KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Today, the Pedagogical University welcomed the authors of the movie “Vandalism” Mr. Ashot Movsesyan and Spartak Gharabaghtsyan. Under the initiative of the Faculty of History and Law, the Pedagogical became the venue for the premier of the movie among all other universities.

The movie shot in the Western Armenia, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and Vatikan about ten years ago was a reflection to the Armenian cultural values and their elimination by Turks.

“It is impossible to live without memories”, the script writer of the film Mr. Spartak Gharabaghstsyan is assured; in fact, he considers the movie “Vandalism” as a try to assuage memory and to keep alive.

“We have created a rich cultural heritage but have often not protected it; we are guilty and we have to realize that as long as we are indifferent the rest of the world too will not remember and be aware about what we once created.” 

What is more, the author of the movie thinks it is impermissible that the term “I remember and demand” is announced only occasionally. Historical reality must always be awake and the vandalism of Turks must never be forgotten.

And last but not least, Mr. Spartak Gharabaghtsyan considered the movie “Vandalism” as the consolidation of all 8 movies jointly shot with Mr. Ashot Movsesyan.

In his turn the Dean of the Faculty of History and Law Mr. Edgar Hovhannisyan highlighted the significance of presenting the film within the scope of 100th commemoration of the Armenian Genocide observing that it would also serve as an educational material for future historians and jurists enriching the knowledge about the Genocide. “

“When speaking about the Genocide, the fact of cultural massacre is often forgotten. As a result of Turkish activities aimed at cultural destruction we were not only deprived of our homeland, but also had immense loss of cultural heritage”, he added.

To conclude, the Head of the Department of History of Armenia Mr. Ashot Piliposyan also noticed that even though it couldn’t be compared but still the cultural vandalism was an irrevocable loss and much more severe. The presentation of the film was followed by a Q&A networking session.