First Woman and First Diasporan Ambassador builds vital bridges
by Hratch Tchilingirian
When in 1994 Sevda Sevan was appointed Armenia’s ambassador to Bulgaria, she held three records. She was the first female to head an Armenian diplomatic mission; she was the first Diasporan with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary; and was the first Diasporan to acquire Armenian citizenship by giving up her Bulgarian citizenship.
... and external politics.
The strong Armenian voice in Abkhaz politics is also conditioned by the extensive Armenian participation in the Abkhaz war against Georgia. There were two Armenian battalions, ...
In Ann Arbor, Hratch Tchilingirian discusses church-state relation
Armenian Reporter[Paramus, NJ] 29 Nov 2008: A9.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The Church hierarchy can no longer simply pontificate about complex problems of society without real engagement in the life of the people," declared Cambridge University scholar Hratch Tchilingirianin a recent lecture at the University of Michigan. "What is the relevance of a 1,700 year-old Church and religious faith to contemporary Armenians living in Armenia and outside, all around the world?"
... COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
Conference on EASTERN CHRISTIANITY: THEOLOGY AND POLITICS
Paper
"Contemporary issues in the Armenian Orthodox Church"
16 November 2002
Conference on EASTERN ...
The Cilician Election and Church Unity Discussed in An Interview with Khachig Babikian, Esq.
HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN
The following interview, conducted by the editor of Window Quarterly with Mr. Khachig Babikian, Chairman of the World General Assembly of the See of Cilicia, has been made available to a select few Armenian newspapers, including TAR Int'l
LONDON, UK - As Antelias prepares for the election of a new Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, on April 20, 1995, this writer conducted an interview with Attorney Khachig Babikian, Chairman of World General Assembly of the Great House of Cilicia and member of the Lebanese Parliament, discussing the details of the election and the issue of church unity.
Massis Weekly, Volume 27, No. 40 Saturday, November 10, 2007
Revisiting Political Ideology and Strategy
Hratch Tchilingirian
The immediate reaction of a casual observer of Armenian life in the Diaspora to the 120th anniversary of the first Armenian political party is, arguably, of irrelevance. While the majority of diasporans are familiar with the "three traditional political parties", they are hardly familiar with the program and history of these national institutions that have preserved Armenian political and cultural life in dispersion for over one hundred years.
Felix Corley, Religion in the Soviet Union: An Archival Reader. London: Macmillan Press, 1996, 402 pages.
How did the Soviet government deal with religion in the USSR? For many years it has been possible to read the reaction of believers to the Soviet state's attempt to control religious groups. But now Felix Corley's Religion in the Soviet Union: An Archival Reader, for the first time in English, provides a collection of documents that reveal the struggle between religion and the Communist state from the other side. In their own words the bureaucrats debate policy, issue orders and seek to maximize their control over all aspects of religious life. Using KGB, Central Committee, Council for Religious Affairs and local official documents, Felix Corley has built up a picture of how policy was applied to religious questions in many different areas of life—with the unchanging aim of control.
How absurd a notion it is to con sider having a Peace Center in one of the most war-torm regions of the world. Such has been the response I have often received when pursuing the dreams of the Dormition Abbey/a century old Benedictine Monastry in Jerusalem. However, the more shocking idea seems to be participation of Armenians in this endeavor. While there is foundation for skepticism, the most appropriate answer to such a view seems to be - how is it possible that there not be a Center for Peace in the city of Jerusalem, capital of three monotheistic religions — the City of Peace.
Book Review: Balancing the Traditional and the Modern
Azadouhi Simonian, Youth and Education (in Armenian, Beirut 1995)
The post-cold war era has been a mixed bless ing for the "new world or der". On the one hand, there is increasing inter est in social, ecological, gender and moral issues facing the world; on the other hand, nationalism and politicized religion have dominated the central stage of public discourse.
... at the Yerevan Polytechnic Institute and graduated as a computer engineer in 1972. He worked in a number of Soviet state institutions before getting involved in dissident politics in Soviet Armenia. He ...
Window view of the Armenian Church, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1992
THE END OF THE BEGINNING The Church in Armenia
by Hratch Tchilingirian
It is the end of the beginning-the euphoria that began with the freedom and independence of Armenia is over. Instead, hardship, struggle and anxiety have become part of everyday living in Armenia. For better or worse, a new era, a new "world order" has commenced in the history of the Armenian nation.
... yet started in the Armenian Church. By now--whether we understand politics or not--we all know that glasnost without perestroika is not enough. Gorbachev and the explosive situation that he has created ...
Armenisch-Deutsche Korrespondenz (ADK)[Koln], No. 103, 1999/Heft 1, pp. 7-8; No. 104, 1999, Heft 2, pp. 2-4.
Berg-Karabach: Die Außenpolitik im Wandel [published in German, see PDF versions]
[Nagorno Karabakh: Foreign Policy in Transition]
Hratch Tchilingirian
For over a decade now, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the South Caucasus remains the oldest unresolved conflict in the former Soviet Union. Meanwhile, a fragile cease-fire since May 1994 remains in place and the OSCE's Minsk Group continues attempts to mediate a resolution.