By: Simonyan H. E. Deputy director of the Scientific Research Center of the Historical and Cultural heritage, PhD in Art and History

Shengavitian or Kura-Araxes Culture of the Early Bronze Age (3500-2400 BC) formed and developed in the Armenian Highland, and was an exceptional phenomenon, which continued its existence for over a thousand years, and at the height of its development it covered a territory nearly 1,5  million km² (from  the North Caucasus to Palestine, from central Asia Minor to the central regions of Iran). The dense population, the complicated art of city–building, the monumental architecture (the defense walls fortified with towers), dwelling and cult buildings, scepters and seals as symbols of power, exceptional samples of adornments, deluxe jewelry incrusted with semiprecious stones, existence of common weight system, development of craft, storing–pits for grain and foods, adjoining settlements, as well as the “Temple of Fire” – all this and other artifacts give reason to suppose that Shengavit, contrary to the settled stereotype, was not just an ordinary settlement, but a center, which for all its indications corresponded to the concept of an ancient oriental town.

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By: Danielyan E. L. Doctor of Sciences (History)

Along with archaeological and historical geographical proofs, clarifying the origin of the terms arman(n)u and (Prunus) Armeniaca (Ἀρμενιακά) is an important argument for identification of Armanum/ Armani with Armenia and its corroboration as the native land of apricot. Comprehensive analysis of archaeological data, written historical sources and research works is the backbone of the problem’s solution.

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By: Danielyan E. L. Doctor of Sciences (History)

Armenia’s more than ten-millennia old historical resources as cognitive factors have an important significance in the national security system. Their essential part is constituted by the Armenian Highland’s toponyms symbolizing the indigenous Armenian Nation’s cultural creation – the backbone of the Armenian statehood having millennia-old ethno-spiritual and civilizational roots as attested by archaeological monuments and architectural relics, petroglyphs and cuneiform inscriptions, anthropological data and other historical sources, as well as results of linguistics. Contrary to the historical reality, the Turkish hostile propaganda wages information warfare against the history and place names of Armenia and historical memory. Falsifications of history and historical geography of Armenia, especially, toponymy of Western Armenia and Kilikia (Cilicia) are put into service of the genocide denial by the Turkish government, which spends millions for it. Currently Turkey and Azerbaijan are going through a new spate of falsifications and distortions. Turkish falsification of the Armenian history, demolition and appropriation of the historical relics and monuments have gone in parallel with erasing Armenian place names, as an indication of the genocidal policy. The uprooting millennia-old original toponyms of Western Armenia and Kilikia has been carried out with the purpose to redraw political-demographic mapping of Western Armenia and to cover up the Armenian Genocide. The historical and geographical terminology of the Armenian Highland, constituting the essential system of the Armenian place names, belongs to the pivotal layer of the Armenian ethnolinguistic mentality. Toponyms represent the Armenian natural historic environment and cultural heritage’s significance, possessing fundamental importance. The guarantors of the Armenian toponyms’ protection are the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic.

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By: Hovhannisyan N. H. Corresponding Member of NAS RA

Western Armenia - the largest part (more than 270,000 square km.) of the Armenian Homeland. The overwhelming majority (about 2.5 million) of the Western Armenian population  lived in their Homeland; if we were to take also into account the Armenians living in the mid-19th century beyond Western Armenia, throughout the Ottoman Empire - in Constantinople, Smyrna and other cities, towns and settlements, this number in total would be 3 million. In the late 1870s - early 1880s, the Armenian Question became an international issue. In spite of the demonic efforts of the Ottoman authorities Armenians still represented a relative majority in all Western Armenia’s regions (“vilayets”) taken together and what is more important, Armenians did remain an overwhelming majority in the whole of Western Armenia up until World War I. In 1915 the Armenian Question entered the third and the most tragic stage - the Armenian Genocide.

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By: Albert Musheghyan Institute of Literature, NAS RA

Movses Khorenatsi’s “The History of Armenia” which extends from “The Root of Mankind” to circ. 440 AD is a unique sample of world chronicle. The Armenian Father of History, stated: “History is not true without chronology” . At present, a millennium and a half later this statement is adequately valid for the historiography and history of literature as well.
The chronological classification of the authors of ancient and mediaeval Armenian works is of utmost importance to accurately envision the course of literary history, which is inseparably associated with the general history of the Armenian people and, particularly, the development of the Armenian spiritual culture.

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By: Ghazaryan Robert PhD in History

The development of the statehood in the Armenian Highland started in the III millennium BC and in the next millennium one of its manifestations was the state of Hayasa. During the Bronze Age the western part of Armenia entered into active economic, political and cultural relations with the countries of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. This contributed much to the formation of the state units: Hayasa (Azzi), Isuwa (Tsopk) and Alzi (Aghdznik).
In the Late Bronze Age Hayasa was a powerful state of the Armenian Highland. It could fight against Hatti, one of the “great powers” of Western Asia. In the political, cultural and economic spheres there were significant interrelations between the Hittite Empire and the kingdom of Hayasa (Azzi).
The kingdom of Hayasa (Azzi) due to its independent political power, economic resources and cultural values, was an integral part of the Armenian statehood contributing greatly to the history of Armenia.

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By: Melkonyan A. A. Academician of NAS RA

During the last decades recognition and condemnation of the gravest crime of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide by different states and international, religious and non-governmental organizations have become a continuous process. For all Armenians the Armenian Genocide continues to be the cause of recognition, condemnation and the demand for return of Western Armenia - the western part of the Armenian Motherland to Armenians.

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By: Kharatyan Albert Corresponding Member of NAS RA

The entry of the Ottoman Empire into the First World War and committing the Armenian Genocide was a devastating blow to the Armenian press published in Western Armenia, Constantinople and Smyrna. As a result of the the Young Turks' policy of extermination of Armenians, the press  published in the Ottoman empire  ceased absulutely to exist in Western Armenia or almost completely in Constantinople. Hundreds of editors, publicists and journalists were arrested and deported. Four Armenian newspapers three of which in the Armenian language and one in Turkish using Armenian letters (whose existence needed the Ittihad falsified propaganda to show as if untroubled life of Armenians) were preserved out of dozens of newspapers and magazines. The mentioned newspapers appeared to be under the German-Turkish double ferocious censorship and being monitored by Martial law office (Divan-I harbi orfie). The volume of newspapers was considerably reduced. They were compelled by the censorship to publish false news [in the form of appendix, which was beneficial only for Turkey and its allies. In 1915-1918 the situation with the Armenian periodicals remained grave in Constantinople until the Armistice of Mudros (1918 October 30) and the crush of the Ittihad regime.

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By: Musheghyan A. V. Doctor of Sciences (Philology)

Armin T. Wegner (1886-1978), who served as a sanitary soldier in the German military headquarters of the Turkish 6th Army Corps, located in Mesopotamia in 1915-1916, was one of the most exclusive eyewitnesses of the Armenian Genocide, who could not stay indifferent to the horrible annihilation scenes of the Armenian nation. By means of sending secret letters to his relatives residing in Germany and renowned German writers from the death camps stretching along the Euphrates River, he announced to the whole world about the Genocide against the Armenian nation.
During his leave of absence in December 1916, Armin T. Wegner completed the editing of his two books in Breslau, which reflected his experiences and impressions in Turkey. Although Armin T. Wegner was just a sanitary soldier, then second-lieutenant in the German Sanitary Corps in Mesopotamia, however, he had already had a doctoral degree in law and was the author of a number of poetry booklets. Armin T. Wegner was an eyewitness of the premeditated extermination of Armenians and he was not just an ordinary eyewitness, but the eyewitness with a law degree. Hence, his story and the Genocide photos taken by him in the death camps of Mesopotamia, were gaining serious legal significance from the perspective of condemning the forced deportation and extermination of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

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By: Ruben Safrastyan Institute of Oriental Studies, NAS RA

Genocide is not only a historical phenomenon or a scientific abstraction, but a severe reality of our days, the gravest crime against humanity, which prevention can save millions of human lives. From this perspective, all scientific research, examining the regularities of the genesis of genocide or genocidal programs, can contribute to the choice and application of more effective means of prevention. One of the most important and, perhaps, least researched aspects of genocide is the conceptual explication of realization of the role of a state power. Among these problems, the study of the process of preparation of genocide by the supreme state bodies stands out. This process results in a state program, stating the criminal intent to commit genocide, and the means to realize it. The program comprised three documents. In all three, both the intent to commit genocide and the means to commit it are present. The analysis of these three documents reveals the fact that they are nothing but a program for committing Armenian Genocide - a program, adopted by the Ottoman government and ratified by the sultan, thus appearing in law. Investigation of the Turkish materials enabled us to find out the source of the “tradition” of falsification, adopted by contemporary Turkish historians. It began back in 1916, at the time when the Armenian Genocide was still in progress. Thus, the principal organizers of the Armenian Genocide, fully conscious of their own guilt, in the first phase of carnages were already exerting themselves to avoid responsibility. Preparation and implementation of the crime of genocide constituted a significant segment of the functions of state power in the Ottoman Empire. Certain elements of such modus operandi passed via the Kemalists to republican Turkey.

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By: Jahukyan Gevork Academician of NAS RA

The Armenian nature of introductory formulas in the “Urartian” inscriptions is rather convincingly proved: their vocabulary is mainly Armenian, the grammatical peculiarities can be explained by the grammatical characteristics of the period preceding the grabar (Classical Armenian). These formulas give an opportunity to make lexical reconstructions of the Armenian of the pre-grabar period in order to ascertain the proper Armenian equivalents of the future borrowings (especially of Iranian origin) on the basis of comparison of the IE preforms and forms in the inscriptions called “Urartian”. The words in the mentioned formulas are found also in other inscriptions, thus the verification of relevant contexts and comprehensive comparison of their language and the language of the analyzed word forms are strictly necessary. A certain standard has been marked out of versions of the cuneiform characters’ reading and it has been used for the available texts. Further examination of those versions, comparison and more precise definition of the reconstructed standard, as well as the skilled analysis of the extralinguistic trend of the cuneiform texts connected with it, along with great contribution, can actually have a revolutionary significance. 

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By: Aelita Doloukhanyan Armenian State Pedagogical University after Khachatur Abovyan

Armenian State Pedagogical University         after Khachatur Abovyan

In 1917 a small book entitled Armenia, the Lamentation of Armenia was published at the printing house of the Mekhitarists’ Congregation of Saint-Lazarus Island of Venice . The epigraph of this book is “Armenia will revive her sweet and pacific days, under the shade of vineyards and olive woods of her martyred ancestors”. The author of the book is Jean Aicard (1848-1921), poet, member of the French Academy .
The small poem Armenia of Jean Aicard has a short, but eloquent preface. He writes that the cry of pain of a criminally exterminated nation attracted the attention of numerous people all over the world, including poets who wished that the whole world could hear the voice of truth muffled in the throat of tortured Armenia. No nation suffered as Armenians did. Their houses were destructed, their roofs came down and their hearths died out, but they never stopped hoping peace and freedom. Jean Aicard believes that Armenia will revive from ashes and ruins, like the legendary Phoenix, to be more glorious and more powerful.

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By: Albert Musheghyan Institute of Literature, NAS RA

In his book “What Did The Imperial Government Hide From German Subjects: Armenia 1915: The Annihilation of the Civilized Nation by Turks” , published in 1922 and republished with additions in 1930 under the title “Armenia - 1915” , Vierbücher depicted in detail all the pain and wrath he felt during the mass extermination of Armenians in Constantinople, Mesopotamia, Aleppo and Damask, the heinous crimes committed by Turks and the ghastly indifference of their allies, German senior instructors cooperating with them.
In his book Vierbücher condemns the 1915 Armenian Genocide with wrath and shows the reader with vivid historical facts that the Ottoman Empire itself was based on blood and carnage from the beginning. After World War I Heinrich Vierbücher actively participated in the pacifist movement dedicating to it his indisputable rhetorical endowment and the bitter experience of a person who had witnessed war and violent massacres. In 1930 thanks to the publication of Vierbücher's new book “Armenia 1915” condemned slaughter of Armenians the crime was voiced again, but unfortunately in 1933, after the German Nazis came to power the book was prohibited and mainly burnt. Even the libraries of private citizens were being inspected in search of that book.
For his long-lasting pacifist and anti-fascist activity and public speeches Vierbücher fell victim to the Gestapo violence.

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By: Ayvazyan S. R. Researcher in Linguistics

The first inscriptions of the Ararat (Urartu) Kingdom were written in Assyrian; later, following Išpuuine I, mostly only in Biainian (Urartian). Unfortunately, there are very few bilingual inscriptions. In fact, to date, only two of them , which are in a damaged condition and one other, so-called quasi-bilingual inscription, partly in Assyrian and partly in Biainian, are known to us. Texts written in Biainian have reached us through the Biainian (Vannic) cuneiform inscriptions (hereafter: Biainian inscriptions) , which date to the second half of the 9th-7th centuries BC.
Researching linguistic data we come to the following core conclusions: 1) In its volume and linguistic value, the Armenian constituent represents the base of Biainian and it cannot be the result of borrowings and interactions. 2) At the same time, the position between Biainian and Classical Armenian is not clear. Most likely, the differences between them are conditioned not only by the temporal factor (Biainian cuneiform texts are 1000-1300 years older than early CArm. texts), but also by the dialect factor. 3) A certain stratum of Hurrian exists both in the Biainian lexicon and some grammatical elements which, nevertheless, concedes both quantitatively and qualitatively to the Armenian language. Most of these commonalities, many of which have IE origin, are also present in Armenian. Taking all these facts into considera¬tion, although it cannot be ruled out, it is less likely that Biainian (Urartian) and Hurrian are cognate. It is more plausible, that commonalities between Hurrian and Biainian are the result of interactions and the distant relationship of these two languages. It is also not excluded that, to some extent, they have an areal nature. A compre¬hen¬sive research of Hurrian-Armenian linguistic commonalities are not few and not limited only to word roots, would be useful for the clarification of this issue.

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By: Hovhannisyan N. H. Corresponding Member of NAS RA

The Armenian Genocide was an all-national tragedy with fatal consequences for all Armenians. In Western Armenia, Cilicia and all over the Ottoman Empire, 1,5 million Armenians were killed and hundreds of thousands deported. The largest part of the native land of the Armenians was desolated of its native inhabitants - Armenians.  The Genocide of Armenians, or Armenocide is the black page in the history of the 20th century.

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By: Papian A. A. Head of Modus Vivendi Center

[Historical Background, Legal Aspects and International Dimensions]

Under the Arbitral Award of November 22, 1920, the boundary between Armenia and Turkey was settled conclusively and Turkish-Armenian international boundary was subsequently delimited, as clearly states The Hague Convention (article 54 of the 1899; article 81 of the 1907): The Award, duly pronounced and notified to the agents of the parties, settles [puts an end to] the dispute definitively and without appeal.

It is true that Armenia possesses the legal validity to the Wilsonian Armenia, but it is also true that legal validity by itself will not lead to a solution. Indeed, Armenia is the de jure holder of the title and Turkey grips the control, and none would relinquish its claims, based on Arme­nian side on the legal validity and on Turkish side on the military power. There is no doubt that international law is the only way to bring about a just and peaceful resolution, thus a durable and permanent solution.

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By: Marukyan A. Ts. PhD in History

In order to apply to the United Nations International Court of Justice for the case of the Armenian Genocide the Republic of Armenia as a plaintiff should draw up its written plea which must be as concise as possible, in a manner compatible with the full presentation of Armenia’s position and. appending to the plea only strictly selected documents.At the beginning of the plea Armenia can ground the jurisdiction of the International Court to investigate the case of the Armenian Genocide with the provisions of Article 9 of the UN Genocide Convention. Armenia should require the court to compel Turkey to adopt the following as temporary measures: To stop the denial policy of the Armenian Genocide: it is the continuation of the committed genocide and its modern manifestation. To suspend the application of Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code. To recognize the verdicts of the Turkish Military Tribunals as legal and to repeal the decisions of Kemal’s regime to review those verdicts. To stop the glorification and honor of the individuals who committed crime of the genocide. To implement the liability to protect non-Muslims’ rights according to the articles 38-44 of the Treaty of Lausanne. The decision of Supreme Court of the Republic of Turkey in 1974 to seize the property of national minorities and to hand it to the state treasury should be considered as the next manifestation of expropriation of the Armenian community of Turkey. The Armenian community continues to have financial losses, and this issue continues to remain in the centre of the attention of the international community. To recognize the Arbitral Award of the US President Woodrow Wilson on the demarcation of the Turkish-Armenian boundaries as a legal ground for the main consequence of the Armenian Genocide: the deprivation of Homeland. The action of Turks to enjoy the fruits of the Armenian Genocide, particularly to seize the property of the victims of genocide must be considered illegal, so Turkey must be obliged to give the financial compensation to the heirs of the victims or genocide survivors, or the representatives of their profits and rights.

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By: Danielyan E. L. Doctor of Sciences (History)

Armenian toponyms constitute an essential part of Armenia’s historical resources. They symbolize the indigenous Armenian nation’s cultural creation - the backbone of the Armenian statehood having more than five millennia old ethno-spiritual and civilizational roots.
Turkish falsification of the Armenian history, demolition and appropriation of the historical relics have gone in parallel with erasing Armenian place names, as an indication of the genocidal policy. The uprooting millennia-old original toponyms of Western Armenia and Kilikia has been carried out with the purpose to redraw their political demographic mapping and to cover up the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish occupants are horrified of the Armenian place names of Western Armenia and Kilikia, which are the reminders of genocide and living evidence for reparations. The governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan spend enormous financial resources for falsifications of the history and historic geography of Armenia. It shows the supreme power of authentic reality of the Armenian history, toponymy and the historic memory as overwhelming resources of national security. Thus, the historical and geographical terminology of the Armenian Highland, constituting ontological integrity of the place names, belongs to the pivotal layer of the Armenian ethnolinguistic mentality. Toponyms represent the Armenian natural historic environment and cultural heritage’s significance, possessing fundamental importance. The guarantors of the Armenian toponyms’ protection are the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic (NKR).

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By: Brutian G. A. Academician of NAS RA

The development of science nowadays urges for creating metascience. This refers to almost all sciences (metamathematics, metalogic, metalinguistics, etc.). If the subject-matter of science is the study of the laws of reality, then the subject-matter of metascience is the investigation of the very nature of science, its structure, and methods with the help of which science realizes its purposes. The concept of metascience is of more generic nature, and, thus, it comprises a wider grasp of respective concepts of science. There are notable achievements and scientific contributions in the field of Armenology – within scientific centers of Armenia, as well as in famous universities across the world. This mostly refers to concrete problems from the point of view of their relevance to the Armenian realm (the material of such studies is mostly taken from the Armenian reality). It is time also to study the question – what is Armenology, to define the subject-matter of Armenology, the relation of Armenian studies with the other fields of knowledge, to define the place of Armenology in the system of sciences, etc. Armenology can be defined as a theory of specificities about Armenian which are presented through different fields of scientific knowledge and which are studied by these corresponding sciences with their inherent methods. Metaarmenology can be defined as a science which investigates the character of Armenology, its place in the system of knowledge, and the methods of its study. 

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By: Alexander Manasyan Corresponding Member of NAS RA, Head of the Chair of Theoretical Philosophy and Logics, Yerevan State University, manasyan-a22@mail.ru

On April 24, 2015, all Armenians throughout the world are going to commemorate one-and-a-half million innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide. On this day the progressive people of the world will be standing next to us - Armenians, for whom the year of 1915 and April 24 have turned into the symbol of condemnation and prevention of  the greatest crime against humanity and civilization - the genocide. One of the basic characteristics of the Armenian Genocide was the fact that the crime was committed against the background of an international political system which, in fact, had sufficient potential to prevent the atrocities or to punish the criminal:  the victorious Great Powers who had won World War I were really capable of doing that. But the Great Powers responsible for the international security failed to realize the fatal mistake they made when restrained from the punishment of the crime of the Armenian Genocide after 1915. It was not an ordinary mistake, but rather a criminal indifference toward the responsibility that history had granted them. They not only forgave the murderer, but encouraged him as well, silencing the crime and upsetting the ready plan of the Armenian nation to restore the Armenian statehood also in western part of its Homeland - Western Armenia. This was sure to affect the entire international system of security and the future course of history. In its estimates of impunity and over-permissiveness, international terrorism is the transformation of genocide. The destructive boomerangs that the Great Powers threw into history at the outset of the previous century today are back to hit themselves and the entire humanity - that is the suicide road of mankind. Whether or not the world superpowers will change their attitude to the issue, each and every reasonable person, alone or with supporters, should do his utmost to build a genocide-free world, a world where genocide has no place.

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By: Danielyan E. L. Doctor of Sciences (History)

More than five millennia-old ethno-spiritual, political and cultural roots of the Armenian statehood in the Armenian Highland are attested to by the archaeological and architectural monuments, petroglyphs, cuneiform, ancient and medieval written and other historic sources. Historical truth is the backbone and informational defensive shield of the national security of Armenia.
Turkey and its pan-Turkic project - artificially formed Azerbaijan use disinformation and manipulations in information warfare being unable to overcome the truths about the past and the present of Armenia (the Armenian Highland, the Armenian nation, Western Armenia, the Republic of Armenia, the Artsakh Republic, etc). Turkish-Azerbaijani deceptive methods with a stillborn outcome are crushed against the strongholds of Armenia’s history and the civilizational value system.

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By: Harutyunyan G. A. Executive Director, Noravank Scientific Educational Foundation

Armenian studies constitute a certain sphere of academic researches. Branches of Armenian studies - history, literature, architecture, etc., are manifestations of our civilizational identity, which in turn had brought new content to our system of values (and continue doing so), which are the basic components of the national security system. Thus, Armenian studies are essentially a national civilizational and state-building discipline guaranteeing cognitive means of information security. From the point of view of information security Armenian studies are important in research, elaboration and systematization of millennia-old Armenian civilizational and national values based on creative activities of the Armenian people and their application in cultural and educational, political and governmental spheres in the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic on the benefit of the national security of the whole Armenian nation.

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By: Danielyan E. L. Doctor of Sciences (History)

Armenia’s strategic position, rich natural resources, military-economic might, high level of cultural achievements greatly contributed to the development of Armenian civilizational values, owing to more than five millennia-old ethno-spiritual, cultural and social-political roots of the Armenian statehood in the Armenian Highland, attested to by the archaeological and architectural monuments, and town building, cuneiform, ancient and medieval written and other historic sources. Armenia is the cradle of the Armenian nation and world civilization, according to the historical archaeological and ethno-cultural investigations. Continuing the Ottoman, Young Turk and Kemalist genocidal policy Turkish state-sponsored “research centres” falsify world history and particularly the history and the historical geography of Armenia. Falsification of the history and historical geography of Armenia, especially, distortion of the toponymy of Western Armenia and Cilician Armenia are used for denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government. But precisely because of irrefutable facts of the history of Armenia and the spiritual power of the Armenian historical heritage, Turkish and Azerbaijani efforts to falsify the history of Armenia and deny the Armenian Genocide are doomed to failure. Thanks to the heroic struggle of the Armenian freedom fighters in the Artsakh Liberation war (1991-1994), aggressive Azerbaijan was defeated and the native Armenian population and Armenian historic monuments were protected in the Artsakh liberated lands. The guarantors of the protection of the Armenian civilizational heritage are the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic.

Լրաբեր Հասարակական Գիտությունների, № 1, 2014, pp. 46-61.

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By: Aghasyan A. V. Corresponding Member of NAS RA, Director of the Institute of Art of NAS RA

The Armenian people suffered a great tragedy and tremendous losses at the end of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century. The Hamidian massacres of 1894-96 were followed by mass extermination of Armenians programmed and committed by the Young Turks. It was an unprecedented intentional genocide in the 20th century world history, an attempt at physical annihilation of a whole nation and total destruction of its culture. Those bloody events deeply shocked both the contemporaries and the next generations of Armenians who survived the Genocide. They were reflected not only in official documents, the press, documentary films and in the memoirs of Genocide survivors, but also in literature and art, including painting. Throughout decades many of the painters and sculptors living in Armenia and the Diaspora created hundreds of paintings, graphic works, easel sculptures and monuments covering the massacres and deportation of Armenians through which they expressed their pain and wrath, presented their remonstrances and demands, at the same time preaching great humanitarian ideas.

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By: Sahakyan L. S. PhD in Philology

The focus of the present article is the place-name distortion and appropriation policies of the Ottoman Empire and its successor, the Republic of Turkey. The Turkish authorities realize that Armenian toponyms are the product of the several millennia civilization and vivid evidence of the indigenousness presence of Armenians in Western Armenia. The extermination of the native population, however, did not stop with the Armenian Genocide; it was followed by the destruction of Armenian historical and cultural heritage, including the Armenian toponyms. The policy of Turkification of toponyms in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey has gone through several stages: up to the end of the 19th century, Turkish officials and historians still continued to use the names “Armenia” or “Ermenistan”. At the same time, they were appropriating and changing the place names of occupied territories; after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, when the Armenian Question became an international issue, the Turkification of Armenian as well as other Christian toponyms has been carried out more consistently; this process intensified during the Young Turks and the Kemalist regimes, when a full-scale Turkification policy of toponyms targeted all non-Turkic nations; during the present stage, decades after eliminating Western Armenia of its native Armenian population, falsification of toponyms still remains an important constituent part of Turkish demographic policies. Toponyms are not only linguistic facts, but also accurate and objective historical evidence. The ancient Armenian place-names are explicit and emphatic linguistic evidence, which reveal the entire truth about the true native owners of the Armenian Highland. This is why the protection, maintenance and restoration of Armenian toponyms have invaluable strategic significance today.

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By: Melkonyan A. A. Academician of NAS RA

Between the sixteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, calamitous demographic and ethnographic changes occurred in the region of Erzrum and throughout all of Western Armenia: the influx of Turkic and Kurdish tribes, the periodic violence and calamities, the forced conversion of many Christians to Islam, and the flight of masses of people to safer localities.
For several centuries, therefore, up to the time of the Armenian Genocide, the processes of ethnic elimination - sometimes slowly and at other times very rapidly - were uninterruptedly in motion in Western Armenia. The policy of de-Armenianization of the western part of the Armenian Highland from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century, to which insufficient scholarly attention has been given, is in itself strong evidence of the destructive policies of the Ottoman rulers. Bardzr Hayk, like the rest of Western Armenia, was ethnically cleansed over a long period through the genocidal policies of forced conversion to Islam, assimilation, massacre, and deportation. The final blow was struck in 1915.

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By: Yuri Suvaryan Member of Academy, NAS RA
Academician-Secretary of the Department
of Armenology and Social Sciences
suvaryan@sci.am

State governance was of a monarchical nature in ancient and medieval Armenia. The king was the head of the state apparatus and the royal power was hereditary, passing from father to son. This custom was already well developed in the 6th-1st centuries BC, during the reign of the Yervanduni and Artashesyan royal dynasties in the Kingdom of Great Armenia. Its roots go even further back to the Ararat (Urartu) Kingdom and deeper.
The system of the Armenian state governance in Cilician Armenia (the great Principality in 1080-1198 and the Kingdom in 1198 - 1375) was formed based on the above-mentioned principles of the governance that existed in the times of the Kingdom of Great Armenia, as well as some experience of the European countries.

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Source: query.nytimes.com

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Source: chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

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Source: query.nytimes.com

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Source: www.teachgenocide.org

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Source: chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

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Source: www.chgs.umn.edu

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Source: www.teachgenocide.org

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Source: www.chgs.umn.edu

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Source: www.chgs.umn.edu

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Source: www.genocide-museum.am

By: Ruben Safrastyan Institute of Oriental Studies, NAS RA

The secret report of Interior Minister and the leader of the Central Committee of the Young Turks party, Mehmet Talât to Said Halim Pasha, was discussed in the Ministerial council meeting of May 30, 1915. The deportation of Armenians was approved, which had been already taking place, and a relevant resolution was passed.  It was signed by seven members of the government. The original text of the “Resolution” published by Turkish historians has been widely used as a proof of a hypothesis of the Turkish official historiography as if the purpose of the deportation was only the deportation of the Western Armenians and not their massacre. Thus  the Turkish translation avoided reproducing exactly the meaning of the expression of the original text, “imhâ ve izâlesi” - “exterminate and liquidate”. the atmosphere of uncertainty and fraud created around just one archival document by the representatives of official Turkish historiography arouse doubts and urges one to think that the practice of such methods can be applied in many other cases of official publications of the Ottoman archival documents in Turkey.

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Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Academician Vardges Mikaeyian (1924-2005)
Academician Vardges Mikaelyian has made a considerable contribution to the study of the issue of the Armenian Genocide. In 1989 V. Mikaelyan left for Bonn for a study of the Armenian Genocide in the German archives. German language sources enabled him to amass more than 3500 microfilms of  documents, of which more than 1,000 he published in 1995 in a collection devoted to the Armenian Question according to the materials from the Political Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Imperial Germany. The same collection was published in 2004 (in German), some of which documents are presented here.

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Source: www.armenocide.net

By: Verjiné Svazlian Doctor in Philology, Leading Researcher, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, NAS RA, vsvaz333@yahoo.com

From 1955, during about 60 years, in the beginning on my own initiative, and, subsequently, under the auspices of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, and later of the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, I have written down, and later, audio- and video-recorded the memoir-testimonies [700 units], as well as popular Armenian song-testimonies of historical character (in Armenian and Turkish-language) of the eyewitness survivors of the Armenian Genocide. This research has been carried out by me not only in the various regions of Armenia, but also in the Armenian Diaspora during my short-term personal or scientific trips in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Greece, France, Canada, the USA and Turkey. These memoir-testimonies have been published in various languages in my 16 volumes.

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Source: chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

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Source: www.teachgenocide.org

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Source: www.genocide-museum.am

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Source: query.nytimes.com

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Source: www.chgs.umn.edu

Source: www.armenian-genocide.org

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Source: www.teachgenocide.org

Source: en.wikipedia.org

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Source: query.nytimes.com

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Source: www.chgs.umn.edu

By: Karapetyan S. G. Head of Research on Armenian Architecture

During their millennia-old history the Armenians have created rich culture, built a wide variety of architectural monuments in the cradle of the Armenian nation - Armenia, the territory of the Armenian Highland.
As a continuation of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey perpetrates the genocide of culture in the largest, western part of historical Armenia.

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Source: www.chgs.umn.edu

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Source: www.teachgenocide.org

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Source: chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

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Source: www.genocide-museum.am

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Source: www.genocide-museum.am

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Source: trove.nla.gov.au

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Source: trove.nla.gov.au

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Source: www.teachgenocide.org

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Source: www.teachgenocide.org

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Source: www.chgs.umn.edu

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Source: chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

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Source: www.teachgenocide.org

A Book Review by Danielyan E. L.

The scholarly work under review is devoted to the essence and methodology of research of public administration: theory and history, based on comparative analysis of the ancient and medieval sources, as well as the works of the authors of the 19th-20th centuries. Solutions to the assigned task are determined within the sphere of public administration as a complete and recognized science with theoretical and practical concepts accumulated over centuries.

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By: Alisa Dumikyan Institute of History NAS RA

Summary
The book is dedicated to the analysis of the coverage of issues in the history of ancient and early medieval Armenia in French Armenology of the 19^th century. Special attention is paid to the evaluation of the Armenian historiographical heritage in the French Armenological studies by J. Saint-Martin, J. Oppert, M. Brosset, V. Langlois, E. Dulaurier and others. Many of them followed the traditions of Armenian studies carried out since the 18^th century in the Mekhitarist Congregation in Venice.The elucidation of the issues in the ancient and medieval history and historical geography, as well as the spiritual and civilizational values of Armenia on the basis of historical sources was at the centre of the 19^th century French Armenological studies. French Armenologists made an important contribution to the Armenian historiography.

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By: Hrachik R. Simonyan Academician of NAS RA

While writing this history of the 1909 massacres of Cilician Armenians, the author used archive documents, available literary sources, and the print media of the time. The majority of the literary sources on the calamity of Cilician Armenians are memoirs published, with very few exceptions, in the year of the massacres (1909) or during the two or three years that followed (1910-1912). A great volume of material about the 1909 massacres of Cilician Armenians and their consequences was provided by the Armenian press of the time, the pages of which are filled with harrowing descriptions. The events were covered on a daily basis by Piuzantion (the official organ of the Armenian Patriarchate), Arevelk, Zhamanak of Constantinople, the Armenian newspapers and periodicals of Smyrna (Izmir), Karin (Erzrum), Trapezunt, and other cities of the Ottoman Empire and Western Armenia, and almost all organs of the Russian Armenian press (Mshak, Horizon. Kovkasi Lraber, Surhandak and others). Numerous articles were published in the pages of the Russian, European, and American press of the time.

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Source: www.historyofarmenia.am

By: Gevorgyan Z. H. PhD in History

Gevorgyan Z. H.
PhD in History

The essential issues related to the international trade of Cilician Armenia is for the first time elucidated in this book based on the analysis of various sources and scientific studies. For instance, the process of involvement of Cilician Armenia in the international trade is subjected to periodization. The examination of the composition of the variety of goods, the commercial ties of the Cilician harbours and the ways of the organization of trade has enabled to reveal the significance of Cilician Armenia in the financial-economic system formed in the Mediterranean basin in the period under discussion. By the analysis of the decisive events of the world politics which took place in the Near East and Europe as well as the international economic relation development process the degree of the interactions has been studied which allowed to present various issues of the political history of Cilician Armenia in a more comprehensive way.

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By: John S. Kirakosyan Doctor of Sciences (History)

The book uncovers the political essence of the Young Turks and reveals the historical truths about the tragedy that befell the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The murder and deportation of Armenians in 1915 and following years provoked the censure of the world. Through a comparative analysis of an enormous quantity of multilingual and diverse sources and a thorough study of newly unearthed sources, the author showed how contemporary Turkish historians were acting as attorneys covering up the monstrous crimes of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II and the Young Turks. On June 2 and 3, 1921, the district court of Berlin tried Soghomon Tehlirian, Talaat’s assassin. In a speech to the court Tehlirian said that Talaat was sentenced to death in absentia by the court martial in Constantinople. Talaat’s assassination committed by Tehlirian was justified by German court as an act of vengeance.

The Turkish policy of the genocide against Armenians was aimed at their physical destruction and realization of the goals of pan-Turkism. The apex of the Young Turks' many atrocities was the extirpation during World War I of one and half million Armenians in their Homeland – Western Armenia, a crime against humanity and civilization that became known as the Armenian Genocide.

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By: Hovhannisyan N. H. Corresponding Member of NAS RA

In the evaluation and recognition of genocide, including the Armenian Genocide-Armenocide, a turning point was the formation of genocidology in the second half of XX century as a new scientific branch within the social sciences.
The investigation and detailed analysis of many primary sources, official documents and other materials about the Armenian Genocide brings to the conclusion that: a) The Armenian Genocide is already an internationally recognized genocide corroborated and recognized by the international scholarly, legal and human rights community; b) The Ottoman Empire was not merely the first state that committed the first genocide of XX century – the Armenian Genocide, but also the first state that recognized the crime in 1919 by the Ottoman court-martial Verdict; c) Turkey is the founder of the genocide-denial industry; d) Now a new phase has begun: transition from the recognition of the Armenian Genocide to the liquidation of the heavy consequences of the Armenian Genocide committed in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire.

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By: Aelita Doloukhanyan Armenian State Pedagogical University after Khachatur Abovyan

Armenian State Pedagogical University         after Khachatur Abovyan

Summary
Jean Antoine Saint-Martin (1791-1832) is the founder of Armenian studies in France. His capital work Mémoire historique et géographique sur l’Arménie is a study in two volumes which were published in Paris in 1818 and 1819. With this work Saint- Martin contributed to the development of Armenian studies in Europe. Armenological heritage of Saint-Martin confirmed the necessity of Armenian studies in France. His example was followed by French and Belgian prominent Armenologists of the 19th century, such as Marie Brosset, Victor Langlois, Félix Nève and Edouard Dulaurier who loved Armenia and its creative people, representing one of the most ancient civilizations all over the world.

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A Book Review by Danielyan E. L.

Ruben Safrastyan’s monograph is an essential research work in the studies of the genocidal nature of the Ottoman Empire, particularly, the Hamidian, the Young Turk and the Kemalist programs of genocide against the Armenian people and the criticism of the Turkish official historiography, which following the genocide denial policy of the Turkish government falsifies the history of the Armenian Genocide. The opening sentence of the book states: “Genocide is not only a historical phenomenon or a scientific abstraction, but a severe reality of our days, a gravest crime against humanity... the Ottoman Empire was the first state in the history of mankind to prepare and perpetrate a large-scale genocide” (p. 7). Armenian and foreign researchers have published many monographs and research articles on the Armenian Genocide. Alongside with their works the author widely used collections of archival documents published in different countries.

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Edited by Marie-Luisa Frick and Andreas Oberprantacher, University of Innsbruck, Ashgate, 2009, 284 pages.

A Book Review by Danielyan E. L.

Published in «Լրաբեր» հաս. գիտ., N 3, 2011

The book provides detailed analysis of current developments in international politics, focuses on conditions for social and ecological justice in international economics against the background of financial crisis from points of view of the concepts of justice and power in international relations.
The contributors of the book, reflecting the work of the internationally acclaimed Austrian philosopher Hans Köchler and touching the problems of the place of international law, the meaning of economic justice and the importance of dialogue of civilizations, have had a goal to highlight a better comprehension of the interrelation between power and justice in view of current world tensions. Hans Köchler in the 1980s criticized legal positivism and promoted a theory that human rights are the basis of international law's validity. His reflections on political philosophy, democracy in inter-state relations, the role and philosophical foundations of civilizational dialogue, a comprehensive system of international criminal justice led him to the field of research of problems concerning world order, including the dialectic relationship between power and law [1-4], and law as a system of norms based on the equality of all nations [5, p. 19].

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By: Melkonyan A. A. Academician of NAS RA

Summary

Javakhk was originally one of the nine districts of Gugark province of the Kingdom of Great Armenia. It is mentioned by the name of Zabakha in Araratian (Urartian) King Argishti’s (786-764 BC) inscriptions. Later it was within the Ervanduni (Orontid), then Artashesian and Arshakuni and Bagratuni Kingdoms of Great Armenia. It is mentioned as the family estate of the Vardzavuny princely family. Since time immemorial Javakhk has been inhabited by the Armenians, which is attested to by various Armenian, Georgian, Arab and other sources. According to Georgian historian Leonti Mroveli, early in the 4th century, when St. Nune was preaching Christianity in Javakhk, the local population’s vernacular was Armenian. 

Meeting Akhalkalak Armenians’ desire to be reunited with their Homeland, the authorities of Soviet Armenia (Alexander Bekzadian, Alexander Myasnikian, Arshak Mravian, and others) demanded to return the district and Tzalka to Armenia. In July 1921 the Georgian and Azerbaijani Bolsheviks achieved the annexation of both Akhalkalak and some other Armenian territories to Soviet Georgia and Soviet Azerbaijan. Under the Soviet rule, the region was completely ignored by the Georgian authorities. The attempts to introduce any changes in the frontier became highly dangerous; those Armenians who raised that question received jail terms or were sent into exile in the 1930s. After Georgia declared independence harsh socio-economic and political conditions are endangering the life of the native Armenians of Javakhk. It is of the utmost importance to study the problem of Javakhk on an objective scientific basis, to realize the political reality, and to resolve the problem in a fair, just and civilized manner.

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By: Stepanyan G. S. Doctor of Sciences (History)

As attested by the available archive documents, as well as historiographical and lapidary sources, from times of remote antiquity Armenians - the natives of the Armenian Highland inhabited also the region of Eastern Transcaucasia, namely from the river Kur (the left bank) to Apsheron Peninsula. Armenians created their specific cultural heritage there and participated in the social-economic, educational and cultural life of the region.

With the invasion of Turkic-speaking elements into Eastern Transcaucasia (from the end of the 11th c. and later) the ethno-cultural makeup of the region suffered grave damages and underwent destructive transformations. Despite this, the Armenians due to their creative abilities and natural self-defence characteristics succeeded in continuing their existence and constituted a considerable part of the region’s population. Eastern part of Great Armenia’s province of Paytakaran was also included into Baku Province of the Russian Empire in 1867.
The Armenians of Baku Province suffered a particularly heavy losses in September 1918, when the Turkish army units invaded Transcaucasia and reached Baku. The criminal policy of physical extermination and deportation continued against the Armenians throughout the existence of Musavatist “Azerbaijan”. The policy of the violation of the rights of the Armenians and other native peoples in Eastern Transcaucasia (Tats, Talyshes, Lezghins, etc.) continued during the 70 years of the rule of AzSSR. Genocidal crimes were perpetrated against the Armenians of the city of Sumgait (27-29 February, 1988) and Baku (13-19 January, 1990) by the Azerbaijani authorities.

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By: Danielyan E. L. Doctor of Sciences (History)

The maps drawn by S.Yeremyan have taken their stable position in the treasury of historical cartography. By comparing the data of antique cartographical sources, particularly those of “Manual of Geography” by Claudius Ptolemy (“Third map of Asia”) to the data provided by “Ashkharhatsuyts” [(«Աշխարհացոյց»-World Atlas) the authors of which are Movses Khorenatsi (the 5th century) and the continuer and editor of his work, Anania Shirakatsi (the 7th century)], S.Yeremyan drew the map of the Kingdom of Great Armenia. He created a valuable book and map, “Armenia according to Ashkharhatsuyts”. Owing to all of this Suren Yeremyan created a valuable book and map, “Armenia according to Ashkharhatsuyts”1. He also began restoring the initial original of “Ashkharhatsuyts” and published several of the 15 maps of the World Atlas. S.Yeremyan published the map of “the known world” (the oikumene) as well. It occupied only one part of the globe of the earth, the model of which S.Yeremyan restored, according to “Ashkharhatsuyts”.

With their accuracy S. Yeremyan’s maps containing the Armenian Highland and Great Armenia serve the purpose of solving historiographical problems in scientific and socio-political spheres, preserving the historical memory for future generations and truthfully presenting the historical picture of the Armenian territories. He remained true to his calling, working in the sphere of historical cartography. Among the voluminous maps dedicated to different epochs of Armenian history and published in recent years, the map dedicated to the Armenian empire of Tigran II the Great has a special significance. S.Yeremyan continued the traditions developed by previous generations of Armenian historians and cartographers, thus greatly contributing to the progress of the Armenological school of historical geography and cartography.

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By: Galichian Rouben Honorary Doctor

From ancient times and the Middle Ages Armenia was depicted on the World (the oikumene, or known World) maps and, particularly, maps of Western Asia as an independent state and later also as a country being partitioned between ajacent states. Thus the name of Armenia can be observed on maps for various historic periods as well as in the historical and geographical works covering the whole territory of the Armenian Highland. Following the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkey in 1915-1923 Western Armenia and Cilician Armenia were divested of the indigenous Armenian population.

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