The Armenian Experience: From Ancient Times to Independence

by Gaïdz Minassian

Overview

Armenian national identity has long been associated with what has come to be known as the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Immersing the reader in the history, culture and politics of Armenia – from its foundations as the ancient kingdom of Urartu to the modern-day Republic – Gaïdz Minassian moves past the massacres embedded in the Armenian psyche to position the nation within contemporary global politics.

An in-depth study of history and memory, The Armenian Experience examines the characteristics and sentiments of a national identity that spans the globe. Armenia lies in the heart of the Caucasus and once had an empire – under the rule of Tigranes the Great in the first century BC – that stretched from the Caspian to the Mediterranean seas. Beginning with an overview of Armenia's historic position at the crossroads between Rome and Persia, Minassian details invasions from antiquity to modern times by Arabs, Mongols, Ottomans, Persians and Russians right up to its Soviet experience, and drawing on Armenia's post-Soviet conflict with Azerbaijan in its attempts to reunify with the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

This book questions an Armenian self-identity dominated by its past and instead looks towards the future. Gaïdz Minassian emphasises the need to recognise that the Armenian story began well before the Genocide 1915, and continues as an on-going modern narrative.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780755600748
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/28/2020
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 9.33(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Gaïdz Minassian is a lecturer in International Relations at Sciences Po, Paris Institute of Political Studies and a research associate at the Fondation pour la Recherche Scientifique (FRS) in Paris. He has been writing for Le Monde since 2001 and has published many books on the politics of Armenia and the Caucasus.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vi

Introduction 1

Part I History and Memory: The Logics of Domination

1 International Domination 11

2 Political-Religious Domination 63

3 Socioeconomic Domination 83

Part II Attempts to Change the Course of History

4 The Revolutionary Movement, 1878-1914 93

5 Grounding the History of a Fragmented Identity, 1920-1988 103

6 Rebirth of the Sovereign State, 1988-1998 109

Part III The Power of Memory

7 The Haitadist Cultural Revolution, 1972-1991 131

8 Turkey or the Unique Case of State Denial 147

9 The Armenian Memorial State (1998-2018) 159

Part IV Beyond the Genocide

10 Democratizing Identity 173

11 Building Dialogue with the Turks 185

12 Encouraging the Commitment of the International and Academic Communities 213

Conclusion 243

Bibliography 247

Index 267