AVC Multimedia e-Book Series e-Book#3: AGBU 100 Years of History (Vol. II) | Page 43

A November 1934 report made by the High Commission’s Security Agency betrays the true political motivations behind the Mandatory government’s refusal to approve the AGBU’s bid for official recognition. It also testifies to the High Commission’s simplistic vision of the Armenian political scene. The Commission suspected the AGBU of harboring “secret intentions” that were likely to alienate the Tashnagtsutyun and provoke unrest in the community. The report also highlights the importance that the school system was then acquiring in the world of Armenian politics. Both camps, it points out, were striving for control over the schools:

•The [AGBU’s] current request that it be recognized as an organization in the public interest is indicative of its secret intentions and should, therefore, be treated with certain reservations.

•This Association is led by members of the Ramgavar Party. A few months ago, the Ramgavars forged, with the Hnchags and Communists, a common front against the Tashnag Party. The financial activity of the Association, which has large sums of money in London accounts, has been directed towards paying for this propaganda. Leaflets targeting the Tashnags, who form the majority of Armenians in Lebanon and Syria, have been distributed in the Armenian camps of Beirut and Aleppo.

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The AGBU’s Armenian School System

Schoolchildren from the Nubarian School in Alexandretta in an athletic parade. The region was still under French occupation when this photograph was taken in 1937. (Arch. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).

Children from the AGBU's nursery and elementary schools in Antilias, Lebanon in 1933-1934 (Arch. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).