Rev. James Karnusian (1926 in Beirut, Lebanon – April 8, 1998 in Bern, Switzerland) was a Swiss-Armenian protestant pastor, writer and public activist.

Biography

A son of Armenian genocide survivors from Musa Ler,[1] Karnusian was born in 1926 in a camp of refugees in Beirut.[2] He studied at the universities of Greece and Switzerland. He then worked as a protestant pastor in Saanen. In 1979 he initiated the first Armenian World Congress in Paris.[3] In 1983 on the occasion of the 60th centenary of the Treaty of Lausanne, James Karnusian organized a Pan-Armenian convention in Lausanne attended by delegates from 17 countries.[4] "Our priority remains the recovery of Western Armenia occupied by Turkey," he explained.[5]

In 1992 he co-founded the Switzerland-Armenia Association (GSA - Gesellschaft Schweiz-Armenien) together with Hans Schellenberg, civil servant in the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and former deputy of National Council of Switzerland Alexander Euler.[4]

He was allegedly one of the founders of Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia militant organization,[6] alongside Hagop Hagopian (real name Harutiun Tagushian) and Kevork Ajemian, a literary figure and publisher of the literary publication Spurk.

Books

  • Back to the Ararat Highlands, printed in Switzerland, 1976 (original title: Վերադարձ Դէպի Այրարատեան Լեռնաշխարհ).
  • Return to the Ararat Plateau: Pan-Armenian Liberation Movement, by James Karnusian, translated by Aris Sevag, AR Publishing, 1979, 43 pages

References

  1. ↑ Zwischen Rhein und Arax.: Neunhundert Jahre deutsch-armenische Beziehungen. Enno Meyer, Ara J. Berkian. Holzberg, 1988, p. 164
  2. ↑ Le combat arménien: entre terrorisme et utopie, by Armand Gaspard - 1984 - P. 99
  3. ↑ Le Paris des étrangers depuis 1945, by Antoine Marès, Pierre Milza, 1994, p. 231
  4. 1 2 "Oliver Zwahlen: The Genocide of The Armenians and its Reaffirmation in Switzerland (Swiss Master Thesis in German)". Archived from the original on 2009-10-14. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
  5. ↑ La Comunità internazionale: rivista trimestrale della Società italiana per l'organizzazione internazionale, Volume 39, CEDAM, 1984, p. 560
  6. ↑ Rev. James Karnusian, retired pastor and one of three persons to establish ASALA, dies in Switzerland // The Armenian Reporter International, 18 April 1998
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