Gutenberg Museum Displays Armenian Book Treasures
Feb/19/2013
MAINZ, Germany — The relationship of Armenians to their language is very special, actually unique. To my knowledge, Armenia is the only country that offers the foreign visitor a monument composed of giant letters of the alphabet, standing as stone sculptures in a vast field outside Yerevan. And Mesrob Mashtots (360-440), the genius who invented the alphabet as a perfect phonetic system in the year 405 AD, is not only honored as a great intellectual but is revered as a canonized saint. Read Further...
Komitas Honored in Berlin
Sep/30/2012
BERLIN — Every Armenian knows (or should know) Komitas Vardapet. He was the great musicologist, musician and composer who literally founded modern classical Armenian music and whose songs, dances and liturgical works play a prominent role in our musical culture. But perhaps fewer people know about the influence of Germany on his work. On September 5 in Berlin, a gathering of scientists, politicians and artists convened to honor Komitas, unveiling a bronze commemorative plaque at the Humboldt University, which was the composer’s alma mater.Read Further...
Turks Join Armenians in Germany to Honor Genocide Victims
Apr/30/2012
It is not usually the case that the guest speaker at a commemoration event for the victims of the 1915 genocide against the Armenians is Turkish, at least not in Germany. But in Hamburg, it is becoming somewhat of a tradition, since Toros Sarian first broke the ice two years ago. Sarian, who issues a multilingual online publication ArmenienInfo.net (HayastanInfo.net), is co-founder of the Initiative for Remembrance of the 1915 Genocide, which organized a gathering in the St. Petri church on April 21st. In recent years, he has invited not only Germans of Turkish origin to speak, but has consciously engaged representatives of other communities. Thus, this year, flanking keynote speaker Cem Özdemir, National Chairman of the Green Party whose family comes from Turkey, was Ali Ertam Toprak, Chairman of the Alevi Community in Germany and Secretary of the Alevi Communities in Europe, and a spokeswoman for the Turkish-Kurdish Initiative for Democratic Rights and Freedom.Read Further...
Can Germany Mediate Armenian-Turkish Reconciliation
Nov/02/2011
In 2005, the German Bundestag passed a resolution calling on the German government to facilitate a process of Armenian-Turkish understanding and reconciliation. Now, six years later, scholars and civil society activists are asking: what has been achieved since then? This was the subject of a one-day seminar on “The Armenian Genocide and German Public Opinion” on September 22, organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation at its Berlin headquarters. Read Further...
„Die Steine werden aufschreien“
Aug/09/2011
Mitte Juni kam es bei einer Ausstellung der UNESCO in Paris zu einem Skandal. Die Ausstellung zeigte Bilder traditioneller Steinkreuze der armenischen Kirchenkunst, bekannt als Khachkars. Die einzigartigen Skulpturen und Reliefs waren im November 2010 in die repräsentative Liste des unantastbaren Kulturerbes der Menschheit aufgenommen worden. (1) Die Ausstellung stand unter der Schirmherrschaft des Kultusministeriums der armenischen Republik und war in Anwesenheit zahlreicher Diplomaten, Künstler, Historiker und Kirchenvertretern eröffnet worden. Sie hätte eine Anerkennung und Wertschätzung der Khachkar-Tradition werden können, wenn nicht die UNESCO in letzter Minute die Ortsnamen unter den Fotografien gelöscht hätte, wo sich die Khachkars befinden.Read Further...“The Stones Will Cry Out”
Jul/12/2011
A scandal erupted in mid-June and marred an exhibit in Paris at UNESCO which featured traditional stone crosses from Armenian church architecture known as Khachkars. These unique sculptures and reliefs had been included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in November 2010. The exhibit, co-sponsored by the Republic of Armenia’s Culture Ministry and inaugurated in the presence of numerous diplomats, artists, historians, and clergy, would have celebrated a magnificent tribute to the Khachkar tradition had it not been for the fact that at the last minute UNESCO erased all mention of where the stone crosses featured in photographs were to be found.Read Further...The Armenian Genocide:Hopes for Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation
Feb/08/2011
Bookreview – In the Land of Blood and Tears: Experiences in Mesopotamia During the World War (1914-1918) by Jakob Künzler. Arlington, Massachusetts, 2007. Translated from the 1999 German edition.Read Further...
The Historical Reconciliation of Armenians and Turks
May/27/2010
Germany, the same nation allied in World War I with the Young Turk regime which sought to exterminate the Armenian population, is emerging today as the stage on which the two formerly adversary communities are extending their hands in dialogue aimed at understanding and reconciliation.Read Further...
Armenia-Turkey Rapprochement Puts Ideologies to the Test
Nov/11/2009
When Armenian and Turkish Foreign Ministers Nalbandian and Davutoglu signed the protocols on reestablishing diplomatic relations on October 10 in Zurich, one would have thought that that event would mark the beginning of a new era in the troubled, if not tormented, history of the two countries. Instead, the protocols became the hottest new potato being tossed back and forth in the arena of politics in the Caucasus. Opinions, editorials, and in some cases, just plain gripes vied for attention in the pages of the Armenian and Turkish press, not only at home but especially in the Armenian Diaspora. Read Further...
“Football Diplomacy”: Armenia-Turkey Rapprochement
Sep/07/2009
Before the end of the year, if all goes according to plan, Armenia and Turkey, after having reestablished normal diplomatic relations, will reopen their common border. This is not only good news for the two parties, but could set a precedent for dealing with similar log-jammed situations in other parts of the world. But, if the formal steps toward mutual recognition are to lead to reconciliation, it will require more than a settlement of outstanding political and territorial disputes. Read Further...
Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Is Possible – and Necessary!
Sep/05/2008
The visit by Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Yerevan on September 6 will be remembered as a historic event, even if concrete results are not to be expected immediately. Read Further...
Armenia’s Struggle for Independence
Aug/12/2008
When Armenia declared independence on September 21, 1991, diaspora Armenians joined hands across oceans with their 4 million compatriots in the former Soviet republic, to celebrate. Certainly, mainly bottles of excellent Armenian cognac were emptied. Finally, the Soviet occupation had ended, and a perspective had opened up for an independent, sovereign Armenia, to join in collaborative economic relations with its neighbors, to develop the enormous potentials of the country in the context of regional economic expansion.Read Further...