On March 7, the Minister of National Policy, Foreign Relations, Press and Information of the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation Jambulat Umarov visited the Institute of History. Upon discussion with Director A. Melkonyan, Chair of the Middle Ages History Department A. Shahnazaryan, Chair of the New History Department R. Sahakyan it was decided to conclude a scientific cooperation agreement between the parties in the near future.
On February 23, 2018, the conference hall of the NAS RA Presidium hosted an international conference titled “Artsakh in the Crossroads of Struggle for the Armenian Statehood” dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the new phase of the Artsakh movement. The conference was organized by the NAS RA Department of Armenology and Social Sciences and Yerevan State University.
On February 19, 2018, Bako Sahakyan, the President of the Republic of Artsakh awarded a group of Artsakh movement activists to medals and honors on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Artsakh Movement and for their services to the homeland. Academician Ashot Melkonyan, Director of the NAS RA Institute of History, was awarded the Medal of Vachagan the Pious (Vachagan Barepasht).
On January 13, a cultural event was held in Los Angeles under the auspices of the Western American Regional Board of the Armenian Relief Society to commemorate the Protectorate of the Needy Armenians in Iraq. Seda Ohanyan, a researcher at the Institute of History of the RA National Academy of Sciences, also participated in the event, speaking on the “Benevolent Activities of Iraqi-Armenian Women”.
On December 16-17, 2017, the Public Council under the RA Ministry of Defense (President Gegham Harutyunyan, Adviser to the Minister) organized the year-end visit to the AR Defense Army’s military units. In the morning of December 17, lecturers from the Defense Army’s headquarters left for different military units in almost every direction.
The personnel of different departments presented reports on the work carried out towards their 2017 thematic plans to the Directorate.
Together with the Chairs, the theme directions and work plans for the coming year were also clarified. Joint proposals on both departmental and scientific-organizational activities of the Institute were discussed.
On December 4, the Annual Summary Meeting of the Institute of History was held. Director of the Institute A. Melkonyan presented the scientific and scientific-organizational activities in 2017. Before summarizing the results he touched upon the course of personnel changes of the Institute during 2012-2017. Consequently, Academician Melkonyan presented the most important achievements recorded in the given year; in total, during the current year, the Institute published 238 works, of which 32 are books, and 206 articles both in Armenian and foreign languages. Melkonyan also spoke about the republican and international conferences organized by the Institute, the participation of researchers in them and their trips, financial report was presented, too.
On October 19-20, 2017, Goris State University hosted a conference titled "Syunik as a Center of Education and Culture" dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the University.
On October 28-29, 2017, a group of Armenian researchers of science and culture, as well as lecturers conducted regular visits to the military units of the Artsakh Republic Defense Army and delivered lectures within the framework of the "Pages of History and Culture" program. The visit-lecture was organized with the support of Gegham Harutyunyan, the Head of Public Council under the RA Minister of Defense. The lectures were dedicated to the 26th anniversary of the Artsakh Republic.
On October 25, "The Mkhitarist Congregation in Historical Science", "The Contribution of Mkhitarists in the Philology", "The Arts and Culture in the Mkhitarist Activities" thematic sections of "The Mkhitarist Congregation of Venice -300" International Conference continued. During the two-day conference, both the senior and the younger generation of scientific institutions presented their reports with new approaches on the activities of the Mkhitarists and touched upon their rich scientific heritage.
The Pontifical Delegate of the Venice Mkhitarist Congregation, Primate of the Armenian Catholic Diocese in Turkey, a Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Archbishop Levon Ter-Zekiyan delivered a speech. He thanked the organizers of the Conference for its proper organization. Zekiyan highly assessed as well the work done by the conference participants, particularly stressing that in their reports they were not satisfied with a limited number of sources and tried to carry out a comprehensive study of the Mkhitarist activities.
On October 24, 2017, “The Venice Mkhitarist Congregation-300” two-day International Conference opened at the National Academy’s Presidency Conference Hall. The Conference was organized by the initiative of the RA Ministry of Diaspora, the Department of Armenology and Social Sciences of the NAS RA, Yerevan State University, the Mkhitarist Congregation of Venice and with the support of the State Committee for Science of the Ministry of Education and Science.
Academician Vladimir Barkhudaryan would turn 90 years old on September 22, 2017.
On this occasion the Presidency of the NAS RA Academy of Sciences and the Institute of History held events dedicated to the memory of the honored historian. In the morning, after visiting his tomb, at the NAS RA Institute of History, in the presence of V. Barkhudaryan’s family members and numerous guests, the department called “History of the Armenian Colonies and Diaspora” was named after Academician V. B. Barkhudaryan.
On September 27-28, 2017, Moscow hosted the International Conference entitled “The 1917 Revolution and its Place in the History of the 20th Century”. The solemn opening and plenary session took place at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and the work continued in the building of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
On September 27, 2017, within the framework of the Session of the International Association of CIS Institutes of History, an agreement on scientific cooperation was signed between the NAS RA Institute of History and the NAS Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of Tajikistan.
On September 29-30, at the “President” Hotel in Moscow, the General Assembly of the World Committee of Historical Sciences held its work, where the Union of Armenian Historians was unanimously elected as an official member of the Committee.
