ALMA TO HOST BOOK EVENT BY AKCAM
Armenian Weekly
April 3, 2012
WATERTOWN, Mass.-On Sun., April 15, Taner Akcam , the Kaloosdian and
Mugar Professor of Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University, will
discuss new perspectives on the Armenian Genocide based on his latest
book at a program at the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA).
The cover of Taner Akcam's new book The book, The Young Turks'
Crime Against Humanity: the Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
in the Ottoman Empire, has just been released by Princeton University
Press. In it, Akcam introduces new evidence from more than 600 secret
Ottoman documents that demonstrate in unprecedented detail that
the Armenian Genocide resulted from an official effort to engage in
demographic engineering and assimilation in order to rid the Ottoman
Empire of its Christian subjects.
These previously inaccessible documents, from deep inside the
bureaucratic machinery of Ottoman Turkey, along with the author's
expert context and analysis, show how a dying empire embraced genocide
and ethnic cleansing.
The book follows another major study by Akcam released last fall,
Judgment at Istanbul, co-authored with genocide scholar Vahakn
Dadrian, in which the indictments and verdicts of the Turkish Military
Tribunals held at the end of World War I were published in English
for the first time. These tribunals court-marshaled wartime cabinet
ministers, Young Turk Party leaders, and a number of others for crimes
committed against the Armenians.
One of the first scholars of Turkish origin to publicly acknowledge
the Armenian Genocide, Akcam has published a serious of groundbreaking
books and articles on the subject, including A Shameful Act: The
Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility. He also
lectures and participates in conferences throughout the United States
and abroad.
Born in of a small town in northeastern Turkey, Akcam graduated from
the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. Active in the Turkish
student democracy movement, he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years
of imprisonment. After one year he managed to escape to Germany, where
he earned his doctorate from Hanover University, writing a thesis
on Turkish nationalism and the Armenian Genocide. He was associate
professor of history at the University of Minnesota before joining
the faculty at Clark in 2008.
The ALMA program will begin at 2 p.m. on the third floor gallery,
65 Main St., in Watertown, and is free and open to the public. A
reception and book-signing will follow the program.
For more information, contact ALMA by calling (617) 926-0171 or
e-mailing [email protected].
Armenian Weekly
April 3, 2012
WATERTOWN, Mass.-On Sun., April 15, Taner Akcam , the Kaloosdian and
Mugar Professor of Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University, will
discuss new perspectives on the Armenian Genocide based on his latest
book at a program at the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA).
The cover of Taner Akcam's new book The book, The Young Turks'
Crime Against Humanity: the Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
in the Ottoman Empire, has just been released by Princeton University
Press. In it, Akcam introduces new evidence from more than 600 secret
Ottoman documents that demonstrate in unprecedented detail that
the Armenian Genocide resulted from an official effort to engage in
demographic engineering and assimilation in order to rid the Ottoman
Empire of its Christian subjects.
These previously inaccessible documents, from deep inside the
bureaucratic machinery of Ottoman Turkey, along with the author's
expert context and analysis, show how a dying empire embraced genocide
and ethnic cleansing.
The book follows another major study by Akcam released last fall,
Judgment at Istanbul, co-authored with genocide scholar Vahakn
Dadrian, in which the indictments and verdicts of the Turkish Military
Tribunals held at the end of World War I were published in English
for the first time. These tribunals court-marshaled wartime cabinet
ministers, Young Turk Party leaders, and a number of others for crimes
committed against the Armenians.
One of the first scholars of Turkish origin to publicly acknowledge
the Armenian Genocide, Akcam has published a serious of groundbreaking
books and articles on the subject, including A Shameful Act: The
Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility. He also
lectures and participates in conferences throughout the United States
and abroad.
Born in of a small town in northeastern Turkey, Akcam graduated from
the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. Active in the Turkish
student democracy movement, he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years
of imprisonment. After one year he managed to escape to Germany, where
he earned his doctorate from Hanover University, writing a thesis
on Turkish nationalism and the Armenian Genocide. He was associate
professor of history at the University of Minnesota before joining
the faculty at Clark in 2008.
The ALMA program will begin at 2 p.m. on the third floor gallery,
65 Main St., in Watertown, and is free and open to the public. A
reception and book-signing will follow the program.
For more information, contact ALMA by calling (617) 926-0171 or
e-mailing [email protected].