INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF FRENCH PRESIDENT FRANCOIS HOLLANDE – SYLLABUS
March 10, 2015
The international conference organized by the International Scientific
Council for the study of the Armenian Genocide (CSI) “Genocide
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the Great War. 1915-2015:
one hundred years of research “will be held in Paris from 25 to 28
March 2015 under the patronage of the President of the Republic,
Francois Hollande.
Syllabus
Wednesday, March 25
Grand Amphitheatre of the Sorbonne, 76 rue des Ecoles, 75005 Paris
4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Official speeches and messages of support
Inaugural lecture by Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur, President of the School
of Higher Studies in Social Sciences and Yves Ternon, historian, member
of the Scientific Council of the Holocaust Memorial, president of CSI
Thursday, March 26
Memorial of the Shoah, 17 rue Geoffroy The Asnier, 75004 Paris
10h-12h30 – First Panel: Space-time, the steps of the genocidal process
Chair: Catherine Nicault, historian, University of Reims. Discussant:
Stephan Astourian, historian, UC Berkeley
The legacy of Abdulhamid II by Janet Klein, Historian, University
of Akron.
The Ottoman opposition, the Committee of Union and Progress and the
1908 revolution Erdal Kaynar, historian, Polonsky Academy of the Van
Leer Institute, EHESS.
The “European Concert” and reforms in the eastern provinces, 1878-1914
by Claire Mouradian, historian, CNRS.
The Organization for Special Sait Cetinoglu, historian, Free University
of Ankara.
The entrance of the Ottoman Empire in the war, 1914-1915 by Mustafa
Aksakal, historian, Georgetown University.
12h30-13h30: lunch
13h30-15h – Second Panel: Perpetrators, Victims, Rescuers
Chair: Richard Hovannisian, historian, UCLA. Discussant: Vincent
Duclert, historian, EHESS.
The first phase of the Destruction: Deportations and Massacres
(April-August 1015) by Raymond Kevorkian, historian, University of
Paris VIII.
The second phase of genocide KM-historian, Rutgers University.
Forced conversions by Umit Kurt, historian, Sabancı University.
15h-15h15: Pause
15h15-16h20 – Third Panel -: Witnesses
Chair: Wolfgang Gust, journalist. Discussant: Ara Sarafian, historian,
Gomidas Institute.
European and American witnesses by Hans-Lukas Kieser, historian,
University of Zurich.
Armenian witnesses Amatuni Virabyan, historian, State Archives
of Armenia.
16h20-16h30: pause
16h30-19h – Fourth Panel: The other Empire minorities
Chair: Gérard Chaliand, geostrategist. Discussant: Laurent-Olivier
Mallet, historian, University of Montpellier.
The Jews of the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth century by
Georges Bensoussan, historian, the Holocaust Memorial.
The complexity of the genocide of the Assyrian-Chaldeans by David
Gaunt, a historian, Centre for Baltic and East European University
of Soedertoern.
The Ottoman Greeks by Sia Anagnostopoulou, historian, University
of Athens.
Kurdish-Yezidi-Armenians, many facets of a community in exile (s)
by Estelle Amy of Bretèque, anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, CNRS.
Friday, March 27
EHESS, 105 Boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris
10h-12h30 – Fifth Panel: Logic of war, economic, ideological
Chair: JoÔl Kotek, a political scientist, historian, University of
Brussels. Discussant: Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, historian, EHESS.
Ideological, demographic and economic logic of genocide by Hamit
Bozarslan, political scientist, historian, EHESS.
The logic of pre-genocidal massacres by Vincent Duclert, historian,
EHESS.
The world in turmoil: waves of refugees and massacres in the occupied
northern Persia (1914-1918) by PeterHolquist, historian, University
of Pennsylvania.
The mechanisms of decision making of the Young Turk leadership
(1913-1915) by Erik-Jan Zurcher, historian, University of Leiden.
The confiscation of Armenian property during the genocide by Mehmet
Polatel, historian, Koc University.
12h30-13h30: lunch
13h30-16h – Sixth Panel: International Relations and Criminal Law
Chair: Peter Mertens, lawyer, Sociology of Literature Centre, Free
University of Brussels. Discussant: Vincent Nioré, lawyer and
president of the Institute for Criminal Law
The trials of Constantinople (1919-1920) by MikaÔl Nichanian,
historian, National Library of France.
The breakdown of consensus. The Perincek case, the Armenian genocide
and international criminal law by Sevane Garibian, lawyer, Universities
of Geneva and Neuchâtel.
The status of Armenian stateless refugees and international action
of the League of Nations and the International Labour Office by
Dzovinar Kevonian, historian, Institute for Political Social Sciences,
University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense Raphael Lemkin, the
extermination of the Armenians and the invention of the word genocide
by Annette Becker, historian, University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La
Défense Lemkin and the Armenian genocide, a legal play by Olivier
Beauvallet, international judge.
16h-16h15: Pause
16h15-18h20 – Seventh Panel: historiography, a new research field
Chair: Michel Marian, philosopher, Institute of Political Studies in
Paris. Discussant: Edhem Eldem, historian, Bogazici University.
The historiography of the Armenian genocide, a new field of research
by Gaïdz Minassian, journalist and political scientist, Institute
of Political Studies in Paris.
Reflections on Ottoman historiography (years 1960-1990) about the
role of non-Muslims and Ottoman Armenians in commerce and the urban
economy by Stephan Astourian, historian, University of Berkeley.
Ottoman governors opposed to deportations and massacres of Armenians
by Ayhan Aktar, historian, Bilgi University.
The speech of Turkey on the genocide of Armenians by Jennifer Dixon,
political scientist, Villanova University.
18h20-18h30: Pause
18h30-20h30 – Eighth Panel: Perspectives on clearing trails or the
Armenian ghost
Chair: Patrick Donabedian, art historian, University of Aix-Marseille.
Discussant: Antoine Spire, journalist, vice president of Lycra.
The permanence of traces of the 1915 genocide in the Armenian memory;
role of politics in their registration or erasure by Janine Altounian,
essayist, translator, Freud specialist.
Confiscation and destruction of property by Armenian Dickran Kouymjian,
historian, California State University.
After photograph by Pascaline Marre, photographer and Anouche Kunth,
historian, CNRS.
Aram Andonian, the Nubar library and the creation of a heritage in
exile after the destruction of Ottoman Armenians by Boris Adjemian,
historian, Library Nubar AGBU.
Saturday, March 28
National Library of France, Quai Francois Mauriac, 75013 Paris
10h-12h30 – Ninth Panel: Memory, transmission, history, negation
Chair: Henry Rousso, historian, CNRS. Discussant: Claude Mutafian
historian.
The sacrifice, witness and forgiveness: The Candidate Zareh Vorpouni
by Marc Nichanian, professor of philosophy, Sabancı University.
Gender, genocide survival. Islamized Armenians new working memory
AyÅ~_e Gul Altinay, anthropologist, Sabancı University.
The teaching of genocide: European examples Alban Perrin, historian,
the Holocaust Memorial, Institute of Political Studies in Bordeaux.
The Founding Myths of Turkish denial by BuÃ…~_ra Ersanli, political
scientist, University of Marmara.
The memory of the genocide in Turkey Armenians by Hira Kaynar,
historian, EHESS.
12h30-13h30: lunch
13h30-15h: Tenth Panel: Features & comparatismes, I
Chairman: Jean-Pierre Chrétien, historian, CNRS. Discussant: Meir
Waintrater journalist.
Genocidal thinking: a comparative perspective by Dominik Schaller,
historian, University of Heidelberg.
The genocide of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks by the Ottomans by
Roger Smith, historian, College of William and Mary.
The Armenian Genocide in the light of a general theory of genocide
by Bernard Bruneteau, Professor of Political Science, University of
Rennes I.
15.00-15.15: Pause
15h15-17h – Eleventh Panel: Features & comparatismes, II
Chair: Claire Mouradian, historian, CNRS. Discussant: Yves Ternon,
historian, member of the Scientific Council of the Shoah Memorial.
Singularity of the Holocaust by Christian Ingrao, historian, CNRS.
Singularity of the famine in Ukraine by Nicolas Werth, historian, CNRS.
Singularity of the genocide of Tutsis by Helene Dumas, historian,
EHESS.
17h00-17h15: pause
5:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.: Closing Conference
Chair: Gaïdz Minassian, journalist and political scientist, Institute
of Political Studies in Paris.
Symposium balance by Raymond Kevorkian, historian, University of
Paris VIII.
1915 and the social sciences by Taner Akcam, historian, University
of Clarke.
Turkism and pan-Turkism by Erik-Jan Zurcher, historian, University
of Leiden.
The contemporary revisionism and its defenders Richard Hovannisian,
historian, UCLA.
The outlook from the perspective of international justice by Nicholas
Koumjian, prosecutor at the international courts.
The publication of research on the Armenian genocide in Turkey by
Ragıp Zarakolu, editor.
Practical information
Registration by email within the limit of available seats.
Founding members of the CSI
Annette Becker, Professor of Contemporary History at the University of
Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense), member of the Institut Universitaire
de France.
Hamit Bozarslan, historian, political scientist, director of studies
at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS).
Vincent Duclert, historian, lecturer and researcher at the Center
for Sociological and Political Studies Raymond Aron (EHESS).
Raymond Kevorkian, historian, emeritus director of research at the
French Institute of Geopolitics, University of Paris VIII.
Gaïdz Minassian, journalist, doctor of political science lecturer
at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris.
Claire Mouradian, historian, research director at the CNRS.
MikaÔl Nichanian, historian, curator at the National Library of
France, associate researcher at the College de France.
Yves Ternon, historian, member of the Scientific Council of the Shoah
Memorial, President of CSI.