Unveiled Archives

Canada, Yousuf Karsh bust unveiled in downtown Ottawa

June 10, 2017 by administrator

Photo, Armenian National Committee of Canada

The bust of prominent Canadian–Armenian photographer Yousuf Karsh was unveiled in front of the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, the Armenian Committee of Canada said in a Facebook post.

“The bust that is a gift from the Armenian people to the Canadian people stands as a lasting symbol of the strong friendship between Canada and Armenia,” the Committee said.

The event was attended by a number of guests, including Armenia’s ambassador to Canada Armen Yeganyan.

The bust is a gift from the Armenian people to the Canadian people on behalf of not only 150th of Canada’s Confederation, but also the 25th anniversary of Canadian-Armenian diplomatic relations, Yeganyan said in a post of his own.

The choice of Chateau Laurier as the venue for the bust was not accidental. Karsh’s first solo exhibition was in 1936 in the Drawing Room of the hotel. He moved his studio into the hotel in 1973, and it remained there until he retired in 1992.

Karsh has been recognized as one of the great portrait photographers of the 20th century by Time magazine and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the latter noting the “distinct style in his theatrical lighting.”

Bust of Armenian national hero unveiled in Yerevan

April 30, 2017 by administrator

The bust of Armenian national hero and Artsakh Liberation War participant, Tatul Krpeyan, was unveiled in Yerevan on Sunday.

In his speech, Defense Minister of Armenia, Vigen Sargsyan, specifically noted: “They say it is not that important how many days there are in a person’s life: It’s more important how much life there is in each day the man lives. The history of all nations includes such points when the struggle for life was the only alternative to disgraceful defeat. If for many people this was a spontaneous decision made under the pressure of the moment, it was a deeply realized wisdom for Tatul Krpeyan, who chose the profession of a historian after serving in the USSR army and who worked as a history teacher in his native village.”

“We don’t serve justice to Tatul Krpeyan, It is he who tells our generations by his own example that the Armenian land is forbidding, the state is strong and our future is always bright,”he added.

Tatul Krpeyan’s daughter, Aspram Krpeyan, for her part, expressed gratitude to the sculptor Levon Tokmajyan.

The opening ceremony of the bust was attended by Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan, Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan, Education and Science Minister Levon Mkrtchyan, Culture Minister Armen Amiryan and Head of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Movses Hakobyan.

Tatul Krpeyan died on 30 April 1991. He was bestowed the title of national hero in 1996.

Monument to Marshal Hamazasp Babajanian unveiled in Yerevan

May 23, 2016 by administrator

President Serzh Sargsyan attended today the ceremony of unveiling of the statue of the Hero of the USSR, Chief Marshal of the USSR armored troops Hamazasp Babajanian.

The memorial was opened in the public square adjacent to Babajanian Street in Avan administrative district of Yerevan. The memorial was created by the sculptor Hamlet Matinian and architect Michael Missakian.

Present at the ceremony were also Minister of Defense Seiran Ohanian, Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margarian, veterans of the WWII, the Commanding General United States Army Europe Lieutenant General Frederick Benjamin Hodges, the Adjutant General of Kansas, the military commander of the Kansas National Guard Major General Lee E. Tafanelli, Military Attachés of foreign states, natives of Chardakhlu residing in Yerevan (Khachisarians), members of the Gardman patriotic union, and other guests.

The President of Armenia laid flowers on the monument and paid tribute to the memory of the great warrior.

After the march of the ceremonial guard, the Honorary Citizen of Yerevan, gross master Rafael Vahanian and the Vice Chair of the Armenian Chess Federation Hovik Khalikian handed to President Sargsyan a symbolic gift – chess board which belonged to Marshal Babajanian which was presented by the descendents of the Marshal.

Georgia, Genocide Memorial Unveiled in Tbilisi

April 23, 2014 by administrator

TBILISI, Georgia (DFWatch)—A memorial to the Armenian genocide was unveiled in Tbilisi on Monday. The memorial is made of stone and stands in the yard of one of the Armenian churches in the capital.

Levon Isakhanian, a representative of the Armenian community in Georgia, explained to Georgian news agency DF Watch that a khachkar is a stone with a cross and ornaments engraved in it. This is a memorial statue and it is an Armenian tradition to place such stones on graves.

There are only a few khachkars left in Georgia, dating from different time periods.

This is the second Armenian stone memorial in Georgia. The first one was placed in front of another Armenian church in Tbilisi a few years ago in order to pay tribute to people who died in Tbilisi on April 9, 1989, during a pro-independence rally which was dispersed by Soviet soldiers.

The new khachkar is dedicated to the memory of approximately 1.5 million people who were massacred by the Ottoman government during the Armenian Genocide at the turn of the 20th century.

Historians and many politicians consider the mass killings, torture, deportations, and ultimately displacement of the Armenian population from its native homeland in 1915-1918 as genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire.

Every year on April 24, the Armenian community in Georgia holds rallies outside the Turkish embassy in Tbilisi. They pay tribute to those who were killed and demand that the Georgian government recognize the genocide.

The Turkish government categorically denies that the Ottoman Empire carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Armenians. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan said in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel that there cannot be any conversation about any kind of genocide. He said he thinks that assessing these events is a subject for historians and lawyers, not politicians. Erdoğan said Turkey is ready to publish historical material and calls on Armenia to take the same step. He said he thinks it is a mistake when journalists and politicians use the word “genocide.”

The unveiling of the new memorial was held in connection with the April 24 commemoration and was attended by representatives of different churches.

“It is a very important day for the history of the Armenian community in Georgia. This is a day when a khachkar, dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, was erected for the first time in Tbilisi,” Vazgen Mirzakhaniani, head of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, said at the unveiling ceremony.

“We appreciate the attitude of Georgians to this day and we want this khachkar to also become a symbol for Armenian-Georgian relations, which go back centuries.”