October 2018
On October 23, 2018, CINF Board members Siobhan Nash-Marshall and Antonia Arslan arrived in Artsakh for a whirlwind three-day visit of celebration, new beginnings, hope and joy. The trip was part of Dr. Nash-Marshall’s tour of Armenia to announce the publication of the Armenian translation of her newest book, The Sins of the Fathers: Turkish Denialism and the Armenian Genocide. Dr. Nash-Marshall and Dr. Arslan were accompanied by Nishan Nahikian, cousin to Prof. Arslan, Tito De Luca, the newly appointed CINF Consultant to the Tri-Veneto, and Enrico Dal Bianco.
The visit was intense and fruitful. It included meetings between CINF Board members and Artsakh government officials; between CINF Board members and the heads of Artsakh’s institutions of higher education; between CINF Board members and CINF students; between CINF and local business owners. The purpose of these meetings was to assess the work accomplished by CINF and Artsakh in 2018, and, more importantly, expand CINF’s partnership with the government and institutions of higher education in Artsakh.
CINF and the government of Artsakh celebrated their partnership by co-organizing cultural events for the people of Artsakh. On October 23rd, an award ceremony was held both for the students who completed CINF’s 2018 summer courses and for the student team that won the first unofficial Artsakh Ethics Bowl. The award ceremony was followed by a presentation of the Armenian translation of Siobhan Nash-Marshall’s The Sins of the Fathers: Turkish Denialism and the Armenian Genocide, which the author dedicated to Artsakh. The event also featured the Armenian premiere of Azad Vartanian’s Ararat: la montagna misteriosa.
On October 24th, CINF Board members met with the Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Youth Affairs and Bako Sahakyan, President of Artsakh, to evaluate the 2018 educational program and discuss plans for 2019. During these meetings, the Artsakh government offered CINF NGO status in Artsakh and a Stepanakert-based office to further CINF-Artsakh partnership.
Following this meeting, CINF Board members and guests visited the Yeznik Mozian Professional School in Shushi. While there, CINF signed a Memoranda of Understanding with the School, which has agreed to host CINF artisan teachers from the Veneto Chamber of Commerce for vocational courses in the coming Spring. CINF hopes that this collaborative program will help the Artsakhtsi establish profitable cottage industries.
The visit included surprises: the conferral by Mesrop Mashtots University of an Ph.D. honoris causa to Antonia Arslan, in recognition of her extraordinary contributions to Armenian Culture, and a B.A. honoris causa to Tito De Luca.
The visit was above all filled with reunions of professors and students, friends and genatzes, and the solemn promise by all to meet again in March to inaugurate the 2019 CINF-Artsakh partnership.