SKOKIE, Ill.—The largest academic conference ever held focusing on the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides concluded on Sat., May 11, after two days of presentations by more than a dozen scholars from Armenia, Australia, England, and across North America.

The event, titled “The Ottoman Turkish Genocides of Anatolian Christians: A Common Case Study,” was organized by the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Illinois, the Assyrian Center for Genocide Studies, and the Asia Minor and Pontos Hellenic Research Center, and was held at the prestigious Illinois Holocaust Museum and Educational Center in Skokie on May 10-11. With more than 120 participants each day, the conference was filled to capacity with an enthusiastic audience.

“There was a great deal of new and interesting research presented during the conference,” said ANC of Illinois activist Greg Bedian. “This conference clearly demonstrated the many shared aspects of the Greek, Assyrian, and Armenian Genocides and...

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WASHINGTON—On May 16, U.S. Congressman David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a statement called on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was visiting the United States, to formally acknowledge and apologize for the Armenian Genocide.

“Two million Armenian men, women, and children living under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire were systematically slaughtered or forced to leave their homeland,” the statement read. “There is no doubt that this heinous, organized assault on the Armenian people constituted the first genocide of the 20^th century. And yet, even today, nearly a hundred years later, the Turkish government continues to ignore the preponderance of evidence and deny a historical reality.”

“As Prime Minister Erdogan works to improve his country’s standing in the Middle East, and develop a stronger relationship with the United States, he should take this opportunity to acknowledge the atrocities that occurred...

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In a welcome move, four members of the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a resolution that advocates a new approach for the pursuit of Armenian rights in Congress, going beyond genocide recognition.

This new bipartisan initiative, introduced by Congressmen David Valadao (R-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), is appropriately titled, “Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Act.”

It is well known that the U.S. government has recognized the Armenian Genocide on several occasions, starting in 1951 by the submission of an official document to the International Court of Justice (World Court), followed by President Ronald Reagan’s Presidential Proclamation of April 22, 1981, and through two House resolutions in 1975 and 1984.

The proposed measure calls on President Obama “to work toward equitable, constructive, and durable Armenian-Turkish relations based upon the Republic of Turkey’s full acknowledgement of the facts and...

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA) hosted a delegation of young NGO professionals from Armenia this spring, sponsored by the Open World exchange program of the U.S. Congress. Five young women and a male facilitator took part in a whirlwind week of meetings and site visits in the Boston area on topics covering NGO management, civic participation, the U.S. legislative process, and civil society.

The group met with Harvard JFK School of Government professors; Tufts University professors; federal, state and municipal legislative/administrative heads; NGO leaders and their organizations; and local Armenian organizations. Highlights included a meeting with Harvard Professor Kenneth Winston that covered anti-corruption. He had provided the group with a case to study beforehand, and during his meeting with them used it to demonstrate corruption issues in government. Another highlight was a panel discussion hosted by the Armenian International Women’s...

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WASHINGTON—As Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan continued his visit to Washington, D.C., the leaders of the Greek-American and Armenian-American communities joined together in formally calling upon the White House to set strict legal conditions on any new trade agreements involving Turkey.

Leaders of the Greek-American and Armenian-American communities have joined together in formally calling upon the White House to set strict legal conditions on any new trade agreements involving Turkey.

The Turkish government has, in the months leading up to this week’s Obama-Erdogan summit, aggressively pushed for Turkey’s inclusion in a far-ranging Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the U.S. and the European Union, as well as for its own bilateral free trade agreement with the United States. The American Hellenic Institute (AHI), the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), in testimony submitted to...

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