ARMISS and the Christmas Concert

On Sunday, 4 January 2009, the Christmas concert of the Armenian Evangelical ARMISS choir was held in the First Armenian Evangelical Church.

ARMISS
The name of the Choir is the pen-name of the pastor, poet, compose and painter, the Rev. Armenag Missirian (1901-1977). In 1981, the Christian Endeavour Union (Քրիստոնէական Ջանից Միութիւնը) of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East established the Armenian Evangelical Armiss Choir together with its founding conductor Mr. Vatche Barsoumian.

In 1987, Rev. Nercess Balabanian reestablished the Armiss Choir. During the war years, and after extensive rehearsals, the group scheduled performances twice but was unable to give them. May 2001 signaled the group's rebirth when the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches established the Armiss Cultural Committee. Then, under the leadership of Rev. Balabanian, the Choir gave a sacred music concert at the Assembly Hall of the American University of Beirut to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of Christian Armenia. Since then, the Armiss Choir has given a number of performances.

Rev. Nercess Balabanian's move to the U.S. urged the Committee to seek new conductors. Mr. Nabil Melki offered his expertise in 2007, and the Choir gave a Christmas concert. Today, the Armiss Cultural Committee is happy to have Mr. Garo Avessian as the choir's new conductor.

Members of the Armiss Cultural Committee
Mr. Hrayr Jebejian, Chairman
Mrs. Roubina Artinian, Vice-Chairman
Mr. Nercess Baghdoyan, Treasurer
Miss Rima Cholakian, Member



ARMISS CHOIR
Garo Avessian, Conductor
Mathilde-Sandra Cholakian, Accompanist

Soprano
Ardemis Abrilian
Shushan Artinian
Silva Chilingirian
Rita Daderian
Taline Elmajian
Arlette Hovsepian
Armig Kazezian
Salpy Kouzouian
Pauline Sagherian
Rosy Sailian
Aline Tahazian
Tenor
Raffi Akbasharian
Luther Artinian
Manoug Chilingirian
Raffi Chilingirian
Raffi Elmajian (Dr.)
Ara Khederian






Alto
Rima Cholakian
Maral Haidostian
Esther Kilaghbian
Palig Kilaghbian
Nectar Palazian
Bass
Shant Aynilian
Hagop Kelougian
Séro Kelougian
Anto Ovigian
Ara Torkomian

News from Cyprus

Nicosia, January 2009: Mr. Hrayr Jebejian, and on behalf of the Armenian Evangelical Church in Cyprus, had a special meeting with His Excellency Mr. Marios Garoyan, head of the House of Representatives in Cyprus. The meeting was organized by the Armenian Representative of the Cyprus Parliament Mr. Vartkes Mahdessian, who was also present. The meeting took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, in Mr. Garoyan’s office.

Mr. Hrayr Jebejian briefed Mr. Garoyan on the ministry of the Armenian Evangelical Church worldwide. He then outlined the history of the Armenian Evangelical Church in Cyprus from the early days up to the invasion in 1974. Hrayr Jebejian updated Mr. Garoyan on the ongoing re-organizational work of the Armenian Evangelical Church in Cyprus and the present situation of the Church building in the occupied part of Nicosia. Recent photos and a copy of the deeds of the occupied Armenian Evangelical Church were handed over to Mr. Marios Garoyan for his reference.

Mr. Garoyan was very happy to hear about the re-organizational work of the Armenian Evangelical Church in Cyprus and expressed his willingness to support the ministry. He then shared his impressions of his recent official visit to Armenia. An Armenian by origin, Mr. Marios Garoyan’s visit to Armenia has been a very emotional one.

Mr. Marios Garoyan is the only Armenian political leader these days who occupies such a high ranking position outside Armenia.

Christmas Event All Chanitz Associations

On Saturday, 27 December, and with the initiative of the Armenian Evangelical Emmanuel Chanitz, the joint Christmas Event took place in Marash Church, in the Hassessian Hall, with the participation of the Armenian Evangelical Marash Chanitz, and the Armenian Evangelical Ashrafieh Chanitz. Around 40 youth were present.
Mr. Hagop Gojigian was the host of the event. Mr. Vatche Khederian and Mrs. Loucin Akbasharian led the worship. After the worship, our guest speaker, Mrs. Vera Svajian shared with us the Christmas message titled "Mary's Disappointment".
It was time for games and dinner. Ms. Markrid Markarian, Ms. Nanor Kelenjian, Mr. Harout Attarian, Mr. Hagop Akbasharian and Mr. Koko Aynilian led the games. At the end of the event, Mr. and Mrs. Clause gave the Chanitzagans a visit and distributed Christmas verses to each participant.

Christmas at NEST Theological School

On Monday, 22 December, a small group from the Armiss choir participated in the Christmas gathering of the Near East School of Theology.
The choir presented two Christmas songs and later on they joined all for a Christmas sing-song in the Student Lounge, which was completely decorated as Jesus' birthplace. Afterwards, the principal of the school, Ms. Mary Michael invited everyone, as the big family of NEST, to a dinner.


(left pic): Rev. Megerdich Karagoezian standing on the left


(left pic): Rev. Sahyouni in front




Ara Khederian, Rita Daderian, Taline Elmajian, Dr. Raffi Elmajian, Sero Kelougian, Hagop Kelougian, Luder Artinian, Silva Chilingirian, Raffi Akbasharian, Shant Aynilian, Raffi Chilingirian



Leadership Training at NEST Theological School

On Sunday, 14 December, from 11:30 am till 3:30 pm, a leadership seminar was held for all the leadership groups of the Armenian Evangelical Emmanuel Church, at NEST (Near East School of Theology).
Mr. Manoug Ibitian presented the 1st subject titled "Accepting Others", after which the participants had lunch together at NEST. Ms. Houry Barsoumian presented the 2nd subject titled "Responsibility". At the end of each session, discussions were held and participants asked several questions for further explanations that were answered by the speakers.


Ms. Houry Barsoumian and Mr. Manoug Ibitian


During the 1st session


Having lunch at NEST


During the 2nd session

A Visitor From France

During the month of December, Marion Heyl, who was one of the members in the exchange program between the Armenian Evangelical Chanitz in Lebanon and the Evangelical Church Youth in France, gave Emmanuel Chanitz a visit, during her stay here in Lebanon.


Left pic: Shahan Kilaghbian, Koko Aynilian, Marion Heyl, Hovsep Ainteblian, Mano Chilingirian, Raffi Chilingirian, Jano Baghboudarian, Shant Anynilian
Right pic: one of the 3 Bible Study groups that meet every Wednesday to study God's Word


Right pic: Hagop Akbasharian (at left), Peggy Cholakian (3rd from left), also in the picture: two French guys who were present in Lebanon.

The dream of a Turkish Armenian comes true

Serkis İmas simply wanted to leave something to the lands where he was born and he didn’t want to let his memories fade away when he sought to publish his memoirs, according to his biographer Bildirici. When Serkis İmas penned his memories in his ancestral homeland Anatolia, he probably didn’t mean to launch a discussion on the complexity of his community’s distinctive problems or sought a scientific solution to these problems.

And he probably had nothing to do with political debates over the 1915 incidents at the hands of the Ottoman Empires.

“I am a Turkish Armenian from Elazığ. I have been living in Germany for some reasons. But it is just in words; my heart always belongs to my homeland where I was born and lived … I just want the two communities who once lived together in peace to have good relations again,” Serkis İmas wrote in his recently published memoirs “Serkis Had Loved This Land,” by journalist Faruk Bildirici.

As Bildirici said, “He simply wanted to leave something from himself to the lands where he was born and he didn’t want to let his memories fade away along with himself.”

İmas was an Anatolian Armenian who was born in 1932 and lived in Turkey until 1961. He was 75 when he died last year in Germany where he was a German citizen for the last 10 years. His passion for his hometown Elazığ was so great as to call himself “the son of Murat,” a river which runs through Elazığ. His mother Susan, later converted to a Turkish name Suzan, was adopted by the military doctor Sami Bey to secure her survival during the 1915 expulsion.

Last message, notebooks

He lost 45 of his ancestors in what he and his family kindly used to call “displacement” during the tragic events of 1915, which resulted in the expulsion of many Armenians from Anatolia. He didn’t witness the tragedy of the expulsion himself but he was still the victim of that tragedy. He had much to say about this land anyway.

So, one day İmas decided to immortalize his memories and spend his last years in Germany recording all his accumulated joys and grief in Anatolia in 15 mini-notebooks. He then contacted Bildirici, known for his political biographies, by telephone in Germany and sent him the notebooks, which are the culmination of four years of work.

“He trusted me although I was a Turk and despite the fact that we didn’t know each other. That imposed a duty on me. I wrote his legacy and published the book,” Bildirici told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “He was so pure, sincere and reconciled in what he said. They are the human stories in the end that take place in this land, which I believe will create a ground for us to look at the Armenian issue far from prejudices.”

They never met. Bildirici solely witnessed the last years of İmas through their telephone conservations and became a real friend and confidant for him. He promised to publish his story but it was bitter to receive an e-mail from Germany about İmas’ death. But he would fulfill his promise.

Bildirici had to fill the gaps about his life. He received support from İmas’ children after his death to complete his story. He filled the gaps and rearranged sentences, as İmas didn’t use any punctuation or follow a chronological order. İmas wrote what he remembered from his past and what his relatives said.

Broken lives

“My aunt was buried in Yerevan, my uncle in America and my uncle’s son in Paris. Should our lives have ended up this way? Why? I really don’t understand why this has happened to us,” İmas asked in his memoirs.

It was the same land that granted him the rare pleasures of life but showed him its dark face as well. His love for this land and common sense are still generous even as he was retelling the moments of a gendarme raid during the expulsion.

“My mother Susan, who was just seven at that time, her three-year-old brother and my grandmother, 70, who took care of them, were all at home when the gendarme came to our home in Elazığ. The gendarme took all Armenian women and children in the village with them. The poor people couldn’t even show a sign of resistance to these men with guns,” he wrote.

“When my old grandmother was exhausted while walking, a gendarme hit her with his riffle and plunged it into her stomach, ignoring her begging and the cries of two little children.”

İmas listened to this bitter story from his mother so many times. Likewise, he himself faced discrimination for his nationality. Traffic police, for instance, who first found İmas in the right after a traffic accident, then prepared an adverse report against him once they learned he was an Armenian. The father of his first love in Istanbul said “If I had daughters as many as the chickens in my poultry, still none of them would fall for Serkis!”

Facing the history

He thankfully commemorated those Turks who friendly approached him in Istanbul where he became Kadıköy’s most reputed turner and made a mini-fortune. Despite challenges, he married his first love in Istanbul. He then divorced and found himself on a train to Germany in the 1960s. He remarried and engaged in another trade there. But he didn’t break his ties with Turkey. He bade farewell to his home country with a huge yellow envelope that contained 12 mini notebooks, a historical account of his life, the Armenians and Anatolia.

“If there were some mistakes in this country in the past, it is wrong to defend them as if they are right. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to accept the wrongs and not to let them be repeated? Each individual born to this land is valuable, the words of whom deserved an objective eye. Believe me, I love this soil and these people more than you,” he concluded.

His story, which began in a small village in Elazığ, unfortunately ended in Germany, sharing the same fate with that of his relatives. The worst part is that he never saw his dream come true; he never read the book.

But for Bildirici, his story had implications about how such controversial issues were handled at the public level and in politics, which usually produced deadlocks in such cases. The Armenian issue was one of the inevitable results of the shift from the Ottoman Empire to the nation-state. That tragedy took place during the Ottoman period and the Turkish Republic couldn’t be responsible for a mistake inherited from its ancestors, according to Bildirici.

“Great men make politics and people live it. But such lives and messages are lost amidst big statements. His story makes us look at things with love and peace,” he said, adding, “We spoke the same language with İmas. We thought there could be some unwanted tragic events in the past but we should learn to face the history peacefully.”

Source: arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=10310028