Talk on Ottoman revolution to be presented at NAASR CenterOctober 30, 2014 - 14:21 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Dr. Bedross Der Matossian will present Friday, Nov 7, a talk entitled, “Shattered Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire,” at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center in Belmont, Mass., U.S., the Armenian Weekly reports. The Ottoman revolution of 1908 is a study in contradictions—a positive manifestation of modernity intended to reinstate constitutional rule, yet ultimately a negative event that shook the fundamental structures of the empire, opening up ethnic, religious, and political conflicts. Der Matossian’s just-published Shattered Dreams of Revolution (Stanford University Press) considers this revolutionary event to tell the stories of three important groups: Arabs, Armenians, and Jews. The revolution raised these groups’ expectations for new opportunities of inclusion and citizenship. But as post-revolutionary festivities ended, these euphoric feelings soon turned to pessimism and a dramatic rise in ethnic tensions. The undoing of the revolutionary dreams could be seen in the very foundations of the revolution itself. Inherent ambiguities and contradictions in the revolution’s goals and the reluctance of both the authors of the revolution and the empire’s ethnic groups to come to a compromise regarding the new political framework of the empire ultimately proved untenable. The revolutionaries had never been wholeheartedly committed to constitutionalism, thus constitutionalism failed to create a new understanding of Ottoman citizenship, grant equal rights to all citizens, and bring them under one roof in a legislative assembly, the Armenian Weekly says. Bedross Der Matossian is assistant professor of history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holds a PhD in the Department of Middle East, Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. Top stories Six total incidents have burned 19 old-growth trees. Friday night 8 trees were torched along the beautiful main entrance. The EU does not intend to conduct military exercises with Armenia, Lead Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano says. Hikmet Hajiyev has said that there is no place for USAID operation in Azerbaijan any longer. A telephone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan before the CSTO summit is not planned, Peskov says. Partner news | Azerbaijan says now controls 4 villages as part of deal with Armenia Azerbaijan's border service has taken control of four villages in the Gazakh district on the border with Armenia. Lukashenko has "very interesting proposal" involving Caucasus Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has said he has "a very interesting proposal" involving the Caucasus region. Azerbaijan establishing three military colleges Three military colleges are being established in Azerbaijan, according to a decree signed by the country’s Prime Minister Ali Asadov. Armenian border troops stationed in Tavush Starting from May 24, the Armenian border troops officially take over the protection of sections of the border in the Tavush region. |