... was one of several diaspora Armenians to have played a prominent part in Armenia's foreign policy. Born in Beirut, Libaridian is a US citizen and will now return to the United States. Other diaspora Armenians ...
War Report, No. 34, June 1995 (c) Copyright: The Institute for War and Peace Reporting 1995
Edging Towards the Big Agreement
by Hratch Tchilingirian
The dispute between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over Nagorno Karabakh–a small enclave of 4388 square kilometres in Azerbaijan, with a population of about 150,000–is the oldest conflict in the former Soviet Union. By 1991, what started as a popular movement for self-determination in 1988 had turned into a full-scale war with far reaching political and military implications for the region. The situation in Karabakh was further complicated by the fact that both parties in the conflict--the Armenians of Karabakh and the Republic of Azerbaijan--consider Karabakh an integral part of their territory. In September 1991, the Armenians of Karabakh declared an independent Republic of Mountainous Karabakh. No state has recognised Karabakh's claim to independent statehood. While the war is not officially over, May 12, 1995 marked the first anniversary of the cease-fire in Karabakh, after six years of armed conflict and bloodshed.
War Report, No. 50, April 1997 (c) Copyright: The Institute for War and Peace Reporting 1997
Internationalising the Enclave
By Hratch Tchilingirian
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh was transformed from a domestic Soviet conflict into an international issue. Besides Russia, a number of countries--including regional players such as Turkey and Iran--and international organisations proposed various unsuccessful initiatives. The most important of these, if not the most successful, has been the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which, since the summer of 1992, has been actively facilitating negotiations in the form of its 11-state Minsk Group, whose co-chairmanship became a triumvirate of Russia, France and the US earlier this year.
... on Diaspora life and relations with Armenia)
(PDF version) ::/introtext:: ::fulltext::Արին (Arin, monthly magazine, Beirut), January-February 1997.
«Հայրենիքի գոյութիւնը որեւէ Սփիւռքի համար անոր ...
... aucun lien ou quelque soutien que ce soit parmi les Arméniens de Turquie, et n’a même eu qu’un soutien minimum parmi les Arméniens de la diaspora.)
Comme les questions devenaient de plus en plus agressives, ...
Armenian International Magazine (AIM), Vol. 12, Issue 3, April 2001, pp. 30-36
THE FORGOTTEN DIASPORA Bulgarian-Armenians after the end of Communism
By Hratch Tchilingirian
"As long as my neighbor is worse, I don’t have to be better," goes the Bulgarian saying. When faced with enormous problems, a sense of relative wellness might provide temporary comfort. A decade after the fall of Communism, Bulgarian-Armenians describe the current state of their community with both pessimism and hope -- and offer many ideas for a preferred future.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM), Vol. 12, Issue 3, April 2001, pp. pp. 31, 32, 35
Creating New Cultural Scripts Ancient Techniques for Modern Expression in a New Bulgaria
By Hratch Tchilingirian
In 1997, a collection of more than 150 works of Bulgarian-Armenian artists was exhibited for the first time under one roof. The 50 artists featured (13 women) in the exhibit included those who had come to Bulgaria as refugees, such as Tbilisi-born Grigori Agaronian (1896-1978), Trabizon-born Kamer Medzadurian (1908-1987), and Swiss-born Carl Shahveledian (1898-1953), and Bulgaria-born artists, among them Araksi Karagiosian (b. 1896), Diran Sarkisian (1894-1970), Ovagim Ovagimian (b. 1908), Hilda Haritinova (1908-1990) and a host of contemporary painters and sculptors.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM), Vol. 12, Issue 3, April 2001, pp. 30-36
THE FORGOTTEN DIASPORA Bulgarian-Armenians after the end of Communism
By Hratch Tchilingirian
"As long as my neighbor is worse, I don’t have to be better," goes the Bulgarian saying. When faced with enormous problems, a sense of relative wellness might provide temporary comfort. A decade after the fall of Communism, Bulgarian-Armenians describe the current state of their community with both pessimism and hope -- and offer many ideas for a preferred future.
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) Vol. 12, Issue 2, March 2001, pp 18-19
HEAVENLY TREASURES
The British Library's extensive exhibit dedicated to the 1700th anniversary of Armenian Christianity
By Hratch Tchilingirian
Ten years in the making, the British Library in London is staging a large-scale and first of its kind exhibit, called "Treasures from the Ark: 1700 Years of Armenian Christian Art," that will be on displace from March 2 until May 28
... and Cilicia. Major church leadership changes in the last decade did not resolve what is seen as a painful chapter in the modern history of the church, especially in the Diaspora.
Since Armenia's independence, ...
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) November 2000 Vol. 11, No. 11
Armenia Joins Europe What Council of Europe Membership will mean for Armenia and Azerbaijan
By HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN
The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers passed a resolution on November 9 accepting Armenia as a full member of the 41-nation pan-European democratic and human rights organization. The Armenian flag will be raised outside the organization's headquarters in Strasbourg in January when the CE Parliamentary Assembly, which had also voted in favor of accession in June (see AIM July 2000) formally ratifies the decision.
... and the Diaspora and Armenia's Ambassador to Italy, Gagik Baghdasarian. Some 75 lay Armenians from the US, Europe and South America also participated in the ceremonies.
"The Armenian Church has paid ...
... families are allocated rent-free living quarters by the Patriarchate, passed on for generations.
For centuries, Armenian pilgrims who came to the Holy Land from various parts of Armenia and the Diaspora ...
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.
... Armenia is in danger of being completely cut off from artistic creativity," he says with concern.
What can be done? "I believe, we, the Diaspora, should create opportunities in Armenia as much as possible. ...
... 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. ...
... party ideology belongs to a different world. It has very little to do with global reality. This is what the leadership has to understand.”
As a historian familiar with Diaspora identity issues, Dadoyan ...
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.