The International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies (IJAGS), a peer-reviewed academic journal published twice a year by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI), has released Volume 10, Issue 2 (2025), a special issue titled “Law, Activism, and the International Recognition of the Armenian Genocide.” The issue is guest-edited by Julien Zarifian (University of Poitiers) and Edita Gzoyan, Editor-in-Chief of IJAGS, who in this volume also serves as guest editor.
Positioned at the intersection of international law, memory politics, activism, and education, the special issue examines why, despite overwhelming historical and archival evidence, international recognition of the Armenian Genocide remains uneven. Central to this inquiry is the role of persistent, state-sponsored denial by the Republic of Turkey, which has long obstructed pathways to justice, accountability, and historical truth while simultaneously catalyzing global Armenian mobilization for recognition as an act of dignity and truth-telling.
The contributors collectively show that recognition is neither a single political act nor merely a function of geopolitical alignment. Rather, it is an evolving process shaped by legal interpretation, domestic constitutional frameworks, civil society engagement, educational initiatives, and the enduring memory of survivors and their descendants. The analysis examines parliamentary resolutions, executive declarations, judicial proceedings, and truth-seeking initiatives as distinct yet interconnected mechanisms through which recognition has advanced across different national contexts.
Beyond historical acknowledgment, the issue underscores the contemporary relevance of recognition. In a global environment still marked by mass atrocities, denial and distortion continue to undermine accountability and weaken genocide prevention efforts. The Armenian Genocide case illustrates how unresolved historical injustices reverberate across generations, influence foreign policy debates, and affect regional and international security, most starkly evident in the forced displacement of the indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh in 2023. Recognition, the issue argues, must therefore be understood not as symbolic but as a foundational element of international legal norms and the protection of vulnerable communities.
Gzoyan and Zarifian commented on the special issue saying: “Recognition of the Armenian Genocide is not merely a question of historical acknowledgment. It is a legal, political, and ethical process that directly affects contemporary struggles against denial, impunity, and mass violence, while also affirming the dignity, memory, and rights of the victims and their descendants. This issue demonstrates how law, activism, and memory together shape pathways toward justice.”
The volume brings together leading scholars and practitioners from multiple disciplines. Rosa Ana Alija Fernández examines the invocation and misinterpretation of the principle of non-retroactivity under the Genocide Convention in recognition debates; Thomas Hochmann analyzes the normative value of France’s Law of 29 January 2001 recognizing the Armenian Genocide; Federico Gaitán Hairabedian explores Argentina’s transitional justice mechanisms and truth-trial experiences in the context of the Armenian Genocide recognition process; and Melanie O’Brien traces decades of academic activism in Australia, highlighting the entanglement of recognition politics with national memory and civic mobilization.
