Garni Temple ReceivesUNESCO Award

YEREVAN (news.am) — Garni temple received theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO) Melina MercouriInternational Prize (UNESCO-Greece) award.

The award is handed out annually to sites, whichare best preserved and safeguarded. Garni is apagan temple complex located in the Kotayk regionof Armenia, dating back to the first century, BC.

In addition to Garni, the Palestinian village ofBatir also received the top prize.

The award ceremony will take place on May 24 atUNESCO headquarters in Paris, the ArmenianForeign ministry announced.

1,400th Anniversary ofAnania Shirakatsi

Recognized by UNESCOYEREVAN (Arminfo) — The 1,400th anniversary ofthe birth of astronomer Anania Shirakatsi has beenincluded in UNESCO’s honorary list of anniver-saries for 2012.

The application for marking Shirakatsi’s birthwas submitted by the Burakan Observatory. This isno accident, as he was the author of Cosmographyand the Calendar, a 48-chapter work that discussesastronomy, meteorology and physical geography.Shirakatsi had progressive views for his time andleft a huge legacy; he is considered the founder ofthe study of the natural sciences in Armenia. Forcenturies, his books were used at schools inArmenia as textbooks.

Because of his contributions, an internationalscientific conference is being dedicated toShirakatsi and to the study of tangible and non-tan-gible monuments.

USAID to Allocate$27 Million to ArmeniaYEREVAN (Arka) — The United States Agency forInternational Aid (USAID) will allocate Armenia $27million, the press-service of USAID reported, basedon the visit of Senior Deputy Administrator forEurope and Eurasia Roberta Mahoney to Armenia.

The money will be aimed at reducing poverty,improving rule of law, providing better access tohealth care and social benefits, and strengtheningprivate sector and infrastructure.

Mahoney was in Yerevan in regard with 20 yearsof cooperation of Armenia with USAID.

She met with representatives of the Armeniangovernment, private sector and partner organiza-tions. The parties discussed US-Armenia bilateralrelations, USAID assistance programs in the areasof democracy, economic growth, health and socialreform and Armenia’s development challenges.

INDEXArmenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Arts and Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Community News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18International . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Mirror- SpectatorMirror- SpectatorTHE ARMENIAN

Volume LXXXI, NO. 43, Issue 4187

M AY 7 , 2 0 1 1

$ 2.00

DickranianSchool

page 10

INSIDE

The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States

NEWS IN BRIEF

Times Square Commemoration of96th Genocide Anniversary Draws Thousands

NEW YORK — The gathering of several thou-sand Armenians in a public square in one ofthe most visible sites in the United Statesseems a fitting way to remember the past, andremind others who want to forget it.

This year because Easter was celebrated on April 24, the Times Square com-memoration of the 96th anniversary took place on the following Sunday, May 1.Organizers estimated at least 2,000 people were present, and hundreds of thou-sands more walked by, or watched it on television. Turkish state television, alongwith several Armenian television and radio stations, recorded the event.

see COMMEMORATION, page 11

Keynote speaker Dr. Richard Hovannisian

By Aram ArkunMirror-Spectator Staff

Sargisian CallsFor BroaderGenocideRecognition

BERN, Switzerland (RFE/RL) —President Serge Sargisian on Tuesdayurged more countries to recognize theWorld War I-era mass killing of Armeniansin the Ottoman Empire as genocide, sayingthat it would not damage their relationswith Turkey.

Making an official visit to Switzerland,Sargisian cited a relevant resolution thatwas adopted by the Swiss parliament in2003. He argued that its passage, stronglycondemned by Ankara, did not prevent theSwiss government from mediating inTurkish-Armenian fence-mending negotia-tions held in 2008-2010.

“By recognizing the Genocide,Switzerland condemned that despicablecrime against humanity and thereby … pre-

vailed over all geopolitical and military-eco-nomic considerations,” Sargisian said aftertalks with his Swiss counterpart, MichelineCalmy-Rey.

“Most importantly, that absolutely didn’tprevent Switzerland from supporting thenormalization of Turkish-Armenian rela-tions within a short period of time,” he saidat a joint news conference. “In this regard,Switzerland’s example is the best one, andit should serve as a lesson for many coun-tries of the world.”

Sargisian similarly stressed the impor-tance of Armenian Genocide recognitionduring Calmy-Rey’s visit to Yerevan in lateMarch. He said he has personally asked US

see RECOGNITION, page 2

President Serge Sargisian inspects thetroops along with Swiss President MichelineCalmy-Rey during a visit to Bern.

Top Iranian DefenseOfficial Visits Armenia

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Iranian DeputyDefense Minister Reza Mozafari Nia dis-cussed military ties between Iran andArmenia during a visit to the capital onTuesday.

Mozafari Nia met with Armenian DefenseMinister Seyran Ohanian and his firstdeputy Davit Tonoyan.

A short statement by the ArmenianDefense Ministry said they spoke about“issues related to Armenian-Iranian cooper-ation in the area of defense.” It did not elab-orate.

A ministry source linked the talks withOhanian’s official visit to Tehran last July.The source said that they focused on theimplementation of Armenian-Iranian agree-ments reached during that trip.

see VISIT, page 2

By Aram ArkunMirror-Spectator Staff

TEANECK, N.J. — The Tekeyan CulturalAssociation and the Friends of the Mirror-Spectator are hosting a banquet in antici-pation of the 80th anniversary of the

Armenian Mirror-Spectator on June 4.The idea for the first solely English-lan-

guage Armenian paper in the United Stateswas proposed in 1931, and realized in1932. The Tekeyan Cultural Associationhas undertaken the effort to support the

newspaper with a gala fundraising eventbecause of its very close ties with theMirror-Spectator. Vartan Ilanjian, one ofthe advisors in the Greater New York chap-ter of Tekeyan, noted that the efforts ofthree pillars of ongoing support of thenewspaper in the area in its early period —Dr. Moses Housepian, Jack Antreassian andArmine Dikijian — would be commemorat-

ed at the event, and moreinformation will be present-ed about them.

Ilanjian declared: “Therole of the Mirror-Spectatorhas been great in the UnitedStates, though its reach hasbeen global. It has played avital role in maintaining andperpetuating cultural valuesand ideology. Though someask why we need newspa-pers while there is theInternet, as an informationtechnology professional Iwould tell you this: Over theyears there have been

numerous changes in media. The value oftechnology can be tremendous if and onlyif you can retrieve information from it. Theonly media that so far has withstood thetest of time has been printed media. So we

see BANQUET, page 20

Banquet in New Jersey HonoringMirror-Spectator Set for June 4

Singer Datevik will perform at the banquet.

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 7 , 2 0 1 1 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R2

ARMENIA

TThhrreeee AArrmmeenniiaann SSoollddiieerrssKKiilllleedd iinn KKaarraabbaagghh

SSTTEEPPAANNAAKKEERRTT ((RRFFEE//RRLL)) —— TThhrreeee AArrmmeenniiaann ssooll--ddiieerrss wweerree kkiilllleedd iinn ccoonnttiinnuuiinngg sskkiirrmmiisshheess aalloonnggtthhee mmaaiinn AArrmmeenniiaann--AAzzeerrbbaaiijjaannii ““lliinnee ooff ccoonnttaacctt””aarroouunndd NNaaggoorrnnoo KKaarraabbaagghh,, mmiilliittaarryy aauutthhoorriittiieess iinnSStteeppaannaakkeerrtt ssaaiidd oovveerr tthhee wweeeekkeenndd..

KKaarraabbaagghh’’ss AArrmmyy ssaaiidd oonnee ooff tthhee ssoollddiieerrss,, VVaazzggeennBBaakkhhsshhiiaann,, wwaass sshhoott ddeeaadd oonn FFrriiddaayy,, wwhhiillee tthhee ttwwooootthheerrss ddiieedd oonn SSaattuurrddaayy aatt uunnssppeecciiffiieedd sseeccttiioonnss oofftthhee ffrroonnttlliinnee.. IInn aa sshhoorrtt ssttaatteemmeenntt,, iitt ddiidd nnoott iiddeenn--ttiiffyy tthhee llaatttteerr vviiccttiimmss oorr ggiivvee ootthheerr ddeettaaiillss..

TThhee ssttaatteemmeenntt ssaaiidd tthhee ddeeaaddllyy sshhoooottiinnggss wweerreetthhee rreessuulltt ooff ffrreesshh cceeaasseeff iirree vviioollaattiioonnss bbyyAAzzeerrbbaaiijjaannii ffoorrcceess..

TThhee AArrmmeenniiaann FFoorreeiiggnn MMiinniissttrryy wwaass qquuiicckk ttoo ccoonn--ddeemmnn tthhee ddeeaatthhss aanndd aaccccuussee BBaakkuu ooff ttoorrppeeddooiinnggiinntteerrnnaattiioonnaall eeffffoorrttss ttoo bboollsstteerr tthhee sshhaakkyy cceeaasseeffiirreerreeggiimmee iinn tthhee ccoonnff lliicctt zzoonnee.. ““TThhiiss bbeehhaavviioorrddeesseerrvveess tthhee mmoosstt sseevveerree ccoonnddeemmnnaattiioonn bbyy tthheeiinntteerrnnaattiioonnaall ccoommmmuunniittyy,,”” rreeaadd aa mmiinniissttrryy ssttaattee--mmeenntt iissssuueedd oonn SSaattuurrddaayy..

DDeeffeennssee MMiinniissttrryyOOppppoosseess EExxeemmppttiinngg

SSeemmiinnaarriiaannssYYEERREEVVAANN ((nneewwss..aamm)) —— IInn tthhee ffuuttuurree iitt wwiillll bbee nneecc--eessssaarryy ttoo rreedduuccee tthhee nnuummbbeerr ooff sseemmiinnaarriiaannsseexxeemmpptteedd ffrroomm mmiilliittaarryy sseerrvviiccee,, ssaaiidd DDeeffeennsseeMMiinniisstteerr SSeeyyrraann OOhhaanniiaann aatt aa rreecceenntt pprreessss ccoonnffeerr--eennccee..

AArrmmeenniiaa’’ss ggoovveerrnnmmeenntt ddeecciiddeedd ttoo eexxeemmpptt 1177 sseemm--iinnaarriiaannss ffrroomm mmiilliittaarryy sseerrvviiccee,, wwhhiillee aannootthheerr 6622 ggoottddeeffeerrmmeennttss.. OOhhaanniiaann nnootteedd tthhaatt tthhee nnuummbbeerr ooffeexxeemmpptteedd sseemmiinnaarriiaannss iiss ttoooo bbiigg bbuutt nneevveerrtthheelleesssstthheeyy mmaaddee ccoonncceessssiioonnss bbaasseedd oonn tthhee ppoossiittiioonn ooffCCaatthhoolliiccooss ooff AAllll AArrmmeenniiaannss KKaarreekkiinn IIII oonn tthheeiissssuuee..

OOhhaanniiaann aaggrreeeedd ttoo ggiivvee ddeeffeerrmmeennttss ttoo sseemmiinnaarrii--aannss wwhhoo ccoonnttiinnuuee tthheeiirr eedduuccaattiioonn bbuutt llaatteerr,, hhee ssaaiidd,,tthheeyy hhaavvee ttoo jjooiinn tthhee aarrmmyy..

HHrraazzddaann ZZoooo DDiirreeccttoorrKKeeeeppss AAnniimmaallss iinn HHiiss

HHoouussee iinn WWiinntteerrHHRRAAZZDDAANN ((PPaannAARRMMEENNIIAANN..NNeett)) —— DDuurriinngg aa pprreessssccoonnffeerreennccee oonn AApprriill 2277,, AArrmmeennaakk AAvveettiissyyaann,, ddiirreecc--ttoorr ooff tthhee zzoooo hheerree ccoommppllaaiinneedd aabboouutt tthhee bbaadd ccoonn--ddiittiioonnss ffoorr tthhee aanniimmaallss.. HHee ssaaiidd hhee aanndd hhiiss ffrriieennddsskkeeeepp tthhee aanniimmaallss iinn tthheeiirr hhoouusseess iinn tthhee wwiinntteerr..

““WWee lloosstt 1100 gguuiinneeaa ppiiggss dduuee ttoo bbaadd wweeaatthheerr ccoonn--ddiittiioonnss llaasstt wwiinntteerr,, aass wwee ccaann’’tt bbrriinngg tthheemm hhoommeebbeeccaauussee ooff tthhee hheeaavvyy ssmmeellll tthheeyy ggiivvee ooffff,,”” AAvveettiissyyaannssaaiidd.. ““CCuurrrreennttllyy,, tthheerree aarree 2200 kkiinnddss ooff aanniimmaallss iinntthhee zzoooo.. WWee aappppeeaalleedd ttoo tthhee ppaarrlliiaammeenntt aanndd vvaarriioouussppoolliittiiccaall ppaarrttiieess ffoorr aassssiissttaannccee.. TThhee zzoooo nneeeeddss 11 mmiill--lliioonn ddrraammss ppeerr mmoonntthh ffoorr nnoorrmmaall ooppeerraattiioonn.. WWiitthhffiinnaanncciiaall aassssiissttaannccee,, II wwiillll mmyysseellff mmeenndd tthhee ccaaggeessaanndd bbrriinngg eevveerryytthhiinngg iinn oorrddeerr,,”” hhee ssaaiidd..

AAccccoorrddiinngg ttoo AAvveettiissyyaann,, tthhee zzoooo ddooeess nnoott hhaavvee aassttaaffff.. ““II ddoo eevveerryytthhiinngg bbyy mmyysseellff;; oofftteenn mmyy ffrriieennddsshheellpp mmee,,”” hhee ssaaiidd,, aaddddiinngg tthhaatt eennttrryy ffeeee ttoo tthhee zzooooccoossttss 220000 ddrraammss bbuutt llooccaall rreessiiddeennttss aarree oofftteennaalllloowweedd iinn ffoorr ffrreeee..

FFoorreeiiggnn MMiinniisstteerrNNaallbbaannddiiaann MMeeeettss wwiitthh

BBaarroonneessss CCooxxYYEERREEVVAANN —— OOnn AApprriill 1199,, MMiinniisstteerr ooff FFoorreeiiggnnAAffffaaiirrss EEdduuaarrdd NNaallbbaannddiiaann rreecceeiivveedd tthhee ppaarrlliiaammeenn--ttaarryy ddeelleeggaattiioonn lleedd bbyy tthhee BBaarroonneessss CCaarroolliinnee CCooxx,,mmeemmbbeerr ooff tthhee UUKK HHoouussee ooff LLoorrddss..

NNaallbbaannddiiaann pprraaiisseedd tthhee ssuuppppoorrtt aanndd hhuummaanniittaarrii--aann aaccttiivviittyy CCooxx hhaass pprroovviiddeedd ttoo AArrmmeenniiaa aannddNNaaggoorrnnoo--KKaarraabbaagghh ffoorr yyeeaarrss aanndd mmeennttiioonneedd tthhaatttthhee AArrmmeenniiaann ppeeooppllee aarree ggrraatteeffuull ttoo hheerr..

CCooxx ssaaiidd tthhaatt sshhee wwoouulldd ccoonnttiinnuuee hheerr aaccttiivviittiieess iinnffaavvoorr ooff ssttrreennggtthheenniinngg tthhee AArrmmeenniiaann--BBrriittiisshh rreellaa--ttiioonnss..

NNaallbbaannddiiaann aanndd tthhee BBrriittiisshh ppaarrlliiaammeennttaarriiaannss ddiiss--ccuusssseedd tthhee ppeerrssppeecctt iivveess ooff ddeeeeppeenniinngg ooff tthheeAArrmmeenniiaann--BBrriittiisshh ccooooppeerraattiioonn..

News From Armenia

VISIT, from page 1While in Tehran, Ohanian met with

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi and othertop Iranian officials. Official Armenian andIranian sources said that both sides reaf-firmed their commitment to strengtheningArmenian-Iran ties and stressed theirimportance for peace in the region.

“Cordial bonds between Iran andArmenia will help maintain peace and sta-bility in the region,” Ohanian said at thetime. Few other details of his talks werereported.

Armenian Deputy Defense MinisterAra Nazarian reportedly said late lastmonth that bilateral relations have nowreached “the highest level.” He also reaf-firmed Yerevan’s positive assessment ofIran’s role in regional security.

“Over the past years, Iran has pursued

a conscious and coherent policy in theregion,” the IRNA news agency quotedNazarian as saying at a ceremony orga-nized by the Iranian Embassy inArmenia. The event marked Iran’sNational Army Day.

Defense and security has arguablybeen the least advanced component ofArmenia’s warm rapport with Iran, whichhas centered on economic cooperationand joint energy projects in particular.Still, military cooperation between thetwo neighboring states has promptedserious concern from the United Stateson at least one occasion.

According to one of the classified USdiplomatic cables disclosed by WikiLeakslast December, Washington accusedArmenia of re-exporting weapons to Iranand threatened sanctions against Yerevanin late 2008. In a secret December 2008

letter, then Deputy Secretary of StateJohn Negroponte pressed PresidentSerge Sargisian to “ensure such transfersdo not occur in the future.”

Sargisian has pursued close ties withIran throughout his three-year presiden-cy. Visiting Tehran in late March, hedescribed the Armenian-Iranian relation-ship as “truly exemplary” and called forits expansion.

Relations with the Islamic Republic is arare matter of national consensus inArmenia, reflecting its unresolved con-flict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabagh and strained relations withanother Muslim neighbor, Turkey. Withthe Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish borders closed for almost twodecades, Iran is one of the landlockedcountry’s two conduits to the outsideworld.

Top Iranian Defense Official Visits Armenia

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — The EuropeanUnion (EU) and Armenia on Fridayreported “good progress” in their ongo-ing negotiations on an association agree-ment meant to significantly deepen thecountry’s political, economic and otherlinks with the EU.

In a joint declaration signed inYerevan, the EU’s Commissioner forEnlargement Stefan Fuele andArmenian Foreign Minister EduardNalbandian said the signing of the agree-ment will elevate those ties to “a differ-ent level.” They also reaffirmed theArmenian government’s stated commit-ment to implementing wide-rangingreforms required by the 27-nation bloc.

The declaration signed after Fuele’stalks with President Serge Sargisian saysthe EU’s main executive body, theEuropean Commission, is ready to sig-nificantly increase financial assistanceprovided to Armenia. According to theEU Delegation in Yerevan, it will doubleto 157 million euros ($232 million) in thenext three years.

The association agreement stems fromthe EU’s Eastern Partnership programcovering six ex-Soviet states, includingneighboring Georgia and Azerbaijan.Armenian and EU officials formallyopened negotiations on the accord lastJuly. They held two more rounds of nego-tiations later in 2010.

Nalbandian said the two sides havealready concluded 16 negotiating “chap-ters.” “In effect, we have crossed half thedistance,” he told a joint news confer-ence with Fuele earlier in the day.

Fuele stressed the importance of freetrade and visa facilitation agreements tobe signed within the framework of theassociation process. His declaration withNalbandian says the Armenian side willtake “further steps” to pave the way forthe start of talks on a free trade deal.

The reforms promised by Yerevanwould mostly affect Armenian stateagencies dealing with external tradeand immigration and lead to changes invarious Armenian laws. The EuropeanCommission has already earmarked atleast 32 million euros for financing

those reforms. The EU says democratization, human

rights protection and a stronger rule oflaw are another necessary condition forArmenia’s participation in the EasternPartnership. However, it is still not clearjust how aggressively it plans to press forsuch changes.

Fuele said the Armenian authoritiesshould properly address the continuing fall-out from the 2008 post-election unrest inYerevan. He welcomed the release of moreArmenian opposition members arrestedthree years ago and a renewed investiga-tion into the unrest which was ordered bySargisian last week.

“But the picture is much bigger andneeds to be perceived as much also bythe politicians here in Armenia,” the EUcommissioner said. “What is also impor-tant is that three years after the [2008]events Armenian citizens get a full pic-ture of what happened and who isresponsible [for it,] that there is an inde-pendent investigation of the events.”

“I personally believe that withoutaddressing, reflecting fully on the eventsof 2008 and closing this chapter, itwould be more difficult to create a con-ducive atmosphere in the society for the[parliamentary] elections in April 2012,”he added.

In a written statement, the EUDelegation said Fuele discussed withSargisian and other Armenian leaders“the internal political situation” inArmenia among other issues of mutualinterest. “He encouraged the authoritiesto make further efforts on media plural-ism and the conduct of elections,” it said.

EU’s Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fuele and Armenian Foreign MinisterEduard Nalbandian meet, with President Serge Sargisian standing behind them inthe photo.

Armenia, EU Hail ‘Good Progress’Towards Association Accord

MARDUNI, Armenia — One year ago,when a new chapter of ADL Armenaganparty was established in theMarduni region of Armenia, and125 trees were planted in the out-skirts of the city, PapkenMegerian, co-chairman of ADLDistrict Committee of the US andCanada and his wife, Anahid,pledged to furnish the offices ofthat chapter.

This year, Megerian visitedArmenia again to participate inthe Tekeyan Armenia Awardsceremonies, and traveled toMarduni to see first hand hisdonations at work. ADL ArmenaganCentral Committee members GayaneMouradian and Souren Sargsyanaccompanied him. Chapter Chairman

Housig Mekhitarian stated that thechapter office has been a center for

meetings, not only for ADL membersbut also supporters who are preparingthemselves for the coming parliamen-tary elections in Armenia.

Papken Megerian at the new office with ADLMarduni Chapter executive Committee

New Offices for ADL Chapter in Marduni

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 7 , 2 0 1 1 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R 3

IIssrraaeellii PPaarrttyy CCaallllss ffoorrGGeennoocciiddee RReeccooggnniittiioonn

TTEELL AAVVIIVV ((PPaannAArrmmeenniiaann..NNeett)) —— TThhee IIssrraaeelliiMMiinniissttrryy ooff FFoorreeiiggnn AAffffaaiirrss sshhoouulldd rreeccoonnssiiddeerr iittssssttaannccee oonn tthhee AArrmmeenniiaann GGeennoocciiddee iissssuuee,, LLiikkuuddPPaarrttyy CChhaaiirrmmaann ZZeeeevv EEllkkiinn ssaaiidd tthhiiss wweeeekk..

““TThhee JJeewwiisshh ssttaattee,, wwhhiicchh ddeemmaannddss wwoorrllddwwiiddee hhiiss--ttoorriiccaall jjuussttiiccee aanndd oobbsseerrvvaannccee ooff eetthhiicc nnoorrmmss ccaann’’ttiittsseellff ggoo ccoonnttrraarryy ttoo tthheessee pprriinncciipplleess,,”” EEllkkiinn ssttaatteeddwwhheenn aaddddrreessssiinngg aa ccoonnffeerreennccee oonn tthhee 9966tthh aannnniivveerr--ssaarryy ooff tthhee AArrmmeenniiaann GGeennoocciiddee..

““TThhee JJeewwiisshh ssttaattee sshhoouulldd bbee aammoonngg tthhee ccoouunnttrriieesswwhhiicchh ooffff iicciiaallllyy rreeccooggnniizzeess tthhee AArrmmeenniiaannGGeennoocciiddee,,”” hhee ssaaiidd..

JJeewwiisshh CCeemmeetteerryyDDeesseeccrraatteedd iinn IIssttaannbbuull

IISSTTAANNBBUULL ((PPaannAARRMMEENNIIAANN..NNeett)) —— AA JJeewwiisshh cceemmee--tteerryy llooccaatteedd iinn BBeeyyoogglluu,, wwaass ddeesseeccrraatteedd TTuueessddaayy,,AApprriill 2266,, bbyy vvaannddaallss wwhhoo ssmmaasshheedd sseevveerraall hheeaadd--ssttoonneess ttoo ppiieecceess..

EEiigghhtt ooff tthhee cceemmeetteerryy’’ss ggrraavveessttoonneess wweerree ddaamm--aaggeedd,, aass wweellll aass ssoommee ppaarrttss ooff tthhee cceemmeetteerryy’’ssppeerriipphheerryy,, YYnneettnneewwss rreeppoorrttss qquuoottiinngg TTuurrkkiisshh wweebb--ssiittee SSttaarrggaazzeettee..

AAccccoorrddiinngg ttoo tthhee rreeppoorrtt,, llooccaall ppoolliiccee ffoorrcceess wweerreeccaalllleedd ttoo tthhee ggrraavveeyyaarrdd iinn tthhee mmoorrnniinngg hhoouurrss,, oonncceetthhee ddaammaaggee wwaass ddiissccoovveerreedd.. TThhee iinnvveessttiiggaattiioonniinncclluuddeess ggaatthheerriinngg ttaappeess ffrroomm sseevveerraall sseeccuurriittyy ccaamm--eerraass ssttaattiioonneedd iinn tthhee aarreeaa.. PPoolliiccee hhooppee tthhee ffoooottaaggeewwiillll pprroovviiddee tthheemm wwiitthh lleeaaddss aass ttoo aannyy ssuussppeeccttss..

AArrmmeenniiaa CCeelleebbrraatteedd aatt3377tthh IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaall BBooookkFFaaiirr iinn BBuueennooss AAiirreess

BBUUEENNOOSS AAIIRREESS ((aarrmmrraaddiioo..aamm)) —— AArrmmeenniiaa wwaass ssiinn--gglleedd oouutt aass ppaarrtt ooff tthhee 3377tthh IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaall BBooookk ffaaiirrhheerree..

AAddddrreessssiinngg mmoorree tthhaann 11,,000000 ppaarrttiicciippaannttss ooff tthheeggaatthheerriinngg,, AArrmmeenniiaann AAmmbbaassssaaddoorr ttoo AArrggeennttiinnaaVVllaaddiimmiirr KKaarrmmiirrsshhaallyyaann nnootteedd:: ““TThhee ccrreeaattiioonn ooff tthheeAArrmmeenniiaann aallpphhaabbeett iinn tthhee ffiifftthh cceennttuurryy wwaass ppeerrhhaappssoonnee ooff tthhee rreemmaarrkkaabbllee eevveennttss iinn tthhee 33,,000000--yyeeaarr hhiiss--ttoorryy ooff tthhee AArrmmeenniiaann ppeeooppllee.. TThhaannkkss ttoo tthhaatt,, tthheeBBiibbllee wwaass ttrraannssllaatteedd iinnttoo AArrmmeenniiaann aanndd aa nnuummbbeerrooff bbooookkss wweerree ppuubblliisshheedd,, wwhhiicchh ccoommpprriissee tthhee mmoossttvvaalluuaabbllee ppaarrtt ooff oouurr ccuullttuurraall hheerriittaaggee..””

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DDiinnkk TTrriiaall ttoo BBee MMeerrggeeddWWiitthh EErrggeenneekkoonn

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AAccccoorrddiinngg ttoo tthhee TTuurrkkiisshh nneewwss ssiitteeNNttvvmmssnnbbcc..ccoomm,, UUssttaa ddeemmaannddeedd ttoo iinnvveessttiiggaattee tthheeccoonnnneeccttiioonnss bbeettwweeeenn ddeeffeennddaannttss EErrhhaann TTuunncceell,,YYaassiinn HHaayyaall aanndd aallssoo OOggüünn SSaammaasstt aanndd tthhee ddeeffeenn--ddaannttss ooff tthhee EErrggeenneekkoonn aanndd PPooyyrraazzkkyy ccaasseess.. DDiinnkkmmuurrddeerr ttrriiaall ssuussppeeccttss TTuunncceell aanndd HHaayyaall ssttaannddaaccccuusseedd ooff iinnssttiiggaattiioonn ttoo ccoommmmiitt mmuurrddeerr.. TThhee ffiilleeooff ssuussppeecctt SSaammaasstt wwaass sseeppaarraatteedd ffrroomm tthhee mmaaiinn ffiilleettrriieedd bbeeffoorree tthhee ccoouurrtt aanndd iiss nnooww bbeeiinngg hhaannddlleedd bbyytthhee SSuullttaannaahhmmeett ((IIssttaannbbuull)) JJuuvveenniilleess HHiigghh CCrriimmiinnaallCCoouurrtt..

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International News

By Gayane Abrahamyan

ISTANBUL (ArmeniaNow) — Thefuneral of an ethnic Armenian ser-viceman in the Turkish army killed onApril 24 took place at Istanbul’s St.Vartan Church this week amidincreased attention from the media,aware of the sensitivity of the circum-stances surrounding the death.

According to the Turkish militarypolice force, 25-year-old Sevak ShahinBalikçi was hit by a bullet fired as aresult of a fellow soldier’s mishan-dling his weapon.

The General Command of theTurkish Gendarmerie issued a state-ment earlier this week in connectionwith the serviceman’s death on theday when Armenians around theworld commemorated the victims ofthe Ottoman-era massacres.

The statement said a soldier, whowas Balikçi’s close friend, accidental-ly pulled the trigger of an automaticweapon while playing with it, thusshooting in the direction of his fellowservicemen who were repairing abarbed wire damaged by torrentialrains. As a result, Balikçi was fatallyshot and could not be saved by doc-tors after being rushed to the hospi-

tal.The ceremony at the Armenian

church of the Sisli district of Istanbulattracted about 1,000 people, includ-ing Balikçi’s fellow servicemen andcommanders, who came to pay theirlast respects to the memory of theArmenian youth who lay in state,wrapped in a Turkish flag.

Both Armenians and Turks whohad gathered for the occasion hadpictures of the 25-year-old pinned totheir chests, many said they wentthough emotions similar to thosethey had on the day of the assassina-tion of Turkish-Armenian journalistand minority rights champion HrantDink in January 2007. But still theystressed Sevak’s is likely to have beenan accidental death.

Still Balikçi ’s father couldn’t checkhis emotions and was bitterly cryingfor his only son at the funeral, repeat-edly saying in Turkish: “They’veslaughtered my son.”

Most of the Armenians present atthe funeral said they did not doubtthe death was accidental.

“Well, in Armenia they like linkingeverything to April 24. How can weknow what happened in reality? Butwhat I know for sure is that the shoot-er was his friend,” a representative ofthe local Armenian community, who

wished to remain anonymous, said inan interview.

The Armenian Church was crowdedthat Wednesday afternoon, with high-ranking officers of the Turkish armyalone occupying four rows. With theirhats in their hands, they stood, listen-ing to an Armenian liturgy.

Numerous representatives ofTurkish media came to cover therequiem service for the Armenian sol-dier; in fact, some television stationswere carrying live coverage of theevent.

Raffi Hermon Araks, a prominentmember of the community, describedsuch great media interest in a soldierkilled in the ranks in Turkey as“rare.”

Araks, who is a deputy of the dis-trict council of elders and a senioradvisor to the mayor of Princes’Islands, said: “Of course, I do notmean to say it as a consolation, but inthe Turkish army as well as in allother armies in the world such inci-dents do happen. But this case gen-erates more attention since it isimpossible to overlook the fact thatSevak was an Armenian Christianand the killer was a Turk and that thekilling took place on April 24. But itis meaningless to jump to conclusionsnow. It is too early yet.”

Istanbul Funeral of a Turkish-ArmenianSoldier: Death Occurred on April 24

By Kristine Aghalaryan

ISTANBUL (hetq) — There havebeen no religious services in theIstanbul Armenian Surp VortvotsVorodman Church (Children ofThunder) for the past 100 years. Butthe doors to the church will finallyopen this July.

Deacon Vagharshak said that thesite hadn’t been used as a churchsince World War I. “The communityhas been dreaming about renovatingthe church and in 1987 plans weredrafted but the amounts needed werestaggering. It remained a dream.”

Today, renovations on the churchare in full swing. After renovations arecomplete, the church, with its originalstyle intact, will also serve as a cul-tural center.

This building was built upon theedict dated February 2, 1828, grantedby Mahmud II to Kazaz Artin(Harutyun Amira Bezdjiyan); and itsplans were drawn by royal architectKirkor Amira Balyan and M. DevletGarabet. The compound is composedof a cathedral (Mother Mary) and twochapels (Surp Khach and SurpVortvots Vorodman) and opened forservices on October 14, 1828.

The transformation project in this

monumental building is targeted toconstitute an example for otherchurches.

Kevork Karakeuzian, who directsthe renovation project, says the cost is2.7 million Turkish liras, of which 70percent has been allocated by the

Turkish government. The remainingportion is contributed by the IstanbulArmenian patriarchate.

The entire project was a part of therenovations in the city related toIstanbul’s run as a 2010 EuropeanCapital of Culture. A total of 610 pro-jects were completed with a total bud-get of 300 million Turkish liras.

“What’s really important is that thisis the first time that the governmenthas allocated such a large sum for therenovation of a church,” saysKarakeuzian.

Allaying concerns that the renovatedstructure would be used solely as a cul-tural center, Karakeuzian said that reli-gious services could be held and thatthere would be a place to light candles.

Istanbul Armenian Church Doors toOpen after 100-Year Wait

The Surp Vortvots Vorodman Church

For Your Internal News of Armenia Log on to

www.AZG.am In English, Armenian, Russian and Turkish

4 S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 7 , 2 0 1 1 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

Community News

Peter Markarian EagleScout Project Takes offHYANNIS, Mass. (Barnstable Patriot) — At a quick glance, the completed raised

garden beds at the Barnstable Senior Center look as if they could have been theresince the building opened more than a decade ago.

On closer inspection, the sod is freshly laid, the nearby ground has clearly beendisturbed, there are nearby mounds of extra dirt and loam, and of course, the bedsare empty of any plants.

That won’t last long, as there have already been discussions about a fall veg-etable crop and fall bulb planting to ensure a colorful spring.

Peter Markarian of Hyannis, Mass. developed and oversaw the project, complet-ed August 14 and 15 for his Eagle Scout Project with Centerville’s Boy ScoutTroup 54.

He said a dozen workerscame on each of the twoconstruction days, takingall of one and a good partof the second to buildthree raised garden bedsthat are fully accessible tothose with disabilities.

The idea came fromwatching his grandfatherestablish his own gardenafter relocating to theCape.

Markarian worked withSusan Griffin, the center’sactivities director, and JimBerks, a center volunteerwho is wheelchair bound.Berks, who holds twodegrees in horticulture,tends the center’s existinggardens and helped buildthe flower bed outside thecenter’s lower level forthose in the Adult SocialDay program.

Berks helped developMarkarian’s idea for a sin-gle garden bed into three raised beds with concrete pads in between. Each is five-feet wide and 27-feet long and built from concrete blocks.

He also received a $500 grant from the Barnstable Disability commission for theproject.

Among the tasks for the project was contacting local businesses for help withsupplies and labor. Landscaper Kevin Shea assisted with earlier Bobcat work, andCountry Garden helped with materials. Markarian said that there are fundsremaining, which will likely be donated to the center to help get the gardens underway.

Markarian, 17, will be a senior this year at Bishop Stang High School inDartmouth.

WorshippersFlock to SaintVartan CathedralFor Easter, HolyWeek Services

NEW YORK — Easter morning in New Yorkwas marked by abundant sunshine and a warmbreeze, as hundreds gathered at the city’s St.Vartan Armenian Cathedral to celebrate themost important day of the year in the churchcalendar. The burst of spring weather defiedearlier forecasts of heavy rainfall and was a wel-come respite after an unusually harsh winter.

Inside the cathedral, the faithful shared thejoy of Christ’s Resurrection, greeting eachother, lighting candles and bowing in prayer.They also paused to reflect on the rare coinci-dence of Easter and Armenian Martyrs Day —the first time ever that the two observanceshave overlapped.

More than 2,000 people participated in ser-vices — one of the largest crowds in recent years— with some 5,500 candles lit throughout theday. When seats had become scarce, manystood at the back or spilled onto the plaza,

where audio speakers broadcast the badarakgoing on inside the cathedral.

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate ofthe Diocese of the Armenian Church ofAmerica (Eastern), celebrated the DivineLiturgy and delivered the homily on April 24.

“As Christians, we must never forget that thevictory of Easter came at a price. To reach theresurrection, Christ had to pass throughdeath,” Barsamian said. “But with his passageof suffering awaiting him, Christ promised hisdisciples that death would not be the end. Andtoday, nearly 2,000 years later, we still remem-ber and celebrate Christ’s victory over death.”

Barsamian went on to say that this very mes-sage of victory is how “we honor the death ofour Genocide martyrs on April 24.”

“Our martyrs died. They suffered. But theysee EASTER, page 5

Judge: LawyerCan’t RepresentSchmidt in Suit

BATAVIA, Ohio (Cincinnati Enquirer) — Alawyer who works for the Turkish AmericanLegal Defense Fund can’t represent Rep. JeanSchmidt in a defamation lawsuit filed on herbehalf against former political opponent DavidKrikorian, and a different lawyer for the con-gresswoman must disclose records that couldshow who is paying her legal bills, a judge hasruled.

Bruce Fein, who works for the Turkish-American group and represented Schmidt inprevious election-related disputes between theMiami Township Republican and Krikorian,could be called as a witness in the defamationcase in ClermontCounty CommonPleas Court, visitingJudge John W.Kessler said in a deci-sion on April 11.

It could be a poten-tial conflict of inter-est for Fein to beSchmidt’s attorney inthe defamation case,the judge said.

Schmidt doesn’thave to turn over toKrikorian copies of fee agreements or billinginvoices related to her lawyers, the judge said.

But the judge’s decision means Schmidtattorney, Donald Brey, who works for aColumbus firm, must share records such ascopies of checks or credit card statements thatcould indicate if someone made payments forher, Krikorian attorney Brian Hester saidTuesday.

Krikorian’s attorneys had asked the judge toorder Schmidt to reveal whether her attorneysare being paid by the Turkish American LegalDefense Fund, which is affiliated with theTurkish Coalition of America.

The records could prove Krikorian didn’t liein calling her a “puppet” of Turkish interest

groups, Hester said.Schmidt had no

comment on thejudge’s decision, aspokesman saidTuesday. Fein alsodeclined to com-ment.

“I’m pleased withthe judge’s deci-sion,” saidKrikorian, aMadeira business-man who ran

against Schmidt as an independent in 2008 andlost a Democratic primary in 2010 in an effortto challenge her again.

Schmidt claims that Krikorian, an Armenian-American, falsely accused her of taking moneyfrom Turkish interest groups to deny the geno-cide of 1.5 million Christian Armenians byMuslim Turks during World War I.

The suit filed against him in June seeks $6.8million in compensatory and punitive damagesfor what Schmidt claims were false allegationsby Krikorian that she was complicit in cam-paign finance crimes, bribery and perjury.

Krikorian’s attorneys argued that either Feinor Schmidt lied regarding who is paying herlegal bills.

“There apparently is an independent investi-gation being conducted by the Office ofCongressional Ethics regarding approximately200 hours of legal services received by plaintiffSchmidt,” the judge wrote.

“In an earlier deposition, attorney Bruce Feinsaid that the Turkish American Legal DefenseFund was paying for Schmidt’s legal fees, andplaintiff Schmidt denied that,” the judge wrote.“The issue of who is paying for these fees ismaterial in regard [to the defamation suit].”

Planting a garden, Peter Markarian of Hyannis, second from right, stands with, fromleft, Jean Boyle, Raye Kaddy, Linda Cook, Jim Berks and Paul Nevosh of theBarnstable Disability Commission. Markarian worked with the Barnstable SeniorCenter and disability commission to construct fully accessible gardens at the centerfor his Eagle Scout project, which was completed recently.

Rep. Jean Schmidt

Bruce Fein

Peter Markarian

The Release of Doves ceremony symbolizes thedispatching of the 12 apostles.

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian hands a dove toAso Tavitian during the Release of Doves cere-mony on the cathedral plaza.

EASTER, from page 4were not victims,” he said. “Our martyrs under-stood that Christ was speaking directly to themwhen he said, ‘The world will give you affliction.But take heart: I have overcome the world.’”

After the Divine Liturgy, the Primate led aprocession to the cathedral plaza, where 12doves were released, symbolizing the dispatch-ing of the 12 apostles.

Also, Tavitian was the godfather of theRelease of Doves ceremony. Tavitian, founder ofthe international technology companySyncsort, is a member of the Board of Trusteesfor the Carnegie Endowment for InternationalPeace. His Tavitian Foundation supports high-er education, and his support of the ArmenianProgram at Tufts University’s Fletcher Schoolof Law and Diplomacy trains promising diplo-mats and government officials from theRepublic of Armenia.

Also taking part in the Release of Doves cer-emony was Ambassador Garen Nazarian,Armenia’s representative to the UN, and hisfamily.

The AGBU Antranig Dance Ensemble, wear-ing traditional Armenian costumes, performedseveral dances on the plaza. Young girls carry-ing baskets of tulips passed out the flowers tothose gathered on the plaza.

A reception followed in Haik and AliceKavookjian Auditorium, where Barsamian offi-ciated over a home-blessing service. The faithfulreceived nshkhars (communion wafers) to takehome.

The St. Vartan Cathedral Choir sang theDivine Liturgy on Easter Sunday under thedirection of Khoren Mekanejian. FlorenceAvakian accompanied on the organ. The cathe-dral remained open until early evening onEaster Sunday, welcoming worshippersthroughout the remainder of the day.

Similar celebrations were underway at parish-es across the Diocese.

Holy Week across the Diocese

Easter was preceded by Holy Week, whichcommemorates the dramatic events leading tothe Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

At St. Vartan Cathedral on Palm Sunday,April 17, the Rev. Mardiros Chevian, cathe-dral dean, celebrated the Divine Liturgy, andwith Archbishop Yeghishe Gizirian conduct-ed the Turun-Patzek or Door OpeningService.

At the conclusion of services, those attend-ing walked from the cathedral plaza to thewestern entrance of the building, carrying

palms in commemoration of Jesus’ triumphalentry into Jerusalem.

Also on Palm Sunday, a special Children’sDay was held at the Diocesan Center, whereyoung Armenians had the opportunity to learnabout their faith and culture, do seasonal crafts,learn to bake choreg, participate in the badarakand enjoy lunch together.

On April 21, Greatand Holy Thursday,Chevian celebratedthe Divine Liturgy inthe morning. In theevening, Barsamianofficiated at theWashing of the Feet

ceremony, which commemorates Christ wash-ing the feet of the 12 apostles after the LastSupper.

In recognition of the Diocese’s upcomingyear-long focus on lay ministry in the ArmenianChurch, the 12 were selected from among peo-

ple active in lay ministry at the parish andDiocesan levels. Participants included: HaigAriyan, St. Nersess Seminary Board ofDirectors; Bruce Ashbahian, Ararat CenterBoard of Directors; Thomas Ashbahian, AraratCenter Board of Directors; Gregory Dalakian,Diocesan Sacred Music Council; StephenHaratunian, Armenian Church Endowment

Fund; Dr. Raffy Hovhanessian, DiocesanCouncil; Kris Kalfayan, Diocesan GomidasChoir; Danny Mantis, ACYOA Central Council;George Mekenian, Diocesan Board of Trustees;Avedis Ohanessian, St. Vartan CathedralCouncil; Charles Simonian, Armenian ChurchEndowment Fund and Dr. Edgar Housepian,Fund for Armenian Relief.

The Washing of the Feet ceremony was fol-lowed by a Khavaroom or Vigil Service.

The Order of the Crucifixion of Christ andthe Order of the Entombment of the Lord (orTaghoom Service) were commemorated withservices on Great and Holy Friday, April 22.

On Easter Eve, Saturday, April 23, Giziriancelebrated the Divine Liturgy. Students fromthe Diocesan Khrimian Lyceum read scripturesand sang in the choir along with students oflocal Diocesan Armenian Saturday schools.

5S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 7 , 2 0 1 1 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMUNITY NEWS

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The AGBU Antranig Dance Ensemble performstraditional Armenian dances on the cathedralplaza.

Worshippers Flock to St. Vartan Cathedral for Easter, Holy Week Services

Worshippers on the plaza enjoy the AGBU Antranig Dance Ensemble’s performance.

PEABODY, Mass. — On Thursday, April 28, aflag-raising ceremony was held on the frontlawn of Peabody City Hall to mark the com-memoration of the 96th anniversary of theArmenian Genocide. The ceremony was led byMayor Michael J. Bonfanti.

According to the former longtime mayor ofPeabody, the late Peter Torigian, whose mothersurvived the Genocide, “This ceremony is oursmall way of paying tribute to the martyrs ofthe Armenian Genocide.”

Bonfanti was elected to this office in 2002and since then has maintained the annual cere-mony. Mary Torigian Foley and the TorigianFamily have provided their support for thisannual commemoration.

Torigian was first elected mayor of Peabodyin 1979 and served for 23 years until his retire-ment in 2002 and for four terms on the CityCouncil. He was once voted by his colleaguesin the state as the “Best Mayor inMassachusetts” and he ranked as the longest-reigning mayor in Massachusetts history.

Torigian spearheaded the PeabodyInternational Festival, the “Pride in Peabody”campaign and numerous cultural and socialprograms.

Jackie Torigian, the late mayor’s widow,recently donated a large collection of papersand other materials covering her husband’scareer in local government to the GeorgePeabody House Museum.

After the flag raising and the singing of boththe Armenian and American national anthems,the ceremony continued inside.

Bonfanti said it is important for this annualcommemoration to continue. He is not seekinganother term, therefore, this was Bonfanti’s lastas mayor. He assured the audience that two ofthe candidates running for the office haveagreed to keep the ceremony going.

The Rev. Karekin Bedourian of NorthAndover’s St. Gregory Armenian ApostolicChurch performed a requiem service to memo-rialize the victims of the Armenian Genocide.Deacon Avedis Garavarian of the same church,who was also guest speaker, gave an interesting

presentation providing his personal and touch-ing experience as a child of a Genocide survivor.

A representative from Rep. John Tierney’soffice extended his greetings and hope for theadoption of the Armenian Genocide resolutionby the US Congress.

Jackie Torigian read the Proclamation andNancy Torigian Buczko presented a gift fromthe Torigian family to Bonfanti.

After the ceremony, a luncheon was served inthe Wiggin Auditorium, sponsored by theMardiros family.

Peabody Mayor Michael J. Bonfanti

Peabody Hosts Flag-Raising Ceremony toCommemorate Anniversary of Genocide

6

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Mirror- SpectatorThe ArmenianBy David Luhrssen

GREENFIELD, Wis. — Milwaukee-Armeniansgathered at St. John the Baptist ArmenianChurch here for the parish’s annual Martyrs’Day commemoration. Greenfield alderwomanShirley Saryan presented a proclamation fromthe city’s mayor, Michael J. Neitzche, whichacknowledged the longtime presence of

Armenians in the community, called memory ofthe events of 1915 “crucial for preventing newgenocides” and proclaimed a day of remem-brance in Greenfield.

The reading of the proclamation was part ofa program held on Sunday, May 1, which alsoincluded a requiem in honor of the 1.5 millionwho fell during the Genocide, a traditionalmadagh dinner in the church’s cultural hall andthe screening of a DVD filmed during the 2009Genocide commemoration at GlendaleCommunity College in California. The film’skeynote speaker, Rev. Vazken Movsesian,emphatically presented the prevention of geno-cide in our time as the message for Martyrs Dayby placing the Armenian response to 1915 inthe context of wider world campaigns forhuman rights. Movsesian is a well-knownactivist for the homeless and the needy in

California and has taken the lead in involvingArmenians in protests against genocide inDarfur.

It’s no coincidence, he reminded listeners, thatMartyrs’ Day Commemoration as we know itbegan in 1965 alongside the rise of the Americancivil rights movement under Martin Luther King,Jr. But the resulting renewal of ethnic pride andcall for public protests has had only limited effectin the US, where several years ago Secretary ofState Condoleezza Rice blandly called for more

historical study andPresident BarackObama has not ful-filled his pledge to callthe Genocide by itsname.

“We need to look atourselves as some-thing bigger than acommunity consumedwith Genocide,”Movesian said. “Weneed to show we areworthy to be called thepeople of the firstgenocide.” Movsesianrecounted a 2006 visitto Rwanda, where hisconversations with

survivors of that country’s genocide where virtu-ally identical with the memories of his grandpar-ents. “Every story was an Armenian story —except the color of their skin was different.” Healso noted that the Genocide Museum inRwanda devoted two rooms to 1915 while the so-called Museum of Tolerance in West Hollywood,Calif., constructed by a governor of Armeniandescent ignores the Armenian Genocide.

A greater involvement by Armenians in con-temporary campaigns against oppression couldpay political dividends in the form of Genociderecognition, but Movsesian reminded listenersthat the greater imperative comes from thegospel message of compassion for the least ofour brethren. Only by being true to the deepermeaning of the Armenian Christian heritagewill the Armenian cause of Genocide recogni-tion move forward.

Alderwoman Shirley Saryan presenting the proclamation to Father Nareg

Armenian Genocide Recognized in Greenfield

From left, Deacon Hagop Iskenian; Fr. Yeghia Hairabedian, pastor, St. Gregory; Fr. DajadDz. Vartabed Yardemian, vicar general Western Diocese; Fr. Vahan Gosdanian, pastor,Holy Trinity; Badveli Mgrdich Melkonian, host pastor, First Presbyterian; Deacon Allan Y.Jendian and Serge Tomassian, Esq., keynote speaker

The Fresno observance of the 96th Anniversary of the ArmenianGenocide was held at the First Armenian Presbyterian Church onMonday, April 25, sponsored by the Inter-Denomination Committee ofFresno. Participating churches were: St. Paul, Holy Trinity, PilgrimCongregational, First Presbyterian and St. Gregory, Fowler.

The Very Rev. Dajad Dz. Vartabed Yardemian, vicar general of the Western Diocese,presided over the Hokehankist.

By Arpie Shiragian

PROVIDENCE — On April 2, Prof. RoubenShugarian, the first Armenian ambassador tothe United States, from 1993 to 1999, gave atalk at Sts. Sahag and Mesrob ArmenianChurch. The lecture was titled, “The RecentHistory of International Mediation betweenTurkey and Azerbaijan vis-a-vis their smallbut brave historic neighbor, Armenia.”

The capacity audience was enthusiastic,receptive to ideas and suggestions for ame-lioration of relations with Armenia’s neigh-bors — Turkey and Azerbaijan. At the end ofthe lecture, the audience was given an invita-tion by the ambassador to comment or askquestions.

The moderator of the discussion was AraBoghigian.

The most vital part of the talk concerned“open, but secure borders between our home-land and our neighbors.” Suggestions weremade to look for answers within our commoninterests of commerce, friendly interchange,and mutual respect of our common borders.

The audience had many tentative solutionsto offer; it seemed there would be no end tothe discussion, which was informative, excit-ing, inspirational and patriotic.

Shugarian is a 1989 graduate with a degreein philosophy, theory of culture and aestheticsfrom Yerevan State University. After Armeniaregained independence, Shugarian became asenior staffer of the Standing Committee onForeign Relations of the National Assembly. He

also served as deputy minister from 1999 to2005, and ambassador to Italy, Spain andPortugal from 2005 to 2008.

Currently, Shugarian teaches at theFletcher School of Law and Diplomacy atTufts University. He gives lectures aroundthe world and has authored articles on con-flict resolutions. He is also the author of thebook, West of Eden, East of the Chessboard.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

Since its inception in 2001, TCA’s ‘Sponsor a Teacher’ program has raised over $477,750and reached out to 3,700 teachers and school workers in Armenia and Karabagh.

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St. Gregory Church HostsSecond Annual CigarNight and Dinner

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — The St. GregoryChurch of Merrimack Valley Men’s Club is plan-ning the second annual Cigar night and Dinner,in memory of Fr. Vartan Kassabian, on June 16.Last year’s event was a success on many fronts— it brought together the friends of Kassabianfrom all over New England, in a night of friend-ship and camaraderie, dinner and cigars, alongwith silent and live auctions and raffles.

Event Chairperson Greg Minasian said, “thesuccess of last years event went beyond ourwildest dreams. People kept coming up to measking when are we going to have the next cigarevent.”

The event raised over $8,000 for the church.All attendees will receive complimentary cig-

ars of three premium labels, along with a pre-mium lighter/cutter. This year there will also bea cigar roller, in order to watch the cigar beingrolled, as the fourth complimentary cigar. Theevent is to be hosted by Miss MassachusettsLacey Wilson. The auction items this year areintended to be better than the previous year.And, a large number of women are expected toattend this year’s event.

For tickets contact Greg Minasian at gmi-nasian@verizon.net, or Rich Berberian atrichard@elysejewelers.com.

The Church Hall is located at 158 Main St.

Ara Aharonian ReceivesCommendations fromArmenian and NKRGovernments

LOS ANGELES — Ara Aharonian, who hasserved in educational, cultural and politicalorganizations for more than 40 years, startingin his youth in Lebanon, was honored by theArmenian government recently.

He has belonged to the Tekeyan CulturalAssociation, AGBU, ADL (Ramgavar) Party andmany other affiliated organizations in memberand leadership positions. He has organizedyouth groups (ADL-Armenagan) that haveserved to maintain and spread Armenian cul-ture and has taken part in community-wideassociations that were formed to pursue issuesof Pan Armenian relevance. Additionally,Aharonian has written several books on the his-torical aspects of the Armenian cause and lead-ers of the ADL over the decades.

Since the independence of Armenia, he hasworked with various diplomatic representativesof the Armenian republic as well as theNagorno Karabagh republic. Aharonian hasdevoted decades of service to the Armenianpress and especially Nor Or publication, andthe TCA Arshag Dickranian School.

In recognition of the above contributions andtaking advantage of the presence in Los Angelesof Hranush Hagopian, minister of diaspora of theArmenian government, a special event was orga-nized at the studios of the ARTN-Shant Studiosin Glendale on February 2. At this event,Hagopian thanked Aharonian for his years of ser-vice to the community and the Armenian nationby presenting him with an official commendationfrom the Ministry of Diaspora as well as anothercommendation on behalf of the parliament of theRepublic of Nagorno Karabagh signed bySpeaker Ashot Ghoulian.

The event was attended by various communi-ty leaders and friends and family of the hon-oree. Aharonian promised to continue his lead-ership and national duties in service of theArmenian culture.

BOSTON — Work has begun on the future Armenian Heritage Parkhere. Bricks, rocks and dirt are going to transform the parcel into agraceful park. Regular updates will be forthcoming.

By Lalig Musserian

JAMAICA PLAIN, Mass. — The MassachusettsDepartment of Public Health conducted athree-day-long, unannounced inspection visit atthe Armenian Nursing and RehabilitationCenter (ANRC) on March 28, and to verify theANRC’s compliance with the more than 180federal and state regulatory standards.

This annual review was conducted by a team offour nurses who scrutinized every aspect of care,from nursing to rehabilitation services, to thecooking and food storage processes, as well ashousekeeping and laundry processes. Additionally,

clinical files were reviewed for a randomly-selectedsample of residents and discharged patients.Interviews were conducted with residents andfamily members to gain first-hand knowledgeabout the quality of care they received. In addi-tion, the group observed the interaction betweenthe nursing staff and patients.

The responses from residents and familymembers were overwhelmingly positive andspeak volumes about the excellence in care thestaff provides. The Massachusetts Departmentof Public Health declared the Nursing Center tobe 100 percent in compliance with all regula-tions.

For more information on the survey process,visit www.Medicare.gov.

Armenian Nursing and RehabilitationCenter Scores Perfect Marks on Survey

Prof. Rouben Shugarian

Shugarian Delivers Lecture at Sts. SahagAnd Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church

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LOS ANGELES — Oral historians of theArmenian Genocide gathered in Los Angeles onApril 1-2, to share information about their col-lections and consider issues of utilization, digi-tization, preservation and archiving. The con-ference was organized by AEF Chair in ModernArmenian History, Richard Hovannisian, andthe UCLA Oral History Research Center, withsupport from the Near Eastern Center, Bob andNora Movel Fund and the Souren and VerkinPapazian Fund.

Participants from Canada, Mexico and vari-ous universities and centers in the UnitedStates began their weekend with a private tourof the Shoah Foundation Institute’s enormouscollection of Holocaust survivor testimonyhoused at the University of SouthernCalifornia.

The methods of preservation, digitization,indexing and utilization of the more than50,000 interviews were explained by KarenJungblut, director of research and documenta-tion; Sam Gustman, assistant dean of USCLibraries; Kim Simon, managing director of theShoah Foundation and Stephen Smith, thefoundation’s executive director.Demonstrations were given of the Institute’spreservation and access systems as well as thedigital access platforms. It is of great interestand encouragement that the Foundation is nowprepared to expand its focus to the Armenian,Rwandan and other genocides. The largearchive of Dr. J. Michael Hagopian’s ArmenianFilm Foundation (AFF) is now being preparedfor transfer to the Shoah Foundation Institute,according to Smith and AFF president, GeraldPapazian, who participated in all of the week-end activities. Sara Chitjian, daughter ofArmenian Genocide survivors, hosted a lun-cheon at USC for the attendees.

At the UCLA Young Research Library

The afternoon session on April 1 convened inthe UCLA Young Research Library, where ateam of specialists coordinated by TeresaBarnett, head of the Oral History Center, dis-cussed matters of digitization and preservationand legal and technical issues relating to theuse of the survivor testimonies. In exchangesamong the participants, it became obvious thatthe state of the various collections varies wide-ly. Some are primarily audiocassette interviews,while others are largely videotaped sessions ofsurvivors, who are seen as they speak. It is esti-mated that there are collectively some 5,000existing interviews of survivors, when the col-lections that are known to exist in Europe, theMiddle East and Armenia are taken intoaccount. One or two of the collections remainin their original condition and are therefore atrisk, whereas most have backup copies or elsehave been digitized. Most of the 800 interviewsin the UCLA collection, for example, have notonly been digitized but have also been tran-scribed into Armenian and then, with studentsin a course in Armenian oral history, havepassed through a preliminary translation intoEnglish. At the end of the session, it was sug-gested that as a first step, a grand index of allinterviews worldwide be created which wouldinclude the name, place and date of birth of theinterviewee, and, if possible, the language andlength of the interview.

The Public Conference: The FirstSession

Some 300 members of the communityattended the public conference on the UCLAcampus on April 2. The theme of the conferencewas “Armenian Genocide Oral HistoryCollections in North America: Development,Utilization, Potential.” Hovannisian opened theconference by emphasizing the value of oral his-tory testimony and the critical importance ofproper preservation and archiving. The day’sproceedings were divided into four panels. Thefirst panel, titled “The Collections: TheirOrigins, Scope, and Evidence,” was chaired byMarc Mamigonian, director of academicresearch of the National Association ofArmenian Studies and Research (NAASR).Varoujan Froundjian of New York described thecollection initiated by the late Dr. V.L.Parsegian and now housed at ColumbiaUniversity. He noted that the collection, like the

others, offers much more than descriptions ofthe horrific events of the Genocide. There arealso subtle and multidimensional portrayals oflife before the calamity and the experiencesencountered en route to and after settlement inthe United States. They include a great array ofsubject matter to be explored, including the spe-cial role of women, the challenges of living andraising children in a new country and the psy-chological aspects that frequently forced thesurvivors into silence or reluctance to discusstheir tribulations.

Bethel Bilezikian Charkoudian, head of theOral History Program of the Armenian Libraryand Museum of America (ALMA) in Watertown,Mass., explained that in 1973 ALMA made it aprimary goal to interview and record ArmenianGenocide survivors. This project culminated inthe late 1970s with more than 200 interviewsand 800 hours of recordings. The audiotapeshave been digitized pro bono by Techfusion andhave since been used as original source materi-al by historians, sociologists, videographers andmost recently by dramatists Bianca Bagatourian(Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance) and JoyceVan Dyke (in her play “Deported”) and videog-rapher Bared Maronian (“Orphans of theGenocide”). Haig Der Manuelian, an ALMAfounder and longtime guiding force, also par-ticipated in the two-day conference.

Hovannisian outlined the evolution of theArmenian oral history project at UCLA and howit was facilitated by introducing a course forcredit on the subject. He projected charts andgraphs relating to the composition of 800 inter-views and described their strengths and weak-nesses. The audio tapes have now been digi-tized, transcribed and translated, and the timehas arrived to consider the options regardingpermanent repositories and access to the col-lection by students and scholars.

Greg Sarkissian and George Shirinian com-pleted the first session by describing the nearly800 interviews held by the Zoryan Institute inToronto, Canada, this being the largest collec-tion of video testimonies worldwide. The inter-views were conducted according to a carefully-prepared questionnaire in order to obtain asmuch detail as possible about Armenian lifebefore the Genocide as well as experiences dur-ing and after the deportations and massacres.The interviews were conducted in many citiesin the United States and Canada and some weredone in Europe and Armenia as well. Effortswere made to have multiple interviews from asmany Armenian towns and villages as possiblein order to allow for cross-referencing.

The Second Session

The second panel, titled “Publications,Performances, and the Visual Arts,” was chairedby Gerald Papazian of the AFF. Donald andLorna Touryan-Miller spoke on “Time, Trauma,and Place in Survivor Narratives.” As theauthors of Survivors, the widely-used volumebased on Armenian Genocide survivor testimo-ny, they reflected on the more than 100 inter-views they conducted in the process and thesimilarities and differences in Armenianaccounts recorded more than a half centuryafter the Genocide in comparison with the freshmemories of witnesses and survivors in Rwandawhere the Millers are now focusing their work.Carla Garapedian of the AFF presented a videoshowing J. Michael Hagopian’s film archive ofGenocide survivors, gathered over a period of40 years. She focused on the AFF’s project todigitize this rare collection for the ShoahFoundation, whose extensive holdings are madeavailable to universities and institutions aroundthe world. After the conference, she wrote: “Weare continuing to get e-mails and messagesregarding the symposium — it really created anew dialogue.”

Ara Oshagan of Los Angeles emphasized theeffectiveness of combining photography, artand testimony. He explained: “Experiencing andwitnessing extreme atrocity will leave survivorsnever feeling completely a part of the worldagain. The artist can play a role in symbolicallyrestoring their connection to the world byincorporating their testimony with art to bringtheir story out into the world. The artist acts asa conduit in transforming testimony from mere-ly being an ‘archive’ to one that ‘lives’ again.”

He highlighted three projects that combine tes-timony with art: Furnee’s “Prisoner of War”installation in an English town directly affectedby World War II, Heyman’s drawing of victimsof Abu Ghraib prison, and his own and LevonParian’s photographs of Armenian Genocidesurvivors.

Bianca Bagatourian of the ArmenianDramatic Arts Alliance demonstrated ways inwhich survivor testimony may be used in thetheater by showing excerpts of her dramaticproductions based on such narratives. After theconference, she attested: “The UCLA confer-ence was a very important moment in the his-tory of Armenian Genocide Oral History. Itbrought together the various collections inorder to contemplate how best to keep alive ourancestral stories. In visiting the ShoahFoundation as part of the conference, I under-stood from the point of view of a writer theimportance of creating a searchable databaseand texts in order to make the stories muchmore accessible to artists and scholars alike.”

As documentary filmmaker ZarehTjeknavorian from New York was in the audi-ence, he was called upon to describe his ownexperiences in oral history and interviewingsurviving Armenian victims of the Stalinpurges, captured in his outstanding film, titled“Enemy of the People.” He also described hismost recent project, a documentary relating tothe US response to the Armenian Genocide andthe important role of the Near East Relief(NER), which rescued and assisted thousands ofsurvivors, especially women and children, afterWorld War I.

The Third Session

The first of the two afternoon panels wastitled “Preserving, Indexing, Archiving,Accessing” and included experienced practi-tioners in the field.

Teresa Barnett, head of the UCLA OralHistory Research Center, introduced the panelby identifying the challenges and possibilitiesrelating to the Armenian Genocide oral historycollections. Stephen Smith, Shoah Foundationexecutive director, related his own involvementwith memorializing the Armenian Genocideand offered a highly informative visual piecefrom the Internet regarding the work of theShoah Foundation Institute in preserving,archiving and making available its enormouscorpus of interviews. Mark Greenberg, directorof Special and Digital Collections and head ofthe Holocaust and Genocide Studies Center atthe University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla.,shared how the oral history program at USFhas developed several source solutions that areintended to link up with Armenian oral historyarchives.

The OHPi (Oral History Player Interface)offers full-text search capacity and synchronizesaudio/video streams with verbatim transcripts.He added that details can be found at the web-site http://ohp.lib.usf.edu.

Stephen Davison, head of UCLA’s DigitalLibrary Program, explained the process of digi-tization and how it facilitates preservation andaccess, but he cautioned that one should notthink that digitization is a permanent solutionand that the UCLA library, like the ShoahFoundation, is continuously copying its collec-tions.

Hayk Demoyan, director of the GenocideMuseum-Institute of Armenia, completed thefirst panel with a description of the institute’ssmall but growing collection of oral history tes-timony and the importance of cooperation andsharing among all the existing programs.

The Fourth Session

The fourth and final panel of the day, chairedby Armen Marsoobian of Southern ConnecticutState University, was titled “Potentials forUpcoming Scholars, Writers and CreativeArtists.” Ara Sanjian, director of the ArmenianResearch Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, reflected on “Experiences in theClassroom with Third- and Fourth-GenerationCollege Students.” He argued that first-handaccounts by Armenian Genocide survivors canbroaden our factual and interpretive under-standing of the calamity by helping researchersto write academic works on regional histories of

the genocidal process, including the few casesof armed resistance. Such micro or local histo-ries can pave the way for scholars to trace thesimilarities in the deportation process acrossthe Ottoman Empire, but also the local particu-larities, and then look for explanations to thesedifferences. In education, the first-handaccounts constitute a large reservoir of primaryinformation to equip the youth with the analyt-ical tools to share their knowledge. Guidelinesneed to be developed relating to teaching aboutthe Armenian Genocide to children, teenagersand college students at various stages of theirintellectual growth.

Carlos Antaramian of El Colegio deMichoacan introduced his Mexican-Armenianoral history project, which documents the set-tlement of Armenians in the La Merced neigh-borhood of Mexico City. After digitizing morethan 1,000 photographs from 1900 to 1950, heinterviewed a number of elderly Armenianswho are the children of survivors and who areable to provide valuable information on thearrival and socioeconomic ascent of the immi-grant Armenians and to relate important mem-ories and stories of their parents’ experiencesduring and after the Armenian Genocide. Heshowed excerpts from the hour-long documen-tary he is preparing on the subject.

Arda Melkonian and Doris Melkonian haveutilized the UCLA collection to explore theexperiences based on gender during theGenocide. Their presentation focused on theunique suffering of women and their strategiesfor survival. The two graduate students atUCLA are among the first to use its large oralhistory collection for scholarly research, follow-ing earlier studies by Hovannisian on childhoodmemories and acts of rescue and altruism bynon-Armenians which run through many of theoral history narratives.

Reuben Zaramian, a graduate student at theUniversity of Toronto, offered a rather novelperspective with his “Tropes, Memes, and OtherTheoretical Stuff: Oral Genocide Studies in aNew Way.” He incorporated mnemonic (memo-ry) and semantic (meaning in sentences) theoryto identify a clear, replicable pattern of tropesand memes in the oral narratives. His presenta-tion is part of a larger study on the efficacy andstructural value of memory-based storytellingand oral transmission. He explained: “My theo-ry is that there exists a minimum set of charac-teristics to oral information-sharing across cul-tures and types of literature (history, fiction,epic, etc.), which have been largely overlooked.”

Taner Akçam, Kaloosdian-Mugar ChairHolder at Clark University, was the finalspeaker of the day. He used a comparativeapproach in describing a recent undertakingrelating to the 1938 Dersim massacres(Charsanjak region). An estimated 30,000 to50,000 people were massacred by the Turkisharmy that year, yet there are no available offi-cial documents on the operation. Thus, theDersim oral history project will be one of themost significant sources relating to this crimeagainst humanity.

After the Conference

The participants joined with members andfriends of the Armenian EducationalFoundation in a post-conference dinner recep-tion hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Hacop and HildaBaghdassarian (AEF) in their Glendale home.Hovannisian introduced each of the guests andnoted their important contributions andexpressed his thanks to the AEF and theBaghdassarian family for the special birthdaycake on the occasion of the 25th anniversary ofthe founding of AEF Chair in ModernArmenian History at UCLA.

In reflecting on the significance of the two-day Armenian Genocide Oral History confer-ence, Smith stated: “It was heartening to seethat we are all struggling with the same issues,but share a common resolve to bring togetherarchives of extreme historical importance forthe common good. There was no one better toconvene this than Richard Hovannisian.Working with the Armenian community andseeing the care that is being taken to preservearchives in perpetuity is heartening. This con-ference set the ground work for us all to worktogether much more closely.”

Unique Armenian Oral History Conference at UCLA

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MM EE TT RR OONewYork

NEW YORK — On Monday, April 25, about200 worshippers came to St. Vartan Cathedralto take part in the annual Armenian Martyrs’Day liturgy, commemorating the 1.5 millionsouls eradicated in the 1915 Genocide of theArmenians.

With Easter itself falling on Sunday, April 24,the Martyrs’ Day Divine Liturgy and requiemservice were held one day later, to coincide withthe traditional day of remembering the dead —merelots — observed in the Armenian Churchon the day following a major feast celebration.

Diocesan Primate Archbishop KhajagBarsamian presided over the events of the day,including the liturgy and requiem service, theblessing ceremony on the plaza and the con-cluding hokejash.

The Very Rev. Vartan Navasardyan, directorof the Department of Christian Education atHoly Echmiadzin, celebrated the Divine Liturgy

and delivered a powerful sermon, in Armenianand English, on the meaning of ArmenianMartyrs Day, in light of the prior day’s obser-vance of Easter.

Also participating in the service was the VeryRev. Guregh Davtyan, dean of St. ShoghakatChurch in Vagharshapat, Armenia. Both havebeen visiting the Eastern Diocese with theblessing of Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarchand Catholicos of All Armenians.

Archbishop Yeghishe Gizirian, the Very Rev.Simeon Odabashian, the diocesan vicar, and the

Rev. Mardiros Chevian, dean of the cathedral,also were present at the liturgy.

Khoren Mekanejian directed the St. VartanCathedral Choir, with Florence Avakian accom-panying on the organ.

Following a solemn service of repose in frontof the cathedral’s Martyrs Chapel, Barsamianled a procession of priests, deacons and wor-

shippers down to the tree-lined memorial onSecond Avenue, planted 35 years ago (onMartyrs Day 1976) to commemorate theprovinces of Historic Armenia which were lostin the aftermath of the Genocide: Bitlis, Van,Evereg-Feness (dedicated separately in 1981),Sepastia, Kharpert and Garin.

The memorial had been restored with a dona-tion from Adrienne Alexanian, in memory ofher parents, Edward and Grace Alexanian.Alexanian orchestrated the restoration project,designing the wrought-iron guards and land-scaping for each of the six tree plots constitut-ing the memorial.

In silence, Barsamian and Alexanian led thecolumn of mourners past each tree, pausingbriefly at each to offer a prayer and moment ofreflection. In a soft breeze, the six pear treesshed some of their delicate white blossoms as

the procession passed, lending the impressionof a soft snowfall to the solemn occasion.

When the participants filed to Haik and AliceKavookjian Auditorium for the traditionalmemorial meal, they were greeted by an artexhibition featuring paintings by MherKhachatryan.

The idea to refurbish the memorial treesbegan a year ago, when Alexanian was makingarrangements for a 95th anniversary MartyrsDay concert at the cathedral. While hanging flo-ral crosses on the trees, she noticed that theoriginal plaques naming the lost provinces hadlost their luster.

“I felt it needed to be restored as a fittingmemorial to the sacrifices our martyrs made,”she said. “When I realized that 2011 would

mark the 35th anniversary of the original dedi-cation, I knew I had to take on this task.”

She approached Barsamian and Chevian withthe offer to underwrite the restoration, andbecome involved with every step of the project.

“It was a daunting task, but I was absolutelydriven to have it done in a unique and respect-ful way,” she said.

The elder Alexanians were both Genocidesurvivors: Edward originally hailed fromSepastia, and Grace from Marzovan.

“I knew my parents hands were guiding meduring this project,” Adrienne Alexanian said.“And I know they would have wanted it donethis way.”

As part of the restoration, she also madearrangements to provide for the future mainte-nance of the memorial trees. In gratitude forher creative efforts and generosity, Barsamianpresented her with a carved cross fromArmenia, during the hokejash following theMartyrs Day ceremonies.

Martyrs’ Day Marked at St. Vartan Cathedral in New York

Pausing before one of the memorial trees,Archbishop Khajag Barsamian pronounced ablessing, as Adrienne Alexanian and ArchbishopYeghishe Gizirian looked on.

A requiem service was held in front of the cathedral’s Martyrs Chapel.

Worshippers lit candles during the requiem ser-vice in observance of Armenian Martyrs Day.

Entertainment Fridaysand Saturdays

LOS ANGELES — The TCA ArshagDickranian School (ADS) celebrated its 30thanniversary with a gala banquet on Saturday,April 2, at the Taglyan Cultural Center. Theevent was one of the series of affairs takingplace throughout the school year in observanceof the anniversary.

Traditionally being solely hosted by the PTO,this year the Banquet Committee integratedinto including members of the Board ofTrustees, past Parent Teacher Organization(PTO) chairpersons and several alumni.

At arrival, guests were greeted by the hostcommittee, then moved to join the gathering atthe lobby to rub shoulders with old and newacquaintances in attendance, amongst whomwere benefactors, prominent officials, past andpresent parents, committee and faculty mem-bers, alumni, upper-grade students and friends.It was heartening to see the assemblage of 350devotees gathered for the common purpose ofpaying tribute and offering their support toArshag Dickranian School. At the end of thesocial hour, Fr. Manoug Markarian, archpriestof St. John Church, offered the invocation.

Houri Taglyan-Kourouyan was the emcee forthe event. She introduced herself as a personi-fication of the 30-year success story of the TCAArshag Dickranian School. She was an alumna

of the first gradu-ating class, in1990, went on topursue higher edu-cation, married aformer classmate,enrolled her childat the school andbecame a memberof the PTO.

After sharingher thoughtsabout the meritsof her alma mater,Kourouyan con-cluded herremarks byacknowledging thepresence of severald i g n i t a r i e s ,amongst them thebanquet’s guest ofhonor, HmayakBaltayan, LosAngeles CityCouncil member Paul Krekorian and GrigorHovhannisyan, the consul general of theRepublic of Armenia, inviting the latter to thepodium to present his congratulatory remarks.

Following the consul general’s remarks, thelights of the hall were dimmed for the video pre-sentation of the blessings and congratulatory mes-sage of Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate ofthe Armenian Church Western Diocese.

Krekorian delivered the keynote address.Being the first Armenian-American ever electedto serve in the Los Angeles City Council,Krekorian commended the Arshag DickranianSchool for its accomplishments throughout thepast 30 years. “Armenian schools are the onlybastions for preserving our language and her-itage. Hence, their presence in our communities

and the tremendous effort rendered to preservetheir existence should not be taken for grant-ed,” he said, adding that the only reason why hecan’t express himself in his mother tonguetoday is because there were no Armenianschools in his time as a student.

The entertainment portion of the programwas provided by singer Gaguik Badalyan, whoperformed a range of Armenian songs, afterwhich the lights were dimmed again for a 20-minute video show depicting the land acquisi-tion, the ground breaking, the Opening Dayand the 30-year journey of ADS, produced by

Meher Kourouyan(Class of 1994).

Being her lastyear serving aschairperson of thePTO, OpheliGaribyan then pre-sented her mem-bers with tokengifts in apprecia-tion for their devot-ed service to theschool.

Principal VartkesKourouyan thentook the podium toconduct the candlelighting ceremonywith all those whodonated $1,000 or

more for the occasion. “The 30 candles on displaydepict the years the Arshag Dickranian School hasserved this community,” he said, calling the nameof every donor to approach and light a candle. Hethen announced that aside from the candle-lightingceremony, the school had received over $50,000from various donors, including a $10,000 gift fromBaltayan, a $10,000 donation from the TCA Boardof Directors and a $5,000 gift from the TCAPasadena-Glendale Chapter. He further added thatthe complete list of donations will be publishedsoon.

The ceremony then continued with the raffledrawing and dancing into the midnight hoursto disco music spun by DJ Chris Shahbazian.

For more information on the school, visitwww.dickranianschool.org.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

Dickranian School’s Eighth Graders VisitWashington, New York and Philadelphia

LOS ANGELES — The eighth-grade students of TCA Arshag Dickranian School had aunique Easter Vacation this year, visiting New York City, Washington, DC andPhiladelphia. The six-day trip was organized by Maro Travel Teck and took place April 16through 22. The students were escorted by their homeroom teacher, Alvard Uzunyan,along with Principal Vartkes Kourouyan, his wife, Alice, and some 30 parents.

As a part of the educational curriculum, this is the second year that the school orga-

nizes the trip for its eighth graders during the Easter Vacation to give them the oppor-tunity to observe these locations, so they can visually learn about the historical and sig-nificant sites of the nation.

The first day of the trip was spent in New York City, where students explored varioushistorical and renowned places, including the Empire State Building, the United NationsHeadquarters, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Plaza Hotel and Fifth Avenue. The sec-ond day, being Palm Sunday, the students first visited St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral tolight candles and offer prayers. The group then visited the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street,the New York Stock Exchange and Ground Zero, where they paid their respects to thelives lost on that ignoble September 11, 2001.

On the third day of the trip, the group boarded their bus heading towards Philadelphia.While there, they visited the historic Old Capitol Building, Independence Hall and theLiberty Bell.

The fourth day was spent in Washington, touring the significant sites of the Nation’sCapital, such as the White House, Capitol Hill, The Jefferson Memorial, the LincolnMemorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, World War II Memorial and the Tomb of theUnknown Soldier. The fifth and sixth days of the trip started with a stop at the ArlingtonNational Cemetery, President John F. Kennedy’s tomb, followed by the Smithsonian andAir Space Museums. A highlight on the fifth day was visiting the Embassy of the Republicof Armenia.

On the last evening of the trip, the students surprised the principal, his wife andUzunyan with a small party at the Marriot Courtyard Gaithersburg to show their appre-ciation.

Eighth-grade students gathered around their homeroom teacher Miss Alvard Uzunyan infront of the Capitol Hill.

Arshag Dickranian School Celebrates 30th AnniversaryMore than $110,000 Raised at Benefit Gala Banquet

LA City Council member Paul Krekorian, emcee Houri Taglyan-Kourouyan and Armenia’s ConsulGeneral Grigor Hohannisyan

Members of 30th Anniversary Banquet Committee

Mr. and Mrs. George Mandossian

From left, Dr. Missak Kitchian and his son Nareg, Hmayak Baltayan

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COMMEMORATION, from page 1New Jersey lawyer Armen McOmber and Dr.Mary Papazian, provost and senior vice presi-dent for academic affairs at Lehmen College ofthe City University of New York, served as mas-ters of ceremony. Vagharshak Ohanyan led theArekag Children’s Choir of the HamazkayinArmenian Educational and Cultural Society ofthe Eastern United States in several songs aswell as the performance of the American andArmenian national anthems. Pianist and com-poser Karén Hakobyan led the choir in a spe-cial premier performance of his piece,Independent Armenia. Five importantAmerican politicians gave rousing speeches,along with representatives of four co-sponsor-ing organizations — Natalie Gabrielian, associ-ate director of education at the ArmenianGeneral Benevolent Union; Bryan Ardrouny,executive director of the Armenian Assembly;Doug Geogerian, Armenian NationalCommittee Eastern Region director from 2004to 2006, and representatives of the Armenian

Democratic Liberal Party and the ArmenianRights Council of America.

Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Primate ofthe Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian ApostolicChurch of America, and Fr. Vazken Karayan,pastor of Holy Cross Armenian Church ofUnion City, NJ and representing the Diocese ofthe Armenian Church of America (Eastern),offered invocations and closing benedictions.Their institutions were among the participatingorganizations, along with the ArmenianMissionary Association of America, ArmenianPresbyterian Church, the Armenian EvangelicalChurch of America, the Armenian CatholicEparchy for the US and Canada, TekeyanCultural Association, Hamazkayin and numer-ous Armenian youth organizations. Buses

brought Armenians from New York and NewJersey churches, as well as from the Knights ofVartan Boston Ararat Lodge and the ArdashadLodge of Philadelphia. There were some atten-dees from as far away as California.

Knights of VartanGrand CommanderDennis Papazian andDaughters of VartanGrand Matron MeleneOuzounian intro-duced members oftheir grand councilsand other importantofficials who werepresent. Papazian,also founding directorof the ArmenianResearch Center atthe University ofMichigan-Dearborn,revealed the theme ofthe commemoration,that Turkey is guilty

of genocide, and denying genocide is a crime.He declared, “When a crime can be committedwith impunity, criminals will act with impunity,”and noted that the Assyrian and Greek geno-

cides were also being commemorated alongwith the Jewish Holocaust. Papazian challengedthe Turkish government to allow their people tostudy their own history without fear of punish-ment.

Ouzounian stressed the importance of edu-cating the young about the great price paid bytheir ancestors for liberty and their faith. Latershe introduced the winners of the Knights ofVartan Armenian Genocide Essay contest, who,

in declining order of rank of awards, wereJeremy Majerovitz, Gerard Nelson, and SamuelLevine, three students from the elite publicStuyvesant High School in Manhattan, andhonorable mention recipient KatriceKaranfilian, from Bergen County Academies inOradell, NJ.

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, an influen-tial Democrat who has for decades backedefforts at recognition of the ArmenianGenocide, which he calls “one of the worstgenocides in world history,” stirred the crowd

with his words. He declared, “We are here todayto tell future Hitlers that we do remember, thatthey cannot succeed, that they cannot brushhistory under the rug. We are lighting a candlefor truth, not just for those who suffered inArmenia, not just for the Armenian people, butfor the world, because in every generation, inevery generation, there are those like theTurkish leaders during 1915 and 1916, thereare those like the Hitlers, there are those likethe Idi Amins, who seek to destroy people sim-ply who they are. History tells us they alwaysarise, but history tells us one other thing, thatis, that truth may be temporarily dimmed, butthe light of truth, the candle of truth, alwaysburns through, and that’s why we are heretoday. I say to you my friends, from the day I gotinto Congress, I was a staunch supporter of theArmenian quest, to remember the ArmenianGenocide, the Armenian Holocaust, and I willcontinue to do that with every atom in my body,until the Turkish government admits the truth,

makes reparations for what they have done, anduntil the Armenian community is vindicated.My friends, I stand with you in solidarity.”

Schumer was followed by Sen. RobertMenendez (D-NJ), another fervent and influen-tial supporter of US recognition of theArmenian Genocide, who said, “Now, as a mem-ber of the Senate Foreign Relations [commit-tee], I have said that American diplomacy mustavoid the euphemisms. To overlook human suf-fering is not who we are as a people. It is notwhat we stand for as a nation. We are betterthan that and our foreign policy should alwaysreflect that goodness. And that is why it isimperative that the president of the UnitedStates, of my own party, recognize that this wasa genocide and call it as such.” Menendez con-tinued to great applause, “I promise you thatfor so long as I continue to be a United Statessenator, sitting on the Senate Foreign Relations

Committee, that any nominee who comesbefore the committee having anything to dowith Armenia, will have to answer the question,do you recognize the Armenian Genocide. And

see TIMES SQUARE, page 12

Times Square Genocide Commemoration

The Armenian demonstration can be seen from a distance at the heart of Times Square

NJ Rep. Frank Pallone

NY Sen. Chuck Schumer

NJ Sen. Robert Menendez

Grand Commander Dennis Papazian at podium

The three Genocide survivors brought before the crowd

Masters of Ceremony Dr. Mary Papazian andArmen McOmber

Olivia Katrandjian appealing for registrationwith the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry

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TIMES SQUARE, from page 11I will continue to push — as I have held up nom-inees in the past — I will continue to push thepeople who we have in place around the worldto represent the United States, to recognize thehorrific events of 1915 as a genocide, and I willcontinue to push to make sure that the UnitedStates reflects a deep sense of moral outragewith respect to the Armenian Genocide.”

Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), founder of theCongressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, andone of the most active initiators and sponsorsof legislation favorable to Armenia andArmenians in Congress, stated that he was fre-quently asked why one should focus on the

Genocide when contemporary Armenia andKarabagh have so many problems. Pallone’sanswer was that both were crucial and inter-connected issues: “People don’t seem to under-stand — I know that you do — that this is anongoing effort, an ongoing effort to basicallydestroy the Armenian people.” The denialistrhetoric from Turks and Azerbaijanis hasbecome more aggressive recently, Pallone said,“We will be here every day and will continue toagitate until the commemoration in Congresstakes place. We do it for Armenia, we do it for

Karabagh and we do it for those who sufferhuman rights violations anywhere on earth … Iworry every day. The United States needs to besupportive of Armenia and Karabagh militarily,economically. We need to continue to providehumanitarian and military assistance to both

countries.” He urged the Armenians and theirsympathizers to be optimistic, concluding, “Wewill succeed, because we have right on ourside.”

Rounding out the group of supportivenational politicians who have year after yearparticipated in the Times Square commemora-tion, New York Rep. Anthony Weiner strode outand said, “I say to all Turkish Americans, to allresidents of Turkey today: This is not intendedto be an exercise in finger pointing, but this isan exercise in making sure that the pages of his-tory are not defiled by blank spaces, blackmarks, Xs where there should be circles. Theonly way we can become a more perfect unionin the United States, and a more perfect peopleof the globe, is by speaking truth even of theatrocities.” Weiner pointed out that there arepeople even today who deny the Holocaust evertook place, as well as the Armenian Genocide.Consequently, he said, “So as long as those peo-ple are allowed to crawl along the surface of theearth, to crawl out from their rocks every sooften, none of us can be safe to make sure thatthose atrocities don’t happen again. ..What weseek is the truth from the people who did theatrocities…My name is Anthony Weiner and Iwill never forget the Armenian Genocide.”

New York City Comptroller John Liu, one ofthe city politicians who back the Armeniancause, stated, “Here we are at the crossroads ofthe world, Times Square, we celebrate ourdiversity, but the diversity that we have here isstrong only in recognition of where we camefrom, our roots, our heritage, our culture andour history; and the history that has happenedwith the Armenian people is a history that isundeniable.” He added, “Keep up the fight — wewon’t let you down.”

A proclamation from Mayor Michael

Bloomberg was read, proclaiming May 1, 2011as Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day inthe City of New York (see the accompanyingsidebar to this article for its text). Rep. ScottGarrett (D-NJ) also sent a statement which inpart read: “While it is painful to commemoratethese terrible acts each year, we must remem-ber and must learn from the past. TheArmenian Genocide serves as a powerful exam-ple of what can occur when governments per-secute citizens based on ethnicity or religiousaffiliation.”

Keynote speaker Dr. Richard Hovannisian,holder of the Armenian EducationalFoundation Chair in Modern Armenian Historyand professor of Armenian and Near Easternhistory at the University of California, LosAngeles (UCLA) for several decades, has editedmany volumes on the Armenian Genocide. Hesaid that the trauma of genocide was passed onto the following generations, compounded by

continuing Turkish denial. Armenians and oth-ers ask for reaffirmation of what originally wasrecognized and then deliberately forgotten.However, Armenians must now not only focuson the lost dead, as so many were killed in the20th century, but stress the loss that RaffiHovannisian, Richard’s son, has focused on —hayrenazrgutiwn, or national dispossession.Richard Hovannisian felt “the loss of a civiliza-tion, the loss of a homeland, the loss of a wayof life of 3,000 years is the major continuingtraumatic aspect of 1915.” The Armenian

Genocide in many ways is a prototype for latergenocides. For this genocide to be remembered,Hovannisian said, it must be integrated into thehistory of mankind; otherwise it will be lost andtruly forgotten. Gathering in Times Square isalso part of the struggle for memory against for-getting.

Dr. Joan Rivitz, associate director of the NewJersey Commission on Holocaust Educationand chair of the New Jersey Commission onCivil Rights, a daughter of Holocaust survivors,said, “Armenians and Jews of the diaspora, sur-vivors, second generation, third and fourth gen-erations, and those yet to come, we must con-tinue in solidarity to remember the true, unde-niable facts of the dark parts of our parallel his-tories. …The world community simply stood byand watched….If Turkey had been held account-able for the Armenian Genocide, Hitler mightnot have been able to plan and execute theHolocaust. ”

Three survivors of the Armenian Genocide,101-year-old Perouz Kaloustian, 99-year-oldArshalouis Dadir, and 98-year-old CharlotteKechejian, were wheeled out to receive therespect and applause of the audience, escorted

by Aghavni “Aggie” Ellian, executive director ofthe New York Armenian Home in Flushing, NY.

Olivia Katrandjian made a powerful appealfor registration with the Armenian BoneMarrow Donor Registry for the sake of her

mother Irene, stricken with Non-Hodgkin’sPeripheral T-Cell Lymphoma, as well as forother ill Armenians (see www.abmdr.am).

Hirant Gulian was chairman of the organiza-tion committee for one of the largest eventsorganized by the East Coast Armenian commu-nity, Papazian co-chairman in charge of acade-mic affairs, with Tigran Sahakyan as vice-chair-man. Taleen Babayan coordinated public rela-tions and the essay contest. Members of theArmenian American Health ProfessionalsOrganization of New York and New Jerseyunder the chairmanship of Dr. Larry Najarianwere present in Times Square to provide anynecessary first aid.

Those who missed it can see the recording athttp://www.armenianradionj.com/.

Times Square Genocide Commemoration

Homenetmen flag-bearing scouts with a model of Yerevan’s Dzidzernagapert Genocide Monument

Hamazkayin’s Arekag Children’s Choir, with singer Elen Ohanyan

Armenian Assembly Executive Director BryanArdrouny

NY Rep. Anthony Weiner

AGBU representative Natalie Gabrielian

Armenian National Committee Regional DirectorDoug Geogerian

Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan

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Evening to BenefitRestoration of AncientArmenian Church inDikranagerd

NEW MILFORD, N.J. — A benefitnight to raise funds to restore the St.Giragos Armenian Church inDikranagerd will take place onSaturday, May 14, at the HovnanianBanquet Hall here.

The evening will feature Armenianmusic by Onnik Dinkjian and his band,dinner and information about themuch-needed renovations to the St.Giragos Armenian Church. In atten-dance will be Archbishop KhajagBarsamian, Primate of the Diocese ofthe Armenian Church of America(Eastern), Archbishop Vicken Aykazian,Diocesan Legate, Archbishop AramAteshyan, vicar of the ArmenianPatriarchate of Constantinople andGaren Nazarian, Armenia’s ambassadorto the UN.

The program will serve as an oppor-tunity for the St. Giragos ChurchRestoration Committee (Eastern USA)to familiarize guests with the pressingreasons to save this symbolic church.Originally constructed in the 15th cen-tury, the church was rebuilt andenlarged in 1880 after a fire, whichmade it the largest Armenian basilica inAnatolia to this day. The first bell towerof the church was built in 1884 (cast bythe world famous Zildjian Company),making it the tallest structure inDikranagerd. Renowned for havingseven altars signifying eternity in theArmenian alphabet, the church canaccommodate more than 2,500 faithfulduring services.

Recognizing a need to renovate thishistorical cathedral — which is the prop-erty of the Armenian Patriarchate ofTurkey — a group of concernedDikranagertzi’s in Istanbul cametogether to begin efforts to do so.Restoring the St. Giragos ArmenianChurch in Dikranagerd will ensure theexistence of this significant church forfuture generations of Armenians.

For reservations, call: Hirant Gulian,Zakar Dikme, Hagop Uzatmajian,Charles Pinajian, Hagop Gulian orDiran Kilerjian.

BAYSIDE, N.Y. — The Friends of HolyMartyrs Armenian Day School (HMADS) 2011Gala Dinner Dance Committee has been hard atwork. Under the direction of Chairpersons TalinIpek and Alex Baron, this year’s dinner dancewill feature singer Ashot Logian with his band.

Logian comes from a family of talented musi-cians and was a musical prodigy who wasaccepted at both Spendiaryan Music Schooland Sayat Nova Music Schools at a very youngage. He began composing at the KomitasConservatory in Yerevan and has even per-formed at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, inaddition to giving concerts throughout theUnited States. He recently released his firstalbum of Armenian contemporary folk music,titled “Dream.” In 1996, Logian co-founded theband HAYASA with drummer MarkosShahbazyan, and together they have neverlooked back, spending years perfecting theirown unique sound by bringing together talent-ed musicians who play a blend of percussion,keyboard and guitar to evoke the spirit and joyof Armenian music.

The Friends of HMADS have two distin-guished gentlemen serving as the HonoraryBooklet co-chairs for this year’s event. Theirleadership will undoubtedly galvanize the com-munity to support the most important fundrais-er of the year. Berj Haroutunian and Nichan

Tchorbajian are both longtime supporters ofthe Holy Martyrs Armenian Day School andFriends of HMADS organizations. Haroutunianis currently serving on the HMADS Board andis a devoted community philanthropist andentrepreneur.

Tchorbajian, whose children are bothHMADS alumni, has been an active PTO exec-utive member and the driving force behind theArmenian Church of the Holy Martyrs expan-sion project, which seeks to fortify our Churchstructures so that they will continue to be acenter for Armenian spiritualism and culture foryears to come.

A successful entrepreneur in his own right,Tchorbajian’s educational background encom-passes pure mathematics and physics.

Haroutunian, Tchorbajian and the entireFriends committee invite everyone to anevening of dinner and dancing on Saturday,May 14, at the Woodbury Country Club, the 18-acre estate once owned by United StatesTreasurer Ogden Mills, featuring an alluringlandscape.

After the cocktail reception, a four-coursemeal will be served in the ballroom, withLogian and his band performing.

For further information about this event, con-tact the school office, Negdar Arukian orSiragan Varolian.

HMADS alumni with Principal Zarmine Boghosian

HMADS Gala Dinner Dance: A Classic Affair with a Youthful Twist

TENAFLY, N.J. — On April 17,Diocesan Primate ArchbishopKhajag Barsamian continued anannual tradition of spending PalmSunday with the parishioners ofSt. Thomas Armenian Church.

The Primate celebrated theDivine Liturgy, delivered the homi-ly and presided over a celebratorydinner. The church overflowedwith parishioners for the PalmSunday service, celebratingChrist’s entry into Jerusalem andmarking the start of Holy Week.

St. Thomas’ pastor, the VeryRev. Papken Anoushian, offered aprayer to start the banquet honor-ing the parish’s 46th consecrationanniversary.

In his prayer, Anoushian remem-bered the recently-departedNoubar Akelian, as well as MisakTorosian in whose memory Jack and SylvaTorosian and Misak and Anjel Torosian haddonated the banquet. The former couple alsochaired the event.

Mary Cruickshank served as mistress of cere-monies for the occasion. Parish Council ChairDr. Levon Capan thanked the Torosians, Kalustand Yeghsapet Bestepe (who led a cake salefundraiser), chef Manuk Camcikyan and the din-ner volunteers, Lucy Karamanoukian-Piligian,

the ACYOA Juniors and Vay Najarian, the onlyremaining member of St. Thomas’ first ParishCouncil.

The program included vocal performances bySareen Jebejian and Dr. Levon Capan, accom-panied on piano by Susan Shamamian, andrecitations performed by Ariana Cruickshankand Vehanoush Sabbagh, students from theparish’s Kirikian Armenian School under thedirection of teacher Sirvart Demirjian. Young

Chris Manoukian also recited poems in honorof his great uncle, Krikor Markarian, recipientof this year’s St. Thomas Award.

Since Palm Sunday is ACYOA Day in theEastern Diocese, the parish ACYOA Juniorshelped serve the meal, and the group advisor,Peter Afarian, presented Anoushian with a$1,000 donation for the church.

This year’s St. Thomas Award honoree,Markarian, was introduced by his son, Ara, as aloving father and husband. A rug and Armenianantiquities dealer originally from Beirut,Lebanon, Markarian with his wife, Diane,instilled a love for the Armenian Church in theirsons Ara, Melik and Berj.

Anoushian portrayed Markarian’s benevolentnature and how he presented St. Thomas withnew altar curtains, a black curtain for Lent aswell as the beautiful Jerusalem lanterns, whichhang from the interior dome of the church. Headded that the parish was blessed to have aparishioner like Markarian, and prayed thatGod would bless him with health, happinessand longevity.

Markarian thanked Anoushian and theParish Council for the award, modestly addingthat coming to church is not a duty but anhonor for him.

Barsamian congratulated the pastor andparishioners. He mentioned Vay Najarian andKrikor Markarian, and recalled the special ser-vices they have lovingly rendered to the churchand Diocese over the years.

In a closing benediction, the Primate prayed thatSt. Thomas would stay strong and vital, and thatGod would bless the church and the parish.

Fr. Papken Anoushian and Archbishop Khajag Barsamian with altar servers at St. Thomas Church

Primate Visits St. Thomas Church on Palm Sunday

From left, Fr. Papken Anoushian, Archbishop Khajag Barsamian and Krikor Markarian with parish-ioners at St. Thomas Church

Leading ArmenianActors to Reunite inBurlesque ComedyIn Montreal in May

MONTREAL, Canada — Actors GeraldPapasian and Nora Armani will play the lead-ing roles in the burlesque Armenianhit, “Taparnigos Ladies’ Dentist,” adapted byPapasian from the Armenian Classic the“Eastern Dentist” by Hagop Baronian.This acclaimed 19th-century comedy hasbeen produced countless times for the stage,cinema and television. Papasian’s Frenchadaptation was played in major Parisian the-aters, but this time it will be performed inArmenian with French subtitles. This produc-tion by the Tekeyan Cultural Association ofMontreal will run from May 13 to 15.

This show is a reunion for Armani andPapasian, who performed their award-win-ning show, “Sojourn at Ararat,” to great crit-ical acclaim at Montreal’s Centaur Theatre in1988, a play they recently reprised at Joe’sPub and at the Public Theater in New YorkCity. The duo, no longer a couple offstage,also animated a successful Armenian comedyevening in Montreal in 1999, a show stillrecalled by many to this day.

A founding member of the Irina BrookCompany, Papasian recently performed in theplay “Waiting for the Dream” in Montreal at

Usine C. In April and also in Montreal, he pre-sented Armenian music masterpieces withthe French vocal quatuor Arevadzaghig. Hehas helped revive several works by Armeniancomposer Dikran Tchouhadjian, includingthe operetta “Gariné” in Paris and Marseillethis fall. The president of Armenia recentlyawarded him the Movses Khorenatsi medal,the country’s highest cultural and artistichonor.

An award-winning actress and playwright,Armani’s new one-woman show “Lend me anID” was selected at the recent Diwan Forumfor the Arts at the City University of NewYork, and she recently played one of the leadsin the feature film “Snowed in LA.” She iscurrently developing another feature filmproject and filming a documentary aboutEgypt in the wake of the recent revolution.

The event will be at the AGBU AlexManoogian School, 755 Manoogian St., Saint-Laurent on Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May14 at 8 p.m., and Sunday May 15 at 7 p.m.For more information, call the school.

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Arts & LivingS A T U R D A Y, M A Y 7 , 2 0 1 1

The Double World ofSusan Lind-Sinanian

WATERTOWN, Mass. — In one door and out the other.That pretty much sums up the life of Susan Lind-Sinanian, the textile guru at the

Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) who, for the past 25 years, hasalternated her role with teaching thevisually impaired.

Come September, she’ll be enteringher fourth decade as a home and per-sonal management instructor at nearby

Perkins School for the Blind where she started in 1972.Throw in motherhood and it’s been one hectic but rewarding life for Lind-Sinanian

who seems to be juggling her lifestyle with authority. Occasionally, a ball might fall,but the routine is impeccable. And there’s no intention to retire — at least not until2014.

Should that occur, it only means more time for ALMA.“It’s definitely been a balancing act,” she says. “When I mention this to my stu-

dents, it surprises them that I’ve been able to hold down a job in two major areas.It requires patience, versatility and understanding. People take their health forgranted until they’re suddenly deprived of it. The people at ALMA don’t really knowabout my life at Perkins.”

Each night before retiring to bed, Lind-Sinanian will take a pad and pen, sit at adesk and jot down five reasons to be thankful.

It could be anything from good health and a wonderful family to the birds chirp-ing outside her home, the ability to cook and the fact she belongs to such a won-derful heritage.

A typical scenario? A child she recently evaluated couldn’t wait to enroll. Lind-Sinanian had the boy make toast for his parents and with some help, he was able todeliver. Because Lind-Sinanian sought the feeling of being sightless, she put a blind-fold over her eyes to see what her students may encounter.

“It felt terrible … scary, not to see the world you live in and the people who inhab-it it,” she visualized.

Suffice it to say she’s been a valuable resource to the Armenian community in cul-tivating the fine arts and bringing it to an arena of respect and understanding inboth the Armenian and American mainstream.

She’s even taken the liberty to teach Armenian dancing to the blind as a form ofmobility. And they love it.

“The students have adjusted well to it,” said Lind-Sinanian. “I introduced it as aform of therapy but many love to hear music from all over the world — whether it’sa simple ‘bar’ or a dance from Ezeroum or ‘kherpan.’ Translated, ‘kherpan’ meansa good thing.”

Over these four decades, she has taught daily living skills to multi-impaired stu-dents ranging in age from 13-22, taught them Latin as well, and created a better lifefor the handicapped. It translates out to seven classes a day with the idea of inte-grating them into an independent lifestyle. The school graduates about 10 studentsa year.

In what can become a quick burnout profession, Lind-Sinanian has weathered thestorm. By teaching others less fortunate, she’s developed her own gratitude.Graduates have returned to the school, just to report the good it’s done them andwind up giving their beloved instructor a hug.

Her biggest satisfaction is sending a student off on their own into an apartmentwith a decent job in hand, knowing the skills she has introduced will pay dividends.Her tenure ranks among the longest at Perkins. As for ALMA, that’s been somewhatof a release valve for the woman, along with yoga, hiking and the violin.

Lind-Sinanian continues teaching lace and embroidery classes at ALMA. On week-ends, she’s apt to coordinate a family day at the museum. Also in her docket is

see LIND-SINANIAN, page 15

Susan Lind-Sinanian organizes programs at ALMA when not teaching the blind.

By Tom Vartabedian

Gerald Papasian and Nora Armani

FACS to Present60th AnnualArmenian NightAt Pops

BOSTON — The Friends of Armenian CultureSociety will present the 60th annual ArmenianNight at the Pops on Saturday, June 25, at 8p.m. at Symphony Hall. The evening will featurerenowned soprano Hasmik Papian. Music direc-tor Keith Lockhart will lead the Boston Popsorchestra in this gala celebration concert.

The program will feature a selection of oper-atic arias by Puccini, Catalani and JohannStrauss. In addition to the traditional Lord’sPrayer (HayrMer), a group ofArmenian songswill also be per-formed, includ-ing ArnoBabadjanian’ssublime Aria-Vocalise forsoprano andorchestra tomark the 90thanniversary ofthe composer’sbirth. The con-cert will also fea-ture overtures byRossini and Suppé; the Parade of theCharioteers by Miklos Rozs and the GrammyAward-winner Ricky Skaggs and his KentuckyThunder band, performing some of their great-est hits.

Papian graduated from KomitasConservatory in Yerevan first as a violinist, thenas a singer. After her debut at the ArmenianNational Opera as Rosina in Rossini’s “Barberof Seville” and as Mimì in Puccini’s “LaBohème,” she started an international career,which has since taken her to the most presti-gious operatic stages in the world: the ViennaState Opera, La Scala of Milan, Bastille Operain Paris and the Metropolitan Opera of NewYork, to name a few. She has sung with suchnotable conductors as Riccardo Muti, PlacidoDomingo, Valery Gergiev and James Levine.

A “meet-the-artist” reception will follow theconcert at the nearby Colonnade Hotel.

Tickets for this concert and the reception canbe purchased online by visitingwww.FACSBoston.org.

Donations to the Friends of ArmenianCulture Society, Inc. are tax deductible.

Hasmik Papian

Raymond KevorkianOn Lecture Tour inCanada and US

NEW YORK — French-Armenian historianand academic Raymond Kevorkian is embark-ing on a lecture tour of Canada and the UnitedStates this month to present and discuss thenew English translation of his book, TheArmenian Genocide: A Complete History. Inthis 1,000-page history, Kevorkian, who is alsoa lecturer at the Institute Français deGéopolitique, University of Paris, and directorof the AGBU Nubarian Library in Paris, givesan account of the origins, events and conse-quences of the Armenian Genocide. Kevorkianconsiders the role it played in the constructionof the Turkish nation state and Turkish identi-ty, as well as exploring the ideologies of power,rule and state violence. Crucially, he examinesthe consequences of the violence against theArmenians, the implications of the deporta-tions, and the attempts to bring those who com-mitted the atrocities to justice. The book is the

see KEVORKIAN, page 16

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ARTS & LIVING

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 7 , 2 0 1 1

Advertise in the Mirror-SpectatorThe First English language Armenian weekly newspaper in the United

States, now in its 78th year of publication

LIND-SINANIAN, from page 14training volunteers and dealing with donors. Nodoubt, ALMA would be missing a vital link wereit not for her contributions these many years.

“The fact I can smile or frown, tie a lace orput on a shoe gives me satisfaction,” she admit-ted. “In working with the visually-impaired,what I teach them might take a year to learn,like using a microwave or pouring a glass ofjuice without spilling it. But at least it’s a desti-nation.”

Often, Lind-Sinanian will bring her blind stu-dents to the museum for a hands-on education.Through touch and feel, they learn the value ofArmenian hand-woven crafts. Her husband,Gary, a long-time curator, will pass around oldArmenian coins and explain the history of thegrand kings.

They’ll try on costumes, handle musicalinstruments, and gain a better sense of appre-ciation for the Armenian identity. Her “outside”career was determined as a teenager.

“Ever since I was 17, I wanted to teach thehandicapped,” admitted Lind-Sinanian, whogrew up in Dorchester. It all stemmed from herundergraduate days at Northeastern University.One of her co-operative jobs was working as a

house parent at Perkins. After earning a bache-lor’s degree in elementary education, she wentto Boston College for a master’s degree with afocus on visually-impaired studies.

Over the years, she has become a sort of“Mrs. Chips” at the campus, touching studentsfrom across the world. One was an Eskimo fromAlaska who became so proficient, he was ableto return home by dogsled and canoe.

As a leading authority on Armenian folk artand dance, she has honed her craft with unadul-terated passion.

She and Gary wed 34 years ago and decid-ed to have an old-fashioned Armenian wed-ding on a farm in Franklin. In the process ofresearching old Armenian dances to incorpo-rate into their ceremony, they struck a mutu-al chord.

Lind-Sinanian has collected oral histories ofArmenian culture, taught folk dancing at inter-national camps and symposiums and shownequal skill toward needlework. She has co-authored a house-keeping manual for the visu-ally impaired as well as a curriculum for teach-ing Armenian dance to children.

She is a person from whom vision is notrestricted to the eyes.

The Double World of Susan Lind-Sinanian

BEREA, Ohio — Baldwin-Wallace CollegeEmeritus Composer-in-Residence andProfessor of Composition and Guitar LorisOhannes Chobanian has been devoting moretime to composing and as a result has pro-duced several new compositions that arebeing premiered. Many of these composi-tions have been conceived with Armenianthemes. On Sunday, April 17, Prof. BenjaminCzarnota, baritone, and Kristin Ditlow, piano,presented the world premiere of Chobanian’sdramatic aria, The Traveler, with Armeniantext. The poem, “Gayanh’s Verchi,” “My LastDestination,” is by Haigouhi Seropian.Chobanian’s Requiem April 24 was alsobased on a Seropian poem, “Tadeh Hayoon.”The requiem was premiered by Baldwin-Wallace Chorus and Chamber Orchestra con-ducted by Dirk Garner. The performance canbe heard on You Tube.

Avarayr — Fires of Zarathustra forSymphonic Wind Ensemble, depicting theBattle of Vartanants, was performed at theOhio Music Educator’s Conference inCincinnati. Other compositions include InSearch of Global Harmony for SymphonicWind ensemble which is scheduled to be pre-miered on Friday, January 27, 2012. Theseven movements represent the music ofseven countries: China, India, Russia,Zimbabwe, Iraq, Ireland and Spain. TheCleveland Mayor’s office and the ClevelandCommunity Development personnel will par-ticipate in making the performance a nation-alities day.

Said Chobanian, “The countries selected inthe movements of In Search of Global Harmonywere in part chosen because of their distinctmusical features. The challenge was to composeindividual movements that could be recogniz-able before knowing the title of the countrythey represented. Although these countrieshave their exclusive musical languages, there isa hidden universal expression shared in spite oftheir boundaries.”

Extensive study of the music of each coun-try was necessary for the success of the pro-ject. The outcome represents the composer’spersonal impression of the different musicallanguages. During World War II the Indianarmy came to Baghdad. As a result many the-atrical performances related to Indian culturebecame available. In the second movementthe composer has used one of the melodieshe heard during that time.

Some of these countries have their owntunings and instruments. There are signifi-cant limitations and constraints when theirmusic is performed by a Western SymphonicWind Ensemble. China, for example, is a vastcountry in which the different regions havetheir unique musical approaches. Generallythe tuning of Chinese instruments is similarto the Pythagorean tuning, in which the fre-quency relationships of all intervals are basedon the ratio 3:2, whereas the western diaton-ic scale is generally equal tempered. Indianmusic also has a rich tradition. There are saidto be more than 5,000 Indian raga tunings.Indian ragas are based on selecting tonesfrom 22 possibilities within one octave.

Musical motives from different countrieswere used extensively. Only in the case ofIraq a complete melody — Um Al Abaya — wasutilized. Some of these countries have out-standing choral traditions. Russian choralperformances are exemplified with distinctrecognizable features such as rich bass lines,pulsated rhythms and high, sustained pedalpoints. African countries have a uniqueapproach to choral singing. Zimbabwe is rep-resentative of others such as South Africa orUganda. There is much use of responsorialsinging in which the solo chant is answeredby the full chorus. African music also excelsin the use of complex percussive rhythms.

Two aspects of Irish music, the lamentsong as well as music for dance, were fea-tured in the sixth movement. Several forms ofSpanish music were incorporated in the

structure of the last movement. They includeinfluences of flamenco, cante jondo and jota.The latter is inherently rhythmic and percus-sive. Flamenco music, accompanied with gui-tars and hand clapping, originates from thesouthern region of Andalusia. The Jota hailsfrom the Aragon region of northeasternSpain.”

Just Violins, a composition for six violins,was composed for BW professor of violinJulian Ross and five of his students. ThreeImpromptus for Piano and Orchestra wascomposed for BW professor of pianoSungeun Kim. The word “Impromptu” canimply that the composition has been realizedextemporaneously in an improvised manner.The initial musical idea is based on the intro-

duction of a specific tonal center which issubjected to constant pitch expansion similarto the opening of a flower or the unfolding ofwaves when a stone has been dropped in apond. Pitches in all three movements experi-ence this process and by the third movementthe expansions also involve larger textures.

The title Impromptu for piano solo was firstused by Jan Vaclav Vorisek in 1822. Manycomposers such as Schubert, Chopin andLiszt have written Impromptus for piano solo.The Three Impromptus are different, as theyare written for piano and orchestra. The com-position is dedicated to “a place and the peo-ple.” The place is the BW Conservatory andthe people are the students, the faculty andstaff of the BW Conservatory.

Loris Chobanian Premieres The Traveler

BELMONT, Mass. — Amaras Art Alliance ofWatertown will present their Young Star’sConcert featuring more than 20 talentedaspiring musicians on Sunday, May 15 atAtinizian Hall at Holy Cross ArmenianCatholic Church, 200 Lexington St., at 4:30p.m.

The performers, ranging in age from 8 to18, will perform classical and popular pieces.Featured will be Amaras’ Young Star of 2010pianist Merghri DerVartanian of Belmont,and the 2011 Young Star, vocalist and com-poser of Amaras’ Heaven’s Music, AlexCarroll of Cohasset. There will be a guestappearance by the Serenade String Ensembleof Waltham. Students in the Serenade StringEnsemble study with Narine Doloukhanyanof Waltham. They will play two pieces by C.Dancia conducted by Tigran Doloukhanyan

Performers include: Belmont residentsLeah Babroudi, violinist; Gayane Kaligian,vocalist; Emma Gharibian, violinist and vocal-ist, and Ariana Maserejian, vocalist.Performers from Watertown include: gui-tarist, Alexander Abrahamyan; pianist, RubenKarapetyan and pianist Lori Shirinian. Also

featured are Sonia Ourfalian a pianist andstudent at the St. Stephen’s ArmenianElementary School; Hasmik JasmineGevorkian, a pianist from Rhode Island;pianist, Alik Fisher-Arslanian; pianistNicholas Orchanian of Waltham; ArpiParseghian of Arlington also a pianist; ShantDerTorossian a pianist from Waltham;Armenian Sisters’ Academy student GarenMeguerditchian on the piano and ChloeCawallader Barran, a singer from theCambridge Rindge and Latin School.

The concert is under the direction ofNoune Karapetian, a piano and voice teacher,as well as a soprano. She founded and direct-ed the Bell Music School for several years.Karapetian will be one of three featuredsopranos at the “Escape the Ordinary” con-cert on June 12 at the Lexington HeritageMuseum.

The Young Stars concert is a fundraisingevent to benefit the art programs at the highschool in Aregnadem, a village in Armeniathat borders Turkey.

For more information and tickets, go toamarasonline.com.

Amaras Art Alliance HostsYoung Star’s Concert

IdentityUnknown

By Thea Lenarduzzi

In April 1990, Mark Mustian’s protaganistEmmett Cona is sitting in an American hospital,flicking through a magazine while wait-ing to have a brain scan. He reads aboutdeath marches in a feature commemo-rating the 75th anniversary of theArmenian massacres, which began in1915. He does not remember it, but he was there:he was Ahmet Khan, a “gendarme,” overseeingthe deportation of thousands of Armenians fromTurkey to the Syrian desert. Emmett has forgot-ten this previous identity because he was also“Unidentified Patient Number A-17,” wounded inthe head at Galipoli: “my memory is fine from thehospital forward, but before is still darkness, onlyspeckles of light.”

At the age of 92, he develops a pea-sizedtumor that triggers visions — flashbacks —which dissolve the membranes between pastand present, dreams and reality, until the “vital-ity I find now exists in the dream.”

The Gendarme, which was published to

acclaim in the United States last year, isMundian’s second novel (The Return appearedin 2000). As well as writing fiction, Mutian is alawyer, and a commissioner for the city ofTallahassee, Fla., someone familiar with playingdifferent roles. His novel’s title introduces amultiform character: Emmett is a Turkish émi-gré plumber, “a Yankee” who readsShakespeare and Steinbeck, “Papa,” a Rotarianand a cancer patient, but he is also a “gen-darme” — a rapist and a murderer. As Emmettis transferred from doctor to psychiatrist, thentaken from his home to a mental institution tobe “monitored,” he moves through a personalwasteland — assembling fragments of memory

and trying to understand the natureof his involvement with the beautifulArmenian girl, Araxie, who returns tohis dreams.

This is a narrative of geographicaland psychological displacements, and of the rela-tionship between truth and memory. After deliv-ering to the camps those few who survived themarches, Ahmet became a deserter, fixed on find-ing Araxie and escaping to America. From thenon, his memory draws blacks that stretch intothe present — a landscape peopled by amnesiacs.Parkinson’s disease left his American wife unableto remember their daughters who, in their dis-tress, stopped visiting and “forgot” her. Theyounger daughter had a child at 16, who her par-ents pushed to give up for adoption, withoutinquiring about its sex: they “forgot” it and car-ried on with their lives. Tiresias is attendant, too,in the form of Sasha, a hermaphrodite brothel

owner who employs Ahmet after his desertionand helps him to escape. Man and woman (“Oh,I am many things my dear”), Sasha transcendsspace and time to reappear to Emmett as a fellowpatient in the South Georgia Psychiatric Center.

Mutian approaches his subject with compas-sion, reading “survivors’ stories…and historybooks,” and traveling the routes “to feel, to theextent possible, what those deportees….felt andexperienced.” His tale is suitably serious, and itswell-paced revelations — alternately beautifuland brutal — involve the reader and increaseour awareness in step with Emmett’s. One per-son’s memory is not enough to sustain thenovel’s momentum, however, it needs charac-ters as strong as Emmett to question his story.But they do not come. Emmett’s nephew andniece, nicknamed “Brains and Brainsetta” are,in this sense, grotesque incarnations of T.S.Eliot’s hypocrite lecteur, and they would betragic were they not simply comic figures.Avoidance is easier for those who are tooabsorbed in the bleak expanse of their own livesto interrogate others. “Brainsetta” prattles on

about her dog’s health and the “unfounded sex-ual allegations against her uncle Silias, in whicha pet pig plays an unclarified part.”

This obvliviousness, along with some heavyauthorial interventions, drive the novel to itsconclusion. The final chapters, a combination ofthe predictable and the incredible, seemdesigned to tie up any loose ends. Mutian’s“Author’s Note” tells us: “Genocide representsperhaps the ugliest human deeds…To stop it wemust publicize it.” He writes: “We want toknow. Sometimes that knowledge is painful, orinconvenient, or even damning.” To do justiceto the historical material, and to an otherwisegripping narrative, there should be no neat clo-sure and to suggest one presumes a readerunwilling to participate in further questioning.

The Gendarme. By Mark Mustian304 pp. Oneworld. Paperback, 12.99 pounds

978 851 688265

(This review originally appeared in theTimes Literary Supplement on April 22.)

16 S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 7 , 2 0 1 1 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

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Books

KEVORKIAN, from page 16first to make extensive use of the archives ofthe Nubarian Library, which has an importantcollection of papers, documents and pho-tographs related to the Armenian Genocide.

Kevorkian’s tour began on May 3 in Toronto,where AGBU Toronto hosted him at the AGBUManoogian Center. On May 4-6, the author trav-eled to Montreal, where he presented three sep-arate lectures: “Armenian Refugees in the NearEast during the 1920s” on May 4, under theauspices of the AGBU Manuel KeusseyanArmenological Lecture Series; “TheGeopolitical Situation in the South Caucasus”on May 5, which is sponsored by the AGBUYoung Professionals of Montreal and a bookreading on May 6, which will focus onKevorkian’s new book and its remarkable find-ings.

On May 9, he will travel to California’s SiliconValley to speak to the local AGBU Chapter. Thefollowing evening, Kevorkian will give a presen-tation at the AGBU Pasadena Center hosted bythe Pasadena-Glendale Chapter. His tour willcontinue in Detroit, where he will speak at theinvitation of AGBU Detroit at the HagopianShowroom on May 12. The Detroit event is co-sponsored by the AGBU Alex & MarieManoogian School, the Tekeyan CulturalAssociation, the Knights of Vartan and theDetroit Armenia Fest Committee. The final stopof Kevorkian’s tour will be the AGBU CentralOffice in New York, where he will speak onFriday, May 13.

Kevorkian on Lecture Tour in Canada and US

Raymond Kevorkian, author of The ArmenianGenocide: A Complete History, will present thebook on a lecture tour of Canada and theUnited States this month.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Song-stylist JuliaZerounian and the Zerounian Ensemble will per-form familiar and exotic songs from around theworld on Thursday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m. at theRegattabar here. Singing effortlessly in 10 lan-guages, the charming Julia Zerounian restoresto the contemporary performance scene theglamorous heyday of international café-cabaret,creating an atmosphere of infectious enthusi-asm and intimacy with her audience. She is areal artist who knowingly and lovingly shapesevery phrase and colors every tone to elicit amaximum of feeling and expressiveness of moodin each song.

With a worldwide repertoire spanning French(Aznavour, Piaf, Brel), Armenian troubadour,Russian romance and gypsy songs, Greek,Persian, and Latin tunes and, of course, peren-

nial classics from the American songbook, Juliaand her ensemble deliver an ebullient musicalexperience with equal parts conviction, authori-ty and heart. She takes on all the different musi-cal genres of these countries performing withher glowing and warm personality and makingher truly a “world music singer”.

Julia Zerounian began her singing and actingcareer at an early age in Armenia, later per-forming with various professional ensemblesand theatrical groups throughout the formerSoviet Union. Since her move to the Bostonarea in 1972, she has become well-known toaudiences as a great interpreter of internationalfolk and contemporary songs, Armenian min-strel and American songs.

The combination of her soulful, vibrantsinging and mastery of musical idioms has not

only gained a large and loyal following, but gar-nered rave reviews from prominent musiciansand critics. In a review of her appearance lastspring at the Regattabar, the Boston Phoenix’smusic critic Lloyd Schwartz described Julia as“an old-fashioned nightclub chanteuse withglamour, style, and a real voice — warm andinviting. Singing in English, French, Italian,Armenian, Russian, Persian and Yiddish shehad the audience eating out of her hand and,invited or not, singing along with her. From thepiano, her husband, Sarkis Zerounian, elegantlyled the stylish jazz combo with violin. ”

Musicians for the Zerounian Ensemble areviolinist Lucia Lin, guitarist John Baboian,flautist Marco Granados, bassist Mark Henry,percussionist Grant Smith and on piano SarkisZerounian.

For reservations and information, contactwww.regattabarjazz.com.

Julia Zerounian

Julia Zerounian and Ensemble at Regattabar, May 12

By Betty Apigian Kessel

DETROIT — She’s young, well educated anddetermined to make a difference in the improve-ment of her Armenian homeland. She is 29-year-old Olya Azatyan, a native of Yerevan.

I recently had the opportunity of having a frankdiscussion via e-mail with Azatyan. She and I werebrought together through the good intentions ofToronto-based friend, Noubar Poladian. He hadmet her during his 2006 visit to Yerevan and sug-gested I interview her for my column knowing Ihad an interest in the status of women in Armeniaincluding their professional advancement and theissue of abuse.

The response from Olya was immediate. I gaveher an outline of questions and offered her a freehand in what she wanted to say. It went fromthere.

I foundmyself actually startled at her openness.Because her remarks were so frank I suggestedshe be cautious. She assured me that I had herpermission to print her opinions and statementsverbatim. She is well intentioned, loves her coun-try, feels a sense of responsibility to it and has noplans to leave Armenia.

She is devoted to Armenia and has concerns forits well being. I wish her success while hoping shetreads carefully. My desire in sharing Ms.Azatyan’s ambitions with you is that her dreamsfor a better, more advanced Armenia will emerge.

Olya was born and raised in a middle-classArmenian family. Because of her father’s job, thefamily moved frequently during Olya’s schoolyears, giving her the opportunity to observe bothvarious co-existing realities and human stories indifferent parts of Armenia.

“My inspiration to do my best comes from myfamily, many of whom have PhD’s and other for-mal academic qualifications,” says Azatyan.

She witnessed the devastation of the 1988Armenian earthquake when she was 7, and 10,when the 1991 independence of Armenia came aswell as the Nagorno Karabagh war of 1991-1994.She says, “I witnessed many downturns in thesocio-economic conditions of my country. In the1990s we had no heat, electricity, values changedand we had minimum resources. But with all thatI was realizing the country is at war, my father wasat war …I knew I had to be strong …”

Seeing these struggles gave her thought abouther future and the future of Armenia. “I decidedthat I wanted to do something worthwhile withmy life to help make things better in Armenia asmuch as I am able to.”

No doubt she is ambitious; she started workingat age 20, while also taking on a heavy course loadat school.

Azatyan has a bachelor’s from Yerevan StateLinguistic University. She speaks Armenian,Russian, English, French and some Spanish. Herstudies at the Armenian State GovernanceAcademy included comparative constitution, theo-ry of state and law, Armenian constitution, munic-ipal law and political science, thereby cementing afoundation for her future career.

She earned a master’s degree in internationalpublic administration and social policy fromLondon Metropolitan University, having beenawarded a British Chevening Full Scholarship.

She also audited a course at the University ofStrasbourg on French History and Civilization.

Currently she is working on her PhD inArmenia and will research how positive changescan be brought by the left political agenda. Andwith this impressive background, she tells me mye-mail made her day!

I had been told she wanted to becomeArmenia’s first female prime minister, so of courseI became interested in Azatyan, representing abreed of Armenianwomanwho is strong, well edu-cated and career oriented.

Her work experience includes internationalorganizations such as Council of Europe (CoE);Organization for Security and Cooperation inEurope (OSCE); Institute for Democracy andElectoral Assistance (IDEA International);International Foundation for Election System(IFES Armenia Office ); National DemocraticInstitute for International Affairs (NDI) and theInstitute for Democracy and Human Rights(IDHR).

“Armenia needs more professionals, especially

women. We are under-represented in the NationalAssembly. Only seven women are MP’s out of 131.In 10 years, I want to run for member of parlia-ment of this region. I have had experience in elec-tions and politics. I have organized volunteerevents and mobilized school children with greatsuccess to think about those not as well off.”

“I will continue to show people I am sincere inmaking things better for them and the communi-ty. I believe it is important to have a good reputa-tion, which I have, for them to believe me. I ampart of a group that volunteer teaches at theInstitute for Human Rights and Democracy toyoung activists.”

As a resident of Armenia, Azatyan, says, “I willcontinue to show the people here I am sincere inmaking things better for them. I am part of agroup that volunteer teaches at the Institute forHuman Rights and Democracy to youngactivists.”

As an activist herself, Azatyan is part of one ofthese, the Teghut Forest Defense group. InNovember 2007, the government of Armeniaapproved a project on copper-molybdenumminingin the north-eastern region of Armenia, in thewatershed of the Debed River, in the region withcomplex landscape prone to earthquakes andlandslides.

Allocated area for mining is 1,491 hectares(3,683 acres) 82 percent of which is covered withmountainous forests. Exploration of the mine willproduce about 500 million tons of tailings of haz-ardous substances and 600 million tons of variousother waste. Dumping tails will be disposed in thegorge of Duqanadzor River, flowing to Shnogh —a tributary of transboundary Debed.

There are also various animals in the Red Bookthatwill die after themine is explored. Her groupis trying to stop the mining. The Red Book con-tains registered animal and plant species facingextinction in Armenia.

She strongly supports another initiative group.“We are against re-opening the foreign languageschools in Armenia. To my deep regret the parlia-ment has already passed the bill to re-open foreignlanguage schools in the country which is a huge

threat to Armenian statehood. We know what rolelanguage plays in keeping a nation. We are expect-ing first of all the re-opening of Russian languageschools, which will take us back to Moscow-ledpolicies again. During the course of time wemightbe facing the loss of statehood.”

She has a lot to say about politics. “The oli-garch criminal regime is destroying Armenia.The country is being ruled by a couple of oli-garchs whose only power is force, all type ofrights are violated. The courts are part of thedistorted regime, corruption is flourishing,migration is increasing, monopolies are killingthe small and medium businesses, prices areescalating and we have political prisoners. Thegrowing poverty is destroying families.”

“Another big national tragedy occurred duringthe March 1, 2008 election, when the voters dis-satisfied by election results came out to the streetsto protest and ask for free and fair elections, andthe government brought the army to oppress thetrue claim of the people, thus killing 10 individu-als. Who must be blamed?” Azatyan asks.

“Surely not only the regime. The citizens equal-ly share the blame of the current situation in thecountry. They are not getting together to fight toget rid of the present regime and establish orderin the country. Most of the intelligentsia has nowdeparted, and those that remain are in deep apa-thy, with only a small part of them fighting hard.People are under pressure from the government.They are under government control and don’tseem to care.”

Azatyan added, “I think the border betweenTurkey and Armenia has to be open. If the coun-try cannot be healthy from the ‘inside,’ it cannothave normal relations with its neighbors. Let’sfirst enable our country to function before goingout for international relations. Genocide is some-thing every Armenian will have in our blood aslong as Armenians exist, but having said that, youjust can’t live in the past. It destroys you! Just con-centrating on the recognition of Genocide willlead us nowhere. We need to build many bridges.”

Her strong viewpoints continue. “I appreciatethe volume of effort on this matter by fellow

Diasporans but I do find this at the moment a bitoff track for one reason — currently there is aWhite Genocide in Armenia! Why isn’t the dias-pora interested in it? Only a few in the diasporacare about the current situation in Armenia. Let’sfirst rebuild our country. If we lose Armenia, wewill lose everything. Once we build a strong state,we can manage many things.”

She feels that since independence, Armeniahas not developed at all as she says, “In 1991Armenia had a chance to start over from zerobut now has fallen behind. We are already late.We have several crises developing here includ-ing civic, political, post soviet, scientific, cultur-al, moral values ... we must stop it. The only wayout is by civic action. The people have to standfor their rights. They have to make the govern-ment their servant and not to tolerate the cur-rent situation. We need a civic mobilization.Revolution is part of evolution.”

She says, “Today my mission is to talk to peopleto encourage them to fight for their rights, to notbe slaves, to not be afraid of living in their ownland. I have foundmany young people who believein making change for the better by starting fromthe bottom and going to the top. One day we willhave a good country where the true leader will bethe Armenian citizen. I believe this day will comeand I am ready to be one of the servants for thepeople. Join us in saving our country, Armenia.”

I asked Olya about the Zaruhi Petrossyan situa-tion, the woman beaten to death by her husbandand mother-in-law. She said, “The passiveness ofwomen themselves must be blamed as they do notseek to fight for their rights. They seem to notbelieve in change. The current Armenian societyhas now become very sick, very closed and con-servative. The distorted ‘Asian’ rules of patriarchyare in place and women seem to find it normal.Men cannot change this situation. We need a newfemale action.”

Olya concluded, “I made a firm decision when Icame back to never leave this country. Armenianeeds me. I want to be part of a generation thatwill bring a positive turn in the making of ourcountry’s history to help it grow into a democ-racy.”

Thanks to Olya Azatyan for her comments andher perception of how to improve living conditionsand democracy in Armenia for everyone.

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 7 , 2 0 1 1 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R 17

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MMAAYY 2211 —— ““HHiikkiinngg iinn AArrmmeenniiaa’’ss MMoouunnttaaiinnss,, VVaalllleeyyss aanndd VViillllaaggeess,,””an illustrated talk covering the Siunik area of Southern Armenia,given by Joe Dadgigian and Dik Dagavarian of Merrimack Valley, 6p.m., ARS Community Center, 142 Liberty St., Lowell. Presented bythe Lowell ARF Committee; dinner and program, $20 adults, $10students.

JJUUNNEE 44 —— AArrmmeenniiaann MMeemmoorriiaall CChhuurrcchh AAnnnnuuaall FFaaiirr aanndd SSiilleennttAAuuccttiioonn,, (rain or shine), meals served all day, delicacies table, 32Bigelow Ave., Watertown.

MMAAYY 1122 —— TTeekkeeyyaann CCuullttuurraall AAssssoocciiaattiioonn PPrreesseennttss BBooookk TTaallkk bbyyDDrr.. AAnniiee KKaallaayyjjiiaann,, psychologist, co-author and therapist of globalreach. Introduction by Vagheenag Tarpinian, MD. St. ThomasArmenian Church, Tenafly, 7:30 p.m. For information, call Tarpinianat (610) 823-8611. Admission free. Refreshments provided after thetalk.

MMAAYY 2211 —— ““WWee AArree LLiikkee TThhiiss,,”” oonnee--mmaann sshhooww wwiitthh KKrriikkoorrSSaattaammiiaann,, 8 p.m., at Greek Orthodox Cathedral, St. John theTheologian, 353 East Clinton Ave., Tenafly. Tickets, $65, includingdinner and wine. For tickets, call Mary (201) 745-8850 or Noushig(718) 344-5582. Organized by Tekeyan Cultural Association MherMegerdchian Theatrical Group.

JJUUNNEE 44 —— AAnnnniivveerrssaarryy --BBaannqquueett iinn aannttiicciippaattiioonn ooff tthhee 8800tthhaannnniivveerrssaarryy ooff tthhee AArrmmeenniiaann MMiirrrroorr--SSppeeccttaattoorr nneewwssppaappeerr,, thefirst English language Armenian newspaper in the world, organizedby the Friends of the Tekeyan Cultural Association of New Jersey.Saturday, 7 p.m., at Teaneck Marriott at Glenpoint, 100 Franklin W.Burr Blvd., Teaneck. For tickets, call Shoghig (201) 803-0240 orSirvart (201) 739-7775.

MASSACHUSETTS

CC AA L E N D A RL E N D A R

NEW JERSEY

On May 12, psychologist and author, Dr.Anie Kalayjian, pictured above, will give abook presentation, with an introduction byVagheenag Tarpinian, MD, at the St. ThomasArmenian Church, in Tenafly, NJ, at 7:30p.m, presented by the Tekeyan CulturalAssociation. For information, call Tarpinianat (610) 823-8611. Admission is free.

Yerevantzi Olya Azatyan Speaks Her Mind

18 S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 7 , 2 0 1 1 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMENTARY

LETTERS

By Edmond Y. Azadian

Since March 1, 2008, Armenia’s political atmosphere hasbeen extremely polarized because of the unfair election and theconfrontation between the police and the opposition forces,which claimed 10 casualties.The main opposition coalition, the Armenian National

Congress (HAK), headed by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, organized regular political rallies, with the participa-tion of large masses. Many unemployed citizens, joined by for-mer government officials, religiously attended these rallies; thestarving populace was fed on Ter-Petrosian’s rhetoric.No president, nor any public official thus far, has been able to

upstage Ter-Petrosian’s oratorical skills. The former presidentwas able to captivate his audience through his articulate andcarefully-crafted speeches, in which his demands were sky high.His common refrain was to “dismantle” the “kleptocracy” andforce early parliamentary elections.Another former president, Robert Kocharian, had provided

enough ammunition to the opposition to rally around.Emulating his master in Moscow, former President VladimirPutin, who had elected his hand-picked successor to replacehim at the end of the constitutionally-mandated term ofabsence, President Kocharian had decided to install a vulnera-ble lame duck administration to make his comeback possible.Between Serge Sargisian’s election and his inauguration,

Kocharian staged an armed confrontation with the opposition,which had camped in the Liberty Square, next to the opera,where most of the killings took place. Kocharian knew heshould wait out the confrontation, to wear down the oppositionand come to a peaceful outcome. But he opted for the violentsolution, whose victims became a powerful weapon in thehands of the opposition.When President Sargisian was inaugurated, he did not dis-

tance himself from the actions of his predecessor and continuedthe repressive measures, jailing many opposition figures, whichturned out to be cause celebres in Ter-Petrosian speeches.For a while, the opposition was able to paralyze the country’s

political system and invited the sanctions of international agen-cies. For example, the European Union issued critical reportson Armenia and threatened to ban Armenia’s delegation fromparticipating in the PACE’s sessions.The most recent casualty was the US Millennium Challenge

subsidies for Armenia’s agricultural development.In all fairness, however, Ter-Petrosian calibrated down his

rhetoric every time the administration was in sensitive negotia-tions with Turkey or Azerbaijan, in order not to be accused ofstabbing the government in the back. Sometimes, he even puta moratorium on his rallies.Sargisian kept his cool and tried to consolidate his position

domestically and internationally. He refused to give in to theopposition’s demands to resign or hold early parliamentaryelections.In view of next year’s elections, the opposing parties realized

it was time to find a modus vivendi. Ter-Petrosian toned downhis rhetoric; “kleptocracy” and “dismantling” were droppedfrom his lexicon. His 18 demands were reduced to a manageablethree. His maximalist demand that the only topic for negotia-tion between the authorities and the opposition had to focuson the modalities of the president’s removal from office disap-peared from his agenda.The demands which were left on the table were the following:

a) a pledge by the authorities to investigate the March 1killings; b) allowing Liberty Square to open for political ralliesand, c) releasing the remaining political prisoners from jail.Ter-Petrosian pledged to begin negotiations with the govern-

ment, after the latter meets the above conditions.President Sargisian seized the opportunity to make his major

conciliatory move by pre-empting any extreme outcome whichcould develop on the April 28 rally, which Ter-Petrosian had

decided to make either the beginning of negotiation or a“watershed.”On April 27, on the eve of the opposition rally, the president

released the following statement: “A very important tradition isshaping up in the parliament; the deliberations are held attheir correct limits, although sometimes rough angles pop up.If the ruling coalition and the parliamentary opposition makejoint efforts we can achieve some civilized benchmarks. I wouldalso like to underline some positive developments in the oppo-sition ranks outside the parliament. Rallies are being held,speeches are made, which do not intend to divide the people,nor do they intend to ‘crush’ or ‘destroy,’ rather they move thepublic to a political level. No one has been able to achieve any-thing through evil intent. Only strong people can dispel theevil. We have a strong government and an opposition, whichkeeps the government’s toes to the fire. We can achieve greatsuccess through cooperation. We would like to be the first onesto take steps to defuse the situation. I have already giveninstructions to the minister of justice to come up with a pro-posal.”This last statement is interpreted as a pledge by the president

to release the remaining political prisoners from jail by May 28.Thus, the president proved that he controlled the political agen-da in the country.The next day, Ter-Petrosian was equally magnanimous in his

speech. “If the door is not yet fully open it is at least half open,”he declared. “Two of our demands are already met (March 1 andLiberty Square.) The third one will be met with some delay.”And then he continued in a more conciliatory tone: “We canresolve our problems through the methods dictated by the sit-uation. There are only two approaches: one is negotiationthrough the spirit of national unity and the other is throughphysical confrontation, which may bring disastrous results. Wehave decided to take the first option and we believe that themajority of the people will support that decision.”Ter-Petrosian’s moderation caused some cracks in his oppo-

sition block. Some elements who were looking for a more radi-cal confrontation were disenchanted, as were some others whowere expecting issues of social order to be resolved. The presenttopics of discussion do not bring food on the table, yet.Therefore, the stage is set for next year’s election and it is

rumored that the negotiations are already being conductedbehind the scenes. Also, political horse trading has alreadybegun for the parliamentary seats between the competing pow-ers. Rumors about apportioning the parliamentary seats coin-cide with the findings of political pollster Aharon Adibekyan.Thus, it is believed that the lion’s share of parliamentary seatswill go to the present ruling coalition. The combined seats ofthe Republican Party, Prosperous Armenia and the Country ofLaws (Orinatz Yerkir) will constitute 70 percent. Although theRepublican and Prosperous Armenia parties have signed anofficial pact, recently some dissenting voices were heard thatthe latter may participate in the election on its own. But thesestatements are dismissed as pre-election posturing to grab themaximum numbers of ministerial portfolios after the election.The remaining 30 percent of the seats will be allocated to the

opposition. Roughly 10 seats will be given to HAK. The ARFwill have five to seven seats. Aram Karapetian (Karapetich), avociferous media man, will get in with one seat. Although thereseems to be a tendency to leave out Raffi Hovannisian’sHeritage Party, its powerful sponsors may squeeze the party inthe parliament at the expense of ARF and HAK.Certainly these are mere speculations of some observers.

Unforeseen political developments may completely alter the sit-uation, rendering these speculations baseless.Armenians are preparing for parliamentary elections a year

ahead of time, and of course the outcome of these electionsmay determine the fate of the presidential election in 2013.In view of this horse trading, one of the journalists in

Armenia has made the following sarcastic statement: “Althoughwe cannot hold fair elections, at least we anticipate peacefulelections.”

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Polarization Gives Way to Political Realism In Armenia

COMMENTARY

Check us out at mirrorspectator.com

To the Editor:A while back, I wrote the Mirror-Spectator a

letter quoting Hitler’s speech to his generalsprior to his invasion of Poland. I left out a sec-tion that has relevance to the Armenian case:“I have given the order that the war-aim is

not to reach certain lines, but the physicalextermination of the enemy. So, I have com-

manded my Death’s Head battalions to be pre-pared to put to death without mercy, men,women and children of the Polish race. Only sowill we win the Lebensraum [territory for liv-ing] we require. Who still speaks today of theannihilation of the Armenians. … Poland will bedepopulated and its land resettled withGermans.”

The parallel here with the Turks’ actionagainst the Armenians is manifest. Yet, whileHitler’s crime lives in infamy, that of the Turksis essentially forgotten. I guess, if you only kill1.5 million, it’s not worth obsessing over, but ifyou’re responsible for the deaths of 50 million,it becomes hard to ignore.

— Berge Tatian

Expanding on Hitler’s Terrifying Quote Regarding Armenians

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 7 , 2 0 1 1 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R 19

COMMENTARY

Fox-TV Airs Two Interviews onThe Armenian GenocideFox-TV (Los Angeles) invited this writer for a live in-stu-

dio interview on the Armenian Genocide for two consecu-tive days. The first, lasting five minutes, took place on April24, during the TV station’s evening news program. The sec-ond, lasting over six minutes, took place on April 25, dur-ing the “Good Day LA” show. Below are excerpts from bothinterviews:

April 24, 2011

FFooxx--TTVV:: Joining us now is Harut Sassounian, the presi-dent of the United Armenian Fund. He’s also publisher ofthe California Courier, a newspaper here in SouthernCalifornia, published out of Glendale. It is the 96th anniver-sary of the Armenian Genocide. And it’s also kind of a con-fusing issue for a lot of us, because Armenian-Americanswant the president to say, to claim that this was genocide.And yet, you just told me prior to coming on the newscastthat really it doesn’t matter whether the president says it ornot. Why?SSaassssoouunniiaann:: Because we already have another president,

Ronald Reagan, 30 years ago in 1981, who issued a presi-dential proclamation in which he mentioned the wordsArmenian Genocide. Plus, we have two congressional reso-lutions, in 1975 and 1984, commemorating the ArmenianGenocide.FFooxx--TTVV:: Mr. Sassounian, then one would ask, and people

who are not that familiar with the 1915 Genocide wouldsay, why are you protesting out in front of the Turkish con-sulate?SSaassssoouunniiaann:: We are simply protesting to let the president

know, and every other politician know that if you come to usas a candidate and make [empty] promises and later on youget elected with our votes and money, we’re not going to justremain silent, we’re going to express our disagreement andwe’re going to make sure that you’re not re-elected.FFooxx--TTVV:: It’s not then good enough to have just the

proclamation by President Reagan; to have theDeptartment of Justice write in a 1951 paper that it wasgenocide. You want that confirmed by the current admin-istration?SSaassssoouunniiaann:: It would be nice if they confirm it, but we

are trying to send a message to the president and all politi-cians that if you make a promise to the people, you have tokeep your promise. You can’t make a false promise, gettheir money, get their votes and then act like nothing hap-pened! They have to pay a price! We have to change thewhole political charade in this country where you just lie

to the public and get away with it.FFooxx--TTVV:: With Turkey being such a strategic ally of the

United States, do you expect any president now or afterthis to come out and say, “The Ottoman Empire committedgenocide against Armenians?”SSaassssoouunniiaann:: There is a big difference between politics

and historical facts. Historical facts do not change withtime. If an event happened, it happened! …So our alliancesor relationships, good or bad, should not affect the facts ofhistory.FFooxx--TTVV:: Yesterday Armenian boxer Vic Darchinyan, on his

trunks, when he was in the ring, were in big numerals 1915,and on a sports blog, the blogger said “In case you haven’theard about the Armenian Genocide …” and then started toexplain it. Does it upset you that so many people outside ofArmenian-Americans really are ignorant about this?SSaassssoouunniiaann:: That doesn’t upset me because most people

don’t know much about the world. They don’t follow thenews very closely, as some of us do. What upsets me moreis when you said at the top of the introduction of this newsitem “Armenians claim genocide.” Armenians are not theones claiming genocide. The whole world knows there wasa genocide. Hundreds of historians, 43 US states, Congresstwice, President Reagan, 25 different countries have passedparliamentary resolutions. Just because Turkey, the suc-cessor of the criminal regime, denies it, that doesn’t makeit an allegation or a claim. It’s a historical fact. For politicalreasons, Turks don’t want to face up to their own history.FFooxx--TTVV:: And I think that was written, we were reporting

that for the purpose of showing the contrast betweenArmenians and Turks. And yet, your point is well taken.Thank you for the correction.

April 25, 2011

FFooxx--TTVV:: Yesterday around the world, [there were] com-memorations of the Armenian Genocide in 1915 — a verycontroversial historical event — perhaps a million-and-a-halfpeople died or were killed as a result of this. Joining us nowis Harut Sassounian. He is the president of the UnitedArmenian Fund and editor of the Armenian newspaper, theCalifornia Courier. We do this every year. The issue atstake is that the United States government, this president,the last president, the president before, all ran making bigstatements saying that the Armenian Genocide will be rec-ognized as a genocide like the Holocaust around WorldWar II. All three presidents run, all three presidents whenthey get into office, they look at Turkey, an ally we needbadly in the Middle East, and they don’t do it.SSaassssoouunniiaann:: In general, politicians are all very bad in

keeping promises on all subjects. But when it comes to thissubject, there’s a little unfortunate situation where peopleconfuse politics with history. You can remain good friends,good allies, with Turkey, but at the same time not changehistorical facts…. So we should not mix up politics and his-tory. We should be truthful about facts, but we can stillremain friends, trade and maintain military relations.FFooxx--TTVV:: Let me just play the devil’s advocate, as if I’m

representing the president at this point. Yes, that’s true, butwhere I sit right now, the world where it is, leaves us in aposition where we do not want to insult Turkey and they’vemade it very clear to us that they would be deeply insulted.

SSaassssoouunniiaann:: First of all, this was done by the OttomanEmpire and not the Republic of Turkey, which didn’t existat the time. Secondly, Germany has no problem acknowl-edging what the Nazi regime did. There’s no reason whytoday’s Turkey should not acknowledge what was done byits predecessor….FFooxx--TTVV:: Turkey has become more and more important to

us as the years go on.SSaassssoouunniiaann:: It has become more important and recently

it has become a serious problem for us because they’vebecome more of a radical Islamic regime; they strength-ened their ties with Iran and Syria and various other radi-cal regimes. FFooxx--TTVV:: And I believe the administration is afraid of

pushing them more into that camp, if they take the step ofrecognition.SSaassssoouunniiaann:: This is the problem because we compromise

our principles, our values, because of geopolitical consid-erations. We have to separate them. We have to say hereare the facts, here’s history, here are our values and youhave to live with it. The more we cater to dictators, peoplewho deny the facts of history, the more they’re going to bedemanding from us.FFooxx--TTVV:: And you know in history the Ottoman Empire,

which fell right after that, the Turks say “not a genocide,it’s the fog of war, people died from war, people died fromdisease, it wasn’t planned, so therefore it wasn’t a geno-cide,” and you say…SSaassssoouunniiaann:: There are hundreds of historians, experts

on the Holocaust and the Genocide who have signed aunanimous letter saying it was genocide. We have courtcases, we have the United Nations, we have the EuropeanParliament that recognized the Genocide, so many coun-tries, US states and President Reagan himself said it wasgenocide.FFooxx--TTVV:: I know you want recognition — there has been

some — but maybe not enough. What else is it that youwould want?SSaassssoouunniiaann:: In fact, what we want is not really recogni-

tion, because from my point of view the world knows it wasgenocide. Some people don’t want to say it publicly. Butwhat we really want is…we lost a lot beyond the people whowere killed — we lost our culture, our churches, our landsand our personal properties. Every Armenian had houses,farms, properties and bank accounts. We lost all of that. Somy intent is to go to court — the World Court, theEuropean Court and US Federal Courts. We want Turks topay reparations, restitution and bring justice back for thismassive crime they’ve committed. That’s much more impor-tant to us than lip service that a politician would pay to us.FFooxx--TTVV:: The fact that there isn’t that one level of official

recognition keeps this topic very fresh. And to some extentthere’s an advantage to that because we’re still talkingabout it all the time.SSaassssoouunniiaann:: You’re absolutely correct…let’s forget about

President Obama for a second. Even if the president ofTurkey tomorrow morning would say it was genocide, mostpeople around the world and maybe even some Armenianswould say that we finally reached our objective, let’s moveon. So maybe it’s a good thing that the Turks keep deny-ing it.

My TurnBy Harut Sassounian

By Satenik Karapetyan

After a full week of school, sports, and extra-curricular activities, most kids just want towake up and watch cartoons all Saturday morn-ing. That’s not the case for more than 70 stu-dents of the Erebuni Armenian School inBelmont. These kids wake up bright and earlyevery single Saturday to go to school, and notby force. Students happily admit they look for-ward to Armenian school every week, whichthey say has much more to offer than a typical,boring classroom. For Phillip Petrossian, going to Armenian

school is all about being a part of the commu-nity. “It’s a good environment here where weget to learn about our Armenian language andculture, but we’re also able to get together withall of our Armenian friends and it’s a lot of fun.” According to principal, Armine Medzorian,

the Erebuni School takes pride in the fact thatthey offer their students a very hands-onapproach to learning. I caught up with some ofthe students doing an arts and crafts project inpreparing for the Easter holiday. Medzoriansays, “We teach our students the Armenian tra-ditions and holidays in engaging and interactive

ways. For Zatik [Easter], we showed the stu-dents what a traditional Armenian Easter tablelooks like, by spreading an Easter table, wherethe parents, teachers and children celebratedEaster together.” Each classroom also exhibitedtheir Easter Projects on the table. The brightspring colors on display were resonant of thesmiles and laughter spreading throughout theroom of ecstatic students, parents and teacherswho had all gathered for the festivities. “There isn’t a single thing I could complain

about,” said a beaming Marine Mkhitaryan-Noble. “There’s always something entertaininggoing on here for the kids, they always haveactivities and most importantly the work theydo here is amazing. The teachers are wonder-ful.” Noble says her daughter, Sophia, is onlyhalf Armenian. “The reason I bring my daugh-ter to this school is for the education. We speakEnglish at home, but here at the school shespeaks Armenian. She has Armenian friendsand she looks forward to coming here everyweek to spend quality time with them and tospeak Armenian with them.” Nelli Harutyunyan, who teaches the third

grade, has been working at the school for 10years. “Language is so important. Our kids mustspeak Armenian. We as a people must maintainour language and here at Erebuni we try to

instill that in our students.” The language istaught in the Eastern dialect of the Armenianlanguage, which Medzorian says makes theErebuni School unique. “We are in touch withthe Ministry of Education in Armenia to obtainthe latest didactic and educational materials. Welive in times when the ties between the Diasporaand Armenia are very strong. The knowledge ofEastern Armenian is getting critical, no matter ifyou are western-speaking or eastern.” All of the Erebuni teachers have a back-

ground in education, and they are all natives ofArmenia, some having been teachers there formany years. Naira Arsenyan teaches sixthgrade. “What we are doing here with our stu-dents is keeping our Armenian traditions alive,and passing them down to the next generation.I really love kids and I’m happy to be able topass down my knowledge to them.” For students like Eva Medzorian, the teach-

ers’ enthusiasm and passion for teaching iswhat really allows the students to come togeth-er at Erebuni as one community. “The school isso great. It’s such a fun environment, and we’reall part of such a loving and welcoming com-munity here. More than that we’re like a familyand I love that our teachers are such a big partof that. I can tell they really like teaching us.”Her friend Elaine Hovsepian agrees. “What I

love about this school is there are just warmhearts everywhere.” As everyone gathersaround the Easter table, nothing is more obvi-ously on display. At Erebuni, the Armenian language and cul-

ture are taught not only in the classroom butalso through music, dance, poetry, games andtheatre. This year, the school also startedZangakner, a performing arts group in whichchildren are able to participate and learn manytraditional and modern Armenian songs anddance. The school is constantly planning funevents and fundraisers for the Armenian com-munity. On May 14, the Zankagner group willperform at the celebration of the 20th anniver-sary of the Independence of the Republic ofArmenia hosted by the Erebuni School. All areinvited to attend the free event to be held at 6p.m. in the Holy Cross Armenian Church inBelmont. Erebuni Armenian School continues to grow.

Currently located at Plymouth CongregationalChurch in Belmont, school hours are from 10a.m. to 12:45 p.m. each Saturday fromSeptember to June. To learn more about theschool, visit their websitewww.erebunischool.org, or simply stop by.

(Satenik Karapetyan is a student atEmerson College.)

In Praise of Erebuni Armenian School

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 7 , 2 0 1 1 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R20

Advertise in the Mirror-Spectator

RECOGNITION, page 1President Barack Obama to utter the wordgenocide in reference to the deaths of some 1.5Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.Obama has declined to do that since taking

office. In a statement issued in April 2009,Obama implied that he is not using the politi-cally sensitive term to avoid antagonizingTurkey and setting back its rapprochementwith Armenia facilitated by Switzerland and theUnited States.The rapprochement led to the signing in

Zurich in October 2009 of two Turkish-Armenian protocols on the full normalization ofbilateral relations. Turkey subsequently madetheir parliamentary ratification conditional onthe resolution of the Nagorno Karabagh stand-off.Sargisian on Tuesday again condemned this

precondition. He also accused Ankara of tryingto “drive a wedge” between Armenia and itsworldwide diaspora. The latter has for decadesbeen at the forefront of the Genocide recogni-tion campaign.

BANQUET, from page 1need to keep the printed newspapers.” The banquet will commence at 7 p.m. with a

cocktail reception, and dinner will be at 8o’clock. Dr. Raffy Hovanessian will serve as themaster of ceremonies. There will be classicalmusic performed by cellist Elizabeth Kalfayanduring cocktails, while singer DatevikHovanesian will provide jazz entertainment forguests later in the program.Hovanessian, born in Jerusalem, graduated

rom the American University of Beirut. Aftermedical school, he did post-graduate study atJohns Hopkins University. He is board certifiedin internal medicine and gastroenterology. Heserved one year as a major in the US army andthen began private practice in Merrillville, Ind.He was chairman of medicine and president ofthe medical staff at both St. Mary MercyHospital and Methodist Hospital for manyyears. After retirement in 2005, he eventuallymoved to Englewood, NJ. Hovanessian continues to be extremely active

in Armenian circles. He has been vice chairmanof the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of theArmenian Church of America (Eastern) since2004, and serves on the boards of the AmericanUniversity of Armenia, the Armenian GeneralBenevolent Union (AGBU), St. NercessSeminary, and the Armenian American HealthProfessional Organization. From 1976 to 1996he served as the delegate of Sts. Joachim and

Anne Armenian Church of Palos Heights,Illinois to the Diocesan Assembly, and was amember of the board of the Armenian Assemblyof America in 1980. His medals and titles include the St. Gregory

the Illuminator Medal from Catholicos KarekinI of Holy Echmiadzin in 1998; Prince of Ciliciafrom the Catholicosate of Cilicia in Antelias in1982; the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2000;and a gold medal from the Mkhitar HeratsiYerevan State Medical University, as well asbenefactor of the AGBU, the ContemporaryMuseum of Art (Chicago), and the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of ColoredPeople (NAACP) of Indiana. Elizabeth Kalfayan is director of the New

Horizons Symphony Orchestra. She performsas soloist and principal cellist with numeroussymphony orchestras and chamber musicensembles throughout the United States andinternationally, and holds a master’s degree inPerformance from the Manhattan School ofMusic. Kalfayan is especially known for her per-formance lectures that present the works andgenius of great composers for the violoncello,such as Schumann, Rachmaninov, Beethovenand Shostakovich. Kalfayan has directed orchestra and chamber

programs for the New Jersey public schools.She is founder and director of the MerrittChamber Music Workshops and has coachedchamber music at the Puffin Foundation and

the New Jersey Youth Symphony. Her work isfeatured on a number of CDs.Datevik, born to a family of musicians in

Armenia, is the daughter of folk singer OpheliaHambartsumian and kamancha player NorairHovanesian. She made her first recording at theage of 11, and embarked on a life of musical per-formance and education. She toured Europe,the United States, Asia and Africa, giving soloperformances in prominent jazz festivals, andeven performed in movies. By 1979 she earnedthe title of “First Lady of Jazz” in the SovietUnion, which she maintained for nine consecu-tive years. It was during that time that her soloalbums—“Day Dream,” “Concerto For Voice andOrchestra,” and “Doors” — were recorded.

Leaving everything behind, Datevik relocatedto the United States. Her first CD in the United States, “Ballads

from the Black Sea,” (1997) was the result of acollaboration with pianist Larry Willis and hisquartet in the studio of Mapleshade RecordProductions. It prompted the president of thelatter company, Pierre Sprey, to comment: “Arich new jazz voice of superb musicianship,earthy and passionate and swinging, provesthat soul and jazz know no boundaries.”Working with American-Armenian pianist andcomposer Armen Donelian also had a greatimpact on Datevik. Some of Datevik’s greatest accomplishments

in her career took place in the last 16 yearswhen she introduced a new genre of musiccalled ethnic jazz. She combined the Armenianfolk music of Komitas, Sayat Nova and othersources with traditional jazz music.Consequently she has become a cultural ambas-sador of Armenia, introducing its heritagethroughout the world. Thanks to her work,renowned Russian, American and Australianhave adopted this music in their own composi-tions and concerts. “Listen to My Heart,” and“Stage to Stage” are her latest CDs.Legendary jazz producer George Avakian has

called Datevik “the finest new voice I haveheard in a quarter of a century,” while interna-tionally known composer, arranger and pianistMichel Legrand urges, “Listen to the heart ofArmenia, listen to Datevik.”Shoghig Chalian and Betty Salbashian are the

chairs of the committee for the banquet, whichwill take place at the Teaneck Marriott atGlenpoint (100 Frank W. Burr Boulevard).Donations at $125 per person are welcomed. Fortickets, call Shoghig at 201-803-0240, Sirvart at201-739-7775, or Shemavon at 718-344-7489.Information about the event’s prominentkeynote speaker and other aspects of the pro-gram will be presented in forthcoming articles.

Sargisian Calls For Broader Genocide Recognition

Banquet in New Jersey Honoring Mirror-Spectator Set for June 4

Dr. Raffy Hovanessian

OTTOWA, Canada — On April 8, the governorgeneral of Canada, David Johnston, hosted theAGBU Montreal Venturer Company and its scout-ing leadership to grant them the highest recog-nition in Canadian scouting, the AnnapurnaAward. The special ceremony was held in RideauHall at the governor’s official Ottawa residence.

The award was given to the AGBU team for theirexceptional humanitarian and home-buildingmission, called Armenia 2010.In a speech addressed to all the attendees,

the governor general, who is also the chiefscout of Canada, emphasized the virtues ofscouting. He reminded the youth that it is inscouting that they learn leadership and team-work, along with learning to challenge them-selves and rise above all others. He also chal-lenged them to think ahead to the year 2017,the 150th anniversary of the birth of Canada.He stressed that the Canada of tomorrow andthe future must be built now by the youththrough their everyday actions and by the

example they provide to others who look tothem.The attendees included many of the official

leadership of the Scouts du Canada Federation,as well as co-winners from three other groups.They were particularly impressed by the com-plexity of the Armenia 2010 project, its multiple

components and the financingthat was raised by the teenageyouth. The official emcee fromthe Decoration Committee ofthe Scouts du CanadaFederation called on all to con-gratulate the AGBU youth as“young men and women withan immense sense of giving ofthemselves.”At a special reception follow-

ing the ceremony, the AGBUscout leadership handed com-memorative plaques to the co-winning groups and to theScouts du MontrealMetropolitain, as well as to

Scouts du Canada. A special gift box containingthe documentary DVD of the Armenia 2010 pro-ject with the names of the Annapurna winners,along with an engraved khachkar [stone cross]replica designed by Avedis Atamian, was donatedto the personal collection of the GovernorGeneral. The Annapurna award is the highest dis-tinction awarded to the AGBU Montreal scoutingprogram during its 43-year history. The AGBUchapter is planning a recognition event to honorthe Armenian-Canadian Annapurna award win-ners, which will be announced soon.For more information, contact AGBU

Montreal at agbumontreal@bellnet.ca, or visitwww.agbumontreal.org.

AGBU Montreal Venturer CompanyHonored by Governor General of Canada

The governor general of Canada, David Johnston (center), withthe AGBU Montreal Venturer troop at the Annapurna Award cere-mony