126 Holocaust Scholars Affirm The Incontestable Fact Of The Armenian Genocide And Urge Western Democracies To Officially Recognise It As Such

Statement by 126 Holocaust Scholars, Holders of Academic Chairs, and Directors of Holocaust Research and Studies Centers – March 7th, 2000

At the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Scholar’s Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches Convening at St. Joseph University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 3-7, 2000, one hundred and twenty-six Holocaust Scholars, holders of Academic Chairs and Directors of Holocaust Research and Studies Centers, participants of the Conference, signed a statement affirming that the World War I Armenian Genocide is an incontestable historical fact and accordingly urge the governments of Western democracies to likewise recognize it as such.

The petitioners, among whom is Nobel Laureate for Peace Elie Wiesel, who was the keynote speaker at the conference, also asked the Western Democracies to urge the Government and Parliament of Turkey to finally come to terms with a dark chapter of Ottoman-Turkish history and to recognize the Armenian Genocide. This would provide an invaluable impetus to the process of the democratization of Turkey.

Below is a partial list of the signatories:

Prof. Yehuda Bauer – Distinguished Professor, Hebrew University; Director, The International Institute of Holocaust Research,Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

Prof. Israel Charny, Director – Institute of the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem; Professor at the Hebrew University; Editor-in-Chief of The

Encyclopedia of Genocide

Prof. Ward Churchill – Ethnic Studies, The University of Colorado, Boulder

Prof. Stephen Feinstein – Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota

Prof. Saul Friedman – Director, Holocaust and Jewish Studies, Youngston State University, Ohio

Prof. Edward Gaffney – Valparaiso University Law School

Prof. Zev Garber – Los Angeles Valley College

Prof. Dorota Glowacka – University of King’s College, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Dr. Irving Greenberg, – President, Jewish Life Network

Prof. Herbert Hirsch – Virginia Commonwealth University

Prof. Irving L. Horowitz – Hannah Arendt Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University, NJ

Rabbi Dr. Steve Jacobs – Temple Sinai Shalom, Huntsville, Alabama; Associate Editor of The Encyclopedia of Genocide

Prof. Steven Katz – Distinguish Professor, Director, Center for Judaic Studies, Boston University

Prof. Richard Libowitz – Temple University

Dr. Elizabeth Maxwell – Executive Director of the International Scholarly, Conference on the Holocaust, London, England

Prof. Erik Markusen – Southwest State University, MN

Prof. Saul Mendlowitz – Dag Hammerskjold Distinguished Professor of International Law, Rutgers University

Prof. Jack Needle – Director, Center for Holocaust Studies, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ

Dr. Philip Rosen – Director, Holocaust Education Center of the Delaware Valley

Prof. Alan S, Rosenbaum – Dept. of Philosophy, Cleveland State University

William L. Shulman – President, Association of Holocaust Organizations City University of New York

Prof. Samuel Totten – The University of Arkansas; Assoc. Editor of The Encyclopedia of Genocide

Prof. Elie Wiesel – Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Boston University; Founding Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial

Council; Nobel Laureate for Peace

I hereby declare that the originals of these one hundred and twenty-six signatories are on file in my office. All affiliations supplied are for identification purposes only.

Dr. Stephen Feinstein,

Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota