Account of Armenian Genocide wins Minnesota Book Award

PanARMENIAN.Net - An account of the Armenian Genocide written by Taner Akcam, a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota won a Minnesota Book Award this weekend.



Taner Akcam was honored for writing "A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility."



Judges called it a "pioneering work" and "scrupulous account of Turkish responsibility for the killing of 1.5 million Armenians" and praised Akcam and his publisher, Metropolitan Books, for "challenging the country's 90-plus-year denial of intentional genocide."



Akcam left Turkey in the 1970s after being prosecuted, jailed, threatened, vilified and harassed.



"I'm deeply honored to accept this award," Akcam said, "in the hope of preventing further genocides."



He dedicated his award for best general nonfiction book to his close friend, Hrant Dink, a Turkish Armenian newspaper editor who was gunned down outside his office in Istanbul in January, allegedly by extreme nationalists, the AP reports.