Author: Kalantarian Kevo

CALIF. SPEAKER PEREZ, DELEGATION VISIT DZIDZERNAGAPERT

Wednesday, September 18th, 2013

California State Assembly delegation at Dzidzerbnagapert with Speaker
Perez at far right

YEREVAN (Yerkir Media)-A delegation of state and local officials
currently visiting Armenia and headed by California State Assembly
Speaker John Perez visited the Dzidzernagapert memorial monument
and paid respects to the memory of the 1.5 million victims of the
Armenian Genocide.

The delegation is being accompanied by leaders of the Armenian National
Committee of America-Western Region.

The visitors toured the grounds as well as the Armenian Genocide
Museum, where they wrote individual messages in the memorial book,
emphasizing the importance of international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide as an important precondition for prevention of such acts.

“This trip, especially this pilgrimage to Dzidzernagapert is very
emotional for me,” said Speaker Perez. “My colleague is Armenian and
his family is from Kharpert. When we saw the Kharpert emblem (on the
map in the museum) we became very emotional. It is important for the
all countries of the world to recognize the Genocide and find the
way to justice.”

“The last time I was here was six years ago, and now I am very saddened
because my memories of childhood are still fresh,” said Assemblymember
Katcho Achadjian who is part of the delegation.

“What me and my contemporaries remember, our future generations are
going to see in this museum. This is where the pages of history,
from which we should take lessons, are being preserved.”

The Perez-led delegation also includes Assemblymembers Katcho Achajian,
Cheryl R. Brown, Adrin Nazarian and Scott Wilk. A Los Angeles City
Council delegation also visiting Armenia includes Bob Blumenfield
and Paul Krekorian and staff.

The ANCA-WR representatives accompanying the delegations are board
chairwoman Nora Hovsepian and Executive Director Elen Asatryan.

The delegation was hosted on Tuesday at the Armenia Parliament by
its Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan.

“I am happy that can I host the delegation of the legislative body
of California, the Motherland of one of the biggest economically most
powerful and biggest community of the Armenian Diaspora of the United
States of America, where there are also legislators of Armenian origin
Khacho Achajian and Adrin Nazarian,” said Abrahamyan.

“Today the parliamentary diplomacy has a big role not only in
the development of multilateral, but also inter-state relations,”
said Abrahamyan, adding that the cooperation of Armenia’s National
Assembly and California Assembly District will turn into cooperation
with multilateral format.

Speaker Perez expressed his conviction that their visit would
promote the deepening of bilateral cooperation in different fields,
the activation and development of inter-parliamentary relations. He
deemed important the development of mutually beneficial cooperation
in the spheres of economy, culture, science, education.

Perez highlighted the role of the Armenian community in the political,
economic, cultural and scientific-educational life of California.

In the course of the meeting the sides touched upon the settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenian-Turkish relations, regional
external political developments. Presenting the process of peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

“The Republic of Armenia has constantly expressed its constructive
position in favor of solving the conflict only through peaceful means,
on the basis of three internationally recognized principles within the
framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. The People of Artsakh has won its
right of living free and should not be ignored by the international
community,” said Abarahamyan.

The sides also discussed the impending 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide with Abrahamyan emphasizing that that recognition and
condemnation of the Armenian Genocide by the international community
is the best guarantee of preventing such crimes.

He also commended the State of California and its legislature for
recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Speaker Perez said the state plans to hold large-scale events in
connection with the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Abrahamyan awarded Perez with National Assembly’s Medal of Honor for
his efforts in development of inter-parliamentary relations between the
California State Assembly and the Armenian Parliament, as well as for
the huge contribution in strengthening of Armenian-American relations.

LOVE AND WAR: THE STORY OF A GIRL IN OCCUPIED FRANCE

By Nanore Barsoumian // September 18, 2013 in Books & Art, Featured, Headline

All The Light There Was
By Nancy Kricorian
Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2013)
279 pages, $24.00

Anarchists, communists, liberals, Jews, emigres-Frenchmen from all
walks of life resisted the Nazi occupation in France and the Vichy
regime during World War II. They collectively made up what is referred
to as the French Resistance. Armenians also joined the struggle, in
defense of the France they had come to love. History often belongs
to the boldest, the “great men”-and a handful of women-who defined
their time. From the ranks of the Armenian fighters, a few names
stand out, chief among them the poet Missak Manouchian, a Communist
who commanded the Manouchian Group. But there were others whose
stories, acts of heroism, and contributions to the Resistance went by
unnoticed. Nancy Kricorian’s recent novel, All The Light There Was,
peers into the everyday struggle on the domestic front, and offers
an unlikely heroine-an Armenian girl who comes of age during the Nazi
occupation of France.

All the Light There Was is a story of loss, love, and finding the
guiding light when darkness prevails.

Kricorian paints a palpable reality, ushering in the tribulations,
uncertainties, and fears that her characters had to face. The story
unfolds from the perspective of the 14-year-old Maral Pegorian. Time
passes through a different stream-often in fragments marked by
different pronunciations of love-for the pubescent Maral. For instance,
when she meets Andon, a suitor, time seems to pass in weekly increments
as she sees him only on Sundays. “This is the story of how we lived
the war, and how I found my husband,” offers Maral early in the
book. It is also about the smaller ways in which war affects those
condemned to live it (like the meals made of bulgur and turnips),
the sacrifices, and the bonds and love that nudge survivors on.

Through her narrator, Kricorian offers us a commentary on women’s
roles, and on the demands and expectations an Armenian girl grapples
with. Had the story been narrated by Maral’s “mule-headed” brother
Missak or his friend Zaven-both aiding the resistance-a decidedly
revolutionary narrative would have emerged. Had it been written by
Maral’s father, a shoe-cobbler with an affinity for lengthy political
discussions, or her mother Azniv, the story may have turned to the
politics and events of the time, or about motherly love and grief. But
with Maral, the story is told from the physical confines of a young
woman living under her parents’ roof. Her home, school, friends’
homes, the Armenian Cathedral, and the parks near her house outline
the boundaries of her physical world. Envious of her brother and
his friends who are allowed to flirt with fate, Maral often finds
herself rebelling against the gender mold she is stuffed into, and
being treated “like a hen in a coop.”

Even though the predominant setting is the household-replete with
activities such as knitting, cooking, and washing-Maral attempts to
burst out of that narrow world. At times she succeeds, running through
the streets of Paris as authorities crack down on marchers. Other
times, her escape is through her brother and his stories.

Hers is a story of resilience, emotional and physical. Maral is also
a “hero”-allowing compassion to lead her actions-as she takes the
initiative to save the life of her Jewish neighbors’ three-year-old
daughter, Claire. The fate the Jews seemed to face reminded the older
Armenians of the horrors they experienced only two decades before.

“The child is an orphan. The same as we were. Except we saw it all.

Our parents dead before our eyes. Bodies in the dirt. Children with big
bellies and heads, arms and legs skinny like spiders. It is the same
thing again, Azniv, the way they sent us to die in the desert,” says
Aunt Shakeh to her sister, Azniv, in a rare reference to the genocide.

The narrative of the past-the deportations, killings, separations,
orphanages-dictates how Armenians see and respond to the events
unfolding around them. However, Maral observes that the topic of
Armenian Genocide rarely surfaces in conversation. She explains: “It
was strange that I knew so little about what they had gone through,
especially as it seemed to loom like a vast, amorphous shadow over our
lives. My mother and my aunt referred vaguely and ominously to what
they called the Massacres or the Deportations. If I asked a question
about that period in the Old Country, my mother would say darkly,
‘It’s better not to talk about those times.’ Auntie Shakeh would go
pale and invoke God. So after a while, I stopped asking, and it was
all I could do to keep from rolling my eyes when they made their dire,
cryptic references.”

All The Light There Was is a powerful story of how ethnic bonds can
blur allegiances. We encounter Armenians among Nazi collaborators,
Allied soldiers, and resistance fighters. We meet Andon the
collaborator, whose family hailed from Moush. Andon joined the
Wehrmacht after he was recruited from a German camp, where he was
being held as a Soviet prisoner of war. We meet Zeitountsi Hrant, the
American soldier from New York. And there are the Armenian Resistance
fighters like the Kacherian brothers, Zaven and Barkev.

They all have a bond that connects them: They are the children of
genocide survivors dispersed across the globe. And so, the Armenian
identity comes first before the other, hyphenated identity. In one
revealing moment, Maral’s friend Jacqueline, upon meeting Andon,
says, “I know that under that German uniform, there beats an Armenian
heart.” Maral is at the intersection of all these identities, and it
appears she is tasked with reaffirming these bonds, sometimes with
as little as a symbolic kiss.

War emerges as a miasma of dead romances, dead boys, POWs, food
shortages, tuberculosis, hunger, betrayal, and the hellholes they
called work camps. Following news of the death of a loved one, Maral
sees her loss and pain not as uniquely hers but as an affliction that
indiscriminately targets victims everywhere: “I didn’t know what to
feel or think. I observed the three of us from above, small people in a
small apartment, bent with grief. This scene was playing itself out in
apartments and houses all across the city, all across the continent,
and all around the world. The war was a great factory of suffering,
all of it fashioned by human hands.” All the Light There Was is a story
of loss, love, and finding the guiding light when darkness prevails. As
Maral’s father says, “This world is made of dark and light, my girl,
and in the darkest times you have to believe the sun will come again,
even if you yourself don’t live to see it.”

HOLY TRANSFIGURATION: A NEW ARMENIAN CATHEDRAL IN MOSCOW IS CALLED TO STRENGTHEN THE FAITH AND ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

Arts and Culture | 18.09.13 | 21:09

Photolure

By Julia Hakobyan
ArmeniaNow Deputy Editor

After 17 years of construction, a splendid Armenian Cathedral
complex was opened in Moscow this week, combining the centuries-old
traditions of Armenian architecture, modern solutions and reflecting
the hopes of half a million strong Armenian Diaspora in Moscow for
the prosperity of their community and expectations for the new stage
of Armenian-Russian relations.

Enlarge Photo Enlarge Photo

The consecration of the complex was led by His Holiness Karekin II,
the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, and attended
by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Patriarch of Moscow and All
Russia Kirill, as well as by government and public figures of Armenia
and Russia and representatives of religious denominations.

Catholicos Karekin II presented the cathedral, called the Holy
Transfiguration, what is believed to be a particle of the cross on
which Jesus Christ was crucified.

“Raised in the heart of Russia – Moscow, this complex will be the
spiritual and cultural center in the lives of those who, regardless
of nationality, consider themselves the carriers of Christian and
human values,” said Bishop Yezras Nersissian, the Primate of the
Armenian Diocese of Russia and New Nakhijevan, “Church is not just
a stone building. Every stone in it is the faith of every Armenian.”

The construction of the complex has largely become possible thanks to
Bishop Yezras, who over recent years attracted investments and revived
the project that was factually frozen due to the lack of funding.

The area for construction was allocated by the Moscow authorities yet
in 1996 on the territory adjacent to Olympic Avenue. Construction was
scheduled to be completed by 2001, but it was stopped soon after the
project was launched. The foundation of the cathedral was laid in 2004.

The complex which covers an area of 1.32 hectares includes the
Cathedral, the chapel of the Holy Cross, a museum, a library, bishop’s
residence, conference rooms, educational complex, guest house,
refectory, and underground parking for 200 cars.

The Cathedral’s perimeter is decorated with the carved images of the
Savior, images of saints, crosses, inscriptions of St. Mesrop Mashtots
and historical plots, telling the adoption of Christianity in Armenia,
the creation of written language and the life of the Armenian martyrs.

The Cathedral, resembling ancient temples of Armenia, has four
entrances; the main entrance is located on the bell tower, which has
stalactite vault- the unique type of decoration coverage, forgotten
since the Middle Ages, and used after seven hundred years for the
first time in that cathedral.

The height of the Cathedral, together with the cross makes 58 meters;
the diameter of the dome, decorated with 72 crosses, is 21 meters.

“Armenian architecture is peculiar with its austerity. But we believe
that beyond we need to show the best that we have achieved over the
centuries, such as rich architectural forms, decorations, ornaments,
bas-reliefs, pictures of saints,” said Artak Gulyan, the architect
of the complex, which was built mainly on tuff, brought to Moscow
specially for the cathedral’s construction from the village Anipemza
of Shirak’s province.

The opening of the Cathedral took place two weeks after Armenia’s
decision to join the Customs Union – a decision that Armenian
authorities called unlikely a few months ago, and which, according to
many local analysts, would cost Armenia the closure of European doors.

Armenian-Russian relations have been given a considerable part in
the official speeches of both of the Armenian and Russian religious
leaders.

Patriarch Kirill said that the opening of the temple is “the recovering
of historical justice”. He noted that the Armenian community has
suffered along with other Christian communities in Russia during
“hard times” (meaning religion’s repression during communism), and
the churches that were built with love by Armenian people in Russia
have often been destroyed.

Catholicos Karekin II said that the cathedral seeks to “multiply the
blessings and gifts sent down from heaven in a multi-traditional
country, in the life of the Armenians who had settled in Russia,
and Christ-loving brotherly Russian people”, and wished the Armenian
-Russian friendship to “remain forever strong.”

Leaving politics aside, many view the new Armenian Cathedral as
a striking example of Armenian architecture, and the pride of the
Armenian community in Moscow, the city which hosts, according to
various estimates, from half a million to a million Armenians.

Until recently, the spiritual place for Armenian community was a small
chapel in the Armenian part of Vagankova cemetery, where religious
holidays ceremonies, funerals, and weddings and been held. The size
and the location of the chapel had long ago become impractical for
meeting the needs of parishioners.

The new church complex is the largest complex of the Armenian Apostolic
Church outside of Armenia, after the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin.

NO NEWS SINCE ICRC SEPT 2 MEETING WITH ARMENIAN CAPTIVE

September 18, 2013 – 17:02 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Absence of governmental ties with Azerbaijan is
the main hindrance on the way to returning Armenian captive Hakob
Injighulyan, with the process mediated by international organizations
Defense Minister said.

“We’re taking our best efforts for Injighulyan to return to Armenia,”
Seyran Ohanyan said, noting that the solder won’t be legally
persecuted. “We can only imagine the pressure he might have been
subjected to on Azeri side,” Tert.am quoted Ohanyan as saying.

As the representative of the ICRC in Yerevan Ashot Astambatsyan told
PanARMENIAN.Net no fresh reports on the Armenian captive have been
provided, with the news to be released as soon as something transpires.

September 2 was the last time when the Representatives of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) met with the Armenian
captive.

As the head of the ICRC Baku office Denise Duran stated earlier, the
Committee continued the captive-related negotiations with Azerbaijani
authorities.

On the night of Aug 8, Injighulyan, born in 1991, failed to find his
bearings on the ground and crossed into the Azeri-controlled territory.

Azeri media have been spreading information suggesting the captive
is unwilling to return to Armenia.

However, Injighulyan never mentioned his unwillingness to return
to Armenia in a meeting with ICRC representatives, with Azerbaijani
Prisoners of War Commission Secretary noting he sees no problem with
the captive’s return.

Armenia has repeatedly slammed the “interviews” with Injighulyan as
forced by Baku and urged the ICRC to take every effort to help the
captive’s return, with no persecution to be initiated against him in
the absence of crime in the act.

ARMENIA-EU RELATIONS ARE ON GOOD GROUNDS – BRITISH MP

September 18, 2013 | 17:14

YEREVAN. – Armenia underscores the development of relations with the
United Kingdom.

National Assembly (NA) Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan stated the
abovementioned Wednesday during his talk with John Whittingdale,
Vice-Chairman of the British-Armenian Parliamentary Friendship Group
of the British House of Commons, and MP Stephen Pound.

Abrahamyan highlighted the need to invigorate interparliamentary
cooperation, informs the NA press service. He expressed a conviction
that parliamentary diplomacy is an important lever toward boosting
political discourse among countries. The Armenian parliament chairman
considered it indispensable to carry out specific programs.

Hovik Abrahamyan also reflected on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process
and the Armenian-Turkish relations, and stressed the necessity to
form an objective view concerning these matters. In this context,
he highly appreciated the British parliamentarians’ visit to Karabakh.

Speaking on Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union, the NA head
noted that this decision is in the best interests of the country. He
added, however, that this decision does not at all mean a suspension,
or a relaxation, of Armenia’s political dialogue with the European
Union (EU).

In turn John Whittingdale reaffirmed their readiness to contribute to
the development of bilateral interparliamentary ties and the deepening
of interstate relations. In his words, Europe, and especially theUnited
Kingdom, is interested in developing relations with Armenia.

In the British MPs’ conviction, Armenia-EU relations are placed on
good grounds.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

CSTO JOINT AIR FORCE VITAL TO SECURITY OF ARMENIA, ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN SAYS

17:30 18/09/2013 ” POLITICS

An interdepartmental commission coordinating CSTO events met today,
chaired by Armenian National Security Council (NSC) Secretary Arthur
Baghdasaryan, NSC press service reported.

A regular meeting of the Council and statutory bodies of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will take place in Sochi on
September 23, Baghdasaryan said.

“I think the upcoming meeting is important in terms of strengthening
the military component of CSTO because it is planned to sign a number
of documents, including a decision on establishment of CSTO air force.

Joint air force within CSTO is vital to security of Armenia,” he said.

The meeting also focused on the preparatory work for the 11th meeting
of the CSTO Intergovernmental Commission on Military and Technical
Cooperation that will take place in Yerevan on October 1-4.

“I think it is a good opportunity to analyze the existing problems
and to outline new directions for deepening cooperation within the
CSTO framework,” Baghdasaryan said.

Source: Panorama.am

ARMENIA DOUBLES SOAP PRODUCTION VOLUME

17:07, 18 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. The soap production volume was twice
increased in the Republic of Armenia at the course of the first seven
months of the current year in comparison with the same period of 2012,
thus reaching 91.6 tons. In accordance with the information of the
National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia, our country
produced 44,7 tons of soap at the course of the first seven months
of the previous year. As reports “Armenpress” the total volume of the
soap production in the Republic of Armenia was 86.2 tons in 2012. In
accordance with the data of the State Revenue Committee under the
Government of the Republic of Armenia, our country imported 1427,8
tons and exported 48,2 tons of soap at the course of the first six
months of the current year.

ARMENIA INCREASED PASTRY AND PASTA PRODUCTION

16:37, 18 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS: The volumes of the production
of pastry and pasta in the Republic of Armenia have increased in
comparison with the same period of the previous year by 15,5 and 21,2%
correspondingly. According to the data provided by the National
Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia, during the first
seven months of 2013 9 thousand 4,3 tons of pastry and 2 thousand
211,9 tons of pasta were produced in Armenia in comparison with the
last year’s 7 thousand 793,2 tons of pastry and 1825,6 tons of pasta.

As reported by Armenpress, the volumes of the production of pastry
have increased in 2012 by 9,5% in comparison with the same period
of the year of 2011 and made 14 thousand 253,2 tons and the volumes
of the production of pasta have increased by 2,6%, thus making it 3
thousand 393,4 tons.

TURKEY SET TO STEP UP ITS ANTI-ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA AS THE CENTENARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE NEARING, EXPERT SAYS

YEREVAN, September 18. / ARKA /. Turkey is set to step up its
anti-Armenian propaganda as the centenary of the Armenian genocide
to be marked in 2015 is nearing, Artak Shakaryan, an Armenian expert
in Turkic studies, said today.

He said because of Turkey’s indirect involvement in the Syrian crisis
and the Kurdish question the government in Ankara is not paying
enough attention currently to the anti-Armenian propaganda. “However,
there are special academic institutions and persons who are closely
involved in this. I think, on the eve of the centenary Ankara will
intensify its anti-Armenian propaganda,” he said.

According to him, as the date is nearing Turkey will also increase
pressure on Armenia regarding the Nagorno -Karabakh conflict.

The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century.

Turkey has been denying it for decades. The Armenian genocide
was recognized by tens of countries. The first was Uruguay
that did so in 1965. Other nations are Russia, France, Italy,
Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden,
Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela,
Argentina, 42 U.S. states. The Armenian Genocide was recognized
by the Vatican, the European Parliament, the World Council of
Churches and other international organizations. -0- – See more at:

CRACKED WHEAT IMPORT TO ARMENIA DECREASED BY 32 PERCENTS

16:03, 18 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. The cracked wheat import volume
to the Republic of Armenia has been decreased by over 32 percents at
the course of the first six months of the current year in comparison
with the same period of 2012, thus reaching 863 thousand 300 kg. In
accordance with the data of the State Revenue Committee under the
Government of the Republic of Armenia, our country imported 1 million
275 thousand kg of cracked wheat at the course of the first six months
of the previous year.

As reports “Armenpress” the average customs value of 1 kg of cracked
wheat imported to the Republic of Armenia has been decreased by 9
percent and reached USD 0,73 (approximately AMD 300).

In the previous year the average customs value of 1 kg of cracked
wheat imported to the Republic of Armenia was USD 0,80 (about AMD
330). The Republic of Armenia imported the majority of cracked wheat
from China, Ukraine, Syria, and the Russian Federation.