Groong: Review & Outlook, August 14, 1998

ALIYEV INVITES KOCHARIAN
Global Strategies Shape Regional Developments

By Hratch Tchilingirian

When recently Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev invited Armenian President Robert Kocharian to attend an EU-sponsored international conference in Baku, to discuss prospects for the successful implementation of the TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia) program, many observers and analysts were caught off guard.

Armenian International Magazine (AIM) August 1998

Armenians By Choice

Transnational Culture and Identities

By Kristen Kidd and Hratch Tchilingirian

Armenian International Magazine (AIM) August 1998 (Notebook, p. 10)

UNITED DIOCESE?

By Hratch Tchilingirian

In an interview with AIM (April-May 1998), when speaking about the protracted administrative schism in the Armenian Church, Catholicos Aram I made it very clear that it is ultimately up to the people to decide the question of “church unity.” When asked about the role of the hierarchy and who is going to take the first step, His Holiness said: “Antelias came here not to divide the people, but to serve the people. If the people whom we are serving tell us thank you very much for what you did, the next day Antelias will go back to Antelias.”

Armenian International Magazine (AIM) August 1998

VIEW: Selling Off the Big Ones

[Editorial by Hratch Tchilingirian]

Privatization, de-nationalization, investments, free-market are among the most complex and misunderstood terms in virtually all the newly independent states. Like chemotherapy which introduces drastic and painful changes in the body even while trying to save it, the introduction of free-market economics brought major pain (together with some good and the promise of more). All of this came with many unexpected and often undesired side effects.

Armenian International Magazine (AIM) June 1998 (pp. 10-13)

100 YEARS IN AMERICA 
The Armenian Apostolic Church is celebrating the centennial of the establishment of the North American Diocese.

By Hratch Tchilingirian

With nearly 150 parishes and mission communities, 135 clergyman and several hundred full-time staff and an estimated cumulative budget of $12 million, the Armenian Church is the oldest, the largest, and arguably one of the most organized Armenian institution in North America.

Armenian International Magazine (AIM) April-May 1998 (pp 28-29)

Fair, Free… And Oil
Western Journalists on Armenia's Elections

By Hratch Tchilingirian

As the election campaign started to unfold in Armenia, dozens of foreign journalists were dispatched to Yerevan to cover the presidential elections--a place they described as a “small,” "mountainous," "landlocked” country in the Caucasus, where "corruption is widespread and unemployment high."

Groong: Review & Outlook, April 2, 1998

Reuters' Deeply Biased Coverage of Armenian Elections
An Analysis of 18 reports by Lawrence Sheets from Yerevan

by Hratch Tchilingirian

Reuters' journalistic objectivity and reputation have become questionable in the wake of its deeply biased coverage of the recent presidential elections in Armenia.

Armenian International Magazine (AIM) April-May 1998 (p 38)

Istanbul's Patriarch Kazanjian's Death Reawakens Old Issues of Church Rights

By Hratch Tchilingirian

The spiritual leader of the estimated 60 thousand Armenians in Turkey, Patriarch Karekin Kazanjian, died on March 10; a final vote on his successor is expected in late May. Kazanjian was the 83rd leader of the Armenian Patriarchate established by Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror of Constantinople in 1461.