On November 2 the first international conference on the Armenian Genocide kicked off in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The conference entitled ‘Commemorating 100 years since the Armenian Genocide’ has been organized and hosted by the Open University of Israel, Department of Sociology, Political Science and Communication.
The conference is organized by professors Dr. Yair Auron (Chairman), Dr. Isaac Lubelsky and Dr. Denis Charbit, who teach a course on Genocide Studies at Open University of Israel.
At the opening ceremony of the conference the President of the Open University Prof. Jacob (Kobi) Metzer, Dr. Auron and Dr. Lubelsky delivered greeting speeches. They spoke about Israel’s failure to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and emphasized the need for recognition.
“It is my dream that Israel recognizes the Armenian Genocide. It won’t happen soon but it eventually will… For almost 30 years I have been struggling to attend this event and as it is happening today, a part of my dream is coming true. We are planning to make this an annual conference from now on,” said Auron.
“The aim of the conference was to openly discuss the issue of the Armenian Genocide with academicians… Overall the Open University has a serious attitude towards the issue, that’s why this conference is important to us,” Dr. Lubelsky noted. The conference also showcased an exhibit entitled ‘Jewish Voices’ dedicated to the Armenian Genocide, presenting collections from the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.
The opening ceremony was made remarkable by an Israeli choir performing three songs under the baton of Tomer Heiseg for the audience. One of the songs was famous Armenian piece Erebuni Yerevan sung in the Armenian language. At the end of the first day ‘Ararat’, a film by Atom Egoyan and Starring Charles Aznavour about the Armenian Genocide was screened.
The conference will run through November 4. The participants include Jewish scholars as well as scholars invited from abroad (among them Turkish scholars as well). On November 3 a meeting of conference participants with President of Israel Reuben Rivlin is scheduled.
