On Thursday evening, April 22, 2010, the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center, together with the Armenian Students Association, the Knights of Vartan, the Armenian Network, and the Columbia Armenian Club, hosted an event titled “April’s Calamity: Readings from Armenian Authors Deported From Constantinople on April 24, 1915” in the sanctuary of St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral.

April 24, 1915 marked the beginning of the first modern genocide in which 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by the Young Turk government. On that day, some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were arrested in Constantinople. Among them were the writers who authored pieces you will be hearing tonight. Although most of these writers, poets, parliamentarians, teachers and artists were killed, the voices of these distinguished intellectuals live on through their works.

The purpose of the program was to better understand the meaning of the events of April 24, 1915 in listening to the voices of those who were arrested that night. New York City artists and authors read selections from the works of Armenian authors of Istanbul who were rounded up and taken away to be killed on April 24. Readings featured pieces from those Armenian authors who were successfully murdered after their deportation and those who miraculously survived. For more information on the authors and texts read during the evening, please click here: http://wp.me/PMtLq-4P