This week marks global remembrance of the 97th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. In an article that looks forward as well as back, Dr Harry Hagopian re-affirms the historical veracity of this genocide, not on the basis of presumed ethnic biases, but on the basis of the solid literature coming from international historians, organisations, scholars and lawyers - not least the International Association of Genocide Scholars. This confirms the horrid truth of forced deportations and massacres took place against Armenians of Turkish nationality (alongside Greeks, Assyrians and Nestorians) living in their homelands in Western Armenia during the ominous years of World War One. Out of recognition can spring hope, he suggests.

December 2011 was characterised by two key Armenian events - one in France and another in Israel. In France, the National Assembly (he lower house of parliament) approved a draft law that would criminalise the denial of the Armenian genocide. Dr Harry Hagopian questions this approach. The horrific scale of the crime means this sensitive issue becomes laden with profound moral, ethical, legal, political and psychological implications, he says, recommending a pan-Armenian strategy.

The General Secretary of the World Council of Churches has participated in the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s independence.

With Easter Sunday this year coinciding for the first time with the memorial day for the 1915 Armenian Genocide, Harry Hagopian explores a painful history and asks how, in the present and future, those who inherit the mantle of the victims can move forward to discover new life.