The Armenian Weekly APRIL 2017 102years on . The Armenian Weekly NOTES REPORT 4 Contributors 19 Building Bridges in Western Armenia 5 Editor’s Desk —By Matthew Karanian COMMENTARY ARTS & LITERATURE 7 ‘The Ottoman Lieutenant’: Another Denialist 23 Hudavendigar—By Gaye Ozpinar ‘Water Diviner’— By Vicken Babkenian and Dr. Panayiotis Diamadis RESEARCH REFLECTION 25 Diaspora Focus: Lebanon—By Hagop Toghramadjian 9 ‘Who in this room is familiar with the Armenian OP-ED Genocide?’—By Perry Giuseppe Rizopoulos 33 Before We Talk about Armenian Genocide Reparations, HISTORY There is Another Accounting Due . —By Henry C. Theriault, Ph.D. 14 Honoring Balaban Hoja: A Hero for Armenian Orphans 41 Commemorating an Ongoing Genocide as an Event —By Dr. Meliné Karakashian of the Past . —By Tatul Sonentz-Papazian 43 The Changing Significance of April 24— By Michael G. Mensoian ON THE COVER: Interior of the Church of St. Gregory of Tigran 49 Collective Calls for Justice in the Face of Denial and Honents in Ani (Photo: Rupen Janbazian) Despotism—By Raffi Sarkissian The Armenian Weekly The Armenian Weekly ENGLISH SECTION THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY The opinions expressed in this April 2017 Editor: Rupen Janbazian (ISSN 0004-2374) newspaper, other than in the editorial column, do not Proofreader: Nayiri Arzoumanian is published weekly by the Hairenik Association, Inc., necessarily reflect the views of Art Director: Gina Poirier 80 Bigelow Ave, THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY. Watertown, MA 02472. ARMENIAN SECTION Manager: Armen Khachatourian Sales Manager: Zovig Kojanian USPS identification statement Editor: Zaven Torikian Periodical postage paid in 546-180 TEL: 617-926-3974 Proofreader: Garbis Zerdelian Boston, MA and additional FAX: 617-926-1750 Armenian mailing offices. Designer: Vanig Torikian, E-MAIL: Revolutionary 3rd Eye Communications This special publication has a Federation [email protected] Eastern Region print run of 10,000 copies. WEB: www.armenianweekly.com USA www.armenianweekly.com APRIL 2017 | THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY | 3 Contributors Vicken Babkenian is an independent researcher Perry Giuseppe Rizopoulos completed his mas- for the Australian Institute for Holocaust and ter’s degree at Columbia University’s, Teachers Genocide Studies. He is the co-author (with College, where he pursued his interest in preserv- Peter Stanley) of Armenia, Australia and the ing and writing multicultural narratives with Great War (2016), which has been shortlisted in such events as the Holocaust and the Armenian two major Australian literary awards. Genocide. Rizopoulos currently works as an adjunct philosophy professor and is enrolled in a Panayiotis Diamadis is an associate lecturer in genocide studies at doctor of education (Ed.D.) program at Columbia University’s the University of Technology in Sydney, Teachers College, in the Interdisciplinary Studies Department. Australia, and vice-president of the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Tatul Sonentz-Papazian is the former editor His research focuses on the genocides of of “The Armenian Review” and director of the Anatolia’s indigenous Christian peoples, as Armenian Revolutionary Federation and First well as the Shoah. Republic of Armenia Archives, based in Watertown, Mass. He has been a contributor to Meliné Karakashian was born in Beirut, the Armenian Weekly for more than 50 years. Lebanon. After immigrating to the United He currently directs the Publications States, she continued her education, obtaining Department of the Armenian Relief Society. a Ph.D. in child clinical psychology and a prac- ticing psychology license. She volunteered to Raffi Sarkissian holds a master of education help victims of the 1988 Armenian earth- from York University, as well as a bachelor of quake, the Karabagh War, and September 11. education from Trent University. He holds She is the recipient of two lecturing Fulbright scholarships to principal’s qualifications and teaching certifi- Yerevan State University. She has authored numerous articles, cations and is the vice-principal of the book chapters, and two books. Komitas: A Psychological Study is Armenian Relief Society Armenian Private her most recent work. School of Toronto. He has conducted extensive research in the field of genocide and human rights education and Matthew Karanian is a lawyer in Pasadena, is the founder and chair of the Sara Corning Centre for Genocide Calif., and the author of Historic Armenia After Education. Sarkissian also serves as a board member of the 100 Years, the first historical guide to Western Armenian Legal Centre for Justice and Human Rights, and is an Armenia. In 2016, the Independent Book occasional part-time professor in the Department of General Publishers Association recognized Historic Education and Liberal Studies at Centennial College. Armenia as the best independently published history book of the year. The Ministry of the Henry C. Theriault earned his Ph.D. in philos- Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia awarded the prestigious ophy in 1999 from the University of Massachu - Arshile Gorky medal to Karanian for his contributions to the arts setts, with a specialization in social and political and for supporting collaboration between Armenia and the philosophy. He is currently a professor in and Armenian Diaspora. chair of the Philosophy Department at Worcester State College, where he has taught Michael Mensoian, J.D./Ph.D, is professor since 1998. Since 2007, he has served as co-edi- emeritus in Middle East and political geogra- tor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal “Genocide Studies and phy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Prevention.” His research focuses on philosophical approaches to and a retired major in the U.S. Army. He writes genocide issues, especially genocide denial, long-term justice, and regularly for the Armenian Weekly. the role of violence against women in genocide. He has lectured widely in the United States and internationally. Hagop Toghramadjian is a senior at Boston Gaye Ozpinar was born and raised in Bursa, College, where he studies political science Turkey. She studied political science at and Arabic. Over the summer of 2015, he Brandeis University and obtained a J.D. from lived in Bourj Hammoud, Lebanon, where he Suffolk University Law School. She has been researched the contents of the article that practicing immigration law in Boston since appears in this issue. He has been awarded a 2006. Ozpinar has volunteered her legal serv- Fulbright Scholarship to study the contribu- ices to assist many asylum seekers from around tions and integration of Syrian-Armenian refugees in Yerevan, the world, including survivors of the Rwandan Genocide. Armenia. 4 | THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY | APRIL 2017 www.armenianweekly.com Editor’s Desk The Armenian APRIL 2017 Weekly 102 Years On . BY RUPEN JANBAZIAN 102 ach year, as April rolls around and the years on . teaching about genocides to future generations 24th approaches, rarely do we stop (see Rizopoulos). and ask ourselves a simple question: Armenians 102 years ago were scattered Why do we still commemorate the throughout the world, but were able to build Armenian Genocide? communities and new lives in countries near and EEarlier this year, a troubing op-ed in a major far (see Toghramadjian). American newspaper recommended that viewers of And, more than a century after the genocide tho recent films covering the time period of the genocide “look began, Turkey’s denial of the Crime continues into the historical record” and “draw their own conclusions” to spark controversy—even in Hollywood (see Babkenian and regarding the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Diamadis)—and prompts descendants of survivors to demand Empire. The author held that neither movie was likely to settle justice (see Sonentz-Papazian) and to rethink our approach as a “the debate over the events of World War I.” nation (see Theriault, Mensoian). The fact that one of the most widely read publications in the The Armenian Genocide may be a significant part of human United States allowed for the genocide to be “debated” on its pages history, but it surely is not stuck in the past. shows why remembering and reminding—and above all demand- Today, it is more relevant than ever. a ing justice for the Armenian Genocide—are so important 102 years later. Rupen Janbazian is the editor of the Armenian Ten years ago, the Armenian Weekly made the decision to pub- Weekly. His writings focus primarily on politics, lish an annual magazine issue dedicated to this Great Crime. human rights, community, literature, and Armenian Today, this magazine continues to gives space to the heroes of the culture. He has reported from Armenia, Artsakh Armenian Genocide (see Karakashian); to the stolen and confis- (Nagorno-Karabagh), Turkey, Canada, the United cated sites (see Karanian, Ozpinar); and to the importance of States, and Western Armenia. www.armenianweekly.com APRIL 2017 | THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY | 5 We would like to thank the following for their generous support Anonymous $5,000 Zarmair & Sona Setrakian (N.J.) $250 Avedis & Houri Boyamian (Mass.) $500 Jenny Donikian (Australia) $250 Nancy Tavitian (Mass.) $500 Aram & Sarine Adishian (N.J.) $250 Ara & Talar Chalian (Penn.) $500 Armen Sarkissian (Ind.) $250 Avik & Haykouhi Demirchian (Mass.) $300 Vahe Doudaklian (Md.) $250 Levon Merjanian (Mass.) $275 Mr. & Mrs. Harry and Mayda Gigian (Mass.) $250 Ara Proudian (N.Y.) $250 ARF Sardarabad gomideyutiun Nurhan and Victoria Becidyan (Mass.) $250 (N.J.) $250 Anonymous $250 Annie Attar (Mich.) $250