On July 22, the participants of the Training Course for Teachers of Armenian Language and History and Organizers of Education (part of the “Diaspora” Summer School Program of the RA Ministry of Diaspora) had a meeting with Dean of the Faculty of Armenian Philology of Yerevan State University Artsrun Avagyan at Yerevan State University.

As reported Hayern Aysor, in the beginning, Artsrun Avagyan greeted the Diaspora Armenian teachers, after which he delivered a short lecture in which he talked about the problems of the Armenian language and touched upon the similarities and differences between Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian in terms of literature.

Artsrun Avagyan stated that the Armenian nation is one of the nations with the world’s richest literature, but it can’t be compared with the literatures of other nations only because the Armenian nation has had other worries and several problems throughout its history. Artsrun Avagyan also praised Diaspora Armenian literature, which must have its worthy place.

During the meeting, which was very interesting and substantial, Artsrun Avagyan helped the teachers understand how they can awaken in Diaspora Armenian children the love for Armenian literature and spark their interest in it.

Artsrun Avagyan also talked about the Armenian Genocide, its consequences, as well as the formation of the Armenian Diaspora and the current challenges facing the latter.

The teachers asked their questions and received exhaustive answers.

At the end, Artsrun Avagyan cited the words of Shahan Shahnur as he bid them farewell: “The important thing is to be on the road. It doesn’t matter if that road goes downhill 33 times or goes uphill 33 times. The important thing is to be on the road. It also doesn’t matter if that road leads somewhere or nowhere because being on the road is already a victory.” Avagyan continued with the following: “I wish you are always on the road and do what you cherish.”

Director of the one-day Armenian school of the Russian city of Tyumen Silva Simonyan, for whom this meeting took her back to her years as a student in the Faculty of Armenian Philology at Yerevan State University, shared her impressions in an interview with Hayern Aysor. “I graduated from Yerevan State University when Artsrun Avagyan was our dean. I was very happy when I found out about this meeting. This lecture left the same impression that I got during my years at the university. It was a very nice meeting, and we received all that we had expected in a short amount of time.”

Lusine Grigoryan

Volunteer for the “Diaspora” Summer School Program, student of the Department of Diaspora Studies of the Faculty of History of Yerevan State University