By Daphne Abeel
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
WATERTOWN, Mass. — Dr. Hayk Demoyan, director of the Genocide Museum Institute in Yerevan, is a little jet-lagged — and no wonder. He was on a recent 10-day visit to the United States, specifically the Boston area; before that, he had traveled to both Slovenia and Cyprus.
In an interview at the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) in early April, Demoyan explained the motivation for his recent travels.
“I went to Cyprus to celebrate Armenian Days there and to Slovenia where I spoke to the Armenian community in Ljubljana. I am here to develop some collaborative and exchange relationships and also to plan for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,” he said.
He added, “It is essential that the entire Armenian community be united when the time comes to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015. That is my current mission.”
Demoyan, who is in his 30s, was appointed director of the Genocide Institute in 2006. He was born in Gumri, but moved to Yerevan in 1993 to attend Yerevan State University, earning first a degree in anthropology and then a doctorate in modern Turkish studies.