Category Archives: APPENDIX

THE STUDY OF EXOTICISMS TRANSFER ED FROM AND THROUGH RUSSIAN INTO ARMENIAN – 2023-4

Silva V. Papikyan

The Armenian language has been greatly influenced by Russian especially after the unification of Eastern Armenia with Russia in 1828. The connection between a nation and its history is unarguable and the history of any nation leaves its mark on the language. In this sense political, economic, cultural relations with neighboring nations are important, as a result of which languages borrow many words from each other. Among the borrowed words there are a certain number of exoticisms that indicate objects, phenomena and customs specific to a particular nation or country. Usually, they are used when it comes to culture-specific concepts characteristic of a given nation. The article considers some exoticisms transferred from and through Russian into Armenian, which are classified into the following semantic groups: accommodation-residence-area, art-literature, mode of address-address, political directions, clothes, common words.

Based on the examination, it turns out that some exoticisms passed from and through Russian into Armenian are native Russian and direct borrowings in bolshevik, decembrist, menshevik, muzhik, etc., some of them completely went out of use and joined the ranks of archaicisms – batrak, burlak, kholop, etc., many of them acquired new meanings in the course of historical development resulting in polysemy of the word. The origin of some exoticisms from Russian is unknown.

A large number of borrowings passed from different languages into
Armenian through the mediation of the Russian, such as taiga <Rus. тайга <Turk. tundra <Rus. тундра < Fin., etc.

The words borrowed from the European languages are mostly international words.

ON THE ISSUE OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CATHOLICOS HAKOB JUGHAYECI AND THE VANANDETSI FAMILY – 2023-3

Zina A. Avetisyan

The beginning of the 17th century became an essential start of educational and cultural awakening for the Armenian nation. Closing the bitter pages of the wars, the Armenian people devoted themselves to the work of spreading enlightenment, which was done through the work of book printing. The development of the Armenian typography along with “Sharaknots”, “Saghmosaran” and “Mashtots”, gave birth to some monumental works such as “History” of Arakel Davridzetsi published by Voskan Erevantsi, “The History of Armenia” by Movses Khorenatsi, the first modern Armenian world atlas “Hamatarac ashkharatsoyts” published by the Vanandetsi.

THE UNKNOWN DEEDS OF A FAMOUS BENEFICIARY – 2023-2

Newly discovered testimonies about Alexander Tairyan in the archive of Alexander Yeritsyan

Haykaz J. Hovhannisyan

The activities of the Armenian businessman and philanthropist Alexander Tahiryan are not properly covered in the Armenian historiography, and scattered information about him in the historical
literature does not reflect and does not characterize his undeniable influence in the Armenian social- political and economic life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

PERSONIFICATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS IN HAKOB MNDZURI’S WORKS – 2023-1

Artsrun A. Avagyan

Hakob Mndzuri is one of the famous figures of the Armenian classical literature. Like many other Western Armenian miraculously rescued writers he has had a complicated and tragic fate. He dedicated his whole life to the people and nature of his native province, to the revival of the animal world and national customs and anything that is called homeland. Most of  Mnzuri’s works are about the relationship of people with animals that describe everyday life, where the only goal is hard work, which human beings would not be able to accomplish without the help of domestic animals.

TOPOGRAPHICAL IMAGES IN HAKOB MNDZURI’S SHORT STORIES – 2022-4

Marine D. Ghazaryan

This article is dedicated to the study of topographical images in the prose of
Diaspora Armenian writer Hakob Mndzuri. Mndzuri’s prose stands out for its complete and
comprehensive images of the place, written with the knowledge of an artist formed from
close contact with native nature. Those images help to develop an idea about the geography
of this or that part of Western Armenia and are important in order to get a broad picture of
the national identity. 

ON THE ISSUE OF THE INCEPTION OF THE RUSSIAN ORIENTATION OF ARMENIANS – 2022-3

Summary

The true story of Israel Ori’s life and activities

Ararat M. Hakobyan

The outstanding figure of the Armenian liberation movement and struggle of the late 17th and early 18th centuries – Israel Ori, with his selfless, but contradictory, sometimes adventurous life and activities, is considered the firstborn (herald) and initiator of the Russian political orientation of the Armenian people. On his way from the West to Russia, he sometimes resorted to falsification of documents in order to arouse the interest of Russian political leaders and encourage them towards the issue of the liberation of Armenia. Documentary records of his Western Russian political, negotiating, diplomatic activities, two “Palatinate” and “Moscow” plans for the liberation of Armenia, although unrealistic for the time, are considered an innovation in the history of the Armenian political thought. He was the first figure who brought the Armenian liberation movement and diplomatic negotiations out of the religious-confessional level (diaper) of the clergy and put them on the military[1]political foundations of a practical, secular content.

The ultimate goal of the liberating ideas of I. Ori was the complete liberation of Armenia from the Persian-Turkish tyranny and the creation of an autonomous Armenian statehood (kingdom) initially under the auspices of the Western European powers, and then of Russia, as evidenced by the two programs he drew up, as well as the map of Great Armenia presented to Tsar Peter.

A valuable documentary collection compiled by philologist, historian K. Yezyan, and other supporting materials enable us to conclude that the beginning of the Russian orientation of the Armenians is considered not the second half of the 17th century and not even the turn of the 18th century, but the 1720s, i. e.: the time when in anticipation of the so-called Caspian campaign of Peter the Great, the liberation struggle of Artsakh and Syunik flared up.

All this means that the Russian political orientation of the Armenian people has a history of three centuries. But this does not mean that the Armenians unanimously stood on the positions of this orientation. Historiographical objectivity requires noting that due to the dictates of the times and circumstances, especially at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, in particular, during the discussion of the Armenian issue, the Armenian socio-political circles mainly and involuntarily represented other – Western orientations, but in both cases did not achieve significant positive results.

At the same time, it should be noted that there is no need to put a big barrier in the issue of the Western European and consequently Russian political orientation of the Armenian people, since already Russia of Peter the Great with its system of political, state-legal and cultural values aspired to become a European country. And as for the liberation of Armenia, in practical terms it was closer to Armenia, and the latter’s liberation by Russia was more realistic. In other words, if we compare and evaluate the missions of the two political directions of Israel Ori, then from the viewpoint of civilizational orientation, in a broad sense it can be considered European-Russia.

A comparative analysis of documentary materials and historical-political events of the region indicates that during the era of Israel Ori, Armenia still had no real prospect of practical liberation with the support of foreign forces, neither by Russia nor, even more so, by Western countries. In the era of Israel Ori, the Armenian people had not yet developed an indestructible political concept that in order to have a free, independent national state and protect it, one should first of all rely on the collective consciousness of the nation, on its own strengths and capabilities. And from the perspective of learning advisable historical lessons, even now, during the Third Republic, in the conditions of modern serious challenges, it is difficult to say how irreversible the political mentality and the way of actions of the Armenian public and the state power have become among us regarding the independent statehood and defense of the Motherland

CREATIVE PARALLELS: F. DOSTOEVSKY-RAFFI-E. TEMIRCHIPASHYAN – 2022-2

Summary

To the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Petros H. Demirchyan
The influence of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s personality and his work on the development of Russian and world literary-scientific thought is enormous. Of course, Armenian literature is not an exception with its two historically formed branches The article refers to the case of two original authors representing the above-mentioned branches of Armenian literature: Raffi (Hakob Hakobyan, s/o Melik) and Yeghia Temirchipashyan, who in that sense, we consider, need more comprehensive, complete elucidation. At the heart of the monitoring mainly is the problem of the relationship between the national and the universal of literature, which gives the opportunity to examine the work of a national writer in interaction with world great minds. There can be no doubt that Raffi’s famous works, being the most powerful expression of the life and destiny of the Armenians, provided him with the right of being called “The Armenian national novelist” (A. Chopanyan). Nevertheless, Raffi’s work was also viewed in the broader context of the world literature of his time. He created characters,
which, under the national image and essence expose the soul and psychology of the human being in general. In this sense, the character Godfather Petros of the
“The Diary of a Khachagogh (Cross-thief)” with an equally cruel philosophy that contradicts the irrational laws of a society that undermines the very essence
of the human being: “I am like an evil spirit must punish people’s injustices only with injustices…” directly relates to Dostoevsky’s question in which the
essential thing is whether there is a goal that justifies the right to punish the perpetrator by depriving him of his life. F. Dostoevsky, by Raskolnikov, the
hero of the novel “Crime and Punishment” raises the issue of Conscience. Some of Raffi’s heroes are also forced to commit evil – murder and they try to
justify it with the idea of self-defense having a natural historical basis. However, in many cases, the problem goes beyond that and enters the field of
defense of the people and the homeland. In the novel “Samvel”, Samvel kills his parents because they betrayed the most important sacred things – the nation
and the homeland.

In creative parallels of F. Dostoyevsky and Raffi the issues of crime, punishment, conscience and human relations, national history, search for ways of the future are also crucial.

As for F. Dostoevsky-Y. Temirchipashyan creative parallels, at least two key factors can be considered here: the similarities between the personal nature and biography of the writers and the dominance of the Philosophy of Suffering, which, in fact, had a profound effect on their work. But divine providence finally decided, as if in spite of all this, at least in the last years of the life of great writers, to open a window of consolation before their sufferings. And just as Anna Snitkina for Fyodor Dostoevsky, likewise Ellen Nissen for Yeghia Temirchipashyan were real “guardian angels”, they were able to keep, preserve and comfort their suffering souls and hearts.

The mentioned circumstances, as a whole, give grounds to speak about not only the national, but also the universal standards and values of the creative thinking of F. Dostoevsky, Raffi and Ye. Temirchipashyan.

THE POLITICS OF THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT TOWARDS THE ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN IN THE 1920S – 2022-1

A view after a century

Avag A. Harutyunyan
There was an ideological-political conflict between the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the Communist Party of Armenia before the Sovietization of Armenia, after which it grew into a large-scale struggle. This time, the active, offensive side, of course, was the new authorities, who set themselves the goal of “eradicating” from the Soviet-Armenian reality everything that was connected with the name of the ARF by all possible and impossible means.

Thanks to the heroic struggle of Zangezur, in 1921 in Riga, the Communist Party of Russia had to negotiate with the ARF, with which the Communist Party of Armenia was against. Negotiations ended in failure after the Zangezur uprising ended.

In 1921 a public trial against the ARF was organized. The Communist Party of Armenia started the “liquidation” of the ARF. The Armenian Cheka was on the front line of the struggle. In 1923 the congress of the “former ARF members” took place in Yerevan’s theater which decided to “liquidate” all structures of the ARF in Armenia. The 1928 November plenum of the Communist Party of Armenia was a turning point, which reassessed the ARF, previously considered petty-bourgeois, already as big-bourgeois and fascist. The ARF was criticized by all the leaders of Soviet Armenia.

As a result of the Communist Party’s policy, ARF Dashnaktsutyun was liquidated as party in Soviet Armenia. However, that did not mean that the struggle against the ARF ceased. This is evidenced by the fact that before the collapse of the Soviet Union, all documents of the Communist Party of Armenia stressed the need to continue and intensify the struggle against the ARF. In the following years, those who had an anti-Soviet position were usually accused of being “Dashnak”. Notwithstanding the attempts of struggle abroad, the organizational structures of ARF Dashnaktsutyun in the Diaspora were preserved. And already after the collapse of the Soviet Union, after the proclamation of the Republic of Armenia, when the same Communist Party was already in an inoperable state, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun party again occupied a certain role in the new social-political system.