ARMENIAN REPORTER
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July 28, 2007 — From the front section
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1. Despite military’s warnings, Turkey opts for reform party (by Talin Suciyan)
* Far right also increases its share of the vote
2. Radio Liberty broadcasts to continue on privately owned channels in
Armenia (by Armen Hakobyan)
3. Can an international treaty restrain the Caucasus arms race? (by
Emil Sanamyan)
4. Ashot Poghosian seeks to reshape the market for meat products in
Karabakh (by Emil Sanamyan)
* A former New Yorker is building his Armenian dream
5. Let’s forget the lecture and hang out (by Betty Panossian-Ter Sargssian)
* Between lectures and parties young Armenians bond at the Hamazkayin
Cultural Forum
6. The silent screams of phantom monuments (by Armen Hakobyan)
7. From Armenia, in brief
* A handful of soil
* Foreign Minister Oskanian in Georgia
* Iran’s foreign minister in Armenia
* Prime Minister, did you order a cab?
* Pyunik 2 — Derry City 0
8. Commentary: Information is power: Armenia’s changing information
culture (by Eleeza V. Agopian)
9. Commentary: The nobility of Henry Morgenthau (by Kay Mouradian)
* The virtues that guided his career were planted in his youth
10. Commentary: A Red Dog with fleas (by Anoush Ter Taulian)
* How should artists portray the Genocide?
11. Editorial: No doldrums
12. Editorial: For a plurality of voices
****************************************** *********************************
1. Despite military’s warnings, Turkey opts for reform party
* Far right also increases its share of the vote
by Talin Suciyan
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won a
convincing victory in the July 22 general election, winning nearly
half of the total vote in an election with an 85 percent turnout. This
will translate into 340 seats in the 550-seat parliament, or 27 seats
short of the two-thirds majority required to name the next president
under the current constitution.
The election was held earlier than scheduled after the Turkish
military and the national secular establishment succeeded in blocking
the election of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül (AKP) as president last
May. The center-right AKP is coming back to power with a stronger
mandate for reform.
Speaking to reporters following the vote, AKP leader Prime Minister
Recep Tayyib Erdogan said that his party may again nominate Mr. Gül,
but did not rule out another candidate. He also said that his party
would continue to work toward Turkey’s membership in the European
Union.
After a rather low-key election campaign, the election results
themselves seem to have shaken things up in Turkey, especially for
those who had underestimated the AKP’s popularity, including the vast
majority of the media and many political leaders.
AKP secured 46 percent of the vote in Turkey, thereby improving its
performance by 12 points over the 2002 results. For a ruling party to
improve its electoral performance is a rare phenomenon in Turkey. In
fact, this is only the second such case since the multiparty system
was introduced in the 1950s.
For the main opposition party, the nationalist Republican People’s
Party (CHP) the election was certainly a major setback. CHP united
with the former ruling Democratic Left Party (DSP) and together they
received 21 percent of the vote. Since the election, however, about a
dozen DSP members elected to of parliament have said they would leave
the CHP faction and may be joined by some members of the CHP, which
has been now shaken by a leadership row.
The CHP leader Deniz Baykal, for whose resignation there are now
demands, has declined to make a statement after the elections. The
party’s spokesperson said: "We do not see the results as a ‘lesson.’
People gave us the duty of opposition once again."
Millions-strong demonstrations with anti-AKP slogans held on the
streets of Turkey’s cities before the elections did not translate into
majority support for the opposition parties.
Ahmet Insel, economics professor at Galatasaray University suggested
that the opposition’s "election engineering" methods ended up
increasing the AKP’s votes.
"I hope the ones who utilized these methods will understand that
these methods are not only futile but they also have an adverse
impact. I hope after these results, they will take their hands and
feet away from the political scene," Prof. Insel said.
The election’s other winner was the rightwing Nationalist Movement
Party (MHP), which received 14 percent of the vote and was the only
other party to overcome the 10 percent threshold for winning seats.
MHP has not been in parliament since 2002, when its leader Devlet
Bahceli resigned. But Mr. Bahceli has since returned to lead MHP. Both
MHP and CHP ran on similar nationalist slogans.
Finally, 27 independent candidates won seats, 24 of them affiliated
with the Democratic Society Party (DTP), which advocates and raise
issues concerning Kurds. It was set up on the basis of the earlier
Kurdish political groups that had been previously banned for allegedly
espousing separatism.
Prof. Insel together with fellow Prof. Seyfettin Gürsel were the
ones to suggest the idea that members of smaller parties like DTP
should run as independents to be able to circumvent the ten percent
threshold. The pro-Kurdish politicians have thus returned to the
parliament for the first time since their predecessors were taken from
parliament to prison in the 1990s.
Support for the independent candidates was apparent in Diyarbakir,
in the southeast of Turkey, which is densely populated with Kurds.
There this correspondent observed tens of thousands of people rallying
with purple flags and hopeful that they could finally have a voice in
parliament.
Among the independents elected from Diyarbakir was Akin Birdal, a
human rights campaigner who survived an assassination attempt in 1998,
was imprisoned for criticizing government policies. [In 2000–2001
Birdal was tried for acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. –Ed.]
Another independent candidate Prof. Baskin Oran, a prominent critic
of Turkey’s minority policies did not win a seat, but he pledged to
continue to campaign for democratic policies in Turkey.
Of 550 seats in Parliament, 48 will be occupied by women, of whom 26
are AKP members. Nine are with DTP (including one Sabahat Tuncel who
was elected from an Istanbul constituency while in prison and will now
be freed).
Overall AKP will have 340 seats; CHP, 112; MHP, 71 (or rather, 70,
since one MHP member died); DTP (which has not yet formed its group),
24; and three seats will be held by other independents.
Many analysts agree that this election was an extraordinary one and
perhaps the most important election in Turkish political history. The
opposition parties have failed despite actively exploiting Turkish
fears of Iraqi Kurdistan and the rise of Islamism in Turkey.
The electorate demonstrated that it detests crises, voting for a
party which they believed brought some level of stability to the
country. AKP has really proven that it has become a centrist party,
which succeeded to get the votes of Turkey’s middle class, which
before this election backed secular parties such as CHP.
Prof. Insel said "The Turkish electorate showed its reaction to the
proposed antidemocratic suggestions and a civic reflex is how the
electorate responded and this reflex placed the emphasis on a
conservative party. But [AKP] does put forward democratic values and
this offers hope for Turkey."
*********************************** ****************************************
2. Radio Liberty broadcasts to continue on privately owned channels in Armenia
by Armen Hakobyan
YEREVAN — Armenia’s Public Radio and Television Commission announced
Thursday that on July 6 it had decided to discontinue broadcasting on
public radio and television programs prepared by other broadcasters,
notably including Radio Liberty, funded by the U.S. Congress, and Mir,
a CIS initiative. The decision was to be effective August 9.
But Radio Liberty will continue to broadcast throughout Armenia on a
privately owned channel, the president of Armenia’s Public Radio and
Television Commission, Aleksan Harutiunian, told the Armenian Reporter
on Friday. He also noted that the commission had agreed to Radio
Liberty’s request to stay on Public Radio an extra month, until
September 9.
The private channel, AR, primarily broadcasts Public Radio’s Second
Program, which currently carries Radio Liberty’s news programming. It
will continue to carry Radio Liberty in the same time slots, but not
on behalf of Public Radio, Mr. Harutiunian said. He said the owner of
AR, Armen Amirian, who is also the manager of Public Radio, and the
U.S. side had already reached an agreement to this effect.
Jeff Trimble, counselor to the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty (RFE/RL), confirmed that an agreement had been signed between
AR and the International Broadcasting Bureau, a U.S. government agency
that provides the administrative and engineering support for U.S.
government-funded non-military international broadcast services.
AR is one of three stations whose broadcasts reach almost all of
Armenia’s territory. According to official documents, it reaches 80
percent of Armenia’s territory. It does not yet reach parts of
Gegharkunik province.
Mr. Trimble said, however, that AR’s network comprises 23
transmitters, whereas Public Radio has some 80 transmitters.
* Ongoing controversy
The July 6 decision to discontinue broadcasting on public radio and
television programs prepared by other broadcasters came in the wake of
a government initiative to bring about the same decision by
legislation. The bill was rejected on July 3.
The government bill to prohibit public radio and television from
broadcasting such had been introduced in a special session of
parliament convened for the purpose. A companion bill would have
imposed a 70,000 dram (just over $200) duty on private stations each
time they aired a program prepared by the Armenian service of a
foreign broadcaster.
Opponents of the two bills sat out the vote, and in the absence of a
quorum for the vote, the bill failed to become law.
Less than a week after the July 6 decision of the commission to
discontinue broadcasting Radio Liberty programming on Public Radio,
Ambassador Rudolph Perina, the U.S. chargé d’affaires in Armenia, on
July 12 met with Prime Minister Serge Sargsian. The prime minister’s
office announced that the prime minister had said, " there had never
been a question of applying any restrictions whatsoever or a ban on
Radio Liberty’s broadcasts in Armenia, and the problem should not be
construed as such."
On July 24, RFE/RL and its oversight agency, the U.S. Broadcasting
Board of Governors (BBG) announced that Armenian Public Radio had
refused to sign a contract to continue carrying programs of RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service.
"Our delegation was asked to go to Yerevan to iron out some minor
technical issues and conclude a contract to extend this successful
partnership," said BBG chair James K. Glassman. "All these issues were
resolved. Our delegation was told there are no deadlines, and no
threat was made to take RFE/RL programs off Public Radio. Yet the
contract remains unsigned."
Mr. Glassman added, "It seems clear that whatever is holding up an
agreement has nothing to do with legal, contractual, or technical
issues."
"The potential end of our very fruitful relationship with Public
Radio has no economic or other legitimate justification," said RFE/RL
President Jeffrey Gedmin. "Armenians go to the polls in eight months
to choose their next President, and therefore it is particularly
important that RFE/RL’s broadcasts, which are widely respected for
their accuracy, objectivity and timeliness, reach the largest possible
audience. Our coverage of the May 12 parliamentary elections was
singled out for praise by OSCE observers for its balance and
thoroughness."
In a statement, Mr. Harutiunian explained the commission’s decision
to exclude other broadcasters’ programming from public broadcasting by
referring to "international experience" with public broadcasting. He
told the Reporter that only Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan
include RFE/RL programming in their public broadcasting. Other
countries either do not air such programming at all, or do so on
private channels, he said.
******************************************* ********************************
3. Can an international treaty restrain the Caucasus arms race?
by Emil Sanamyan
YEREVAN — The Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, a
relatively obscure agreement concluded toward the end of the Cold War
between the countries of the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact and NATO,
and since modified in part to adapt to post-Soviet realities, is in
the news again.
CFE is a particularly important treaty for countries like Armenia
and its Caucasus neighbors, which rely solely on conventional forces
for their defense needs. The treaty limits the number of soldiers,
aircraft, large-caliber artillery, tanks, and other armored vehicles
each country that is party to the treaty is allowed to have.
It also provides for a reporting and inspection mechanism, wherein
each participating country reports annually on its holdings of
treaty-limited equipment, their exact location, as well as acquisition
and retirement of weapons.
With Caucasus states continuing to build up their militaries, the
CFE, at least in theory, should be able to put a break on this ongoing
militarization in the region.
* Strategic gambit with tactical consequences
In recent weeks Russian officials have called for the revision of the
CFE and even threatened to suspend Russia’s participation. These
pronouncements came shortly after the summit between Presidents George
W. Bush and Vladimir Putin at Kennebunkport, Maine, in which the
Russian president offered strategic cooperation on missile defense, a
proposal so far met with little enthusiasm in the United States.
With the United States going ahead with its plans to install
missile-defense facilities in Central Europe, Russia’s threats are
more likely to reflect its annoyance at being ignored rather than a
plan to remake or do away with CFE.
But if for Russia and the U.S. CFE is just one of the pieces of
their strategic chessboard, and there are no real threats of
conventional wars in most of Europe, things are different in the
Caucasus, with its unresolved conflicts.
Currently Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are all limited to the
same number of tanks (220 each), armored vehicles (220), artillery
(280), and aircraft (100 jets and 50 helicopters). Azerbaijani
officials have long called for raising their limits on the number of
weapon systems, as part of their effort to gain a military edge over
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russia’s calls for revision of the treaty thus provide a potential
window of opportunity for Azerbaijan to exploit. That country is
already believed to be in violation of several of the treaty
limitations, and flush with oil revenue it has in recent years become
a particularly eager buyer of weapons systems.
* Basis for a regional security regime
The cease-fire regime between Armenians and Azerbaijanis that has held
for over thirteen years is largely self-regulated. In other words it
is based on a conscious decision by both sides not to restart
hostilities, at least not now.
Still the attitude of the international community, especially its
major players — U.S., Russia, and European states — continues to be
a major factor in the two sides’ behavior. Most significantly, these
states have encouraged the sides to maintain the relative peace and to
see that all outstanding issues are dealt with through negotiations
mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE).
While no peacekeeping forces have been deployed, the OSCE has the
Office of the Personal Representative, which conducts monthly
monitoring of the cease-fire regime along the Line of Contact.
The CFE treaty has also served as a kind of confidence-building
measure. Every year, all treaty participants exchange information on
the location of their military units, the number of their personnel,
and weapons holdings. So, in theory, the Armenian side is informed,
although with some delay, about the location and make-up of all of
Azerbaijan’s military units, and vice versa.
* …and a mutual deception mechanism
But each side has been engaged in one form of deception or another.
On the one hand, Azerbaijan claims it has "retired" several hundred
tanks and its holding are right around the 220 ceiling. But it can be
argued that a number of these "retired" systems could be quickly
brought back into service or at the very least cannibalized for parts.
Azerbaijanis have also spread heavy weapons through services other
than the armed forces proper — the Special State Security Service,
Ministry of Internal Affairs, State Border Guard Service, and even the
Ministry of Emergency Management.
In all, Armenian commentators believe that Azerbaijan’s tank
holdings are at about 500, with individual units in various states of
readiness.
On the Armenian side, the size and make-up of the Karabakh Defense
Army are not publicly reported — since Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is
not a party to CFE — and its equipment is not counted toward the
Armenian military’s ceiling. Armenia reports having only 110 tanks.
Since 1999 Azerbaijan has claimed that Karabakh Armenian forces
alone have more than 300 tanks, likely an exaggerated figure, but a
frequently cited one in the absence of other estimates.
Treaty participants have also sought to report as little information
as possible, and there is apparently an effort to keep some facilities
off limits and out of annual filings.
While there is a mechanism that entitles every participating state
to send an inspection delegation to any other participating state, no
Armenian delegation has been allowed to go into Azerbaijan. Turkish
inspectors have regularly visited Armenia, but not Nagorno-Karabakh.
* Questions about CFE and its viability
CFE remains the only existing international security framework within
which the continuing arms race in the Caucasus could at least be
monitored if not contained. Therefore, a potential unraveling of the
treaty owing to U.S.-Russian tensions does not augur well for the
Caucasus region and the rest of Europe.
But the fact that participating countries have also exploited the
treaty loopholes to keep a portion of their weapon holdings off the
books and have not been sanctioned as a result has also created a
sense among member countries that they do not need to leave the CFE to
be able to overcome its restraints.
************************************* **************************************
4. Ashot Poghosian seeks to reshape the market for meat products in Karabakh
* A former New Yorker is building his Armenian dream
by Emil Sanamyan
OUTSIDE NORAGYUKH, Karabakh — "Every Armenian must imagine living in
the homeland," exclaims Ashot Poghosian as he showcases the progress
that has been made on the sprawling farm ten miles north of
Stepanakert that he purchased recently.
Until earlier this year Mr. Poghosian ran a successful construction
services company with a $1.5 million annual turnover in Bayside, N.Y.
Now he is the owner and chief executive of Poghosian Gerdastan, a
company he is building with pioneering zeal and Western efficiency,
and was only eager to describe in minute detail during a visit by the
Armenian Reporter on July 23.
Mr. Poghosian is in the process of building one of the largest
Armenian producers of meat products, while helping make his home in
Armenian Karabakh.
* Long journey home
This energetic 53-year-old Yerevan native and father of five is
completing an unusually circuitous journey back to the homeland.
Having earned an economics degree from Yerevan State University in
the 1970s, Mr. Poghosian decided to move to Moscow, he says, to get
away from corruption pervading Soviet Armenia.
After working for 14 years in Moscow, dealing with production of
everything from shoes to construction materials, Mr. Poghosian
immigrated to the United States just as the Soviet Union unraveled.
"I knew only three words of English at the time," he recalls. But
that did not stop the then 40-year-old from teaching himself the
language and qualifying for a real-estate license. "Pretty soon I was
selling more homes than my American-born colleagues."
After earning enough start-up capital, Mr. Poghosian launched his
own business, which provided services to the New York City Housing
Authority. But he was not satisfied with becoming another American
success story.
"I always thought about moving back to Armenia. While still living
in Moscow I befriended the former senior Soviet diplomat, the now
deceased Ashot Melik-Shahnazarov. After Armenia became independent, he
moved to Yerevan to help establish the Foreign Ministry.
"And those were the difficult years. He became an inspiration for
me," Mr. Poghosian says.
The first-ever visit to Karabakh for Mr. Poghosian happened just
three years ago, when he helped deliver a consignment of computers to
be donated to schools here.
"I soon realized, however, that I could have the most direct impact
by moving here rather than providing aid from the distance. I realized
that I must be and live here and the time to do it was now."
* Building a modern company from the ground up
"So, I began looking for opportunities here. Karabakh has always been
primarily agricultural, but it still produces very few food products
that could be successfully exported. And although I had no previous
farming or agribusiness experience, over the years I have learned the
formula for a successful business."
Three years ago, Mr. Poghosian purchased Sunzhnika — a Soviet-era
farm complex surrounded by rolling green hills just off the recently
built Stepanakert-Mardakert highway.
The facility includes sixteen buildings spread over nine hectares of
land. It was used to breed pigs and sell pork until state funding
dried up in the early 1990s.
"When I first came here, the site was in a dreadful shape with weeds
growing around and inside the buildings," Mr. Poghosian says. He began
by hiring several locals to clean up the site and repair the
buildings, launching his own roofing metal production in the process.
"We now have 24-hour electricity, natural gas, artesian water, and
Internet. All the necessary production equipment we imported from the
U.S. and Europe. In addition to 28 local staff, I employed a very
experienced engineer with whom I worked in Moscow and a young
economist from Yerevan.
"We have construction work left to do, but right now I am focusing
on completing my own house since my family is due to move here next
month."
His wife, mother, and two teenage sons are now looking for airplane tickets.
* Casting distortions and doubts aside
Mr. Poghosian’s investments so far have amounted to over $1.7 million.
While a number of diasporans and non-Armenians have launched
successful businesses in Karabakh on this scale or larger, few have
moved here permanently so far.
Mr. Poghosian says that among his acquaintances in New York’s
Armenian community there was little excitement or even encouragement
over his family’s decision to move, with people referring to others’
failures to adapt in Armenia and particularly wary of his choice to
live in Karabakh.
"Information about Karabakh is often distorted by Armenians abroad,"
Mr. Poghosian argues with some irritation. "When I was recruiting my
chief engineer, a non-Armenian then living in Ukraine, his
Karabakh-born acquaintances told him it was dangerous to come here.
These people are either out of touch with reality or just feel guilty
living away from home.
"Your homeland is like your parents — can you abandon them if they
are in need or ailing?"
* Doing business in Armenian Karabakh
It is not like Armenia and Karabakh are not facing daunting challenges.
"The biggest issue for us is finding qualified hard-working people
to hire," says Mr. Poghosian. "With war and years of foreign
assistance, the pool of people with necessary skills and even the
desire to work hard to make a living has shrunk." Many also prefer
well-paid military service to farming.
So Mr. Poghosian is casting a wider net, recruiting workers from
around Karabakh. "Here is a dormitory we are building for workers from
more distant villages, so they would not have to come far on
workdays." He describes designs for rooms equipped with bathrooms,
kitchens, and laundry machines.
The current plan is to launch first production by the end of 2007.
The products would include hard salami, basturma, and sujukh, as well
as canned meats — things that could survive an export trip to stores
in Russia and farther away in Europe and the United States.
Launching production would involve placing the equipment in
buildings as renovations on them are done by this fall and buying the
necessary number of livestock from farmers.
"The equipment we bought can process 20 cows or 40 pigs an hour.
With that capacity we could slaughter all the cows in Karabakh in a
couple of years," Mr. Poghosian jokes as he paces around the farm
chain-smoking King Arthur cigars.
According to official statistics there are only about 10,000 heads
of cattle in Karabakh.
Part of Mr. Poghosian’s success formula is based on making it more
profitable for local farmers to raise both the number and quality of
their livestock. Right now there are few such incentives since the
small local market has only limited demand for meat.
* And making a life in the homeland
"So far, I have not really begun doing business here," Mr. Poghosian
admits. "In New York I could easily see a 150 percent return within a
year.
"By the end of the year my investments are likely to total $3
million, and possibly more since the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar
is continuing to fall here. And since I am not that rich I will need
to see a substantial return next year to make this business
sustainable and successful in the long-term."
Certainly, this is not just another business opportunity for Mr. Poghosian.
"Our compatriots have for centuries longed for the return of our
ancestral lands and an independent Armenian state. Let me remind
everyone, it is finally here!"
With infectious enthusiasm, Mr. Poghosian calls on his fellow
Armenians in the diaspora to set aside the usual set of complaints
about living and working in Armenia and capitalize on the historic
opportunity: "Come, make your homeland for yourself!"
********************************* ******************************************
5. Let’s forget the lecture and hang out
* Between lectures and parties young Armenians bond at the Hamazkayin
Cultural Forum
by Betty Panossian-Ter Sargssian
YEREVAN — Since 1995 the Hamazkayin Cultural Forum, which takes place
here in Yerevan, has provided young Armenians from all over the world
the opportunity to come together and learn about everything Armenian.
The participants attend lectures, go sightseeing, and perhaps most
importantly, make new Armenian friends.
When the forum started more than a decade ago, college students aged
18–28 from many different diasporan communities gathered in Beirut,
Lebanon, where the Hamazkayin Djemaran (college) provided an
intellectually enriching setting for such an event. For decades the
Djemaran had been a cultural kiln of Armenian identity and the statues
of Parsegh Ganachian and Levon Shant were testaments to that.
"The issue was to bring Armenian students into an Armenian
environment and at the time the choice was Lebanon," says Asbed
Kotchikian, Ph.D., one of the organizers. But with time the forum had
to look for new dimensions and the turning point was 2001 when it took
place in two locations, Lebanon and Armenia.
Since 2002 the two-week forum has taken place in Armenia, and with
it, the Forum has taken on a new direction. "The fact is that in
Armenia you have a whole Armenian culture rather than an Armenian
diasporan and Arab culture. At the same time you are in your own
country.
"The whole experience of the forum is different here and breaks the
myth of what is Armenia," Mr. Kotchikian says.
The secret of the success and survival of the forum for over a
decade is the persistence and dedication of its members, as well as
learning from past experiences and at the same time putting on a more
modern generational background. "Six or seven years ago the night life
in Yerevan wasn’t the same as today, so we had to reconsider the
schedule of the forum, include more social activities and free time to
hang out with each other."
More free time in the city and nightclubs means more organizational
challenges. The majority of the 69 participants are aged 17–19, and,
according to the organizers, they need supervision. "It is difficult
because for most participants it is their first time in Armenia. Some
are abroad for the first time. So they would like to party."
Hamazkayin Cultural Forum is often defined as being an Armenian
melting pot for Armenian and Armenian diasporan identities, where the
participants not only discover Armenia and its historic sites, but
also explore other Armenian identities. When the participants come
from different countries they bring with them different backgrounds
with their own unique characteristics.
Asbed Kotchikian says he would rather call the forum a salad,
"because there are so many ingredients each unique with its own
identity, but their mixture results in a distinct taste." Most of
these young people don’t know the experiences that define Armenians
from Armenia, Armenian-Americans, or Middle Eastern Armenians, but
when they interact with each other, they start appreciating and
understanding how different Armenians think.
"What is important for one group is not important for the other
group. A couple of days ago the participants had a discussion about
Armenian identity, and for some, especially for those coming from the
Middle East, speaking Armenian was a precondition for being and
feeling Armenian, but to those coming from Europe and United States,
it wasn’t." Building understanding through such discussions is the
most important thing about the forum.
In recent years, toward the end of the forum, different
organizations have been invited to come and talk about their programs
to the participants. These organizations include Birthright Armenia,
the Armenian Youth Federation, the Armenia Tree Project, and Habitat
for Humanity.
The goal is that at least some of the participants will return to
Armenia for a longer period of time and work in their own particular
fields. However, returning to and living and working in Armenia is not
the first item on the agenda for the forum. The challenge is to
attract young college students, especially those who do not come from
Armenian environments.
"We try to include activities that will attract them into an
Armenian environment," says Zepure Hovhannesian, the general
supervisor of the forum for the past six years. With a proud smile she
adds that most participants, especially those who are participating
for the first time and more than likely experiencing Armenia’s culture
for the first time, usually part with tears. For Ms. Hovhannesian
this is a sign that the forum succeeds in forging strong bonds between
the participants and their cultural identity.
However, she is careful to underline that the forum is not a free
camp, a place to party away two weeks of summer vacation. "Before
coming to the forum the participants get a general idea of what its
discipline means. We take their word that they will keep to the
regulations, know their limitations, liberties, and our curfew. We do
this because we think that the 17- or 18-year-old participants need
our supervision in some way."
This is an important year for the forum supervisor because she was
able to realize a promise she had made for years to her students to
bring them to Armenia. Eighteen students from Orange County,
California visited their homeland for the first time, after years of
bombarding their kindergarten and elementary schoolteacher with the
same question, "Ms. Zepure when are you going to take us to Armenia?"
"When we were in kindergarten and at the second grade, we held hands
together with our teacher Ms. Zepure, we vowed that one day we would
all go to Armenia, and now we are with our friends fulfilling our
promise," says Maral Melkonian, the first to register her name for the
Forum 2007.
Yerevan, with its tall buildings, crowded streets, and dynamic
nightlife came as a pleasant surprise to this group of schoolmates.
"We had the image of Yerevan as being something next to a village, but
no, it is a beautiful city and one can think of returning and living
or doing something here," says Arsinee, and her friends agree.
The thought of exploring and experiencing Armenia with his peers was
so charming that it returned 22-year-old Haig Yenikomoushian from San
Jose, California, to the forum, but this time not as a participant,
but a supervisor. This time his culture shock was minimal. "I wasn’t
shocked especially at the presence of the Russian language. The
mingling with participants from other countries was easier this time,"
he says.
Two cousins, Marissa and Harout Adourians, both 19, from Cyprus were
at the forum because of a surprise their parents had arranged for
them. They study in the U.K., and "weren’t prepared for the forum,"
but once the air tickets were bought, they had no choice. "Of course
some day we wanted to see Armenia, because everyone has told us of the
historic places and that its beautiful," says Marissa. Meeting with
Armenian peers from all over the world and getting to know what and
how they think is the most important thing she will be taking home
with her together with a list of new friends.
But Harout is not hopeful that these friendships will extend beyond
the forum. "Where and how should we meet again? And that is why toward
the end this experience is kind of disappointing in the sense that
everything will end soon and everyone will go away."
These two were already in the departure blues, but at the other
corner of the room, and in the halls of the guest house there was a
flurry of excitement. The periodic little publication, "Good Morning
Forum" was almost ready for print, and hasty preparations were under
way for the exciting general knowledge test to start within an hour.
******************************************* ********************************
6. The silent screams of phantom monuments
by Armen Hakobyan
YEREVAN — We Armenians like to take pride in Yerevan, our capital
city. And we have reason to be proud of it. Or at least we had.
In any case, when foreigners, guests of the city, become interested,
true to form we proudly stick up our Armenian noses and recite the
phrase, "Yerevan is 10 years older than the eternal city of Rome."
Pretty soon, in almost one year, we are going to celebrate 2,790 years
of the foundation of Erebouni.
Why shouldn’t we be proud? Let’s not even talk about how many
beautiful songs and poems have been dedicated to the all-Armenian
capital, Yerevan: "Centuries have elapsed, but she still remains
young," the song says.
Today, however, this 2789-year-old youngster breathes with
difficulty. The woods of Nork and the trees of the Zangu gorge have
been cut away; the number of boulevards and parks have been reduced;
and in their place numerous cafes have appeared. The city has been
deprived of its ability to breathe, of its lungs; added to this is the
high content of dust in the air which has reached precarious levels.
The thing is that in recent years Yerevan and especially the city
center have begun to resemble a gargantuan building site.
The construction boom does not diminish. The city is overrun by
construction. This flurry of construction provides for an important
part of the economic development of Armenia, constituting almost one
third of its annual GDP growth. It is not only the economy or the
construction industry that are growing. Yerevan itself is growing up,
getting taller and becoming "elite," just as the newly built, plain,
box-shaped buildings are falsely advertised as "elite."
Looking from any high vantage point, Yerevan resembles a balding
head, with its hairs standing on end — from horror, or from surprise,
who really knows? These poor strands of hair standing up on end are
newly erected buildings, which have sprouted and continue to sprout in
different neighborhoods throughout Yerevan.
It’s not just about the nostalgia of the older generation. Although
small in numbers, there is a growing progressive youth movement with a
clear civic conscience and stance. They are not excited or impressed
by the expansion of all this construction at the expense of 100- or
150-year-old buildings "We are saddened by all of this, indeed. We are
also sad as people who were born in Yerevan. Although, being born in
Yerevan is not of any particular importance but it does have some
sentimentality attached to it," said Arsen Kharatyan, an activist with
the Sksel a (It has begun) youth movement. "We are saddened because we
used to picture our city the way Tamanyan had planned it, without all
these high-rises and monumental buildings. If you were to ask a city
planning expert, you would be told that Yerevan now resembles an
Eastern city with no sense of planning whatsoever. We think that the
overall architectural logic of the city has been distorted. Many
buildings do not even meet the seismic requirements set out by law,
not to mention that in certain locations it isn’t possible for
fire-trucks to get close enough in case of a fire."
And Yerevan was really astonished and felt targeted by its own
inhabitants, the Armenians who were always so proud of their long and
rich history who today are so careless with these historical
19th–20th century buildings and its overall architectural character.
As to the black-tuffa two- and three-story buildings of the past,
these stony witnesses of the history of Yerevan look like phantoms
now, surrounded by these concrete and glass "elite" apartment
buildings.
What has happened with many of these old buildings, the stones of
which were marked, numbered, then dismantled and taken away? What has
happened with those stones and what will happen to them? We made an
attempt to find the answers to these and other questions, making some
unexpected revelations along the way.
* No one needs the bas-relief pedestal
Almost immediately after the reinstatement of the independence of
Armenia, the monument of Lenin, personifying Soviet totalitarianism
was dismantled from the main square of Yerevan. The monument was
considered among one of the best statues of Lenin and its author,
Merkurov one of the best sculptors. However it was dismantled. And
it’s good that it was dismantled.
But the pedestal remained. Well, it wasn’t just a pedestal, but a
tribune as well. And from this tribune five decades of Soviet Armenian
leadership reviewed the parades of the toiling masses. The leaders of
independent Armenia review military parades from the same place — but
from a wooden platform.
The monumental pedestal is not there any more. For almost a decade,
there has only been grass growing in its place. It was decided to
dismantle this tribune-pedestal during the Ter-Petrossian presidency,
regardless of the protests of architects and public figures. It was
destroyed. Somehow. With great difficulty. On the fence enclosing the
tearing-down site, someone had written a curse: "Let the hands of the
destroyers wither."
Was this pedestal really that valuable? Let’s listen to the opinion
of the president of the Architects Union of Armenia Mkrtich Minasyan:
"Sure, it was valuable. First of all, because it was the artistic
creation of our architects, who had competed for the honor of building
it. The authors of the tribune-pedestal were Natalya Paremuzova and
her husband Levon Vardanyan. You certainly know that the author of
Lenin’s sculpture was Merkurov, who was a very good sculptor, and it
was one of the best statues. Well, dismantling of the statue was a
political act. It was necessary to take it away, and it was taken
away. But we wanted very much to keep the pedestal. We wanted it,
because it was a really good, skillful job."
"Can you tell us as a professional, what was good about it?"
"It had very interesting architectural solution, which not only
didn’t disturb the overall ensemble of Tamanyan’s square, but on the
contrary, complemented it. Although the bas-reliefs were not pure
Armenian, they had so-called vagrant motifs, but they were implemented
in the national spirit and looked so beautiful on the granite stone.
In terms of its size and proportions it was a very good tribune.
Moreover, it had a double function: it was a pedestal and a tribune.
Especially during parades — it contributed to the feeling of
statehood.
"It also demonstrated the care with which the authors approached
Tamanyan’s plan of the square. We got so used to this pedestal that
when it was dismantled it seemed that something was missing from the
square. Anyway, it was dismantled. Sure, it was done in a very vulgar
and unskillful way. We kept insisting on keeping it, because after all
it wasn’t disturbing anybody. But it was taken away. And I think that
we made a huge mistake by that. Once again."
"Isn’t it possible to restore it?"
"No. As the Armenian saying goes, ‘the train has already left the
station’. We can only acknowledge the painful fact that it does not
belong to us anymore."
Mr. Lazarian feels deeply sorry for the loss of this original
tribune-pedestal. By the way, it’s worth mentioning that over the last
several years, six comptetitions have been conducted to find a new
design, statue, or monument to replace the pedestal, all of which have
been rejected.
It’s interesting and somehow understandable that the question of the
pedestal is also a concern for the chief architect of Yerevan, Samvel
Danielyan as well: "It is one of our architectural masterpieces." He
believes that it is necessary to find a way to make it visible for the
public and for future generations.
The rumor mill often claims that the granite stones of the square’s
pedestal today decorate the palace of one Armenia’s oligarchs. This is
not true. We managed to find the pedestal, or to be more precise, huge
pieces of it. One might say that the idea for this story was born from
this very "discovery."
We found the stones in Charbakh, on the outskirts of Yerevan, on the
premises of a storehouse next to the piano factory. In the past, this
territory was one of the bases of the Yerevan city administration. Now
it belongs to the Apaven trucking industry company, the workers of
which are the ones who take care of the stones, making sure that they
remain untouched.
A part of the pedestal stones are covered. The rest are left
outside, piled on top of each other. It is possible that nothing can
happen to huge granite stones, but bricklayers say that long exposure
to snow, ice, water, and sun can make the granite layers crack and
become damaged. In any case, it seems that no one needs these
bas-reliefs anymore.
* It wasn’t like that
Of all the officials we consulted, only Samvel Danielyan was able to
clearly tell us where the pedestal stones were. Although, he assured
us that they all are stored safely, under protective cover. This is
true of only some of the stones.
Mr. Danielyan also informed us that the dismantled stones of the
historic building of Yerevan’s City Council from the 19th century are
also stored under cover. Unfortunately this is not true. The stones
from this historical building are at the same premises, but not only
are they not covered, they are piled in such a way that to call it
storage is an insult to storage.
Moreover, if they ever wanted to reconstruct the building of the
City Council, one does not have to be a professional to realize that
these stones that are haphazardly piled on top of each other are no
longer useful. Meanwhile, there are plans to reconstruct the building.
* "20th century Yerevan; 21st century not Yerevan"
A poster with the words, "20th century Yerevan; 21st century not
Yerevan," was placed on a wall of an old, three-story house on 1/4
Abovian Street. More than two years ago, a group of young people and
human-rights activists protested the destruction of historical
buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries for the sake of
constructing new business and residential buildings. The architect of
this already-destroyed three-story building from 1914 was Mehrabian.
In the pre-Soviet years, this house belonged to one of the wealthiest
men in Yerevan, Gabriel Gabrielian. Now on the site of house is the
construction of a building, part of the new Northern Avenue. At that
time, representatives of the Yerevan city planning executive bureau
were saying that the house was bought by Nazareth Berberian from the
diaspora, and made assurances that the facade of the building would be
preserved.
The chief architect of Yerevan, Samvel Danielyan, stated the same
during our conversation, while the building is already almost
dismantled. In his words, the house, although being included in the
construction of Northern Avenue, is "preserved in that plan." He also
said that the rear of the new building will be slightly receding, so
that the old one will be more accentuated. The chief architect noted
that such an approach is an accepted method in the reconstruction of
historical monuments throughout the world.
Meanwhile, Marietta Gasparian, a doctor of science in architecture
and a senior lecturer at Yerevan State University of Architecture and
Construction, views the problem of historical building preservation
differently. In particular, she believes that besides the facade, it
is important to preserve the overall internal integrity of the
structure, so that the term historical building really means what it
says. Coming back to the house on Abovian Street, the house of Gabriel
Gabrielian, Ms. Gasparyan had the following to say: "They promised not
to touch that house, but eventually it was destroyed. At that time
young protesters asked: do you want us to stand watch and guard the
house? I told them ‘No, they promised us, they were officials and they
promised.’ The young people said that they do not believe in their
promises. I told them then that it could not happen. But actually,
they were right."
When one compares the statements regarding this one old building, it
is hard to tell who was right. Although the developments thus far are
not very comforting. But there is still a small glimmer of hope that
in the near future, there will be a way to overcome this.
* Destroyed history
When we asked Marietta Gasparian to tell us in greater detail about
how these old buildings were turning into phantoms, especially for the
younger generation, she said:
"We have many historical buildings but I’ll tell you about the ones
that have been destroyed just recently. The most valuable of them from
a historical point of view (let alone its artistic value) was the
Janpoladyan Theater, where almost all the famous people of the 19th
and the beginning of the 20th century in Armenia performed — Hasmik,
Zarifyan, Abelyan, and others. It is the building of the Officers Home
on Vazgen Sargsyan Street, not far from Republic Square.
"If you remember, there were two buildings. One was Gilanyan’s
lemonade factory and house [a little bit up the street from the
Central Bank in the direction of Republic Square ]. The other one was
the Janpoladyan Theater, which had historical and cultural value. [On
the other side of the road] was the other valuable building. The
building, which they used to call the Parliament building, was
destroyed in the seventies, where the Musical Comedy Theater is now.
"As for the Janpoladyan Theater, we have to mention that even
Komitas had performed there. Moreover, before the reconstruction,
after which it became the theater, it was a school, where Khachatur
Abovyan lived and worked.
"Before that, two other historic buildings were destroyed too. In
2002 they destroyed the building of the City Council, where the
Congress Hotel is now. The destruction of the City Council building
distorted Shahumian Square, where prior to the removal of the building
it was a very beautiful early-20th-century square. Buniatyan, who was
the first chief architect during the Soviet years, had worked
diligently to preserve the ensemble of the square. He planned and
constructed the Sevan Hotel building, keeping in mind this idea. And
now they have destroyed that hotel as well. Lately, they have
destroyed a building of national value, which once was the building of
the Council of Ministers, earlier the Council of People’s Commissars,
earlier the house of the Yerevan governor, and in recent times the
Diaspora Committee. They destroyed it all from the inside, with all
the furnaces and inner structure, keeping only the outer walls, as if
they have preserved a historical building. But, if you want to say
that [1919 prime minister] Khatisian, [founder of the Armenian
republic] Aram Manukian, [Soviet-era leader] Aleksander Miasnikian
worked in that building, the question remains: where did they worked,
when only the facade is preserved?
"By the way, it is important to note that our problem is also the
architects’ problem, most of whom don’t feel real love for their
nation and history."
The president of the Armenian Architects Union, Mkrtich Minasyan also states:
"I just want to state, that the attitude we demonstrate is certainly
not convincing. We must be able to preserve the 19th century, which
cannot and does not hinder the big projects of city planning.
Certainly, we have to preserve them, within the limits of possibility,
because it is our history."
"Excuse me, but haven’t we already destroyed them?"
"You know, in this period those monuments which were on the
historical monument list, which was established in 1991, unfortunately
were declared no longer valid and the excuse was that they had not
been reaffirmed. It was during this time period that we destroyed much
of what we had left."
The uncertain status, in which the list of historical monuments was
left and the irreversible consequences of that situation, is also an
interesting problem.
On the intersection of Abovian and Arami streets, there is a
building that for about 10 years has been known as SIL Plaza. It is a
late-19th-century building. It serves as graphic evidence of how a
wealthy businessperson (in this case Khachatur Sukiassian, member of
parliament and owner of the SIL Group) should act toward the buildings
representing the history of his own city. The original beauty of the
building has been preserved, and at the same time, it is a vibrant
commercial hub.
To be continued.
************************************** *************************************
7. From Armenia, in brief
* A handful of soil
Last week the Armenian Reporter ran a story that was originally
published in Novoye Vremya about two construction sites in Yerevan.
One of them involved a six-meter-deep pit by the Opera garden, with
owners and plans unknown.
The Public Ecological Coalition, which says it includes 32
environmental organizations and other nongovernmental organizations,
held a protest meeting at the site on July 26.
Garine Danielyan, director of the Association for Sustainable Human
Development and former minister of nature protection, told protesters
that city officials had said they were going to refill the pit.
* Foreign Minister Oskanian in Georgia
Vartan Oskanian, Armenia’s foreign minister, left for a three-day
working visit to Georgia on July 25. There he met with his Georgian
counterpart, Gela Bezhuashvili. The two ministers discussed political,
economic, and cultural cooperation between the two countries. The
talks covered regional problems, partnership in international
organizations, and relations with neighboring countries. Mr. Oskanian
brought to the attention of Mr. Bezhuashvili the arrests of Armenian
citizens by Georgian law-enforcement authorities at the
Georgian-Armenian border. They also discussed the outstanding issue of
the delimitation of the Armenian-Georgian border. Mr. Oskanian spoke
about democracy in Karabakh and the current status of the peace
process. Mr. Bezhuashvili updated his interlocutor on Georgia’s
position with regard to the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict and the
possibility of bringing the issue of South Ossetia to the
international arena.
Mr. Oskanian also met with the Prime Minister of Adjaria, Levan
Varshalomidze. They discussed enhancing economic cooperation between
Armenia and Adjaria. According to Arminfo, an Armenian consulate may
be established in Batumi. Mr. Oskanian noted that according to data
provided by Georgia, more than 20,000 citizens of Armenia vacation in
Batumi every year.
The foreign minister also paid a visit to the Holy Saviour Armenian
Church and met with the spiritual leader of Adjarian Armenians, Father
Giragos Davidian. Following these meetings, on July 28, the minister
will travel to Javakhk where he will meet with leaders of the Armenian
community in Akhakalak and with the Armenian member of Georgia’s
parliament. He will also visit the Holy Cross Armenian Church and meet
with the spiritual leader of Javakhk Armenians, Father Babken Salbian.
Later that same day he will travel to Lori province in Armenia to meet
with several foreign ambassadors based in Tbilisi, as well as
representatives of international organizations operating in Georgia.
The visit was organized by Armenian Ambassador to Georgia Hrach
Silvanyan. The delegation will tour state establishments, cultural
centers, and industrial enterprises in Lori as part of the visit.
* Iran’s foreign minister in Armenia
During a working visit to Yerevan, Manouchehr Mottaki, foreign
minister of Iran, met with Prime Minister Serge Sargsian. Mr. Mottaki
stated that Iran is ready to assist in the negotiations between
Armenia and Azerbaijan with regard to the Karabakh conflict. According
to the minister, Iran believes that the settlement of the Karabakh
conflict will contribute to regional stability and steady development
of the region in general.
Mr. Sargsian acknowledged that Armenia has always appreciated Iran’s
role in the process of establishing peace and stability in the region.
According to a representative of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, "Iran
recognizing the sovereignty of Azerbaijan, welcomes the process of
constructive negotiations, especially the meeting of the presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan and if necessary, is ready to assist in
negotiations on the conflict settlement in Nagorno Karabakh."
* Prime Minister, did you order a cab?
New licensing regulations due to take effect on August 1 would require
taxi companies and independent taxi drivers to pay an annual state
duty of 200,000 ($590 USD) for each of their cabs. The rules caused an
angry protest outside the government building in downtown Yerevan on
Thursday, July 26. The rule bans taxis that are more than 10 years
old. The state duty is prohibitively high for many independent
drivers, many of whom also have older vehicles. Dozens of taxis for
two consecutive days caused traffic to come to a standstill at
Republic Square while traffic police tried in vain to keep them from
entering the square. The protest took place just opposite Prime
Minister Serge Sargsian’s office and coincided with the weekly session
of the cabinet.
Several of the protesters were received by Manuk Topuzian, the chief
of staff, who assured them that the government will in fact delay the
enforcement of the regulation. According to RFE/RL, one of the drivers
said, "We were told that they will postpone it for six months. But we
want it to be postponed for at least one and a half years." A similar
protest of taxi drivers and companies took place in Shirak province in
the city of Gyumri last week regarding the same regulation.
* Pyunik 2 — Derry City 0
Photo caption: Playing in Yerevan, Armenia’s Pyunik soccer club
defeated Ireland’s Derry City 2–0 in the UEFA Champions’ League.
***************************************** **********************************
8. Commentary: Information is power: Armenia’s changing information culture
by Eleeza V. Agopian
In the four years since Armenia passed its freedom of information law,
a palpable change in government culture has emerged. Officials have
become more responsive to requests for information, if not always
forthcoming. So how is it that one law has caused such a significant
change?
An unrelenting effort and willingness to stand up for what’s right
is usually what will get your cause noticed. Shoushan Doydoyan,
director of the Freedom of Information Center of Armenia, refused to
give up.
Ms. Doydoyan, who is also a professor of media law and ethics at
Yerevan State University, was one of the primary forces behind the
push for the law. Since that time, FOICA has successfully sued on
several occasions to gain access to information for Armenian
journalists and citizens who’ve been denied that right. In 2006, FOICA
brought seven cases to court. All seven were decided in its favor.
Armenia’s freedom of information law was approved in September 2003
and went into effect in November 2003. Prior to this, Ms. Doydoyan
said, journalists had no legal right to information. Since then, she’s
seen the culture of information access in the government change. More
information is being made available via the Internet, to which
journalists have ready access. Few Armenians have Internet access at
home, but citizens who want direct access to information can use
Internet cafés, which are widespread.
Are local government bodies as responsive to journalists’ inquiries
as the central government in Yerevan has become? No.
The biggest challenge has been to open the lines of communication
with local governments, which often have little money and lack the
technology to maintain their own records, let alone provide them in an
equitable and open way to the public.
But, by the same token, journalists are not always willing to ask
challenging questions. Sometimes they want to maintain good relations
and access. Sometimes they think they have the answers already.
Thus, while complaints continue to abound about Armenian officials’
unwillingness to be open with the media, Ms. Doydoyan said that is
largely the result of people who are unwilling to ask questions or are
unaware of the power of the freedom of information law. "We need to
use the laws and we need to use them actively, without fear," she
said.
To promote the law the FOICA holds regular training sessions and
provides literature. It also publishes a blacklist of officials it
believes to be in violation of the freedom of information law. "They
get angry. They call. They fight. We tell them if they think they’ve
been wronged then file a lawsuit, but they never do," Ms. Doydoyan
said.
Ms. Doydoyan agreed there also needs to be more professional
training for journalists. Reporters are often unwilling to investigate
beyond what is reported to them in press conferences. "They take the
easy path," she said. "They copy and paste whatever officials say.
They don’t request documents. Journalists need to be more
questioning."
For Armenia’s mass media to continue to develop — indeed for it to
influence the strength of Armenia’s civil society — there needs to be
a greater investment in long-term professional training and awareness.
Meanwhile, the tools, such as an enforceable law on freedom of
information, are there.
***
Eleeza Agopian, a graduate student at Georgetown University, is in
Armenia this summer to study electronic media. Research for this
article was supported in part by a fellowship from IREX (International
Research & Exchanges Board) with funds provided by the United States
Department of State through the Title VIII Program and the IREX
Scholar Support Fund. Neither of these organizations are responsible
for the views expressed herein.
***************************************** **********************************
9. Commentary: The nobility of Henry Morgenthau
* The virtues that guided his career were planted in his youth
by Kay Mouradian
In my heart, I — along with many Armenians throughout the world —
honor Henry Morgenthau, the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
from 1913 to 1916. Mr. Morgenthau championed and alerted the world to
the sufferings of Turkish-Armenians in 1915. A charismatic and wealthy
man with a degree in law, he lived by ethical principles planted as
seeds during his younger years.
At age 14 he took seriously his confirmation at temple and visited
churches of all denominations, making abstracts of sermons by famous
pulpit orators of the day, especially Congregationalists Henry Ward
Beecher and Richard Storrs. At the time Ralph Waldo Emerson was
leading American thought; young Henry Morgenthau also read the works
of Horace Greeley and William Bryant. He was learning how human great
men really are.
In the Morgenthau home at the time was a boarder, a hunchbacked
Quaker doctor, who was softened instead of embittered by his
affliction. He and Henry had become fast friends. Young Henry listened
to the noble doctor’s long talks and loved the inspirational 1762 book
by William Penn, No Cross No Crown, which the doctor had given him.
That book prompted young Henry to compose 24 rules of action: a
tabulation of virtues he wished to acquire, and vices he needed to
avoid. He made a chart and every night marked down his breaches of the
day. Like an athlete who practices hours to perfect his skills, Henry
Morgenthau loved focusing and demanding his will in victory over those
vices. That’s how he built his moral muscles as a young man.
He titled his chart, "Tabulating virtues to be acquired and vices to
be avoided." Here are the entries:
* Do not use any profane words.
* Do not eat much sweet food as it darkens the mind.
* Always speak the truth.
* Spend nothing unnecessarily, for if you save when young, you can
spend when old.
* Never be idle as it will cause you to think of wrong things.
* Talk little, but think much.
* Study daily, or else your knowledge will not improve.
* Keep your own secrets, for if you do not keep them, no one will
keep them for you.
* Make few promises, but if you make any, fulfill them.
* Never speak evil of anyone.
* Work for your employer as though it was for yourself.
* Deal fairly and honestly with your fellow clerks, but be not too intimate.
* Be not inquisitive.
* Neither borrow nor lend if avoidable.
* Trust none too much, but be not distrustful.
* Be not vain, for vanity is the destruction of men.
* Be grateful for the smallest favor.
* Never leave for tomorrow what can be done today.
* Drink no kind of intoxicating liquor nor smoke any weed.
* Never play at any game of chance.
* Conquer temptation though it be ever so powerful.
* Keep yourself clean, as cleanliness is next to godliness.
* Wonder not at the construction of man, but use your time in
improving yourself.
* In deciding any doubts in the meaning of above maxims, let
conscience decide.
I’ve read this chart often throughout my research on this great man,
and when I look at the quality of the virtues he charted, I’m still
astonished that a boy of 14 would take such deep interest in
developing his moral muscles, in preference to playing football or
searching out pretty girls in school. Those moral muscles he developed
and practiced as a teenager built within him an inner strength and a
powerful sense of honesty which eventually led to the world’s
recognition of Mr. Morgenthau as a wealthy entrepreneur, a diplomat
extraordinaire, and a notable humanitarian.
I wonder if it is even possible in today’s celebrity-driven society
to encourage our young Armenian boys and girls to follow Henry
Morgenthau’s conscious preparation for living an honorable life, and
ask them to design similar charts of their own. If they did, and
faithfully took note of their daily breaches and tried to overcome
them, would they then grow into the likes of Henry Morgenthau, and
become great men and women, with hearts filled with goodness and
humanity?
* His character
In researching the many articles written by Ambassador Henry
Morgenthau, one in particular draws my attention. In the article
titled "Charting on Success," he affirmed that "character is the
magnet of opportunity."
Opportunity knocks at everybody’s door, Mr. Morgenthau said, but it
must be won by hard work, under the guidance of a strong will. He felt
his own financial success was due to his early boyhood training, when
he realized the overwhelming importance of developing his character so
he would be strong and ready to grasp opportunities as they came his
way.
Mr. Morgenthau illustrated this by comparing life (charmingly) to a
game of football. In the game of life and in the game of business, he
said, moral qualities of character take the place of the physical
qualities required in football. Instead of the eye quick to perceive
the football in its flight, business requires an inner vision that can
be trained by continuous observation and reflection on how things are
done and why. Instead of nerves being quick to direct the hand to
grasp the ball, business requires decisions of character that can be
formed by steadfast devotion to principles of action. And instead of
the body being strong to carry the ball down the field, business
requires an iron resolution of will that enables a man to see his
proposition through to the finish in the face of all obstacles.
From the outset of his business career — when as an errand boy in a
lawyer’s office, young Morgenthau observed employees doing only what
they were paid for and giving not an ounce of energy or a minute of
time beyond — Morgenthau hated the idea of becoming a mere "clock
clerk"; he gave all of himself and held back nothing. At age 16 he
became a clerk in that law office and discovered his employer’s
accounts were shamefully neglected. Without informing his employer, he
arranged a regular system of accounts, and at the end of the year
showed his grateful employer what was earned and what amounts were
still due.
This kind of conscientious work created an opportunity four years
later, leading to his first opening to the business world. One of the
firm’s clients was having a problem with a business partner. Henry
Morgenthau, at age 20, straightened out the problem and the company’s
client gave young Henry one share of company stock as payment. As the
company became more successful, problems of control occurred between
the president and the stockholders. The stockholders, because of their
mistrust of one another, could not come to an agreement. Mr.
Morgenthau suggested they give their proxies to one man who would
faithfully represent the interests of all against the president. The
stockholders, who held 70 percent of the company’s stock, unanimously
gave their proxies to the 20-year-old Henry Morgenthau.
When the president heard of the action taken, he, too, gave his
proxy to Mr. Morgenthau. They all recognized Mr. Morgenthau’s business
acumen; but the primary reason for yielding their say was their
respect for his character, which Mr. Morgenthau attributed to his
painstaking exercise of developing the moral qualities of manhood in
his early teenage years.
Success in business, he said, is won with a clear brain, steadfast
courage, and sustained energy. Those qualities are the magnets that
attract opportunity, and enable man to recognize opportunity when it
appears. The essence of those qualities is self-control, and
leadership comes to the man who first leads himself, controls his own
unruly spirit, and proves that he can guide others by first proving he
can guide himself.
Henry Morgenthau said, "The man who rules himself shall rule
others." Once that’s accomplished, success would merely become a
matter of time, because the self-ruled individual would now be
equipped to recognize and grasp opportunity with calm energy and
intelligence.
***
Kay Mouradian, Ed.D., professor emeritus of health and physical
education for Los Angeles City Colleges, is the author of A Gift in
the Sunlight: An Armenian Story. In researching that novel, she spent
time in the Morgenthau archive of the FDR Library in Hyde Park, N.Y.,
where she was introduced to the materials used for this essay.
****************************************** *********************************
10. Commentary: A Red Dog with fleas
* How should artists portray the Genocide?
by Anoush Ter Taulian
Do authors have a responsibility to truthfully portray a culture? I
know authors do have artistic license and freedom of speech; but it
disturbs me when I see the creation of unrealistic or negative images
of Armenians.
For instance, in the movie Ararat, Atom Egoyan showed an Armenian
boy having an affair with his own stepsister, and an Armenian woman
lecturer abruptly leaving her classroom audience to talk with her
son’s girlfriend. Each in its own way is a misrepresentation of what I
and many others know to be the norm among Armenians. And yet these
film images are the way numerous people received their first
introduction to Armenians.
Believe it or not, countless people have never met or even heard of
Armenians. So what is the purpose of presenting these negative — and
unrepresentative — images of Armenians to an otherwise ignorant
public?
The question took on special meaning for me after watching a staged
reading of Red Dog Howls, a play by Alexander Denelaris, with an
outstanding cast. The play ends (spoiler ahead, incidentally) with a
grandson killing his Armenian grandmother, who is consumed with guilt
and pain because during the Armenian Genocide the Turks said they
would spare her son if (grip yourself) she ate the body of her
deceased daughter.
The grandson (who is shortly to embark on fatherhood himself) kills
his grandmother because she is afraid of committing suicide. His
action is supposedly meant to help the grandmother. But how many
Armenian grandmothers would perpetuate their own pain by placing such
a heavy burden of guilt on their grandson? How many Armenian grandsons
would actually kill their grandmothers? Again, the near universal,
real-world experience of Armenian grandmothers is that they are
concerned with the welfare of their grandchildren, and want to give
subsequent generations a clean slate.
I’ve interviewed many 1915 Armenian Genocide survivors, and during
the nine years I was a volunteer in the Artsakh liberation army
(1992-2001), I saw at first hand the horrors of the Azeri attacks (in
Artsakh they call Azeris "Turks"). I saw Armenians picking up their
relatives’ body parts on the street after a bombing. I heard that in
the village of Mahara, Azeris actually did force Armenians to eat
their dead family members. I interviewed a 65-year-old woman who had
her fingernails pried off and was raped.
But what came through in all of these interviews — again, with real
people, retelling real experiences — was the overwhelming spiritual
and emotional strength of the interview subjects. Whatever degrading
horrors they had lived through, their commitment to family transcended
it all.
So it’s ironic to me that the playwright of Red Dog Howls considers
as a tribute to his own grandmother this story he has created about a
disempowered grandmother who involves her grandson in a terrible act
of murder.
Obviously, there were indeed cases among those who endured the
Genocide of Armenians who took their own lives rather than be
subjected to Turkish torture. There were those who went insane after
viewing Turkish cruelty, because they could not bare the pain of
degradation.
But the purpose of a work of art is not to simply elicit a shocked
gasp from the audience. Rather, a good work of art conveys the larger
story behind the episode it depicts. A more truthful way of portraying
the Genocide would not flinch from showing the horrors of the period,
but at the same time it would accurately depict the larger "culture"
that endured — and survived — those horrors.
Lily Thomassian’s play, Let the Rocks Speak, is one such work: the
true story of an Armenian man who during the 1915 Genocide was
sexually violated by Turks in front of his family. He comes to America
and raises his daughter; when he falls into despair and wants to
commit suicide, his wife stops him. But when his wife eventually dies,
the man does take his own life. What he doesn’t do is implicate the
next generation in his act of self-destruction. It seems to me that
even in its extremity, this is a more truthful portrayal of a genuine
Armenian social value, where parents will endure and even exact from
themselves dreadful things, if it means protecting their children or
grandchildren from pain.
I’m confident that many would agree that this quality of character
is something that distinguishes the Armenian culture from many others.
Certainly, to willfully place a burden of pain and guilt on one’s
offspring, as occurs in Red Dog Howls, is not consistent with quality
of character. And so it is inconsistent, too, with reality.
In earlier times, when fewer people knew about the Armenian
Genocide, Armenians wrote more political plays about the subject —
like William Saroyan’s The Armenians, where Armenians discuss their
hope for regaining their homeland, or William Rolleri and Anna
Antaramian’s The Armenian Question, a dramatic rendering of a trial
arguing against the whole idea of genocide.
But now more people know about the Genocide; even The New York Times
feels obliged to acknowledge it, and the United Nations is called to
account when it flinches from mentioning the Armenian experience in an
exhibit about genocide in Rwanda. Today, plays like Beast on the Moon
by Robert Kalinoski address how the events of 1915 affected the
relationships of the survivors. And those stories that deal with
relations among family generations usually revolve around the survival
of grandmothers, since many of the men were killed at the beginning of
the Genocide.
Those women who endured the horrors of that time had in the main led
sheltered lives, protected by their families, when they were suddenly
thrust into the nightmare world of Turkish sadism. Those Armenian
women endured torture, rape, enslavement, medical experimentation,
starvation, and constant degradation in an environment where their
"crime" was simply being Armenian. Yet these women stood up to the
sadists, did what they had to do to survive, and ensured the survival
of the Armenian nation. Most Genocide survivors bound their wounds and
moved on to a greater future. Sadly, some of them never talked about
what they went through, in order to spare their families and
themselves further suffering; perhaps they lost a chance to heal
through talking about their pain. Others, however, did make sure that
their descendants knew about their heroic stories of survival.
And that has brought us to the present impasse. For because of these
brave witnesses and their proud descendants, the Armenian Genocide is
better known today than ever before. But such notoriety is a
double-edged sword. The story of the Genocide has become raw material
for all manner of artists, and for every excellent work of art to
derive from it, you can be sure that there will be a greater number
which misfire, or which misrepresent the real record of the Genocide.
That places a greater burden on the descendants of the witnesses —
whose numbers are thinning and soon will be gone altogether. It’s up
to us to preserve the memory of what those witnesses really were like.
The Armenian grandmothers I’ve known were a tough bunch, whose
greatest desire was to pass on only good things to subsequent
generations, and shield us from experiencing the evils they had known.
Those elder souls live in our hearts and our genetic memories. Their
stories deserve to be told with honor, sensitivity, and truthfulness
— and not to be served up like a horror show, intended to elicit a
gasp of revulsion from a jaded audience.
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11. Editorial: No doldrums
Those of us who plan community activities know better than to schedule
a routine meeting or lecture for the summer months. No, community life
does not take a vacation. On the contrary, it livens up and becomes so
active that there’s no time for the mundane. There’s so much going on
that’s extraordinary and wonderful.
* Of course, there are church and community picnics. How many of us
arrange to be at not only our own community picnic, but also those of
nearby communities? Some good khorovadz, sarma, lively music, sweaty
line dancing, and companionship are worth the extra commute.
What’s the farthest you’ve traveled for an Armenian community picnic?
In California, the picnic concept has evolved into the art walk. As
we report in this week’s Arts & Culture Section, the picnic was on the
streets of Little Armenia, accompanied by artwork showcased in
neighborhood stores and eateries. But the essential music and line
dancing was definitely there!
* It’s not summer without summer camp. Summer is the season for
first-time campers — some showing how much they miss mom, some hiding
it, all learning, making friends, and growing up. Summer is the season
for soccer and softball and hoops and canoeing and always,
pinky-to-pinky, dancing. Summer is the season for missing the kids and
for relishing a tiny bit of peace and quiet at home in their absence.
What’s your favorite summer camp story?
* Summer is also internship season. It’s when the next generation of
active Armenians congregates in Washington, in New York City, and in
Yerevan to get started off on successful careers through hands-on work
experience, but also to bond with fellow Armenians. Rare is the former
intern who, years later, does not count fellow former interns among
his or her best friends.
Have you kept in touch with your fellow internship alumni?
The major internship programs report having more applicants this
year than they could accommodate. Meanwhile, a new kind of work-life
immersion experience has emerged through Birthright Armenia: an
opportunity to spend an extended period of time in Armenia doing good
work and bonding not only with fellow volunteers but also with host
families. Participants say it’s an amazing experience.
* Summer is a time for family vacations as well. In the old days,
East Coast Armenian families would find each other in the Catskills.
Nowadays, it’s hard for an Armenian-American to walk down a
thoroughfare in Yerevan on a summer evening and not run into old
friends.
Do you have a favorite vacation story from Armenia?
* And finally, summer is time to catch up on our reading. Did you
stand in line for the final Harry Potter book? Did you pick up Antonia
Arslan’s Skylark Farm, "now a major motion picture"? What has been
your favorite book of the summer so far?
Write to us at [email protected], let us know, and we’ll let you
know what others are reading.
Use plenty of sunscreen and enjoy every minute of the summer!
***************************************** **********************************
12. Editorial: For a plurality of voices
In the bad old days of the Cold War, the U.S. government reached out
by radio to people living behind the Iron Curtain. People who wanted
an alternative to the news in Pravda would listen clandestinely to the
broadcasts of Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe.
Times have changed. The broadcasts continue. But in Armenia, they
are not clandestine. Far from it, they have been carried for many
years now by state-owned Public Radio. In addition, they appear online
and on private radio stations as well.
Radio Liberty’s news programming is prepared five days a week by a
well-trained team of journalists and editors. They generally exhibit
good judgment in their choice of topics to cover — social phenomena
and popular protests as well as economic developments and government
initiatives — and they are usually meticulous in giving voice to the
various parties involved in any controversy.
Earlier this month, Armenia’s parliament, in special session,
considered a pair of bills proposed by the government that would have
taken Radio Liberty off Public Radio and imposed a stiff fee on
private broadcasters that chose to air Armenian editions of foreign
programs — such as Radio Liberty and the Voice of America, which is
broadcast by Armenia TV, our affiliate. The bills failed to pass.
Now the Public Broadcasting Commission has decided on its own to
take Radio Liberty off Public Radio. The news program can, however,
continue to be broadcast on private radio stations, including those
that reach every corner of Armenia.
There can be legitimate debate about whether it is appropriate for
Armenia’s state-owned broadcaster to distribute programming sponsored
by a foreign government.
Nonetheless, Armenia has a profound interest in maintaining a
plurality of voices, a multiplicity of reliable news sources. Beyond
the upcoming presidential elections, there’s Armenia’s continued
economic growth, the Karabakh conflict, and Armenia’s role in the
region; these and other important ongoing developments require
sustained fact-finding and reporting.
Radio Liberty is one of the serious and popular sources of news
programming in Armenia. It should continue to be available across
Armenia — if not on Public Radio, then on a privately held station or
stations.
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