Awards by Tashir Charity Foundation for articles published in academic
journals
By Mane Hakobyan
Azad-Hye
Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Interview with Artak Jagharyan, head of Karen Karapetyan's office
(Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Tashir Charity Foundation), about
granting awards to Armenian and foreign scholars, who have written on
Armenian Genocide topics in indexed academic journals.
The initiative has been taken on the occasion of commemorating the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015.
Three scientists submitted their works to the contest: Vahram R.
Ayvazyan (a 2012 graduate of the Genocide and Human Rights University
Program at the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights
Studies in Toronto - A Division of the Zoryan Institute), Tigran N.
Saroukhanyan, senior researcher at the Institute of Archeology and
Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, visiting
researcher at Berlin's Technical University and Member of International
Association of Genocide Scholars, and finally, Shavkat Kasymov a
Tajikistani scholar at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA.
A second international contest has been announced for journalists who
would publish material on Armenian Genocide on leading international
newspapers, weekly publications, TV and Radio stations, internet
magazines, blogs, etc. The last day for submitting material is 31 March
2015.
Below is the interview with Artak Jagharyan:
- How do you explain the fact that only three scientists have
participated in the contest, out of whom one is a foreigner?
Our contests aim at encouraging Genocide scholars to deal with this
subject that has utmost importance for us. We would like to enlarge the
circle of the internationally known scientists involved in this process.
The contests are planned to continue until 2015, awards being announced
on April 20 of each year. As the benchmark of our contests is high, the
scientists themselves would be able to inform us if three scientific
works in a year is considered enough or not.
To be frank, we at "Tashir Charity Foundation" expected a far better
number of publications and we were ready to reward all. The sum of the
reward was not going to be affected by the number of the participants.
As far as the foreign scholar is concerned, it is significant that his
work has appeared in a leading scientific journal and this in itself
carries important meaning.
- It is well known that Tashir Charity Foundation pays great deal of
attention to scientists, thus trying to compensate for the lack of
proper support from official bodies. What plans do you have for the near
future?
If you have noticed, we usually do not announce about our long term
plans. We inform the public about our plans as soon as we have something
specific. We announce only one or two of our nearest plans, because we
are much concerned about the work and the results and not show-offs.
The programs designed for encouraging the scientists will be continued.
These programs are discussed with the representatives of "We Demand
Increase of Science Funding" Facebook initiative, with all the possible
details, for the purpose of selecting the most productive projects,
based on the principle of objectivity.
We asked researcher Tigran Saroukhanyan about the foreign scientist who
has been one of the other two contestants:
- Mr. Saroukhanyan, are you familiar with the article of the Tajikistani
scholar Kasymov and what you have to say about it?
I believe we should not only be surprised, but rather be happy for the
fact that the academic article belongs to Shavkat Kasymov, a Tajik
national. His article carries the title "The example of the Armenian
Genocide and the role of the millet system in its materialization",
published recently in London. I consider it a very positive move. First,
I would like to point out that even those who have Masters degree have a
chance to appear successfully in international academic journals, as was
the case with Kasymov, who, according to my knowledge, does not have a
scholar's status. This means that, Armenian scientists who do not have
scholar's status can do the same and there would be no specific
obstacles in front of them. The myth about not allowing the publication
of work by Armenian scientists is most probably the result of idleness
or maybe it is the consequence of not providing the needed attention. It
seems there is no lack of funding in this sphere of Genocide research.
According to our knowledge, the scientific research of the Armenian
Genocide has always been under the continuous attention of the President
of the Republic. The financing of this domain has tripled in the recent
years. This is really an exceptional case for science.
From: A. Papazian
journals
By Mane Hakobyan
Azad-Hye
Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Interview with Artak Jagharyan, head of Karen Karapetyan's office
(Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Tashir Charity Foundation), about
granting awards to Armenian and foreign scholars, who have written on
Armenian Genocide topics in indexed academic journals.
The initiative has been taken on the occasion of commemorating the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015.
Three scientists submitted their works to the contest: Vahram R.
Ayvazyan (a 2012 graduate of the Genocide and Human Rights University
Program at the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights
Studies in Toronto - A Division of the Zoryan Institute), Tigran N.
Saroukhanyan, senior researcher at the Institute of Archeology and
Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, visiting
researcher at Berlin's Technical University and Member of International
Association of Genocide Scholars, and finally, Shavkat Kasymov a
Tajikistani scholar at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA.
A second international contest has been announced for journalists who
would publish material on Armenian Genocide on leading international
newspapers, weekly publications, TV and Radio stations, internet
magazines, blogs, etc. The last day for submitting material is 31 March
2015.
Below is the interview with Artak Jagharyan:
- How do you explain the fact that only three scientists have
participated in the contest, out of whom one is a foreigner?
Our contests aim at encouraging Genocide scholars to deal with this
subject that has utmost importance for us. We would like to enlarge the
circle of the internationally known scientists involved in this process.
The contests are planned to continue until 2015, awards being announced
on April 20 of each year. As the benchmark of our contests is high, the
scientists themselves would be able to inform us if three scientific
works in a year is considered enough or not.
To be frank, we at "Tashir Charity Foundation" expected a far better
number of publications and we were ready to reward all. The sum of the
reward was not going to be affected by the number of the participants.
As far as the foreign scholar is concerned, it is significant that his
work has appeared in a leading scientific journal and this in itself
carries important meaning.
- It is well known that Tashir Charity Foundation pays great deal of
attention to scientists, thus trying to compensate for the lack of
proper support from official bodies. What plans do you have for the near
future?
If you have noticed, we usually do not announce about our long term
plans. We inform the public about our plans as soon as we have something
specific. We announce only one or two of our nearest plans, because we
are much concerned about the work and the results and not show-offs.
The programs designed for encouraging the scientists will be continued.
These programs are discussed with the representatives of "We Demand
Increase of Science Funding" Facebook initiative, with all the possible
details, for the purpose of selecting the most productive projects,
based on the principle of objectivity.
We asked researcher Tigran Saroukhanyan about the foreign scientist who
has been one of the other two contestants:
- Mr. Saroukhanyan, are you familiar with the article of the Tajikistani
scholar Kasymov and what you have to say about it?
I believe we should not only be surprised, but rather be happy for the
fact that the academic article belongs to Shavkat Kasymov, a Tajik
national. His article carries the title "The example of the Armenian
Genocide and the role of the millet system in its materialization",
published recently in London. I consider it a very positive move. First,
I would like to point out that even those who have Masters degree have a
chance to appear successfully in international academic journals, as was
the case with Kasymov, who, according to my knowledge, does not have a
scholar's status. This means that, Armenian scientists who do not have
scholar's status can do the same and there would be no specific
obstacles in front of them. The myth about not allowing the publication
of work by Armenian scientists is most probably the result of idleness
or maybe it is the consequence of not providing the needed attention. It
seems there is no lack of funding in this sphere of Genocide research.
According to our knowledge, the scientific research of the Armenian
Genocide has always been under the continuous attention of the President
of the Republic. The financing of this domain has tripled in the recent
years. This is really an exceptional case for science.
From: A. Papazian