"Orphans of the Genocide" to screen at Southern CT University (video)

August 29, 2014 - 09:22 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Conn., will host a screening of the film "Orphans of the Genocide", followed by a question-and-answer session with the film’s writer and director, Bared Maronian, on Tuesday, Sept 9, according to MassisPost.

Orphans of the Genocide is a documentary created by the Armenoid Team that brings to life secret documents pertaining to the systematic Turkification campaigns of hundreds of thousands of Armenian orphans by the Ottoman Empire.

By the end of WWI, over 150,000 Armenian children were left parentless as a direct result of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman authorities. Near East Relief commissioned by the U.S. Congress catered to over 132,000 Armenian orphans alone. Orphans of the Genocide includes a feature interview by Maurice Missak Kelechian, whose findings unveiled the secrets of an orphanage in Antoura near Beirut, Lebanon, where 1,000 Armenian Genocide orphans were being turkified.

Kelechian’s research prompted an article by award-winning journalist Robert Fisk of The Independent magazine. This documentary also includes testimonials from children of Armenian Genocide orphans.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.