Survey of 3000 Armenians provides a snapshot of opinions in the Diaspora

The results of a major research on public opinion in Diaspora communities will be formally launched at an online event on 5 September. 

The Armenian Diaspora Survey (ADS)—the first of a three-year study project—was held in four communities in 2019: Argentina, Lebanon, Canada (Montreal) and Romania. The fieldwork took place between September and December 2019, 3000 Armenians took part in the study.

ADS is funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and is carried out by a team of experts under the auspices of the Armenian Institute in London.

 “The Armenian Diaspora Survey is an attempt to study the opinions of Armenians living in various communities around the world and aims to explore the ‘ingredients’ of being Armenian in the 21st century,” said ADS director Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian of University of Oxford.

The research provides a snapshot of the contemporary Diaspora by studying public opinions on identity, language and culture, community engagement, and relations with Armenia.

“We are pleased that this multi-country systematic survey of the Diaspora has been done with extensive fieldwork and large participation,” said Dr. Razmik Panossian, Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Armenian Communities Department. “I thank all the people who were involved with and supported this research project,” he added.

The 175-page full results of the 2019 study will be available for downloading for free from the ADS website: www.armeniandiasporasurvey.com.

The launch will be live streamed on Saturday, 5 September 2020 at 15:00h London time (Beirut & Bucharest 21:00h; Yerevan 18:00h; Buenos Aires 10:00h;  Montreal & New York 10:00h; Los Angeles 07:00h) on www.facebook.com/armsurvey and Youtube: shorturl.at/dzY47. 

AID LEBANON APPEAL

The Armenian Institute has joined with Armenian Community Emergency Management Committee, along with most other UK Armenian organisations, to coordinate fundraising for relief and rebuilding in Lebanon.  We urge our friends to support this cause, reaching out to the Armenian communities there but also to the now fragile state of Lebanon.  To read more about the combined community effort, please click here.  To support this important project, please click here.

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Diaspora Forum

As part of our Diaspora Forum series, the Armenian Institute hosted a lively panel discussion on June 17, led by Tatiana Der Avedissian.  The panel included 4 young people with diverse backgrounds: Vahe Asatryan, studying in the UK, born in the Czech Republic to parents from Armenia, Anoushka Berberian, born in Britain of Cypriot and Lebanese Armenian heritage, Hovsep Markarian, born in Syria now living in Armenia with university degrees in the UK, and Noemi Stepan-Sarkissian, born in Britain to Armenian-Iranian parents.  The four were questioned about their thoughts on how it feels to be Armenian in the contemporary world, what is important to them, what troubles them, how they picture the terms “diaspora” and “home” and how important these concepts are.

Given their varied heritage and personalities, there was considerable agreement between the speakers as they pointed to traditional markers of "Armenian-ness" such as food, language and the church but also felt their generation is more inclusive of people who are neither religious nor Armenian speakers.  They intended to continue visiting Armenia and were excited to be in a country where Armenian was spoken all around them.  Most would not live there permanently, as they felt they could engage with the country and the people in other ways.

Announcing AI's New Director

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The Armenian Institute is delighted to announce the appointment of Tatevik Ayvazyan as the new Director, replacing Dr. Susan Pattie, a founding member and former Director.  Tatevik is well-known to AI friends as she has been working as Programme Coordinator and Social Media Manager since November 2019. 

Born in Yerevan, Tatevik has lived in the UK over 20 years, working in film, website development, programme management, and digital marketing.  With two post-graduate degrees (University of Kent, Catholic University of Leuven), Tatevik comes not only with practical experience but a broad education, as well as extensive background in Armenian literature, history and the arts.  Her particular passion is Armenian poetry which she is eager to bring to a wider public as well as continuing with her own translations of both East and West Armenian verse. 

We feel very fortunate to have Tatevik at our helm as we move through important transitions, into a new physical space as well as into an exciting future of new programmes, courses and events. We will provide opportunities for everyone to meet Tatevik virtually as we truly look forward to the day when we can all meet together in real space in our new home. Please join us in welcoming Tato to her new position at AI.

She will commence her new position on 1 July and Dr. Susan Pattie will take up the position of Interim Programme Manager.

News from Saffron Hill

Exciting news!  On June 1, we began moving all our books to our new space on Saffron Hill. The new mobile shelves are in place and stacked with the books. We are gradually setting up to be ready for the day when lockdown is lifted enough that volunteers can come and help us to properly arrange and catalogue the library and archives.  And in the perhaps slightly more distant future, when we can once more meet with all our friends in person there.

We sincerely thank the Tanielian family who are making this special place available for the Armenian Institute to provide services and events for the community, researchers, artists and others.  It has been a goal for many years and we now look forward to growing and exploring new connections and possibilities.

We are very grateful to our volunteers who continued to see us through the waiting period – and top of that list must be AI trustee Richard Anooshian, who acted as our moral support and link with the construction team, and Keyvan Lankarani, our architect, who provided us with a steady stream of drawings and professional advice indicating new possibilities all along the way.  Both Richard and Keyvan have been patient and steady throughout and are greatly appreciated.

A huge thank you to all our donors who are making the move possible.  As everyone knows, there are daily expenses in any new space and the generosity of our donors makes it possible to stretch to the large costs while taking care of all the small ones mounting up.

Please note we are no longer at the Nevarte Gulbenkian Hall and we will send out a big SHOUT when it is possible to visit us at Saffron Hill. Meanwhile, our activities continue online and we look forward to seeing you all there.

AI Salon: Treasured Objects

Our second Salon Zoom-session was Treasured Objects, where we asked people to bring an object to show, sharing the story behind it. The treasures were surprising, wonderful and the stories so moving that we want to share them. This is the first group and more will follow.  This Zoom-version of Treasured Objects has grown from the idea for our original exhibition and book by the same name at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS (2010) which accompanied the postcard exhibition by Osman Koker, “My Dear Brother, Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago”, also organized by the Armenian Institute.

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In 1978 I came aged 16 to the UK with my family due to the impending Islamic Revolution in Iran. We sold everything and left Iran with a few suitcases of clothes and family photos. We also left all my extended family and crucially, my grandparents.

I missed my grandmother most of all and was terribly homesick. When some months later, she came to visit us for the first time, she asked if there was anything I wanted from home. Could I have the beautiful figurine of an Armenian lady from her mantlepiece?

It was fine china as I recalled, a slender figure with a pot balanced on one shoulder, in traditional costume with hair braided. My grandmother arrived to stay for 3 months. She opened her suitcase and I waited with baited breath. She flourished a figurine. But not the one I had in my mind's eye. This one was lumpy, heavy and crude. To some eyes, it could have been a masterpiece, made by Picasso, but not to mine. I hid my disappointment so as not to hurt her feelings.

I have grown to appreciate and love her, my 'Parskahay Frida', and she makes me smile when I look at her on my mantlepiece, everyday.

Karen Babayan, Artist

Taken in 1932, this is the oldest remaining photo we have as a family . It was one of the few items my Grandmother Luysapear Berberian managed to take out of their home when escaping the approaching Turkish troops in the invasion of Cyprus in 1974. It’s a special photo because it has 3 generations of the family together whilst holidaying in Platres, in the mountains of Cyprus, where they used to go every summer. We know the age of the picture because my dad is the chubby blond baby on the right. My Grandmother lost all her photos and family mementos in the genocide period so while the photographs in Cyprus were lost in the invasion, we are grateful that she was able to save this photo for all of us to cherish today.  

Garo Berberian, Filmmaker

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Our family was touring western Iran in the late 1960s when our car developed a mechanical fault just before reaching the city of Hamadan, the Ecbatana of the ancients. We stopped at a village, next to the workshop of a local potter. While we were waiting for my father to identify the fault and fix it - we knew he could do it - the potter, an elderly man,  approached us and addressing me, asked if I would like to buy something from him. I chose this cup. It was sitting on my desk in Teheran and is now sitting on my desk in Ruislip. It is one of the few personal things that came with me to this country. For me it is not just a cup, but a repository of memories and images from a bygone age. 

Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian, AI Librarian and Research Advisor

This Soviet-made watch belonged to my grandmother, whose parents came to Samsun from Kavala as part of the Turkish-Greek population exchange of 1923. This is one of the few objects that has travelled with me to London since I left my hometown of Samsun. My grandmother helped raise me and I lived with her until I went to university. I could not say goodbye to her or go to her funeral after she died with dementia, leaving this world with her youngest memories... When I entered her room after the funeral, I took this watch because I knew how much she loved wearing a watch, even though she did not know how to tell the time. Since then, this object acts as a reminder of her, not time. It is a treasured comfort of her memory, even her absence still tingles in my heart.

Şahika Erkonan, PhD Candidate

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I began taking piano lessons at the ripe old age of 10 when my family moved to Cyprus for 2 years.  My teacher was wonderful but soon moved to London.  Getting rid of her unneeded household items, she sold my mother a mangal which had served as the family hearth and gathering place through many winters.  She knew they wouldn’t need it in London. My mother knew it wasn’t needed in the U.S. but thought it was a beautiful memento of our stay in Cyprus.  It sat beside the fireplace for years. 

Back in London, my teacher’s son missed the mangal and the memories.  Long-story-short – when he and I eventually met and later married, we brought the mangal to London where it sits by our fireplace.  We love it.

Susan Pattie, AI Director

 
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New mobile shelving system installed

Following a flood at the Armenian Institute space in November 2014, our book and archive collections were sent for safe storage until such time that the Institute was able to move to new, more spacious, premises. The Tanielian benefaction and contributions by major donors turned that dream into reality. But for COVID-19 we would have been in our new premises this month organising events and house-warming Welcome Parties for April and beyond.

Before the flood, our ever-increasing collections occupied all 163 linear metres of shelving at the Kensington space. Now, thanks to a generous grant from the Armenian Communities Department of Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, a brand-new mobile shelving system has been installed at our Saffron Hill premises – the day before the current lockdown came into effect.

The new system, together with the fixed bookcases, will provide 100 linear metres additional shelving space for our growing collection. We are very excited about this new facility and wanted to share the news with you by including images of our new mobile shelving. We cannot wait to see these units filled with books, once again available to researchers and the general public after a long period of dormancy.

Our online bookshop is temporarily closed

To comply with the latest rules on the coronavirus lockdown, we have now closed our online bookshop. We are sorry to disappoint you if you were going to place an order, but our staff is working remotely now and unable to ship any orders.

However, there are a number of excellent digital Armenian resources you can check out, such as Հայ մատենագրութեան թուանշային գրադարան's extensive library here or Wikisource / Վիքիդարան here.

And of course, we are working and online and if you have any questions - get in touch with us!

Update from our team

Testing Zoom with our own master of IT - Stephen Masters

Testing Zoom with our own master of IT - Stephen Masters

While most of the country is self-isolating and trying to stay safe, we are doing the same but we are also working very hard behind the scenes, holding daily meetings and constantly in touch with the trustees and our Advisory Committee.

We are developing a plan to bring our events online and more varied content on the website, so stay tuned for some exciting news and updates.

As always, you can get in touch with us via email or social media channels.

Farewells and Welcomes

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We want to give a huge thank you to Belinda Keheyan as she ends her 6 year term as trustee, having truly given generously of her time and talents throughout.  Fortunately, Belinda will stay with us on the Advisory Board so she is not going far!  Her place is taken by the Tatiana Der Avedissian whom we welcome very warmly!

Recently Ani King Underwood also stepped down when her term ended, this being her second time of serving as she was one of the founding "parents" of AI back in 2001. Ani also continues on the Advisory Committee and has been replaced by the multi-talented Stephen Masters whom we also give a very hearty welcome.

Tatiana and Stephen will be joining our chair Dr. Rebecca Jinks, and trustees Arda Eghiayan and Richard Mourad Anooshian.

Modern and Contemporary Art in Armenia by Armen Yesayants

Dr Armen Yesayants’ talk on modern and contemporary art in Armenia on 23 January fascinated, touched and inspired the large audience attending. Sharing wonderful stories and images, Dr Yesayants, director of exhibitions at Cafesjian Center for the Arts, talked us through the incredibly important work being done at the Center, gathering, preserving and exhibiting the work of the most important contemporary Armenian artists, whether from Armenia or Diaspora.

A visual feast of artworks of Yervand Kochar, Hakob Hakobian, Robert Elibekyan, Arto Tchakmaktchian, Marcos Grigorian, Rudolf Khachatryan and others was shown. Among many funny and entertaining anecdotes about the artists, there were a few heartbreaking ones as well - those who were not being appreciated and recognised during their lifetime, and of artworks being spread in private collections never to be seen. Dr. Yesayants’ message was clear: cherish your artists while they’re alive.

It was great to finish the evening with a wine reception and discuss plans for future collaboration with the Cafesjian Center.

Hrant Dink's Memory in Action

Since 2007, on 19th January every year thousands gather outside the old Agos newspaper office in Istanbul, now the newly-opened Site of Memory, to remember Hrant Dink. The Armenian Institute has held a similar commemoration for the last 13 years in London, to gather Armenians, Turks, Kurds and the wider international community to mark Hrant Dink’s life and unjust murder.

In 2020 we wanted to focus on the legacy he has left behind, aptly titled Hrant Dink's memory drives action: sorrow turns to hope. We invited Nayat Karoköse, the programme coordinator for the Hrant Dink Foundation in Istanbul, to talk about the work of the foundation and the recently opened 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory.

A place of tribute, remembrance and reflection, it is a space for visitors to learn more about Hrant's life, his contribution to the discourse around human rights in Turkey, and a space for visitors to share their ideas and thoughts about the world, especially those who seek to support freedom, open dialogue and democracy. Nayat's presentation demonstrated how Hrant's tragic death brought about action and greater unity among disparate communities who share common values. The site was officially opened last summer and welcomed the Mayor of Istanbul recently. 

We were honoured to have Huberta von Voss-Wittig, executive director of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue Germany, who read an excerpt of an interview with Hrant which featured in her book, Portraits of Hope, Armenians in the Contemporary World. The evening closed with a beautiful rendition of Bingyol by Kurdish/Alevi singer Suna Alan, a favourite song of Hrant's. 

The Armenian Institute wishes to thank our board member, Nouritza Matossian, an author, activist and a friend of Hrant's who has led the commemoration events each year for us. Also, St Yegiche Church, the Vache and Tamara Manougian Foundation for granting us this beautifully inspiring venue, and Viken Halajian and Lorees Arakelian for assisting us. Many thanks to Vahakn Matossian Gehlhaar for his technical support and finally special thanks to Hasan Demir, owner of Zara Restaurant South End Green, Hampstead for providing all the drinks and food on the night. 

by Tatiana der Avedissian (board member and advisor for AI )