In July 2019, AVC Founding President Dr. Yervant Zorian visited Istanbul, where he met with Archbishop Sahak Mashalian and the prominent members of the Armenian community. During the meeting at the Armenian Patriarchate, Dr. Zorian presented an overview of the online educational opportunities provided by the AGBU Armenian Virtual College to schools and communities in the Diaspora.  In addition to six other languages, AVC offers online courses instructed in Turkish. The AVC multimedia e-books series in Turkish is also available to read online or download.

 “The AVC courses are easy to follow and divided into different levels, which makes studying easy and enjoyable. The online instructors are very supportive and ready to answer any questions about grammar or pronunciation by email or Skype. When people leave far from their homeland, they often lose their language. AVC creates good opportunities for learning and speaking Armenian,” a student from Istanbul Katrin Boyajoghlu says.

Archbishop Mashalian expressed his best wishes of success to Dr. Zorian and AVC in their important mission of promoting the Armenian heritage worldwide. 

During his stay in Istanbul, Dr. Zorian accompanied by community leader Sarkis Cavusyan also visited several Armenian institutions and met their leaders, including the Surp Pirgic Armenian Hospital where he met with the chairman of the board Bedros Sirinoglu and the director Dr. Armenak Mezaduryan. He also visited the editorial offices of the main Armenian publications, including the Jamanak daily newspaper where he met with its editor-in-chief Ara Kocunyan, at the Marmara daily with its editor Rober Haddeciyan, and at the Paros Magazine with editor Mayda Saris. AVC and the ways for expanding collaboration with the Armenian community were discussed.   

In September 2019, a group of students Sahakian Nunian Armenian school in Istanbul accompanied by their teachers and the principal visited AVC, as part of their trip to Yerevan.