The eviction of Armenian intellectuals from Constantinople/Istanbul on the 24th April 1915, 110 years ago, marked the beginning of a crime that, to this day, remains largely forgotten: the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. Massacres and deportations led to the death of over 1.5 million Armenians. In Turkey, the government still denies the genocide.
A few years ago, in 2022, the persecution and deportation of Armenians suddenly was not just an event, relegated to the history books. Azerbaijan obstructed access to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), a region disputed under international law mainly inhabited by Armenians—resulting in food and medication scarcity for the local population. In September 2023, the region witnessed acts of ethnic cleansing, a military offensive led by Azerbaijan forced more than 120,000 Armenians to escape from Nagorno-Karabakh. This stirred traumatic memories of the 1915/16 genocide, referred to as “aghet” in Armenian.
Now, in 2025, tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have eased off. But what does that mean?
At Gorki Theatre in Berlin, Armenia—its culture of remembrance, its contemporary art—is placed at the forefront of the spring 2025 programme. Artistic director Shermin Langhoff pays a visit to Innsbruck.
Shermin Langhoff
Artistic Director of Maxim Gorki Theatre, Berlin
Katerina Poladjan
Author, based in Berlin, Germany
Hosted by
Tigran Petrosyan
Journalist, e. g. for German media outlets taz, ZEIT Online, head of Eastern-Europe projects of taz Panter Foundation
