On April 18 and 23, 2019, within the framework of the internship of 2018-2019 academic year, second-year students of YSUIB  “History” specialty of Full-time training system, made visits accompanied by the Supervisor of the internship, Lecturer of the Department of Armenian History and Social Sciences A. Mkrtumyan.

On April 18, they visited Ijevan Historical-Cultural Museum where they got acquainted with the activities of the museum, collection of samples and present exhibits.  The students asked their questions to the researcher accompanying them.

On the same day, the students visited the churches of St. Amenaprkich and St. Nerses Shnorhali in Ijevan, got acquainted with the history of churches, church holidays, rituals and holy clothing.

 On April 23th, 2nd year students of “History” specialty visited Haghartsin and Goshavank church complexes within the framework of educational internship.

 After studying folklore materials and its stories, students got acquainted with the architectural features of church complexes.

The Armenian nation is commemorating today the 104^th anniversary of the 20^thcentury’s first horrendous crime against humanity – the Armenian Genocide.

On this occasion, representatives of administrative, professorial staff of YSU Ijevan Branch, students, members of various spheres of Tavush region, regional and municipal authorities and citizens walk to the memorial  dedicated to the Armenian Genocide victims and laid flowers in remembrance of the Armenian Genocide victims.

Then they visited Ijevan Historical-Cultural Museum and witnessed the exhibition on the Armenian Genocide.

Though April 24 is symbolically declared as a Day of Rremembrance on the national calendar, the actual pogroms, historically known as the Hamidian Massacres, date back to the late 19th century.

The Hamidian authorities – and later also their successors, the Young Turks – orchestrated the ethnic cleansing in Western Armenia, Cilicia and the Ottoman Empire, deporting and annihilating the Armenian population (as well as other ethnic minorities). They first targeted the males, aged between 15-45, whom they disarmed and killed to leave the rest of the population (the elderly, women and children) unprotected. What followed was a massive deportation, exile and pogroms. The Armenians were either forced to renounce Christianity or were marched into exile. Those who survived immigrated to the deserts in Mesopotamia, mainly to Deir ez-Zor, where they were eventually slain.

On April 24 1915, the Ottoman rulers organized the beheadings of the Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople. About 600 of them were arrested and put to sword on the way to exile. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians in 66 cities and towns and around 2,500 villages were killed. As many as 2,350 churches and monasteries were looted, about 1,500 schools and colleges – destroyed. The 1919-1920 Paris Peace Conference declared the estimated damages caused to the population in Western, and Eastern Armenia (amounting to 14,598,510,000 Francs and 4,532,472,000 Francs, respectively).

Since 1965, big crowds of people, including Armenians from Armenia and the Diaspora, and foreign guests, as well as governmnet delegations, head to the hilltop monument in Yerevan’s Tsitsernakaberd park to pay their tribute to the Genocide victims.

The six stone pillars of the memorial symbolize the 12 provinces which are now on the territory of modern Turkey.

The national cause for the Genocide recognition traces its roots back to the Soviet period, with Uruguay being the first world country to recognize the big crime in 1965. The Armenian Genocide has been so far recognized by 27 countries. Apart from states, also major international organizations and supranational unions, including the EU, the Council of Europe, European Movement International etc. have acknowledged the historical fact. The Genocide has received recognition also by many countries’ local governments (about 100 US states, provincial governments), and other bodies.

 On April 23th, 2019, traditional march with torches kicked off at Fountain square in Ijevan moments ago to commemorate the 104th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Thousands of people, many clutching torches or candles, had gathered to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide in 1915.  Over 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered in the first genocide of the 20^th century.  YSU Ijevan Branch students also took a part in the march.

The participants of the rally with posters condemning the Armenian Genocide and calling for restoring the historical justice,  moved to the Genocide Memorial Complex. 

They carried in their hands a banner with the motto of the march, state flags of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and of those countries, which have recognized the Armenian Genocide.

The marchers demanded to recognize the Armenian Genocide to pay the indemnity.

On April 21-23th, 2019, Armenian State Pedagogical University named after Khachatur Abovyan hosted International  three-day Conference entitled “Psychological Issues: Characteristics, Principles of its Classification, and Diagnostics “, attended by Head of YSUIB Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Associate Professor, PhD L. Sargsyan, Assistant, PhD A. Kamalyan , lecturer E. Simonyan, a group of students of that specialty.

The conference started with round-table discussions: the psychologists from the United Kingdom, Russia, Ukraine, Israel and other countries touched upon the essence of the problem of psychology, the problem of personality problems, pathological, socio-economic and other types, the necessity and possibility of classifying psychological problems, models and its types.

Speeches were mainly delivered by practical psychologists, psychotherapists who were interested in discussing the diagnosis of psychological problems, strategies for detecting symptoms and syndromes, and psychological problems.

Dmitry Leontiev, Professor of Moscow State University after M. Lomonosov,  Prof. Vladimir D. Mendelevich, Director of Institute for Research of Problems of Mental Health, WHO-expert, Head of Department of Medical and General Psychology of Kazan State Medical University, Doctor of Medical Science, Professor of the University of Bergen D. Kuk, Head of Department of General and Social Psychology of “Yaroslavl State Pedagogical University named after K.D.Ushinsky” V. Mazilov and others addressed welcome words and introduces their opinions.

They highlighted the importance of the conference on the issues of psychological problems and the creation of a classification system, finding a possible solution to the problems of the classification of these problems, considering the experience of the Pedagogical University as a brave step.

The participants agreed that psychological problems exist in all spheres of life, they are very unique, individual. “How to look for a problem? No book says how to determine what is the problem, whether there is a problem or not: we just learn the methods not knowing the answers to these questions …”

As a conclusion on the issue, Samvel Khudoyan, Head of Department of Psychology of Armenian State Pedagogical University named after Kachatur Abovyan, assured that all the efforts would be put on the ideas expressed to classify the psychological problems and find possible solutions.

During three-day conference, participants discussed the current issues of reproduction, its psychological peculiarities, socio-psychological peculiarities of adolescents’ non-formal behavior and other topics.

During the conference, our students acquired new knowledge and skills that they could use during their professional activities.

 On April 22th, 2019, we had an interview with YSU Ijevan Branch graduate of 2012 academic year, Head of YSUIB Library, lecturer of the Armenian History and Social Studies Department Vladimir A. Poghosyan.

 – Please tell us your birth date and place.

 – I was born in 1991, in Ijevan.

 – Tell us a little bit about your family.

 – I live in an ordinary Armenian family. My father is a technician-builder, my mother, an engineer.  My sisters are also YSUIB graduates.

 – What was your childhood dream?

 – I still remember a similar task given by my teacher in the 5th grade to write  an essay on “What do I want to become?”  In response to this question in the fifth grade, I said that i would like to become a politician, though at that age I had little idea of politics and dreams.  After the first lesson of history, it was clear to me that wherever I went, this subject would accompany me and I began to fanatically be absorbed in history and wrote down everything you could not find in textbooks (some I kept up until now).

 – What education did you receive?

 – I received my secondary education at  # 1 Secondary School of Ijevan, then from 2008-2012, I studied at the Faculty of Humanities of Ijevan Branch of Yerevan State University, “History” specialty.  I continued my studies in the Department of World History at YSU Faculty of History.  Currently I am a Candidate of World History and I work in the framework of the research paper on “Cold War and Global Conflicts as an example of the Afghan War”.

 – What role did YSUIB education have in your life?

 – I am grateful to my parents and my friends for bringing me up as a human being and a citizen, and I  am grateful to YSU Ijevan Branch for bringing me up as a specialist. Indeed starting from each lecturer to the librarian, YSUIB plays an indispensable role not only in my own but also in the development of each student’s professional abilities. YSU Ijevan Branch gives me many friends, ideologists and people, without whom my daily routine would be a little different.

 – What work experience do you have?

 – I started my career at YSU Ijevan Branch, since 2016, first as a lecturer, then as Head of the Library.  I teach “History of Russia”, the history of a great country.

–What is your favorite book?

 -As I spend most of my time in the library, I, frankly speaking, do not manage to read much and sometimes I dream of a daily routine of my army, where I spend most of my time on reading.  I have many favorite books, but I will mention two of them – Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Hundred Years of Solitude”, Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather” novels.

 – What is the last book you read?

 – The last book I read was a book by American-born writer Vardges Davtyan “Godmother” where you can see the clash of cultures, traditions and the universal.

 – What music do you prefer and what is your favorite song?

 – I am fond of classic music, especially the “The melody of paradise” by Chopin, Michel Legrand. In the army, I got a different meaning for the chorus, the stages, which greatly increased the combat mood of the army. When I have a leisure time I also hear pop and jazz music.

 – What is your favorite movie?

 – It’s a little bit difficult to answer, perhaps I would mention Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings”, Sergei Bondarchuk’s “War and Peace”.

 – Do you have a favorite sport?

 – Unfortunately, I’m not engaged in sports, but I enjoy watching the World Championships and Olympic Games.

 – What is your favorite place in Armenia and abroad?

 – I love my birthplace Ijevan, each corner of Armenia is sacred for me, I am fascinated by the picturesque nature of Artsakh and the courage and will of the Artsakh people.  I want to be abroad only as a tourist and I have a desire to travel in Europe.

 – What qualities do you value in people?

 – I respect ambitious and principled individuals, I value justice, honesty and simplicity.

 – Do you have a favourite quote or slogan you are guiding?

 – “What does not kill you, makes you stronger”, and live in such a way that you would not be ashamed.

 – What will you never do?

 – Never is a relative concept. So everything may happen tomorrow.

 -“What are you afraid of?”

 – First and foremost, I am afraid of me, than others.

 –“Why are you sorry?”

 – I’m sorry for the things I have not done, that I did not really appreciate time and use it more effectively.

 – What helps you make decisions in difficult situations?

 – Perhaps my persistence, evaluating the situation relevantly.

 – What do you think is the biggest achievement of your life?

-My family and friends are my greatest achievement.  I reckon life still will give me manifold opportunities of new achievements.

 – What is your formula for success?

 – Ambition and devotion to your profession and undoubtedly hard work, there is nothing impossible; “ A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.

 – What is the most invaluable advice you have received?

-“We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others’ happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world, there’s room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone”.

 – What is the main message that you would give to young people (in particular, YSUIB students)?

 –Firstly, I would advise the students to love their homeland, their surroundings, why not even their university.  “Act such a way so that you can set an example for others.  Be purposeful, for the materialist becomes a man-machine, throat and stomach only.  Being able to maintain a moral reparation, deeply realizing that the only person whom you can raise is yourself. So start with you … ”  Let this message of Garegin Nzhdeh accompany each of us.

 – We are so grateful for an interesting interview.

 Interviewed by YSUIB Public Relations and Media Responsible Hasmik Vanyan.