Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Barlow Der Mugrdechian
Advisor
The much-anticipated documentary, The Armenian Genocide, was aired nationally on PBS stations on Monday, April 17. It was appropriate that the documentary was aired in the week leading to the 91st anniversary commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian Genocide is narrated by Julianna Margulies and was written, directed, and produced by Emmy Award-winning producer Andrew Goldberg of Two Cats Productions, in association with Oregon Public Broadcasting.
The documentary opens with a strong statement affirming the Armenian Genocide of 1915. This is followed by questions such as how was it possible for a massacre of such epic proportions to take place, why did it happen, and why has the Genocide remained one of the greatest untold stories of the century? These questions and more are answered during the 55-minute documentary.
The documentary gives an overview of the Armenians and where they live in the world today. It also gives a brief history of the Armenians, which is very helpful for those who are not familiar with the Armenians or Armenian history.
Expert statements about the Genocide are made by a wide variety of scholars, including Ronald Suny of the University of Chicago, Peter Balakian, author of Black Dog of Fate, Vahakn Dadrian, Director of Genocide Research for the Zoryan Institute, Elizabeth Frierson of Princeton University, Samantha Power, author of A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, and Israel Charny, President, International Association of Genocide Scholars.
The Armenian Genocide accurately discusses the Armenians’ basic desire for equality, social and political, in the Ottoman Empire. The background material on the Armenians in the 19th century is a critical element in elucidating the antecedents of the Genocide. The Armenians, ruled by the Ottoman Turks for several hundred years, had a status of second-class citizens within a discriminatory system.
The documentary also discussed the Hamidian massacres of 1895-1896, which Suny characterized as repressive violence-a weak government exploiting its own population, leading to a culture of violence in which violence becomes justified.
Sociologists Taner Akçam of the University of Minnesota and Fatma Müge Göcek of the University of Michigan give interesting perspectives from the point of view of Turkish academics, who argue that the Genocide is a historical fact.
Fikret Adanir, Professor of History, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany, Tessa Hoffman, Ajarian University, Armenia, and historian Ara Sarafian of the Gomidas Institute, London, provide additional commentary on many issues.
The beginning of World War I was the opportunity for the execution of the plan of Genocide by the Ottoman Turks. Disarming the Armenian soldiers, arresting the Armenian leadership of Con-stantinople on April 14, 1915, and then the deportation, via railroad and on foot, of the general population, leads to the final destruction of the Armenian people on their historic homeland.
Use of never before seen photos and video excerpts adds visual interest to the documentary, as do discussions with Kurdish and Turkish citizens in modern-day Turkey, who speak openly about the stories told to them by their parents and grandparents.
Documentation is provided through reports from the New York Times. American consuls Jessie Benjamin Jackson, Oscar Heizer, and Leslie Davis also described the scenes of horror in their dispatches to U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau.
Vahakn Dadrian discusses the Turkish government denial and the 1919 military war crimes trials, a significant event in Turkish history. The military court scrupulously investigated the charges and concluded that the Committee of Union and Progress was responsible for the organization, conception, and execution of the crime of Genocide.
In what is a puzzling attempt at “balance,” the official Turkish “point of view” (denial of the Armenian Genocide) is expressed by Gunduz Aktan, a former Turkish diplomat.
Turkish historian Halil Berktay concludes the documentary with a statement that when the question [of the Genocide] can be debated or discussed in Turkey, without it being called betrayal, then that will be the solution.
The Armenian Genocide presents an unequivocal position confirming the events of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. It is a welcome addition to the growing body of work, both in film and in book form, which is exploring the Armenian Genocide.
Two Cats Productions is a documentary production company in New York City led by Andrew Goldberg. His television credits include PBS, ABC News, E!, CNN, and countless others. Goldberg and Two Cats’ recent documentary productions include, A Yiddish World Remembered for PBS which won an Emmy in 2002, and The Armenians, A Story of Survival, which aired on PBS stations nationally in 2002 and was awarded the CINE Golden Eagle.
Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is a major provider of programs for the PBS national primetime schedule and American Public Television (APT), producing a variety of freestanding documentary specials and series. The OPB Web site is opb.org.
Major underwriters of The Armenian Genocide were: John and Judy Bedrosian, The Lincy Foundation, The Avanessians Family Foundation, and The Manoogian-Simone Foundation.