Tuesday, October 5, 2021 at 12pm (noon) EDT/ 9:00 am PDT
Live on Zoom. Registration is required and free.
Livestream on the Promise Armenian Institute's YouTube channel. 

SPEAKER
DR. ÜMIT KURT: Polonsky Fellow, the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

One cornerstone of the wartime campaign against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire was the confiscation of their properties and wealth, which were subsequently transferred to Muslim elites and used in reshaping the domestic economy as well as covering wartime expenses. These were among the radical practices of the CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) regime aimed at nationalizing the economy. First, many businesses and properties were transferred to state institutions. Second, a lesser but substantial number of firms were transferred to “reliable” Muslim individuals and social institutions. More significant than the transfers themselves was the fact that these extraordinary measures were based on a set of laws, regulations, rules, and decrees that created a legal basis for a more systematic campaign against the movable and immovable properties of Armenians.

Following the lecture Mr. Robert Kurkjian, a descendent of Genocide survivors from Aintab, will provide additional commentary about his family's experience with property loss and confiscation during the Armenian Genocide.

ORGANIZERS
The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA
The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA Law

CO-SPONSORS
UCLA Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History
UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
Ararat-Eskijian Museum (AEM)

Click here for the flyer.

Click here to purchase Ümit Kurt's book The Armenians of Aintab: The Economics of Genocide in an Ottoman Province from the NAASR Bookstore.