Author: Hambardsumian Paul

San Jose Mercury News , CA
Jan 10 2005

Iranian composer adds zest to performance

By Richard Scheinin

San Jose’s Jon Nakamatsu has a way of mixing the tried and true with
the truly unusual. For a couple years now, the pianist has performed
stirring and almost entirely forgotten music by Josef Wölfl, the
Austrian composer who was a friendly rival of Beethoven’s in their
day. Now Nakamatsu has found another worthy candidate for stardom:
Loris Tjeknavorian, the living, Iranian-born composer of Armenian
descent whose piano music is drenched with ethnic rhythms and
alluring melodies — and is pretty much never performed in this
country.

Saturday night at Le Petit Trianon in San Jose, Nakamatsu offered a
bracing recital — his first here in a year — in which wild card
Tjeknavorian sat comfortably amid the tried and true.

There was Chopin, whose 19th-century mazurkas and polonaises opened
the gates to Tjeknavorian-style ethnicity in modern music. There was
Liszt, who built on Chopin’s bejeweled harmonic world. And there was
Rachmaninoff, who flew off in all sorts of crazy new harmonic
directions. His “Variations on a Theme by Corelli,” the best part
of Nakamatsu’s program, runs a Spanish folk melody through 20
outrageous turnarounds.

The recital, part of the Steinway Society’s ongoing series, began
with yet another famous incorporator of folk music: Scarlatti. The
Italian loved Spanish song, rhythm and guitars, blending them into
his nearly 600 Baroque-period keyboard sonatas, many technically
bold. Nakamatsu chose four for the program, which repeated Sunday. He
performed them with an idiomatic clarity that captured the trilling
metallic brilliance of the harpsichord, Scarlatti’s instrument.

Next came the Rachmaninoff, which elaborates on the Corelli theme
known as “La Folia.” Rachmaninoff took this Baroque borrowing of a
Spanish folk melody and ran it through his visionary blender. And
Nakamatsu — voicing each chord just so, infusing the music with
crisp rhythms — stamped each variation with personality: marching or
galumphing, pouncing like a panther or lolling about like an
elephant. Poor “La Folia” seemed to have wandered into a strange
harmonic universe, pointing to jazz, Sondheim, even a Beatles ballad
or two.

Chopin followed: First, a liquid nocturne, then a steely scherzo with
daunting double-octave sequences and clashing rhythms.

After intermission, came Tjeknavorian. It turns out there’s a story
behind Nakamatsu’s interest in this music: His lifelong teacher,
Marina Derryberry, attended conservatory in Tehran with Tjeknavorian.
In 2001, Tjeknavorian conducted at the San Francisco Opera where, for
the first time in decades, he and Derryberry met. Nakamatsu attended
the reunion and soon came under the composer’s spell.

Saturday, he played five of seven dances from Tjeknavorian’s “Danses
Fantastiques,” all evoking, Nakamatsu said, a “sense of heritage —
the spirit of Armenian music.”

The first three dances were understated. There were swirling figures
over a virile, ostinato bass line. There was a haunting modal melody
set to chorded accompaniment. It sounded like a mother’s hummed song
to a child and had an unresolved ending; perhaps the child fell
asleep.

One dance kept three serpentine lines moving: the ostinato, the
melody, and a descending chromatic sequence. The music was at times
trance-like, then grew flashier, full of rippling pools of
ultra-Romantic melody, á la Liszt.

And it was with Liszt that Nakamatsu closed the program. Truth be
told, midway through the Mephisto Waltz No. 1, a brutally taxing
piece for any pianist, I began thinking that unceasing virtuosity
isn’t always exciting. I would have preferred to hear a couple more
dances by Tjeknavorian. Maybe next time.

January 2005 The New Mexico Jewish Link

Holocaust Museum Elects New Officers

The New Mexico Holocaust and Intolerance Museum and Study Center
at its Board of directors meeting on December 9, elected new officers
and recognized the unique contributions of founding members Werner and
Frances Gellert.

The elected directors of the museum reflect the ethnic diversity
of the museum and its mission and include representatives from the
Greek, Armenian, Hispanic, Black, Jewish, Italian, Japanese, Native
American and Catholic communities and Rabbi Joseph Black of
Albuquerque’s Congregation Albert.

President Andrew J. Lipman said his mission is to “expand the
visibility of the museum and work toward the identification and
purchase of a permanent location for the museum.”

He commented further that he intends to “expand the current scope
of the museum to include additional exhibits of intolerance and
inhumanity such as Black slavery.”

Lipman had been recognized by the City of Albuquerque Human
Rights Board with the 2001 Human Rights Award.

The New Mexico Holocaust and Intolerance Museum and Study Center,
a national institute for the prevention of hate and intolerance, is
dedicated to combating intolerance through education.

****

[The panels depicting the Armenian Genocide were designed by members
of the Armenian community of Albuquerque.]

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Jan 6 2005

Armenia’s Foreign Debt Highest in the Caucasus

During the discussions of the 2005 state budget in the Armenian
parliament last week, MPs expressed their concerns over the country’s
foreign debt.

Armenia’s foreign debt currently amounts to $1.129 billion ($362 per
capita). The figure will make up $1.429 billion ($458 per capita) in
the near future, as the government plans to borrow $93.6 million in
2005, $79.8 million in 2006 and $83.7 million in 2007.

Despite the hard situation, the country is expected to repay foreign
debt worth $48.6 million in 2006 and $39.8 million in 2007.

Some Armenian experts predict an increase in the country’s foreign
debt over the next five years, saying that the figure will exceed $2
billion ($622 per capita) in 2010.
Armenian sociologists, in turn, claim that the country’s per capita
foreign debt will increase and that the amount of per capita debt
will reach $1,053 in 2010.

According to the 2004 statistics, there are 3,213,000 people in
Armenia, 1,221,000 of whom, or 38% of the total population, have left
the country due to social hardship.
Armenia’s opposition explains the tough situation in the country by
its failure to participate in regional projects due to tensions in
relations with Azerba ijan and Turkey with regard to the Upper
Garabagh conflict and a high corruption level.

Georgia, with a population of 5,100,000, is second in South Caucasus
for the amount of foreign debt. The country’s liabilities make up
$1.7 billion or $333 per capita, according to the 2004 data.

The foreign debt of Azerbaijan, with a population of 8,100,000,
currently amounts to $1.5 billion, or $183 per capita. The country
repaid $102 million out of $143 million owed over the nine months of
this year.

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Jan 4 2005

Robert Kocharyan: ‘Independence of Karabakh Can Not be the Matter of
Trade’

APA 04/01/2005 10:22

Robert Kocharyan – president of Armenia in his congratulation on New
Year addressed the nation touching the problem of Karabakh.

R.Kocharyan stating previous 2004 to be stable, lucky, peaceful for
the nation, he declared that some successes had been achieved within
the last year in external policy.

He especially stressed the joint of Armenia to `New Neighbors’
initiative of European Union. The president of Armenia addressing his
congratulations to Armenians living in the territories of Azerbaijan,
he also called the final of the construction of Karabakh part of the
North-South roadway by the financial support of Armenians gathered in
`Armenia’ All-Armenian Fund, an important factor: ‘This is the step
strengthening factual independence of Karabakh. This independence in
external policy can not be the matter of trade’.

Associated Press Worldstream
January 4, 2005 Tuesday 10:02 AM Eastern Time

Azerbaijani president says negotiations over disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave are improving

BAKU, Azerbaijan

President Ilham Aliyev said efforts to resolve the long-running
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh are entering a new, positive, phase, the
presidential press service reported Tuesday.

Aliyev told a meeting of the country’s Security Council on Monday
that the internationally brokered talks over the enclave’s status had
entered a “new stage.”

“Of course, I don’t want to say that this process already has found a
resolution. Negotiations are ongoing, and we are using all means to
ensure these negotiations develop positively for us,” Aliyev said,
according to his press service. “We have succeeded in attracting the
wider international community, discussions of this question in
different organization even though the Armenians strongly object to
this.”

Ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia drove Azerbaijani troops out
of Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s in a six-year war that killed some
30,000 people and sent 1 million fleeing from their homes.

A cease-fire was reached in 1994, but the enclave’s final status has
not been determined. The unresolved dispute damages both nations’
economies and the threat of renewed war continues to hang over the
region.

The two countries have been involved in an international effort to
reach a settlement, sponsored by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe and led by Russia, France and the United
States.

Azerbaijan refuses to negotiate with Nagorno-Karabakh officials.

PRESS RELEASE
December 29, 2004
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
2225 R Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20008
Tel: 202-319-1976, x. 348; Fax: 202-319-2982
Email: [email protected]; Web:

International Business Forum “Bridge 2005” to Be Held in Tsaghkadzor,
Armenia

An international business forum “Bridge 2005” will be held in the Armenian
resort town of Tsaghkadzor on February 25-28, 2005, under the auspices of
the Armenian Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Central Bank of Armenia, and the Union of Manufacturers and
Businessmen of Armenia.

The organizers of the business forum, Center of International Integration
Support “MASTER,” hopes to bring together representatives of both government
agencies and private sector from Europe, Asia, and the Americas for
unofficial intergovernmental, intersectoral contacts in the excellent
conditions of the beautiful nature of the high mountain resort Tsaghkadzor.
Special attention will be devoted to the following themes: exports and
imports; ecological products and production technologies; promotion of small
and medium business development. The participants are expected to take part
in both plenary sessions and bilateral business meetings.

For inquiries about the business forum and registration, please contact the
Center of International Integration Support “MASTER,” located at Abovyan
Street, 7, Yerevan, 375010, Armenia; tel./fax +374-1-569197; tel.
+374-9-488111 (24 hours), or visit the website of the business forum:

Application forms are also available from the Embassy of the Republic of
Armenia, upon request.

Ethnic Azeris picket Armenian embassy in Moscow over Karabakh

ANS TV, Baku
27 Dec 04

[Presenter] The Movement for Azerbaijan continues its protests on the
13th anniversary of Xankandi’s [Stepanakert] occupation and on the
occasion of 31 December – Day of Azerbaijani Solidarity Worldwide.

[Correspondent over video of protesters holding posters and the
Azerbaijani flags] The Movement for Azerbaijan held a protest outside
the Armenian embassy in Moscow today. The Russians born in Baku have
for the first time joined the action.

[E. Rustamov, captioned as representative of the Movement for
Azerbaijan, on the phone] As was planned, the picket started at 1500
[1200 gmt] and ended at 1600 [1300 gmt] Moscow time. Although 30
people were registered [words indistinct], about 50 people joined the
action. The action was mostly aimed at informing the public about the
Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands. The ethnic Azerbaijanis in
Russia also expressed solidarity with their compatriots living in
Azerbaijan.

[Correspondent] The protesters adopted a resolution at the end of the
action and submitted it to the Armenian embassy.

[Rustamov] The picket mostly demanded that the four UN Security
Council resolutions [on immediate withdrawal of the Armenian armed
forces from the occupied Azerbaijani lands] adopted in 1993 be
accepted unconditionally and an end be put to Armenia’s aggression
policy. The resolution was submitted to a representative of the
Armenian embassy on behalf of the picket and the protest ended.

[Correspondent] Other protests which the Movement for Azerbaijan is to
stage will continue in London tomorrow and in Canada on 29
December. To recap, the protests started from Turkey’s Istanbul.

Baxtiyar Salimov, ANS.

No room at the inn
By NICKY BLACKBURN

Jerusalem Post
Dec 24 2004

The first Christmas Christelle Erlich spent in Israel, she and her
Jewish husband invited 10 couples for dinner. Erlich, a Catholic from
Versailles, who had met her Israeli husband on an archeological dig
in Beit Shemesh in 1990, decorated a Christmas tree, and spent the
day cooking all the traditional Christmas foods. In keeping with her
customs, she laid her table with three tablecloths, for the Father,
the Son and the Holy Ghost, ready to celebrate the holiday with her
Jewish friends.

It was a stormy winter day and as the evening drew near, couple after
couple began to cancel. It was too rainy, they complained. They were
too tired, they had to get up early the next day. When, finally,
the last couple phoned to say they couldn’t come, Erlich switched
off the oven, leaving a half-cooked turkey inside, and sat down on
the sofa and wept.

“I’ve never felt so lonely and alone,” says 36-year-old Erlich,
who now lives in Kadima. “No one understood the importance of this
feast for me. To them it was just dinner. But for me it was a really
significant occasion. If it had been Passover dinner, they would
never have dropped out like that. It was terrible.”

For Christians living in Israel, Christmas can be one of the loneliest
times of the year. Elsewhere around the world, the streets are filled
with decorations, shops are overflowing with traditional Christmas
fare, there are carols on street corners and dodgy Christmas grottos
attended by cheery red-faced Santas and over-sized elves. Here,
however, it is just an ordinary day. There are no decorations, no
special events, no special programming on television, and not even
a day off.

“It’s hard to imagine that Jesus was born in Israel,” says Rita
Boulus, an Anglican Protestant who lives in Neveh Shalom, a small
village dedicated to peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews,
which is tucked away in the hills leading up to Jerusalem. “You would
think he was born in England. There is no atmosphere in Israel. You
just don’t feel the holiday.”

Boulus, an Israeli Arab, was born and brought up in Lod and remembers
the Christmases of her childhood as joyful affairs. The family would
decorate the house and dress in their best clothes. Both Muslim and
Christian neighbors would visit their home to drink traditional liquors
and eat chocolates and special yeast cakes. Boulus, a sweet-faced
woman with black hair pulled back from her face, remembers her father
coming home with his pockets stuffed full of chocolates, which he
would hand out to the children. Often there were trips to Bethlehem
or Ramallah for Christmas services.

Today, Boulus still decorates her home for Christmas, with stockings,
wreaths and a Christmas tree, and there are presents for her four
children, but the holiday has become a low-key affair. The family
celebrates with just immediate relatives or friends. They have a
large dinner on Christmas Eve, followed by another on Christmas Day.
Sometimes they go to church on Christmas morning. Now that visits to
intifada-scarred Bethlehem are off the agenda, some Israeli Christians
go to Amman instead.

“Now I don’t really feel that I have a Christmas,” says Boulus,
with a shrug.

Lena Vahakian, an Armenian Christian, also celebrates Christmas
festivities in a more subdued style than she did as a child. Born
and brought up in the Old City of Jerusalem, she spent many of her
Christmases in Bethlehem. As a member of an Armenian marching band,
Vahakian would be invited to take part in celebrations with Palestinian
marching bands on both December 25 and January 19, the date of the
Armenian Christmas.

“We all played for each other’s celebrations, everyone respected each
other,” says 25-year-old Vahakian. “There were choirs, orchestras,
drums, and Scottish bagpipes playing all day long. We would visit
friends and family, and someone would dress up as Santa Claus and
give out dozens of presents. It was very festive.”

The marching bands stopped when the intifada broke out. In the last
two years, there have been no civic celebrations in Bethlehem either.
“It’s all changed,” says Vahakian. “I don’t feel safe going to
Bethlehem, and even when the intifada stops, I don’t know if it will
ever be the same again.”

The Armenian community in Jerusalem has also diminished drastically
in size. Today there are only about 3,000 Armenians left in the Old
City, and many of Vahakian’s friends have emigrated. Vahakian visits
her mother for Christmas. Her two sisters are abroad, so it is often
just the two of them.

“It’s nothing special,” she admits. “We have the Christmas tree and
give gifts, but it’s not the same. I would love to be able to walk
out on the street and see decorations or lights, but when I step out
of my house now, I may not see another Christmas tree. Last year I
saw a tiny Christmas tree in a shop and it made me smile. I feel sad
that we do not have a proper Christmas here.”

THE TRUTH is that it is never easy to belong to a minority anywhere
in the world, particularly such a small one. Today, Christians make
up just 2.1 percent of the Israeli population, compared to 79.2%
Jews, and 14.9% Muslims, according to government statistics, and this
figure is declining, as increasing numbers of Christians emigrate.
Christians are also divided into various faiths, such as Greek and
Russian Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and Anglican. Many Christians
here liken their experiences at Christmas to what the Jews experience
in the Diaspora during Jewish holidays.

Vahakian admits that though she would love to see Christmas trees on
the streets, she does not expect the Jewish state to provide them.

“The Jews are scared to lose their identity because of what they have
gone through in the past, and what they are still going through now
with anti-Semitism. I think they fear that if they allowed a Christmas
tree here or there, it would be the beginning of the end.”

Though most Christians are the first to admit that minorities
everywhere feel isolated, what many find difficult here is the feeling
that they are an unwanted minority. For some, this translates into
something as simple as being unable to get time off from work on
Christmas Day, for others it is more invidious.

When Vahakian was young, her older sister, who now lives abroad,
told her that when she grew up she would never wear a cross outside
of her home. “Now I know what she means,” admits Vahakian. “I still
wear my cross sometimes, but people stare at me strangely.”

Vahakian was born in Jerusalem. So was her mother and her grandmother
before her. In fact, the family has been living in Jerusalem for five
generations. Despite this, she does not have Israeli citizenship,
nor does she have a passport. Instead, every time she or another
member of the family wants to leave Israel, they have to go to the
Ministry of the Interior to get special travel documents. These can
take months to arrange, and sometimes trips have been cancelled simply
because documents did not come in time.

“If you are Armenian and you live in Jerusalem, it’s virtually
impossible to get citizenship,” says Vahakian, who has now hired a
lawyer to fight for her right to a passport. “This is why so many
Armenians have left. Life is just too hard here.”

“Israelis are not at all open to Christians,” says Erlich. “They
don’t like to know there are Christians here. They don’t consider
them at the same level. For them, Judaism is the important thing.
Christianity is threatening.”

When Erlich first arrived in Israel, she decided to convert to
Judaism because she thought it would be the best way to become a
real Israeli. She approached a number of rabbis, but each time was
turned away because her partner, a kohen, would not be able to marry
a convert.

“The rabbis treated me very badly,” admits Erlich. “They told me to
go back home, that I don’t belong here, and that I shouldn’t steal
a nice Jewish boy away. I was very hurt.”

Unable to marry in Israel, Erlich and her partner got married in
Cyprus. A later attempt to convert her three children was also met
with resistance. Though Erlich is open about her religion, she admits
that she does not go out of her way to tell people she is Christian.

“I don’t need to advertise the fact that I am different. I’m afraid
they might treat me another way if they knew.”

She worries for her children.

“They feel Jewish, but they also feel different,” she admits.
“Children at my son’s school call him the French boy, it’s only a
matter of time before they call him the Christian boy. I’m waiting
for it. My children can serve in the military and pay taxes, but they
cannot be married here, nor buried in a Jewish cemetery.”

For Arab Christians, the difficulties are even more pronounced.

“We are a minority within a minority,” exclaims Daoud Boulus, Rita’s
54-year-old husband, as he sits drinking strong coffee on a sunlit
terrace outside his house.

“I don’t feel I can express myself as a Christian here. Arab
Christians are constantly under a magnifying glass and our loyalty
is questioned. The Jews think of us as Arabs and Palestinians, while
the Arabs regard Christianity as a Western religion, and wonder if
we are really their Arab brothers, or whether our faith and feelings
are somewhere else.”

“A minority is always suspected. As Arabs and Christians, we are
considered second or even third class,” says Rev. Samuel Fanous,
the Anglican priest in charge of the parishes of Ramle, Jaffa
and Lod. Fanous finds that the sentiment towards his congregation
varies from place to place, according to the strength and economic
prosperity of the community, and the support it receives from the local
authorities. In Ramle, for instance, there are some 4,000 Christians,
within a population of 70,000 Arabs and Jews. The Christian community
enjoys the support of the local Jewish mayor, and at Christmas,
the Ramle municipality even provides money for Christmas decorations
outside the city church.

In Lod, however, where there are just 800 Christians, the story is
very different. In past years, Fanous used to dress up as Santa Claus
and deliver presents to his parishioners there. He gave that up after
he suffered harassment from local Muslim children.

FOR ISRAEL’S large and strong Russian population, Christmas and New
Year celebrations are far more open affairs. Some 50,000 Russians are
registered as Christian, while 270,000 more are not Jewish according
to Halacha. After decades of communism, many Russians do not celebrate
either Christian or Jewish holidays. Instead, they have picked New
Year’s Eve on December 31 as their main festival, and they use all the
Christian symbols – including Christmas trees, presents and even Santa
Claus, who is reincarnated as the grandfather of ice – to celebrate.

Russian TV channels run broadcasts of the New Year’s festivities,
and restaurants and clubs hold special entertainments.

“It’s not at all difficult to celebrate this holiday,” says
Ukrainian-born Natasha Shchukina, 35, who runs an advertising agency
in Tel Aviv. “Now the local firms understand this holiday, they do
everything they can to increase sales during this period. It doesn’t
bother us that we are celebrating a holiday that most people here
do not, because there are so many of us. No one helps us, but no one
interferes with us either.”

For Christians from smaller minority groups, however, there is an
urgent need for more support. Erlich believes that a great deal more
could be done to foster understanding between the religions, and that
schools and kindergartens should not only teach the Jewish festivals,
but should teach the festivals of other religions too. With this in
mind, she approached her son’s school, and asked if she could give
a class on Christmas. Her son’s teacher was uncomfortable at first,
and referred her to the school’s head teacher. Erlich was finally
given the go-ahead, and on December 24 she will teach a class at her
son’s school about Christmas.

“There is enormous pressure to learn about the Jewish feasts, but
in every classroom across the country, you will probably find one or
two pupils who never once hear about their own holidays or feasts,”
she says. “It can be a very isolating experience.”

And what of Erlich’s Christmas this year?

“I still invite people to dinner every year, and every year some of
them don’t come, which hurts. But I don’t do it for them, I do it
for me. I will always celebrate Christmas. It’s part of me. Christmas
is about sharing and giving, and these are very important values. My
children look forward to Christmas. I read them stories about Jesus
and Mary, and I tell them it’s important for them to know this story,
because it happened here in Israel, and it is part of them.”

Some names have been changed.

Comforting his comrades
By David A. Maurer / Daily Progress staff writer
December 19, 2004

Charlottesville Daily Progress, VA
Dec 19 2004

ARLINGTON – The wounds range from angry red scars on furrowed flesh
to invisible brain trauma injuries that manifest themselves in blank,
sometimes confused stares.

These consequences of war were as evident as the sweet scent of maple
syrup on a recent Sunday morning at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post
3150 in Arlington. Since October the post has been hosting brunches
on the second and fourth Sundays of the month for wounded soldiers
from nearby Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Beginning shortly after 9 a.m. more than 100 hungry warriors will limp,
shuffle and stroll into the small, cozy building that’s just big enough
for a bar, kitchen and small dining area. Efficient and enthusiastic
volunteers will continue to serve them until 2 p.m., longer if need be.

The troops are picked up at the hospital and shuttled back and forth
to the wood structure that’s been tucked away in the residential
neighborhood for 70 years. The current members feel they’re now
providing some of their most important services to their fellow
veterans.

“The VFW has a motto that we remember the dead by helping the
living,” said J. Gary Wagner, past commander of the post and current
adjutant. “A lot of guys who came back from Vietnam got mixed welcomes.

“So the Vietnam-era guys especially want to make sure that’s not
repeated. We go out of our way to make sure these vets are welcomed
home appropriately.

“The wounded are very appreciative and really enjoy these brunches.
It gets them out of the hospital for a couple of hours, and I think
it helps give them a sense of a return to reality.”

The first wave

Sgt. Paul Shelmerdine was in the first wave of walking wounded to
arrive for breakfast. He has been at Walter Reed since July 17,
and expects to be there for some time.

Shelmerdine was seriously wounded in Iraq when a car bomb went off
in front of the vehicle he was in. His right side was riddled by
shrapnel, some of it tearing through his right forearm that now has
a steel rod in it from wrist to elbow.

Despite having to deal with painful wounds, and being a long way from
his two children and pregnant wife in Warren, Maine, Shelmerdine was
in an upbeat mood.

“There’s been a great outpouring of support and caring for us and this
[brunch] is amazing,” Shelmerdine said after finishing his meal.

“I can remember when my uncle came back from Vietnam. He never talked
about his experiences, and the Vietnam veterans were kind of looked
down on. That’s not the feeling now. People might not like some of
the decisions the higher-ups have made, but they are very supportive
of the troops and it shows.

“This brunch is a good experience for us, because a lot of time when
people first get to the hospital they’re kind of focused on themselves
and shrunk into a little ball. Being able to go out and talk to people
and share experiences helps them to open up.

“The more you can talk about your injuries or experiences the better
it’s going to make that individual. An experience like this helps
you get better.”

During the brunch cheery volunteer waiters circled the dining area
taking orders, serving food, refilling coffee cups, dispensing hugs
and chatting with the troops. Their expressions of warmth and caring
made the atmosphere seem like a family gathering.

One of the volunteers who helped mastermind the Sunday brunches for the
wounded is Greene County resident John “Big John” Miska. Helping make
it happen is just one of the things the Vietnam veteran has done during
the past two years to provide aid and comfort to his wounded comrades.

“My involvement started when my friend Jamie Villafane was wounded
and I went up to Walter Reed to see him,” said Miska, minutes before
taking a group of soldiers back to the hospital. “I asked him if he
needed anything, and he said he was pretty much all dialed in, but his
gunner in the next bed, Sergeant Charles Horgan, didn’t have anything.

“It’s not that the Army doesn’t give them everything they need, but
it’s a throw-away razor, a lace-up-the-back hospital gown, hospital
booties. There’s something to be said for having your own underwear.

“I asked Charles what he needed and got him telephone cards and some
other things. Then Jamie went home and they moved another guy in who
didn’t have anything so I helped him out. It sort of grew one guy
after another.”

Lending a hand

After shuttling troops back and forth to the brunch, Miska spent
the remainder of the day handing out comfort items and visiting
with wounded soldiers at the hospital. He and other volunteers like
Ray Miller, Joe Dudley and Ray Durand, who are members of veteran’s
groups in the Charlottesville area, never make the trip north without
filling their vehicles with items to hand out to the wounded.

Miska, a disabled veteran who was wounded in Vietnam and spent time
at Walter Reed, knows firsthand what the injured are going through.
His personal experiences have made him determined to make sure this
generation of troops get everything they want and need.

“When I got out of the service and joined the veteran organizations,
there was reticence on the part of the older veterans toward us
younger vets,” Miska said. “There wasn’t a welcome.

“Nobody really cared, and I think that was probably societal in
nature. I want to make sure these guys know we won’t abandon them.

“By the grace of God I was from Virginia, so when I was at Walter Reed
my family could bring me everything I needed. But I still think back
to those days and remember there were a lot of guys who had nobody
and nothing.”

Volunteers like Miska have done such a good job that not one soldier
who attended the brunch could think of anything they needed. Staff
Sgt. Larry Gill from Mobile, Ala., said the one thing he wanted was
to see Miska get his own parking space at Walter Reed.

“They should give Big John a parking space, because he’s up there
that much,” said Gill, who was seriously wounded by a grenade blast
while serving in Iraq. “He’s constantly bringing gifts and has even
taken soldiers shopping.

“The support we’ve gotten has been just awesome, there’s no other
word for it. It’s unfortunate that the Vietnam veterans didn’t get
this. I guess it was just one of those times in our history that it
just wasn’t clinking like it should have.

“The Vietnam vets have been fighting for everything they’ve got for
30-plus years. They know the problems and what needs attention.
They’ve gone out of their way to make sure the soldiers from the
conflicts now don’t run into those same problems.”

Although the troops couldn’t think of anything they lacked, Miska
could. He said with cold weather upon us, items such as coats, boots,
gloves and hats are needed.

“All items need to be new and sizes tend to be more large and extra
large than small or medium,” said Miska, a member of VFW Post 8208
in Greene. “We also need nice, zippered toiletry kits.

“Through the good graces of the VFW’s state headquarters, we’ve gotten
an entire pallet of Mach 3 razors. We have shaving cream and all that
sort of thing, but we want to make up toiletry kits so when guys come
in we can just hand them out.

“Phone cards are always helpful, but at this time donations for those
can be sent to Operation Uplink. We provide the brunch for the troops
free of charge, so if people would like to help with the cost of that
they can send donations to the Adopt A Soldier program or they can
donate directly to the post here because they have a fund set aside
for this.”

Greg Moscater, commander of Post 3150, said he and his fellow veterans
are ecstatic that they can provide a respite from the hospital setting
for the injured soldiers. He knows it helps more than hunger pangs.

“There was a wounded Army colonel who came to one of the first Sunday
brunches,” Moscater recalled. “He seemed pretty depressed and was
really quiet and kept to himself.

“About three weeks ago we were visiting the troops at Walter Reed and
I saw the colonel. He told me how much he was interested in coming
back to have breakfast with us.

“I saw a real improvement in him. I think coming here helped pick up
his spirits.”

Sgt. James D. Wilson and his wife, Heidi, need all the picker-uppers
they can get these days. The 23-year-old soldier from Daytona Beach,
Fla., was serving with a U.S. Army Special Forces unit in Iraq when
he suffered head injuries as a result of an explosion.

Recalling war

Wilson remembers little of the ambush that landed him in the hospital
several weeks ago.

“We went into this area to get some wounded Marines and on the way
back we got ambushed pretty bad,” Wilson said as a heaping plate of
eggs, sausage and fried potatoes arrived.

“I remember shooting my fifty [50-caliber machine gun] and then I
woke up in the hospital in Germany. Three IEDs (improvised explosive
devices) went off under our convoy and car bombs came from the sides.

“The explosions slammed my head down hard. I don’t remember anything
after that.”

Wilson apologized for not being able to arrange his thoughts more
clearly. He struggled to articulate how much the brunch means to him.

“This cheers me up,” Wilson said. “I’m not feeling well right now,
but I feel a little better coming out.”

Heidi Wilson nodded her head in agreement. She doesn’t plan to
return to their Florida home until her husband can come with her. The
outpouring of support she has received from veterans’ groups such as
Post 3150 is making her ordeal easier to manage.

“This is such a nice feeling that we have this,” Heidi Wilson said
of the brunch. “It’s very helpful. They even take us on tours and
things like that, which keeps us busy. ”

Army Specialist Randall Clunen said he spends a lot of time alone in
his hospital room. He said he greatly appreciates the brunch because it
gives him a chance to get out and be around other people and veterans
who don’t stare at his injuries.

Clunen was serving with the 101st Airborne Division north of Mosul,
Iraq, on Dec. 8, 2003, when he was hit in the face by shrapnel. The
day he almost died happened to be his 19th birthday.

“The shrapnel came from a suicide car bomb that exploded about 30
feet from where I was,” said the young soldier from Salem, Ohio. “I
remember the explosion and getting up and walking over to the aid
station on my own.

“After that it’s a complete blur. The shrapnel shattered my teeth,
jaw bone and cheek bone. I have a titanium plate in my face now.

“When I went back home people stared and pointed at me, but they
wouldn’t come up and say anything. The past year has been rough,
but at the same time I’m engaged now, and I just want to get out as
quick as I can and get back home to my family.

“This brunch means a lot to me. I’ve become a lifetime member of
the VFW.”

As soon as the airplanes bringing in the wounded land at Andrews Air
Force Base in Maryland, the injured are welcomed home. At least three
times a week Tanya Cobb makes the trip from her Alexandria home to
the base to greet the incoming wounded.

The irony of this is not lost on the former lieutenant who served with
distinction in a special forces unit with the Army of the Russian
Federation. During her seven years of service she was wounded five
times in the Nagorny Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan.

“Being a wife of a Vietnam veteran and a foreign veteran myself, I
call the returning wounded our American heroes,” said Cobb, who was
invited to join the elite Russian unit by its commander after he saw
her in action.

“We greet them and welcome them home as well as bring them donated
items on behalf of the Military Order of the Purple Heart ladies’
auxiliary and VFW Post 3150. We’re just trying to make sure everybody
feels welcome and there’s no generation, especially after the Vietnam
War, that comes home without getting a hug and a smile.

“After we thank them for everything they’ve done, we ask them what
we can do to help.”

Many ways to help

Cobb said help may take the form of giving break-away sweatpants and
sweatshirts to people with casts on their arms or legs. Sometimes it
just might be holding someone’s hand through a long, scary night.

“I met a girl who was in a medical unit taking care of Marines in
Iraq,” Cobb said. “She was wounded emotionally. Until I met her she
hadn’t been able to sleep for more then five or ten minutes at a time
in weeks.

“I spent almost the whole night with her after she arrived. When I
returned to the base to welcome home another group, she had left me
a note.

“She thanked me and said that was the first night of sleep she had
gotten in weeks. She said if she had difficulty sleeping again she
promised to pick up the phone and call me like I told her to do.”

As hungry troops keep filing in, Eric Anderson works the grill like a
pro. The Vietnam vet has been up since 5 a.m., but doesn’t mind a bit.

“It’s just real nice having them here,” Anderson said as he nodded
his head toward the soldiers in the dining area. “The only thing I’d
like to say to them is, God bless you, thanks for your service and
you’re always welcome here at VFW Post 3150.”

Those wanting to help can send donations to Virginia Organizing
Project, 703 Concord Ave., Charlottesville, VA 22903-5208. Put
“AdoptaSoldier” in the memo notation space on checks. Donations to
help defray the cost of the brunch can also be sent to VFW Post 3150,
2116 N. 19th St., Arlington, VA 22201. Write “troop’s brunch” in the
memo section of the check. Donations to purchase phone cards can be
sent to Uplink VFW Foundation National Headquarters, 406 W. 34th St.,
Kansas City, MO 64111. Those interested in helping Miska with his
ongoing efforts can reach him at (434) 760-1940.

Love, threats and a murder mystery
by ANGELA KAMPER

The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)
December 20, 2004 Monday

He was found bashed on the footpath. His van’s engine was still
running. Was the motive road rage, debt or retribution? ANGELA
KAMPER reports

IT is a mystery that has perplexed a coroner while giving a curious
insight into a slice of Sydney.

Akop Kishmishian, a 20-year-old refugee from Georgia, was bashed with
a steering-wheel lock in Liverpool St, Cabramatta, during the early
hours of April 19, 2001. He died from head injuries in hospital three
weeks later.

In the months leading up to his death, Mr Kishmishian ended a brief
relationship with Russian- born Anna Musicco.

The 28-year-old waitress met him through friends and dated him while
still sharing a Cabramatta apartment with her husband, Stephen Musicco.

Her parents had allegedly paid Mr Musicco $20,000 to marry their
daughter so that she could legally live in Australia.

For Mrs Musicco the affair she had with Mr Kishmishian “wasn’t really
a relationship, it was just casual sex,” she told Westmead Coroners
Court last week, but for the Armenian national it was much more.

He had allegedly followed her and phoned her repeatedly after the
break up.

In March 2001 he burst through the front door of a Kirribilli apartment
she was staying in looking for her.

That day Mr Kishmishian, a cleaner, was with his business partner,
Vardan Sahakian, who told the court he could not calm his colleague
down.

“I said forget about it, just forget about it but he was madly in
love,” Mr Sahakian recalled.

In his evidence he said Anna was rescued by her tall, large-framed
Russian friend Andrei Diatlov.

Mr Diatlov arrived at the apartment and allegedly warned Mr Kishmishian
not to return screaming the words: “I’m going to kill him”.

Mr Sahakian, who spent several hours driving around Sydney with Mr
Kishmishian for work, said his workmate had abused drivers several
times.

“I always told Akop this was not a sensible way of behaving in an
Australian environment,” Mr Sahakian told the court.

A Cabramatta resident who witnessed the murder about 12.45am on April
19, 2001, told the court he saw a man hitting Mr Kishmishian six to
eight times, however his vision was obscured because of the darkness
and shrubs on his front lawn.

“One of the voices sounded like a female,” the resident said.

“The female voice that I heard … the English was not that good.”
The witness said he also heard the attacker yelling: “That’s what
you get for not listening” and “I want my money”.

“I thought it was a hooker deal gone wrong,” the witness told the
court.

The same witness said he saw a white car leave the scene with the
letter “U” in the centre of the number plate.

On Friday Mr Diatlov denied any involvement in the murder and told
the court he was nowhere near Cabramatta that morning.

He said he was drinking vodka, eating Russian dumplings and watching
films at a friend’s Redfern apartment in the company of Mrs Musicco
and others.

“I remember the vodka, I pay $40 and the vodka was crap,” he told
the court. “We watch a movie, have a little bit of vodka and then go
to sleep.”

When asked by counsel assisting the inquiry Leesa McEvoy who else could
have murdered Mr Kishmishian he suggested it could have been “a Turk.”

“The Turkish will kill any Armenian they see” he said.

He also suggested it could have been the husband of a Muslim woman
that Mr Kishmishian was also having an affair with.

The court heard the Muslim woman had been interviewed by police
but insisted her husband knew nothing about her relationship with
Mr Kishmishian.

Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich decided that Mr Kishmishian
had been murdered by an unknown person.

He will refer the matter to the NSW Police Unsolved Homicide Unit and
will be making recommendations for a reward to be posted in the hope
of further information coming to light.