On April 13, 15 books published by the order and under the patronage of the RA Ministry of Diaspora, as well as the calendar entitled “Let’s Rebuild”, which was printed at the initiative of the Pan-Armenian Association of Architects and Engineers and with the support of the RA Ministry of Diaspora, were presented during an event held as part of the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

In her welcome speech, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan congratulated all the gathered and all Armenians around the world on the truly historic Holy Mass that Pope Francis served at the Vatican in memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide on April 12. The Pope talked about the crime of the early 20^th century and referred to it as “genocide”. Besides that, Saint Grigor Narekatsi was declared as an Archimandrite of the Universal Church on April 12.

Touching upon the books devoted to the Armenian Genocide and published by the order and under the patronage of the RA Ministry of Diaspora, the Minister of Diaspora mentioned that the ministry is in effective collaboration with several research organizations of Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora and that the 15 books devoted to the Armenian Genocide and published by the ministry’s order are the results of that collaboration.

RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan introduced the illustrated book entitled “Monuments of Sorrow, Remembrance and Struggle”, which has been released through the efforts of the staff of the RA Ministry of Diaspora and presents photos of 403 Armenian Genocide memorials in the Republic of Armenia, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and other different countries around the world with information about each memorial. The book has been released in five languages (Armenian, English, Russian, French and Turkish) and is the modified and re-released version of the illustrated book released in 2010.

The RA Minister of Diaspora also introduced the collection of materials of the Pan-Armenian Forum of Political Scientists and International Law Experts entitled “The Challenges of the 21^st Century and Armenia’s Security Issues”.

Minister Hranush Hakobyan also introduced the collection of materials from the 2^nd Pan-Armenian Forum of Lawyers entitled “Ahead of the 100^th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide”.

Among the participants of the presentation were academician-secretary of the Armenian Studies and Social Sciences Section of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia Yuri Suvaryan, as well as scholars, analysts, researchers, historians, Ottomanologists, Turkologists, lawyers, scientific workers, lecturers and others from the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan State University, “Noravank” Scientific and Educational Foundation, as well as other structures and organizations.

RA Deputy Minister of Justice Vigen Kocharyan briefly touched upon the collection entitled “The Armenian Genocide in International Legal Documents”, which presents the major international legal documents related to the Armenian Genocide. The documents include issues related to the concept of “genocide”, the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and decisions of international courts. Most of the documents are being presented in Armenian for the first time ever.

Director of the Institute of History of the NAS RA, academician of the NAS RA Ashot Melkonyan presented the book “History of the Armenians of Baku” (G. Stepanyan), which presents the collective historio-demographic image of the Armenians of Baku, starting from ancient times and ending in January 1990. The presence of indigenous Armenians of Baku and the Absheron peninsula and the formation of a culture are substantiated with an intricate study based on cuneiform and bibliographical sources.

Ashot Melkonyan also presented the book “Armenians at the Twilight of the Ottoman Empire” (Voskan Mkhitaryan, Father, Supreme Archimandrite Vahan Ohanian News Reports From The International Press. Volume I. The New York Times 1890-1914). The large-scale book has been published ahead of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide under the patronage of the RA Ministry of Diaspora and the State Commission on Coordination of the events for the commemoration of the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and with the support of the “Pyunik” Pan-Armenian Human Resources Development Foundation.

The volume contains materials dating back to the era prior to the Armenian Genocide (1890-1914). The volume includes articles, editorials, clarifications and letters addressed to the editors of The New York Times. Sixty percent of the materials date back to 1894-96. The more interesting articles are the articles that were published from 1908 to 1910.

Melkonyan touched upon the book “Borders of the Armenian State According to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson”, which was published by the RA Ministry of Diaspora in Armenian and English. The book presents the Arbitrary Verdict of the 28^th U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) and the official letter addressed to the President of the Supreme Council of Entente. The map showing the border that Woodrow Wilson had demarcated also comes with the book.

The speaker presented the book “Grigor Gulgulyan’s Work: Revenge for Murdered Father and Brothers”, which presents the Russian stenographic version of the trial of Armenian avenger Grigor Gulgulyan (edited by H. Zatikyan, translated from Russian by A. Petrosyan).

Director of the YSU Center for European Studies Artur Ghazinyan talked about the book “Legal Status of Armenian Historical and Cultural Heritage Abroad (Turkey, Israel, India)” (experts L. Mirzoyan, L. Karapetyan, scientific editor A. Ghazinyan, A. Mkrtchyan). The book is an attempt to present a study on the various current legal issues related to Armenian historical and cultural heritage in Turkey, Israel and India such as the alienation and extraction of historical and cultural assets that are a component of that heritage, as well as liability that emerges for damaging or eradicating that heritage.

Co-chair of the Pan-Armenian Association of Architects and Engineers Kohar Tutunjian presented the calendar entitled “Let’s Rebuild”, which is dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide and was created at the initiative of the Association and with the support of the RA Ministry of Diaspora.

RA Deputy Minister of Urban Development Armen Ghularyan expressed his words of appreciation to the Pan-Armenian Association of Architects and Engineers and particularly mentioned that, as a pan-Armenian organization, the Association’s goal is to make the calendar available to the public at large through Armenian communities of the Diaspora, as well as to help raise the level of awareness about the Armenian Genocide and the old and new cultural values in architecture.

Director of the Armenian Studies Center of “Noravank” Scientific and Educational Foundation Aristakes Simavoryan presented the book “Armenian Catholic and Evangelical Communities in Turkey: Modern Trends”, which sheds light on the emergence of the Armenian Catholic and Evangelical communities of Turkey, their history and the current processes. The book is an attempt to identify the human, organizational and other potential of the Armenian Catholic and Evangelical communities of Turkey. The book also touches upon Turkey’s policy on those communities and the issue of religious intolerance.

Aristakes Simavoryan also presented the H. Zatikyan’s book “Karin State in the Mid-19^th Century”, which is an extensive book that touches upon the political and economic situation in the state in the mid-19^th century, as well as the history and demography of the provinces of the state. The special parts of the book are the demographic tables, the several toponyms and demography.

At the end, the gathered watched Ara Yernjakyan’s short film entitled “Eclipse”, which is dedicated to the Armenian Genocide.