Dr. Lusine Sahakyan to Present “The Hamshens in Armenian Manuscripts and Ottoman Registers”

The general public, public educators and researchers, and community leaders are cordially invited to a lecture and book presentation, ” Hamshen In Armenian Manuscripts and Ottoman Registers, ” by Lusine Sahakyan , to be held on Thursday, January 23’rd at 7:30 pm at Tekeyan Cultural Center, 1901 Allen Ave., in  Altadena, CA 91001, and on Friday, January 24’th at 7:30 pm at Armenian Society of Los Angeles, 117 S. Louis St., Glendale, CA.

Hamshen in Armenian Manuscripts provides an in-depth historical -linguistic analysis of the colophons, produced by Hamsheni copyists in the Province of Hamshen and other spiritual centers during the period between the XIII and XVII centuries.The exclusive facts and evidence, contained in these sources, give an idea of the political, spiritual and cultural life of the Province, the language situation, the activities of the Armenia princes, the occupation of the populace and folk beliefs. For the first time, demographic and language facts in the Province of Hamshen within the mentioned period are analyzed, based on the census data drawn from the Ottoman registers. In the annexes of the book, the reader will see photocopies of the colophons, created by Hamsheni copyists ( 130 pages ), as well as the newly created map of the Province of Hamshen of XV-XVII centuries.

Lusine Sahakyan is an Associate Professor ( Ph.D in Philology ) in the Department of Turkic Studies at Yerevan State University. She was born in Yerevan, Armenia. Since 2008, she has been the head of the Department of Armenian-Ottoman Relations in the institute for Armenian Studies at YSU. She teaches  ” Modern Turkish, ” ” Turkish Literature ” as well as has special disciplines titled, ” The problems of Turkish Source Studies and historiography,” ” The Etnopolicy of the Ottoman Empire,” and ” Turkification policy of the Place names in the Ottoman Empire and in the Republic of Turkey.” She has participated in international conferences and has given lectures in the USA, France, Greece, Iran, Canada, Lebanon and Russia. She is the author of numerous books and her research results have been published in Armenian, English, Russian and Turkish. In the result of field work implemented in the territory of Rise and Artvin, Dr. sahakyan has prepared a documentary film about the Hamshentsi ( the ethnographically distinctive people who live in Modern Turkey and whose forefathers were ethnically Armenian), but who were forcibly Islamized ” Turkified ” by the Ottoman Empire in the XVIII century, exploring their culture, language, folklore, toponyms and lifestyle.

These special lecture events and book presentations  are organized by cooperation American Armenian Family Association, Inc., Ararat Foundation, Armenian General Benevolent Union ( Pasadena-Glendale Chapters ), Armenian Society of Los Angeles, Christians In Need Foundation, Hamazkayin, Mashdots College, Nor Serount, Organization of Istanbul Armenians and Tekeyan.

The admission to these events are free of charge and the public is encouraged to attend these very interesting and informative lectures and book presentations. The lectures will be presented in Armenian. There will also be a short cultural program and a video   presentation. For information you may call 1-818-303-5566.