Zoryan Institute Announces Special Issue of Genocide Studies and Prevention on Armenian Genocide

The International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (A Division of the Zoryan Institute) announces that the second issue of Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal has just been released. It is a special issue dedicated to the Armenian Genocide.

Professor Israel W. Charny, President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, commented, “There is important new research on the Armenian Genocide in this issue, dealing with gripping particular issues of the period, as well as the larger picture of the Genocide. I am particularly encouraged to see the work of two innovative Turkish scholars together with a major study by senior Armenian scholar Vahakn Dadrian, and contributions from several countries, including Ireland, Denmark, The Netherlands, and the USA. We truly have an international journal.”

“This issue will be not only an important contribution to scholarship on the Armenian genocide, but also to genocide studies in general,” declared Eric Markusen, Consulting Senior Researcher in the Department of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the Danish Institute for International Studies and one of the editors of the journal. “It includes articles by one of the foremost legal scholars of genocide in the world, William Schabas, as well as by distinguished senior scholars and also young researchers on the Armenian genocide.”

George Shirinian, Executive Director of the IIGHRS, observed that “With the recent passage of the bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide in France and the European Union’s upcoming assessment of Turkey’s accession application, there is heightened attention focused on this case, not only in France and Turkey, but also internationally. The timing of this issue could not be more fortuitous, as it provides in-depth historical and legal analytical studies of what has come to be understood as the archetypal case of genocide in modern times.”

The contents of GSP Volume 1, Number 2 are as follows:

• Roger Smith, “The Significance of the Armenian Genocide after Ninety Years.”

• William Schabas, “The ‘Odious Scourge’: Evolving Interpretations of the Crime of Genocide.”

• Vahakn N. Dadrian, “The Agency of “Triggering Mechanisms” as a Factor in the Organization of the Genocide against the Armenians of Kayseri District.”

• Taner Akçam, “The Ottoman Documents and the Genocidal Policies of the Committee for Union and Progress (Ittihat ve Terrakki) toward the Armenians in 1915.”

• Simon Payaslian, “The Destruction of the Armenian Church during the Genocide.”

• Uğor Üngör, “When Persecution Bleeds into Mass Murder: The Processive Nature of Genocide.”

• Matthias Bjørnlund, “When the Cannons Talk, the Diplomats Must Be Silent:” A Danish Diplomat in Constantinople during the Armenian Genocide.”

“GSP is a team effort by some very dedicated scholars in the field and is a product of the editorial board’s years of hard work and preparation,” declared K. M. Greg Sarkissian, GSP Director of Economic Affairs, “In this issue, Alex Alvarez, as editor-in-charge, played a critical role.”

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal was co-founded by the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (A Division of the Zoryan Institute). The journal’s mission is to understand the phenomenon of genocide, create an awareness of it as an ongoing scourge, and promote the necessity of preventing it, for both pragmatic and moral reasons. It is the official journal of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and is published three times a year by the University of Toronto Press. For more information, contact the IIGHRS (Zoryan Institute), admin@genocidestudies.org, Tel: 416-250-9807.