Hovannisian Speaks to Rhode Island Community

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The Armenian National Committee of Rhode Island (ANC-RI) sponsored a lecture on April 3 in the Aramian Hall at Sts. Vartanantz Church. A standing room only crowd had gathered to hear prominent historian and UCLA professor Richard Hovannisian.

ANC-RI co-chair George Mangalo began the evening by introducing Der Hayr Gomidas Baghsarian, the pastor of Sts. Vartanantz Church, who opened with a blessing.

Members of the audience follow the presentation on Western Armenia.
Members of the audience follow the presentation on Western Armenia.

The crowd paid close attention as a slide show, entitled “The Changing Landscape of Western Armenia,” was presented and Hovannisian talked about his trip to Western Armenia and presented detailed information about the locations he visited.

The slide show mostly included ruins of what is left of our ancient lands. Complete villages no longer exist. The churches and monasteries that do remain are used as barns for cows. Kurds mostly inhabit the homes of those that once belonged to our families. Hovannisian presented a sad but realistic view of what is left of thousands of years of history, including cemeteries that have been leveled. Places like Palou, Sepastia, Kharpert, and others, once thriving communities with hundreds of thousands of people, are all gone, except for a few stragglers here and there.

Interestingly, there may be far more Armenians left in these areas than the census shows. They live as Kurds and Turks, fearful of being exposed as Christian Armenians, yet Turkey claims to this day to be a democratic society.

A book signing took place following the presentation, where refreshments were served. The crowd lined up as all of Hovannisian’s books were sold.

Guest Contributor

Guest Contributor

Guest contributions to the Armenian Weekly are informative articles or press releases written and submitted by members of the community.

9 Comments

  1. “Western Amenia”? Wonder where you get a visa? Nothing like living in an alternative universe to sell books. Why give up a a good scam that has worked for years. Afterall, fantasy relieves the boredom of the real situation that RA Armenians have to live in. They don’t have the luxury of buying books.

  2. A scam indeed. Can Mr. Hovannisian please also answer why he invited Turks from Turkish universities to an ‘Armenian studies’ conference who talked about ‘Ottomanism amongst the Anatolian Armenians after the 1908 Revolution.” The Turks used the anti-scholastic and anti-Armenian Turkish term for Western Armenia by FALSELY calling it “Anatolia” and Mr. Hovannisian not only invited, approved and THANKED the Turks but he also tried to defend why he invited them. That conference included falsifiers like Robert Thomson and Peter Cowe who say that the Fifth Century Father of Armenian History (the very foundation of Armenian History) is a pseudo-historian once again one of the opening speakers chosen by Mr. Hovannisian was this notorious falsifier of Armenian history Robert Thomson.

    Even more so, the lecture by the speaker from the Turkish government university was an apologia of the Young Turks and their policy of “Ottomanism,” supposedly, the Young Turks were the good guys for most part minus that nasty radical trio of Enver, Talaat and Cemal that took over the leadership and are the ones responsible for the Armenian genocide, and not the Young Turks/Turkish government.

    It will take really Herculean efforts to put Armenian history on its true and scholastic course after decades of distortion and falsification ‘thanks’ to “Robert Thomsons” and “Peter Cowes” who have been endlessly endorsed and promoted by Mr. Hovannisian to a full pulp.

    TIME is a fair judge and it never falters as Truth always comes into the open and becomes the supreme judge of all.

  3. The sad facts about Armenian Americans:

    1) Not only have many Armenian American academicians been compromised, but many of their heads are stuck in “archives,” as if the truth of the Armenian genocide is not already known, and as if academic research is somehow a sufficient substitute for political demands and political work.

    2)Diasporan political parties have apparently forgotten all about the reparations and land issues, except for an occasional mention to fool people. They are forfeiting their right to lead and represent us.

    3) Armenian Americans have become ensnared in the downright silly “dialogue and reconciliation” trap set by the U.S. State Dept., Turkey, and certain other players. Thus, we are now being told that the genocide is a mere psychological hangup on the part of Armenians and that everything will be OK if only Armenians and Turks can meet, renovate a church or two, hug and kiss each other, and weep buckets of tears.

  4. They have done a good job of having Armenians keeping busy debating and mourning. So more of the same for the second century?

  5. Wow… pretty harsh comments.

    [1] Academics are mostly that academics. They are not generals.

    [2] Diasporans, me included, have a hard time accepting that we are not citizens of the country that is negotiating on behalf of the Armenians: the Republic of Armenia.

    [3] The words of Khirimian Hayrig still resonate and we still do not have the “yergati sherup”

    [4] Lastly, Richard Hovannisian is an Armenian National Treasure as is Peter Balakian and others. Bashing them brings the fight between us and not who we should really be confronting.

  6. The restitution of Western Armenia can only be achieved through strengthening of present day Armenian Republic which is the rightful heir to the Treaty of Sèvres of a Free, Independent and UNITED ARMENIA. President Wilson signed the document and charted the map. The government of the Republic of Armenia, the Allies/Triple Entente (including all major powers – United States, Great Britain, Russia, France etc.) and the government of Turkey. All the parties have agreed to the Treaty of Sèvres. Republic of Armenia is the lawful claimant to the Treaty and ALL Armenians should work to strengthen RA in every field, including internally and internationally.

    The type of “dialogue” with Turks from Turkish government universities who call Armenia “Anatolia” like what Richard Hovannisian is doing is in fact binding, because it gives “credence” to the erroneous topography of “Eastern Anatolia.” The Turks introduced this falsified notion in the 1940s and really enforced it after 1980s. The Turks tried to enforce the notion that the Young Turks/Turkish government were overall good and were simply taken over by “few” evil leaders like Enver and Talaat. Once again, quite clear what they are trying to do here.

  7. “The restitution of Western Armenia can only be achieved through strengthening of present day Armenian Republic”

    There is no such thing as “can only”

    The restitution of Western Armenia can also be achieved through strengthening of present day Western Armenians, which means the Diaspora

  8. The “strengthening of present day Western Armenians” can only mean the preservation of Armenian identity and culture and of course most importantly keeping the memory of yergir and our heritage alive. My point is that the world operates by international laws – and more broadly (in the political/diplomatic sphere) treaties. And to repeat what I said, the Republic of Armenia is today THE lawful claimant to the Treaty of Sèvres which is the only realistic, legal action (option) of the rightful restitution of Western Armenia to the present day Republic of Armenia. Once again the enforcement of this crucial Treaty has been signed (August 10, 1920) and adhered to by the Turkish government, the Allies and Armenia (all the concerned parties).

    Liberation of Western Armenia through armed means is not a feasible option, even if our armed forces were able to achieve this task in the near future, in all regards the first option is correct, because it is based on a legal format that is already secured (via a recognized Treaty) which is not the case even if you will have a de facto victory on the battlefield you still have to have a de jure (diplomatic) victory which is in fact harder to secure and can take decades if not centuries.

    As early as 1919, during the Paris Conference Peace Talks (which led to the eventual signing of the Treaty of Sèvres), there were two delegations – one from the Republic of Armenia – headed by Avedis Aharonian, which represented in the international arena a country (within the international norm – a political entity of highest order) – and another one that was the headed by Boghos Nubar Pasha. The Allies placed the primacy of negotiation with the Aharonian delegation of the Armenian Republic, once again because they recognized the representatives of a country/nation (Republic of Armenia) with all the legal implications of the architecture of treaties operating within the framework of nation states. Also, do not forget that a good deal of the population of the Armenian Republic was genocide survivors from Western Armenian, so not only the legal but also the moral dimension of restitution was and is fulfilled in this regard. Boghos Nubar Pasha was greatly admired by Armenians and non-Armenians alike (and should be for all his great work and philanthropy) but after months of negotiations he also came to this realization. Today, the Treaty of Sèvres, still remains the international legal architecture for the three Rs (recognition, restitution, retribution), so once again in this regard a “strong Armenia” (economically, politically and socially) means, that the Republic will not succumb to any kind of “economic pressure,” from within and without, will stick to its guns and fully stand by not only the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but also the diplomatic/legal enforcement of the Treaty of Sèvres.

  9. Mike, sad to say, I would not worry too much about regaining Western Armenia or getting reparations from Turkey. You see, the Armenian diasporan political parties have, in effect, given up on these things but won’t tell their constituents for fear of their negative reaction.

    At this point, all we have left for our cause is “genocide acknowledgment,” and we will get that from Turkey only with a formal agreement that no reparations and territory demands will ever be made.

    This situation can change if we install the right leaders, but that probably won’t happen. We Diasporans brainwashed ourselves into thinking that genocide acknowledgement was the end all and be all, and even our younger generations believe that. The Diaspora and Armenia are now paying the price for our folly.

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