25.05.2024


A series of events dedicated to the memory of the Greek Genocide victims, co-organised by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and the Union of Greek Communities of Armenia, took place from May 19-25.

A commemoration event was held in the Greek community centre’s garden in the town of Alaverdi, Armenia on May 19, to honour Pontic Greek Genocide victims. Flowers were laid near the khachkar memorialising the victims of the genocide during the event and a memorial service was conducted by Father Mikael Shaghoyan, the community pastor.

The event was attended by AGMI researchers Narek Poghosyan and Tehmine Martoyan and speeches were delivered by the head of the Alaverdi community Davit Ghumashyan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Greece to Armenia Christos Sofianopoulos, President of the Union of Greek Communities of Armenia Maria Lazareva, a representative of the Greek "AKMI" community, the director of the Greek Medical Center "Hellen Med" Simon Zakharov, AGMI senior researcher Tehmine Martoyan and others.

Dr. Tessa Hofmann, a German armenologist and genocide scholar, gave a remote lecture titled "Why Remember, Why Commemorate?" in the AGMI conference hall on May 23.

Closing the week of Greek Genocide Commemoration events, Ambassador Christos Sofianopoulos, Maria Lazareva, and Suren Manukyan, the head of the AGMI V. Dadrian Comparative Genocide Studies Department, with other researchers and representatives of the Greek community, laid flowers at the memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide on May 25.

Suren Manukyan also presented the section of the AGMI permanent exhibition dedicated to the Greek Genocide. Additional materials from the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute’s collections concerning the Greek Genocide were separately exhibited in the conference hall as part of the event. AGMI Director Edita Gzoyan and Ambassador Christos Sofianopoulos delivered welcoming speeches, emphasizing the importance of such commemorative events. They highlighted that Armenians and Greeks, as two of the oldest peoples in the world, have faced historical challenges with their characteristic strength of their national vitality.

Tehmine Martoyan, AGMI Senior Researcher, also gave a lecture titled "Attempts of Armenian-Greek Cooperation: Historical Parallels," followed by a Q&A discussion.