Tag: history

Can Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its weaponization of the Orthodox faith and Putin's references to Peter the Great and his campaigns indicate historical precedents for Russia's re-emerging imperialism?

Relations between Armenians and Kurds date back to the time of the Medes. The relationship has fluctuated, sometimes uniting, other times dividing the two peoples living on the same land and now facing the same threats.

Why has the UN Security Council failed to react in a meaningful way to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict? Hovhannes Nazaretyan looks at some of the possible reasons.

This next installment in a series of articles on Yerevan looks at issues concerning the transportation infrastructure, most importantly, the need for a modern public transport system, something that has plagued the capital since independence.

Ethiopian-Armenians are emblematic as a diaspora community that balanced their civic and cultural identities to build a prosperous and trusted community.

1850-ականների Ղրիմի պատերազմի, միջազգային խորը հակասությունների ու Սևծովյան տարածաշրջանում ազդեցությունն ավելացնելու շարունակվող պայքարին անդրադարձող հոդվածի ՁայնաԳիր տարբերակը։

The Crimean War in the 1850s did not resolve the geopolitical rivalries of the parties involved. The fight for influence in the Black Sea region continues even today.

A disciple of Shahumyan, Anastas Mikoyan was a native of the village of Sanahin, in the historical Lori region of Armenia. A survivor from Il’ich Lenin to Il’ich Brezhnev, he became renowned both in the Soviet Union and internationally for his role as a consummate diplomat and for his management of foreign trade. However, less well known has been Mikoyan’s role in Armenian affairs. Although forced by Stalin to participate in the 1930s repressions in Armenia, he would later become the major force behind de-Stalinization in his native republic. He also worked behind the scenes as an informal lobbyist for Yerevan in Moscow, securing key support for Armenia from the Kremlin. The series is hosted by historian Pietro A. Shakarian and produced by Sona Nersesyan.

The 2007 discovery of a 6,000-year-old winery in a cave in the Vayots Dzor region was an invitation for Armenians to rediscover their ancient wine-making traditions. Armenia’s once-forgotten wine culture began to reemerge and take on new forms.

This episode explores the “Lenin of the Caucasus” – Stepan Shahumyan. Originally from the Georgian capital Tbilisi, Shahumyan would forge his revolutionary legacy in Baku, as the leader of the Baku Commune during the Russian Revolution and Civil War. However, the story of Shahumyan is not only the story of the Baku Commune. He also played an instrumental role in developing the Bolshevik (and later Soviet) policy on nationalities. Executed by the British-aligned Socialist Revolutionaries in the Turkmen desert, Shahumyan continues to live on in the monuments and memories of Armenia today. The series is hosted by historian Pietro A. Shakarian and produced by Sona Nersesyan.

The first in a series of articles about the challenges facing Armenia’s capital city, Yerevan, examines the issues of urban planning and development.

There are several million Greeks living in North America, Western Europe, Oceania and Africa. What are the specificities of the Greek diaspora model? This is part four of a series of studies on State-Diaspora relations.

A native of Aleksandropol (Gyumri), Shushanik Kurghinyan was a prominent Armenian writer, feminist, and social activist. Inspired by the 1905 Russian Revolution, she became a tireless advocate of the working people and advocated for their cause in her poetry. She was also a staunch advocate for women's rights, and she cared for Armenian refugees fleeing the 1915 Genocide in Rostov-on-Don. She later returned to Armenia, at the urging of her old friend Aleksandr Myasnikyan, during the NEP period. The series is hosted by historian Pietro A. Shakarian and produced by Sona Nersesyan.

«Արվեստ և մշակույթ» բաժնում հրապարակված՝ Նորա Գրիգորյանի «Մարիամ Շահինեան. ստվերից դուրս» հոդվածի ձայնագիրը: Ընթերցում է Գոհար Աբրահամյանը: Թուրքիայի առաջին կին պրոֆեսիոնալ տաղավարային լուսանկարչուհի Մարիամ Շահինեանի նորօրյա բացահայտումով մի խումբ կանայք ոգեշնչվում և համագործակցելով փորձում են վերծանել ստվերում մնացած պատմության այս էջը։

Although Armenia did not see any combat during the Second World War, known throughout the post-Soviet space as the Great Patriotic War, both Armenia and Artsakh sacrificed disproportionately to the rest of the Union.

During March 2022, the Word—not only allegorically, but in the most literal sense—finds itself outstretched like the Vitruvian man strung from the corners of our Armenian-Russian-Ukrainian semiotic triangle.

Media commentators, analysts and historians have all scrambled to draw historical parallels to make sense of Putin’s recent aggression toward Ukraine, but there have been relatively few nuanced references to World War I.

A historical retrospective of the social realities and perceptions of the legal status of women in the Middle Ages, specifically in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.

In trying to understand what nationalism is or if it can be strictly national, this article re-examines the Armenian national movement of the 19th century in relation to the Italian Risorgimento.

Back in 2020, the Paradigma Education Foundation published the “Guidebook on History Teaching: Why, How?” for teachers in Armenia the purpose of which is to develop active historical thinking. This year, they launched another innovative tool for teachers—a gender history pack—called History #5. Co-founder Narek Manukyan speaks to EVN Report about the idea, the journey and the purpose of this new tool.

This new series presents the Russo-Turkish wars of the 19th-20th centuries, which were of crucial importance for the two segments—eastern and western—of the Armenian people.

Simon Maghakyan, who lectures on international relations at the University of Colorado, Denver and is a visiting scholar at Tufts University has been researching Eurasian politics of cultural erasure since 2005. He speaks to EVN Report about the threat of the destruction of Armenian historical monuments that are now under Azerbaijani control.

A specialist in 19th and 20th century Russian and Eurasian history, Dr. Pietro Shakarian speaks to EVN Report about the intricate and complicated history surrounding Soviet Armenian statesman Anastas Mikoyan, how his ethnicity informed his politics, his role in the purges and later in the series of political reforms after Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953 known as de-Stalinization.

The methodology employed in the teaching of Armenian history must be reevaluated according to historian Zohrab Gevorgyan. An expert on the ancient Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, Gevorgyan says that over time, myths and personalization have become central themes in the teaching and understanding of Armenians’ collective history.

For decades, the Azerbaijani government has engaged in the destruction of Armenian monuments in its quest to erase all evidence of our culture. But the campaign of cultural erasure stretches beyond the physical, to the digital realm as well.

The Treaty of Moscow reaffirmed, almost identically, the borders laid out in the Treaty of Alexandropol. Armenia, thus, conceded 20,000 square kilometers to Turkey. Mikayel Yalanuzyan reveals the details of those turbulent times.

The Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire over a century ago resulted in the murder of 1.5 million, the uprooting of a people from their ancestral homelands and the loss of invaluable ancient Armenian manuscripts.

Shushanik Kurghinian was a poet passionate about the plight of the oppressed, from the working class to the condition of women in Armenian society. Her poetry reflected her fierce spirit and indomitable will.

EVN Report-ի ամսագրի չորրորդ թողարկման փոդքասթը Խորհրդային Հայաստանի մասին է. Հումանիտար հետազոտությունների հայկական կենտրոնի նախագահ փիլիսոփա Աշոտ Ոսկանյանը անդրադառնում է մեր պատմության մեջ Խորհրդային Հայաստանի նշանակության, այդ ժամանակաշրջանի առանձնահատկություններին, հասարակկան տրամադրություններին եւ սոցիալիստական հանրապետության զարգացումների հայկական յուրօրինակությանը:

Vigen Galstyan explores the humble charm of Soviet Armenian mechanical clocks in this first instalment of a series of articles about Armenia’s not-too-distant past as a major producer of everyday consumer goods and a hot spot for industrial design in the USSR.

Harout Manougian presents a comprehensive overview of the different alliances and government coalitions in parliamentary elections since Armenia’s independence in 1991.

Is it necessary to assimilate or exterminate a people to affirm one's identity? Has an Azerbaijani identity been founded upon the genocide of a people, who, like in Turkey, lived side by side with the Turkic populations until the rise of nationalism?

As one of the first Armenian feminist writers, Zaruhi Kalemkearian left a rich legacy including articles, essays, memoirs and poems. Once a beloved writer widely known in Armenian communities around the world, today, she is remembered by only a few.

Throughout the 2020 Artsakh War, the UK Government was mostly impotent, writes James Derounian. It instead has and continues to provide blind, sometimes tacit, support for Turkey directly and its ally Azerbaijan indirectly.

In the context of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the “Albanian connection” has become a politicized issue of irredentism, hijacking the rich Christian heritage of Karabakh. The roots of this historiography go back to the Soviet policy of “nativization".

This primer provides the reader with an overview of the historical origins of the Karabakh conflict, the Soviet era, the war, the peace process all the way to the Four Day War in April 2016.

A nation that has been confronted by the choice to either adopt another's culture by subterfuge or by violence, or face cultural extinction is a nation that has experienced the agony of cultural genocide. A conversation between two historians.

Historian Suren Manukyan traces the impact that global pandemics have had on the course of human history.

Justin Tomczyk traces the history of the Armenian-Turkish border spanning from Armenia’s incorporation into the USSR to the present day, touching upon the Zurich Protocols and reflecting on the viability of a future normalization process.

Arpine Haroyan traces the life of Leola Sassouni, born in a small town in the Ottoman Empire, who would go on to fight for the independence of the First Armenian Republic, dedicating her life to her nation, and leaving behind a rich legacy.

Lusine Sargsyan explains the history of the institution that is the subject of an upcoming referendum on April 5, 2020.

A close examination of Armenian public school textbooks reveals persistent gender bias and stereotyping at almost all grade levels.

A writer, resistance fighter, political prisoner and so much more. The life of Ellen Buzand (Yeghisabet Stamboltsian) is the stuff of legends. Her diaries and memoirs remain unpublished in the archives of the Yeghishe Charents Museum of Literature and Art.

Eight ethnic Armenians were elected to the First Constituent Assembly of Georgia in 1918. Four were members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and the others from the Georgian Social Democratic Party. This article explores their lives and political activities.

Western Armenia or Eastern Turkey? This 'lost homeland' has been a thorn in Turkey's side since 1923. The thorn reminds the Turks and the Kurds of a people who lived and thrived in Turkey, and who played an enormous role in the unfolding of Turkey's history, writes Paul Mirabile.

The young girl, who was almost “killed” by the stunning music of Komitas Vardapet on a beautiful spring day in Tbilisi, was Margarit Babayan, a 28-year-old mezzo-soprano, who later would become a renowned singer and a vocal teacher across Europe, and be remembered as the beloved friend and muse of Komitas Vardapet.

The 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident was considered the worst nuclear disaster in history. It exposed hundreds of thousands of people to high levels of radiation, killing dozens and affecting millions across Europe. Experts from all over the Soviet Union were sent to “liquidate” the effects of the radiation. Among them were several thousand Armenians.

From Tabriz to Paris, from resistance to a Nazi concentration camp...this is the story of Louise Aslanian, an Armenian woman whose convictions, commitment and words have largely been forgotten.

A leading member of the Georgian Social-Democratic Party at the turn of the 20th century, Eleonora Ter-Parsegova played an important role in the struggle leading up to Georgia’s independence in 1918 and later, after it was sovietized.

Many took the harrowing experience with them to their graves. Others would share only fragments of memories. All of them suffered unimaginable loss. They were the orphans of the Armenian Genocide and their stories must never be forgotten.

While taking the reader through the complexities of international law, Dr. Nerses Kopalyan writes that when Armenia and Azerbaijan speak about peace, they mean completely different things. What they are actually saying is that they seek peace on their own terms.

Isfahan is more than just a place with an abundance of blue, hospitality and diplomacy, Isfahan is also Julfa, the old Armenian neighborhood where the domes of churches are not pointed but rather round like a Mosque’s, where an Armenian community, since 1605, continues to exist and has become an inseparable part of the fabric of this city once built to be the center of the world.

Shamakhi is an Armenian dialect that is on the verge of extinction. While many Armenians from Shamakhi feel a sense of pride in their history and dialect, for the new generation who, along with the rest of the Shamakhetsis were forced to flee their village during the Karabakh War, the dialect is simply a matter of history.

Three decades after the catastrophic Spitak Earthquake, Hovhannes Nazaretyan takes a look back at how that tragedy was covered by one of America’s most prestigious newspapers.

Armenian culture and tradition, once subsumed into Byzantine or medieval studies, now has its own separate but important place in the history of art and civilization along with others such as Venice, Rome, and Greece thanks to a groundbreaking exhibition entitled Armenia! at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The essay attempts to offer several historical and pedagogical responses to the genocide of the Armenian people by suggesting a program on the study of the Middle Ages of Turkey, one that would entail the study of the three mediaeval epic tales that were forged during the Middle Ages on Anatolian soil.

Arpine Haroyan looks back at how an avant-garde art movement called Futurism impacted the work of a number of young Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople, Tbilisi and Yerevan at the turn of the 20th century.

As Armenians prepare to mark the centennial of the First Armenian Republic (1918-1920), Varak Ketsemanian writes that there seems to be little consensus regarding its true meaning, its contested legacy and the various forms through which it should be commemorated.

In this new piece, Mikayel Zolyan writes about the similarities and differences between the 1988 Karabakh Movement and the 2018 Velvet Revolution - what it meant for people then and now and lessons to be learned.

One of the distinctive characteristics of the Karabakh Movement was that in less than three years, it drastically changed how the Soviet value system was perceived. The visual and verbal manifestation of this was evident through the transformation of the language and texts of the posters and signs used during the Movement.

Tatevik Hayrapetyan writes that the Karabakh Movement was a catalyst for domestic developments in Azerbaijan. Unlike in Armenia, however, alternative forces like the Azerbaijani Popular Front in Azerbaijan, couldn’t find a way to collaborate with the local Communist Party. The issue of Karabakh and anti-Armenian propaganda was thereby used in their struggle against the Communist regime.

Vardges Baghryan, a journalist from Artsakh recounts his personal memories from the Karabakh Movement and the war. He recalls the siege on the village of Karintak and how the future freedom and independence of the people of Artsakh was forged.

For decades, production of historical texts in Armenia was in the tight grip of Soviet state ideology. Post-independence, some topics previously repressed or omitted found their way back into Armenian history textbooks, however “memory gaps” remain.

Lusine Hovhannisyan was a witness and participant in the Karabakh Movement. Thirty years later, she had the chance to meet with someone who was on the opposite side of the barricades - a Soviet official who had tried to infiltrate the ranks of the demonstrators.

Deciding never to use the word Genocide and then coming face-to-face with it again in a new context; between reading biographies of the victims of the Sumgait Pogrom over and over again and the urge to see who now occupies the homes of the Armenians of Baku and Sumgait, writer Lusine Hovhannesyan unexpectedly discovers a common yet obvious thread.

Harutyun Marutyan writes that the Karabakh Movement was not only the first of the Eastern European revolutions, but it played a considerable role in the democratization of Soviet society, was pivotal in the deconstruction of the Soviet Union and consequently in the elimination of the threat of communism.

Journalist Lusine Hovhannesyan recounts her personal memories as a university student during the first days of the Karabakh Movement. She writes, “We became beautiful and fell in love easily like young men and women living out their last days at the barricades and we sang songs of resilience in the streets of Yerevan.”

In this exceptionally honest and candid article, Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan writes about his impressions from the first few months of the Karabakh Movement 30 years ago, with words he did not have nor could find at the time.

The Karabakh Movement was a crystallizing moment in the collective and historical memory of the Armenian nation. In this first in a series of articles about the Movement, EVN Report presents a chronology of the events of 1988 which eventually paved the way to independence.

Grand Hotel Yerevan was not only the first large-scale public building constructed in Yerevan, it also played a significant role in the cultural renaissance of the capital city. Arpine Haroyan weaves together the fascinating history of the landmark hotel through the voices of its illustrious residents.

Varak Ketsemanian presents a critical analysis of Sona B. Dadoyan’s work, “2015, The Armenian Condition in Hindsight and Foresight: A Discourse,” a timely and critical piece of scholarship that sheds light on the intellectual crisis of the 21st century Armenian reality.

Photographer Scout Tufankjian has captured the essence of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) through her photos. One year after the April War, EVN Report is proud to present these images as a reminder that all children deserve to live in peace.

This special section is a historical overview of the disputed region of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh Republic, NKR), one of the last unresolved conflicts in the former Soviet space.