The goal of the visit of the nine-member delegation is to establish partnership with the organizations of the Armenian community in Lebanon, find new areas of cooperation, present the opportunities to receive education in Armenia, as well as present the publications dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

YSU delegation, headed by the Deputy Director of YSU Institute for Armenian Studies Mher Hovhannisyan, was also composed of the Director of YSU Publishing House Karen Grigoryan, representatives of university staff, lecturers and students.

On the first day of the visit, October 31, YSU delegation visited the Pifkaya Seminary where lecturer of the Faculty of History Artak Movsisyan delivered a lecture, headed “Education in Armenia in pre-Mashtots Era”. On the next day they were received in the Zmmar Seminary, where an extensive lecture was delivered by the historian Gegham Badalyan.

On November 2, a meeting was held with the directors of the Armenian colleges and the representatives of local authorities in the “Erjo Samuelyan Tricolor” Hall of the National Ordinariate. This meeting was arranged by the efforts of the Head of the Armenian Diocese in Lebanon, Bishop Shahe Panosyan.

The opening speech was made by the Head of the Information Department of the National Ordinariate Raffi Demirjyan: “We expect that this and subsequent meetings will be effective in terms of cooperation, and our partnership will become sustainable.”

Deputy Director of the Institute for Armenian Studies Mher Hovhannisyan also spoke about the purpose of the visit. He presented the steps taken so far in the field of cooperation, ties with the Diaspora, as well as the issue of the involvement of the Diaspora students in the master programs “Genocide Studies” and “Armenian Studies”.

Director of the Publishing House Karen Grigoryan presented the activities of this structure beginning with 1920 up to our days, noting that about 5500 pieces of literature have been published so far. Speaking about the cooperation with the Publishing House “Vahe Setean”, Mr. Grigoryan noted that an agreement between the two parties should be signed to provide this cooperation with more effectiveness. Here we should highlight about the implementation of various educational programs in Lebanon and Yerevan, joint educational, scientific and academic publications, a focus on the electronic books, the distribution, etc.

The agenda of the visit also includes the visits to the offices of local media. Members of the delegation have already been hosted in the editorial houses of the newspapers “Azdak”, “Zartonk” (Awakening), “Ararat”, radio station “Voice of Van” and raised the issues that are vital for both Armenia and the Armenian community in Lebanon.

Meetings with the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I, students of the Haigazian University, teachers from different colleges are also expected. On the last day of the visit the film “Hamshen at the Crossroads of Past and Present” by the Head of the Department of the Armenian-Ottoman Relations of the IAS Lusine Sahakyan will be shown in the theater “Hakob Ter-Melkonian”.