Author: Hunanian Jack

92ND ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATED

Western Queens Gazette, NY
April 18 2007

Photo: Israel Arabian, 102, tells his daughter-in-law and translator
Mini Arabian that he still has panic attacks when he remembers the
Armenian Genocide.

April 24, 2007 marks the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

On Sunday, April 22 from 2 to 4 p.m. the public is invited to join
Armenian Americans from Queens and throughout the tri-state area and
their supporters at Times Square to commemorate the 92nd anniversary
of the first mass extermination of a particular ethnic group to
occur during the 20th century and to pay tribute to Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, who was recently assassinated in Turkey because
he wrote about the Armenian Genocide. "We Cannot Forget, We Will Not
Forget" is the theme of the Commemoration.

Distinguished speakers will include John Marshall Evans, United
States Ambassador to Armenia (2004-06), Congressmember Frank Pallone
Jr. (D-New Jersey), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian
Issues, and Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, grandson
of Henry Morgenthau Sr., United States ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
during World War I. (On April 29, 1915, Henry Morgenthau Sr. stated,
"I am confident that the whole history of [the] human race contains
no such terrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions
of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings
of the Armenian race in 1915." In 1915, 33 years before the United
Nations Genocide Convention was adopted, the Armenian Genocide was
condemned by the international community as a crime against humanity.)

Photo: Annie Karakaian, 95, weeps after hearing Adriyan Bagciyan’s
story.

During World War I, the Young Turk political faction of the Ottoman
Empire sought the creation of a new Turkish state, extending into
Central Asia. Those promoting the ideology called "Pan Turkism"
(creating a homogenous Turkish state) saw Turkey’s Armenian population
as an obstacle to the realization of that goal. During the Armenian
Genocide (1915-1923), the Young Turk Government systematically forced
1.5 million Armenians out of their ancestral homeland in present-day
Turkey and annihilated them.

April 24, 1915 marked the beginning of the Armenian Genocide in
Constantinople (present day Istanbul) with the arrest, torture and
execution of 300 Armenian intellectuals, writers, poets, political
and civic leaders by the Young Turk Government of the Ottoman Empire.

Also on that day, 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered in
the streets and in their homes.

Photo: Aghavni "Aggie" Ellian, executive director of the New York Home
for the Armenian Aged in Flushing (r.), speaks with Adriyan Bagciyan,
98, about her survival during the Armenian Genocide.

In May 1915, after mass deportations had already begun, Turkish
Minister of the Interior Talaat Pasha ordered the Armenian
population’s deportation into the Syrian desert. Adult and teenage
males were separated from the deportation caravans and killed under
the direction of Young Turk functionaries. Women and children were
driven for months over mountains and desert, often raped, tortured,
and mutilated. Deprived of food and water and often stripped of
clothing, they fell by the hundreds and thousands along the routes
to the desert. Ultimately, more than half the Armenian population,
1,500,000 people, was annihilated. In this manner the Armenian people
were eliminated from their homeland of several millennia.

Sam Azadian, who lost four siblings during the Armenian Genocide,
founded the first Times Square Commemoration in 1985. Azadian stated,
"It is important to increase public awareness of the Armenian
Genocide. Two out of three Armenians perished as a result of forced
deportation and mass murder by the Ottoman Turks."

Armenian Genocide survivors living at the New York Armenian Home for
the Aged on 45th Avenue in Flushing have not forgotten the atrocities
committed against them, their families and neighbors by the Young
Turk government.

Mini Arabian, daughter-inlaw and translator for Israel Arabian, 102,
said that Israel Arabian still has panic attacks when he remembers
the Armenian Genocide. He fled the Turks and ended up living in
an orphanage in Greece after his mother and father were killed. He
doesn’t remember his parents and lost contact with a sister, who was
forced to marry a Turk and live in Turkey. Eventually through the
Red Cross, he was able to reconnect with his sister through letters,
but he never saw her again. Mini said that her grandmother, Hagi
Synanian, a mother of five, fled on foot. During her long journey,
four of her five children died of starvation and she had to dig their
graves and bury them. The only child who survived was Mini’s father.

Adriyan Bagciyan, 99, blurted, "Everyone knows our story. What did the
Turks do? They killed my entire family! What story can I tell you? I
remember fleeing to Syria to escape the Turks." Kristine Naldjian,
100, recalled, "I remember running and hiding in the mountains. The
Turks beat, raped and killed young girls. I saw the Turks take our
school teachers away from our classrooms. Our teachers never returned."

Annie Karakaian is 95. Her eyes welled up with tears after hearing
Adriyan Bagciyan’s story. Karakaian added, "We were all afraid of the
Turks. My father was a carpenter and helped save Armenians by building
a secret hiding space under our stairs. My father was eventually
forced into the Turkish army. We were finally reunited with my father
and in 1920 he made us wooden suitcases and my whole family traveled
by boat to Ellis Island." Karakaian, an artist and sculptor, proudly
revealed that she "obtained the American Dream" and graduated with
a fine arts degree from Queens College, cum laude, at the age of 61.

Dennis Papazian, PhD, founding director of the Armenian Research
Center at the University of Michigan, noted, "The Turkish government to
this day continues to deny the reality of the Armenian Genocide which
opened the door to all the genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries
including the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. In fact,
when Hitler sent his Death Head troops into Poland at the beginning
of World War II, he said ‘Go. Kill without mercy.

Who today remembers the extermination of the Armenians?’"

On January 30, 2007, Congressmembers Adam Schiff (D-California), George
Radanovich (R-California), Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Pallone and Joe
Knollenberg (RMichigan), Brad Sherman (DCalifornia) and Thaddeus
McCotter (R-Michigan) introduced the Armenian Genocide Resolution
(House Resolution 106) to reaffirm the Armenian Genocide.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Majority
Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) have also championed U.S. efforts at
reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide. The resolution "Call[s] upon
the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States
reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues
related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented
in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide, and
for other purposes."

On March 14, 2007, the Armenian Genocide Resolution (Senate Resolution
106), mirroring House Resolution 106, was introduced in the U.S. Senate
by Assistant Majority Leader Senator Richard J.

Durbin (DIllinois) and Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada).

The 92nd Commemoration is organized by Mid-Atlantic Knights and
Daughters of Vartan (), a U.S. fraternal
organization of Armenian-Americans, and cosponsored by the Armenian
General Benevolent Union (), the Armenian Assembly of
America (), the Armenian National Committee of America
() and ARMENPAC, the Armenian-American Political Action
Committee ().

For more information about participating in the 92nd anniversary
commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, call Knights and Daughters
of Vartan Chair Hirant Gulian, 212-764- 8730 or Sam Azadian at 973-
827-2487.

0418/features/024.html

STILL THERE IS NO DECISION BY ERDOGAN OVER HIS CANDIDATURE FOR PRESIDENTIAL POST

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.04.2007 18:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "In the current circumstances there exist a
certain risk in connection with my candidature for the presidential
post. We will not take the risk," Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Erdogan stated. He said, the final decision over nominating his
candidature will be made after consultations with political forces of
Turkey. Erdogan’s decision came after a rally of 300,000 protesters in
Ankara, who protested against country’s islamization that Erdogan and
his "Justice and development" party lead to. Today the Prime Minister
met with leaders of parliamentarian opposition, Turkish media reports.

On April 16 the process of proposing candidature for the presidential
post launched in Turkey. Elections will be hold in the parliament May
22. The time for registration expires April 25 and the Prime Minister
stated he will give his final answer till that period.

Beginning from April 26 within 20 days deputies of Turkish Grand
National Assembly must elect the next president of the country. The
current President Ahmed Necdet Sezer is follower of Kemalism, who
protect principles of secular state.

BOLTON’S NEW STAR TEYMOURIAN FEELING AT HOME

Persian League, Iran
April 17 2007

GOAL – Bolton Wanderers’ new star Andranik Teymourian is settling
in nicely in England. The Armenian-born Iranian midfielder was in
the headlines after his two goals against Wigan last week gave the
Trotters a 3-1 win.

"To be the only Iranian playing in England makes me feel very proud,"
the 24 year-old told The Guardian.

"I’m hoping I can be a good advert for English football and
particularly for Bolton Wanderers. My photograph has been in all the
Iranian newspapers and the goals are being replayed all the time. Not
many people in Iran knew much of Bolton but I hope there will be
people in Tehran wearing Bolton shirts the next time I go home."

"The culture is not massively different for me in England because
what I was doing in Iran I now do here," Teymourian says.

In an international league, Bolton is one of the most cosmopolitan
clubs with a number of nationalities.

"The only problem is the language barrier and for the first five or
six months that was really hard. It’s getting easier now, though,
and I’ve picked up a lot of the football terms."

"The most important thing for me was to understand my manager and,
after that, to learn the other things. Sometimes people here speak
really fast and because of their strong accents I don’t understand
much. But I understand part of what Sam Allardyce is saying now and
we get along really well."

The highly-rated former Abu Moslem star rejected offers from the
Middle-East and Germany for the Premier League to head to the
north-west.

"I wanted to play in England because the way the teams play football
here you will not see anywhere else in the world. All the top clubs
– Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool – are always on
television back in Iran and I love their style of play.

USDA PROVIDES NEW COMPUTERS TO REGIONAL VETERINARY CENTERS OF ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Apr 12 2007

ARMAVIR, APRIL 12, NOYAN TAPAN. A new computer, printer and "Augius"
software were given to the veterinary inspection and the laboratory
of Armavir by the National Veterinary Program of the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA). During his visit to Armavir on
April 12, the RA Deputy Minister of Agriculture Levon Rukhkian said
that it is envisaged to provide all regional offices of the State
Veterinary Inspection with computers having Internet connection –
computers have already been installed in five marzes.

According to the US Charge d’Affaires Anthony Godfrey, these computers
will enable to send immediately information about cases of animal
diseases in Armenian marzes to the central veterinary laboratory
of Yerevan.

Director of the Republican Veterinary Anti-Epidemic and Diagnostic
Center Hovhannes Hakobian noted that about 2,000 diseases of
agricultural animals are registered in Armenia annually. In his words,
the inspection jointly with the ministry makes regular diagnosis of
animals, as well as takes preventive measures in order to prevent
possible outbreaks of bird flu in the country.

TUFENKIAN TAKES TEXAS
Brittany Edwards

Dallas Morning News , TX
April 12 2007

Handmade rugs range from silk to wool

Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

New York artisan rug company Tufenkian (pronounced too-FEN-key-an)
recently opened its first Texas showroom in Dallas’ trendy
International on Turtle Creek design suites. Feng shui-conscious and
environmentally friendly firm Clodagh designed the 2,800-square foot
showroom, next door to Allan Knight.

All of Tufenkian’s floor fixtures are made by hand and run the gamut
in style. Modern, traditional, Arts and Crafts, and primitive designs
are found in the core Tibetan wool collection, while classic subdued,
Persian-style designs make up the Armenian collection. The Designer’s
Reserve collection features silky carpets by famous artists such as
Barbara Barry, Vicente Wolf and founder James Tufenkian.

Prices are per request. But don’t expect any bargains – rumor has it
a 9-by-12-foot rug here takes 3,000 man-hours.

APA
US supports South Caucasus gas pipeline
11 Apr 2007 14:45

Washington supports the construction of the South Caucasus gas pipeline, APA
reports quoting the US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher.
He said that the implementation of the important South Caucasus pipeline
project will strengthen energy security and contribute to the development of
the whole region.
"The United States is ready to assist the region countries for that", he
said.
The US senior official also said the US welcomes the negotiations between
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Turkmenistan’s President Gurbangulu
Berdimukhammedov.

MORE AZERIS WANT A PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT TO KARABAKH ISSUE

ARMENPRESS
Apr 10 2007

BAKU, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS: A public opinion poll conducted by a
controversial Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) among residents
of Azerbaijani capital Baku has found that 51 percent of Azeris would
prefer to take up arms ‘to liberate’ their lands, which are under
Armenian ‘occupation."

The portion of those who would prefer a peaceful settlement to the
dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh is 41 percent, while 8
percent were uncertain.

The proponents of the military way of settling the conflict are mainly
young men.

KLO experts said the number of people wishing a peaceful settlement
has grown over their previous survey, but they attribute it to what
they termed as ‘weak patriotic propaganda.’

FRIENDLY OR NON-COMPETITIVE MATCHES

A1+
[12:14 pm] 10 April, 2007

Today, quarter semi-final re-matches will be held for the Armenian
Football Cup. The meetings are non-competitive though the best
Armenian 8 teams are playing: this is due to their official permits
for next game.

For instance, what should we expect from "Bentonit" – ‘Pyunik’
match? The Armenian champion beat his rival 4:0. The same we can
assume about "Kilikia"-"Banants" meeting. "Banants" has managed to
beat its rival 5:1 in one of their matches therefore they are allowed
to play together with substitutes.

"Shirak" will meet "Mika" in Gyumri. The latter is a cup-holder and
it is likely to win the permit for the semi-final matches as far as
it beat its rival 4:1.

The matches among "Pyunik"," Mika","Banants" and "Ararat" are expected
to be more tense and serious.

BOLTON TOAST TEYMOURIAN
By Oliver Brown

The Telegraph, UK
April 9 2007

Wigan (1) 1 Bolton (1) 3

The road from Teheran to Wigan pier might sound like a journey of
Orwellian bleakness, but for Andranik Teymourian it is one with a happy
resolution. After an inglorious week for Anglo-Iranian relations,
this unheralded midfielder proved the wisdom of Bolton’s ‘league
of nations’ philosophy with two goals that edged the club closer to
Europe, while dispatching Wigan deeper into the wilderness.

Often, when watching Bolton’s exotic assembly of talents, one cannot
help but ask, "Where on earth did he come from?" In the case of
Teymourian – a 24-year-old of Armenian extraction plucked from the
Abu Moslem club in Mashad – it is a question with a colourful answer,
reflecting the full reach of the scouting network pioneered by manager
Sam Allardyce. Such an approach is either inspired or mad but, seeing
how the club’s latest import tipped the balance at the JJB Stadium,
few would dare doubt it.

Rewind to last summer’s World Cup. Bolton receive a call, saying there
is a young man in Iran’s national team desperate to try his luck in
England. The name’s Teymourian, the agent says, and he will cost half
a million dollars. The deal is done and the rest, in Wigan’s case at
least, is history.

"You wouldn’t expect too many Iranians to play in the Premiership –
finding one was about being in the right place at the right time,
and acting on limited knowledge," Allardyce said. "I don’t think we
realise how big the Premiership is, but when players like him come and
tell you how much it’s watched in Iran, Kuwait, Dubai, you realise
that their love for it is such, that if they get the opportunity to
come here they can’t wait to grasp it."

On the surface, this defence of Teymourian’s motives undercuts
claims that English football is suffering at the hands of foreign
opportunists. But it does not tell the full story, for Bolton,
whose latest win has taken them to within two points of Arsenal, are
grappling with a dichotomy, wanting to broaden the pool of British
talent but lacking the political back-up to do so.

"I would much prefer to bring 10 homegrown players through, because we
have to look after our own," said Allardyce. "It’s a responsibility for
British managers to try to do that, to create our own champions. But
we need help from all aspects of government."

In this vacuum, the responsibility has fallen to Teymourian to help
sustain Bolton’s progress, and in the second half against Wigan he
delivered, adding to Nicolas Anelka’s strike with a calm finish from
El-Hadji Diouf’s exquisite cross, then scoring with an instinctive
near-post header five minutes later. "I’m loving it in England," he
said. "I have settled in well, although football in England is very,
very different to Iran."

Three thousand miles away, his first Premiership goals were doubtless
being toasted in Teheran. But just nine miles away, in Wigan, they were
being cursed. A second straight defeat, after Emile Heskey had steered
in the first goal, has left the club on the ragged edge of relegation.

While manager Paul Jewell acknowledged his side were in a "dog-fight",
stand-in captain Matt Jackson, who successfully battled relegation
with Everton, sought to impart a more positive message.

"We have to make sure we fight through it," he said. "The one thing we
cannot afford to do is panic – that would be the worst thing possible."

~U Man of the match: Andranik Teymourian (Bolton).

Match details

Wigan Athletic (4-4-2): Filan; Taylor, Jackson, Hall, Baines;
Valencia, Scharner, Skoko (Cotterill 74), McCulloch; Heskey, Folan
(Camara 63). Subs: Nash (g), Kilbane, Unsworth. Goals: Heskey 32
Bolton Wanderers (4-4-2): Jaaskelainen; Hunt, Meite, Faye, Ben Haim
(Gardner 35); Teymourian, Thompson (Tal 74), Speed, Davies; Anelka
(Giannakopoulos 88), Diouf. Subs: Al Habsi (g), Pedersen. Goals:
Anelka 44, Teymourian 68, 73. Booked: Thompson, Davies, Jaaskelainen.
Referee: U Rennie (S Yorkshire).

‘THE LARK FARM’, ‘A POLITICALLY INCORRECT FILM’ TO BE SUBMITTED TO APPROVAL OF ARMENIAN SPECTATORS AT THE OPENING OF ‘GOLDEN APRICOT’ FILM FESTIVAL

Arminfo
2007-04-09 22:58:00

The "Golden Apricot" international film festival, which will be held
in Yerevan in July 2007, will be opened with a film about the Armenian
Genocide – "The Lark Farm" directed by Italian brothers Paolo and
Vittorio Taviani.

Haroutyun Khachatryan, an Armenian film director, told ArmInfo
correspondent that the steering committee of the festival received a
preliminary consent of the film’s authors to show the film within the
framework of the "Golden Apricot" festival. Taviani brothers, as well
as the script writer, and the author of "The Lark Farm" novel, Antonia
Arslan, are expected to attend the film’s opening night in Yerevan.

To note, the film tells about the tragedy of an Armenian family which
was almost completely extirpated during the massacre of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey. The film was first shown at the Berlin film festival
and was recognized the best film of the festival. The show of the
film coincided with the murder of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
in Istanbul and threats against Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk. The
film was criticized by Turkey which qualified the step of their Geman
allies as "politically incorrect". However, earlier Taviani brothers
said that they will do their best to show the film in Turkey.

The budget of "The Lark Farm" made up 9,7 mln EUR, and the leading
parts were played by Alessandro Preziosi, Angela Molina and Arsine
Khanjian, a Canadian-Armenian actress. The film was financially
supported by the Eurimages Fund which allocated 600 thsd EUR for the
shooting. To note, the film wasn’t shown in Italy, and as earlier
Giffoni Claudio Gubitosi, the director of the international festival,
told ArmInfo correspondent, both Italy and Armenia look forward to
seeing "The Lark Farm".