Author: Hovik Karapetian

The stars of Dhaka’s Armanitola [Bangladesh]

Hovik Karapetian
Live Mint
Feb 23 2020
Updated: 23 Feb 2020, 08:14 PM IST Raul Dias

The search for the monument on the 100 taka note leads to the Armenian quarter of Old Dhaka, once home to an Armenian community

Tara Masjid gets its name from the star-shaped mosaic work inside. Photo from alamy

I am pretty sure I made quite a spectacle of myself that sweltering summer afternoon in Dhaka, waving a soiled 100 taka note in front of scores of bewildered passers-by. Even my feeble attempt at mouthing a few Bengali words seemed to fall on deaf ears. After almost giving up hope, my phone’s wavering GPS came through. Finally, I was standing in front of the structure that stared out at me from every 100 taka I spent during my stay in Bangladesh.

I had trekked through the dusty alleys of Old Dhaka for hours, with the sole aim of visiting the rather unusual Tara Masjid. Its four domes are decorated with rare chini tikri (Chinese style) porcelain tile mosaic work in star motifs, giving the mosque both its name and its place of glory on the “tails” side of a 100 taka bank note.

But rather than the end of a quest, the find set me off on a new one. In my search for the mosque, I had unknowingly meandered into Old Dhaka’s Armenian quarter. Called Armanitola, the neighbourhood on the shores of the turgid Buriganga river was once the nerve centre of Armenian life in East Bengal. This was where jute and leather traders from the South Caucasian country decided to set up both shop and home. Today, Armanitola is much like the old part of any South Asian city, densely packed and cacophonic. I found myself dodging everything from cycle rickshaws to the stray grazing goat, while walking under a mesh of power cables linking the tenement buildings. But then, there’s also respite from the chaos.

Just 300m south of Tara Masjid is the Armenian Church, the spiritual centre of this unique quarter. The Armenian Apostolic Church of the Holy Resurrection was built by the traders in 1781 on a plot of land that they had earlier used as a cemetery.

This edifice, with its hexagonal, crucifix-topped steeple and generous narthex, reminded me not just of St Peter’s Armenian Church in my home city of Mumbai, but also of the similarly structured Armenian Holy Church of Nazareth in Kolkata. Several Indian cities besides Mumbai and Kolkata once had thriving Armenian populations and grand churches to cater to the growing congregation that had been settling in India since the 16th century.

There were not one but two separate waves of Armenian exodus to India (which Bangladesh was a part of at the time), according to the book Armenian Settlements In India by Anne Basil, that I found while researching the subject at Mumbai’s Asiatic Library once I was back home. The first was in 1645, when the aforementioned merchants arrived in Bengal, purely for trading purposes. The book references an agreement of 1688 between the English East India Company and Armenian merchants that reads, “Whenever forty or more of the Armenian nation shall become inhabitants in any of the garrisons, cities, or towns, belonging to the Company in the East Indies, the said Armenians shall not only have and enjoy the free use and exercise of their religion, but there shall also be allotted to them a parcel of ground to erect a church thereon….”

The second exodus was more poignant, taking place in the wake of the 1915 genocide of over a million Armenians by the Turkish forces in East Anatolia. Basil writes that “hundreds of children of uprooted families…found shelter and a roof and received sufficient education…” at the Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy in Kolkata. The academy is still functional, a source of pride for the city’s small Armenian diaspora.

I was only superficially aware of this history when Hafiz, the old watchman who had let me into the church at Armanitola, told me the story of the last Armenian in Bangladesh. Speaking in broken English, bolstered by wild gesticulating, he recounted the tale of Mikel Housep Martirossian, the Dhaka-born son of an Armenian jute trader who was not only the caretaker of the Armenian Church until 2014, but also its sole congregant. He would say his prayers daily, sitting quietly in the first pew. After he suffered a stroke, he moved to Canada, where his children live.

But there is still hope for the church. The Armenian embassy in Dhaka that looks after its upkeep has hinted at the possibility of bringing a new warden from Armenia. Till then, it is up to Hafiz to keep the place clean and protected, and to light the altar candles at 7pm daily.

As I leave the church gates, I make sure to squeeze a small tip into Hafiz’s wrinkled palm. And yes, it was one of those same 100 taka notes that started it all!

Raul Dias is a Mumbai-based writer.

https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/the-stars-of-dhaka-s-armanitola-11582468772877.html


Armenian public bids last farewell to prominent actor Yervand Manaryan

Hovik Karapetian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 22 2020
Culture 15:25 22/02/2020 Armenia

“Yervand Manaryan’s name is inseparable from the 50-year old history of Armenian cinematography. Our film industry is a national heritage, and Manaryan represents one of the brightest colors of that richness,” Davit Muradyan, Honored Art Worker of Armenia, Professor at Yerevan Institute of Cinema and Theatre told reporters at the funeral ceremony of Yervand Manaryan.

Muradyan, who had come to bid farewell to the renowned actor, noted that people love Manaryan as a famility member. “He was not the type of actors to speak to the audience from a pedestal but was among the people – in every family. Kids and elderly, ordinary workers and academicians equally admired him. That is a virtue beyond the artistic and remains a very human charactersitic. The art created by Manaryan came from his human essence, his humor, kindness, and the decency of truly art lover,” added Muradyan.

To note, the funeral ceremony of Yervand Manaryan is being held at Yerevan Theatre of Musical Comedy named after Hakob Paronyan. The public applauded last time to the beloved actor, when Manaryan’s corpse was taken out of the theatre under the music of “A Bride from the North” film where Manaryan played a leading role.

Prominent Soviet Armenian actor, director, screenwriter and People’s Artist of Armenia Yervand Manaryan passed away at the age of 95 on Sunday.

Manaryan worked as an actor and a director at Hakob Paronyan Musical Comedy Theatre and Gabriel Sundukyan State Academic Theatre. From 1957 to 1959, he served as the general director of Yerevan State Puppet Theatre after Hovhannes Tumanyan. Manaryan became the artistic director of Argus Puppet Theatre in 1988. He also served as one of the chief directors of Yerevan State Puppet Theatre.

Book: Danish-language travel book on Georgia and Armenia is on its way

Hovik Karapetian
PanArmenian, Armenia
Feb 19 2020
– 17:29 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Denmark’s leading daily newspaper Politiken has produced a 144-page Danish-language travel book about Georgia and Armenia, Georgia Today reports.

The book provides plentiful insights into the history, geography, culture and traditions of the two countries and is intended primarily for those who plan to travel there.

The book also aims to draw attention of Danish citizens to Georgian and Armenian skyrocketing tourism opportunities.

“Politiken now features for the first time a solid guide book on Georgia and Armenia, available in the book stores from early March. The travel guide, written by Tom Trier and Søren E. Hansen, zooms in on the two small countries in the South Caucasus. With short but insightful introductions to society and culture, it provides a wealth of background and also practical information for the traveler and introduces the most important sights, including UNESCO world heritage churches and monasteries, spectacular mountain hiking routes and some of the best restaurants, eateries and wine yards the South Caucasus has to offer”, reads a Facebook post by the Embassy of Georgia in Denmark.

A launch reception for presenting the travel book is scheduled for March 19 and is set to be hosted by the Georgian Embassy.

Travel: Notes from Armenia

Hovik Karapetian
The Hindu, India
Feb 8 2020
Notes from Armenia 
 


by Raul Dias

Picking an accommodation option that sits cheek-by-jowl with a primary school is always a risky proposition. One that is fraught with countless somnolence-threatening annoyances. From loud, early morning assembly calls and mid-day playground cacophony to afternoon marching band practice, the ultra-light sleeper in me has encountered it all.

But my recent stay at a family-run B&B in Yerevan — the pink-hued capital of Armenia — that shares a wall with one of the city’s most popular public schools, showed me another, more surprising facet to Armenian academia. One that struck a home run in more ways than one…

Chess in school

With one of the most ambitious school chess programmes in the world, the chess-obsessed nation has made the game a compulsory subject on the national curriculum. An initiative of the then Armenian President Sersh Sargsyan — who was also president of the Armenian Chess Federation — since 2011, children studying in grades two to four have two weekly chess lessons that are graded just like any other school subject. And just like the one next door, these classes are often conducted in school playgrounds that have sets of purpose-built concrete chess tables in a designated corner.

To keep up with this new demand, Armenia now has more than 4,000 qualified chess teachers in its school system, besides national champions like Levon Aronian as visiting faculty. The once number-two chess grandmaster in the world, also known fondly as Armenia’s David Beckham, today regularly coaches kids in chess at schools across the country. Interestingly, a 2009 BBC World Service report titled Armenia: the cleverest nation on earth shows that with its population of a little over three million, Armenia is among the world leaders in chess, with one of the highest numbers of chess grandmasters per capita.

Grandmaster Tigran Petrosian

So, where and how did it all begin for this Armenia-chess love affair? Curious, I visit the Tigran Petrosian Chess House — the ‘Ground Zero’ of all things chess in the Caucasian state. Nestled on Yerevan’s leafy Khanjyan Street and built in the early1970s in the typical Soviet brutalist architectural style, the building is named after the Soviet Armenian grandmaster Tigran Petrosian, who became the World Chess Champion in the 1960s.

Here, I learn that although chess was institutionalised during the early Soviet period, the country has always had a historical love of the game that goes way back to the Middle Ages. This was proved with the discovery of an ancient chess set in the citadel of Dvin, the medieval capital of Armenia, in 1967.

At Yerevan’s imposing grey basalt Matenadaran museum of manuscripts, a digital copy of Shatrang: The Book of Chess (1936) by Joseph Orbeli and Kamilla Trever tells me more as it augments the India-Armenia chess connection. Called chatrang, a word derived from the Sanskrit term chaturanga, which translates to ‘four arms’ (representing elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers), chess apparently came to Armenia from India via the Arabs in the 9th century, when Armenia was under Arab rule.

“Shakh yev mat,” is a victory cry I hear all of a sudden as I settle down with my 200-dram (₹30) blueberry softy cone at a bench outside the Moscow Cinema on Yerevan’s arterial Abovyan Street, next to a giant pedestrian chess set. But then, the Armenian equivalent of “checkmate!” is something I’ve been hearing at almost every public square and city park I’ve sauntered past in the last few days. There’s probably nary a public space in Yerevan that doesn’t have at least a couple of chess tables, with players of all ages hunched over an intense game of chatrang.

On a free walking tour of Yerevan, as a passing shot, our guide Varko lets us in on a little-known chess world secret. As it so happens, Garry Kasparov, the former Soviet grandmaster, and easily the world’s best ever chess player, is of Armenian heritage, though he was born in Baku, Azerbaijan. Apparently, his original surname was Kasparyan — with the ubiquitous finale of an Armenian surname, which usually end in “ian” or “yan”.

The Mumbai-based writer and restaurant reviewer is passionate about food, travel and luxury, not necessarily in that order.





Armen Sarkissian: “Turning to the people is not a drastic measure”

Hovik Karapetian
MediaMax, Armenia
Feb 7 2020

President Sarkissian has made these remarks in the interview to Mediamax, Shant TV Company and Aravot newspaper today.

 According to the President, he has not yet received the decision of the referendum, which the National Assembly of Armenia made on February 6.

 “Once it is referred to me, I will inform the public about my opinion. It is not simply a matter of signing or not signing the document. I will try to make a contribution,” said Armen Sarkissian. He has underlined that the president should not be considered an “interpreter” of the Constitution.

 “The President observes implementation of the Constitution but does not guarantee it. The President must not interfere in the work of the branches of power or publicly share opinions about the work of executive or legislative powers. However, the President can give advice and support. The tools I have at my disposal to express opinion are quite limited, but this is not about craving more authorities. We shifted towards the parliamentary form of governance, which means that the less authorities the President has, the better,” said Armen Sarkissian.

 He believes that the institution of presidency should not be limited to observing compliance with the Constitution or detecting incompliance with it.

“The President should have a broader view on issues – consider how the given law, action or decision can affect the society. Let’s assume that I receive a bill, which the experts believe complies with the Constitution. They say there is no need to apply to the Constitutional Court. The President either signs the document or refuses to sign it, which means that the National Assembly will enforce it anyway some time later. However, even if the bill does not contradict the Constitution, the President could believe that the bill might have negative impact in certain areas. In some countries the President can veto the bill in such a case, showing the society that he or she disagrees with the proposed law and suggests executive and legislative powers to consider it again. There are countries where the President has the right to refer the law back to the parliament,” said Armen Sarkissian.

 President Sarkissian has noted that he followed the events of recent days closely.

 “I agree that the phenomenon of turning to the people should be established in our culture. Turning to the people is not a drastic measure. It can be done through referendum or plebiscite, and it is very valuable in the 21st century. Today we live two lives – real and virtual. There can be heated discussions, clash of opinions and huge amount of fake accounts in the virtual world. It prevents people from differentiating between real and unreal, true and false. In these circumstances, it is very important to face reality, so to say, communicate with the people and hear real opinions. Plebiscite does not have to be connected with the Constitution or a law. For instance, in Switzerland, making the people a party to the decision-making process is a success and a part of everyday life. We should not be afraid to try it here in Armenia. It is a necessity in the “double lives” we live in the 21st century,” said President Sarkissian. 



Artsakh Ombudsman comments on statement of Azerbaijani Central Election Commission

Hovik Karapetian

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 15:48, 6 February, 2020

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan commented on the statement of the Azerbaijani Central Election Commission according to which the people of Artsakh can take part in the upcoming elections in Azerbaijan.

“The Azerbaijani CEC stated that the people of Karabakh can take part in the elections of Azerbaijan. I’m excited with this magnanimity. Instead of this, think of Armenophobia, domestic human rights and your democracy level. I am sure that the Azerbaijani people will be allowed to take part in the Artsakh elections if they get our citizenship”, the Artsakh Ombudsman said on Twitter.

Artsakh will hold parliamentary and presidential elections in April 2020.

Snap parliamentary elections will be held in Azerbaijan on February 9, 2020.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




Armenia 1st Ombudsman: Such meetings of Armenia and Azerbaijan FMs pose threat to Armenians’ security

Hovik Karapetian
News.am, Armenia
Jan 30 2020
Armenia 1st Ombudsman: Such meetings of Armenia and Azerbaijan FMs pose threat to Armenians’ security Armenia 1st Ombudsman: Such meetings of Armenia and Azerbaijan FMs pose threat to Armenians’ security

23:59, 30.01.2020
                  

Such meetings of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan pose a threat to Armenians’ security. This is what Armenia’s first Ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“Judging from the statement, there was a serious discussion on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue during the meeting of the foreign ministers, in spite of all the statements that Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan was making all this time, saying that Yerevan has no mandate to discuss the issue. This meeting fully refutes the Armenian authorities’ public statements since essential issues were clearly discussed during the 5-hour and 7-hour meetings,” she added.

According to her, based on the text of the statement, one can deduce that the issues that were discussed were issues related to preparing the peoples for peace and creating a basis for future settlement of the conflict.

She added that the claim that there is intensification of the process and that there will be competitive results also entail questions. The first Ombudsman declared that, in terms of law, the process is nothing since Armenia and Azerbaijan have no legal grounds to consider the issue of another state.

From January 28 to 30, in Geneva the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs held separate and joint meetings with Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Azerbaijan Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov. Based on the results of the meetings, the foreign ministers and the Co-Chairs issued a joint statement.

Sweden ratifies Armenia-EU CEPA

Hovik Karapetian

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 13:45, 1 February, 2020

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, ARMENPRESS. Sweden informed the General Secretariat of the European Council and the Council of the EU on January 31 about finishing the domestic procedures for the ratification of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the EU, ARMENPRESS reports press secretary of the Armenian foreign ministry Anna Naghdalyan wrote on her Facebook page.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

Art: Exhibition of Armenian and Turkish photographers opened in Istanbul

Hovik Karapetian
Panorama, Armenia
Jan 29 2020
Culture 18:59 29/01/2020 Region

An exhibition featuring the works of 10 photographers from Armenia and 10 from Turkey opened on January 29 at UNIQ Gallery in Istanbul, Turkey. Entitled “BridgingStories II”, the exhibition will be open for public until February 7, Ermenihaber reported.

The purpose of the project is to bring together young photographers from Armenia and Turkey and using photography to tell their own stories in an effort to bridge hope and build peace between nations.
The project began with a photojournalism camp that took place from August 4-11, 2019, in Dilijan, Armenia. After the camp and prior to the exhibition, the participants photographed in their hometowns, creating images highlighting the similarities and parallels of interests and experiences shared by young people from both countries.

This is the second iteration of the project, the first one was in 2016-2017 supported by the US Embassy in Yerevan under the guidance of John Stanmeyer, Anush Babajanyan and Sabiha Çimen.

The Prime Minister got acquainted with the activities of card foundation (video)

Hovik Karapetian

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Center for Agribusiness and Rural Development (CARD) Foundation. During the tour, the head of the fund presented to the head of the government the activities of CARD, the works of different departments of the fund. 

Then, during the consultation, detailed reference was made to the programs implemented by the foundation and their results. It was noted that the foundation group includes 6 organizations specialized in the field of agriculture and 19 agricultural service centers.

It was informed that CARD is engaged in the implementation of agricultural development projects, which are mainly aimed at the development of livestock breeding, milk production and processing, winemaking, mechanization services, development of vegetable and fruit growing, as well as greenhouse production. Among the latest initiatives are the programs aimed at the development of pig breeding and goat breeding. 

 

The CARD Foundation also coordinates the 19 agricultural service centers operating in RA, which were created to make high-quality agricultural inputs, services, knowledge and information more accessible in the marzes. The centers are specialized in the following areas by location: animal husbandry and veterinary medicine, pig breeding, viticulture and viticulture, greenhouse production, open ground vegetable growing, fruit growing, small cattle breeding. The centers also provide farmers with the knowledge and advice they need for modern agriculture. During this period, 250 specialists were trained as a result of the activity of the centers. 

 

Prime Minister Pashinyan welcomed the programs implemented by the foundation and emphasized the dissemination of knowledge in terms of introducing the latest technologies in the rural sector, the works implemented by the foundation in the direction of expanding the above-mentioned centers. The head of the government instructed the Deputy Minister of Economy Artak Kamalyan to continue cooperation with the foundation in the direction of dissemination of knowledge necessary for the organization of modern agriculture and to present an appropriate program for the mass dissemination of the existing knowledge in the foundation in order to jointly implement it.