This book explores and comparatively assesses how Armenians as minorities have been represented in modern Turkey from the twentieth century through to the present day, with a particular focus on the period since the first electoral victory of the AKP (Justice and Development Party) in 2002. It examines how social movements led by intellectuals and activists have challenged the Turkish state and called for democratization, and explores key issues related to Armenian identity. Drawing on new social movements theory, this book sheds light on the dynamics of minority identity politics in contemporary Turkey and highlights the importance of political protest.

This Handbook is the first systematic effort to map the fast-growing phenomenon of memory activism and to delineate a new field of research that lies at the intersection of memory and social movement studies. From Charlottesville to Cape Town, from Santiago to Sydney, we have recently witnessed protesters demanding that symbols of racist or colonial pasts be dismantled and that we talk about histories that have long been silenced. But such events are only the most visible instances of grassroots efforts to influence the meaning of the past in the present. Made up of more than 80 chapters that encapsulate the rich diversity of scholarship and practice of memory activism by assembling different disciplinary traditions, methodological approaches, and empirical evidence from across the globe, this Handbook establishes important questions and their theoretical implications arising from the social, political, and economic reality of memory activism. Memory activism is multifaceted, takes place in a variety of settings, and has diverse outcomes – but it is always crucial to understanding the constitution and transformation of our societies, past and present. This volume will serve as a guide and establish new analytic frameworks for scholars, students, policymakers, journalists, and activists alike.

Social movements have shaped and are shaping modern societies around the globe; this is evident when we look at examples such as the Arab Spring, Spain’s Indignados and the wider Occupy movement. In this volume, experts analyse the ‘classic’ and new social movements from a uniquely global perspective and offer insights in current theoretical discussions on social mobilisation. Chapters are devoted both to the study of continental developments of social movements going back to the nineteenth century and ranging to the present day, and to an emphasis on the transnational dimension of these movements. Interdisciplinary and truly international, this book is an essential text on social movements for historians, political scientists, sociologists, philosophers and social scientists.

Shâmaran: The Neolithic Eternal Mother, Love and the Kurds covers one of the earliest ancient figures of Mother Earth, Shâmaran, of the Zagros Mountains, which is at the crossroads of Iran, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia, and has historically been a melting pot of diverse groups, contributing to the formation of the Kurdish nation. This unique convergence has played a pivotal role in shaping the rich history, culture, language, and the very essence of their homeland, Kurdistan.Shâmaran is the significant religiocultural symbol, serving as a poignant embodiment of this heritage. The book meticulously documents, deconstructs and interprets Shâmaran's myth and her Neolithic image, recognizing their profound significance as manifestations of the Mother Earth Goddess.The study details the philosophy and symbolism of her faith, deciphers the content in the region within the existing pre-Islamic Kurdish religions namely Alevism, Yarsanism, and Êzidism and Kurdish culture as a whole.

This comprehensive analysis of U.S. policy toward the Armenian Question and the Armenian Genocide focuses on the important role big business played in keeping the United States from playing a more active role in opposing the genocide, notwithstanding broad public opinion calling for greater action. Business interests feared antagonizing the Turkish leaders by too much of an intervention on behalf of the Armenians. It surveys the historical evolution of U.S. policy toward the Ottoman Empire since the early nineteenth century and examines the extent to which the missionary community, commercial interests, and international economic and geopolitical competitions shaped U.S. policy during the administrations of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson.

In this pathbreaking study, Pamela Steiner deconstructs the psychological obstacles that have prevented peaceful settlements to longstanding issues. The book re-examines more than 100 years of destructive ethno-religious relations among Armenians, Turks, and Azerbaijanis through the novel lens of collective trauma. The author argues that a focus on embedded, transgenerational collective trauma is essential to achieving more trusting, productive, and stable relationships in this and similar contexts. The book takes a deep dive into history - analysing the traumatic events, examining and positing how they motivated the actions of key players (both victims and perpetrators), and revealing how profoundly these traumas continue to manifest today among the three peoples, stymying healing and inhibiting achievement of a basis for positive change. The author then proposes a bold new approach to “conflict resolution” as a complement to other perspectives, such as power-based analyses and international human rights. Addressing the psychological core of the conflict, the author argues that a focus on embedded collective trauma is essential in this and similar arenas.

First published in 1984 Britain and the Armenian Question examines the direction, changes, and ramifications of British policy towards Armenia during 1915 to 1923. The author has made extensive use of parliamentary papers and those of the Cabinet, Foreign Office, War Office and India office as well as documents produced by pro- Armenian groups during the period. This material is used to build up a detailed and incontrovertible study of British policy, which shows the extent to which it was governed by self-interest even when support for Armenia was its most altruistic. Once Britain secured predominance in the Persian Gulf, she lost all her interest in Armenian territory and the dilemma was posed when the war ended: not only did she no longer need Armenia but also had to decide who to support in Russia. Armenia lost out on all sides and was compelled eventually to adapt herself to the policies of the surrounding countries. This is an interesting read for scholars and researchers of international relations and international political history.

The destruction of the Armenian community in the Ottoman Empire was an unprecedented tragedy. Even amidst the horrors of the First World War, Theodore Roosevelt insisted that it was the greatest crime of the conflict. The wartime mass killing of approximately one million Armenian Christians was the culmination of a series of massacres that Winston Churchill would later recall had roused publics on both sides of the Atlantic and inspired fervent appeals to save the Armenians. Sharing the Burden explains how the Armenian struggle for survival became so entangled with the debate over the international role of the United States as it rose to world power status in the early twentieth century. In doing so, Charlie Laderman provides a fresh perspective on the role of humanitarian intervention in US foreign policy, Anglo-American relations, and the emergence of a new world order after World War I. The United States' responsibility to protect the Armenians was a central preoccupation of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Both American and British leaders proposed an Anglo-American alliance to take joint responsibilities for the Middle East and envisioned a US intervention to secure an independent Armenia as key to the new League of Nations. The Armenian question illustrates how policymakers, missionaries, and the public grappled for the first time with atrocities on this scale. It also reveals the values that animated American society during this pivotal period in the nation's foreign relations. Deepening understanding of the Anglo-American special relationship and its role in reforming global order, Sharing the Burden illuminates the possibilities, limitations, and continued dilemmas of humanitarian intervention in international politics.

This book brings together the Armenian Genocide process and its transgenerational outcome, which are often juxtaposed in existing scholarship, to ask how the Armenian Genocide is conceptualized and placed within diasporic communities. Taking a dual approach to answer this question, Anthonie Holslag studies the cultural expression of violence during the genocidal process itself, and in the aftermath for the victims. By using this approach, this book allows us to see comparatively how genocide in diasporic communities in the Netherlands, London and the US is encapsulated in an historic narrative. It paints a picture of the complexity of genocidal violence itself, but also in its transgenerational and non-spatial consequences, raising new questions of how violence can be perpetuated or interlocked with the discourse and narratives of the victims, and how the violence can be relived.

A number of highly informative books have been written about what is often called the "Armenian Genocide". This book, written by a political scientist, offers a different approach: It doesn’t concentrate on the past; it concentrates on the present, and shows how this past event is perceived and discussed today. The idea is that the arguments deployed in this debate, those which allege that what happened amounts to genocide and those which deny this claim reveal something about cognitive structures of present agents, such as the Turkish government, as well as about the meaning and use of the term "genocide". Analyzing current positions and communication on this historical event thereby helps to illuminate present notions of identity, justice and interethnic coexistence.