Groundbreaking Report on Armenian Genocide Reparations Published

YEREVAN—The Armenian Genocide Reparations Study Group (AGRSG) recently completed its final report, titled, “Resolution with Justice: Reparations for the Armenian Genocide.” The report offers an unprecedented and comprehensive analysis of the legal, historical, political, and ethical dimensions of the question of reparations for the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23, including specific recommendations for the components of a complete reparations package.

Resolution with Justice – Reparations for the Armenian Genocide
Resolution with Justice – Reparations for the Armenian Genocide

Prior to the formation of the AGRSG, the limited discourse on reparations for the genocide included abstract notions of territorial return, consideration of particular aspects such as insurance lawsuits, and sometimes valuable short works treating the issue, but all without comprehensive or detailed analysis.

The AGRSG was formed in 2007 by four experts in different areas of reparations theory and practice. Their mission was to produce the first systematic, comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the reparations issues raised by the Armenian Genocide. Funded initially by a grant from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun,[1] the AGRSG members are Alfred de Zayas, Jermaine O. McCalpin, Ara Papian, and Henry C. Theriault (chair). George Aghjayan has served as a special consultant.

After early agreement that some form of repair is an appropriate remedy for the legacy of the Armenian Genocide as it stands today, the AGRSG prepared a preliminary report, which was released for limited distribution in 2009. Completion of the draft was followed by three symposia. The first was a panel discussion featuring three of the report authors, held on May 15, 2010 at George Mason University in the United States, in conjunction with the university’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. The second was a major day-long symposium featuring the four co-authors and a number of other experts on reparations for the Armenian Genocide, conducted at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law through its International Human Rights Law Association, on Oct. 23, 2010. The third was a panel by two of the report authors held in Yerevan, Armenia, on Dec. 11, 2010. The AGRSG is now in the process of widely distributing its final report, an extensive revision and updating of the 2009 preliminary report.

The AGRSG’s final report remains the only systematic, all-encompassing, in-depth approach to Armenian Genocide reparations. It examines the case for reparations from legal, historical, and ethical perspectives (Parts 4, 5, and 6, respectively), offers a plan for a productive reparative process drawing on transitional justice theory and practice (Part 7), and proposes a concrete reparations package (Parts 3 and 8). The report also includes background on the Armenian Genocide (Part 1) and the damages inflicted by it and their impacts today (Part 2). Through its broad dissemination, this report fills a crucial gap in the scholarly work and policy discourse on the Armenian Genocide. It will give Turkish and Armenian individuals, as well as civil society and political institutions, the information, analysis, and tools to engage the Armenian Genocide issue in a systematic manner that supports meaningful resolution.

The present time is optimal for release of the report. The 100th anniversary year of the beginning of the genocide, 2015, will see greatly heightened international political, academic, media, artistic, and public interest in the genocide. In addition, in the past few years, reparations for the genocide have gone from a marginal concern to a central focus in popular and academic circles. Much of that focus has been on piecemeal individual reparation legal cases. This report represents a decisive step toward a much broader and all-embracing process of repair that is adequate to resolve the extensive outstanding damages of the genocide. Furthermore, genuine, non-denialist engagement with the legacy of the genocide is growing in Turkey. Finally, in the past decade, there has emerged a global reparations movement involving numerous victim groups across an array of mass human rights violations. The Armenian case has a place within that movement.

The complete final report will be available in PDF format online, at www.armeniangenocidereparations.info/. The Executive Summary and Introduction of the final report are already available on the site.

Inquiries about the AGRSG and its report can be directed to Henry Theriault by e-mailing htheriault@worcester.edu, calling (508) 929-8612, or writing to the Department of Philosophy, Worcester State University, 486 Chandler Street, Worcester, MA 01602, U.S.A.

[1] The positions taken and perspectives expressed in the report are those of the AGRSG members alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun.

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4 Comments

  1. Highly appreciated work hoping will have constant following with firm
    stand without hesitation or any kind of regression in front of huge outside pressure for minimizing our losses and harming our national
    highest interests and compensations

  2. We are going nowhere with this TRAGEDY–my Grandparents were killed, leaving behind FIVE Children, the OLDEST 12 years in age !
    Some 27 nations have RCOGNIZED THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE—-BUT NOT THE U.S STATE DEPARMENT; THE WHITE HOUSE, NOT EVEN CANDIDATES !
    oNE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (H.C ) FOMER SECRETARY OF STATE (M.aL) PUBLICLY ANOUNCED THAT TURKEY IS “OUR ” STRONGEST ALLY and FRIEND IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND IN MILLITARY PARTNERSHIP WITH ISRAEL !OLD HISTORIS event NEED NOT REVIVED ! YES, Germany compensated the Haulocust TRAGEDY.
    Present Global ” Islamic conflicts, ISIS, Erdogan of Turkey advancing to a CALIPHATE POSITION AND STRONGLY DENYING ANY GENOCITE
    OCCURED. hUMAN RIGHTS GLOBAL RECOGNITION BY THE UNITED NATIONS WAS FORMULATED BY ELEANOR ROOSEWELT, A LADY OF HUMANE CONSCIOUS AND PERSONALLY COGNIZANT OF THE SUFFERINGS OF ANY PERSON OR GROUP OF PEOPLE.SHE SAID IT BEST THEN ANY PERSON FROM HEAVEN OR ON EARTH. Her
    Global performance is UNIQUELY EVIDENCED AND RECOGNIZED.

  3. All I can say to above in depth study and final drawing up of the above resolutions is ,that there are only the REALITY of the Armenian genocide by ottoman and kemalist Turkey,to which not much reference has been made.And the lack of EXPERTS, monetary experts in the final drawing up of the chart , shall we say.for it is neither a CLAIM NOR an action that carries weight, UN notwithstanding and /or similar entities.With all complete due respect to the participants and the UN(future) study and decision,great Turkey( the party to be sued) may come up with many a subtle answers to same. While I do not pretend at all to be an expert,I can only surmise that we Armenians are bad AUDIENCE to actualities.I mean the following.THE JEWS CLAIMED AND WENT FOR THE MOST PRECIOUS(TO WHICH ALMOST NONE IS MEANTIONMED IN ABOVE …)
    THE WENT FOR THE REAL isseu ,i.e., loss of relatives, their LIVES.In short the SUED AND CLAIMED B L O O D M O N E Y.
    I therefore believe what we should set fwd,before anything else, the latter.I have written here many a time over that we should claim FOR LOSS OF LIVES(boild down to blood money) Yes the Jews claimed that from Democratic Germany, heir to Nazi Germany and received it.
    Furthermore, hypothetically now. Turkye agrees to return come Church and related properties(half ruined and or completely ruined..WHO IS GOING TO PRAY IN THOSE CHURCHES.ARE THERE ANY ARMENIANS AROUND THEM AND EVEN IF WE SUPPOSE SOME HEMSHENTSI,(TRICKLES) WILL DO SO, under what FLAG…..republic of Turkish one.Hell I don´t mean to hurt feelings of any of our clergy and or these gentlemen who have taken the pain to draw up all above report shall we say.Who is going to comply with their demand(s)
    God help us from Panchunies…
    What we need is a few Int´l law experts whether Armenian,Jewish or Swedish who know what to go after(the cash) .Land property are not given away even easily usurped ones.I think I better give up writing further to ears that are not ready to listen.BLOOD MONEY!!!! for God´s sake.Land will not pull up the disappearing act.We need to wait untill the Kurdish issue gains more momentum!!!!I´ve said that a few times here!!!!

  4. Yes, we should demand monetary compensation for the loss of lives and industry and culture. We can still work toward land reparations in the future. But go for the money now! What are we waiting for Armenia? ARF? Etchmiadzin? Antelias? AGBU?

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