Author: Emil Lazarian

KARAPETIAN RECORDS ARMENIAN CHILDREN’S CD
Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
May 18 2006
Belmont resident Noune Karapetian has ventured out of her classical
field to make a children’s CD.
The Armenian-American soprano, songwriter and music educator has
created a compilation of children’s songs that include both traditional
Armenian children’s songs as well as new songs created by Noune.
“I do keep a busy performing schedule as a classical singer, performing
with Granite State Opera, Opera Providence, New Bedford Choral Society,
singing classical repertoire,” she said. “It’s refreshing and exciting
to create something new for our children.
Having two children of my own, I know how important this work is and
I am having so much fun doing it.”
Karapetian has spent her entire adult life as a music educator and
performer. A cum laude graduate of Komitas Conservatory in Armenia
majoring in voice, she has also studied child psychology for two
years at the Pedagogical Institute in Armenia. Since moving to the
United States, she has appeared frequently in various concert venues
and operas and also was a finalist in a number of major competitions
including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, New
England division.
She has been teaching early childhood music classes along with piano
and voice for 14 years. She is the author of an Armenian music and
movement program called “Yerajisht Manouk.”
Karapetian feels that the success of this CD comes from her knowledge
of child development.
“A lot of what I do comes from a child’s perspective,” she said.
“Being a parent, of course, helps as well. I think about what the
songs should convey and the language I use, the range of the songs,
how each song can develop the child’s mental and physical capabilities
and I like to think I know how to write pretty catchy tunes. I give
a lot of thought to what is appropriate for children’s music. The
arranger Gegham Margarian did an incredible job, making each song
sound different and fun.”
The collection includes Armenian children’s folk songs. “I have done
some redesigning, like taking a children’s folk song and changing the
words a little to appeal to today’s child, making it more educational,
or taking a traditional Armenian rhyme and putting it together with
another unrelated folk tune. It sounds so natural that people hearing
it think that’s how it used to be,” she said.
She added, “I created this CD because of my passion for Armenian
music and language, my burning desire to give the children high
quality music and learning experiences.”
To celebrate the release of the CD, Karapetian and her friends Krko
the Frog, Mlavik the Cat, and others will perform on Sunday, June
25 at 3 p.m. at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St.,
Watertown. Tickets are $18 and $23 in advance; and $23 and $28 at
the door.
To purchase concert tickets or CDs, visit , or
call 617-733-7162.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIANS OF JAVAKHK AGAIN THREATENED
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 18 2006
AKHALKALAK, MAY 18, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On May 16,
leaflets in Russian of threatening character were spread in
Akhalkalak. According to the A-Info agency, the leaflets contained
the picture of a half moon and a star and the following was
written under the signature “Brigade of Liberation of Akhaltsikhe”:
“The time of retribution for our humiliations has come. Remember
1915. Gevorgian died, the next is Rastakian”. Gevorgian is the family
name of the Armenian young man killed in March in Tsalka during the
incident between the Armenians and the Georgians and Rastakian is the
distorted family name of Co-chairman of non-registered party “Virk”
David Rstakian. Representative of the Council of the Armenian NGOs
of Javakhk Khachatur Stepanian reminded that such leaflets were also
spread in October of the last year in Akhalkalak.
According to him, at that time the representative of the National
Security Service in Georgia “promised to reveal in short terms who
threatens the population” but nothing has been done by now. “It
only remains again to raise the question of guarantees of security
of the Armenians of Javakheti before the Georgian authorities and
the international organizations,” Khachatur Stepanian concluded. On
his part, David Rstakian declared that “if in connection with the
withdrawal of the Russian military base from Akhalkalak the Minister of
Internal Affairs and National Security declares about his confidence
that the situation in Javakheti is under his control, he is obliged
to reveal those who spread the leaflets”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

50 TOURISTS FROM FRENCH CITY OF VALENCE VISIT IJEVAN EVERY YEAR
Noyan Tapan
May 18 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Since 2000, about 50 tourists
from the French city of Valence visit Ijevan every year. Mayor
of Ijevan Varizhan Nersisian stated this during the May 18
press conference. According to him, Ijevan and Valence have been
sister-cities for 10 years. With the assistance of the Valence mayor’s
office, since 2000, French experts in tourism have been invited to
Ijevan under the program on cooperation between the two cities in
the tourism sector. On their advice, about 70 apartments have been
repaired and furnished in Ijevan, as the city lacks the appropriate
hotels to accomodate a large number of tourists. V. Nersisian said
that thanks to the assistance of the Valence mayor’s office, French
teachers from Ijevan underwent training in France, as well as some
young people from Ijevan – students of Yerevan Linguistic University
after V. Bryusov were provided the opportunity to attend courses for
transaltors and tour guides in France.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VIDEO FEATURES LOCAL WORLD WAR II VETS
Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
May 18 2006
The new documentary, “Our Boys: Armenian World War II Veterans,” will
be shown in a special program on Thursday, May 25 at 7:30 p.m. at
the Armenian Library and Museum of America, 65 Main St., Watertown.
In 2005, the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, Tom Spera,
the son of a veteran of the war, was determined to find a way to
honor Armenian-American soldiers who had served their country. He
collaborated with filmmaker Roger Hagopian to produce the “Our Boys”
video, featuring oral histories interspersed with personal and
historical photographs from the wartime period.
The film’s interviewees attend the Armenian Memorial Church in
Watertown and the First Armenian Church of Belmont. These men –
some barely out of high school at the time – reflect upon the
bombing of Pearl Harbor, their induction into the service, their
harrowing journeys aboard troop transport ships through rough seas,
correspondence with their families back home, poignant and humorous
moments, and near-death experiences during combat.
Life on the home front is recalled by the wives and relatives of
the veterans. They worked for the armed services and in factories,
served as air raid wardens and plane spotters, comforted the wounded
in hospitals, and, in groups, attended USO dances, meeting soldiers
who, at a moment’s notice, could be shipped out to war.
Filmmakers Hagopian and Spera will be on hand to answer questions
and discuss the making of the video, which runs for approximately
55 minutes.
Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). There will be
a question and answer period and reception with refreshments following
the video.
The Armenian Library and Museum is located in Watertown Square at
the corner of Main Street and Church Street. Parking is available
behind the museum building and in adjacent areas. The event will
begin promptly at 7:30 p.m.
The program will take place through the cooperation of ALMA and
the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research in
Belmont. For more information, contact NAASR at 617-489-1610, or
e-mail [email protected].
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILISATION; THE CONQUEST OF THE MIDDLE EAST / ROBERT FISK
By Tom Snyders
Georgia Straight, Canada
May 18 2006
Publish Date: 18-May-2006
By Robert Fisk. Fourth Estate, 1,366 pp, $65, hardcover.
For 30 years, Beirut-based Brit Robert Fisk has covered events
in the Middle East that have shaped the terror and wars of today,
and his latest monstrous volume-in size and content-is a necessary
antidote to the sound-bitten simplification by which much of the West
understands the region. “Governments like it that way,” he states.
“They want their people to see war as a drama of opposites, good and
evil, ‘them’ and ‘us’, victory or defeat. But war is primarily not
about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death.
It represents the total failure of the human spirit.” A journalist’s
job is “to challenge authority-all authority-especially so when
governments and politicians take us to war, when they have decided
that they will kill and others will die.”
This book is not for those with weak stomachs or iron ideologies, as
myths and lies from all sides are exploded, revealing many shades of
grey and bloody red. Fisk travels the front lines of the Iran-Iraq war,
inside occupied Palestine and Algeria’s barbarous civil war, and (in
1996) to a remote Afghan cave to interview Osama bin Laden. Far more
than just a reporter’s memoir, Fisk’s historical analysis is blended
with stories of people we often know only as “collateral damage”,
drawing parallels between Soviet and U.S. invasions of Afghanistan,
detailing U.S. war crimes in both Gulf Wars, and linking the Armenian
genocide of World War I to Hitler’s later horrors.
The ghosts of World War I inhabit both region and writer; Fisk details
his father’s refusal to execute a fellow Allied soldier at war’s
end, and the medal he won proclaiming it the titular “Great War for
Civilisation”. “At the end of my father’s war, the victors divided up
the lands of their former enemies…[creating] the borders of Northern
Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent my
entire career-in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad-watching
the peoples within these borders burn.” And he himself burns, too,
with all the moral outrage and authority of one who has risked his
life to tell what lies in this tome.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

US STILL HOPES FOR AZERI-ARMENIAN ACCORD, ITS OFFICIAL SAYS
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 18 2006
Baku, May 17, AssA-Irada
The United States still hopes Azerbaijan and Armenia will reach an
accord to settle the long-standing conflict over Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs, Matthew Bryza, has said.
Speaking at the US Congress on Tuesday, he said a rapprochement
has been achieved in the positions of the sides owing to the talks
carried out of late, which provides greater opportunities to reach
an agreement compared to previous years.
The American official added that the two countries should display
political will to eliminate the outstanding differences.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FIRST TRUCK CONVOY FROM GEORGIA HEADS FOR GYUMRI, ARMENIA
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 18, 2006 Thursday
The first truck convoy with military equipment from the Russian base
in Akhalkalaki, southern Georgia, is heading for the Russian base in
Gyumri, northwestern Armenia, an official of the Russian army group
in the Caucasus told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
The 10-truck convoy has already crossed the Georgian-Armenian border,
the official said.
“Georgian military accompanied the convoy,” the official said.
In late May, another motor convoy from Akhalkalaki will leave for
Gyumri. Aside from military assets it will redeploy some military
vehicles there.
In compliance with the Russian-Georgian bilateral agreements most
hardware and munitions will be withdrawn from Georgia this year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MOSCOW STARTS SHIPPING MILITARY EQUIPMENT FROM GEORGIA TO RUSSIAN BASE IN ARMENIA
AP Worldstream
May 18, 2006
A convoy of trucks carrying military hardware set out for Armenia
on Thursday from a Russian base in Georgia, as Moscow continued its
pullout from this Caucasus Mountains nation under an agreement reached
last year.
Col. Vladimir Kuparadze, deputy commander of the Russian troops in
the southern Caucasus, said 10 trucks from Russia’s Akhalkalaki base,
accompanied by an armored personnel carrier and a Georgian military
police escort, had reached the Armenian border. They are due to
deliver the equipment to the Russian base in Gyumri.
The withdrawal agreement was a victory for Georgia’s pro-Western
President Mikhail Saakashvili’s campaign to reduce Russian influence.
Moscow began the pullout earlier this week, sending a train with
tanks and other arms to Russia. All heavy weapons and vehicles from
the Akhalkalaki base are to be withdrawn by Oct. 15, and personnel,
firearms and base property by the end of 2007. The other Russian
base left over from the Soviet era, in the Black Sea port of Batumi,
is to be closed by the end of 2008.
Russia’s transfer of military equipment to the Gyumri base has sparked
concern from Azerbaijan, Armenia’s neighbor and enemy.
Armenian forces have held parts of Azerbaijan since a war over the
disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave that ended with a shaky cease-fire
in 1994.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN: UN “SABOTAGE SCANDALEUX” POUR LE CCAF RHôNE-ALPES
Agence France Presse
18 mai 2006 jeudi 5:44 PM GMT
Le president du Conseil de coordination des organisations armeniennes
de France (CCAF) Rhône-Alpes, Jules Mardirossian, a denonce jeudi
le “sabotage scandaleux” a l’Assemblee de la proposition de loi
PS reprimant la negation du genocide armenien, y voyant la main
de l’executif.
“C’est scandaleux, nous sommes outres. Il y a beaucoup de colère.
Tout cela relève du sabotage”, a declare a l’AFP M. Mardirossian,
qui est aussi le president de l’Association pour le memorial lyonnais
du genocide armenien.
“Tout a ete fait de manière artificielle. Le president de l’Assemblee
(Jean-Louis Debre) a fait des suspensions de seance, il a fait parler
des gens qui n’avaient rien a dire. Tout ca pour signifier a la fin
qu’on avait plus le temps de voter alors qu’il y avait une majorite
pour”, s’est-il insurge, affirmant avoir “ete informe que ca allait
se passer comme ca”.
Pour M. Mardirossian, “c’est la preuve que la democratie est en
panne. “C’est un revelateur terrible. L’executif a cede sous la
pression turque et a fait faire n’importe quoi a l’Assemblee. Meme
des deputes UMP etaient outres”.
Selon le president du CCAF Rhône-Alpes, presents a Paris en compagnie
d’une centaine de membres de la communaute armenienne de Lyon,
des actions “sont a prevoir”. Il a evoque la possible tenue d’une
manifestation a Lyon.
En mars et avril, la construction d’un memorial lyonnais du genocide
armenien avait fait grand bruit, incitant le PS a depose sa proposition
de loi: le 18 mars, une manifestation pro-turque avait donne lieu
a des slogans negationnistes. Un mois plus tard, avant meme d’etre
inaugure en presence de quelque 4.000 personnes, le monument avait
fait l’objet d’une profanation.
La proposition de loi socialiste visait a completer par un volet
penal la loi du 29 janvier 2001 par laquelle la France reconnaît le
genocide armenien.
Les Armeniens estiment que jusqu’a 1,5 million des leurs ont peri
dans un genocide orchestre par l’Empire ottoman entre 1915 et 1917.
Ankara affirme que des massacres ont ete commis de part et d’autre
et recuse les accusations de genocide.
En France, la communaute d’origine armenienne est estimee a 500.000
personnes, dont 80.000 dans la region de Lyon et autant a Marseille.
–Boundary_(ID_+CnLlp89zMYc0+nkP3+5jA) —
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FRANCE DISCUSSES CONTROVERSIAL BILL ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Euronews.net, France
May 18 2006
Voting on a controversial bill to punish anyone denying the Armenian
genocide has been postponed in the French parliament. While the speaker
said talks were delayed due to a lack of time, pro-Armenian protestors
outside parliament were angered, accusing Turkey of mounting pressure
on France.
The conservative government has said it will not support the bill after
Turkish officials warned Paris of “irreparable damage” to bilateral
relations if it passed the law. Earlier this month, Ankara recalled
its ambassador to France and a leading deputy warned of a boycott of
French goods.
Under the bill put forward by the opposition socialists, anyone
denying the Armenian genocide could be jailed for up to five years
and face a hefty fine.
Turkey denies claims that 1.5 million Armenians died in a genocide
orchestrated by Ottoman forces during World War One. Turkish
authorities claim they were victims of partisan fighting that claimed
even more Turkish lives. The debate is a thorny issue in France which
is home to around half a million Armenians.
The inauguration of a memorial to commemorate the victims of the
genocide in the city of Lyon earlier this year sparked protests by
Turkish negationists who deny it ever happened. Turkey’s continued
denial of the genocide remains one of the main obstacles to its entry
into the European Union.
for video, go to
_info&article=359638&lng=1#
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress