On May 2, the central headquarters of Armenian General Benevolent Union Tehran Chapter hosted an event dedicated to the 101^st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide with a lecture by professor of American universities, Caucasus expert and author of 31 books, Dr. George Bournoutian, as reported Tehran’s Arax Weekly to Hayern Aysor.

The event began with a speech by President of the Union’s Tehran Chapter Astghik Babaian. “Today, all Armenians in Armenia, Artsakh, Javakhk and other countries have stood up once again to show the world that the Armenians have not only shed precious blood, but have also lost lands that can never be crossed, just like each millimeter of land is preserved through the bloodshed of the best sons of the nation in Artsakh. Thus, we place emphasis again and again on the fact that our cause is a cause for lands and the homeland, not bloodshed.”

Afterwards, host of the event Tayik Danielian presented Dr. George Bournoutian’s life and career and invited him to the stage. The lecturer first talked about the programs and events that the AGBU had carried out on the occasion of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide and touched upon the major period in the history of the Armenian people, that is, the period between 1828 and 2016.

According to the lecturer, in the early 20^th century, Eastern Armenia was a retarded country and even its intellectuals and political figures had settled in foreign cities, including Tbilisi and Baku.  The penetration of Turkish Tatars into Armenian territories and the policy of Czarist Russia in the Caucasus (specifying borders of states) had turned the situation of the Armenian Nakhichevan, Zangezur, Karabakh, Javakhk and Lori Pampak into a disputed situation. Despite all that, Nagorno-Karabakh managed to maintain its demography and, based on the statistics of the 1823 census kept in Russian archives, local Armenians made up more than 95 percent of the local population.

During the event, Ani Nazaryants recited Sato’s poem “Self-Recognition”, lawyer Joseph Amirian recited Sevak’s poem “Chime of Amazement”, Zorik Fahradian performed a song and Tenor, musician Masis Arakelian performed the songs “Krunk” and “Tsirani tsar” (Komitas) with the accompaniment of Rana Heydariani.

At the end, the keynote lecturer was granted a special gift by the Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Tehran and the President of AGBU Tehran.

Photos by Herbert Grigorian