Rev. Fr. Barouyr Sarkissian (now deceased) was originally from Lebanon.

He served the Armenian Community in Kuwait from early 1960s to late 1990s as parish pastor and teacher of "religion" in the Armenian School.

The prelacy library in Salmiya is named after him.

His children and especially Keri Sarkissian are active members of the community.

In an interview with David Zenian (published in the February 2004 issue of AGBU magazine) Father Sarkissian described the situation of the Armenian community in Kuwait after the Gulf War (1991). Below are excerpts from the interview where Father Sarkissian gives also a historical account on the presence of the Armenians in Kuwait. 

- Kuwait is not the same [after the Gulf War], and probably the Armenian community here will not be the same again too ... We were down to a mere 500 Armenians during the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in 1990. After the liberation, we opened our school with only 90 students. Today the Armenian community numbers about 2,500 — and slowly growing. The Armenian school this year has 298 students. 

- Thank God it all started in the middle of summer. The school was closed and the children safe. Maybe only a few thousand Armenians were in Kuwait, and most of them were working men. With the occupation in place, most of them left by road to Baghdad and then on to their home countries. Read more...

Born in Beirut (1948), Armen Kouyoumdjian completed his studies in Applied Statistics at the Sorbonne in Paris, prior to moving to London in 1970. For 20 years, he worked in the City, specialising first in Europe, and then in Latin America, as a Countrry Risk Analyst at the International Mexican Bank, where he was assistant managing director and head of research.

In early 1991, he moved with his Spanish wife and two sons to Viña del Mar Chile, from where he has been operating an independent consultancy on Country Risk, financial and insurance markets, as well as regional defence and geopolitical aspects.

Kouyoumdjian writes for various specialist publications round the world and is a regular contributor to radio and tv programmes.

He is active in Armenian affairs and responsible for internationla and cultural cativities for Chile's Armenian community.

Since 1997, he sponsors the Avemaria choir in Yerevan, and travels regularly to Armenia.

See more Directory enteries here

Dear Friend,

This update of www.keghart.com contains several items in Armenian language. It is hoped that in future a balance will be maintained between English and Armenian postings to comply with the wishes of readers.
 
You will notice the video clips that are around 10 minutes long each. Clicking on them twice will lead directly to You Tube. Readers are invited to make their comments either in Keghart.com or in You Tube. For the combined full version of the videos visit  Audio Visual Presentation
 
The Sponsored Sites are enriched by the addition of a new Blog, for which the management of Keghart.com is thankful to Viken L. Attarian. From time to time selected articles from the blogs will be posted.
 
Some articles are of interest to a wide range of readers irrespective of their ethnic background. Keghart.com is pleased to inform that more than 5000 people, primarily from Canadian Universities, professors and PhD aspirants receive them. It goes without saying that forwarding such items to your non-Armenian friends is desirable. There is an email option on each page.
 
Welcome again to www.keghart.com
 
Respectfully,
 
Dikran Abrahamian BA, MD 

Commont posted after the following article: Iraqi pop band 'Unknown to No One' is no more unknown

It is great to have 2 of our Armenian fellows in this band. I know both of them specially Shant, we used to work together in a goldsmith workshop that belonged to the Mr. Shant Avakian.

What I like to say although we have 2 Armenian guys in the band, I guess it's time to have an Armenian song as nice as "Jameela".

At the end I wish the band all the success.

On 13 July 2008 Singapore's main daily "The Straits Times", has published an article titled: "Preserving our heritage", in which reference is made, amongst several historical landmarks in the island, to the Armenian Church. The comment goes as follows:

WEATHER-WORN? Armenian Church of St Gregory the Illuminator. 
Location: 60, Hill Street (gazetted on July 6, 1973).
Significance: Built between 1835 and 1836, it is the oldest Christian church here and was built by the early Armenian migrants - a small, pious and wealthy community. Named after a 4th-century monk, the church is sometimes used for Russian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox services.
Preservation challenges: With such an old building, you always want to be careful. The materials used in the past have been subject to weathering and might not hold up as well.

Read also in Azad-Hye:

Letter from Jack Salatian about his latest visit to Singapore Armenian Church (2003)

A history of the Armenian Church in Singapore

ARARAT Center for Strategic Research is pleased to inform you about the new stage of its Javakhk project.

The Javakhk archive offers news, facts, analyses and publications on a broad range of issues. It contains a large amount of information and analyses on the socio-economic, political, cultural and demographic situation in this strategically important Armenian-populated region. 

We believe that this new internet-resourse will be useful for the Armenian decision-makers as well as the public at large for better identification and deeper understanding of the urgent problems awaiting solutions in Javakhk.

Click here for the Javakhk archive webpage.

Source: News Release by "Ararat Center for Strategic Research", Yerevan, 15 July 2008

Located in Andes, New York, AGBU Camp Nubar offers two to six week sessions for campers and the administration offers a full range of sports, educational and cultural programs.

Active camp alumni serve on various management committees and others upon reaching the age of sixteen to eighteen serve as counselors.

In recent years, through contributions from generous donors, Camp Nubar in New York has undergone extensive renovation of its cabins and built a new center to house its dining room and a variety of cultural activities.

www.campnubar.org

The Armenians of Kuwait expressed their deep sorrow for the demise of the late Emir Sheikh Saad bin Abdullah Al Sabah, who died at age 78, on 13 May 2008.

A ceremony took place on Friday, 16 May 2008 in the Armenian Church in Salmiya district, with the presence of big number of Armenians.

Rev. Ardag Kehyeyan presided the prayers and delivered a sermon in which he praised the great deeds of the late Emir and his special attention and care towards the Armenian community.
 
Photos from the ceremony

Rev. Ardag Kehyeyan heads the prayers	Part of the audience

We received the following message from an Iraqi of Armenian origin who is looking for his relatives worldwide:

Good morning if it was morning and good afternoon if it was afternoon.

I would like to ask your help in seaching my relatives who live in far countries. I am originally from Iraq and now live outside Iraq. I have large number of relatives abroad, but I do not know their addresses.

I belong to the Armenian Boudarian clan from Turkey and specifically from Izmit. My father's and grandfather's family immigrated in 1915 during the Turkish deporation (safar barlek). I do not know the addresses of my relatives. Would you please lead me to them. I am Muslim now but the search for blood relatives is a duty as mentioned in our rightous religion. I would be very grateful if you send me anything you come across about my origins to my e-mail address.

I express my sincere gratitude, appreciation and respect.

Memo Zarin Hagop Boudarian
Iraq

E-mail: memo_sunny4@yahoo.com

Read original letter in Arabic here.

The Memorial of the Valence city erected to the memory of the Armenian Genocide was desecrated in the night from 14 to May 15, 2008. An illegible inscription in black was written on the monument's base. The Armenian Community placed a complaint to the authorities. 

In November 2005, Valence has been the theater of skirmishes between the Turkish and Armenian communities.

Since january 2008, 7 Armenian memorials are vandalized around the world: Saint-Chamond, Creteil, Lyon, Valence (France); Cardiff (UK.), Budapest (Hungria) and Lviv (Ukraine).

Jean Eckian
Paris

It's really a very nice and good thing trying to connect all the Armenian fellows over the Middle East. I wish you all the best and luck in your duty.
 
Actually I am from Baghdad, Iraq. Our Armenian community here is trying to survive under this difficult situation, that we are facing as a country. Despite these difficulties the Armenian associations here are trying to give the best to the Armenians here: We have the Yerdasartants Association, Homenetmen Club and Parikordzagan Association.

I'm one of the associates in the Yerdasartats Association in Baghdad.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any enquiries. 

Thank you and may god bless all Armenians.

Shant Atanosian (Email)
Finance Dep./ Logistics/ Senior specialist
Desk   :- +964 7901 902 145
Ext     :-   2145
www.zain.com

15 May 2008

We have the privilage to publish the updated article by Prof. Alfred de Zayas entitled "The Genocide against the Armenians 1915-1923 and the relevance of the 1948 Genocide Convention". The article aims to discussing the issues such as "what does the UN Convention of 1948 say about the Armenian Genocide? Can one refrain from recognising the Armenian Genocide 1915 since the UN Convention did not exist until 1948? Does the present Turkey have any obligations regarding the act of genocide committed by Ottoman Turkey?

Alfred de Zayas is Professor of international law, Geneva School of Diplomacy Member New York, Florida Bar, retired former Secretary of the UN Human Rights Committee, retired former Chief of Petitions at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights.

Please visit http://www.armenica.org to read the article in its whole.

We hope that you will find the new addition intersting and useful.

With best regards,

Armenica Editorial Staff
admin@armenica.org
http://www.armenica.org

Comment on article: Armenian Lebanese solidarity song by Gassan Rahbani

Dear Ghassan,

Marvelous work. Thanks a lot.

N. Khoury
(75% Armenian, 25% Arab Palestinian)
Director, Satellite Communications Department
HICAP Telecom Co. Ltd.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

By Katia Peltekian 

BEIRUT: May 10, 2008. - At noon today, supporters of the Lebanese opposition, which includes Hezbollah, Amal and other movements, burned the offices of the newly established Armenian radio station "Sevan" in the Mar Elias area in Beirut.

This comes a day after pro-government media offices were forced to close down and then set on fire. Future TV, Future News, Radio Orient, Future Newspaper (all of which are owned by the Hariri family) in addition to Al-Lewa' newspaper offices were targets yesterday by anti-government millitants.

Details about today's attack on the Armenian "Radio Sevan" have not been made public yet.

Radio sevan's website: http://www.radiosevan.com/

Food giant Nestle faces a boycott in Azerbaijan after information about countries around the world on a CD-ROM given away with a breakfast cereal caused outrage there.

The CD-ROM said that Azerbaijan had started a war against neighbouring Armenia and that the hotly disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh belonged to Armenia.

The BBC reports that the Swiss-based multinational food company has issued a formal apology to Azerbaijan, withdrawn the cereal and promised to seize the offending CDs.

The Azeri government vowed to take action, and there has been widespread talk of a public boycott, despite Nestle's apology.

Source: Newsroom America, 03 May 2008, New Zealand

The 4th issue of the first Armenian online IT monthly journal "Inch ka chka?" is available now.

Click here to download the file (PDF format). 

Three new documents are added in www.mashtoz.org website.
  
They are:
 
01. Saghmosaz grqi endhanur neratzutyun  (18 p.)
 
02. Saghmosnere  (18 p.)
 
03. Karevor aghotq  (1 p.)

Mashtoz Vahe Lazaryan