On March 2, AGBU Yerevan welcomed French Armenian historian Raymond Kévorkian for a lecture entitled “Analyzing History and Building the Future: the Example of Genocide Studies.” Kévorkian is a professor of history, member of the National Academy of Sciences in Armenia and former director of the AGBU Nubarian Library in Paris. He is also the author of The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History, published in 2011.

Kévorkian began his lecture by stressing the importance of analyzing history and learning from the past: “A nation that has not analyzed its history is a lost nation. By continuing the struggle for the recognition and condemnation of the genocide and demonstrating its importance in the international arena, we give a reason to put pressure on Turkey.” He also drew parallels between some of the similarities and connections of mass crimes committed during World War I and World War II.

During the lecture, Kévorkian discussed the chauvinism of the Young Turks and Kemalists, and pointed out that the same ideology exists in the governing circles of Turkey today. According to Kévorkian, the Kurds, not the Armenians, are the internal enemy in Turkey today. He sees similarities between the policy that Turkey is carrying out against the Kurds today and the events of the past century. However, since there is no large-scale war in the region today, the possibility of genocide is low.

Kévorkian also referred to the direct connection between the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust in Europe: “17,000 German servicemen were engaged at the Eastern front of World War I. A part of them later enrolled in national-socialist party. The Armenian Genocide by the Young Turks served as a model for Nazi Germany to implement the Holocaust during World War II. Preaching that the Armenian Genocide was justified, the Nazi regime prepared German public opinion for treating the Jewish people in the same way. I believe that these facts should be discussed.”

The speaker also referred to the issue of property of the Armenian people in Turkey, Muslim Armenians and Armenians in Constantinople, as well as the intellectuals and open-minded people, who are today fighting for the democratization of Turkey. He is sure that by getting rid of prejudices, we must believe in their sincerity and interact with them without fear.