Author: Hunanian Jack

‘THEY WILL BE OUR WITNESSES’
By Eli Rubenstein
Canadian Jewish News, Canada
May 17 2006
“We have all just spent a very challenging week in Poland. We have
seen the worst level of behaviour that humanity can express, which
resulted in the near destruction of Jewish life in eastern Europe.
But this evening, when I look out at this sea of young faces, here
in our homeland, the land of Israel, and see your commitment and
dedication to Am Yisrael, I know that the future of the Jewish People
is in good hands.”
These words were spoken by Anita Ekstein, Holocaust survivor, hidden
child and national chair of the March of the Living, to Canadian
march participants, at a special ceremony in Israel held on the eve
of Yom Ha’atzmaut.
“I am certain that I speak for all of my fellow survivors,” she
continued, “when I say, that travelling with 500 Canadian Jewish
teens to Poland, and being here together with you in Israel – there is
simply no better feeling in the world. Your presence with us on the
March of the Living fills us, the survivors, with the greatest sense
of hope possible and helps us truly believe that Am Yisrael Chai!”
The March of the Living was founded in 1988 by two Israeli visionaries,
Abraham Hirchson (the current Israeli finance minister) and Dr. Shmuel
Rosenman. The initial goals of the program included combating Holocaust
denial; educating Jewish youth about the history of the Shoah and
the acts of courage and sacrifice that occurred during the Shoah;
strengthening the bonds of Jewish youth with Israel, thereby enhancing
their sense of Jewish identity; fighting anti-Semitism and all forms
of racism; and acquainting the young participants with the richness
of Jewish life that once existed in eastern Europe.
But during the 18-year history of the March of the Living, one aspect
has become a central element of the program: the transmission of
memory from survivor to student, from one generation to the next.
On the 2006 March of the Living, each Canadian delegation was
accompanied by one or more Holocaust survivors who shared their
experiences with the students.
Bill Glied, a survivor from Toronto, explained his reason for
participating. “I am very concerned about the continuation of the
history of the Holocaust… I don’t want the Shoah to disappear into
history like the Armenian genocide. I think I succeeded in helping
the students understand their responsibility to make sure that what
happened should never happen again.”
Ben Younger, a survivor from Montreal, felt transformed by the trip.
“For most of my life, I just could not speak about the Holocaust –
it was too hurtful. But the kids, they opened me up… When I saw
the outpouring of love and affection for me, I said to myself,
‘I’ve got to tell them what happened’…
“Now I feel great. I finally did it… and I will keep speaking
about the Holocaust, in English and in French, to Jewish kids and
Christian kids.”
For David Shentow of Ottawa, a Holocaust survivor (and a former
Auschwitz inmate), the experience was “inspiring.”
“The young people said to me, ‘David you opened our eyes,’ because
I explained to them what it was like to be a survivor. The students
couldn’t do enough for me on the trip. For many of them, I was like
the zayde they never had… The students told me, ‘David, this time
you will walk into Auschwitz and then you will walk out with us’
and they never left my side…
“To me, the March of the Living is not just a journey – it’s a sacred
pilgrimage.”
The 2006 March of the Living was filled with hundreds of meaningful
moments, sad and joyous, painful and uplifting.
At the suggestion of Montreal Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, the participants
from that city each placed a stone in front of the crematoria in
Birkenau as a memorial to the six million. When they were finished,
they turned around and realized that they had created a large mound,
a temporary yet eloquent memorial to those who perished there. Later,
when the Toronto delegation visited Birkenau, many participants took
dust from the land of Israel and spread it out over the ruins of the
crematoria, reflecting the Jewish custom of burying loved ones with
the earth of the holy land.
In Warsaw, all Canadian groups took part in heartening dialogue
sessions with Polish Christian students, and met with righteous
gentiles.
In Israel, at the Kotel (the Western Wall), many students put on
tfillin or kissed the stones of the Wall for the first time. The
Canadian delegations all participated in Yom Hazikaron ceremonies to
honour Israel’s fallen. Some of the students met with wounded Israeli
soldiers, others met with their Israeli peers for a Shabbat-long
mifgash (gathering together). The Canadian groups visited the new
Yad Vashem Museum, climbed Masada, bathed in the Dead Sea and marched
through Jerusalem’s Old City on Yom Ha’atzmaut.
It was a journey packed with meaningful experiences in both Poland
and Israel.
But, as March participants will tell you, their interaction with the
survivors is what will be cherished among their most precious and
hallowed memories from the trip.
Listening to the survivors’ stories of their childhoods in towns such
as Warsaw, Krakow and Lublin; dancing with a survivor in the courtyard
of the Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin or in Jerusalem; or holding the hand
of a survivor while he or she walked through Treblinka, Majdanek,
Auschwitz-Birkenau or Belzec – these experiences are a life-lasting
legacy from the survivors to each March participant.
Although we hope that every survivor will live the lifespan of our
ancestor Moses (120 years), reality tells us that Holocaust survivors
will not be with us forever, and their ability to take the arduous
two-week journey to Poland and Israel diminishes with each year.
We must try to encourage as many of our young people as possible to
participate in this remarkable journey while the survivors can still
accompany them.
“I go back because of the kids,” said Anita Ekstein, who has
participated in six marches, “so I can share my story with them while
I still can.
“They should learn what happened to our ancestors, because once we
are gone, they will be our witnesses.”
Eli Rubenstein is national director of March of the Living Canada.

THREE MATERNITY HOSPITALS OF ARMENIA SATIATED WITH NEWEST EQUIPMENT BY GRANT ALLOCATED BY JAPANESE GOVERNMENT
Noyan Tapan
May 15 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. By the means of the 1 mln 700
thousand dollars grant allocated by the Japanese Government, the
RA Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology Center, Hrazdan and
Gavar maternity hospitals were satiated with newest equipment. As
Razmik Abrahamian, the Director of the center mentioned at the May
12 event taken place in Yerevan, equiment was bought and placed
by Japanese. According to him, the newest equipment will give
possibility to study baby’s development, to implement all necessary
interferences which will assist reduction of infant mortality and
growth of birthrate. R.Abrahamian mentioned that one of the equipment
even gives possibility to diagnose children with a defect or deviation
of development during the inter-uterine life.
Shuichi Tokuda, the Advisor of the Japanese Embassy to the RA mentioned
that besides the technical assistance to maternity hospitals, they
will organize re-training courses as well for Armenian specialists.

BAKLAVA WAR INTENSIFIES BETWEEN TURKS AND GREEKS
Ya Libnan, Lebanon
May 15 2006
Beirut & Istanbul- The Baklava war ( in Lebanon Baklawa) intensified
between the Turks and the Cypriot Greeks. Turkish baklava producers
are protesting Greek Cypriot claims that the sweet dessert is their
own national creation, with support for their protest coming from
State Minister and EU Chief Negotiator Ali Babacan in the EU General
Secretariat.
Plans for a press conference are underway for Monday May 16, and
tomorrow a protest in which banners proclaiming “Baklava is Turkish,
we will not allow the Greek Cypriots to feed it to the world” are held
is planned for Istanbul. The owner of renowned baklava producer “Haci
Sayid Baklava,” Halil Dincerler, had this comment on the situation:
“Baklava is Turkish, what the Greek Cypriots are presenting is just
a copy. We will go all the way to Brussels, and we will let the EU
ministers taste real baklava.”
Another comment on the international food fight was made by the
President of the Baklava and Dessert Producers Foundation, Mehmet
Yildirim. He said that it was time for Turkey to stand up and claim its
national treasures, and recalled that the Turks had brought baklava
with them all the way from Central Asia. Yildirim also said that
there were documents which proved that baklava belonged rightfully
to the Turks.
To help our readers Ya Libnan did some research on Baklava to determine
the real origin of this dessert and to help stop this sticky war!
The History of Baklava THE ORIGIN:
Like the origins of most recipes that came from Old Countries to enrich
the dinner tables of dessert lovers, the exact origin of baklava is
also something hard to put the finger on because every ethnic group
whose ancestry goes back to the Middle East has a claim of their own
on this scrumptious pastry.
Recipe for Baklava
It is widely believed however, that the Assyrians at around 8th century
B.C. were the first people who put together a few layers of thin bread
dough, with chopped nuts in between those layers, added some honey and
baked it in their primitive wood burning ovens. This earliest known
version of baklava was baked only on special occasions. In fact,
historically baklava was considered a food for the rich until the
mid-19th century.
In Turkey, to this day one can hear a common expression often used by
the poor, or even by the middle class, saying: “I am not rich enough
to eat baklava and boerek every day”.
REGIONAL INTERACTIONS:
The Greek seamen and merchants traveling east to Mesopotamia soon
discovered the delights of Baklava. It mesmerized their taste buds.
They brought the recipe to Athens. The Greeks’ major contribution to
the development of this pastry is the creation of a dough technique
that made it possible to roll it as thin as a leaf, compared to the
rough, bread-like texture of the Assyrian dough. In fact, the name
“Phyllo” was coined by Greeks, which means “leaf” in the Greek
language. In a relatively short time, in every kitchen of wealthy
households in the region, trays of baklava were being baked for all
kinds of special occasions from the 3rd Century B.C. onwards. The
Armenians, as their Kingdom was located on ancient Spice and Silk
Routes, integrated for the first time the cinnamon and cloves into
the texture of baklava. The Arabs introduced the rose-water and
cardamom. The taste changed in subtle nuances as the recipe started
crossing borders. To the north of its birthplace, baklava was being
baked and served in the palaces of the ancient Persian kingdom. To
the west, it was baked in the kitchens of the wealthy Roman mansions,
and then in the kitchens of the Byzantine Empire until the fall of
the latter in 1453 A.D.
THE PERFECTION:
In the 15th Century A.D., the Ottomans invaded Constantinople to
the west, and they also expanded their eastern territories to cover
most of ancient Assyrian lands and the entire Armenian Kingdom. The
Byzantine Empire came to an end, and in the east Persian Kingdom lost
its western provinces to the invaders. For four hundred years from
16th Century on, until the decline of Ottoman Empire in 19th Century,
the kitchens of Imperial Ottoman Palace in Constantinople became the
ultimate culinary hub of the empire.
The artisans and craftsmen of all Guilds, the bakers, cooks and pastry
chefs who worked in the Ottoman palaces, at the mansions of Pashas
and Viziers, and at Provincial Governor (Vali) residences etc.,
had to be recruited from various ethnic groups that composed the
empire. Armenian, Greek, Persian, Egyptian, Assyrian and occasionally
Serbian, Hungarian or even French chefs were brought to Constantinople,
to be employed at the kitchens of the wealthy. These chefs contributed
enormously to the interaction and to the refinement of the art of
cooking and pastry-making of an Empire that covered a vast region to
include the Balkans, Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Persia, Armenia,
Iraq and entire Mesopotamia, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa and the
Mediterranean and Aegean islands. Towards the end of 19th Century,
small pastry-shops started to appear in Constantinople and in major
Provincial capitals, to cater the middle class, but the Ottoman Palace
have always remained the top culinary “academy” of the Empire, until
its end in 1923.
Here, we must mention that there’s a special reason for baklava
being the top choice of pastry for the Turkish Sultans with their
large Harems, as well as for the wealthy and their families. Two
principal ingredients, the pistachio and honey, were believed to be
aphrodisiacs when taken regularly. Certain spices that were added to
baklava, have also helped to fine-tune and to augment the aphrodisiac
characteristics of the pastry, depending on male or female consumer.
Cinnamon for females, and cardamom for males and cloves for both sexes.
>>From 18th century on, there was nothing much to add to baklava’s
already perfected taste and texture. There were however, some
cosmetic modifications in shaping and in the presentation of baklava
on a baking tray (called Sinii). The Phyllo dough (called Youfka)
which was traditionally layered and cut into squares or triangles,
were given a “French touch” in late 18th century. As the Empire
began opening itself to Western cultural (and culinary) influences,
the General manager (Kahyabasi) of the Imperial Kitchen didn’t miss
the opportunity to hire Monsieur Guillaume, a former pastry chef of
Marie Antoinette, who in exile at the Ottoman Turkish Palace after
learning how to bake baklava, created the “dome” technique of cutting
and folding of the baklava squares which was named “Baklava Francaise”
(French Baklava) after the nationality of its creator.
Based on the above history it is clear that Assyria is the origin of
the Baklava
The Assyrian empire stretched from Southern Lebanon in the south to
the Zagros mountains in the north( bordering present day Iraq and Iran)
and included areas of present day Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq.
The heartland of Assyria is the area that is now dominated by the
Kurds.
Baklava , in fact has been the sweetest unifying dessert between
all the countries of the Middle East and the Mediterranean sea. Each
country makes it its own way but they are all sweet and sticky.
Lebanon has been the leader in promoting Baklava throughout the
world. Lebanese baklava bakers such as Samedi were the first to
Franchise it in the Gulf region, Europe and throughout the Middle
east. In the United States the most famous Baklava is made by Shatila
in Michigan.
As Lebanon continues to promote this dessert it will become the
ultimate original Baklava.
Turkey and Greece therefore should stop this crazy Baklava war, because
they both copied the dessert, but Lebanon did a better job at copying.
One baker told me after hearing the history of the dessert ” You know,
I never though about this before, but since Lebanon was at one time
part of the Assyrian empire…perhaps Lebanon was the origin of this
dessert and the Assyrians copied it from us and then passed on the
recipe to the Turks and Greeks !!”
I was not surprised to hear this from the Lebanese baker and will
comment no further since we had enough wars in Lebanon and we don’t
want to start another one with Turkey and Greece.

EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICANEWS RELEASE
1 AMERICAN AVENUE
YEREVAN, ARMENIA
TELEPHONE (+374 10) 464700
FAX (+374 10) 464742
E-MAIL: [email protected]
On May 10, 2006 Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians visited
the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan.
On May 10, 2006, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos
of all Armenians, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, visited the U.S. Embassy
in Yerevan. His visit marked one year since the opening of the new Embassy
compound. He spoke briefly to Embassy employees and offered a prayer of
blessing upon the peoples of Armenia and the United States of America, and
upon the work of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia.

PanARMENIAN.Net
OSCE: Nagorno Karabakh Belongs to Karabakh People

12.05.2006 20:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Nagorno Karabakh belongs to the Karabakh people,
OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambau told journalists at
the opening of an enterprise for utilization of propellant components
in Lori region of Armenia. In his words, settlement of the conflict is
possible in the near future. «I have much hope that the problem will
be solved soon,» Marc Perrin de Brichambau underscored.

PanARMENIAN.Net
Russia Discusses Possibility of Suspending A-320 Exploitation
12.05.2006 18:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today the Russian State Duma ordered the transport
committee to inquire the RF Ministry of transport about the
possibility of suspending A-320 exploitation until the causes of the
Armavia-owned jet crash are clarified.
To remind, on early May 3 Armavia-owned A-320 crashed into the water
killing all 113 people aboard including 6 children and 8
crewmembers. The jet was conveying 26 Russian citizens, one Ukrainian
citizen and one Georgian citizen; the others were citizens of Armenia.

DEFENCE MINISTRY OF GEORGIA BRINGS DETACHMENT INVOLVING 50 PEOPLE INTO
JAVAKHK

AKHALKALAK, MAY 12, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Defence
Ministry of Georgia brought a detachment of special meaning involving
50 people to Javakhk, reasoning it by securing freely removal of the
military technique from the Russian military base of Akhalkalak.
According to the “A-Info” agency, Georgian soldiers are now placed in
the building of the Ninotsminda regional police. It is envisaged to
implement removal of the first group of the military technics on May
15.

Turkish Press
May 12 2006
Press Review
SABAH
TURKISH-FRENCH COMMERCE ASSOCIATION SENDS LETTER TO CHIRAC OPPOSING
ARMENIAN BILL
The Turkish-French Commerce Association this week sent a letter to
French President Jacques Chirac warning that the bill could have
negative effects. Also a Turkish parliamentary delegation, currently
in Paris to lobby against the so-called Armenian genocide bill,
yesterday met with French Parliament Foreign Commission Deputy Chair
Herve de Charette. The delegation includes Mehmet Dulger and Musa
Sivacioglu from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as
well as Onur Oymen and Gulsun Bilgehan Toker from the main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP). /Sabah/

CONTROVERSIAL GENOCIDE BILL FAILS IN 1ST ROUND
The New Anatolian, Turkey
May 11 2006
A French Parliament sub-commission yesterday rejected a controversial
bill which aims to introduce imprisonment for questioning the Armenian
genocide claims. But the bill is still going to be discussed at the
general assembly next week.
During yesterday’s debates in the Law Commission, ruling Union for a
Popular Movement (UMP) deputies harshly criticized the bill, drawn
up by a group of socialist deputies. Alain Marsaud Lois and Michel
Piron from the UMP are opposed to the bill and Piron stressed that
trying to write history with laws would result in a discredited
“official history.”
After the debates, the commission made no changes to the bill and
rejected it by a majority.
However, according to the legal procedures of the French Parliament,
the bill is still going to be discussed at the general assembly next
Thursday. The majority of ruling UMP deputies are opposed to the bill,
but if they don’t participate in next week’s meeting, it’s expected
to be approved by the National Assembly. The UMP has announced that
there will be no group decision on the issue.
To become law, the bill also has to be passed also by the Parliament’s
upper chamber, the Senate. French sources say that if the Senate
doesn’t approve the draft in a year, it will become null and void as
there elections next year.
Ankara: Damaging relations in no one’s interests
The socialist deputies’ “genocide bill” has created a row between
France and Turkey, with Ankara recalling its ambassador to France
for discussions to show its uneasiness over the situation.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Namik Tan said yesterday that
the French government is acting sensitively on the issue, adding that
the issue requires a process in which calm is maintained.
“Turkey would like French deputies not to approve the bill,” Tan said,
“We believe that it’s in no one’s interests to cause uneasiness
while we have great opportunities to further improve our deeply
rooted relations.”
Turks and Armenians are at odds over the genocide claims. The Armenian
diaspora claims that 1.5 million of their people were killed in Ottoman
Turkey around the time of World War I, and refer to the events as a
“genocide.”
Turkey, however, says there were mutual killings by Armenian and
Muslim groups during civil unrest as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

‘FRANCE SHOULD FIRST ADDRESS ALGERIA AND RWANDA’
Zaman, Turkey
May 11 2006
British-Armenian historian Ara Sarafian spoke to Zaman daily about the
controversial bill at the French parliament which would criminalize
denial of the so-called Armenian genocide. Despite his defense of the
genocide thesis, Sarafian criticized France, recalling the massacres
that took place in Algeria and Rwanda, and said “The French attitude
is ironic in light of its past.”
The historian voiced fierce objection to the Armenian bill at the
French parliament, citing France, who appears willing to pass the
bill, should first start with Algeria and Rwanda. Sarafian, whose
“Blue Book” caused a small-scale crisis between Turkey and Britain,
has reservations that the bill in France would stop the discussions
in Turkey. Regarding the declaration by nine Turkish intellectuals
that was published in the French daily Le Liberation, Sarafian said
he would sign the document “in principal.”
Sarafian, who heads the Gomidas Institute in London, told Zaman that
approval of the bill will have a negative impact on Turkish-European
Union relations, and the nationalist tendency would gain momentum in
Turkey, essentially cutting off the democratic process. Sarafian went
on to say that this scenario will work to the advantage of the Armenian
as well as Turkish nationalists, only fostering the problem in the end.
With an emphasis on the need for continuation of discussions, Sarafian
pointed to the opportunity of dealing with the Armenian issue in a
peaceful way.
In this regard, Europe received a warning from Sarafian to evaluate
and judge Turkey and Armenia on the basis of progress they have made.
The bill stands to be a game of “power politics,” said Sarafian when
he challenged the administration in Paris to face its own history.
“It is ironic that France should choose this path as the country
accountable for all that has happened in Algeria and Rwanda.”
In his criticism of the Armenian Diaspora as well as Turkey, Sarafian
said the Armenian issue has become a power politics for which both
Turkish and Armenian nationalists are struggling.
Sarafian, stressing his point that the Turkish government has by
far refused to acknowledge the existence of an Armenian “question,”
went on to say that it has been the Turkish government that wrote “the
rules of the game,” and that helped the radical Armenian nationalist
front to gain additional power.
The Armenian nationalists have found themselves in a powerful position
during the Turkish negotiations with the EU, said Sarafian, and added
that the Armenian question is being addressed in two different ways,
which is contradictory.
On the one hand, there are efforts to measure Turkish respect for
EU standards by way of considering the difference in the Turkish
retrospection of the Armenian question, said Sarafian, adding that
on the other hand, this difference in the Turkish vision of the
Armenian question provides racists, xenophobes and anti-Islamists
the opportunity to block Turkey’s progress towards the ideal of the
European Union.
Previously, while conducting research in the Turkish archives,
Sarafian’s research permit had been cancelled. The British-Armenia
historian took part in the Armenian Symposium held at Istanbul
University, despite the harsh reactions of the Armenian Diaspora. He
was granted an “unconditional” research permit in archives recently for
the second time. Sarafian referred to the present Turkish government’s
serious efforts to resolve the Armenian issue as a real tragedy,
and noted that the Justice and Development Party government at least
did not “censure” debates over the Armenian genocide in Turkey.
Sarafian emphasized the Turkish government opened the thesis of the
Turkish History Council to discussions at the arena where there are
other voices and where discussions are slow to move forward, and some
laws are used to suppress the discussions.
Noting that Turkish people have started to openly talk about the issue
regardless, the Armenian-born historian highlighted some publications
do not welcome an official thesis on the “genocide.” The historian
believes occasions to solve the situation peacefully will be available
the near future.
Algerians maintain that under the French administration, hundreds of
thousands of people were killed, as well as those exposed to “identity
genocide,” and that France should apologize. While France refuses
to heed demands calling for an apology, it is also been accused of
training Hutu militia and encouraging genocide by turning away from
the reality.