Ara Sarafian

Ara Sarafian (Armenian: _hy. Արա Սարաֆեան) is a British historian of Armenian origin. He has an M.A. in history from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, [cite journal|url=http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/hye_sharzhoom/vol19/dec60/massacres.html
accessdate=2008-08-30
title=Sarafian Speaks on Kharpert Massacres
month=December
year=1997
first=Matthew
last=Maroot
volume=19
issue=2
quote=Ara Sarafian received his M.A. in History from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
journal=Hye Sharzhoom
publisher=California State University, Fresno] received under the tutelage of Ronald Grigor Suny. [cite journal|url=http://www.gomidas.org/forum/af1c.htm
accessdate=2008-09-01
title=The Next 1.5 Million: A Panel Discussion on Armenian Studies in the United States
date=2008-01-07
publisher=Gomidas Institute
first=Vincent
last=Lima
volume=1
issue=1
month=Spring
year=1998
pages=95–101
work=Armenian Forum
quote=The history chair, occupied until recently by Ronald Grigor Suny, has produced two scholars, Ara Sarafian and Vincent Lima.]

Sarafian is the founding director of the Gomidas Institute in London, which republishes English translations of Armenians texts related to the Armenian Genocide. [cite journal|url=http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/hye_sharzhoom/vol25/oct03/sarafian.htm
accessdate=2008-08-30
title=Ara Sarafian Discusses Genocide Memoir To the Desert
first=Hakop
last=Tataryan
volume=25
issue=1
month=October
year=2003
journal=Hye Sharzhoom
publisher=California State University, Fresno
quote=Ara Sarafian, an archival historian specializing in the late Ottoman Period, is one of the founders of the Gomidas Institute located in London, England. The Institute republishes English translations of works originally written in Armenian by those who experienced the Armenian Genocide first hand, materials that ordinarily would be cumbersome to obtain for present-day historians.] He edited a republication of the "The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916", commonly known as the "Blue Book" (originally published in 1916). [cite book|author=James Bryce, Arnold Joseph Toynbee, Arnold Toynbee|editor=Ara Sarafian|isbn=0953519155|url=http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/1915/bryce/|title=The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916 : Documents Presented to Viscount Grey of Falloden by Viscount Bryce|publisher=Taderon Pr]

Research

Sarafian conducted demographic research in the Turkish Prime Minister's Ottoman Archives in the 90's, together with Hilmar Kaiser. [cite journal|url=http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweekly/gin042107_021.htm |date=2007-04-24|accessdate=2008-09-01|journal=Armenian Weekly|first=Hilmar|volume=73|issue=16|last=Kaiser|title=The Ottoman Archives: A Personal Look Back at the Past and the Future]

In February 2007, Sarafian accepted the suggestion of the then-chairman of the Turkish Historical Society, Yusuf Halaçoğlu, to discuss "what happened on the Harput Plain" and "how many people died" during the deportations.cite news|url=http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=66749
accessdate=2008-08-30
title=Turkish and Armenian historians are meeting at last
date=2007-02-22
first=Duygu
last=Guvenc
work=Turkish Daily News] [cite news|url=http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=21194
accessdate=2008-08-30
title=Armenian historian accepted suggestion of Turkish counterpart on joint work
work=PanARMENIAN.Net
date=2007-02-22]

A month later, Halaçoğlu announced that Sarafian has declined to carry out the study, [cite news|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=105034|title=Sarafian bows to diaspora pressure, says Halaçoğlu|date=2007-03-10|work=Today's Zaman|accessdate=2008-05-30] and added that Sarafian "was disturbed by the institute’s initiative to study the archives of ... the Armenian Revolutionary Federation". [cite news|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=105731|title=TTK President Halaçoğlu responds to Sarafian’s claims|date=2007-03-17|work=Today's Zaman|accessdate=2008-05-30]

References