Laure Marchand and Guillaume Perrier, Noted French Journalists, to Speak at NAASR

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BELMONT, Mass. — Acclaimed journalists Laure Marchand and Guillaume Perrier will present a talk in conjunction with their newly published book, Turkey and the Armenian Ghost: On the Trail of the Genocide, on Thursday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m., at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395 Concord Ave.

The first genocide of the 20th century remains unrecognized and unpunished. Turkey continues to deny the slaughter of over a million Ottoman Armenians in 1915 and the following years.  What sets the Armenian Genocide apart from other mass atrocities is that the country responsible has never officially acknowledged its actions, and no individual has ever been brought to justice.

In Turkey and the Armenian Ghost (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015), with a foreword by Taner Akçam, a translation of the award-winning La Turquie et le fantôme arménien, Laure Marchand (Le Figaro and Le Nouvel Observateur) and Guillaume Perrier (Le Monde and Le Point) visit historic sites and interview politicians, elderly survivors, descendants, authors and activists in a quest for the hidden truth. Taking the reader into remote mountain regions, tiny hamlets, and the homes of traumatized victims of a deadly persecution that continues to this day, they reveal little-known aspects of the history and culture of a people who have been rendered invisible in their ancient homeland.

Seeking to illuminate complex issues of blame and responsibility, guilt and innocence, the authors discuss the roles played in this drama by the “righteous Turks,” the Kurds, the converts, the rebels, and the “leftovers of the sword.” They also describe the struggle to have the genocide officially recognized in Turkey, France, and the United States. Arguing that this giant cover-up has had consequences for Turks as well as for Armenians, the authors point to a society sickened by a century of denial.

 

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