"ME TIN ELITA" PROGRAM DEDICATED TO ARMENIANS OF CYPRUS
Gibrahayer
Alexander-Michael Hadjilyra [email protected] – Last Tuesday,
23 February 2010, Elita Michaelides, hostess of the Sigma TV Show
"Me tin Elita" aired a programme dedicated to the Armenian community
of Cyprus, with Armenian MP Vartkes Mahdessian, researcher-scholar
Alexander-Michael Hadjilyra and X-Factor contestant and singer Hovig
Demirjian as her guests. Although a large part of the 2-hour show
was dedicated to Hovig, the other two guests were given some time to
speak about the Gibrahay kaghout, its history, culture, language (an
"identity symbol", according to Mahdessian), its Christian character,
the Melkonian, the Genocide etc.
&n bsp; About 20 phone calls were aired, many by Greek-Cypriots
who praised their Armenian-Cypriot compatriots; Asdghig Garabedian
(Hovig’s grandmother) shared with us her family’s Genocide story,
while former Chief Guide Takouhy Devledian shared parts of her
fascinating and full of giving life’s story. Towards the end, a short
reportage about the Armenians in Cyprus was shown. It was evident
that Armenian MP Vartkes Mahdessian enjoys a remarkable popularity
within his community. I would like to thank Mrs Michaelides and Sigma,
for devoting this programme for this historical community, and for
helping raise awareness; to express my gratitude to Mr Mahdessian
and all members of the community, who have embraced and assisted me
in my research, and to Vartkes and Elita who, through the programme,
have baptised me as "Alexandrian" and "Hadjilyrian"!