On Wednesday, April 10, 2024, Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Berberian Coordinator of the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State, gave a talk on “The Armenian Genocide: 1915-1923,” at Madera Community College.

The event was organized by Dr. Hagop Ohanessian of the Madera Community College History Department and the “Our Story” History Club. Nearly fifty people were in attendance including Madera Community College President Dr. Angel Reyna, faculty, staff, and students, who learned about the atrocities perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

Prof. Der Mugrdechian started his presentation by giving an overview on the facts of the Genocide by detailing that 1.5 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed between 1915 and 1923. He also explained that nearly 250 Armenian intellectuals were arrested on April 24, marking the day of remembrance of the Armenian Genocide worldwide.

Prof. Der Mugrdechian also discussed the coining of the word “genocide” by Jewish Holocaust survival Raphael Lemkin and its definition as defined explicitly in the United Nation’s Convention on the Prevention of Genocide. Lemkin argued that genocide was not only the “physical extermination of a national or religious group, but also its national, spiritual, and cultural destruction.”

Part of the presentation focused on the Committee of Union Progress and their ideology of Pan-Turkism as the underpinning of the Armenian Genocide. Prof. Der Mugrdechian argued that this belief called for “a unified Turkish empire stretching to Central Asia…the Armenian population of the Eastern Provinces constituted a significant obstacle to the achievement of Pan-Turkism.” He also focused on the methodology of mass deportations as a means of carrying out the Genocide. He also discussed the forced relocations and death marches beginning in the Spring and Summer of 1915.

“Trains were used during the Armenian Genocide to transport deportees to concentration camps,” said Prof. Der Mugrdechian. In addition, he added that forced conversions of Armenians to Islam took place during the death marches. He noted that technological advances such as telegrams played an important role in the “facilitation and coordination between the capital and the provinces [to carry forth the deportations and the mass killing of the Armenian civilian population].”

Prof. Der Mugrdechian emphasized the economic dimensions of the Armenian Genocide. Armenian bank ac-counts were confiscated as well as the “liquidation and selling of Armenian property.” He argued that the Armenian Genocide allowed for “the mass transfer of goods and assets…of the Armenians to the Turks.”

Prof. Der Mugrdechian focused on the ample archival material available to study the Genocide, including American, European, Armenian, and Ottoman resources. The most notable American firsthand account came from Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, who served as the United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

Ambassador Morgenthau highlights the horror of the Genocide in his memoir titled Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story. Prof. Der Mugrdechian then spoke about the consequences to the Genocide on Armenian culture, literature, language, and denial “as a means of completing the Genocide.”

Prof. Der Mugrdechian concluded his presentation by looking at memories of the Genocide and how they are represented in Armenia and in the diaspora. He focused on the memorial monuments around the world and in Armenia to remember, educate, and commemorate the 1.5 martyred saints of the Armenian Genocide.

The History Department and “Our Story” History Club thanked Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian for shedding light on the importance of Genocide studies to the campus community, and in particular the Armenian Genocide.