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Every wednesday, I attend courses on "armenian studies" (hayakidagan or hayagitakan) at AGBU after school. The man in charge has been a teacher in many many armenian communities, has written a few books, and is a member of the Union of Armenian Writers (Hayastani groghneri miootyoon).
Yesterday, he started ranting about the Armenian Studies programs that are given in the States, and that are mainly funded by money from armenian centers such as AGBU and Homentmen (I would think). He said that history is being distorted at our expense, and at the US's and Turkey's gain. One example is how a certain Professor Thompson (who has prepared quite a few generations of "hayakeds", translated Khorenatsi's Hayots Badmootyoon (Armenian History). He has modified some parts, and completely avoided others.
There are many armenian examples too. Such as Ronald Suny, who is preparing a thesis claiming that Armenians are not native of Armenia, or another armenian man whose name I forget, who during the height of the Artsakh war, went around every major armenian community, claiming that Armenians had no historical rights on Artsakh. Just to prove how well he had prepared his research, he claimed that an armenian prince/politician, Israel Ori, who played a very active role in trying to liberate Artsakh from the Persian Empire (in the 18th or 19 century I believe), was not truly Armenian, because of his name. Meanwhile, Israel Ori is a fake name, based on the french sentence that show the man's ambitions, "Il sera roi", meaning he will be king. This is just an example to show how unfounded these researches are, and how they play a devastating role on us, because not only do foreginers read this as their only source of information, Armenian-reading Armenians don't bother reading it, and are not aware of the type of information going around, and non-armenian reading Armenians use this as their sole source of info (yet another reason why knowing the language is important).
Opinions? (anon, I'm expecting one from you)
Yesterday, he started ranting about the Armenian Studies programs that are given in the States, and that are mainly funded by money from armenian centers such as AGBU and Homentmen (I would think). He said that history is being distorted at our expense, and at the US's and Turkey's gain. One example is how a certain Professor Thompson (who has prepared quite a few generations of "hayakeds", translated Khorenatsi's Hayots Badmootyoon (Armenian History). He has modified some parts, and completely avoided others.
There are many armenian examples too. Such as Ronald Suny, who is preparing a thesis claiming that Armenians are not native of Armenia, or another armenian man whose name I forget, who during the height of the Artsakh war, went around every major armenian community, claiming that Armenians had no historical rights on Artsakh. Just to prove how well he had prepared his research, he claimed that an armenian prince/politician, Israel Ori, who played a very active role in trying to liberate Artsakh from the Persian Empire (in the 18th or 19 century I believe), was not truly Armenian, because of his name. Meanwhile, Israel Ori is a fake name, based on the french sentence that show the man's ambitions, "Il sera roi", meaning he will be king. This is just an example to show how unfounded these researches are, and how they play a devastating role on us, because not only do foreginers read this as their only source of information, Armenian-reading Armenians don't bother reading it, and are not aware of the type of information going around, and non-armenian reading Armenians use this as their sole source of info (yet another reason why knowing the language is important).
Opinions? (anon, I'm expecting one from you)
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