Contact: Hamlet Sarokhanian, 469-203-2974

DALLAS, March 19, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- New York Times bestselling poet and nonfiction author Peter Balakian will appear in Dallas on the Southern Methodist University campus on Thursday, March 19 to kick-off the first in a series of events commemorating the Armenian Genocide, the first genocide of the 20th century. The event is hosted by the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of DFW (AGCC) and the Embrey Human Rights Program at SMU.

Balakian is an award-winning author of several books on the Armenian Genocide. In his first appearance at SMU, he will speak about Polish-Jewish jurist Raphael Lemkin, a key figure in the recognition of genocide as a crime in international law.

"As humanity forgot the Armenian genocide, it became a precedent for future genocides, such as the Jewish Holocaust of WW II," says Hamlet Sarokhanian, chairman and founder of the Armenian Genocide Committee of DFW. "Today, genocide has become a global phenomenon and by promoting understanding, we continue create awareness in the hope that history will not repeat itself."

About the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee:
The mission of the St. Sarkis Church's Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of DFW (AGCC) is to encourage meaningful and respectful dialogue on the subject of the Armenian Genocide and to educate and raise awareness of it throughout North Texas. The church was founded 30 years ago in Carrollton, Texas and is the center of the thriving Armenian American community in the DFW Metroplex led by Fr. Ghevond Ajamian. For more information please visit www.stsarkis.org.