Blog Archives
Dr. Richard Hovannisian to Present ‘The Smyrna Catastrophe, 1922-2013’ at Boca Raton’s St. David Armenian Church
The Smyrna Catastrophe, 1922-2013
An Illustrated Lecture by
Dr. Richard Hovannisian
Co-sponsorsed by St. David Armenian Church
&
The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
September, 2012 marked the 90th anniversary of the Smyrna catastrophe when much of the city, the second largest in the Ottoman Empire, was destroyed by fire four days after the Turkish army had occupied the city. The calamity, a part of the final phase of the Armenian Genocide, marked the end of a strong Christian presence in the historic Aegean coastal regions and turned hundreds of thousands of Greeks and Armenians into refugees.
In this illustrated lecture, Prof. Richard Hovannisian will discuss the important role of Smyrna (Izmir) in modern Armenian history and the inferno that engulfed the city in September, 1922. Hovannisian is the editor of the recently published Armenian Smyrna/Izmir, the eleventh volume of proceedings from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) conference series “Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces.” He also traveled to Izmir and environs in June, 2012 as the historian-guide for a NAASR Armenian Heritage Tour led by Armen Aroyan.
Professor Hovannisian was the first holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA. He currently serves as Distinguished Chancellor’s Fellow at Chapman University in Orange County, CA and Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Armenia on the Road to Independence, the four-volume history The Republic of Armenia, and has edited and contributed to more than twenty-five books including The Armenian Genocide in Perspective; The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times; Remembrance and Denial; Looking Backward, Moving Forward; and The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies.
TIME & LOCATION
WHEN: Sunday, March 3, 2013 at 1:00 PM
WHERE: St. David Armenian Church, 2300 Yamato Rd., Boca Raton, FL 33431
The event is free and open to the public. A book signing of Armenian Smyrna/Izmir will immediately follow the lecture. For more information please contact St. David Armenian Church at (561) 994-2335 or stdavidarmchurch@bellsouth.net, or NAASR at 617-489-1610 or hq@naasr.org.
Petition Launched on White House Website Calling on Government of Turkey to Open Border with Armenia for Syrian Refugees
By Taniel Koushakjian
FLArmenians Political Contributor
Over the course of the last week, an Internet petition launched on the White House website has stirred emotions and reignited the debate surrounding Turkey’s nearly 20-year blockade of Armenia. In September 2011, the Obama administration launched “We the People” an online platform whereby American citizens can petition their government, a right enshrined in the First Amendment of US Constitution. According to the terms, a petition must reach 25,000 signatures within 30 days of its launch in order for it to receive a response from the administration. On January 15, the White House raised the signature threshold to 100,000 signatures. However, the new requirement applies only to new petitions and does not affect this petition.
[Click here to read the petition.]
The petition says that “There are 200,000 ethnic Armenians living in Syria and most of them want to escape to Armenia where they can feel safe, comfortable, find a job, a place to live and go to schools” and that the “road from Syria to Armenia goes through Turkey which closed its border with Armenia in 1993.” It concludes, “There shouldn’t be closed borders in the 21-st century.”
The petition was launched on January 5 and, as of this writing, has garnered over 500 signatures, five of which hail from Florida. The petition was initiated by Heritage Party activist Daniel Ioannisian in Armenia, ArmeniaNow first reported. There is no stipulation that the petition organizer be a US citizen, according to the Terms of Participation of the “We the People” platform.
Last year, Florida Armenians held events in Boca Raton and Hollywood, raising thousands of dollars to assist in the Syrian-Armenian relief effort.
According to the ArmeniaNow report, Petros Gasparian, who fled to Armenia amid intense fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo, welcomes the initiative. He says that many want to drive to Armenia, but avoid the long travel through Georgia, which is also complicated by the need to get an extra visa and other difficulties.
“The road is very long and unfamiliar, while it’s only half a day’s drive from Aleppo to Yerevan [it takes about 35 hours to reach Armenia from Aleppo by way of Georgia]. That would be easy to all of us, but I’m not sure Turkey would display such an attitude,” Gasparian told ArmeniaNow.
Syria’s largest city, Aleppo is home to 80,000 ethnic Armenians, most descendants of survivors of the 1915 Turkish genocide of Christian Armenians. Today, thousands of Armenians have fled Syria, many seeking refuge in Armenia. According to immigration officials in Yerevan over 6,000 Syrian-Armenians have applied for citizenship in Armenia.
As Turkey’s failed policy to blockade Christian Armenia enters its second decade, the remnants of the Soviet Union continue to linger in the South Caucasus as the last iron curtain hangs over this remote but volatile region. Support for Armenian-Turkish rapprochement reached an all time high in 2009 when Armenia and Turkey signed Protocols to establish diplomatic relations. However, the accords stalled in the Turkish parliament and still await ratification.
Others hope, however, that modern-day Turkey can play a leadership role in the region and in the Syrian conflict in particular. Perhaps in all of the turmoil in the Middle East the Turkish government can display such leadership and open the border with Armenia, at least for refugees. Although a relatively small step in this context, it has the potential to move the ball forward in a larger one: Armenian-Turkish relations. When US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Armenia in July 2010, she was asked about the state of Armenian-Turkish relations and the next step in the process. She replied, “The ball is in the other [Turkey’s] court.”
Taniel Koushakjian is an independent political commentator for Florida Armenians. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, and is currently enrolled at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management in Washington, D.C. Follow him on Twitter @Taniel_Shant.
*This story was updated on January 16, 2013.
Happy Thanksgiving, Support Armenia Fund Telethon 2012
Florida Armenians wishes a warm and Happy Thanksgiving to the entire Florida Armenian community. On this special occasion, we would like you to pause with us and give thanks for all that God has given us and the opportunities we have today. We give thanks for our families with whom we get to share this important time of year and remember our brothers and sister in Armenia who may not be as fortunate as us.
As we reflect and give our thanks here in America, Florida Armenians encourages you to watch and support the 15th annual Armenia Fund Telethon 2012. The telethon will be webcast live all day on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 22 from 11:00 am – 11:00 pm. It is important that we keep our homeland and her citizens in our hearts and minds this and every holiday season. To watch the Armenia Fund Telethon, click on the link above or the image below.
Florida Armenians 