FRESNO — Dr. Richard Hovannisian, Professor Emeritus of Armenian and Near Eastern History at UCLA, will present a talk on his newly published book, Armenian Communities of the Northeastern Mediterranean: Musa Dagh—Dört Yol—Kessab, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 27, in the University Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, Room 191.
The presentation is the first in the Armenian Studies Program Spring Lecture Series that is supported by the Leon S. Peters Foundation. The Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Association of Fresno is a co-sponsor for this event.
Armenian Communities of the Northeastern Mediterranean focuses on the history, economic, cultural, educational and political developments among the Armenians in Musa Dagh, Dört Yol and Kessab. It also presents the thriving Armenian communities of Beylan and Antioch and the onetime Armenian villages in the Ruj Valley and those near Latakia.
Hovannisian will explore dramatic episodes in Armenian history and the heroism of the rugged and sturdy people who lived and defended these communities and, in the case of Kessab and a single village in Musa Dagh, continue to endure there. The presentation will also examine the fraudulent transfer of the Sanjak of Alexandretta to Turkey in 1939 and the three-month occupation of the area by the al-Nusra front in 2014.
Hovannisian is Professor Emeritus of Armenian and Near Eastern History at UCLA, President’s Fellow at Chapman University and Adjunct Professor of History at the University of Southern California to work with the Shoah Foundation on testimonies of survivors of the Armenian Genocide.
Hovannisian has given more than 2,500 university and community lectures in 48 countries and has participated in numerous teacher workshops and international forums and media events. He has published more than 30 volumes on Armenia History and culture and seven other books on Near Eastern history, society, and culture. In addition, he has edited and contributed to fourteen volumes in the UCLA conference series, “Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces.”
