Author: Emil Lazarian

CRASHED ARMENIAN AIRBUS BLACK BOX RECORDER RECOVERED

Agence France Presse — English
May 22, 2006 Monday 2:04 PM GMT

The black box voice recorder from an Armenian Airbus passenger plane
that crashed in the Black Sea earlier this month has been raised from
the sea bed, an official at the transport ministry said Monday.

“We found the black box yesterday during the night,” a source at the
ministry, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

All 113 passengers and crew died when the Armavia airlines Airbus A320,
which had taken off from Yerevan, crashed May 3 during its approach
to Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi. Eighty-five of the victims
were Armenians, many of them on family visits.

The transport ministry source said the recovered black box was “the
one with voice recordings and was lying 25 to 50 centimetres (10 to
20 inches) under the mud. This evening we should find the flight data
recorder, which should lie about five metres away.”

A submersible vessel has been used to search for the flight recorders,
which were reported to be lying at a depth of some 500 metres (1,600
feet) below the surface.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SPEAKER OF ARMENIA’S PARLIAMENT RESIGNS

Agence France Presse — English
May 22, 2006 Monday

The speaker of Armenia’s parliament resigned Monday, citing differences
within the ruling coalition over whether the nation should align
itself more with the European Union or Russia.

Artur Bagdassarian’s resignation follows the decision of his Rule of
Law Party to quit the government.

“I renounce my position as speaker of the National Assembly,” he
told the parliament, going on to thank the deputies of all parties
for work accomplished during the three years of his speakership.

Bagdassarian discussed the discord that prompted his party to leave
the coalition, formed with the Republican Party of Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian after legislative elections in 2003.

“There are two paths that Armenia can follow,” he said. The country can
“be part of the union with Russia and Belarus and be on good terms
with Europe, or it can be part of the European Union and be on good
terms with Russia. Our party is for the second path,” he said.

Before fragmenting, his parliamentary group counted 21 members,
but 11 among them — mainly businessmen — quit the party.

The heads of two parliamentary committees also resigned Monday.

ABSURD NOMINATION OF SPEAKER

Lragir.am
22 May 06

Deputy Speaker Tigran Torosyan says it is absurd that the Republican
faction can nominate two speakers at once. Tigran Torosyan thinks that
it is even unnecessary to consider candidacies unless the position
is vacant. Unless there is a vacant position, it is pointless to
consider nominees, votes, etc. While he is avoiding speaking about his
candidacy or others’ candidacy, a member of the People’s Deputy Group
Hakob Hakobyan is likely to nominate the leader of the Republican
faction Galust Sahakyan. Hakobyan says Sahakyan’s candidacy will be
endorsed by the parliament. “I refuse to comment on backstage rumors
and nonsensical questions,” says Tigran Torosyan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TOGETHER WITH IDEOLOGICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE OPPONENTS
Anna Israelian

Aravot.am
20 May 06

Specificities of the new-formed majority in the parliament according
to the RPA soviet member, RPA fraction deputy Armen Ashotian.

The RPA fraction leader Galust Sahakian has already declared publicly:
”The field of mutual agreements is enlarged and others, ”People’s
deputy”, ULP, will also get the existed levers. The ULP leader
Gurgen Arsenian reminded ”Regnum” yesterday that the ULP was for
Robert Kocharian’s pre-electoral project and they would continue
the collaboration. We also must remind that the ULP declared a “cold
war” to the coalition in the enlarged sitting of the city soviet on
22 of July, and Gurgen Arsenian promised that they would continue
in a strong way. And more, he declared the ARF as the ideological
opponent of the party, RPA as the administrative opponent, and partly
the OEP. In this case how Gurgen Arsenian explains the readiness
of collaborating with the ARF and RPA will be obvious after the
sitting of the party soviet. But before we reminded the RPA fraction
deputy Armen Ashotian the ULP these positions and were interested
how he considered collaboration with the party which declared them a
“cold war”. “Political processes have a logic, clash or coincidence
of interests, -Mr. Ashotian answered. – I think it is possible to
find points of coincidence of interests with your mentioned political
powers before parliamentary elections. It is wrong to exclude anything
in the policy. The joint activities of the RPA and ARF with the ULP,
‘People’s deputy” or new formed dep uty group, I think, will be by the
principle of synthesizing of interests. If the coalition was formed
by incompatible political powers, which signed an agreement round
general strategic superiorities and were working for three years,
then I don’t exclude that collaboration will take place among these
political powers though without that juridical formulation. I think
the NA work will be continued in ordinary way and there will be no
problem of decisive majority during voting as it will be solved on
the principle of political agreements and coincidence of interests.”

It is less possible but “People’s deputy” can threaten the agreements,
because its members don’t intend to collaborate with the coalition. We
should remind that though ”People’s deputy” group was voting
in decisive moments as the majority wanted, the head of the group
Karen Karapetian was criticizing the coalition. Let’s cite one of
such examples; Karen Karapetian declared in last February that the
coalition wasn’t only able to lead the processes in ordinary way
but it didn’t want; ”They have divided the authority by coalition
principle and now each of them want to increase the percent of
their authority by mutual accusations. It seems to me that these
powers have come to power to feel good with their parties”. The
RPA soviet member answered to this that the interpretations are the
same as it was in case of the ULP. ”I’m sure that the RPA and ARF
will find points of contacts round of which they can work even with
the deputies of extreme demonstrations”. And on this occasion he
added a factor, which will stimulate the desire of collaboration
of parliamentary powers. “Special elections aren’t desirable for
democratic development of the state. Though there were declarations,
which excluded that threat, this circumstance will make political
powers work together. The time and situation has been changed. And
it is natural that other approaches are also possible”.

The expression of “principle of summarizing the interests” highly
sounds but everything leads to the appointment of posts. Are they
enough in the circumstance when some persons who left the OEP still
continue to fill their posts?

But the most important thing is that whether their behavior doesn’t
become standard. The RPA council member Armen Ashotian answered; I
don’t think that we deepen the incompleteness of political field as
the political system can’t reach to completeness only by these events.”

–Boundary_(ID_syYwuvOpba3HUoziGeKbfw)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GIRL, FATHER TO RETURN TO LEBANON: 7-YEAR-OLD MARINEH IS EAGER TO SEE HER MOM, BUT SHE STILL CAN’T WALK
by Doug Hoagland, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

The Fresno Bee (California)
May 22, 2006 Monday

A 7-year-old girl from Lebanon who came to Fresno to get medical care
that might help her walk is going home still crippled.

Marineh Damirjian and her father were scheduled to fly to Beirut,
Lebanon, today after 5 1/2 months in the Valley.

Marineh got caught in a struggle between her parents and the U.S.
government over a visitor’s visa for her mother, who was unable to
join her husband and only child. Marineh’s father refused to make
decisions about her care without his wife in Fresno.

Local officials tried to help the family and had contacted the U.S.
Embassy in Beirut. The mother was scheduled to talk with embassy
officials Tuesday about a visitor’s visa. But with no guarantee she
would get it, and with the father’s and daughter’s visas running out
in early June, the father said they were leaving.

“Of course I am sad,” Marineh’s father, Hagop Damirjian, said in
Armenian. “We have to leave it in God’s hands. My conscience is
relaxed. Whatever God wants to do, let him do it.”

Marineh said in Armenian she was looking forward to sitting in her
mother’s lap again: “I am going to hug my mother.”

The girl and her parents are Armenians with Lebanese citizenship.

The Bee profiled Marineh two weeks ago.

She suffers from progressive muscle tightness in her legs and tendon
problems in her feet.

A spinal abnormality is likely the cause, and she must crawl, be
carried or use a wheelchair to get around.

Hagop Damirjian says doctors in Lebanon suggested seeking medical
treatment in the United States. American officials would give only
one of Marineh’s parents a visitor’s visa, which the parents decided
the father would use because he could more easily lift the child.

Hagop Damirjian says embassy officials didn’t explain why the parents
got only one visa. Some people use visitor’s visas to immigrate
illegally, but Damirjian, who has extended family and a job in Lebanon,
said he wasn’t trying to do that.

He brought Marineh to Fresno because his uncle, Manuel Damirjian,
lives here. Marineh might have had surgery on her spine, legs and
feet at Children’s Hospital Central California. One of her doctors,
Dr. Steven Ehrreich, wrote embassy officials that Marineh would
benefit psychologically if her mother came to Fresno.

Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, called embassy officials on
Marineh’s behalf.

Zakar Bedoyan of Fresno, a family friend, cried tears of frustration
as Marineh prepared to head home. “Just because of a little visa,
we can’t help her and get her on her feet,” Bedoyan said.

Hagop Damirjian said he was grateful for all that people did: “When
I came here, I didn’t have anybody, just my uncle. But I have all of
Fresno helping me, and they’re all my friends. I’ll never forget what
they do for me.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

U.S. AMBASSADOR DESIGNATE TO AZERBAIJAN RESPONDS TO SEN. BOXER’S CONCERNS ON DJULFA CEMETERY DESTRUCTION

Yerkir
22.05.2006 17:21

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – U.S. Ambassador Designate to Azerbaijan Anne Derse
responded to concerns raised by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) regarding
Azerbaijan’s destruction of the over millennia old Djulfa Armenian
cemetery in Nakhichevan, last week, but refrained from pledging any
concrete commitment to investigate the matter, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA).

Submitting a written response to questions by Sen. Boxer relayed
during her May 12th Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation
hearing, Derse noted that the Department of State is “urging the
relevant Azerbaijani authorities to investigate the allegations of
desecration of cultural monuments in Nakhichevan and take appropriate
measures to prevent any desecration of cultural monuments. Armenia and
Azerbaijan are both members of UNESCO (and OSCE), and Azerbaijan has
raised these issues in those organizations. We have encouraged Armenia
and Azerbaijan to work with UNESCO to investigate this incident. If
I am confirmed, and if such issues arise during my tenure, I will
communicate our concerns to the Government of Azerbaijan and pursue
appropriate activities in support of U.S. interests.”

Sen. Boxer had specifically asked if the Ambassador Designate would
“visit the cemetery site and commit [herself] to investigating the
demolition of this unique cemetery.”

“We want to thank Senator Boxer for raising Azerbaijan’s desecration
of the Djulfa cemetery with Ambassador Designate Derse,” said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

“We were deeply troubled by the silence of the U.S. Embassy on this
issue during the tenure of her predecessor, Reno Harnish, and remain
hopeful that, despite her evasive response, Anne Derse will prove a
more vocal and effective advocate for the core American values of
tolerance and respect for cultural heritage. She can start off on
the right foot by personally visiting Djulfa during her first month
in office.”

May 22, 2006

PRESS RELEASE
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate
6252 Honolulu Avenue
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Tel: (818) 248-7737
Fax: (818) 248-7745
E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Website: <;

Western Prelacy Clergy Conference

WE EACH HAVE OUR INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERS, BUT COLLECTIVELY WE MUST HAVE ONE
AND THE SAME CHARACTER, THAT OF A CLERGY

Declared the Prelate

On the eve of the Western Prelacy 34th Representatives Assembly,
on Wednesday, May 17, 2006, a one-day clergy conference took place at Encino
‘s Holy Martyrs Church. The conference was held under the auspices of H.E.
Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate, and with the participation of the
clergy order, including H.E. Archbishop Yeprem Tabakian who is visiting our
Prelacy.
At 10:30 a.m. the day began with prayer services inside the
church, followed by opening remarks by the Prelate. The Prelate began by
expressing thanks and gratitude to the Lord for granting the opportunity to
hold this conference. In his remarks the Prelate spoke of the ideas that
emerged from the Clergy Conference at the Catholicosate in September of
2002, focusing on three main points. He stressed spiritual renewal, keeping
a close bond with parishioners, and to triumph over hardships with faith in
the Cross and the Holy Spirit.
The Prelate stressed that we often find ourselves in hardship yet
we seek answers outside of ourselves. We must not look for easy solutions
but rather work towards being able to confront any and all types of
hardship. We have a need for renewal; we must make more of an effort to
reach out to our parishioners and to offer them spiritual nourishment.
Reading from the Letter of Paul the Prelate continued: `I appeal to you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual
worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the
renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is
good and acceptable and perfect’ (Romans 12:1-2). The Prelate then read an
excerpt from the book `The Armenian Church’, by H.H. Catholicos Papken of
blessed memory, about having an honest character adding, `We each have our
individual characters, but collectively we must have one and the same
character; that of a clergy’.

CONFERENCE

Following the church services and spiritual reflections, the first session
of the conference convened at 11:30 a.m. at `Dickranian’ Hall. The session
opened with the Lord’s Prayer, followed by the Prelate welcoming Archbishop
Tabakian and clergy members, highly commended the work they have done
particularly in the past few months. He then invited Arch. Tabakian to
deliver his remarks.
During the conference, Very Rev. Fr. Muron Aznikian lectured on
the three Ecumenical Councils and Very Rev. Fr. Barthev Gulumian on the
doctrine of the Holy Cross.
Following lunch, the second session began at 2:15 p.m. and
continued until 6:15 p.m. The second session was a meeting of the Religious
Council that reviewed the Council’s activities during the past year, as well
as issues relating to the then upcoming Representatives Assembly.
The conference concluded with the Prelate’s blessings and
`Bahbanich’ prayer.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Man drives through fair, injures eight

The Daily Oakland Press (Oakland County, Michigan)
Monday, May 22, 2006

By DIANA DILLABER MURRAY

SOUTHFIELD – Police have apprehended the Troy man who allegedly drove
his van into a throng of adults and children enjoying a school
carnival in Sunday’s brisk spring weather.

Eight people, mostly children, were injured when the van plowed into
area where the colorful, inflatable carnival rides such as a moonwalk
were being operated at about 2:45 p.m. at the Alex & Marie Manoogian
charter school carnival at 22001 Northwestern Hwy. There were no
fatalities.

School employees tried to stop the white male driver, estimated by
witnesses to be 35 to 55 years old, as he drove into the fairgoers.

He fled the scene. But he was arrested late Sunday night by Troy
officers at the request of Southfield police who developed information
to tell them where the man was, said Lt. Steven Lasota, in a
statement.

Southfield officers took custody of the driver from Troy police and
impounded the van. The man, whose identity was not released, will be
arraigned at 46th District Court today, said Lasota.

At the scene early Sunday afternoon, “Responding officers found
numerous people injured, several of which were transported to the
hospital,” said Lasota in his statement. He did not give further
details, but reports indicated several small children were hurt.

Seven adults and children were taken to Providence Hospital and
treated and released, and one was taken to Beaumont Hospital in Royal
Oak, said Brian Taylor, spokesperson for Providence. He could not give
names or more details for privacy reasons.

Lasota had issued a notice to the media to alert people to look out
for the vehicle, a maroon 1994 Plymouth Voyager, with a broken-out
driver’s side window and left taillight. The plate is DHA-648,
according to witnesses. He said the driver appeared to be
clean-shaven, of average build and possibly had a receding
hairline. He is asking anyone with information to call the Southfield
Police Department at (248) 796-5500.

Some witnesses said the window was broken when people tried to stop
the man from continuing into the crowd, but they were not successful.

“He wouldn’t listen to me,” one employee told a Channel 7 reporter.

One employee reportedly jumped on the hood of the van in order to
prevent further injuries.

Southfield fire and police departments and private ambulance services
responded to the carnival grounds to assist those who were
injured. The incident remains under investigation by the Southfield
Police Department.

The Alex & Marie Manoogian School is a nonprofit, coeducational
charter school “for students in kindergarten through 12th grade
dedicated to giving students the opportunity to acquire the knowledge
and skills that will make them well-rounded contributors to American
society, while, at the same time, preserving their rich Armenian
heritage,” according to the school’s Web site. The school will be
opened today as usual.

Established in 1969 and chartered by Central Michigan University since
1995, the school receives state funding from the students’ home
schools and follows state guidelines for all schools. In addition, it
emphasizes the study of Armenian language, history and culture.

Armenia is in southwest Asia, east of Turkey and south of Russia. It
prides itself on being the first nation to become Christian – in the
fourth century A.D. – and won its independence from the Soviet Union
in 1991.

The Manoogian School also offers a tuition-based pre-kindergarten
program for 3- and 4-year-olds, for whom the state does not provide
education funding.

Click here to return to story:
06/loc_2006052203.shtml

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Experts say report of badges for Jews in Iran is untrue

A yellow badge worn by Jews in Nazi Germany during the 1940s.
MICHAEL KAPPELER/AFP/Getty Images)
Chris Wattie, National Post
Published: Friday, May 19, 2006

Several experts are casting doubt on reports that Iran had passed a law
requiring the country’s Jews and other religious minorities to wear
coloured badges identifying them as non-Muslims.

The Iranian embassy in Otttawa also denied the Iranian government had
passed such a law.

A news story and column by Iranian-born analyst Amir Taheri in
yesterday’s National Post reported that the Iranian parliament had
passed a sweeping new law this week outlining proper dress for Iran’s
majority Muslims, including an order for Jews, Christians and
Zoroastrians to wear special strips of cloth.

According to the reports, Jews were to wear yellow cloth strips, called
zonnar, while Christians were to wear red and Zoroastrians blue.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre and Iranian expatriates living in Canada had
confirmed that the order had been passed, although it still had to be
approved by Iran’s `Supreme Guide’ Ali Khamenehi before being put into
effect.

Hormoz Ghahremani, a spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa, said
in an e-mail to the Post yesterday that, `We wish to categorically
reject the news item.

`These kinds of slanderous accusations are part of a smear campaign
against Iran by vested interests, which needs to be denounced at every
step.’

Sam Kermanian, of the U.S.-based Iranian-American Jewish Federation,
said in an interview from Los Angeles that he had contacted members of
the Jewish community in Iran ‘ including the lone Jewish member of the
Iranian parliament ‘ and they denied any such measure was in place.

Mr. Kermanian said the subject of `what to do with religious minorities’
came up during debates leading up to the passing of the dress code law.

`It is possible that some ideas might have been thrown around,’ he said.
`But to the best of my knowledge the final version of the law does not
demand any identifying marks by the religious minority groups.’

Ali Reza Nourizadeh, an Iranian commentator on political affairs in
London, suggested that the requirements for badges or insignia for
religious minorities was part of a `secondary motion’ introduced in
parliament, addressing the changes specific to the attire of people of
various religious backgrounds.

Mr. Nourizadeh said that motion was very minor and was far from being
passed into law.

That account could not be confirmed.

Meir Javdanfar, an Israeli expert on Iran and the Middle East who was
born and raised in Tehran, said yesterday that he was unable to find any
evidence that such a law had been passed.

`None of my sources in Iran have heard of this,’ he said. `I don’t know
where this comes from.’

Mr. Javdanfar said that not all clauses of the law had been passed
through the parliament and said the requirement that Jews, Christians
and Zoroastrians wear special insignia might be part of an older version
of the Islamic dress law, which was first written two years ago.

`In any case, there is no way that they could have forced Iranian Jews
to wear this,’ he added. `The Iranian people would never stand for it.’

However, Mr. Kermanian added that Jews in Iran still face widespread,
systematic discrimination. `For example if they sell food they have to
identify themselves and their shops as non-Muslim,’ he said.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los
Angeles, acknowledged that he did not have independent confirmation of
the requirement for Jews to wear badges, but said he still believes it
was passed.

`We know that the national uniform law was passed and that certain
colours were selected for Jews and other minorities,’ he said. `[But] if
the Iranian government is going to pass such a law then they are not
likely to be forthcoming about what they are doing.’

Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, said yesterday that Iran is `very
capable’ of enacting such a law but could not confirm reports that
members of religious minorities must wear identifiable markers on their
clothing.

`Unfortunately we’ve seen enough already from the Iranian regime to
suggest that it is very capable of this kind of action,’ Mr. Harper
said. `It boggles the mind that any regime on the face of the earth
would want to do anything that would remind people of Nazi Germany.’

National Post, with files from Allan Woods, CanWest News Service

© National Post 2006

ry.html?id=6626a0fa-99de-4f1e-aebe-bb91af82abb3

PRESS RELEASE
May 22, 2006
Contact: Linda Yepoyan
Phone: 610-642-6633
[email protected]

BIRTHRIGHT ALUM GET ORGANIZED NATIONWIDE

William Saroyan once said that “when two Armenians meet anywhere in the
world, see if they will not create a new Armenia.” Probably this is most
true when it comes to students. Or at least that’s what University of
Chicago sophomore and Birthright Armenia alum Nishan Bingham set out to
prove when he and three of his friends decided to establish the University’s
first ever Armenian Students Club.

“We all got together one night and talked about it,” says Nishan. “Then we
networked and kept an eye out for Armenian names.” In fact, Nishan and his
three comrades went through the entire Face Book looking for the signature
“-ian” that marks Armenian last names. “It was difficult,” says Nishan,
“because Chicago doesn’t have a huge Armenian population. But we came up
with more than 30 names.” After establishing a mandate, decorating the
campus with posters, and publicizing the new group, the Armenian Students
Club had its first meeting on February 18, 2006 and plans to hold elections
this semester.

While Nishan’s concept for the Armenian Students Club was realized on the
University of Chicago campus, the idea began much earlier, across the
Atlantic, during his summer experience Armenia. As a volunteer for the Land
and Culture Organization (LCO), a group dedicated to bringing diasporan
volunteers from all over the world together to dedicate their service to
restoring, reviving and maintaining Armenia’s land and culture, Nishan spent
time in Yerevan as an active participant in the Birthright Armenia program,
as well as the outlying region of Shushi with LCO. “Being in Armenia made
me feel entitled as an Armenian and obligated to represent Armenian culture
in America, in my community, and especially at my school,” says Nishan.

Among Birthright alum around the U.S., it appears that Nishan is not alone
in his quest to bring Armenians together. Two other Birthright alums have
begun similar projects on their own campuses. Over the last several months
Los Angeles-native Varty Defterderian, a sophomore at University of
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and Aline Alexanian, a student at University
of North Carolina Chapel Hill, have both been working hard to form on-campus
Armenian student organizations.

When asked what prompted her to begin her venture, Varty says “I miss my
Armenian community.” She goes on to describe how her own experience as a
volunteer in Armenia through the Armenian Students Association New York and
Birthright Armenia participant helped shape her desire to bring a bit of
Armenia back to Philadelphia. “I really felt a longing for my language and
my culture. Philly was starting to feel like home, but it was definitely
missing an integral part for my life and with this club and the handful of
Armenians that Birthright Armenia introduced me to, I’m beginning to fill
that void here,” she says. Already, Varty, who currently serves as Vice
President of the UPenn ASA, has helped organize a viewing of the April 17th
PBS documentary on the Genocide, as well as participation in a Hoke Hankist
on April 24th at a local church. She has also been working with other local
area university Armenian student groups to coordinate joint activities at
Drexel, Villanova, Temple, Saint Joseph’s and Rutgers.

Aline Alexanian, a student at University of North Carolina, who volunteered
in Armenia through the AYF Summer Internship Program shared similar
experiences with Nishan and Varty through Birthright Armenia. While the UNC
group began as a simple dinner club among friends, Aline, along with two of
her fellow classmates, has dedicated herself to making the group a
recognized campus organization. Aline says that her focus for the group is
to spread the word about Armenian culture in the South. She also hopes that
once the group is officially recognized by UNC, they will be able to
participate in the many international events that already occur regularly on
campus, and even push for the addition of an Armenian culture class into the
current curriculum.

Nishan has been working on similar events for the University of Chicago
campus. Although the group is still in its beginning stages, Nishan has
high hopes that soon the club’s activities will include kefs, cultural
shows, and fundraisers for Armenian charities. He even plans to host an
Armenian film series at the campus theater, featuring films by Parajanov and
Atom Egoyan, director of the landmark film Ararat. “I am really proud and
excited,” says Nishan. “My experience over the summer with LCO and
Birthright is really what got me going.”

In fact, Nishan’s dedication to the new students club was part of a written
continuing involvement promise required by Birthright Armenia prior to
receiving a travel reimbursement.
Linda Yepoyan, Executive Director of Birthright Armenia, believes that at
the end of their stay in the Homeland, “something in these young Armenians
just clicks when forced to think about how they can promise to stay involved
and give back to their diasporan community. Perhaps it never occurred to
them that they themselves could be the one to provide the action. However,
their time in Armenia doing rewarding volunteer service and seeing
additional work that needs to be done is the motivating factor. I am so
proud of our alumnus and am convinced that amongst them are some great
future leaders and activists of the Armenian people and nation.”

As alums of one of the first Armenian organizations to financially sponsor
young diasporan Armenians in their service to the Motherland, Nishan, Varty
and Aline have set a path that many hope other diasporans around the world
will follow. “It’s really important to get people involved. So many
diasporans are disconnected,” says Nishan. When looking around at her own
campus, Varty agrees wholeheartedly. “There are a lot of Armenians on
campus that are only part Armenian and all they know about being Armenian is
some of the food or that one of their parents or grandparents was Armenian.
It’s absolutely amazing to be able to share with them a bit of their culture
and give them a taste of their history.”

Looking at the success of these three distinct programs, one can truly see
the legacy that Armenia instills in her descendants. These three talented
diasporans brought back more than stories and great photos from their summer
in Armenia – they brought home the future of a rich culture and the
beautiful people that comprise it. As William Saroyan would attest, they
established a new Armenia.

For those interested in learning more about Birthright Armenia, please visit
or email [email protected] .