Reports have suggested that the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation, Edita Gzoyan, was ‘urged’ by the government to resign after speaking to US Vice President JD Vance about the massacre of Armenian citizens in the conflict with Azerbaijan.
This reportedly displeased Armenian authorities, who remain cautious in their official rhetoric about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as they navigate the ongoing normalisation process with Azerbaijan.
On Wednesday, the Institute confirmed to the state-run media outlet Armenpress that Gzoyan had submitted a resignation letter, but that the resignation had not yet been accepted, and that no official replacement has been named.
Unconfirmed reports suggesting that she was pressured to resign by the Education Ministry surfaced on 6 March, with tabloid Hraparak reporting that the ministry justified the move by claiming that Gzoyan ‘had not properly supervised’ ongoing renovations at the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex.
The outlet at the same time underscored that the supervision of the restoration ‘does not fall within [Gzoyan’s] official responsibilities’. Instead, it suggested that Gzoyan was dismissed after speaking with Vance about the massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad (Ganja), and Baku at the onset of the conflict with Azerbaijan in the 1980s. She had additionally given him a book on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
At the genocide memorial, Armenia has erected several monuments commemorating the victims of the massacres, which Gzoyan had shown Vance to emphasise ‘the connection between what happened and the Armenian Genocide’.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appeared to hint at his displeasure with Gzoyan speaking about the massacres during a parliamentary session, saying that ‘things have happened that would have been better if they hadn’t happened’.
Seperatly, Hraparak further reported that as pressure mounted on Gzoyan, the whole staff of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute submitted a letter to Pashinyan, ‘expressing their outrage and asking him to take action’.
On Tuesday, RFE/RL reported that Hrachya Tashchyan, a former aide to Pashinyan and ex-head of his administration’s External Relations Department, arrived at the museum the same morning ‘with the intention of replacing’ Gzoyan.
‘[Tashchyan] hurried to Gzoyan’s office, saying he was there as a guest’, RFE/RL reported.
However, no official information has yet been released regarding the director’s resignation. According to media reports, the ministry suggested submitting a written inquiry for their comment.
RFE/RL further reported that Raymond Gevorgyan, chair of the board of trustees responsible for selecting a new director, had stepped down, along with several other board members. On 6 March, Pashinyan made new appointments to the board.
Since the beginning of US President Donald Trump’s second term, there has been increasing speculation that the US has reversed its policy of officially recognising the Armenian Genocide first adopted under former President Joe Biden.
The issue received renewed attention after Vance’s visit to Armenia, during which he tweeted about his visit to the memorial using the term ‘genocide’, but deleted the post shortly after and refrained from using the word in any subsequent communications.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include the news that Gzoyan had submitted her resignation letter.
Nate Ostiller
