Zoryan Institute

News and Events

January 31, 2012
Prof. Vahakn Dadrian to Lecture on Significance of the Trials of the Perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide
...Read More

Dec 22, 2011
Synopsis of Judgment at Istanbul ...Read More

Nov 21, 2011
Zoryan Announces New Book that Sets Post-WWI Ottoman Trials in Their Historical and Legal Context ...Read More

Oct 11, 2010
New Issue of Genocide Studies and Prevention Presents Original Research on Rwanda, Adana, the Holocaust and Prevention ...Read More

What People Say

"The Zoryan Institute is a beacon of light in a world that is often shadowed by darkness. Not only has the Zoryan Institute done highly significant work vis-a-vis the Armenian Genocide but it has also taken a lead in preparing young scholars to teach and conduct research into the broader area of genocide studies."

by: Dr. Samuel Totten, Professor- University of Arkansas Fayetteville

"The Zoryan Institute was founded at a time when the Diaspora recognized it needed tools by which to begin to document, study and understand itself. From its extensive oral history and genocide documentation work to its groundbreaking Diaspora studies, the Zoryan Institute was a pioneer."

by: Vartan Oskanian, former Minister of Foreign Affairs-Republic of Armenia

"Zoryan was one of the principal Diaspora institutions to give scholarly attention to Soviet Armenia, then seperated from much of the Armenian world ideologically and politically. It brought cool, detached consideration of the Armenian genocide. Zoryan remains a valued ally of those who look seriously and dispassionately at the major issues confronting Armenians in the troubled twenty-first century. If this was the only activity in which Zoryan was involved it would have contributed a great deal. Its mission and its work is broader and more inclusive, and in that sense, it is truly an 'international center' serving all of humanity."

by: Ronald Grigor Suny, Professor Emiritus of Political Science & History- University of Chicago

Zoryan's core concept:

Zoryan's core concept is to serve the cause of scholarship and public awareness relating to issues of universal human rights, genocide, and diaspora-homeland relations. This is done through the systematic continued efforts of independent scholars, and specialists using a comparative and multidisciplinary approach and in accordance with the highest academic standards.

Zoryan's Featured Activities

Zoryan's Position on the French Armenian Genocide Denial Bill- 2006

Freedom of speech and debate on the issue of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey is the best hope for eliminating government control of this history. By allowing such debate, Turkey can become open, democratic and pluralistic. There is no guarantee that Turkey will follow suit, but France, with its legacy of "freedom, equality and brotherhood," and as one of the world�s leaders in democracy and human rights, must show the way by not itself imposing laws that penalize freedom of speech on the Armenian Genocide or any historical event... Read More

Watch below Executive Director, George Shirinian's 2012 interview with CivilNet TV about the Institute's position on the French Armenian Genocide Bill.

Agos Interview with K.M. Greg Sarkissian, President of the Zoryan Institute on Turkish-Armenian Relations

An interview with the president of the Zoryan Institute, Mr. K.M. Greg Sarkissian which appeared in the August 18, 2011, issue of Agos newspaper in Istanbul. The interview focuses on Turkish-Armenian relations. The interviewer, Ms. Esra Elmas, is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Galatasaray University in Istanbul. She is also an alumna of the Genocide and Human Rights University Program, developed and run by the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (A Division of the Zoryan Institute) held at the University of Toronto....

Genocide is not genocide in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights

An article titled, "Memory becomes a minefield at Canada's Museum for Human Rights," by Ira Basen in the August 20, 2011 issue of the Globe and Mail, provides an expos� of the controversy surrounding the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The appearance of this article calls for reflection on two critical factors regarding the museum, which have not been adequately discussed: the important relationship between human rights and genocide, and the requirement of federal institutions to adhere to Canada�s official policy of multiculturalism...

Human Rights Review Praises Zoryan's Genocide & Human Rights University Program as a Model for Educating a New Generation in Genocide Studies

"Educating a New Generation: The Model of the Genocide & Human Rights University Program" an article by Dr. Joyce Apsel, will be featured in the forthcoming issue of the prestigious Human Rights Review, describing and analyzing this innovative, higher education course. The journal is known for providing a forum where human rights issues and their underlying theoretical and philosophical foundations can be developed and debated. It publishes articles and essays from all academic areas and addresses the many human rights issues that concern, or ought to concern, the world today.

Catalogue of Zoryan Oral History Collection Now Available Online

The catalogue of some 780 video testimonies from the Zoryan Institute Oral History Collection has now been posted on its website and is publicly available for the first time. Oral history is an important source of otherwise unrecorded information about the social preconditions, personal experiences and long-term repercussions of genocide. Oral history works on both the factual and narrative planes; it operates in both the past and the present. Memory is not a passive depository of facts, but an active process of creating meaning. Through oral communication, history comes alive, as the survivors are able to convey emphasis and emotion in a way that written testimony can not. As the individual stories are assembled, they become the collective record of a nation's history.

ZoryanInstitute

...30 years of pioneering scholarly work,

academic & educational programs

Zoryan's core concept:

Zoryan's Featured Activities