Guests of Groong Podcast

Dr. Vartan Matiossian

Vartan Matiossian is an Armenian Studies scholar specialized in history and literature. He is the Executive Director of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church in New York. Born in Montevideo (Uruguay), he moved to Buenos Aires (Argentina) in his childhood and graduated from the University of Buenos Aires. He has lived in New Jersey since 2000. He obtained his Ph.D. in History from the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia in 2006.

He has published extensively in Armenian, Spanish, and English, including ten books and many scholarly articles, reviews, translations, and commentaries. He has edited several volumes and translated more than two dozen of books into Spanish, English, and Armenian. He is the author in English of Armenian Language Matters (2019), The Politics of Naming the Armenian Genocide: Language, History and ‘Medz Yeghern’ (2022), and has co-authored A Woman of the World: Armen Ohanian, the “Dancer of Shamakha” (2023) with Artsvi Bakhchinyan. His book The Color of Choice: The Armenians and the Politics of Race in the United States and Germany (1890-1945) will be published in the summer of 2025.

Dziunik Aghajanian

Ms. Dziunik Aghajanian has served Armenia through the ranks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and most recently as a diplomat, as Armenia’s Ambassador to such countries as the Netherlands, Malaysia, and Indonesia. She received her education at Yerevan State University, Columbia University in NY, and Uppsala University in Sweden.

Edgar Elbakyan

Edgar Elbakyan is a political scientist and social thinker based in Yerevan, Armenia. He is a co-founder of the Armenian Project non-profit organization, which contributes to enhancing Armenian national civil society.

Edgar Ghazaryan

Edgar Ghazaryan, former governor of Vayots Dzor, chief of staff at the Armenian Constitutional Court, and ambassador to Poland.

Էդգար Ղազարյան, Վայոց ձորի նախկին մարզպետ, նախկինում Լեհաստանի Հանրապետությունում ՀՀ արտակարգ և լիազոր դեսպան, և սահմանադրական դատարանի նախկին աշխատակազմի ղեկավար.

Edmon Marukyan

Edmon Marukyan, who is a lawyer by profession and the leader of the Bright Armenia party (Լուսավոր Հայաստան). He was a member of the fifth, sixth and seventh convocations of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia from 2012 till 2021. He’s also a member of the newly formed commission to amend the constitution.

Ehsan Movahedian

Dr. Ehsan Movahedian is an International Relations specialist, ATU University, in Tehran, Iran. He focuses on multidisciplinary research about Digital Diplomacy and politics.

Elisa von Joeden Forgey

Dr. Elisa von Joeden Forgey is the founder and executive director of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention. She is the former endowed chair in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College in New Hampshire, and the Marsha Raticoff Grossman Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey. She is an expert in genocide, gender, prevention, and the history of colonialism. Dr. Joeden-Forgey holds a BA in History from Columbia University in New York City, and MA, and PhD in History, from University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

Emil Sanamyan

Emil Sanamyan, a senior research fellow at USC’s Institute of Armenian Studies specializing in politics in the Caucasus.

Fyodor Lukyanov

Fyodor Lukyanov is Chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a Russian think tank providing expertise in the foreign policy field. He is also editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, a platform for publication in English and Russian of research in political science and international relations. Mr. Lukyanov is also Director of Research at the Valdai Discussion Club.