Ohanian’s dissertation project, Reconfiguration of the Caucasus: Bolshevik-Kemalist Cooperation and the Armenian Genocide, 1917-1923, sheds light on the role that the Armenian Genocide played in the context of Bolshevik-Kemalist relations, analyzing how, or to what extent, the genocide influenced the respective actions of Turkish and Russian revolutionary forces – the Kemalists, and the Bolsheviks. The triangular relationship between Turkey, Russia, and the Caucasus reflects the effects of imperial decline and the rise of nationalistic ambition in the Great War’s aftermath. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks absorbed Transcaucasian states and defined the fate of territories, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, with equivocal consideration towards indigenous habitants. The entangled histories of the Bolsheviks and Kemalists in the region may have influenced such outcomes whose consequences are manifested via continued inter-ethnic conflict and instability of the region today. The violence and bloodshed that ensued considerably marked the South Caucasus. To date, there are no theories that link the Bolshevik-Kemalist alliance to specific crimes of genocide. An historical analysis employing a transnational perspective will reveal the continuity of violence and genocidal machinations against Armenians in the South Caucasus.
Advisor: Taner Akçam
Education:
- B.A., History, University of California, Irvine, 2013
- B.A., French, University of California, Irvine, 2013
- M.A., History & Literature, Columbia University, 2016
- M.A., History, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 2017
Publications:
- “Armenian-Georgian Relations, 1918 to 1920.” NYPL Blog. New York Public Library. February 1, 2022. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2022/02/01/armenian-georgian-relations
Fellowships:
- Society of Armenian Studies Graduate Research Grant, 2022
- Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace, Middlebury College, 2021
- Armenian Community Fellow, Clark University, 2018 – 2021
- New York Public Library Short-Term Research Fellowship, 2020
- Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Short-term Grant for Armenian Studies, 2018, 2022
- AGBU Graduate Student Scholarship, 2018, 2019, 2020
- Margrit and Nishan Atinizian Fellowship, 2017-2018
