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The tragedy of both genocide in general, and the interconnected Ottoman genocides effecting Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks in particular, is not only the extreme violence inflicted on the targetted group, but the way in which an interwoven social fabric is ripped apart. Neighbours turn on each other or turn a blind eye, and once common life is violently torn into individualised communities made up of victims and aggressors. In a final tragedy, the trauma of this experience, and the fixing of these newly fossilised identities, becomes itself a barrier to justice, reconciliation, and the reweaving of that shared social fabric.
Keghi, 1912. The pupils and faculty of an Armenian school (Source: Dick Maloian Collection, Livonia, Michigan).
Yet this is never the whole story. Genocide represents the worst possible outcome of the social systems humans have created for themselves, but, paradoxically it can also bring out the best of humanity. Not all neighbours enable or collaborate, some refuse, and some actively seek to support victims and survivors. Referred to as ‘The Righteous Among the Nations' in the context of the Holocaust, these stories are essential to recover if a meaningful reconciliation is ever to happen. So this year the Armenian Institute focuses on these stories in its commemoration of the Armenian and related genocides, including those who resisted the demands of the Young Turk regime, as well as those who, until today, have refused the Republic of Turkey’s denialism, asserting instead the reality of the Genocide, and the centrality of Armenians, Assyrians and other people of Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Caucasia, to their ancestral lands.
To recover and commemorate this past and present reality, we are honoured to host a range of speakers and performers from Armenian and related communities.
Programme:
Welcome
Armenian Institute
‘Non-Armenians & Armenian Survival in the Genocide’
Lousine Abrahamyan, Deputy Director of The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation, Yerevan
A music performance by Helen San Vincent, Iranian Assyrian Singer & Folklorist
‘The Struggle Against Assimilation Post-Genocide’
A Message from the Armenian Social Council of North-East Syria
A poetry reading by Nineb Lamassu, Iraqi Assyrian Poet
‘Recognition & Reconciliation’
Osman Baydemir, Former HDP Mayor of Diyarbakir/Dikranagerd & MP for Urfa/Urha
A music performance by Levon Chilingrian, Cypriot Armenian Violinist
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Bios:
Lousine Abrahamyan is the deputy director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation in Yerevan. AGMI manages the Armenian Genocide Memorial and the attached museum and institute, visited by millions of people each year. The Museum-Institute teaches universal lessons to combat hatred, discrimination, prejudice and apathy. It fulfills its missions through permanent, temporary and online exhibitions, rigorous research into different topics related to the Armenian Genocide, enrichment, preservation, digitalization and interpretation of its collections, through educational programs and other initiatives that raise the awareness of the Armenian Genocide, promote the value of human rights and foster recognition and prevention of genocides.
Helen San Vincent is an Assyrian singer and folklorist from Tehran, whose family originate in a mixed Assyrian-Armenian village in Urmia, north-west Iran. Like all Assyrians and Armenians, her family has experienced the bitterness of fear, flight, pillage and genocide. A singer from an early age, Helen sets the works of prominent contemporary Assyrian poets to the melodies of traditional compositions. Her goal is to bring the poems of great Assyrian poets to the Assyrian nation and the world through music.
The Armenian Social Council is a part of the Autonomous Administration of North-East Syria. It aims to integrate and represent Armenians in the region's developing democratic system, and help the community to self-organise and address its problems. The Council especially works with semi-assimilated descendants of Genocide survivors, who face extreme prejudice in society, and makes Armenian language resources and education available.
Nineb Lamassu was born in Iraq’s multicultural city of Kirkuk and at an early age his family was forced to flee Iraq due to political reasons. He is an academic specialising in the documentation of modern Assyrian dialects, cuneiform studies and archaeology. Nineb has published eight poetry collections in his native Assyrian language and some of his poetry has been translated into Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, English, Spanish and Swedish. He is currently based in Iraq where he is working as a peacebuilding advisor.
Osman Baydemir is a Kurdish politician, lawyer and human rights activist from Diyarbakir, Kurdish Amed and Armenian Dickranagerd, where he was mayor from 2004 to 2014. As mayor Osman oversaw the reconstruction of the Sourp Giragos church and led a number of efforts for genocide recognition, dialogue and reconciliation between Kurds and Armenians in Turkey and Armenia. Long subject to threats, intimidation and persecution in Turkey, he now lives in exile in the UK.
Levon Chilingrian (OBE) is a UK-based violinist, composer and teacher whose family left Adana for Cyprus during the Genocide. Born in Nicosia, he began playing violin aged five, taught by his great uncle, before going on to be educated at the Royal College of Music. Levon is the founder of the Chilingrian Quartet and has worked with composers such as John Tavener and Michael Berkeley, as well as The English Quartet and Swedish chamber orchestra Camerata Nordica. He is currently a professor and Chamber Music Artist in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music, and professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
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This event is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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