YEREVAN. –  Protracted processing of archival documents related to the Armenian Genocide is largely conditioned by poor government funding, director of Armenia's National Archives Amatuni Virabyan said.

The enthusiasm of scientists and lawyers only is not enough for serious large-scale work on the selection, translation and classification of archival documents both inside the country and abroad.

The expert said the National Archives have several important task, including translation and publication of documents on Armenian Genocide. In this context, cooperation is ongoing with the state archives of France, Switzerland , Germany, Bulgaria , Romania, Argentina, Iran and other countries. Moreover, the experts plan to create and post online a special database with detailed information about the victims of the tragic events.

However, the experts face a number of difficulties related primarily to the fact that many papers have been lost since 1915.  Furthermore, it is known that there were Armenian villages where no one could escape. Consequently, there are  no memories or any other information about their inhabitants.
 
The National Archives experts plan not only to show the international community the facts of the physical extermination of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, but also display cultural monuments created by Armenian architects.

Besides, the question of destroyed Armenian property will be raised, he said. According to some reports, by 1919 the damage was estimated at 2 billion francs.

The expert stressed that after gathering the necessary evidence Armenia will petition to the International Criminal Court.  However, Virabyan warned the process will last long as only 5 percent of around 300 million of documents have been processed.

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am