Prior Years — AGBU Ararat

Join Dr. Irina Ghaplanyan, author of Post-Soviet Armenia: the New National Elite and the New National Narrative, for a discussion about leadership, cynicism, and priorities.

Turkish authorities have confiscated assets belonging to non-Muslim foundations and individuals—from the beginning of the 20th Century until the 2000s—thereby eroding their capacity to serve and support their communities. There have been some positive developments since 2000.

Gate to Heaven Synopsis
Haunted by his past, German journalist Robert Sternvall returns to Artsakh, in 2016, after 22 years when the Nagorno-Karabakh war reignites to cover the conflict. As a result of his journalistic investigation, Robert meets Sophia Marti, a young opera singer, who happens to be the daughter of missing photojournalist Edgar Martirosyan, whom Robert abandoned in captivity during the fall of the village of Talish of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1992. As their romance develops, Robert’s guilty conscience catches up…

“If genocide, as a practice that includes murder and plunder, is orchestrated by a central authority but implemented at the local level,” Ümit Kurt asks, “what is the relationship between local and central authorities?” What are the incentives and motives that lead to mass participation?

Join Tatul Hakobyan to deconstruct events leading up to and following the 44-Day War. The discussion will be in English. Conflict specialist Hakobyan will examine why the war started; what transpired on the ground; what were the surprises, if any; and why events unfolded along a trajectory of seemingly endless calamities.