Author: Jane Topchian

FRESNO—Four scholars from the University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles will discuss their research on Western Armenian in a panel discussion entitled “Western Armenian in the 21st Century: Challenges and New Approaches.” The panel will take place on Friday, September 6 at 7:30 p.m., in the University Business Center’s Alice Peters Auditorium at California State University, Fresno. Armenian Studies Program Director Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian will moderate the discussion.

The presentation is part of the Armenian Studies Program Fall 2019 Lecture Series and is supported by the Leon S. Peters Foundation.

For the past few years, scholars have discussed how to best teach, and transmit, Western Armenian to future generations. In November of 2017, the Society for Armenian Studies and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation organized a conference on “Transmitting Western Armenian to the Next Generation,” with the participation of six scholars. The conference was organized based on this 2017 discussion, as well as from the 2010 report that UNESCO had placed Western Armenian on the list of the world’s endangered languages. The scholars at the conference presented the latest research in the field of language acquisition, which benefits from theoretical and practical approaches in the field of teaching minority languages in a diasporic situation.

In 2018, The Press at Fresno State published “Western Armenian in the 21st Century: Challenges and New Approaches” as part of the Armenian Series at the university. The book was edited by Bedross Der Matossian and Armenian Studies Program Coordinator Barlow Der Mugrdechian. Four of the contributors to the volume will present their conclusions on September 6.

Dr. Shushan Karapetian is Deputy Director of the Institute of Armenian Studies at USC. She received a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from UCLA in 2014, where she has taught Armenian Studies courses for the past nine years. Her dissertation, “‘How Do I Teach My Kids My Broken Armenian?: A Study of Eastern Armenian Heritage Language Speakers in Los Angeles,” received the Society for Armenian Studies Distinguished Dissertation Award in 2015.

Jesse Siragan Arlen is a PhD Candidate of Armenian Studies in the Near Eastern Languages & Cultures department at UCLA. He has taught Western Armenian at a Sunday school since 2016, and his creative prose and poetry in Western Armenian has appeared in literary journals such as Inknagir and Pakine.

Elizabeth Mkhitarian graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in English and Armenian Studies in 2018. She is a published writer of prose and poetry in English and Armenian. Her first book of poetry in Armenian is forthcoming.

Dr. Hagop Gulludjian received his PhD with highest distinction from the Jesuit University of Buenos Aires. He has been teaching modern Western Armenian at UCLA for many years. His area of research is in post-structural rereading of medieval mystical poetry and in languages without a country: language vitality programs and their replicability.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in Lot P6 or P5 near the University Business Center—parking permits are not required on Friday evenings.

For more information about the lecture please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669, visit our website or visit our Facebook page.

Saying that Moscow is concerned with what is being termed as accusations being hurled by Yerevan and Baku, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Friday that the rhetoric does not contribute to the development of favorable conditions for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution negotiations.

“This kind of rhetoric does not help to the development of favorable conditions for the negotiations process, and accordingly, to the interests of finding a compromise options for the resolution of the [Karabakh] conflict,” Zakharova said at a briefing Friday.

“We, as one of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, take into consideration Moscow’s close relations with Baku and Yerevan, remain inclined to provide support with the purpose of a comprehensive advancement of the peace process,” she added.

Zakharova added that Russia’s position on deciding the final status of Nagorno Karabakh and resolving the conflict through negotiations remains unchanged.

“Russia proceeds from the point that the final status of Nagorno Karabakh must be decided through negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. You know our stance. It hasn’t changed,” she said, pledging that Russia will continue assisting the peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

Voters from North Hollywood, Burbank, Pasadena, and across Los Angeles County came out for Vote Center Community Meetings. Those in attendance learned more about the updated countywide voting system, set to be implemented for the 2020 Elections. These meetings were hosted by the Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region and its three local chapters: Crescenta Valley, East San Fernando Valley, and Pasadena.

The ANCA is one of several community organizations asked to help in partnership with L.A. County’s Voting Solutions for All People, or VSAP initiative. Dozens of voters attended these community meetings that were organized at the ACF Community Center of the Eastern San Fernando Valley, the Burbank Public Library, and the Pasadena Convention Center on May 18, May 29, and June 4 respectively. All the meetings were organized with the support and cooperation of the local City Clerk’s Office Elections’ Division.

“The ANCA Pasadena Chapter was proud to collaborate with the City of Pasadena and, in particular, the City Clerk’s office led by City Clerk, Mark Jomsky, as well as partner up with LA County to educate and inform local residents about the important upcoming changes to the voting system. It’s essential that we work with the county in providing election services in a fair, accessible and transparent manner,” remarked ANCA-Pasadena Chapter Board Member Donig Donabedian.

These Community Meetings allowed attendees to learn about the new innovative and accessible voting experience, and the implementation of vote centers that will provide convenient locations for voting anywhere in the County over an 11-day voting period. An ANCA representative at each meeting facilitated the meeting and delivered a slideshow presentation detailing the new ballot marking system, which features a touch screen device with a port for headphones and will provide voters with a digital ballot. The presentation also included a short tutorial on how the ballot marking devices will work, as well as a short documentary, called “Democracy by Design,” about VSAP and its collaboration with IDEO, a Silicon Valley design firm helping to build the ballot marking devices.

L.A. County will test the new voting system with a mock election on September 28 – 29 at 50 vote centers. Demo centers will simulate the new process for voters to see and test during weekdays and weekends throughout the county between October and January. The new system will be in use by March 3, 2020, the day of the 2020 California Primary Election.

This service was provided to facilitate information in Armenian in an effort to better serve our community and encourage civic engagement through the ANCA-WR HyeVotes initiative to make our collective voice heard in the electoral process. Additional information and resources on VSAP and its components can be found online.

The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region is the largest and most influential nonpartisan Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues in pursuit of the Armenian Cause.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, who is in Washington this week, held meetings with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen and the acting assistant Secretary of State of European and Eurasian Affairs, ahead of scheduled summit on Wednesday with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov. In a tweet on Tuesday, President Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton announced that he would be meeting with both foreign ministers during their visit to Washington.

“Looking forward to meetings later this week with the Foreign Minister of Armenia and the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, to encourage continued dialogue between them,” Bolton tweeted on Tuesday. “The United States stands ready to assist in advancing the cause of peace in the region,” he added.

It was not immediately clear whether Bolton was going meet the foreign ministers separately or at the same time.

During his visit to Armenia last fall and in subsequent conversations with Armenia’s leaders, Bolton has emphasized the importance of a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh conflict. However, it was his offer to Armenia to purchase U.S.-made weapons, as well as his stern comments about United States policy vis-à-vis Iran that raised eyebrows when he visited Yerevan in October.

On Tuesday, Mnatsakanyan met with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Igor Popov of Russia, Stéphane Visconti of France and Andrew Schofer of the U.S., as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk to discuss continued efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“During the preparatory meeting the interlocutors assessed the current situation of the peace process, including in the context of implementation of agreements that were reached during previous meetings,” the Armenian foreign ministry said in a press statement.

On Wednesday, Mnatsakanyan met with acting assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Ambassador Philip Reeker. Deputy Assistant Secretary of U.S. Department of State George Kent, OSCE Minsk Group American Co-chair Andrew Schofer and Armenia’s Ambassador of the U.S. Varujan Nersesyan were also present at the meeting.

A broad range of issues regarding U.S.-Armenia partnership were discussed and all parties underlined their collective willingness to expand and further enrich the agenda of multidimensional cooperation.

In welcoming the first session of Armenian-U.S. strategic dialogue that took place in Yerevan in May, Mnatsakanyan reaffirmed Armenia’s commitment to implementing the agreements reached at that meeting.

Mnatsakanyan briefed Ambassador Reeker about the reform processes underway in Armenia, especially emphasizing reforms in the judiciary and law enforcement. In this context, Mnatsakanyan particularly highlighted the support of various international partners and the coordination of that support.

Urgent regional concerns were also brought up during the talks, during which Mnatsakanyan also discussed the latest efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen on resolving the Karabakh conflict.