DR. RICHARD HOVANNISIAN IN ARGENTINA
By Dr. Nelida Boulgourdjian-Tufekjian

AZG Armenian Daily
26/12/2007

Genocide Recognition

Professor Richard Hovannisian was in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from
November 20 to 25 to participate in an international conference on
genocide and to give a public lecture to the Armenian community. The
conference was organized by the Universidad Nacional de Tres de
Febrero (UNTREF) on the social aspects of genocide. Invited as a
distinguished speaker during the plenary session, Dr. Hovannisian
focused on the social and economic causes and consequences of the
Armenian Genocide. During his presentation, he noted the progress in
the study of the Armenian Genocide since his first publication on
the subject, The Armenian Genocide in Perspective, an outgrowth of
a conference held in Tel Aviv in 1982, which the Turkish government
tried to prevent in many ways, including political blackmail. The
authors in that volume were mostly Armenian, whereas in the subsequent
volumes edited and published by Richard Hovannisian, there has been
an increasing number of non-Armenian scholars, and the contents
have shifted from primarily description of the genocidal process
to analysis and interpretation. For example, his fifth volume on
the subject, The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies
(released in November 2007), includes chapters on art, music, cinema,
philosophy, literature, and even an essay on historiography by a
Turkish scholar. A positive development is that a growing number of
post-nationalist Turkish writers feel the need to confront their
history, delving into difficult subjects such as the treatment of
the native Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire.

During his presentation, Dr. Hovannisian noted that other participants
spoke of events that had occurred during their lifetime (Argentine
under the military dictatorship; the Balkan conflict and Bosnian
massacres; Guatemala; the Holocaust) and therefore spoke with deep
feeling, but he explained that the trauma and emotions connected
with genocide do not stop with the immediate victims; rather, they
are passed down through subsequent generations as in the case of the
Armenian Genocide. This trauma is compounded by denial or self-imposed
amnesia as manifested for decades by Western governments that had
failed to fulfill their pledges regarding the punishment of the
perpetrators and rehabilitation of the survivors.

Professor Hovannisian reflected on the endeavors to gain worldwide
recognition of the Armenian Genocide, recent developments in the United
States Congress, and continued efforts of the perpetrator side and
deniers to suppress both truth and memory. He also drew attention to
popular misconceptions about tolerance in the Ottoman Empire, as the
structure of the Ottoman ruling system was based on institutionalized
inequality and second-class citizenship. This was reflected both in
official and unofficial ways, including collective popular prejudice
and aspersions directed toward the Armenian Christian population.

Armenian attempts to achieve equality were perceived as a threat to
traditional society and therefore as treachery that had to be punished,
as demonstrated during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

The policies initiated by the Young Turks after 1908 can be seen as a
case of social engineering. Their perception was that the greatest
threat to the creation of a Turkish nation-state and eastward
expansion was the existence of a large Armenian population still
living in their historic homeland.

The Turkish rulers resolved to eliminate this major obstacle and
ultimately all non-Muslims such as the Yezidis, Assyrians, and Greeks
and at the same time to Turkify all non-Turkish Muslim elements such
as the Laz and Kurds. These policies continued during the Kemalist
era, as Alawis of the Dersim region and elsewhere were massacred and
suppressed. The Turkish government’s social engineering continues to
this day throughout the Kurdish-populated regions of the country.

Dr. Hovannisian also referred to the economic aspects of genocide that
entail the transfer of enormous personal and collective wealth from the
victim group to the perpetrator side. The Young Turks were determined
to create a Muslim bourgeoisie at the expense of Greek, Armenian, and
Jewish traders and merchants. Once again this policy was continued
into the Republican period in the discriminatory economic policies
imposed on the minority elements, especially during World War II.

Consequently, the Armenian Genocide may be considered a prototype
of the evolution of modern ultra-nationalistic regimes, particularly
those driven by an ideology that can rationalize or justify the use of
extreme violence in order to defend against a real or imagined enemy or
can facilitate the implementation of xenophobic agendas. The conference
participants and audience expressed their strong appreciation of
Hovannisian’s presentation.

Professor Richard Hovannisian’s second lecture was organized by the
Free Chair of Armenian Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters
of the University of Buenos Aires and the Armenian Center (Centro
Armenio) and held in the Tekeyan Cultural Center. Before an overflow
audience, Hovannisian spoke in Armenian about the current situation of
Turkey’s Armenian provinces, which he recently visited with his wife,
Dr. Vartiter Kotcholosian Hovannisian, who also attended the Buenos
Aires conference. He presented a realistic picture of the conditions
in these areas and their inhabitants and the pitiful state of neglect
and destruction of the marvelous monuments of Armenian architecture,
either because of neglect or by malicious acts at the hand of man.

During their visit to Argentina, Richard and Vartiter Hovannisian,
together with other conference participants, were honored at
a reception hosted in the Armenian Embassy by Ambassador and
Mrs. Vladimir Karmirshalyan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress