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Category - harry hagopian

  • 14 May 2012
    Palestine: an idea or a reality?

    In the midst of significant, but not necessarily tectonic, changes across the entire Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, what has happened to Palestine, a virtual state clothed with a real idea, which had been at the forefront of the political imagination of the Arab masses for long decades? Dr Harry Hagopian examines long standing questions and recent developments with an eye to addressing 'the elephant in the room' of MENA politics.

  • 8 May 2012
    Christian-Muslim relations: all in this together?

    A recent London discussion of Christian-Muslim relations illustrated in an enlivening way the need for developing conversation and exchange to take place at a number of levels, says Dr Harry Hagopian. Intellectuals and theologians can set the tone on key issues, but Christians and Muslims alike have a responsibility in communal, political and inter-prersonal engagements to deal truthfully, to confront prejudices, to speak out against faith-based discrimination and to tackle the roots of extremism wherever they are found.

  • 27 Apr 2012
    Remembering Armenian sorrows and articulating Armenian hopes

    This week marks global remembrance of the 97th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. In an article that looks forward as well as back, Dr Harry Hagopian re-affirms the historical veracity of this genocide, not on the basis of presumed ethnic biases, but on the basis of the solid literature coming from international historians, organisations, scholars and lawyers - not least the International Association of Genocide Scholars. This confirms the horrid truth of forced deportations and massacres took place against Armenians of Turkish nationality (alongside Greeks, Assyrians and Nestorians) living in their homelands in Western Armenia during the ominous years of World War One. Out of recognition can spring hope, he suggests.

  • 6 Apr 2012
    Egypt, the Copts, religion and the search for a livable future

    “Egypt isn't a country we live in, but a country that lives within us” is a renowned saying from the late Pope Shenouda III. Following his death and questions about succession to his role, says Dr Harry Hagopian, the question now is whether Egypt will continue living within the Copts, and more pertinently how. This involves complex political, cultural, social and religious issues.

  • 27 Mar 2012
    Syria: the mirror walls of shame

    The region Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region - Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Morocco, Yemen and many others - is a tinderbox ready to be set ablaze, says Dr Harry Hagopian. So can the collective wisdom of the international community overcome its short-term stratagems and leap forward with political determination? Or will the haunting predictions of a well-placed Syrian activist from Homs who wryly suggested that we are in for a decade of sporadic and prolonged civil wars indeed come true? The stakes are high in Syria and beyond.

  • 23 Mar 2012
    Leading by personal example: an Egyptian lesson

    'Church leaders' are easily (if not inevitably) mired in politics, expectation and institutional intrigued. Those that shine through do so because of the pre-eminent qualities of love, commitment and example. This is one of the personal lesson Dr Harry Hagopian draws from the life of Pope Shenouda III, the highly respected Coptic Orthodox leader, who died recently.

  • 18 Mar 2012
    A loss to the Coptic Orthodox and to the world

    No matter how expected the death of HH Shenouda III was for me due to his long illness, I still couldn't but feel that the world has lost a man of faith who always held Christ in his heart and the Cross in his hand.

  • 10 Mar 2012
    Newstalk: Women, war, MENA and more...

    Today (Saturday 10 March 2012) I will be in conversation with Sarah McAllister from Belfast on Premier Radio's Newstalk half-hour programme, at 11.30 AM.

  • 3 Mar 2012
    Syria: solving the unsolvable?

    Developments in Syria continue to take alarming twists - not least with the latest eyewitness accounts coming out of Homs.

  • 3 Mar 2012
    Lent: human origins, human freedom

    As Lenten continues, I share two items that I suggest are 'a must-watch' and 'a must-read' for reflecting on Christian and human concerns far and wide.