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  • AAA: Armenian DNA Project; not so "simple" research in human genetic

    Armenian Assembly of America News
    1334 G Street, N.W., Suite 200
    Washington, D.C. 20005
    Tel: (202) 393-3434
    Fax: (202) 638-4904
    E-mail: [email protected]
    Web: http://armenianassembly.tumblr.com/


    The Armenian DNA Project; not so `simple' research in human genetics

    by Orsolya Doricsak

    AAANews
    05/02/2014


    Hovann Simonian and Peter Hrechdakian, administrators of the Armenian DNA
    Project, delivered the 18th Annual Vardanants Day Armenian Lecture, titled
    `DNA and the Origin of People: The Armenians' on Tuesday, April 22 at the
    Library of Congress, in Washington DC.

    By reaching thousands of years into the past, the project aims to find
    genetic traces of both the ancient peoples whose descendants make up the
    current Armenian population (including Colchians, Hattians, etc.) as well
    as the ancient peoples who conquered or passed through Armenian lands (such
    as Arabs, Turks, Cimmerians and Romans).

    The major Armenian groups - haplogroups as they call them - came into
    existence about 20 thousand years ago, far before any ethnic or religious
    identification, according to Hrechdakian. Furthermore, based on the ancient
    DNA research, Armenians geographically originated from the area where they
    are living now, and throughout Eastern Anatolia (ancient Armenia).

    Beyond the genetic map of the Armenians, which has been more or less
    identified, this research presents some method whereby the ethnic makeup of
    different nations can be compared. For instance, `Armenian DNA today most
    closely resembles Turks from Eastern Anatolia, Assyrians/Chaldeans and
    Mizrahi Jews (Kurdistant, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Georgia),' said Mr.
    Hrechdakian.

    The DNA project worldwide started in the late 1990s. `The first paper on
    Armenian DNA was written in 2001 by Levon Yepiskoposyan, which is
    independent from our observation, that started in 2009. Since 2009, more
    than one thousand Armenians have joined the program, which is currently
    focused on formulating the DNA of Armenian subpopulations,' Mr. Hrechdakian
    said in his presentation.

    As a Hungarian graduate student in Communication and Media Sciences,
    attending the lecture was a real intellectual inspiration, which motivated
    me to think about the relationship between the DNA project and the field of
    communications. Specifically, I am interested in more than the DNA project
    - which was started in Hungary 2 years ago. Some `Why?' questions might be
    answered through this approach or at least the theory might be a reliable
    aspect of divergence in communications.

    If you are interested in getting tested, or to learn more about Armenian
    DNA, please visit their website here
    https://www.familytreedna.com/public/ArmeniaDNAProject; or the Armenian DNA
    Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/armenianDNAproject/

    Orsolya Doricsak is a graduate student studying Communication and Media
    Sciences at Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary. She is currently
    doing a research at the Armenian Assembly of America in Washington, DC in
    international relations and political communications.


    Available online: http://bit.ly/1iIjyEs

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