AZG Armenian Daily #096, 27/05/2005

Diaspora

HUNGARIAN ARMENIANS FIRST TIME IN ARMENIA

The first ever group of Hungarian-speaking Armenians arrived in Armenia with
a ten-day visit escorted by president of “Armenian Roots of Transylvania”
organization, Charlotte Ishiketzu. They brought with them huge literature on
the history of Armenian community in Transylvania and Hungary to present to
the Academy of Sciences, Matenadaran and National Library. “We brought the
warmth of our hearts, we are united with our motherland in our souls and we
wish to even more cement our relations with it”, president of the
organization said.

Ancestors of Hungarian-speaking Armenians set out from ancient Armenian
capital of Ani in 1239 and having wandered in different countries gained
permission to settle in Transylvania in 1672. They founded there 2 towns.
They lost their Armenian dialect with time, changed last names and did not
differ from the Hungarians till 1993, when Hungary adopted law on national
minorities. Armenians together with other minorities registered their
national self-governance. Thanks to the state subsidies, today the Armenian
community of Hungary has schools and publishing houses. They publish a
magazine, books and organize exhibitions and diverse arrangements.

An exhibition dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
opened yesterday at the Union of Cultural Ties with Foreign Countries.
“Armenian Symphony” drawings by one of founders of “Armenian Roots of
Transylvania”, Tibor Vakar, which he created in 1960s having visited Armenia
for the first time, are staged at the exhibition.

Hungarian Armenians have applied to the parliament of the state with a
petition to put the issue of the Armenian Genocide on the agenda of Hungary
but with no avail so far. But their are still hopeful that the issue will
top the agenda in near future.

“On Forbidden Star”, book by Janush Pilinski, which Vahram Martirosian has
been translating for 20 years finally reached the Armenian readers.
“Pilinski was very close to me as poet and I translated him with love. His
language is laconic, he uses no epithets, is very sparing in drawing
parallels and reaches bottomless depths due to his colloquial speech”,
Vahram Martirosian said.

By Ruzan Poghosian