Tag: Soviet Armenia

In commemoration of renowned Armenian poet Yeghishe Charents, Maria Gunko delves into his colorful universe to see how it captures the essence of Armenia's landscapes and geography, drawing parallels with her perceptions.

Over 30 years ago, a statue of Lenin towered over the heart of Yerevan until it was dismantled. The recent centennial of Lenin’s death went mostly unnoticed in Armenia but it might have sparked reflection on Lenin’s impact during the Sovietization of Armenia and how his definition of self-determination has had consequences on contemporary geopolitics.

The juxtaposition of two cinematic adaptations of the same literary work reveals polar perceptions of history, tradition, national culture and lifestyle. And by doing so, it indicates that the boundaries of "Armenian cinema" are much wider than they seem.

This is the story of Arev, a woman who survived a Soviet prison. In this new essay, Arev recounts her adventures traveling across the USSR in search of bottles and how she came to own a home in downtown Yerevan. As told by her niece Ella Kanegarian.

For the first time, a book in English traces the history of the Social Democrat Hunchak Party, which has been largely overlooked in Armenian historiography.

Born in Artvin (today northeastern Turkey), Yakov Zarobyan and his family fled as refugees to Rostov-on-Don. Later, the young Zarobyan began his career as a worker in NEP-era Ukraine. Eventually becoming a Party activist, he became engaged in the affairs of Soviet Armenia and rose to the position of the republic’s First Secretary in 1960. It was from that position that Zarobyan forged greater ties between Soviet Armenia and the Diaspora, and advocated for the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Although his tenure in Armenia was short, it would truly have a lasting impact on the republic. The series is hosted by historian Pietro A. Shakarian and produced by Sona Nersesyan. Illustration by Armine Shahbazyan.

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.

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.

A native of Van in Ottoman Armenia, Aghasi Khanjyan arrived in the Armenian republic as a refugee. Attending Gevorgyan Seminary at Etchmiadzin, he was quickly drawn to revolutionary activity and soon became a member of the Bolshevik Party. By the early 1930s, Khanjyan had ascended to the post of Armenia’s First Secretary and became a popular leader known for encouraging a flexible policy toward Armenian national expression. His death at the hands of Georgian leader Lavrentii Beria in 1936 became a pivotal moment for Soviet Armenia during the years of the Stalinist repressions. The series is hosted by historian Pietro A. Shakarian and produced by Sona Nersesyan.

Born in Elizavetpol (today Ganja, Azerbaijan), Nersik Stepanyan was an Armenian Bolshevik activist and Party theoretician. A participant in the Russian Revolution in the Caucasus, Stepanyan later became known for his sensitive approach toward national cultures and traditions. A fearless public intellectual, he was also the most vocal critic of Soviet Georgian leader Lavrentiy Beria within the Soviet Armenian political elite. Tragically, Stepanyan’s arrest by Beria’s men in the summer of 1936 set the stage for the Stalinist Purges in the republic. The series is hosted by historian Pietro A. Shakarian and produced by Sona Nersesyan.

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.

The first episode in the series focuses on Soviet Armenian statesman Aleksandr Myasnikyan. An Armenian from Nor Nakhijevan (Rostov-on-Don), Myasnikyan was sent to Armenia by Lenin in 1921. His mission was to implement a more moderate approach toward governance, in line with Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP). Myasnikyan inaugurated the NEP era in Armenia, allowing the republic to rebuild and stabilize after the 1915 Genocide and the experience of the First Republic. The series is hosted by historian Pietro A. Shakarian and produced by Sona Nersesyan.

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.

Western attempts to infiltrate into the sphere of Russian influence have meant to weaken Russia and maintain constant tension. Could this result in larger clashes with more unpredictable consequences, this time between large geopolitical players?

Examining the dissonance between the importance ascribed to national values like cultural heritage and the less-than enviable conditions surrounding the profession of Armenia’s “heritage doctors”.

Is it acceptable to throw your cigarette butt on the street? Is it understandable to be a draft dodger? Mikayel Yalanuzyan looks at how social responsibility is understood in Armenia.

Writers and thinkers from Armenia and the diaspora are now linked, writes Tigran Yegavian, and argues that this rapprochement is indispensable for the liberation of Armenian thought.

The Treaty of Kars was signed under difficult geopolitical conditions. Turkey was able to use the “threat” of normalizing its relations with the West to extract maximum concessions from the Russian side, mainly at the expense of Armenia.

Gaidz Minassian delves into the turbulent spaces of history, memory and identity and deconstructs why the mother of all battles—the construction of a State on its sovereign pillars—was undermined.

When cinematographer Rudolf Vatinyan passed away from COVID-related complications in 2020, people eulogized about an exacting professional who had filmed a number of iconic films. No one remembered, however, that Vatinyan had a parallel creative passion.

Does the Armenian diaspora have a role in the process of state building? Tigran Yegavian presents a brief history of Armenia-Diaspora relations starting with Armenia’s independence and offers some insights to rectify the absence of an effective relationship.

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.

Following Moscow’s facilitation of the ceasefire agreement ending the 2020 Artsakh War, some are asking whether Armenia should pursue “more Russia or less Russia.” The reality of the matter is that geography is inescapable.

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 current state and future direction of science in Armenia has been discussed on various platforms recently. Gagik Tovmasian writes about the need to elevate the status of national institutes and willingness to open up to the world.

A 4.7 magnitude earthquake rattled Yerevan back in February. Although it didn’t cause significant harm to people or structures, it triggered the inescapable question: Can Armenia withstand another major earthquake?

The majority of the music we hear in contemporary Armenian films and TV-series are simply plucked from the Internet with little regard for copyright issues, professionalism or the suitability of the tracks.

The November 10 ceasefire agreement ended the 2020 Artsakh War, but the issue of demarcating the new state borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been a major concern since then.

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.

Vanadzor’s Hovhannes Abelyan Theater, built in the early 20th century, is just a few meters away from the Fine Arts Museum. Both buildings hold the memories and feelings of Armenia’s third largest city.

Armenia’s Physics Institute with its Cosmic Ray Division is trying to overcome many challenges by collaborating with different international institutes. A new generation of scientists believe that more investment is needed to support research and science.

Armenia’s transition in 1991 brought about a state with a blatant disregard for democracy. The current government should realize the importance of moving forward with a more systematic, effective and coordinated transitional justice platform.

The resort town of Dilijan in Armenia is known for its lush mountainous landscapes. It is also home to the Composers’ Union Resort, a place that hosted world famous composers in the 1960s and became a cultural hub in the former Soviet Union.

A prominent Armenian Bolshevik activist and head of the Baku Commune Stepan Shahumyan’s ghost now wanders through his native Caucasus. Armenians have largely forgotten his century-old verbal attacks on nationalism and insistence on internationalist fraternity of peoples, yet his statues remain and streets, villages and towns are named after him in Armenia and Artsakh.

A sharp departure from the confinements of Soviet era filmmakers where any production had to be commissioned by the state and would remain under strict supervision, a 2003 law on mass media, forbids censorship in the Republic of Armenia. But in post-Soviet Armenia censorship has time and again found ways of meddling with cinema.

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.

When a massive earthquake rocked northern Armenia in 1988, EVN Report’s Vahram Ter-Matevosyan was a fifth grade student in Gyumri. In this personal essay, he recounts his experience of being trapped beneath the ruins of his school for 18 harrowing hours.

Armenia’s Ministry of Culture shut down an exhibit entitled ECLIPSE at the Tumanyan House Museum in Yerevan stating that it was ‘politicized’. Since the public no longer has the opportunity to physically go and see the exhibit, Narine Tukhikyan, the director of the Tumanyan House Museum, provided EVN Report with all the curated artifacts so that it could live on virtually.

The four tragedies of Maro Alazan based on her unpublished memories- Genocide, Soviet prison, exile and return from exile. The untold story of an incredible woman and her resilience in life and love.

The Diaspora has been an inherent component of Armenian reality since antiquity. Its enduring roots, affluent heritage and indispensability to the Armenian nation is difficult to challenge. This article examines the global entrepreneurial endowment of the Diaspora, how it developed and what its role can be today for the Republic of Armenia.