Author: Ekmekjian Janet

ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO USA: ECONOMIC FREEDOM IN ARMENIA HIGHEST IN LIST OF TRANSITIONAL STATES
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14. ARMINFO. Armenian Ambassador to the USA Tatul
Margaryan met with Head of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation,
an independent US Government agency, Ross Connelly, Tuesday. The
press-service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told ARMINFO, during
the meeting, the Ambassador stated that due to the reforms by the
Armenian Government, the country is in the lead of the group of the
transitional states as to economic freedom. The economic field of
Armenia is favorable for foreign investments, the Ambassador said.
In his turn, Ross Connelly expressed readiness on behalf of OPIC
to stimulate investments of American businessmen in the economy
of Armenia, as well as the cooperation to upgrade the awareness of
American businessmen of the programs OPIC implements in Armenia. The
largest of the programs is financing of the Marriott-Armenia repairs.
According to the economic freedom rating prepared by the US Heritage
Fund, Armenia ranks the first in the CIS, and in the 44th place among
155 countries in the world.

AZERI PRESIDENT SAYS MILITARY SPENDING TO EQUAL ARMENIA’S ENTIRE BUDGET
Yeni Azarbaycan, Baku
17 Sep 05, p 2
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that the international
community should not be concerned about the increase in Azerbaijan’s
military spending as years of peace talks with Armenia have yielded
no results. Addressing a meeting at the Defence Ministry, Aliyev
said that he has set himself a task to make Azerbaijan’s military
equal to Armenia’s entire budget. He said that in 2006 the country’s
military spending will double and reach 600m dollars. The following
is an excerpt from unattributed report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni
Azarbaycan on 17 September headlined “The president has held a meeting
on army build-up” and subheaded “Ilham Aliyev: the Azerbaijani army’s
combat readiness deserves appreciation”.
Subheadings have been inserted editorially:
The Azerbaijani president and commander-in-chief, Ilham Aliyev,
yesterday chaired a meeting at the Defence Ministry on the development
of the army in Azerbaijan.
[Passage omitted: Defence Minister Safar Abiyev and top officers
welcomed Ilham Aliyev outside the ministry]
Addressing the meeting, Ilham Aliyev said that the army has been
developing in Azerbaijan at a high pace and very successfully. The
establishment of a proper army has brought dividends to Azerbaijan.
We are strengthening our military potential, and I am confident
that this process will also continue developing at a high pace in
the future.
[Passage omitted: about the late President Heydar Aliyev’s role in
the build-up of the army]
“Azerbaijan is living in a state of war. Our land is under occupation,
and bearing this in mind, one should pay major attention to the
army. As the commander-in-chief, I attach major importance to these
issues. It is possible to say that I deal with these issues on a
daily basis because this is the most important issue for us.”
Peace talks yield no results
President Ilham Aliyev added that Azerbaijan must restore its
territorial integrity. “We are trying to settle this issue peacefully,
through talks. However, as we know, years of talks have yielded no
results. It is possible to settle the issue in a just manner as a
whole, and I hope that we will achieve this because Azerbaijan’s
position is based on international legal norms, Nagornyy Karabakh
is an integral part of Azerbaijan and our territorial integrity is
recognized and supported by the entire world community.
Historical justice is on our side, too.”
[Passage omitted: Armenia does not comply with UN resolutions on
Karabakh; efforts of international organizations yield no results]
“At the same time, the issue remains unsettled. Despite our endless
talk about all these factors, diplomatic, economic and other political
achievements, the issue remains unsettled. What should Azerbaijan do in
this situation? Azerbaijan has conducted and expressed its peaceful
policy for many years, but the issue remains unsettled. For this
reason, it is natural that we are increasing our military potential.”
[Passage omitted: repetition]
Azerbaijan’s military spending will equal Armenia’s entire budget
President Ilham Aliyev stressed that next year’s budget will be more
than 3.5bn dollars. In this case, military spending will grow as
well. In 2004, military spending was 175m dollars, in 2005 – 300m
dollars and in 2006 it will be 600m dollars, and this is not the
final rate. As you know, my task is that our military budget should
equal Armenia’s entire budget, and maybe exceed it and it will exceed
it. We will achieve this.
President Ilham Aliyev said that Armenia and some international
organizations are concerned about this, i.e. the increase in
Azerbaijan’s military budget is the reason for their concern. The
increase in our country’s military budget is our sovereign right. On
the other hand, the sides, organizations and countries which are
playing a leading role in these organizations, should be concerned
about the fact of Azerbaijani land has been occupied for more than
10 years.
Nagornyy Karabakh is not a democracy
“I would like to speak about another issue. Armenian propaganda
has been trying to put Azerbaijan in a negative light before the
international community. They are trying to prove that there are
allegedly democratic institutions in Nagornyy Karabakh, democracy
is developing and human rights are protected there, and that in
Azerbaijan, democracy is not developing. This is a completely false
and very dangerous theory.
“First, Azerbaijan is a country which is developing at a very high
pace in terms of democratic development. Everyone admits this, and
first of all, the Azerbaijani people see this and welcome our policy.
Second, the Nagornyy Karabakh regime is an illegal establishment. It
is not recognized by anyone. A criminal regime is ruling there. For
some reason, hypocritical politicians do not pay attention to the
fact that drugs are being cultivated and trafficked, armed groups
and terrorist organizations are deployed, human rights are violated
and a totally militarized regime exists there. Nagornyy Karabakh is
presented as an alleged example of democracy in this region.
Armenians to fail hampering regional projects
“They have done their best against the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline, but failed. Now they are trying to tie the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline to the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict. This is a completely false idea. There is no link
between these issues. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan is an international
project, it is supported by international financial institutions
and major states, it is being successfully implemented. No lobby or
Armenian organization will be able to hamper it.
“I would like to speak about another issue as well. Armenian
officials have recently started making statements against a new
regional project. You know that we support the idea of building a
railway linking Azerbaijan to Turkey, and the construction of the
Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway is becoming a reality. We are actively
working and ready to take financial commitments to make this railway
happen in the near future. The feasibility study is being prepared,
and when it is ready, Azerbaijan will take financial commitments as
the first move.”
The head of state ridiculed the Armenians’ protests against the
allocation of funds for the construction of the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku
railway.
[Passage omitted: Ilham Aliyev said that Armenians have no moral
right to occupy Azerbaijani lands]

Pan Armenian News
U.S. EMBASSY DONATED THREE COMPUTERS TO PROSECUTOR GENERAL OFFICE
16.09.2005 07:39
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As PanARMENIAN.Net came to know from the U.S. Embassy’s
press center, on September 15, the U.S. Embassy donated three computers to
the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia. A small
donation ceremony was held during which Deputy Head of the Investigative
Department and Head of the Anti-Trafficking Division of the Office of the
Prosecutor General Marsel Matevosyan signed the grant agreement.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 16 2005
Pressure group urges to stop British MP’s visits to Garabagh
Baku, September 15, AssA-Irada
The hard-line Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) has demanded
that visits by Baroness Caroline Cox, vice-speaker of the British
House of Lords, to Upper Garabagh be prevented and a monument to
British soldiers removed from the Cemetery of Martyrs in Baku.
A 20-member British delegation led by Cox and comprising Christian
organizations visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan on
Tuesday as part of the so-called `Visit to Arstakh’ mission.
The GLO, in a statement, warned that it will launch continuous
actions to demand closure of the British embassy in Baku if the
British MP’s visits to the occupied land are not stopped.
Several members of the GLO youth council painted the monument to
British soldiers in black last night.
Cox paid her first visit to Upper Garabagh in 1989, during the
initial stage of Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan.*
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri president, Asian Development Bank official discuss ties
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
14 Sep 05

Text of report by Azerbaijani private TV station ATV on 14 September
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received the executive director of
the Asian Development Bank, Paul Speltz, today. The president praised
a high level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the organization
and expressed the hope that joint projects would be implemented in the
future as well.
Aliyev said that although Armenia’s aggression had been a serious blow
to Azerbaijan’s economy, the country managed to make progress over the
past several years.
For his part, the guest thanked the president for creating conditions
to work in Azerbaijan and spoke about some plans.

FONDATION INFO-TURK
53, rue de Pavie
1000 BRUXELLES
Tel: (32-2) 215 35 76
Fax: (32-2) 215 58 60
E-mail:
[email protected]

The arrest warrant against Dogan Ozgüden remains in force
Journalist Emin Karaca condemned
for insult to the Army chiefs
Journalist and writer Emin Karaca was condemned on September 13, 2005
by the penal court of first instance N°2 of Istanbul to a 5-month
imprisonment old according to Article 301/2 of the new Turkish Penal
Code (replacing Article 159/1 of the old Turkish Penal Code) because
of his criticisms as regards the putschist generals of March 12,
1971. The prison sentence was later commuted to a suspended fine of
900 YTL (New Turkish Liras).
The court also decided to acquit the responsible editor for the
Türkiye’ review of ve Avrupa’ da Yazin (Literature in Turkey and
Europe), Mehmet Emin Sert, who had published Karaca’s article on the
occasion of the 30th anniversary of the execution of three leaders of
progressive youth.
In the same case started in 2002, Dogan Özgüden, chief editor of
Info-Türk, had been indicted for his article entitled “After 30
years”, appeared in the same review, and accused of having insulted
the Army chiefs. On September 27, 2002, the court sent to all border
check points an arrest warrant ordering that Özgüden, exiled in
Belgium, be immediately arrested and submitted to the justice as soon
as he enters to Turkey. Up to now, this arrest warrant has been
renewed five times by the same court, but Özgüden refused to surrender
to Turkish justice.
At the audience of June 22, 2005, the public prosecutor asked that the
lawsuit file against Dogan Özgüden be separate until its arrest in the
event of its return to the country so that the lawsuit against Karaca
can continue separately. The court thus decided to separate Özgüden’s
file and to suspend his trial until his arrest in the event of his
return to Turkey. (For more information on the case:
)
The condemnation of Karaca shows that, in spite of the modification of
the Turkish Penal Code, so appreciated by the European Union, the
indictment and condemnation of writers and journalists for “opinion
crimes” continue as before.
The independent communications network (BIA) announced on September 13
2005, that under the Article 301 (old article 159) of the TPC a number
of journalists are always tried for insult against the Turkish nation,
the Army, the government or the forces of security simply because of
their criticisms. It gives like examples the following recent cases:
Novelist Orhan Pamuk, for insult to the Turkish nation
Journalist Ragip Zarakolu, publisher of Belge Yayinlari, for insult to
the State, the Republic and Atatürk Journalist Hrant Dink, editor of
the Armenian newspaper Agos, for insult to the Turkish nation
Journalist Dogan Özgüden, for insult to the Army
Journalist Emin Karaca,, for insult to the Army
Lawyer Sehmus Ulek, vice-president of the Association for the defense
of the oppressed (Mazlum-DER), for insult to the Turkish nation
Journalist Rahmi Yildirim, for insult to the Army Journalist Ersen
Korkmaz, editor of Demokrat Iskenderun, for insult to the government.
***************************************
Latest news on the situation of human rights in Turkey:
Le 25e anniversaire du coup d’état du 12 septembre 1980 Les héritages
honteux de la dictature militaire persistent au seuil de l’UE 50
protesters of September 12 were attacked and detained by police La
Turquie condamnée à Strasbourg pour opération de police meurtrière Les
tentatives de lynchage s’intensifient depuis cinq mois Le Conseil de
sécurité insiste sur la poursuite de la répression
La Turquie condamnée à Strasbourg pour violation de la liberté
d’expression Poursuites contre Orhan Pamuk – L’UE s’en prend à la
Turquie International PEN ‘s reaction against Orhan Pamuk’s indictment
L’écrivain Orhan Pamuk inculpé pour “insulte” aux Turcs RSF: Un
journaliste d’origine kurde incarcéré en Turquie Heavy fines to Turkey
for violating freedom of expression RSF scandalisée par la garde à vue
arbitraire de quatre journalistes
Appel de solidarité pour la paix et le dialogue en Turquie Second
International Conference on EU, Turkey and the Kurds La police
allemande attaque les médias kurdes Manifestants kurdes attaqués par
des nationalistes turcs: 200 blessés A Kurdish Demonstrator Killed by
security forces in Batman
Une conférence majeure sur la Turquie au Parlement européen Belgique:
Matinée d’étude sur le combat contre le négationnisme Négationnisme:
Le procureur juge Emir Kir “ambigu” Anniversaire d’incidents
anti-grecs: une exposition saccagée à Istanbul

The Messenger, Georgia
Sept 15 2005
Government studies Kars-Akhalkalaki railway
The government of Georgia is studying the technical and economic
issues surrounding the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway.
Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Nogaideli told journalists at the
State Chancellery on Tuesday that consultations on attraction of
investments would start soon.
According to the information of the State Railway Department of
Azerbaijan, a meeting of the Transport Ministers of Georgia, Turkey
and Azerbaijan on the issue of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway project,
originally scheduled for August 24, will now be held in September.
The length of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway is 98 kilometers; 68
kilometers of the railway will cover territory of Turkey while 30
kilometers will run through Georgia.
Preliminary estimates place the cost of the project at USD 400.
Opposed to the project is Armenia, whose Minister of Transport,
Andranik Manuklyan, states that as the railway circumvents that
country, it will be used by Turkey to put pressure on Armenia.

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian
September 13, 2005
EASTERN PRELACY PRPARES TO WELCOME
CATHOLICOS ARAM I
HIS HOLINESS WILL LEAD THE COMMEMORATIONS OF THE
75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SEMINARY AT ANTELIAS
TWO MAJOR SYMPOSIUMS WILL TAKE PLACE IN
NEW YORK CITY AND CAMBRIDGE
NEW YORK, NY-The Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
is preparing to welcome His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House
of Cilicia who this year has embarked on visits to all of the dioceses
within the jurisdiction of the Cilician See, in commemoration of the 75th
anniversary of the establishment of the Seminary at Antelias, Lebanon.
The Catholicos will arrive in New York during the evening of October 19
and will visit various parishes of the Eastern Prelacy until November 1.
Regional events celebrating the 75th anniversary will take place in New
York, Washington, DC, Boston, and Chicago. Highlights of the public events
in these cities follows:
New York City
On Thursday, October 20, the Catholicos will be at St. Illuminator’s
Cathedral, 221 East 27th Street, New York City, where he will be welcomed by
the community with a Hrashapar service and Achahampooyr, beginning 7:30 pm.
On Friday, October 21, His Holiness will be at Sts. Vartanantz Church,
461 Bergen Blvd., Ridgefield, New Jersey, where he will preside over the
75th anniversary commemorative program, which will bring together a large
group of Armenian Americans from the metropolitan area. The event will begin
at 7:30 pm.
On Saturday, October 22, an Ecumenical Service and Symposium will take
place at the Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, New York City. The
topic of the symposium which is jointly sponsored by the Eastern Prelacy and
the United States Conference of the World Council of Churches, is
“Challenges Facing the Ecumenical Movement in the 21st Century.” A large
number of top ecumenical leaders will participate.
On Sunday, October 23, a Pontifical Divine Liturgy will take place at
St. Bartholomew’s Church, Park Avenue, between 50th and 51st Streets,
beginning at 1:30 pm. His Holiness will officiate and deliver the sermon.
The Liturgy will not be celebrated in the metropolitan area churches; all
parishioners will be encouraged to attend the service at St. Bartholomew’s
Church. The choirs of the metropolitan area churches will participate.
Following the Liturgy a gala banquet in honor of His Holiness and the
75th anniversary will take place at The Pierre, Fifth Ave. at 61st Street.
The cocktail reception will begin at 5 pm, followed by dinner at 6 pm. The
program will include a short video presentation about the Seminary.
Bus transportation is being arranged from various locations. Please contact
your local parish for information or contact the Prelacy, 212-689-7810.
Washington, DC
His Holiness will then travel to Washington, DC, where on Tuesday,
October 25 he will be officially welcomed by the community at Soorp Khatch
Armenian Church, 4906 Flint Drive, Bethesda, Maryland, and will preside over
the 75th anniversary commemoration, at 7:30 pm.
During his visit to our nation’s capital, His Holiness will make a
number of diplomatic visits as well as attend private receptions.
Boston
His Holiness’s visit to Boston will be marked by several important
events including the 75th anniversary celebration on Thursday, October 27,
at 7:30 pm, at St. Stephen Church, 38 Elton Avenue, Watertown, MA. He will
also visit the St. Stephen Elementary School in Watertown.
On Friday, October 28, His Holiness will attend the opening session of
an international conference dedicated to the 1600th anniversary of the
founding of the Armenian Alphabet, organized by the Eastern Prelacy and
Harvard University’s Center for Government and International Studies and the
Mashtots Chair, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Top
scholars from Europe, Middle East, Armenia and the United States will
participated. His Holiness will open the first session and address the
conference, Friday evening at 7 pm. The conference will continue with
morning and afternoon sessions on Saturday.
Chicago
On Saturday, October 29, His Holiness will travel to Chicago where he
will be officially welcomed by the community at All Saints Armenian Church,
1701 North Greenwood, Glenview, Illinois, and preside over that community’s
75th anniversary celebration dedicated to the Seminary, at 7:30 pm.
The following day, Sunday, October 30, His Holiness will officiate over
the Divine Liturgy and deliver the Sermon at All Saints Church. A banquet
will follow the church service at Fountain Blue, 2300 Manheim Road, Des
Plaines, Illinois.
Visit Web Page
Details of the individual events will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
For up-to-minute information about the visit, please go to the Prelacy’s web
site, , where you will also find a detailed biography
of His Holiness, photographs, and various messages recently issued by His
Holiness.
# # #
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SYUNIKPRODEXPO 2005 TO OPEN IN GORIS
By Ara Martirosian
AZG Armenian Daily #163
13/09/2005
Exhibition
On 24 September SyunikProdExpo will open in southern Armenian town
of Goris. Organized by Business Support Center, administration
of Syunik province, Goris municipality and DAI-Armenia Project
for small and average business development, this exhibition will
host 50 companies that will represent processing and production of
agricultural goods, light industry, production of building materials,
production of jewelry and informational technologies.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BOOK REVIEW: A WELL-CHOSEN SAROYAN SAMPLER
by Jonathan Kirsch, Jonathan Kirsch, a contributing writer to Book
Los Angeles Times
September 11, 2005 Sunday
Home Edition
BOOK REVIEW; Features Desk; Part R; Pg. 2
WEST WORDS;
Essential Saroyan A Selection of William Saroyan’s Best Writings
William Saroyan, edited by William E. Justice Heyday Books/Santa
Clara University: 208 pp., $11.95 paper
Review, is at work on a book about Revelation and its role in
American culture and politics.
SAROYAN is a brand name in American letters. Nowadays, however, the
famous surname appears mostly on the work of Aram Saroyan (“Artists
in Trouble”) and his daughter, Strawberry (“Girl Walks Into a Bar”).
The founder of the family dynasty, Aram’s father, William, is sadly
neglected. When his work is read at all, it is mostly compulsory in
a college survey course or a high school textbook. “For whatever
reasons,” observed Peter H. King in a 1997 column in The Times,
“Saroyan today is held under book-land quarantine.”
William E. Justice, who previously co-edited the lively anthology
“California Uncovered: Stories for the 21st Century,” sets out
to restore the paterfamilias to his rightful place in “Essential
Saroyan,” a discerning sampler of the writer’s most enchanting and
enduring fiction. “This book is a valentine,” Justice confesses. “But
lest you take its sentiment lightly, be warned: it hides a landmine.
It may leave you forever changed.”
Time magazine saluted Saroyan at the end of his life for the “ease and
charm” of his stories, but the apparent compliment carries a subtext —
his principal literary crime, according to his contemporary critics,
was a certain sentimentality and even soft-heartedness. But whether
these qualities ought to be regarded as a weakness or a strength
remains in the eye of the beholder.
“The sheer, unabashed o7adolescencef7 of the man, with all its
bravado, sentiment, and defiant idealism,” writes Justice, “came to
define Saroyan.”
Indeed, Saroyan was perfectly capable of the showy gesture, another
quirk that did not endear him to the cooler critics. “As a writer,”
Justice points out, “Saroyan was an athlete.” Perhaps the best example
is the challenge he set for himself in 1934 — Saroyan wrote one short
story daily for a month and submitted each to Story magazine, which
published them. A year later, his first and most famous collection,
“The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze and Other Stories,”
was a bestseller. Its title story opens “Essential Saroyan.”
“Horizontally wakeful amid universal widths,” he writes in its
beginning passage to describe the phantasmagorical moment when the
protagonist stirs from sleep, “practicing laughter and mirth, satire,
the end of all, Rome and yes of Babylon, clenched teeth, remembrance,
much warmth volcanic, the streets of Paris, the plains of Jericho,
much gliding as of reptile in abstraction, a gallery of watercolors,
the sea and the fish with eyes, symphony, a table in the corner
of the Eiffel Tower, jazz at the opera house, alarm clock and the
tap-dancing of doom, conversation with a tree, the river Nile, the
roar of Dostoevsky, and the dark sun.”
Even the reader has to take a breath.
Saroyan was born in Fresno in 1908 and spent five years in an Oakland
orphanage before his widowed mother took back her children. He chose
the Central Valley as the setting of some of his most accomplished
fiction, including his autobiographical novel “The Human Comedy.”
Thus, he places his characters in the same public library where the
largely self-taught author acquired his love of reading and writing.
“[E]veryone was hushed, because they were seeking wisdom,” he writes of
the reading room. “They were near books. They were trying to find out.”
Saroyan celebrated his Armenian heritage with unapologetic pride
of ancestry and a certain self-deprecating humor: “We barbarians
from Asia Minor are hairy people,” he writes in “Seventy Thousand
Assyrians.” “[W]hen we need a haircut, we o7need f7a haircut.” His
novel “My Name Is Aram” has been called “the Armenian ‘Huck Finn,’ ”
Justice writes in his introduction. At the end of his life, Saroyan’s
ashes were divided between Fresno and Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
Saroyan’s famously unhappy marriage to his much-courted first wife,
Carol — his rivals included Orson Welles, Clifford Odets and Marlon
Brando, and she later married actor Walter Matthau — is mentioned
only in Justice’s illuminating introduction. But Saroyan’s deep
embitterment over his service in World War II explains the fear and
anger that boils up in “The Adventures of Wesley Jackson,” a wholly
unsentimental antiwar novel that carries some of the same sting as
Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22.”
“[T]he big-family spirit that comes over a whole country when there’s
a War makes me a little suspicious of the people who throw the party
because it seems to me they are always smiling and full of hope and
too quick to be heroic, whereas the fellows in uniform are confused
and miserable most of the time,” declares the protagonist. “o7I’mf7
scared because I’m in the Army, but what the hell’s scaring the people
who aren’t in the Army?”
Saroyan acquits himself of the charge of mawkishness in the final
selection, “A Writer’s Declaration, a blend of memoir and manifesto
that includes some of the most bracing wisdom one author has ever
shared with his fellow writers. It is worth the price of the volume.
“What advice have I for the potential writer?” he asks. “I have
none, for anybody is a potential writer, and the writer who is a
writer needs no advice and seeks none…. The writer is a spiritual
anarchist as in the depth of his soul every man is. He is discontented
with everything and everybody…. When he’s dead he’ll probably be
as dead as others are dead, but while he is alive he is alive as no
one else is, not even another writer…. He is also mad, measurably
so, but saner than all others, with the best sanity, the only sanity
worth bothering about — the living, creative, vulnerable, valorous,
unintimidated, and arrogant sanity of a free man.”
Justice insists that Saroyan was “once the most famous writer on
earth” and argues that he belongs in the company of Kahlil Gibran,
Dylan Thomas, J.D. Salinger, C.S. Lewis, the Brontes, Dostoevsky, Jack
Kerouac and Sylvia Plath. Even if the praise is a bit overwrought, the
fact remains that Justice has picked well from Saroyan’s life work and
makes the case that the great man is sadly and unfairly neglected. *
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress