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04/21/2005
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1) Berlin Urges Turkey to Take Responsibility for Massacres
2) Turkish Army Criticizes US over Kurdish Rebels, Warns about Kirkuk
3) 178 US Representatives Urge President to Properly Characterize the Armenian Genocide
4) Poland’s Walesa Condemns ‘First Genocide of 20th Century’

1) Berlin Urges Turkey to Take Responsibility for Massacres

BERLIN (DPA)–All parties in the German parliament have agreed on key
points of
a resolution which will tell Turkey to “take historic responsibility” for the
1915 Armenian genocide, a senior member of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s
Social Democrats said on Thursday.
Gernot Erler, the Social Democratic (SPD) deputy foreign affairs spokesman in
the Bundestag, said the resolution due to win final approval in the coming
months would have three ‘goals.’
First, Germany’s parliament will recognize a limited German role in the
massacre of 1.2 million to 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during
World War One, said Erler in a statement. “Germany was Ottoman Turkey’s main
ally in document…and partly through approval and through failure to take
effective preventive measures there was a German co-responsibility for this
genocide.” “The (Bundestag) asks the Armenian people for their forgiveness,”
said Erler’s statement.
Second, the Berlin parliament will call on Turkey “to halt its up until now
overwhelming suppression, to take historic responsibility for the massacre of
the Armenians by the Young Turk regime and to ask for forgiveness from the
descendants of the victims.”
Turkey’s government has always insisted that there was no Armenian genocide
and says a far smaller number of Armenians died during Ottoman deportations
which it argues took place under war conditions and were due to an Armenian
rebellion.
Turkey’s ambassador to Germany, Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik, denounced the planned
Bundestag resolution as containing “countless factual errors” and being
written
“in agreement with propaganda efforts of fanatic Armenians.”
“Its goal is to defame Turkish history…and poison ties between Turkey and
the European Union,” said the ambassador.
Finally, the German parliament’s resolution will underline Berlin’s
efforts to
help normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia.
Germany, which has about 2.5 million resident Turks, has–up until now– been
wary about addressing the Armenian genocide.
A member of the opposition Christian Democratic alliance (CDU/CSU), Erwin
Marschewski, said in a statement that the value system of the European Union
insisted that countries “shine a spotlight on the dark pages of their
history.”

“Recognition by Turkey of the Armenian genocide of 1915 and 1916 is
important,”
said Marschewski.
Turkey is due to start membership negotiations with the EU in October but EU
leaders say accession talks–if successful–will take up to 15 years.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is a staunch backer of Turkish EU membership and
will visit Ankara and Istanbul for talks with Turkish political and business
leaders on May 3 and 4.
The draft resolution being debated in Germany’s parliament does not use the
word ‘genocide’ but rather refers to the “expulsion and massacres” of
Armenians
under the Ottoman Turks in 1915 as part of ceremonies marking the 90th
anniversary of the killings.
“We purposely left out the term genocide,” said Christoph Bergner, an
opposition Christian Democrat, in a speech to parliament.
The declaration says between 1.2 and 1.5 million Christian Armenians died or
were killed by the Moslem Turks during “planned” deportations during the First
World War.
Armenians all over the world will on April 24 mark the 90th anniversary of
the
start of what most international historians describe as a genocide lasting
from
1915 to 1923 which left up to 1.5 million people dead.

2) Turkish Army Criticizes US over Kurdish Rebels, Warns about Kirkuk

ISTANBUL (AFP)–The head of the Turkish army criticized the United States
Wednesday for failing to curb Turkish Kurdish rebels hiding in northern Iraq
and warned that Iraqi Kurdish attempts to take control of the oil-rich city of
Kirkuk could throw the entire region into turmoil.
General Hilmi Ozkok, the chief of general staff, complained in a yearly
evaluation speech that Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was
gaining influence in northern Iraq and stepping up attacks across the
border on
Turkey because of US failure to take action against the rebels.
“The terror group has been included in the list of terrorist organizations by
the United States and the European Union, but that does not carry a meaning in
practice,” Ozkok said.
“It is thought-provoking that no action has been taken yet against the
organization. The PKK must at any rate be deprived of foreign support and have
its hope of success crushed,” he said.
Turkey says about 5,000 PKK militants have found refuge in the mountains of
neighboring northern Iraq since 1999, when the group declared a unilateral
ceasefire with Ankara in its armed campaign for self-rule in the country’s
mainly Kurdish southeast.
The group called off the truce last year, raising tensions in the region.
Ozkok also expressed concern over attempts by Iraqi Kurds to seize the
ethnically volatile city of Kirkuk, which, he said, with its large oil
resources, should belong to all Iraqis and not just one ethnic group.
“That is why it is important for Kirkuk to have a special status,” Ozkok
said.
“We have said several times that Kirkuk is a problem area ready to explode
..and that it would affect the entire region if it explodes.” .
Turkey suspects Iraqi Kurds of planning to capitalize on their post-war gains
to make Kirkuk the capital of an independent Kurdish state.
Such a state, Ankara fears, would fuel separatism among the restive Kurds of
adjoining southeastern Turkey, sparking regional turmoil.

3) 178 US Representatives Urge President to Properly Characterize the Armenian
Genocide

–Record Level of Support for Congressional Letter Sends Strong Message to
White House

WASHINGTON, DC–A record number of US Representatives sent a Congressional
letter to President Bush on Wednesday, urging him to reaffirm the US record on
the Armenian genocide by properly characterizing the atrocities as “genocide.”
The letter comes days after a similar Senate initiative, which garnered the
support of an unprecedented 32 Senators–a 45% increase over the previous
year.
The April 20 letter, spearheaded by Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairmen
Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), stresses that “by properly
recognizing the terrible atrocities committed against the Armenian people as
‘genocide’ in your statement, you will honor the many Americans who helped
launch the unprecedented US diplomatic, political, and humanitarian
campaign to
end the carnage and protect the survivors.”
“We were very gratified by the announcement this evening by the
Co-Chairman of
the Armenian Caucus that a record total of one hundred and seventy-eight US
Representatives have joined together in calling on the President to properly
recognize the Armenian Genocide in his April 24th remarks,” said Aram
Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA, following a special 90th
anniversary
Armenian genocide observance on Capitol Hill.
“Along with the thirty-two Senators who sent a similar letter earlier this
week to the White House, this brings to two hundred and ten the total
number of
US legislators formally calling for the President to speak with historical
accuracy and moral clarity about this crime against humanity. We welcome this
unprecedented level of Congressional leadership and urge the President to heed
their call and honor the pledge he made in February of 2000 to properly
recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
Representatives Pallone and Knollenberg, in a March 3 letter to their House
colleagues, encouraged them to lend their voice to the effort noting, that “by
properly affirming the Armenian Genocide, we can help ensure the legacy of the
Genocide is remembered so this human tragedy will not be repeated.” Over the
past several weeks, Armenian Americans from across the US have been sending
ANCA WebFaxes to their Representatives urging them to co-sign the letter to
the
President.
On April 7, Representative Knollenberg joined with Republican House Members
George Radanovich (R-CA), Michael Bilirakis (R-FL), Mark Souder (R-IN) and
Mark
Foley (R-FL) in urging their party colleagues to encourage Pres. Bush to
follow
Senator Dole’s lead and “simply tell the truth.”
Members of Congress joining Reps. Pallone and Knollenberg in co-signing the
letter included: Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Tom Allen
(D-ME), Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Joe Baca (D-CA), Brian Baird (D-WA), Tammy
Baldwin (D-WI), Charles Bass (R-NH), Melissa Bean (D-IL), Bob Beauprez (R-CO),
Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Howard Berman (D-CA), Michael
Bilirakis (R-FL), Sanford Bishop (D-GA), Tim Bishop (D-NY), Earl Blumenauer
(D-OR), Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Mary Bono (R-CA), Jeb Bradley (R-NH),
Sherrod
Brown (D-OH), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Lois Capps (D-CA), Michael Capuano (D-MA),
Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), John
Conyers (D-MI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Jerry Costello (D-IL), Christopher Cox
(R-CA), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Duke Cunningham (R-CA), Danny Davis (D-IL),
Susan Davis (D-CA), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), William Delahunt (D-MA), Rosa
DeLauro
(D-CT), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), John Dingell (D-MI), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX),
John Doolittle (R-CA), Mike Doyle (D-PA), David Dreier (R-CA), Vernon Ehlers
(R-MI), Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Lane Evans
(D-IL), Sam Farr (D-CA), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Tom Feeney (R-FL), Mike Ferguson
(R-NJ), Bob Filner (D-CA), Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Mark Foley (R-FL), Vito
Fossella (R-NY), Barney Frank (D-MA), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Scott
Garrett (R-NJ), Jim Gerlach (R-PA), Mark Green (R-WI), Gene Green (D-TX), Raul
Grijalva (D-AZ), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Tim Holden
(D-PA), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Michael Honda (D-CA), Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Steve
Israel (D-NY), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Jesse Jackson (D-IL), Sheila Jackson Lee
(D-TX), Nancy Johnson (R-CT), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), Marcy Kaptur
(D-OH), Sue Kelly (R-NY), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Dale Kildee (D-MI), Carolyn
Kilpatrick (D-MI), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), James Langevin
(D-RI), John Larson (D-CT), Steven LaTourette (R-OH), Barbara Lee (D-CA),
Sander Levin (D-MI), John Lewis (D-GA), Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), Frank LoBiondo
(R-NJ), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Dan Lungren (R-CA), Stephen
Lynch (D-MA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Edward Markey (D-MA), Jim Matheson
(D-UT), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Betty McCollum (D-MN),
Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Jim McDermott (D-WA), James McGovern (D-MA), John
McHugh (R-NY), Mike McIntyre (D-NC), Buck McKeon (R-CA), Michael McNulty
(D-NY), Martin Meehan (D-MA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Michael Michaud (D-ME),
George Miller (D-CA), Candice Miller (R-MI), Gwen Moore (D-WI), James Moran
(D-VA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Richard Neal (D-MA),
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Devin Nunes (R-CA), John Olver (D-MA), C. L.
“Butch” Otter (R-ID), William Pascrell (D-NJ), Donald Payne (D-NJ), Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Richard Pombo (R-CA), Jon Porter
(R-NV),
George Radanovich (R-CA), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Mike Rogers (R-MI), Mike Ross
(D-AR), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Edward Royce
(R-CA), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Paul Ryan (R-WI), John Salazar (D-CO), Loretta
Sanchez (D-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), H. James Saxton
(R-NJ), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Allyson Schwartz (D-PA),
Joe Schwarz (R-MI), E. Clay Shaw (R-FL), Christopher Shays (R-CT), Brad
Sherman
(D-CA), John Shimkus (R-IL), Rob Simmons (R-CT), Christopher Smith (R-NJ),
Hilda Solis (D-CA), Mark Souder (R-IN), Pete Stark (D-CA), John Sweeney
(R-NY),
Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), Mike Thompson (D-CA), John Tierney (D-MA), Edolphus
Towns (D-NY), Mark Udall (D-CO), Christopher Van Hollen (D-MD), Nydia
Velazquez
(D-NY), Peter Visclosky (D-IN), James Walsh (R-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA),
Diane
Watson (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Curt Weldon (R-PA),
Gerald Weller (R-IL), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Frank Wolf (R-VA), Lynn Woolsey
(D-CA), David Wu (D-OR), and Albert Wynn (D-MD).

4) Poland’s Walesa Condemns ‘First Genocide of 20th Century’

(RFE/RL)–Lech Walesa, Poland’s former president and a Nobel Peace Prize
winner, made on Thursday an emotional case for the recognition by Turkey of
the
1915 genocide of Armenians, saying it should be a precondition for Ankara’s
accession to the European Union. Walesa was addressing an international
conference devoted the upcoming 90th anniversary of the start of the mass
killings and deportations of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. His visit came just
two days after Poland became the ninth EU country to officially describe the
slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenians as a genocide.
“The massacres of Armenians in Turkey were the first genocide of the 20th
century,” Walesa declared in a speech in Yerevan. “Armenia is justly demanding
that the recognition of the Armenian genocide be a precondition for Turkey’s
membership in the European Union,” he said. “Without a universal acceptance of
historical justice, we can not meet the challenges of the contemporary
world.”
“The massacres of Armenians were started by the bloodthirsty [Ottoman] Sultan
Abdul Hamid II,” Walesa said in his speech. “In 1915, the Turkish government
ordered the slaughter of Armenian intellectuals and the deportation of
hundreds
of thousands of Armenians that either starved to death or were brutally killed
by Turkish soldiers and Kurdish bandits.”
“If I or anyone else forget that crime, then let God forget us,” he added.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azerbaijan Demands Turkey Write Off $150 Million in Electricity Debts; Says Amount Too Big

Associated Press
Thursday April 21, 2005

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Azerbaijan said Thursday it would not pay
off US$150 million in electricity debts owed to Turkey, saying the
amount was too big for the Caspian Sea nation.

Vice Premier Abid Sharifov also told reporters that the debts for
electricity supplied to the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan since
1992, is small change for Turkey. He said Azerbaijan’s service on
the debt is growing by US$11 million to $12 million annually.

“We aren’t interested in returning this debt,” he said. “That is why
we suggest writing it off as technical losses.”

Sharifov said the demand was unlikely to damage relations between
the two countries. There was no immediate reaction from Turkey to
the demand.

The enclave of Nakhichevan is legally part of Azerbaijan but is cut
off from Azerbaijan proper by its enemy, Armenia.

Turkey, which border Nakhichevan to the east, is Azerbaijan’s
closest ally in the region. It maintains a border blockade against
Armenia, the result of the six-year war fought between Azerbaijan
and Armenian-supported forces over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan’s economy is growing due to major investment by
international oil companies looking to exploit some of the largest
fields in the former Soviet Union, but much of the country has yet
to reap the benefits of the growth.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

«EURO-2008» WITH A NEW FORMAT

A1plus

| 17:59:49 | 20-04-2005 | Sports |

During the following UEFA Congress the Executive Committee has decided
upon the new order of organizong the Euro-2008 according to which in
the preliminary phase the teams will be divided into 7 groups the
first two places of which will automatically pass on to the final
pahse. The organisers – Austria and Sqitzerland will joint this 14
teams. The preliminary phase in which Armenia will also participate
will start in 2006 Fall.

Beofre this decision only the winner of the group had the right to
pass on to the final phase, and the teams taking the second place
met in the play-off.

–Boundary_(ID_rHm6wZar2qgU5xKyWUPWhQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GEORGIAN, IRANIAN OFFICIALS LIKELY TO DISCUSS SHIPMENT OF GAS VIA ARMENIA

Armenpress

TBILISI, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS: Iran’s vice-president Mohammad Reza Aref
is set to visit Georgia on April 25, where he will be holding talks
with president Mikhail Saakashvili, prime minister Zurab Noghaideli
and foreign minister Salome Zurabichvili on boosting bilateral trade.

Iran’s embassy in Tbilisi told Itar-Tass the focus in the talks will
be on energy sector.

Analysts do not rule out that Georgian and Iranian officials may
discuss the issue of transporting Iranian gas to Georgia via Armenia.

During a mid-March visit to Yerevan Noghaideli said Georgia was
interested in importing gas through Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Belarusian defence minister upbeat on cooperation with Russia

Belapan news agency, Minsk
20 Apr 05

Minsk, 20 April: Joint handling of defence policy issues and the
development of relations between the defence ministries lay a solid
basis for long-time mutually beneficial cooperation both within the
framework of the [Russian-Belarusian] union state and the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) [member states are Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia], and,
partially, within the CIS framework. Belarusian Defence Minister
Col-Gen Leanid Maltsaw said this on 20 April in Minsk speaking at a
joint board session of the defence ministries of Belarus and Russia.

He said that the two countries’ defence ministries made a significant
progress in some directions last year, in particular concerning the
implementation of the union state’s military doctrine, the military
organization establishment, the planning and realization of joint
military and military-technical events, as well as the unification
of the Belarusian and Russian defence legislation, social security
of the military and their family members.

Maltsaw described a joint command-post exercise of the allied command
of the regional group of forces as a major event in 2004 which was
aimed at working out single approaches to guaranteeing the union
state’s security.

Those attending the board session include the Russian ambassador to
Belarus, Aleksandr Blokhin, CSTO Secretary-General Nikolay Bordyuzha,
representatives of the union state’s permanent committee, the chief of
the Belarusian State Military-Industrial Committee, Mikalay Azamataw,
representatives of the Council of Ministers and the Belarusian
Foreign Ministry.

The session is taking place at the Central Officers’ House. Special
equipment has been switched on to make sure GSM-communications cannot
be used.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Two die in rockfall at gold mine in northeastern Armenia

AP Worldstream
Apr 20, 2005

Two miners died in a rockfall at a gold mine in northeastern Armenia,
emergency officials said Wednesday.

The miners died Monday in a rockfall at the Mergadzor gold mine some
60 kilometers (40 miles) north of the capital Yerevan, a spokesman
the Emergency Situations Ministry said. One of the miners was killed
on the spot and the other died on the way to a local hospital.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Hard to find

Turkish versions of Armenian cuisine aren’t as widespread as they once were.

By Joan Obra / The Fresno Bee
(Updated Wednesday, April 20, 2005, 6:50 AM)

In a small deli, Richard and Gerry Hagopian cling to a fading cuisine.

Gerry Hagopian stands over a bubbling pot of tomato broth to stir
kufta, meatballs of spiced, ground lamb encased in a crust of bulgur
and beef. She then mixes the toorshi, plunging her hands and arms
into a large vat of cabbage and carrots pickled in vinegar.

And she shows off a package in the dining-room freezer. It’s sou
bourag, a dish with 12 to 15 layers of thin noodles, butter, cheese
and parsley. Making the noodles is so time- consuming that hardly
anyone cooks them from scratch anymore. But Gerry Hagopian still does.

This is Turkish-Armenian cuisine, made from the recipes of those
who survived the Armenian genocide and fled to the United States. A
handful of central San Joaquin Valley shops still offer this type
of food, including Hagopian’s International Deli in Visalia, Uncle
Harry’s restaurant in Reedley and Valley Lahvosh Baking Co. in Fresno.

For these old-timers – direct descendants of genocide survivors
– cooking their parents’ meals defies the Turks’ destruction of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Though Turks still deny the genocide
ever happened, Armenians say the ruthless campaign started 90 years
ago, on April 24, 1915. These Valley cooks also have another reason
to preserve their versions of Turkish- Armenian food: Their cuisine
is different from the food of genocide survivors who settled in the
Middle East, says Barbara Ghazarian, the Monterey author of “Simply
Armenian: Naturally Healthy Ethnic Cooking Made Easy.”

In the Middle East, foods such as hummus, a chickpea dip, and baba
ghannouj, a spread of roasted eggplant and sesame-seed paste, crept
onto Armenian tables.

The regional cuisines stayed separate until the 1970s, when civil
war erupted in Lebanon. Once again, Armenians escaped to the United
States, bringing the tastes of Middle Eastern-Armenian dishes.

And as this Middle Eastern influence grows in the Valley and elsewhere,
Turkish- Armenian food from the time of the genocide becomes more
rare. The survivors’ children, now in their 60s, 70s and 80s,
are aging.

“We’re really limited in Armenian restaurants with recipes from the
old days, recipes from people at the turn of the century,” says Harry
Horasanian, owner of Uncle Harry’s. “Since the massacres, a lot of
Armenians were living with a large Arabic influence and seasoning
food differently.”

Wars change a cuisine

It’s not the first time a war has transformed the food of
Armenians. Said to be descendants of Noah, Armenians populated the
area between the Black, Caspian and Mediterranean seas – the trade
route between East and West. Conquerors in Europe, Asia and the
Middle East constantly fought over this territory, subjecting Armenian
kingdoms to their rule.

Amid this turmoil, Armenian food changed again and again. In A.D. 301,
Armenians became the first people to adopt Christianity as their
official religion. Decades later, when Armenian church leaders
were centered at Constantinople, the flavors of the Byzantine Empire
colored their cooking.

“The combination of rice, currants, onions and pine nuts is a
legacy from that era, a legacy which, in fact, belongs to those of
the Orthodox faith, be it Armenian, Greek or Eastern,” writes Tess
Mallos in “The Complete Middle East Cookbook.”

In the 13th century, the Mongols invaded India, Afghanistan, Persia,
Armenia and Russia, introducing pasta and noodles, Mallos adds. As a
result, mante – an Armenian dish of small pasta pockets filled with
spiced meat – has Russian and Turkish variations.

By the 16th century, the Ottoman Turks had conquered most of Asia Minor
and Armenia. In the late 1800s, economic and religious differences
between Turks and Armenians led to mass murders, then the genocide.

Valley Armenians share terse stories of this time.

Horasanian talks about the years just before the genocide, when
his paternal grandparents gradually helped their children leave the
Ottoman Empire – before the Turks killed them.

Richard Hagopian’s father was a third-grader when the Turks shot his
father and brother. They pushed the young boy on a death march into
the Syrian desert. Of his family, only three people survived.

Even after years of living in the United States, genocide survivors
didn’t reveal many more details of the murders.

They “didn’t like to talk about it much,” Richard Hagopian says.

Lamb, vegetables and more

Wars aren’t the only factors that shape Armenian cuisine.

For these deeply Christian people, vegetarian dishes are a must. The
Armenian Orthodox Church requires its followers to fast for 180 days
every year.

“When they broke the fast at sundown,” author Ghazarian says, “they
were not allowed to eat any animal product.”

The fast days are one reason Armenians in the Middle East adopted
the vegetarian dishes of their new countries, she adds.

The mountainous, landlocked terrain of Armenian lands also influenced
the food.

“Even today, you can be completely cut off due to blizzards,” Ghazarian
says of rural Armenian towns. Foods that kept well became staples,
including bulgur, the flat cracker bread called lahvosh and spicy
meat jerky called bastirma and soujouk.

“Basically, you’re living off the land,” Ghazarian says. “So the
canning, the pickles, all that stuff â~@¦ that’s about surviving
the winter.”

Lamb, the traditional meat, also figures prominently in the
cuisine. In addition to shish kebab, lamb appears in kheyma, a dish
of finely-ground, raw meat kneaded with spices and bulgur. Ground,
spiced lamb also tops lahmajoon, a thin Armenian pizza. It forms the
filling, and at times the crust, of the stuffed meatball called kufta.

Yet despite tradition, Armenians born in the Middle East are more
likely to eat beef.

“Beef is the meat of preference for most Armenians born in the
Middle East because they say the lamb available there ‘smelled’ odd,”
Ghazarian writes in “Simply Armenian.”

Similar, yet different

These tenets of Armenian cuisine play into the food prepared by the
Valley’s old-time cooks.

Vegetarian dishes such as yalanchi sarma â~@” grape leaves rolled
around a filling of rice, onions and tomato â~@” are popular at
Hagopian’s International Deli.

At Uncle Harry’s, customers clamor for Horasanian’s fried eggplant
slices or his roasted-eggplant spread flavored with liberal amounts
of red-wine vinegar and olive oil. It’s similar to the Middle Eastern
baba ghannouj but doesn’t contain the sesame-seed paste in that dish.

Indeed, many of the Turkish-Armenian dishes from the early 1900s
also appear in other cuisines. The variations lie in flavorings
and spices. And even among different regions of the Ottoman Empire,
foods can taste different.

For example, when Horasanian mixes his version of kheyma, he flavors
it with tomato sauce, black pepper and paprika. But when Ghazarian
makes it, she reaches for cayenne, cumin and cinnamon.

Ghazarian’s family was from the Harpout region, which is now in the
Elazig province in central-eastern Turkey. By contrast, the dominant
culinary influence in Horasanian’s food comes from his father’s
family, who hailed from Tomarza, a city in a mountainous region west
of Harpout.

The differences continue at Hagopian International Deli. There, the
kufta is made by Gerry Hagopian, whose family lived in Chomaklou, a
village in the Kayseri province of central Turkey and known to Turks
as Comaklu. Her kufta filling of spiced, ground lamb is different
from the pomegranates and nuts used in Erzurum, the city in Eastern
Turkey that was home to Richard Hagopian’s family until the genocide.

Over the years, these cooks have introduced other changes. Beef is
widely used now, partly because lamb is expensive and partly because
Americans prefer beef to lamb.

At Uncle Harry’s, the kheyma is made with ground beef, as is the
lahmajoon topping. And at Hagopian’s International Deli, beef forms
the crust of the kufta.

But these differences are slight. For the most part, Valley cooks
stay true to their parents’ food.

“It’s been 90 years since my father came from the old country,”
Horasanian says. “These recipes haven’t been changed in about 100
years.”

The more things change

The food may remain the same, but the rise and fall of Fresno’s
Armenian Town shows how much has changed since the genocide.

The neighborhood started in the early 1900s, with Armenians who
escaped the Ottoman Empire before the genocide. In 1914, these new
Fresno immigrants built the existing Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic
Church at M Street and Ventura Avenue. And in 1922, Gazair Saghatelian
opened the California Baking Co. at M and Santa Clara streets.

“You had the church and the bakery,” says Janet Saghatelian, Gazair’s
daughter. “Those were the two most sacred things in Armenian culture.”

The neighborhood grew, eventually filling the area between Inyo,
O and Los Angeles streets and Broadway. From the late 1920s to the
early 1940s, this neighborhood was the hub of Armenian life in Fresno,
Janet Saghatelian says.

“Then all the boys went to war,” she adds, “and families started
moving out.”

The bakery lived on. Janet Saghatelian took it over, and now her
daughter, Agnes Saghatelian, handles day-to-day operations.

Time brought other changes. The bakery expanded to become the Valley
Lahvosh Baking Co. The Saghatelians now sell their lahvosh throughout
the United States and Canada. Also, the lahvosh no longer is made by
hand. Machines shape and bake it into a variety of sizes and shapes.

But some things didn’t change. Older Armenians still prefer the
traditional 15-inch-wide lahvosh to the smaller rounds of cracker
bread.

“Her generation doesn’t want to mess with these small crackers,”
Agnes Saghatelian says, pointing to her mother.

It’s these large rounds of lahvosh that inspired the term “breaking
bread together,” Janet Saghatelian says. At dinner, Armenian families
would pass around the large lahvosh, and everyone would break off
a piece.

These old-time Armenians also soften cracker bread the traditional
way: They place water-soaked lahvosh between two damp kitchen towels
for 45 minutes or until the cracker bread is pliable enough to roll.

There always was a supply of this softened lahvosh on Armenian
tables, called dahnhatz, or “bread of the house,” Janet Saghatelian
says. Family and friends would tear off a piece and eat it with
parsley, basil and homemade Armenian cheese.

Another of the company’s traditional products is peda, a soft bread
with a milk wash and sesame seeds sprinkled on top. It’s still made
from Gazair Saghatelian’s recipe, which came from Moush, his hometown
in Eastern Turkey that is called Mus by the Turks.

For Janet Saghatelian, one of the best ways to enjoy peda is with
shish kebab, skewered lamb roasted over burning grape vines.

“A wedge of fresh peda would be used to pull the meat off the skewers,”
she says, “and that wonderful juice-laden piece of bread would be
handed to our honored guest or fought over by children in the family.”

It’s a complex bread that takes eight hours to make, from mixing
to hand-shaping to baking. And it’s available only at the company’s
original bakery.

“You don’t rush that peda,” Janet Saghatelian says. “It’s pretty
complex.”

She admits that she loses money on the bread, but she doesn’t care.

Like other cooks of her generation, she has only one reason to continue
making her father’s dishes: “We do it because it’s my heritage.”

The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (559) 441-6365.

–Boundary_(ID_ljo38oDkBn4RdZZKZt22wg)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian leader urges increased efforts against “manifestations of genocide”

Mediamax news agency
20 Apr 05

Yerevan, 20 April: The recognition of the Armenian genocide “is
important for Armenian-Turkish relations, because it will give
answers to many questions existing between our two countries and
provide an opportunity to look to the future,” Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan said in Yerevan today.

The Armenian president addressed an international conference called
“Ultimate crime, ultimate challenge: genocide and human rights” today,
Mediamax reports.

“We remember the past with grief but without hate. It is difficult for
us to understand the Turkish side’s aggressive reaction which is being
expressed not only in a denial of the past, but also in a blockade
of present-day Armenia. We have encountered a paradox which needs to
be considered carefully. Resentment has remained with the side which
is responsible for the tragic past, not with the victim. We are sure
that the international recognition of the genocide will help Turkey
to reconcile with its past and overcome a complex which, passing
from generation to generation, is creating fresh complications in
relations between our countries,” Robert Kocharyan stressed.

“The Armenian issue today continues to remain hostage to geopolitical
interests,” President Robert Kocharyan said.

“World War I with its global interests concerning the alteration
of the world and the following great ideological confrontation of
the 20th century were the main obstacles standing in the way of
recognizing the legitimate rights of the Armenian people. We were
a victim of World War I, although we did not start it. Our right to
remember fell victim to the Cold War,” the Armenian president said.

Robert Kocharyan said that “the world community should increase its
efforts towards effective counteraction to manifestations of genocide”.

“It took mankind time to classify genocide as a crime against humanity
with all its consequences,” the Armenian president recalled. He said
that “it took fundamental humanitarian values time to stop being
sacrificed on the alter of the geopolitical interests of superpowers
and morality to become a constituent part of the foreign policy of
the civilized world”.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Zaman, Turkey
April 20 2005

Attempt at Support for so-called Armenian Allegations in US Congress

Published: Wednesday 20, 2005
zaman.com

Thirty-two senators and 175 deputies will requested that US President
George W.Bush recognize the allegations of the Armenians, on April
24.

The 32 members, who are lead by Democrat Party New Jersey Senator Jon
Corzine and the Republican Party Nevada Senator John Ensign, members
of the100 seat Senate, which is the upper wing of the US Congress,
sent a letter to the White House that calls for Bush to recognize the
“so-called Armenian genocide” in a statement he will make on April
24, the commemoration date of the alleged genocide.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FOR EU, ONLY HOLOCAUST

A1plus

| 14:04:41 | 20-04-2005 | Social |

Today in the international conference titled “Genocide and Human
Rights” which started in Yerevan one of the speakers was Juan Mendez,
UE Secretary General assistant on Genocide preventing affairs. The
latter mainly referred to the Jewish Genocide – the Holocaust.

In his speech Mr. Mendez did not speak about the Armenian Genocide. He
said that there is desire to understand and appreciated what
happened at the beginning of the previous century with the Armenian
Nation. According to him, the historical memory of the nation is
a good helper in that business and it will give the international
community a possibility to fully clear up everything. And what do
the participants of the conference think about the speech of Mendez?

“I am not elated”, said Ashot Melqonyan, head of the History
Institute. He considered Juan Mendez’s speech “diplomatic and not
telling anything”. “I think it would be better not to have that
speech”, concluded Ashot Melqonyan. Armen Rostomyan, representative of
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Chief Body, and head of the NA
Standing Committee on Foreign Relations expressed his opinion shortly,
“He could have made the same speech in Turley as well”.

Norayr Davidyants, Minister of Health, did not want to comment on the
speech of Mendez, but said a little bit later, “It might have been
better”. RA Ombudsman Larissa Alaverdyan was not very attentive during
the Mendez’s speech, “At that moment I was speaking with the Irishman
(William Shabas, head of the Human Rights Irish Center)”.

“What is important for me is that Mendez has come to Armenia in that
connection”, added Mrs. Alaverdyan. For Michael Vegner, son of Armin
Vegner, German writer and eyewitness of the Armenian Genocide, the
speech of Mendez was not remarkable, “It was the speech of anyone
who would be in that post”.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress