Author: Hovhannisian John

Houston Chronicle, TX
Sept 4 2005
Novel’s narrator finds himself
But the reader may be lost on the trip
By DEBRA WEINSTEIN
THE ZAHIR.
By Paulo Coelho.
HarperCollins, 298 pp. $24.95.
The unnamed narrator at the center of Paulo Coelho’s The Zahir:
A Novel of Obsession is an international best-selling novelist who
lives in France and brings in $2 million a year from royalties even
when he doesn’t publish a book. When he publishes a book, he earns
about $5 million. This may be a multimillion-dollar year for Coelho,
who will be publishing an estimated 8 million copies of The Zahir in
83 countries. He is a publishing giant, the author of the self-help
spiritual fable The Alchemist; his publisher claims he broke a
Guinness world record when he signed 53 different language editions
of The Alchemist in one sitting at the 2003 Frankfurt Book Fair.
Coelho’s Alchemist was a lean book about a shepherd boy’s journey
to find treasure buried in the Pyramids; he discovers instead the
treasures within himself. In The Zahir, the shepherd boy is transformed
into a celebrity novelist, and the treasure he’s searching for is
his wife, Esther, a war correspondent who has disappeared. Was Esther
kidnapped or killed, or did she simply abandon a marriage that left
her unfulfilled? It’s a premise rich with inherent drama, but despite
the claims on the dust jacket, it’s not really the story of this novel.
This novel is about the novelist. He’s a man who, since he was a child,
has “fought to make freedom (his) most precious commodity,” who writes
“pages of such genius that even (he) couldn’t understand them.” The
novelist’s life may be empty, but it’s the emptiness of book signings
in mega-stores, lunches with representatives of the film industry and
interviews with journalists asking the same tired questions. When
he’s not thinking about his fame and success, he’s thinking about
Esther ~W his Zahir ~W a concept that roughly translated means his
obsession. Should the novelist go in search of a wife who is somewhere
in the interior of Kazakhstan? Halfway through the book, he still
can’t decide: “Before I could find her, I must first find myself.”
Coelho’s narrator “finds himself” through a host of characters
who serve as the author’s mirror or mouthpiece. You know them
simply through their dialogue, which is indistinguishable from the
novelist’s first-person narration. There is his girlfriend, Marie, a
35-year-old French actress who encourages him to write his next book,
A Time to Rend and a Time to Sew. The book is about his lost wife,
and it becomes an instant best-seller, and Marie isn’t even jealous.
She’s a celebrity, too, so she understands about success, and she’s
also a fan.
Then there is Mikhail, the man with whom Esther has disappeared. He
surfaces in France to offer the narrator his special brand of spiritual
guidance. He’s a performance artist who does group therapy with
unhappily married people in an Armenian restaurant, and he travels
around with a band of homeless bohemians.
When, in the final pages of this meandering book, our narrator finds
his wife, it’s a scene meant to be poignant, but it’s cringe-making in
its grandiosity. Here is Esther, the Zahir, conveniently transported
to where the author wants her, fitting too neatly into the narrator’s
life.
This is the age of the blog, of instant hit-and-run publishing. It’s
easy to put your blah-blah-blah out there for a reading public. But
novels are different; they demand some sort of narrative thread.
Coelho knows this. In one of many asides in a novel of asides,
he writes, “When I used to read biographies of writers, I always
thought they were simply trying to make their profession seem more
interesting when they said that ‘the book writes itself, the writer
is just the typist.'” The Zahir feels a lot like typing.
Debra Weinstein, author of Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z, wrote
this for the Washington Post Book World.

Timoshenko passes sarcastic comments on flamboyant Rssn MP
By Vitaly Matarykin
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 2, 2005 Friday
KIEV, September 2 — Circumstances have pressed Ukrainian Prime
Minister Julia Timoshenko to make comments on issues standing wide
apart from economy or politics.
Friday night, she made explanations to the media about her ethnic
background and aired a sarcastic note on a flamboyant Russian MP who
had initiated the filming of an erotic parody depicting her fictitious
intimacy with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
Timoshenko said Transport Minister Yevgeny Chervonenko had released
untrue information about her ethnic roots in connection with the
beating of a student of the Jewish Theological University in Kiev at
the end of August.
Chervonenko accused her of insufficient attention to the incident,
saying she herself had an Armenian father and a Jewish mother.
“My mom was very astonished to hear it, because she’s a hundred percent
Ukrainian as far bask as her roots can be traced,” Timoshenko said.
Her late father descended from an ethnic Latvian family, she said
contrary to media reports that he maiden surname was Grigian, which
clearly suggests an affiliation with the Armenian people.
On the beating of the Jewish religious student, Timoshenko said all
the malefactors had been detained.
“I am well-disposed towards the Jews, I support all the Jewish
organizations and treat that nation very respectfully,” she said
She did not shun the question about the erotic movie, an idea of which
was authored by the Russian Liberal-Democratic MP Alexei Mitrofanov.
“I actually think the people who do such things can only have some
fantasies about sex but are good for nothing when it comes down to the
real thing, so let’s forgive them their trespasses,” Timoshenko said.

THE RESIDENTS OF ARTSAKH WANT PERPETUAL INDEPENDENCE
A1+
| 18:27:10 | 02-09-2005 | Social |
“I wish for the Artsakh independence to be perpetual as it was won
at the cost of numerous lives. May Artsakh to develop together with
Armenia. Let the rainbow after the rain gather all the Armenians from
all over the world together”, this is the wish of Epraxia Karapetyan
who lost his son and his 60-year-old husband in the Karabakh war.
On September 2 the population of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
celebrates the 14th anniversary of independence. In connection with
this, in different residences on Karabakh events were organized. In
Askeran the people and the officials visited the monument to the
Unknown Soldier and put flowers on it.
After that the soldiers of the Askeran detachment marched under the
Armenian and Artsakh National Anthems. According to Commander Samvel
Beglaryan, the duty of the Army is to nurture patriotism and heroism
in the hearths of the young generation, as the future of the country
is theirs.
The local officials congratulated the population. After that the
spiritual leader of the Askeran St. Mariam Church sent his blessings
and congratulations to all the Armenians, “This is the Independence
day of all of us as every meter of land was won with the blood of an
Armenian. So I congratulate the Armenians from all over the world. May
the Lord support our countries”, said the priest.
And yesterday evening the local municipality handed medals to 6 local
veterans of the Great Patriotic War on behalf of Robert Kocharyan.
Lilit Asryan
>>From Artsakh especially for “A1+”

TURKISCHES GERICHT KLAGT PAMUK AN
von Boris Kalnoky
Die Welt, Deutschland
1 sept. 2005
Dem Schriftsteller droht wegen einer Armenien-Äußerung Haftstrafe
Istanbul – In ihrem ehrgeizigen Streben, eines Tages zur europaischen
Staatenfamilie gehoren zu durfen, macht die Turkei vieles eindrucksvoll
richtig. Mancher Schritt geht freilich so arg daneben, daß selbst
wohlgesinnte Beobachter Bauchgrimmen bekommen. Der bislang schrillste
Mißklang ist die Entscheidung eines Istanbuler Staatsanwaltes, den
international anerkanntesten Schriftsteller des Landes vor Gericht zu
zerren. Orhan Pamuk muß sich am 16. Dezember des Vorwurfs erwehren,
die “turkische Identitat verunglimpft” zu haben.
Konkret geht es um eine Aussage Pamuks, in der Turkei seien 30 000
Kurden und eine Million Armenier getotet worden und niemand rede
daruber.
Viel wird wirklich nicht daruber geredet, denn der Gummi-Paragraph
301/1, der besser zu einem totalitaren Regime als in die demokratische
Turkei passen wurde, bedroht jeden mit sechs bis 36 Monaten Gefangnis,
der das tut. Dieses Strafmaß gilt auch fur Pamuk.
Was denn die “turkische Identitat” sein soll, die es da mit Gewalt
vor jeglicher Kritik zu schutzen gilt, das bleibt ebenso unerklart
wie die Frage, was genau an Pamuks Aussagen einen Angriff auf besagte
Identitat darstellen soll. Daß mindestens 30 000 Kurden getotet wurden,
das gilt allgemein als historisch korrekt und wurde indirekt auch
von turkischen Staatsanwalten ins Feld gefuhrt, als es darum ging,
Kurdenfuhrer Abdullah Ocalan zu verurteilen. Freilich war da nur von
“mehr als 30 000 Todesopfern” im Guerillakrieg der PKK die Rede. Daß
die meisten von ihnen Kurden waren, wurde nicht prazisiert.
Was die armenischen Opfer betrifft, so wird man Pamuk vermutlich
bitten, Beweise fur die Zahl “eine Million” zu erbringen. Das
kann schwer werden, da es keine verlaßlichen Opferzahlen gibt. Die
armenischen Behauptungen von “1,5 Millionen Opfern” beim “Genozid” von
1915 sind mit Sicherheit ubertrieben, die turkischen Regierungszahlen
von rund “300 000 Opfern” der “Vertreibung” gelten bei den meisten
nichtturkischen Historikern als stark untertrieben. 600 000 bis 800
000 Todesopfer ist ein Mittelwert, auf den sich gemaßigte Historiker
eingestellt haben, freilich ohne diese Zahl dokumentieren zu konnen.
Aber die Zahlenklauberei lenkt nur von der Hauptsache ab, daß es
namlich zu Vergehen gegen die Menschlichkeit gekommen ist, fur die der
Staat, dessen Schutz die damaligen ottomanischen Burger anbefohlen
waren, direkt verantwortlich war, da es doch die Regierung war,
die die Vertreibung der armenischen Zivilbevolkerung anordnete und
organisierte. Daß es dabei zu großen Verlusten an Menschenleben kommen
wurde, zumal die Opfer ohne Verpflegung oder Infrastruktur bewußt
in die Glutholle der syrischen Wuste gebracht wurden, das mussen die
turkischen Fuhrer gewußt und in Kauf genommen haben.
Die große Frage ist nun, ob im Verfahren gegen Pamuk ein ubereifriger
konservativer Staatsanwalt als Einzelganger vorprescht, um den besten
geistigen Botschafter der liberaleren Turkei außer Gefecht zu setzen
– oder ob dahinter Politiker die Faden ziehen. Immerhin lauft seit
Monaten eine staatlich organisierte und koordinierte Kampagne in der
Genozid-Debatte. Die Regierung hat erkannt, daß das internationale
“Vorurteil”, es habe einen Genozid an den Armeniern gegeben, potentiell
zu großem politischen Schaden fuhren kann, und ist nun bemuht, die
Initiative zu ergreifen, um die Genozid-These zu entkraften. Das
Verfahren gegen Pamuk paßt in diese Strategie ebenso hinein wie vor
einiger Zeit die Torpedierung einer Historikerkonferenz. Da hatte
der Justizminister vor dem Parlament gegen die Organisatoren gewutet,
und diese hatten prompt die ganze Veranstaltung abgeblasen.
–Boundary_(ID_JxjjWggLYl0MjniZLtDdDA)–

FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF BESLAN TRAGEDY MARKED TODAY
A1+
| 12:00:05 | 01-09-2005 | Politics |
UNICEF today marked the first anniversary of the Beslan school tragedy
by calling on all adults to shield children from war and conflict.
One year ago today, gunmen invaded School No. 1 in Beslan, Russian
Federation as it teemed with children and parents celebrating the
first day of the school year. Three days later, the siege ended with
more than 170 children and hundreds of adults dead.
The people of Beslan have rallied behind their children. And those
children are reaching out to each other across religious and ethnic
divides. “This community – scarred though it is – is charting a course
to recovery,” said UNICEF Regional Director for Central and Eastern
Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Maria Calivis.
“Today, we join the families of Beslan to honour those who died in
the siege of School No. 1,” said Calivis. “During those three days in
September 2004, the sanctity of childhood itself came under attack. It
plumbed the depths of inhumanity.”
The attack on School No. 1 and the tragic events that followed were
part of a rising tide of violence against children.
“It is time to take stock,” said Calivis. “We are not doing enough
for our children. We can do more.”

3,165 MISSING INDIVIDUALS FROM BOTH SIDES DURING NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT CURRENTLY INCLUDED IN UPDATED LIST
ARKA News Agency
Aug 30 2005
YEREVAN, August 30. /ARKA/. A total of 3,165 missing individuals
from both sides during the Nagorno Karabakh conflict are currently
included in the updated list, press-service of the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported ARKA News Agency. According
to press-release, this list was given to the authorities of Armenia,
Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in February, 2004. The ICRC continues
its support to both sides of Nagorno Karabakh conflict in their search
for the missed citizens. In January, 2005 the ICRC called on conflict
sides to find out the fate of the missed individuals and proposed
a special plan for receiving the information about them. The ICRC
will continue receive applications from the families of dismissed
individuals in 2006, when the collection of personal data is expected
to start. The ICRC is an organization which main activity is the search
of dismissed people during the war or internal collisions. The staff
of the ICRC also visited 570,000 prisoners in 2004; they registered
data about them to be able to follow their fate during their term of
imprisonment. A.A.

Azeri, Armenian leaders meet at CIS summit
ANS TV, Baku
27 Aug 05

The latest stage of talks between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
and Armenian President Robert Kocharyan was held in Kazan, the capital
of [Russia’s] Tatarstan, today. The presidents had a face-to-face
meeting, after which they were joined by the co-chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group and the personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office [on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict], Andrzej
Kasprzyk.
There will be more details about the talks in our next news bulletins.

PRIVATIZATION BEGAN TEN YEARS AGO
Azat Artsakh Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
26 Aug 05
Ten years ago privatization of the state property began. In February
1995 the National Assembly passed the law on privatization and
denationalization of state enterprises and unfinished buildings. On
the basis of this law the Agency for Census and Denationalization of
State Property was established,which was put in charge of
privatization. The first programme of privatization, the 1995-1996
programme was adopted. Privatization in Karabakh can be divided into
two stages. In the first stage which lasted from 1995 to 1998 shops,
public food places, services, rented areas and unfinished buildings
were privatized. The second stage, the privatization of large
enterprises, began with the adoption of the law on privatization of
state property in 1998. According to the head of the department of
state property management and privatization of the NKR Ministry of
Territorial Management and Development of Infrastructures Arsen
Abrahamian, by August 1, 2005 871 small enterprises (92 per cent of
the 936 enterprises included in the programme) have been
privatized. Of these 168 were privatized by the staffs of the
enterprises, 430 by the lessees, 184 were put out to auction, 62 by
direct sale. 26 enterprises were provided free of charge according to
the investment plan. Budget return on privatization totaled 468
million drams. As to large enterprises, A. Abrahamian said, 62of the
104 companies one of the shareholders of which is the state (the
evaluated cost of which is 2 billion 953 million) have been
privatized. Half of these enterprises were privatized through direct
sale, 18 (28.1 per cent) were put out to tender, 14 (21.9 per cent)
were provided free of charge. State budget receipts from
privatization of the mentioned companies totaled 727.3 million
drams. Besides small enterprises and large commercial organizations
structural units separated from the property of 34 companies were
privatized as well, of which 28 (82.3 per cent) through direct sale, 5
were provided free of charge, 1 was put out to tender. Budget return
on these units totaled 84.5 million drams. Budget return on
privatization of unfinished buildings totaled 4.2 million drams. As to
the aims of privatization and denationalization, A.
Abrahamian said, `Generally, privatization of state property is the
most lasting reform of the government. The public opinion about the
idea of privatization varies, but it has many positive sides. The
privatization of state enterprises allows improving the effectiveness
of the operation of these enterprises.
Besides the competition between companies of different types of
ownership enable sustainable economic growth. The government expects
growth in the number of private companies through privatization. The
means from privatization, as the numbers cited above show, are a
source of budget receipts. There are also other aims, such as the flow
of foreign and local investments, importof new technologies.’ In
reference to investments A. Abrahamian mentioned that since the
beginning of privatization investment programmes of 7 billion drams
have been implemented, about 2 thousand NKR and foreign citizens have
become proprietors. A. Abrahamian said the investors mainly implement
their liabilities (by 95 per cent). `But, of course, there are cases
when the buyers cannot make the payments and investments in time,’ he
said. In such casesthe government studies the possibilities of
implementing the liabilities of the investor. If the possibilities are
good, the payment of liabilities is deferred, if not, the government
resorts to confiscation through court. A. Abrahamian mentioned 20
similar cases. `It should be noted that the governmentis interested in
completion of the contract by the buyer. Therefore, if the least
chance is there, it tries to solve the question in favour of the
buyer.’ In connection with the legislation of the republic
A. Abrahamian mentioned that it provides for normal privatization and,
according to him, it does not need any changes.
SRBUHI VANIAN.
26-08-2005

ISA GAMBAR: CURRENT TALKS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN REMIND OF “IMITATION”
BAKU. AUGUST 25. ARMINFO-TURAN: Authorities’ arbitrariness, corruption
and unlawfulness are among Azerbaijan’s main problems, Isa Gambar,
Musavat party’s leader, said today in his interview to Turkish
television channel Turk-Haber.
Gambar added that international organizations list Azerbaijan as the
most corrupt world country. Authorities steal people’s property and
votes. And this happens every elections during the past 13 years, he
added. In 2003 democrats won presidential elections, but authorities
stole this victory and used violence against people to suppress just
discontent. “We are determined to put an end to this unlawfulness
during the forthcoming parliamentary elections,” he said. Asked how he
sees Karabakh conflict settlement, Musavat party’s leader said he
backs a peaceful way. “Military way will lead to suffering and
conflict we need to strengthen country’s economic and military
potential, democratize the whole state system and observe human
rights. “We should approach the problem with respect to rights of
national minorities in accordance with demands of European community,”
said Gambar.
Speaking about Azerbaijan’s foreign policy, Gambar said that Musavat
supports Azerbaijan’s integration into European-Atlantic space and
NATO and establishing of equal and mutually beneficial relationships
with Russia.
He called Azerbaijan’s foreign policy “dances between Moscow and
Washington.” He added that the republic needs consistent and legible
foreign policy “without surprises.”
Questioned how alliance between Russia and Armenia affects situation
in the region, Gambar said that Moscow always used Armenia as its
outpost on the Caucasus and as means of seizure of the Caucasus. “But
today we cannot live with 19 century-old views,” he said.
Musavat leader said in the past time Russia pursues a more balanced
policy with respect to Azerbaijan. If Russia pursues “a just” policy
with respect to Armenia and Azerbaijan, situation on the Caucasus will
stabilize, said Isa Gambar.

Philadelphia Inquirer, PA
Aug 26 2005
Rockers on a roll.
Accessing System’s spiritual side
By Dan Deluca
Inquirer Music Critic
Daron Malakian, the guitarist and principal songwriter for the
dazzlingly versatile Armenian American heavy rock band System of a
Down, is not a religious man.
But when Malakian, who will play at the Spectrum tonight along with
his System band mates, Serj Tankian, Shavo Odadjian and John
Dolmayan, talks about the creative outpouring that led to SOAD’s two
2005 albums, Mezmerize (out now) and Hypnotize (due in November), he
speaks in spiritual terms.
“The best way I can explain it is that I’m like a religious person
who prays a lot,” says Malakian, 30, who was born to parents who
emigrated from Iraq to System’s home base of Los Angeles. (The other
band members were born in Armenia and Lebanon, but they all attended
the same Armenian private school in L.A.)
“You pray a lot to get closer to God. For me, my religion is what I
do with music. I’m very into it. I’m very serious about it,” he says.
“And I’m always ready for my higher power to channel the music
through me. That’s what I wait for.”
Tankian has described System’s sound, which combines a metal edge
with Zappa-esque adventurousness, as “progressive rock in a
three-minute-song format.” The wide range of Malakian’s musical
interests is apparent as he randomly scrolls through his iPod. “Let’s
see, what have I got on here,” he says, talking on the phone from a
tour stop in Miami. “I just listened to Elvis in Hawaii. James Brown.
I’ve got some Scandinavian death metal. Wham! Agnostic Front. Alien
Sex Fiend. Al DiMeola. And I got the 2 Live Crew…”
Malakian’s catholic taste is apparent on the masterful Mezmerize, on
songs such as the radio hit “B.Y.O.B.,” which moves in the blink of
an eye from an all-out guitar thrash attack to operatic vocal
flourishes to a mock war recruitment ad song chorus (“Everybody’s
going to the party, have a real good time/Dancing in the desert,
blowing up the sunshine”).
“That’s pretty much my ball game,” says Malakian, who has always
written most of the band’s music but sings more than ever
onMezmerize. “What I bring to the band is my structuring and
songwriting style. Make it progressive, make it interesting, yet keep
it simple.”
With such an ambitious musical agenda and lyrics that often take a
confrontational political stance – and frequently mention the deaths
of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Turkish government
between 1915 and 1923, which Malakian calls a “genocide” – it’s one
of the wonders of modern popular music that System of a Down is a
multi-million-selling band.
Like the prog-rock upstarts of Mars Volta (who will open tonight),
Malakian says “we see ourselves as an experimental band.”
“I don’t put walls in front of what I can write songs about or what I
can’t write songs about. There’s a hell of a lot of people who are
afraid to say the things that we’re saying right now, and I think
people appreciate that kind of honesty.”
Malakian, who has many relatives in Iraq, says he writes songs from a
social, rather than a political, perspective.
“When we sing a line like ‘Why don’t presidents fight the war?/ Why
do they always send the poor?,’ you can bring it down to a class
issue, if you like. Or it could be really personal for you, if you
just came from Iraq and have lost two legs and are sitting in a
hospital listening to that song.
“There are plenty of kids out there like that. And I’d like there to
be someone to speak for them.”