cal circumstances
of the first Genocide of the 20th century. The news paper's pages regularly
F
reflectoneventsinhistory. In Octoberof last year, the life and fateof musical genius and national From Sydney, top, to
BuenogAlrec, below
symbol, Komitas, was the subject of a short piece. This followed one on Soghomon Tehlirian, on the anniversary of his assassination of Talaat Pasha in March. With all this regular attention, it's no wonder that the banner proclaiming the commemoration of the Genocide had to be displayed from the top of a 12story building in Buenos Aires. In no uncertain terms, it declared TheTurkish state: Genocide.
GENOCIDE EXPERT LEO KUPER DIES Internationally acclaimed sociologist and scholar, Leo Kuper, died at age 85 in Los Angeles. The academic world mourned the loss of a giant in the field of sociologyofhuman rights andgenocide. Heis also remembered as an advocate who gave the victims of human rights violations legitimacy, recognition and voice. Hemaderoomforcompassion in academia and nians ofthe southern hemisphere are no less vocal in raising critical national issues than their northern cousins, For a short weekin early June, one got a look at what the official dialogue between Armenians and Turks on the issue of the Armenian Genocidemight include. The pages ofThe Austraftan, Sydney's second largest daily, saw letters from the current and former Turkish ambassadors to Australia, the General Secretary of the Hellenic Council, a Professorof Modern Greek at the University of Sydney and the Media and Public Relations Director of the
Armenian National Committee of Australia. The reason for such energetic discourse? Responding to a syndicated story on the Karabakh conflict, Turkish Ambassador Orhan Aka denounced the Armenian Genocide as Armenian propaganda, and the rally began. On the other side of the globe, April 24 came and went with a calm item on page94 of Clarin, Buenos Aires' largest daily, describing the histori-
used it as the foundation ofnumerous publications that
range from the study of apartheid in South Africa to the political uses of genocide in the modern era. Born in Johannesburg, SouthAfrica, hepracticed law there until World War II. After military service, he began an academic career that took him from the University of Natal in South Africa, to the University of Birmingham in England and to the University of California, in Los Angeles, where he taught for over 15 years. His numerous publications have become classics-Pas sive Resistance in SouthAfrica, Genocide : Its Political U ses in the Twentienth Century and The Prevention of Genocide, Kuper was a founding member of International Alert in Los Angeles and London which works with Amnesty International to sustain media attention on human rights violations around the world, believing that the independent media can act as deterrent to violence and terrorism. He also established the International Council of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide based in
Jerusalem.
AIM, JUNE - JULY 1994
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