Armenian International Magazine (AIM) Vol. 11, No. 10, October 2000, pp. 40-44. COVER STORY
Dividing Jerusalem Armenians on the line of confrontation
By HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN
The Armenian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem has become one of the most talked about issues in the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli negotiations over the final status of the city that is sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims. At the Camp David II talks in the US in July [2000], it was proposed that the Old City be divided into two sections: Israeli control over the Jewish and Armenian quarters and Palestinian control over the Christian and Muslim quarters.
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. 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.
... some 40 students, mostly natives of Armenia and some from Georgia, study the Bible, theology, history, psychology and sociology. One third of the faculty are from Armenia and two-thirds from the Diaspora ...
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), 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 Volume 10, Number 10, October 1999, p. 11
[Editorial by Hratch Tchilingirian]
Electing A Holy Father Will the new Catholicos heal, build and lead the Church into the next century?
At the end of October over 450 delegates from around the world, elected by their respective communities, will convene the National Ecclesiastical Assembly (NEA), the Armenian Church’s highest body of authority, to elect a new Catholicos of All Armenians.
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 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) December 1998, Vol. 9, No. 12, p. 11
[Editorial by Hratch Tchilingirian
CLASH OF VALUES The West's patronizing, sometimes arrogant attitude has contributed to the frustration of groups who are tired of "transitions"
The World Council of Churches (WCC) which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month (see page 62), has come under strong criticism-particularly since the collapse of the Soviet Union-by high ranking leaders of the Orthodox churches that follow the Byzantine tradition. Among them, Russian Patriarch Alexei II has warned that the continued participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in WCC will depend on the organization's "total reconstruction." The Russian Orthodox Church is the biggest in the WCC's 332 mainly Protestant (and leading Orthodox) member churches. The Georgian Orthodox Church has already withdrawn its membership and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is expected to withdraw this month.
... at the local Yessayan Armenian school, attend the Stuttgart American High School in Germany. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Memphis, Tennessee, in Sociology. He continued his ...
Armenian International Magazine (AIM) April-May 1998, pp. 32-36
ARAM I ON FAITH AND THE HOMELAND
By Hratch Tchilingirian
The Head of the Great House of Cilicia speaks about his commitment to education, fellowship, service and outreach, in the hope that they will lead his flock back to greater spirituality and a cohesive commitment to Armenia. Does the absence of church unity stand in the way?
Hratch Tchilingirian (1997) "Religious discourse and the church in Mountainous Karabakh 1988-1995" in Revue du monde arménien moderne et contemporain (Paris) 3.
Hratch Tchilingirian (1998) "Le conflit du Haut-Karabagh provoque des changements majeurs en Arménie" in Nouveaux Mondes (CRES - Centre de Recherches Entreprises et Sociétés, Geneva), No. 8.
... 18(4), 435-461
Nagorno Karabagh: transition and the elite
HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN *Hratch Tchilingirian is at the Sociology Department, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, ...