News > Syrian Armenians > Roupen Hovsepian celebrates his 70th anniversary with a visit to Aleppo

Azad-Hye

At the end of a tour that covered Syria and Lebanon, renown Armenian intellectual and writer Roupen Hovsepian (Ruben Hovsepyan) met with the members of Hamazkayin (Armenian Cultural and Educational Association) in Aleppo on 06 December 2009 and shared with them his thoughts and concerns. The meeting took place in Levon Shant community hall in the "Villat" area and was organized on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the thinker's birthday.
 
Prose writer Hovsepian presented the stance of the Armenian intelligentsia regarding the Armenian - Turkish protocols, signed last October. Another topic was the position of the Armenian intellectuals regarding the relations between the two countries (Armenia and Turkey). 

The presentation started with the display of Abril movie (based on a story written by Roupen Hovsepian with the same title).

Vahe Jamakordzian, a veteran member of Hamazkayin Syria and ex-Principal of Gulbenkian elementary school in Souleymanieh, welcomed the writer and expressed the need to have national non-politicized elite, based on the genuine interests of the Armenian nation and not influenced by any agenda or direction imposed from abroad or subject to foreign guidance. 

Young poet Dikran Kapoyan introduced the novelist mentioning that an Armenian writer has to make a balance between the national and international orientations. He pointed out that Hovsepian represents a generation that continues promoting Armenian national traditions in literature, firmly believing that "the new should  be based on the old".

Zareh Payaslian read one of Hovsepian's short stories ("The warmest country").

In his speech, author Roupen Hovsepian conveyed to the public the outcry of the Armenian intellectuals in the wake of the Armenian - Turkish protocols and explained the dangers behind these documents. He expressed his strong belief that Turkey will demand more and more concessions from the Armenians, while the actual side that needed to press for certain demands should have been the Armenians themselves. To encounter the looming threats, Armenians should develop a culture based on national values, he concluded. 

Information provided by Dikran Kapoyan