Author: Ani Basmajian

Kamo Petrosyan’s renovated home (Photo: Tufenkian Foundation)

Twenty-Year-Old Wounded Soldier Kamo Petrosyan Received the Keys to His Renovated Home on September 16

MARTUNI, Artsakh—The Martuni home of 20-year-old Kamo Petrosyan, a veteran of the 2020 war against Azerbaijan, was recently renovated through a co-operation between the Tufenkian Foundation and the Armenian Missionary Association of America.

The Petrosyan home was severely damaged by Azerbaijani fire during last year’s war. Kamo, who was 19 years old at the time and a conscript in Artsakh’s Armed Forces, was serving on the frontlines when his house—home to 11 members of his family—was hit.

“Kamo is one of the many young heroes who protected his homeland, and this is our small way of honoring his service, his sacrifice. Not only was he injured but his home was also destroyed in the war. We’re proud that his house is one of the many buildings we are renovating in the region,” said Tufenkian Foundation operations director Greg Bedian.

A before and after look at the Petrosyan house (Photos: Tufenkian Foundation)

Kamo lost his leg during intense fighting on the battlefield and was later fitted with a prosthesis. The Petrosyan’s house is the seventh of a total of 16 homes across the Martuni region that the Tufenkian Foundation is renovating and restoring following the 2020 war. Kamo lost his leg during intense fighting on the battlefield and was later fitted with a prosthesis. The Petrosyan’s house is the seventh of a total of 16 homes across the Martuni region that the Tufenkian Foundation is renovating and restoring following the 2020 war.

The keys to the renovated home were handed over to the Petrosyan family during a small gathering on September 16. Representatives of the Tufenkian Foundation’s Yerevan and Stepanakert offices as well as the AMAA’s Stepanakert office were present at the home, where a reception was held to mark the occasion.

• Artsakh vet Kamo Petrosyan photographed in front of his damaged home in late April (Photo: Tufenkian Foundation)
• From left: Lusine Abrahamyan, head of social programs, AMAA Artsakh; Greg Bedian, operations director, Tufenkian Foundation; Edgar Danielyan, project manager, Tufenkian Foundation Artsakh (Photo: Tufenkian Foundation)

“The AMAA values highly its decade-long co-operation with Tufenkian Foundation. Our shared vision, objectives, and value system enables us to join forces for the betterment of the Armenian people in both Armenia and Artsakh,” AMAA Armenia representative Harout Nercessian commented about the partnership. The AMAA’s contribution to the program was made possible with funding by the France-based NGO Hope for Armenia (Espoir pour l’Arménie). “We consider this partnership to be successful and look forward to future joint endeavors,” Nercessian added.

Established in 1989 following the Spitak earthquake, Hope for Armenia is a partner organization of the AMAA that has greatly contributed to the welfare of the people of Armenia and Artsakh through various programs, including the establishment of mobile health and dental clinics, as well as the sponsorship of hundreds of orphans across Armenia.

• BEFORE: The Petrosyan home was seriously damaged by Azerbaijani shelling. (Photo: Tufenkian Foundation)
• AFTER: An exterior view of the renovated home (Photo: Tufenkian Foundation)

Kamo’s is the first of two homes that the Foundation will completely renovate in partnership with the AMAA; the renovations are part of the Tufenkian Wounded Soldier Support initiative. The second home, which belongs to Vardan Khachatryan, a veteran of the Artsakh Liberation War of the early 1990s, will be completed and handed over next month. Khachatryan was wounded during a battle for Pushkin Hill in 1993.  He lost his leg and is unable to wear a prosthetic.  During the 2020 war, he operated an excavator, performing important military engineering duties under artillery fire.

On the same day, 30-year-old Hayk Hakobyan, who was also injured during last year’s war, was given the keys to his renovated home in Martuni. The Hakobyan home was renovated following a successful crowdfunding campaign organized by the Tufenkian Foundation.

Staff at Windsor Castle move the portraits into place in the King’s Dining Room

Visitors at Windsor Castle will get to see two newly conserved paintings by the mysterious 17th-century Armenian artist Marcos, The Windsor Express reported on Friday.

The paintings have been installed in the King’s Dining Room at Windsor Castle for the first time in 150 years. They were last recorded within the castle in the early 1870s.

An expert carefully cleans the Marcos painting

It is not known how or when the paintings arrived in England. They were first recorded as hanging at Windsor Castle in James II’s inventory in 1688, and subsequently hung at Kensington Palace and Hampton Court Palace. 

The works of art show a member of the military aristocracy and an unmarried woman from New Jugha, the Armenian district of Isfahan, which was the cosmopolitan capital of Persia in the 17th century.

The figures are dressed in luxurious fabrics including Persian silks, which the Armenians of Isfahan famously traded across the globe. Both portraits include European details, such as a Venetian wine glass, a German clock and Dutch flowers, signifying affluence through access to luxury international commodities.

AUA’s “Engineer the Future” campaign will focus on strengthening STEM skills

September 21 marked the 30th anniversary of both the declaration of independence of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the founding of the American University of Armenia. Since its inception in 1991, AUA has advanced in an unfaltering path of service to the country, educating generations of Armenian students who have walked through its doors and preparing them to build a better future for themselves and for their communities. Keeping pace with changing times and assuming fitting responsibility to Armenia’s needs in today’s dynamic global climate, the University has embraced new ways to accelerate students’ reach of progress, success, and innovation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. To reach that vision, the University has launched the ‘Build a Better Future With AUA’ capital campaign.

This AUA capital campaign aims to raise $15 million for the construction and furnishing of a new Science and Engineering Building deemed imperative for advancing science and technology and keeping pace with the rapidly changing technological landscape in Armenia and beyond. The planned construction accommodates cutting-edge laboratories designed to realize innovative drone solutions, pioneering outcomes to chemical-mechanical challenges, electrical engineering transformations, machine learning-based innovations, renewable energy solutions, and other discoveries through Geographic Information Systems. With the addition of this research and innovation center, AUA will augment its involvement and impact in engineering the future of Armenia by measurably boosting the country’s development potential and advancing its prosperity and resilience.

Rendering of the new AUA Science & Engineering Building designed by Marlene Imirzian & Associates Architects

Over the past 30 years, the University has continuously enriched its teaching and learning processes, growing from one building at its inception to an expanded campus that now accommodates 16 graduate and undergraduate academic programs and five certificate programs, enhanced learning and research platforms, and spaces for interdisciplinary collaborative endeavors. Moving into the fourth decade, the need to advance STEM education has become higher than ever before, driven by the visibly widening societal and educational gaps, and issues of economic stability and national security. 

“In this era of advanced technologies, we have the unique responsibility to grow Armenia’s human capital by preparing and educating multi-skilled and competent leaders who are adept at turning information and knowledge into innovation, insight, and impact on a large scale,” said AUA President Dr. Karin Markides.

In advance of the launch of the ‘Build a Better Future With AUA’ capital campaign, AUA has successfully raised half of its $15 million goal. “We are incredibly grateful for the remarkable generosity of our growing donor community and proud of what we have been able to accomplish together. The results we have achieved to date speak to our strong influence as a first-class institution of higher learning and to the belief that AUA supporters hold in the mission of our University and this new capital campaign,” said Gaiane Khachatrian, Vice President of Development. Articulating her enthusiasm for attaining the set goal, she expressed confidence in the goodwill and commitment of individual visionaries in the diaspora as well as other benevolent foundations who will help AUA reach the finish line.

Learn more about the campaign here.

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.