The Society for Armenian Studies and the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Begin Their Cooperation

On February 26, 2021, the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) announced a call for scholars to apply for three positions within the scope of a project to study massive violence and genocidal acts executed against Armenians in Artsakh, Nakhichevan, and Armenian-populated areas of Azerbaijan in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These three positions will be partially funded through a grant from the Society for Armenian Studies (SAS) as part of the cooperation agreement signed with AGMI on January 13, 2021.

Three scholars, Naira Sahakyan, Gayane Hovhannisyan, and Hayastan Martirosyan, were selected during the competition held on March 24.

Naira Sahakyan defended her doctoral dissertation at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). She is the author of two monographs, Muslim Reformism in Daghestan: Islamic Politics and Muslim Education after the Russian Revolution (Amsterdam, 2021) and Collapsed Empires, Sovietized Dreams: The Perceptions of the Armenian Intelligentsia about the 1917 Revolution and the Vision of Armenia’s Future (in Armenian, Yerevan, 2021, forthcoming).

Gayane Hovhannisyan is a graduate of the Faculty of History of Yerevan State University (YSU). She continues her studies in the graduate school of the chair of Armenian History of the same faculty with the subject “The Demographic Image of the Nagorno Karabagh Autonomous Region, 1923-1989.”

A graduate of the Faculty of International Relations of YSU, Hayastan Martirosyan has continued her studies in the master’s program of Genocide Studies of the Institute for Armenian Studies of YSU.

The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and the Society for Armenian Studies congratulate the three scholars and wish them productive studies.

“The Second Artsakh War has vividly demonstrated the still continuing genocidal intent towards the Armenians.” said AGMI director Dr. Harutyun Marutyan. “In this context the activities of the Group are becoming extremely important for the presentation and promotion of our just cause to the wider scholarly community. The cooperation between our two institutions in this respect is a sign that we are mobilizing our efforts to this end.”

The President of Society for Armenian Studies Dr. Bedross Der Matossian hailed the project saying: “The project initiated by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute to examine violence inflicted on the Armenians of the region is extremely important. In the midst of the international silence, the group’s work of documenting and analyzing these violent episodes will provide ample material and evidence to the international community in general and scholars in particular.”

The Society for Armenian Studies is currently in discussion with the AGMI to develop other projects that will be beneficial to the study of genocides in general and the Armenian Genocide in particular.