On January 26, at the initiative of the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia and on the occasion of the 110^th anniversary of the establishment of Turkey’s Zhamanak Armenian Daily, the books by Vahan Tekeyan, Yerukhan and Ruben Zardaryan (released as part of the series “Zhamanak: 100 Years”) and the website of Zhamanak Armenian Daily were presented during an anniversary event held in the hall of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in Yerevan.

Congratulating Editor-in-Chief of Zhamanak Armenian Daily Ara Gochunyan and the entire editorial staff, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan stated that, throughout its existence, Zhamanak has not only disseminated news and shaped the chronology of the Armenian community of Istanbul, but has also managed and manages to help Armenians preserve their national identity abroad, teach young Armenians the Armenian language and place the Armenian identity, national values and traditions above everything else. “110 years ago, dictated by the times, a newspaper started publishing in Constantinople that would always be in progress and would become an integral part of the daily lives of the Armenian community of Constantinople in a short amount of time. Unquestionably, after its establishment, Zhamanak became the air of the time, moved forward, shaped history and was documented. Brothers Misak and Sarkis Gochunyan, who were well-known individuals in Constantinople and were very well aware of Armenian life and the reality of Turkish-Armenians, established a newspaper that not only described and presented the major events and phenomena within the community, but also introduced Armenian intellectuals and their thoughts,” the Minister of Diaspora stated. Touching upon the books published through the efforts of the daily newspaper’s editorial staff, Minister Hranush Hakobyan highlighted the fact that it would be hard to imagine Western Armenian literature without the authors of these books, namely Vahan Tekeyan, Ruben Zardaryan and Yerukhan.

“These publications are presenting our three classic writers anew and are showing the episodes of their careers that have not been shed light on very much. Unfortunately, two of the authors – Ruben Zardaryan and Yerukhan – fell victim to the Armenian Genocide. I thank you for this weighty work. These books are truly high-quality publications, compiled with care, with prefaces by serious literary critics and with a lot of annotations,” Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan stated.

Director of the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Repository of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Priest Ararat Poghosyan transmitted the Blessing of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians.

Greeting the attendees, Deputy Director of the Armenian Representation of the AGBU Hovik Yordekyan stressed the fact that the AGBU and Zhamanak Armenian Daily have established friendly ties and granted a special commemorative gift and certificate of appreciation to Editor-in-Chief of Zhamanak Armenian Daily Ara Gochunyan.

The speeches were followed by a panel session entitled “Appreciation of the Four Books by Literary Critics” and moderated by Acting Director of the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (Matenadaran) Vahan Ter-Ghevondyan. Presenting the book “Two Heavens” consisting of the works of Vahan Tekeyan, Deputy Minister of Diaspora Serzh Srapionyan particularly stated the following: “The works of Tekeyan show that he didn’t miss any political, social or religious event that was more or less important. With his sober and impartial approach, he always led Armenians to think about safety and security. Publicist Tekeyan was also one of the progressive thinkers of his time and saw the idea of salvation of the people in pan-national unity as he sought paths to achieve that.” Dean of the Faculty of Armenian Philology at Yerevan State University Artsrun Avagyan touched upon Tekeyan’s other book entitled “Kesaria”, and literary critics Yervand Ter-Khachatryan and Nara Sargsyan presented Yerukhan’s “In Asia Minor” and Ruben Zardaryan’s “Articles”.

During the second panel session entitled “New Achievements After the Turn of the Century”, Director of the Public Radio of Armenia Mark Grigoryan highly appreciated the history of Zhamanak Armenian Daily. Publicist Tigran Paskevichyan stated that he has been collaborating with Zhamanak for many years and that there have been many films devoted to the daily newspaper. He also voiced hope that the editions of the 100-year-old newspaper would be digitized in the near future. TV analyst Gegham Manukyan emphasized that Zhamanak Armenian Daily manages to find the golden mean, make influential calls and get the real picture amid the extremes within the Armenian community of Istanbul.

Expressing gratitude to Priest Ararat Poghosyan for transmitting the blessing of the Catholicos of All Armenians, to the Ministry of Diaspora and to Minister Hranush Hakobyan for the close collaboration and assistance and to the AGBU for the cordial reception, Ara Gochunyan stated that Zhamanak Armenian Daily is currently facing many challenges and that the editorial staff is doing everything it can to overcome them and keep up with the times. Zhamanak’s Editor-in-Chief also attached importance to the fact that the daily newspaper is closely working with Armenia’s media outlets and has five correspondents in Armenia. “I think it is worth mentioning that the 110^th anniversary of Zhamanak coincided with the 100^th anniversary of the declaration of the First Republic of Armenia. The newspaper has been the witness of all the events that have taken place in modern Armenian history. Let’s work together and move forward to have a strong and peaceful Armenia,” Ara Gochunyan stated.