A public forum titled “Armenian-Turkish Relations: Pitfalls and Possibilities” will be held in New York on March 7. Organized by the New York and New Jersey committees of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD), the forum will feature former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, ANCA chairman Ken Hachikian, the chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA Richard Hovannisian, and emeritus professor of History at UMich-Dearborn Dennis Papazian.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun is one of the oldest Armenian political parties founded in Tiflis in 1890. The ARF Dashnaktsutyun led the effort toward the establishment of the first Armenian Republic in 1918 and was the party in power for the duration of its existence. Following the Sovietization of Armenia in 1920, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun was banned by the Communists and its leadership exiled. The party officially re-emerged in Armenia during the dissolution of the USSR in 1990. On December 28, 1994, the activities of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun were “temporarily suspended” by the Armenian authorities. On February 9, 1998, less than a week after the resignation of the then president Ter-Petrossian, the Justice Ministry of Armenia lifted the ban on the party.