Hollywood star Dean Cain, who helped produce the Armenian Genocide documentary “Architects of Denial,” says “the film educates people about a very disturbing event that unquestionably took place, just after the turn of the 20th century.”
“It was the first genocide in the 20th century, and millions were killed — including 1.5 million Armenians, 900,000 Greeks, and 750,000 Assyrians. It was a horrible tragedy that has been denied and covered up for over 100 years,” Cain said in an interview with LifeZette.
According to him, that denial and covering up allows genocides to continue to this very day — in places like Syria, Iraq, and Sudan. In fact, when Adolf Hitler spoke about his “Final Solution,” he said, “After all, who remembers the Armenians?”
“We are also very hopeful that we can get House Res. 220 passed by the U.S. Congress. We want to finally have the United States recognize the Armenian Genocide for what it was, a genocide, and recognize that Christians today are one of the most persecuted groups in the world,” he said.
The actor said he’s not very optimistic that the Turkish government will recognize the genocide any time soon. “Many, many Turkish citizens already recognize the Armenian Genocide for what it was, but Turkish citizens are not allowed to call it a genocide —that is punishable by arrest and jail time or worse inside Turkey,” he said.
“The current government, led by the authoritarian Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, seems to be headed in the opposite direction — and the relationship between the United States and Turkey and even NATO is suffering as a result,” Dean Cain added.
Cain became involved in “Architects of Denial” through a number of Armenian friends who asked. “They asked me whether I knew anything about the Armenian Genocide. I was embarrassed I did not know much. My Armenian producer friend said, “I thought you were a history major — from Princeton!” That was the jumping-off point for me. I went to a march on April 24, about 10 years ago in Los Angeles, that commemorates the start of the Armenian Genocide [April 24, 1915] — and I learned an awful lot that day, and in the days since.”
“Montel Williams and I executive-produced this film after traveling the world together doing charity work. Montel and I don’t agree on everything politically, but we definitely agree on this: Genocide is wrong, and it needs to be stopped,” Cain stated.
