Former Members of the Armenian Genocide-Museum Board
of Trustees

 Astourian, Stephan H., Ph.D., Professor, College of Humanities and
Social Sciences, Director of the Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis at the
American University of Armenia,

 Kévorkian, Raymond Harutyun, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of the
University of Paris VIII Saint-Denis, Foreign Member of the National Academy of
Sciences of Armenia,

 Kharatyan, Hranush S., Ph.D., Head of the Applied Anthropology Research
Group at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy
of Sciences of Armenia,

 Marutyan, Harutyun T., Ph.D., Social/Cultural Anthropologist, Head Researcher
at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of
Sciences of Armenia, Head of Department at the Armenian Genocide
Museum-Institute.

Letter-Statement of the Scholars Who
Resigned from the Board of Trustees of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute
between March 3-10, 2026

We,
the undersigned, have resigned from the Board of Trustees of the Armenian
Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) due to the forced resignation of its Director,
Dr. Edita Gzoyan. Given the significant controversy and public outcry this
event has caused, we find it appropriate to explain why we individually
resigned at various times after the Minister of Education, Science, Culture,
and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, on March 2, 2026 (one day before our
Board meeting held on March 3), informed the Chairman of the AGMI Board of
Trustees, Harutyun Raymond Kévorkian, for the first time that, in the
Ministry’s opinion, AGMI Director E. Gzoyan has shortcomings in the management
of the Museum-Institute and there is a need to replace her with another
director.

First, we declare that this came
as a surprise to us. Over the past years, we have heard no complaints regarding
Dr. Gzoyan’s work from either the Ministry, any Board member, or the AGMI
staff. On the contrary, the Board evaluated Dr. Gzoyan’s work as excellent.

Second, the reasoning presented to
the Chairman of the Board of Trustees on March 2, and to the Board members
during the meeting the following day, March 3, alleging that Dr. Gzoyan did not
properly oversee the renovation works of the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex,
is unfounded. During the penultimate Board meeting, it was clarified that the
supervision and management of the renovation works were the responsibility of
the Ministry.

Third, the AGMI charter clearly
states that dismissing the AGMI Director is the exclusive authority of the
Board of Trustees. Our Board had neither the reason nor the intention to
dismiss Dr. Gzoyan. “Asking” Dr. Gzoyan to write a resignation letter was neither
within the scope of the Minister’s nor, moreover, the Prime Minister’s
authority. It is noteworthy that the agenda for convening the Board of Trustees
meeting on March 3 contained only one issue: “Presentation and discussion of
the landscaping and improvement project of the ‘Tsitsernakaberd’ park.” The
issue of the AGMI Director’s resignation was presented to the Board of Trustees
completely unexpectedly, after the discussion of the agenda item.

On
March 5, information regarding the forced resignation of the AGMI Director
became known to the media, which was followed by various explanations and
contradictory public discussions. Shortly thereafter, on March 12, the Prime
Minister of the Republic of Armenia revealed that he himself had “asked” Dr.
Gzoyan’s resignation. The reason was connected to the private visit of US Vice
President J. D. Vance to the Armenian Genocide memorial complex. Dr. Gzoyan had
conversed with him about the massacres of Armenians that took place in the
South Caucasus and later in Azerbaijan at the beginning and end of the
twentieth century, the ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Karabakh/Artsakh,
and the Armenian Genocide. She also gifted J. D. Vance five books, one of which
was a collection of American newspaper articles regarding the massacres that
occurred between 1905 and 1921. This was within the framework of the
traditional ceremony for receiving official delegations visiting the AGMI,
which, however, the Prime Minister characterized as a “provocative” action contradicting
the foreign policy of the government he heads. State officials must align with
Armenia’s foreign policy, the Prime Minister stated, and since he had decided
that the “Karabakh movement” does not exist, gifting a book concerning the
Artsakh issue was unacceptable. Below is the Prime Minister’s full interview
with journalists:

https://armenpress.am/en/video/1244502

Following
the Prime Minister’s statement, the real reason for Dr. Gzoyan’s forced
resignation became clear. Prime Minister Pashinyan’s statements also revealed
that the initial justification for the forced resignation was merely a cover-up
for that real reason.

The
immediate reactions following the Prime Minister’s comments were far from
positive. Therefore, a new “explanation” for the forced resignation was put
forward by MPs of the ruling party in the National Assembly (for example,
Lusine Badalyan and Maria Karapetyan) during television interviews, and
subsequently by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of
Armenia, Mr. Ruben Rubinyan. Lusine Badalyan’s interview seemed to be the first
in this series, given on the night of the day the Prime Minister made his
comments to the press. According to her, the reason for the forced resignation
is not Artsakh or the content of the book gifted to the US Vice President, but
rather “protocol.” Here is the thought she expresses in her interview with Factor.TV:

Badalyan insisted that the problem is not the content
of the book, but the protocol violation itself. “It is not about the book here,
it is not about the topic. This is a deviation from protocol.” https://factor.am/994530.html

If
the issue was protocol, then the protocol officials of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs or perhaps the Prime Minister’s staff should bear the responsibility
for what Ms. Badalyan considers a violation of protocol. If the initial
justification for the forced resignation was a cover-up, then this was already
a red herring aimed at weakening the criticisms directed against the Prime
Minister’s comments and diverting attention away from the Artsakh issue.

However,
the chain of “explanations” did not end here. Considering the situation that
had turned into a public scandal, the Minister of Education, Science, Culture,
and Sport, Zhanna Andreasyan, came forward with a fourth explanation for the
forced resignation, five days after the Prime Minister’s comments. Denying that
she had ever told the AGMI staff that Dr. Gzoyan’s dismissal was related to the
memorial complex’s renovation works, she pointed to “management” as the reason
for the resignation dictated from “above.” Here is an excerpt from her
interview with Radio “Azatutyun” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty):

The Minister of Education insists she did not tell the
staff of the Genocide Museum-Institute that the director is being dismissed for
not organizing the memorial’s construction works well.

“I did not say such a thing,” she emphasized.

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/tseghaspanagetn-arajarkoum-e-hayastanoum-steghtsel-ankakh-tseghaspanagitoutyan-institout/33709010.html

In a
formal sense, the Minister was right: she had presented the “shortcoming” in
works related to the construction as the compulsion for resignation not to the Museum-Institute
employees, but to the Board of Trustees members during the extraordinary
meeting on March 3. In response to a question from “Azatutyun,” the
Minister said that there was one meeting with the employees, which took place
yesterday.

“We discussed all the issues in very fine detail, and
I conveyed that information to the employees, and I addressed the issues raised
that they had. I raised the issue regarding management from the very beginning
and I continue from exactly this perspective,” she noted.

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/tseghaspanoutyan-tangaran-institouti-tn%D6%85reni-verakangnman-harts-chka-nakharar/33708677.html

The
Board of Trustees not only never noticed such management problems, but it was
also never informed of their alleged existence. Furthermore, some members of
the Board of Trustees objected to the Minister’s arguments during the meeting.
As for the AGMI staff, every one of them has signed a letter supporting Dr.
Gzoyan. It can be assumed that they too did not notice any management issues.

Conclusion

From
our perspective, what transpired at the AGMI raises a number of concerning
questions:

*
The actual decision to get rid of Dr. Gzoyan was made by one individual, Prime
Minister Pashinyan, without any consultation with the Board of Trustees. Mr.
Pashinyan chose to publicly make it understood to the relevant world leaders
interested in Armenian issues, or at least to regional leaders, that he alone
makes political decisions.

* Since the exclusive right to dismiss the
AGMI Director belongs to the Board of Trustees, institutional regulations were
bypassed, and the decision was imposed on that body.

*
The Prime Minister’s public reaction and the dismissal of the Director of the
Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute for sharing historical facts with the US
Vice President appear to us as part of a chain aimed at “reshaping” or
“repackaging” historical facts, subordinating them to political expediency and
the reproduction of his own power. However, this is not the place to list, for
example, some of the superficial and careless interpretations regarding the
origins of the Armenian Genocide or historical Armenian-Azerbaijani
interactions that have recently been voiced by the Prime Minister or members of
his ruling party.

*
What happened to Dr. Gzoyan, and the way in which it occurred, raise serious
questions regarding academic freedom. If the government has put an end to the
Karabakh movement and the Artsakh issue, does that mean that scientific studies
of their history undermine foreign policy? After all, most of Armenia’s
academic research centers are SNCOs (State Non-Commercial Organizations), most
universities are state-run, and therefore are their employed researchers state
officials? If so, does this mean, then, that the results of their research must
conform to the foreign policy of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia,
and by what criteria and where will their conformity be determined? Finally, in
what sense was Dr. Gzoyan promoting an alternative foreign policy? Where is the
evidence?

 *
What happened to Dr. Gzoyan, and the manner of its execution, also raise
concerns regarding at the very least authoritarian tendencies. In no European
country would it be acceptable to demand that all state funded epmloyees align
with and support the government’s foreign policy. Such demands are reminiscent
of Soviet practices.

 *
What happened to Dr. Gzoyan, and the manner of its execution, have damaged the
AGMI’s international reputation at a time when under Dr. Gzoyan’s leadership it
was gaining growing international recognition.

As
former members of the Board of Trustees and scholars, we wish to draw attention
to a few points:

 *
Even the most enduring, state-sponsored attempts to rewrite or erase history,
such as the Turkish denial of the Armenian Genocide, fail.

* National memory and identity are strategic
assets, especially for small nations; a blurred national memory and identity is
a vulnerability that no weapon can compensate for.

*
Finally, such abrupt and unjust decisions are unlikely to contribute to the
prospects of establishing genuine and lasting peace.

The
signatories of this statement are acting exclusively on their own behalf as
former members of the AGMI Board of Trustees; their places of employment bear
no relation to the content of the text.

Astourian,
Stephan H., Ph.D., Professor, College of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Director of the Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis at the American
University of Armenia,

Kévorkian,
Raymond Harutyun, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of the University of Paris VIII
Saint-Denis, Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia,

Kharatyan,
Hranush S., Ph.D., Head of the Applied Anthropology Research Group at the
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of
Armenia,

Marutyan,
Harutyun T., Ph.D., Social/Cultural Anthropologist, Head Researcher at the
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of
Armenia, Head of Department at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.

On 4/3/2026 11:15:18 AM, Asbed Bedrossian wrote:

Oh, sorry, btw, attaching is OK, but I definitely want to read the material in the body of the email, like you had it earlier. You can simply precede or end with the signatures & titles.

Best,

A

On Apr 2, 2026, at 11:38 PM, Stephan H. Astourian wrote:

External Sender

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Dear Asbed,

Thanks for being willing to post this statement.

The problem with the letterhead is that we are not an organization. Would something like this work?

“Former members of the Armenian Genocide-Museum-Institute Board of Trustees

Stephan H. Astourian, Ph.D.

Raymond Kevorkian, Ph.D

Hranush Kharatyan, PH.D.

Harutyun Marutyan, Ph.D.”

I can also add their other academic titles.

Kindly let me know what you think.

More generally, if this works, should I send the statement within the body of the e-mail, preceded by the letterhead, or should the letterhead be part of the attachment?

I hope you are well,

Stephan 

On 4/3/2026 10:27:55 AM, Asbed Bedrossian wrote:

Dear Stepan, yes, I’ll post it. But can you please send it again, this time without the part I’ve quoted below? I can’t edit submissions, just accept/decline, so please send it to me exactly as
it should go through on the web. 



The subject line is good as is. No changes needed there. 

It would be great if you’d add a “letterhead” that tells the audience who or what org is releasing the statement, 



Other than that, all good. Thanks for sending again. 



Asbed 





> On Apr 2, 2026, at 8:03 AM, Armenian NewsNews wrote: 

> 

> Dear Asbed, 

> 

> If this statement of of interest to Armenian News, please post it. 

> I will be pasting it in this e-mail under my signature. I am also attaching a Pdf. version of it. 

> 

> I hope you are well, 

> 

> Stephan Astourian 

> 

> 

>