Past few years Gulbenkian Foundation’s Armenian Communities Department has embarked on a major effort to help establish a much needed and long overdue teacher training program for Armenian Schools in Diaspora(s). They have convened and participated in a few conferences in Yerevan, Istanbul, and Paris, about the preservation of the Western Armenian Language. Last summer… Continue reading Teacher Training Program for Armenian Schools.

The title of this Monologue belongs to the American University of Armenia (AUA) which has organized and hosted a two-day conference from April 21-22 on “Empowerment of Girls and Women in Armenia”. According to the communique, there were about 50 speakers from Armenia and Diaspora(s) that included  Students, Faculty, Civic Society Members, Community Leaders, etc.… Continue reading “Empowerment of Girls and Women in Armenia”.

The Parliamentary elections in Armenia were held on April 2 and the general consensus by the foreign observers and the Central Election Commission (CEC) was that these elections compared to previous ones were more transparent and fair. The two major complaints were behind the scene vote-buying occurrences, and Republican Party utilized its authority as the… Continue reading Parliamentary Elections in Armenia.

Movses Karabajakian (Nicknamed “Qarbajak”) was my maternal grandfather and I have fond memories of him. My paternal grandmother Martha, died before I was born, and I have a very faint memory of my paternal grandfather Nshan, who passed away when I was very young. Fortunately for me, that loss was more than compensated by my… Continue reading Qarbajak Bebo (A memoir)

While writing my previous Monologue titled “Wall Between Kessab and Turkey”, many memories kept “popping up” in my mind. One of them was a meeting with a “mean” but legendary person by the name of Killain. (A nickname. Most Kessabtsis have nicknames, especially men). As a young boy, I have heard that Killain was the… Continue reading “Killain” (A Memoir)

Recently it was reported that Turkey has built a wall between Syria and Turkey in the Kessab area. Kessab is a village populated mainly by Armenians and Alevis. It is about a half-hour drive from the coastal city of Latakia. Kessab has a long border with Turkey and is surrounded on three sides by high… Continue reading The Wall Between Kessab and Turkey

Since its establishment twenty-five years ago, the Republic of Armenia has not been able to ease the Russian hegemony that was imposed on it since Armenia became the Soviet Republic in 1920. We could argue that twenty-five years is not enough to undo what Soviet Russia did for over seventy years. We could also argue… Continue reading Vertical Hegemony or Horizontal Cooperation.

I just learned that on February 27 Armenian National Institute (ANI) of Washington D.C. has launched “a Turkish Language version of its popular website documenting the facts and acknowledgments of the Armenian Genocide available at, http://www.turkish.armenian-genocde.org” (Ani was established in 1997 by the Armenian Assembly of America with initial funding of one million dollar donation… Continue reading A Much Needed Website.

While writing the two previous Monologues about the ARS Private School in Toronto, I remembered a meeting we had with Dr. Bette Stephenson in the early eighties. At the time she was the Minister of Education in Premier Bill Davis’ Cabinet. Armenian Community Center (ACC) had a very cordial relationship with Premier Davis and also… Continue reading Meeting Dr.Bette Stephenson (A Memoir).

As the oldest chair of the School Board, together with few other old school board chairs, I was invited to a seminar to chart a course for the next five years for the improvement of the School’ curriculum. (I wrote a Monologue about that seminar titled A Seminar for ARS School dated March 10 2016).… Continue reading ARS School Telethon. (Part 2).