By Hayk Martirosyan
The rumors about the forced “change” of Dr. Edita Gzoyan, the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI), have now been confirmed. It’s now possible to discuss this openly. Saying there is a significant amount of injustice and humiliation involved would be an understatement. Under such circumstances, even mentioning scientific impartiality and academic freedom seems pointless.
I myself worked at AGMI, with some interruptions, from 2006 to 2014. After that, I continued active cooperation, and during the last eight years, also in an institutional capacity as a researcher at the Lepsius House in Potsdam (providing archival materials and literature, organizing joint initiatives, etc.). I am currently also a member of the editorial board of the AGMI journal.
Edita was elected director of AGMI two years ago. Clearly, these past two years have been the most productive in AGMI’s history across many areas: an unprecedented number of scholarly articles published in international and high-ranking journals; after persistent efforts, the International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies was included last year in the highly sought-after Scopus list of academic journals (the only one in this field in Armenia); international conferences and events were organized with global partners; an audio-guide system was introduced and made available in multiple languages; the contributions of all staff members — not just a select few — were recognized and encouraged; connections with diaspora Armenian scholars were strengthened, and their contributions to AGMI’s work increased. It is impossible to list all the accomplishments. Why remove Edita? Where did she fail?
Consider the scholarly aspect: review the works and articles published by Edita over the last two years, including those in international journals with impact factors. How many people in our field can you name in Armenia who have more publications? Consider the active collaboration with diaspora scholars. The clearest proof of their disagreement with this decision is that the two diaspora scholars on the Board of Trustees — Raymond Kevorkian and Stephan Astourian — have both left the board (as well as Vasken Yacoubian, President of the AGBU Armenia office), along with two other scholars from Armenia (Hranush Kharatyan and Harutyun Marutyan).
Look at the management aspect: the best evidence is the joint letter-appeal from all 74 AGMI employees (although it was clear that it would not be accepted) asking to prevent the change of director. As someone who spent many years at AGMI and knows its inner workings well, I assure you that such unity and positive atmosphere have never existed there before — I, of all people, know that.
