By Hasmik Badalian
Daily Bruin Contributor
More than 100 people gathered in Dickson Plaza Auditorium for a
lecture on the denial of the Armenian Genocide Sunday.
The lecture, titled “The Many Faces of Genocide Denial:
The Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide,” was presented by
Israel Charny, professor of psychology and family therapy at Hebrew
University in Israel.
“Genocide is not a subject of the past alone,”
Charny said.
“It is a subject of the present as well. It is a subject
of the future,” he said.
Though his field of study is the Holocaust, Charny focused his
lecture more on the Armenian genocide.
Throughout his lecture, he drew parallels to the Holocaust and
reminded the audience that though more people perished in the
Holocaust, the Armenian genocide was just as inhumane.
On April 24, 1915, the Turkish government of the Ottoman Empire
began systematically exterminating Armenians, and eventually
claimed the lives of an estimated 1.5 million people, according to
U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau. The Turkish government continues
to deny the genocide ever occurred.
Sunday’s lecture, sponsored by the Armenian Students
Association, celebrated the community’s progress in achieving
recognition of the genocide.
“We celebrate today the resolution of 126 scholars that
was posted in the New York Times in April … affirming the
Armenian genocide,” Charny said. “We are making
definite progress.”
Charny discussed the politics behind denying genocide.
“We have had many experiences with efforts of the Turkish
government to deny the genocide. But we are convinced of the
authenticity of the Armenian genocide,” he said.
Anahid Keshishian, an Armenian professor, compared genocide
denial to denying proven scientific findings.
“The results of these findings affect our lives, and you
cannot deny them, for they are facts,” she said.
Ben Charchian, president of ASA, said denying the truth of what
happened breeds ignorance and halts progress.
“I think that the main importance in learning about the
genocide and the methods of denial is to help prevent future
injustices against humanity,” he said.
“You cannot improve as a society if you do not know what
went wrong in the past and aren’t willing to act differently
in the future,” Charchian said.