Nothing gives me more joy or hope than when I find someone who acts out of principle as opposed to self-interest. This is true of my good friend, Turkish historian Taner Akcam, whose books you can buy here.
Same goes for these brave souls who risk their lives on a daily basis by speaking out under Turkey’s oppressive (it’s illegal to speak of the Armenian genocide in Turkey) and racist deep state.
Lawyer Eren Keskin greeted the audience, numbering around 150,and said: "Today is the 24th of April, the 94th anniversary of the arrests in Istanbul which started the Armenian Genocide in 1915." Sheadded, "The official history [in Turkey] denies the genocide, but weknow what happened and we believe it's important to tell people thetruth. So, today we will commemorate the most brilliant intellectualsof the Ottoman Armenians: the poets, writers, physicians, lawyers,and members of parliament, who were taken away on the 24th of April,1915 and murdered." The Bosphorus Performance Arts Group presented the life stories and poems of three great Armenian poets who perished during thegenocide-Roupen Sevag, Siamanto, and Taniel Varoujan-as well as thelife and work of writer, lawyer, and parliamentary member KrikorZohrab, who was also killed during the genocide. The presentation wasaccompanied by photographs projected onto a screen and Armenian folkmusic played in the background.
