On 6 June 1962, the Central Board decided to dissolve the European Regional Board. In September of that year, the AGBU’s former officers in Paris started legal proceedings against the organization’s head office, a move that did a great deal to poison the life of the organization and paralyze its European operations. Manoogian himself traveled to Paris on 22 September 1962 and spent the next three days setting up an interim representative committee under Krikor Bahry’s leadership.35 Repeated attempts at reconciliation with one of the leaders of the Parisian opposition, Nurhan Fringhian, yielded no positive results.36 The conflict dragged on until 1969. From 3 May to 19 May of that year, the World Consultative Congress met in Paris; it was attended by some fifty delegates from around the world, including A. Manoogian, Y. Hussissian (Milan), Shavarsh Sevhonkian (Lausanne), H. Derderian, D. Simsarian, K. Guiragossian, Iskenderian (Beirut), Edouard Utudjian (Paris), and Z. Mendikian (Milan). The Congress put an end to the conflict between Paris and New York: New York carried the day.37 In a 19 March 1970 letter, Manoogian announced the dissolution of the European Regional Board and the creation of the District Committee of France,38 thus confirming that Paris would henceforth play a secondary role in the AGBU.
The Union also underwent changes in the Middle East. They were brought on by the political crises that had shaken that region. The assumption of power by a ... Read all
The Presidency of Alex Manoogian in the Cold War Context
Alex Manoogian and Krikor Guiragossian, Executive Director in Paris (1947-1970), greeted by Nurhan Fringhian at the Bourget airport in September 1959 (Arch. B. Nubar/Paris).
Commemoration of the anniversary of the AGBU in New York in June 1964 (Arch. AGBU/New York).