PROGRAM
November 8, Friday
Registration - 9:00 – 9:30
CONFERENCE OPENING - 9:30 – 10:00
Conference Hall, Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute
Blessings
Fr. Asoghik Karapetian, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Director of Museums and Archives
Samvel Karabekyan, Advisor to the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of RA
Harutyun Marutyan, Director of the AGMI Foundation
Raymond Haroutiun Kévorkian, President of the Board of Trustees, AGMI Foundation
Zaven Khanjian, Executive Director/CEO, Armenian Missionary Association of America
Opening of Temporary Exhibition - 10:00 –11:00
THE RESCUE OF ARMENIANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST IN 1915-1923:
FROM NATIONAL UNITY TO REVIVAL
Coffee Break - 11:00 – 11:30
SESSION I- 11:30 – 13:10
Conference Hall, Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute
Nation Relief Activities during the Armenian Genocide
Moderator: Edita Gzoyan
Harutyun Marutyan (Director of the AGMI Foundation, Doctor of Sciences (History))
On the term “Rescue”
Eduard L. Melkonian (Freelance Researcher, Doctor of Sciences (History))
Participation of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in the Orphan Rescue Mission after WWI
Raymond Haroutiun Kévorkian (President of the Board of Trustees, AGMI, PhD, Professor)
Araratyan and Vaspurakan Orphanages in Jerusalem: A Model of Reconstruction
Seda Ohanian (Researcher, Department of Armenian Diaspora and Communities, Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Doctor of History)
The Refugee Care and Orphan Rescue Activities of the Armenian Organizations of Mesopotamia in 1916-1923
Khatchig Mouradian (Lecturer in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies, Columbia University, Head of the Armenian Studies Program, PhD)
Armenian Self-Help as a Method of Genocide Resistance
Q&A, Discussion
Lunch Break - 13:10 – 14:00
Visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex - 14:00 – 14:40
SESSION II - 14:40 – 16:20
Nation Care Activities during the Armenian Genocide
Moderator: Raymond Haroutiun Kévorkian
Arpine Bablumyan (Researcher, Department of Armenian Cause and Armenian Genocide, Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Doctor of History)
Armenian Rescue Activities in Kharberd and Diyarbekir Provinces during the Armenian Genocide
Gohar Khanumyan (Head of the Archives Department, Researcher, AGMI)
Orphan Gathering Activities in Van, Erzurum, and Bitlis Provinces during the Armenian Genocide
Narine Margaryan (Scientific Secretary, AGMI, Doctor of History)
The Armenian Orphanage of Aleppo (1915-1924)
Vahram Shemmassian (Professor and Director of the Armenian Studies Program, Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures at the California State University, Northridge, PhD)
Rev. Aharon Shirajian and the British Friends of Armenia: Aleppo Hostel for Women
Anna Aleksanyan (Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University, PhD Candidate)
“Our Wounds” or some Problems of the Liberation Mission
Andranig Dakessian (Director of Armenian Diaspora Research Center, Haigazian University, Editor in Chief of the Haigazian Armenological Review, PhD)
Navigating between Fading Dreams, Competing Stances and New Life Expectations:
“The Gotchnag” in 1919-1923
Q&A, Discussion
November 9, Saturday
SESSION III - 10:00 – 11:40
“Garegin A” Educational Center, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
The Role of Religious Organizations in Armenian Rescue Activities
Moderator: Harutyun Marutyan
Gohar Avagyan (Head of Research Department, National Archives of Armenia, Doctor of History)
Activity of the Fraternal Relief Committee of Holy Etchmiadzin
Archbishop Shahan Sarkissian (Representative of the Armenian Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia)
From Orphanage to Catholicosate: Establishment of the Catholicosate of Cilicia in Antelias
Mihran Minassian (Head of the Department of Study of Memoirs, Documents and Press, Senior Researcher, AGMI)
Activities of the Aleppo National Prelacy during the Armenian Genocide
Hilmar Kaiser (Researcher, YSU, PhD)
Protestant Relief Work in the Ottoman 4th Army Region 1915-1917
Shushan Khachatryan (Head of the Department of the Armenian Genocide Victims’ Documentation and Data Collection, Senior Researcher, AGMI, Doctor of History)
Relief Activities of the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Zaven Ter-Yeghiaian during the Armenian Genocide
Q&A, Discussion
Coffee Break - 11:40 – 12:10
SESSION IV - 12:10 – 13:30
The Role of the International Organizations in Armenian Rescue Activities
Moderator: Mihran Minassian
Edita Gzoyan (Deputy Director, AGMI, Doctor of History)
The Rescue Issue of the Armenian Women and Children in the Context of the Development of International Law
Roy Knocke (Research Fellow, Lepsius House, Potsdam; Lecturer, Chair of War Studies, Potsdam University, PhD)
A not so Silent Call for Humanitarian Aid: Contextualising a Promotional Silent Movie from the 1920s
Garo Derounian (Independent Researcher, Beirut)
Tracing Jacob Künzler
Hayk Martirosyan (Researcher, Lepsius House, Potsdam, Doctor of History)
Contribution of the German Missions to the Rescue of Armenians in 1915-1919
Q&A, Discussion
Lunch Break - 13:30 – 14:30
Visit to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin - 14:30- 15:10
V SESSION - 15:10 – 16:15
Nation Relief Activities during the Armenian Genocide
Moderator: Narine Margaryan
Robert Tatoyan (Senior Researcher, Department of Study of Memoirs, Documents and Press, Senior Researcher, AGMI, Doctor of History)
Statistics of the Armenian Genocide Orphans Compiled by the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1919-1922
Karen Hayrapetyan (Researcher, Department of Armenian Cause and Armenian Genocide, Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Doctor of History)
The Issue of Western Armenian Refugees in the Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia
Tehmine Martoyan (Senior Researcher, Department of Organizing Museum Exhibitions, AGMI, Doctor of History)
Vahan Cheraz: Rescue and Care of the Armenian Genocide orphan-survivors in Alexandrapol
Q&A, Discussion
Closing Remarks, Discussion
CLOSING CEREMONY
