Dr. Dikran Kaligian To Discuss ARF And Ottoman Relations At Naasr
Asbarez
Jan 4th, 2010
Historian Dr. Dikran Kaligian will kick-off the 2010 NAASR lecture
series with a lecture entitled `The Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Under Ottoman Rule, 1908-14,’ on Thursday, January 21, 2010, at 8:00
p.m., at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
(NAASR) Center, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA.
Dr. Kaligian, in his 2008 book Armenian Organization and Ideology
Under Ottoman Rule, 1908-1914, has provided a comprehensive picture of
Armeno-Turkish relations for the brief period of Ottoman
Constitutional rule between 1908 and 1914. Drawing on internal
documents of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and existing
research on the last years of the empire, as well as the archives of
the British, American, and German diplomatic corps, he sets out to
resolve many of the conflicting conclusions in the current
historiography – including the most central issue, the ARF’s relations
with the Turkish Committee of Union and Progress.
Kaligian analyzes an ARF torn between maintaining relations with a CUP
that had failed to implement promised reforms and was doing little to
prevent increasing attacks on the Armenian population, or break off
relations thus ending any realistic chance for the constitutional
system to succeed. The decisive issue was the failure of land
restitution and reform.
Kaligian’s study, the first of its kind, seeks to set the record
straight in terms of understanding Armeno-Turkish relations during
this short but pivotal period. He shows that the party’s internal
deliberations support the conclusion that it did remain loyal until
the failure of reform and contradicts the view that the party’s only
aim was to incite a rebellion against Ottoman rule.
Armenian Organization and Ideology Under Ottoman Rule, 1908-1914 will
be on sale and available for signing by the author.
Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The NAASR
Center is located opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the
U.S. Post Office. Ample parking is available around the building and
in adjacent areas. The lecture will begin promptly at 8:00 p.m.
More information about the lecture is available by calling
617-489-1610, faxing 617-484-1759, e-mailing [email protected], or writing
to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
