Month: February 2015

BOSTON, BILLBOARDS COMMEMORATE #ARMENIANGENOCIDE CENTENNIAL

February 12, 2015 By administrator

By Rosario Teixeira

billboards were displayed in Foxboro, Mass., on Route 1 South, about
a quarter mile from Gillette Stadium.

BOSTON, Mass.–In January 2015, Peace of Art, Inc., began to display
digital billboards that commemorate the Centennial of the Armenian
Genocide and pay tribute to all victims of genocides over the past
100 years. This project will continue through the end of the 2015,
with electronic billboards displayed throughout the United States.

The first billboards were displayed in Foxboro, on Route 1 South,
about a quarter mile from Gillette Stadium. Another digital billboard
measuring 14’x48â~@² is located in Peabody, on I-95/128 facing south,
approximately one mile from Market St. in Lynnfield. In Seattle,
Wash., a large digital billboard is located in Bothel, on Highway
527 facing north. More locations and images will follow.

In reference to the first billboards, the president of Peace of Art,
Daniel Varoujan Hejinian, said, “We are sending a message of peace to
the world, to condemn the past crimes of genocide and resolve that
no other nation be the next target of genocide. With the electronic
billboards, Peace of Art’s message is that genocide continues to be a
threat to humanity. It urges viewers to condemn the crime of genocide,
to be alert…and put an end to this crime against humanity once and
for all.”

The first of the billboards reads, “Condemn the Past, Don’t Be the
Next Victim. Remember 1915 the Armenian Genocide.” Within the word
“genocide,” the letter “o” is a target. The second of the electronic
billboards reads, “In Remembrance of All Genocide Victims 1915-2015.

The Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.” The letter “o” in “genocide”
includes the flags of those countries that have recognized the Armenian
Genocide, as well as a dove symbolizing peace.

The next billboard will read, “1915-2015 the Centennial of the Armenian
Genocide.” The letter “o” will have a heart (representing the heart
of a nation) with a bite (representing the loss of 1.5 million people).

Since 1996, Hejinian, an artist, has been displaying large billboards
in Massachusetts to inform the community at large to the reality
of the Armenian Genocide. In 2003, Hejinian founded Peace of Art,
a nonprofit organization that uses art as an educational tool
to bring awareness to the universal human condition, and promote
peaceful solutions to conflict. The organization is not associated
with political or religious organizations, and its focus is on the
global human condition.

Since the Armenian Genocide took place, millions of people have been
the target of genocide, torture, rape, dispossession, and murder.

These are only some of the genocides and mass atrocities that followed
the Armenian Genocide of 1915: the Holocaust (1933-1945); Cambodian
Genocide (1975-1979); ethnic cleansing in Bosnia (1992-1995); Rwandan
Genocide (1994); and Darfur Genocide (2003). Refugee camps are just
a footnote to this ongoing tragedy. The general indifference of
the international community is dangerous, allowing the crimes to be
repeated without impunity.

A century ago in the Ottoman Empire, genocide was carried out against
the Armenians, while reporters and foreign dignitaries, ambassadors
and consuls, alerted the leadership of their respective countries.

Henry Morgenthau Sr., the U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, sent
several appeals and protests to Ottoman officials as well as to the
State Department. In 1915, the New York Times published 150 articles,
one just about every other day, reporting on the ongoing atrocities.

Governments remained indifferent, and proceeded with non-action
according to their political interests. “Our only goal is to keep
Turkey by our side until the end of the war, regardless of whether
Armenians perish in the process or not,” the German imperial adviser
Bethmann Hollweg said.

One hundred years have passed but many nations continue to ignore the
crime of genocide taking place around the world. The international
community has the power to put an end to these atrocities, and it
should begin by recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide.

For more information on Peace of Art, Inc., visit

GAGIK TSARUKYAN AS POLITICAL ACTOR IS EVIL – ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SAYS

YEREVAN, February 12. / ARKA /. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
said today that Gagik Tsarukyan, a well-known entrepreneur and the
leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, as a political actor, is evil
for the country.

“And this is natural, a personality, who controls necessary
mechanisms for participation in political processes, but possesses
low intellectual capacity, unwittingly becomes a hindrance for
any development,” said Sargsyan, when speaking at a meeting of the
executive council of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia.

According to the president, it has long been obvious that the emergence
of a bright personality or a bright idea is followed by raging power
of darkness, labeling, discrediting, abuse of thought.

“Sound familiar, does not it? And do not say that this is only
used against pro-government politicians. All is well understood by
everybody. That Gagik Tsarukyan has great political ambitions is a
tragedy, and in some way it is even funny,” said Sargsyan.

“Can you imagine a situation in which Tsarukyan reads a text at
the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,
which is followed by questions, including questions from Turkish and
Azeri MPs. Yes, it is very difficult to imagine, even horrible. We
have not yet digested sarcastic stories of our colleagues about the
shameful impressions left by Tsarukyan’s several famous foreign visits,
” said the president.

Sargsyan said he has his own share of guilt in this. “For years I
would forbid you to speak publicly against all the absurdities of
Gagik Tsarukyan. I forbade anyone to mention him by his nickname
“Dodi Gago.” I called on you to give him time so that he correct his
mistakes,” said Sargsyan.

The president stressed that he did not have any personal interest,
trying only to cover the obvious problem, not to make it a problem
for others.

“This I did in the first place as the President of the Republic, as
the leader of the ruling political force. Tsarukyan’s steps, who is
head of the second largest faction in the parliament, were important
to me, particularly in terms of ensuring political stability in the
country and keeping society from the perspective of involvement in
a variety of adventures,” said the head of state.

“I’ve always tried to be patient, forbearing, explaining slowly
and calmly and showing the direction. Sometimes he realized it,
but sometimes it was impossible to imagine the realities brought to
the degree of primitivism, and something did not work. I was wrong,
tried to protect many, but did not see that thereby I was harming
the entire political field, since the existence of such a political
phenomenon in itself distorts the whole field,” the president added.

“I know that you for a long time accused me for the protection of such
a political or rather pseudo-political subject, for cultivating him.

Yes, it was a mistake, my mistake. My and a few people, but I think
their guilt is mine. The error should be corrected, quickly and
completely. From now on, no one has the right to stop or delay,”
said the president.

Prosperous Armenia is the second largest force in the parliament
controlling 36 seats. It was part of coalition governments from 2007
to 2012. Now it positions itself as an alternative political force.

-0-

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN PM SAYS REFORMS WILL CONTINUE

YEREVAN, February 12. / ARKA /. Armenian Prime Minister Hovik
Abrahamyan highlighted today the contribution of services, agriculture
and industry sectors to the economic growth last year during a meeting
with IMF mission’s chief for Armenia, Mark Horton. The prime minister
recalled that the economic activity index was 3.9 percent in 2014.

Abrahamyan was quoted as saying by the government press office that his
government will continue the reforms aimed at preserving the economic
growth, improving the business environment, promoting exports and
attracting investment.

Horton, in turn, highlighted the importance of measures designed to
promote economic growth in the context of challenges and implementation
of the planned reforms. The two men were said to have also discussed
bilateral relations, the current economic situation in Armenia,
as well as issues relating to fiscal and monetary policy.

The meeting was attended by IMF Resident Representative in Armenia
Teresa Daban Sanchez.-0-

SARKISIAN UNLEASHES WRATH ON TSARUKIAN, FIRES HIM FROM SECURITY POST

Thursday, February 12th, 2015

One-time allies now sworn rivals–President Serzh Sarkisian and
Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian

BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

In what amounted to a pot calling the kettle black scenario, President
Serzh Sarkisian on Thursday night lashed out at one of his one-time
close political allies, the head of the Prosperous Armenia Party,
Gagik Tsarukian.

Speaking at his Republican Party of Armenia Council meeting, Sarkisian
used unusually harsh words to describe Tsarukian-also known as
“Doddy Gago”–often referring to him as “stupid” and “a detriment to
Armenian society.”

The president also fired Tsarukian from Armenia’s National Security
Council; called on his party members, who comprise the majority
in parliament, to launch an investigation into Tsarukian’s absence
from National Assembly sessions (according to Sarkisian of the 145
parliamentary sessions, Tsarukian has been present to only four);
tasked the prime minister to launch inquiries into Tsarukian’s
financial dealings and alleged evading of “billions” in taxes; and
tasked the judicial structures to begin probes into alleged criminal
conduct by Tsarukian, which he said have been “common knowledge”
in Armenia.

The growing wedge between the two one-time allies widened earlier
this week when a member of Tsarukian’s Prosperous Party of Armenia
was severely beaten, kidnapped and then dumped on a street near his
residence. The beating of PAP parliament member Artak Khachatrian
prompted Tsarukian and other prominent PAP members, including former
foreign minister Vartan Oskanian, who is a PAP member of parliament,
to turn up the volume on their criticism of the current regime.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Prosperous Armenia Party condemned
the attack on Khachatrian, saying that it was politically motivated
and was a form of intimation by the regime directed at forces who
were challenging the Sarkisian administration.

“We believe that the country’s supreme political leadership is
primarily to blame for the atmosphere of hooliganism and lawlessness,”
the party said in a statement.

Last Thursday, during a conference of non-ruling parties convened
at his initiative, Tsarukian said: “with the help of a nationwide
movement gaining strength with every passing day we will force the
authorities to feel responsibility for the current situation and
replace the current regime in the next elections.”

In his remarks Thursday night, Sarkisian referred to
Tsarukian-initiated rallies and events as a “circus,” saying that the
PAP leader probably did not understand the meaning of the words that
he was reading.

Sarkisian’s speech was uncharacteristic of a leader of a country,
both in its tenor and the vernacular used to attack. In conclusion,
the president clarified that “my entire speech was about a political
or rather a pseudo-political phenomenon called Gagik Tsarukian.”

In explaining his decision to relieve Tsarukian of his seat in the
NSC, Sarkisian said: “The supreme security body of the country is
not a movie theater, where one come and go as they please,” adding
that Tsarukian’s consistent absence from National Assembly sessions
was an affront to his constituents who had entrusted him with that
responsibility.

A significant portion of Sarkisian’s remarks focused on the pending
reforms to Armenia’s Constitution, which opposition forces, including
Tsarukian contend are being advanced by the regime and the ruling
party to ensure their continued rule over Armenia.

(The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Supreme Council of Armenia has
opted to support the Constitutional reforms process, by presenting
its own amendments and position, thus distancing itself from other
political forces that oppose the reforms process).

The president’s full-throttle attack on Tsarukian, the leader of
the second largest political party in Armenia, comes at a tenuous
time for Armenia, which is reeling from a violent outburst by law
enforcement personnel on a convoy of opposition members who were
headed to Karabakh late last month.

In his remarks, however, Sarkisian did not address the upsurge
in beatings of political activists, which seem to have become
commonplace in Armenia, nor did he address mechanisms through which his
administration would deal with the blatant disregard for rule of law.

In a rather surprising turn, the president said a mea culpa, bearing
all responsibility for containing past criticism of Tsarukian and
urging his backers to refrain from verbal attacks against the PAP
leader, saying that he was demonstrating restrain toward the leader
of the second largest political party in Armenia.

Apparently the cup runneth over for Sarkisian. Or, perhaps, by lashing
out at Tsarukian he was challenging other political forces to fall
in line.

ARMENIA AND RUSSIA INVESTIGATORS NOT EXCHANGING EVIDENCE ON PERMYAKOV CASE

00:15, 12.02.2015

YEREVAN. – The investigative agencies of Armenia and Russia exchange
no evidence pertaining to the criminal case involving Russian soldier
Valery Permyakov, who is the accused in the recent murder of seven
people in Armenia’s Gyumri city.

Sona Truzyan, the adviser to the chairman of the Investigative
Committee of Armenia, recalled to Armenian News-NEWS.am that an
Armenian-Russian joint coordination headquarters has been formed,
whose members are holding discussions and developing an investigative
action plan.

She added, however, that information exchange is possible, but an
exchange of evidence is not, within the framework of these talks.

“The parties have not transferred evidence to one another,” Truzyan
stressed.

As reported earlier, six members of the Avetisyan family–including
a two-year-old girl–were shot dead, and a six-month-old baby was
wounded in their house in Gyumri on January 12; and the baby boy died
in hospital on January 19.

Valery Permyakov, a serviceman of the 102nd Russian Military Base
in Gyumri, stands accused in this crime. Permyakov was apprehended
by the Russian border guards near the Armenian-Turkish border on the
same night, he was arrested on January 14, and he is held in custody
at the Russian military base.

The soldier is charged under Russian law, with “the murder of more than
two people” and “desertion with a service weapon.” And on January 21,
the Investigative Committee of Armenia also filed a criminal charge
against Permyakov, and with “premeditated murder of two or more
persons.” The Russian soldier has accepted the charges.

Armenia News – NEWS.am

PRESS RELEASE
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
Governmental Building 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Hasmik Grigoryan
Tel: +(3741) 56 01 06 ext. 105
Fax: +(3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Yerevan, February 12, 2015

Mr. and Mrs. Nalbandians of Toronto are financing the major renovation of
the school of Nalbandyan village

Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Toronto benefactors Mr. and Mrs. Armen and
Berjouhi Nalbandians have undertaken the project of major renovations of the
school at the Nalbandian Village in the Armavir region of Armenia.

The school has over 600 students. The school which was originally built in
1967, is a 3-story building and together with the gymnasium has a total
surface area of about 3,200 square meters (34,700 ft2). The project entails
a total redesign of the floor areas, including the entire stairway,
reinforcement of the walls for seismic endurance, electrical, rebuilding of
the floors with parquet and granite, new washroom facilities for all the
floors, total renovation of the gymnasium and its surrounding facilities,
other internal improvements and general landscaping of the school area. In
the past years, the school had gone through very limited renovations and
replacements such as the roof, the heating system and the doors.

“With this new project Toronto has been continuing its quest of undertaking
school building projects in Armenia and Artsakh.” said the chair of Toronto
Chapter of the Fund, Migirdic Migirdicyan.

Komnas Ham recognizes Khojaly genocide, ready to help Azerbaijan
By Veeramalla Anjaiah
February 12 2015

Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has
called the 1992 atrocities committed in Khojaly, Armenian acts of
genocide, adding that the body was prepared to support that stance at
international forums, a senior Komnas HAM official said on Wednesday.

`There is no doubt that what happened in Khojaly in 1992 was an act of
genocide. It was a crime against humanity and the perpetrators must be
brought to justice,’ head of Komnas HAM’s research and study wing,
Elfansuri Chairah, said at a seminar entitled “Justice for Khojaly and
Lessons for Future’ held Wednesday at the University of Indonesia in
Depok, West Java.

The one-day seminar was attended by human rights activists, think
tanks, religious leaders, scholars, diplomats and students. It was
jointly organized by the International Youth Society for Peace and
Justice (IYSPJ),The Habibie Center, Abdurrahman Wahid Center (AWC),
and University of Indonesia’s vocational program to commemorate the
23rd anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.

Khojaly is an Azerbaijani town located in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
On the night of Feb. 25, 1992, Armenian troops, with the help of
former Soviet Union regiment no. 366, attacked Khojaly and brutally
killed innocent Azerbaijani Muslim civilians, burning down the whole
city in the process. Armenia currently occupies 20 percent of
Azerbaijan territory, eliciting condemnations by the UN and other
international organizations.

According to Azerbaijan Ambassador to Indonesia Tamerlan Karayev, at
least 613 people were killed, including 106 women, 83 children and 70
elderly persons during the course of a single day of violence in
Khojaly.

`It was a heinous crime committed not just against Muslims but against
humanity,’ Karayev told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the
seminar.

While expressing his organization’s full support for Azerbaijan,
Elfansuri said that Komnas HAM was established mainly to deal with
human-rights issues in Indonesia. But he said it could not sit idly by
if crimes against humanity, especially at the level of genocide,
occurred outside Indonesia.

`As a human rights body, we are ready to raise the Khojaly genocide
issue at the regional and international level. We need more data and
information from Azerbaijan,’ Elfansuri said.

Indonesia, which strongly supports Azerbaijan sovereignty and
territorial integrity, condemned Armenian aggression and asked both
Azerbaijan and Armenia to resolve the dispute through negotiations.

`The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia should be resolved
through dialogue. We should make efforts not to allow this kind of
genocide in the future,’ said Muhammad Syukron, vice director of the
Abdurrahman Wahid Center.

Most of the speakers asked the Indonesian government to put more
pressure on Armenia to withdraw its troops from Azerbaijan territory.
Indonesia, they said, must seek stern measures against Armenia at the
UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

`In fact, the OIC recently requested that all members, including
Indonesia, impose political and economic sanctions on Armenia […],’
Karayev said.

The view from Azerbaijan
By Tony Barber
Feb 12 12:09

Should you find yourself in Baku, skip the Versace store and Emporio
Armani. Go instead to the grand edifice with the Grecian columns that
stands between them, overlooking the Caspian Sea with its fabulous oil
and gas riches.

This building was constructed in 1960, when Azerbaijan was part of the
Soviet Union, to mark Vladimir Lenin’s 90th birthday. It is a vastly
different place these days, hosting the Museum of Azerbaijani
Independence. If you’re in luck, as I was this morning, you will be
the only visitor.

The museum’s narrative framework is summed up in a pamphlet handed to
you in exchange for the 5 manat entrance fee (about $6.30).
`Azerbaijan has been occupied by other countries for many centuries,’
it says. `Azerbaijan attracted these countries with its natural
resources and profitable geographical position. Azerbaijan has many
heroes.’

The visitor is left in no doubt that National Enemy No. 1 is Armenia,
which is depicted as committing atrocities against Azerbaijanis in
1918, as well as in the war of the early 1990s that left Armenia in
control of part of western Azerbaijan, including the territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh.

But the museum also has a disapproving message for Iran: `Thirty
million of our compatriots live on the territory of south Azerbaijan
in Iran up to the present day.’

The 70-year era of Soviet rule is briskly dealt with as an experience
that suppressed the 1918-1920 Azerbaijani Democratic Republic–`the
first democratic, parliamentary and secular republic in the Muslim
world’–and inflicted great suffering in the 1930s in the form of
Josef Stalin’s purges.

However, all this is a prelude to the exhibits in the museum’s sixth
and final hall, which celebrate the life of Heydar Aliyev, a man whose
career is indelibly painted on the past seven decades of Azerbaijani
history, not least because his son, Ilham Aliyev, succeeded him as
president in 2003.

Aliyev père joined the Soviet KGB secret police as a young man in the
1940s, rising up its ranks until he took over as head of the agency’s
Azerbaijani branch in 1967. Two years later he became Azerbaijan’s
communist party chief, lasting 18 years and joining the Politburo in
Moscow until Mikhail Gorbachev sacked him for resisting perestroika.
The museum says nothing about these phases of his career.

Instead it hails his return to public life on June 15, 1993–two years
after Azerbaijan won independence from the Soviet Union, but was
reeling in chaos–as a day that `entered our history as the Day of
National Salvation’.

Aliyev was no democrat, to put it mildly, but it is easy to see why he
is officially revered as the father of the nation. He ended the
disastrous war with Armenia. He is identified with the early era of
Azerbaijan’s newly discovered energy wealth. He put national
independence on a more secure basis.

As it says on a commemorative coin minted in 2004 to honour his
memory: `The independence of Azerbaijan is permanent, eternal,
irreversible.’

The museum’s Aliyev hall is adorned with photographs showing him with
statesmen such as Bill Clinton and Jacques Chirac, the former US and
French presidents. Quotations from his speeches are on wall panels.

But the hall’s pièce de résistance is on the floor–a diorama of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline that pumps Azerbaijani oil to Europe,
bringing billions of dollars to the nation and explaining why Baku’s
seafront bursts with flashy stores selling luxury foreign cars,
jewellery and clothes.

`The most outstanding event in the economic life and overall history
of independent Azerbaijan was the signing of the first international
oil contract [in 1994],’ says the pamphlet.

Oil wealth, and the festering Nagorno-Karabakh sore, are as much part
of modern Azerbaijani reality as the closed political atmosphere and
the personality cult that surrounds the late Aliyev.

However, even in a nation whose leaders are as cautious about change
as in Azerbaijan, things will not stay the same forever.

PRESS RELEASE
Date: Feb 12, 2015

BIRTHRIGHT ARMENIA
Contact: Linda Yepoyan
[email protected]

BIRTHRIGHT ARMENIA: GETTING THE WORD OUT

Recruit: (verb). To find suitable people and get them to join a
company, an organization, etc.; to persuade (someone) to join you in
some activity or to help you; to secure the services of. Synonyms:
call up, engage, conscript, draft, retain, take on.

One can chalk it up to timing, targeted digital marketing, content,
concerted global reach, and perhaps a few other key factors, but
Birthright Armenia is becoming a common household term that continues
to spread around the globe. What used to always exude a response of
“Birthright? What is that?” now commonly gets “Of course I know
Birthright Armenia, my (fill in the blank) did Birthright and can’t
stop talking about it”.

As the number of program participants continues to grow, inevitably a
majority of people know someone, a friend, relative, church goer, or
fellow student who has done Birthright or a donor who has supported
the organization, and are therefore already familiar with the basic
premise and mission upon which the non-profit operates. With 970
alums from 35 different countries, positive promotion and word of
mouth generated by these ambassadors on the ground plays a large part
of the program’s successful recruitment of new volunteers.

“The best result of our brand being more recognized around the world
is that it really is no longer a question of whether or not our young
people will do Birthright, it’s more just a question of when,” says
Linda Yepoyan, the executive director of the non-profit organization.
“We are thrilled that volunteering in Armenia is becoming more of a
rite of passage for the 20-32 age set. We couldn’t be more pleased,”
she adds.

In order to increase the geographic diversity of participants while
numbers continue to grow, it takes a recruiting effort that includes
more than boosting Facebook posts and GoogleAds. This past year there
was a well-planned recruitment plan in place that was implemented from
city to city, state to state, country to country. The events targeted
church parishes, youth groups and the various Armenian Student
Associations on college campuses for live presentations lead by staff
and local area alumni.

In 2014 alone, a total of 20 cities were visited including Tampa,
Cleveland, Columbus, Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Southfield, New York,
Detroit, Chicago, Toronto, Ottawa, Providence, Richmond, Washington,
College Park, London, New Brunswick, Istanbul, and Tbilisi. These
face-to-face presentations are important for getting the word out
firsthand, dispelling myths people associate so frequently about
Armenia, and overall information sharing about the types of possible
placements and the impact volunteer service has in Armenia.

This coupled with an aggressive social media presence has proven to be
a successful recruitment approach which will be continued throughout
2015 with stops planned for Boston, Northern and Southern California,
France, Boca Raton, Montreal, Colorado, New York, and a South America
tour, amongst other cities. If you’d like to host a Birthright Armenia
presentation on your campus, in your church, or for your organization,
please contact [email protected] to schedule.

PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]

COMPARISON OF PLUNDER OF PROPERTIES DURING
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND HOLOCAUST IN NAASR LECTURE

Umit Kurt of Clark University will present a talk entitled
“‘Legal’ and ‘Official’ Plundering of Armenian and Jewish Properties
During the Armenian Genocide and Holocaust: A Comparative
Perspective,” on Thursday, March 5, 2015, at 7:30 p.m., at the
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center,
395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.

The state-orchestrated plunder of Armenian and Jewish property
immediately impoverished its victims; this was simultaneously a
condition for and a consequence of the Armenian Genocide and
Holocaust. As the historian of Nazi looting and plundering of Jewish
property Martin Dean writes, ethnic cleansing and genocide usually
have a “powerful materialist component: seizure of property, looting
of the victims, and their economic displacement are intertwined with
other motives for racial and interethnic violence and intensify their
devastating effects.”

A series of laws and decrees as well as complex bureaucratic
mechanisms were created in the Ottoman-Turkish Republican and Nazi
Germany periods concerning the administration of the belongings of the
deported or killed Armenians and Jews. This presentation aims at
analyzing and comparing the processes of expropriation of these two
victim groups. In doing so, it will examine how the properties of
Armenians and Jews changed hands under a veneer of legality. The
presentation will discuss similarities and differences between the two
dispossession processes.

Umit Kurt is a Ph.D. candidate in history at Clark University and
a lecturer at Sabancý University. A 2014 recipient of a Gulbenkian
Foundation Armenian Studies Scholarship, his main area of interest is
the confiscation of Armenian properties and the role of local
elites/notables in Aintab during the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1921. He
is the author of numerous historical and political articles in
scholarly journals and newspapers including Nations and Nationalism,
Turkish Studies, Turkish Review, Culture and Religion, Turkish Policy
Quarterly, Turkish Journal for Politics, Tarih ve Toplum Yeni
Yaklaþýmlar, Birikim, Toplumsal Tarih, Cogito, Taraf, Radikal, and
Bianet. He is the author of several books in Turkish and co-author
with Taner Akçam of Kanunlarýn Ruhu: Emval-i Metruke Kanunlarýnda
Soykýrýmýn Ýzlerini Sürmek (The Spirit of the Laws: The Plunder of
Wealth in the Armenian Genocide), to be published in English in April
2015 by Berghahn.

For more information about Umit Kurt’s talk contact NAASR at
617-489-1610 or [email protected].

Belmont, MA
Feb. 12, 2015