PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Chris Zakian, Coordinator of Public Relations
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 44; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
April 3, 2006
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“NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE TURKISH RESPONSE TO THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE” IS TOPIC
OF PANEL DISCUSSION IN NYC ON THURS., APRIL 20
Prof. Israel Charny, Dr. Dennis Papazian, & Mr. Aram Arkun are Featured
Speakers
* * *
Over the past several years, the Armenian Genocide has become a topic of
intense discussion among Turks both within the Republic of Turkey and
abroad. The European Union, United States, and other states have raised the
issue directly and indirectly with the Turkish state.
Unexpectedly, recent years have also seen an increase in Genocide discussion
among Turkish intellectuals. These remarkable recent developments will be
the subject of a panel discussion on the evening of Thursday, April 20,
titled “New Directions in the Turkish Response to the Armenian Genocide.”
Professor Israel Charny, of Jerusalem, a leading international scholar of
genocide, will head the roster of distinguished speakers. He will be joined
by Dr. Dennis Papazian and Mr. Aram Arkun.
The event is being jointly sponsored by the Krikor and Clara Zohrab
Information Center of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
(Eastern), and the Mid-Atlantic Knights and Daughters of Vartan.
DR. ISRAEL CHARNY, Ph.D., founder and director of the Institute on the
Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, is a leading international scholar in
the field of genocide who has published extensively on the subjects of
genocide as well as on marriage and family therapy. He is editor-in-chief
of the acclaimed Encyclopedia of Genocide, which has appeared in English in
the U.S. and U.K., with a partial edition in French, and which can also be
purchased for computer use in an electronic edition. He is a clinical
psychologist and a professor of Psychology and Family Therapy in the Program
for Advanced Studies in Integrative Psychotherapy, which he founded in 1993,
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His latest book, Fascism and
Democracy in the Human Mind (forthcoming from the University of Nebraska
Press) has been hailed as “one of the most important books of this decade,”
and as a momentous and innovative work of scholarship. He recently took
part in a conference in Istanbul on Turkish-Armenian relations.
(Please note that on the afternoon of Sunday, April 23, 2006, Dr. Charny
will be the main speaker at the annual Genocide commemoration organized by
the Knights of Vartan, in Times Square, New York City.)
DR. DENNIS R. PAPAZIAN is a professor of history and director of the
Armenian Research Center (ARC) at the University of Michigan, Dearborn. He
is a former president of the Society for Armenian Studies, former editor of
the Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, an international lecturer,
and a frequent radio, TV, and newspaper commentator. A former university
administrator, he has been the recipient of various grants, awards, and
honors, and recently received a medal from Armenia’s Genocide Institute.
Dr. Papazian has worked with objective Turkish scholars who oppose the
denialist narrative of the Turkish state to encourage research and
publication for the education of the Turkish public. It was Dr. Papazian
who brought Taner Akçam to America as a researcher at the ARC.
Aram Arkun is coordinator of the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center
of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of American (Eastern). A specialist
in modern Armenian history, he has delivered research papers on topics
pertaining to the Armenian Genocide; participated in conferences on
Armeno-Turkish relations; and conducted research in the Ottoman state
archives in Istanbul. He has published a number of articles and annotated
translations on Ottoman and Iranian Armenian topics, as well as on
contemporary Armenian events, in scholarly journals, encyclopedias, and
books. He is editor of the periodical Ararat, chairman of the Armenian
Student Association “Arthur H. Dadian Armenian Heritage Award” committee,
and a member of the board of directors of the Columbia University Armenian
Center.
The panel discussion on “New Directions in the Turkish Response to the
Armenian Genocide” will take place on Thursday, April 20, beginning at 7:15
p.m., in Guild Hall of the Diocesan Center, Second Avenue (corner of 35th
St.), New York City. Admission is free and open to the public. For
information, please contact: Dr. Arthur Kubikian at (718) 786-3842; or Aram
Arkun, at (212) 686-0710, ext. 26, e-mail [email protected].
–4/3/06