George Clooney to Award Prize to the Saviors of the Armenian Genocide in Yerevan

• 03.10.2015, 12:14
•  Armenia,  Diaspora

As a part of preparations for commemorating the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, as The News York Times reports, representatives of the Armenian Diaspora have started collaborating with Hollywood celebrities and human rights advocates. The aim of this collaboration is to create a prize to annually award those who have put their lives at risk to save others’ lives.

This is a part of the efforts of the Armenians to show that the Genocide by the Ottoman Turks is documented by the testimonies of the survivors and their saviors. This initiative, as the source informs, will "emphasize how survivors of the genocide — people who in some cases were protected by sympathetic Turks — went on to lead successful lives as they and their descendants spread throughout the world."

This effort the sponsors call 100 Lives Initiative. The prize that will be given starting from the next year, will be called Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. The prize is called after Aurora Mardiganian, an Armenian Genocide survivor.

The co-sponsor of the effort Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian investment banker and philanthropist who grew up in Russia, mentioned that they are collaborating also with “Not On Our Watch” organization founded by George Clooney, as well as by Don Cheadle, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt. George Clooney in a statement said that his group shares a common goal with the Armenian sponsors.

As The New York Times reports, all the members of the selection committee for the prize are not known yet, but among them are George Clooney; the Nobel Peace Prize winners Elie Wiesel and Óscar Arias;  Mary Robinson, a former United Nations high commissioner for human rights; Gareth Evans, an adviser to the United Nations on genocide prevention; and Vartan Gregorian, an Iranian-born American academic who is the president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The first prize will be awarded on April 24, 2016 in Yerevan by George Clooney.