ABOUT THE AUTHOR

VERJINE SVAZLIAN, ethnographer and folklorist, was born in 1934 in Alexandria (Egypt) in the family of the writer and public man, Karnik Svazlian, himself an eyewitness survivor of the Armenian Genocide.

In 1947, she was repatriated with her parents to the Motherland, Armenia.

In 1956, she graduated with honors from the Department of Armenian Language and Literature of the Kh. Abovian Armenian State Pedagogical University.

Beginning from 1955, she, on her own initiative, started to write down and thereby saved from total loss the various folklore relics communicated in different dialects by the repatriates forcibly deported from Western Armenia, Cilicia and Anatolia, as well as the memoirs and the songs of historical character narrated by the eyewitness survivors of the Armenian Genocide.

From 1958, she started to work at the M. Abeghian Institute of Literature of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia. During her post-graduate studies, she has been a M. Abeghian grant-aided student (under the scientific leadership of the Academician K. Melik-Ohandjanian).

Beginning from 1961 up to the present time she is working at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and, from 1996, also at the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.

She has maintained her Candidate thesis in 1965 and her thesis for a Doctor’s degree in 1995.

She has participated in a number of republican and international conferences, discoursing upon folklore, ethnography and the Armenian Case.

She is also the author of a number of scientific papers published in the Motherland and in the Diaspora.

Sarkis Haykuni. Kyankn u gordse [Sarkis Haykuni. Life and Work]. ‘Hay asgagrutyun ev banahyusutyun’ [‘Armenian Ethnography and Folklore’]. Vol. 4. Yerevan, Publishing House of the AS ASSR, 1973 (in Armenian).

Artsakh-Ootik. ‘Hay zhoghovrdakan hekiatner’ [‘Armenian Folk Tales’]. Vol. 6. Yerevan, Publishing House of the AS ASSR, 1973 (in Armenian).

Taron-Turuberan. ‘Hay zhoghovrdakan hekiatner’ [‘Armenian Folk Tales’]. Vol. 12. Yerevan, Publishing House of the AS ASSR, 1984 (in Armenian).

Moussa Ler [Moussa Dagh]. ‘Hay asgagrutyun ev banahyusutyun’ [‘Armenian Ethnography and Folklore’]. Vol. 16. Yerevan, Publishing House of the AS ASSR, 1984 (in Armenian).

Kilikia. Arevmtahayots banavor avandutyune [Cilicia. The Oral Tradition of the Western Armenians]. Yerevan, "Gitutiun" Publishing House of the NAS RA, 1994 (in Armenian).

Meds Yeghern. Arevmtahayots banavor vkayutyunner [The Great Genocide. Oral Evidences of the Western Armenians]. Yerevan, "Gitutiun" Publishing House of the NAS RA, 1995 (in Armenian).

Meds Yegherne arevmtahayots hooshapatumnerum ev toorkalezu ergerum [The Great Genocide in the Memoirs and Turkish-Language Songs of the Western Armenians]. Yerevan, "Gitutiun" Publishing House of the NAS RA, 1997 (in Armenian).

Genotsid v vospominaniiakh i turkoiazychnikh pesniakh zapadnykh armian [The Genocide in the Memoirs and Turkish-Language Songs of the Western Armenians]. Yerevan, "Gitutiun" Publishing House of the NAS RA, 1997 (in Russian).

Van-Vaspourakan. ‘Hay zhoghovrdakan hekiatner’ [‘Armenian Folk Tales’]. Vol. 15. Yerevan, "Gitutiun" Publishing House of the NAS RA, 1998 (in Armenian).

The Armenian Genocide in the Memoirs and Turkish-Language Songs of the Eyewitness Survivors. Yerevan, "Gitutiun" Publishing House of the NAS RA, 1999.

Bolsahayots banahyusutyune [The Oral Tradition of the Armenians of Constantinople]. Yerevan, "Gitutiun" Publishing House of the NAS RA, 2000 (in Armenian).

Hayots tseghaspanutyun. Akanates veraproghneri vkayutyunner [The Armenian Genocide. Testimonies of the Eyewitness Survivors]. Yerevan, "Gitutiun" Publishing House of the NAS RA, 2000 (in Armenian).

Hayots tseghaspanutyune ev patmakan hishoghutyune [The Armenian Genocide and Historical Memory]. Yerevan, "Gitutiun" Publishing House of the NAS RA, 2003 (in Armenian).

The Armenian Genocide and Historical Memory. Yerevan, "Gitutiun" Publishing House of the NAS RA, 2004.

In 1985, she was awarded the "Praise Certificate" of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR.

In 1985, the General Compatriotic Union "Moussa Dagh" granted her the Gold Medal of "Honorable Denizen of Moussa Dagh."

In 1992, the Historico-Cultural Union "Zeytoun" awarded her the title of "Honorable Denizen of Zeytoun."

In 1999, the Compatriotic Union "Van-Vaspourakan" awarded her the title of "Honorable Denizen of Vaspourakan."

On the 24^th of April, 2000, on the occasion of the 85^th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, she was awarded the "Diploma of Honor of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia for her scientific investigations conducted in the field of the History of the Armenian Problem, the Armenian Genocide and the Diasporan Armenians."

In 2002, she was awarded the Diasporan literary-philological prize "Haykashen Ouzounian" of the Tekeyan Cultural Union.

On the 24^th of April, 2003, the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia and the International Committee "The Veritables for the Armenians" granted her the "Fridtjof Nansen’s Memorial Medal for the scientific and public activity directed toward the condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and toward the establishment of philanthropic principles."