Genocide Museum director submits resignation request

PanARMENIAN.Net - Edita Gzoyan, director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation, has submitted a resignation request, but no legal act has yet been adopted regarding her dismissal.

“The director has written a resignation request, but there is no legal act yet,” the press service of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute told Panorama.am.

The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports said the board of trustees of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation is responsible for deciding on the appointment and dismissal of the director.

Earlier, the newspaper Hraparak reported that Education, Science, Culture and Sports Minister Zhanna Andreasyan had suggested that Gzoyan submit a resignation letter.

According to the report, she warned that if Gzoyan did not resign voluntarily, she would be dismissed. The official justification from the ministry, according to reports, was that Gzoyan allegedly did not properly oversee construction work at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex, although that responsibility does not fall within her duties.

According to the same report, the director decided not to resist and submitted her resignation, but the staff opposed the move and asked her not to hurry. They reportedly sent a letter to the prime minister asking why the leadership of the museum-institute was being changed again.

The letter was forwarded from the prime minister’s office to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports. Employees also urged their director not to give in and not to submit the resignation.

Staff members believe Andreasyan wants to remove Gzoyan because she is not aligned with the ministry and intends to appoint someone close to them to the position.

They also consider it significant that Gzoyan has been active internationally in promoting recognition of the Armenian Genocide and publishing academic articles — activity that, according to them, is not welcomed by the current authorities.

According to the report, tensions intensified after the visit of U.S. Vice President JD Vance to Armenia and his visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial.

It was reported that during Vance’s February 10 visit to the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex, no Armenian officials accompanied him. Andreasyan briefly greeted the delegation at the entrance and left, while Gzoyan escorted the vice president and his wife, presenting the history of the memorial’s construction and handing him books on the Armenian Genocide and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

Edita Gzoyan was unanimously elected director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute on February 12, 2024, by secret ballot during a meeting of the foundation’s board of trustees.