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UCLA Conf. on Armenian Communities of Northeastern Mediterranean

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  • UCLA Conf. on Armenian Communities of Northeastern Mediterranean

    PRESS RELEASE
    UCLA AEF Chair in Armenian History
    Contact: Prof. Richard Hovannisian
    Tel: 310-825-3375
    Email: [email protected]

    FEBRUARY 26, 2008

    UCLA CONFERENCE FEATURES MUSA DAGH, KESSAB, DORT-YOL

    UCLA-A leap-year international conference on the Armenian communities
    of the Northeastern Mediterranean will take place on the weekend of
    February 29-March 1, 2008. The seventeenth in the UCLA AEF Chair's
    conference series `Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces,' the
    two-day gathering will focus on region extending from Dort-Yol
    (Chork-Marzban) to Musa Dagh and Kessab. Serving as co-sponsors are
    the Mousa Ler Association of California and the Kessab Educational
    Association of Los Angeles, along with the UCLA Centers for Near
    Eastern Studies and European and Eurasian Studies, International
    Institute, and Department of History

    Participants include scholars from Armenia, France, Great Britain,
    Netherlands, Syria, and several institutions in the United States. The
    opening session in Armenian will take place on Friday evening,
    February 29, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Kalaydjian Hall of the
    Armenian Church Western Diocese at 3325 N. Glenoaks Boulevard in
    Burbank (Buena Visa exit from the 5 Golden State Freeway).

    Following an introduction by Professor Richard Hovannisian, AEF Chair
    at UCLA, Dr. Hagop Tcholakian of Aleppo, the author of a three-volume
    history of Kessab, will give an overview of the Armenian communities
    from Beylan to Antioch and Latakia. He will be joined by Dr. Verjine
    Svazlian of the Armenian Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, who
    will discuss the oral tradition of Musa Dagh, and by Ms. Isabel
    Mavian, both of Paris and of Yerevan, who will examine how the people
    of Kessab responded to calamitous situations between 1909 and 1947.

    The all day sessions on the UCLA campus on Saturday, March 1, from 10
    a.m. to 5:00 p.m., will be in English and take place in the
    refurbished Broad (formerly Dickson) Auditorium. The morning program
    will include an illustrated presentation by Ms. Ruth Thomasian of the
    Project SAVE Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts. Dr. Minas Kojayan of
    the AGBU High School in Canoga Park will examine the repeated
    self-defense of Chork-Marzban (Dort-Yol) from 1896 to 1921, with
    Mr. Aram Arkun of New York City making additional comments in
    writing. Dr. Vahram Shemmassian of CSU Northridge will offer an
    overview of the history of Musa Dagh in the nineteenth and twentieth
    centuries.

    The second morning session will feature Dr. Susan Pattie of University
    College London who has chosen the title, `Even Paradise Isn't Perfect:
    Memories of Kessab.' Dr. Hagop Tcholakian will speak on Kessab after
    becoming a diasporan community, following brief readings and
    explanations of the Musa Dagh and Kessab Armenian dialects will be
    given by Dr. Hagop Panossian of the Mousa Ler Association and
    Dr. Hrair Atikian of the Kessab Educational Association.

    In the afternoon sessions, Mrs. Sona Zeitlian will present the
    findings of her study on the oral tradition of Musa Dagh. Mr. Ara
    Soghomonian, Ph.D. student at UCLA who has investigated primary source
    materials on the projected filming of `The Forty Days of Musa Dagh'
    will reveal little known aspects of this case of Hollywood
    censorship. Dr. Keith Watenpaugh of UC Davis will focus on the
    Armenian and Alwaite responses to the Alexandretta crisis in the
    1930s.

    During the final afternoon session, Dr. Herant Katchadourian of
    Stanford University will speak on culture and personality, based on
    his field research in Anjar after the relocation there of most of the
    natives of Musa Dagh. Dr. Shemmassian will conclude the program with a
    sketch of Vakef or Samandagh, the only remaining Armenian village in
    Musa Dagh and in all of Turkey. As in most previous conferences in
    this series, Mr. Richard and Mrs. Anne Elizabeth Elbrecht of Davis,
    California, will mount a related photographic exhibit.

    The conference is open to the public without charge. Parking on the
    UCLA campus will be in Structure 3, entrance from Hilgard Avenue near
    Sunset Boulevard. Daily parking fee: $8.00. For further information,
    please e-mail Professor Hovannisian at [email protected]

    END
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