Located in the southwestern sector of the plateau, Tsopk or Sophene (later Kharpert or Harput) had close ties with Mesopotamia and Syria, stood for centuries as a buffer zone beween rival empires, and served as a conduit for cultural-political currents flowing in and out of Armenia. It both shares a history with and has a history distinct from that of Greater Armenia lying to the east. Below the great citadel of Kharpert is a fertile plain, traversed by tributaries and branches of the Aratsani or Eurphrates River. For the Armenians, the shimmering waters and the waves of grain made this their Voski Dasht—Golden Plain.
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).