“Armenians and Turks: Challenges and New Paths Forward towards Reconciliation” will be the topic of a panel discussion at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 3, in the University Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, Room 191. The event is part of the Fall Lecture Series of the Armenian Studies Program.

The panel discussion will be moderated by Dr. Jay Pope, Associate Professor of Psychology at Fresno Pacific University. For centuries, a coherent literature on forgiveness was virtually non-existent and was generally limited to individual perspectives of theologians and pastors writing about forgiveness as a doctrinal subject within religious faith. In the last 30 years, however, forgiveness has emerged as a powerful psychological construct, addressed by many branches of the social sciences both theoretically and practically. In his presentation, Dr. Jay Pope briefly traces the history of forgiveness and its religious and psychological implications, especially as it pertains to the Armenian experience with Turkey.

Joining Dr. Pope on the panel will be Kathleen Chavoor-Bergen, M.A. (School therapist in the Fresno Unified School District) who will speak on “Behavioral and Unconscious Experience and Expressions of Multigenerational Collective Trauma”; Noelle (Daoudian) Nightingale, M.A. (Mediator and President of Nightingale Dispute Consultants) on “Bringing about Recognition and Reconciliation”; Ali Kalkandelen, M.A., one of the initiators of the Armenian Turkish Peace Initiative (ATPI); and Zekai Tanyar, B. Sci., one of the founders of the Alliance (later Association) of Protestant Churches in Turkey in 1989 and current ATPI coordinator for Turkey.

The panel discussion is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in Lots P6 and P5 near the University Business Center, Fresno State. Please use permit code 273808 at a campus kiosk to receive a free parking permit.

For more information about the lecture please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278.2669, or visit the website at www.fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies.