ARMEN HAGHNAZARIAN – FOUNDER OF RAA (RESEARCH ON ARMENIAN ARCHITECTURE)
By H. Moskofian, Aachen, Germany
AZG Armenian Daily
04/05/2007
I met first Armen Haghnazarian in 1972, in Aachen.
Khachik Khacher-Galstanian, well-known Iranian-Armenian writer,
introduced him to me. Those days Armen Hagnazarian called Shahbanu’s
attention to the necessity of reconstruction of St. Thaddeus
monastery. Soon the monastery was reconstructed on the interference of
Iran’s Shah. Armen Haghnazarian has done a big work as architecture,
founder of RAA, financing and regulating the activities in the sphere
of architecture in Armenia and Diaspora. One of his last activities was
attracting UNESCO and European Union special committees’ attention to
the annihilation of the Armenian cemetery by Nakhijevan’s Azerbaijani
authorities.
Our last meeting with him was again in Aachen, in his house. I asked
him to tell us about his biography.
Armen Haghnazarian was born in Tehran, in 1941. He was a student of
the Armenian Kushegh-Davitian school, his father was the inspector of
all the schools of Tehran and a lecturer in the University, he was from
Agulis, Goghten province (gavar), and was one of the survivors of the
massacres of Agulis on December 24, 1919, when Turkish armed forces
invaded Iran, Tavriz and tried to annihilate Armenians there. His
father fled to Armenia with his classmate Karo Ter-Zakarian. The
newly created Republic of Armenia sent Armen Haghnazarian’s father
and other 18 students to study abroad, and then his father came
back to Iran as a linguist, and a soldier of Garegin Njdeh. Here he
began to teach and inspect in the only Armenian school. There were 29
Armenian schools in Tehran, when his father died in 1977. His father
wrote his memories about Goghtn province (gavar) and the massacres
of Armenians. The book was published in Beirut.
>>From 1961 to 1968 Armen Haghnazarian studied architecture in
Germany. In 1968 he studied city building and took part in the
reconstruction of St.
Thaddeus monastery. In 1973 his wife and he removed to Iran. There
they founded RAA, which is an officially registered company in
Germany, USA and Armenia, the authorities of Iran also treat the
company with respect. Iran authorities sponsor Armenian churches,
but Turkey and Azerbaijan, which committed genocides, annihilate the
Armenian historical monuments.
Armen Haghnazarian is already 35 years in this sphere and he does
it with love. "All of these have political value. We have a long way
to go, and I am happy to wake up every morning and see the sunrays";
he said at the end.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
