Can sharing stories help Armenia heal from trauma?
The descendants of survivors of the Armenian genocide (1915-1923) still live with inherited trauma, while historical wounds have been reopened for Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh.
On 24 April, Armenians around the world commemorated the 110th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The genocide began in 1915 in what was then the Ottoman Empire, with the murder of Armenian politicians and intellectuals by a nationalist movement called the Young Turks.
In the decade that followed, 1.5 million Armenians died, and hundreds of thousands more were forced into exile. These events are seared into Armenians’ collective memory.
“This topic is very personal for me,” says Andranik Shirinyan, a human rights activist from Armenia and John Smith Fellow. “For a long time, it has been difficult for me to speak about it because my family is descended from genocide survivors. My father’s and mother’s sides of the family both come from what is now eastern Turkey, and I grew up knowing this and hearing their stories.”
Intergenerational trauma
According to Andranik, the trauma has been passed down to a new generation of Armenians. “It’s a huge part of our identity,” he says. “But it’s a topic that is very traumatising, especially because the Armenian genocide is still denied by the Turkish government Families start talking about it and sharing family stories only when it’s a very intimate, close gathering of people. We have inherited this grief, even though we haven’t personally experienced it.”
Under Stalin’s rule, the topic was silenced. It wasn’t until 1967 – more than 50 years later – that the Armenian Genocide Memorial was built in Yerevan. “Turkey still does not acknowledge the genocide and has prosecuted Turkish writers and academics who have publicly addressed it,” says Andranik. “Academics have identified this ‘denialism’ as the final stage of genocide perpetration. When these tragedies are denied, they keep repeating.
“For a very long time, the descendants of Armenian genocide survivors couldn’t speak about this topic or demand justice or recognition. Now, most of the democratic world has officially recognised the Armenian genocide. One of the last countries to do so was the United States. This is very healing for the descendants because it means survivors’ stories are being heard. For those of us who have this trauma of feeling silenced, this is very important.”
Defending human rights
It was this experience that largely motivated Andranik to choose a career as a human rights activist. “I always felt like I wanted to change the world,” he says. “I want to help people who have the same stories. Those that know what it is like to be oppressed, persecuted and discriminated against.”
Andranik, who served as the country representative for Armenia at Freedom House, has recently supported the documentation efforts of human rights violations in Nagorno-Karabakh, a contested region that is now part of Azerbaijan. His team’s findings were published in November 2024 in a report titled Why are there no Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh?
There is a long history of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the region. The most recent war, which began in 2020, culminated in a blockade of Armenian areas in 2023, with residents denied access to energy, food and medicines for nearly a year.
“The follow up Azerbaijani attack of September 2023 and the blockade resulted in the territory being completely emptied of Armenians, which brought up again the traumas of the genocide,” says Andranik. “The region was ethnically cleansed, and voices were silenced and unheard. So again, I think it is important to provide a platform for these human stories and speak about this topic.”
Documenting human rights stories
The report was a collaboration between several organisations, including IPHR, a Brussels-based organization and Truth Hounds, a Ukrainian organisation which has been documenting war crimes during Russia’s illegal invasion.
It is based on interviews with more than 330 Armenians who have been forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We brought the expertise of these organisations to carry out a fact-finding mission with the victims, to document their stories,” says Andranik. “The documentation of human rights stories is important, even after decades and centuries. I think it has a healing effect for the victims.”
Hearing stories, sharing pain
The healing power of sharing stories to help process traumatic events is an emerging theme within the community of John Smith Fellows.
“Across our network, storytelling is being used as a way to understand and reclaim the past,” says Amy Melson, John Smith Trust programme manager. “When Fellows create a space to surface their stories – especially those that have been hidden and marginalised historically – we can see it offers a different kind of learning for our network, bringing the space, clarity, awareness and healing that’s necessary for new narratives to rise.”
At the Trust, we are exploring different ways to support the sharing of stories and narratives that will help Fellows move forward in creating the kinds of societies they want to live in.
Andranik says: “I want to call for solidarity, especially between those of us who are victims of human rights violations. Only through creating networks of solidarity and care, helping us stand against injustice, will we be able to live in a better world.”
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