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ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA
Contact: Taniel Koushakjian
Telephone: (202) 393-3434
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.aaainc.org
PRESS RELEASE
Date: December 13, 2013
ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA HOSTS PANEL DISCUSSION ON `ISLAMIZED
ARMENIANS' IN CALIFORNIA
Hrant Dink & MalatyaHye Foundation Conference Participants Update
Community
PASADENA, CA - Last week, the Armenian Assembly of America's
(Assembly) Western Region Office held a special panel discussion entitled
`Islamized Armenians,' reported the Assembly. Moderated by Armenian
Observer Editor, Professor Osheen Keshishian, panelists Doris Melkonian,
Arda Melkonian and Anoush Suni addressed a standing room only crowd at the
University Club of Pasadena.
`It was a pleasure and honor hearing these three scholars recount their
experiences and present their papers to our community and members,' stated
Assembly Western Region Manager Aline Maksoudian. `The overwhelming amount
of interest in this presentation shows the importance and value of their
work and we look forward to learning more about the progress of their
research in the future,' Maksoudian said.
All three panelists recently returned from Istanbul, Turkey, where they
presented papers at a conference under the same title last month. The
Assembly program began with opening remarks by Assembly Board member Lisa
Kalustian, who thanked everyone for their interest and participation that
evening. Kalustian then introduced an early participant during the
Assembly's founding, Osheen Keshishian, who gave introductory remarks about
the Assembly panelists.
First to take the podium was Doris Melkonian, an alumnus of the Armenian
Assembly's summer internship program in Washington, D.C. (class of 1994).
She shared her paper on `Taken into Muslim Households - Experiences of
Armenian Children during the Genocide' as presented at the Istanbul
conference and spoke about the other Istanbul conference panelists, their
backgrounds and presentations.
Next was Arda Melkonian, also an alumnus of the Armenian Assembly's summer
internship program in Washington, D.C. (class of 1990). She shared with the
California audience her paper on `Gender and Survival Options during the
Armenian Genocide' as presented at the Istanbul conference, retelling the
tales of the Armenian Genocide survivors whose memory is preserved in the
Armenian Genocide oral history survivor memoirs at the University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA).
Finally, Anoush Suni summarized her paper on `The Production of Difference:
the Case of Islamized Armenians.' She also remarked on her experience in
Turkey, and what others shared with her, delving deep into her emotional
state at the time, and spoke at length about her experience living with a
Kurdish family in Turkey, as well as her time in neighboring Armenia.
The Melkonian sisters also showed a slide presentation complete with
pictures from the Istanbul conference, sponsored by the Hrant Dink
Foundation and the MalatyaHye Foundation. Together, this gave the audience
a sense of what it was like to be in Turkey, as a descendant of Armenian
Genocide survivors, talking openly about the Armenian Genocide. A robust
question and answer session with the audience concluded the evening's
program.
The growing discussion of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey is part of a
pattern of breaking taboos, especially over the last eight years, as the
first academic conference on the 1915 Armenian Genocide in Turkey took
place in 2005. Since then, more and more scholarship on the Armenian
Genocide has emerged within Turkey, which has brought with it another
dimension: the discovery of hidden or `Islamized Armenians.'
Biographies for Arda Melkonian, Doris Melkonian and Anoush Suni can be
found here:
http://www.aaainc.org/fileadmin/aaainc/pdf/2013_Q1/Assembly_Melkonian_and_Suni_Bios.pdf
Photos from the event can be found on the Assembly Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151745749731898.1073741840.51331471897&ty pe=1&l=301e93192a
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest
Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and
awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt membership organization.
###
NR# 2013-029
Photo Caption 1: Southern California Armenians pack the room to hear a
panel on `Islamized Armenians.'
Contact: Taniel Koushakjian
Telephone: (202) 393-3434
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.aaainc.org
PRESS RELEASE
Date: December 13, 2013
ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA HOSTS PANEL DISCUSSION ON `ISLAMIZED
ARMENIANS' IN CALIFORNIA
Hrant Dink & MalatyaHye Foundation Conference Participants Update
Community
PASADENA, CA - Last week, the Armenian Assembly of America's
(Assembly) Western Region Office held a special panel discussion entitled
`Islamized Armenians,' reported the Assembly. Moderated by Armenian
Observer Editor, Professor Osheen Keshishian, panelists Doris Melkonian,
Arda Melkonian and Anoush Suni addressed a standing room only crowd at the
University Club of Pasadena.
`It was a pleasure and honor hearing these three scholars recount their
experiences and present their papers to our community and members,' stated
Assembly Western Region Manager Aline Maksoudian. `The overwhelming amount
of interest in this presentation shows the importance and value of their
work and we look forward to learning more about the progress of their
research in the future,' Maksoudian said.
All three panelists recently returned from Istanbul, Turkey, where they
presented papers at a conference under the same title last month. The
Assembly program began with opening remarks by Assembly Board member Lisa
Kalustian, who thanked everyone for their interest and participation that
evening. Kalustian then introduced an early participant during the
Assembly's founding, Osheen Keshishian, who gave introductory remarks about
the Assembly panelists.
First to take the podium was Doris Melkonian, an alumnus of the Armenian
Assembly's summer internship program in Washington, D.C. (class of 1994).
She shared her paper on `Taken into Muslim Households - Experiences of
Armenian Children during the Genocide' as presented at the Istanbul
conference and spoke about the other Istanbul conference panelists, their
backgrounds and presentations.
Next was Arda Melkonian, also an alumnus of the Armenian Assembly's summer
internship program in Washington, D.C. (class of 1990). She shared with the
California audience her paper on `Gender and Survival Options during the
Armenian Genocide' as presented at the Istanbul conference, retelling the
tales of the Armenian Genocide survivors whose memory is preserved in the
Armenian Genocide oral history survivor memoirs at the University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA).
Finally, Anoush Suni summarized her paper on `The Production of Difference:
the Case of Islamized Armenians.' She also remarked on her experience in
Turkey, and what others shared with her, delving deep into her emotional
state at the time, and spoke at length about her experience living with a
Kurdish family in Turkey, as well as her time in neighboring Armenia.
The Melkonian sisters also showed a slide presentation complete with
pictures from the Istanbul conference, sponsored by the Hrant Dink
Foundation and the MalatyaHye Foundation. Together, this gave the audience
a sense of what it was like to be in Turkey, as a descendant of Armenian
Genocide survivors, talking openly about the Armenian Genocide. A robust
question and answer session with the audience concluded the evening's
program.
The growing discussion of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey is part of a
pattern of breaking taboos, especially over the last eight years, as the
first academic conference on the 1915 Armenian Genocide in Turkey took
place in 2005. Since then, more and more scholarship on the Armenian
Genocide has emerged within Turkey, which has brought with it another
dimension: the discovery of hidden or `Islamized Armenians.'
Biographies for Arda Melkonian, Doris Melkonian and Anoush Suni can be
found here:
http://www.aaainc.org/fileadmin/aaainc/pdf/2013_Q1/Assembly_Melkonian_and_Suni_Bios.pdf
Photos from the event can be found on the Assembly Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151745749731898.1073741840.51331471897&ty pe=1&l=301e93192a
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest
Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and
awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt membership organization.
###
NR# 2013-029
Photo Caption 1: Southern California Armenians pack the room to hear a
panel on `Islamized Armenians.'