Month: February 2015

WAR MUST BE DECLARED!

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Feb 24 2015

24 February 2015, 10:31 (GMT+04:00)
By Mahammad Agamirzayev

Today Azerbaijan’s society, economy, democracy and many other aspects
have developed dynamically much more than they have ever been.

The fact, our independency is getting stronger with every achieved
success acknowledged by international community.

Delighted with our development, a number of countries support us but
there are others which are envy trying to create barriers in our way.

However, these barriers don’t endure against our development, triumphed
by the union of Azerbaijan nation.

All these are seen not only by Azerbaijani citizens, but also civil
societies of many different countries.

I have come up with this conclusion after having discussions with
people of different age groups, backgrounds and nationalities,
lecturers, and some politicians, since the start of my overseas
studies.

I am currently studying at the University of Birmingham. My meetings
and a series of discussions with Galina Yemelianova, citizen of the
United Kingdom and Professor at University of Birmingham made me
interested in political world.

Dr. Yemelianova works in the “Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian
Studies”, at the University of Birmingham. In the year 1985 Yemelianova
got a PhD in Middle Eastern History, from the Institute of Asian and
African Studies, at the Moscow State University.

Recently, public union “Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh
Region”, Council of the “State Support to Non-Governmental
Organizations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, and
the Humboldt University of Germany have begun to cooperate with the
“Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies” of the University
of Birmingham, regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict.

The only reason why Azerbaijan is not feeling exhilaration is that
our land, Karabakh, is presently occupied by the Armenian invaders.

This was our theme of discussion at my first meeting with
Professor Yemelianova. Her thorough knowledge of both, Azerbaijan
and Azerbaijanis, as well as Armenia and Armenians, has led her to
sustain a fair judgment.

During the course of the conversation, I also discovered that,
because of her caring attitude towards Azerbaijan, in our current
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Dr. Yemelianova was facing regular pressures
from the Armenian Diaspora.

Dr. Yemelianova has played a key role in organization of numerous
trainings and conferences together with agencies which have interest
in the peace in the Caucasian region.

On February 17, 2015, at an invitation of Dr. Yemelianova, I attended
a conference titled “The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Current Discourses
and Future Perspectives” organized by the University of Birmingham
Research Group on the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Centre for
Russian, European and Eurasian Studies, POLSIS, College of Social
Sciences, in collaboration with the Department of War Studies of
King’s College London.

The theme of the first session of the conference was “Regional
Perspectives”, which was followed by discussion on the “Local and
International Discourses”. Following the speeches given by Ambassador
Jacques Faure, the ex- co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and by Amanda
Paul, from the European Policy Centre (Brussels), the participants
and speakers had debate on relative issues.

During my individual discussions with the speakers, I talked about the
political and the economic development of Azerbaijan, the “Qaradagli”
massacre and the “Khojaly” genocide. My speech positively affected them
and it was visible from their facial mimic and attitude towards me.

In my point of view, it is now the right time to declare an
ideological-nationwide war for freedom of Karabakh. Consequently,
each of us must give a daily, weekly, monthly report and analyze it:
How many “shots were fired”…, what was stated by him/her to the
world concerning this issue?

At this point, I think it is worth noting a suggestion of mine,
which is including the question of “What ideological action have you
done for the sake of Azerbaijan, Karabakh?” to a seminar held by “The
State Students Admission Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan”.

It would be enough to have a dramatic increase of world awareness on
the truth of Karabakh conflict and boost-up the resolution progression
of this dispute if each of us spends at least an hour each day on
this campaign via the means of Information Technology, for the sake
of integrity and freedom of the motherland-Azerbaijan. This would
be a sign of solidarity of Azerbaijanis against the aggressor nation
and its mendacious supporters.

Pashinyan: Berdzor incident is a threat to NKR’s international reputation

Wednesday,
February 25

The incident that took place in Berdzor on January 31 was a severe
blow to Artsakh’s statehood, the deputy of Armenian National Congress
(HAK) faction Nikol Pashinyan said in the Armenian parliament today.

In his words, the incident called into question the legitimacy of
the Armenian parliamentary delegations’ statements in international
organizations that there is democracy and rule of law in the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic (NKR).

‘That incident endangered all our achievements since the start of the
Karabakh movement. On February 6 of this year a delegation of the
Armenian parliament went to Stepanakert to discuss the elimination
of the Berdzor incident consequences. My position was and remains the
same – those who used violence should be held criminally liable under
the law of NKR. Besides, high-ranking officials of law-enforcement
bodies should resign,” Pashinyan said.

He stressed that this position seems to have been perceived by the
authorities of NKR, but strangely, no criminal case was opened,
although 24 days have passed since the incident.

N. Pashinyan said that he would like to remind everyone that those
who used violence against the participants of a peaceful procession
of cars should be held criminally liable, while those guilty of
negligence should be dismissed.

“It is not someone’s whim, but requirements of morality and NKR’s
legislation. The authorities of Artsakh should realize that it is the
only way to overcome the incident’s consequences. Unless we follow
that path, the incident will become a problem and pose a threat to
the international reputation of the NKR,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

As was reported, on January 31 Pre-parliament civil initiative was
going to stage yet another protest against the current authorities
by organizing a ‘procession of cars’ in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

Yet information appeared soon about “a clash between protest
participants and law enforcers of Artsakh”. Pre-parliament issued a
statement saying that on January 31 “some unknown people in police
cars” hindered actions of protesters not far from Berdzor. They used
violence against protesters, inflicted injuries on them, broke their
cameras and damaged cars.

14-YEAR-OLD TEEN FOUND HANGED IN KHANJIAN VILLAGE OF ARMENIA

A teen, 14, was found hanged on February 23 in the village of Khanjian
of Armenia’s Armavir province.

“He spent the day with boys from neighborhood. Around 4:00 pm he was
found hanged in a barn. He was a tenth grader, had no problems with
anyone. He did sports,” the village administrator Samvel Avagyan
told Aysor.am.

He said the teen left no suicide note.

24.02.15, 14:09

PRESS RELEASE
One Armenia
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Third time’s a charm in Kashatagh!
————————————————————

1A preps its 3rd campaign in Karabakh…
————————————————————

…all of which have taken place in the Kashatagh region and, trust
us, that’s no accident.
————————————————————

We think Kashatagh is a fertile ground for possibilities and
potential, but there’s still so much more to be done. We’re launching
a campaign there next week, so we thought we’d quickly recap the work
we’ve already accomplished (with our awesome partners at Tufenkian
Foundation () ) in this beautiful,
but developing region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Clean Water in Karotan
A few months later, we focused our attention on another village, where
families had been drinking out of a dirty well for nearly 20 years and
had to walk over 3 kilometers several times a day to retrieve water
from the only well in the area. Again, thanks to you 125 people in
Karotan and neighboring Vardabats, Kumayri and Pakahan, now have fresh
drinking water.

A Kindergarten in Moshatagh
In 201, we discovered kids in Moshatagh village lacked child-care and
educational facilities. With your help, we turned the barren first
floor of the stone building into a place of learning and play for the
children of 60 families in Moshatagh and other students from
neighboring Mirik, Bertik and Herik villages.

A Medical Clinic in Aghavnatun
What’s up next? We heard that closest medical center for the 150
residents of Aghavnatun is a 2 hour drive (on possibly the bumpiest
roads your bum has ever experienced–no fun, especially for a sick
person). In Feb., we traveled to Aghavnatun and are excited to launch
our campaign next week to raising $33,098 to provide the community
with a fully stocked clinic.

==========================================================Join our
Ambassador program ()
to be a part of Armenia’s development.

Copyright © 2014 ONEArmenia,
All rights reserved.

American University of Armenia
40 Marshal Baghramyan Avenue
Yerevan 0019
Armenia
To contact the Office of Communications, email us at [email protected]

Check below for a list of schools, universities, and venues that we
will be visiting on our tour through California from February 17 – 28,
2015.
If you’d like to meet with us during our two week visit, then email us
at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

February 24:

The Rose & Pilibos Armenian School
California State University, Northridge
AGBU Arts & Culture Committee and Armenian Society of LA Event,
Glendale

February 25:
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian High School
AGBU Manoogian Demirdjian High School
University of California, Irvine

February 26:
Glendale Community College
Herbert Hoover High School

February 28:
Volunteer Armenia Expo, Montebello

Gia Aivazian on the Sachtleben Archive

The Adventurer Who Rode a Bicycle Across Asia

UCLA Library Special Collections

Wednesday, March11, 2015,12 PM

The exhibition Round Trip focuses on William Sachtleben$B!G(Bs role in the
history of late nineteenth-century bicycling. The photographic
negatives, prints, and diaries kept by Sachtleben documented his
journey, in 1891, through Asia Minor with Thomas G. Allen, Jr. and
form part of his archive in the UCLA Library Special Collections. The
archive also includes photographs, letters and notes associated with a
second journey Sachtleben undertook in 1895 to Erzerum, Turkey, in
search of a lost American cyclist by the name of Frank Lenz. He stayed
almost a year in Erzerum and came to know and learn about Armenians,
Turks and Kurds and record his impressions. More importantly, he was
eyewitness to the October 30th massacre of the Armenians in the town
of Erzerum.

Gia Aivazian, former Librarian for Armenian and Greek at UCLA$B!G(Bs Young
Research Library, was instrumental in the archive$B!G(Bs acquisition and
has spent many years studying it. In this talk, Aivazian shares her
reflections on the adventurer who rode a bicycle across Asia and also
the man, who contributed to our understanding of the people living on
historic Armenian lands-now part of Turkey, in a specific slice of
time.

Parking

Convenient parking is available in LOT 4, accessible from Sunset Blvd
at Westwood. Parking is $12; automated pay stations accept $1 or $5
bills and credit/debit cards.

Elizabeth Grigorian $B!|(B Armenian Outreach Coordinator $B!|(B City of
Glendale $B!|(B Library, Arts & Culture $B!|(B 222 East Harvard Street $B!|(B
Glendale, CA 91205 $B!|(B (818) 548- 3288 $B!|(B [email protected]

Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Tel: 818-500-1918
Fax: 818-246-7353
Email: [email protected]
Web:

Ghazir Armenian Orphan Rug
Presented to President Calvin Coolidge in 1925
Thursday, February 26th | 7PM | Glendale Public Library

The public is invited on Thursday, February 26, 2015, at 7pm to a
power point presentation of the Ghazir Armenian Orphan Rug by Maurice
Missak Kelechian at the Glendale Central Library Auditorium, 222 East
Harvard Street in Glendale. The presentation will be in
English. Admission will be free. Library visitors receive 3 hours FREE
parking across the street at The Market Place parking structure with
validation available at the Loan Desk.

The program is sponsored by the Glendale Library, Arts & Culture
department and the ANCA-WR Initiative “America We Thank You: An
Armenian Tribute to Near East Relief,” which recognizes the outpouring
of philanthropic generosity and humanitarianism by the American people
from the onset of the Armenian Genocide that rescued and rehabilitated
over 1,000,000 refugees and 132,000 Armenian orphans.

Msar Palace in Ghazir is about 20 miles from Beirut, Lebanon, perched
on a hill, the Msar (often spelled Mizar) palace in Ghazir was built
during the 19th century by a Lebanese prince, Emir Chehab II. Early in
1923, the Near East Relief organization rented Msar palace and turned
it into an Armenian girls’ orphanage, the largest in the area. Under
the American flag, the orphanage became a safe haven for 1400 Armenian
girls who had witnessed the destruction of their country, during the
Armenian Genocide. The place is well known for its rug factory. From
1923 to 1930, the orphanage produced 3254 rugs and around 1000 orphan
girls certified in the art of rug weaving. These girls made history by
introducing the art of rug weaving into the Lebanese culture.

Three years after the Ghazir orphanage was founded and within a period
of ten months, seven Armenian orphan girls wove their masterpiece rug
on behalf of tens of thousands of Armenian orphans around the world.

The Ghazir Rug, also known as Armenian Orphan Rug is a magnificent
11.7 by 18.5 feet rug, woven into 4,404,206 individual hand-tied knots
of figures of more than one hundred animals and plants. The solemn
expression of pain and sorrow for everything lost: homeland, loved
ones and, trust in humanity. In December 1925, the rug was presented
to United States President Calvin Coolidge as a token of gratitude and
it stayed with Coolidge and his family even after he left the
office. The rug was returned to the White House in 1982, and stored in
the storage room for thirty-two years until November, 2014 when it was
exhibited at the White House Visiting Center.

“The Ghazir Rug is not just a carpet; it is a tangible connection to
the first genocide of the Twentieth Century -a silent, beautiful
rebuttal to those who deny the murder of 1.5 million men, woman and
children in a campaign of mass murder, forced marches, rape and
looting that befell the Armenian people from 1915-23. ” — Congressman
Adam Schiff–

From: A. Papazian

Armenian Economic Association 2015 Conference Call for Papers
Armenian Economic Association
Contact: Shushanik Hakobyan
Email: [email protected]
Web:

The Armenian Economic Association 2015 annual meetings will be jointly
hosted by Yerevan State University (YSU), the Central Bank of Armenia
(CBA), and the American University of Armenia (AUA) on June 19-21,
2015. Keynote speakers: Armen Hovakimian, Baruch College, City
University of New York David Dole, Asian Development Bank Scholars,
researchers, and graduate students, are invited to present their
research in all areas of economicsand finance. Papers may address
growth and development issues in Armenia andthe South-Caucasus, the
emerging financial crisis in the region, regional trade patterns,
trends in labor markets and migration, or any other topic representing
current advances in economics and finance. Both theoretical
and empirical works are welcome.

The language of the conference is Armenian and English, and sessions
will be organized by language and JEL fields: * Microeconomics;
Industry Studies * Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics * International
Economics * Financial Economics * Public Economics * Labor and
DemographicEconomics, Health, Education, and Welfare * Growth,
Economic Development,and Transition Economics * Agricultural,
Natural Resources, and Environmental Economics * Urban, Rural, and
Regional Economics If interested, please submit an abstract at
or alternatively email it to
[email protected] by April 15th; decision by April 30th. Submitted
abstracts should be less than 500 words and include: title of paper,
name(s) of author(s), affiliation, current position, an emailaddress,
at least one keyword. In the abstract, please identify the research
question, methods, and outcomes (obtained or expected). The submission
of complete sessions with 3-4 papers is also welcome, and highly
encouraged. There is no submission fee nor any cost to present and
participate. Contributions and sponsors are welcome. The Armenian
Economic Association (AEA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, organization
dedicated to promoting Armenian scholarship in economics. The annual
conference is one instrument employed to achieve this goal.

PRESS RELEASE
Ararat-Eskijian Museum
15105 Mission Hills Rd
Mission Hills CA, 91345
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 818-838-4862

February 23, 2015

Mission Hills Calif. Ararat-Eskijian Museum, National Association for
Armenian Studies and research, and Organization of Istanbul Armenians
present an illustrated talk by Dr. Fatma Muge Gocek Professor of
Sociology and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan ‘Denial of
Violence: Ottoman Past, Turkish Present, and Collective Violence
Against the Armenians’.

The event is on March 08, 2015, 4 PM Ararat-Eskijian Museum/Sheen Chapel,
15105 Mission Hills Road, Mission Hills CA 91345

In this talk based on her recently published book, Professor Fatma
Müge Göçek will delve into the roots of Turkey’s denial of the
Armenian Genocide and explain why it still persists. Prof. Göçek will
specifically focus on the denial of collective violence committed
against Armenians throughout Ottoman and Turkish history,
demonstrating its occurrence many times before 1915. Having
qualitatively analyzed 315 memoirs published in Turkey from 1789 to
2009 in addition to numerous secondary sources, journals, and
newspapers, she reveals that denial is a multi-layered, historical
process with four distinct yet overlapping components: the structural
elements of collective violence and modernity on one side, and the
emotional elements of collective consensus and legitimating events on
the other. In the Turkish case, denial emerged through four stages,
beginning with the imperial denial of the origins of collective
violence committed against Armenians that commenced in 1789 and
continued until 1907, followed by the Young Turk denial of violence
lasting for a decade from 1908 to 1918, then an early republican
denial taking place from 1919 to 1973, and culminating with the late
republican denial of the responsibility for the collective violence
started in 1974, which continues to this day.

– =8F Admission free (Donations appreciated) – =8F Reception and book
signing following the program. For more information call the
Ararat-Eskijian Museum at (747-500-7585 or
e-mail:[email protected]

From: Baghdasarian

A MIX OF OLD AND NEW IN ARMENIAN JAZZ PIANIST TIGRAN’S ‘MOCKROOT’

WBUR – The Artery
Feb 23 2015

Visit the website of Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan, and you’ll
see a menu item labeled “poems” leading to translations of Armenian
poems. Evidently, Tigran is heavily influenced by poetry. Listening
to his music, one can imagine the other potential menu items —
Armenian folk songs, progressive rock, heavy metal, electronic music,
jazz standards, classical piano — the list would be endless, the
scope of Tigran’s music is so broad.

Tigran, 27, will bring his trio, which includes Sam Minaie on bass
and Arthur Hnatek on drums, to the Regattabar on Feb. 24. The show
is part of a record release tour of “Mockroot,” which was released by
Nonesuch Records in the U.S. on Feb. 17. The album features the trio
with Tigran on piano, voice, keyboards, synths and sound effects, as
well as vocalist Gayanee Movsisyan. Tigran also brings in his quintet
with Areni Agbabian on vocals, Ben Wendel on saxophone, Chris Tordini
on bass and Nate Wood on drums for “Song for Melan & Rafik”.

Here’s Tigran’s quintet:

Tigran grew up in Armenia and studied classical piano, sang standards
with a big band and considered being a thrash metal guitarist before
focusing on jazz inspired interpretations of Armenian folk songs. He
moved to California as a teenager and studied at the University of
Southern California and then the New School in New York. When he was
still a teenager, Tigran won the prestigious Thelonious Monk jazz piano
competition and has five albums out as a leader, including “Mockroot.”

Here’s solo voice and piano performance:

Choppy, intricate rhythmic passages interlaced with tender, almost
hymnal sounding melodies. In a way, this is a musical reflection of
what Tigran says is the overarching theme of “Mockroot”: “It’s the
idea that nature is constantly mocking humanity. Whatever we impose
upon it, nature will always win. Technology has taken us into crazy
areas, but we need a core of humanity to make sense of the world.”

Here’s a preview of “Mockroot”:

Variations of the tension that Tigran describes between nature and
humanity are present throughout “Mockroot.” On “Kars I” we hear
the contrast of old and new: a famous Armenian folk song set to the
back-beat of Tigran’s modern arrangement. There’s the clash of acoustic
instruments like drum and piano with various electronic instruments.

A new project is already in the works for Tigran. Set to be released in
September 2015, “Luys i Luso” will feature Tigran on piano arranging
for the Yerevan state chamber choir. This is surely the beginning,
but, if we’re measuring by experience and maturity, it feels like
the middle of an exciting career.

For videos, go to