The biblical mountain, Ararat, towers over its surrounding lands. This photograph of the mountain, seen from the west, has become rare. Most images are now taken from the east, in the Republic of Armenia.
An ordinary Armenian family gravestone by the shores of Lake Van. It lies in a plundered graveyard and will soon disappear, as most other remnants of Armenians have disappeared in Turkey.
The reconstruction of Sourp Khach (Holy Cross) Monastery on Aghtamar island has become part of a public relations campaign concerning Armenian monuments in Turkey. It serves to hide the fact that practically all Armenian cultural sites in Turkey have been destroyed.
The remains of a mediaeval Armenian church in a remote Turkish village.
PROJECTS AND STUDIES
Agha Petros and the Chaldeo-Assyrian Population of the Ottoman Empire
Bardizagun ou Bardizagtsin (Պարտիզակն ու պարտիզակցին)
A critical translation of Krikor
Mkhalian’s Bardizagun ou Bardizagtsin (Պարտիզակն ու
պարտիզակցին) by Ara Stepan Melkonian. This work is one of the great Armenia village histories, and its English edition promises to be a milestone in such translation work.
V. T. Mayewski and the Ottoman Provinces of Van and Bitlis
Mayewski was the Russian consul in Van (Ottoman Empire) cir. 1899, where undertook a major study
of Van and Bitlis regions for military purposes. The information he collected covered cartography, ethnography and statistics, as well as political and military assessments of these regions. Mayewski's work was published as a confidential
study for the Russian army. When the Ottoman military obtained a copy, they had it translated and printed in Ottoman Turkish. Our
own study focuses on Mayewski's ethnographic and statistical analyses, as part of a broader critical debate concerning the demographic profile of the late Ottoman Empire. This project is due for completion in 2013.
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CAMPAIGNS
The Turkish Parliament and the Denial of the Armenian Genocide
On 28 April 2005, after months of preparation, the Turkish Grand National Assembly launched a new initiative to deny the Armenian Genocide, with an attack on the 1916 British Parliamentary Blue Book, The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-17. The
Turkish effort soon turned into a debacle, raising questions about the
judgment of Turkish Parliamentarians when
dealing with Armenian issues.
Talaat Pasha's Report on the Armenian Genocide
In 2008, Murat Bardakci published facsimile documents from Talaat Pasha's private papers, including a untitled statistical report on the Ottoman Armenians between 1914 and 1917. While official Turkish historians tried to undermine serious consideration of these documents, especially the statistical report on Armenians, the Gomidas Institute confirmed their using Ottoman records in Turkish archives - and demonstrated that Talaat's statistics were actually a calculation of how many Armenians had disappeared in the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1917. The statistics represented the official view of the Armenian Genocide and showed that over a million Ottoman Armenians had disappeared between these two dates.
What Happened on 24 April 1915? The Ayash Prisoners
Yusuf Sarinay claims that the Armenians who were arrested in the Ottoman capital on 24 April 1915 had posed a threat to the security of the Ottoman Empire and were taken into protective custody. He suggests that Turkish archives can account for the fate of these prisoners and argues that practically all of them survived until 1918, when they were released. He specifically argues that this was the case with the political prisoners sent to Ayash. Yet, an examination of his work shows that his account is contrived.
Books
![The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-16: Documents Presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon by Viscount Bryce [Uncensored Edition]](/uploads/books/bc54cf0a99183acdd9cf91b0781f0a44.jpg "The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-16: Documents Presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon by Viscount Bryce [Uncensored Edition]")
PRESS
British Parliamentary Blue Book on Armenian Genocide Sent to the Turkish Parliament for a Second Time
22 February 2013
Nora Vosbigian (London)
The Gomidas Institute and the Turkish Human Rights Association remind the Turkish Grand National Assembly that the latter still owes an explanation for its 2005 allegations against the British Parliament and the Armenian Genocide thesis.
Besmirching Armenians
21 March 2013
Anush Melkonian (London)
London was the venue for a conference sponsored by the Federation of
Turkish Associations UK. The event took place in an auditorium hired at
the London School of Economics by the sponsors. The thrust of the
meeting was the vilification of Armenians and the denial of the Armenian
Genocide.
A Ground-Breaking Turkish Conference : The Social and Economic History of Mardin Region, 1838-1938
09 November 2012
Fulya Burke (Mardin)
A truly international and interdisciplinary cutting-edge programme, with the participation of leading Armenian, Assyrian, Turkish and Kurdish scholars.
Closer Cooperation between Armenians and Assyrians
11 December 2012
Executive Board, Assyrian American Association of San Jose
Seyfo Centre USA hosted a series of educational lectures in Los Angeles, San Diego, Turlock and San Jose on the Assyrian-Armenian Genocide and Seyfo in 1915. The lectures were organized with the help of local Assyrian American organizations, and given by the British-Armenian historian, Ara Sarafian (Gomidas Institute, London).
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Seyfo Centre USA hosted a series of educational lectures in Los Angeles, San Diego, Turlock and San Jose on the Assyrian-Armenian Genocide and Seyfo in 1915. The lectures were organized with the help of local Assyrian American organizations, and given by the British-Armenian historian, Ara Sarafian (Gomidas Institute, London).
all press »