Applied Anthropology Research Group

The task of the Department is:

1. To deal with issues of modern Armenian history and culture (social relations, interethnic conflict, political repression, etc.) using socio-anthropological and historical tools.
2. From the temporal perspective – to deal with the 20th-21st centuries.
3. To develop applied anthropology in Armenia by promoting the influx of relevant personnel and natural generational succession.
4. The Department carries out its work in the following forms of activity: field, archive/library․
5. The output of the Department is measured by quality scientific publications (monographs, collections, articles), which must be relevant and innovative, using modern methods and laboratory analyses, events participated in and organized (conferences, seminars, etc.), field and laboratory work, effective development of international relations (attraction of foreign resources, access to laboratories, participation in international scientific conferences), personnel inflow, defense of theses, provision of professional opinions.

 

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The past and present of the Department

Introduction

The subdivision received its current name in 2023. Before that, it was called the "Applied Ethnography Group". The subdivision was formed in 2009 with the aim of studying the current socio-cultural developments in Armenia, contributing to the process of inheritance and generational transmission of the national cultural values ​​of the Armenian people, and the formation and implementation of the RA state policy towards it. The problem was viewed vertically - from the past to the present, and horizontally - on a territorial principle. The goal was formed taking into account three important realities of the 20th century, which had caused an artificial break in the process of natural development of national values.

The first was the Armenian Genocide that took place in Western Armenia, as a result of which, on the one hand, the majority of Armenians who survived in their homeland were Islamized/Kurdized/Turkized/Arabized and alienated from Armenian social and cultural life, on the other hand, they were forcibly displaced and/or fled their homeland and, scattered around the world, were deprived of the land that had nurtured their cultural creation for centuries, and consequently, of the opportunity to pass on their cultural past.

The second was the Bolshevik coup in Eastern Armenia, which resulted in the introduction of domestic, social, and public cultural values ​​aimed at forming a common Soviet identity in Soviet Armenia. The issue was not whether they were good or bad. The issue was that their introduction was accompanied by a rejection of national values.

The third was the influx of large numbers of refugees from Azerbaijan into Armenia during the collapse of the USSR and the period following Armenia’s independence, from 1988 to 1992. During the Soviet period, these people had experienced their own path of cultural identity preservation and development, cultural losses and gains. After fleeing, they lost their collective presence in their homeland, which was part of Azerbaijan, and consequently also the territory that nurtured their distinct identity, scattering across different regions of Armenia.

The working principle of "Applied Ethnography" was based on:

- research on the current cultural developments and cultural formations of the Armenian people and Armenia over the past century,

- research on the cultural policy of Armenia,

- compilation of knowledge bases necessary for the cultural policy of Armenia,

- сreation of knowledge bases necessary for the protection and development of the cultural community of Armenia and the cultural characteristics of individual groups,

- providing accessible materials to government bodies and the public by researchers and presenting them publicly.

For these purposes, for example, researches were carried out and a number of books were published, including: “Holidays and the Festive Performance in Armenia” («Տոնը և տոնահանդեսի մշակույթը Հայաստանում», 2010), “Traditional Armenian Festive Food” («Հայոց ավանդական տոնական ուտեստը», 2011), “Seven Days, Seven Nights”. Overview of an Armenian Wedding” («Յոթ օր, յոթ գիշեր». հայոց հարսանիքի համապատկեր», 2011), “Traditional Holidays among Armenians” («Традиционные праздники у армян» , 2012), “From the New Year to the Last Bell: Festive Practices, Memory and Reconstruction” («Նոր տարուց Վերջին զանգ. տոնական պրակտիկաներ, հիշողություն և վերակազմում», 2020), and numerous analytical, but especially accessible articles.

For a comprehensive analysis of its target issues, the group attempts to view them in the context of the ethnocultural policies and general processes of the country/countries, including:

1. a) the authorities' applied policies to influence public ethnocultural life, to form identity/identities: the introduction and prohibition of cultural values, encouragement and punishment, the formation of common and private memories,
2. b) the parallel acceptance-rejection processes in societies, based on the groups' own knowledge and understanding of their past, internal perceptions of their own identity, aspirations to continue them, and the continuity of "we."

The sources of research for the Applied Anthropology group include written information from the past, policies implemented through education and official publicity, written and oral reports of groups' perceptions of ethnic identities and social culture, and, to a large extent, memories of the past and field observations and recorded stories of the group's staff about current life.

During 2009-2019 Zaruhi Hambardzumyan, Shushanik Saratikyan, Vahe Boyajyan, Tigran Sargsyan, Nelly Manucharyan, and Hranush Kharatyan have been working in the group. Since 2018, Lusine Kharatyan has also joined them.

Four researchers of the Institute: Gayane Shagoyan, Gohar Stepanyan, Ruzan Tsaturyan and Arsen Hakobyan often collaborate with the Group in both analytical and field and archival material collection work. Gevorg Avetikyan completed his PhD thesis on the topic “Developments of the Identity of the Population of Iranian Azerbaijan in the 19th-20th Centuries” («Իրանական Ադրբեջանի բնակչության ինքնության զարգացումները XIX-XX դդ.») in the group and defended it in 2015. Nelly Manucharyan is preparing her PhD thesis on the topic “Processes of Soviet Identity Formation in Armenia in 1920-1950” («Խորհրդային ինքնություն ձևավորման գործընթացները Հայաստանում 1920-1950 թթ.») and Khoren Grigoryan defended his PhD thesis on the topic “Transformations of the Identity of the Armenian Population of the Lebanese Village of Aynchar” («Լիբանանի Այնճար գյուղի հայ բնակչության ինքնության ձևափոխումները»).

Since its establishment and to date, the group has been headed by Hranush Kharatyan, PhD.

Thanks to the group’s efforts, the Institute’s Oral History Center was launched in 2017, and the first course was held on the topic “Introduction to Memory Research” («Հիշողության հետազոտությունների ներածություն») organized jointly with the Armenian office of DVV International. Individual, social, and collective memory, both as a source of research, as a target of policy, and as a factor in the formation/preservation of social and individual identity, is an important component of all the group’s research topics.

The geography of the group's research, besides Armenia, extends to Azerbaijan, Turkey, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 

Memory as a source of research and analysis

The internal and external relations of societies, peoples, and groups of people often become understandable not only through knowledge of the past through history textbooks, but also through people's memories of that past. First, history textbooks only partially present the past that shaped our "today," but on the other hand, they themselves shape collective knowledge and influence modern worldviews. But beyond that and even more, there is the oral social memory of the individual person/people and of societies. Its main source, family memory, may also be modified over 2-3 generations, but which often, remaining outside of manageable knowledge, itself becomes the basis of knowledge. On the other hand, states often form the social memory of societies themselves, making it manageable. For example, throughout the 20th century, at least until the 1980s, the authorities of the USSR and the Republic of Turkey decided what exactly their societies should know about the Armenian Genocide. The policies of shaping the public memory necessary for the authorities were usually accompanied by silencing undesirable memories, punishing those who spoke out, and spreading the memories they wanted about the event and phenomenon. In other words, “memory” is often a controllable process subject to political influence. In this sense, collecting/recording memory/memories, analyzing their changes, and understanding them has been relevant in all eras and is still relevant today. Therefore, collecting oral stories of individuals and families about this or that phenomenon, including the genocide, and analyzing their transformations have been and continue to be among the constant problems of the research group. By recording the families’ own experiences, the researchers analyzed various forms of memory transmitted from generation to generation in closed societies, both active and passive, their changes over time, the natural and artificial selection of memory, and the factors determining them.

Materials were collected in Armenia, Turkey, the Armenian Diaspora in Georgia, the Russian Federation, Lebanon, France, and the USA. In Turkey, research was conducted in Istanbul and the eastern provinces, in the territory of Western Armenia, among both Islamized, Aleviated, and Christianized Armenians, as well as Kurds, Zaz-speaking, and Kurmanji-speaking Alevis. The materials and their analyses were published in books and articles in both scientific and popular periodicals, in Armenian, English, Russian, Turkish, and Polish (for example, “Whom to Forgive, What to Forgive // ​​Talking to Each Other. Personal Memories of the Past in Armenia and Turkey” («Ու՞մ ներես, ի՞նչը ներես // Խոսելով միմյանց հետ. անձնական հիշողություններ անցյալի մասին Հայաստանում և Թուրքիայում», 2010), “Mush, Sweet Mush. Mapping Memories of Armenia and Turkey” («Մուշ, քաղցր Մուշ. քարտեզագրելով հուշեր Հայաստանից և Թուրքիայից», 2014), “Armenian-Turkish Relations: Historical and Political Context from an Armenian Perspective” (2016), “Politicized, Contested and Silenced Memories” (2016), “Speaking to One Another. Toolbox for Working on Reconciliation in Adult Education” (2016), “Armenophobia as a Factor in the Construction of Turkish Identity: Provincial Armenians in the Republic of Turkey in the Middle Ages of the 20th Century” («Հայատեացութիւնը որպէս թուրքական ինքնութեան կառուցման գործօն: Գաւառահայերը Թուրքիայի Հանրապետութիւնում 20-րդ դարի միջնադարում», 2018) and others).

The policy of influencing the social and individual memory of the Genocide in the USSR, using the example of Soviet Armenia, has so far been observed mainly in the context of political violence in the USSR (“The Discourse of “Nationalism” and the Targeting of Genocide Memory in Political Violence” («Նացիոնալիզմի» դիսկուրսը և Ցեղասպանության հիշողության թիրախավորումը քաղաքական բռնություններում», 2015), “The Memory of Western Armenia as a Commentary on Armenian Political Dissent in the Political Repressions of the USSR” (2016), “Politicized, Contested and Silenced Memories” («Արևմտյան Հայաստանի հիշողությունը՝ որպես հայկական քաղաքական այլախոհության մեկնաբանություն ԽՍՀՄ քաղաքական բռնաճնշումներում», 2016), “Politics of Conquering Memory, or “Ordered to Forget”. Turning Memory into a Social and Family “Secret” and a Weapon Against Memory Bearers (on the Example of the Armenian Genocide)” («Политика покорения памяти, или «приказано забыть». Превращение памяти в социальную и семейную «тайну» и оружие  против носителей памяти (на примере Геноцида армян», 2017), “The Armenians Remaining in Turkey After the Armenian Genocide Knew Least About the Genocide” («Հայոց ցեղասպանությունից հետո Թուրքիայի տարածքում մնացած հայերն ամենաքիչը գիտեին ցեղասպանության մասին», 2018), etc.

The problem, however, is not only traumatic memory. The group attempts to analyze the state policies of countries that have played an important role in the life of Armenian society and the Armenian people: Turkey, the newly formed USSR of the 20th century, and Azerbaijan, towards the formation of identities of social groups and peoples, and the ways of preserving the identities of minorities.

 

Identity formation and minority identity politics

Our researchers emphasize the importance of ethnic, national and religious identities of groups, both historically and in terms of the policies that influence them as a result of current political agendas. Materials have been collected and partially researched on these issues, partly on the architectures of Turkish and Turkish/Azerbaijani national and ethnic identity construction in the 20th century, as well as on the manifestations of the identities of other peoples during periods of legal and practical prohibition of identities in these countries, partly also on the minorities of the Republic of Armenia. On these issues, the following books have been published: "The Religion and Beliefs of the Udis in the 19th and 20th Centuries" («Ուդիների կրօնը եւ Հաւատալիքները ԺԹ.-Ի դարերում», 2010), "The Norms of International Law on National Minorities (Based on the Example of the Republic of Armenia)" («Ազգային փոքրամասնությունների միջազգային իրավունքի նորմերը (Հայաստանի Հանրապետության օրինակով)», 2011), "On the Issue of the Christianization of the Apostle Yeghishe, Grigoris, and the Caucasian Albania" («Եղիշե առաքեալի, Գրիգորիսի եւ Կովկասեան Աղուանքի քրիստոնեացման հարցի շուրջ» , 2010), "Azerbaijanis", "Caucasian speakers" and "Iranian-speakers". Identity Developments in Azerbaijan” («Ադրբեջանցիները», «կովկասալեզուները» և «իրանալեզուները». ինքնության զարգացումներն Ադրբեջանում», 2012), “National Policy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the 20th Century and the Beginning of the 21st Century” («Ադրբեջանի Հանրապետության ազգային քաղաքականությունը XX դարում և XXI դարի սկզբին», 2012), “The Identity Crisis of Dersim Alevis and the Current Search for Identity of Aleviized Armenians in Dersim” («Դերսիմի ալևիների ինքնության ճգնաժամը և ալևիացած հայերի ինքնության ներկայիս փնտրտուքը Դերսիմում», 2014), “The Search for Identity in Dersim” and “Aleviized Armenians of Dersim” («Ինքնության որոնումը Դերսիմում» և «Դերսիմի ալևիացած հայերը», 2014), “Armenian-Alevi Socio-Religious Synthesis in the Traditions of Dersim Alevis” («Հայ-ալեւիական սոցիալ-կրոնական սինթեզը Դերսիմի ալեւիների ավանդազրոյցներում»,  2014), “From the 1st Century to the Middle Ages (Islamized, Islamized, Aleviized, Crypto-Armenians in Turkey)” (««Ի» դարից միջնադար (Իսլամացված, իսլամացած, ալեվիացած, ծպտեալ հայերը Թուրքիայում)», 2014), “Dersim Cultural Basin’s Armenian Population, Alevized Armenians and Alevis, Armenian Identity Factor in Search” («Dersim Kültür Havzası’nın Ermeni Nüfusu, Alevileşmiş Ermenileri ve Alevilerin Kimlik, Arayışında Ermenilik Faktörü», 2015), “Official Ethno-Demographic Indicators in Azerbaijan in the Context of the Search for and Identity Crisis Azerbaijanis («Официальные этно-демографические показатели в Азербайджане в контексте поиска и кризиса идентичности азербайджанцев, 2015), “Udis: the collapse of all efforts for self-preservation” («Удины: крах всех усилий самосохранения», 2015), “The status of Armenians in modern Turkey: Islamized Armenians” («Հայերի կարգավիճակը ժամանակակից Թուրքիայում. իսլամաց(ու)ած հայերը», 2015), ‘’The historical and political rationale for “ethnic assistance” (Shamakhu Gardman – Geokchay province – Ismaili region) («Էթնիկական օգնության» պատմա-քաղաքական պատճառաբանությունը (Շամախու Գարդման – Գեոկչայի գավառ – Իսմայիլիի շրջան), 2016), “The Caucasian-Albanian factor in the process of forming Azerbaijani ethnic identity” («Кавказско-албанский фактор в процессе формирования азербайджанской этнической идентичности», 2019), “Udins in the Eastern Christian world: dynamics of localization, identification, self-identification of Udin-Christians” («Удины в восточно-христианском мире: динамика локализации, идентификации, самоидентификации удин-христиан», 2019), “The “Turkification” of Sunnism and Turkish-Muslim nationalism in the architecture of “Turkchuluk” – the Muslimization and Turkification of the ethnic identity of the population of Turkey” («Սուննիզմի «թրքացումը» եւ թուրք-մահմեդական նացիոնալիզմը «թիւրքչուլուկի»՝ Թուրքիայի բնակչության էթնիկական ինքնութեան մահմեդականացման եւ թրքացման ճարտարապետութիւնում», 2019), etc.

It is noteworthy that when materials of personal biographical memories about the past of Soviet life were collected in the form of oral stories, without thematic questioning, most of the narrators spoke mainly about traumatic situations (see “Soviet Life in Oral Histories, Collection of Materials (2019)”.

 

Refugee status, traumatic memory

In addition to identity, memory, and other issues, the group has also worked on research into the traumatic memory of victims of various forms of violence, as well as refugee issues (“Genocide and Collective Trauma”, 2016). A lot of material has been recorded about the violence in Sumgait and Baku in 1988 and 1990. A book “The Self-Defense of the Armenians of Kirovabad in 1988-1989 Through the Eyes of Eyewitnesses” in Russian was published («Самооборона армян Кировабада в 1988-1989 гг. глазами очевидцев», 2014) as a result of the work carried out in the environment of Azerbaijani-Armenian refugees, together with G. Oganezov, one of the organizers of the self-defense of the Armenians of Kirovabad in 1988-1989. It is a presentation of the organization and implementation of self-defense, combining sources (documents, transcriptions of recorded stories of victims, materials from transcripts of meetings and discussions, stenographies of negotiations with the city and military authorities, photographs, etc.

Materials were collected on the processes of settling Azerbaijani-Armenian refugees in Armenia, the policy and practical problems related to it were analyzed, articles were published, scientific conferences were organized, and practical proposals were presented to the RA government bodies.

Within the framework of the issues of the traumatic past, one of the group members, Tigran Sargsyan, has worked for 3 years with the Department of Armenian Studies of the Center for the Study of the Christian East of the University of Salzburg (Austria) within the framework of the topic “Armenian prisoners of war of Austrian Habsburg: 1915-1917”. Through field and archival work, the descendants of these prisoners of war were identified, their memories were recorded, restoring the interrupted generational chain.

 

Political violence in the USSR

The group also conducted research on the course of political violence in Soviet Armenia and the fate of its victims. More than 200 family stories were recorded, including those in Artsakh and among Azerbaijani-Armenian refugees. The personal files of more than 40,000 people exiled, arrested, held in places of imprisonment, deported, and sentenced to execution during 1920-1953 were examined in the National Archives of the Republic of Armenia, and the patterns and features of political accusations brought against those sentenced to various punishments, women and men, were analyzed. A brief nominal directory of 16,000 victims deported in 1949 was compiled, as well as the 1st volume of the directory with alphabetical lists of surnames about those subjected to other types of violence was prepared, covering more than 5,000 people. A research about the women of the "Non-betrayer" and “Family members of a traitor to the Motherland (ЧСИР)" basing on the cases of the repressed in the 1,191 fund of the National Archives of the Republic of Armenia was carried out. 1 collective monograph has been published: “Stalinist repressions in Armenia: history, memory, everyday life” («Ստալինյան բռնաճնշումները Հայաստանում. պատմություն, հիշողություն, առօրյա», 2015), a number of articles (“Is the RA Law “On Repressed Persons” Rehabilitative and Who Are the Repressed in Armenia” («Реабилитационный ли закон РА «О репрессированных лицах» и кто такие репрессированные в Армении», 2016), The campaign of ethnic deportation of Armenians in 1949 and the sub-contingent of “Turks” in special settlers “from the Black Sea coast” etc. («Кампания этнической депортации армян в 1949 г. и подконтингент «турки» в спецпереселнцах «с Черноморского побережья»», 2018).

The largest volume of work on the victims of political violence in the USSR fell on 2017. Within this framework, the Armenian-Russian program “The 1949 Armenian Expulsion Campaign and Its Reflection in Historical Memory” (15РГ-27) for 1916-1917 was also implemented. The work was carried out in the National Archives of the Republic of Armenia, the Archives of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Georgia, and the State Archives of the Russian Federation (ГАРФ). The works of Nersik Stepanyan, Sahak Ter-Gabrielyan, Yeghishe Charents, Amatun Vardapetyan, Serik Davtyan (550 pages) were copied from the Armenian archives, converted into text and prepared for publication, as well as the stenographies of the June 12, 1936 session of the Communist Party of Armenia (120 pages). The files of 3 victims of violence were digitized in the archives of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and brought to Armenia, one of which is being prepared for publication, as well as the 1936 the stenographies of the 2 sessions of the Central Committee of the Transcaucasian SFSR held on June 6, 1949. Both were converted into text, notes and a preface were written (140 pages). The court case of Mirjafar Bagirov, the first secretary of the Central Committee of Azerbaijan during the violence, was copied from the Russian State Archive and brought to Armenia (600 pages). The document was converted into text and is being prepared for publication. About 20 documents related to the violence of the Stalinist period, totaling 243 pages (orders, decisions, reports of the State Security Committees and the Ministries of Internal Affairs of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, etc.), were copied from the same Russian State Archive and brought to Armenia. The texting and verification work is being carried out by Z. Hambardzumyan, Sh. Saratikyan. A database of persons exiled from Armenia on June 14, 1949 was compiled and placed on the website.

A significant part of the group's work is research on the Soviet past. They are carried out by combining and analyzing observations, oral stories, archival documents, literature, and memoirs. The recording of memories of Soviet life is carried out during all thematic fieldwork, as well as field research is organized specifically on this topic, and PhD theses are written. Memoirs are published with scientific editing and annotations. Research on Azerbaijani cultural heritage is also being carried out in Armenia, about which a book has been published in Armenian and English: "Episodes from the Soviet Past of Armenia: Traces of Armenian-Azerbaijani Coexistence" (2019).

The practical work of the Group also includes research on the educational policy of the Republic of Armenia, in particular, the analysis of textbooks on Armenian History and Armenian Literature in general education schools of the Republic of Armenia and the study of the teaching of these subjects in high schools, as one of the manifestations of the memory policy of independent Armenia.

Research and analysis, as articles, monographs and collections, are published in scientific journals. Expert information and recommendations are provided to the governing bodies of the Republic of Armenia.

 

Cooperation and participation in scientific conferences

The group mainly cooperates with the Departments of the Institute engaged in ethnographic research. However, due to the specifics of the topics, work has been carried out with both Armenian and other foreign analytical centers. In particular, on the topics of genocide and social memory, it has collaborated with DVV International, the Institute for International Cooperation of the Association of German Folk High Schools, and on the topic of Stalinist repressions in Soviet Armenia, with the Department of Anthropology of the Novosibirsk National Research State University and the Barnaul Pedagogical University of the Altai Territory, with Pavel Polyan, a leading specialist of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the University of Freiburg, and with the Memorial public organization of Russian Federation.

Work on the topic of traumatic memory was carried out with the Department of Armenian Studies of the Center for the Study of the Christian East of the University of Salzburg (Austria). Work was carried out with the Department of Anthropology of Tbilisi State University with the participation of scientists and students on the topic of “Strategy of Armenian-Georgian Cooperation”. The Kapan Geological Museum, and especially its director Grisha Smbatyan, was a serious partner in Armenia on the topic of political violence in the USSR. Since 2009, the group staff have participated in numerous international, republican and institutional conferences and presented reports. They have participated in foreign international conferences in dozens of countries (Russia, Germany, France, Turkey, USA, Great Britain, Iran, Georgia, Lebanon, India, Poland, Belgium, etc.).

The group has organized three international and one republican scientific conference, two of which were held in Yerevan (“Perspectives of Consensus: Theory and Practice” ((«Համաձայնության հեռակնարներ. տեսություն և պրակտիկա»), November 27, 2010 (researchers from Armenia, Turkey, Germany, Sweden, Cyprus, and the USA participated), and “Political Violence in the South Caucasus from Sovietization to the 1950s: History, Culture, Memory” (Քաղաքական բռնությունները Հարավային Կովկասում խորհրդայնացումից մինչև 50-ական թթ. պատմություն, մշակույթ, հիշողություն»), dedicated to the political violence of the USSR, in particular the 80th anniversary of the “Great Terror” of 1937, October 25-26, 2017). The conference "Armenian Deportation Campagn of 1949 and its Reflection in Historical Memory", September 11, 2016, was held in cooperation with Novosibirsk University. The conference "Armenian Refugees from Azerbaijan: Political, Cultural, and Social Problems 30 Years Later. Causes, Process, Integration, and Prospects" («Ադրբեջանահայ փախստականություն: Քաղաքական, մշակութային, հասարակական խնդիրները 30 տարի անց (պատճառներ, ընթացք, ինտեգրացիա, հեռանկարներ) was held in Yerevan in 2018.

 

Fieldwork, exhibitions, popularization of research and teaching

During its work, the group has conducted thematic fieldwork and collected materials every year in Armenia, 3 times in Artsakh, 3 times in Turkey (in Istanbul, Tunceli/Dersim, Mush, Adiyaman, Hatay in the villages of Musa Dagh), 3 times in Iran (mainly in the Sarhad region of Baluchistan province, among the Baluchis living in the areas adjacent to the Baluchistan province of Iran in the Nimruz and Helmand provinces of Afghanistan, as well as in Tehran and Tabriz), 1 time in the USA (Philadelphia and Washington), 1 time in Lebanon (Anjar and Beirut), 1 time in the Russian Federation (Altay region), once in Poland (in the cities of Sejny and Krakow), 1 time in France (Marseille). The main topics of fieldwork in Armenia were the third-fourth generation of Western Armenian refugees, the genocide memories, the past and present ritual life of Armenia, religious practices, the socio-economic and cultural integration of refugees, the identity of Udi refugees from Azerbaijan, memories of political violence in the USSR, and in 2018, they worked on the topics of social and religious group identity in the Gegharkunik and Shirak regions (Azerbaijani-Armenian refugees, Mushites, Bayazetites, Apostolics, Catholics, atheists).

The group organized 3 exhibitions on the research topics:

1. An exhibition of memories of the Genocide in Yerevan in 2010. It “worked” and was also held in Georgia, Cyprus, France, Germany, and Turkey.
2. Presentation of the book “Mush, Sweet Mush: Mapping Memories from Armenia and Turkey” and a photo exhibition in Yerevan, at the Sargis Muradyan Gallery in 2015.
3. Anti-Soviet: Political Violence in Soviet Armenia during the Stalinist Period, an exhibition organized on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the USSR’s “Great Terror” in 2017. The group members participated in a large number of broadcasts, online discussions, interviews, and authored hundreds of editorial articles. Based on the research results, a series of long-term radio programs was launched on the Public Radio.

On June 14, 2017, the “Day of Remembrance of the Repressed” adopted by Article 101 of the RA Law on Remembrance and Holidays, the event “Remember the Innocent Victims of USSR Political Violence” was organized, during which the database of citizens deported from Soviet Armenia in 1949 and the opportunities to use it were presented. Then, every year on June 14, a ceremony of remembrance of the victims of USSR political violence is organized. The group receives a large number of letters with questions about the political violence of the USSR, in particular, people are interested in the cases of their repressed relatives. In response to these letters, the group is preparing to post brief information from all the materials at its disposal on a website to be created specifically for this purpose.

The group emphasizes the involvement of young people in thematic work. Usually, short-term training is organized for young people in advance. To date, it has organized 5 summer schools on the topics of genocide memory, sources and methods of working with materials about Stalinist repressions, training in working with archival documents, methodology for collecting oral history, and training in text composition.

Many of the young people who have undergone this training have participated in the collection of field and archival materials, written articles, made