Keeping the Faith
The ties that bind modern Armenians to their ancient Christian Church
Image
February 06, 2008
Montreal Hosts AGBU Nubarian Library Director Raymond Kevorkian from France
-
Image
On November 25, 2007 AGBU Nubarian Library Director Raymond Kevorkian speaks at the AGBU Center in Montreal, Canada about his newly released book, "The Armenian General Benevolent Union - One Hundred Years of History." -
Image
A view of one of two events with French academic Raymond Kevorkian at the AGBU Center in Montreal, Canada in November 2007.
The last week of November 2007 in Montreal, Canada was made memorable through the special visit of Raymond Kevorkian from Paris, France. Kevorkian, instructor of political science at the University of Paris and director of the AGBU Nubarian Library, presented his two-volume "The Armenian General Benevolent Union - One Hundred Years of History" and delivered two well-received lectures at McGill University and the city's AGBU Center during his weeklong visit.
On November 25, 2007, a book launch event took place in the Jirair and Eliz Dervishian Hall of the AGBU Alex Manoogian Center. Organized by the AGBU Montreal Executive Committee with the cooperation of the chapter's Cultural Committee, the book event attracted a capacity crowd and the visiting author was introduced by Armen Buchakjian, Montreal executive committee chairman.
Kevorkian began by first screening part of a special AGBU Centennial DVD, "An Armenian Destiny," prepared by French filmmaker Manuel Toulajian, and followed up with an explanation of the over-arching idea for the two-volume history. He explained that the goal of the books were to reflect the history of the Armenian people during the last hundred years through the evolving story of AGBU. Both the film and the history books were commissioned by the AGBU Central Board of Directors as part of the organization's centennial celebrations in 2006-2007. Available in three languages (Armenian, English and French), the expansive AGBU history was edited jointly by Kevorkian and French historian Vahe Tachjian. Arshavir Gunjian, vice president of AGBU Central Board of Directors, also spoke on this occasion.
On November 27 and 28, 2007 Kevorkian delivered two lectures for Armenian Canadian audiences. Entitled "Turkey in the Geopolitical Environment of Armenia," his November 27 lecture took place at McGill University and was organized by the Association of Armenians Students of three of the city's major universities (McGill, Concordia and Montreal). The second lecture, held at the AGBU Center the following evening, was entitled "Ani: The Inimitable Medieval Capital" and attracted a cross-section of AGBU members from the French-Canadian city.
Please note that archived content may appear distorted as it has been stripped of formatting and original images.
