The scandalous dismissal of the director of the Genocide Museum-Institute has cast doubt on the international programs of this scientific institution, and the planned conferences with the participation of world-renowned genocide scholars are in jeopardy.
Professor Petros Ter-Matosyan of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln emphasizes that the problem here is not the issue of the person, former director Edita Gzoyan, but the fact that she was forced to leave the case only because she gave books about Artsakh to the vice president of the United States.
“Today, if we want to organize an international conference on the ethnic deprivation of Artsakh, an academic study, not a political one, will permission be given to organize this conference inside the Genocide Museum? We have such questions,” he said.
Presenting a book about Artsakh to the Vance couple was considered a provocative move by the Prime Minister of Armenia, and Gzoyan left his job on his instructions.
The museum-institute staff, many in the board of trustees protested, but to no avail. This was followed by numerous announcements from various scientific centers of the world, organizations engaged in the study of genocide. There is a very serious concern in the international academic world. Academic freedom in Armenia is subordinated to political expediency, the professor emphasizes. “Should historians have freedom of speech to discuss their research at the Genocide Museum?”
The North American Middle East Studies Association stated that Armenia is in a difficult situation, it is trying to regulate relations with Azerbaijan, but the erasure of historical memory cannot be conditioned by short-term political needs. The concerns are confirmed at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.
“Whatever had to do with our international partners, some of them are frozen or in an uncertain state at the moment,” Narine Margaryan, scientific secretary of the Genocide Museum-Institute, told Azatutyan.
International conferences have been planned, but Margaryan doubts that they will take place. “There is a fear that the best genocide scholars, experts in the field have already spoken that academic freedom is at risk here, will they decide to apply under these conditions?”
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