ARMENIANS GATHER TO DISCUSS PAST AND PRESENT (HAIGAZIAN UNIVERSITY)
By Jessy Chahine

The Daily Star – Lebanon
Sept 13 2005

Daily Star staff
Tuesday, September 13, 2005

BEIRUT: In a three-day conference entitled “The Armenians of Lebanon:
Their Past and Present,” a number of experts from various countries
gathered yesterday at Haigazian University to discuss aspects of the
current status of an influential yet minority group in the country.

Starting on Monday, 16 papers will be presented by scholars coming from
Canada, the U.S., France, Argentina, Egypt, Syria, Armenia, Germany,
Italy and of course, Lebanon in the presence of a number of invitees
from the academic community in Lebanon, both Armenian and non-Armenian.

In his welcome speech, Dr. Paul Haidostian, the president of Haigazian
University, said: “It was recognized that despite the undisputedly
important role that the Armenian community plays both within Lebanon
and the rest of the Diaspora, its history, culture and other aspects of
its community life have not been studied adequately to date according
to internationally accepted scientific standards.”

Among the topics that will be covered during the conferences will be
the political, socio-economic history of the community within both
the Lebanese and pan-Armenian contexts, the aspects of the influx
and exodus of Armenians to and from Lebanon, the Armenian identity,
literature, music, and contemporary concerns of the community.

A doctor in Human Geography, Aida Boudjikanian, the opening session’s
keynote speaker, held a lecture showing the different roles and
functions that Lebanon has held for Armenians spanning four centuries.

“The significance lies not only in their variety but in their
length and continuity or succession in time. In the 19th century,”
Boudjikanian said. “For Lebanese Armenians, Lebanon will always
represent, in my opinion, the country of consensual co-existence,
a social and political model,” she said, explaining that “all the
leaders, civil and religious, commonly share the advocacy for the
success of this experience and the success of the State of Lebanon.”

“For the Armenian Diaspora, Lebanon represents a land of reference and
history, a land of cultural heritage. Every summer, groups of young
Armenians coming back from around the world gather in Lebanon to delve
back into their culture, to learn and practice their ancestral language
and visit the country,” Boudjikanian said. The last statistics in
Lebanon date back to 1975 and place the community at 186,000 Armenians
in Lebanon, according to Boudjikanian, who gathered the data.