Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy turns 195 this year

In November Kolkata will witness the biggest congregation of Armenians in recent times. They will gather in the city to be a part of celebrations lined up by their alma mater – Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy (ACPA), which will turn 195 this year. The get-together of sorts will also help the community relive its past, connecting with old acquaintances now spread across the globe, the reports.

Amid all the hype, ACPA has embarked upon the most difficult task of creating a databank of Armenians from Kolkata. “This is the first such databank since 1956,” said Rev. Zaven Yazichyan, the India-Armenian Spiritual Postorate, ACPA.

Entrepreneurial and devout Christians, Armenians arrived here in early 1600s, some 60 years prior to East India Company. When Kolkata – then Calcutta – was the British capital, the Armenians poured money into colonial mansions, virtually transforming the wilting city into what Kolkata eventually became.

Though they called it their home, Armenians started leaving ‘Calcutta’ even before the British started moving out. For the last six decades, their numbers have dwindling alarmingly. The city of 4.5 milling barely has 150 Indian Armenians left now. According to the Armenian General Benevolent Union news magazine, the number of students dropped from 206 in 1961 to just six in 1998. Among the 68 students studying here now, only two are Armenian-Indians. The school relies on students from abroad – mostly immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Russia and Armenia – to fill its dormitories.

“Kolkata is the last surviving home to Armenians in India, and the 195-year celebrations will tell this to the world and bring to the fore the proud past that we Armenians have,” said Rev. Yazichyan.

The school is being renovated in a big way and several projects are being taken up. The Araratyan library has been computerized and its books are being preserved with modern methodology. The school has tied up with different international educational institutions. The swimming pool, which is the second oldest in Kolkata, is getting a new lease of life. The school has also started weekly online chat on Skype so that students can interact with their parents living abroad.

Even as numbers have been diminishing every year, two more Armenian Indians will be added next year, informed Sasoon Zarookien, an alumnus who hails from Tehran. So instead of brooding over the vanishing world of Armenians, the celebrations will re-establish Armenian’s bond with Kolkata, felt Yazichyan.

Turkey bans Kurdish magazine for reference to Armenian Genocide

The Ankara-based bilingual Kurdish- magazine “Rosa” has been banned for its reference to the Armenian Genocide, Akunq.net reports, quoting the Kurdish Rudaw.net website.

The “Rosa” literary magazine is published in Kurdish and Turkish. Its editor-in-chief Mehmet Salih Ersari said the Gaziantep Penal Court of Peace ruled to ban the publishing of the magazine on grounds of “propagandizing a terrorist group.”

University of Michigan-Dearborn to host conference on ‘Armenians and the Cold War’

The Armenian Research Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn will host an unprecedented, multi-disciplinary, international academic conference on “Armenians and the Cold War” on the university’s campus from April 1-3. Thirty scholars from North and South America, Europe, and Armenia will participate in the conference, the reports.

On the international arena, the Cold War extended from the end of Word War II in 1945 to the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. Armenians around the world, however, had become divided between pro- and anti-Soviet factions as soon as Communists had gotten hold of Eastern Armenia in late 1920’s. The first panel of the conference (featuring speakers Garabet K. Moumdjian, Vahe Sahakyan, and Hazel Antaramian Hofman) will focus on the period from the 1920’s to 1947, and will attempt to explain the political dynamics among Armenians, especially in the diaspora, before the rest of the world formally entered the Cold War era. Discussions during this panel will constitute an important step toward finding out what exactly changed in the Armenian Diaspora and in the relations between the Soviet Armenian homeland and the diaspora with the onset of the global Cold War in the mid-1940’s.

The Cold War inevitably affected the Armenians, not only in Soviet Armenia, but also in the many Armenian communities scattered across the world. This time period will be discussed at the conference through a series of regional panels: Levon Chorbajian, Gregory Aftandilian, and Benjamin F. Alexander will focus on North America. Jirair Jolakian and Astrig Atamian will present papers on conditions among the Armenians in France. Developments in South America will be covered through presentations by Vartan Matiossian, Heitor Loureiro, and Khatchik DerGhougassian. Furthermore, there will be five separate papers on the Armenian communities in the Middle East by Hratch Tchilingirian, James Stocker, Khatchig Mouradian, Eldad Ben-Aharon, and Emre Can Dağlıoğlu. These panels are structured in such a way so as to generate discussion on comparing the specifics of the Cold War fault-lines in various Armenian-inhabited localities and determining the differences in Cold-War-era, intra-Armenian conflict and rivalry from one continent to another. There will also be a separate panel on relations between Soviet Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora during this period (speakers: NĂ©lida Boulgourdjian and Gevorg Petrosyan). A roundtable discussion comparing the chronologies of the global Cold War and the Armenian “Cold War” will cap the political history debate at the conference.

The last two panels will deal with case studies of the impact of the Cold War on Armenian historiography (speakers: Samvel Grigoryan and Anush Hovhannisyan), arts (Neery Melkonian), and popular culture (Tigran Matosyan). Thereafter, the conference will conclude with a second roundtable discussion that will tackle the legacy of the Cold War on Armenians today and make recommendations for future research in this domain.

Panel chairs and discussants also include Cam Amin, Kevork Bardakjian, Tamar Boyadjian, Richard G. Hovannisian, Asbed Kotchikian, Simon Payaslian, Pam Pennock, Ara Sanjian, and Sally Howell.

The goal of the conference organizers is to shed light and encourage further research on a pivotal period in modern Armenian history, the study of which is still in its infancy. By approaching the topic from various angles and disciplines, they hope that this gathering will encourage others to delve into the details of Armenian history in the Cold War era. Moreover, themes like the impact of the Cold War on Armenian literature, migration to and from Soviet Armenia, or the involvement of individual Armenians in espionage on both sides of the international political divide of the Cold War era should also be tackled in the near future. These topics were among those listed in the conference’s call for papers, but the organizers did not receive any proposals.

The conference, which is open to the public, is being supported by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR); the Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is providing assistance to participants from Armenia. The Armenian Review will devote a special issue to academic articles based on the papers to be delivered at this conference.

The Armenian Research Center was established by Dr. Dennis R. Papazian in 1985, with financial support from the Knights of Vartan organization and particularly from the late Edward and Helen Mardigian. It remains devoted to documentation, research, and publications in the field of Armenian Studies.

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge release skiing holiday photos

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have released a series of photographs of their trip to the French Alps – their first family holiday since the birth of Princess Charlotte, the BBC reports.

The six family photographs were taken after the royals arrived in the Alps for a short holiday on Wednesday night.

They were taken the next day – when Prince George and Princess Charlotte played in the snow for the first time.

Kensington Palace said it had been a “very special and fun” family holiday.

Swedish Crown Princess Victoria gives birth to son

The Swedish Royal Court says that Crown Princess Victoria has given birth to a son, her second child, the Associated Press reports.

The court says the baby boy was born at the Karolinska University Hospital in the Swedish capital at 8:28 p.m. (1928 GMT) Tuesday. Both mother and child are well, the court said, adding that Victoria’s husband, Prince Daniel, was at the hospital during the entire birth.

The royal baby is third in line to the thrown after his mother and elder sister, Princess Estelle.

Victoria’s father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, has been the monach since 1973. His duties are largely ceremonial in the Scandinavian country, a constitutional monarchy.

Man sentenced to life for killing elderly Armenian woman in Istanbul

The Criminal Court of Istanbul has sentenced Murad Nazaryan to life imprisonment for killing an elderly Armenian woman, Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting the Turkish Haberler.com.

The Court also ruled to apply to the Prosecutor’s Office of Istanbul with a request to detect other participants of the crime.

The lawyer of the defendant insisted that not all facts had been revealed and demanded to clear Nazaryan of charges. The culprit also pleaded not guilty.

Maritsa Kucuk, 85, was brutally killed at her home in Istanbul in 2012.

Syrian Army wins back key height in Lattakia Province

The Syrian army made new gains in the coastal province of Lattakia in tough battle with Jeish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest) militants, winning back a strategic region, reports.

The army units seized back the key Height 458. 19 in Lattakia province pushing back the terrorists from the region.

Scores of militants were killed and injured in clashes with the army units.

Almost 7 percent of Lattakia province is now under the control of the ISIL as the Syrian army and resistance forces have won back over 100 villages in the past two months.

In a relevant development on Tuesday, the Syrian fighter jets in a series of incessant operations heavily pounded several militant positions and their gatherings in a village in Northern province of Lattakia.

“Several militant positions and their military grid were severely damaged during Syrian jets combat sorties over the village of Ma’ar Baya in Lattakia province,” the sources on the ground confirmed.

The Syrian Army announced on Tuesday that it has dispatched a large number of fresh forces to the Northeastern heights of Lattakia province near the border with Idlib province to join an imminent anti-terrorism operation.

“The Syrian Armed Forces have been transferring fresh soldiers to the Kabani front, where they are likely to launch an assault in the coming days to break the last line of defense of Jeish Al-Fatah militants in Lattakia,” the army said.

Several killed, scores injured in Germany train crash

Two passenger trains have collided in the German state of Bavaria, with police saying at least four people have been killed and scores injured, the BBC reports.

The head-on crash happened near Bad Aibling, a spa town about 60km (37 miles) south-east of Munich.

One of the trains was derailed in the crash and several carriages were overturned, German media reported.

Police said rescue teams were trying to free people still trapped in the wreckage.