Armenpress has interviewed Armen Gevorgyan, a former vice prime minister who now heads the Initiative for Development of Armenia (IDeA), over the fund’s projects dedicated to the Armenian Genocide centennial.

Development of Armenia (IDeA) Foundation are mainly aimed at the development of infrastructures, the Foundation is also going to carry out activities and programs dedicated to the Armenian Genocide Centennial. We would like this interview to reflect on particularly them. Could you please specify what activities you are planning to hold this year?

Initiatives for Development of Armenia (IDeA) Foundation does carry out a number of activities of various scale and content dedicated to the Armenian Genocide Centennial. They range from rendering assistance to the Armenian Genocide Museum¬Institute to conducting lectures by distinguished historians and experts in genocide studies at UWC Dilijan College. As you know, the lecture delivered by lecturer at the Open University of Israel, expert in genocide studies and author of “The Banality of Indifference” book Yair Auron marked the start of the series of lectures at UWC Dilijan College. The College is expected to host other famous scholars as well. The general topic will refer to humanism, and we believe it will be really useful for young people studying there. The Foundation has also supported the shooting of “1915” movie and if my memory serves me well, the movie will premiere this April. It’s true, IDeA foundation is carrying out large¬scale and long¬term programs aimed at the development of regions and infrastructures, but it also attaches importance to the humanitarian and pan¬Armenian area, and so one of our projects will be dedicated to the centenary of the Armenian Genocide and will be known as “100 LIVES”.

In one of his recent interviews IDeA Founder Ruben Vardanyan spoke about that new project, which will allow to express gratitude to nations and organizations that stretched out a helping hand to Armenian people during the Armenian Genocide. Which is the main aim and core of the project, and when are you planning to start it?

The project 100 LIVES will be launched in New York City on March 10. IDeA Founder Ruben Vardanyan, US-based Armenian entrepreneur and benefactor Noubar Afeyan and President of Carnegie Corporation of New York Vartan Gregorian are the co¬founders of the project. The project will bear several important components. The first is the launch of the new website (www.100lives.com) available in five languages. It will feature the stories of Armenians who survived the Genocide and whose stories remained unknown to date – stories of the rescue of more than 100 lives, to be presented to the entire world. A board comprised of prominent historians was set up adjunct to the project – it is engaged in the elaboration and refinement of the stories. Edelman, which is a leading public relations company, has been involved in the advocacy of these stories. Besides, the website visitors will also have an opportunity to submit stories recounting the rescue of their own families. The next component refers to the digitization of Armenian Genocide archive materials. Over 600 000 pages of Armenian Genocide documents preserved in the archives of various countries are expected to be digitized. We also support the digitization of the documents of the Armenian National Archive and to this end, IDeA has already purchased two professional scanners and has donated them to the National Archive. The next and perhaps the most important component of the project will be unveiled at the project presentation. Besides the mentioned components, we also plan to carry out symbolic projects – projects of gratitude. These will be various programs, which will be aimed at those organizations and communities or which will be implemented in those places that were associated with the rescue of Armenians during the Genocide. 100 LIVES project is dedicated to the Armenian Genocide Centennial but it should be stressed that it is not about genocide but rather about rebirth. We pay tribute to those who granted our people an opportunity to be reborn by reaching out a hand to them.