2013 presidential awards giving ceremony took place

Today, the Presidential awards giving ceremony for 2013 took place at the Presidential Palace. The awards – certificates with the inscriptions and prize money – for a significant contribution to a number of areas were handed to the award winners by President Serzh Sargsyan and the President of the Robert Poghossian and Sons foundation, the diaspora Armenian benefactor Jean Poghossian. Serzh Sargsyan congratulated the award winners and wished them every success during their future activities. The President of Armenia noted that it is a long time since they, together with the Poghossian family, have made an attempt to bring out the best achievements of Armenia's scientific, educational and cultural life under the patronage of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund. In that context, Serzh Sargsyan stressed that special attention is paid to international research works conducted on the Armenian Genocide topic, as well as to Armenian young men's creative aspirations.

«Each award has an important mission. These, as well as other awards provide a good way of public acknowledgment. This is crucial because creators are given a chance to be sure that they their works have been publicly appraised and have reached the audience.

Every creator tries to address his work to eternity. Work is an important way to transcend a man’s short lifetime and to pass his ideas to coming generations. However, it is not less important to conduct a dialogue with contemporaries. In this regard, I sincerely wish all the award winners to keep on achieving new successes.

I cordially wish you to be effective and conquer new creative heights in your work. I hope you to never lose your inspiration and your persistent and devoted works to bring new scientific, educational and cultural successes to the Armenian world.

Dear friends,

I attach special importance to the fact that with the Armenian Genocide Centenary ahead we are acknowledging the Israeli scientist and historian Yair Auron’s merit in the nomination “Considerable Contribution to the Process of Recognition of the Armenian Genocide.”

Many of the greatest representatives of the Jewish people have always shared the Armenians’ pain and tragedy. It is impossible to enumerate all the eminent intellectuals who have touched upon the Armenian Genocide. However, two names are worth mentioning.

The first one is the Austrian Jewish Franz Werfel whose novel the Forty Days of Musa Dagh warned us against the calamity brought on the European Jews. Sometimes, people having artistic thinking get ahead of scientists.

The second one is the Polish Jewish Raphael Lemkin. Being a lawyer and a scientist, he coined the term “genocide” and became the founding father of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted in 1948. It is no accident Lemkin said that while he was doing that work he had in mind the calamities the Armenians and Jews had outlived during the two world wars.

Honorable Mr. Auron, with your work you follow in the footsteps of the two people who were so devoted to Armenia and the Armenian people. Your whole scientific efforts are directed to the fight against the denial of the Armenian Genocide. I am very glad that the representatives of Israel and the Jewish diaspora fight for the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. I appreciate that despite all the hardships you do not repudiate your ancestors’ noble ideas.

Dear friends,

I congratulate you all once more. I wish you good health and new achievements during your subsequent activities. I wish you, your families and relatives peace, as well as significant works in the name of Armenia, the Armenian people and the entire humanity,” said President Serzh Sargsyan in his address to the award winners.

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By the decree of the President of Armenia, the 2013 Award for “Considerable Contribution to the Process of Recognition of the Armenian Genocide was confererd to:

Amatuni VIRABYAN and Gohar AVAGYAN for the three-volume collection of Armenian documents and the selected English collection of the same name “Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Turkey: Testimonies of the Survived (1916-1917)”; as well as to Yair AURON (Israel) for the book “Zionism and the Armenian Genocide” and his many years’ scientific activities.

By other decrees of the President of Armenia, the Presidential Award for 2013 was handed to:

Evgeni MAMASAKHLISOVIN, Shushanik TONOYANIN and Vladimir MOROZOV in the area of natural sciences for a series of scholarly articles entitled “Conformational Transitions Theory in Biological Macromolecules;”

Surik KHUDAVERDYAN, Vladimir ARUSTAMYAN, Janna DOKHOLYAN, Mane KHACHATRYAN and Stepan TSATURYAN in the area of Computer Sciences and Information Technologies for a series of scholarly articles entitled “New Multi-Purpose Semiconductor Sensor for Optical Signal Spectrum Analysis;”

Albert KIRAKOSYAN, Arshak VARDANYAN, Manuk BARSEGHYAN and Vram MUGHNETSYAN in the area of physics for a series of scholarly articles entitled “Management of Quasi-Particle States and Dynamic Depictions with Physical Factors in Semiconductor Nano Systems.”

The Presidential Youth Award for 2013 was delivered to:

Gor GYURJYAN in the area of art for his painting “Overcoming,” as well as to Janna NAZARYAN and Razmik NAZARYAN for their documentary film “Here, Beside US;” as well as to Mane GRIGORYAN in the area of literature for her collection of poems “Cold Woman.”

The Presidential Youth Award in the area of Classical Music for 2013 was conferred to:

Luisa EREMYAN, Sergey SARGSYAN and Grigor ABRAHAMYAN for high-performance in “Vocal Arts” nomination; as well as to Jora SARGSYAN (piano) for best performance in “Musical Instrument Playing” nomination.