Sentinel of Truth by Tigran Kalaydjian

In the prologue, the author reveals his fascination with his grandfather’s generation and explains how a study of the campaign against the denial of the Armenian Genocide cannot but include the assassinations carried out by Gourgen Yanikian in 1973. In Part I, he recounts the first phase of the genocide and covers the early period of Yanikian’s life, highlighting the horrific experiences he suffered as a result of the massacres. He describes Yanikian’s immigration to America after World War II and his desire to produce a vast documentary about the Armenian Holocaust, a project that consumes twenty years of his life but remains unfulfilled. He then explores the lead-up to his assassination of two diplomats and his subsequent trial. In Part II, the author chronicles the controversial period of Armenian militancy and describes the effects it had on the consciousness of diasporan Armenians. He follows this up by delving into the Turkish denial industry, and in the final chapter he elucidates the many facets of the Diaspora’s decades-long campaign for justice, describing how one of the most impressive monuments to the victims of the Genocide was recently built in Cyprus.