Armenian Cause Foundation

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Genocide scholars from about 20 countries are in Armenia for a two-day international conference on Genocide that kicked-off on Tuesday in Yerevan. The symposium is titled, “The Crime of Genocide: Prevention, Condemnation and Elimination of Consequences.”

[Prominent genocide scholars from about 20 countries participated in the conference: Yves Ternon (France), Leandro Despouy (Argentine), Israel Charny (Israel), Donna-Lee Frieze (Australia), William Schabas (Ireland), François Roelants du Vivier (Belgium), Taner Akcam (USA-Germany), Richard Hovhannisian, (USA) Tessa Hofmann (Germany), Ayman Abdel Aziz Salama (Egypt), Frank Chalk (Canada), Matthias Bjørnlund (Denmark), Mohammed Rifat (Egypt), Theofanis Malkidis (Greece), Ruben Safrastyan (Armenia), Enzo Maria Le Fevre (Italy/Hungary), Tetsushi Ogata (Japan), Dickran Kouymjian (USA-France), Anthonie Holslag (Netherlands) , Armen Marsoobian (USA), Peter Balakian (USA), Wa’il Nicholas Khair (Lebanon) and Seda Parsamyan (Armenia). see details]

Opening the conference, President Serzh Sargsyan called for broader international recognition of the Armenian genocide, stressing that the crime’s affirmation is essential for preventing more crimes against humanity.

Sargsyan’s remarks come amid growing pressure on the US Congress to bring the Armenian Genocide resolution (H.Res.252) to a vote in the full House of Representatives. The conference is part of what seems to be a strong push by official Yerevan to support the measure in the aftermath of its collapsed talks with Turkey to normalize relations.

One of the conference participants, prominent Armenian-American historian Richard Hovannisian, suggested that Armenia’s government has toughened its position on genocide recognition since the collapse of its normalization agreements with Turkey. “It seems to have become more determined,” Hovannisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

Sargsyan’s policy of rapprochement with Turkey has triggered a barrage of criticism from many in Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora. They say that Ankara has exploited it to keep more countries from recognizing the slaughter of some 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians as genocide.

Taner Akcam, a U.S.-based Turkish scholar also participating in the conference, said such recognition would make it much harder for the Turkish state to claim that Armenians died in much smaller numbers and not as a result of a premeditated government policy.

“I strongly recommend recognition of the Armenian genocide,” Akcam told journalists. “This is also important for the prevention [of more genocides,]” he said.

He went on to describe Turkey’s treatment of the issue as “a policy of 95 years of denial” that is preventing Turkey from developing a true democracy. “Facing history is a very honorable thing and I’m hopeful the Turkish government will change the policy soon,” Akcam added.

“I do hope that Turkey will face this dark chapter of the history. Turkey is not the Turkey that we know for 10 years. If it wants to be a member of the European Union, of the civilized world, it has to acknowledge these wrongdoings of the past,” Akcam said.

But Turkey’s policy of denial and its relations with the leading countries of Europe have diluted pressure from the EU for Turkey to come to grips with its past, according to Tessa Hofmann of the Free University in Berlin.

Hofman explained that in her own country, Germany, the government, now more than ever “stays committed to its position of categorically denying that what happened was genocide.”

Armenia should therefore submit its case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, she stressed.

The conference also explored Israel’s role in Turkey’s denial of the Genocide, with a presentation by renowned genocide historian Israel Charny, who said Jerusalem should officially recognize the crime on a political level.

“Though, Israel has long recognized the Armenian Genocide on societal and cultural level, at the state level, this has not happen,” said Charny.

Speaking about retribution and reparations, Egyptian scholar Ahman Abgel Avi Salami said the descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors have the right to demand compensation from Turkey as a successor of the Ottoman Empire.

According to Abgel Avi Salami, Turkey should recognize the Armenian Genocide, apologize, and pay compensation. “It has to promise not to commit such crimes in the future,” he said, citing the German example, where Berlin recognized the Holocaust and paid compensation to Jewish descendants. “Turkey should do the same regarding Armenians,” he added.

The scholar explained that the Republic of Armenia has the right to file a lawsuit against Turkey to protect the interests of Armenians and descendants of the Genocide survivors, who once found shelter in the territory of Armenia.

“U.S., France and Canada also can protect interests of the descendants residing in their territory. Legal responsibility for genocide has no time limits, while moral responsibility surpasses the legal one,” said Abgel Avi Salami. “This is mentioned in the UN resolution [on Genocide Prevention]. However, real politics prevents from implementation of this resolution.”

Sargsyan had similarly criticized the “political expediency and short-sighted opportunism” that often shape governments’ attitudes towards past and present genocides.

“The bitter lessons of the Armenian genocide did not go down in the history and memory of humankind as mere memories of the past. They came to be replaced by the horrors of the Holocaust and the tragedies in Rwanda, Darfur and many other places,” he said in a speech at the forum. His remarks were a clear reference to the reluctance of countries to recognize the Genocide and risk antagonizing Turkey.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian made the same point, saying that the prevention and condemnation of genocides should not be taken hostage to politics and instead must be on the international community’s agenda. “Genocide denial and impunity pave the way for new crimes against humanity. Regardless of geopolitical or other interests, the international community must be united in condemning and preventing genocide,” Nalbandian told conference participants.

LOS ANGELES—Scholars from across the world are set to discuss the Armenian Genocide during a conference hosted by the International Human Rights Law Association at UCLA entitled “Genocide and Then What? The Law, Ethics, and Politics of Making Amends.” The event will take place at UCLA’s Dodd Hall Auditorium on Sat., Oct. 23 from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

”This is a ground-breaking conference, the first of its kind to tackle this issue as well as place it in the broader context of restitution for crimes against humanity,” noted Dr. Henry Theriault, chair of the department of philosophy at Worcester State University.

Armenian Genocide reparations report to be featured

The conference will feature a soon to be released report on the Armenian Genocide that brings together years of research from the legal, ethical, and political perspective. This independent study was made possible by a grant from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

”We look forward to discussing the report and the opportunity for critical feedback from the scholarly community at the UCLA School of Law and beyond,” said Theriault.
Theriault, whose work explores the ethics of reparations for crimes against humanity, will be joined on the first panel of the conference by Ara Papian, former ambassador of Armenia to Canada, and treaty history and law specialist, as well as Dr. Jermaine McCalpin (University of the West Indies, Jamaica), and Dr. Alfred De Zayas (Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Switzerland).

De Zayas has served as chief of petitions at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, is the retired secretary of the UN Human Rights Committee, and former senior counsel with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He recently authored The Genocide Against the Armenians 1915-1923 and the Relevance of the Genocide Convention.

McCalpin is a specialist in long-term as well as transitional justice. His research interests include truth commissions and political accountability, as well as reparations for slavery, Native American extermination, and the Armenian Genocide.

Crimes against humanity and restitution

In addition to presenting the report, the event will feature panels exploring Armenian Genocide reparations in the broader contexts of human rights violation reparations, the ethical foundations, the political implications, and real property determinations for reparations.

Key to this discussion is the participation of Michael Bazyler, professor of law and “1939” Club Law Scholar in Holocaust and human rights studies at Chapman University School of Law. Bazyler is a leading authority on the use of American and European courts to redress genocide and other historical wrongs. His book on the subject, Holocaust Justice: The Battle For Restitution In America’s Courts, was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and reviewed in the Harvard Law Review, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times (London), and the Economist.

Ethical foundations, political landscape

Providing perspective on the ethical imperative behind justice in the case of the Armenian Genocide and the dynamic political environment in which it is developing will be Dr. Armen Marsoobian, Khatchig Mouradian, and Ayda Erbal.

Marsoobian is a professor and chair of the philosophy department at Southern Connecticut State University. His current work deals with philosophical issues arising from genocide, including an exploration of inter-generational moral responsibility in the aftermath of genocide.

Mouradian is completing his Ph.D. in Holocaust and genocide studies at Clark University, Worcester, Mass. He has lectured extensively and participated in conferences in Armenia, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, and across the United States. On April 24, 2010, he was a featured speaker at the Armenian Genocide commemoration held in Istanbul, Turkey, and on April 25, he presented as part of the “Reparations” panel at the first Armenian Genocide conference held in Ankara, Turkey.

Erbal is completing her Ph.D. dissertation at New York University in the department of politics. Her research focuses on the politics of changing historiographies in Turkey and Israel, and her work focuses on democratic theory, democratic deliberation, the politics of “post-nationalist” historiographies in transitional settings, and the politics of apology.

Genocide and real numbers

George Aghjayan, a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, will present his research on the demographics of the Armenian population of Western Armenia prior to the Armenian Genocide. He will be joined by Rev. Dr. George Leylegian, who will discuss his work outlining the seizure and destruction of church properties lost during and after the Armenian Genocide, as well as its community and religious institutional impact.

The conference is free and open to the public. For more information about the conference, individuals may contact the International Human Rights Law Association.
The conference is organized by the International Human Rights Law Association with the support of the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region.

The Spring-Summer 2010 issue of the Armenian Review was released earlier this month. Titled “Armenia and Armenians in International Treaties,” the new issue examines the history and performance of Armenian diplomacy throughout the ages. The nine articles appearing in this volume explore treaties that Armenians have been involved in from the 4th century CE to the modern day Republic of Armenia, which were presented at a conference held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in March of last year.

The 264-page issue includes: Claude Mutafian’s examination of the various treaties signed between Cilician princes and their neighbors from the 10th to the 12th centuries; Keith David Watenpaugh’s exploration of the origins of Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide, tracing it back to the confrontation with the League of Nations; An article by Sevane Garibian which traces the development of international criminal law by looking at how the Armenian Genocide was dealt with in the early part of the 20th century, ranging from the 1915 Allied Joint Declaration condemning the Armenian Genocide to the treaty of Sevres; Rouben Shougarian’s analysis of the 1997 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Armenia and Russia; And Lusine Taslakian’s research on environmental treaties signed by the modern day Armenian republic, and how their provisions are being implemented. The issue also includes several book reviews.

The next issue of the Armenian Review is scheduled for winter 2010. To find out more about the current, past, or upcoming issues, visit www.armenianreview.org.
The Armenian Review has also started digitizing all of its past issues, going back to 1948, which should be available to the public by summer 2011. To support this effort and for more information please contact the editor at editor@armenianreview.org.

Other than the publication of these issues, the journal is in the process of co-organizing an academic conference to be held in Southern California in December of this year, examining 120 years of Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s activities. The conference, to be held at a major university, will feature scholars and academics from Armenia, Middle East, Europe and the United States. More information will follow.

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