Pashinyan ordered the resignation of Armenian Genocide Museum director after Artsakh references during JD Vance visit

(Horizon Weekly / YEREVAN) – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Thursday that it was at his instruction that Edita Gzoyan, director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, submitted her resignation following controversy surrounding last month’s visit by U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

Speaking at a government briefing, Pashinyan stated that Gzoyan’s actions during Vance’s visit to the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex “contradicted the foreign policy of the Armenian government” and described them as “provocative.”

During the visit, Gzoyan reportedly showed the U.S. vice president khachkars installed at the memorial in memory of Armenians killed in the anti-Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku, and also pointed to the graves of five fighters from the 1990s Karabakh war located near the memorial wall. According to reports, she drew connections between those events and the Armenian Genocide and presented Vance with books related to the Artsakh issue.

Pashinyan argued that such messaging was inconsistent with the Armenian government’s foreign policy position.

“When the country’s prime minister says there is no Karabakh movement, what does it mean to give a foreign guest a book about the Artsakh issue?” Pashinyan said. “In the Republic of Armenia, foreign policy is conducted by the government.”

He added that any state official whose actions contradict the government’s foreign policy would be dismissed.

Gzoyan’s departure has prompted protests from staff members at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute as well as criticism from several members of its academic board. Prominent genocide historian Raymond Kevorkian resigned from the board in protest.

The episode has also sparked broader debate among scholars and observers about academic independence and research freedom within Armenian state institutions.