Glendale — The Hamazkayin Sayat Nova Choir will return to the Alex Theatre on Saturday, March 21, for its much-anticipated annual concert featuring world-renowned Armenian vocalist Nune Yesayan. The cultural event, presented by the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society, will begin with violin entertainment and appetizers on the theatre terrace from 4:30 to 7 p.m., with doors opening at 4:30 p.m. and the main performance starting at 7 p.m. 

Yesayan, an Armenian pop and folk singer celebrated across the diaspora and beyond, began her musical rise in early 1990s, gaining prominence as a gifted vocalist with the Armenian National Jazz Orchestra before launching a successful solo career. Over the years she has earned numerous awards and accolades, becoming one of Armenia’s most beloved performers both at home and internationally. 

The Sayat Nova Choir, known for its rich choral tradition, is part of the cultural programming supported by Hamazkayin, a major Armenian educational and cultural organization founded in 1928 and active in communities around the world. The choir’s annual concert has become a staple of the Southern California Armenian arts calendar, bringing together singers, musicians and audiences to celebrate Armenian musical heritage. 

This year’s concert will be conducted by Gayane Baghdasaryan with Maestro Mikayel Avetisyan leading the live orchestra. Hamazkayin’s productions typically combine choral arrangements with orchestral accompaniment, offering a blend of traditional Armenian songs and contemporary compositions designed to showcase vocal and instrumental talent. 

Nune Yesayan’s appearance at the event underscores her enduring popularity. With decades of experience performing Armenian folk, pop and jazz music, Yesayan’s voice has become synonymous with cultural pride and artistic excellence in the Armenian community. She has previously toured internationally, performing programs that highlight the depth and diversity of Armenian musical _expression_. 

For many attendees, the annual concert is more than a performance; it is a cultural gathering that reinforces community identity, heritage and connection. In addition to the musical program, the social aspects of the pre-concert entertainment offer a chance for families and friends to reunite and celebrate shared traditions. 

Tickets for the Hamazkayin Sayat Nova Choir Annual Concert with Nune Yesayan are available now, and organizers encourage early reservation as demand is expected to be high for this vibrant and inspiring celebration of Armenian music and culture.

—

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has gone on record to confirm that he required the termination of Dr. Edita Gzoyan as the Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.

Dr. Gzoyan is an expert of Armenian Genocide studies who has devoted her professional life to the vindication of historical records and who is held in the highest regard by her peers in Armenia and throughout the world. She has been a longtime collaborator of the Armenian Bar Association’s Genocide Reparations Committee and an essential ally in the Armenian Bar Association’s work under its Memorandum of Understanding with the AGMI.

According to the Prime Minister, the reason for his directive was that Dr. Gzoyan had the poise to mention Artsakh (Nagorno Karabagh) to U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance during their visit to the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex as part of their official visit to Yerevan in February. He indicated that Gzoyan’s mere reference of Artsakh to the Vice President amounted to an outrageous act of defiance requiring her dismissal from AGMI.

The Prime Minister also indicated that he found to be inexcusable Dr. Gzoyan’s gesture of gifting written literature about Artsakh’s history to her American guests and showing them nearby memorials to the victims of the Sumgait, Kirovabad and Baku pogroms of Armenians conducted by Azerbaijan in the late 1980s-early 1990s.

The historical facts and academic research surrounding Artsakh and the Pogroms of Armenians are not political issues, they are historical facts. They are facts that need to be documented and researched under the leadership of academic institutions such as the AGMI and should not be silenced or buried. Moreover, they are the cornerstones of legal rights surrounding the right of return of Artsakh citizens to their native homes, the preservation of Artsakh’s cultural and religious heritage, and the pursuit of related claims in international courts.

The Armenian Bar Association has in recent years maintained a formal working relationship with AGMI and its staff on a broad range of topics and projects. During this time, representatives of the Association have met with Dr. Gzoyan on a monthly basis and partnered with her and her team on initiatives dedicated to preserving historical truth, advancing genocide scholarship, and documenting the lived experiences of Armenians who have survived persecution.

Among the most significant initiatives is the Armenian Bar Association’s Pogroms Project. A group of the Association’s members from across the country interview Armenians who arrived in the United States as refugees from Azerbaijan, following the anti-Armenian pogroms in cities such as Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku. These interviews document first-hand accounts of violence, displacement, and survival. The recorded testimonies are then transmitted to AGMI for archival preservation and scholarly use so that these histories may be studied by researchers and preserved for future generations.

The Armenian Bar also supports AGMI’s academic initiatives, including its Moot Court program for teams of students from law schools in multiple countries. This program engages mostly non-Armenian students and scholars in examining legal questions related to genocide, crimes against humanity, accountability, and reparations. These collaborative programs are a testament to the vital role AGMI plays as a global center for research, documentation, and education concerning the Armenian Genocide and subsequent anti-Armenian violence.

The independence of institutions devoted to genocide research is not merely an administrative matter—it is a fundamental requirement for credible scholarship and the preservation of historical truth. Any action that appears to subject the leadership of such an institution to political pressure raises serious concerns about academic freedom and institutional integrity.

AGMI is not simply a national institution; it is a cornerstone of global genocide scholarship. Its credibility depends on the ability of its scholars and leadership to pursue historical truth free from political interference. Attempts to pressure or remove leadership for political reasons risk undermining the institution’s reputation and weakening international efforts to combat genocide denial and distortion.

The Armenian Bar Association therefore calls upon the authorities in Yerevan and the responsible governing bodies to rethink and reconsider the forced departure of the Director and that they ensure that AGMI remains independent and protected from political interference. The AGMI’s ongoing projects are of utmost importance to the preservation of Armenian history, and any political effort to derail that work is unacceptable. The safeguarding of historical memory—particularly concerning genocide and crimes against humanity—must remain beyond the reach of short-term political considerations.

In light of these developments, the Armenian Bar Association joins the growing number of scholars and experts who have raised alarm.

—

Former president Robert Kocharian enters the Karen Demirchyan Sports Complex in Yerevan on Mar. 16

The “Armenia” Alliance announced that former president Robert Kocharian will serve as the bloc’s candidate for the upcoming parliamentary election.

The announcement was made at a campaign kick-off event on Sunday at the Karen Demirchyan Sports Complex in Yerevan, with members of the alliance, supporters and guests in attendance.

The announcement of Kocharian’s candidacy by Armenia Alliance lawmaker Anna Grigoryan was followed by remarks by the candidate who declared: “We are determined. Our goal is victory.”

“The evil embodied by this government will be defeated. I entered the struggle against them from the very first days they came to power, and I will not rest until they are removed. This is also what distinguishes me from the other candidates for prime minister. But this is not enough. Those responsible for the deaths of our thousands of heroes must be held accountable—those who surrendered Artsakh and who today force the people to forget their heroic history,” Kocharian said.

The slogan of the campaign, “Together We Can,” became the rallying cry of the event.

Also addressing the event was Armenian Revolutionary Federation Supreme Council of Armenia chair Ishkhan Saghatelyan, who announced that the alliance has been shored up by the participation of the Aratch (Forward) Party, which recently joined the bloc.

Saghatelyan explained numerous other civic organizations and group have also joined the alliance. The ARF leader paused his speech for a video presentation highlighting the Armenian alliance’s accomplishments.

Other speaking at the event included, Sevak Khachatryan, the leader of the Arach Party; Chritine Vardanyan, a member of the ARF Supreme Council of Armenia and a lawmakers; and Arthur Khachatryan, another ARF member and a lawmaker representing the Armenia alliance.

In her remarks Vardanyan spoke about the alliance’s programs related to youth, noting that making higher education free in Armenia is among the alliance’s priorities.

Khachatryan, an economist by profession, outlined the bloc’s economic policy priorities and sharply criticized the government’s economic performance. He argued that official statistics fail to reflect the reality faced by ordinary citizens.

He said that living conditions can be better understood “by looking at people’s refrigerators and wallets,” pointing to rising debt levels among the population. According to Khachatryan, around 300,000 people in Armenia hold problematic consumer loans, while approximately 150,000 citizens lack even 250,000 drams ($68,000) to meet basic financial obligations.

He also questioned the government’s claims about average wages, noting that a significant portion of workers earn below the reported figures once taxes are taken into account.

Khachatryan further criticized the country’s growing public debt, stating that Armenia’s state debt has reached approximately 5.3 trillion drams ($14 billion) and continues to increase rapidly. He argued that a substantial portion of the state budget is now directed toward debt servicing, placing a heavy burden on taxpayers.

He also pointed to structural weaknesses in the economy, noting that Armenia’s largest sector remains wholesale and retail trade and vehicle repair, rather than high-tech or industrial production, despite government promises of promoting a knowledge-based economy.

Khachatryan outlined three core pillars of the Armenia Alliance’s economic strategy:

• Creating a favorable environment for economic and business development;
• Providing targeted support for domestic producers; and
• Ensuring fair distribution of national wealth

He also presented a 12-point economic plan:

• Transforming Armenia into a high-tech industrial country, with industry accounting for at least 25% of GDP
• Integrating Armenian businesses into global value chains
• Expanding state support for technology startups and research projects, particularly in the defense sector
• Encouraging banks and pension funds to finance the real economy and establishing investment funds for major infrastructure projects
• Prioritizing Armenian-made products in public procurement and expanding export markets
• Protecting strategic sectors such as agriculture and textiles from unfair foreign competition
• Supporting small and medium-sized enterprises through tax incentives, automated reporting systems, and a two-year tax holiday for startups
• Promoting balanced regional development beyond Yerevan
• Strengthening agriculture, targeting at least 15% of GDP, while improving rural living standards and food security
• Introducing a progressive income tax system and reducing unemployment by creating 30,000 to 45,000 jobs annually
• Raising the minimum wage to align with the cost of living
• Increasing the base pension by 50% and indexing it annually to inflation

Khachatryan said the measures outlined represent foundational principles rather than a complete program, adding that a more detailed economic platform will be presented in the coming weeks.

He expressed confidence that the proposed policies would drive economic growth and improve living standards across Armenia.

—

OXFORD/NEW YORK— Berghahn book publishers announced the publication of “Lives in Fragments: Self-Narrative Sources and Biographical Approaches to the Armenian Genocide“, edited by Eren Yıldırım Yetkin, Nazan Maksudyan, and Adnan Çelik. The volume embarks on an intricate exploration of biography, memory, and the legacies of violence. By focusing on life stories, it highlights contested memories and counter-narratives, offering new perspectives on the social dynamics that led to genocidal violence, its remembrance, and denial. Lives in Fragments emphasizes lives fragmented and shattered by the Armenian Genocide, providing a nuanced understanding of its complex historical and social dimensions. Diverse autobiographical sources are analyzed in chapters that examine both the historiography and remembrance of the genocide.

The book is structured into three parts, each tracing a distinct trajectory in the study and experience of the Armenian Genocide:

Part I: Methodological Questions on Biography, History, and Memory
This section opens with reflections on the intersection of biography and memory. Lena Inowlocki and Eren Yıldırım Yetkin address methodological challenges scholars face when navigating personal and collective memories. Nazan Maksudyan focuses specifically on biographical approaches to studying the Armenian Genocide, establishing the theoretical and methodological foundations for understanding individual lives amid historical cataclysms.

Part II: Lives in Genocide
This part turns to the lived experiences of survivors and witnesses. Fatma Müge Göçek provides a foreword framing the narratives. Boris Adjemian examines the life of a survivor in exile, emphasizing the role of libraries and writing in reconstructing a fractured self. Nazan Maksudyan presents the biography of Johannes Jakob Manissadjian, showing how knowledge, nature, and dispossession shaped a life interrupted by genocide. Bedross Der Matossian recounts Sahag II Khabayan, Catholicos of Cilicia, as a witness to massacres. Talin Suciyan and Paul Vartan Sookiasian trace the ongoing exile of Sourpik Tekian. Vahé Tachjian concludes by exploring how post-genocide Armenian memory is preserved and expressed through song, dance, and photography.

Part III: Afterlives of Violence and Genocide
This section examines the enduring impact of genocide across generations. Yael Navaro introduces the challenges of reconsidering biography under genocidal conditions. Alice von Bieberstein studies the “double” identity of Islamized Armenians, which complicates historical and epistemological understandings. Adnan Çelik analyzes memoirs of Kurdish intellectuals, while Duygu Taşalp investigates the genocidal literary style of Young Turk memoirs. Annika Törne recounts escape routes through Dersim, demonstrating how survival narratives traverse life and death. Eren Yıldırım Yetkin reflects on racialization, gendered narratives, and intergenerational memory in a family from Van. Michael Rothberg’s epilogue situates these life stories within frameworks of trauma, multidirectionality, and moral responsibility, highlighting the enduring afterlives of genocide.

Through this structure, the book demonstrates that the Armenian Genocide is not only a historical event but also a deeply human story, experienced through fragmentation, resilience, and lived memory. The volume emphasizes the importance of considering individual agency in biographical analysis. By engaging with personal trajectories, decisions, and actions, it problematizes approaches that ignore personal agency, offering critical insights into both the history of the Armenian Genocide and its denial in public discourse.

The editors commented, saying: “Personal stories are intertwined with histories of violence and contain watermarks of the social conditions, changes, and processes that go hand in hand with persecution. In genocide studies and interpretative social research focusing on the trauma and memory of mass violence, life-historical documents and biographical methods have been used as important components in the multi-perspective reconstruction of social and political processes Methodological designs may vary in terms of the type of data, its collection, and analysis, but working with biographies and life story narratives contributes to the analytical examination of violent events.”

According to them, the volume considers these aspects as its main focus and explores biographies and related biographical materials on the Armenian genocide. The book uses life stories and biographical sources to reflect this perspective and shows how biographical reconstructions can offer valuable insights into the violent past and its memory across various collective, individual, and intergenerational levels. They argue that an essential point is to view biographies in terms of actors’ agency and their ability to decide and act, rather than viewing them as passive. In this context, biographical approaches challenge interpretations of social and political dynamics that, by nature, do not account for personal agency as a genuine component of these processes. To critically examine the history and significance of Armenian genocide denial in public debates that overlook individual paths, decisions, and trajectories, engaging with life stories, biographical sources, and methods is of utmost importance.

Eren Yıldırım Yetkin is a social scientist at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences Berlin, with a PhD in sociology from Goethe University Frankfurt. His research focuses on collective and individual memory, political violence, and narrativity. He authored “Violence and Genocide in Kurdish Memory” (2022) and coauthored “Jugendliche Erinnerungspraktiken “(2025). He serves on the advisory board of ISA Research Committee 38, “Biography and Society.”

Nazan Maksudyan is a Senior Researcher at Centre Marc Bloch and a visiting professor at Freie Universität Berlin. Her research examines the social and cultural history of the late Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey, with interests in children, youth, gender, sexuality, exile, migration, and sound studies. Key works include “Orphans and Destitute Children in the Late Ottoman Empire” (2014) and “Ottoman Children & Youth During World War I” (2019).

Adnan Çelik is an associate professor of anthropology at EHESS, Paris. His research centers on political violence, memory regimes, and transnational activism. Publications include “Dans l’ombre de l’État: Kurdes contre Kurdes” (2021) and “Laboratories of Learning” (2024), as well as co-edited works on Kurdish experiences and social movements.