#OTD 23 Mar 1869, Calouste Gulbenkian, an #Armenia'n businessman & philanthropist, was born in Constantinople (#Istanbul). He played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development & is the 1st person to exploit Iraqi oil #History
Gulbenkian travelled extensively and lived in a number of cities including Istanbul, London, Paris and Lisbon. Throughout his life, Gulbenkian was involved with many philanthropic activities including the establishment of schools, hospitals, and churches.
He required that proceeds from his 5% share of profits from oil should go to Armenian families. He also demanded that 5% of his workers in his oil production for the Iraq Petroleum Company should be of Armenian descent. St Sarkis Armenian Church, Kensington, London, built by Gulb
In 1929, he was the chief benefactor to the establishment of an extensive library at the St. James Cathedral, the principal church of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The library is called the Gulbenkian Library and contains more than 100,000 books.
Among many of his significant donations was to the Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital located in Istanbul. A large property called the Selamet Han was donated to the Surp Pırgiç foundation in 1954.The property was confiscated by the state in 1974,but returned to the foundation in 2011
Gulbenkian amassed a huge fortune and an art collection which he kept in a private museum at his Paris house. An art expert said in a 1950 issue of Life magazine that "Never in modern history has one man owned so much."
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, a private foundation based in Portugal, was created in 1956 by his bequest and continues to promote arts, charity, education, and science throughout the world. It is now among the largest foundations in Europe.
By the end of his life he had become one of the world's wealthiest people and his art acquisitions one of the greatest private collections. In 1952 he refused being appointed as Knight Commander, therefore the possibility of being styled as Sir, to the Order of the British Empire
There are rooms and buildings at the University of Oxford named after Gulbenkian, including the Gulbenkian Reading Room in St Antony's College, Oxford's old library and the Gulbenkian Lecture Theater in the St Cross Building on Manor Road.

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More from @historyarmenia

Mar 22
#OTD 22 Mar 1920, #Azerbaijan'i forces began a systematic massacre of #Armenia'ns living in the town of Shushi, #NagornoKarabakh. The Massacre resulted in the complete destruction of Armenian district of Shushi & an almost complete elimination of its Armenian population. #History
According to the 1917 publication of the Caucasian Calendar, there were 43,869 residents in Shushi in 1916. The city was composed of 23,396 Armenians who formed 53.3 percent of the population, and 19,091 Shia Muslims (mainly Azerbaijanis) who formed 43.5 percent of the population
The total death toll of the Shushi massacre remains a matter of dispute, with figures being offered from as low as several hundred being offered,to as high as 20,000. Citing a contemporary Armenian government report, Hovannisian places the death toll of the massacre at 500.
Read 8 tweets
Mar 21
#OTD 21 Mar 1747, #Armenia'ns were granted equal rights with the Dutch in #Indonesia, then Dutch East Indies. Most of the Armenians arrived from Isfahan, New Julfa, Amsterdam, Calcutta, Madras. They established well-known commercial houses engaged in trade with overseas markets. Image
Armenian merchants from Amsterdam went to Southeast Asia in the 19th century to trade, and to set up factories & plantations. Armenian merchants settled in parts of Java, as did Armenians moving east from the Persian Empire, establishing a community of Armenians in Java. Image
The dispersion of the Armenians over Southeast Asia took place almost simultaneously with the expansion of the English East India Company & Dutch East India Co. In all the main cities where these prominent commercial corporations established agents, Armenians were represented too ImageImage
Read 6 tweets
Mar 21
#OTD Mar 21 1828, the #Armenia'n Oblast (province) was created out of the territories of the former Erivan & Nakhchivan khanates, which were ceded to #Russia by Qajar #Iran under the Treaty of Turkmenchay after the Russo-Iranian War of 1826-1828. #History Image
The Armenian Oblast was a province of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire that existed from 1828-40. It corresponded to most of present-day central Armenia, the Iğdır Province of Turkey, the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan. Its administrative center was Yerevan. ImageImage
Ivan Paskevich, the Ukrainian-born military leader & hero of the war, was made "Count of Erivan". The creation of Armenian Oblast was encouraged by Russian officials with pro-Armenian tendencies who wanted to reward Armenians who supported the Russian cause in Russo-Iranian Wars. Image
Read 10 tweets
Dec 11, 2022
#OTD 11 Dec 1988, An Il-76 military transport aircraft crashes near Leninakan (Gyumri). 9 crew members and 68 military servicemen died in the accident while on an air relief operation following an earthquake in #Armenia on Dec. 7, 1988.

aviation-safety.net/database/recor…
Of the 69 passengers & 9 crew, only 1 person, #Azerbaijan'i Fahraddin Balaev survived, as he was lucky enough to be in the cab of a truck at the tail end of airplane. This was Armenia’s worst air catastrophe, about which only a few people within & beyond its borders know about.
Very little was written about the crash of the Baku-Gyumri flight at that time for two reasons: First, during the Soviet Union, even in 1988, not only were there very few news reports about airline disasters, but there was also a deliberate attempt to hide them from people.
Read 21 tweets
Dec 11, 2022
Lemkin came up with the 1st installments of the concept in the 30s based on the events in 1915 & onwards. Already in 1933 he published articles like "Les actes constituant un danger general (interétatique)consideres comme delites des droit des gens" and ⬇️
preventgenocide.org/fr/lemkin/madr…
"Akte der Barbarei und des Vandalismus als delicta juris gentium", which show his first wranglings with the concept. Although he hasn’t settled on the specific term, it is clear that it predates WW2.

preventgenocide.org/de/lemkin/anwa…
Also, in his unpublished & unfinished autobiography he indicates that the horrors of 1915 have motivated him in developping the concept of Genocide. He also planned to publish a history of Genocide, for which he had collected a lot of material.
Read 6 tweets
Dec 11, 2022
#OTD 11 Dec 1910, Matthew II Izmirlian, the Catholicos of All Armenians of #Armenia'n Apostolic Church at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in 1908–10, died. He succeeded Mkrtich I Khrimian (better known as Khrimian Hayrik), who reigned as Catholicos from 1892 to 1907. #History
Matthew II was born in 1845 in Istanbul as Simeon Martirosi Izmirlian. He was ordained as priest in 1869 and served as the personal secretary to Patriarch Mkrtich Khrimian when the latter was still Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople in the early 1870s.
After brief period as Bishop of Egypt for Armenian Church in 1886-90,he was elected as Patriarch of Constantinople in 1894. His insistence on democratic reforms & rights of Armenians in Ottoman Emp & his protest against the Hamidian massacres earned him the title "Iron Patriarch"
Read 6 tweets

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