HOVHANNES DAVTIAN ANNOUNCED WINNER DURING REGULAR STAGE OF JUDO WORLD CUP
Noyan Tapan
Feb 26 2007
HAMBURG, FEBRUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The regular stage of the World
Judo Cup finished in Hamburg (Germany) on February 25. Four Armenian
sportsmen took part in the competition. Hovhannes Davtian (60 kg,
Gyumri) took first place.
Armen Nazarian (the same weight category, Hrazdan) and Mesrop Barbarian
(66 kg, Yerevan) were in 4th and 5th places.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
NATIONAL TEAM OF ARMENIA TO PARTICIPATE IN BOXING COMPETITION IN IRAN
Noyan Tapan
Feb 26 2007
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The national boxing team of Armenia
left for Iran on February 26 to participate in a big international
competition to be held in Tehran on March 2-6. The team is composed
of Hovhannes Danielian, Vachagan Avagian, Gabriel Tolmajian, Robert
Yeghisian, Hrachia Javakhian, Samvel Matevosian and Tsolak Ananikian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
WARSAW CAN HELP ARMENIA AND TURKEY TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.02.2007 14:48 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Poland evinces interest in the Armenian-Turkish
relations and wishes to help the two states to normalize them, RA
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said at a joint news conference
in Yerevan.
He said the Armenian side presented its position on the issue to the
Polish delegation.
For her part, Polish FM Anna Fotyga reminded that last year
Poland expressed readiness to mediate for normalization of the
Armenian-Turkish relations without representing interests of either
of the sides.
"We enjoy close historical ties with both countries, but it’s a
special case. We can help if Armenia and Turkey request our mediation,"
she said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
RA PARLIAMENT PASSES BILL ON DUAL CITIZENSHIP IN SECOND READING
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.02.2007 15:04 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today the Armenian National Assembly passed the bill
on dual citizenship in the second reading. The bill allows an Armenian
citizen to acquire citizenship of another state without losing the
Armenia one. The bill also regulates the norms of obtaining Armenian
citizenship. In part, Armenian citizenship may be granted to people
over the age of 18, capable to speak Armenian and familiarized with
the RA Constitution; people married to an Armenian citizen; people
of Armenian origin remarkable for great services to Armenia. People
with dual citizenship are eligible to vote in elections held in
Armenia. The President of the state, MPs and Constitutional Court
members cannot have dual citizenship, the document says.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
BRYAN ARDOUNY: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION’S PURPOSE IS NOT TO HUMILIATE TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.02.2007 16:39 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "We have a very strong bipartisan support. Over
170 members of Congress in just a few weeks have cosponsored this
resolution," said Bryan Ardouny, Executive Director of the Armenian
Assembly of America (AAA). The resolution’s approval would set the
U.S. record right on this sensitive matter, Ardouny said. "The Armenian
Genocide is an incontestable historical fact. The resolution’s purpose
was not to humiliate Turkey, but a confirmation of the truth of history
in the face of denial. The issue is how we can help Turkey to come to
terms with its past," he said, adding that building a relationship
on truth will improve the relations between Turkey and Armenia,
reports Turkish Daily News.
YEREVAN AND BAKU PRESS CLUBS ISSUED A BOOK
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.02.2007 18:15 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Yerevan and Baku press clubs have issued a book
titled "The Karabakh conflict: to understand each other", presentation
of which took place in Yerevan February 26. The book dedicated to
the Karabakh conflict and complex Armenian-Azeri relations includes
works by four authors – two political scientists and two journalists
– who made an attempt to find common interests for achieving mutual
understanding and conflict settlement. One of the authors, Stepan
Grigoryan, hopes that opinions and suppositions presented in the
book will offers new possibilities for a constructive dialogue
between the two states. "I was gladdened with the opinion of my
Azeri counterpart Rasim Musabekov, who said that the position of the
Karabakh’s authorities should be taken into consideration during the
talks between the two sides," he said.
The book was published with the assistance of the Friedrich Ebert
Foundation, whose representative Gunter Fichtner noted that the book
will help the Armenian and Azeri public to be more informed of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict. "The issue is sensitive for both publics
and if the sides wish to reach a compromise, this circumstance should
be taken into account," he said. Presentation of the book will also
be held in Karabakh one of these days, reports IA Regnum.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
California Courier Online, March 1, 2007
1 – Commentary
Foreign Minister Gul Shocked
To See TIME DVD on his Flight
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
2 – ASF Announces
Three Scholarships
3 – Mardirossian Elected Chairman
Of The Near East Foundation
4 – CSUF Armenian Studies Program
To Hold 19th Annual Banquet
5 – Glendale Adventist
To Host Lecture on
Diabetes, March 10
6 – L.A. Mayor, City Council Inaugurate
Sister-City Ties with Yerevan
7 – Appeal for Funds to Support Legal Action
Against Deniers of the Armenian Genocide
8- AMAA Sponsors Lark Musical Society
Performance of Hayden’s Oratorio
***************************************** *************************
1 – Commentary
Foreign Minister Gul Shocked
To See TIME DVD on his Flight
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
Several Turkish newspapers reported on Feb. 26 that Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul was shocked when he saw an Armenian Genocide DVD in the TIME
magazine issue on his plane.
Gul and members of his delegation were returning to Turkey on February 11,
after spending several days in Washington, D.C., lobbying against the pending
Congressional Resolution on the Armenian Genocide. On their Lufthansa Airline
flight, they discovered that the TIME magazine issue handed to them included a
DVD as well as a full-page announcement on the Armenian Genocide. Gul was
reportedly very upset that Armenians were carrying out propaganda activities even
on his plane. He said he would conduct an investigation.
After the delegation’s return to Ankara, Ozlem Cercioglu, a member of the
opposition CHP party, made a parliamentary inquiry, asking the Foreign Minister
if he had taken any diplomatic initiatives against the DVD being in TIME
magazine. She said that the Armenian-American Diaspora is now expanding its
"propaganda" campaign to the air!
Cercioglu wanted to know if the Foreign Minister had contacted U.S. officials
asking them to remove such "anti-Turkish materials" from these flights. She
also wanted to know if it was proper for Americans to exert pressure on Turkish
passengers in such a manner?
We presume that Gul will respond to this parliamentary inquiry at a later
date after investigating the circumstances of the insertion of the DVD on the
Armenian Genocide in TIME magazine. His aides will hopefully inform him that the
DVD and the full-page text was placed in the February 12, 2007 issue at TIME’s
expense in response to the denialist DVD surreptitiously inserted by the
Ankara Chamber of Commerce in the June 6, 2005 issue of Time Europe.
Foreign Minister Gul may also find out that the one million dollars spent by
the Ankara Chamber of Commerce backfired on the Turks and caused TIME magazine
to spend around a million dollars of its own to counter the false Turkish
claims on the Armenian Genocide. Oktay Eksi, a prominent Turkish journalist,
expressed his dismay that TIME magazine’s actions were precipitated by the unwise
and costly efforts of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce. "Some of the things we
do just wind up making the situation messier," Eksi lamented in his Hurriyet
column.
In recent days, various Turkish groups have initiated an e-mail campaign
trying to get TIME magazine to apologize for distributing the DVD on the Armenian
Genocide. Their actions, sometimes, have had comical consequences, resulting
in a total waste of their efforts. When one Turkish website asked its members
to send e-mails to TIME magazine to complain about the insertion of the DVD on
the Armenian Genocide, it provided them the wrong e-mail address. They were
told to write to The Times (London) daily newspaper rather than TIME magazine.
After receiving a large number of e-mails from Turks complaining about the
Armenian DVD, the exasperated editors of The Times (London) published the
following note in the Feb. 15 issue of the newspaper: "The Times has received a slew
of e-mails from angry Turks, who are in fact complaining about TIME magazine.
On it February 12 issue, TIME issued a documentary DVD about the Armenian
Genocide of 1915, in its European edition — an act that has prompted an e-mail
campaign alleging that Time’s action has ‘distorted the truth.’ Presumably TIME
itself has received more complaints." Significantly, the editors of The Times
of London are referring to the Armenian Genocide as such, without any
qualification.
Another Turkish website, , urged its members to send
protest e-mails to TIME magazine. Even though this time they were provided with the
right e-mail address, the sample e-mails they were given may not have been
ideal, to put it mildly. Here is an excerpt:
"I just want you to know that you or the persons who own the company are just
being a part of an old propaganda which was made up by the Armenian lobbies
to weaken Turkish Republic and force it to pay big compensations in the long
term like the Germans for what they did to the Jews during the World War 2. I
don’t know who is that Armenian sympathizer or Armenian in your corporation
[who] pushed Time Magazine to do such thing. But I know that this is just wrong. I
want to tell you that from now on neither Time magazine nor any other
publication related to your group will be purchased by me or by the work place that I
am responsible or will be responsible in the future. This may not be much,
but at least in the future we will not have to lay our eyes on totally biased
and racist pieces of paper that are sold as a magazine."
The Turks are just wasting their time and energy complaining about the
Armenian DVD. What the Turkish public and officials do not know is that after going
through a grueling 18-month long negotiations with Armenian groups in the
Europe and the U.S. and incurring a huge expense to make amends for the Turkish
DVD, the last thing TIME executives would want to do is reopen that subject
again!
************************************************* *************************
2 – ASF Announces
Three Scholarships
WATERTOWN, MA – The Armenian Scholarship Foundation (ASF) announced last week
that for the first time in five years, it is offering a $750 scholarship to
U.S. Armenian graduate students due to overwhelming demand. The organization
will also grant one $750 scholarship to an Armenian undergraduate student who
resides in the US, and will be attending a full time U. S. College or University
in 2007-2008.
It has also posted the $500 Norair Kebabjian Memorial Entrepreneurial
Scholarship application for Armenian undergraduate students in the U.S. focusing on
entrepreneurship and business.
The scholarship application for the 5th annual scholarships are posted on
ASF’s website Application deadline is May 15, 2007,
and the application fee is $10.
The Armenian Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to
providing scholarships and guidance to Armenian Students. The resources that
the ASF offers to students distinguish it from other organizations. It is
unique in offering not only financial assistance in the form of scholarships, but
also offering a mentorship program to anyone who requests it. If you are
interested in starting a private scholarship or volunteering your time as a member
or mentor, email to [email protected] or call Leon Barsoumian at
617-869-0250.
************************************************** ***********************
3 – Mardirossian Elected Chairman
Of The Near East Foundation
NEW YORK – "As the newly-elected Chair of the Near East Foundation, it is my
high honor to join the leadership ranks of this 91-year-old organization which
has had so profound an impact on me," said Shant Mardirossian.
"As an American of Armenian descent, NEF has brought me in touch with my
past…the past in which many Armenians-like my grandparents-were saved by
orphanages such as those established by Near East Relief during the aftermath of the
Armenian Genocide."
Mardirossian previously served as the organization’s treasurer.
After this election, Mardirossian, observed, "During the five years of my
involvement and now as the first Chair of Armenian ancestry, I feel an obligation
to give back to this organization that has given so much, to so many, over
its long history.
"Like the men and women who have preceded me in this role, the challenges are
great. Poverty continues to dominate most of the world, contributing to
despair, political instability and resentment. War rages on in the Middle East and
parts of Africa, where long-standing, unresolved conflicts fester. Genocide
has become all too common a term-and the slogan "Never Again" has lost its
meaning. Religion still divides rather than unites the peoples of the world. But
never have the challenges barred NEF’s way.
"Ironically, our past has brought us back to Armenia, Mardirossian said. "I
recently returned from my second trip to further expand NEF’s role and presence
there once again. Given our historical connection, NEF was enthusiastically
received by several Armenian government ministries and local nongovernmental
organizations; we also reintroduced ourselves to the local offices of USAID and
the World Bank. You can expect to hear more about new NEF programs in Armenia
shortly."
NEF also returned to its roots in relief work by responding to the
humanitarian crisis in Mardirossian’s birthplace, Lebanon, this past summer.
****************************************** *******************************
4 – . CSUF Armenian Studies Program
To Hold 19th Annual Banquet
FRESNO – The Armenian Studies Program of California State University, Fresno,
will hold its 19th Annual Banquet on March 24, at the Fort Washington Golf &
Country Club, 10272 N. Millbrook, in Fresno.
The keynote speaker and special guest for the Banquet is Armenian Consul
General Armen Liloyan, who will be paying his first official visit to Fresno.
Liloyan was born in Yerevan, and received a Bachelor’s degree from the
Department of Oriental Studies at Yerevan State University. In 2001-2002 he received
his M.A. in Diplomacy and International Relations, from the University of
Westminster, in London. He has diplomatic experience as a desk officer for
Central Europe and later the Balkans in the Armenian Foreign Ministry. In November
2006 he was appointed as Consul General of the Republic of Armenia in Los
Angeles.
During the Banquet, student recipients of Armenian Studies scholarships and
grants will be recognized.
The Armenian Alumni and Friends Chapter at Fresno State is organizing a
silent auction at the Banquet.
During the past several decades the Program has gained national and
international recognition, with an undergraduate program offering as many as ten
courses in Armenian Studies. The Program houses two endowed positions, the Haig &
Isabel Berberian Chair of Armenian Studies, held by Prof. Kouymjian, and the
Henry Khanzadian Kazan Visiting Professor of Armenian Studies. Barlow Der
Mugrdechian and Dickran Kouymjian constitute the core faculty of the Program along
with the annual Kazan Visiting Professor.
The reception and silent auction begin at 6:00PM followed by the Banquet at
7:00PM.
Tickets are available at $50 per person, with a special price of $20 for
Fresno State students.
For more information about the Banquet, contact the Armenian Studies Program
at 559-278-2669.
************************************ ****************************************
5 – Glendale Adventist
To Host Lecture on
Diabetes, March 10
GLENDALE – In honor of Diabetes Awareness Month, the Diabetes Care Center at
Glendale Adventist Medical Center will host its annual "Diabetes Awareness"
community lecture on Saturday, March 10, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. in English and
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Armenian at Glendale Adventist Medical Center (Main
Auditorium) 1509 Wilson Terrace, Glendale.
The lecture will focus on nutrition management, exercise tips and new
advancements in treating diabetes.
Nutritional Information and on-site risk assessment questionnaires will also
be available for participants.
Risk factors for developing diabetes include family history, insulin
resistance, race, sedentary lifestyle, obesity and much more.
This event is being sponsored by Abbott/Ross, Amylin, Aventis, Bayer Health
Care, Medronic MiniMed, Mini Pharmacy, Novo Nordisk Pfizer, Roche and Western
Drugs.
Parking for this event is free and refreshments will be served.
To register or for more information please call, (818) 409-8100.
Event supported by American Diabetes Association
************************************** ************************************
6 – L.A. Mayor, City Council Inaugurate
Sister-City Ties with Yerevan
LOS ANGELES – In a special ceremony during the February 23 Los Angeles City
Council session, the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
(ANCA-WR) joined Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Council President Eric Garcetti,
Yerevan Mayor, Yervand Zakharyan and the entire Los Angeles City Council in
inaugurating the Los Angeles-Yerevan Sister City relationship and association. The
Los Angeles-Yerevan Sister City Association (LAYSCA) was established by a
resolution adopted by the council and the agreement was signed on Feb. 23 by both
mayors during the city council session before a standing-room only crowd in
City Hall.
During the ceremony Mayor Villaraigosa reiterated his interest in forging the
relationship with Yerevan. "Today we are bridging two communities and
forever linking two cities together. Los Angeles and Yerevan have much in common,
and the establishment of this Sister City relationship will only strengthen our
commonalities and bring new ones to light," said Mayor
Villaraigosa. "I am proud to say that Los Angeles is home to the largest
Armenian population outside of Armenia and that Armenian-Americans have been an
integral part of Los Angeles’ economic and cultural vitality for decades."
Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti recognized the importance of
the day in his remarks. "It’s great to see so many Armenian organizations
represented here today, you must all be proud, please take ownership of this
Sister City organization and make it the best we’ve ever seen, because we all
know that Armenian Americans have always been an integral part of Los Angeles’
cultural vitality. Thank you, Mayor Zakharyan, for accepting our invitation and
coming out to celebrate this momentous occasion with us, we have a lot to
learn from Yerevan, a City that is 2,789 years old, and I hope in return we will
have much to offer your city," said Garcetti.
The inauguration marks the culmination of an on-going effort by the
Armenian American community of Los Angeles to establish the partnership between
Armenia’s capital city and the U.S. city with the largest population of Armenian
Americans. In August 2005, Councilman Garcetti traveled to Armenia with leaders
of the ANCA-WR and the Los Angeles Armenian community in order to meet with
Armenian officials and identify potential programs between Los Angeles and
Yerevan.
In acknowledging the role the ANCA-WR played in supporting the formation of
the association, Garcetti noted, "I also want to thank the Armenian National
Committee, the organization that I work closely with, the organization that
sponsored our trip to Yerevan."
"Thanks to our combined efforts with Mayor Villaraigosa, City Council
President Garcetti and Mayor Zakharyan, today marks a new milestone as we forge an
official relationship between Los Angeles and Yerevan, two cities which hold
tremendous importance for the Armenian Americans and citizens of Armenia," said
Raffi Hamparian, Chairman of the ANCA-WR.
"Armenian-Americans are both proud Angelinos as well as proud Armenians and
it is our intention that the establishment of the sister city association will
usher in the next era of meaningful cooperation and partnership between these
two great cities of the world."
"We are grateful for the leadership shown by the ANCA-WR, Mayor Villaraigosa
and Council President Garcetti in getting the Los Angeles-Yerevan Sister City
Association off the ground," said Souzi Zerounian-Khanzadian, President of the
LAYSCA. "With the help of the entire Armenian American community of Los
Angeles, the association’s vision and commitment is to expand the working
relationship between the two city governments in order to build meaningful programs
that will benefit the citizens of both cities."
ANCA-WR board members and staff accompanied the mayors, city council members
and board members of the newly formed LAYSCA during official meetings and the
signing ceremony. In attendance for the special occasion was Los Angeles
Consul General of Armenia, Armen Liloyan, Archbishop Moushegh Mardirosian of the
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Church, Archbishop Hovnan Derderian of the
Western Diocese of the Armenian Church and dozens of leaders from a wide
cross-section of cultural, social and community organizations.
************************************************* **************************
7 – Appeal for Funds to Support Legal Action
Against Deniers of the Armenian Genocide
A wave of Turkish denials and distortions of the Armenian Genocide has hit
Switzerland in recent years. Those odious assaults on the dignity of the victims
of the Genocide are especially perturbing, particularly since large segments
of the Swiss population joined, in April 2005, in the commemoration of the
90th anniversary of this crime against humanity. One of the main objectives of
the Switzerland-Armenia Association (SAA) has been to counter such violations of
Swiss laws against racism.
Recently, legal proceedings have been initiated against Dogu Perincek, the
President of the Turkish Workers’ Party, and Yusuf Halacoglu, the President of
the Turkish Historical Society, for publicly denying the Armenian Genocide
during their visits to Switzerland. In both instances, the SAA remained in
constant contact with the judicial authorities. Furthermore, the SAA secured the
professional services of a legal expert and transmitted to the appropriate
authorities the corresponding material facts.
The SAA, with less than 200 members, has a very limited budget. These legal
initiatives considerably exceed the financial means of the organization. These
expenditures cannot be covered without the support of generous contributors.
Please support our struggle against the deniers of the Armenian Genocide.
Contribution may be sent to:
Switzerland-Armenia Association
P.O. Box 497
CH – 3000 Berne 14 (Switzerland)
************************************ **************************************
8 – AMAA Sponsors Lark Musical Society
Performance of Hayden’s Oratorio
GLENDALE — "Music, at its most sublime, must affect us with the serene power
of antiquity." Inspired by these
philosophical words of Frederic von Schiller, and honoring a tradition that
goes back over ten years, the Armenian Missionary Association of America and
the Lark Musical Society have once again embarked on presenting a sacred music
concert during the season preceding Easter.
The event will take place on March 3, at 7 p.m., in the sanctuary of the
Glendale Presbyterian Church, 125 South Louise Street, in Glendale. On stage will
be the Lark Chorus, Orchestra, and Soloists, under the direction of Maestro
Vatsche Barsoumian. At 6:00 p.m., a pre-concert lecture in English, presented
by Karenn Chutjian, will introduce the work and enhance its enjoyment.
This year’s performance, entitled "Let There Be LIGHT…," will feature Franz
Josef Haydn’s The Creation, considered to be the crowning achievement of the
composer’s creative works. Written in German and translated into English
between 1796 and 1798, the text of this oratorio comes primarily from the opening
chapter of the Old Testament Book of Genesis, enhanced by words from the Book
of Psalms and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. It was first performed in Vienna
in April 1798. This optimistic composition depicts and celebrates the creation
of the world and praises God for His great and wonderful deeds.
The Lark Musical Society is a multi-disciplinary, non-profit cultural
organization, dedicated to keeping the Armenian musical arts alive in the Diaspora
through education, performance, and publication. For more than15 years, Lark
has been committed to providing significant avenues to enrich the cultural life
of the Armenian community and share its long-lived Armenian heritage with the
ethnically diverse communities of Southern California and beyond through the
universal language of music.
The music-loving public is invited to this Lenten season sacred music
concert. Tickets may be secured by calling the Lark Office at 818-500-9997. For
information on the Conservatory and its curriculum, or for details about future
events, visit the Lark Musical Society office, 543 Arden Avenue, Glendale, CA
91203
******************************************* *******************************
The California Courier On-Line is a service provided by the California
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authorship.
Less recognizable with clothes
Borat’s infamous wrestling partner is hot these days
after the hit film and a golden Globe speech.
ACADEMY AWARDS
The Envelope
February 25, 2007
By Robin Abcarian, Times Staff Writer
When you think of Ken Davitian, you probably think of him naked, obese
and pendulous, nearly suffocating the tall but waifish Sacha Baron
Cohen in their famous naked hotel room fight in the hit movie "Borat."
But there is so much more to Davitian, the 53-year-old actor who so
completely inhabited the part of Borat’s humorless Kazakh producer
Azamat Bagatov that industry people with whom he is taking meetings
even now don’t realize he is a thoroughly local American actor.
"Last week, I met with executives at Disney," said Davitian, who
speaks slowly and deliberately. "They said, ‘We wanted to call you in
because we thought you’d already gone back to some foreign land. We
had no idea you were an American actor.’
"And I said, ‘But I was in ‘Holes’ – one of your movies!" (He played
the pig farmer Igor Barkov in the 2003 Disney adaptation of Louis
Sachar’s popular teen novel.)
As it happens, Davitian, who always yearned for the life of a
Hollywood actor, grew up in East L.A., graduated from Garfield High
School, spent most of his adulthood in Walnut, owns a sandwich joint
called the Dip in Sherman Oaks, and lives modestly with his family in
Granada Hills.
It was like that at the "Borat" audition too, Davitian said. When his
now- 28-year-old son, Robert, a cinema major at Cal State Northridge,
heard that "the great Larry Charles from ‘Seinfeld’ " was directing a
picture with the guy from "Da Ali G Show," he insisted his dad read
for the part of the "frumpy Eastern European."
"My perfect character!" said Davitian, sitting on a white pleather
banquette one recent morning in a darkened, empty nightclub in the
Hollywood & Highland complex, where the Oscar ceremony will be held
tonight. The club is next door to Davitian’s second location for the
Dip. "All my relatives are frumpy Eastern Europeans, Armenians with
accents. This is the character I have been doing since I was a child,"
he said, lapsing into broken English to prove it.
Davitian, who has been riding high since "Borat" became a movie
phenomenon last fall, has arrived at his moment in the sun through a
rather circuitous route.
Though he studied theater arts in college and later had a small role
in an Albert Brooks movie (he ended up on the cutting-room floor),
Davitian went into his family’s waste management business and for
years made a good living picking up other people’s trash, including
for the city of Malibu.
"With the rubbish money that was coming in," he said, "we were doing
very well."
And then he made a disastrous business foray into Mexico, securing a
waste management contract for a suburb of Mexico City. According to
legal documents, this would prove an enterprise for which his company
was ill prepared, and Davitian maintains he was victimized by a
corrupt system. The fiasco ended in multinational litigation, NAFTA
arbitration, bankruptcy … and a move to the Valley.
"It was the worst experience of my life," said Davitian of his Mexican
misadventure. "I neglected my family, I neglected my rubbish business
here. I lost everything. I came home broke, broke, broke. My family
was mad. I worked as a car salesman, a telemarketer, a salesman for
another rubbish company. It was horrible."
But he also had years of restaurant experience, so with help from his
father-in-law, he and his family opened a cafe in Burbank called
Gotham Grounds and later the first Dip.
His two sons and wife went to work, and he decided to put as much
energy as he could into getting his acting career off the ground. He
took acting classes and about seven years ago began getting cast more
often, mostly guest spots on TV shows. "We all did our jobs," said
Davitian, "and around this time, I started making headway in the movie
industry, getting bigger and better parts."
Like many swarthy actors with caterpillar eyebrows, Davitian has been
typecast. He’s had dozens of small roles in TV shows and a few movies,
often playing Armenian-surnamed characters – Sarcasian on "The
Closer," Hovanessian on "Six Feet Under," Papazian on "ER."
At the "Borat" audition in front of Baron Cohen, director Charles and
writer Dan Mazer, Davitian showed up in character, wearing the
ill-fitting beige suit he later wore in most of the movie, his 8-by-10
head shot folded to fit in his pocket. "I did the audition in
character without giving them a résumé or telling them I am an
American actor," Davitian said.
When it was over, in perfectly enunciated English, Davitian announced:
" ‘Thank you very much, gentlemen. If you liked the audition, please
call me, I had a great time.’ They stopped me, and said, ‘Wait a
minute – ‘ "
After winning the role (for which there was no script but a detailed
outline), he was told not to expect much screen time. "So I thought,
‘OK, I will take this job, and if I am lucky and good, I’ll get screen
time.’ Larry and Sacha always said, ‘Be dressed, be ready, be in the
van, we’re leaving at 6. If we can use you, we will.’ "
About three weeks into the four-month shoot, a cross-country romp in
search of Borat’s love object, Pamela Anderson, during which the
faux-naif Borat elicits racist, sexist and anti-Semitic views from
unsuspecting Americans, Davitian was pretty sure of a couple of
things: He was in a good movie. And he’d be getting plenty of screen
time.
"I don’t want to sound immodest, but I thought, ‘This is edgy, this is
different, this is new. And there is a chemistry between this tall,
skinny Cambridge-educated genius and the short, fat guy. It works!’ "
On screen, when they were supposed to be speaking Kazakh, Davitian
spoke Armenian; Baron Cohen spoke Hebrew. Davitian said he usually had
no idea what Baron Cohen was saying.
As Borat’s grim-faced straight man, he blow dries Borat’s hair and
other body parts, chastises Borat for running late, perches
expressionlessly in the front of the rickety ice cream truck they use
for their cross country travels. He is also licked in the ear by a
bear and turns up as Charlie Chaplin on Hollywood Boulevard after the
pair have a falling-out.
But the scene that will confer cinematic immortality is the horrifying
naked fight, which begins in a hotel room, spills into a hotel
elevator, and ends with his character tumbling off a low stage in a
hotel ballroom during a banquet for mortgage brokers.
At 5-foot-5 and weighing over 300 pounds (and having just undergone a
hip replacement), one might assume Davitian would be reticent about
taking his clothes off. That’s true, he admitted. He tried to persuade
Charles and Baron Cohen to keep him in boxers, or at least briefs. "I
kept saying, ‘Fat, naked guy: not funny. That’s a Wes Craven
movie. Fat guy in boxers: hilarious."
And yet, when it came time to film the fight, he didn’t hesitate to
disrobe. "I will tell you why not," said Davitian. "Because you are in
a room with what you consider geniuses, and if the genius is gonna get
naked, I am following the genius."
It was this scene that Baron Cohen relived when he brought the house
down at last month’s Golden Globes, accepting for best actor in a
comedy or musical. He recalled how "my 300-pound costar decided to sit
on my face and squeeze the oxygen from my lungs," and the awful,
"rancid" predicament he was then faced with.
Reaction shots of Davitian, who hadn’t been invited to the Globes but
was slipped tickets by a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press
Assn. at the last minute, showed him first shrugging and raising his
wine glass to Baron Cohen, then finally, as the actor lampooned him,
swigging from a wine bottle. "I was anticipating being on the list of
thank-yous," said Davitian. "But not that."
He recently treated himself to a new Cadillac and picked up some fancy
designer sunglasses at Golden Globes-related swag suites. ("There’s a
lot of stuff you can’t use," he said. "A lot is girlie stuff, and
second of all, they don’t have anything that’s 3X.")
Though he worked for close to scale on "Borat," which cost an
estimated $18 million and has grossed $247 million, Davitian has no
regrets.
"I am doing ‘E.R.’ next week. Special guest. First time for me – no
audition, no nothing, they called and said, ‘We want you.’ People are
calling. This has the potential to change my life."
He is scheduled to appear on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," has been asked to
hand out water at the Los Angeles Marathon next Sunday, will appear on
"The View" and travel to London, all to help promote the March 6
release of the "Borat" DVD.
As of midweek, he had not been asked to the Oscars ("Borat" has been
nominated for adapted screenplay), but was hoping for a last-minute
invitation. When he heard that Baron Cohen turned down an offer to be
a presenter last week, he fell silent.
"Wow," he said after a pause. "Why would he do that? Well, call the
people who invited him and tell them I am available."
awards/oscars/env-davitian25feb25-1,0,1423485.stor y?page=1
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
DEFENSE UPDATE: AN EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN OIL WAR?
By Colonel David Eshel
Today.Az
25 February 2007 [15:04]
Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s overnight visit to Turkey has
focused attention to the strategic dialogue between the two democratic
nations in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Turkey is a powerful, pro-Western, not Arab but definitely Muslim
country and Israelis had hoped for years that its expanding relations
would break the impression that the Muslim world opposed the Jewish
state.
The Turks were initially cautious, but came round about a decade
ago when they reassessed their policies. They felt that dangerous
neighbors and hotspots of instability were across their borders,
and believed that Israel’s influence in the United States could help
especially in countering Greek and Armenian lobbies in Washington.
The Turkish army’s Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Ergin Saygun was in
Israel late last year discussing plans and more such visits are
expected following Olmert’s visit. But there seems to be much more
at stake than mere diplomatic photo opportunity exchanges between
Turkey and Israel.
Virtually unnoticed, the inauguration of the Ceyhan-Tiblisi-Baku
(BTC) oil pipeline, which links the Caspian Sea to the Eastern
Mediterranean took place on the 13th July 2006, at the very outset
of the Second Lebanon War. The official reception took place in
Istanbul, hosted by Turkey’s President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in the
Cýragan Palace. Many dignitaries among them, British Petroleum’s
CEO Lord Brown and BP leading the BTC pipeline consortium of western
oil companies and senior government officials, top oil ministers and
leaders of western oil companies, from Britain, the US, Israel and
Turkey were all present at the ceremony.
1,770 km Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan pipeline, simply known by the acronym
BTC, is one of the world’s longest and cost US$4 billion to build. It
snakes its way from the Sangachal oil and gas terminal south of the
Azeri capital of Baku on the Caspian Sea through neighboring Georgia
and some of the most mountainous regions of the Caucasus to finally
reach the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.
The BTC pipeline totally bypasses the territory of the Russian
Federation. as it transits through the former Soviet republics of
Azerbaijan and Georgia, both of which have become US ‘protectorates’,
firmly integrated into a military alliance with the US and NATO.
Moreover, both Azerbaijan and Georgia have longstanding military
cooperation with Israel. Israel has a stake in the Azeri oil fields,
from which it imports some 20% of its oil.
In April 2006, Israel and Turkey announced plans for four underwater
pipelines, transporting water, electricity, natural gas and oil to
Israel, by-passing Syrian and Lebanese territory. The pipeline is aimed
bringing water to Israel, by pumping water from upstream resources of
the Tigris and Euphrates river system in Anatoli has been a long-run
strategic objective of Israel to the detriment of Syria and Iraq.
In its context, the BTC pipeline dominated by British Petroleum
and American interest, has dramatically changed the geopolitics of
the Eastern Mediterranean, which is now linked , through an energy
corridor, to the strategic Caspian sea basin. But there is more at
stage here.
The geographical fact is that Ceyhan and the Mediterranean port of
Ashkelon are situated only 400 km apart. Oil can be transported to
that port in tankers or through a specially constructed under-water
pipeline. From Ashkelon the oil can be pumped through already existing
pipeline to the port of Eilat at the Red Sea, which had been very
active during betters days between the Shah’s Iran and Israel during
the Sixties. From Eilat oil it can be transported to India and Far
Eastern countries in tankers, thus outflanking the vulnerable Hurmoz
straits.
Last May, the Jerusalem Post published an article that Turkey and
Israel are negotiating the construction of a multi-million-dollar
energy and water project that will transport water, electricity,
natural gas and oil by pipelines to Israel, with the oil to be sent
onward from Israel to the Far East. Antalya Mayor Menderes Turel
mentioned this in a press conference. The project, which would likely
receive foreign economic backing, is currently undergoing a feasibility
study sponsored by the Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank.
The United States’ ultimate strategic design is intended primarily to
weaken Russia’s role in Central Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean,
while isolating Iran from this important energy source.
Iran being not only a major oil producing country is also a direct
stepping stone between the Caspian region and the Persian Gulf. As
such, it would certainly like to see Caspian oil flowing through its
territory rather than through Turkey. Moreover, having full control
over the Persian Gulf shipping lanes, through its military control on
the strategic Hormuz strait, Iran could virtually strangle, at will,
all international oil supplies, if political pressure on its nuclear
program intensifies.
Iran’s claim to Caspian oil dates back to the last century when the
Russian Empire and Persia, later Iran signed agreements in 1921 and
1940 recognizing the Caspian Sea as a lake belonging to and divided
between them. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Iran
wanted this agreement to continue despite assertions of independence
by the breakaway states of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
Five years ago, the official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted a
statement of the Iranian Oil Ministry as saying that it protests
prospecting by foreign companies in Iran’s claimed 20 percent
sector of the Caspian Sea. The warning came a day after Iran
summoned Azerbaijan’s charge d’affaires in Tehran to protest plans
by the state-run oil company of Azerbaijan, Socar, to carry out oil
exploration studies with foreign companies at the Alborz oil field "in
Iran’s sector of the Caspian Sea." Iran even threatened with military
action if its warnings would remain unheeded and indeed, on July 23,
2001 in blatant violation of international law, an Iranian warship and
two fighter jets forced a research vessel working on behalf of British
Petroleum (BP)-Amoco in the Araz-Alov-Sharg field out of that sector.
In fact, the BTC pipeline is far from secure by itself. Western
intelligence reports indicate that Iran republican guards (IRGC)
are carefully expanding support for subversive elements in Armenia,
a country which is still technically at war with Azerbaijan. Armenian
nationalists might decide to attack the BTC in order to hurt
Azerbaijan, which derives most of its income from oil sales. The
pipeline route passes through or near seven different war-zones. Its
route passes just 10 miles from Nagorno Karabakh, the area of
Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia, where a bloody conflict killed at
least 25,000 people It passes through Georgia, which remains unstable,
with separatist movements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia – movements
which the Georgian government tried to violently suppress during
the 1990s. Just across the border into Russia, and still only 70
miles from the BTC pipeline route, the horrific conflict in Chechnya
continues. The region also saw related conflict in neighboring Dagestan
in 1999, and fighting between the Russian republics of North Ossetia
and Ingushetia in 1992. In Turkey, the BTC route passes through the
edge of the area of the conflict between the Turkish state and the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), now known as Kongra-Gel. And Russia,
by all means, is unlikely to view this new American strategic move
without adequate response.
Moscow defense ministry sources pointed out recently, that the
planned Russian naval base in Tartus will enable Russia to solidify
its positions in the Middle East under the pretext to ensure security
of Syria. Moscow intends to deploy an air defense system around the
base – to provide air cover for the base itself and a substantial part
of Syrian territory. It could also conduct underwater activities to
sabotage submerged pipelines, or at least threaten to do so, if its
demand will not be adhered to. A dangerous situation could emerge,
if Israeli and Russian activities in the Eastern mediterranean could
clash with each other on matters of highly strategic interests.
–Boundary_(ID_sIi51FDtXv/4K84i+U18LA) —
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
JUDO: NOMURA BEATEN IN SEMIS IN HAMBURG INT’L MEET
Japan Economic Newswire
February 25, 2007 Sunday 6:07 AM GMT
Three-time Olympic champion Tadahiro Nomura of Japan lost to Cuba’s
Yasmani Piker in the men’s 60-kilogram semifinals at the Super World
Cup in Germany on Saturday.
Piker picked up a "yuko" point in the dying seconds of regulation
when he countered Nomura’s "seoinage" over-the-shoulder throw attempt.
Nomura, however, successfully executed the same throw in his
third-place match against Ruben Houkes of the Netherlands. Hovhannes
Davtyan of Armenia won the title.
"I did a stupid thing," Nomura said of his last-minute seoinage
attempt.
But the 32-year-old, who aims to win his fourth consecutive Olympic
gold medal in Beijing next year, was not overly pessimistic about
his performance in Hamburg.
"I felt that the (seoinage) technique I can count on when I’m wrestling
on the world stage is coming back gradually," Nomura said.
He also used the technique in winning his second-round match.
In the men’s 66-kg category, Athens Olympic gold medalist Masato
Uchishiba suffered a shock defeat in the second round to Miklos
Ungvari of Hungary.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress