PRESS RELEASE
From: Mira Yardemian
Public Relations Director
Haigazian University
Mexique Street, Kantari, Beirut
P.O.Box. 11-1748
Riad El Solh 1107 2090
Tel: 01-353010/1/2
01-349230/1

Dr. Arda Jebejian on "Linguistic Challenges of the Armenian Diaspora in
Lebanon"

Beirut, May 6, 2008- On April 30, 2008, Dr. Arda Jebejian, current
lecturer in the Humanities Department at the University of Nicosia,
Cyprus, delivered a lecture entitled "Challenges of the Armenian
Diaspora in Lebanon: Implications for a Resolution of a Crime Still
Denied" at the Cultural Hour in the Haigazian University Auditorium.

Dr. Jebejian was introduced to the audience by Dr. Arda Ekmekji, Dean of
the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, who in her opening word tackled the
issue of the Armenian Genocide, pointing out to the fact that it is the
first genocide of the 20th century.

Jebejian began her lecture by explaining the role of language in
societies, as "the means of socialization into one’s culture, the
vehicle for transmitting the cultural heritage of the past, reshaping
it, and passing it on to the next generations."

Jebejian also explained the implications of the Armenian language on
Armenians who live in Diaspora communities. "They have been subjected to
shifts and fluctuations of language ideologies, ranges of identities,
sociopolitical and socioeconomic trends, and more recently to
globalization, consumerism, explosion of media technologies, and the
post-colonial and post-communist predicament of belongingness", Jebejian
noted.

Jebejian concluded her lecture by considering that pride in ethnic
identity, communal belongingness, and transmission of the Armenian
language and history, are crucial in hastening the just conclusion of an
internationally unresolved national tragedy.