NOVEMBER CONFERENCE PART OF UNIVERSITY’S HISTORIC ARMENIAN CITIES AND PROVINCES SERIES
LOS ANGELES–The impressive cultural–social–and commercial history of Iran’s Armenian community of New Julfa (Nor Jugha) will be featured as the next international conference in the UCLA series–"Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces," to be held on the weekend of November 14-16 on the UCLA campus and in Glendale.
Conference organizer–AEF Chair in Modern Armenian History Professor Richard Hovannisian stated–"The conference is very timely because it will be held on the eve of the 400th anniversary of the founding of New Julfa–after the Armenia’s of old Julfa and the Araxes River Valley were forcibly removed by Shah Abass to his new capital at Isfahan. The conference will be one of the first of many worldwide commemorations of the long and vibrant history of this unique Armenian center."
Ten participants will arrive in the US from Armenia and Iran–joining other scholars from Argentina–Belgium–Germany–Great Britain–Kuwait and the Arab Emirates–Spain–and from US institutions.
A unique feature of this conference in the series–is that the opening session on Friday evening–November 14–will take place in Glendale–California–with the cooperation of the Armenian (Iranahay) Society of Los Angeles–and will be conducted entirely in Armenian.
The conference will continue on Saturday and Sunday–November 15-16–in 50 Young Hall on the UCLA campus–with most presentations in English and a few in Armenian.
The New Julfa conference follows twelve consecutive conferences sponsored by the AEF Chair at UCLA focusing on the historic Western Armenian provinces and communities. The full program and details of the November conference will be announced soon.