Author: Hambardsumian Paul

WILLIAM SAROYAN INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR 2008 LINKED WITH WRITER’S CENTENNIAL

Stanford Report
22/saroyan-082207.html
Aug 22 2007

The third William Saroyan International Prize for Writing (also known
as the Saroyan Prize) will coincide with the California writer’s
centennial celebrations in 2008. The $12,500 biennial prize, awarded
for fiction and non-fiction, is sponsored by Stanford University
Libraries in partnership with the William Saroyan Foundation.

Entries must be received on or before January 31, 2008. The English
language works must be available for purchase in book form by
the general public and published during the 2005-2007 period. The
judges will consider literary fiction (including novels, short story
collections and drama) and literary non-fiction (biography, history
and memoirs) of any length. They will be looking for strong literary
merit that honors the Saroyan legacy, with particular interest in
non-fiction in the Saroyan tradition-memoirs, portraits and excursions
into neighborhood and community. Winners will be publicly recognized
at the centennial celebrations on Sept. 5, 2008. Official entry forms
and rules are available at

The first William Saroyan International Prize for Writing was awarded
in 2003 to Jonathan Safran Foer for his novel Everything is Illuminated
(Houghton Mifflin, 2002). The second Saroyan Prize, awarded in 2005,
was the first to be offered for both fiction and non-fiction. George
Hagen received the fiction prize for his novel The Laments (Random
House, 2004); the non-fiction prize went to Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman
for The King of California (Public Affairs, 2005).

The William Saroyan Foundation, officially founded by Saroyan in 1966,
decided in 1990 to bring together the entire literary estate into a
single archive. The trustees eventually offered Stanford University
the assembled Saroyan literary collection.

"The Saroyan Prize is an integral part of the library’s ongoing and
active involvement with the Saroyan archive, but it also provides a
wonderful opportunity for Stanford students and alumni, as well as
literati everywhere, to interact actively with the emerging literary
figures of our time," said Michael A. Keller, Stanford University
Librarian. "We are particularly pleased to be offering the prize
during this centennial celebration of Saroyan’s birth, when so much
attention is being given to Saroyan’s life and work."

"The Saroyan Foundation is pleased to be involved in fulfilling
Saroyan’s dream of establishing a writing prize to encourage and
perpetuate the art he so loved," said Haig Mardikian, president of
the William Saroyan Foundation. "Saroyan not only had a great passion
for writing, he also was an accomplished visual abstract artist; so
it is particularly fitting that this award is being granted during
the Saroyan centennial celebrations where we are commemorating many
of Saroyan’s artistic achievements."

The Fresno-born Saroyan, an American writer and playwright, was
a Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winner best known for his short
stories about humorous experiences of immigrant families and children
in California. Much of Saroyan’s work is clearly autobiographical,
although similar in style and technique to fiction. Saroyan was the
fourth child of Armenian immigrants. He battled his way through poverty
and rose to literary prominence in the early 1930s when national
magazines began publishing his short stories, including "The Daring
Young Man on the Flying Trapeze," "My Name Is Aram," "Inhale & Exhale,"
"Three Times Three" and "Peace, It’s Wonderful." Saroyan wrote plays
for Broadway and screenplays for Hollywood, including My Heart’s in
the Highlands, The Time of Your Life, The Beautiful People and The
Human Comedy.

ANOTHER SHIPMENT TO GYUMRI

Panorama.am
20:07 23/08/2007

Today another shipment of Russian military equipment left Batumi by
railway for their base in Gyumri, as was revealed by Itar Tass. Today
18 train cars will reach the Armenian-Georgian border. This is already
the fourth time this year that Russian weaponry has been shipped
from Batumi to Armenia. The Russian military foresees yet another
shipment this year, with another to Russia by way of Azerbaijan. We
point out that 11 shipments of weaponry, shipped from Batumi, have
taken place this year. We remind that the closure of the Akhalkalak
base, as agreed on by Russia and Georgia, has already been completed,
and that the Batumi base closure will be done by October 1, 2008.

BABAYAN-BAZEYAN-ARAKELYAN: DISSOLVE TOGETHER
Hakob Badalyan

Lragir.am
23-08-2007 12:07:17

Against the monotonous and dull routine of the political sphere of
Armenia the news that have appeared in the media recently could be
considered as rather interesting. The Dashink Party (Alliance), the
National Rebirth and the Liberal Democratic Ramkavar Party are going
to unite. More exactly, Samvel Babayan and Albert Bazeyan are going
to dissolve their Dashink and National Rebirth parties and join the
Ramkavar Party. For joining the Ramkavar Party, time will show, as
to dissolving their parties, it is too late. The parties should have
been dissolved earlier before the public would come round from them
and their leaders. Samvel Babayan, for instance, should have dissolved
the Dashink Party when he said to withdraw from electoral district 37
where his opponent was Serge Sargsyan’s brother Sashik Sargsyan. Or
he should have renamed the Alliance with Serge Sargsyan Party.

Albert Bazeyan should have dissolved his National Rebirth Party
when it was still an idea. He would not have to hold a conference,
keep an office. Even if Albert Bazeyan did it with a little help
from his friend, as they put it, one should not waste this help only
because one has left the Republic Party but would not wish to leave
politics. Why give the nation a rebirth in vain if it was possible
to get a place in the People’s Party on the ticket of which Albert
Bazeyan rested on May 12?

On the other hand, however, Babayan and Bazeyan needed to have
something to dissolve to join the Ramkavar Party. The Ramkavar
Party is a serious party, so serious that even Ara Abrahamyan deals
with it. His distant debate with the leader of the Ramkavar Party
of Armenia regarding each other’s biographies and personal traits
is highly notable. Harutiun Arakelyan even had an opportunity to
display his skills of a former boxer when one night two attacked him
in Yerevan. Certainly, it is possible that they were Samvel Babayan and
Albert Bazeyan who wanted to make Arakelyan accept them to the Ramkavar
Party. Now everything is possible in the political sphere of Armenia.

The problem is that the Ramkavar Party does not need either Samvel
Babayan or Albert Bazeyan. Logically it is so. What can a person
give a party who stated on the eve of the parliamentary election
that he is principled and determined to go all the way in electoral
district 37, resolved to crack down on election fraud, committed to
thousands of voters, assures that there is someone at least who went
through the war in Karabakh and unlike the others he will act with
similar valor in the political sphere, but suddenly he states he will
not run in the election in electoral district 37 to avoid political
manipulations? Before admitting such a figure to a party and even to
work the management should demand a guaranty from the society that
his presence in the given organization will not cause the society to
change its attitude towards this organization.

Or what can someone give a party who is used to leaving, for
whom resigning and retreating has become a political credo? Albert
Bazeyan’s departure started at the National Assembly where he was a
deputy speaker for a while.

He has been resigning since this position. He resigned from the post
of mayor for a few times, then he resigned from the Republic Party
instead of staying and struggling with his proponents. Now perhaps he
goes to the Ramkavar Party to resign. In other words, Albert Bazeyan
is merely looking for a place in the political sphere to resign. Can
such a person be useful to such a serious party as the Ramkavar Party?

But this is not the problem. It is not the worn popular rating of
these figures that makes their affiliation with the Ramkavar Party
unfavorable.

Simply the Ramkavar Party should have dissolved already. At the
time when its leader Harutiun Arakelyan stated that they will fight
election fraud in every possible way and afterwards he stated that
the Ramkavar Party was not going to run in the election and was put
up on the ticket of the Dashink Party.

On the other hand, however, Babayan, Bazeyan and Arakelyan with their
parties are worth one another, and this union should be encouraged
because, in fact, it will be the first union in the political sphere
of Armenia which will be based on the class, if it takes place, of
course. Meanwhile, the classification of the political sphere has
become a vital issue for Armenia.

ARMENIA IS THREATENED BY A DANGER OF ISOLATION AS GEORGIA AND AZERBAIJAN HAVE CLOSER RELATIONS WITH EUROPE, AMERICAN ANALYST THINKS

arminfo
2007-08-22 08:53:00

Armenia is threatened by a danger of isolation as Georgia and
Azerbaijan have closer relations with Europe, American analyst Richard
Kirakosyan said at the press-conference in Urbat club, Tuesday.

He also added that the problem of the North Iraq is the main
reason of Turkey’s striving not towards the West but the East. ‘The
presidential election in Russia and the USA in 2008 will greatly
affect Armenia’, – he said. Touching on the Armenian-Iranian relations,
Kirakosyan said that they are more stable than the Azernaijani-Iranian
ones. ‘Armenia and Iran are on the stable level of cooperation, but
the Azerbaijani-Iranian relations are more problematic’, – the analyst
emphasized. He called symbolic the fact that simultaneously Iranian
president left for Azerbaijan and vice-president for Armenia. ‘But
there is difference: Iranian president went to Azerbaijan to discuss
political and energy problems, but Iranian vice-president visited
Armenia because of opening of the Pan-Armenian games and to discuss
cooperation in the sphere of sports’, – he said.

NATIONAL ADL CHANGES STANCE ON GENOCIDE
822.asp

WBUR, MA
Aug 21 2007

BOSTON, Mass – August 22, 2007 – Host Intro: The unexpected reveral
of a long help policy on the Armenian genocide is the subject of
today’s Anti-Defamation League New England board meeting. The ADL is
now calling the killing of more than a million and a half Armenians
by Ottoman Turks in the early 1900’s –genocide. It’s still unclear
if Andy Tarsy, the Regional Director who was fired for challenging
the national policy, will be reinstated as many local Jewish leaders
want. WBUR’s Monica Brady-Myerov reports on reaction to the changed
policy.

Text: The news of the reversal was applauded by local Jewish leaders.

Former ADL board member Steve Grossman commended national director
Abraham Foxman for taking the moral highground.

STEVE GROSSMAN: I was very pleased that nationally the ADL recognized
that their position was no long tenable and no longer the morally
acceptable position to take. I give Abe Foxman a lot of credit it
takes a distinguished leader to recognize a mistake and to recognize
that a position has to change.

The sudden reversal was sparked by a controversy that started in
Watertown. Last week the town council voted to withdraw from an
anti-bigotry program sponsored by the ADL because it refused to
recognize the Armenian genocide. ADL Regional Director Andy Tarsy
broke ranks and called on the national organization to acknowledge
the genocide. He was fired. Rabbi Ronne Friedman of Boston’s Temple
Israel commends Tarsy for holding his ground.

RONNE FRIEDMAN: I think the regional board did absolutely the right
thing I can only image given their position that they must have gone
thru an extraordinary difficult period trying to persuade the national
director and the national board to modify its position.

The national ADL did not change its position on a Congressional
Resolution that would recognize the World War I era killings as
genocide. The ADL said yesterday they don’t support the resolution
because its quote "a counterproductive diversion." Rabbi Friedman
says the ADL should support the resolution.

RONNE FRIEDMAN: I think its half way there it was incomplete in
my eyes in that if we recognize a genocide as a genocide then as
citizens of this country we have an obligation to stand in support
of the recognition of that historical fact by our American government.

This also bothers many Armenian Americans, who say they don’t feel
satisfied with the change in policy.

Yesterday at an Armenian bakery in Watertown, where 8,000 Armenian
Americans lives, Lauren Arakelian was skeptical about the quick
turn around.

LAUREN ARAKELIAN: The ADL seems to be flip flopping about their
position and I don’t understand how they can say now that they agree
and acknowledge the genocide which they all agreed they support and
yet they won’t support the congressional resolution.

Watertown resident and Eastern Chairman of the Armenian National
Committee Dikran Kaligian says without supporting the resolution in
Congress, the reversal isn’t complete.

DIKRAN KALIGIAN: Its not a reversal, this is participating in
genocide denial and the very phrasing they use it the same phrasing
used by Turkish government in arguing why this resolution should not
be considered.

The ADL says it fears supporting it may put the Turkish Jewish
community at risk and hurt the relationship between Turkey, Israel
and the United States. It’s unclear if the regional board will further
press the national organization to support the resolution. In a letter
to board members, Regional Board Chair James Rudolph said the group
still has much work to do.

IRAN TO CEMENT TIES WITH ARMENIA

PRESS TV
Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:27:42
Iran

Iran’s Vice President for Physical Education, has discussed the
expansion of mutual cooperation with the Armenian President in Yerevan.

In a Monday meeting Robert Kocharian and Mohammad Aliabadi, called
the level of the two countries’ relations significant, emphasizing
the necessity of broadening the bilateral ties.

Aliabadi called the memorandum signed between the Iranian Physical
Education Organization and Armenia’s Ministry of Sport and Youth
a great step in boosting the two countries’ relations in the field
of sports.

In a meeting with Minister of Territorial Admin, Hovik Abrahamyan
and Minster of Foreign Affairs, Vartan Oskanian, Aliabadi underlined
Tehran’s readiness to expand cooperation with Yerevan in different
fields.

"Iran’s Armenian population plays a significant role in bringing the
two countries closer," he said.

Abrahamyan said that the participation of Iran’s Armenian athletes
in the Fourth Pan-Armenian Games is a sign of the two countries’
friendly relations.

"The Iranian President’s visit to Armenia which is scheduled before
the end of 2007, will greatly improve the political, economic and
cultural cooperation between Tehran and Yerevan," Abrahamyan concluded.

Armenian National Committee of Eastern Massachusetts
47 Nichols Avenue
Watertown, MA 02472
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
August 19, 2007
Contact: Sevag Arzoumanian
Tel: 617-233-3174

FOXMAN FORCES SHAKEUP IN NEW ENGLAND ADL

— ADL National Leader Fires Regional Director Andrew H. Tarsy; Two Regional
Board Members Resign in Protest

— ANC Calls for ADL National Leadership to End Genocide Denial; Support
Armenian Genocide Legislation (H.Res.106 / S.Res.106)

WATERTOWN, MA – Turmoil in the New England Regional Anti-Defamation League
(ADL) continued this weekend with two Board Members resigning following the
firing of Regional Director Andrew H. Tarsy, for public calls on ADL
National Director Abe Foxman to reverse policy and properly characterize the
Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of Eastern
Massachusetts (ANC-EM).

`We are disappointed and outraged to hear that Mr. Tarsy was removed from
his position simply for speaking openly and honestly about the Armenian
Genocide,’ stated ANCEM chairperson Sharistan Melkonian. `Mr. Foxman and the
ADL National Leadership are clearly out of step with their own membership,
who have rightly concluded that genocide denial is morally indefensible and
will only serve to diminish the credibility of this once-respected civil
rights organization.’

Reports of Tarsy’s firing and the resignations by Stewart L. Cohen and
Boston City Councilman Mike Ross came just days after the New England ADL
Board voted to call on the ADL National leadership to reverse their
position, properly characterize the Armenian Genocide as `genocide,’ and
support Armenian Genocide legislation (H.Res.106 / S.Res.106). According to
an August 17th Boston Globe article, Tarsy told reporter Keith O’Brien, "I
strongly disagree with ADL’s national position. It’s my strong hope that
we’ll be able to move forward in a relationship with the Armenian community
and the community in general." Just 48 hours prior, Tarsy had defended the
ADL National’s genocide denial position at the Watertown Town Council.
Tarsy, clearly uncomfortable in his remarks before the capacity crowd at the
Council meeting, was challenged when he evaded the word `genocide’ in
describing the murder of over 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman

Turkish government from 1915-1923. A myriad of Watertown residents urged the
Town Council to take action, including ANC-EM spokesperson Grace Kehetian
Kulegian, who stated `on behalf of Watertown’s Armenian community – and our
century-long history of service and sacrifice for our town – we call upon
the Town Council to dissociate itself from the ADL until such time that: The
Anti-Defamation League, through its National Director, Mr. Foxman, openly
and unequivocally acknowledges the Armenian Genocide and supports
congressional affirmation of this crime against humanity.

The Watertown Town Council voted unanimously that evening to cut ties with
the ADL, by disassociating with their `No Place for Hate’ program.

Following the New England ADL’s public call for ADL National to reverse
their position, the National ADL posted an `Open Letter to the New England
Community,’ refraining from characterizing the events of 1915-1923 as
`genocide.’ The letter also claimed that the ADL `takes no position’ on
Armenian Genocide legislation (H.Res.106 / S.Res.106) while stating `We
believe that legislative efforts outside of Turkey are counterproductive to
the goal of having Turkey itself come to grips with its past.’

`Mr. Foxman is sadly reading from a page in the Turkish government’s
genocide denial playbook,’ stated Melkonian. `Instead of helping Turkey
confront this dark page in human history, the ADL is enabling its continued
genocide denial – a decision which comes at the expense of its own
reputation." The ADL statement comes as additional towns in Massachusetts
prepare to follow Watertown’s lead in ending their association with the ADL
and Armenian Genocide denial.

Foxman’s claims of neutrality regarding Armenian Genocide legislation
contradict earlier published statements in the Boston Globe and Los Angeles
Times, where Foxman noted `The Turks and Armenians need to revisit their
past. The Jewish community shouldn’t be the arbiter of that history. And I
don’t think the U.S. Congress should be the arbiter either.’ According to
press reports, Foxman joined the American Jewish Committee, B’nai B’rith and
JINSA in forwarding a letter from Turkey’s Jewish Community citing concerns
about Armenian Genocide legislation to Members of Congress. According to an
April 27th Jewish Telegraphic Agency article by Ron Kampeas, the ADL and
JINSA `added their own statements opposing the bill.’

The Watertown – ADL controversy erupted in recent weeks, with Boston area
civil rights advocates, and local Armenian and Jewish American community
members expressing disappointment and outrage at recent statements by ADL
National Director Abe Foxman denying the Armenian Genocide. Editorials and
community letters in the local Watertown Tab and Boston Globe cast a shadow
on the credibility of the anti-racism program, `No Place for Hate’, due to
its affiliation with the ADL.

Reporter Keith O’Brien first reported Tarsy’s firing in a front-page Boston
Globe article on August 18th. The news was accompanied by a strongly worded
Globe editorial, titled `No Synonyms for Genocide,’ arguing that the
national ADL should not `pick and choose among genocides,’ and stating `if
the national ADL doesn’t acknowledge the [Armenian] genocide, it is
complicit in a cover-up.’ An op/ed coauthored by Massachusetts State
Representative Rachel Kaprielian and Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz,
published in the Boston Globe on the same day, noted `For any organization
or official to believe that there are differing sides to the Armenian
Genocide is as much an outrage as it would be for Germany to say that the
work of Jewish scholars, witnesses, and victim testimonies represented
merely the "Jewish side" of the Holocaust.’ Kaprielian and Dershowitz went
on to praise the New England Regional ADL for taking a principled stand,
noting that the `regional chapter was courageous and correct in its decision
to affirm its position that the [Armenian] genocide was fact.’

For a full listing of the press coverage this issue has received, visit:

FROM CHAD TO ARMENIA

Hayots Ashkharh Daily Newspaper
Aug 17 2007
Armenia

Torch-light procession was launched from the center of Africa, Eastern
Chad initiated by the world famous actress, UNISEF goodwill Ambassador
Mia Faro and "Save Darfur" NGO on August 8, aimed at concentrating
on the issue of genocides and especially the situation in Darfur.

The torchlight procession will pass all the countries that have ever
suffered from genocide, including Armenia.

Director of the Museum-Institute of Genocide in Yerevan Hayk Demoyan
said Armenia would be the third country from where the procession
will pass. He said, " The torchlight procession will reach Yerevan
in September after Rwanda. In Tsitsernakaberd (where the Genocide
memorial is located) the torchlight procession will most probably be
held on the last Sunday of September. That day tree planting will be
organized in Tsitsernakaberd.

"IT IS LATE FOR OPPOSITION TO UNITE," GALUST SAHAKIAN BELIEVES

Noyan Tapan
Aug 15 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, NOYAN TAPAN. We should adjust ourselves to the
thought that the Republican Party of Armenia will play a decisive
role in the forthcoming presidential elections. This statement was
made by Galust Sahakian, a member of the board of the Republican Party
of Armenia, at the press conference, which was held on August 15. He
also mentioned that it is already late for the opposition to develop
principles of unification and unite around them. In addition to this,
according to Galust Sahakian, the unification of the opposition forces
and their participation in the elections only for the purpose of having
their own chairman "does not submit to any political logic." "Whereas,
we do not regard the presidential elections as mere elections of the
president: these are elections, as a result of which political teams
are formed with new assignments, new ideas, and new principles,"
the representative of the Republican Party of Armenia mentioned.

According to him, there are rather serious problems in the country and
they agree to part of the criticisms directed at the authorities. "I do
not say that people are admired with the current authorities, However,
the current authoroties manage to prove in practice what they say,
to present their promises not by romantic, but by real pictures,"
Galust Sahakian said.

Touching upon the issue of cooperation with the opposition, he
expressed conviction that issues, which are of strategical significance
for the country, would be better to solve jointly.

NEXT MEETING OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS TO BE FIXED THIS WEEK

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 15 2007

The date of the next meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign
Ministers will be fixed this week, APA reports quoting Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov as saying.

He said that OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair (American) Matthew Bryza while
in Baku recently proposed to arrange a meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian Foreign Ministers in September, this year.