Vartan Matiossian (Ph.D. in History, Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia). Armenian Studies scholar, translator, editor, and educator. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay (1964). Lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1973-2000) and in the state of New Jersey (United States, since 2000). Author of nine books (five in Armenian, one in Spanish, and three in English) and translator of twenty-two volumes into Spanish and English.
This paper discusses the oft-raised issue of a monument presumably built in 1919 on the first com... more This paper discusses the oft-raised issue of a monument presumably built in 1919 on the first commemoration of the Armenian genocide in Constantinople (nowadays Istanbul) and destroyed after the Kemalist occupation in 1922. Through an extensive and exhaustive search through the Armenian press of Constantinople in the period 1919-1922, the paper shows that no references exist about the construction of such a monument, except for a fundraiser started in April 1922 for its construction and discontinued soon after.
Two members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, French Armenian writer Vazken Shushanian (1... more Two members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, French Armenian writer Vazken Shushanian (1903-1941) and Simon Vratzian (1882-1969), last prime minister of the first independent Republic of Armenia, corresponded actively in the period 1927-1931. Only a set of 21 letters written by Shushanian has reached us, along with Vratzian’s response to a questionnaire submitted by him. The letters are kept in the archives of the Hamazkayin Cultural Society in Beirut. The letters, which are published with a detailed introduction and endnotes, offer interesting glimpses about literary and political views, as well as Shushanian’s personal struggle to make ends meet while finishing his studies. The letters also offer many details about the early activities of both correspondents on behalf of the Society of Friends of Martyred Writers, founded in 1929 to undertake the publication of the works, both unpublished and/or scattered in the press, of writers murdered during the Armenian genocide.
This paper discusses the oft-raised issue of a monument presumably built in 1919 on the first com... more This paper discusses the oft-raised issue of a monument presumably built in 1919 on the first commemoration of the Armenian genocide in Constantinople (nowadays Istanbul) and destroyed after the Kemalist occupation in 1922. Through an extensive and exhaustive search through the Armenian press of Constantinople in the period 1919-1922, the paper shows that no references exist about the construction of such a monument, except for a fundraiser started in April 1922 for its construction and discontinued soon after.
Two members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, French Armenian writer Vazken Shushanian (1... more Two members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, French Armenian writer Vazken Shushanian (1903-1941) and Simon Vratzian (1882-1969), last prime minister of the first independent Republic of Armenia, corresponded actively in the period 1927-1931. Only a set of 21 letters written by Shushanian has reached us, along with Vratzian’s response to a questionnaire submitted by him. The letters are kept in the archives of the Hamazkayin Cultural Society in Beirut. The letters, which are published with a detailed introduction and endnotes, offer interesting glimpses about literary and political views, as well as Shushanian’s personal struggle to make ends meet while finishing his studies. The letters also offer many details about the early activities of both correspondents on behalf of the Society of Friends of Martyred Writers, founded in 1929 to undertake the publication of the works, both unpublished and/or scattered in the press, of writers murdered during the Armenian genocide.
As the series editor of Armenians in the Modern and the Early Modern World (I.B. Tauris, an Impr... more As the series editor of Armenians in the Modern and the Early Modern World (I.B. Tauris, an Imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing UK, it gives me great pleasure to announce the publication of the inaugural book in the series by Dr. Vartan Matiossian titled 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞: 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 ‘𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐳 𝐘𝐞𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧’. Below you will find the Press Release as well as the image of the book.
This book, the result of ten years of painstaking research, explores the genealogy of the concept of 'Medz Yeghern' ('Great Crime'), the widely used Armenian term for the annihilation of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire between the years 1915-1923. Ascribing the right definition to the crime, widely accepted by historians as one of the classical cases of genocide in the 20th century, has been a source of contention and controversy in international politics. Vartan Matiossian has tackled a subject both omitted and misinterpreted in the historiography, taking a combined historical, linguistic, literary, and political perspective. He has drawn upon an impressive collection of Armenian literary and periodical sources, as well as other European languages in order to trace the development of the concepts pertaining to mass killing and genocide of Armenians from the ancient to the modern periods. Beginning with an analysis of the term yeghern itself, he shows how its use evolved along with the emergence of the term genocide in 1944 and the Armenian struggle for international recognition of the crime in the face of Turkish protest. The book is an insightful exploration of the politics of naming a catastrophic historical event, with a careful analysis of the use and abuse of Medz Yeghern, by the Vatican, Turkey, and the United States over the past two decades and its repercussions in the Armenian realm.
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This book, the result of ten years of painstaking research, explores the genealogy of the concept of 'Medz Yeghern' ('Great Crime'), the widely used Armenian term for the annihilation of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire between the years 1915-1923. Ascribing the right definition to the crime, widely accepted by historians as one of the classical cases of genocide in the 20th century, has been a source of contention and controversy in international politics. Vartan Matiossian has tackled a subject both omitted and misinterpreted in the historiography, taking a combined historical, linguistic, literary, and political perspective. He has drawn upon an impressive collection of Armenian literary and periodical sources, as well as other European languages in order to trace the development of the concepts pertaining to mass killing and genocide of Armenians from the ancient to the modern periods. Beginning with an analysis of the term yeghern itself, he shows how its use evolved along with the emergence of the term genocide in 1944 and the Armenian struggle for international recognition of the crime in the face of Turkish protest. The book is an insightful exploration of the politics of naming a catastrophic historical event, with a careful analysis of the use and abuse of Medz Yeghern, by the Vatican, Turkey, and the United States over the past two decades and its repercussions in the Armenian realm.