Armen Dilanyan's Life and Work
Armen Dilanyan was born on February 14, 1955 in Yerevan.
His professional education started in Yerevan State University’s faculty of Mathematics and Engineering followed by a transfer to Yerevan Polytechnic Institute from which he graduated in 1978.
After completing his post-graduate studies in Moscow, he returned to Yerevan to be a lecturer and work in the research institute.
After Armenia gained independence, Armen Dilanyan quit his main occupation to devote himself to journalism. He became one of the first correspondents of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Yerevan and contributed to the establishment of the local bureau. He transferred to the RFE/RL center in Munich in 1994. A year later, Dilanyan relocated to the new headquarters of RFE/RL in Prague and worked there until 2006.
As his colleagues from the office of RFE/RL state: “From the first day of “Radio Liberty’s” establishment in Yerevan Armen has devoted his talent and enthusiasm to the cause of spreading the freedom of speech and protection of human rights. This was facilitated by his extremely credible and sincere radio programs, and wonderful voice.”
Hrayr Tamrazyan, RFE/RL Armenian service director, said: “Armen Dilanyan was an extremely gifted writer and journalist, and our community has suffered a great loss. Being one of the first chroniclers of independent Armenia, he had a large audience, and due to the success of radio his role has been far-fetching.”
After moving to United States in 2006, Armen Dilanyan became a local correspondent for Public Radio of Armenia in California. Excerpt from the post-mortem program of Public Radio: "He joined the Public Radio very readily to inform our audience about the most burning issues of interest to homeland Armenians and the Armenian Diaspora. The problems of Armenians living away from home were causing him great anxiety. His programs were a cry against hypocrisy, injustice, the call for unity, a warning of the dangers and, of course, expression of pride about the successes and achievements. He lived the problems of Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora - sincerely and without reserve. Remember him that way. Armen Dilanyan - Knight of truthful words".
Deeply concerned about the socio-political situation in Armenia, Dilanyan was in active search for a force, a movement, an idea, a strong alternative to the incumbent corrupt authorities, which would be capable of bringing positive change to Armenia. Most of his interviews with a wide range of public and political figures from Armenia, attest to his tireless search of a way out of the political crisis.
Armen Dilanyan was also concerned with the issues of the Armenian community of Los Angeles. He was promoting the idea of establishing a center, which would help Armenian immigrants to better adapt to the different life in their adopted homeland. He believed that this would significantly help fight crime among the Armenian immigrants in Southern California.
Armen Dilanyan worked for different Armenian TV stations in Los Angeles - ATV, Horizon, ARTN (Shant), Best TV, AABC. However, Dilanyan’s TV journalism had not been without turbulences. As he noted in his latest show on December 30, 2011, AABC was the only place he enjoyed complete journalistic freedom. There was no pressure, so typical for other channels where information and analytical programs had to be a subject to certain ideologies and derivation from which would equal treason.
On ARTN and AABC TV Armen’s shows had the same title - “Shift” (Հերթափոխ). During the entire series Armen remained true to his principle, declaimed at the first show: “During this program you will always be presented with facts and commentary about issues of most interest to us - the Armenian Diaspora. Naturally, we will also cover most critical issues related to Armenia and Armenians from all around the world. You will hear professional opinions and analysis that are worth hearing.”
With the economic crisis and the lack of sponsorship during last few months, Armen was forced to stop his journalistic career. Due to this drastic change, he was no longer active in the social life of the community or be able to keep his hand on the pulse of Armenia’s socio-political routines. He agreed to host a public gathering, where Garegin Chugaszyan, a member of the Sardarapat movement, introduced the current political situation in Armenia, the mission of Sardarapat. The presentation was followed by a Q&A session (see: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
On April the 24th, 2012, Armen was reported to have died of heart attack while driving.