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HYE SHARZHOOM
Armenian Action
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December 1994
Vol. 16, No. 2 (48)
Supplement to The Collegian
Dickran Kouymjian
_____—_—___ __    ^
enial ofthe Genocide:
The Bernard Lewis Case
Haig and Isabel Berberian
Professor of Armenian Studies
On November 16, 1993, the
prestigious French daily Le Monde
published an interview with Professor Bernard Lewis, arecognized
expert on Islam. It was conducted
by two senior journalists, Jean-
Pierre Langellier and Jean-Pierre
Peroncel-Hugoz. The latter, a long
time correspondent of the newspaper in Egypt, and a specialist on
Christian minorities in the Islamic
Middle East, near the end of the
interview asked Lewis, -Why do
the Turks continue to refuse to rec-
e the Arm^mah Genocide?"
Lewis responded, "You mean to
say recognize the Armenian version of this history?.. .No doubt that
terrible things took place, that many
Armenians — and also Turks —
perished. Butif we speak of a genocide, that implies that mere had
been a deliberate policy, a decision
to systematically annihilate the
Armenian nation. That is very
doubtful. Turkish documents prove
a policy of deportation, but not of
extermination."
There was an immediate and
broad protest to the paper and several very strong letters against Le
Monde and Prof. Lewis were published, one signed by a large number of distinguished French intellectuals who accused Lewis of taking a pro-Turkish and revisionist
position.
Lewis sent a reply to his de
tractors published in Le Monde on
January 1, 1994 in which in five
points he went farther in justifying
his position that no genocide had
occurred. My own letter mailed
that same New Year's day to Le
Monde said in part: "One sees a
newpositionon thissubjectadopted
by the famous historian. If today he
says 'there exists no serious proof
of a decision and a plan by the
Ottoman government trying to exterminate the Armenian people,' it
should be remembered that some
thirty years ago he held a different
position in one of his most impor-
• tant books, The Emergence of Modern Turkey (Oxford University
Press, 1961), where, in the section
devoted to the religious minorities
ofthe Ottoman Empire, he speaks
(p. 350) of' the terrible holocaust of
1916, when a million and half Armenians perished.'"
Almost immediately after
Lewis' "explanation" of his position, Armenian organizations sued
him and Le Monde in a criminal
action. The first sponsored by the
Armenian National Committee
ended on November 18. On October 14, Judge Marthe Didier ruled
that the case couldbeproperly heard
and judged. Not only was this an
initial moral victory, but Judge
Didier ruled: "The genocide against
Armenians in 1915 is a reality and
the denial of genocide in Bernard
Lewis's statements is clearly evident."
Lewis was not present, his at-
See LEWIS, Page a
Oxford Prof Thomson visits CSUF
Katy Becker
Hye Sharzhoom
On Wednesday night, November 16, the Armenian Studies Program was proud to welcome the
distinguished Professor Robert
Thomson to the Alice Peter's Auditorium for an evening of discussion on Dr. Thomson's latest paper, "Armenia and Byzantium: Literary and Cultural Contacts." Educated at Cambridge University, Dr.
Thomson is an expert in Latin,
Greek, Syriac, Hebrew, Georgian,
and Armenia and has been a pioneer of Armenian Studies both at
Harvard, where he was Chair of the
Armenian Studies, and now at Oxford, where he is Calouste
Gulbenkian Professorof Armenian.
Dr. Thomson is the one man
responsible for the great wealth of
ancient Armenian texts which are
now available to the general public
in English. Translations of
Agatangelos, Movses Khorenatsi,
Ghazar Parpetsi, and Tovmas
Ardzruni are example of his work.
Dr. Thomson's latest work on
Byzantium and Armenia covers
more than 1,000 years of history,
and concentrates on the literary
contacts made between Armenia
and Byzantium, or more specifically, the influences of Byzantium
on Armenian literature. These influences were the result of many
years of Armenia's direct contact
with the West. Although the Armenian alphabet was not created until
the 5th century A. D„ Armenians
were not illiterate, they had known
Armenian Students Organization executive members for 1994-1995.
Left to right: Tina
Attashian,Vice-
President;Marine
Pogosian,Secretary;
Harout Zekian, Treasurer;
Mkrtich Pogosian, President.
The Armenian Students
Organization has been active this year in a number
of areas, co-sponsoring lectures and programs with the
Armenian Studies Program.
A series of successful bake
sales has raised funds for
activites.
For more about this year's
Armenian Students Organization, see the ASO corner on page 6.
Dickran Kouymjian (I) with Robert Thomson
Greek and Syriac for centuries and
had participated in Greek pagan
culture. Unfortunately, nothing has
survived of these Armenian writings in Greek.
However, soon after Armenia
became Christianized, and
Mashtots created the alphabet, he
organized teams of students to go
to Byzantium to learn Greek and
Syriac in order for them to be able
to translate works from the West
into the new Armenian script which
had a strong Syriac influence. Biblical writings were the first area of
concern for the Armenian scholars
and they took their first transla
tions of the Bible from the Syrians.
Soon afterward, Armenian
writings began to be produced that
told of the fact that it was common
for Armenians to travel to
Byzantium in order to participate
in the "streams of wisdom" which
flowed from Greek learning. Unsatisfied with the Syriac translations of the Bible, Armenians began to look to the Greek texts for
further illumination. However, although Armenians had great respect for both the religious and
secular teachings of he Greeks, and
See THOMSON, Page 8
Inside Hye Sharzhoom
Katch Vartan p. 2
Dateline Armenia p. 3
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Interview. p. 5
ASO Corner. p. 5
SAS Conference p. 6
Armenian Page p. 7