National archive chief says enough documents to bring Turkey to court

By Asbarez | Wednesday, 22 October 2014

 

Director of Armenia's National Archive Amatuni Virabian


YEREVAN (Mediamax)—Director of Armenia’s National Archive Amatuni Virabian said Thursday that there are enough necessary documents on the Armenian Genocide in the archive to initiate an international court trial against Turkey.

 

Ahead of the Armenian Genocide centennial, the National Archive is going to publish collections on Armenia’s material and cultural losses over the Genocide years, Mediamax reports.

“We are willing to publish in the upcoming years all the documents on the Genocide preserved in the archive. It will be a few years’ work,” said the Director of the Archive.

In 2015, the Archive will also publish a collection of documentary materials on the property owned by the Armenian Church, including Western Armenian churches.

“We have a large number of documents on the ownership of our churches even in the Ottoman Turkish language. Now we aim to translate them into Armenian or English,” said Virabian.

According to him, work on creating an e-vault of names of Armenian Genocide victims is underway. “I don’t think we will be able to collect the names of 1.5 million victims. A long time has passed and we just started the work. But I think we will be able to publish around 300 thousand names. Presently, the Archive preserves files of around 30 thousand Armenian orphans whose murdered parents’ names are known,” said Virabian.

Ahead of 2015, the Archive will also start another project presenting stories of 100 Armenians who survived the Genocide, found refuge abroad and became recognised figures in culture, science or business.

The Armenian National Archive has prepared a Russian book titled “The Participation of Armenians in the First World War,” which was published in Moscow. A three-volume publication titled “The Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey” has also been released. The first volume has already been translated into English and Turkish, Virabian said.


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