Documentary to Feature Brook Green Butcher

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Ara Sarafian, of Olympia Butchers, searches for truth about 'Armenian Genocide'

The London Film Premiere of a documentary on one man's efforts to oppose the efforts of Turkish parliamentarians deny the that there was an Armenian Genocide in 1915, is taking place at the Riverside Studios.

Mr. Sarafian who is an archival historian specialising in the late Ottoman Empire and early modern Turkish history is also a working partner at Olympia Butchers in Brook Green. The documentary was commissioned in 2005, when he began a campaign to oppose what he felt was Turkish propaganda on the issue.

His opposition took him to Turkey, where he addressed Turkish historians and diplomats at an academic conference in Istanbul University. He became the focus of the conference, with much attention from the Turkish press and television. Though a lonely figure, he held his ground, and drew frank admissions about the Armenian Genocide from the Turkish side. In the documentary Sarafian is also seen identifying field in eastern Turkey, where he believes many Armenians including his ancestors were murdered.

The film focuses on the 1916 British Parliamentary Blue Book which aimed to document the events of the previous year. According to Sarafian, the Blue Book issue represents a milepost in the documentation of the Armenian Genocide and exemplifies the ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide by Turkish authorities.

On Sunday 4th November there is screening of the full length documentary . Produced by Ani Sounds. Gagik Karageuzian (producer and director); Athena Mandis (associate producer); Nikos Pandis (composer); David Holloway (narrator).

November 2, 2007