Search results

"Denial of Genocides in the Twenty-First Century discusses genocide denial in the twenty-first century by concentrating on communication, social networks, and public spheres of daily life"--

A frayed tapestry : the transformation of Adana in the nineteenth century -- Agitation and paranoia : Adana during the Hamidian period -- Bad blood, thwarted hopes : contesting the public sphere in post-revolutionary Adana -- An imagined uprising : the first wave of massacres -- False protection : the second wave of massacres -- After the fact : humanitarian aid and reactions to the massacres -- Justice on trial : the courts martial and investigation commissions -- The form of justice : the Courts Martial and the Imperial Ottoman Penal Code.

The euphoria of the revolution -- Debating the future of the empire -- The "historical period" and its impact on ethnic groups -- From the streets to the ballots -- From the ballots to the parliament -- The counterrevolution and the "second revolution

This article will analyze the existential threat facing by the Armenians of the beleaguered Republic of Artsakh in the context of three phases of mass violence inflicted on Armenians in the modern period: the Hamidian Massacres of 1894–1896, the Adana Massacres of 1909, and the Armenian Genocide (1915–1923). Despite the teleological differences of these phases, there seems to be three key common denominators connecting all of them together: impunity, lack of humanitarian intervention, and international apathy. After dwelling on the history of impunity, the absence of humanitarian intervention, and international apathy, this article will concentrate on the disastrous repercussions of the closing of the Lachin Corridor and the ensuing humanitarian crisis in the fragile Republic of Artsakh. This article will argue that the three important factors that led to disastrous repercussions for the Armenians in the past are present today, thereby raising the red flag for potential ethnic cleansing.

For decades Armenian studies has been marginalized in Middle Eastern, Turkish, Iranian, and Ottoman studies for political and ideological reasons.1 Ignorance and reluctance to understand the field also have contributed to this marginalization. Some scholars viewed the field as an archaic one, remote from the above-mentioned fields. Whereas some only thought of Armenian studies as part of Caucasian studies, others did not want to be associated with Armenian studies due to its research focus on the Armenian Genocide, concerned that any such association might endanger their access to the Ottoman archives or be tainted as advocating an "Armenian point of view." However, in the past two decades the situation has started to change, as a new generation of young scholars, few in number and mostly based in the West (with a few in Turkey), have embarked on diverse research projects to understand the history and the culture of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Iran, and the Arab Middle East. Although these have only scratched the surface, they should be welcomed as an honest approach to understanding the history and contribution of the Armenians to the region that goes beyond the approach of "good Armenian, bad Armenian" that was endemic to Ottoman and Turkish studies during the Cold War period.2 Although the new trend tends to concentrate on the 19th and early 20th centuries, it should be considered a welcome step.

On 31 July 2018, eighteen representatives of religious minority groups in Turkey, including the Armenians, Greeks, and Syriacs, issued a joint declaration saying: "As religious representatives and directors of different faiths and beliefs who have been residing in our country for centuries, we live out our faiths freely and practice our worship freely according to our traditions." This state-orchestrated declaration contradicts a long history of discrimination suffered by minorities under different late Ottoman and Turkish political regimes. In the last two decades of the Ottoman Empire's rule, Ottoman Armenian, Greek, and Syriac subjects/citizens, among others, suffered extreme depredations and persecutions culminating in ethnic cleansing, genocide, and population exchange. The books under review deal with a grim phase in Ottoman and Turkish history: the Armenian Genocide during World War I and its repercussions during the subsequent republican period.