February 22: Listen to Taner Akçam, the Turk who believes in the Armenian Genocide

Taner Akçam, one of Turkey's most historians, comes to the Indianapolis Committee on Foreign Relations's dinner to discuss "The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility"

When: Thursday February 22, 5:45 refreshments; 6:30 dinner; 7:30 presentation
Where: Five Seasons Country Club, 1300 E. 96th St.

Here's the publisher's description of his book, From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide:

The murder of more than one million Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish government in 1915 has been acknowledged as genocide. Yet almost 100 years later, these crimes remain unrecognized by the Turkish state. This book is the first attempt by a Turk to understand the genocide from a perpetrator's, rather than victim's, perspective, and to contextualize the events of 1915 within Turkey's political history and western regional policies. Turkey today is in the midst of a tumultuous transition. It is emerging from its Ottoman legacy and on its way to recognition by the west as a normal nation state. But until it confronts its past and present violations of human rights, it will never be a truly democratic nation. This book explores the sources of the Armenian genocide, how Turks today view it, the meanings of Turkish and Armenian identity, and how the long legacy of western intervention in the region has suppressed reform, rather than promoted democracy.

For a taste of the controversy Akçam inspires, visit his book's page at amazon.com and read the reviews by readers.

To RSVP for this important event contact Courtenay Weldon at Courtenay@cweldon.net.

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January 30: Watch John McCormick and John Clark debate whose power is more super

The Indianapolis Committee on Foreign relations hosts a dinner and debate between IUPUI political scientist John McCormick and IndyBuzzer John Clark over the relative merits of US and European power in the 21st century

When: Tuesday January 30, Reception at 5:45 dinner at 6:30, speaker presentation shortly after 7:30 and ends at 9:00
Where: Woodstock Club 1301 W 38th St, Indianapolis, 46208

This will be an interesting and perhaps even important discussion. Much more will be written about it on IndyBuzz and Provocate.org.

John McCormick is professor and chair of political science at IUPUI, and a British national. He specializes on comparative politics, the EuropeanUnion, and transatlantic relations. He is the author of eleven books, the most recent The European Superpower, which argues that the EU is a new kind ofglobal powerhouse that relies on soft power (economic and diplomatic pressure, encouragement rather than coercion) rather than hard power (mainlymilitary force), giving it a significant advantage over the US in the new globalized international system.

John Clark believes that the US is the most powerful country today and will be into the foreseeable future. Part of this power must be hard. Meaningful solutions to the most urgent problems the world faces will require an America that is strong, self-confident, and wise. The current disasters in Iraq and elsewhere created by the Bush Administration have weakened the ability of DC to impose its will around the world (although there is no compelling reason to think this can't be reversed). More critical is to recognize that the nature of problems in the 21st century are changing in ways that diminish the importance of national (or supranational) governments in places like DC or Brussels.

For RSVPs and more details about this event, contact Courtenay Weldon at courtenay@cweldon.net. More details about the substance is the debate will kick off Provocate.org.

If this event sounds interesting, you should check out some others dealing with contemporary Europe. Prof. Didier Gondola discusses the explosive ethnic conflicts in France (and elsewhere in Europe). Stefan Halper looks at the "silence of the Rational Center" in US foreign policy from the Europe's eyes. In fact, many discussions this spring will examine the disoriented American "empire."

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