in Russian — https://www.armspb.org/post/17-5-2021
On May 17, 2021, a meeting was held in St. Petersburg with representatives of the National Armenian Educational and Cultural Union «Hamazkayin» (Համազգային).
About Hamazkayin
The following is written in the section «About» («Մեր Մասին») on the official website of this independent and non-party organization.
The 1920s coincide with significant political and cultural upheavals in the history of the Armenian people. The Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman and Turkish authorities, as well as the collapse of the First Republic of Armenia, and the Soviet persecutions that followed caused an immense chaos. The survivors were dispersed all over the world. Middle Eastern countries became the primary safe heaven.
It was at such a momentous time that a group of nine intellectuals, among whom were writer and educator Levon Shant, historian and critic Nigol Aghpalian, the prime minister of the First Republic of Armenia Hamo Ohanjanian, as well as stage director and art critic Kasbar Ipegian founded the Hamazkayin Publishing and Cultural Association in Cairo, on May 28, 1928.
Hamazkayin aims to bestow the young generation with Armenian education, as well as the cyllabus of the host country. The organization’s goals also include preserving national identity and cultural traditions in a people living outside its homeland.
One of the books published by Hamazkayin in Yerevan recently is about young cultural workers who gave their lives defending the Republic of Artsakh during the armed aggression of Azerbaijan in the fall of 2020.
Hamazkayin and Armenians in Russia
The Armenian people do not have many organizations over 90 years old, which are still operating today, in 2021, in hundreds of cities in dozens of countries around the world. Nevertheless, Hamazkayin was absent in Russia for many reasons.
Hamazkayin’s main mission is to preserve and develop national identity, language and culture and it was caused by the problems of assimilation of Armenians. However, assimilation also takes place in the post-Soviet space.
In 2021, Hamazkayin’s office in Moscow began to form. The relevant information can be found on Arthur Paityan’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100015462511820
Sites related to Hamazkayin, in addition to Armenian, also have an English version. It seems that information about Hamazgain in Russian will be useful for many Armenians in Russia as well as English for Armenians living in the West.
Meeting on May 17 in St. Petersburg
The meeting was announced from May 12 on the community website, on Facebook, VKontakte, in Telegram, as well as in a reminder in the WhatsApp newsletter on May 17.
The guests were:
- Megerdich Megerdichian, chairperson of the Central Executive Board of the All-Armenian Cultural Association «Hamazkayin» (Beirut),
- Spartak Karabakhtsyan, writer, public figure, advisor of the Central Executive Board (Yerevan),
- Arthur Paityan, writer and initiator of the Hamazgain office in Russia (Moscow).
The organizer of the meeting was the local Armenian community of the Krasnoselsky district of St. Petersburg represented by Artur Barseghyan and Khachatur Stepanyan.
Those who are interested in contacts with Hamazkayin in various fields of education and culture can support the initiative with their participation. From the side of the Armenian community of St Petersburg there is always feasible support to such important undertakings — at least informational. Thus, both the earlier announcement of the past meeting and this short report were also posted on social networks:
- in the group «Armenian community of St. Petersburg and Russia» on Facebook
- in VKontakte
- in Telegram
- on Twitter