December 21, 2023

Dear Friends of the Zoryan Institute,

This past year will be forever marked by great atrocity and suffering for so many. The invasion of Ukraine, the impunity, censorship, and global indifference to today’s world issues, including the 9 months of blockade of the Nagorno-Karabakh culminated by ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, its indigenous population, the Israel/Palestine conflict, the civil war in Libya and the mass killings in Darfur, just to name a few, have brought the Institute to a turning point as we think about foundational questions that may shape the work which we may have to do moving forward.

How can the Zoryan Institute’s work be effective in a growing climate of censorship and political turmoil? How does the Zoryan Institute address the current issues of today, without blurring the lines between advocacy and academia? How does the world community hold perpetrators accountable when the standards of international and humanitarian law are being compromised and grossly violated? What would then be the objectives of Genocide and Human Rights education?

These big overarching questions require critical thinking from all the Zoryan Institute Board Members and Friends, and the engagement of scholars, institutions, individuals, and organizations to join us in this important discourse. Being an academic, research, and educational Institute that is a place to think, research, and analyze recent history, we aim to understand the events that impact our lives today and in the future by providing scholarly information and analysis about the causes of international events that impact humanity at large. We encourage you to join this important discussion by emailing or writing to us.

On this year’s end, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the community’s commitment to the Institute’s mission and work. With your support, we can work towards addressing some of these transformative questions with the goal of promoting equity, tolerance, reconciliation, and awareness through scholarship, for a more peaceful and just world for all.

– K.M. Greg Sarkissian, President of the Zoryan Institute