part of. Each of
the panellists topics of discussion linked together better than I could
have planned, resulting in an informative and engaging discussion.
For more information on Aegis Trust, please visit
For more information on Hagop Arevian, please visit
For more information on Nottingham Trent Aegis Student Union, please
visit
For more information on Nottingham Playhouse, please visit
Thanks for reading,
Charlie Cox Audience Development Nottingham Playhouse