NAASR to Screen Amirian’s ‘Epochal Defense of Van’

BELMONT, Mass.—On Thurs., April 25, the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) will present a special archival video feature, “The Epochal Defense of Van—1915,” by Thomas Tzolag Amirian at the NAASR Center in Belmont. Amirian (1910-93), a native of the Van region, originally delivered the lecture on April 20, 1983. He was, along with the late Arra S. Avakian and Manoog S. Young, one of the three original founders of NAASR, and instrumental in its development.

The defense of Van, the ancient capital of the Urartian Empire, was one of the most heroic episodes of World War I during the attempted genocide of the Armenians in 1915. Amirian, who as a little boy escaped with his family, made a study of this epochal defense a life-long interest. In the film, he describes in detail how 80,000 Armenians with limited arms and ammunition managed to hold off the superior Turkish forces until they were saved by the Russian Army. A version of Amirian’s account was published in Ararat Quarterly in 1993.

Amirian was born in Shadakh, near Van, and as a child experienced the siege of Shadakh (April-May 1915) where his father, Tovmas, was a prominent Ramgavar and community leader. A graduate of MIT, Amirian was a well-known and successful architectural engineer and was active in the Armenian Student Association (ASA) in addition to his role as a NAASR founder. After his death, the Thomas T. Amirian Fund was established at NAASR in his memory to further the objectives towards which he worked with such dedication.

In presenting this unprecedented encore video presentation of a classic lecture, NAASR pays tribute to the enormous contributions of Thomas T. Amirian, 20 years after his death and 30 years after he gave this extraordinary talk.

The screening will begin at 7:30 p.m. at NAASR, 395 Concord Avenue, Belmont. For more information, call NAASR at (617) 489-1610 or e-mail hq@naasr.org.