Historical truth should be key vector of influence on wide sections of Armenia’s population - Kalinin
27.02.2015,
16:10
There are multi-faceted vectors of influence on wide groups of the population, and it is necessary to form the historical truth vector and stick to it, Mark Kalinin, head of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Yerevan, was quoted by Novosti-Armenia as saying Friday at the first session of the Club of Young Eurasian Historians.
YEREVAN, February 27. /ARKA/. There are multi-faceted vectors of influence on wide groups of the population, and it is necessary to form the historical truth vector and stick to it, Mark Kalinin, head of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Yerevan, was quoted by Novosti-Armenia as saying Friday at the first session of the Club of Young Eurasian Historians.
“Such events are very important from this point of view,” he said. The project is organized by Russia’s North-South Political Analysis Center for Development of Information and Scientific Ties with Foreign Countries with support from CIS Interstate Humanitarian Cooperation Fund.
Kalinin passed on to participants of the session greetings from Russian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volinkin and said that interaction between Armenian and Russian civil society organizations has intensified over the last year.
“The main topic of the event is the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War (World War II),” Kalinin said adding that the ambassador-affiliated public council is already set up and a program of celebration of the 70th of the victory is already being composed.
«The program includes 70 arrangements, which will allow decent celebration of this great event.» Kalinin said 2015 is a landmark year for Armenians – they will mark centenary of Armenian Genocide.
The first session of the Club of Young Eurasian Historians being held in Yerevan on February 27 and 28 is aimed at setting discussion platforms for communication among historians of Eurasian Economic Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States member countries.
Yulia Yakusheva, executive director of the North-South Political Analysis Center, on her side, said the session is dedicated to restoration of historical truth.
«Professional open discussions are the key remedy against 'memory wars', distortion and falsification of historical facts, and we gathered here for this,» she said.
In her words, although the Eurasian Economic Union is an economic project, it is mainly based on historical and civilizational grounds and on historical unity.
In her opinion, unbiased comprehensive perception of historical processes needed for preservation of common humanitarian space, which exists between Russia and Armenia.
«This is a new project to our center,» she said. «In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory we decided to focus on the topic that unites nations of the post-Soviet space,» Yakusheva said.
Armenian Defense Ministry Spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan expressed satisfaction at the organization of such events in Armenia ahead of celebration of the 70th anniversary in Armenia.
«It is not a secret that themes of World War II, particularly the Great Patriotic War, is very impressive and vulnerable to Armenian people, since the Great Patriotic War was patriotic to us in the real sense of the word,» he said.
And this is not only for the fact that more than one million Armenians fought in this war, he said, but also for many of them were high-ranking commanders in the Soviet Army and for the outcome of Stalingrad Battle solved the issue of Turkey's participation in the war on Germany’s side, what could mean repetition of the Armenian Genocide 2015-23.
«As a historian, I cordially welcome such events,» Hovhannisyan. «We will mark the 70th anniversary soon as a global event, and it should be said ahead of this holiday that historians have plenty to do separate the truth from fallacies and myths and to study achievements, faults and mistakes.»
Young professionals, historians, sociologists and specialists in international relations from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Russia are present at the session. Round-table discussions and professional master classes will be held as part of the session. --0-----
