Vahan Kurkjian

Vahan M. Kurkjian was an author, teacher, and community leader, born in Aleppo, Syria in 1863.

In 1904 Mr. Kurkjian published in Cairo, Egypt, the Armenian newspaper Loussaper (The Morning Star), in whose pages he and other noted intellectuals called for a national union for the Armenian people. The idea eventually materialized in the form of the Armenian General Benevolent Union, established in Cairo, in 1906, with Boghos Nubar, distinguished humanitarian, as founder and first president.

In 1907 he emigrated to the United States and studied law at Boston University. Two years later he founded the first American chapter of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in Boston, after which the organization spread its branches throughout the States. From the inception of the Union he was inseparably identified with it, serving as its executive director until his retirement in 1939.

Mr. Kurkjian contributed countless articles to Armenian newspapers, and published a number of books and pamphlets. He died in New York City in 1961.

External link

• History of Armenia: complete text of his 1958 book.