Turkish side’s claims are baseless

T he 1915 Armenian Genocide was recognized and condemned by many countries in the world, thousands of scientific articles, books and memoires were written. The crime against humanity committed at the beginning of the 20th century has innumerable evidences scattered in various corners of the world. 

Since the early days of the implementation of the mass deportation and extermination of Armenians, the officials of the Ottoman Empire spread no effort to hide, falsify and destroy the factual materials that would serve as additional evidence of the tragic events. They did everything to blame the victim, justify the inhumane crime and deny their own responsibility. The memoirs and diaries of the officials of the Ottoman Empire also testify to this, already at the beginning of the 20th century forming the main propaganda messages, which became the main axis of denying the Armenian Genocide. 

In last decades, the Turkish denial regularly circulates the thesis that the Republic of Armenia does not allow Turkish (and not only Turkish) researchers to work in Armenian archives. And in confirmation, officials at all levels declare that the Armenian archives are “closed” and call to open them [1]. Turkish officials hint that there are allegedly “unwanted” factual materials or documents in the archives of the Republic of Armenia, which are carefully hidden. Despite the numerous denials of the Armenian side, these “accusations” appear again and again in public-state discussions and characteristic of almost all the ruling forces of Turkey. Armenian officials and the scientific community have repeatedly stated that Armenian archives are open and accessible to all researchers.  

On July 4, 2020, Radio Freedom addressed the issue, getting comments from Taner Akçam, Professor of the Clark University, U.S. The prominent scientist noted, that unlike the archives of Armenia, not all materials stored in the military archives of the Republic of Turkey are available to researchers.  

Freedom. — One of the main theses put forward by Turkey is that unlike Turkish archives, Armenian archives are closed. As a historian, you constantly work with archives, how open and closed are archives for researchers, and are the Turkish side claims correct in this matter?

Taner Akçam. — …There are currently no closed archives. First, the wording open archive, closed archive is wrong itself. All archives are open to researchers. The issue is whether the materials supposedly in those archives are made available to researchers. Let’s talk about Armenia. The National Archives of Armenia is open to everyone from morning to night, anyone who wants to, can go and work. However, you cannot find much material about the genocide in the National Archives of Armenia.  For one simple reason, this state was founded in 1918, maybe 1921, when the Dashnaks left the country. The Dashnaks took their archives, and an important part of them is now in Boston. Therefore, it is simply absurd to argue that that the archives in Armenia are not open. They are open and anyone can go. The Ottoman archive in Turkey is also open, and there is no barrier to work here. The only problem with the Ottoman archive is that a number of documents are not presented here. The issue is not whether the archives are open or closed, but that the Ottoman archives do not contain all the documents related to the country and party that carried out the 1915 genocide, and the materials in the military archives are not available to researchers [2].

In 2015, Turkologist Artak Shakaryan addressed in detail whether Armenian archives are “open or closed” for researchers. He wrote in Analyticon journal published in Stepanakert, that Turkish researcher Janan Badem documented the access to Armenian archives. The latter published his impressions in Akos newspaper published in Istanbul on October 8, 2012. 

“The archival funds and book repositories of the National Archives of Armenia, the Armenian Genocide Institute Museum, Matenadaran, and the National Library are open to researchers at the state level. Some of the researchers and historians of Turkey have also been speaking about it recently. In particular, Janan Badem, Head of the History Department of Tunjeli University and Umit Kurt, staff member of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Department of Clark University, U.S. recently shared their experience and positive impressions in the Armenian “Agos” newspaper published in Istanbul”, writes Shakaryan [3].  

In the article published in Akos, Janan Badem mentions that the National Archives of Armenia was established in 1922, in Yerevan. He also cites the numbers and description of the content of several funds.  

In April, 2010, Amatuni Virabyan, director of the National Archives of Armenia, again referred to the alleged “keeping close” of the Armenian archives, noting that “The National Archives of Armenia is always open and any Turkish historian can come and study”. “We have so many documents, that we can prove the existence of genocide to anyone,” said Amatuni Virabyan. 

In 2015, when the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire was commemorated, Turkish officials circles again spoke about the “closed” archives of Armenia. In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia officially clarified, that the archives of Armenia are available to all researchers. “Direct lies are often put into action, such as the statement that our archives are closed, when all experts involved in the study of genocide know that the Armenian archives are open. These outbursts of denialist thought testify to their impotence against the truth, and the truth of the Armenian Genocide is a recognized reality in the international community” [4].

In response to the inquiry of the Orbeli Analytical-Research Center, Gohar Khanumyan, Chief Fund Keeper of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute stated that since September 2021, AGMI has an order of funds, which also includes order of services. “According to the order, there are no restrictions or exceptions for museum users, and there is no country, ethnicity, political views or other restrictions. The comments of the scientists are beyond our authority. I should also mention that the funds of the museum-institute have never been closed,” she said.  

Gohar Khanumyan noted that a significant part of the documents kept in the AGMI are in Eastern and Western Armenian. There are also many handwritten documents in different dialects and the main issue is the researcher’s linguistic knowledge and abilities, how accurately he or she is able to present the document’s content. 

There is a special approach only to the photos, which are also of an essential sourceological significance. “When the photos are provided to foreign or Armenian researchers, the museum also provide their description, thoroughly developed by our scientists. In case of publishing the photos, the parties sign an agreement that they will use the description provided by the museum. If our scientists have not been able to find out the author of the photo, the identity of the people depicted or the location, we make sure to mention it. There have been cases where the old description has changed over time, since new research and sources appeared,” explained the chief fund keeper of the museum-institute. 

Materials on the Armenian Genocide are numerous and are scattered all over the world. Among them we can mention official writings, correspondence of various diplomatic circles, reports, messages, as well as hundreds of eyewitness testimonies. There are materials on genocide not only in the archives of Armenia, but also in dozens of countries. And it is hard to imagine, that it is possible to find such a unique document or testimony in Armenia, that would deny the authenticity of thousands of documents in the whole world. 

Aimed at promoting the studies of the Armenian Genocide, the museum-institute has been providing a scholarship program named after Raphael Lemkin since 2010, which gives an opportunity to live in Armenia for a month and do research in the AGMI archives. More than a dozen researchers have benefitted from the Lemkin scholarship, among which are one citizen from Turkey and one from Germany. Since 2019, two Turkish citizens who used the museum’s library, applied to the AGMI for research. 

The procedure for using the materials stored in the AGMI is not complicated. It is necessary to apply to the director of the fund in a written form, present the main direction of the study and then get permission to use the library or funds.  

There are no restrictions on the study of funds and documents in the National Archives of Armenia. In a conversation with the Orbeli Center, Gohar Avagyan, Candidate of Historical Sciences and advisor to the head of the National Archives of Armenia, said that the procedure for using the archives is very simple. “Any citizen can come, get a permit based on his application and use the funds, study for instance the history of his village and clan. Students, historians and other specialists also visit us, bringing letters from their institutions. There is no ban or restriction on using archive materials. Every adult citizen of the Republic of Armenia can use materials of the National Archives. We also have researchers from abroad who submit a letter from their workplace or organization, mentioning the topic of the study or research work. After presenting the letters, researcher can work in the reading room,” she said. 

The National Archives of Armenia keeps thousands of documents related to both the Hamidian massacres (1894-96) as well as testimonies of witnesses, memoirs and documents about the 1915 Genocide. There are also reports of spiritual leaders, that were sent to the Catholicos of All Armenians from various settlements.

“At the end of 1915 and 1916, thousands of emigrants escaped from the Genocide settled in various cities of the Caucasus. The Baku Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation organizes a very important work to record the testimonies of the survivors. Questionnaires were developed and everyone answered the same questions: how many people lived in the village of the survivor, whether they had a church or not, what wealth the church had, how many domestic animals they had, how the property was nationalized after the war started, how they were conscripted and what happened to the conscripts. Later they described the massacres: how many people were killed, who were saved and so on,” says Gohar Avagyan.



Most of the memoirs of the witnesses of the genocide kept in the National Archives was published in Armenian, later in Russian and in English. In 2014, the testimonies of the genocide witnesses were translated and published in Istanbul. 

Gohar Avagyan assured that there are no closed funds and documents in the National Archives. “During the Soviet times, there were secret funds in the National Archives, the study of which required the appropriate permission of the security service. It also applied to the Armenian scientists. All funds, such as the funds of foreign and internal affairs of the First Republic of Armenia were closed. Genocide funds were open even during the Soviet periods. There are no closed funds in the National Archives of Armenia and there is no ban on using or studying them,” she said.  

It should be noted that between 2019-2023, 54 foreign researchers used the National Archives of Armenia, some of them are Turks, including from the Republic of Turkey. 

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[1] https://www.panorama.am/am/news
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch
[3] https://theanalyticon.com Also see Ani Center for Armenian Studies, May 6, 2015, link https://www.aniarc.am
[4] https://m.facebook.com/MFA.Armenia