GENOCIDE MUSEUM DIRECTOR ON A MISSION TO UNITE ALL FOR 100TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2015
Daphne Abeel
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
Apr 21, 2010 in Armenian Genocide
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.
The institute, which was founded in 1995, comprises a 2,000-meter
space devoted to exhibitions of photographs and documents of what
happened from 1915 to 1922. The material covers more than the Armenian
experience. Many countries and organizations are represented, including
the US, Russia and the Red Cross.
"I really didn’t want to take this position at first," said Demoyan.
"I was only 31 when I was appointed and I had no experience, and
there are many important people coming to the institute from other
countries. It is the focus of a lot of interest and I wasn’t sure I
would be up to the task. At least a quarter of a million people visit
the institute each year and that is exclusive of the many thousands
who come on the day of commemoration of the Genocide."
This was Demoyan’s third trip to the US. In 2008, he visited the
Armenian Assembly of America’s offices in Washington to begin
discussions of a relationship between the institute in Yerevan and
the planned Genocide Museum in Washington. At that time, he attended
a ceremony in New York where he co-signed an agreement of cooperation
between the Armenian Genocide Museum of America and the Near East
Foundation. Washington’s Genocide Museum, to be housed in the former
Washington Bank Building, has been a work in progress for several
years and is slated to open sometime this year.
While in the Boston area, Demoyan visited the Holocaust Memorial and
the memorial to the Irish Potato Famine, both in downtown Boston. He
addressed the St. James Men’s Club in Watertown and on April 6, gave
a talk at the National Association of Armenian Studies and Research
(NAASR) on his new book, Sports and Athletics in the Ottoman Empire,
which features the history of sports and physical training among the
Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. The rise of athletic clubs,
the organization of Pan-Armenian Olympic Games and the establishment
of Boy Scouts are among the topics Demoyan covered in this fascinating
run-through of Armenia’s longstanding sports history. On April 9,
Demoyan attended Clark University’s conference titled "The Armenian
Genocide 95 Years Later."
He returned to Yerevan on April 14 to prepare for the Genocide
commemoration to be held on April 24 and to be present on April 23,
when the Genocide Institute will open a new exhibit featuring the
front-page coverage of the Genocide. The items include illustrated
articles from papers around the world, complete with shocking graphics
that bear testimony to the events of the time. Especially notable are
English, Russian, French and American publications on issues pertaining
to the Hamidian massacres, the Adana atrocities of 1909 and of course,
the Genocide of 1915-1922.
"This media exhibit might come to ALMA," he said, "because we are
forming a new relationship with them, which will include exchanges."
Demoyan shook off any suggestion that the Genocide Museum is affected
by possible political turmoil in Armenia. "The state budget supports
us and recently the president issued an order to double the salaries
of employees at the museum," he said. "Also recently, I submitted a
five-year plan and had a meeting with the prime minister and there
is agreement that there will be more funds available for events and
activities at the museum."
He added, "My most important agenda, wherever I go, is to speak about
how to commemorate the centennial of the Genocide. We must develop
a common Armenia agenda – we must show that we are united in our
commitment to honor this very significant occasion."