Peter Gabriel Stresses Importance of Armenian Genocide Recognition

Fri, Mar 6 2009 | Published in News, Top Story |

WATERTOWN, Mass. (A.W.)—In an interview that appeared in the March 2009 issue of Conde Nast Traveler, world-renowned musician and songwriter Peter Gabriel talks about the importance of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Asked by interviewer Dorintha Elliott about the best places to travel for music, Gabriel said, “I had a house in Senegal and music was a big reason. And when I did music for ‘The Last temptation of Christ,’ I was introduced to one of the most soulful instruments, the Armenian duduk. I went to Armenia for the birthday of duduk player Djivan Kasparyan. We visited the Genocide Memorial, which is dedicated to the more than one million Armenians who died in 1915.”

He added, “The Turks deny the genocide, and Britain and the United States haven’t properly acknowledged it. I hope that happens. As with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, you need to air issues and accept what happened in the past before you are free to move on.”

Gabriel, 59, has won Grammy Awards in 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995, and 2008 for his work. He received the Nobel Peace Laureates’ Man of Peace Award in 2006 and was named Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience in 2008.

Also in 2008, Time magazine chose him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Khatchig Mouradian

Khatchig Mouradian is a journalist, writer and translator. He was an editor of the Lebanese-Armenian Aztag Daily from 2000 to 2007, when he moved to Boston and became the editor of the Armenian Weekly. He is a PhD student in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. His articles, interviews and poems have appeared in many publications worldwide. Many of his writings have been translated into more than 10 languages. He contributes regularly to a number of U.S. and European publications. He has lectured extensively and participated in conferences in Armenia, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Austria, Switzerland, Norway and the U.S. He has presented papers on genocide and the media at several academic conferences such as the 5th and 6th Workshops on Armenian-Turkish Scholarship, held at NYU in 2006 and at the Graduate Institute in Geneva in 2008; the 2009 International Conference on Genocide and International Law at haigazian University in Beirut, and the 2009 MESA conference in Boston. He is a member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). His translations include Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist" published by Hamazkayin in 2004. The book was launched in Yerevan, Armenia in the presence of Coelho and Mouradian.

View all articles by Khatchig Mouradian

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