St. Leon Church to Host Lecture on Seizure of Armenian Assets in Aintab

Umit Kurt
Umit Kurt

Ümit Kurt, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History at Clark University, will present a lecture entitled “The Emergence of the New Wealthy Class, 1915-1922: The Seizure of Armenian Property by Local Elites in Aintab,” on Thursday, April 10, 2014, at 7:45 p.m. at the St. Leon Armenian Church, Abajian Hall, 12-61 Saddle River Road, Fair Lawn, N.J. The lecture is jointly sponsored by AGBU Ararat, Armenian Network of America- Greater NY, Hye Doon: Armenian-American Support & Education Center, Knights of Vartan Bakradouny Lodge of NJ, the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), NY Armenian Students Association, St. Leon Armenian Church, Tekeyan Cultural Association- Greater NY Chapter, and Tibrevank Alumni. A reception will follow the lecture.

The genocide and deportation of Aintab’s Armenians were carried out by local notables and provincial elites. These local actors prospered and became a new wealthy social class through the appropriation of Armenian property and wealth. By examining the carefully planned confiscation of Armenian property as an integral part of the genocide, Ümit Kurt sheds light on how the property of massacred and deported Armenians changed hands.

Ümit Kurt will also discuss the Abandoned Properties Laws that dealt with the administration of property “left behind” by Armenians. He argues that these laws are not only a structural element of the genocide in 1915, but today’s legal system in Turkey. As such, they could continue, to this very day, to preserve the rights of Armenians to their properties.

Ümit Kurt, a native of Aintab, holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Middle East Technical University in Political Science and Public Administration and a Master’s from Sabancı University in the department of European Studies. He is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History at Clark University and an instructor at Sabancı University. He is the author of numerous articles and several books, including most recently Kanunların Ruhu: Emval-i Metruke Kanunlarında Soykırımın İzlerini Aramak (The Spirit of Laws: Seeking for the Traces of Armenian Genocide in the Laws of Abandoned Property, 2012), with Taner Akçam, an English-language translation of which is forthcoming. His main area of interest is confiscation of the Armenian properties and the role of local elites/notables in Aintab during the Armenian genocide.

For more information contact St. Leon Armenian Church at 201-791-2862.

Guest Contributor

Guest Contributor

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

2 Comments

  1. ONE OF THE PROPERTIES IN AINTAB IS THE ARMENIAN SAINT MARY’S CHURCH WHICH WAS TURNED INTO A MOSQUE, DON’T THE TURKS HAVE ENOUGH MOSQUES THEY HAD TO STEAL A CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND CONVERT IT TO A MOSQUE. IT MAKES ME SICK!!!! WHERE IS THEIR HUMANITY.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*