Armenian Genocide Museum Deletes Posts On Church Head

The supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, whom Pashinian has been controversially trying to depose, led a traditional prayer service at the Tsitsernakabert memorial as Armenia marked the 111^th anniversary of the genocide in Ottoman Turkey. The service took place shortly after a wreath-laying ceremony attended by Pashinian and other senior officials.

The AGMI, which runs the memorial, posted photographs of and a short statement on Garegin’s visit on its website and social media accounts. It took down the posts several hours later without any explanation.

The development is bound to be linked to AGMI Director Edita Gzoyan’s resignation announced in early March. Pashinian admitted forcing her to step down because of what she told and gave U.S. President JD Vance during his February 10 visit to the Tsitsernakabert complex.

Gzoyan presented Vance with books about the 1915 genocide and the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Pashinian said her “provocative action” ran counter to his policy towards Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Armenian opposition leaders as well as many public figures accused the prime minister of openly violating academic freedom in the country. Twenty-five genocide scholars based in the United States and Europe likewise denounced the “silencing of independent academic voices in favor of political convenience” in a joint statement issued on March 12.

“Dr. Gzoyan’s forced exit sends a chilling message to academics and historians everywhere: that rigorous inquiry and truthful remembrance can be displaced for diplomatic comfort,” they said.

Gzoyan’s removal also upset the AGMI’s staff and board of trustees. The board’s chairman, French-Armenian genocide scholar Raymond Kevorkian, and several members resigned in protest. Pashinian swiftly replaced them. He also installed one of his former aides, Hrachya Tashchian, as the AGMI’s acting director.

Tashchian, who is a former diplomat and has no scholarly experience, insisted on Thursday that Gzoyan’s sacking has not affected the institute’s activities. Narine Margarian, the AGMI’s research secretary, said, however, that it has upended its international cooperation programs.

“Some of the events related to our international partners are frozen or in limbo at the moment,” Margarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

“There is concern that the best genocide scholars and specialists in the field, who have publicly said academic freedom is at risk here, will decide not to attend in these circumstances,” she said.

Margarian was also concerned about the future of a research project financed by the European Union and implemented by the AGMI for the last two years.

“There are signals from the European side that perhaps it will not continue into the third year in the way it was designed to,” she said.

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