Author: Nahapetian Samvel

Today, 24 April, marks the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. As every year, thousands of people are walking since the morning to the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex to honour the victims.

In recent months, major renovation work has been under way at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex, prompting political speculation.

Opposition figures first claimed that the authorities were “demolishing and dismantling the memorial complex” under the guise of reconstruction. Later, reports confirmed the completion of the first phase of restoration and disproved those claims. The same figures then began spreading new disinformation, saying that public pressure had halted the demolition.

A few days ago, reports emerged claiming that the Armenian government had decided to cancel events marking the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. However, the government never discussed such a move, and it made no such decision.

Fip.am checked the claims. Some Armenian media outlets, public figures and Turkish propaganda platforms promoted false narratives about “denial and forgetting” of the genocide.

“Open sources, analysis of official information and the actual situation do not confirm conspiracy theories either about cancelling commemorative events or about the reconstruction of the memorial complex,” Fip.am said.

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False claims

“The memorial is being dismantled at Erdoğan’s request”

For some time, Armenian media and social networks have been discussing construction work at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex. Given the sensitivity of the issue, certain actors have circulated false and manipulative claims.

Fip.am highlighted several examples:

• Reports on TV channels Armenia TV and 5th Channel Armenia raised the question: “Are authorities dismantling the memorial or restoring it?”
• Some politicians claimed that authorities were demolishing the memorial under the guise of renovation at the request of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

As a striking example, Fip.am cites a statement by Davit Ananyan, a member of the “Wings of Unity” party and former head of the State Revenue Committee:

“One of Turkey’s long-standing demands is to erase the topic of the genocide. A practical step in that direction could be the dismantling of Tsitsernakaberd. Photos of construction work could be presented to Erdoğan as a political report, while domestically they would be framed as ‘renovation works’.”

“The renovation will not be completed”

Another claim came from Armenak Danielyan, a member of the “Mother Armenia” faction in Yerevan’s city council. He said the authorities would not complete the works so that people could not visit the memorial on 24 April. His comments appeared in a report by Second Armenian TV Channel.

“They [the authorities] will gradually accustom people to the absence of this memorial,” he said.

Such claims also spread beyond Armenian sources. Turkish outlets have also circulated them, including the propaganda website Veryansintv.com. Armenian fact-checkers say its contributors often spread manipulative content.

Turkish journalist Okay Deprem claimed that the Armenian government had ordered the cancellation of genocide commemoration events and planned to rewrite history textbooks.

Fip.am journalists found that the author lives in Luhansk and promotes pro-Russian propaganda, but promotes himself as an independent commentator.

Multi-stage reconstruction: what is actually happening

Renovation work is under way not only at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex, but also at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. The project will proceed in several phases and is due for completion in 2028.

The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Armenia is coordinating the work. Minister Zhanna Andreasyan visits the site regularly to monitor progress. On 18 April, she visited Tsitsernakaberd together with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“The work at this stage has been completed. The memorial complex is fully ready for 24 April and the upcoming commemorative events,” the prime minister said after the inspection.

Andreasyan said that during the first phase of the large-scale restoration:

• Workers repaired the columns of the Temple of Eternity,
• engineers installed a new drainage system to prevent damage to the pylons,
• specialists applied waterproofing to the columns and the foundations of the memorial wall,
• builders built a new pedestrian walkway along the memorial wall.

She stressed that specialists review every step of the process:

“Experts inspect every single stone without exception, confirming whether it can be used in the structure.”

Andreasyan added that work will continue after the 24 April commemorations:

“Given the expected large number of visitors on 24 April, we are organising the work so that at each stage, every year, it is completed ahead of the ceremonies.”

Social media reactions

In the Armenian segment of social media, users have been actively discussing claims about the alleged demolition of the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex. After it became clear that the reports were disinformation, many began calling those spreading the rumours “liars seeking to overthrow the state”, while others responded with irony.

Here are some of the comments:

“The first stage of the memorial’s restoration has been completed. What a disappointment. What will those who build political capital on claims that the authorities are erasing the genocide do now?”

“I visited the memorial three months ago. I could not access some areas. They told me restoration work was under way. Honestly, I was glad, because a year earlier I had seen the poor condition of the stones. I wrote about it on social media and was heavily attacked, with people claiming the memorial was being demolished. I deleted my post to avoid further political attacks. Unfortunately for pro-Russian users, the restoration of the Armenian Genocide memorial has now been completed.”

“How did it happen that these ‘pro-Turkish’, as you call them, authorities not only did not destroy our national symbol, but restored it properly — and even on time, ahead of 24 April? No, these must be AI-generated images. Do not believe what you see, even if you witness it with your own eyes.”

“You all remember how some disinformation outlets claimed that Nikol Pashinyan was demolishing the memorial. Dozens of people who want to bring down the state spread these lies. If they have any integrity, they should apologise to the public through the same media platforms they used to spread them.”

“Remember how this government supposedly ‘demolished the memorial on orders from the Turks last year under the guise of repairs’? And how they allegedly had no intention of restoring it, so that we could not visit it on 24 April and offend no one in Turkey. In short, they were supposedly going to destroy everything. No, I do not want to believe that our honest opposition media think we are fools. I expect nothing of the sort from them — especially from influential pro-Russian outlets. No, they never lie. Perhaps the authorities simply got scared of these ‘powerful’ figures and created fake images using artificial intelligence.”