AGBU Sofia Chamber Orchestra organizes a concert on December 7 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Armenian earthquake.

Mrs. Sonia Avakian-Bedrosian thanked all the musicians for their participation and handed out honorary diplomas “AGBU” to the soloists for their personal contribution in promoting Armenian culture in Bulgaria.

Mr. Edmond Rafaelian, a famous photographer and journalist, also received an honorary diploma for his contribution of photographs taken just after the earthquake in Armenia. These were displayed on a screen during this exceptional concert, with the help of the young members of AGBU–Sofia.

On November 13 AGBU Europe, Armenian General Benevolent Union, the largest Armenian Diaspora organization in the world, organized a conference in the European Parliament entitled « A Journey of Cultural Rediscover: Armenian Heritage in Turkey ».

This event was organized under the Aegis of Bernard Lehideux, French Member of the European Parliament with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Brussels office.

The conference aimed to highlight the efforts of some individuals in Turkey to reclaim the memory and rescue the cultural heritage of the Armenians, which had been all but destroyed in the 1915 genocide. The conference also aimed to identify prospects for restoring and preserving what remains of the considerable cultural heritage left by the Armenians in all parts of the country.

The event was attended by numerous people, including Armenians and Turks, academics and writers as well as representatives of the European Commission and Parliament, all of whom expressed unreserved support for the objectives of the conference.

The speakers at the conference presented the results of years of research and documentation, highlighting, strikingly, the considerable Armenian contribution to Turkey, which remains largely unknown in the country: from (Armenian architect) Sinan’s 16th C. mosque in Edirne at one end of the country to the Armenian school in Erzerum that hosted Ataturk’s Erzerum Congress, at the other end.

Often emphasizing the built heritage, speakers showed the extent of destruction in the 20th Century, and all called for serious restoration work to begin without delay.

Turkish author Fethiye Cetin told of her own, personal journey following her belated discovery that her grandmother was Armenian. She told of the moving and overwhelmingly sympathetic response to her book in Turkey. Her presentation expressed the importance of emotions and of empathy as a driving force in the rediscovery that is now under way.

Osman Koker, historian and journalist, author of the book “Armenians in Turkey 100 years ago” presented Turkish postcards (used also in his book), showing Armenian churches, monasteries, schools, factories, shops from the beginning of the XX century in the territories of today’s Turkey. Many churches and buildings were destroyed and nobody today knows that once they were Armenian.

To edit his book, published in 2005 in Turkey, Koker studied a private collection of 4000 postcards belonging to the collector Orlando Kalumeno Carlo. 700 postcards were showing the life style, the customs and the habits of the Armenians in Eastern Anatolia in 1895-1914.

Historian Ara Sarafian, returning from another prolonged stay in Eastern Turkey, reported on two parallel and competing currents in Turkey, one that seeks to continue to portray Armenians as alien an threatening, the other keen on rediscovery.

Having described in some detail disheartening instances of the destruction which continues to this day, intentional or through neglect, of numerous architectural masterpieces, Prof. Patrick Donabedian (France) moved on to point to some initiatives in Turkey to protect Armenian heritage – various societies have been established to research it, while Turkey’s Culture Minister recently declared that he was prepared to have a Museum built to Armenian author William Saroyan in his native Bitlis.

Prof Donabedian also claimed that the Turkish government may even hand back to the Armenian church and foundations the numerous buildings which had been confiscated from them.

Emphasizing the significance of culture and cultural heritage in EU policy, and its important role in addressing conflict, European Commission representative and Head of the EC’s Turkey Team presented a pioneering € 3 Million cultural heritage project launched in the Balkans, which may inspire similar work in Turkey; Bernard Lehideux MEP, the conference’s host, echoed his words.

Speakers generally agreed that work must continue in this direction, in a cooperative and dignified manner, in the context of the European institutions. Besides practical work, there is much research, educational work and exchange of experience to do, and much left to discover or rediscover.

This work, they emphasized, is important to the development of Turkish society; it is important for Armenians in Turkey; it is important for the Armenian Diaspora; and it can also contribute to improving relations between Turkey and Armenia. Rediscovering and rescuing Armenian heritage can make a significant contribution to Turkey’s economy, too, particularly in the country’s impoverished East, through investment and tourism.

The rediscovery, finally, is important for the EU, which needs Turkey to overcome its taboos and internal contradictions before its possible accession to the EU.

Please click here to download the plan to arrive to the European Parliament

AGBU Europe organizes a conference in the European Parliament (Brussels) intituled ” A journey of Cultural Rediscovery: Armenian Heritage in Turkey on Thursday  November 13, 2008 under the aegis of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008.

Please click here to download the registration form

Registration deadline: November 7, 2008

Armenian culture and heritage are truly those of a Diaspora people, scattered throughout the European continent and well beyond. But most Armenian cultural heritage outside the republic of Armenia originates in today’s Turkey.

This legacy has been taboo in Turkey, as the republic tried to forget its Armenians after the 1915 genocide, whose very evocation is highly controversial there.

Over the 20^th Century, many buildings and artefacts that betrayed the Armenian presence have been destroyed or left to decay, and much has been forgotten. But much also remains, that can be reclaimed from oblivion.

A journey of rediscovery is now underway in Turkey. After many decades in which the very memory of the Armenian presence in Anatolia had disappeared from public consciousness, opinion leaders and the general public are beginning to rediscover the country’s Armenian heritage.

These efforts are exemplified by the success of such cultural productions as a photo exhibition called “My Dear Brother” and of several novels and artistic productions. Armenians, whether in the EU, in Turkey or in Armenia, have an interest in sharing in this rediscovery. It is time Europe too rediscovered Armenian heritage in Turkey.

This rediscovery is important and the EU should embrace it.

• The ability of Turkish society to conduct a conversation about Armenian presence and heritage is a litmus test for the current opening up of Turkish society
• Turkey’s cultural diversity, if it is acknowledged, is a source of social vigour, economic strength and international credit for the country.
• Europe, finally, is also about culture and heritage. The EU has a mandate for heritage conservation: it has committed itself to the protection of cultural capital in the EU as well as in candidate country Turkey.

This conference aims to highlight the process of rediscovery underway and to illustrate it through the work of some of the individuals involved.

It will show how much is to be gained by joining in this public conversation in Turkey and internationally and by helping to rediscover and salvage what previous generations have passed on to us.

It will also highlight the relevance of this development from an EU perspective and outline some avenues to explore in order to move the process forward.

Conference Programme

9.30. Cultural Rediscovery? A welcome and introduction
Nicolas Tavitian, AGBU Europe

9.40 EU enlargement and the Dialogue of Cultures
Michael Leigh, Director General, European Commission Directorate General for Enlargement

10.00 Turkey rediscovers its Armenian heritage
Fethiye Cetin, Author, “My Grandmother”

10.20 The Armenian contribution to Turkey
Osman Köker, historian, creator of the exhibition “My Dear Brother”

10.40 Armenian cultural heritage in Turkey
Patrick Donabedian, Professeur, Université de Provence

11.00 Europe’s Armenian cultural heritage from Turkey
Vahe Tachdjian, historian, Zentrum fur Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Berlin

11.20 Salvage and Nurture: Re-Inventing Turkish Armenians
Ara Sarafian, historian

12.40- 13.00 Panel discussion : the European Union and the Turkish - Armenian story

Panel participants will include Cem Özdemir, MEP, Ulrike Dufner, Director of the Istanbul office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Alexis Govciyan, President, AGBU Europe.

13.00 End of the conference and reception

Registration

Please clik here to download the registration form

Registration deadline: November 7, 2008

The organizers gratefully acknowledged the financial support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Brussels office.

About the speakers

Michael Leigh, a Doctor in Political Sciences, is currently Director General of the European Commission’s General Directorate in Charge of Enlargement. Previously, he has been responsible for the EC’s departments in charge of developing the European Neighbourhood Policy and for accession negotiations with candidate countries.

Fethiye Cetin (Turkey) is the author of the “My Grandmother”, first published in Turkish in 2004, which has been translated into several languages. Fethiye Cetin is a lawyer by profession and has worked on human rights law and particularly on the rights of the minorities. She was the lawyer of Hrant Dink and currently is the legal representative of the Dink family.

Osman Köker (Turkey) is a historian and a journalist, author of many books and articles  relating to minorities in Turkey, including on the Armenian minority. He is the creator of the exhibition “My dear Brother/Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago” which is based entirely on historical postcards. Osman Köker also runs a publishing house, Birzamanlar Yayincilik.

Patrick Donabedian (France) is an art historian and teaches at the Université de Provence (Aix-en-Provence). He is a prominent specialist of Armenian Culture and History and has written numerous books about Armenian art, culture and history.

Ara Sarafian (UK) is a historian specializing in the late Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey. He was a founding director of the Gomidas Institute, and has edited and written critical introductions to several of the institute’s publications. Now director of the Taderon Press, he is developing the Sterndale Classics imprint.

Vahé Tachyan (Germany), a historian, is a research fellow at the Berlin’s Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung. His research covers the period of the French occupation of Cilicia, Syria and Lebanon between the two World Wars, the last years of the Ottoman Empire, refugee problems in the Middle East and Kurdish-Armenian relations. He has written extensively on the subject.

Brussels, 19 October 2008 - A delegation from Nagorno-Karabakh visited Brussels from October 14 to 17 to take part in a round table hosted by AGBU Europe in partnership with the Heinrich Böll Foundation Brussels office. The delegation was composed of Eduard Atanesyan, Deputy foreign Affairs Minister of Nagorno Karabakh and David Babayan, Head of the Information Department of the Office of the President of Karabakh. The Round table brought together representatives of various organizations and institutions involved in European policy in the region, including NGOs, Think Tanks, Embassies and the European Institutions. Azerbaijani diplomats and NGOs in Brussels, though invited, did not attend.

Karabakh is one of the 3 territories in the Caucasus which declared independence at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. After successfully defending its independence in an unequal and devastating war with Azerbaijan between 1992 and 1994, this small republic of 145 000 inhabitants struggled to rebuild itself, to establish a functioning state and to develop.

This is the first visit to Brussels by a delegation from Karabakh since 1999. The visit aimed to allow EU decision-makers and experts to establish contact with representatives from Karabakh and to inform them about the country’s situation. Even though the EU’s interest in the South Caucasus has increased considerably in recent years, it has abstained from establishing relations with Karabakh, even at the most informal level. The EU’s special representative for the South Caucasus has not yet travelled to Karabakh, though he has visited other unrecognized republics in the region.

The round table reviewed the state of Karabakh’s economy, state and society. Karabakh’s economy started from nothing after it was entirely destroyed in the war but it is now developing fast. It faces challenges similar to those of most other post-soviet republic, compounded by the absence of international assistance and by potential investors’ reticence caused by the country’s unrecognized status. On the other hand, the speakers claimed that governance and democratic standards, facilitated by the country’s small size, are rather more advanced in Karabakh than in the neighbouring South Caucasian republics.

Over the last 14 years, negotiations have been pursued under the aegis of the Minsk group of the OSCE to seek agreement on Karabakh’s final status. In this context, both Babayan and Atanesyan explained their government’s positions in the context of the negotiations by describing their territory’s specific situation and its experience of a terrible war. Karabakh aspires to being included as a party in the negotiations on its future status, which it is still excluded from. In a lively discussion regarding the right of return of Azeris refugees from Karabakh, Babayan confirmed that they were welcome to return, providing that those involve accept the jurisdiction of Nagorno-Karabakh. He insisted however, that refugees should not be used as pawns in a political game, and that negotiations on the topic should genuinely aim to satisfy their right of return.

This round table, held on Octobre 16, was the first in a series of round tables and events which AGBU Europe will be organizing in the context of its work with the European institutions. The next event to be organized will be a conference, on November 13 next, on the Rediscovery of Armenian Heritage in Turkey.

On September 12, 2008, German Armenians and their supporters from across Europe will attend an AGBU-HAIK Gala concert and dinner at the Hanauer Schloss Philippsruhe castle in Frankfurt, Germany. Organizers expect 200 people to attend the launch event that will formally mark the expansion of the world’s largest Armenian non-profit organization into the most populous nation in the European Union, as well as the continuing partnership of AGBU and HAIK.

For the last two years, AGBU and HAIK have been fostering a mutually beneficial relationship that began in April 2006 during the first AGBU Project Exchange & Development Seminar (PEDS) in Brussels, Belgium. Since then, HAIK, which represents a network of students, scholars, and young professionals across Germany with representatives at 17 universities, has participated in a number of AGBU conventions and meetings, including the European Convention in Brussels earlier this year.

The AGBU-HAIK Frankfurt, Germany office officially opened its doors on April 1, 2008 with two part-time employees. Located at the heart of Germany, the AGBU-HAIK office represents the first major German initiative for AGBU in the last 20 years. On April 12, HAIK board members, under the guidance of the organization’s co-presidents Karen Navoyan and Pailak Mzikian, held their first meeting at the office.

Continuing to Grow in Germany

While the establishment of an office in Frankfurt was AGBU’s first foray into Germany, AGBU launched its second initiative with the establishment of its first Young Professional group in the city of Cologne. The inaugural event on May 31 was attended by over 200 individuals, including special guest AGBU Europe President Alexis Govciyan.

Govciyan explains the goal of AGBU’s German partnership: “AGBU extends its successful activities to Germany, where the presence of global Armenian organizations seems necessary in a country with a growing Armenian community and the central role of Germany on political and social level in the European Union.”

A representative of HAIK, Karen Navoyan, is also excited by the new organizational energy in Germany: “We see the opening of AGBU-HAIK Office in Frankfurt, in the heart of Germany, as a historical event bringing new perspectives not only in the life of Armenian Diaspora in Germany, as well as in German-Armenian friendship. “

Established in 2003 in Mannheim, Germany, the German-Armenian Students Association, known as HAIK, is a network of German students, scholars, and young professionals of Armenian descent. The goals of HAIK are to strengthen and unify the country’s Armenian community; promote bilateral communication between Germans and Armenians; and preserve the Armenian identity for future generations. The organization is geared to the needs of college- and young professional-aged individuals of Armenian descent and is administered exclusively by people from those target groups.

Tickets for the September gala event may be booked by email, office@haiknet.de or contact@agbueurope.org, or by calling, +49 (0)69-38-09778650 or +33-14-5200318.

Please click here to download the invitation

AGBU will participate at the upcoming 61^st Annual United Nations Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organization (UN DPI/NGO) Conference “Reaffirming Human Rights: The Universal Declaration at 60” from September 3-5, 2008 at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Headquarters in Paris, France.

AGBU has been associated as an NGO through UN DPI since 1989 and has actively took part in its annual conferences for several years.

A meeting which annually takes place on the eve of the opening of the UN General Assembly, the conference will gather more than 2000 NGO representatives, human rights activists and civil society partners from around the world to discuss ways of strengthening collaboration between local communities and global institutions, and to enhance awareness of the meaning of human rights today as set forth in the UDHR 60 years ago.

An established forum for networking and exchanging views, expertise and best practices, the conference, which for the first time in its longstanding history is being held outside New York, has a robust agenda featuring two plenary sessions, five roundtables, and dozens of workshops dedicated to the overarching theme of human rights.

The conference will provide NGOs, such as AGBU, with a greater knowledge of measures and goals that can be achieved by working together with the United Nations and its partners to understand and reaffirm human rights for all.

For more information on the conference, please visit www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/conference

Established in October 2007, the AGBU-UN Special Interest Group represents AGBU at the United Nations where it is committed to promoting its mission of preserving and promoting the Armenian identity and heritage.

For more information about the group and its work, please click here

The AGBU Europe Board Members and the entire AGBU organization extend their deepest condolences to his wife, Rita Balian, his sons, Raffi and Sevag, and the entire Balian family for their loss.

The wake will be held on Friday, August 15, from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm at Saint Mary Armenian Church, 4125 Fessenden Street, NW, Washington, DC 20016.

The funeral service will take place on Saturday, August 16 at 9:30 am, also at Saint Mary Armenian Church.

Vartkess Balian was an active member of AGBU and served on the Central Board with great distinction.

He and his wife, Rita, were the founders of the AGBU New York Summer Intern Program (NYSIP) in 1987. It was their vision to bring together Armenian youth from the United States, Canada and other international locations to New York to live, work and learn of their Armenian heritage in a community experience.

Over the past twenty-one years, NYSIP has become one of the most successful and sought-after youth activities of AGBU. It has since been duplicated in both France and Armenia.

He has always been a most ardent, loyal supporter of our Armenian heritage and a leader within the larger Armenian-American community. He has provided a wonderful example of generosity by his donation of time, talent and gifts to many fine works here and abroad.

His life has inspired many by all he accomplished. He will be sorely missed by our worldwide community and the entire Armenian nation.

Personal expressions of condolence may be sent to:
Mrs. Rita Balian
1300 Crystal Drive, Apt. 1505
Arlington, VA 22202

The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to “The Armenian American Wellness
Center”:
C/o AACA, Inc.
1300 Crystal Drive, Suite 1504
Arlington, VA 22202

The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) recently undertook the renovation of the three floors of the RA National Academy of Sciences’(NAS) library under the agreement of ongoing cooperation between the two institutions. The renovated areas include the entrance, reading hall #1,bathroom facilities and the third-floor hall. Several walls, waterremoving systems, lighting system and floors were also renovated with the funds provided. The total cost of the renovations came to $60,000.

The NAS library is a significant storehouse of books and scientific publications and enjoys a leading role in the Armenian library network.
Many academics and students make use of this significant scientific library, which is administered by director Dikran Zarkarian.