Author: Tambiyan Samvel

KARABAKH LEADER DEMANDS ‘FINAL SAY’ IN PEACE TALKS
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
May 9 2007

Nagorno-Karabakh’s outgoing President Arkady Ghukasian warned on
Wednesday that his self-proclaimed republic must have a "final
say" in any internationally backed settlement of the conflict with
Azerbaijan as he presided over a military parade in Stepanakert
alongside President Robert Kocharian.

The parade, broadcast live by Karabakh and Armenian state televisions,
involved hundreds of troops and dozens of tanks, armored vehicles,
and artillery systems. It was dedicated to the 15th anniversary of
the capture of the nearby town of Shusha, a key Armenian military
victory during the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan.

Kocharian’s presence at the biggest show of Karabakh’s military might
in years underscored the event’s significance for the Armenian side.

The anniversary was also officially marked in Armenia, with the
Karabakh-born Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian inaugurating a square
in Yerevan named after Shusha. Sarkisian had played a major role in
the May 1992 battle which enabled Karabakh Armenian forces to open
a vital land corridor with Armenia proper. In a decree signed on the
occasion, Kocharian awarded medals to some 1,760 participants of the
military operation.

"The liberation of Shusha strengthened our resolve to win and our
belief in the future, and spurred the birth of our military force:
the Defense Army of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic," Ghukasian told
troops lined up in Stepanakert’s main square. He praised them as a
"reliable guarantor" of the security of Karabakh’s predominantly
Armenian population.

"We are the masters our fate, we have the right to a final say
in the determination of our future. This is the unbending will of
our people. This is what stipulates the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s
Constitution," Ghukasian said, in an apparent reference to the ongoing
Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations that seem to have made substantial
progress of late.

French, Russian and U.S. diplomats spearheading the peace process
hope that Armenia and Azerbaijan will cut a framework peace deal
before the end of this year. A senior Azerbaijani official confirmed
on Tuesday that the conflicting parties are close to doing that.

Ghukasian and other Karabakh Armenian leaders have repeatedly expressed
their frustration with the NKR’s exclusion from the ongoing peace
talks. They have also voiced serious misgivings about the mediators’
existing peace plan that calls for a gradual settlement of the conflict
culminating in a referendum of self-determination in Karabakh.

11 PARTIES EXPRESS READINESS TO COOPERATE WITH PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS IN CASE OF BEING ELECTED

Noyan Tapan
May 08 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the memorandum worked out
by the "Protection of Consumers’ Rights," "Professionals in the Name
of Civil Society," "Small and Meddium-Sized Entrepreneurial Fund"
and "Fund for Mental Health" public organizations, the political
forces participating in the elections were proposed to consistently
cooperate with the civil society, public organizations in the case
of being represented at the NA. As Abgar Yeghoyan, the Protection of
Consumers’ Rights Chairman stated at the May 8 press conference, the
memorandum was worked out, taking into consideration the possibility
given by the elections to deepen the coming five-year cooperation
of the legislative body and civil society. It was mentioned that the
political forces joined the memorandum are also obliged, in the case
of finding out electoral violations, "to organize open discussions
to reveal those guilty, motives as well as to immediately liquidate
them by taking all the measures fixed by the law."

In A. Yeghoyan’s words, 11 from the 24 political forces participating
in the elections signed the memorandum. It was at the same time
mentioned that the Impeachment alliance and the Nor Zhamanakner (New
Times) party were seriously against singning the memorandum. And the
other 11 parties, including Bargavach Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia),
did not respond at all.

A FLICKER OF LIGHT: SPARKING HOPE AND SPEAKING OUT TO END GENOCIDE
By Taressa Stovall And Mark S. Porter of The Montclair Times

Montclair Times, NJ
May 3 2007

Human rights activist Yahya Osman of Darfur at the 2d annual Rally
to Save Darfur Sunday, April 29, at the Union Congregational Church.

Staff photo by Adam Anik.

A year ago, a rally of perhaps 2,000 people gathered in Watchung
Plaza to decry the deaths occurring in Darfur.

Speakers, including influential politicians, denounced the brutal
rapes, the pillaging of villages and the undeniable genocide
perpetrated by Sudan and pro-government tribal militias against the
western region of the huge nation located in northeast Africa.

A year later, the killings have increased.

Terror has grown. Peacekeeping efforts have failed to slow methodical
raids against Darfuri towns and refugee camps. Aid workers have been
murdered, assaulted, or intimidated into departing. Sudan wields its
oil wealth to win strategic support from China – and its leader’s
promise to resist the Islamic terror group al Qaeda has won at least
acquiescence from the Bush administration.

This year’s rally, in Union Congregational Church, 176 Cooper Ave.

sought to get people to take action – from sending e-mails to the
White House to purchasing $25 solar heaters. These heaters already
enable some of the more than 400,000 Darfuri refugees to prepare food
in their destitute camps without risk of rape or murder, which often
occur when they forage outside the camps seeking wood for stoves.

"Just a year ago, only 15 percent of the American people knew anything
at all" about the situation in Darfur," Gloria Crist, a leader of
the Essex County Coalition for Darfur, which organized the rally,
told the crowd. "Now that we know what’s happening, what are we going
to do about it?"

The rally in Montclair coincided with more than 400 other gatherings
throughout the United States on behalf of the "Global Days for Darfur"
project.

Along with hundreds of adults filling Union Congregational Church,
participants included scores of college-age, teenage and younger
students energized to effect change in an area where an estimated
400,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million people have become
refugees.

"Silence is complicity," said Sen. Robert Menendez, who has actively
worked to help Darfur through his strong support of the Darfur Peace
and Accountability Act, and sponsored a $60 million appropriation to
create a United Nations peacekeeping force.

Menendez scornfully noted that this $60 million funding "sits in an
account instead of saving lives."

"The truth is that the situation in Darfur is a time bomb which could
explode at any time," Menendez said, expressing his frustration at the
lack of progress and calling for "serious sanctions" against Sudan,
including a no-fly zone over Darfur and the possibility of bringing
Sudanese leaders before the International Criminal Court.

An escalating obstacle to helping the Darfurian people is the
increasing danger to relief workers providing aid. "Several
international aid agencies announced last Monday that they are
suspending their efforts because of at-tacks," Menendez said.

Menendez said that he plans to introduce a bipartisan Senate resolution
to send a message to China, which pumps oil from Sudan while providing
arms and money to the janjaweed. With China slated to host the 2008
Summer Olympics in Beijing, "we cannot allow China to host the
Olympics with blood on their hands," he said, as an enthusiastic
audience cheered.

"Chinese investments fuel the atrocities taking place in Darfur,"
said Menendez.

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., who co-sponsored the Darfur Peace and
Accountability Act in 2006 and has supported several measures to
stop the genocide and help the victims, said he was "heartened to
see this mobilization," and "encouraged by our students. Never have
I seen our youth so engaged in an issue.

"While we love our young here, the children of Darfur are
systematically being robbed of their families, their futures, their
lives," Pascrell said. "We may be late, but we are not too late for
hope. We will not be too late unless we allow ourselves to become
silent."

Yahya Osman, a Darfurian who is a leader in the Darfur Rehabilitation
Project, a national organization based in Newark, thanked the crowd
for their presence and commitment, noting that the students in the
crowd provided "a sign of hope" for the future.

"But we need to stop the genocide before it is too late," he
emphasized. "I ask you not to forget the people who need your help."

Noting that the lack of food, water medicine and schooling "is part
of the genocide," Osman forcefully advocated reconciliation. "We
don’t want our people to grow up with hatred in a refugee camp."

Before the event commenced, Osman told The Times: "We’re asking the
world to stand up and take action. We believe in people power. People
can bring attention to the crisis by educating, by donating and by
holding their leaders’ feet to the fire."

Assemblyman William Payne, who authored New Jersey’s landmark Sudan
divestiture law, spoke to the crowd, as did his brother, Rep. Donald
M. Payne, who was one of earliest and most forceful supporters of
securing peace in Darfur. Payne was responsible for a congressional
resolution declaring that the onslaught in Darfur was genocide. Both
men have visited the refugee camps.

"There has to be a new attitude about ending the genocide," said Rep.

Payne, who was appointed chairman of the Subcommittee on African and
Global Health in February. "~TWe’re demanding that China put more
pressure on the government of Sudan." he said, adding that he is
introducing legislation to get a no-fly-zone declared around Darfur.

PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES

Speakers referred to Darfur as the first – and hopefully the last –
genocide of the 21st century. During a candle-lighting ceremony,
speakers referred to other mass-murders such as the Holocaust prior
to and during World War II, the rampaging killings in Cambodia, the
slaughter in Rwanda, the genocide of Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s and
widespread killings of Armenians by Turks early in the 20th century.

"I am here as a genocide survivor to call the international community
to action before it is too late," said Joseph Sebarenzi, who lost
his parents, seven siblings and numerous other relatives during the
genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

Sebarenzi commended Montclair for its leadership in raising awareness
and urging action to help the people of Darfur, adding, "I believe
that the international community should press the government of Sudan
to stop this genocide. I think the members of the United Nations
Security Council have the legal and moral responsibility to protect
the people of Darfur.

"Allow a UN force to protect the people of Darfur," urged Sebarenzi,
who said a UN force "should act without delay."

Rabbi Steven Kushner of Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield and a founding
member of the Essex County Coalition for Darfur, led a remembrance and
vigil for Darfur. Survivors, descendants and representatives of 20th
century genocide victims in Armenia, the Nazi Holocaust, Cambodia,
Bosnia and Rwanda lit white candles "to return even a flicker of
light to our world," Kushner said.

Then Osman lit a green candle for Darfur, "to show us the way, how
we can stop this genocide," he said.

"Am I my brother’s keeper?" Kushner asked. "It’s a question we need
to ask ourselves as well.

"It strikes me that, if all we do is remember, we learn nothing,"
Kushner said. "If not now, when?"

The ceremony ended with Kushner sounded the shofar, a horn used in
Jewish religious ceremonies to call people together and sound warnings.

TOGETHER

The Montclair Academy Drummers played before the rally, directed by
Maya Milenovic Workman with Kevin Jones and Reggie Workman. Music for
the program was performed by members of the Christian Love Baptist
Church Youth Choir, Irvington; B’nai Keshet & Ner Tamid Choirs;
and OSAU Choir, Montclair State University, under the direction of
David Sanders.

Sara Gold, a senior at Montclair High School who has been involved in
the Darfur cause since attending the 2006 rally, brought her mother,
Judy Becker. "She is definitely raising my awareness about Darfur,
and it was just very moving to hear peoples’ experiences from all
genocide," Becker said.

Cheryl Marshall-Petricoff, a founder of the Coalition, brought her
three children, ages 9, 3, and the baby, now 8 months, she was carrying
when she spoke at last year’s rally. "I’m saddened that we’re having
a rally again and not much has changed," she said. "But my spirit is
always very lifted when I see everyone come together in the commu-nity
and work together to put more pressure to make change happen."

The Rev. Charles Ortman of the Unitarian Church of Montclair told The
Times: "We’ve allowed humanity too many opportunities to destroy itself
in the past while we just sat there. We have to be present, stand up
and raise our voices so our political leaders and our corporate leaders
can take any measures they can to secure peace and protect human life."

"Four years is enough," Sebarenzi said of the genocide in Darfur. "We
need actions, not words."

"President Bush, time is up," Menendez said. "It’s time to save
Darfur."

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SWEDISH PROFESSOR INSISTS THAT AS IF ARMENIAN MASS GRAVE OF VILLAGE OF KURU, NUSAYBIN, IS NOT THE ONE HE WAS SHOWN

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 25 2007

ISTANBUL, APRIL 25, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Turk and Swedish
specialists did research words on April 23 in the mass grave found out
in the village of Kuru, Nusaybin, which was pointed out as the grave of
Armenians killed in 1915. According to the Radikal newspaper, during
the researches Professor of the Sodertorn University of Sweden stated
that this is not the grave he was shown. In the Swedish specialist’s
words, "the remains which were pictured in the photos do not exist
in that grave. And the surroundings are not convenient for future
analyses." He even refused to take models of remains and ground from
the grave. And Doctor Professor Yusuf Halacoglu, the Chairman of the
Turkish Historical Society insisted that models of the remains and
ground taken from the grave must be studied at laboratories. "After
this we are ready to go and do research works in all those graves
which Armenians will show us," the Turkish historian said.

Turkish Zaman mentions that there are opinions about the fact that
this grave belongs to the Roman era.

FITCH RATINGS REVISES OUTLOOK ON ARMENIA’S FOREIGN AND LOCAL CURRENCY ISSUER DEFAULT RATINGS TO POSITIVE FROM STABLE

Arminfo Agency
2007-05-02 21:13:00

Fitch Ratings today revised the Outlook on Armenia’s Foreign and
Local Currency Issuer Default Ratings to Positive from Stable, and
affirmed the ratings at ‘BB-‘ (BB minus), reports Fitch Ratings.

The agency has also affirmed the Country Ceiling at ‘BB’ and the
Short-term Foreign Currency rating at ‘B’.

The Positive Outlook reflects expectations that disciplined
macroeconomic policies and structural reforms will continue,
underpinning sustainable economic growth and a declining public and
external debt burden. However, the policy authorities face significant
challenges in sustaining strong and balanced economic growth against
the backdrop of strong upward pressures on the exchange rate, rapid
expansion of private credit and construction activity, while also
anchoring inflation expectations under the recently introduced direct
inflation targeting regime.

In addition, Armenia faces parliamentary elections in 2007 and a
race for the presidency in 2008. While Fitch does not expect material
changes in the country’s broad economic and foreign policies to arise
from the elections and a new administration, it could potentially
complicate macroeconomic policy management. "The risk of economic
volatility or of a political shock over the next twelve to eighteen
months cannot be wholly discounted," said Andrew Colquhoun, Director
in Fitch’s Sovereigns Group. "But if policy discipline and political
stability are maintained, the secular improvement in creditworthiness
will likely continue and exert upward pressure on the ratings, hence
the Positive Outlook."

The Armenian dram (AMD) appreciated 19% against the US dollar last
year, raising concerns over the competitiveness of the industrial
sector and the trade deficit on goods and services widened to an
estimated 14% of GDP. While the trade deficit and low domestic savings
rate are substantially offset by net transfers of almost 9% of GDP,
mostly from Armenians abroad, the extent of upward pressure on the
Armenian dram (AMD) and pace of appreciation prompted the Central
Bank of Armenia (CBA) to actively intervene in foreign exchange
markets and international reserves have reached a record level of
USD1.1bn. The upward pressure on the AMD was also fuelled by a steep
fall in the share of USD-denominated deposits in the banking system
(in favour of AMD). While the shift from US dollar to Armenian dram
assets is viewed as a positive trend, the pace of the adjustment also
poses policy challenges and risks that must be managed.

Armenia’s ratings are supported by an impressive economic performance
with the economy expanding by more than 11% per annum since 2000 while
annual consumer price inflation has remained below 3%. However, the
combination of a food price shock and robust domestic demand fuelled
by rising household incomes resulted in inflation accelerating to
its highest level since 2004. Inflation has begun to moderate and
is currently running at a little over 5%, inside the CBA’s revised
target of 4%+/minus 1.5% for end-2007. Sustaining rapid economic
growth necessary to raise incomes and reduce extreme poverty without
imperilling macroeconomic stability is key to improvements in Armenia’s
sovereign creditworthiness and ratings.

Armenia’s ratings and Positive Outlook are also supported by
a medium-term fiscal policy framework and prudent budgetary
policies. Gross government debt has fallen to 15% of GDP by end-2006
from 39% in 2000, well below the ‘BB’ range median of 40% and the debt
service burden remains light. However, government revenues remain low
at around 16% of GDP, well below the ‘BB’ median of 28%. While this
in part reflects a policy preference for a small government and free
markets, weak tax administration and widespread evasion are also to
blame, and raising the tax take will be required to fund increasing
social and capital spending needs over the medium term. Further
measures to deepen domestic capital markets would also broaden the
government’s financing options and assist with the graduation from
concessional lending from the international community.

ARMENIA’S RATING OUTLOOK RAISED TO ‘POSITIVE’ – FITCH

Forbes
May 2 2007

LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Fitch Ratings revised the outlook
on Armenia’s foreign and local currency issuer default ratings
to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ and affirmed the ratings at ‘BB-‘ on
expectations that economic growth will be sustained on disciplined
macroeconomic policies and structural reforms.

The ratings agency also affirmed the country ceiling at ‘BB’ and the
short-term foreign currency rating at ‘B’.

Armenia’s ratings are supported by an impressive economic performance
with the economy expanding by more than 11 pct each year, since 2000
while annual consumer price inflation has remained below 3 pct. The
ratings and outlook are also supported by a medium-term fiscal policy
framework and prudent budgetary policies, Fitch said.

However, Fitch warned that Armenian policymakers face significant
challenges in sustaining strong and balanced economic growth against
the backdrop of strong upward pressures on the exchange rate, rapid
expansion of private credit and construction activity, while also
anchoring inflation expectations under the recently introduced direct
inflation targeting regime.

In addition, Fitch said upcoming parliamentary elections and
presidential elections in 2008 could potentially complicate
macroeconomic policy management, although it does not expect any
material impact to economic or foreign policy.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OUTCOMES ANNULLED IN TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.05.2007 13:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s ruling AK Party has asked parliament to
approve early general elections amid deadlock over who should become
the country’s new president. The party formally proposed 24 June for
the polls, which were set for November.

The move comes after Turkey’s constitutional court annulled last
Friday’s vote to elect a new president.

Secularist opposition parties boycotted the vote to prevent the ruling
party candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, from winning.

They accuse Mr Gul of having a hidden Islamist agenda and say that
if he became president it would threaten Turkey’s secular tradition.

The row over the presidency has exposed deep divisions. On Sunday,
hundreds of thousands of people rallied in Istanbul in support of
secularism.

The army has warned that it will not permit Turkey’s secular traditions
to be compromised, and financial markets in Turkey have also been
hit by the crisis.

The decision to hold early elections must be debated by parliament
and voted into law.

On Tuesday, the constitutional court backed the opposition’s argument
that a quorum of two-thirds of the 550 lawmakers was not present for
the first round of presidential voting.

A total of 361 lawmakers voted – 357 for Mr Gul – but 367 were needed
to make a quorum, the court said.

Speaking after the court decision, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
said the Turkish people should resolve the row.

"The parliamentary system has been blocked… We are urgently going
to the people. Our people will make the best decisions," he said.

He called for the constitution to be changed to allow the president
to be elected by popular vote, rather than by parliament, and to
allow the president to serve up to two five-year terms, instead of
one seven-year term.

Mr Erdogan also pledged to move forward with a new round in the
presidential vote – another vote is set for Thursday – but his
candidate remains unlikely to secure the required two-thirds majority.

Analysts say Mr Erdogan’s election move is an attempt to create a
fresh mandate to end the crisis.

His party has presided over a period of strong economic growth and
could fare well in general elections, analysts believe.

If Mr Gul does become president, he will be the first incumbent to
have Islamist roots, and the first president whose wife wears an
Islamic headscarf.

Both Mr Gul and Mr Erdogan deny there is any hidden Islamist agenda,
and Mr Gul has pledged to adhere to the republic’s secular principles
if he were elected.

But critics fear that if the ruling party controls both the government
and the presidency, it could then try to move Turkey towards Islamic
rule and erode the separation of religion and state, BBC reports.

EXHIBIT ON RWANDA GENOCIDE OPENED IN THE UN

ArmRadio.am
02.05.2007 13:53

An exhibit on the lessons of the genocide in Rwanda opened on Monday,
three weeks after Turkey forced its delay because of references to
the murders of Armenians during World War One, Reuters reports.

The language on the Armenians was changed to say "Ottoman Empire"
instead of "Turkey" and does not include the number of people killed
on panels in the exhibit that include photos, statements and video
testimonies.

There was no immediate reaction from Turkey but Armenian envoys and
sponsors of the exhibit, the British-based Aegis, said they were
satisfied with the compromise.

Originally, the lettering on a panel said: "Following World War One,
during which 1 million Armenians were murdered in Turkey, Polish
lawyer Raphael Lemkin urged the League of Nations to recognize crimes
of barbarity as international crimes," Smith said.

The new wording says: "In 1933, the lawyer Raphael Lemkin, a Polish
Jew, urged the League of Nations to recognize mass atrocities against
a particular group as an international crime. He cited mass killings
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in World War I and other mass
killings in history. He was ignored."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the exhibit in commemoration of
the 13th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide, in which 800,000 people,
mainly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were massacred by militant Hutus
in April 1994.

"Genocide never happens by chance. It takes time to plan and
organize. The warning signs are always there," one of the panels in
the exhibit said.

TURKISH ‘SECULAR’ DEMONSTRATION PREPARES WAY FOR MILITARY COUP

Socialist worker, UK
May 1 2007

Generals in Turkey have threatened "military intervention" to halt
a vote in the country’s parliament that could see Abdullah Gul, the
current foreign minister from the mainstream Islamist party Justice
and Development (AK), elected as president.

The generals posted the warning on the Turkish military website last
Friday evening. The next day hundreds of thousands took to the streets
of the capital Ankara in defence of "secularism."

The media painted the demonstration as popular opposition to the
prospect of an Islamist president.

Yet behind the protests lies a sinister move to rein in Turkish
opposition to a possible US war on Iran, and a cynical manoeuvre by
the military to reassert its power after its supporters were humiliated
in the 2002 elections.

In 2003, MPs belonging to the AK blocked moves by the US to use Turkey
as a staging post for its invasion of Iraq.

But, as the occupation of Iraq descends into chaos, the US badly
needs Turkish support for any possible attack on Iran. The generals,
in turn, want the freedom to join in the attack.

The Turkish military has been stoking a conflict with the Kurds in the
south east of the country. Many people believe that the military are
behind the sectarian murders of five Christians and the assassination
of Hrant Dink, an outspoken activist from Turkey’s oppressed Armenian
minority.

The generals attempted to blame the Islamists for the killings.

There was a massive response to Dink’s murder. Over 200,000 people
marched at his funeral chanting, "We are all Armenians."

The military and their right wing supporters have responded to the
support for the Armenians and Gul’s possible election by playing up
the threat to the secular system.

The right wing newspaper Cumhuriyet warned Turks that if Gul becomes
president, the country "will be put back 100 years".

The aim of the protest last Saturday was far from being simply an
outpouring of support for a secular system – it was to build support
for a military coup.

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PRESS RELEASE
ARPA Institute
18106 Miranda St. Tarzana, CA 91356
Contact: Hagop Panossian
Tel: (818) 586-9660
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

ARPA Institute presents the Lecture/Seminar:
`Massacres, Resistance, Protectors of the Armenians
and Assyrians in the 1915 Genocide" " by Dr. David
Gaunt, on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 7: 30 PM at the
Merdinian School auditorium.

The Address is 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA
91403. Directions: on the 101 FWY exit on Woodman, go
north and turn right on Riverside Dr.

Abstract: The lecture will discuss what happened to
the Armenian and Assyrian populations living in the
provinces of Diyarbakir, Bitlis, Van and Iranian
Azerbaijan during World War I. This will be based on
extensive use of primary sources in Turkish, Russian,
Iranian as well as Western archives. Also previously
unused witness testimonies and oral history will be
used. This is a region where Armenians and Assyrians
lived side by side in the cities and had rural
villages close to each other. Often the Armenians
would be seized first and the Assyrian sources explain
what happened, then came the turn for the Assyrians.
In some places both groups put up a common defense,
for instance Antranik’s volunteer brigades had
Assyrians fighting side by side with the Armenians.
Some Assyrian tribes joined the Russian army that was
on its way to relieve Van and fought with the Turks.
The greater part of the massacres, ethnic cleansings
and other atrocities occurred between May and
September of 1915, and the extent of population loss
was close to 90% in the Diyarbakir province. The
latter was also used as killing fields for deportation
caravans coming from the north. The lecture will be
based on the recent book Massacres, Resistance,
Protectors: Muslim-Christian relations in Eastern
Anatolia during World War I (Piscataway, N. J.:
Gorgias Pres 2006).

David Gaunt is professor of history at Södertörn
University College in Stockholm, Sweden. This
university is in the midst of one of the largest
Assyrian Diaspora communities in the world. He is a
social historian and has previously written primarily
on the Scandinavian workers movement, and family
history. A few years ago he began with genocide
studies and edited Resistance and Collaboration in the
Holocaust: Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (Bern
2004).

For more Information Please call Dr. Hagop Panossian
at (818) 586-9660