NORA BAYRAKDARIAN VISITS CATHOLICOS FOLLOWING APPOINTMENT AS LEBANON’S YOUTH MINISTER

On Saturday, February 8, immediately after her appointment as Minister of Youth and Sports in the newly formed government of Lebanon, Dr. Nora Bayrakdarian visited the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia in Antelias and met with His Holiness Aram I. The purpose of Minister Bayrakdarian’s first official visit as minister to was to receive the Catholicos’ paternal blessing before embarking on her new responsibilities. 

His Holiness Aram I expressed his joy, warmly congratulated the minister, and wished her a successful and fruitful tenure. The Catholicos also expressed confidence that Dr. Bayrakdarian would contribute significantly to both the mission of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and the work of inter-church movements, as well as to the endeavors of the Lebanese government. 

Minister Bayrakdarian pursued her university education at the Lebanese University in Beirut and earned her doctorate from the Sorbonne University (Paris). Currently, she is a lecturer in international relations and law at both the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese University and serves as the head of the doctoral department of political sciences at the Lebanese University. Minister Bayrakdarian is also a member of the Central Executive Council of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and the Cilicia Analytical Platform. She has previously served on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches and is currently the chairperson of its Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.