Author: Andres-Papazian

ART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN
Teri Bond – Director, Communications
1700 Lida Street, Pasadena CA 91103
O. 626.396.2385
M. 310-738-2077
Email: [email protected]

Today, Sunday, April 21st at 1 p.m., we are presenting the concept
designs for the proposed Armenian Genocide Memorial to a small group
of interested people on the Hillside campus at the L.A. Times Media
Center, Art Center College of Design , 1700 Lida Street, Pasadena CA
91103 .

We will be presenting the design concept and screening a video about
the project. All of the members of the design team will be attending
and available for interviews.

As you know, this Wednesday (April 24th) is the anniversary of the
Genocide and there are several events planned around it.

Our original (January 29th) announcement about the winning design is
below.

Art Center College of Design Student
Wins Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Competition

Public Artwork Designed by Catherine Menard Will Be
Completed in Time for 100th Anniversary Commemorations in 2015

January 29, 2013, Pasadena, Calif. – Today Art Center College of
Design and the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee (PASAGMC)
jointly announced the winning design concept for a new memorial whose
planned dedication in 2015 will coincide with 100th anniversary
commemorations of the Armenian Genocide. The concept by Art Center
Environmental Design student Catherine Menard was developed in 2012 as
part of the College’s social impact design program, Designmatters. The
proposed site for the public artwork is Memorial Park in the City of
Pasadena.

Menard’s concept was one of 17 submissions the committee received, and
one of three finalists chosen by an independent panel of judges in
December. The three-judge panel included Stefanos Polyzoides, a
principal of Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists; Ruben
Amirian, an architect/artist who has served on the design review board
and historic commission in Glendale; and Neshan Peroomian, a
contractor and prominent Armenian-American community leader.

In all, six Environmental Design students at Art Center developed
memorial proposals last fall during an intensive Design Topic Studio
class and submitted them to the competition. Two of the students –
Menard and her classmate J.D. Clark – were selected as finalists, a
particularly impressive achievement in a field of competitors that
included many seasoned professionals.

Earlier this month, Board members of PASAGMC voted unanimously to move
forward with Menard’s proposal.

`This was a competitive process, and we considered a number of very
fine proposals,’ says Committee Chair William M. Paparian, Esq., an
attorney and former Mayor of Pasadena. `But our final decision was
unanimous. We were deeply impressed by Catherine, who developed and
presented an emotionally compelling design for a historical event that
she initially knew nothing about. We hope that this memorial will
inspire a similar emotional connection in those who encounter it, for
generations to come.’

`With tremendous pride, we congratulate Catherine Menard on her
creative and inspiring memorial design that will have profound and
lasting impact in the community,’ says Art Center President Lorne
M. Buchman. `The extraordinary talent and commitment of our students
and faculty continue to find meaningful expression locally and
globally through a remarkable range of social impact projects.’

Greater Los Angeles is home to the largest population of Armenians in
the United States, many descended from families persecuted and killed
between 1915 and 1921.

Menard, 26, is a seventh-term Environmental Design major at Art Center
and expects to graduate this year. Of French Cajun heritage, she was
born in Lafayette, Louisiana, and moved with her family to Los Angeles
at age four. She currently resides in Pasadena.

`I’m a Southern California girl with a Southern heart,’ she says with
a smile.

Initially invited to join the project by Environmental Design
Professor James Meraz, Menard came into it with little knowledge of
Armenian history. `But I have always felt drawn to history and
heritage,’ she says, `drawn to anything with any semblance of
meaning.’

Menard immersed herself in accounts of the Armenian Genocide as well
as the recent history of memorial art, including the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, designed by Maya Lin who, like
Menard, was a student at the time she won the competition.

`It all started to permeate my mind and my heart,’ says Menard. `At
first I felt unworthy – who am I to respond to such loss? But art
lends itself to the deepest, darkest parts of human experience. It can
create sympathy, empathy, understanding. I wanted to pair this horror
with something uplifting and beautiful, to create a way to remember. I
developed three different ideas and settled on the one that I felt
most terrified and most moved by.’

The central feature of Menard’s minimalist design – a carved-stone
basin of water straddled by a tripod arrangement of three columns
leaning into one another – is a single drop of water that falls from
the highest point every three seconds, each `teardrop’ representing
one life lost. Over the course of one year, 1.5 million tears will
fall into the pool, the estimated number of victims of the Armenian
Genocide.

`It was an honor to lead this most extraordinary challenge,’ says
Meraz. `In just seven weeks – half the time of our typical studio –
our students worked passionately to design a memorial that has the
power to provoke an emotional and contemplative response to a horrific
event. In turn, this educational experience has given them new
perspective, with compassion, sensitivity, remembrance and hope for
the human condition.’

Polyzoides, one of the competition jurors, will work with Menard to
bring her concept to fruition. An associate professor of architecture
emeritus at the University of Southern California, he is an architect,
urbanist and partner of Moule & Polyzoides, a Pasadena practice that
has completed many distinguished projects locally, in other parts of
the U.S. and abroad.

`All of the Art Center student submissions were extremely well done
and stood out for their seriousness. But Catherine’s design struck the
perfect balance between abstract and representational,’ says
Polyzoides. `It’s very beautiful, very poetic, and I want to make sure
that it’s as well constructed as it was conceived.’

Although he was the only non-Armenian juror, Polyzoides has many
Armenian friends and the history of the Armenian Genocide has personal
resonance for him. `My grandparents were from Istanbul and I grew up
in Greece,’ he recalls. `For as long as I can remember, I heard about
the actions taken by the Ottoman Turkish government against the
Armenian minority. It was devastating.’

Details regarding the project’s budget and construction will be
developed over the next several months, with official groundbreaking
anticipated in 2014 and dedication of the completed memorial on April
24, 2015.

PHOTOS:

Caption: Art Center College of Design student Catherine Menard, winner
of the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Competition, presents her
proposal. Credit: Courtesy Art Center College of Design/Alex Aristei

Caption: Art Center College of Design student Catherine Menard, winner
of the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Competiton. Credit: Image
courtesy Art Center College of Design/Alex Aristei

* * *

About Art Center College of Design

Founded in 1930 and located in Pasadena, California, Art Center
College of
Design
is a global leader in art and design education. Art Center offers
undergraduate and graduate degrees in a wide variety of art and design
disciplines, as well as public programs for all ages and levels of
experience. Renowned for its ties to industry and professional rigor,
Art Center is also
the first design school to receive the United Nations’
Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) status, providing students with
opportunities to create design-based solutions for humanitarian and
nonprofit agencies around the world. During the College’s 80-year
history, Art Center’s alumni have had a profound impact on popular
culture, the way we live and important issues in our society.

From: A. Papazian

ARF-D hopes opposition to get utmost votes at City Council election and to unite

10:54 • 21.04.13

The opposition has big chances to unite after the Yerevan Council of
Elders election, Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun
(ARF-D) Bureau member Aghvan Vardanyan said speaking to Tert.am.

“If the opposition representatives gather separately the utmost votes
and have a great number of city council members, it will be strange if
neither of opposition forces unites nor opposition mayor is elected,”
he said stressing that it will also give an opportunity to clarify the
status of forces playing in the political field.

“The force that will not unite will reveal that it is not frank in its
fight be it the Prosperous Armenia, ARF-D, Armenian National Congress
or Heritage,” he stressed.

Asked about the possibility of failure, Vardanyan said in this case it
is possible to find solution. He said the ARF-D is struggling to gain
the majority of the votes and after the elections are over they will
discuss the issue on the basis of the gathered votes.
Speaking about the meeting between Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan
and ARF-D representative Armen Rustamyan, Vardanyan said they are a
political force that does not have enemies and are openly working with
all the parties both opposition and the ruling one.

He said at the meeting they have presented to Serzh Sargsyan their own
approaches over the changes in the country, about the reappointment of
the PM, stressing that the government headed by him has failed all the
programs.

“We have presented a clear political proposal that relates to the
parliamentary system, radical changes in the Election Code. Besides,
we have said that the reappointment of the PM who has failed all the
previous programs is unacceptable,” he said.

Vardanyan said the president stressed that some issues may be
discussed and their proposals be taken into consideration while in the
others their approaches differ.

Referring to Raffi Hovannisian’s initiative of creation New Armenia
front, Vardanyan said they have already voiced their viewpoint and the
rest will be discussed in future as well.

Concluding, Vardanyan said that the opposition should do the utmost to
gather the majority of the votes and Yerevan be headed by opposition
representative.
Armenian News – Tert.am

From: A. Papazian

Vient de paraître
« Maudits soient-ils ! », de J.V Der Mardirossian

« Ils », ce sont les Turcs musulmans ; la malédiction porte sur ce
qu’ils ont fait aux Arméniens chrétiens vivant en Turquie de 1915 à
1918 : le premier génocide en Europe, avec la complicité des Allemands
du IIe Reich, l’indifférence égoïste des Anglais et la Révolution
russe malencontreusement survenue en 1917.

L’auteur est le petit-fils de rescapés du massacre planifié, organisé
et mené jusqu’au bout sans faillir par les élites turques. Un temps
devenues laïques sous Mustapha Kémal, ces élites ont nié cette tache
sur leur réputation. Redevenues musulmanes version rigoriste, ces
mêmes élites aujourd’hui continuent de nier pour la galerie, en se
félicitant en sous-main d’avoir éliminé les mécréants dans un djihad
pour Allah. Non, décidément, la Turquie ne saurait avoir sa place en
Europe. Sa civilisation est trop loin de la nôtre.

Bien entendu, ce livre est un roman familial, pas une `uvre
d’historien. Il s’appuie sur les souvenirs d’Anna la grand-mère et de
sa fille, la mère de l’auteur, immigrées en France en 1936 après avoir
survécu aux marches de la mort dans les déserts de Mésopotamie. Mais
ce cri plein d’émotion fait revivre une part de l’histoire réelle,
largement ignorée ou passée sous silence.

Je suis allé en Arménie contemporaine, lambeau du territoire arménien
de jadis ; j’ai vu combien la mémoire pouvait rester forte sur cette
tentative d’extermination de tout un peuple. Il n’y a pas que les
Juifs à pleurer, bien qu’ils soient mieux introduits auprès des médias
et plus actifs dans la recherche universitaire. On dirait les
Chrétiens honteux de défendre les leurs, hier en Turquie arménienne
comme aujourd’hui en Égypte copte. Pourquoi ? 1915 : « Vivement
conseillé par Von Sanders, le chef d’état-major allemand établi à
Istanbul, il convient à l’allié turc de proclamer la guerre sainte. Un
fait religieux que l’on croit de grande importance, afin de semer la
discorde dans les rangs des compagnies combattantes levées dans les
colonnes nord-africaines de France, ainsi que dans les peuples
musulmans englobés dans l’empire britannique. Profitant de cette
audacieuse aubaine, les sommités turques s’empressent de les
satisfaire pour leur propre compte. Le 23 novembre, à peine plus de
deux semaines après la débcle [turque] de Sarikamich [1914], le
sultan, commandeur des croyants, détenteur de l’autorité, et le grand
mufti, tous deux en grand apparat dans la mosquée bleue de Stanboul
pleine à craquer, devant une assemblée de mollahs venus de tout
l’empire, proclament ensemble la guerre sainte » p.79.

Parmi les causes du génocide, on distingue donc la guerre de 14,
l’alliance turco-allemande, le cynisme de la guerre « sainte » pour
mobiliser une cinquième colonne contre les Alliés, la peur de la
minorité chrétienne dans l’empire, validant l’appel licite au butin et
aux viols pour cette sous-humanité dhimmi, la légitimité de Dieu,
enfin ce rêve géopolitique de continuité territoriale entre tous les
peuples pantouraniens (de langue apparentée turque). L’enclave
arménienne en plein milieu fait tache ; autant l’extirper en profitant
du désordre.

Tous les soldats chrétiens mobilisés en Turquie sont désarmés, 375 000
hommes dit l’auteur ; ils sont affectés à des tches annexes avant
d’être, à mesure que progresse la guerre, progressivement éliminés.
Intellectuels et artistes de Constantinople sont raflés, déportés en
camps, leurs biens confisqués, préfigurant le sort des Juifs une
guerre plus tard. Dans les villages agricoles à l’existence
traditionnelle règne une fatalité. Les prêtres prêchent la
résignation, sur l’exemple du Christ subissant sa Passion. Rares sont
les hommes à fuir la mobilisation pour rejoindre l’armée russe.
Femmes, vieillards et enfants sont emmenés dans des marches sans fin
pour qu’ils meurent en chemin sans que cela ait l’air d’un massacre de
masse. La guerre mondiale permet l’impunité du nettoyage ethnique.
L’après-guerre, avec le surgissement des Bolcheviks en Russie, va
laisser la Turquie entériner ses avancées territoriales : tout plutôt
que l’accès soviétique aux mers chaudes !

Le livre commence par la vie traditionnelle en Arménie heureuse,
malgré les pogroms turcs sporadiques, l’opulence du village agricole ;
il se poursuit par les interrogations sur la guerre et la haine des
Turcs ; s’achève par le récit croisé d’une mère déportée avec ses
trois enfants qui résiste à la mort (devant même vendre le garçon
comme esclave à un Turc pour qu’au moins il vive), et les combats du
père, engagé dans l’armée russe. Malgré de nombreuses fautes d’accords
et de ponctuation, il se lit bien.

Qui ne connait rien au calvaire arménien et à cette mémoire oubliée
d’une importante communauté aujourd’hui intégrée en France lira avec
profit ce livre, en complément d’un historien. J’aime bien un peu de
passion ; cela met de la chair à l’histoire.

Der Mardirossian, Maudits soient-ils ! 2013, éditions Baudelaire, 182
pages, 16.15

dimanche 21 avril 2013,
Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

COMMUNAUTE-VALENCE
Les Anciens Combattants d’origine Arménienne de Valence se mobilisent

Les Anciens Combattants Français d’Origine Arménienne (ACFOA) de
Valence se sont réunis hier au Restaurant du Parc à Valence pour
préparer le calendrier des futures manifestations. Autour du président
Georges Eretzian, était présents Henri Siranyan (président d’honneur),
le colonel André Seférian (Président de la Fédération nationale des
Anciens combattants français d’origine arménienne et président de
l’ordre de l’Epée d’Arménie), Krikor Amirzayan (président « Arménia
»), René Adjémian (éditions La Bouquinerie), Alain Euksuzian
(vice-président d’« Arménia »), Vartkés Vartanian (président de
l’UCFAF-Valence) et Sonia Sarkissian (membre de l’UCFAF). De nombreux
membres de l’ACFOFA étaient également présents.

Le président Georges Eretzian a tout d’abord présenté les activités de
son association ainsi que les dates des prochaines cérémonies. Parmi
les commémorations, celle du 98e anniversaire du génocide arménien
mercredi 24 avril. G. Eretzian a ensuite présenté aux membres de son
association le livre « Volontaires Arméniens 1914-1916 » récemment
publié aux éditions La Bouquinerie, livre préfacé par René Adjémian et
postfacé par Krikor Amirzayan. Ces derniers ont dédicacé l’ouvrage à
l’ensemble des membres de l’ACFOA. L’ouvrage traitant des combattants
Arméniens appelés « fédaïs » lors du génocide arménien qui luttèrent
contre les troupes turques à l’ordre de « la liberté ou la mort ». Ce
livre connait d’ailleurs un grand succès en France et à l’étranger.

Georges Eretzian a également évoqué la pétition d’« Arménia » adressée
à François Hollande et demandé à Krikor Amirzayan (président d’«
Arménia ») de présenter cette action. Ce dernier a lu la lettre
adressée au Président de la République.

dimanche 21 avril 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

MUSIQUE ARMENIENNE
L’acteur Français Richard Berry récompensé lors du 8e Armenia Music
Awards hier au Palais du Kremlin à Moscou

Hier au Palais du Kremlin à Moscou (Russie) s’est tenue la 8e édition
de l’Armenia Music Awards transmise en direct sur la chaine de
Télévision publique d’Arménie (H1). L’invité spécial de cette
manifestation était l’acteur Français Richard Berry pour son rôle dans
« Mayrig » (588 rue Paradis) d’Henri Verneuil. Ara Abrahamian, le
Président de l’Union des Arméniens de Russie a remis à Richard Berry
un prix. Richard Berry a dédié son prix à la mémoire des victimes du
génocide arménien et qui a prononcé quelques mots en arménien en
hommage à Verneuil.

La chanteuse Lilit Hovhannissian a reçu le prix de « la meilleure
chanteuse arménienne de l’année » tandis que Mher fut reconnu comme «
le meilleur chanteur arménien de l’année ». Kourken Dabaghian reçut le
prix du « chanteur populaire » de l’année. Arto Tuncboyaciyan le
fondateur du groupe Armenian Navy Band fut consacré par le prix du «
meilleur diffuseur de la musique arménienne à l’étranger ». Hayko et
Mgo furent couronnés comme les « meilleurs humoristes ». La cérémonie
de « Armenia Music Awards » fut présentée par Samvel Krikorian,
Ludmilla Tatarova, Nazéni Hovhannissian, Alexandre Olechko, Loussiné
Tovmassian et Dimitri Nakiev. Lors des sept dernières éditions de
l’Armenía Music Awards, de nombreuses vedettes se sont succédées.
Parmi ces dernières, la chanteuse Cher, Demis Roussos, Vladimir
Spivakov, Iossif Kobzon, Alexandre Safina, Julio Iglesias, Alain
Delon, Irina Alegrova, Flora Mardirossian, Constantin Orbelian, Djivan
Kasparian. Lors de cette 8e édition de l’Armenia Music Awards, se sont
produits sur la scène du Palais du Kremlin, les chanteurs et
chanteuses Chouchane Bedrossian, Nouné Yessayan, Inga et Anouche
Arshakian, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Alla Levonian, Hayko, Lilit
Hovhannissian, Kristiné Beberian, Sophie Mkheyan et Zara.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 21 avril 2013,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

NorthJersey.com, NJ
April 20 2013

Ridgefield boy’s essay on genocide in Armenia a winner

Saturday, April 20, 2013
BY MONSY ALVARADO
The Record

RIDGEFIELD – A 16-year-old borough resident was named the third-place
winner of a nationwide essay contest that asked participants why it’s
important to teach the Armenian Genocide in schools.

Christopher Markosian, a junior at the Bergen County Academies in
Hackensack, will be among the essay winners who will be recognized on
Sunday at the Armenian Genocide Commemoration in Times Square, which
is expected to draw more than 2,000 people. The event is being held
during Genocide Awareness Month, and will pay tribute to 1.5 million
Armenians who were massacred.

“I’m very happy, and I’m very proud of him,” said Anny Markosian about
her son on Wednesday.

She said her son found information about the contest, and decided to
submit an essay on his own, saying he has always been interested in
Armenian history.

“He is Armenian inside,” said Markosian, who is of Armenian ancestry
and sent her son to the Hovnanian School, an Armenian school in New
Milford until he was in the eighth grade. “He likes to learn about it,
and express himself.”

In his essay, Markosian wrote that the “pressing fundamental” reason
to include the genocide in the schools’ curriculum in the United
States is to provide justice and awareness for Armenians who suffered
in the early part of the 20th century.

“The exclusion of the Armenian Genocide from the core curriculum
simply acts as neglect of the past, especially since it holds the
position as one of the most influential events leading to subsequent
mass murders,” he wrote.

Many historians believe the mass deportation and extermination of more
than 1.5 million Armenians by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire provided
a roadmap for atrocities to come, particularly the Holocaust.

The sixth-annual Armenian Genocide Commemoration Essay was
co-sponsored by Knights and Daughters of Vartan, an international
Armenian fraternal organization with headquarters in the United
States.

From: A. Papazian

New Statesman, UK
April 20 2013

It is time for Turkey to recognise the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide

It is now 98 years since 1.5m Armenians were systematically massacred.
Recognising what happened is the only way to help us all move forward.

By Benjamin Abtan

It has been 98 years since – following a premeditated plan with a
methodic implementation – one million and a half Armenians were
massacred in the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian people were the victims
of a genocide which would soon serve as a gruesome reference for those
that followed.

Today in Turkey, the mere enunciation of this historical fact still
provokes ferocious opposition, sometimes even physical threats.
Genocide denial serves as an encouragement to racism and hate against
Armenians and other non-Muslim minorities. Some want to pretend that
acknowledging the reality of the Armenian Genocide is an attack on all
Turkish people and on “Turkishness”. It is not: it is a step towards
justice.

Several years ago, the genocide of Armenians began to be commemorated
in Turkey itself. The participants are still few but their number
grows every day despite an official discourse of genocide-denial.
Today, those among us who have taken part in these commemorations in
Turkey are calling for solidarity beyond borders.

This year on 24 April – the widely recognised starting date of the
massacre – we ask citizens, civil society leaders, antiracist
activists, intellectuals and artists, of Armenian and other diverse
origins, in Turkey and across the world, to unite in calling for the
historical fact of the Armenian Genocide to be recognised at last.

Our shared initiative is one of solidarity, of justice, and of democracy.

It is an initiative of solidarity between all who fight for historical
truth. Today the divide is not between Turks and Armenians, but
between those who struggle for the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, whatever their origins are and wherever they live, and those
who promote denial. In a word, it is not a question of blood, but of
ideas; not a question of origins, but of a common goal.

It is an initiative of justice. In the words of writer and Holocaust
survivor Elie Wiesel, “Genocide kills twice, the second time by
silence.” Denial, then, is the perpetuation of genocide. Fighting
against denial is trying to quell the trauma in Armenian communities
from one generation to another. It is not an end to this part of
history – because when it comes to genocide, there is unfortunately no
true end – but it offers new generations the opportunity to look
together towards the future.

Finally, it is an initiative for democracy. Echoing writer and
Buchenwald survivor Jorge Semprun’s frequent reminder, democracy
requires vitality from civil society. Strengthening Turkish civil
society by establishing bridges with the rest of the European civil
society is strengthening democratic values, thus combating racism and
promoting human rights, in Turkey as well as in the rest of Europe.

In solidarity, for justice and democracy, for the respect of the
victims and their descendents, we will commemorate together the
Armenian Genocide on 24 April, in Turkey.

Signed by:

Benjamin Abtan, President of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement – EGAM

Cengiz Algan & Levent Sensever, Spokespeople for Durde! (Turkey)

Alexis Govciyan , European President & Nicolas Tavitian, Member of the
Board of the Armenian General Benevolent Union – AGBU (Europe)

Meral Çildir, Member of the Board of Directors & Ayse Gunaysu, Member
of the Commission against Racism and Discrimination of the Turkish
Association for Human Rights – IHD (Turkey)

From: A. Papazian

Interfax, Russia
April 19 2013

Armenian president nominates Tigran Sargsyan for prime minister

YEREVAN. April 19

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has nominated Tigran Sargsyan for
prime minister at a meeting of the Republican Party he chairs, party
press secretary Eduard Sharmazanov said.

In his words, the vote for Tigran Sargsyan was unanimous.

“We are confident that Tigran Sargsyan can achieve objectives of the
country. The T. Sargsyan government ensured recovery from the
financial and economic crisis and 7% economic growth,” Sharmazanov
said.

According to him, Serzh Sargsyan said that Foreign Minister Eduard
Nalbandian and Defense Minister Seyrah Ohanian would continue to
perform their duties in the new government.

“Other ministers were not discussed at today’s meeting,” the press
secretary said.

The government stepped down on April 9, the day of the presidential
inauguration, pursuant to the constitution. The president shall
appoint the new prime minister within ten days of the government
resignation and the government shall be formed within 20 days of the
appointment of the prime minister.

Tigran Sargsyan, 53, had been the Armenian prime minister since April
9, 2008. He is a member of the ruling Republican Party.

Tigran Sargsyan was reinstated as the prime minister on June 2, 2012,
after the Armenian government resigned on May 31 following the
parliamentary election.

Te jv of

From: A. Papazian

Awards by Tashir Charity Foundation for articles published in academic
journals

By Mane Hakobyan

Azad-Hye
Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Interview with Artak Jagharyan, head of Karen Karapetyan’s office
(Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Tashir Charity Foundation), about
granting awards to Armenian and foreign scholars, who have written on
Armenian Genocide topics in indexed academic journals.

The initiative has been taken on the occasion of commemorating the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015.

Three scientists submitted their works to the contest: Vahram R.
Ayvazyan (a 2012 graduate of the Genocide and Human Rights University
Program at the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights
Studies in Toronto – A Division of the Zoryan Institute), Tigran N.
Saroukhanyan, senior researcher at the Institute of Archeology and
Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, visiting
researcher at Berlin’s Technical University and Member of International
Association of Genocide Scholars, and finally, Shavkat Kasymov a
Tajikistani scholar at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA.

A second international contest has been announced for journalists who
would publish material on Armenian Genocide on leading international
newspapers, weekly publications, TV and Radio stations, internet
magazines, blogs, etc. The last day for submitting material is 31 March
2015.

Below is the interview with Artak Jagharyan:

– How do you explain the fact that only three scientists have
participated in the contest, out of whom one is a foreigner?

Our contests aim at encouraging Genocide scholars to deal with this
subject that has utmost importance for us. We would like to enlarge the
circle of the internationally known scientists involved in this process.
The contests are planned to continue until 2015, awards being announced
on April 20 of each year. As the benchmark of our contests is high, the
scientists themselves would be able to inform us if three scientific
works in a year is considered enough or not.

To be frank, we at “Tashir Charity Foundation” expected a far better
number of publications and we were ready to reward all. The sum of the
reward was not going to be affected by the number of the participants.

As far as the foreign scholar is concerned, it is significant that his
work has appeared in a leading scientific journal and this in itself
carries important meaning.

– It is well known that Tashir Charity Foundation pays great deal of
attention to scientists, thus trying to compensate for the lack of
proper support from official bodies. What plans do you have for the near
future?

If you have noticed, we usually do not announce about our long term
plans. We inform the public about our plans as soon as we have something
specific. We announce only one or two of our nearest plans, because we
are much concerned about the work and the results and not show-offs.

The programs designed for encouraging the scientists will be continued.
These programs are discussed with the representatives of “We Demand
Increase of Science Funding” Facebook initiative, with all the possible
details, for the purpose of selecting the most productive projects,
based on the principle of objectivity.

We asked researcher Tigran Saroukhanyan about the foreign scientist who
has been one of the other two contestants:

– Mr. Saroukhanyan, are you familiar with the article of the Tajikistani
scholar Kasymov and what you have to say about it?

I believe we should not only be surprised, but rather be happy for the
fact that the academic article belongs to Shavkat Kasymov, a Tajik
national. His article carries the title “The example of the Armenian
Genocide and the role of the millet system in its materialization”,
published recently in London. I consider it a very positive move. First,
I would like to point out that even those who have Masters degree have a
chance to appear successfully in international academic journals, as was
the case with Kasymov, who, according to my knowledge, does not have a
scholar’s status. This means that, Armenian scientists who do not have
scholar’s status can do the same and there would be no specific
obstacles in front of them. The myth about not allowing the publication
of work by Armenian scientists is most probably the result of idleness
or maybe it is the consequence of not providing the needed attention. It
seems there is no lack of funding in this sphere of Genocide research.
According to our knowledge, the scientific research of the Armenian
Genocide has always been under the continuous attention of the President
of the Republic. The financing of this domain has tripled in the recent
years. This is really an exceptional case for science.

From: A. Papazian

ARF hold campaign in one of Yerevan districts

April 20, 2013 | 14:59

YEREVAN.- Members of ARF Dashnaktsutyun on Saturday met with the
voters of Nor-Nork administrative district of Yerevan.

Head of the ARF parliamentary faction Armen Rustamyan, who is also
heading the proportional list of the party for Yerevan elections, was
accompanied by Aghvan Vardanyan, Arsen Hambartsumyan and Artsvik
Minasyan. They were handing over election leaflets, the Armenian
News-NEWS.am correspondent reported.

Accidental meetings and contacts with voters has a special effect,
Rustamyan said. Meetings with people of different viewpoints
contribute to interesting and useful results, he added.

Six political parties and one bloc have submitted formal applications
to run in the Yerevan Council elections. The latter are slated for May
5, and the participating political forces will vie for 65 Council
seats. The election campaign will come to an end on May 3. The Yerevan
Council election will be held with proportional lists only.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: A. Papazian