ROBERT FISK DISCUSSES GENOCIDE IN MICHIGAN
ArmRadio.am
08.01.2007 14:58
Communities from around the Detroit-metro area attended a lecture
by world-renowned journalist Robert Fisk at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn, reported the Armenian National Committee of
Michigan.
The event, co-hosted by the Armenian National Committee of Michigan,
The Armenian Research Center (ARC), and the Center for Arab American
Studies (CAAS), out of the University of Michigan-Dearborn allowed
for collaboration amongst the different organizations. Introducing
Mr. Fisk was the Chancellor of the University, Dr. Daniel Little,
who offered a warm welcome, followed by opening remarks from Ara
Sanjian of the Armenian Research Center, as well as Rabab Ibraham
Abdulhadi from the Center for Arab American Studies.
Fisk made headlines in The Arab American newspaper, headquartered in
Dearborn as he was interviewed prior to his lecture and touched upon
sensitive issues regarding the Middle East and Lebanon. His lecture,
entitled "The Middle East: The Roots and Realities of Enduring
Conflict(s)," discussed the war in Iraq, the conflicts in Lebanon,
and the Armenian Genocide. Fisk had an opportunity to show and
discuss his own personal footage from his experiences in the Middle
East. Following the lecture, members in the audience engaged him in
a substantial question and answer period.
Devoting a portion of his lecture to the Armenian Genocide, Fisk read
accounts from eyewitness survivors of what he calls the First Holocaust
of the Twentieth Century. Fisk expressed an inability to understand
the reasoning behind the Turkish Government unwillingness to accept
what the Ottoman Turkish Government had done and to acknowledge that
they committed genocide towards the Armenians in the empire.
Discussing his own experiences, as chronicled in his new book The
Great War For Civilisation, Fisk spoke of his time spent in the Syrian
Desert where he found hundreds of skulls, bones, and remnants of
the victims of the 1915 genocide. He also touched about Article 301,
Orhan Pamuk, and Taner Akcam’s new book, A Shameful Act, explaining
that immediately following WWI in Turkey, no one denied that Turkish
officials massacred Armenians.
The Armenian National Committee of Michigan worked to help promote
the lecture within the community and also helped to sell books during
the event.
Following the event, ANC chair Narses Gedigian commented: "This
was a great opportunity to hear not only Robert Fisk speak, but
to collaborate with the University as well as other organizations
there. We look forward to organizing more events with these groups
in the future."
As one of the world’s best known journalists through his distinguished
work as Middle East correspondent for the UK based The Independent,
Robert Fisk has informed the world about the Armenian Genocide more
widely and thoroughly than any other journalist. In his latest book,
The Great War for Civilization, Fisk dedicates an entire chapter to
the Armenian Genocide, which he titles " The First Holocaust." He
provides the historical details of the genocide, reveals interviews
with survivors in Lebanon and decries the Turkish and U.S. governments’
complicity in denying the genocide today.