Vahagn Dadaryan's book on Armenian Genocide to be published in Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - "Around 4 weeks ago I got a call from one of Turkish Universities. I was informed that they plan to publish my book, featuring judicial process over genocide perpetrators, in Turkish," a historian and genocide studies expert Vahagn Dadaryan , said at the meeting with ESU students, adding, "It's unbelievable, for 80 years Turkey has been denying the genocide, and suddenly Istanbul decided to publish my book in Turkish."



During the lecture Dadaryan drew parallels between Armenian Genocide and Holocaust, analyzing the differences between two crimes against humanity.



"Firstly, Armenians were eliminated in their native lands; Jewish people were eliminated in Europe. Secondly, Armenian people's killings were based on religious motives as opposed to those of Jewish people."



"Turkey has 3 reasons for its refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide. First, Turkish youth is unaware of true history, as Turkish books never mention the Armenian Genocide as a part of Turkish history. Second, alterations would have to be made to all historical editions published within the last 90 years. Third, if Turkey recognizes the Genocide, how will it explain the reason for having been negating it over 90 years? Turks will turn out to have been lying all these years. Turkish students today have no idea that Kemalist government is based on the Armenian genocide."



"Auction of Souls" movie created in 1918 was screened after the lecture. The film revealed young girl's survival story and giving detailed account of the terrible experiences she endured during the Armenian Genocide.



The silent movie was based on the published memoirs of a survivor. More than 10.000 Armenian residents of Southern California, including 200 deported children, participated in the scenes. The film is especially remarkable due to the fact that Arshaluys Mardiganian, the author of the original book in Armenian, played the leading role.



In 1918 the movie was screened in USA and a number of European countries.