On February 5, the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia and its partnering academic institutions concluded contracts on the implementation of topic-specific studies this year. The contracts were signed during a solemn ceremony held at the RA Ministry of Diaspora.

In her opening remarks, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan greeted the attendees and particularly stated the following: “I am grateful for the effective cooperation. As you know, every year, the Ministry of Diaspora issues grants to academic institutions to conduct studies devoted to law, linguistics, genocide, history and the Diaspora. These studies are strictly necessary in order to develop the strategy of the Ministry and work with the Armenian communities of the Diaspora in the right way.” She added that all the studies ordered in 2017 were carried out and the presentations of the studies will be held soon.

The Minister presented the topics for this year and attached importance to a more in-depth study of Western Armenian and regulation of grammar, as well as a comprehensive historical and ethno-sociological study on the Armenian communities of the North Caucasus, Iraq, Tehran, Los Angeles, Beirut, Paris and Tbilisi.

Among the participants of the ceremony were Director of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) Ashot Melkonyan; Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the NAS RA Ruben Safrastyan; Director of the Institute of Language of the NAS RA Victor Katvalyan; Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the NAS RA Pavel Avetisyan; Director of the Institute of Literature of the NAS RA Vardan Devrikyan; Pro-Rector of Yerevan State University Gegham Gevorgyan; Director of Noravank Scientific and Educational Foundation Gagik Harutyunyan; Director of the National Archives of Armenia Amatuni Virabyan; Director of the Center for Research on Western Armenian Issues scientific-research foundation Haikazun Alvrtsyan, as well as Turkologists, Diasporologists and lawyers.

Afterwards, the attendees exchanged views on the effectiveness of the program, the need for studies and the applicability of their results. There were recommendations to publish the academic studies of this year in classic orthography of the Armenian language.

The Minister stressed the fact that the ordered studies can be divided into groups, including research on historical and legal issues, studies on the Armenian Genocide and anti-Armenian propaganda, processes of regulation of Western Armenian and grammar, as well as compilation and publication of the annual anthology of literary works, which will contribute to the development of the Armenia-Diaspora partnership.