Month: December 2008

OBAMA GETS GUIDELINES ON GENOCIDE
James Reinl

The National
1/FOREIGN/136500802/1002
Dec 10 2008
United Arab Emirates

NEW YORK // A new report focused on preventing genocide can guide
the incoming Obama administration on tackling mass atrocities in
such trouble spots as Darfur and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
former senior US officials say.

A document compiled by a group that includes Madeleine Albright, the
former US secretary of state, urges Barack Obama, the president-elect,
to establish a genocide early warning system and not to shirk from
using military force to prevent atrocities.

"There are a broad range of foreign policy options between standing
aside and ordering in the marines," Ms Albright told reporters at UN
headquarters in New York.

"The more diligent we are in detecting and addressing potential
problems the more favourable our options will be."

The report draws from experiences gained in Rwanda and Bosnia, where
atrocities occurred while Ms Albright served under Bill Clinton,
while pointing towards current crises in Darfur and the DRC.

Omar al Bashir, Sudan’s president, faces allegations of instructing
his forces to wipe out ethnic groups in the western Darfur region,
where 300,000 people have died since Feb 2003.

Mr Obama’s transitional team has welcomed the 147-page report,
titled ‘Preventing Genocide: A Blueprint for US Policymakers’. The
president-elect has already spoken of "setting up a no-fly zone at
relatively little cost" to prevent Sudan’s air force from bombing
villages.

Several Obama appointees have taken hardline positions on Darfur,
including Susan Rice, the UN ambassador-designate, and Hillary Clinton,
who has been nominated as secretary of state.

Ms Albright was joined by her colleague from the Genocide Prevention
Task Force, William Cohen, the US defence secretary under Mr Clinton,
to launch the report on the 60th anniversary of the UN Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The anniversary was also marked by a public letter addressed to world
leaders and signed by 24 survivors of the Holocaust and mass-slaughters
in Armenia, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Sudan.

The letter was co-ordinated by the Genocide Prevention Project and
was released alongside a watch list of countries at risk of atrocities.

"The best way to stop genocide is to prevent it from happening,"
said Jill Savitt, the project’s executive director. "We need a new
framework, one focused on working, aggressively and proactively, to
avert mass atrocities at the earliest stages – before the killing on
a mass scale begins."

The list highlights 33 nations where ethnic cleansing, genocide
and other war crimes are taking place or likely to occur. Those at
greatest risk are Sudan, Myanmar, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UN has asked for a European Union "bridging force" to bolster
the struggling 17,000-strong blue helmet deployment, but EU ministers
are split about how to respond.

The UN and major nations were widely criticised for failing to act
when ethnic rivalries spilt over into bloodshed in Rwanda in 1994
and Kosovo the following year.

Ms Albright said failure in Rwanda "weighs very heavily" on the
conscience of contemporary statesmen, but added that poor data about
a rapidly emerging crisis impeded decision-makers.

She recommends that Mr Obama establish a task force to meet
regularly and monitor potential genocide hot spots in advance of
bloodletting. The report also recommends that Congress provide US$250
million (Dh918m), "less than a dollar for every American each year",
for rapid use to deter genocide anywhere in the world.

Navi Pillay, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she
supported "systematic approaches and plans to prevent genocide"
while scouring for "early warning signs" to predict violent outbreaks.

Mr Cohen warned that mankind was witnessing an "era of great disorder"
and advised the US and friendly powers to tackle genocide and other
atrocities that spawn failed states and terrorist breeding grounds.

But military chiefs remain loath to commit troops to tackle overseas
atrocities unless they can ensure the mission is "well-defined,
achievable, desirable… and, most importantly, has an exit strategy",
he said.

ORANGE COUNTY EYE SURGEON TEACHES EYE TRANSPLANT PROCEDURE IN FORMER SOVIET UNION, HELPS TO ESTABLISH ARMENIA’S FIRST EYE TISSUE BANK

International Business Times
hid=889889
Dec 10 2008
NY

LAGUNA HILLS, CA — (Marketwire) — 12/10/08 — Dr. John Hovanesian
of Orange County-basedHarvard Eye Associatesvisited the Republic of
Armenia in mid-November to establish the country’sfirst eye tissue
bank and to teach local cornea specialists the surgicaltechnique for
Descemet-stripping endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK). As a volunteer
ofthe Armenian EyeCare Project,the physician also performed numerous
surgeries for the country’sunderserved.

Dr.Hovanesian worked with a team of local surgeons headed by
AnnaHovakimyan in Yerevan — Armenia’s capital. Hovakimyan’s
fellowship wassponsored by Armenian EyeCare, an Orange County-based
nonprofitorganization started by Harvard Eye Associates founder
RogerOhanesian in 1992.

The relatively new DSEK technique allows surgeons to remove a
much smaller portion of thepatient’s cornea compared with older
methods of transplantation. Theequipment — valued at $100,000 —
was underwritten by Armenian EyeCareboard members, Harvard Eye
Associates, Baush and Lomb, Moria Inc. and otherlocal supporters of
the project. Dr. Hovanesian traveled to Armenia at hisown expense.

Because there are so many chemical injuries and similar types of
eyeproblems in Armenia, the Armenian EyeCare paved the way for a
local tissuebank in Armenia shortly after the fall of the Soviet
Union. After thelegal support system was established several years
later, Armenian EyeCaresponsored an Armenian surgeon to complete a
fellowship in eye banking.

"The procedure has a steep learning curve," Dr. Hovanesian said,
"but theresults are well worth the effort, especially for Armenia’s
populationsuffering from a clouded cornea from injury or disease." He
said thatdistance and poverty often make it difficult for patients
to get to thecapital city for follow-up care after a traditional
full-thickness cornealtransplant. DSEK, which is associated with
a significantly lowerpost-operative burden of care compared with a
full-thickness cornealtransplant, was a perfect fit.

Dr. Hovanesian performed several surgeries over the course of his
four-dayvisit last month, but a sixteen year-old girl named Ani
Krikorian touchedhim most deeply. Ani (Dr. Hovanesian has a two-year
old named Ani) had achemical injury with household bleach to both eyes
at age two and has nothad vision for much of her life. Dr. Hovanesian
performed the DSEKprocedure on Ani last month and the results so far
point to full recoveryand restoration of vision.

ARMENIAN-BULGARIAN BUSINESS FORUM IN SOFIA

Panorama.am
21:39 09/12/2008

Tomorrow the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan leaves for Sofia on
two-day working visit. The President will have a separate meeting
with his Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Prvanov, reported the press
service of the President’s Administration.

It is planned to sign a report on organizing Bulgarian Culture Days
in Armenia in 2009 and Armenian Culture Days in Bulgaria in 2010, etc.

By the participation of the Presidents Armenian-Bulgarian business
forum will take place. The President of Armenia will also have a few
other meeting with the high ranking officials of Bulgaria.

Eurasia Partnership Foundation
Isabella Sargsyan Communications Officer
56 Zarobyan Street
Yerevan 0009, Armenia
Tel.: (374.10) 58.60.95 x 303
Fax: (374.10) 58.60.96
Skype: bekaisa

Sayat Nova Choir and Kardeþ Türküler to Perform in Yerevan December 12

Yerevan, Armenia- The Istanbul-based Sayat Nova Choir and Kardeþ Türküler
musical ensemble will perform at the Aram Khachaturyan Concert Hall in
Yerevan, Armenia at 7:00 pm on Friday, December 12. The concert is part of a
cultural exchange between Armenia and Turkey organized by Eurasia
Partnership Foundation and made possible by funding from USAID. The groups
will also perform in Vanadzor at Charles Aznavour Culture Palace on December
13.

In Yerevan Sayat Nova and Kardeþ Türküler will perform together Turkish,
Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Arabic, Gypsy and Laz songs including the
well-known Ov Hayots Ashkharh, Krunk, Bingyol, Ya Hawa, Kamancha, Medet,
Cilicia, Ella Ella, Demme and others.
 
Kardeþ Türküler came into being in 1993, as a concert project by the
Boðaziçi University Folklore Club which aimed to interpret folksongs of
peoples living in Turkey in their original languages. First they preformed
Turkish, Kurdish, Azerbaijani and Armenian songs. Later, the Kardeþ Türküler
project broadened its repertoire to include songs from other cultures such
as Laz, Georgian, Circassian, Roma, Macedonian and Alevi. The last album of
Kardeþ Türküler, "Bahar" (Spring), was released in 2005. More information on
Kardeþ Türküler can be found on their website:

The Sayat Nova Choir came into existence on April 24, 1971 under the roof of
the Holy Yerits Mangants Church. Apart from performing as a choir, to the
group also studies and interprets Armenian folk music. The Sayat Nova Choir
formed its own orchestra in 1992 and now has over 60 permanent members.
Since 2004, the choir is conducted by Melikcan Zaman, a former chorister of
the Sayat Nova Children’s and Juvenile Choir. More information on Sayat Nova
can be found on:

"This is a unique concert by a unique group. What started as a students’
volunteer exercise in the national and ethnic music of Turkey became one of
the leading bands in traditional ethnic music and dance not only in Turkey
but also outside its borders.  The concert will give its Armenian audience a
chance to experience traditional music from the many ethnic minorities that
live in Turkey and will enrich Armenia’s knowledge of Turkey today. We
believe cultural dialogue between a variety of nationalities which live in
these two countries will complement the dialogue going on between the two
countries on the official and non-official levels.," says Gevorg
Ter-Gabrielyan, Eurasia Partnership Foundation Country Director in Armenia.

The Aram Khachaturyan Music Hall is located at 46 Mashtots Avenue.  Concert
tickets are available free of charge from the Box Office of the Aram
Khachaturyan Music Hall, as well as from concert manager Arman Padaryan, by
phone at (091) 43-24-80. In Vanadzor invitation tickets are available from
organizers by phone at (0322) 2-04-88. 

Eurasia Partnership Foundation
Isabella Sargsyan Communications Officer
56 Zarobyan Street
Yerevan 0009, Armenia
Tel.: (374.10) 58.60.95 x 303
Fax: (374.10) 58.60.96
Skype: bekaisa

Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago book presentation in Yerevan

Yerevan, Armenia – Renowned Turkish journalist and historian Osman Koker
presented his book Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago at the Small Auditorium
of the American University of Armenia at 18:30 on Thursday, December 11,
2008. The presentation was made possible by the American University of
Armenia’s Extension Programs, Anadolu Kultur and the Eurasia Partnership
Foundation (EPF).

The book, named Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago: postcards from the
collection of Orlando Carlo Calumeno was issued in Turkey in 2005. The book
contains century-old Ottoman post-cards depicting different aspects of the
peaceful and, in many cases, prosperous life of the Armenian community in
the former Ottoman Empire. Through 500 postcards from the period, the album
endeavors to show, city by city and with supporting figures, how omnipresent
Armenian communities were across the Ottoman territory and their role in
society. In parallel with the book, an exhibition of the postcards called
"Sireli Yeðpayris" (My Dear Brother) was held in Istanbul and a number of
other European cities.

"In Turkey, the history of one people – the Turks – has always been taught,
as if there had never been any other people on the territory. When we speak
of Armenians, they are not described as an integral group in society but as
a source of problems. It’s to fill this void that I have decided to publish
a book." – says Mr. Koker in an interview with Agence France-Presse.

Osman Koker is founder and editor-in-chief of Birzamanlar Publications,
publishing books about Turkey’s multicultural heritage, and its vanishing.
He was born in Maraþ, and has worked for many years as a correspondent,
editor, and publisher. His work has focused on the publication of historical
subjects; between the years of 1997-2001, he was the editor of "Toplumsal
Tarih" (Social History), published by Tarih Vakfi (Foundation of History).
Throughout Turkey and in various other countries, he has made presentations
on the history of the Armenian people in Turkey.

PRESS RELEASE
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
Governmental Buiding 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Hasmik Grigoryan
Tel: +(3741) 56 01 06 ext. 105
Fax: +(3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
11 December, 2008

Hayastan All Armenian Fund Constructs New School in Spitakashen Village,
Nagorno-Karabakh

Yerevan, 11 December, 2008 – Spitakashen School is in early stage of
construction works launched by the Hayastan All Armenian Fund and sponsored
through its Toronto local committee.

The local school was constructed in 1935. With years, learning process at
school has been getting less and less attractive for the students in a
run-down building which is also being used for community events and
gatherings as well.

"I believe the new school will open a new page in the history of the
community and be a starting point for improving life in the village", said,
the Acting Executive Director of the Hayastan Fund Ara Vardanyan during his
working visit to the site.

The new school will have all necessary facilities including a ceremony hall,
boiler-house and a playground. Basement is already covered with concrete and
support walls have been erected. Around 181 million AMD worth project is
scheduled to complete in August 2009. Designed for 130 students, the school
will be ready to open its doors to students in the new academic year in
2009.

Serob, a villager, is convinced that the new school will get young people
change their minds about leaving their homes. "We are grateful to the
Hayastan Fund and our benefactors in Canada; it is not the first time the
Fund supports us. When we received water back in September, the village, as
if, revived."

"It is very important that a community of 471 people and some 110 families
have a proper school; its how we can raise and educate our children
appropriately, "says Shiraz Hayrapetyan, the school director.

###

Hayastan All Armenian Fund

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief

========================================== ======
Thursday 11 December 2008
ARMENIA: IMPRISONMENT OF SOME 80 CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS "NOT A HUMAN
RIGHTS ISSUE"

Armenia’s Foreign and Justice Ministries have denied to Forum 18 News
Service that the country’s alternative to military service is also under
military control. Karine Soudjian, who heads the Human Rights Department in
the Foreign Ministry, insisted to Forum 18 that the current Alternative
Service Law has "no contradiction" with Armenia’s international human
rights obligations, including to the Council of Europe. But the Council of
Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg says the Law "does not
provide for a genuine civilian service as the service is still managed and
supervised by the Ministry of Defence". Soudjian says the imprisonment of
some 80 Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objectors – a figure she disputes –
"is not a human rights issue". Parliamentary deputy David Harutyunyan told
Forum 18 the Law has "room for improvement" and is being discussed in two
parliamentary committees, but declined to spell out what changes are being
discussed. Jehovah’s Witnesses fear that if the system does not change, at
least a further 15 young men will face trial from January.

ARMENIA: IMPRISONMENT OF SOME 80 CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS "NOT A HUMAN
RIGHTS ISSUE"

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <;

Despite the call back in April by the Council of Europe’s Human Rights
Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg for Armenia to free all its imprisoned
conscientious objectors, those who cannot serve in the army or perform the
alternative service under military control currently being offered continue
to be arrested and sentenced, Forum 18 News Service has found. Some 80
conscientious objectors – all of them Jehovah’s Witnesses – are now
imprisoned. The current Alternative Service Law "does not provide for a
genuine civilian service as the service is still managed and supervised by
the Ministry of Defence," Hammarberg complained.

Lyova Markaryan of the Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18 from the capital
Yerevan on 10 December that they have been able to meet officials to
resolve some issues, but that "nothing is clear" about whether the
Alternative Service Law will be amended to meet Armenia’s international
commitments. He fears that if there is no change, the number of prisoners
could soon rise sharply. "Cases are underway against more than 15
individual Jehovah’s Witnesses and unless there is any change their trials
could begin as early as January."

Parliamentary deputy David Harutyunyan told Forum 18 that two
parliamentary committees – the state and law committee (which he chairs)
and the human rights committee – are "discussing ways to improve the law".
"It’s questionable whether the Law provides a civilian alternative service
or not," he told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 9 December, "but there is still
room for improvement." He blamed "misunderstandings" on both sides for the
continuing imprisonment of conscientious objectors and said a solution will
be found. He stressed that alternative service must be free of military
control, but not free of state control.

Harutyunyan refused to specify what changes to the Law or to procedures
are being discussed or any timetable for any changes.

However, Karine Soudjian, who heads the Human Rights Department in the
Foreign Ministry, insisted to Forum 18 from Yerevan on 9 December that the
current Alternative Service Law has "no contradiction" with Armenia’s
international human rights obligations, including to the Council of Europe.

As of 1 November, 78 Jehovah’s Witnesses were serving prison sentences of
between one and three years for refusing military service on grounds of
religious conscience, Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18. All had been
sentenced under Article 327, Part 1 of the Criminal Code, which punishes
evasion of the call-up to military or alternative service. The maximum
sentence under this article was increased to three years’ imprisonment in
December 2005. One other Jehovah’s Witness was serving a suspended two-year
sentence.

As of 1 November, a further two Jehovah’s Witnesses were in pre-trial
detention in Nubarashen near Yerevan: Tigran Melikyan, who was arrested on
30 July, and Grisha Ohanjanyan, who was arrested on 13 October.

Soudjian of the Foreign Ministry dismissed the information Forum 18 had
received about the number of imprisoned Jehovah’s Witness conscientious
objectors. "This is not the real figure – you have bad information." Asked
what she believes the current figure is, she said: "We haven’t any figure."
Asked why the Human Rights Department does not seek out this information,
given that a Council of Europe commitment is to free these prisoners and
introduce a fully civilian alternative service, she told Forum 18: "This is
not a human rights issue."

Unlike representatives of the Foreign Ministry, Armenia’s Justice Ministry
does admit that Jehovah’s Witnesses who cannot serve in the military on
grounds of religious conscience are in prison. However, Lana Mshetsyan,
spokesperson of the Justice Ministry, insisted to Forum 18 back in October
that the situation for the then 86 Jehovah’s Witness prisoners was
"different", saying that they were imprisoned for refusing the alternative
service being offered. She denied absolutely that the alternative service
is under military control and believes it is adequate for those who cannot
serve in the military. "So they are not ‘prisoners of conscience’ at all,"
she told Forum 18.

The number of imprisoned conscientious objectors has barely changed over
the past year. As of September 2007, a total of 82 Jehovah’s Witnesses were
in prison serving sentences or awaiting trial. As well as the hundreds of
Jehovah’s Witness prisoners in recent years, a young Molokan Pavel
Karavanov was freed from prison in 2006 after serving a sentence for
refusing military and alternative service on grounds of religious
conscience. Molokans are a Russian Protestant church, established in the
17th century and known for their pacifism. There are about 4,000 Molokans
in Armenia (see F18News 26 September 2007
< e_id=1024>).

Soudjian of the Foreign Ministry claimed to Forum 18 that the Alternative
Service Law adopted in 2003 and amended in 2004 and 2006 meets the
obligations Armenia took on itself when it joined the Council of Europe in
2001. However, the failure to free imprisoned conscientious objectors and
introduce a civilian alternative service by 2004 has drawn repeated
criticism from officials of the Council of Europe, as well as of the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The Council of Europe also criticised the length of the alternative
service (42 months compared to 24 months’ military service), a criticism
repeated by Commissioner Hammarberg in April, who described it as "far too
long".

Markaryan of the Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18 that he and his
colleagues have met officials to try to help them understand the Jehovah’s
Witnesses’ position. He said they met Deputy Defence Minister Ara Nazaryan
in late November. "He told us at the end that he understood that we want an
alternative civilian service," Markaryan reported. "At the moment officials
are listening and we believe they understand what we want. But we don’t
know what reaction there will be."

Markaryan and other Jehovah’s Witnesses insist that the alternative
service now on offer remains under military control. "This became clear
back in 2004 when 22 of our young men tried it. There has been no change in
procedures since then." The 22 abandoned the service when they saw it was
under military control and were subsequently imprisoned.

Markaryan pointed out that participants are given military record books
where they are described as soldiers, are checked up on each week by the
military and need permission from the military to go on leave. Article 14
of the Alternative Service Law says that the military organises the
alternative service call-up, while Article 13 says that individuals are
assigned to their place of work by the military. Article 18 subjects those
doing alternative service to the army’s Code of Rules. Article 21 treats
those who desert from the army and those who abandon alternative service in
exactly the same way.

However, Markaryan does note two areas of progress. He said that at a
meeting in spring 2008 with Jehovah’s Witnesses, Deputy Prosecutor General,
Aram Tamazyan, said that those awaiting trial on charges of refusing
military and alternative service would no longer be held in pre-trial
detention. They would instead only be detained in the courtroom if found
guilty. "This is only half-being implemented – it seems not all local
prosecutors know about this," Markaryan told Forum 18. "But it is some
improvement."

Tamazyan confirmed that he had met the Jehovah’s Witnesses to discuss the
issue of pre-trial detention. But he insisted to Forum 18 on 10 December
that those awaiting trial for refusing military and alternative service are
treated the same regardless of which region of the country they live in. He
declined to discuss the two current cases where Jehovah’s Witnesses are
being held in pre-trial detention, one of them for more than four months.

Markaryan also noted that the previous practice of denying military cards
to those who have served terms of imprisonment for refusing military and
alternative service has now ended after Jehovah’s Witnesses met the Defence
Minister Seyran Ohanyan in summer 2008. Ohanyan then instructed all
military commissariats to issue such cards, a process that began soon
after. Markaryan said all their former prisoners now have such cards.

"This was a real problem. Without the military card the young men could
not register their place of residence," Markaryan told Forum 18, "and
without a registered place of residence they couldn’t get an identity card
or passport. So they couldn’t get a job in the government, couldn’t leave
the country and couldn’t even get married!" (END)

Further coverage of Armenian-related religious freedom issues is at
< mp;religion=all&country=21&results=50>

A printer-friendly map of Armenia is available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=armeni& gt;
(END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian Apostolic Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator Singapore
60 Hill Street
Singapore 179366
Tel: +65-6334-0141
Email: [email protected]
http://www.armeniansinas ia.org/

Dear Fellow Armenians and Friends –

I am pleased to announce that we have launched a new web site
highlighting the Armenian communities in Singapore and throughout
Asia. As you may know, Armenians have a rich modern history of
engagement with Asia that dates back to as early as the 1400s. You may
visit the site at:

The site serves to unearth our past, share the present and catalyse
the future of our communities in Asia. With your support, we can raise
the awareness of our rich heritage. Please distribute the link within
your own communities!

With thanks and kind regards,
Pierre Hennes
Volunteer

Critics’ Forum
Visual Arts
The House on Wheels: Alina Mnatsakanian’s Search for "Home"
By Ramela Grigorian Abbamontian

How do most Armenians, having crossed a number of borders and
encountered many homes, construct a diasporic identity? Can the
diasporic Armenian live in one place and still be part of another – a
historic homeland, a site of origin, a prior home? Post-colonial
theorists Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, in
defining "exile" with regard to diasporic peoples, wonder if "home"
is "[i]n the place of birth (nateo), in the displaced cultural
community into which the person is born, or in the nation-state in
which this diasporic community is located" (Key Concepts in Post-
colonial Studies (London and New York: Routledge, 1998), 93). These
are questions that burden many Armenian artists as well, including
Alina Mnatsakanian.

Mnatsakanian’s installations have been exhibited and her performance
pieces have had a run in Los Angeles over the last several years.
Mnatsakanian’s work continues to live online, asking questions we
have yet to answer. Her work engages the issues of "home"
and "homeland" as well as the incessant movement across borders and
the encountering of many cultures. Mnatsakanian’s personal history
inspired many of her pieces: she was born and raised in Iran (to
Russian-Armenian and Iranian-Armenian parents) but left for Paris at
the onset of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. After pursuing an art
education in Paris for several years, she settled in Los Angeles in
1983. After twenty-two years and several sporadic trips to Armenia,
she relocated once more, in September 2005, to Switzerland.

Mnatsakanian’s installation, House on Wheels (2000), confronts the
issue of constant movement and hybrid identity. The installation
incorporates a wooden structure, audio recordings, and projected
images on the wall, all of which together create a multi-media and
multi-sensory space of engagement. Hanging inside the house-shaped
wooden frame are four large transparencies representing homes and
cultures the artist has encountered: Iran, France, the United States,
and Armenia. Each home is referenced with very specific iconography,
which includes such things as identification cards, passport photos,
metro maps, visas, and citizenship papers – all of them signifiers of
movement, belonging/not belonging, and the creation of "home."

Mnatsakanian considers her "homeland" Iran as well as Armenia,
explaining, "It’s like a kid who has divorced parents," referring to
the sense of attachment one feels to more than one place (home) and
implying an involuntary separation from an initial source of
origin. Even though Mnatsakanian cites her strongest connections to
her birthplace of Iran and to Armenia (noticeably the most colorful
transparencies), she had created the home structure for Armenia
without ever having visited the country – emphasizing my earlier
suggestion that "homeland" is an imagined place for many Armenians.
When the imagined place was transformed into a real one during her
first visit, in 2001, Mnatsakanian recalled: "I kind of felt like I
had been there before, like I belonged there."

Mnatsakanian’s structure is merely the frame of a house – no walls,
no roof, no foundation, no other reinforcements. The skeletal
structure, transparent houses, and the fact that it is on wheels once
more point to the impermanent and mobile nature of the Diasporan, who
has changed homes a number of times and whose identity, even in the
present, is still not fixed. Interestingly, R. B. Kitaj, an
American-born artist of Jewish descent living in England, suggests a
similar experience of immigrant life as displacement, quite apart
from actual physical or geographic movement. In First Diasporist
Manifesto (1989), he explains that his identity was "born from the
amalgamation of dislocation, rupture, and a hybrid self which exists –
and paints – in two or more societies at once." Clearly, the sense
of a displaced identity is not exclusive to the Armenian diaspora –
it reflects the larger immigrant experience.

Mnatsakanian’s installation layers this sense of displacement into
her installation. A ten-minute video loop, evoking the notion of
home and movement that are central to the installation, is projected
onto the back wall, casting the structural form of the house itself
on the wall. The video is a layered collage of various scenes with a
superimposed audio component – giving the viewer a multi-sensory
experience similar to the disorientation engendered by displacement.
Mnatsakanian’s own voice plays in the background, her words often
muddled, disrupting any sense of clarity and denoting, as the artist
herself writes, "confusion related to the multi-cultural existence."

In the audio portion of the installation, the artist briefly recounts
the specific experience related to each respective country: a
childhood in Iran; art school in France; adulthood in America; and an
imagined home in Armenia. These narratives are delivered in the
languages of the specific country and include a corresponding song in
the background. Mnatsakanian also recites the following quote by the
Iranian-born Armenian-American author Hagop Karapents in all four
languages – Armenian, Farsi, French, and English – identifying her
many homes: "Everyone goes from one place to another to get home.
Some people who go from one place to another never get home. Some
others get home, but always stay in exile."

The key images projected on the back wall reinforce the notion of
constant movement and the attempt to create a home. The
identification card is the identifying marker of newcomers to the
United States. Its rather paradoxical moniker – "Resident Alien" –
denotes someone who lives in the States but does not quite yet enjoy
the full benefits of citizenship, in other words, one who does not
quite yet belong. The next segment shows the repeated movement of a
pair of hands putting up a miniature house, its collapse, and its
rebuilding- the narrative loop representing visually the many homes
built and rebuilt by Diasporans. In the following segment, people at
Union Station, in downtown Los Angeles, are hurriedly walking from
one place to another. The final projection is of a set of hands
protectively and reverentially cupping soil. Could this be
Mnatsakanian’s – or any Diasporan’s – attempt to capture a piece of
the land, to render it a "homeland"? Or does it express the desire
to claim a certain land as one’s own, in a paradoxical attempt to
halt the movement inherent in the diasporic experience?

In the statement describing the installation, Mnatsakanian elaborates
on this temporality, uprootedness and the endless search for
a "home":
. . . Sense of belonging to a place, a home or a homeland, is a
natural feeling. When one abandons the homeland, the sense of
belonging becomes abstract and sometimes unattainable. Duality or
plurality is a feeling created in such circumstances as a result of
various cultural influences. It can be enriching, yet differences
and contrasts may also create confusion. A person with a multi-
cultural upbringing might feel alienated in a society that is
prominently from a single cultural background. One way of facing
this issue is to completely conform to the new culture. Another way
is to find a possible coexistence.

Mnatsakanian, it seems, recognizes the challenges of multiple
belonging ultimately by embracing her diasporan identity as multi-
dimensional, what we might call a "transnational" self inhabiting
several identities at once.

House on Wheels has been exhibited at Neuchtel, Switzerland,
California State University, Los Angeles, and the Sam Francis Gallery
(Crossroads School, Santa Monica). You can view Mnatsakanian’s art
on her website at

All Rights Reserved: Critics’ Forum, 2008. Exclusive to the Armenian
Reporter.

Ramela Grigorian Abbamontian is an Assistant Professor of Art History
at Pierce College. She is also a PhD candidate in Art History at
UCLA.

You can reach her or any of the other contributors to Critics’ Forum
at [email protected]. This and all other articles published
in this series are available online at To sign
up for a weekly electronic version of new articles, go to
Critics’ Forum is a group created to
discuss issues relating to Armenian art and culture in the Diaspora.

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 5-11, 2008

HIGHLIGHTS:

"PRESS CLUB" AND "PRESS CLUB+": LEGISLATION ON ASSEMBLY, MARCHES,
DEMONSTRATIONS AND RURAL PROBLEMS

LITIGATION BETWEEN "INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS" AND IJEVAN MUNICIPALITY
CONTINUES

"VAN" RADIO IS 10 YEARS OLD

"PRESS CLUB" AND "PRESS CLUB+": LEGISLATION ON ASSEMBLY, MARCHES,
DEMONSTRATIONS AND RURAL PROBLEMS

On December 10 another "Press Club" show went on the air of "Yerkir-Media"
TV company. The cycle is produced by Yerevan Press Club with the support of
the Human Rights and Governance Grants Program of the Open Society
Institute. The guests of the Chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of
Expression Ashot Melikian were the RA National Assembly deputy, member of
the parliamentary faction of the Republican Party of Armenia Artak Davtyan,
RA NA deputy, secretary of "Heritage" parliamentary faction Stepan Safarian,
the Chairman of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia Avetik Ishkhanian. The
program subject was the legislation on assembly, marches, rallies and
demonstrations and its application practice.

The next "Press Club" show will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on Wednesday,
December 17, at 23.00.

On December 6 "Yerkir Media" aired another program of "Press Club+" cycle,
produced by Yerevan Press Club with the support of the UK Embassy in
Armenia. The program host, YPC President Boris Navasardian and "Press Club+"
participants – RA National Assembly deputy, member of "Dashnaktsutiun"
parliamentary faction Bagrat Sargsian and the Secretary of the Board of
People’s Party of Armenia Grigor Harutiunian discussed the problems of
agricultural development. In the discussion the audience, made of rural
community heads and media representatives of Gegharkunik region, took part.

The next "Press Club+" show will go on the air of "Yerkir Media" on
Saturday, December 13, at 17.40.

LITIGATION BETWEEN "INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS" AND IJEVAN MUNICIPALITY
CONTINUES

On December 11 at the Civil Court of Yerevan hearing of the suit of Ijevan
municipality (Tavush region) versus "Investigative Journalists" NGO, the
founder of "Hetq" on-line, continued. As it has been reported, the plaintiff
demands to refute the information discrediting the honor, dignity and
business reputation of Ijevan Mayor Varuzhan Nersisian – as seen by the city
administration to be present in the articles "Whose Pocket Receives Money
from Sand Mine?" and "Will the Three Commissions Notice the Illegal Use of
Sand?". The articles were published in "Hetq" on May 5, 2008 and June 23,
2008, respectively, and also printed on May 20, 2008 and July 9, 2008,
respectively, in the supplement to "Azg" daily, "Transparent Local
Self-Government". Besides, the plaintiff demands that the expenses of 930
thousand AMD (about $ 3,100) made for the attorney services be compensated
(see YPC Weekly Newsletter, September 26 – October 2, 2008). At the session
of December 11 the plaintiff submitted a motion about involving the
correspondent of "Hetq" in Tavush region Voskan Sargsian, the author of the
articles, as a respondent. This issue will be resolved at next session,
scheduled on January 13, 2009.

Meanwhile "Investigative Journalists" on their behalf addressed the RA
Administrative Court with a suit versus Ijevan municipality. The NGO
demanded that the Ijevan municipality provide copies of the Elderly Council
session protocol of May 23, 2008 and the decision of the latter to allocate
the 930 thousand AMD of the city budget, that were spent on paying for the
attorney services in the litigation above. Besides, "Investigative
Journalists" resolved that the municipality must compensate their expenses
for the attorney’s services, costing 114,000 AMD (see YPC Weekly Newsletter,
September 26 – October 2, 2008).

At the session of November 26 the Administrative Court partially secured the
suit of "Investigative Journalists". According to the court ruling, the
municipality must provide the journalistic association with the information
requested. As to the compensation of the NGO’s expenses, this must be made
out of Ijevan’s city budget, but only partly, for 8,000 AMD (about $ 26).

"VAN" RADIO IS 10 YEARS OLD

On December 8 "Van" Radio celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Yerevan Press Club congratulates colleagues and wishes them unending
creativity and prosperity.

When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.

You are welcome to send any comment and feedback about the Newsletter to:
[email protected]

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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
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