Armenia: Foreign Relations
Oxford Analytica Daily Brief Oct 1, 1997
ARMENIA: Foreign Relations
[Hratch Tchilingirian]
A senior presidential foreign policy adviser resigned last month at a time when Armenia has been mounting a relatively successful effort to build its international ties.
Late Harvest
Frontier (Keston Institute, Oxford) June-August 1996 pp. 12-14
LATE HARVEST
Armenia's new church leader, Karekin I, must heal the rifts within the Armenian Church before he can plan for the future, writes Hratch Tchilingirian
In April 1995, the new Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church was elected in Echmiadzin, Armenia. Almost 9 million Armenians in the republic, the 'near abroad', and the diaspora were represented a the ceremony by 400 delegates from over 32 countries. The event represented many historical firsts. The National Ecclesiastical Assembly, the highest legislative body of the Armenian Church, composed of 26 per cent clergy and 74 per cent lay people) was convening for the first time in 40 years. The election was taking place for the first time in a free and independent Republic of Armenia. For the first time in history, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, in Lebanon, was elected Catholicos of All Armenians in Echmiadzin. The President of Armenia addressed the NEA for the first time and witnessed the enthronement of the new Catholicos.
Bebo Simonian: Hayagerdum yev Mangavarjutiun
The Armenian Reporter (New York), 10 May 1997
BOOK REVIEW
Hayagerdum yev Mangavarjutiun [Armenian-formation and Pedagogy]. By Bebo Simonian. Beirut: Shirak Press. 1996. 360p.
By Hratch Tchilingirian
Preservation ofthe Armenian identity (hayabahbanum) is one of the mosttalked-about subjects in the Armenian Diaspora; One could even say that "hayabahbanum" has been the raison d'etre of the Diaspora, at least until the independence of Armenia.
Karabakh: Internationalising the Enclave
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.
Playing with Tigers
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.
Armenia: Rebooting the Political Hard Drive
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.
Nagorno-Karabakh Impasse
(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.
Book Review: The Armenian Church Under the Soviet Regime
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.
More Priests, More Scholars
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.