Armenian Genocide Museum Director Allegedly Forced to Resign After Telling JD Vance About Artsakh War

The director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) in Yerevan, Edita Gzoyan, has resigned from her position only weeks after hosting JD Vance, the Vice President of the United States, during his visit to Armenia. Reports indicate that her resignation came under pressure from the Armenian government.

Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, visited the memorial complex on February 10 as part of an official trip to the Armenian capital, Yerevan. During their visit, the couple laid flowers near the eternal flame dedicated to the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Gzoyan personally guided them through the museum and surrounding memorial area.

While showing the guests the complex, Gzoyan also introduced cross-stones that were placed in memory of Armenians who were killed during pogroms in Azerbaijan following the outbreak of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. According to a press release issued by the museum, she explained “the connection between those events and the Armenian Genocide.” During the visit she also presented Vance with “books about the Armenian Genocide and the Artsakh issue.”

Soon after the visit, Armenia’s Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the way the visit had been organized. Speaking in the Armenian parliament later in February, he hinted that certain aspects of the visit were problematic but did not provide specific details.

“There happened things that should not have happened, but that's a topic for another conversation,” he said without elaborating.

Gzoyan later submitted her resignation. Several media outlets reported that the government asked her to step down because of what she told and showed Vance during the visit to the memorial complex.

The museum director has not publicly explained her decision. Her departure has caused concern among the staff of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. All 74 employees of the institution signed a joint letter addressed to Prime Minister Pashinyan protesting her resignation.

“It was the first time in the history of our museum that all employees, without exception, appealed to a higher authority,” said Mihran Minasian, an adviser to the AGMI director, speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

Some staff members said they expected recognition for Gzoyan’s work rather than her resignation.

“We expected that our director will on the contrary be rewarded for her good work,” said Suren Manukian, who heads one of the museum’s divisions.

Manukian said that he and his colleagues were informally told by Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Armenia that Gzoyan was asked to resign because she allegedly failed to properly oversee a reconstruction project at the genocide memorial that began last summer. He rejected that explanation as “unserious,” noting that the reconstruction project is directly supervised by the ministry itself.

The reconstruction has been inspected regularly by Armenia’s Education Minister, Zhanna Andreasian. According to reports, Gzoyan stopped accompanying the minister during those inspections after Vance’s visit to the museum.

The ministry declined to publicly explain the reason for Gzoyan’s resignation, stating that it would only respond to written questions from RFE/RL’s Armenian Service at a later time. Officials also noted that the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute is appointed by the institution’s board of trustees.

Meanwhile, leadership changes have also taken place within that board. Its chairman, French-Armenian genocide scholar Raymond Kevorkian, along with several other members, resigned last week. Shortly afterward, Prime Minister Pashinyan replaced them with new members on March 6.

The developments have raised questions among museum staff and observers about the circumstances surrounding Gzoyan’s departure and the broader changes taking place within the institution responsible for preserving and researching the history of the Armenian Genocide.

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