Richard Hovannisian to Lecture on Smyrna Catastrophe in Boca Raton

On Sun., March 3, Professor Richard G. Hovannisian will present an illustrated lecture titled, “The Smyrna Catastrophe, 1922-2013,” at St. David Armenian Church, in Boca Raton, Fla. The program will be co-sponsored by St. David Church and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).

September 2012 marked the 90th anniversary of the Smyrna Catastrophe when much of the city, the second largest in the Ottoman Empire, was destroyed by fire during the final phase of the Greco-Turkish War. The calamity, a part of the final phase of the Armenian Genocide, marked the end of a strong Christian presence in the historic Aegean coastal regions and turned hundreds of thousands of Greeks and Armenians into refugees.

In this illustrated lecture, Hovannisian will discuss the important role of Smyrna (Izmir) in modern Armenian history and the inferno that engulfed the city in September 1922. Hovannisian is the editor of the recently published Armenian Smyrna/Izmir, the 11^th volume of proceedings from the UCLA conference series “Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces.” He also traveled to Izmir and environs in June 2012 as the historian-guide for a NAASR Armenian Heritage Tour led by Armen Aroyan.

Hovannisian is the author of Armenia on the Road to Independence, the 4-volume history The Republic of Armenia, and has edited and contributed to more than 25 books, including The Armenian Genocide in Perspective; The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times; Remembrance and Denial; Looking Backward, Moving Forward; and The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies. He was the first holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA and currently serves as Distinguished Chancellor’s Fellow at Chapman University in Orange County and Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the University of California, Irvine.

The lecture begins at 1 p.m. at 2300 Yamato Rd. It is free and open to the public. A book signing of Armenian Smyrna/Izmir will immediately follow the lecture. For more information, contact St. David Armenian Church at (561) 994-2335 or stdavidarmchurch@bellsouth.net, or NAASR at 617-489-1610 or hq@naasr.org.