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Ethnography2
FOLK RELIGION AND POPULAR PIETY AMONG ARMENIANS
By: Abel Manoukian Pastor, Dr. theology
Folk religion or popular piety is a term used to express the religious expression experienced by people in their daily lives. Folk religion is in other words a living religion of the people. Popular piety also refers to religious practices that have arisen and occur outside of official religious institutions. Folk religion or popular piety is sometimes termed as popular belief and describes various forms and expressions of religion that are deemed distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized religion or of the Church. This distinct phenomenon exists in all major religions; in the case of the Armenian faith, it is taught side by side with the theology and liturgical disciplines of the Armenian Church.
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THE ADANA MASSACRE AND THE PEOPLE’S HISTORICAL MEMORY
By: Verjiné Svazlian Doctor in Philology, Leading Researcher, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, NAS RA, vsvaz333@yahoo.com
Beginning from as early as 1955, during more than 60 years, I have written down, tape- and video-recorded (remaining faithful to the popular speech), academically studied and published the testimonies (700 units: memoirs, Armenian and Turkish-language songs) communicated by eyewitness survivors, who were miraculously saved from the Adana massacre (1909) and the Armenian Genocide (1915-1923), were forcibly deported from about 100 localities of Western Armenia, Cilicia, Anatolia and resettled in Armenia and the Diaspora (Greece, France, Italy, Germany, USA, Canada, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, the Balkan countries, Turkey, etc.). The originals of these testimonies are kept at the archives of the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.
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History4
THE US AMBASSADOR HENRY MORGENTHAU AND THE PUBLIC-POLITICAL EFFORTS OF THE ARMENIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY DURING THE YEARS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By: Knarik Avakian Institute of History of NAS RA
Henry Morgenthau (November, 1913 - Spring, 1916) was the Ambassador of the United States of America in the Ottoman Empire during the most tragic period of the Armenian history, in the years of World War I. As a diplomat and lawyer, he has devoted his professional and human abilities in favor of the Christians’ elementary rights for life, the defense of their interests and for the mitigation of their sufferings.
From the very beginning of the First World War, the Armenians, who had increased in number in the USA due to various historical circumstances, assembled the entire intercommunal public, intellectual, material, party and other resources to succor the native land and its people in distress for defensive and reconstructive purposes in collaboration with the American diplomatic, political, military, benevolent and other organizations.
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THE PROBLEM OF ESTABLISHING TERRITORIAL NEW POWER AND FORMATION OF THE SEIM
By: Vahan Melikyan Doctor of History, Professor Leading researcher of the Institute of History of NAS RA, Doctor in History, v_melikyan@mail.ru
In the mid-December of 1917, after signing the Yerznka ceasefire, a recurrent ruling crisis occurred in the Transcaucasus. It was the logical consequence of the stormy events, following the Bolshevik coup, the starting point of which was the confrontation between the provincial government and the Bolshevik central and local forces on the one hand and the establishment of a more stable government on the other. At the plenary session of the Social-Democratic Menshevist organizations held in Tbilisi, the central issue in the party press was solved, it was decided to create a seim and appoint it on the day it was opened. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), despite its objectionable and brutal criticism, nevertheless gave its name to the clergyman. Mensheviks' Georgian wing tactics and agreed to join the Seim.
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THE COURSE OF THE RESTORATION OF INTERSTATE RELATIONS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND GEORGIA AFTER THE DECEMBER 1918 WAR
By: Hamo Sukiasyan Institute of History NAS RA
After the declaration of independence of the Republic of Armenia and Republic of Georgia in May 1918 the establishment of good-neighborly relations was not an easy task, which was due to the consequences of unsolved territorial-border disputes. Although at the beginning of June 1918 the two states undertook attempts to solve existing controversies by means of negotiations, their dialogue was never obtained.
In autumn 1918 the Ottoman government began to withdraw its military contingents from the Borchalu district of the Tbilisi province. This was followed by the entrance of Armenian forces to the Southern Lori district leaded by Drastamat Kanayan in October 1918. The Georgians were surprised which culminated in the diplomatic confrontation between Armenia and Georgia for about a month and a half, culminating in the war in December 13. The representatives of Entente in Transcaucasia undertook measures in order to stop the military operations. The sessions of Armenian-Georgian conference with the participation of the Allies began in January 9. The Armenian-Georgian peace conference was completed in January 16; under the pressure of the Allies it temporarily «arranged» the territorial disputes between Armenia and Georgia in regard to Borchalu and Akhalkalak. In was decided to move Akhalkalak into the Georgian jurisdiction, and the turn Lori liberated by Armenian forces into the neutral section, under control of the Allies, despite the fact that Armenia was successful in the war. The resolution of the conference was signed in January 22.
Although after the conclusion of the January 1919 conference it would seem that the relations between Armenia and Georgia were regulated, in reality the disputed problems remain unsolved for several weeks.
The restoration of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Georgia was not an easy task. During the following months the governments of Armenia and Georgia express their readiness to solve the existing problems by means of negotiations, not by force, which was an important achievement for two peoples. Anyway, in regard to existing disputes, mostly territorial, between Armenian and Georgian politicians was never achieved visible progress.
After the declaration of independence of the Republic of Armenia and Republic of Georgia in May 1918 the establishment of good-neighborly relations was not an easy task, which was due to the consequences of unsolved territorial-border disputes. Although at the beginning of June 1918 the two states undertook attempts to solve existing controversies by means of negotiations, their dialogue was never obtained.
In autumn 1918 the Ottoman government began to withdraw its military contingents from the Borchalu district of the Tbilisi province. This was followed by the entrance of Armenian forces to the Southern Lori district leaded by Drastamat Kanayan in October 1918. The Georgians were surprised which culminated in the diplomatic confrontation between Armenia and Georgia for about a month and a half, culminating in the war in December 13. The representatives of Entente in Transcaucasia undertook measures in order to stop the military operations. The sessions of Armenian-Georgian conference with the participation of the Allies began in January 9. The Armenian-Georgian peace conference was completed in January 16; under the pressure of the Allies it temporarily «arranged» the territorial disputes between Armenia and Georgia in regard to Borchalu and Akhalkalak. In was decided to move Akhalkalak into the Georgian jurisdiction, and the turn Lori liberated by Armenian forces into the neutral section, under control of the Allies, despite the fact that Armenia was successful in the war. The resolution of the conference was signed in January 22.
Although after the conclusion of the January 1919 conference it would seem that the relations between Armenia and Georgia were regulated, in reality the disputed problems remain unsolved for several weeks.
The restoration of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Georgia was not an easy task. During the following months the governments of Armenia and Georgia express their readiness to solve the existing problems by means of negotiations, not by force, which was an important achievement for two peoples. Anyway, in regard to existing disputes, mostly territorial, between Armenian and Georgian politicians was never achieved visible progress.
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THE ARMENIAN GENERAL BENEVOLENT UNION IN SOVIET ARMENIA (1923-1937)
This monograph by Dr. Eduard Melkonian was published first in Armenian (Էդուարդ Լ․Մելքոնյան․Հայկական Բարեգործական Ընդհանուր Միությունը Խորհրդային Հայաստանում, 1923-1937թթ., Երեւան: Նոյյան Տապան, 1999, 202 էջ). It has drawn on the so far unpublished materials from different archives within Armenia as well as from the archive of the Central Board of Directors of AGBU.
Later as separate chapters it became part of Ed. Melkonian’s two other monographs on the comprehensive history of the AGBU, published in Armenian (Էդուարդ Լ․ Մելքոնյան․ Հայկական Բարեգործական Ընդհանուր Միության պատմություն, Երեւան: Մուղնի, 2005, 582 p.
http://www.armeniandiaspora.am/images/menus/267/Melkonian.pdf) and in Russian (Эдуард Л. Мелконян, Армянский Всеобщий Благотворительный Союз. Неоконченная история, Ереван: Тигран Мец, 2010, 487 с. http://www.armeniandiaspora.am/images/menus/320/Melkonian.pdf ).
The book has been revised for the current edition but without any significant changes in the content. At one time, the book initiated by then the President of the AGBU Louse Manoogian Simon was translated into English by Artashes Emin, and this translation with the relevant changes is used in this edition.
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Political Sciences and Informational Security1
SOUTHERN CAUCASUS. THE PROJECTION OF HARMONY AND REGIONAL SECURITY
By: Levon Shirinyan Department of Politology, K. Abovyan Armenian State Pedagogical University
The harmonious development and the threshold of safety for the South Caucasus have local (regional) as well as international measurement: with a continuous coverage of the arc Balkans - Middle East - South Caucasus - Central Asia. The significance of the issue requires fundamentally new models to connect to traditional approaches which have already proven to be ineffective. For this case, the EU structure can be considered as an accurate model. It can include the logic of "segmental pluralism" and "consensus democracy" as a comparison of the interests of more or less significant "autonomies". In this case, the South Caucasus will transform from a "security consumer" to the "security exporter" first of all for limitrophe countries.
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Demography and Governance1
THE ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION EFFICIENCY
By: Yuri Suvaryan Member of Academy, NAS RA
Academician-Secretary of the Department
of Armenology and Social Sciences
suvaryan@sci.am
Vardan Sargsyan Armenian State University of Economics
The efficiency of economic activity can be assessed by comparing the results and costs involved. However, there are always problems and cost estimates for methodological issues, as costs are not homogeneous (current and long-term expenditures, livelihood and material costs), and the results are also varied (including social orientation) and are often difficult to measure. The experimental method commonly used is often used in the absence of information or incompleteness of the information. The greater accuracy can be achieved by using the methods based on mathematical statistics tools techniques.
According to this approach, the cumulative correlation coefficients between the X indicators and the GDP or the individual general economic indices are calculated. The latter will evaluate the significance of the X values based on which the coefficients will be calculated. Elasticity coefficients can also be taken as the basis. The coefficients can be determined by the correlation coefficient or the ratio of elasticity coefficients.
The methodologically described principles are applicable to evaluating the quality of public administration and management of organizations. For the micro level, there will be some adjustments in the indicators.
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Foreign Sources and Authors About Armenia and Armenians1
ARMENIANS, KOORDS, AND TURKS
Documents: Armenian Genocide2
TURKEY AND THE ARMENIAN ATROCITIES. A GRAPHIC AND THRILLING. BY REV. EDWIN M. BLISS
ON THE PREPARATIONS OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By: Kristine Melkonyan PhD, Institute of Oriental Studies, NAS RA, chmelkonyan@orient.sci.am
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Armenological Heritage1
ON SOME TRANSEUPHRATIAN TRIBES OR PEOPLES IN REGARD TO THE ARMENIAN ETHNOGENESIS
Extracted from Gr.Kapantsyan, Hayasa - the Cradle of the Armenians, Yerevan, 1947, p.128-146 (in Russian).
The monograph of Gr.Kapantsyan, the renowned Armenologist of the XX century is devoted to the problem of Armenian ethnogenesis. The author discusses a wide spectrum of issues of early Armenian history based on ancient cuneiform texts (Hittite, Assyrian, Hurrian, and Urartian), studies of Classical Greek historians, Armenian medieval and later sources.
In the extracted passage Gr.Kapantsyan discusses the names and possible affiliation of several tribes attested in ancient sources which tentatively are located by scholars in the western and north-western parts of the Armenian Highland. According to the author, later these ethnic elements were Armenianized and had left their names in the toponymy and onomastics of the Armenian Highland.
Gr.Kapantsyan’s study is one of the first attempts made by scholars on the issue under discussion. Some statements as well as references to sources might be argued under the light of modern scholarship. Anyway, Gr.Kapantsyan’s some of his ideas became pioneering for the study of early Armenian statehood, ethnic history and related problems.
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Classics of Armenology2
JOSEF STRZYGOWSKI
J.Strzygowski was a Polish-Austrian art historian, who is well known for his fundamental studies in the field of Medieval Oriental art.
There is compelling evidence for Strzygowski's specific attraction to Armenia. Although beeingan author of numerous works on eastern regions such as Asia Minor, Syria, and Iran, Strzygowski found in Armenia something quite unique; a Christian (unlike Iran) and Aryan (unlike Asia Minor and Syria) land which had existed as an ethnic and/or national unit since the pre-Christian era. Armenia, according to Strzygowski, constantly struggled to repel foreign influences and maintain its national character.
Although some ideas regarded the origins and development of Armenian art and architectures put forward by J.Strzygowski were disputed by later scholars, his impact on Armenology is great.
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GRIGOR KAPANTSYAN
Gr.Kapantsyan was one of the outstanding representatives of the XX century Armenian Armenologists, whose fundamental studies had pioneering impact on different fields of modern Armenology.
Gr.Kapantsyan was born in Ashtarak (not far from Yerevan) in February 13, 1887. After graduating the local school he continued his education at the Armenian-Georgian-Persian section of the Oriental faculty, Saint-Petersburg (Russia). Among his teachers were renowned linguists and orientalists – N.Marr, C.Saleman, I.Bauduin de Courtenay, N.Adontz, I.Javakhishvili.
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Personalia1
LEVON ZEKIYAN - 75
New Books8
ETHNOPOLITICAL SHIFTS IN THE NEAR EAST AND THE ARMENIAN HIGHLAND IN THE VII-VI CENTURIES B.C.
By: Ruslan Tsakanyan
Institute of Oriental Studies, NAS RA, Yerevan, 2018, Edit Print, 290 p., 2 maps, 12 Fig.
The monograph of R.Tsakanyan deals with the fundamental ethnopolitical and geopolitical changes in the Near East and the Armenian Highland in the VII-VI centuries BC and transformations of the ethnopolitical map of the whole region. The study consists of four chapters.
In Chapter 1 is represented the policy of mass deportations and resettlements in Assyria and Biainili-Urartu, Chapter 2 describes the ethnpolitical situation in the Near East in the VIII-VII centuries BC, Chapter 3 discusses the political situation in the Near East during the domination of Assyria, and Chapter 4 is devoted to the changes of the ethnopolitical map of the Near East in the late VII c. and the first half of the VI c. BC.
The monograph has been carried out on wide source materials – cuneiform texts (Assyrian, Babylonian and Urartian) and studies of classical authors.
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THE HUNS IN THE RELATIONS WITH THE NEAR EAST AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE
By: Ruben Manaseryan
Saint-Peterburg, 2018: Aleteya, 118 p. (in Russian)
The topic of the study is the political role of European Huns of Attila, the reevaluation of their involvement in the international policy focused on the Western Roman Empire. Also the policy and diplomacy of Attila regarding his expected campaign against the Sassanid Empire in 449-450 AD is studied.
COMBINATION OF ARCHETYPES IN ARMENIAN TALES OF MAGIC AND EPIC HERITAGE
"Gitutyun" Publishing House, NAS RA, Yerevan, 2016, 462 p. (in Armenian).
The monograph of Tamar Hayrapetyan is devoted to the study of Armenian folktales and epic heritage. It tries to reveal the hidden power of the subconscious, historiographical traces, symbol indicators and archetypes in different layers of verbal and non-verbal material both in Armenian folktales and Armenian epic heritage.
The research is aimed at studying national and cultural ideas, symbol indicators, as well as allegoric perception of Armenian folktales and epic compositions. The systematized study of ritual, religious and mythical features of Armenian archaic tales collected and published from the second half of the 19th century is urgent for the research of Armenian folktales and epic traditional compositions.
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ADMINISTRATIVE-POLITICAL UNITS OF THE EASTERN TRANSCAUCASIA IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY
By: Gohar Mkhitaryan
Yerevan, 2018, “Gitutyun” Publishing House, 149 p.
In the monograph are studied the administrative-political units of the Eastern Transcaucasia, relations between them and the Russian Empire in the second half of the XVIII century. The topic is of special scientific significance for the comprehensive study of the historical, geopolitical and economic processes in the Transcaucasian direction of Russian foreign policy and the ethno-political situation in the Eastern Transcaucasia. Also, the actuality of the topic is essential for the study of the geopolitical interests of the Russian State and the Eastern Transcaucasian khanates, which provides a basis for a most in-depth analysis of a number of currently unresolved issues in Transcaucasia, particularly the Artsakh Issue, against the historical and scientific background. The monograph aims to explore the relations between the Eastern Transcaucasian khanates and the Russian Empire under the background of the geopolitical and regional developments in the second half of the XVIII century.
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THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE. PRELUDE AND AFTERMATH. AS REPORTED IN THE U.S. PRESS. THE BOSTON DAILY GLOBE (1890-1922), 1264 p. THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Volume 1, (1908-1919), 744 p.
Volume 2 (1920-1922), 884 p.
Compiled and Edited by Rev. Vahan Ohanian and Ara Ketibian, Mekhitarist Publication, 2019.
These volumes draw upon extensive American newspaper accounts about the fate of Armenians from 1890 to 1922 in the Ottoman Empire/Turkey. They, along with companion volumes, documents the Armenian experience of inequality, persecution, precursor massacres and the Armenian Genocide. The collection is part of a series of volumes that bring together thousands of pages of daily newspaper accounts that are invaluable reference work in revealing the fate of the Armenian people.
These are part of a comprehensive publishing project led by Rev. Vahan Ohanian (Mekhitarist Congregation) and Ara Ketibian. The series involves a planned ten books that systematically document the accounts from six leading American newspapers: The New York Times, The Boston Daily Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Such cumulative daily newspaper reports provide a documentary base from which to confront contemporary state-sponsored genocide denial that seeks to cast doubt about what happened in history. The witness accounts are a time capsule, but a powerfully moving one, even today.
DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
By: Alvard Zatikyan
Yerevan, 2017, “Gitutyun Publishing House”, 192 p. (in Russian)
The monograph is aimed on the study of the impact of the demographic factors on the social and economic development of the third Republic of Armenia (1991-2017). The analytic part of the monograph is based on the statistic data.
The author discusses several key factors of the socio-economic situation - decrease of internal market demand, increase in expenditures of the state budget, changes in the market of labor, birth and mortality rate, number of population, migratory flows.
THE SATIRICAL PRESS OF SOVIET ARMENIA IN THE 1920S (“SHESHT”, “ZURNA”, “KARMIR MOTSAK”)
By: Hamo Sukiasyan
Narine Yeranosyan
Edit Print, Yerevan, 2018, 144 p. (in Armenian)
The book is devoted to the study of three satirical journals published in Soviet Armenia in the 1920s (“Shesht”, “Zurna”, “Karmir motsak”). It presents the history of foundation of the satirical press of Soviet Armenia, the activities of satirical editors Vahan Totovents and Eduard Khojik in this field.
ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES TODAY: ETHNO-SOCIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF ARMENIANS IN TEHRAN, LOS ANGELES, BEIRUT AND PARIS. ETHNO-SOCIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF ARMENIA AND THE DIASPORA, N 12
By: Ruben Karapetyan
Publishing of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography NAS RA, Yerevan, 2018, 220 p. (in Armenian)
The monograph entitled “Armenian Communities Today” completes a series of publications, based on the materials of an ethno-sociological study on the Armenian communities of Teheran, Beirut, Paris and Los Angeles, which were elaborated by the author and carried out under his guidance. Over forty profound interviews with local experts underline the analytical elaborations found in this book. Thus, the main purpose of the ethno-sociological study of an ethnic group in a foreign environment, i.e. to understand its current situation and perspectives from inside, was attained.
