Ara Sarafian to Speak About Armenians in the Late Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey

GLENDALE—The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western US’s newly established Western Armenia Committee has invited Ara Sarafian, Director of the Gomidas Institute of London for a series of presentations titled “Armenians in the Late Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey” as an initial step to develop greater awareness of the past, present, and future of that portion of the Armenian Highlands.

These presentations will cover the recent publication by the Gomidas Institute of population statistics (and their relevance) for some 4000 Armenian-populated places in the immediate pre-Genocide period (Armenians in Ottoman Turkey, 1914: A Geographic and Demographic Gazetteer by Sarkis Y. Karayan) and what Armenian life is like in those regions now, specifically in Dikrangerd at Christmas this year when Sarafian last travelled there.

“I’ll relate some of my experiences about my work in the interior provinces since the 1980s in the Kharpert plain, Van, Bitlis and Dikranagerd,” Sarafian excitedly says when discussing his upcoming presentations.

Ara Sarafian is an archival historian specializing in late Ottoman and modern Armenian history. He is also the director of the Gomidas Instititue in London. In recent years, Sarafian has focused on Turkey, where he has engaged Turkey’s official denial of the Armenian Genocide while also building bridges with civil society organizations. His activities have included exhibitions, conferences and commemorative events in Istanbul, Diyarbakir (Dikranagerd) and Bitlis (Paghesh). He has an M.A. in history from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

The Gomidas Institute of London has been at the forefront of Armenian Genocide studies for almost 30 years. At the core of its work are a number of seminal works, as well as other activities engaging the Armenian Genocide and its legacy in modern Turkey. The institute’s publications include the critical edition of the British Parliamentary blue book on the Armenian genocide, “The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-16”, “United States Official Records on the Armenian Genocide”, and Talaat Pasha’s Report on the Armenian genocide, 1917.
Below is a list of the community centers and college campuses hosting Sarafian’s presentations along with their locations.