April 24 Commemorates the Armenian Massacre.
Tim and I attended this panel discussion last Thursday at the Virginia Holocaust Museum. Panel participants included Retired Ambassador Joseph Pressel, VCU Professor Herbert Hirsch, William & Mary Professor Roger Smith, and Retired Ambassador John Evans. Although the title of the discussion seems to indicate otherwise, the dialogue was focused on whether the Armenian massacres that took place in 1915 under the Ottoman Empire should be reclassified as genocide (rather than a discourse as to whether the Armenian genocide was the first genocide, and whether or not the lack of repercussions during that time led to further genocides in the 20th century – e.g. the Holocaust, Serbia, Rwanda, etc.).
The panelist with the most interesting background was John Evans. Mr. Evans was the U.S. ambassador to Armenia who was dismissed from his position and from his diplomatic career for labelling the Armenian genocide as a genocide. As a mouthpiece for the U.S. government, he was…
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