2023 Armenian Genocide Education Luncheon │Dr. Khatchig Mouradian’s Speech

Presenting the Richard G. Hovannissian Armenian Genocide Higher Education Award to Dr. Khatchig Mouradian was ANCA-Western Region Education Committee Secretary, Laura Gaboudian. While Dr. Hovannisian, a renowned scholar and premier historian on the Armenian Genocide, was unable to attend the event in person, he sent a heartfelt message which was read to the audience in which he congratulated the organizers and honorees and stressed the importance of Armenian Genocide education. “I am gratified that there are those who refused to lose their purposeful spirit and commitment and have had the willpower to reorganize and go forward. The recognition of educators who have continued to enlighten and advocate during these trying times is most commendable,” wrote Hovannissian. In accepting this prestigious award, Dr. Khatchig Mouradian shared a realization he had while writing his book, The Resistance Network, “As I learned more about that region, as I learned more about the way Armenians organized in that region, those survivors who were in terrible conditions when they were arriving in Syria, the way way they formed this underground resistance network, trying to save as many lives as possible, it essentially transformed this book which I was imagining to be extremely dark into a book that was dark, but also highlighted and emphasized the agency of Armenians, their ability to fight back and push back.” Mouradian emphasized the need to keep pushing and being hopeful saying, “More than a hundred years after the Armenian Genocide, today with the war on Armenia and Artsakh, and its aftermath, and the horrors that are being committed on a daily basis, it is important to think about one critical element … we do not see a path forward but in times like this, I want more than anything else to share that as a historian … knowing so well what the Armenian people went through and pushed against with their resilience and resistance, the best thing we can do to ourselves, our community, and our nation, is to think that if they could do it back then, we can do it today.”

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