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The event was attended by YSU Rector Aram Simonyan, the Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies Ruben Melkonyan, the Chairman of the RA MES Science Committee Samvel Harutyunyan, the Director of the RA NAS Institute of history Ashot Mekonyan, the Director of the RA NAS Institute of Literature after Manuk Abeghyan Vardan Devrikyan, Archimandrit Zakaria Baghumyan, scholars, representatives of YSU faculty, Hamshen Armenians, guests from abroad, students etc.
The event started with the video telling about Hamshen.
The Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies Ruben Melkonyan delivered a welcoming speech. He thanked YSU Rector for assisting in the conduct of research and in the publication of the book. He said that the book is highly valuable and important for both researchers and students.
YSU rector, Aram Simonyan also made a welcoming speech. “We attach great importance to the scientific studies of the Hamshen Armenians. Yerevan State University has spared no effort to support the conduct of research on Hamshen and Hamshen Armenians. The author analyzed the historiographical records in the manuscripts of the Hamshen scribes, who provided us with exceptional and valuable information about the history, power, demography, toponyms, names, people's beliefs, language, and occupation of the population. As a historian, I highly value this work”, said the Rector.
The Chairman of the RA MES Science Committee Samvel Harutyunyan read the message of the Committee and pointed out that the priority of the Committee has always been to support research in the field of Armenian Studies and since he is the Chairman of the Committee this prioritization and support will be continuous.
“The manuscripts are of high scientific and historical-cultural", noted Samvel Harutunyan.
In his speech, the director of the RA NAS Institute of history Ashot Mekonyan recalled their visit to Hamshen. He said that it is impossible not to fall in love with Hamshen. Speaking about the book, Melkonyan noted that the qualities of philologist, historian, and specialist of Turkish studies have been combined in the work, as a result of which a valuable work of Armenian studies was born”.
Then, the ethnographer Sergey Vardanyan, the Director of the RA NAS Institute of Literature after Manuk Abeghyan Vardan Devrikyan, the head of the Chair of Turkish Studies Alexander Safaryan delivered their speeches in which they stressed the importance Lusine Sahakyan’s work.
The author of the book Lusine Sahakyan told about the fieldworks, about the scarcity of historical sources, presented the main idea of the book.
“One of the motives of writing the monograph was to bring together the facts about Hamshen. Studying the previous authors I understood that manuscripts can help us in it. Of course, there have been many attacks by Turkish academic circles during this period aimed at proving that Hamshen does not have anything to do with Armenians”, said Lusine Sahakyan.
The author noted that for the first time the Ottoman geographical records of Hamshen of the XVI-XVII centuries kept in Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives in Istanbul were subjected to a comparative analysis. For the first time 20 manuscripts copied in Hamshen during XV-XVII centuries were brought together in one monograph. Those manuscripts are kept in the Matenadaran, Mkhitarian congregation in Venice and Vienna, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in the British Museum, and the Free Library of Philadelphia. The book contains colorful pictures from the relevant pages of the manuscripts and Hamshen nature. A detailed map of the Hamshen province (XV-XVII centuries) is presented in the book, which is based on Sahakyan's topographic verification.
Lusine Sahakyan completed her speech with expressing gratitude to the people who assisted her during her studies.
Musicians and dancers of Hamshen origin and from Armenia performed at the concert that took place at the end of the presentation