Armenian International Magazine (AIM) July 2000, Volume 11, No. 7, pp. 44-45.
COUNCIL OF EUROPE Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe Votes In favor of Armenia’s membership
By Hratch Tchilingirian
On June 28 the Coucil of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) voted unanimously to approve Armenia’s bid to join the 41-member organization. Armenia is set to become a full member of Council of Europe (CE) when its Committee of Ministers meet in September. Azerbaijan’s bid was also overwhelmingly accepted, with just one vote against.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) Vol. 11, No. 6, June 2000, pp. 50-51
A Noble Cause Violinist Levon Chilingirian Crusades for Armenia’s Musicians
By Hratch Tchilingirian
With all the pomp and regalia of royal ritual, Queen Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, has bestowed upon Violinist Levon Chilingirian, 52, the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his "contribution to music" during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in February. OBE, established by King George V in 1917, is awarded to British subjects for their "outstanding work."
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) Vol. 11, No. 3, March 2000, pp. 62-64
Witness of His Time The Oppressed and the Rejected Find Dignity and Respect in Norikian
By Hratch Tchilingirian
"The different faces I paint have the same agony and suffering," says Krikor Norikian, 58 -- popularly known as Norik -- who is one of the Diaspora’s most well-known painters. "I don’t know where that agony comes from. It’s from nature, from human suffering. It’s from my past, my family and my life experience. It might come from a specific source, but it is universal."
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) March 2000, Vol. 11, No. 3, p. 23
Pomp and Circumstance Greet Kocharian
By Hratch Tchilingirian
President Robert Kocharian paid an official three-day visit to Lebanon in February. He was greeted at the Beirut airport by Lebanese President Emil Lahoud, the Chairman of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berrie, Prime Minister Selim Hoss and other senior officials. The 72 hours of pomp and circumstance turned heads. “Even the visit of President Jacques Chirac was not so grand,” said one observer.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) February 2000, Volume 11, No. 2, pp. 54-56
Medieval Lobbyists
AUB Professor Explores Armenian-Moslem Relations in the Middle East
By HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN
The political and cultural history of the Armenians in the Near East is one of the least explored areas within traditional Armenian Studies. But Seta Dadoyan, Professor of Cultural Studies, Philosophy and Art at the American University of Beirut (AUB), has created a new interest in the subject — with a particular focus on its contemporary significance.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) February 2000, Volume 11, No. 2, pp. 50-52
Seven Years in Prison “If one suffers, but does not believe, life becomes meaningless.”
Compiled by Hratch Tchilingirian
Father Manuel Yergatian, a 33-year-old priest and citizen of Turkey was arrested in October 1980 while preparing to leave Istanbul en route to Jerusalem. He was charged with anti-Turkish activities in the years when various acts of political violence against Turks by Armenians were reported. His whereabouts were not known and no one was able to contact him. Archbishop Shnork Kalustian, Patriarch of Istanbul, was called to testify before the military court. The Turkish press reported on the trial of the “priest who is Turkey’s enemy.” The US State Department turned down a request to intervene in the case. Amnesty International did investigate the arrest. After his conviction, Yergatian served nearly seven years in Turkish prisons. Since his release, he has remained silent about his ordeal. At this writer's request, Fr. Yergatian, 46, describes for the first time and in great detail, what happened when he was arrested and convicted on charges of inciting terrorism.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) February 2000, Volume 11, No. 2
FOCUS OF THE MONTH
Jubilee in the Holy Land Pilgrimage of the Century Includes Top Government, Religious Leaders
By HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN
early 1000 Armenians from around the world gathered in the Holy Land during the week of January 17-24 to celebrate the bi-millennial jubilee of Christ’s Nativity in Bethlehem. The celebrations were headed by the top leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church with the participation of Armenian President Robert Kocharian, who led a 30-member state delegation to Palestine and Israel for the occasion.
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. 52-53
The Armenian Evangelical School in Anjar
Providing a brighter future
Hratch Tchilingirian
Ara (not his real name) was four years old when a social worker brought him to the Armenian Evangelical boarding school in Anjar, the Armenian village in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. The school was already in session and the principal insisted that Ara should come at the beginning of the following year. But the social worker could not take Ara back. “You wouldn’t send him away if I told you where this child comes from,” pleaded the desperate social worker. Ara was very quiet and looked disturbed, says Rev. Nersess Balabanian, 40, who is in charge of the school. “The child’s father is a drug addict, his mother is a prostitute and he lives in a tiny room with two other little siblings,” explains Balabanian, “we couldn’t possibly return this child to that place.” They took him in.
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) December 1999 Volume 10, No. 12, pp. 42-45
The Historical Present Two Scholars See the Present in the Annals of Ancient Times
By Hratch Tchilingirian
Putting together the dismembered body parts of gods — discarded in museum warehouses around the world — is not an easy job. But for archeologist and Egyptologist Hourig Sourouzian, 51, it is a professional passion. Painstakingly searching, identifying and matching pieces of heads, torsoes and legs of ancient statues has made Sourouzian one of the most sought-after experts of Egyptian art.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) December 1999 Volume 10, No. 12, pp. 24-25
The Istanbul Summit
Fifty-Four Nations Discuss Regional Security and Conflicts
By HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN
The much touted European security summit of the 54-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was held in Istanbul in late November. President Robert Kocharian headed an Armenian delegation to the summit, where member heads of states and governments adopted a new Charter for European Security and a revised Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE).
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) November 1999, Vol. 10, No. 11, p. 57
Catholics Elect New Patriarch The Armenian Catholic Hierarchy and Community Face Daunting Challenges
By Hratch Tchilingirian
In mid-October, Cairo-born Bishop Bedros Tarmouni, 59, was elected Catholicos Patriarch of the Lebanon-based Armenian Catholic Church by the Synod of Bishops at the Monastery of Bzommar. Unlike the Armenian Apostolic Church, lay representatives do not participate in the election of a Catholic patriarch. The Synod is made of clergy delegates representing Catholic communities in Europe, the Middle East, the US, South America and Armenia. The new leader will be known as Patriarch Nerses-Bedros XIX.