Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

AUSCHWITZ VICTIMS CALL TO END POLITICAL GAMES AROUND HISTORY
Yuriy RUBTSOV

en.fondsk
26.01.2010

Can it be true that – after endless attempts – Moscow managed to
convince Polish President L. KaczyÅ~Dski to leave historical issues
to specialists and not to let the past cast shadows over the current
relations between Russia and Poland? This is what one would like to
believe in reading the president KaczyÅ~Dski’s letter to Russian
President D. Medvedev with an invitation to visit the January 27
celebration of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Though critical exchanges are an integral part of politics, endlessly
invoking past grievances and exploiting the memories of victims –
those of Auschwitz or Katyn – really makes no sense.

In the context of the lessons of Auschwitz, one can’t avoid recalling
the April, 2007 attempt to capitalize politically on the memory of
the victims of the most terrible of the Nazi concentration camps. At
that time, the Russian exposition opened in 1961 was closed by the
administration and Moscow’s admitting to the occupation of Polish
territories by the Soviet Union was set as a prerequisite for its
reopening. The Polish side said the prisoners who were from West
Ukraine and West Belarus, which the USSR got following the signing of
the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, had to be mentioned as Polish, not
Soviet citizens. Poland also insisted on marking up the territories
on a map at the memorial which the USSR "annexed" as the result of
the Pact and on revising the exhibited statistical data accordingly.

Russia brushed off the demands as an unsavory political gesture.

Evidently, Poland sought to make the victims of Auschwitz hostages
to unsettled issues in the current relations between Moscow and Warsaw.

Wasn’t discussing the nationalities of the dead six decades after
the tragedy sacrilegious? There are no nationalities in heaven. Any
disagreements could be resolved without the public scandal, but
certain forces deliberately gave the problem the international status
and essentially presented an ultimatum on the occasion.

Though the problems were eventually removed, further developments
showed that the situation was deeply rooted. Paying tribute to
the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in World War II at the
September 1, 2009 mourning assembly of European leaders in Gdansk,
President KaczyÅ~Dski mentioned "a war against German Nazism and
Bolshevist totalitarianism". When Russian Prime Minister V. Putin who
attended the ceremony called for overcoming the legacy of mistrust
in bilateral relations and rising above the past grievances without
imposing visions on each other and for moving on together, his words
were simply ignored.

What do we have now? It will be sad if the Polish administration choses
to replay the allegations against Russia on January 27. In this case,
the inescapable conclusion will be that Warsaw can only see in history
what it wants to see at the moment. Fortunately, it is not up to
Poland to define the perception of World War II globally. It is not
forgotten who and under what circumstances set free the survivors
of Auschwitz and dealt the final blow to fascism in Berlin several
months afterwards.

Auschwitz-Birkenau (built 70 km away from Krakow) was the largest
mass extermination camp in World War II. It received the first trains
carrying prisoners in 1940. The complex comprised three camps with
the total of over 100,000 prisoners by 1944.

The concentration camp was a site of mass extermination of people,
mostly Jews, from Poland, the USSR, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark,
France, Greece, Holland, Yugoslavia, Norway, Romania, Italy,
and Hungary, where the death toll reached at least 1.1 mln. Four
crematoriums with gas chambers and two provisional gas chambers were
operated at the site. The first experiments with the Zyklon B gas were
carried out with Soviet POWs and prisoners unfit for forced labor
in the spring of 1942. Initially corpses were buried, and later –
burned in crematoriums and special trenches. Prisoners were also
subjected to medical experiments.

The Soviet leadership was aware of the existence of the death factory.

A September, 1944 letter from Deputy People’s Commissar for the
Interior S. Kruglov to Deputy Foreign Minister A. Vyshinsky read:
"We have been identified and interrogated the captives who knew
about the German concentration camp in Auschwitz and the mass
extermination of prisoners in it. According to the testimony, the
concentration camp in Auschwitz was organized by Germany in 1940 in
former military barracks. Initially, the camp was used to concentrate
Jews. In 1941-1943 large numbers of Russians, Poles, Frenchmen,
and Hollanders were brought to the camp. The testimony revealing
mass extermination of prisoners by the Germans, tortures, beatings,
etc. characterizes the camp as being similar to Majdanek. Until 1943,
Germans burned the corpses of victims in two special furnaces. There
were 8 such furnaces in 1943. Thus, the people were exterminated in
the camp on a mass scale… Captives say Germans have killed several
hundred thousand prisoners at the camp".

Based on the information, the Red Army Headquarters ordered the forces
of the 1st Ukrainian front to liberate Auschwitz as a part of the
Vistula-Oder offensive. The 10th Infantry Division led by Gen. F.M.

Krasavin liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945 and set free the
7,000 camp survivors.

In 1947 the Polish parliament converted the Auschwitz territory into
a memorial of the martyrdom of the Polish and other peoples and opened
the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum. National expositions set up in various
barracks feature documents and personal belongings of prisoners from
over 30 countries. In 1979 the museum was included in the UNESCO
World Heritage List. It is attended by over 1 mln visitors annually.

A sacrilegious episode attracted the media attention to Auschwitz
last December. The sign â~@~^Arbeit macht frei" over the gate of
Auschwitz was stolen and cut into three parts. Luckily, the police
promptly found the perpetrators and the item was recovered, but the
very act demonstrated that for some people the memory of the victims
of fascism is no longer sacred. This must be perceived as a signal to
peoples and governments to confront historical nihilism. Attempts to
distort the past or to erase it from the memory carry the risk that
inhumane Nazi experiments on nations such as concentration camps
would again become possible. The view was expressed in Moscow last
year by the members of The International Auschwitz Committee where
historical revisionism was the key theme of discussions. These days,
not only individual politicians but also governments and international
organizations like the PACE are willing to rewrite the past in accord
with their current interests. The truth about millions of victims of
Nazism is being concealed, the verdicts of the Nuremberg Trial are
called into question, and the Soviet Union is denied credit for the
role it played in defeating the fascist Germany and liberating Europe.

Leader of the Israeli center of Holocaust survivors Noah Flug said Jews
remember that 65 years ago Majdanek and Auschwitz were liberated by
Soviet soldiers and the Red Army. In ghettos and concentration camps,
the Red Army was the people’s last hope, it saved them, defeated
Hitler, and saved Europe. Recently, there has been a tendency to liken
the Soviet and the Nazi regimes and to call the epoch of World War
II the time of dictatorships – in Flug’s words, "this is unacceptable".

Polish Ambassador to Russia Jerzy Bar pinpointed a paradox which
should have attracted broader attention. He said: "Top priority
should be given to passing the memories of survivors to the coming
generations. The work is being done in Auschwitz, but there is a
paradox – greater opportunities are opening to learn the truth,
historical studies are published and are available in bookstores,
but younger people don’t seem to read them. Hopefully, the 65th
anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz will stimulate interest
in the theme among the young generation".

Absolutely! Now that tribute is paid in Auschwitz to the prisoners who
died at the camp and to the Soviet soldiers who were killed taking it,
the victims of Nazism are calling: there must be no political games
around the memory of the the historical past.
From: Baghdasarian

THE KEEPER OF MOSCOW’S ARCHITECTURAL CONSCIENCE

The New York Times
n/28appraisal.html

As director of the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture in Moscow,
David Sarkisyan was a flamboyant figure who held court in an office
crammed with sculptures, artifacts and souvenirs.

No one who visited the office of David Sarkisyan, the outspoken
director of the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture in Moscow,
soon forgot the experience. Wedged behind an ornate desk cluttered
with Soviet-era souvenirs, architectural tchotchkes and ashtrays,
he was constantly fulminating against the decrepit state of that
city’s landmarks, enthusing about a drawing he had discovered buried
somewhere in the museum’s archives, making introductions among the
architects, historians and socialites who constantly wandered in
and out, or pleading over the phone with the few journalists and
government officials he felt he could trust.

All the while he would be driving his points home with a lighted
cigarette; during one such visit several years ago his hands became so
animated as he described the atrocious condition of a 1920s apartment
block that his cigarette flew across the room.

To those of us conditioned by an international museum culture
dominated by polished directors and their powerful boards, he was
an extraordinary if anachronistic example of what a single person
at the helm of a crumbling institution with few financial resources
could accomplish – even in a world that seemed bent on silencing him.

Mr. Sarkisyan, who died on Jan. 7 at a Munich hospital at the age of
62, was the center of Moscow’s architectural world. Moreover, in an era
in which that capital’s historic buildings are being demolished with
alarming speed and brutality, he was one of very few people willing
to stand up to the city’s ruthless alliance of corrupt politicians
and powerful developers.

"He was not interested in having a comfortable life; he didn’t follow
any of the normal rules," Peter Noever, director of the Museum of
Applied Arts in Vienna, said in a recent telephone interview. "He
stood for resistance."

Mr. Sarkisyan, who had no formal education in architecture, was
an improbable champion of architectural causes. Born in Yerevan,
Armenia, in 1947, he worked as a pharmacologist and then in film,
both as a producer and director. (He worked on Rustam Khamdamov’s
art-house movie "Anna Karamazoff," becoming friends with the film’s
star, Jeanne Moreau.)

When he took over the museum in early 2000, at the request of the
Russian minister of construction, a close friend, it seemed like
a lost cause. Like many cultural institutions in the chaos of the
post-Soviet era, the museum had lost most of its state financing. Many
of its 19th-century galleries were badly dilapidated; in places, water
dripped from the ceiling into plastic buckets. To make ends meet,
the former director had rented some of its offices out to law firms.

Yet the museum was also a trove of architectural treasures, including
renderings and models from czarist times and the archives of many of
the titans of Soviet architecture, from Konstantin Melnikov to Alexei
Shchusev, after whom the institution was named.

Mr. Sarkisyan fell in love with it. He pushed out the law firms
and installed himself in a dark second-floor office. A flamboyant,
theatrical figure who liked his vodka, he held court there day and
night; his staff regularly found him in the mornings, on a small
daybed.

He was the first to show the work of major contemporary architects like
Coop Himmelblau and Rem Koolhaas in Moscow. And he mounted a number
of impressive shows, including one this past fall on a collaboration
between the artist Vera Muchina and the architect B. M.

Jofan that produced the Soviet Pavilion at the 1937 Paris World’s
Fair, a benchmark of Socialist Realism. At the time of his death he
was working on a show about Melnikov in collaboration with the Museum
of Applied Arts.

But most of all, he used his international connections to pressure
government officials – in particular the powerful mayor of Moscow,
Yuri Luzhkov – in a desperate effort to save the city he loved from
the wrecking ball.

In 2004 he wrote an open letter to both Mayor Luzhkov and
then-president Vladimir V. Putin deploring the widespread demolition
of historic buildings in Moscow. The letter caused an outcry in
the worldwide architecture community, and eventually led hundreds
of architects, curators and museum directors to petition the Russian
government for the enforcement of preservation laws. (If nothing else,
the mayor was forced into making a public reply.)

Among the wide range of buildings Mr. Sarkisyan fought to save was
the 1929 Melnikov House, which the architect designed for himself and
which became one of the great examples of early Soviet architecture;
the Moskva Hotel, a Stalin-era landmark designed by Shchusev; and
the Voyentorg department store, an Art Deco building completed in 1913.

His success was mixed. Melnikov’s two granddaughters, one of whom
is allied with a developer, are currently fighting each other for
control of his house in the courts; though both say they want it to
become a museum, its fate remains unclear. The Moskva Hotel and the
Voyentorg store have been demolished, and, in a cynical mockery of
historic preservation that has become the norm in today’s Moscow,
are being rebuilt as gaudy kitsch replicas. (The new Moskva, a Four
Seasons Hotel, will open this year.)

Even when he failed, however, Mr. Sarkisyan sought to make the public
conscious of what was being lost, not only in his activism but in the
way he ran the museum. The courtyard of his museum was decorated with
sculptural reliefs from the facade of the Cathedral of Christ the
Savior, which had been ordered demolished by Stalin in 1931. And Mr.

Sarkisyan often showed visitors the tarnished light fixtures and
doorknobs that he had salvaged from the wreckage of the Moskva Hotel.

In the months before Mr. Sarkisyan’s death, developers in Moscow
seemed to be embarking on yet another cycle of destruction. One
began gutting the interior of the Detsky Mir department store, a 1957
structure designed by Alexei Dushkin in a pared-down classical style,
which stands across a square from the old secret-police headquarters.

At around the same time the national government signed off on a plan
by the mayor’s wife, a billionaire developer, to demolish the vast
exhibition hall that houses the Tretyakov gallery’s 20th-century
collections – a landmark of Brezhnev-era Modernism – and replace it
with a luxury housing complex designed by Norman Foster.

It’s impossible to know if Mr. Sarkisyan could have done much to
stop these grotesque architectural crimes. But he, more than anyone,
made the world aware of what was at stake.

On January 15 hundreds attended a wake held at the museum, where his
body was displayed in an open coffin, as is Russian custom.

"Every kind of person was there," Mr. Noever told me. "Cleaning women,
artists, models with long legs, men in expensive suits who looked like
oligarchs – maybe a thousand people. And he was laid out like Lenin."
From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJANI EXPERT: DEPLOYMENT OF PEACEKEEPING FORCES IN CONFLICT ZONE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS FOR AZERBAIJAN

Today.Az
28 January 2010 [14:00]

"War is the only way to return Azerbaijan’s occupied lands,"
Azerbaijani political expert Araz Alizade said.

"President Barack Obama made it clear to the Turkish PM Recep Tayyip
Erdogan during his visit to Washington that America does not want
to link resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with opening the
Armenian-Turkish border," the political expert said.

"If this is stated by Washington, it means that other OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs will not support Ankara’s condition."

"It is worth noting that the choice of the countries co-chairing the
OSCE Minsk Group is not favorable for Azerbaijan. All three states
have extremely strong Armenian diaspora. A Western government will
hardly neglect voices of Armenian voters, especially since they play
an important role in the socio-economic life of the country. Given
all this, I think that there is almost no prospects for a peaceful
resolution of the Karabakh problem. In this situation, Azerbaijan is
forced to negotiate to avoid strong external pressure," the expert
added.

"Even if the West favors Azerbaijan’s position on the Karabakh
conflict, the process of resolving this issue would still encounter
opposition in Yerevan, because military leadership of the Karabakh war,
which came to power after the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan,
rules there. Serzh Sargsyan is just Armenian field commander whose
hands have been stained with blood of killed Azerbaijanis. If he
signs an agreement returning occupied lands to Azerbaijan, he will
be immediately swept away. Therefore, Sargsyan would never do it,"
the expert noted.

"In this situation, delaying resolution of the Karabakh conflict may
make this conflict eternal," he said.

"It is extremely dangerous for Azerbaijan to give consent to deployment
of international peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone.

Such actions have been committed in Kosovo and Georgia, and we all
are aware what consequences it had. This indicates that war is the
only way to return the occupied lands. For this purpose, Azerbaijan’s
army needs be more professional," Alizade added.

Z. Ahmadov Day.Az
From: Baghdasarian

GROUNDLESS INCREASE OF PRICES IN ARMENIA – CONSUMERS’ ASSOCIATION

ARKA
Jan 27, 2010

YEREVAN, January 27. /ARKA/. "There is groundless increase of prices
for goods and services in Armenia", said Armen Poghosyan, Head of NGO
"Consumers’ Association".

"There is a process of groundless increase of prices for some goods
and services in Armenia", said Poghosyan. External factors of price
increase (situation and tendencies in world markets) are objective.

Armenia should struggle with internal subjective factors on behalf
of monopolies, oligopolies and shadow economy.

Hidden turnover of goods assist in groundless increase of prices. It
is necessary to control over the turnover of goods and services
and increase the number of their names. They should reach up to
500-800 instead of existing 470. In 2009 utility payments increased
by 116.8% compared with 2008, transport and communication – by 115%
and entertainment services – by 7.9%.

"Despite certain deficiencies, it is worth mentioning that there
is quality increase of a number of goods of local production. For
example, bakery, confectionery, milk products and beer", said
Poghosyan. Quality increase in water and gas supply was also
significant. "There is progress in many spheres except but public
transport", he said. National Statistic Service of Armenia informs
that in January-December 2009 inflation on the level of 3.4% was
registered in Armenia compared with the same period of 2008. In
December 2009 compared with December 2008 increase of consumers’
prices by 6.5% was registered. In December compared with November
2009 inflation of 2% was registered.
From: Baghdasarian

READY TO ACT AS A GUARANTOR OF KARABAKH SETTLEMENT, RUSSIA SAYS

Aysor
25.01.2010, 15:06

"The [upcoming] trilateral meeting between presidents Serge Sarkisian,
Ilham Aliev, and Dmitry Medvedev expresses Russia’s intentions to
continue the active mediation of the process of settlement, including
Russia’s activity as the OCSE Minsk Group Co-Chair, aimed at finding
the mutually receivable solution for the Karabakh conflict, ," said
in a statement released by the Kremlin’s press office.

"Russia’s strong position in the process of settlement of the
Karabakh conflict is do not force the parts to receive any solutions
from outside, as it stands from the mind that only Armenians and
Azerbaijanis must bear the responsibility for the final choice.

"Russia is ready to back and support the solution that will be mutually
receivable by all involved sides. Russia also expresses readiness to
act as a guarantor of the settlement in case of compromise between
the parties.

"The Russian side believes, the viable solution is that one that will
restore the stability and peace in the South Caucasus region and will
strike a blow for keeping the balance of the forces historically
formed here in the post-conflict period," said in the statement by
Russian side.

This statement is made in relation to the trilateral
Armenia-Azerbaijan-Russia meeting in Russia’s Sochi, at presidential
residence, today, on January 25. At this moment, Russia’s President
Dmitry Medvedev has already hosted his counterparts from Armenia and
Azerbaijan. The meeting has been kicked off.
From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN DELEGATES’ MANDATES QUESTIONED

A1Plus.am
25/01/10

The European People’s Party (EPP), the biggest party in the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has disputed
the mandates of the Armenian delegation.

According to the Heritage Party, the revocation of mandates is
connected by "Armenian Parliament Speaker’s illegal decision to remove
Zaruhy Postanjyan, a member of the opposition Heritage member, from
the delegation."

Zaruhy Postanjyan has left for Strasbourg with the mediation and
financial support of the EPP.

PACE Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional
Affairs is expected to hear the issue later in the day.
From: Baghdasarian

AT THE INVITATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF RF DMITRI MEDVEDEV, PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN CONDUCTED A WORKING VISIT TO MOSCOW

president.am
Jan 18 2010
Armenia

At the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitri
Medvedev, President Serzh Sargsyan, accompanied by Mrs. Rita Sargsyan,
conducted a short working visit to Moscow. The President of Armenia
had a private meeting with this Russian counterpart.

At the beginning of the meeting, which took place at a Presidential
residence near Moscow, welcoming the President of Armenia, Dmitri
Medvedev noted that the Presidents of the two countries meet
regularly. The President of the Russian Federation said that in 2008
he had seven meetings with his Armenian colleague, and last year there
were at least seven meetings. He noted with satisfaction that this
year too started with a meeting of the two Presidents. According to D.

Medvedev, these meetings are a strong proof of friendly relations
and strong ties between the two countries.

Dmitri Medvedev said that the two Presidents would discuss the entire
agenda of bilateral relations, including economic ties, contacts
related to foreign policy, talk about global issues and serious
projects which they were working on.

The Presidents of Armenia and Russia will also discuss the NK peace
process and speak about the steps to be taken to further improve lives
of the peoples in Armenia and Russia. Dmitri Medvedev expressed hope
that the global economic crisis was approaching its final phase and
that the tools and mechanisms that the two Presidents had agreed upon
for the promotion of the cooperation in the economic, military and
foreign policy issues would be utilized.

President Serzh Sargsyan thanked the President of Russia for the
invitation. He said that it was his first visit oversees in 2010 and
noted with satisfaction that it was a visit to Russia. According to
the President of Armenia, it’s a good occasion to recap the results
of the previous year’s works and set milestones for 2010.

The President of Armenia underscored that last year was very
productive: strategic partnership was strengthened, economic and
humanitarian ties were dynamic and vibrant. According to Serzh
Sargsyan, there is every necessary prerequisite to anticipate even
more impressive results in 2010. Everything must be done to produce
serious results in bilateral relations every year. The President of
Armenia once again thanked President Medvedev for supporting Armenia’s
initiatives aimed at the strengthening peace and security in the
region. He added that Armenia is interested in a peaceful settlement of
all problems, and that on this issue besides being strategic partners
Armenia and Russia also think alike and have similar approaches.

During the meeting, the Heads of Armenia and Russia discussed issues
pertaining to the programs to be implemented in 2010, further expansion
of political dialogue, economic cooperation and mitigation of the
consequences of the global economic and financial crisis, military
cooperation, interaction between Armenia and the regions of the
Russian Federation, and deepening of the humanitarian ties between
the two states.

Presidents Sargsyan and Medvedev discussed also issues related to the
regional and international agenda, NK peace process, regional security,
and the process of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations.

The Presidents of the two countries continued their discussion during
a dinner held in honor of the President of Armenia and Mrs. Rita
Sargsyan.
From: Baghdasarian

BALIAN TO COMPETE IN 2010 EUROPEAN FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tert.am
11:28 ~U 19.01.10

The 2010 ISU European Figure Skating Championships in the Estonian
capital of Tallinn is set to begin today. Armenia will be represented
by 25-year-old Pierre Balian, who lives in the U.S. Armenian Figure
Skating Federation President Samvel Khachatryan told ArmSport.am that
Balian, along with his personal trainer, Ararat Zakaryan, is already
in Estonia.

"Pierre Balian went to Tallinn from Los Angeles, where he has
thoroughly prepared for the European championship. He is currently
in good physical state and will compete on January 20. I hope that
he will give a successful performance," said Khachatryan.

Balian competed under the Armenian flag for the first time in September
2009. This year’s ISU European Figure Skating Championships will run
between January 19 and 24, 2010.
From: Baghdasarian

"THEY TAKE LOANS TO DISTRIBUTE AMONG OLIGARCHS"

A1Plus.am
18/01/10

"In a year Armenia will beg for the proposed variant on the Karabakh
conflict settlement it is denying today," Armenia’s ex Prime Minister
Hrant Bagratyan said speaking about the Karabakh conflict on January
18.

"Today Armenia has appeared in a sorrowful plight. Azerbaijan is
buying missiles from Israel which can be later used to bomb Yerevan
from Baku. I think that next time Azerbaijan will wage a war with
Armenia and not with Karabakh. Azerbaijan is trying its best to show
the world that a war is the only solution to the Karabakh issue. They
buy rockets with that purpose," said Mr. Bagratyan.

The ex premier is surprised at those who were caught unawares or
delighted with the Constitution Court’s decision on finding the
Armenian-Turkish Protocols constitutional.

"Armenia and Turkey are still uncertain about their future
relationship. Presently, the score is 1 to 0 in favour of Turkey which
has conditioned the bilateral relations with the Karabakh conflict
regulation and signed a document on the Armenian Genocide as a result,"
he said.

Speaking about the country’s economic system, Mr. Bagratyan
criticized the acting authorities for artificially appreciating
the Armenian currency – dram. "Authorities take loans to distribute
among oligarchs and keep the rate of the dram. They had better think
of giving production and importing it overseas instead of opening
new restaurants in Armenia. The country’s economy doesn’t register
development as the authorities never distribute the income. The tax
and custom sphere is adjusted to meet the interests of few people. "

The country’s leadership has never turned to Mr. Bagratyan for advice.

"Today Armenia is on the verge of a gulf. Instead of asking me for
advice they take me to court," the ex prime minister said jokingly.
From: Baghdasarian

`Book of Eli’ Directors Talk About Being Armenian
By Armenian Weekly
on January 16, 2010

WATERTOWN, Mass. (A.W.) – On Friday, Jan. 15, `The Book of Eli,’
starring Denzel Washington, opened in theatres nationwide. The film is
directed by twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes, whose previous
commercial film was `From Hell,’ released in 2001.

The Hughes brothers
In an article published in USA Today earlier this week, director
Albert Hughes talked about their experiences, saying, `People were
hailing us as the new school of black directors. I hated that. For
one, we’re half Armenian, half black. For another, that’s offensive.
We wouldn’t pose with other young black directors, because you
wouldn’t do that with, say Italian directors.’ (see “Book of Eli’
directors Allen and Albert Hughes open up’ by Scott Bowles, USA Today,
Jan. 14, 2010).

The Hughes brothers were born in Detroit, Mich. Their African-American
father left them when they were two. Thereafter, together with their
`staunch feminist’ Armenian mother, Aida, they moved to Pomona, Calif.
(see `The Brothers Hughes’ by Susan Wloszczyna, USA Today, Oct. 18,
2001).

The Huges brothers often talk about their Armenian background. `One
thing [our Armenian side] did was to provide an audience. When we
began making movies, they were supportive. While the black side was
not open to us because we were half white, the Armenian half always
welcomed us,’ Albert says. `I attribute generosity and humbleness to
Armenians…Is that a trait of the culture… Armenians, in my opinion,
are generous to a fault. I’ve never been greedy and that comes from my
Armenian side.’ (see `Albert Hughes Forges His Own Art’ by Hrag
Vartanian, , April 1, 2005).

For more information about `The Book of Eli,’ go to

From: Baghdasarian