EVN Talks

Tuomas Tuure is the Advocacy Officer of the Abilis Foundation, a Finnish organization working on development aid for people with disabilities. Tuure, who has worked on international disability rights for over a decade, spoke with EVN Report about self-advocacy for people with disabilities and the need for a holistic approach by all state institutions to ensure accessibility and inclusivity.

Melissa Bilal, an ethnomusicologist and assistant professor at the American University of Armenia spoke to EVN Report about Armenian feminists from the 19th and 20th centuries in the Ottoman Empire. Bilal is an author, co-author and editor of a number of books and publications on Armenian feminist writers. Together with Professor Lerna Ekmekcioglu of MIT, Bilal launched the Annual Feminist Armenian Studies Workshop and founded the Feminist Armenian Research Collective (FemArc).

Philanthropist and entrepreneur James Tufenkian speaks about his work in Armenia since the early days of independence, life after the Velvet Revolution, being active in a democracy and his new project in Armenia’s wine country.

Shushan Doydoyan, president of the Freedom of Information Center talks to EVN Report about the polarized media landscape in Armenia and the need for transparency of media ownership and ethical journalism.

For his PhD thesis at Oxford, Hrag Papazian looked into the understanding of Armenian identity and Armenianness in Turkey, namely the Christian Armenians, the migrant community from the Republic of Armenia and the Muslim and Alevi Armenians. Papazian says the constructs of identity between these three Armenian communities do not coincide and can often be contradictory.

Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of Armenia's Security Council spoke to EVN Report about the ongoing Turkish military operation in northeastern Syria, the situation of the Armenians in the affected area including the humanitarian mission composed of Armenian doctors and deminers and the responsibility of the state. 

Singer/songwriter Alin Demirdjian came to Armenia from Argentina with a mission - to record one song in each province, including the provinces of Artsakh. Alin speaks to EVN Report about her journey.

Anoush Baghdassarian, the co-creator of Rerooted, a digital archive that preserves testimonies of Syrian-Armenians who fled the conflict in Syria, speaks to EVN Report in this week’s podcast.

Dr. Fernando Casal Bertoa, Associate Professor at the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham, an expert in political party regulations and Hamazasp Danielyan, Member of Parliament, who is coordinating the Electoral Reform Working Group in parliament speak to EVN Report about political party financing, Electoral Code reform and more.

Hasmik Movsisian had the idea to create an online space that would bring together Armenian musicians and musicians who perform Armenian music or play traditional Armenian instruments. However, the initiative soon grew out of its original concept and now Music of Armenia has gone from organizing festivals, to becoming a production company to joining UNESCO’s International Music Council.