Khristophor Mkhitaryan is the Editor-in-Chief of the Khachkar Magazine. He is a professional journalist having started his occupational activities in Komsomolets Kubani newspaper. He was the chief editor of Molodezhny Prospekt Kubani, regional youth newspaper, director general of Regional Information Centre State Unitary Enterprise, and adviser to Novorossiysk mayor. He participated in electoral campaigns as a PR-manager.
Dear Readers!
Welcome to the Khachkar web-site!
The word “Khachkar” has a sacred meaning for all Armenian people being the symbol of faith and Christian truths which represent a keystone of our people’s moral culture. Today khachkars are also little pieces of ancient civilization scattered across valleys of Eternity.
The history of Armenian people is tragic. Terrible imprint of genocide which has scattered previously united ethnicity across the whole world will always remain in ancestral memory. Wherever an Armenian finds a place to live, he will always remember where his ancestors came from and how the word "Motherland" is pronounced in his native language. It may seem strange but the main peculiarity of the Armenian people is that even being surrounded by representatives of other cultures and their customs and traditions it always remained united keeping cultural integrity and national identity. The stronger were the processes of assimilation the more grew the desire of Armenians to preserve their ethnic identity, culture and native language without which they may just stop feeling themselves as a united nation.
This doesn’t deny the significance and the unique character of other peoples living in Kuban, our multinational motherland. On the contrary knowing culture and history of the other nations leads to mutual respect and is the basis of harmonious life in the one land. Moreover Russian and Armenian peoples have common history with lots of heroic pages telling us about battles in which Russian soldiers and Kuban Cossacks protected their brothers-in-faith. The common glorious past obliges us to support and to develop good traditions of neighborliness and mutual enrichment by cultural and spiritual values of both peoples.
But every people divided into Diasporas strives for preservation of its culture no matter how closely it is connected to the Russian and to the world culture. We should seek and find new young talented forces able not only to keep but also to contribute their pieces of art to Armenian culture. That’s why we imagine our reader as a young man who is eager to learn and who must learn more about his people. Not about Armenian people as a suffering people, as a deceived people but as a winning people. About the people which was brave enough not to obey different conquerors and not to betray its faith during thousands of years; about the ancient people which went through various ordeals and survived. We are not going to speak about politics but we will honestly speak about today’s reality. The main aim is to give integral information about life of Motherland, its sons and daughters scattered across the whole world, its past, its present and its future.
We hope that our web-site will find its constant readers and we are looking forward to your requests and thoughts. Without live dialogue with concerned people and soul mates the Khachkar Magazine and its web-site will be just a little stone in the desert of indifference. That’s why your letters and calls are so important for us! We hope that your stories and ideas will provide us new topics and inspire us for the future initiatives.
