Jean-Claude Kebabdjian

Jean-Claude Kebabdjian (born June 11, 1942 in Paris, France) is an ethnic Armenian French by nationality editor and journalist. He is the president and cofounder of the Armenian Diaspora Research Center (ADRC - CRDA in French), created in 1976 in Paris, founder of the Astrid Editions and director of the review Ani, cahiers arméniens (5 issues – 1986, 1987, 1998, 1994).

Pioneer in the Armenian-Turkish dialogue

Jean-Claude Kebabdjian is the author of Turquie-Europe : le dialogue des intellectuels est-il possible?, in which he asks, as early as in 1986, if an Armenian-Turkish dialogue is necessary.[1]

Nine years later, Armenia was an independent country, and a democratic movement was emerging in Turkey, with freedom fighters such as Taner Akçam or the Zarakolu teaching the history of the Armenian Genocide and the Armenians to their society. In this new context, Jean-Claude Kebabdjian, with the help of Raffi Hermonn Araks, invited the Zarakolu to France and prepared meetings with the French Armenians.[2]

He organised in Paris the first public conference with Turkish intellectuals on the Armenian subject : 1915-1998 : de la fracture au dialogue.[3] As he was in 1999 the first Armenian from Diaspora to be invited by the civil society of Turkey for a cultural event, he asked before the media for the opening of the Armenian-Turkish dialogue. In June 2000, his center directed in the French Senate the first congress on the Armenian-Turkish dialogue. Some argue the March 2000 Chicago Armenian-Turkish meeting was the first one, yet not opened to the public, but it is proven that the June 2000 Paris Congress was the first public conference on the subject and one more step in a two decade-long serie of initiatives taken by Jean-Claude Kebabdjian.[4][5][6]

In 2004, he proposed to a commission of the French Assembly to choose the Western Armenian city of Ani as a symbol of dialogue between Armenia and Turkey,[7] 12 years after the call made by the CRDA for the safeguard of this medieval city, which gave birth to the French preservation mission of Ani led by Jean-Pierre Mahé, a French armenologist and academician.[8]

Opposition to the Armenian-Turkish protocols

In an interview to Arminfo, he argued that the Karabakh conflict resolution should be linked to the human, national and territorial consequences of the Armenian Genocide. The western interests have boosted the nationalism and conservatism of the Turkish state during the Cold War. But with the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey, the Azerbaijanese state and its western supporters would fail in their strategy of pressure upon the Armenians.[9]

Notes

  1. ↑ Kebabdjian, Jean-Claude (April–May 1986), Turquie-Europe : le dialogue des intellectuels est-il possible? - Revue Armenia, Marseille: MELCA, p. 12
  2. ↑ Zarakolu, Ragip (December 20, 1999), Günesin sofrasindayim, Bakis
  3. ↑ Info-Türk (July 3, 1998), Désinformation à la turque sur la question du génocide (238), retrieved 2009-03-18
  4. ↑ Ziflioğlu, Vercihan, First steps for better relations began in 1995, Hurriyet DailyNews, retrieved 2009-03-17
  5. ↑ Sanjian, Ara (July 5, 2000), Armenian State Television gives unprecedented coverage to the Paris meeting of Armenian and Turkish intellectuals Network, Armenian News, retrieved 2009-03-17
  6. ↑ Sivil Toplumda Türk-Ermeni Diyalogu, Istanbul: Pencere Yayinlari, 2008, ISBN 978-6054049066
  7. ↑ Lengagne, Guy (October 5, 2004), Rapport d’information sur la Turquie et l’Union européenne, Assemblée Nationale, retrieved 2009-03-17
  8. ↑ Mahé, Jean-Pierre, Lettre au CRDA du Pr Jean-Pierre Mahé, membre de l'Institut
  9. ↑ Manoukyan, Karine (March 20, 2007), Interview with Jean-Claude Kebabdjian, Arminfo agency

References

Selected Writings

Movies

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