The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute of the National Academy of Sciences will host a conference entitled ‘The Caucasusian Frontline of the First World War: Genocide, Refugees and Humanitarian Assistance’, in Yerevan, Armenia.
The conference will be held on the 20th-22nd April 2014.
The aim of the conference is “to study the unknown historical facts of military operations in the Caucasus Front of WWI; the existence of refugees in the regions of military action; and the implementation of genocide against the Armenian population on the territories of the former Ottoman and Russian Empires during the war”.
“On the pretext of the War the Ottoman Government committed the planned Genocide against the Armenian population not only in Western Armenia and throughout the Ottoman Empire, but also in the neighboring regions of Caucasus and North Iran. The Greek, Assyrian and Yezidi population of the region were also decimated”.
Refugees fleeing Ottoman forces joined Russian troops which were withdrawing. As a result, a number of Russian and Armenian humanitarian organisations were active in aiding refugees, including: the Union of the Cities of Russia, the Russian Red Cross, Tatyaninsky Committee, the Armenian and Syrian Relief Committee.
The topics to be discussed at the conference include:
• War and Genocide
• Russian military personnel as witnesses of Genocide
• Military photographers and footage of the Caucasus frontline
• War and the science: archaeological and ethnographical studies in Armenia during the war
• Crimes against humanity and civilisation
• Status and faith of prisoners of war and the missing
• The war and volunteer movement
• Humanitarian assistance and refugees
• Charity on the Caucasus Front
Applications for participation in the conference must be submitted by 1st December 2013. They should outline the topic you wish to focus on and should be no more than 3000 characters. Applications should be emailed to the organisational committee of the conference: WWI-conference@genocide-museum.am; telephone +374 10 39 09 81.
The application should include a short biography of the author, outlining his/her workplace, academic qualifications, publications and contact details (email and telephone).
“The quality and relevance of the applications will be assessed by the Organisational Committee of the conference”.
The Organisational Committee will cover the accommodation and daily expenses of participants.
Source: Genocide Museum website
Centenary News editorial note: The Turkish Government maintains that the deaths of Armenians during “transportation” does not constitute “genocide”