Testimonies of Armenian Genocide Survivors compiled in three-volume book

Armenia’s National Archive is going to publish a three volume book “Lamentations” (“Vshtapatum”) in May 2012 comprising of 1916 testimonies of the Armenian Genocide survivors, Amatuni Virabyan, director of Armenia’s National Archive told the reporters today.

He stressed that in 1916 people toured in the territories where Armenian refugees were and put down the stories of people from 8 to hundred years old.

“They were telling what had happened in their settlements, what terrible pogroms had been committed, how the men were killed, women raped, children tortured. We have about thousand documents,” Amatuni Virabyan said, adding that they already have the necessary means for publication of the documentaries. They have received funds both from the state budget and Armenian Moscow-based philanthropists.

Virabyan also stressed that while compiling the three-volume book they faced difficulties only connected with the names of settlements. “Western Armenians were telling what happened to them but Eastern Armenians were putting the stories down that was the reason of certain issues. We decided to preserve the linguistic peculiarities of the teller and the place. We have engaged linguists in the work for that reason,” he said.

Asked whether the book may be a value in respect of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Amatuni Virabyan said, “If we are saying that 1.5 million Armenians were killed, sometimes it means nothing, but when we have the testimonies of 1916 it has greater impact on a person. These documents clearly show the mechanism of commitment of the Genocide,” he said.

The director of Armenia’s National Archive said the book is intended to be translated into Turkish, Russian and other languages to present it to the world. They will also be placed in the Internet. Apart from this three volumes, the forth one will too be published to present what happened in Cilicia.