The International Conference “The Armenian Genocide: History, Memory, Responsibility” organized by Union of Armenians of Romania, Lepsiushaus Potsdam, Bucharest City Museum, Orbis Tertius Association took place in Bucharest in October, 13-14, 2017.
Among 16 participants of the conference - representatives of 7 countries were Sorin Antohi (Bucharest), Yair Auron (Neve Shalom, Israel), Halil Berktay (Istanbul), Gérard Dédéyan (Montpellier), Bedros Horasangian (Bucharest), Rolf Hosfeld (Potsdam), Carol Iancu (Montpellier), Raymond Kévorkian (Paris), Cătălin Mamali (Dubuque, Iowa, US), Suren Manukyan (Yerevan), Hakob Matevosyan (Leipzig), Varujan Vosganian (Bucharest), Felicia Waldman (Bucharest).
The Director of the Institute of History Academician, professor Ashot Melkonian with the report “The International Recognition Process of the Armenian Genocide in the Context of the Reparation Issue” and senior researcher at the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of the R A Armenuhi Ghambaryan with the report “Reflections of the Armenian Genocide in US Congressmen’s Speeches and Statements (1918-1919) introduced the National Academy of Sciences of RA at the Conference.
The Conference explored the history of the Armenian genocide and of its lasting consequences (with an emphasis on their conceptual and comparative dimensions), its memory (including its forgetting, denial, forgiveness, transgenerational trauma, and public significance), and the related issues of responsibility (from the ethics of memory to political recognition, from moral solidarity to retrospective justice).
On October 17 the meetings of the Director of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences Ashot Melkonyan and the Ambassador of Armenia to Romania Hamlet Gasparyan with the Director of the Institute for South-East European Studies Andrei Timotin and the Director of the Institute of History named after Nikolai Yorgi Ovidi Kristea. The issues of scientific cooperation between the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and the Romanian Academy of Sciences were discussed within the framework of the Agreement signed in 2013.