PRESS RELEASE
Zoryan Institute of Canada, Inc.
4211 Yonge Street, Suite 230
Toronto, ON, Canada M2P 2A9
Tel: 416-250-9807
Fax: 416-512-1736
E-mail: [email protected]
CONTACT: George Shirinian
DATE: November 12, 2004
Extensive Coverage of the Armenian Genocide in the New Encyclopedia on
Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity
NEW YORK – The prominent publisher of encyclopedias, Macmillan Reference
USA, has just come out with a three-volume compendium covering a
comprehensive range of topics related to genocide and crimes against
humanity. Its four editors are Howard Adelman, Princeton University; Frank
Chalk, Concordia University, Montreal; Alexandra Kiss, French National
Centre, Paris; and William Schabas, National University of Ireland, Centre
for Human Rights. The Editor in Chief is Dinah L. Shelton, George Washington
University Law School.
The Armenian Genocide is given broad scope in terms of its origin, distinct
features, consequences, and its place in modern history. By the same token,
two Turkish leaders are likewise depicted in the terms of their relationship
to the organization of that genocide, on the one hand, and its outcome, on
the other. Additionally, there are a few entries tackling specific features
of the Armenian Genocide such as poetry (Peter Balakian), art (Stephen
Feinstein), Armenians in Russia (Dennis Papazian), Films
(J. Michael Hagopian and Atom Egoyan), Enver (Alfred de Zayas) and J.M
McCollum on music and Komitas. Moreover, several legal scholars and
historians in their entries touch and briefly comment on the judicial and
precedential aspects of the Armenian Genocide, such as John and Matthew
McManus on the Turkish prosecution of the authors of the Armenian Genocide,
and particularly M.C. Bassiouni on the political expediency with which the
victorious Allies discarded the Sèvres Treaty and with it freed Turkey from
any and all responsibilities regarding the wartime genocide, and William
Schabas on Crimes Against Humanity. Also notable are J. Costellino’s
discussion of Armenian death marches. M. Imbleau’s piece on denial, Samuel
Totten on diaries, A. Feinberg on the documentation of the Armenian
Genocide, Noruan Naimark on ethnic cleansing, A. Aranburu’s coverage of the
Turkish courts-martial, C. Simpson’s piece on Lepsius, D. Schilling’s on
Memoirs on Survivors, Lynne Fallwell on medical killings of Armenians, M.
Midlarsky on Realpolitik involving the Armenian Genocide, Roger W. Smith on
the Special Organization, and L. LeBlanc on U.S. Policy on the Armenian
Genocide.
But the central analysis of the Armenian Genocide is entrusted to Prof.
Vahakn Dadrian, the Zoryan Institute’s Director of Genocide Research, who is
not only mentioned and frequently cited in the entries described above, but
who has four separate entries dealing with the subject. One of them examines
the role of Talaat as the chief organizer of the mass murder, his conviction
to death by a Turkish Military Tribunal, and the outcome of the Tehlirian
trial, i.e., his acquittal by a jury in Berlin’s Criminal Court no.3. A
second entry discusses Atatürk’s ambivalent role in handling the aftermath
of the Armenian Genocide. First he condemned the crime in an editorial in a
Turkish newspaper he had co-founded. Then, he embraced and used many of the
arch-perpetrators in his War of Liberation in the 1920-22 period. And four
years later, he executed most of them through hanging, following the
discovery of a conspiratorial plot bent on assassinating him. Dr. Dadrian’s
third entry is an original contribution on Impunity, a concept which he
helped develop and integrate in the general literature on genocide. In his
article, Dadrian argues that the impunity attending the series of Turkish
massacres in the decades preceding WWI played a major role in the decision
of Talaat and Company to proceed with the plan to exterminate the Armenians.
The last entry was hailed by the editors of the Encyclopedia as the most
thorough and at the same time compact analysis ever written on the Armenian
Genocide. Titled “Armenians in Ottoman Turkey and the Armenian Genocide,”
the extensive ten page article is organized around the following subjects:
origins of the Armenian people; socio-cultural evolution of the Armenian
people – historical background; Ottoman theocracy and its unsettling impact
on Armenians; Hamit and the ensuing series of Armenian massacres (1894-96);
advent of the Young Turk Regime and the 1909 two-tier Adana massacres;
recourse to genocide; bibliography. Putting it in a historical context,
Prof. Dadrian examines, step by step, the origin and evolution of the
Armenian nation as a perennially vulnerable people never managing to achieve
mastery over its destiny and ultimately experiencing genocide, the ultimate
crime.