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REALIZING RECOGNITION: ARCHIVE DIRECTOR SAYS MATERIAL LOSS SHOULD BE STRESSED
http://armenianow.com/genocide/53796/armenian_genocide_awareness_giro_manoyan
GENOCIDE | 22.04.14 | 16:01
According to the director of the Armenian National Archive, beginning
with Thursday's 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, society
must demonstrate that not only was the Armenian population physically
destroyed, but also suffered loss of cultural heritage, churches,
and great material damage.
Enlarge Photo
During a Tuesday press conference National Archive director Armatuni
Virabyan said that the archive's challenge is to show the Armenian
society what and how events took place starting from April, 1915 till
the end of that same year in the Ottoman Empire.
"First of all we must publish the scientifically edited documents that
we possess. It's been ten years we are realizing this work. In 2012 a
three-volume book was published in Armenian and one volume in English,
which included 45 percent of the documents.
We are also interested in creating a glossary of victim information,
which is a very complicated procedure, because it was so long ago,
some residential areas weren't preserved at all; we only know that
Armenians used to live there, none of whom survived.
This is not a task of one or two years, and it has to be done on a
regular basis," Virabyan says.
According to the Archive director there currently nearly 12,000
documents and the numbers continues to grow. Detailed information
exists for about 750 residential areas, as of the day killings started.
"If this works had been realized in the 1920s we'd have had enormous
materials, but even already in 1926 the (Communist) government
had forbidden to ring the church bells on the 24th of April,"
says Virabyan.
Giro Manoyan, leading the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnaktsutyun's Armenian Cause office in Yerevan, also puts stress
on raising Genocide awareness and says that a centenary shouldn't be
considered the end to something, but rather a beginning of a process.
Manoyan says that it's vital to continue raising questions regarding
Genocide recognition, especially raising the matter of compensation.
Reflecting on the United States' ambassador's announcement about an
upcoming announcement of the US government on April 24 which will
contain important changes for Armenia, Manoyan said he could see
danger in it.
"I'm not sure that the ambassador's announcement is positive, because
if there is actually going to be a change then it's wrong to announce
it beforehand - Turkey might come up with measures to prevent them.
The only US government announcement that will be considered strong will
say that there was genocide, a state organized genocide," said Manoyan.
From: Baghdasarian
http://armenianow.com/genocide/53796/armenian_genocide_awareness_giro_manoyan
GENOCIDE | 22.04.14 | 16:01
According to the director of the Armenian National Archive, beginning
with Thursday's 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, society
must demonstrate that not only was the Armenian population physically
destroyed, but also suffered loss of cultural heritage, churches,
and great material damage.
Enlarge Photo
During a Tuesday press conference National Archive director Armatuni
Virabyan said that the archive's challenge is to show the Armenian
society what and how events took place starting from April, 1915 till
the end of that same year in the Ottoman Empire.
"First of all we must publish the scientifically edited documents that
we possess. It's been ten years we are realizing this work. In 2012 a
three-volume book was published in Armenian and one volume in English,
which included 45 percent of the documents.
We are also interested in creating a glossary of victim information,
which is a very complicated procedure, because it was so long ago,
some residential areas weren't preserved at all; we only know that
Armenians used to live there, none of whom survived.
This is not a task of one or two years, and it has to be done on a
regular basis," Virabyan says.
According to the Archive director there currently nearly 12,000
documents and the numbers continues to grow. Detailed information
exists for about 750 residential areas, as of the day killings started.
"If this works had been realized in the 1920s we'd have had enormous
materials, but even already in 1926 the (Communist) government
had forbidden to ring the church bells on the 24th of April,"
says Virabyan.
Giro Manoyan, leading the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnaktsutyun's Armenian Cause office in Yerevan, also puts stress
on raising Genocide awareness and says that a centenary shouldn't be
considered the end to something, but rather a beginning of a process.
Manoyan says that it's vital to continue raising questions regarding
Genocide recognition, especially raising the matter of compensation.
Reflecting on the United States' ambassador's announcement about an
upcoming announcement of the US government on April 24 which will
contain important changes for Armenia, Manoyan said he could see
danger in it.
"I'm not sure that the ambassador's announcement is positive, because
if there is actually going to be a change then it's wrong to announce
it beforehand - Turkey might come up with measures to prevent them.
The only US government announcement that will be considered strong will
say that there was genocide, a state organized genocide," said Manoyan.
From: Baghdasarian