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Armenian Genocide Film Producer Andrew Goldberg Speaks ToKurdishMedi

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  • Armenian Genocide Film Producer Andrew Goldberg Speaks ToKurdishMedi

    ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FILM PRODUCER ANDREW GOLDBERG SPEAKS TO KURDISHMEDIA.COM

    Kurdish Media
    May 14 2006

    New York (KurdishMedia.com) 14 May 2006: On April 17, PBS aired
    The Armenian Genocide, a one hour documentary written, directed and
    produced by Emmy Award-winning producer Andrew Goldberg of Two Cats
    Productions, in association with Oregon Public Broadcasting. Using a
    variety of sources, this film tells the story of the nearly complete
    elimination of the Armenian population of Anatolia at the beginning
    of the 20th century. While remembrance of these events, known as the
    Armenian Genocide, is a major component of modern Armenian identity,
    the Turkish government and many Turkish groups actively seek to
    convince the world that the Armenian Genocide never occurred and work
    tirelessly to prevent any discussion of the mass murder.

    Following the airing of the documentary, certain PBS affiliates
    decided to air a panel discussion featuring two historians who
    dispute that the Armenian Genocide ever occurred, drawing protest
    from Armenian-Americans and others. Andrew Goldberg took the time
    to speak to KurdishMedia.com regarding his experiences in producing
    the documentary, which included having staff travel to Turkey and
    Kurdistan, and his response to the controversies generated by his work.

    Can you please explain what motivated you to make a documentary on
    the Armenian Genocide? What do you want viewers to take away from
    your documentary?

    I am not an activist about this issue, I am journalist. As
    a journalist, my job is to report on issues that are important for
    people to know. I feel the Genocide is far too underreported and is far
    too important to be overlooked. I also felt like the Armenians were
    trying to get people to listen to their story, to their pain, but no
    one would. So I wanted to help that effort by simply telling the truth.

    Please describe the different types of research that went into
    making this documentary. How long did it take to gather sufficient
    information?

    I had done other work on the Armenians before this project so we had a
    running start... but the whole project took about two years. Research
    was done on the internet and with both new and old books, and on the
    telephone. Photos and old video came mostly from archives around the
    world. We dealt with archives in Russia, Turkey, the US, England,
    France, Germany, Yugoslavia and others. We also relied heavily on
    our scholars - Peter Balakian, Ron Suny and Fatma Muge Gocek.

    Did you face any difficulties doing firsthand research in Turkey?

    What, if any precautions did you staff take?

    We generally traveled undercover. Still, our "tourist" camera
    crews were stopped several times by the army and police. It was very
    frustrating. We also hired a Kurdish cameraman and producer to travel
    to eastern Turkey and Kurdistan. He went there *very* undercover and
    asked that we not disclose his name for fear of Turkish reprisal.

    We know that you conducted a few Kurdish-language interviews for this
    film. Was it easy traveling through Kurdistan and finding people able
    and willing to speak on the Armenian Genocide? Was there anything
    unique about the Kurdish perspective on these events?

    See above question for the first half of this and yes, it is Kurdistan
    and must be called that! The Kurdish voice is tremendously important
    because they tell the truth about the events and are not wrapped up
    the nationalism of many Turkish people - a nationalism that prevents
    them from telling the truth. Kurds do not suffer from denial, which
    I believe is a psychological issue for many Turks, and not just an
    issue of what people "say in public."

    How do you feel about the current state of scholarship and awareness
    on the Armenian Genocide?

    Far too little is done. And far too much is done by Armenians only.

    Also, the work in my opinion has too much of an activist tone. Others
    need to help the issue. The community can be very closed and often
    are not inclusive of others. This needs to be overcome so other
    scholars enter the field. Also, the amount of photos and film around
    the world is immense. This is first hand witness material to the
    events in ways that paper documents can never equal - for example,
    we have Raphael Lemkin actually saying he invented the word genocide
    because of what happened to the Armenians. That is why this material
    is so important. Philanthropists need to give millions and millions
    more to this effort.

    Are you surprised by the controversy generated by your documentary?

    What kind of feedback have you received from viewers and cultural
    and political organizations with respect to this controversy?

    The controversy with the Armenians themselves had to do not only with
    my show but with the after panel. I was not at all surprised that
    that happened over the after panel. It was kind of obvious (to me
    at least) that that would be the response from the Armenians. The
    Turkish reaction on the other hand was less public but they did
    aggressively go after PBS to stop the film from showing. This effort
    included getting several congressmen to ask PBS to drop my film from
    the schedule. This is typical Turkish government and nationalist
    behavior, though, so it did not surprise me either.

    Do you have any future plans to further explore the Armenian Genocide
    or other historical events in the region?

    No. This was a very upsetting experience for me. Seeing PBS get so
    incredibly assaulted by the whole world - justified or not -- was very
    upsetting to watch. Seeing congressmen try to stop PBS from showing
    either the film or the panel, regardless of the value of either,
    reminded me of Turkey where government controls the media.

    Terrifying. For the record, I never want to live in a country where
    the government tells the press what to do. The people can always
    speak out instead. Our government cannot even build a sidewalk and
    yet we are take seriously their nonsensical efforts at censorship?

    Again, no matter how offensive something is - the government cannot
    be the ones to tell us what we can and cannot say. It must only be
    the people and the viewers.

    Going on, being attacked, often with fabrications, by nationalists in
    the Armenian press in California was very upsetting and uncalled for.

    In my opinion, it is press like this that only harms efforts at
    recognition. It divides rather than unites and prevents any consistent
    voice to speak for the issues.

    Furthermore, raising money was nearly impossible. I was told by one of
    our funders that a man named Walter Karabian actually suggested that
    supporting our efforts was a mistake! But we were able to finish the
    film and we are very, very proud of what we achieved for journalism
    and for human rights.

    As for the Armenian organizations such as ANCA (Armenian National
    Committee) and the Armenian Assembly? We tried to work with them
    many times but we found them to be entirely non-responsive. The AGBU
    [Armenian General Benevolent Union] on the other hand was amazing,
    outstanding and incredible. They were truly wonderful to work with
    and I wish I had such talented and generous people to work with on
    all our projects.

    We wish you the best of luck with this and other efforts. Thank you
    for your time.

    Thank you!

    http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=12344
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