ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO BE EXAMINED BY SURVIVOR, RESEARCHER
By Susan Abram, Staff Writer

Los Angeles Daily News

May 6 2010

One man survived the kidnappings, the pogroms, the massacres.

Another was imprisoned for saying the horrors happened at all.

The two men come from a country – Turkey – where only one side of
the Armenian Genocide story can be told.

Tonight, the men – a genocide survivor and a Turkish researcher –
will come together to talk about the other side.

"This is one of those occasions when I can talk about the Armenian
Genocide and its denial by Turkish government," said Taner Ak am,
a noted scholar and author who was imprisoned in Turkey in the 1970s
for his research on the events that began in 1915.

The presentation will "allow those of us who are working in this
field to get out of our box and share what we know," said Ak am,
56, who teaches Armenian Genocide studies at Clark University in
Massachusetts. He also wrote the book, "A Shameful Act: The Armenian
Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility."

An estimated 1.5 million people died from 1915-23 in what many believe
was the first genocide of the 20th century.

The Turkish government maintains the deaths were a consequence of
betrayal and civil unrest in what was then the Ottoman Empire.

Armenians, however, say the killings involved the systematic cleansing
of Christians and included Pontic Greeks and Assyrians.

Ak am will be joined by Armenian filmmaker J. Michael Hagopian,
a 96-year-old survivor of the genocide, in a presentation organized
by Jewish World Watch at Temple Beth Shalom in Encino.

"These are two communities, the Jewish and Armenian community, that
have found each other," said Rabbi Harold Schulweis of Temple Beth
Shalom. "They are two communities that have a kinship of suffering."

Schulweis founded Jewish World Watch in 2004, after word spread of mass
killings in Darfur. The nonprofit organization works with synagogues,
temples, churches and other community organizations that donate money
and time to monitor and raise awareness about human-rights issues
around the world.

Schulweis said men like Ak am bring a "little comfort and a bit of
salve to the wounds," of Armenians who are denied their story.

"You need to have heroes who come from the other side. I know this
is true in my world," said Schulweis, referring to Christians who
aided Jews during the Holocaust.

"When you have a voice like Taner’s, a voice such as those Christian
rescuers who are speaking out, it gives hope," he said. "That goes
for Arabs, Palestinians and Israelis, as well."

Hagopian was a baby when his mother hid him from Turkish soldiers
who raided the village of Kharberd in what was then Western Armenia
and is now part of Turkey.

He survived and became a filmmaker, creating the award-winning
documentary, "The River Ran Red," which re-creates the horror of the
genocide through the recollections of survivors and eyewitnesses.

Hagopian praised Ak am for speaking openly about the events that took
place in his homeland.

"He recognizes this genocide took place," Hagopian sid, "and for
saying that, he’s been condemned in his country.

"The evidence against Turkey is enormous," Hagopian said. "The Germans
have admitted what had happened (during the Holocaust). The Turks
have to admit it so that there is remorse, and after that atonement
and then forgiveness.

"They can’t kill babies and take wives and not face retribution."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress