Our valued associate Dr Harry Hagopian has been as busy as ever in travelling, advising, writing and broadcasting on the ever developing events across the Middle East and North Africa region.
Our valued associate Dr Harry Hagopian has been as busy as ever in travelling, advising, writing and broadcasting on the ever developing events across the Middle East and North Africa region.
Our apologies that we have been a little slow in relaying a few of his recent pieces, including this important podcast, in conversation with James Abbott at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, on the rise of ‘Political Islam’ in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region and the impact on its people.
The podcast starts by defining key terms – words that are used frequently and sometimes have a variety of definitions attached to them. “Fundamentalism”, “radicalism” and “Islamism”, to name but a few.
Dr Hagopian then goes on to discuss how Islamism has played its part in the popular uprisings of the last two-and-a-half-years and the current state of play.
This reflection was actually recorded on a very important anniversary for Armenians around the globe. So the final thought in this podcast focuses on the horrors of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1923, a tragedy that claimed 1.5 million lives and whose effects are still felt today.
The full podcast is available to play and to download (MP3 format) here: http://catholicnews.org.uk/content/download/35054/260261/file/MEA-2013-6.mp3
There are also short ‘audioboos’ available here: http://catholicnews.org.uk/mena-2013-pod-6
Dr Harry Hagopian is an international lawyer, ecumenist and EU political consultant. He also acts as a Middle East and inter-faith advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales and as Middle East consultant to ACEP (Christians in Politics) in Paris. He is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/HarryHagopian).
Formerly an Executive Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches, Harry is now an international fellow at the Sorbonne III University, Paris, consultant to the Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (UK), Ecumenical consultant to the Primate of Armenian Church in UK & Ireland, and author of The Armenian Church in the Holy Land. Dr Hagopian’s own website is www.epektasis.net Follow him on Twitter here: @harryhagopian