Armenian Baghesh/Bitlis and Taron/Mush is the second of the conference proceedings to be published. This beautiful, rugged land in the southwestern sector of historic Greater Armenia is known to have been one of the earliest centers of Armenian settlement. It was here that evolved Armenian Baghesh and Taron, which became a part of the medieval principality of Turuberan and later the administrative districts of Bitlis and Mush.
Richard Hovannisian is a Guggenheim Fellow and has received many honors for his scholarship, civic activities, and advancement of Armenian Studies. His biographical entries are included in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, Writers' Directory, and a number of other scholarly and literary reference works. Dr. Hovannisian is a founder and three-time president of the Society for Armenian Studies and represented the State of California on the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE) from 1978 to 1994. He serves on the board of directors of nine scholarly and civic organizations, including the Facing History and Ourselves Foundation; the International Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide; International Alert; the Foundation for Research on Armenian Architecture; and the Armenian National Institute (ANI).