On April 3, 2015 a round table on “The Armenian Genocide in the context of Near Eastern Developments” took place in YSU Institute of Armenian Studies. Editor of “Aztag Daily” Shahan Kandaharian, the head of the Department of Armenian-Kurdish Relations, Candidate in Historical Sciences, Associate Professor Vahram Petrosyan, the member of NGO “Political Science Association of Armenia”, Candidate in Historical Sciences Davit Manasyan were the speakers of the discussion. The discussion was headed by the deputy director of IAS, Candidate in Historical Sciences Mher Hovhannisyan.

The deputy director of IAS Mher Hovhannisyan welcomed those presents and highlighted the importance of the discussion of this issue making accurate evaluation of the political events. 

First speaker was the editor of “Aztag Daily” of Beirut, political scientist Shahan Kandaharian, who is also the vice-Chairman of the Commission, coordinating the events dedicated to the Armenian Genocide in Lebanon. He briefly represented the ongoing and upcoming events dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Lebanon, then he touched upon the political processes. 

Sh. Kandaharian noticed that the Commission, coordinating events dedicated to the Armenian Genocide in Lebanon was formed 4 years ago. Armenian national parties, urban, regional and community unions are the part of it. 

About 25 events, political meetings, discussions took place there, as well as cooperation with the secretary of the State Commission on Coordination of the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of Republic of Armenia. Kandaharian noted 3 target directions in organizing the events. The first factor is the active involvement of the Diaspora. According to him measures should be taken in raising the political consciousness of the new generation, as well as in accurate coverage of the issues relating to the Armenian Genocide, Turkish factor and political processes. 

The second step is the representation and the accurate delivery of the Armenian Genocide in the state, political circles of Lebanon. He noted that the mosaic delivery of this issue is multifaceted which due to the multilayer religious orientation of Lebanon. The third target step is the diplomatic circles and their activities. Great attention should be paid to the cooperative work of diplomatic representatives of both RA and other foreign countries. 

The problem of the awareness and collaboration with foreign diplomatic institutions in Lebanon was highlighted. Shahan Kandaharian spoke about the activation and reasons of sudden retreat of Turkish factor in Lebanon.  According to him the main reason was anti-Israeli demonstrations by Turkey. Shahan Kandaharian mentioned that with this step Ankara managed to win the sympathy of the Arab world.  But the sympathy turned into antipathy after Syrian war and Turkey’s interests changed in the region.

The next speaker was the member of “Political Science Association of Armenian” NGO, Candidate in Historical Sciences Davit Manasyan. He spoke about the formation of Islamic state and its collaboration with Turkey. According to D. Manasyan Turkey supported Islamic state, so that the latter could finish the process of dechristianization in the region and destruction of Christian values in the region.  Manasyan mentioned that Turkey’s step had a certain aim, which was for the future historical claims in the region. 

Head of the Department of Armenian-Kurdish relations of IAS, Candidate in Historical Sciences, assistant professor Vahram Petrosyan spoke about Armenian-Kurdish collaboration and Kurdish factor in the context of the Armenian Genocide.  In his speech Vahram Petrosyan touched upon the process of formation and development of Kurdistan. He mentioned 3 phases of Kurdish factor activation.  The first phase was after 1991, the period of war against Iraq, the second phase was the period of the formation of Kurdish autonomy in Kurdistan in 1992 and this was followed by another war against Iraq in 2003, when Iraqi Kurdistan de jure became a federation region. The third phase was Syrian developments. Then Vahram Petrosyan spoke about the development of Armenian-Kurdish relations and the further steps of collaboration. 

“First of all we should clarify our position towards the Kurds and our expectations. Of course, it wouldn’t be realistic to expect serious steps from the Kurds, who were massacred by the Turks and took part in the massacres of the Armenians carried out by the Turks. But we should understand that  the recognition of the Genocide has many nuances”,-added  Vahram Petrosyan.

At the end of the meeting there was a discussion between the speakers and the presents.