President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili Paid Tribute at the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex
13.03.2019
On 13 March, in the framework of an official visit to Armenia at the invitation of the RA President Armen Sargsyan, President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. The President of Georgia was accompanied by the RA Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan and Mayor of Yerevan Hayk Marutyan.
The guests were welcomed by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation Director Harutyun Marutyan, who presented to the guests the construction history of the monument and the symbolism of the monument. The President of Georgia laid a wreath at the Genocide Monument after which the members of the accompanying delegation put flowers at the eternal fire, honoring the memory of innocent martyrs with a minute of silence.
Vice-Speaker of the Swedish Parliament Visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex and Museum
09.03.2019
Today the delegation headed by Lotta Johnsson Fornarve, the second vice-speaker of the Parliament of Swedish Kingdom accompanied by Lena Nazaryan, the vice-speaker of the RA National Assembly, visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex.
Lotta Johnsson Fornarve laid a wreath at the Memorial, and with the members of the delegation put flowers at the eternal fire, honoring the memory of the innocent martyrs with a minute of silence.
The guests were welcomed by Dr. Harutyun Marutyan, the director of the AGMI Foundation, who also introduced the history of construction of the memorial complex and its symbolism.
Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation Director’s visit to Berlin
02.03.2019
On 28 February, director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation Harutyun Marutyan had a meeting with Mr. Klaus Hesse, the deputy director of Topographie desTerrors Museum.
During the meeting Klaus Hesse presented the main directions of their museum’s work and the upcoming projects.
Both sides highlighted the importance of memory preservation policy and the activities of museums in this field.
Piloting of Educational Programs at the AGMI Foundation
01.03.2019
On February 26, the first day of pilot educational meeting took place at Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation. The program was attended by the students of the 8th grade of “Usum” school. The students visited the Genocide Museum and got acquainted with the history of the Armenian Genocide through a specifically prepared presentation.
At the AGMI Conference Hall the students participated in an interactive lecture with newly developed methodology, delivered by Seda Parsamyan, a researcher at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation. The topic of a lecture was “The Significance of Self-Defense Battles in the Formation of Value System in Teenagers”.
During the lecture a video testimony of a survivor of Musa Dagh self-defense battle was used.
Massacres and Attacks against the Armenian Population in Sumgait on February 27-29, 1988
28.02.2019
The response of Azerbaijan to the democratic will of the Armenian population in Karabagh was initially in Sumgait, and later in other settlements of the republic in the form of murders and violence often referred as genocidal acts. The purpose of mass killings and violence in Sumgait intended to terrify the Armenians with the prospect of new bloody actions and force them to abandon their struggle for Karabagh. Planned violence, slaughter and forced deportation in Sumgait were particularly cruel. All the killings without exception were done with unprecedented cruelty and in front of many citizens of Sumgait. Evidence and testimonies of these horrific events help us to build on a whole chain of fraudulent images. Numerous Sumgait Armenians were killed, burned alive and tortured as a result of three-day violence. There were hundreds of wounded, and the Armenian population of nearly 17,000 of the city was displaced. More than 200 Armenian homes were robbed and destroyed.
Georgian Minister of Defense Paid Tribute at the Armenian Genocide Monument
22.02.2019
On February 21, in the frame of an official visit to Armenia, Minister of Defense of Georgia and the accompanying delegation visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. Minister Levan Izorya laid a wreath at the Genocide Monument and members of the delegation put flowers at the eternal fire honoring the memory of the holy martyrs with a minute of silence.
AGMI Director Harutyun Marutyan presented to the Georgian guest the history of the Genocide Complex.
The Georgian delegation also visited the Genocide Museum.
Meeting-Discussion between the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and Shoah Foundations
21.02.2019
On 19-20 February meeting-discussions took place at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation with the representatives of the USC Shoah Foundation.
The meeting was held by Dr. Kori Street, the Senior Director of Programs and Operations at the USC Shoah Foundation, Sedda Antekelian, education and information expert, and Manuk Avedikyan, Armenian Collections Development project expert.
During the two-day workshop, perspectives of digitalizing the archive collections s, particularly the survivors' records and the process of installing them in a high quality digital library was presented and discussed.Colleagues from the United States shared with the AGMI staff their remarkable experience in preserving and sharing the victims’ voices by the modern technologies. The representatives of the Shoah Foundation have also showed interactive videos and 3D cartoons, designed specifically for children in the framework of their educational programs.
Hovhannes Tumanyan 150
15.02.2019
The destiny of the Armenian nation has left a deep trace on the biography of Armenian writers, cultural figures and intellectuals in general.
Hovhannes Tumanyan was one of those farsighted intellectuals, who selflessly devoted himself to his people during the Armenian Genocide and a fair solution of its issue.
The poet of all-Armenians, as he is called, was born on 7 February 1869 (19 according to the new calendar), in the village of Dsegh, in Lori region. Lori or Gugark world, as it was called in the past, is one of the most charming places of historical Armenia. As for Avetik Isahakyan; “Lori is a patriarchal self-contained world; each corner of it is a traditional novel and each stone tells about its heroic past”.
Hovhannes Tumanyan lived his childhood in this beautiful nature.
Cyprus Minister of Defense visited Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex
13.02.2019
In the framework of an official visit to Armenia, Savvas Angelides, Cyprus Minister of Defense, and the accompanying delegation visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. The Minister laid a wreath at the Memorial Monument, and members of the delegation put flowers at the eternal fire, honoring the memory of the innocent martyrs with a minute of silence.
The delegation also visited the Genocide Museum, and in the end of the visit Minister Angelides left a note in the Memory Book of Honorable Guests.
Dr. Harutyun Marutyan, Director of the AGMI Foundation, gifted the honorable guest volume publication «The Armenian Genocide: Prelude and Aftermath. As reported in the U.S. Press – The New York Times» by Archimandrite of the Mekhitarist Congregation Father Vahan Ohanyan and Ara Ketipyan, which collects articles published in the New York Times about the Armenian Genocide.
Basic Guiding Skills: Master Class at AGMI
11.02.2019
On February 9, a lecture on “Basics Guiding Skills” was delivered at the Conference Hall of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. The lecture was delivered by Professor Lianna Grigoryan, lecturer at the Armenian State Pedagogical University, Deputy Director and chief archivist at the “Historical-Cultural Reserve-Museums and Historical Habitat Protection Service” SNCO of RA Ministry of Culture, author of educational-methodological manual “Basics Tour Guiding Skills.”
The meeting was attended by the Director of the AGMI Foundation, researchers and museum guides. In addition to the master class Mrs. Grigoryan also presented the modern developments in tour guiding research.
Appreciation Letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Supporting the Third Global Forum
06.02.2019
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, has sent a letter of appreciation to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation, in particular Harutyun Marutyan for the support of the Third Global Forum against the Crime of Genocide held in Yerevan on December 9-11, 2018.
“Undoubtedly, the Third Global Forum was an important event in the international agenda of genocide prevention, which was successfully organized and conducted also with the assistance of your organization and your organization's deposit.On this occasion I would like to express my gratitude to you, for the support provided to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within the framework of organizational work and participation in the Third Global Forum against the Crime Genocide” - the Foreign Minister noted.
French President declared April 24 a National Day of Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide
06.02.2019
French President Emmanuel Macron has declared April 24 a national day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. Macron made the announcement in Paris, at the annual dinner of the Armenian community in France.
Speaking to the Armenian community, Macron said: "France is, first and foremost, the country that knows how to look history in the face, which was among the first to denounce the killings of the Armenian people, which in 1915 named genocide for what it was, which in 2001 after a long struggle recognized it in law."
Macron also added that in the next weeks France would make April 24 a national day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
Let us remind, that in the framework of his visit to Armenia on October 11 2018, Emmanuel Macron with his wife Brigitte Macron paid a visit to "Charles Aznavour" residence in Yerevan, and spoke about Aznavour's struggle for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and mentioned that April 24 will be remembered as the Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide in France.
Turkification Methods in the Ottoman Empire State Orphanages
05.02.2019
During the Armenian Genocide a list of sanctions and violence was put in action against the Armenian orphans in the Turkish orphanages. The conversion and renaming were carried out by forcible means. The first mandatory condition to enter the orphanage was renaming. Nearly all the orphans speak about this in their memoirs.
Garnik Banyan, who spent about three and a half year at the orphanage in Antura, tells in his memoirs, that in the orphanage he was given the number 549 and named Ahmed. Melkon Petrosyan, another inmate of the same orphanage was given the name Nejip and the number 8. Harutyun Alboyajyan was renamed twice. The first time it was in Dera, later in Antura, where he was named Shyuqru and given the number 534. Khoren Gelchyan was transferred from Aleppo to the Harbiye military central school in Constantinople. Here copper seals with their new Turkish names were distributed to the children. He got the seal named Ali Oghlu Islam, which should always have been hanged on the neck by the order of the directorate. Grigoryan from the orphanage of Mardin, who got the name Aishe, tells about the renaming ceremony: “Passports were made for all of us, where the father names of all of us were mentioned Abdulah, and the names of mothers - Salihè”. Ervand Postaljyan, who carried the name Mehmed Oghli and spent 6 years in the orphanage of Adana mentions in his memoirs: “In order not to forget our names, all of us carried our names written on the papers.”
Articles on the Armenian Genocide Published in the New York Times (1890-1922) are in Two Complete Volumes
03.02.2019
Recently two volume book composed of the articles from The New York Times during 1890-1922 related to the Armenian Genocide was published by the Mkhitarist Publishing House in Yerevan. The volumes called «The Armenian Genocide: Prelude and Aftermath. As reported in the U.S. Press – The New York Times» are compiled and edited by Vahan Hovhannisyan, the Archbishop of the Mkhitarist Congregation and Austrian-Armenian Ara Ketibian.
The compilers create a chronological sequence of documents on the Armenian Genocide, eyewitness testimonies, reports, and other relevant information.
Memorial Event Dedicated to Holocaust Victims
29.01.2019
On 27th of January, representatives of the Jewish community in Armenia headed by Rima Varjapetyan were gathered near the monument of Genocide and Holocaust victims in Yerevan to pay tribute to the memory of the victims of Holocaust.
The ceremony was attended by Gersh Burshtein, chief rabbi of the Jewish community, Harutyun Marutyan, Director of Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation, Professor Hayk Kotanjyan, Lieutenant General, head of the Armenian-Jewish Forum, Vardan Asatryan, Head of the Department of National Minorities and Religious Affairs at the RA Government, Ruben Arutchyan, sculptor and author of the Genocide Memorial and Holocaust Memorial, as well as representatives of other national minorities in Armenia. The welcome speech was delivered by Rima Varjapetyan, who expressed hope that such tragedies would never be repeated.
Mary Anna Østergaard, Newly Discovered Materials at the AGMI Foundation
12.01.2019
The collection of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation has recently been replenished with the new exclusive materials donated by a Greek-Armenian Sargis Keshishoghlu. The donated units (photos, personal books and items) had belonged to the Danish missionary Mary Anna Østergaard, who had been active in Greece since 1927, greatly contributing to the resettlement and organization of care for the Armenian refugees after the Armenian Genocide. It is hard to say the exact number of the Armenian refugees in Greece because of the lack of statistical data and the constant move of the refugees. The vast majority of the refugees were children. According to the book “The History of Greek-Armenian Community” by Petros Kokkinos, 17 520 orphans were found in Greece, placed in the following orphanages: Utopia, 7 500 orphans, Lutraki 3 300, Corfu 2 720, Oropos 2 000, Zappeion 2 000. Later their number reached 20 000.
Unfortunately, no much information is available about M. A. Østergaard. It is known, that she was born in 1897 in Denmark. In 1927, she was established in Athens. She had been the director of the Danish Care Center that operated until 1961. After the closure of the center, Mary Anna Østergaard continued her mission in Greece.
AGMI Foundation Announces 2019 Lemkin Scholarship for Foreign Researchers
25.12.2018
The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute foundation announces 2019 LEMKIN SCHOLARSHIP program for foreign young researchers and PhD candidates. Raphael Lemkin scholarship is intended to extend research on the Armenian Genocide, promote multilayered research of the theme and engage young scientists.
The program will enable one up to 40-year-old foreign PhD students or young researchers who specialize in the field of genocide research and work on their doctoral thesis, to spend one month in Armenia and conduct their research at the archives of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, as well as other local scientific institutions and libraries.
The duration of the scholarship is one month.
The AGMI Foundation will cover travel and accommodation expenses.
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