WATERTOWN — Author Raffi Bedrosyan will discuss his recent publication Trauma and Resilience: Armenians in Turkey—Hidden, Not Hidden and No Longer Hidden, at the AGBU New England Center, 247 Mt. Auburn St., on Wednesday, September 25, at 7:30 p.m.
The event is co-sponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and the AGBU New England District. The program will be moderated by George Aghjayan.
Trauma and Resilience (Garod Books, 2018) is a collection of articles about events in Turkey which have profoundly affected the lives of Armenians, hidden Armenians and no longer hidden Armenians who have recently returned to their roots. The genocide in 1915 not only caused the disappearance of 1.5 million Armenians from their historic homeland, but also resulted in the assimilation and Islamization of thousands of Armenian orphans, creating the “hidden Armenians,” the living victims of the genocide. Almost 100 years later, certain events encouraged the grandchildren of the hidden Armenians to re-awaken and return to their Armenian roots, language and culture.
Bedrosyan is a Toronto-based civil engineer and concert pianist. He was involved in organizing the Surp Giragos Diyarbekir reconstruction project and, in 2012, gave the first Armenian piano concert in the church since 1915. A second concert was held on April 23, 2015, to commemorate the centennial. George Aghjayan is a researcher as well as a member of NAASR’s Board of Directors and chairman of the ARF Eastern Region Central Committee.
This event is free and open to the public. A reception and refreshments will take place before and after the program. Trauma and Resilience will be available for purchase and signing by the author.
