From Arayik Harutyunyan to Samvel Shahramanyan: What changed?

Vahe H. Apelian

Note: The English translation of the quotes is Google's doing.

 Courtesy Garo Konyalian

My first reaction to the change of leadership in Artsakh was my expectations that a major change of policy has taken place and that Russia asserted  itself as de facto master of the Caucasus with a Coup de Grâce.

But, has it been that? (http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2023/09/lachin-corridor-test-of-wills.html)

During his inaugural address to the Artsakh National Assembly, the newly elected president Samvel Shahramanyan addressed the fundamental issues concerning Nagorno-Karabagh, the Lachin corridor, and Stepanakert-Yerevan relations and did not dwell on partisan politics.

First and foremost, the president Samel disputed Azerbaijan’s claim that there is no Nagorno-Karabakh issue any more and that the war has resolved the matter. He noted that it is not so and that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, contrary to Azerbaijan’s claim, is not resolved and that it should have a status. 

I quote, the first point from his inaugural address:

“The Artsakh conflict is not settled, as Azerbaijan claims, therefore Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed territory that should receive a certain status. (Արցախյան հակամարտությունը կարգավորված չէ, ինչպես պնդում է Ադրբեջանը, հետևաբար Լեռնային Ղարաբաղը հանդիսանում է վիճելի տարածք, որը պետք է ստանա որոշակի կարգավիճակ.”

         The president also noted that in no uncertain terms that Artsakh and Armenia should have a direct transport line and that there is no substitute to the Lachin corridor and that it should be open.  

I quote the second point he made in his inaugural address.

“Artsakh and Armenia should have a direct transport connection, the Lachin Corridor. Contrary to Baku's claims, the latter has been closed for a long time and should be opened. Other regional roads should also be launched, but they cannot replace the Lachine Corridor or be seen as an alternative to it. (Արցախն ու Հայաստանը պետք է ունենան ուղիղ տրանսպորտային հաղորդակցություն՝ Լաչինի միջանցք։ Վերջինս ի հակառակ Բաքվի պնդումների՝ արդեն տևական ժամանակ է փակ է և պետք է բացվի։ Պետք է գործարկվեն նաև տարածաշրջանային այլ ճանապարհներ ևս, սական դրանք չեն կարող փոխարինել Լաչինի միջանցքին, կամ դիտվել դրան այլընտրանք,)”

What was more revealing to me was the third point the new president of Artsakh made in the same inaugural address to the National Assembly of Artsakh noting that Stepanakert should negotiation with Baku. But he mentioned that along with the Russian Federation that there is a “collective west’ that is ready to provide a platform and act as mediator. I do not recall having read in the NA of Artsakh any reference to a “collective west”. I believe that these few words are very significant. 

I quote the third point he made in his inaugural address.

“Stepanakert should negotiate with Baku. Moreover, in this matter, both the Russian Federation and the collective West are ready to provide a platform and act as a mediator, which Azerbaijan is categorically against. (Ստեփանակերտը պետք է բանակցի Բաքվի հետ։ Ընդ որում, այս հարցում, թե ՌԴ-ն և թե հավաքական արևմուտքը պատրաստ են տրամադրել հարթակ և հանդես գալ միջնորդի դերում, ինչին կտրականապես դեմ է Ադրբեջանը:)”

Samvel Shahramanyan, also addressed Stepanakert and Yerevan relations, rather bluntly.

I quote: 

“Rethinking its security concept in the light of post-war realities, the Republic of Armenia actually backed away from its multi-year mission as the guarantor of Artsakh's security and adopted an approach called the peace agenda, the core of which is the recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including Artsakh, provided that the basic rights of Artsakh Armenians and freedoms.” (Հայաստանի Հանրապետությունը հետպատերազմյան իրողությունների հաշվառմամբ վերանայելով իր անվտանգային հայեցակարգը, փաստացի հետ է կանգնել Արցախի անվտանգության երաշխավորի իր բազմամյա առաքելությունից և որդեգրել է խաղաղության օրակարգ անունով մի մոտեցում, որի առանցքն է կազմում Ադրբեջանի տարածքային ամբողջականության ճանաչելը, ներառյալ Արցախը, պայմանով, որ ապահովված լինեն արցախահայության հիմնական իրավունքներն ու ազատությունները:)

Indeed, Armenia has changed its policy regarding Artsakh. Nikol Pachinyan pursues a policy of peace in the region and as far as Artsakh in Azerbaijan is concerned, I quote Dan Donabedian ““Armenia has never signed a piece of paper recognizing Artsakh as Azerbaijan. Instead, it said it would be willing to do so if and only if the rights and securities of Armenians had guarantees and protections under international assurances.” It is a conditional statement that the president of Artsakh echoes but it is not hard to imagine that Artsakh expects more from Armenia, only if the latter could deliver more.

The president Samvel’s statement has displeased some segments of the citizens of Armenian, not as a divergent policy matter, but simply because as citizens of Armenia, they have shouldered the well-being of Artsakh materially and by blood. It is claimed that 5 to 6% of the Republic of Armenia’s budget, that naturally comes from the taxes the citizens of Armenia pay, is devoted to Artsakh, which presents 1/30 of Armenia's population. We know the inordinate human cost the citizens of Armenia bear having a few thousand of their young sons martyred during the Artakh war/s. 

From Arayik to Samvel, for now, there does not appear to be a change in the fundamental policy of Artsakh which obviously is an existential matter. His inaugurals address focused on the fundamental that is a matter of “to be or not to be” for Artsakh. 

I quote president Samvel Shahramanyan:

“Dear Members of Parliament, the essence of the vision presented to you can be summed up in the following brief formulation. strengthening the state and maintaining internal stability, protecting Artsakh's right to self-determination, ensuring its free life and security, promoting the country's economic development, gradually improving the social condition of the people and strengthening law and order. “Հարգելի պատգամավորներ՝ Ձեզ արդեն իսկ ներկայացրած տեսլականի էությունը կարելի է ամփոփել հետևյալ սեղմ ձևակերպմամբ. պետության ամրապնդում և ներքին կայունության պահպանում, Արցախի ինքնորոշման իրավունքի պաշտպանում, նրա ազատ կենսագործունեության և անվտանգության ապահովում, երկրի տնտեսական զարգացման խթանում, ժողովրդի սոցիալական վիճակի աստիճանական բարելավում և օրինականության ու կարգուկանոնի ամրապնդում։”

It is imperative that we read the newly elected president’s inaugural address to formulate an informed opinion for a constructive dialogue in the Diaspora.

 

 

 

 

 

Lachin Corridor: A test of wills

Vahe H Apelian

Soon after being elected as the new president of the Republic of Artsakh, Samvel Shahramanyan, the government of Artsakh issued the following communique.: “The Government of the Russian Federation took an initiative to provide humanitarian aid to the Republic of Artsakh, taking into account the humanitarian crisis created in our republic. The aid, which contains vital products of Russian production, was sent to Artsakh the other day by the Russian Red Cross, in the vehicles of that organization.

The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh, based on the need to alleviate the acute humanitarian problems caused by the complete blockade implemented by Azerbaijan, have decided to allow the entry of Russian goods into our republic through the city of Askeran. At the same time, an agreement was reached, according to which humanitarian cargo transportation by Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross will be restored through the Lachin Corridor.”

The announcement seemed to indicate that a compromise had been reached between Russian Federation and the Azerbaijan-Turkish alliance. I say Azerbaijan-Turkish alliance because it is this alliance that is shaping the status of Caucasus even though Azerbaijan remains the front.  It did not take long for the Russian Federation to face the reality that it had overstepped its presence in the Caucasus for there appears there has not been such an agreement or if there was one, Baku has reneged it insisting that the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Republic of Artsakh should come through Aghdam and not through Askeran.

During his inaugural address to the Artsakh National Assembly, the newly elected president Samvel Shahramanyan said the following regarding the status of  Artsakh and its land lifelines.

1.      The Artsakh conflict is not settled, as Azerbaijan claims, therefore Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed territory that should receive a certain status. (Արցախյան հակամարտությունը կարգավորված չէ, ինչպես պնդում է Ադրբեջանը, հետևաբար Լեռնային Ղարաբաղը հանդիսանում է վիճելի տարածք, որը պետք է ստանա որոշակի կարգավիճակ,)

2.      Artsakh and Armenia should have a direct transport connection, the Lachin Corridor. Contrary to Baku's claims, the latter has been closed for a long time and should be opened. Other regional roads should also be launched, but they cannot replace the Lachine Corridor or be seen as an alternative to it. (Արցախն ու Հայաստանը պետք է ունենան ուղիղ տրանսպորտային հաղորդակցություն՝ Լաչինի միջանցք։ Վերջինս ի հակառակ Բաքվի պնդումների՝ արդեն տևական ժամանակ է փակ է և պետք է բացվի։ Պետք է գործարկվեն նաև տարածաշրջանային այլ ճանապարհներ ևս, սական դրանք չեն կարող փոխարինել Լաչինի միջանցքին, կամ դիտվել դրան այլընտրանք,)

3.      Stepanakert should negotiate with Baku. Moreover, in this matter, both the Russian Federation and the collective West are ready to provide a platform and act as a mediator, which Azerbaijan is categorically against. (Ստեփանակերտը պետք է բանակցի Բաքվի հետ։ Ընդ որում, այս հարցում, թե ՌԴ-ն և թե հավաքական արևմուտքը պատրաստ են տրամադրել հարթակ և հանդես գալ միջնորդի դերում, ինչին կտրականապես դեմ է Ադրբեջանը:)

I believe the Russians are experiencing a taste of their own medicine. I imagine they are realizing that their tilt towards Azerbaijan is at Azerbaijan’s pleasure to accept. It does not surprise me that Russia was the main reason that the Arayik Harutyunyan resigned and his resignation was going to be rewarded with Russia delivering the humanitarian aid, without realizing that for Azerbaijan, humanitarian aid coming to Artsakh will be Azerbaijan’s call not Russia’s. Consequently sticking to its stand, Azerbaijan categorically refused Russia’s humanitarian aid through Askeran insisting that the humanitarian delivery should go through Aghdam. Russia has accommodated Azerbaijan and has not challenged it. The newly elected government of Artsakh has refused to accept humanitarian aid coming from Aghdam, even though it may be sponsored by Russia and not by Azerbaijan.

The humanitarian aid delivery for now is at a standstill. I imagine that Russians are licking their wounded pride, while the brave people of Artsakh face famine.

 

 

 

September 8, 1945: Hovhannes and Zvart got married in Keurkune

Vahe H. Apelian

 

Hovhannes and Zvart Apelian

Facebook reminded me today that I had posted my parents’ formal wedding photograph they had taken in Beirut, after their wedding in their ancestral village Keurkune. Their wedding godparents were Mihran and Shoushan Tourigian who hailed from the Khoups village of Keghi. Their sons, Hratch and Hrayr became my and my brother’s baptismal god parents.  A history that has long unfolded now in our family.

What caught my attention is the anniversary card she has bought for them and presented to her husband writing on the card. 

“Dear Hovhannes

It is the 55^th anniversary of our wedding tomorrow, 1945 September 8 -2000 September 8. Noiselessly passed many years. We do not know if we will have other (celebratory) decade. Let us thank God for the 55 years. Let us wish the good to all. May the Lord not separate us from each for long. Amen. May the remaining days be bearable

With love

Yours Zvart Apelian

She has signed a wedding anniversary card. Notably she has erased the letter Y from “your” making it “our” and added 55^th, having the card read as follows,  addressed to "My husband & Myself".

“Remembering you on your ^55th anniversary and hoping that you’ll find that your special day leaves happy memories behind.

Congratulations”

Your Zvart Apelian

September 8, 2000

Their deaths

My father Hovhannes, was born to Stepan and Sara (Moussajekian) Apelian on December 24, 1921, in Keurkune, Kessab. He passed away in a hospice on June 18, 2007. They had their 60^th wedding anniversary but my father was bedridden. My mother was with him throughout, while I called her regularly on the land line in the room. My last call happened to be almost right after his death. I remember her choice of words conveying to me his death. After all she was the quintessential Armenian language teacher. «Շիշեցաւ», she said, using a verb that means "extinguished", "put out", such as to “put out the lamp” – Ճրագը շիջեցնել and is used figuratively.

My mother Zvart was born to Khatcher Chelebian and Karoun(Apelian), on September 2, 1924, in Keurkune, Kessab. She passed away peacefully on January 31, 2017, while seated on her chair at the Ararat Armenian nursing home, where she received tender loving care. 

Hovhannes and Zvart Apelian

Mount Lebanon: a Model for Republic of Moutainous Karabakh

Vahe H Apelian

 

I have been an advocate of the historic Mount Lebanon as a model for the Republic of Mountainous Karabakh. My advocacy has driven by my remembrance reading Simon Vratsian “Republic of Armenia” in Lebanon over almost half a century ago – (after moving to the United States I donated the two copies of different editions I had to ALMA – Armenian Library and Museuam America, renamed as the Armenian Museum of America).

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation who ushered the nation into a republic of its own in 1918, did not have a free and independent Armenia as a goal when it embarked on its revolutionary path, The party adopted its grand vision for united, free and independent Armenia after the founding of first republic, during its 1919 world council. Simon Vratsian makes a note of it and states in his book that all Armenians wanted, was to have what Mount Lebanon in the Ottoman Empire had.

What was the historic Mount Lebanon?

 “The Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate (1861–1918, Arabic: مُتَصَرِّفِيَّة جَبَل لُبْنَان, romanized: Mutaṣarrifiyyat Jabal Lubnān; Ottoman Turkish: جَبَلِ لُبْنَان مُتَصَرِّفلِيغى, romanized: Cebel-i Lübnan Mutasarrıflığı)[a] was one of the Ottoman Empire's subdivisions following the Tanzimat reform. After 1861, there existed an autonomous Mount Lebanon with a Christian mutasarrıf, which had been created as a homeland for the Maronites under European diplomatic pressure following the 1860 Druze–Maronite conflict.” (Wikipedia). 

As stated, the historic Mount Lebanon enclave, was an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan’s High Porte named its governors. The first and the last of these governors were Armenians, Daoud Pasha and Ohannes Pasha, respectively. The currency was the same as that of the Ottomans.

Why opt for such a status for Nagorno-Karabakh? 

It is evident that the world does not recognize the former Soviet Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast as a separate state. The world community recognizes the Republic of Mountainous Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. It is evident that Russia, the inheritor of the Soviet Union, does not support the once Soviet Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast as a separate state, although Russia has recognized Ossetia and Abkhazia, which had similar status in the Soviet Union,  as separate states and a few countries have recognized them as separate states.

It is also evident that Republic of Armenia has regarded recognizing the Republic of Mountainous Karabakh, the inheritor of the Soviet Kagorn-Karabagh Autonomous Oblast as a state, is untenable. Consequently, the Republic of Armenia, through all the administrations it had, did not recognize the Republic of Mountainous Karabagh as a state, although it presented Armenia as the guarantor of its security and granted the citizens of Artsakh all the privileges the citizens of Armenia have. The successive administrations of the Republic of Armenia also did not find it tenable to annex the Republic of Mountainous Karabakh / Artsakh as a district (marz) of Armenia.

After the catastrophic defeat of Armenia at the second Artsakh war, it is higley unlikely that the Republic of Armenia  could have recognized Artsakh other than accept the bitter reality of it being in Azerbaijan but assure the Armenians there, their rights. Without quarantining such rights, the prospects are very grim for them, as Vahan Zanoyan bared in his latest article titled “A Devil is in Every Detail.”

The Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate model makes room for Diaspora to get engaged in negotiating to make such a status for the Nagorno-Karabakh / Artsakh, attainable. It is highly unlikely that the government in Azerbaijan could be forced into accepting a status that is politically not tenable in their home, in Azerbaijan. It is highly unlikely that a government that is more conciliatory to Armenians can come to power in Azerbaijan, at least not in the near future. But the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate may have the potential of creating a win-win situation, whereby the Armenians, acknowledge Artsakh in Azerbaijan, and make a point that it is advantageous to Azerbaijan to accept such an arrangement, because this model of Azerbaijan treating its minority citizens, will reflect positively on its image on the world scene. Also, Azerbaijan will be a beneficiary because Armenians will continue visiting the historic Artskah / Nagorno-Karabakh. Diaspora charitable organizations will invest a lot of resources for the benefits of the residents of Artskakh Mutsaarifate in Azerbaijan. 

I have been an advocate of this model right after the disastrous war at the cost of alienating friends. I also realize the intricacies and the difficulties for coming to a workable status. modeled after Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate.  I took the liberty to share with those who happen to read this blog, in its most simplistic, maybe idealized way. We know that we Armenians do not make the most tolerant society. As Mihran Kurtoglian also noted: “the sad thing is that we as a nation are in such a situation where it has become almost impossible to form or develop a public opinion on the domestic front through the newspaper, the Internet or broadcast information media.” Hence, not in Azerbaijan, but where? Remains in the air. 

If we are unable to bring about such a model to fruition, which more or less is what the Nikol Pashinyan government is pursuing, there remains for us to see what Russia ultimately has in store for its one-time Nagorno- Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.

 

Kessab: A 1909 report from Australia

On Friday 30^th July 1900, The Evening News Sydney published an article titled “Fire and Sword at Kessab – Thriling stories of Armenian massacres”. The Evening newspaper published in Sydney, Australia. It was published from 29 July 1867 to 21 March 1931. The report was reproduced in Horizon Weekly on April 10, 2014. 

1909 Kessab Sacked

"Mr. H. Martyn Gooch, the secretary of Evangelical Alliance has just received a long letter from the Rev. Stephen Van R. Trowbridge, containing some terrible revelations concerning the sack of Kessab, and the massacre of numbers of its inhabitants by armed Turks and Arabs (says the London “Daily Graphic” of June 19). The story is thrilling in its record of the bravery and endurance of men, women, and children, and throws, as may be expected, a sinister light on the action of ceratin officials and the savagery of the Moslums.

Kessab, says Mr. Trowbridge, was a thrifty Armenian town of about 8000 inhabitants, situated on the landward slope of Mount Cassius (Arabic, Jebel Akra), which stands out prominently upon the Mediterranean Sea Coast, half-way between Alexandretta and Latakia. It is now a mass blackened ruins. What must it mean to the 5000 men and women and little children who have survived a painful flight to the sea coast, and have now returned to their mountain home, only to find their houses sacked and burned! There were nine Christian villages which clustered about Kessab in the valleys below. Several of these have been completely destroyed by fire. All have been plundered, and the helpless people driven out or slain.

On Thursday evening, April 22, the Kessab scouts brought word into the town that great crowds of armed Turks and Arabs had gathered in the nearest Moslem village. It was an anxious night. Before daylight, Friday morning, rifle shots told of the evening’s advance. By three separate mountain trails, from the north, north-east, and east thousands upon thousands of armed Moslems came pouring up the valley. Their Martini rifles sent the bullets whisking into Kessab houses, while the shotguns of the 300 Christians, who were posted on the defence, could not cover the long range. It was a desperately unfair struggle, and the Kessab men realised their straits.

FLIGHT TO THE CLIFFS

The women and girls gathered up the little children on their backs and in their arms, headed along the west trail over the ridge towards Kaladouran, and clambered up into the cliffs and crevices which overlook the sun at an altitude of 5000 feet. Some in small groups, others entirely alone, hid themselves under the thorny underbrush or in the natural caves.

Towards evening the men had been compelled by the overwhelming odds to give up the defence. They fell back without any panic or noise. And the Turks and Arabs who rushed into the streets were so seized with the lust of plunder that they did not pursue the rearguard of the Christians.

One of the saddest experiences was that of Azniv Khanum, wife of the preacher in Kaladouran. Ten days before the massacre she had given birth to twin children, a little boy and girl. When the flight to the mountains took place, she had not the strength to climb with the others, so her husband hid her and their four children among the rocks near the edge of the village. The babies were wrapped in a little quilt, and the other children clung to their mother, while the father hid in a cave close by. Before long, Azniv Khanum and the children were discovered by the Turks. One of the plunderers snatched up the quilt, despite the mother’s entreaties. The two babies rolled out, one in one direction and one in another, over the rough stones.

Then the Turks rudely laid hold of the mother, and, holding a revolver against a breast, ordered her to become a Moslem. She bravely refused. “Then you are my slave,” he said and beat her with the flat of his sword. He commenced to drag her down in order to tie her on his horse. Her foot tripped, she fell, and rolled over and over for about eight yards. There she lay on the rocks, bruised and exhausted, in the hot sun. The Turk, seeing a chance to plunder, abandoned her. Afterwards other Turks took her money and her dress and shoes, and her little girl, about 4 years old. It is wonderful that she lived through it all. One of the little babies lived a week, the other about 10 days after that. When I was in Kaladouran we buried the little boy. It was a very touching service out under the trees.

All the tradesmen’s shops and merchants’ storehouses in Kessab are burned. In fact, the whole market is in ashes. The Roman Catholic and Protestant churches are completely burned. The latter was a spacious building seating a congregation of 1800. The American mission residence, occupied by Miss E. M. Chambers, was burned; so also the Girls’ High School, the Boys’ Grammar School, and the Protestant parsonage.

Unfortunately, our space is too circumscribed to give the whole of this graphic letter. But it must be stated that the Evangelical Alliance, as in the past is forwarding financial assistance to the surviving Armenians, who have in many cases lost everything."

 

 

 

Resilient Kessab: In three pictures

Missakian-Churukian Cultural Center in kessab

Missakian-Churukian Cultural Center is in the heart of Kessab, the town. It was a vibrant cultural center before the sack of Kessab by Islamist extremists who attacked Kessab from Turkey, plundered and sacked for the next 86 days, until June 15, 2014. When the Kessabtsis returned from their exile in city of Latakia and elsewhere on June 15, 2014, they found the Missakian center still smoldering. They would soon find out that Kessab and the surrounding villages was sacked and plunder completely and the loot was hauled to Turkey and hence to beyond.

Recently I came across the picture of the Missakian cultural center restored. It stands as a testament to the resiliency of Kessab who carved a living in that mountainous land during the past few centuries. 

The three pictures below show the Missakian Cultural Center before the sack, at the sacking and presently restored to its pristine condition.

Missakian-Churukian Cultural Center in down town Kessab BEFORE THE SACKING  of Kessab on March 21, 2014

Missakian-Churukian Cultural Center in down town Kessab DURING THE SACKING of Kessab on March 21, 2014

Courtesy Father Nareg Louisiana

Missakian-Churukian Cultural Center in down town Kessab RESTORED. Picture  courtesy Ali Monty.

p.s.   A comment from the benefactor's daughter, on September 6, 2023

Missakian Center before March 21, 2014.
Second from right is Khajag Apelian who has been missing while serving the Syrian Army.

Sipan: Not only a mountain

Vahe H. Apelian

In memory of my high school classmates Vahe Kludjian, Vahe Injejikian, Melkon Soukiassian, Hovig Kurkjian, Rita Shamlian. We remember them as we celebrate the centennial of the Armenian Evangelical College, we graduated in 1965, at the semi centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

 

“Mount Sipan is situated on the northern shore of Lake Van. The real height of the mountain is 4058 instead of the previously known 4434 meters which is incorrect. There are several extrusive formations on the peak which is covered by meadows. According to ancient Armenian Legends, Sipan is the symbol of Hayk and Nemrut is the Symbol of Bel. The German geographer Maurice Wagner (1813-1887) called Sipan “Proud Mountain” for its majesty.” (Armenian Geography)

Sipan is also the name of yearbook of the Armenian Evangelical College (AEC) in Beirut. It is the first Armenian high school in Lebanon, the survivor of the Armenian Genocide founded in 1923. I do not know when Sipan was first published as the high school’s yearbook. It was pretty much established when I graduated in 1965. The last yearbook was recently published and posted on line. Its cover, along with the cover of the 1965 yearbook, the year our class graduated, are depicted above.

Sipan is also the name of the evening school the students of AEC founded. Many of its graduates had left Lebanon by 1978 because of the impending civil war.  I was among them. I left Lebanon in 1976 as another U.S. immigrant. The bonds among its former students remained strong in the New World and culminated in founding of the Armenian Evangelical College Student Association of America. I remember the founding. It was at the spur of the moment in doctor Ara Manougian’s house in Paramus, NJ. He had invited us for a pool party. It was then that a committee came about. I remember Ara Manougian, the late Sona Hamalian, Berjouhy Barsoumian, Vatche Baghdigian as the members of the committee with the Seta and Khoren Nalbandian, who had taught in the school, and Hagop Kasparian who was its principle, acting as advisors. It is mostly through the efforts of these former students and faculty that an evening school was started on the premises of the Armenian Presbyterian Church, in Paramus, NJ. The intent was to have an evening long schooling for our children. We  named it Sipan after our high school’s yearbook.

 The Sipan Armenian school is now run by its former students and has become a landmark of sorts as far as an Armenian evening school in America is concerned. This coming Friday evening, on September 8, 2023, as was always the case since its founding, the school will start its classes in the 45th anniversary of its founding,  in the facilities generously made available for the school by the board of trustees of the Armenian Presbyterian Cnurch in Paramus NJ.

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The former students of the Armenian Evangelical College (AEC) in the U.S. will be celebrating the centennial of its founding during September 29 to October 2, 2023 weekend, in Los Angeles. The dates are inclusive.  It’s world-renowned former student Noubar Afeyan will be the key speaker of the event. Those who continue to live in Lebanon already celebrated the centennial in four successive events.

The students of my graduating class who are in the United States will be attending the centennial celebration of the school. As we celebrate the centennial, we remember our classmates who are no long with us.

Below are the pictures of the 1965 graduating class students with the motto each chose.