• Regional and Energy Security
• Informational security

ARMENIANS OF OTHER RELIGIONS AND CONFESSIONS: CHALLENGES AND POSSIBILITIES

On December 9-10, 2011 in “Picasso” Hall at Congress Hotel in Yerevan research and practical conference on “Armenians of Other Religions and Confessions: Challenges and Possibilities” was held. The conference was organized by the Ministry of Diaspora of Armenia, “The Hyksos” Foundation and “Noravank” Foundation.

Armenia was represented at the conference by the Director of “Noravank” Foundation Gagik Harutyunyan, (“Confessional and Religious Issues of the Armeniancy in the Context of Global Developments”), Head of the Department of National Minorities and Religious Issues of the Apparatus of the Government of Armenia Vardan Astsatryan (“Relations and Issues of Consolidation of the Segments of Armenians of Different Confessions and Religions”), Head of the Center for the Armenian Studies of “Noravank” Foundation Arestakes Simavoryan and expert of the same center Vahram Hovyan (“Ways and Mechanisms of Consolidation of the Different Confessional Segments of the Armeniancy”), Assistant Professor of The Chair of the Armenian Church History and Church Studies at the YSU, Faculty of Theology Hovhannes Hovhannisyan (“Contemporary Issues of the Armeniancy in the Religious Plane”), Editor-in-Chief of “Dzayn Hamshenakan” monthly newspaper Sergey Vardanyan (“Converted Hamsheni Armenians: Mutual Acquaintance”), Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the YSU Ruben Melkonyan (“Study of the Issue of the Islamized Armenians: Problems and Prospects”).

Diaspora was represented by the Director of the Institute for Diaspora and Genocide Studies at Rur University (Germany) Mihran Dabagh (Denied Knowledge and Story of a Fragmentized Life: On the Issue of the Formation of the Coherent Stories of the Crypto-Armenians’ Identity), teacher of “Hamazkayin” Armenian Educational and Cultural Society (Syria) Hakop Cholakian, (“Roman Catholics of the Armenian Descent in Syria”), director of the Center for the Development of the School Armenology (Lebanon) Vardan Tashchian (Inter-confessional Cooperation in the Armenian Community in Lebanon: Experience and Prospects), journalist from Lebanon Hamo Moskofian (“Revival of the Converted Armenians”).

At the conference topical issues of different religious and confessional segments (Islamized Armenians, Catholic Armenians. Evangelical Armenians and Roman Catholics) of the Armenian communities of Diaspora were discussed. Special attention was paid to the means of preservation of the national identity, inter-confessional solidarity and provision of the atmosphere of cooperation between confessional groups.

At the end, in virtue of proposals made by the participants, a decision was taken to publish the lectures and continue works in different formats on researching and resolving of the issues in the aforementioned sphere.