«Մենք ինքնուրույն քաղաքակրթություն ենք» - Զրույց Նորավանք հիմնադրամում

Karen Agekyan's article is devoted to a conversation held at the "Noravank" Foundation with the participation of Gagik Harutyunyan, Harutyun Marutyan, and Sevak Sarukhanyan, in the course of which the directions of the foundation's activity and its conceptual approaches to questions of Armenian statehood and identity are revealed.

Introduction and Methodology

The material is constructed in the form of a dialogue, in which representatives of the foundation successively reveal the structure and content of its research programs, while the author steers the conversation toward a discussion of broader worldview questions.

Programs of the "Noravank" Foundation

Harutyun Marutyan presents the social-studies branch of research, focused on two main themes:

the study of Armenian communities abroad, with an emphasis on their strategic significance for national security;
research on Armenians of other faiths and other languages, above all the Armenian presence in Turkey.

Separately addressed is the theme of collective memory of the Genocide and its role in the Karabakh Movement of 1988–1990, as well as in the formation of Armenia's complementary foreign policy.

Gagik Harutyunyan describes the foundation's educational and informational programs — the "Noravank Readings" — and its publishing activity, including the journal "21st Century."

Energy Security and the Foundation's Independence

Sevak Sarukhanyan reveals "Noravank's" cooperation with the "ArmRosgazprom" company in the sphere of energy security, emphasizing:

the mutual interest of the foundation and the company in the research project;
the publication of "Energy Bulletins";
the aspiration to make the foundation an international platform for discussing energy policy.

Gagik Harutyunyan insists on the foundation's principled independence, based on the transparency of results and the absence of external directives, distinguishing commissioned research from ideological engagement.

Key Point: Armenian Civilization as a Distinctive Phenomenon

The central part of the conversation is devoted to the concept of a local, distinctive Armenian civilization, which Harutyunyan defines as:

open to the global world, yet preserving internal resources for survival and development;
capable of compensating for a deficit of material resources through civilizational capital;
ensuring Armenia's leading position in the region in terms of the degree of sovereignty and economic freedoms.

The contemporary geopolitical confrontation is interpreted as a new, multipolar "cold war," waged at the level of civilizations and cultures, requiring nations to have a clear understanding of their own identity.

Institutional Development of Armenian Analytics and the Party System

The formation of a network of Armenian analytical centers is noted (the Institute for Political Studies under the President, the Dro Kanayan Institute), as well as the formation of parties with a clear ideology, which is regarded as an indicator of the maturity of Armenian statehood.

Conclusion

The key conclusion of the conversation is that civilizational distinctiveness and accumulated intellectual resources constitute a strategic potential capable of compensating for material limitations and ensuring Armenia stable positions both in the regional and in the broader international context.