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.

Armenian International Magazine (AIM) March-April 1997 pp30-32

Playing with Tigers
Armenia Looks East for Trade and Investment

by Hratch Tchilingirian

"Here in Asia, we are spoiled. We have not seen any political difficulties for a long time. The Far Easterners in general are not really interested in politics. Their main aim is business and how to increase productivity. This is why this region has been growing at a very fast pace. Everybody is interested in making money. Economics comes before politics," observes Vartan Keshishian, President of Hong Kong-based Checkmate Industries.

War Report, No. 50, April 1997
(c) Copyright: The Institute for War and Peace Reporting 1997

ARMENIA: REBOOTING THE POLITICAL HARD DRIVE
The Karabakh leader becomes Armenia’s new prime minister

by Hratch Tchilingirian

On March 20 President Levon Ter-Petrossian named the leader of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, Robert Kocharian, 43, as Armenia's new prime minister. He replaces Armen Sarkissian who resigned on March 6 owing to serious illness.

(c) Copyright Oxford Analytica 1996 - December 6, 1996

ARMENIA/AZERBAIJAN: Nagorno-Karabakh Impasse

[Hratch Tchilingirian]

The Lisbon summit of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which ended on December 3, failed to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Armenian Reporter Int'l, October 12, 1996

THE ARMENIAN CHURCH UNDER THE SOVIET REGIME

Book Review

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.

Frontier (Keston Institute), January-March 1996 [pp. 6-7]

More Priests, More Scholars
While the legacy of communist oppression continues to hamper Armenia's seminaries, scholars have teamed up with the Church to offer a dynamic alternative to secular students, reports Hratch Tchilingirian

When the Soviet Union collapsed and the Republic of Armenia declared independence in 1991, the Armenian Apostolic Church, Armenia's national church, faced one of the greatest challenges of its history: how to care for the religious needs of the three million Armenians in the country with fewer than 150 clergymen.

Armenian International Magazine (AIM) March 1996

On Campus in Karabakh

by Hratch Tchilingirian

It's like any other university. There is an administration building, some classrooms, offices, faculty and students. It also has some things other universities don't have. A memorial wall, for example, of neatly arranged rows of framed photographs. Just like everywhere else in Karabakh, the memorials to the dead are in plain view, and the State University of Mountainous Karabakh is no exception. Walking into the university building, one is struck by the pictures of more than 100 once-enrolled students who will never graduate.

Armenian International Magazine (AIM) December 1995

"Collaboration First Unity Later, Maybe"
Two new Catholicoses in One Year

by Hratch Tchilingirian

The Catholicossal election that was held in Etchmiadzin, April 3-5 of this year, was an event with many historical firsts. The National Ecclesiastical Assembly (NEA), the highest legislative body of the Armenian Church, convened for the first time in 40 years. The election took place for the first time in a free and independent Armenian Republic. For the first time in history, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia was elected Catholicos of All Armenians in Etchmiadzin.