Statehood Challenged

by Louise Manoogian Simone

by Lisa Boghosian Papas When it comes to selecting a unique merchandising mix, Lynn Beylerian has perfected the art. It's a formula that, at first glance, seems quite unlikely. After all, there aren't that many places where you can find Christmas ornaments, arts and crafts, gifts, and patio furniture all in one.

by David Zenian When a young man by the name of Hrant Fenerdjian (1906-1987) began his career as a chief draftsman and assistant engineer in 1927, Athens was a city of 800,000 with an acute problem: the shortage of water. The existing municipal system could supply only four gallons per capita and was completely inadequate. Fenerdjian, barely 21 years old, had just graduated from Robert College in Istanbul with a degree in engineering and moved to Athens to begin working for the Ulen Company which was undertaking the construction of the Athens to Piraeus waterworks.

by David Zenian Krikor Khatchadourian finds it difficult to hold back his tears when he speaks about his father's ordeal as an Armenian refugee in Greece and the turbulent years that followed the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1915. He remembers his father coming home one night saying he had found his sister after more than 11 years of separation, and how she died only a few years later from tuberculosis.

by Lisa Boghosian Papas From the moment you walk into her office, you can tell that she's made it. It's not so much that her desk is piled with papers, that her phone is still buzzing at 7:00 at night, or that she's adorned in the latest off the Paris runways. But in the highly competitive world of fashion, with Chanel at the top of the couture hierarchy, Barbara Garjian not only has made it to the 10th floor of the newly constructed Chanel Boutique on New York's vogue row-57th Street- but she also has her own private office with a view.

by Lisa Boghosian Papas When Emily was 4-years-old, she told her mother, the Honorable Alice E. Altoon, that she wanted to be a Judge one day. By the age of 8, Emily had switched her mind and asked her Mom if it would be okay if she was a teacher instead. Now at the age of 14, Emily's latest ambitions have yet to be revealed. Whatever they end up, the Judge is convinced of her daughter's right to choice-an idea stemming not from radical feminist beliefs but from real life experience itself.

by David Zenian Political upheavals and regional wars in the Middle East in the 1970's brought tens of thousands of Armenian Diaspora immigrants to the distant shores of the United States and Canada, energizing already existing communities. The collapse of the Soviet Union nearly 10 years ago opened the flood-gates to a new wave of immigration-this time from Armenia itself. Better known as "economic immigrants", they were those who left their homeland in search of a better life.

by Louise Manoogian Simone On October 27, 1999, four hundred and fifty delegates from worldwide Armenian churches voted to elect Archbishop Karekin Nersissian, Primate of the Yerevan, Armenia Araratian Diocese as the new Catholicos of All Armenians. The voting was successfully concluded in one ballot with Archbishop Karekin receiving 263 votes, his opponent Archbishop Nerses Bozabalian, former Chancellor of Holy Etchmiadzin, receiving 176 votes and 11 votes considered invalid.

by David Zenian Greece was one of the first countries in Europe to recognize Armenia's independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and bilateral relations have been flourishing ever since. But the bond between Greeks and Armenians goes far beyond the boundaries of diplomacy. Few nations in Europe, if any, have gone through the same hardships and suffering in this century as the Greeks and Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. It was Greece which opened its door to these refugees who escaped with little else than the clothes on their backs.

by David Zenian Looking at the world map today, it is difficult to imagine how ancient Greece and Armenia were once neighbors. But while their geographic proximity has changed since 1071, the special bonds between the two nations have survived the test of time. The first Armenians settled in Byzantium after the collapse of the Armenian Kingdom of Arshagouni in 428 AD and the subsequent wars between Greece and Persia.

by Lisa Boghosian Papas On a late August summer night at New York's Lincoln Center, a sold out hall of music enthusiasts awaits to hear the first sounds from the Mostly Mozart festival - an annual event at which the musicians of the Chamber Music Society (CMS) of Lincoln Center perform.

by Lisa Boghosian Papas It's just past 10 in the morning on Friday before the long President's Day weekend and Donna Kalajian is in her car with her 2-year-old son, Joey, on her way to her parent's house in Northern New Jersey. Her foot is on the pedal, her eyes fixed on the road and her conversation over the cellular phone is clear, except for the occasional connection break-ups around the tollbooths. She fields questions with ease, making sure to keep Joey entertained along the way. "Say hi," she tells her son. "How old are you, Joey?"

by Lisa Boghosian Papas When America's premier filmmaker Woody Allen set out to cast starring roles for his 1996 film Everyone Says I Love You, talent agent Aleen Keshishian helped put actors Natalie Portman and Edward Norton on the big screen.