Columbia University New York USA

BIOGRAPHY: Marjorie Housepian Dobkin began her career in academia as an instructor in English at Barnard College (1957-1959), rose to become Associate Dean of Studies in 1976 and Professor of English (1988-1993). She is a prolific writer, having written several novels, papers and short stories that have received wide acclaim throughout the world including Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City (1971), called one of the 100 most notable books of 1972 by the New York Times and 'Book of the Year' by London's Sunday Times and which was recently re-published and "The Unremembered Genocide" which appeared in Genocide and Human Rights: A Global Anthology (1981). She is a Board Member of the Institute on the Study of Genocide at John Jay College and serves on the Board of the Institute of the Holocaust and Genocide in Israel. Professor Dobkin has lectured at dozens of colleges and universities throughout the world and has participated in dozens of panel discussions, symposia and conferences in the United States, Cyprus and Israel. This is her first visit to Australia.

THE ACTORS IN THE DRAMA OF THE GREAT CATASTROPHE AT SMYRNA

ABSTRACT:

Cast of Characters

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Prime Minister EleutheriosVenizelos

Prime Minister David Lloyd George

President Woodrow Wilson

Mustapha Kemal Pasha

General Nourredin Pasha

President Warren Harding

US Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes

Chief, Turkish Desk, US State Department, Allen Dulles

US Admiral Mark Lambert Bristol

Mark Prentiss

US Consul George Horton

Hepburn, Merrill, Johnson & Webster, US Navy

Firemen Grescovich & Katsaros

Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy

Mrs. Birge

Asa Jennings

Macquarie University

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Kefallinos gained her Doctorate in Modern Greek from the University of Sydney and is currently lecturer and head of the Department of Modern Greek Studies at Macquarie University.

THE HELLENIC LANGUAGE IN ASIA MINOR DURING THE FIRST TWO DECADES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

ABSTRACT: This multi-layered and complicated topic can only be approached from a historical viewpoint and only at an introductory level. All the evidence point to the fact that two significant dialects, that of Pontos and of Kappadokia together with a number of local ones, idiomatic sub-dialects, were spoken by the greater part of the Hellenic population of Asia Minor at this time. Also a formal education system operated, mostly by the Church and prominent community leaders, with the teaching of the "common" Hellenic language. This situation was quite extensive and clear in the first two decades of our century up to shortly before the catastrophe of Smyrna and the 'Exchange of Populations'.

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

BIOGRAPHY: Cyprus-born Dr. Sophocleous is lecturer in Modern Greek and convener of the Greek-Australian Archive at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

ALEXIS DOUKAS: A MULTICULTURALIST BEFORE HIS TIME

ABSTRACT: The paper will discuss the life and times of Alexis Doukas, both in Asia Minor and in Australia. Doukas was born on Moschonisia, off the northern coast of Ionia, participated in the Asia Minor campaign and migrated to Australia in 1927, after making an unsuccessful effort to settle in northern Greece.

His writings (literature and essays) on Asia Minor, on modern Turkey, on Greece and on Australia, are of interest because they shed light on important aspects of human relations, especially on circumstances where racism, nationalism and xenophobia prevailed. This paper will use primary archival materials such as letters and manuscripts.

University of Sydney

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Drakopoulos has been a lecturer with the Department of Modern Greek at the University of Sydney for a number of years. He has published a number of articles on modern Hellenic literature, particularly the poetry of Georgios Seferis and Odysseas Elytis, as well as issues of literary theory.

ABSTRACT: The Greek Poet George Seferis was born and raised in Smyrna and moved to Athens with his family at the age of 14. He returned to his birthplace 34 years later following his appointment to the Greek Embassy in Ankara. During his stay in Turkey he visited Smyrna and a number of other Greek sites, keeping detailed notes of what he saw in his diary. Some of these notes formed the basis of his travelogue "Three Days in the Stone-carved Monasteries of Cappadocia" published in 1953.

The paper aims to study this journal in relation to the relevant entries of Seferis’ diary and in particular to examine how Seferis sees and conveys the reality of a land that once he considered his. What does an exile see when he returns home? What is the role of memory, sight and imagination?

Sydney

 BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Donef has completed a B.A., a M.A., a Diploma in Social Science and recently completed a Ph.D. on the ethnic minorities of the Republic of Turkey from Macquarie University.

He has delivered public lectures on the official policies of the Republic of Turkey towards it's Christian populations in the 20th Century and taught Turkish language courses with the Worker's Education Association (similar to the US community colleges) in Sydney.

ABSTRACT: Many terms have been employed to define the population group nowadays referred to as Assyrians: Syrians, Jacobites, Nestorians and Chaldeans are the most common. This varied usage reflects the extent of linguistic, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity among the Assyrians. Although, today, the Assyrian identity covers all the above-mentioned groups, this was not always the case.

Today, substantial populations from all of the above Christian populations identify themselves as descendants of the imperial Assyrians. They celebrate the Assyrian New Year, use Assyrian names such as Assurbanipal and Hamurrabi, and employ such imperial symbols as winged bulls and replicas of the Ishtar gate. However, there was no clear Assyrian identity in the Ottoman Empire, except in the dying stages of the Empire, in early twentieth century.

The nineteenth century was the era in which a national consciousness developed amongst the millets of the Ottoman Empire. Nationalism among the Muslim millets developed later than among the Christian millets, the Turks being the last to be affected. The Nestorians were the last Christian millet to develop nationalist consciousness, but now, calling themselves Assyrians, they gradually developed a strong feeling of national fellowship.

When the First World War broke out in 1914, the Assyrians saw an opportunity for independence. They were encouraged by the Allies with promises of assistance that never materialised. After long deliberations, the Assyrians declared war on Turkey on 10 May 1915. In the Ottoman Empire, they had a reputation of being fierce fighters but they were no match for the better organised and equipped Turkish forces supported by Kurdish tribes. Despite their efforts, the Treaty of Sevres (1920) - which provided for an independent Kurdistan and Armenia - did not cater for the Assyrians. The Lausanne conference was just as disappointing for them as it did not recognise them as a minority.

North Park University Chicago Illinois USA

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Abdul Massih Saadi began as a teacher of Syriac language and literature in schools in Lebanon and Syria (1977-1990) and served as Principle and Instructor at the St. Ephrem Theological Seminary in Damascus Syria (1984-1990). Since 1993 he has been with the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and since 1997 Dr. Massih Saadi has been an Instructor with the Centre of Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University.

He is a prolific writer and has published extensively on the history of Christianity in the Middle East (particularly of the Syriac Churches) and presented at a number of academic conferences around the world including "History of Syriac Churches Encounter With Muslims: What Have We Learned?" (North Park University & Assyrian Academic Society Conference, Chicago June 1997) and "The Originality of Syriac Sources: A Study in Syriac Historiography" (Melammu-The Intellectual Heritage of Assyria and Babylon in East and West, Tvarminne Finland October 1998). This is his first visit to Australia.

THE OTTOMAN SCYTHE AND THE DECIMATION OF THE ASSYRIAN NATION

ABSTRACT: It was the scythe of the Ottomans that cut off the continuity of the Assyrian nation that was rooted with the dawn of human civilization. Its ruthless blade cut them off from their ancestral lands and reduced them to desperation and annihilation. Although their property, homes, families and communities were unjustly broken and scattered to the winds, their spirit and will to live were not. Ultimately, their steadfast belief in a merciful God brought them alive through their hellish ordeal and renewed their belief in themselves and in the power of love to overcome all obstacles, even their unmerciful enemies.

I will briefly relate the horrible fate of the Assyrians during World War I. Then I will demonstrate that it was a peculiar mind-set that built up and gained momentum among the regular and irregular Ottomans against their Christian subjects, which drove them to the most ungodly acts of cruelty and oppression against their neighbors and fellow men. Even the most powerless Christians who had no political aspirations whatsoever were not exempt from denigrating and low atrocities.

University of Sydney

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Karalis has taught at universities in Athens and Utrecht (Netherlands) and is currently Senior Lecturer with the Department of Modern Greek at the University of Sydney. He is a prolific writer and public speaker, having published more than twenty books (including translations of the poetry of Australian-author Patrick White and His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand) and innumerable articles on topics of Byzantine and modern Hellenic history and literature.

THE POSITION OF THE OECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE DURING THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

ABSTRACT: The paper discusses briefly the situation in which the Oecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople found itself during the first two decades of the 206 century. The discussion is focussed mainly on the central key figure of Oecumenical Patriarch Ioakeim and his policies against the background of the Balkan conflict before and after World War One.

The change in the legal status of the Oecumenical Patriarchate is also discussed together with the policies implemented by the Young Turks and later by Mustapha Kemal in order to diminish the traditional role of the Oecumenical Patriarchate and transform it into a "civil institution with educational purposes".

Issues related to the change of status such as the Patriarchal property, the Theological School of Halki and the legal position of the Oecumenical Patriarch himself will also be covered.

University of Sydney

BIOGRAPHY: Sydney-born and bred, Evangelos has completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney (including a ten-week course at the National and Kapodistrian University in Athens) and is currently a Master of Arts student with the Department of Modern Greek at the University of Sydney.

FEASIBILITY AND VIABILITY OF AN IDEA: AN ''HELLENIC-TURKISH CONFEDERATION"

ABSTRACT: Greece and Turkey. Protagonists in a seemingly eternal struggle between Hellenism and Turkism, Orthodox Christianity and Islam, Romiosyne and Ottomanism. It seems an inherent characteristic that tension should exist between the Greeks and the Turks. After all, Greeks tend to label a person who carries out his or her interactions 'barbarically' a Tourko (Turk), while a Turk wishing to connote cunning and treachery will automatically use the word Yunan (Greek) as the adjective.

The purpose of this paper is to present a side of history that is contrary to this opinion. A side of history that brings to the surface the fact that GreekTurkish symbiosis existed and that at some point in time such a confederation may have become a reality. This is not to say that this is a 'revised' account of history in the sense of historical 'revisionism' (the attempt to undermine what has already been said and disprove it). This paper shows that the idea of a Greek-Turkish confederation existed, even a though it seems absurd for such an entity to eventuate today.

The origin of the idea finds itself entrenched in the anti-Western faction of Byzantium. Amongst the people who rejected a union with the Roman Catholic West (during the decline of the Byzantine Empire), who would have accepted Turkish overlords as a means of preserving their Orthodox identity intact. The last gasp of the concept of confederation can be seen in the Treaty of Friendship and Neutrality signed by Athens and Ankara in 1930, when Venizelos envisioned co-operation between Greece and Turkey.

In the period in between one can see the idea develop from being a means of identity preservation to one of political 'progress'. This second phase can be detected after the French Revolution of 1789 when the 'progressive' ideals of the West appeared in the famed constitution of Rigas Pheraios. The idea was doomed to failure. The rise of nationalism amongst the Greek and later the Turkish populations played a major role in not only adding to the existing animosity between Greeks and Turks but was also the factor that resulted in the violent physical splitting of the two populations. The influence of Western ideology played a decisive role in sealing the fate of a 'Greek-Turkish confederation', where the structure of a rigid nation state is perceived as the path to social and political progress.

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

BIOGRAPHY: Stavros has worked with the Greek-Australian Archive at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology for a number of years and recently completed his Master of Arts at the same university.

INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS: A MISSION TO NOWHERE

ABSTRACT: The United Nations Convention on Genocide, adopted by the General Assembly in 1948, has been used as the international definition for genocide and yet has been subjected to major criticism by scholars such as Fein, Chalk, Kuper and Charny as being completely inadequate. I will define genocide to mean a deliberate pre-arranged plan of a majority group to systemically uproot, remove, destroy, and or murder a minority group in whole or in part within a defined territory, because the minority group does not fit into the world-view of the perpetrator.

In 1922 Great Britain, France, Italy and the United States received information from American relief workers that the Kemalists were deporting large numbers of Christian minorities from the coastal regions of the Black Sea into the Anatolian interior. The European powers in particular worked to maintain their policy of strict neutrality in the GreekTurkish conflict.

Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary 1919-24, suggested to his counterparts in Paris, Rome and Washington that Allied officers be dispatched to investigate these claims. The French tried to delay the setting up and sending of an inter-allied mission to Asia Minor. In order to maintain allied unity, Britain was able to win the support of the other powers, whereby the International Red Cross (I.R.C.) as an impartial international organisation was to be approached to conduct the investigation of the reported atrocities in Anatolia. The I.R.C. wanted the Entente and US governments' to provide it with funds so that it could discharge its duties.

This paper will attempt to address two issues: - firstly that the Entente and US used the I.R.C. as a convenient front in order to avoid responsibility towards protecting the Christian minorities from Turkish reprisals. This situation raises the role of the bystander where the major powers were passive and indifferent to the plight and suffering of the Christian minorities. If the major powers were prepared to apply military force or threaten to use force; then it is conceivable that it may have moderated the actions of the Turks against the Christians of Pontus. It should be further stated that the Europeans and the Americans were interested in winning economic concessions from the Kemalists; and that the deportation of Christians was an act of genocide committed by the Kemalist regime in order to permanently solve the minority problem.

Macquarie University

BIOGRAPHY: Meher Grigorian is currently an Honours student with the Philosophy and Politics Departments at Macquarie University. His thesis, "The Role of impunity in Genocide", will be published in Genocide Perspectives II, produced by the Centre for Comparative Genocide Studies (in press). He has also published articles in ARENA (publication of the Macquarie University Students' Union).

THE ROLE OF IMPUNITY IN GENOCIDE

ABSTRACT: One of the most poignant facts in the history of the twentieth century - this, the century of genocide - is the overwhelming propensity for indifference or political expediency governments have in the face of cases of mass murder and genocide. This indifference is not only manifest in the failure to develop an effective system for humanitarian interventions, but also by the overwhelmingly dismal punitive outcomes of the inadequate number of war crimes trials that have actually occurred. Thus the message potential perpetrators infer from this legacy is this: commit genocide and there is a good chance that you can get away with it.

My paper explores this issue of impunity with a particular focus on war crimes trials, beginning with the 1919 Constantinople trials of among others the primary architects of the Armenian Genocide, through to Nuremberg and then on to the present-day International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The (at best) inconsistent enforcement of international criminal law will be cited as a major reason why perpetrators become so emboldened as to implement their genocidal schemes.

London

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Salahi Ramsdam Sonyel was born in Cyprus in 1932, graduated from the English School, served in the British Colonial Administration until 1957. He gained a B.A. (1959), a Diploma in Education (1960) and an M.A. (1963) from Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. He completed a Ph.D. in Political (Diplomatic) History at the University of London (1971).

He has written a number of books and journal articles including Turkish Diplomacy 1918-1923, The Turco-Greek Conflict, The Turkish War of F Liberation and Foreign Policy and The Ottomanilrmenians (1987).

CHRISTIAN MINORITIES & THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, WITH REFERENCE TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

ABSTRACT: After the failure of the Ottoman Turks, in 1683, for the second time, to capture Vienna, the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire began. In the words of William Miller, "European statesmen anticipated the dismemberment of the Sultan's European possessions, and formed schemes for the partition of the spoils. " Thus the process of 'getting rid of the Turk " in eastern Europe, including the Balkans, and later in Anatolia (Asia Minor) had begun.

This process was one of the main causes, if not the root cause, of the great tragedy that engulfed the peoples of Anatolia, both Muslim and non-Muslim, especially during the First World War, which finally led to the destruction of the Ottoman Empire. Yet, the Ottoman Turks were often welcomed by Christian and other non-Muslim populations of the territories they occupied, as confirmed by numerous western scholars.

Since the foundation of the Ottoman state, particularly during its ascendance, the ethnic and religious minorities living within its boundaries, irrespective of their origin, culture, and beliefs, benefited enormously from Ottoman lenience (istimalet and tolerance, and from all the other benefits provided by a strong and benevolent Muslim state. They enjoyed, inter alia, relative security of corporate life, social, educational and linguistic autonomy and economic prosperity, and preserved their religion and ethnic identity in peace and order, within the Ottoman communal (millet system, based on Islamic principles. This is also confirmed by numerous British consular reports quoted in this paper.

Macquarie University

BIOGRAPHY: Panayiotis Diamadis was born in Sydney in 1971. He obtained a B.A. (Pass) in 1994, a Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary) in 1996, an M.A. (Pass with Merit) in 1997 and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the field of early 20th century Hellenic history.

He has written Makedhonia versus Makedonija: The Evolution of the Macedonian Issue in Australia 1930-1988 (M.A. thesis) and co-authored A Child's Grief A Nation's Lament. (Sydney: Stentor Publishing 1995). He has also authored a number of journal and newspaper articles including "Prolegomena to a Study of ANZAC POWs in Asia Minor 1914-1918" International Network on Holocaust e Genocide Volume 13 Number 2 and "Theft of a Heritage" The Australian July 25 1994.

TO DENY OR TO GLOAT

ABSTRACT: This paper will examine the different ways in which nation states that have committed genocide in the 20th century have dealt with their actions. Germany has officially acknowledged its genocide of European Jewry and taken full responsibility for it. Cambodia is preparing for the trials of those involved in committing history's first auto-genocide. Rwanda has begun legal proceedings to try those accused of mass murder. The United States, Canada and Australia have begun acknowledging and redressing their genocidal actions against their indigenous peoples.

In 1919 Turkey held war crimes trials in Constantinople for some of T those involved in the Armenian Genocide. Turkish courts of law presided over by Turkish judges tried Ottoman citizens accused of mass murder. There were acquittals, convictions and sentences. When the victorious Allies broke up the Ottoman Empire in 1920, the new Turkish government led by Mustapha Kemal reversed the policy of acknowledgement and justice and adopted one of total denial. The modern Republic of Turkey continues to go to great lengths and spend vast sums of money blaming the mass murder of Asia Minor's indigenous Christian population on the victims themselves. Turkey's Nationalist Action Party has a platform that is openly neo-fascist, vimlently anti-Hellenic, anti-Armenian and anti-Semitic. The renowned Grey Wolves are proud of the extermination of the Christians of Asia Minor. Their only regret is that their ancestors did not 'finish the job'.

Whether someone denies the genocide of the Hellenes, the Armenians, the Australian Aborigines or the European Jews, they are by extension denying all genocides in history. The crime of genocide is the highest crime against humanity and the worst crime a state can be accused of. Some people regret the actions of their forbears. Some are proud of them. The question then for denialists truly is whether to deny or to gloat.

The Assyrian genocide

Interviews recorded with survivors of the massacres of the Assyrian people in south-eastern Asia Minor, northern Syria and northern Mesopotamia between 1915 and 1922, who later emigrated and settled in Australia.

A Wall of Silence

This film by Ms. Dorothee Forma, producer-director at the Humanist Broadcasting Foundation in the Netherlands is refreshing in the openness and straightforwardness of its approach to a very sensitive topic. Exploring the combined efforts by Armenian historian Vahakn Dadrian and Turkish historian Taner Akcam, the film covers the reality of the historical impact of the Armenian Genocide, challenging the Turkish policy of denial through the exploration of the country’s history and current reality. The 59-minute film explores both men’s personal history and current work.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SPONSORSHIPS

The Organising Committee of the Portraits of Christian Asia Minor International Conference sincerely thanks all those whose donations (in funds and in kind) made this conference possible.

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ UNION

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ COUNCIL

MR. COSTAS VERTZAYIAS, PRESIDENT (OCEANIA REGION)

WORLD COUNCIL OF HELLENES ABROAD (s.a.e.)

planet floorcoverings pty ltd

j. & k. skouloudis holdings

ASSYRIAN UNIVERSAL ALLIANCE (A.U.a.)

tHE ASSYRIAN AUSTRALIAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY

HIS GRACE MAR MEELIS ZAIA &

THE ASSYRIAN HOLY APOSTOLIC & CATHOLIC CHURCH OF THE EAST

MR. WILSON YOUNAN AND SBS RADIO

ASSYRIAN TV – CHANNEL 31

THE ASSYRIAN ORGANISATIONS REPRESENTING

THE ASSYRIAN COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA

mr. john theodoridis

theodore solomon & partners

national bank of greece s.a.

SPECIAL THANKS

The Portraits of Christian Asia Minor International Conference would not have been brought to completion without the tireless efforts of the Organising Committee and its advisers. The achievement is all the more remarkable when one considers that the Organising Committee consists of three individuals: Helen Pairides, Katerina Diamadis and Panayiotis Diamadis.

Thanks must also go to the numerous advisers who guided the Organising Committee through the long and often difficult year of preparations for the Conference. The staff of the Centre for Comparative Genocide Studies (Professor Colin Tatz, Professor Konrad Kwiet, Darren O’Brien, Richard Tidyman, Alexander Westwood, Dr. Armen Gakavian and Meher Grigorian) have been invaluable supporters of the Research Unit and of the Conference. Without their backing, the Conference would literally not be happening. Professor Robert Petersen, Dr. Vrasidas Karalis, Dr. Steve Georgakis and Georgina Kamperos have also given much appreciated help.

Reflections on the Politics of Remembering and Forgetting

Professor Colin Tatz 1994 pp52 $10

A.I.A.T.S.I.S. Research Discussion Paper: Genocide In Australia

Professor Colin Tatz 1999 pp50 $10

On the Uniqueness and Comparability of the Holocaust: A Comparison with the Armenian Genocide

Professor Robert Melson 1995 pp51 $10

Denial of the Armenian Genocide with some comparisons to Holocaust Denial

Professor Richard Hovannisian 1996 pp60 $10

Genocide Perspectives I: Essays in Comparative Genocide

Professor Colin Tatz (editor-in-chief) 1997 pp365 $35

International Network On Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Volume 13 Number 1 June 1998 $10

includes "The Pontian Genocide: An Introduction" Professor C. Hionides

Volume 13 Number 2 September 1998 $10

includes "Prolegomena to a Study of ANZAC POWs in Asia Minor"

Volume 13 Number 3 December 1998 $10

includes "The Centre Review 1993-1998: The First Five Years"

The Contribution of the Hellenes of Pontos, Asia Minor and eastern Thrace to modern Hellenic civilization

V.A.Lambropoulos August 1998 (bilingual edition) $10

Student Notes on the Hellenic Holocaust for the POL340 course

P.Diamadis September 1998 pp31 (bilingual edition) $10

The Genocide of the Greeks of Pontos, Thrace and Asia Minor through the French Archives

Haris Tsirkinidis Thessaloniki 1999 pp332 $35

Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City

Professor Marjorie Housepian Dobkin 1998 pp275 $30

from Hearth to Holocaust: The Hellenic Holocaust of Pontos, Asia Minor and Thrace

Panayiotis Diamadis Sydney 1999 $40