Ijevan Branch of Yerevan State University

A DISCUSSION ON “THE HISTORY OF ARMENIAN STATE, MAIN STAGES AND CHARACTERISTIC TRAITS (1918-1920)

DSCN5058 On December 6th, 2018, YSUIB Student Scientific Society (SSS) of the Faculty of Humanities in partnership with the Department of Armenian History and Social Sciences organized a discussion on “History of the Armenian State, Main Stages and Characteristic traits (1918-1920)” dedicated to the Historian’s Day.

The discussion was attended by lecturers of the Department of Armenian History and Social Sciences A. Azatyan, V. Poghosyan, Ph.D., Assistant N. Grigoryan, Assistant Professor of Tourism Management and Cultural Studies, Ph.D. L. Beginyan, students of different courses of “History” specialization.

Azatyan touched upon the difficulties of the statehood establishment, the patriotic activity of the great contributors, the stages of the short-term period of the republic and their peculiarities, noting that in the meantime, Prime Minister S. Vratsyan divided the history of the First Republic of Armenia in two stages: survival and creativity.

“Armenia was a small, poor country, full of hungry people and immigrants, and cholera spread in the country in autumn, and also a typhus, so it was a priority for everyone to save people from epidemics and starvation. Under such circumstances, a delegation headed by H. Kajaznuni was leaving for the United States to get help. In 1919, May, American aid came to Armenia, which was a salvation for us. Despite being poor, hungry and blockaded by the three sides, the Armenian government has managed to take steps aimed at making the newly created state closer to civilized values of time”, Azatyan emphasized.

It was shown that in the Soviet period quite a lot of realities created in the First Republic were attributed to the Soviet state. For example, the foundation of YSU, compulsory education.

It was such an impression as if the Bolsheviks brought compulsory education to Armenia.

It was indisputable that the elimination of illiteracy in most of the former Russian Empire was associated with Soviet Union, but it was mentioned that it did not refer to the Armenian reality, because Armenians always had an aspiration to get education. In the Soviet period, the fact that primary education in Armenia was introduced during the First Republic was ignored. At the same time, the state had an army, orphanage problem; so many schools became barracks, orphanages and hospitals because there were no ready-made buildings. And under such difficult conditions, the organization of the educational work was not ignored.

Later on, with the participation of lecturers and students (in particular, Mher Ghalumyan, Larida Ghazumyan and Shirak Gasparyan), a heated debate and discussion took place on the effectiveness of democracy and parliamentary system. Comparisons were made between the policies of the First and Third Republics of Armenia.