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From the mouth of an expert
Armenian Genocide scholar continues to refute denials.
GLENDALE -- Richard Hovannisian is a leading scholar on modern Armenian history, and is considered to be an expert on the Armenian Genocide.
But he resents having to prove that the 86-year-old genocide -- in which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks -- exists because the Turkish government continues to deny its existence.
"I find it regrettable that it is necessary to spend so much time and energy on the need to demonstrate the reality of the Armenian Genocide," he said Tuesday, "when there are so many other creative endeavors that could be achieved if this were not required."
Hovannisian, a longtime professor of Armenian and Near Eastern history at UCLA, will discuss the origins of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and its legacy today at a workshop being held in conjunction with the genocide's April 24 anniversary.
The Armenian Genocide was the first major genocide of the 20th Century and in many ways the prototype for subsequent mass killings, Hovannisian said.
"The lessons of the genocide are still with us, and we can use the case study of the Armenian Genocide to understand the roots of mass violence," he said, "and hopefully, the warning signals that should alert the world to the potential [for] new genocides."
Today's workshop is co-sponsored by the Armenian National Committee and Facing History and Ourselves, an international educational organization that uses the past to teach students to make responsible decisions.
"In order to teach and understand issues of tolerance and unity, people need to understand that these events have actually happened to their colleagues," said Sevana Panosian, a Toll Middle School English teacher and head of the ANC education committee.
The committee trains teachers to implement the genocide curriculum, which is mandated by the state education code.
"I've been working with this issue since I was 10 years old," said
Panosian, whose great-grandparents were killed during the genocide. "I find
it very important, not only as an American citizen but as a descendant of
the
Armenian Genocide."
Hovannisian will be the featured guest on the "Larry Zarian Forum," a call-in show that will air from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday on Charter Communications Channel 26.
"I wanted to get someone on my show who has an unquestionable
reputation
to clarify what has truly happened historically," Zarian said. "I believe a
person of his stature and background would be able to give a perspective
unlike anyone else."
Said Hovannisian: "Until there is recognition, neither the Turks or the Armenians can be freed from the burden of the past."
IF YOU GO
* WHAT: "The Armenian Genocide: Lessons and Legacies" with Richard
Hovannisian.
* WHEN: 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. today.
* WHERE: Junior Achievement of Southern California, 6250 Forest Lawn
Drive, Los Angeles.
* COST: Free.
* INFO: (626) 744-1177, ext. 25.
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