Armenian International Magazine AIM Vol. 11, No. 1, January 2000, pp. 64-66.
Psychological Welfare Healing the Emotional Scars of the Karabakh War
By HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN
"Every child and adult in Karabakh has a war story,” says Khatchatur Khachik Gasparian, 36, psychologist and head of the Yerevan State Medical University’s Medical Psychology Section. “The need to listen to them is enormous and essential,” he adds.
Armenian International Magazine AIM Vol. 11, No. 1, January 2000, pp. 52-53
HAIGAZIAN UNIVERSITY IN LEBANON
Hratch Tchilingirian
One of the most valuable contributions of the Armenian Evangelical Church and its commitment to education is the establishment of the Haigazian University in Beirut. After four decades, it remains the only Armenian institution of higher education in the Diaspora. Haigazian — which has graduated over 1,600 students since its founding in 1955 — is accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education of Lebanon and is a member of the Association of International Colleges and Universities. It offers 19 undergraduate and four graduate degree programs.
Armenian International Magazine AIM Vol. 11, No. 1, January 2000, pp. 52-53
The Armenian Evangelical Union of the Near East
Coping with the effects of the war
Hratch Tchilingirian
Established in 1924, the Lebanon-based Armenian Evangelical Union of the Near East is one of the oldest among the five Unions that comprise the Armenian Evangelical Church. It is a union of over two dozen churches and congregations in seven countries in the Middle East and one church in Australia, as the origin of the Sydney church is traced back to Lebanon and Syria.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) Vol. 11, No. 1, January 2000, pp. 35-38; 43.
WHEN SMALL IS BIG
Armenian Evangelicals Render a Century and a Half of Service
By Hratch Tchilingirian
Numbering only 50 to 70,000 around the world, Armenian Evangelicals are among the most organized, visible, and active of the world’s eight million-plus Armenians. Despite their small numbers and their periodic conflicts with the Armenian Apostolic Church, the legitimacy, value and mission of the Armenian Evangelical Church has become indisputable over the last century and a half. Just the fact that it is politically incorrect to call them Protestants – they’re Evangelicals – attests to a change of attitude and acceptance; they are no longer seen as “protesters” but as believers genuinely involved in Christian mission and evangelization.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) December 1999 Volume 10, No. 12, pp. 46-48
Integration The Point of No Return
By Hratch Tchilingirian
After the 17-year devastation of the Lebanese civil war, Arthur Nazarian, 48, has been assigned, arguably, the most thankless job in the Lebanese government. The Beirut-born industrialist is both Minister of Tourism and Minister of the Environment.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM), November 1999, Vol. 10, No. 11, pp. 24-25
A New Beginning Catholicos Garegin II Faces the Task of Healing and Leading the Church
By HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN
The Armenian Apostolic Church elected the 132nd Catholicos of All Armenians on October 27. Archbishop Garegin Nersissian, Vicar of the Ararat Diocese, succeeded Catholicos Karekin I, who passed away in June after serving for only four years as the head of the 1700-year old Church.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM), Volume 10, Number 10, October 1999, pp. 48-51
Back In Karabakh Diocese of Artsakh Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Re-establishment
By Hratch Tchilingirian
The Diocese of Artsakh celebrates the 10th anniversary of its re-establishment in Mountainous Karabakh. Under the most trying circumstances, the Diocese was officially reopened in the spring of 1989 with a special encyclical by Catholicos Vazgen I of All Armenians, and with the appointment of Bishop Barkev Martirossian as Primate. (He became an Archbishop in June 1999).
Armenian International Magazine (AIM),October 1999, Volume 10, Number 10, p. 24-27
Turkish Tragedy A Devastating Earthquake Shakes the Land, People and Government of Turkey
By Hratch Tchilingirian
The devastating earthquake that hit Turkey’s Marmara region in August killed almost 20,000 people, left more than 27,000 people injured and hundreds of thousands homeless. The epicenter of the 7.4 magnitude earthquake was near Izmit, an industrial city about 104 km (60 miles) east of Istanbul.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM), August-September 1999, Vol. 10, No. 8&9, pp. 76-77, 79
Looking to the East Chant Avedissian rediscovers and redefines Egyptian visual art
By Hratch Tchilingirian
If you’ve traveled through London’s Heathrow Airport or flown on British Airways in the last few years, chances are you’ve seen Chant Avedissian’s paintings—representing Egypt. It is one of a series of colorful art deco British Airways plane tails representing different nations around the world.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) July 1999, Volume 10, Number 7, pp 53-54
Instilling the Armenian Spirit Armenian Education in a Transient Community
By Hratch Tchilingirian
The tiny Armenian community in the United Arab Emirates, numbering less than 2000, has a collective history of about 20 years. Unlike most established Diaspora communities around the world, the most prevalent characteristics of this community is its transient nature.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) July 1999, Volume 10, Number 7, pp 37 & 39
Crisis Without Borders The Media in the Middle East
By Hratch Tchilingirian
In the old days, when things looked bleak in the Diasporan communities of the West, everyone looked to the Middle East for hope. There, Armenians spoke, read, wrote Armenian. There, the future of the language and the culture was guaranteed.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) July 1999, Volume 10, Number 7, pp 29-33
The End of a Journey Karekin I, Catholicos of All Armenians, 1995-1999; Catholicos of Cilicia, 1977-1995
By Hratch Tchilingirian
In April 1995, Karekin I was elected the 131st Catholicos of All Armenians in Ejmiatsin by the National Ecclesiastical Assembly, arguably, the most pan-Armenian body representing almost nine million Armenians in the republic and 32 countries in the Diaspora. Unlike other elections in the last five hundred years, this one was the first in a free and independent Republic of Armenia. And for the first time in history, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, in Lebanon, was elected Catholicos of All Armenians in Ejmiatsin.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) June 1999, Volume 10, Number 6, pp 46-48
Master of Grand Theater Gerard Avedissian in the Cultural Landscape of Lebanon
By Hratch Tchilingirian
Playwright, actor, director and producer Gerard Avedissian, 55, is one of the most sought-after artists in the Middle East. A regular guest on the Lebanese television talk show circuit and the cultural scene, Avedissian is the master of the grand theater. “People expect something big and something well done,” he says, when they see his name associated with a theatrical production. In 1997, when he wrote, directed and co-produced “Ghadat Al-Camilla”—a musical play inspired by Alexandre Dumas Jr’s The Lady of the Camellias—some 55,000 people saw the production in one season.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) April 1999, Vol. 10, No. 4, p 58-59
AN ARAB HISTORIAN AND HIS CAUSE Saleh Zahredeen Takes on the Armenian Genocide
By Hratch Tchilingirian
"The truth shall be told even while hanging on the gallows," confidently affirms Saleh Zahreedin, 48, Lebanese Druze historian and author of a dozen books and pamphlets in Arabic on the Armenians and the Genocide.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) January 1999, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 20-21
A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS Armenia moves to reinforce the UN Genocide Convention
By HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN
"Genocide shaped the founding of the United Nations" said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in a message on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The legally-binding Genocide Convention was adopted in 1948 and entered into force in 1951.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) September 1998, p. 13
Election of Patriarch Postponed Indefinitely by Turkish Government
By Hratch Tchilingirian
For almost five months now, the Turkish state has refused to approve an election date permitting the 80,000-strong Armenian community, Turkey’s largest Christian minority, to proceed with the election of the 84th hierarch of the 537-year old Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) August 1998 (Notebook, p. 10)
UNITED DIOCESE?
By Hratch Tchilingirian
In an interview with AIM (April-May 1998), when speaking about the protracted administrative schism in the Armenian Church, Catholicos Aram I made it very clear that it is ultimately up to the people to decide the question of “church unity.” When asked about the role of the hierarchy and who is going to take the first step, His Holiness said: “Antelias came here not to divide the people, but to serve the people. If the people whom we are serving tell us thank you very much for what you did, the next day Antelias will go back to Antelias.”
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) June 1998 (pp. 10-13)
100 YEARS IN AMERICA The Armenian Apostolic Church is celebrating the centennial of the establishment of the North American Diocese.
By Hratch Tchilingirian
With nearly 150 parishes and mission communities, 135 clergyman and several hundred full-time staff and an estimated cumulative budget of $12 million, the Armenian Church is the oldest, the largest, and arguably one of the most organized Armenian institution in North America.