PRESS RELEASE
Clark University
Angela M. Bazydlo
Associate Director of Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
ph: 508-793-7635
cell: 508-365-8736
March 5, 2009
Clark University’s Taner Akçam to deliver lecture March 19 on the
Armenian Genocide, questions of national security
WORCESTER, Mass.-Clark University’s newly appointed Kaloosdian/Mugar
Professor of Armenian Genocide Studies and Modern Armenian History,
Taner Akçam, will deliver "Facing History: A Threat to National
Security? The Relationship Between Turkish and American National
Security Concepts and the Armenian Genocide" at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday,
March 19, in Tilton Hall, 2nd floor
of the Higgins University Center, 950 Main Street, Worcester.
Historian Taner Akçam (pronounced ACH-jahm) is widely recognized as
one of the first Turkish scholars to write extensively and
authoritatively on the Turkish genocide of the Armenians in the early
20th century, and notes that, when confronted with Turkish history,
especially the Armenian Genocide, many people in Turkey grow prickly.
Why are demands from inside and outside the country that Turkey come
to terms with its past so vehemently rejected? Why is facing history
seen as a threat to national security? Professor Akçam will explore
these questions at the lecture and contextualize the Armenian Genocide
issue within current debates over human rights and national security,
arguing for a solution that integrates pragmatism with values.
Professor Akçam grew up in Turkey, where he was imprisoned for
his participation in and fervent support for free press
publications. Following a dramatic escape, he later received political
asylum in Germany, where he earned a Ph.D. from the University of
Hannover and worked with the Hamburg Institute for Social Research. In
2007, the Armenian Bar Association presented the Hrant Dink Freedom
Award to Professor Akçam as "a champion of historical truth about the
Armenian Genocide and for his courageous defense of liberty and free
speech." Akçam’s life and work have been featured in four critically
acclaimed documentary films, and he is the author of 10 scholarly
works, as well as numerous articles. His most recent book, "A Shameful
Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish
Responsibility," (Metropolitan Books), was released in 2006.
The event is free and open to the public. It will be followed
by a reception. For more information, call 508-793-8897. Clark
University is a private, co-educational liberal-arts research
university with 2,200 undergraduate and 800 graduate students. Since
its founding in 1887 as the first all-graduate school in the United
States, Clark has challenged convention with innovative programs such
as the International Studies Stream, the Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Program, and the accelerated BA/MA programs with the fifth year
tuition-free for eligible students. The University is featured in
Loren Pope’s book, "Colleges That Change Lives."
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