Month: November 2009

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Director
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I DECORATES SETRAK SARKISSIAN
FOR HIS CONTRIBUTION TO ARAB CULTURE

On November 6, 2009 during a reception at the Cilicia Museum His Holiness
Aram I awarded Setrak Sarkissian with the St. Mesrob Mashdotz medal in the
presence of Lebanese and Armenian politicians, artists and literary persons.
Before decorating him, Catholicos Aram I said: "Setrak Sarkissian is well
known for his art of Arabic drumming. Music heals the soul and the mind.
Through his instrument Setrak Sarkissian contributed to the harmonious
expression of Lebanese Arabic Music and through his concerts he shared it
with the world". On behalf of the Lebanese community the poet, writer and
critic Mr Henri Zoghaib praised Mr. Sarkissian for his skillful and
effective use of riffles.

The evening ended with Setrak Sarkissian playing excerpts from his
compositions.

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View the photos here:
tos/Photos416.htm
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

Banker Takes $12.5 Million ‘Church’ Off Market

Jason Notte
11/11/09 – 05:00 AM EST

LAKE BLUFF, Ill. (TheStreet) — To its adherents, a church is a place
of worship, a sanctuary and a second home. What it often isn’t,
however, is a $12.5 million mansion on Lake Michigan.
Chicago banker and realtor George Michael says he was acting in good
faith when he built a 14-person chapel for his wife, who suffers from an
autonomic heart disorder and progressive multiple sclerosis, in their
five-acre estate. Michael and his wife, his third cousin, had attended
services at St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church on Diversey
Street in Chicago before her declining health prompted their move to
the waterfront home on 265 feet of private beach in 2004.

Banker George Michael of Lake Bluff, Ill., built a chapel in his
mansion on Lake Michigan so his ailing wife could continue to attend
services.
When she was no longer able to attend services, Michael built the
chapel and invited Armenian priests to hold services for his family
and guests. Before doing so, however, he applied for a church tax
exemption that state revenue officials initially approved, allowing
him to avoid $80,000 in property taxes. After neighbors told newspaper
reporters that they never saw services held on the property, and a
Department of Revenue judge reversed the initial ruling that he called
a "sham," Michael faced lawsuits, suspended sanitation service, nearly
$800,000 in proposed fines for services, visits from local law
enforcement and the press. The scrutiny led him to put the house on
the market through his own agency in September and October before
withdrawing it.
"We thought it would probably be best if we left Lake Bluff, because
we weren’t wanted there," Michael says. "I put it on the market for a
few days, but I discussed it with my wife, and she doesn’t want to
move."
When the house was listed, however, little about it resembled a house
of worship — Armenian or otherwise. Photos of the chapel were absent
amid shots of five master bedrooms, a master suite with full wet bar
and air hockey table, balconies overlooking Lake Michigan, another
balcony overlooking an indoor pool with a hydraulic cover and
basketball hoop.
The chapel wasn’t mentioned at all in descriptions of the 17 other
rooms — which include a barbershop, home theater, multiple steam
rooms, a wine cellar and formal dining room with a butler’s pantry and
ceiling painted — or the guest house and 12-car heated garage. The
only church-like element displayed was the cathedral ceiling over the
mounted deer’s head and pool table in the building’s great hall.
Even if the nave were included among the offerings, its altar would be
considered artifice by church standards. To found a church in The
Armenian Church of America’s Eastern Diocese, which includes Illinois,
an entire Armenian community must petition the diocese center in New
York for inclusion. Once the diocese makes its own inquiry into the
community and whether it can sustain an Armenian church "in
perpetuity," there is a full blessing process that must take place
before a church can be established, diocese spokesman Chris Zakian
said.
"When an altar is set up, there’s an entire ceremony that consecrates,
first, the plot of land, then the cornerstones on which the altar will
be set upon and then the altar," he says. "It’s not something that’s
taken lightly and not something that can be done ad hoc by any
individual."
The diocese last completed this process in 2007 for an Orlando, Fla.,
parish. The Armenian Church recognizes only four parishes in Illinois
that were founded generations ago, and Michael’s isn’t one of
them. Zakian says the church is sympathetic toward Michael’s wife’s
illness, but notes that Armenian priests routinely visit private
homes, elder-care facilities and hospitals to administer communion.
"It does not require the establishment of an altar and does not
warrant tax-exempt status," Zakian says. "It would be an unusual
circumstance for a person to have a private chapel. Aside from kings
in Armenia, I haven’t heard of people having private chapels."
Though Michael has delisted the home, he says it may return to the
market in the near future. He says both he and his children have been
held to ridicule over the incident, to the point where he opted not to
take them trick-or-treating this Halloween, but that he’s left the
decision to his wife.
"I think it’s probably best that the people of Lake Bluff are free of me,"
Michael says. "If I had it to do all over again, I probably would have
moved right next door to the church on Diversey."
— Reported by Jason Notte in Boston.

4649.html

Arts ‘ Books November 11, 2009

In pursuit of the past

PARVATHI NAYAR

Indian Connection: William Dalrymple

Parvathi Nayar learns about William Dalrymple’s Indian roots and what
inspired him to write `Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern
India’ on his recent visit to Chennai.
Ancestor-worship may not be one of the religious themes examined in
historical/travel writer William Dalrymple’s new book `Nine Lives’
(which he was in Chennai to promote), but the intermingling of faiths,
beliefs and histories certainly is. Rather appropriate, then, to troop
along with the author on his visit to the Anglo-Mughal monument in
Chennai that commemorates his ancestor Sam Dalrymple – a concrete
testament to intermingling, and not the least, of Dalrymple’s Scottish
history with that of India.
The author heads off soon after landing in town, for the monument is
close to the airport. On the short drive past lazy cows lounging on
rain-soaked grass and busily clamorous traffic, talk turns to `Nine
Lives’, religion and families.
`Though I am interested in syncretism in all forms, I had a sharply
monocultural upbringing in Scotland, where the most `multicultural`
event was a Celtic vs Rangers football match. I come from a deeply
religious family, my parents were unquestioningly Catholic, and I, a
pious little boy who grew up learning Latin, medieval history and
theology from Benedictine monks.’
`Today, I am not personally that religious at all. I am increasingly a
rational sceptic about miracles and the supernatural, but intrigued
that people believe in them. I’m interested in finding the familiar in
the unfamiliar.’ As in the weatherworn oddity he calls the `Georgian
version of a Mughal tomb’: the monument to Sam Dalrymple, who served
in the Madras artillery and died at the age of 49 in 1821. He explains
that it was while researching his bestseller `White Mughals’ (2002)
that he stumbled upon these familial connections with India.
`Sam is a family name, every generation has one,’ he says, cheerfully
climbing up the pedestal for a photograph. He recalls another humid
Chennai morning in 2004, awash with dragonflies and warm light, when
he brought his own son Sam to see the tomb.
Religious plurality being the absorbing name of the game in `Nine
Lives’, we drift on to St. Thomas Mount. `It’s amazing isn’t it, how
the story of St. Thomas has got mixed up with Lord Murugan’s stories
of spears and peacocks,’ he says, pointing to the vel or spear being
held by St. Thomas. `Legend also has it that the missionary changed
into a peacock to hide from his enemies, but was finally speared to
death.’
The view from the top of the hillock shows overlapping slices of
history, colonial and agrarian pasts being inexorably replaced by
concrete blocks and tenements. `I want to do a book on South India,’
he shares; perhaps on the Christians devoted to St. Thomas or perhaps
on Robert Clive, who first came to Madras with the East India Company
in 1744, at the age of 18.
About the same age, incidentally, that Dalrymple first came to India
as a backpacker. He returned several times to live and write books
such as `City of Djinns’ (1993); currently, he and his family are
based in a farm outside Delhi.
Fascinated with India
Of that first encounter with India in 1984: `I was dumbfounded. I was
hooked by India and Indian history. Perhaps someone more sophisticated
or better travelled might have had less of a lightning-struck
experience.’ On the Mount, the weather obligingly adds atmosphere to
the statement with `an apocalyptical’ advancement of rain from the
horizon, a relentlessly moving bank that turns the world grey behind
it. It reaches us soon enough and we take shelter in the shrine.
Within, Dalrymple proves a knowledgeable guide, pointing out examples
that speak of the Mount’s multicultural history under the Portuguese,
the Armenians, the Christians, the Hindus and the Muslims: translating
a gravestone marker written in Latin and Armenian of a lady who died
in 1759, or pointing to a pulpit adorned with mermaids that bear a
passing resemblance to Yakshi figures.
Given his knowledge and interest, religion is a legitimate subject of
enquiry. But, as he says over the sound of the rain beating down, `I
was very nervous when I started `Nine Lives’ – that it should not be
seen as a firang’s version of India. After all, religion along with
maharajas and slums, are the three things a foreign writer is
`supposed’ to write about.’
Surprising response
He was sure `Nine Lives’ would be a hard sell in India, but to his
surprise, it became the number one non-fiction bestseller, selling
35,000 copies in two weeks in India, and for the first time outselling
his British edition.
As we finally pick our way back down between the puddles, Dalrymple
offers one possible answer to why write about religion at all:
`Religion is a very telling way into the human soul, and the human
condition. Like sex or love, religion is at least equally revealing
and defining.’
`In India, moreover, religions come with a fantastic civilisational
baggage of philosophy, art, literature and poetry. The pieces in `Nine
Lives’ emerged from my interest in these – the story of the idol
carver from a fascination with Chola bronzes after an exhibition at
the Royal Academy, or the Bauls after listening to CDs of Paban Das
Baul’s music.’

Goan foreign
Jug Suraiya
11 November 2009, 12:00am IST

‘Dogs and Indians not allowed’, was said to be a common sign in the
India of the British raj. Over 60 years after independence, you might
expect to

see a sign in today’s Goa: Dogs welcome, Indians not
allowed. Forty-eight years after it was liberated from Portuguese rule
and incorporated into the Indian republic, many parts of Goa have
become virtual foreign enclaves which are out of bounds for
Indians. Lured by the sun-and-fun image of Goa popularised in the
West, a large number of foreigners have taken up permanent or
semi-permanent residence in the ‘sosegade’ state, which in the late
1960s became a haven for hippies.

But today’s foreign residents in Goa are an altogether different breed
from the gentle flower children of the hippie era. Mainly from Russia
and Israel, many of them have exploited loopholes in the Portuguese
property laws which still obtain in Goa to acquire houses and land
holdings which have been turned into cafes and resorts which enforce a
‘whites only’ policy and discourage Indian customers.

Following a number of complaints from Indian tourists who have either
been barred admission to such establishments, or been denied service
by the Goan staff, the state government has added an ‘anti-racism’
clause to its policy regarding the granting of licences to beach
shacks which are located on government-owned land. Shack Owners’
Welfare Society president Cruz Cardozo has reportedly criticised the
legislation as it could be misused by business rivals to harm
competitors.

But there could be other, more basic objections as well, pertaining to
the democratic right to the freedom of association. What this means is
that, in a democracy, you are or ought to be free to associate with
whom you like, or feel comfortable with, and are equally free not to
associate with those whom you find distasteful or who make you feel
uncomfortable in any way.

Regrettably, all too many Indians of the travelling classes are known
for their loud and generally inappropriate behaviour, particularly
when foreign women are present. In recognition of this lamentable
reality, the railway ministry is seriously considering a proposal to
provide reserved coaches for foreigners on tourist routes. Is foreign
rule going to make a re-entry into India through the back door of a
railway coach, held open in welcome by none less than railway minister
Mamata Banerjee, renowned for her fiery pro-poor and pro-people
rhetoric?

Why not? We in India have long been enjoined by the sarkar to treat
the foreign visitor as an honoured guest. And what better honour can
one confer on favoured guests than to allow them to enjoy the myriad
attractions of Incredible India made even more incredibly attractive
by the absence of potentially boorish Indians? Racist? Not at
all. Mamatadi is only trying to make foreigners feel more at home
while travelling in India, in keeping with the time-honoured tradition
of Indian hospitality. And with the norms of democracy and the right
to associate or disassociate with whomsoever one chooses.

For example, in its heyday the city then known as Calcutta revealed
its truly cosmopolitan character by playing host to a number of social
clubs and similar institutions which were meant for one or another of
the many communities that made up the city’s colourful social
mosaic. So there was the Judah Club for Jews, the Armenian Club for
Armenians, the Dalhousie Institute and the Grail Club for
Anglo-Indians, and so on.

Far from being exclusionary, such institutions demonstrated the
inclusionary ability of Calcutta and of India at large to accommodate
different cultures and creeds in its eclectic and pluralist fold.

Bearing this in mind, the Goan authorities might like to rethink the
anti-racism clause in their licensing policy. If Russians want to meet
only other Russians in Goa, let them, and more power to their
vodka-tippling elbows.

And the same for Israelis, and anyone else.

Indeed, the signs in Goa and elsewhere in India should read: All
welcome including dogs and racists.

[email protected]
http://blog s.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

NYSEC Showcases Young Performing Artists at Carnegie Hall, Raises Close
to $40,000 for AGBU Scholarships

On Saturday, October 24, 2009, the AGBU New York Special Events
Committee (NYSEC) held its second AGBU Performing Artists in Concert,
which showcased the talents of a group of outstanding young Armenian
musicians. The sold-out event was held at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital
Hall in Manhattan.

As with the inaugural concert held last year, this celebration of music
saluted the impressive artistic achievements attained by the various
performers in their respective fields. The featured musicians were all
recipients of AGBU scholarships towards their studies in the performing
arts, which has allowed them to be educated at some of the world’s most
well-respected and prestigious conservatories and universities,
including the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Komitas State
Conservatory, Yale University, Mannes College of Music, Boston
Conservatory, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the
Royal College of Music. The success of last year’s Debut Concert allowed
NYSEC to contribute to future Performing Arts grants. Thanks to the
generosity of AGBU’s family of friends and the Armenian community at
large, this year’s benefit performance raised close to $40,000 for the
newly established AGBU Performing Arts Fellowship Program. "It gives me
great pleasure to contribute to your organization and to actually
experience the talented musicians it helps support and promote. Bravo!"
expressed notable benefactor Paul Khoury.

Under the artistic direction of brothers Hrant and Kevork Parsamian,
twelve performers collaborated to prepare a distinguished repertoire of
music celebrating Armenian and other classical composers, including
Babajanian, Khachaturian, Shostakovich, and Schumann. The concert also
featured the US premiere of 19-year-old Gevork Badalian’s composition
based on five folk songs from the Armenian Genocide, compiled by Verjine
Svazlian. Residing in Armenia, the young Badalian has won the top prize
at the Ghazaros Sarian Competition, and his works have been performed at
various Armenian festivals. Svazlian is an ethnographer and folklorist
who has dedicated her life to finding and documenting memoirs and songs
of historical characters narrated by eyewitness survivors of the
Armenian Genocide.

The twelve performing artists were comprised of three violinists: Monika
Chamasyan of Virginia, Nazig Tchakarian of New York, and Viktoria
Tchertchian of Massachusetts; two cellists: Hrant and Kevork Parsamian,
both of New York; two violists: Aleksandr Nazaryan of New York and
Anoush Simonian of New Jersey; two pianists: Marina Chamasyan of
Virginia and Varta Tchakarian of New York; a flutist: Stepan Dadourian
of New York; a marimbist: Sylvie Zakarian of Massachusetts; and an opera
singer: soprano Natalie Aroyan of Sydney, Australia.

The event was organized by the AGBU NYSEC Committee, chaired by Nila
Festekjian and Sossy Setrakian, and included Anita Anserian, Carol
Aslanian, Betty Cherkezian, Maral Hajjar, Hilda Hartounian, Maral
Jebejian, Gacia Mangassarian, Vesna Markarian, and Vera Setrakian.
Performing Artists in Concert contributors included graphic designer
Alex Basmagian and coordinator Natalie Gabrelian of the AGBU Central
Office.

NYSEC committee member and AGBU Central Board Member Carol Aslanian
noted the importance of the concert in raising awareness about AGBU’s
Scholarship Program and the AGBU Performing Arts Fellowship Program in
particular. "I think the audience was thrilled to see the range of
talent among these extraordinary students." She continued to comment on
the overall evening and audience, which was attended by AGBU President
Berge Setrakian and his wife Vera, as well as Ambassador Garen Nazarian,
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the United
Nations, and his wife Siranoush. "I think it was a wonderful opportunity
to have such an extraordinary audience. We had many leaders of the
Armenian community and people active in various organizations, and I
think these young people were very proud to display their talents to
such a prestigious audience, who in turn will want to find and develop
further ways to assist talented and motivated youth. So to them, this
really was a gesture of future opportunity."

In addition to its mission to raise awareness among the public, the
event also offered a rare opportunity for performers to work with fellow
musicians and reconnect with their cultural roots. Performer Sylvie
Zakarian, who plays the marimba and is originally from Bulgaria, shared
her sentiments on the evening. "It’s always very exciting to play in
front of an Armenian audience, and since my instrument is not very
popular among Armenians, I was so grateful for the opportunity. I felt
the audience was coming along for the experience. It was so wonderful to
be on stage in front of such a receptive group of people." She also
commented on the AGBU Scholarship Fund, adding, "AGBU was instrumental
in helping me with the scholarship and with my decision on whether I
could make it in the United States. I am entirely grateful to AGBU, they
have been wonderful, and there are so many others who have similar
stories to mine and feel the same way."

For decades, AGBU scholarships have been awarded to tens of thousands of
talented students of Armenian descent who are studying in the performing
arts and have demonstrated excellence in their chosen fields. These
awards enable recipients to reach their potential, laying the foundation
for their future, as they celebrate their heritage and identity. Those
who would like to make a contribution to the AGBU Performing Arts
Fellowship Program to help sustain and support the enhancement of future
Armenian musicians may contact AGBU by phone, 212-319-6383, or email,
[email protected].

Established in 2003, NYSEC is committed to upholding AGBU’s mission to
preserve and promote the Armenian identity and heritage in the Greater
New York region through educational, cultural and humanitarian programs.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian program, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians around the world.

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email. [email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE

November 11, 2009
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

ANCA CHAIRMAN DEFINES THE STAKES: SURVIVAL OR SURRENDER

"We must keep our aspirations burning bright, our moral compass
aligned toward justice, and our nation moving forward. We must
choose survival, not surrender." – Ken Hachikian

WASHINGTON, DC – Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
Chairman Ken Hachikian called on Armenians worldwide to choose
survival over surrender, in his remarks before federal, state, and
local public officials, a broad array of coalition partners, and
hundreds of community leaders gathered on November 8th at the
Pasadena Convention Center for the ANC-Western Region’s annual
banquet.

The full text of Hachikian’s remarks, At the Crossroads, is
provided below.

#####

At the Crossroads

Remarks by Kenneth V. Hachikian
Chairman, Armenian National Committee of America
Presented at the ANC Western Region Banquet
November 8, 2009 | Pasadena, CA

As Armenians, we have reached a crossroads.

Two paths – two very different paths – lay before us.

Two starkly different roads for our nation. For our cause. And
for our future

Standing here today at this cross road, we must make a choice.

One that will define our nation for decades, even centuries, to
come.

— A choice that begins in our hearts. And calls upon all our
collective wisdom.

— A choice of vision, born of long years of hard struggle

— A choice of courage, inspired by our enduring commitment to our
nation’s future.

A choice to move forward. A choice, very simply, between survival
and surrender.

Survival and surrender

For let there be no mistake, these are the true stakes.

The choice before us stands as a great burden.

But also as a sacred blessing. A chance to get it right
for future generations.

A choice for all those gathered here inside these walls –
and for all the sons and daughters of our nation, in
Armenia and across the far reaches of our world-wide
diaspora.

At this fateful moment, I am reminded of the words of the American
revolutionary, Thomas Paine.

In his great work, The American Crisis, he offered powerful words
that offer us keen insight and inspiration.

In the early days of the Revolution, he came across a well-known
man who ran a tavern.

Standing in its doorway, with his young son by his side, this
tavern-keeper argued against seeking independence, ending with the
words:

"Give me peace in my day."

"Give me peace in my day."

A more generous parent, Paine wrote, should have said:

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my
child may have peace."

Consider carefully his words from more than two hundred years ago,
on a continent far from Armenia, for they ring just a true today as
when they were first written.

Just as compelling for Armenians as for Americans or for any free
people.

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my
child may have peace."

"This single reflection," Paine added, "is sufficient to awaken
every man to duty."

He understood that the true choice facing the American colonists
was not peace or war, but rather where the burdens of the coming
conflict – the inevitable oppression and aggression – visited upon
them by the British would rest.

Whether upon the shoulders of his generation or upon those of
generations to come.

These truly are "the times that try men’s souls."

The tavernkeepers of our day argue that the path they advocate will
lead to peace and prosperity, when, in reality, it only defers the
day when our nation will pay the full price for their surrender.

— They would have us accept – under foreign pressure – the
"Protocols" being forced upon the Armenian nation, even though they
clearly threaten Armenia’s security, abandon the rights of all
Armenians, and cast doubt on the Armenian Genocide.

— They would have us adopt the Madrid Principles, which trade the
surrender of vast Armenian lands, today, in return for a vague
promise that Azerbaijan may someday allow a decision on Artsakh’s
future status.

— They would have us reduce the Armenian Genocide from a crime
against all humanity – one that must be recognized by the American
government and resolved truthfully and justly by the international
community and, of course by Turkey, – to a simple bilateral dispute
to be negotiated between states, states of vastly unequal power.

This is clearly the road to an unconditional surrender my friends,
the path to appeasement, and the slippery slope of accomodation.

On this path, we would allow others to speak in our name.

We would let them set our aims to suit their interests, not our
own. To put us in our place.

It is on this road that we would see the Armenian Diaspora, long
the loyal watchdog of Armenian interests, reduced to a lapdog for
the foreign powers that pursue their own advantage at the expense
of the rights, the security, and the very future of the Armenian
nation and people.

Let me be clear: It is on this road that we will witness the death
of the Armenian Cause and, with it, the viability of the Armenian
nation.

The choice, for us, for every single one of us, is clear.

We must reject retreat.

We must dispense with the illusions of easy answers.

We must reject the temptation that there is some quick shortcut to
Armenia’s security, Artsakh’s freedom, or the realization of our
national aspirations.

We must reject surrender – on the Protocols, the Madrid Principles,
justice for our nation, and freedom for our people – and choose
instead a path forward based on hope and wisdom, not fear.

We must, in our homeland and here in America, reclaim the right to
our voice and our values.

And back all this up with our activism, our political power, our
energy, and our resources.

Just as you are doing tonight, and as we must all do in days and
weeks ahead.

We must keep our national aspirations burning bright, our moral
compass aligned toward justice, and our nation moving forward.

We must choose survival, not surrender.

Survival, not surrender.

There is no other choice.

I call upon you to join us in that struggle.

We will persevere.

Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR)
Press Office
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 889-5150; Fax: (212) 889-4849
email: [email protected]
web:
blog: farusa.wordpress.com

A Doctor’s Doctor to be Honored by Fund for Armenian Relief
By Florence Avakian
NEW YORK
CITY, NY —–
A modest, unassuming, laid back and
extraordinarily gifted and giving individual is Dr. Edgar M. Housepian, a
renowned neurosurgeon, and professor. These praiseworthy personal
traits belie a medical professional whose awards and honors crowd many
pages. Visiting him at the world famous Presbyterian Hospital where so
many of his accomplishments have been performed, I found him in a small office,
lined with paintings of Armenia, happily continuing his research, even though
he has been in retirement for 11 years.
On January 15, 2010, Dr. Housepian will be
honored at a gala banquet, sponsored by the Fund
for Armenian Relief (FAR) for his vast
contributions to medicine, and for the relief and medical efforts in
Armenia. The event will take place at Cipriani, downtown.
During an exclusive interview with this writer
at Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Housepian revealed that his motivation for going
into medicine and especially neurosurgery started with his father whom "I loved
and respected very much. He had graduated from medical school in 1905, but
they didn’t have specialties in those days. He was a surgeon, delivered
babies, and did everything. But after medicine advanced, fields developed, he
gave up surgery and obstetrics, and ended his career by being an internist and
a general family doctor. It must have been in my mind that medicine
was a very fulfilling field."
The young Edgar Housepian got his first job as
an orderly in the operating room in New York Hospital at age 14, "when World
War II was on, and manpower was hard up. I saw all sorts of
operations, even helped out in the autopsy suite. Then I was asked to
scrub on a couple of neurosurgical operations. When you’re 15 years old, that’s
pretty awesome. It no doubt at least subconsciously influenced my future
career. But I buried that thought, and joined the Navy when
I turned 17 because I wanted to fly."
A Passion to Fly
He calls himself "a rotten kid, like most," when
he was young. "While in bed with poison ivy I would cut out coupons for all of
the flying schools in Flying Magazine. My family was not amused when
occasionally representatives would come to the door. When I was 15, I "fudged"
my birth certificate and went to Canada to join the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air
Force). When I got there, they laughed and sent me home." He
finally joined the Navy V-5 program but left at the end of WWII because he
realized that Naval Aviation was not to be his
career and instead completed college and enrolled in medical school.
Neuroscience is even more
interesting, and burgeoning today because of the advancement in knowledge," he
notes. "Since I started medical school in 1949, half of what I learned is now wrong,
and the other half I have forgotten. So you have to keep learning. Over
the years, the field has become more and more specialized and even
sub-specialized. This is better for patients."
Since he retired 11 years ago, at age 70, he has
continued fielding a neuroscience review course at Columbia University started
32 years ago. At retirement, the dean of the school "gave me a long
title, but no salary. I was miffed at first, but then realized how lucky
I am. If the dean had given me a small salary, every time he burped, I would have
had to salute," he
says chuckling. "This way I’m able to do what I wanted – to be active with students
and faculty in
their global interests, continuing to develop affiliations with over 20 medical
schools around the world, and stay involved with health care in Armenia. It’s very
fulfilling. I’m not
a retiree who plays golf. When you stop active practice, if you’re honest
with yourself, it’s like stepping off the train. You’re standing at the
station, and the train is 20 miles down the track. I can’t teach
neurosurgery because it’s changed that much."
First among his heroes has been Dr. J. Lawrence
Pool whom he calls his "father figure, benefactor, teacher. Everything was
special about him. He was national squash champion, sailed across the Atlantic,
piloted float planes, had a great sense of humor and had a thousand new ideas
every month, a true Renaissance man. He kept you on your toes, and
supported you."
The Dr.
Edgar Housepian Professorship in Neurological Surgery which was established
by Columbia University Board of Trustees is one of dozens of awards and honors
that he has received. Others that he is most proud of include the Presidential Citation
from the Republic
of Armenia in 1994; Honorary Doctor of
Science by Armenia’s Academy of Sciences, and Honorary Doctor of Medicine
by Yerevan State Medical University in 1997; and the Humanitarian Award by the American
Association of Neurological
Surgeons in 2002. He has also authored more than 100 articles on
medicine.
Dedication to FAR
One of three leaders who created the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) after the
1988 devastating earthquake, under the sponsorship of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church, Dr. Housepian followed in the footsteps of his parents who
were deeply involved in the Armenian-American community. His father had
gone to Armenia in 1916, and his mother had been a member of the AGBU Central
Committee for 30 years. "They entertained Armenian clergy and
officials from overseas. I was immersed in it, but never involved while
my career was developing."
Two years before the earthquake, Archbishop
Torkom Manoogian called him and informed him that Catholicos Vasken I was
coming to NY, and had a severe back problem. "With his white beard, he always made
me think of God
and Santa Claus," he remarks with a smile. Dr. Housepian admitted him into
the hospital, "but he started getting better and I didn’t have to operate on him
and was very relieved. I look back on his
admission sheet, and it says ‘Occupation, Pope’," he says laughing. That
was his connection with the church until then and
he points out that he and his three children were baptized in New York’s Holy Cross
Church.
Immediately following the earthquake, he called
the Primate, and offered his services. "Anything I’ve done is because I
have had access to so many support services." He called the president of
New York Presbyterian Hospital, Dr, Thomas Morris, and the next day a large
room had been set up with a phone bank, with several volunteers from the
hospital and community. Within five days, they had collected millions of
dollars of drugs, instruments. Dozens of physicians
– 30 with active passports – volunteered to go to Armenia. "I can’t
believe how easily it happened."
However, in the middle of the night, Dr.
Housepian received a telephone call from Dr. Marat Vartanian, who had spent
time at the New York Psychiatric Institute at Columbia and was the head of
psychiatric research in the Soviet Union, telling him not to come to Armenia
because there was a plethora of doctors from Europe, the Soviet Union, and
there was no hotel space. The volunteer trip was canceled, but the equipment was
sent. At that point, it was decided that Archbishop Torkom, Kevork Hovnanian and
Dr.
Housepian should go to see how the church could be of help, hence the creation of
FAR.
"It was an awesome experience. Leninakan
(today’s Gyumri) was almost totally destroyed. There was nothing but coffins all
over. If we had taken our team of 30 doctors, we could not have done
anything. I shared a very small room with Kevork
for 10 days, and no doubt we bonded then." Close to a million
dollars was raised through the Diocese for humanitarian relief. The FAR board was
then formed by the Primate, Hovnanian and
Housepian.
Three weeks after
the three leaders returned from Armenia, another team was sent to Armenia with
Drs. John Nersessian, orthopedic surgeon at Presbyterian; Dick Fraser, Cornell
University neurosurgeon; Dick Gulian, head of plastic surgery at Memorial
Sloan-Kettering; and John Stanley Meyers, professor of rehabilitation and
medicine at Columbia University. Their recommendation was that
after the emergency period was over, the best contribution would be in medical
education in Armenia, because it was still 30 years behind western medicine
conceptually.
Later, Annette Choolfaian, Professor
of the New York School of Public Health and a FAR Board member, and Dr. John
Nercessian went back to Yerevan to find a working location for the surgical
team, which was set to arrive in January 1993 at the request of the Armenian
Health Ministry for complex surgery on victims of the earthquake and Karabagh
war. Professor Choolfaian and Dr. Nercessian secured the kind permission of the
AGBU to use the just-refurbished surgical suite in the Mikaelyan Hospital.
FAR
Fellowship Program
That’s when the FAR Fellowship Program was
started with a tremendous support of Dr. John Bilezekian, at the time head of the
endocrinology at
Cornell. Eventually close to 90
doctors from Armenia selected by the Ministry of Health have benefited from
their three-month training in America. Four of them became
Ministers of Health, and three the directors of major hospitals. Medical
librarians also benefited, with one of them becoming director of the Republican
Scientific Medical Library in Yerevan which Dr. Housepian would like to rename
the National Library of Medicine of Armenia.
With obvious excitement, Dr. Housepian relates
that these former Medical Fellows formed their own fellows alumni association –
named the FARFAA. One of the first FAR medical fellows, Dr. Bella Grigorian,
with Dr. Gevorg Yaghjyan, Vice-Rector of the Yerevan State Medical University and
Dr. Hambardzum Simonyan, Director of FAR/Yerevan Medical Programs, started a Continuing
Medical Education program
(CME) fashioned after what they saw in Salzburg, Austria. This project
entails bringing doctors who have never seen anything new since they left
medical school, from the provinces to Yerevan for a month where they are housed,
receive a stipend and hands-on training by the best medical personnel
who do so voluntarily. The new recruits
also get special equipment for their local hospitals and are encouraged to pass
on the information to their communities. "The wonderful thing is they thought
it up, and are running it so very well. We’re just financially supporting it," he
says, adding that he hopes the
celebratory function on January 15 will be successful enough so that many more
physicians can attend the refresher program each year.
Anna Shirinian, Director of the Republican
Scientific Medical Library, has turned the National Library into a modern
medical information center. She has set up a computer lab and English as
a Second Language (ESL) program for which she has been honored with the gold
medal from the Armenian president. During a ten year period, FAR also
sent medical journals because the Library had no western literature. "Although the
program is supported by the Armenian government, we would like to
see a brand new building to be a regional showplace."
A
First For Armenia
Dr. Housepian says that medical care in Armenia
today is better than under the Soviet system. But his primary focus is on
medical education, "the only key to improving health care. All the things
in which FAR has been involved have
contributed to the development of close working relationship between the
Medical School, health ministry and parliamentary health commission. That’s a first
for Armenia", he declares with pride, adding, Many of the former
FAR Medical Fellows formed the FAR FAA (FAR Medical Fellows Alumni
Association), " This is entirely their own idea. We’re only advising and
supporting them."
The new Rector of the Medical School, Dr. Gohar
Kyalyan, created an international advisory board with Dr. Aram Chobanian,
President and Dean Emeritus of Boston Universityand FAR Board member, as chair.
Dr.Chobanian has
received a grant from the Lincy Foundation to support Dr. Kyalyan’s
program for curricular reform. The educational and postgraduate training
system will be changed, among other advantages. "Education isn’t sexy in
fundraising circles but it’s very important". Dr. Housepian, again states
that the only reason he agreed to be the focal point of the January 15 gala is
so that funds can be raised for these medical programs.
Early Roots
The personal story of Dr. Housepian’s family is
intimately tied to the Genocide. His father, a college student in Kessab
during the 1894 massacres, escaped by swimming to a ship, and stowing away to
Alexandria, Egypt where he worked in vaudeville for almost a year. "He
used to sing me to sleep with wonderful songs." Earning enough to
go to England, his father put himself through pharmacy school, then emigrated
to America in 1900, working his way through the Long Island College of
Medicine. Graduating in 1905, and after completing two years of
internship/residency he sailed from New York to Barbados and up the
Amazon river as ship’s doctor. In 1916, he went to Russia
with the American Red Cross, then to Etchmiadzin, to take care of refugees from
the Genocide. Returning to America, he started his medical practice.
His mother, who hailed from Izmir, was secretary
for an American woman, director of an orphanage and came to America with her in
1920. His grandmother came to America in 1923 and lived with the
Housepian family. "She always wore black. She was in mourning her
whole life. Her
oldest son was killed and just as she and my grandfather were leaving
the pier at Smyrna to board a ship, he
collapsed and she was not allowed to turn back to see if he was alive or dead",
he says sadly.
His early family life taught him the value of
independence and creativity. "Since I’ve never had a position of real
responsibility, I’ve enjoyed the freedom to be independent and frequently
outspoken. I have also enjoyed the freedom to pursue the things which interest
me. The freedom to be innovative sets one apart from just having a job.
I’m frequently guilty of pontificating and tell young
medical students that I’ve always done what I want, and that they should do the
same." His formula? "First you must do everything you have to do, then you can
do anything what
you want."
Concerning the status of American medicine
today, he remarks though medicine is technologically advanced and our
physicians receive outstanding education and training, he
believes that the general public is
empowered to the point that there is a
decline in professionalism."
He again reverts to the purpose of the
January 15 event in his honor, and expresses the hope that the funds raised
will also benefit the Science and Education Fund (ANSEF) which is one of FAR’s
most ambitious programs run by Dr. Yervant Terzian.
Need a Strong Country Called Armenia
"Basic research is the intellectual capital for
Armenia. The ANSEF program also trains younger scientists and scholars,
and helps to prevent
talented scientists and scholars from leaving the country because of lack of
funds." And what are the responsibilities of diasporan Armenians? "The best way
to preserve our heritage is to have a strong country called
Armenia that one can relate to."
Would he do anything differently in his life? "I always wanted to accomplish something
really outstanding – but am grateful if I have been able to
help individual patients" says this acclaimed doctor with his typical modesty.
He expresses outrage that a Genocide Museum is
being built in this country. "What we need is a museum to celebrate
Armenian culture, and civilization. We have a long 5000 year history of
significant cultural and scientific contributions to western
civilization; when viewed against that background,
the story of our genocide would have much
greater impact."
Success for Dr. Housepian is "being at peace
with yourself, and feeling fulfilled," which he says is a state of
mind. He lists his successes as his family – his wife of 55 years,
and their three children, his elementary education which he notes is more
important than college, and the opportunities he has had to pursue all his
interests – basic research, clinical care, teaching. In his free time, Dr.
Housepian reads non-fiction, travels, but has temporarily given up gardening
and tennis after back
surgery.
Who is Dr. Edgar Housepian? "An American boy who grew up in a loving family which
supported him, with a superb education from
grammar school through professional school, who was given opportunities all
along the way, and who also created opportunities." Always
self-effacing, he relates how during a taxi ride in Yerevan, the driver was
shocked that this renowned doctor and professor couldn’t write his name in
Armenian.
Advice for students today? "If they are
fortunate to develop a passion for any field of interest to them they will have
a happy life. Medicine is most rewarding for those who have found this
but could be grim if the opposite were true."
# # #

About FAR
Since its founding in response to the 1988 earthquake, FAR has served
hundreds of thousands of people through more than 220 relief and
development programs in Armenia and Karabagh. It has channeled more
than $265 million in humanitarian assistance by implementing a wide
range of projects including emergency relief, construction, education,
medical aid, and economic development.

For more information on FAR or to send donations, contact us at 630
Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016; telephone (212) 889-5150; fax (212)
889-4849;

Fund for Armenian Relief | 630 Second Avenue | New York | NY | 10016

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

========================================== ======
Wednesday 11 November 2009
BELARUS: "WE HAVE ORTHODOX, CATHOLICS AND MUSLIMS – ALL THE OTHERS ARE
SECTS"

The Deputy Chief of Minsk’s Frunze District Police, Dinas Linkus, said he
sent the local police officer to question the Kagramanyan family, who are
Pentecostals, about their religious faith. "We had a request from the
Culture Department of Minsk City Executive Committee several weeks ago to
find out whether any religious activity was going on at this address, to
establish whether a church was active there or not," he told Forum 18 News
Service. "We have Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims – these are the
religions. All the others are sects." Meanwhile Transfiguration Baptist
Church in Vitebsk Region was fined for using a private house for religious
worship, despite having official permission to do so. Jehovah’s Witness
Dmitry Smyk has been fined for refusing compulsory military service on
religious grounds, but criminal charges against one other conscientious
objector have been dropped.

BELARUS: "WE HAVE ORTHODOX, CATHOLICS AND MUSLIMS – ALL THE OTHERS ARE
SECTS"

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <;

At the request of Minsk City Executive Committee, local police in the
capital Minsk visited the Kagramanyan family, who are Pentecostals, and
asked intrusive questions about whether they use their home for worship,
which church they attend and why they are believers, Forum 18 News Service
has learnt. The Deputy Chief of Minsk’s Frunze District Police with
responsibility for public security, Dinas Linkus, insisted to Forum 18 that
now the family has answered the questions, no further action will be taken.

Meanwhile, a Baptist congregation has been fined in Vitebsk Region,
although administrative charges against the leader of another local Baptist
congregation have been dropped. And Jehovah’s Witness Dmitry Smyk, facing
imprisonment for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of
religious faith, has instead been fined.

Who ordered the police questioning and why?

Linkus, the Deputy Police Chief, told Forum 18 that he had ordered the 26
October visit by a local police officer to the home of the Kagramanyan
family. "We had a request from the Culture Department of Minsk City
Executive Committee several weeks ago to find out whether any religious
activity was going on at this address, to establish whether a church was
active there or not," he told Forum 18 from Minsk on 11 November. "We have
Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims – these are the religions. All the others
are sects." He said the Culture Department maintains a record on each
church.

Linkus said that no further police action is envisaged in the wake of the
questioning of the family and their neighbours. "We just checked the
address, that’s all." He denied claims by the family that the local police
officer asked intrusive questions about their faith and religious practice,
and reports that neighbours were shocked by the police questions. "That’s
all made up. Don’t believe everything you hear. No one complained to us
about the visit."

Linkus insisted there was nothing special about the Culture Department’s
request, and said that his District Police gets "thousands" of such
requests from various state agencies on many issues each year.

The Head of the Culture Department, Vladimir Karachevsky, told Forum 18 on
11 November that his Department handles ancient monuments and the like and
has no connection with religious activity. Asked for clarification of who
had ordered the police visit, Linkus told Forum 18 that he would answer no
more questions, that he did not care what Forum 18 wrote, and would throw
the Kagramanyan family out onto the street and give their flat to someone
else.

Local police inspector Major Vladimir Filimonov of Minsk’s Frunze District
Police arrived at the family home at about 9pm on 26 October, Kristina
Kagramanyan told Forum 18. "One of his first questions was ‘What were you
doing at New Life Church?’ He asked my husband Armen if he serves there as
a pastor, why he was there, what he does when he is there and how often he
visits."

New Life Church has faced relentless state pressure over many years to
oust it from the church building it legally acquired (see most recently
F18News 24 August 2009
< e_id=1339>).

Armen Kagramanyan assists the pastor of New Generation Church in the town
of Baranovichi [Baranavichy] south-west of Minsk, which belongs to the same
Full Gospel Union as New Life. New Generation has faced repeated
harassment, most recently a raid in June and a fine in July (see F18News 16
July 2009 < 1327>).

Major Filimonov – who Kristina Kagramanyan said was polite and appeared to
be uncomfortable asking such questions – then moved on to more general
questions, such as "Why are you a believer?". Filimonov wrote down the
family’s answers and insisted that Armen Kagramanyan sign the record. When
Kristina Kagramanyan asked him why he needed the information, Filimonov
said a new department had been set up in Frunze District police "on this
question", but refused to say what the "question" was.

Deputy Police Chief Linkus denied to Forum 18 that any such department had
been established, saying that the information had been passed on to the
Culture Department.

"I asked the inspector if it was a crime to be a believer," Kristina
Kagramanyan told Forum 18. "I believe they wanted us to understand that if
my husband continues to believe as he believes, they will try to expel him
from the country." Armen Kagramanyan, an ethnic Armenian from
Nagorno-Karabakh in the south Caucasus, has lived in Belarus since 1991 but
has no citizenship. She said he has a valid residence permit, but his
repeated applications for Belarusian citizenship have been rejected without
explanation.

Major Filimonov confirmed to Forum 18 on 10 November that he visited the
Kagramanyan family in their home. "I was just fulfilling my duty in
accordance with the instruction from the Executive Committee." He
vehemently denied that he had asked the family or the neighbours any
intrusive questions or that he had been aggressive. "The conversation took
place in an excellent atmosphere and we parted amicably." He denied that he
had described the family to neighbours as "sectarians".

Baptist church fined, charges against another dropped

Transfiguration Baptist Church in the village of Voropaevo in Postavy
District of Vitebsk [Vitsyebsk] Region has been fined for meeting for
worship in its own building. The church was visited during a service on 22
September by Sergei Kiselev, the District inspector of the Department of
State Control of Nature and Land Use. He drew up a record of an
administrative offence, seen by Forum 18, alleging that the church was
using the property for religious worship unlawfully.

The congregation was taken to Postavy District Court where, on 5 October,
Judge Anna Romanovich found it guilty of violating Article 15.10 Part 3 of
the Administrative Violations Code, which punishes using a plot of land not
for its purpose with fines on legal entities of up to 100 times the minimum
monthly wage. She fined the congregation the minimum fine of 700,000
Belarusian Roubles (1,446 Norwegian Kroner, 172 Euros or 258 US Dollars),
the verdict reveals.

Pastor Aleksei Alshevsky told Forum 18 on 10 November that this represents
three months’ average wage locally. Unhappy with the ruling, the
congregation challenged the fine at Vitebsk Regional Court, but on 28
October, Judge S. Ivanova upheld the fine.

Alshevsky complained of discrimination, pointing out that the Catholics
and the Russian Orthodox both have churches locally, one of which is a
former shop and the other an adapted private house. "Some Churches are
privileged while the rest are fined," he told Forum 18.

In documents seen by Forum 18, Transfiguration Church – which is
registered – was given permission to use their free-standing building by
the local Executive Committee in 2004, 2005 and 2006. In a letter also seen
by Forum 18, on 4 November Leonid Gulyako, the state Plenipotentiary for
Religious and Ethnic Affairs confirmed to the congregation that it can
legally use its property for worship.

However, both courts ruled that when Pastor Alshevsky sold the building
(for a nominal sum) to the congregation in 2005 for continuing use as a
place of worship, the sale once more made the house a residential property
for which the permission for use as a place of worship had lapsed.

Alshevsky says his congregation will complain about the court decisions to
the Presidential Administration.

Marina Tsvilik, who works in Gulyako’s office and who drafted the 4
November response, said that personally she feels some "understanding" for
Alshevsky. "Let them come to us to resolve this," she told Forum 18 from
Minsk on 10 December. "There’s always a legal way."

Asked why such a complex web of regulations exists over what properties
can and cannot be used for religious worship and why religious believers
are punished for meeting for worship when people who gather in homes to
drink beer or watch football are not, Tsvilik responded: "It is a question
of the Law." She insisted that the fines handed down on religious
communities are for "various reasons".

Meanwhile, Postavy District Court told Forum 18 on 11 November that the
administrative case against Council of Churches Baptist Sergei Dedovets for
leading unregistered religious worship in a private home in Postavy was
withdrawn "a month ago". "No offence had been committed," the court
chancellery noted. "It was all thanks to the prayers of people around the
world that the charges were dropped," members of his family told Forum 18
the same day.

The Council of Churches congregation was raided by a local ideology
official, Anna Mukhlya, and a police officer during Sunday worship on 27
September, when the charges were lodged against Dedovets (see F18News 19
October 2009 < 1363>).

Unwilling to discuss why two churches in Postavy District were raided
within days of each other in September and one punished was Alla Keizik,
Deputy Head of the District Executive Committee who oversees social issues.
"Dedovets wasn’t fined, but he was warned he shouldn’t hold religious
services in a private home," she told Forum 18 from Postavy on 10 November.
"Alshevsky violated the land use for the building."

Asked why these communities were being harassed merely for religious
worship, Keizik put the phone down. Forum 18 was unable to ask her what had
changed since 2005, when she had signed a letter approving the use of the
church building for worship.

Conscientious objector sentenced

Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector Dmitry Smyk was found guilty at
the Central District Court in the south-eastern town of Gomel [Homyel] on 6
November of refusing compulsory military service under Article 435 Part 1
of the Criminal Code. The verdict – seen by Forum 18 – notes that Judge
Grigory Dmitrenko fined him 3,500,000 Belarusian Roubles (7,230 Norwegian
Kroner, 862 Euros or 1,290 US Dollars). He was also ordered to pay 3,000
Roubles in court costs, banned from leaving the country, banned from
travelling elsewhere in Belarus without prior notification and required to
maintain good conduct. The maximum penalty under this Article is two years’
imprisonment.

The verdict reveals that the court did not believe that Smyk’s decision to
"join the religiously inclined people" in October 2006 at the urging of his
wife’s stepfather was genuine. It pointed out that his own parents did not
belong to such a group. "The reference by the accused to the absence in law
of an alternative service, which allegedly prevents him from fulfilling his
duty to the state, the court considers as his way of evading military
service and evading criminal responsibility for this."

The court believed Smyk was merely trying to preserve "the comfort of his
daily civilian life" and rejected his argument that serving – even without
weapons – in a military unit would violate his conscientious beliefs.
According to the verdict, the court believed that as the statute of the
Jehovah’s Witnesses does not specify that their members reject military
service on religious grounds, such rejection cannot be a fundamental tenet
of their faith.

Smyk rejects the court decision. "They said in court that I specially
became a Jehovah’s Witness to avoid military service, but that’s not true,"
he told Forum 18 from Gomel on 11 November. "I didn’t even know about the
attitude to military service until after I joined." He said he is preparing
to lodge an appeal to Gomel Regional Court.

The criminal sentence handed down to the 23-year-old Smyk is the first on
a Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector since 2000, Forum 18 notes (see
F18News 30 October 2009
< e_id=1370>).

Three other Jehovah’s Witnesses – two of them also in Gomel – were also
facing criminal prosecution. However, Smyk told Forum 18 that the
prosecutor in Gomel has dropped charges against one of them, Aleksei
Boinichev, saying no crime had been committed. "This is interesting, as he
is in the same situation as me," Smyk told Forum 18. However, Boinichev
will again be included in the spring 2010 call-up "and if he refuses he
will again be charged".

Round-table postponed

Meanwhile, organisers have postponed a proposed roundtable in Minsk to
discuss an alternative Religion Law, as they told Forum 18. The roundtable
had been scheduled for 13 November, but was postponed because of the
outbreak of the H1N1 virus.

Earlier plans to hold the roundtable had been obstructed by the Minsk City
Executive Committee (see F18News 30 October 2009
< e_id=1370>). (END)

For a personal commentary by Antoni Bokun, Pastor of a Pentecostal Church
in Minsk, on Belarusian citizens’ struggle to reclaim their history as a
land of religious freedom, see F18News 22 May 2008
< e_id=1131>.

For more background information see Forum 18’s Belarus religious freedom
survey at < 1311>.

Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Belarus can
be found at
< mp;religion=all&country=16>.

A compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments can be found at
< id=1351>.

A printer-friendly map of Belarus is available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=belar u>.
(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 National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email. [email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE

November 11, 2009
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

COUNTDOWN TO ERDOGAN: ANCA URGES NATIONWIDE CALL-IN DAY IN
SUPPORT OF SENATE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

— Thousands Visit anca.org/countdown for Month-long
Countdown to Erdogan’s December 7th White House Visit

WASHINGTON, DC ? The Armenian National Committee of
America’s (ANCA) ‘Countdown to Erdogan’ moves from the
internet to phone lines on Thursday, November 12 with the
launch of a National Call-In Day to encourage Senators to
cosponsor and work for the adoption of the Armenian
Genocide Resolution, S.Res.316.

"The strong early response by Armenian Americans ? and also
a growing number of non-Armenians ? to our ‘Countdown to
Erdogan’ campaign has really broadened our community’s
civic engagement, with thousands of WebMails already being
sent to support both the adoption of the Armenian Genocide
Resolution and decisive U.S. action to end the genocide in
Darfur," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "We
now urge team members to pick up the phone and call their
Senators to thank those who have already cosponsored the
initiative and urge others to take immediate action."

Contact information for Senate offices and sample phone
scripts are provided through the
website or directly by visiting:
t?alertid=14332646&type=CO

A New Action Item Each Day:

Starting on Monday, November 9th, the ANCA website
launched the innovative program,
announcing a new action item every day, ranging from on-
line activism and call-in days to social networking,
coalition-building, community outreach, and hands-on
activities – all aimed at educating and inspiring President
Obama, on December 7th, to tell Prime Minister Erdogan, to
his face, that American stands for a truthful and just
resolution of the Armenian Genocide. Each week will also
include at least one action item geared to end the ongoing
genocide in Darfur, as part of the ANCA’s broader
commitment to fostering U.S leadership in ending the cycle
of genocide.

Since Monday, in addition to contacting their Senators,
activists have urged President Obama to move beyond
rhetoric and take decisive action to end the Darfur
genocide, participating in a WebMail campaign initiated by
Africa Action. Anti-genocide activists were also
encouraged to watch a special live broadcast of Save
Darfur’s interview with Special Envoy to Sudan Scott
Gration and NSC Assistant Secretary on Multi-Lateral
Affairs Samantha Power on the current situation in Darfur.
On November 11th, in honor of Veterans’ Day, activists are
encouraged to send a special ANCA WebMail to Senate and
House members to help end the cycle of genocide.

Online Social Media networking and Weekend Projects to
Round out First Week of Activism:

"Countdown to Erdogan" daily actions, which take just a few
minutes, are each designed to spread the Armenian Genocide
recognition message to key audiences. Friday’s action will
focus on online social media, encouraging activists to use
the campaign’s logo as their Facebook profile picture, to
give their impressions of the first week of activism on the
ANCA Facebook page, and to take action via Twitter,
LinkedIn, and other networking sites.

On Saturday, activists are encouraged to visit their
community library and identify Armenian Genocide and
Armenian history related resources available for community
education. The ANCA will help by providing a listing of
books and resources that can be donated to Libraries to
augment their collections.

For Sunday, the ANCA will be posting a sample letter to
Senators that activists can print and take to Church and
community centers to encourage dialogue and to collect
signatures in support of the Senate version of the Armenian
Genocide Resolution S.Res.316.

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email. [email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE

November 11, 2009
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

McCAIN RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

— Action Highlights President Obama’s Reversal on
his Pledge to Properly Recognize this Crime

WASHINGTON, DC – The Republican Party’s 2008 Presidential nominee,
Arizona Senator John McCain, has publicly and properly recognized the
Armenian Genocide, breaking with his longstanding silence on this
human rights issue and, in the process, dramatically underscoring the
post-election retreat by his campaign opponent, President Barack
Obama, from his high-profile pledge to properly condemn and
commemorate this crime, reported the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA).

"I believe that genocide was committed against the Armenian people,
and I think there is ample documentation of that," Sen. McCain told
the Voice of America Georgian language service in an interview
focusing on the Caucasus as well as Armenia-Turkey relations.

During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Sen. McCain issued two
statements to the Armenian American community, both falling short of
properly characterizing as genocide the Ottoman Turkish Government’s
deportation and annihilation of its Armenian community. "It is fair
to say that one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, the
brutal murder of as many as one and a half million Armenians under the
rule of the Ottoman Empire, has also been one of the most
neglected. The suffering endured by the Armenian people during that
period represented the prologue to what has come to be known as
humanity’s bloodiest century," stated Sen. McCain in a September 29,
2008, statement.

In sharp contrast, Senator Barack Obama, during his campaign, clearly
and repeatedly promised to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Once
elected, however, the President has thus far not only failed to honor
his pledge, but actively cooperated with Turkey to pressure Armenia
into accepting a "commission" that calls into question this crime
against humanity.

Senator McCain has, throughout his tenure in the Congress, largely
opposed or remained indifferent to an array of Armenian American
issues. As recently as the last session of Congress, Senator McCain
publicly opposed Congressional recognition of the Armenian
Genocide. In 1999, he voted against restricting U.S. aid to Azerbaijan
over its blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia
and Nagorno Karabagh. He voted against Senator Bob Dole’s Armenian
Genocide Resolution in 1990.

Contrary to the views of the majority of the Armenian American
community, Sen. McCain supports the controversial Turkey-Armenia
Protocols process.