Author: Kalashian Nyrie

EurasiaNet, NY
June 30 2006
ARMENIA OPPOSES TURKISH-GEORGIAN-AZERI RAIL PROJECT
Emil Danielyan 6/30/06
Plans for the construction of a major railway linking Turkey to
Azerbaijan via Georgia are prompting mounting concern in Armenia.
Officials in Yerevan, fearing the completion of the railway would
further isolate Armenia, have pressured Georgia to pull out of the
multimillion-dollar project. The railway also is facing objections
from the United States and the European Union.
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey revealed their intention to pursue the
railway project in May 2005 during the ceremonial opening of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. The presidents of the three
nations said the rail link, estimated to cost roughly $400 million,
would promote regional economic integration and create a new
transport corridor between Europe and Central Asia.
The project essentially boils down to laying an almost
100-kilometer-long rail track between the eastern Turkish city of
Kars and the southern Georgian town of Akhalkalaki. Armenian
officials insist that the project makes no economic sense, pointing
to the existing railroad running from Kars to the northern Armenian
city of Gyumri and on to the two other South Caucasus countries. The
Kars-Gyumri link has stood idle for over a decade due to the
continuing Turkish economic blockade of Armenia. [For background see
the Eurasia Insight archive].
The Armenian government argues that that Turkey, Georgia and
Azerbaijan should make use of this Gyumri hub instead of spending
hundreds of millions of dollars on building a new one. As an
incentive, Yerevan has indicated that it would make the Gyumri hub
available without insisting that Turkey lift its economic blockade.
“Armenia is ready to let Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan use the
existing railway line on Armenian territory without Armenia’s
participation,” Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian reiterated
during an official visit to Tbilisi on June 27.
The issue was high on the agenda of Oskanian’s talks with Georgia’s
President Mikheil Saakashvili and Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili.
A statement issued by the Armenian Foreign Ministry said Oskanian
“stressed the economic and political importance of the operation of
the Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi rail line.” Armenian officials took little
comfort in Bezhuashvili’s public assurances that the
Turkish-Georgian-Azeri project is “purely commercial.” They fear that
the new railway would deepen Armenia’s economic isolation. Aggressive
statements made recently by Azerbaijani officials, including
President Ilham Aliyev, have helped fuel worries in Armenia.
The landlocked country has already been left out of regional energy
projects such as the BTC pipeline, due to the unresolved Karabakh
conflict. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Influential Armenian lobbying groups in the United States have joined
Yerevan in trying to thwart the project. They were instrumental in
securing a US congressional committee’s June 15 vote to endorse an
amendment that would prohibit the US Export-Import Bank from funding
the railway’s construction. “With this amendment, we are sending a
message to the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan that continually
excluding Armenia in regional projects fosters instability,” said US
Rep. Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat who is the measure’s main
sponsor.
The amendment is expected to be considered by the full House of
Representatives later this year. Similar legislation is pending in
the US Senate, and the Bush administration has not voiced objections
to either bill. The ambassador-designates to Armenia and Azerbaijan
assured pro-Armenian US legislators during recent congressional
hearings that Washington is against the construction of the
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railroad. Without ex-im bank backing, US
companies would likely be reluctant to invest in the project.
The European Union seems to take a similar view. “A railway project
that is not including Armenia will not get our financial support,”
the EU’s external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner,
said in Yerevan last February.
Turkey and Azerbaijan appear undaunted by US and EU expressions of
displeasure. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul’s discussed the
issue with Aliyev during a late June visit to Baku. The Turkish Daily
News newspaper quoted Gul as telling the Azeri leader on June 20 that
“Armenia can also join these projects if it wants.” However, the
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, Namik Tan, clarified the next day
that this could happen only after a resolution of the Karabakh
dispute. The Karabakh peace process is currently stalemated. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Tan also downplayed the significance of likely US funding
restrictions. “I think the three countries have enough funds. We can
finance [the railway’s construction] in one way or another,” he said.
Baku had hoped to begin work on the railway later this year and have
it completed by 2008. But with Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan having
yet to agree on the sources of funding, this time frame seems
unrealistic. Furthermore, the Georgian government is having what Gul
reportedly described as “serious hesitations.” This might explain why
a planned meeting of the transport ministers of the three states,
which had been planned for late June, has been postponed until late
July.
The director general of Georgia’s state-run rail network, Irakli
Ezugbaya, publicly questioned earlier in June a feasibility study
that was conducted and released by a Turkish company recently. The
Caucasus Press news agency quoted him as saying that the study failed
to predict the anticipated volume of cargo traffic along the would-be
railway.
Editor’s Note: Emil Danielyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and
political analyst.

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
June 30 2006
PACE Plenary Session in Strasbourg

On June 29 in parallel with PACE summer plenary session Tigran
Torosyan, RA NA President, Head of Armenia’s delegation in PACE met
Rene van der Linden, PACE President. Mr. van der Linden congratulated
the head of Armenia’s delegation on the occasion of election in NA
President post and wished productive work. He highlighted the fact of
holding inter-parliamentary dialogue for deepening cooperation. PACE
President also touched upon the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, noting that it will open new opportunities for the
region. Give opportunities for education and progress to the youth.
He attached great importance to the role of the parliaments in
preparing the peoples of their countries for the settlement of the
conflicts.
Tigran Torosyan, expressing his gratitude for the best wishes, noted
that as a head of delegation he always felt PACE support and
responsibility before PACE. He noted that as a result of
constitutional amendments, the National Assembly has already made
amendments to ten laws, the Electoral Code will be adopted in autumn
session after the close work with the Venice Commission. The NA
President noted that we should effectively make use of the short time
till parliamentary and presidential elections. He expressed a hope
that in January 2007 when the problem of using the constitutional
amendments in Armenia would be discussed in PACE, it will be possible
to say that the programme is mainly completed. The NA President
highlighted the holding of 2007 parliamentary elections in conformity
to international all standards. Mr. Torosyan also touched upon the
relations with Azerbaijan and within that framework the tactics of
Azerbaijan’s delegation in PACE, when the time of the discussion of
every issue is used to talk over Armenia-Azerbaijan relations not
relating at all to the theme for introducing unfairly accusations. An
impression is created that instead of discussing general problems the
PACE tribune is used for accusing and defaming Armenia. As an example
was brought the issue of the fires being speculated from the first
day of PACE summer session. It was noted that still on June 15 the
representatives of Nagorno Karabakh applied to the personal
representative of PACE acting President to make examinations on spot,
and three years ago there was a proposal to create a joint group to
prevent fires, but the proposal was denied by the Azeris.
Highlighting the issue Mr. Rene van der Linden noted that, of course,
it’s good that Karabakh has applied OSCE and we must wait for OSCE
experts and the end of the mission and as a result of it decide, who
are guilty.
During the meeting other issues were also discussed.
During the meeting of Tigran Torosyan, RA NA President, Head of
Armenia’s delegation in PACE and Milos Aligrudic, newly appointed
head of the parliamentary delegation of Serbia in PACE problems of
cooperation of the delegations of the two countries within the PACE
framework. Mentioning with satisfaction the excellent cooperation
till now, Mr. Torosyan noted that the cooperation at all levels in
the Assembly during the discussions of the political groups,
committees, plenary session can and must be continued. The issues of
establishing inter-parliamentary ties between Armenia and Serbia, as
well as formation of inter-party ties were also highlighted. Mr.
Aligrudic, expressing satisfaction from the opportunity of two
delegations’ cooperation, expressed readiness for deepening
inter-parliamentary and inter-party ties.
During the discussion of the issue on the consequences of the
referendum in Monetenegro at the plenary session Armen Roustamyan,
member of Armenia’s delegation gave a speech. He noted that the main
conclusion of the referendum was the following: on the one hand it
becomes obvious that in the modern world it’s possible to adjust the
combined, complicated problems with the obsolete schemes and try to
solve with arbitrary methods. On the other hand, the necessity of
creating conditions becomes more conscientious that if the people has
the right of self-determination confirmed with international norms,
be able to execute that right in conditions of democracy and peace.
On June 30 PACE plenary session will resume its works.

TWO DOCUMENTS REGARDING OCCUPATION POLICY OF ARMENIA WERE DISSEMINATED IN PACE
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
June 29 2006
Two documents regarding the occupation policy of Armenia was
disseminated by the Azeri delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE), Rafael Huseynov, the member of Azeri
delegation in PACE, told Trend.
He noted that in the document “Crimes of Armenia against humanity”,
there were used different facts of bloody Armenian terror against
Azerbaijan during XX century. “We raised a question before the Council
of Ministers that the document should be presented to a separate
discussion and gave recommendations for the consideration of the
facts in the European Court on Human Rights,” told Huseyinov.
Besides, he stressed that the second document was named “Ethic
cleansing held by Armenian against Azerbaijan”. “It was stated in
the document that Armenia and Armenian lobby jeopardize not only
Azerbaijanis, but also several countries around the world. They
implements secret and clear separatism policy in the territories
densely populated by Armenians. It is described in the document that
Armenians is continuing its separatism policy against Azerbaijan,”
Huseynov stressed.
According to Huseynov, special points of the document describe
the mass destruction of Azerbaijans by Armenians in 1905 in Baku,
Nakchivan, Iravan and Zangazur. Besides, thousands of Azerbaijanis
were killed in Karabakh, Shusha, Jabrail and Ganja in November of
the same year. “In 1914, Armenians killed 150 thousand Azerbaijanis
in Khoy and Urmiya and 200 thousand in Kars, Arzurum and Ardakhand.
Under the Bolshevik regime, Armenians killed 50 thousand Azerbaijanis
in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, Kurdamir and Lankaran in March-April 1918,”
added Huseynov.
Besides, Huseynov ruled out that 1930-1937s were described as a new
phase of ethnic cleansing. “It was especially stated in the document
that more than 50 thousand Azerbaijanis were departed from their native
land to Kazakhstan and Siberia. Besides, it was mentioned that the
ethic cleansing of Azerbaijanis was realized according to the special
decision of Council of Ministers of USSR dated December 20, 1947
and March 19, 1948 under the pressure of Armenian representatives in
Kremlin. During these years, 150 thousand Azerbaijanis were departed
from Armenia to the territories that had bad climate. Many people
died in result of departure. The next ethnic cleansing policy of
Armenians is related to Nagorno-Karabakh,” he stressed, adding that
in connection with this issues, a question will be raised before PACE
on appointment of reporters.

NEW US AMB TO ARMENIA REBUFFS USE OF ‘GENOCIDE’, DESPITE SENATORS’ DEMANDS
Author: R. Abdullayev
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
June 29 2006
The candidate to the post of US Ambassador to Armenia, Richard
Hoagland, addressing to the Committee on international relationships
and did not use the word ‘genocide’ in his speech, Trend reports
citing the Turkish media. Hoagland was in need of Senate support to
achieve the adoption of his candidacy.
However, three pro-Armenian senators – George Allen and Norm Coleman,
republicans, as well as Paul Sarbanes, a democrat, demanded from
Hoagland to recognize the so-called ‘genocide’ of Armenian in Osmanly
Empire.
Despite the insisting questions by three senators Hoagland did not
used that word. “I’d not back ‘game of words’ and call on looking
forwards rather back, the US diplomat stressed.
In case of appointment to the post of Ambassador to Armenia, Hoagland
committed himself to support the development of regional relationships
between Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
John Evans, the former US Ambassador to Armenia, was recalled by the
US President George W. Bush in 2005 due to use of a word ‘genocide’,
regarding the events of 1915 in Osmanly Empire.
Currently Hoagland is acting US Ambassador to Tajikistan.

G8 CALLS FOR SWIFT END TO REGIONAL CONFLICTS
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
June 29 2006
June 29, 2006 — Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight leading
industrialized nations have called for a prompt resolution to regional
conflicts in former Soviet republics and in the Balkans.
In a statement after a meeting in Moscow, the ministers called on
Azerbaijan and Armenia to show the political will needed to reach an
agreement this year over Nagorno-Karabakh.
They also welcomed the launch of direct talks on Kosovo and urged a
negotiated agreement.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: WHY THE WRITERS REFUSE TO BE SILENCED
FT
June 26 2006 15:38
Perihan Magden, a Turkish novelist and journalist, appeared in an
Istanbul court earlier this month accused of the slightly surreal
crime of “alienating the people against military service” because
she defended a young man’s right to be a conscientious objector.
As she entered the court she was attacked by a small crowd of
demonstrators shouting insults and causing a commotion that at least
guaranteed television news coverage.
It was a scene that has become familiar outside Turkish courtrooms. A
series of prosecutions of writers and journalists, for things they
said or wrote, has attracted bigots and xenophobes to each hearing,
adding a sharp political edge to the occasions and turning them into
spectacles that would be considered in some other countries to be
bringing the law into disrepute.
Ms Magden’s case was adjourned to another hearing in late July. She
faces three years in jail if she is convicted. “I cannot believe I
am being prosecuted,” she said in court.
Her alleged crime was to write an opinion piece in a magazine in which
she defended the notion of conscientious objection to military service,
arguing in favour of a young man who was refusing to wear the uniform
during his conscription because it was against his beliefs.
The Turkish military, a powerful institution with a long history
of meddling in politics and silencing its critics, objected to the
article, arguing that it could undermine the standing of the armed
forces in the public mind and perhaps encourage youngsters to refuse
military service, which is compulsory for men.
The notion is absurd in a country where the armed forces are, on
the whole, highly regarded, and where military service is seen as
a badge of honour. But a prosecutor filed a case against Ms Magden,
and it is now being played out in court.
If Ms Magden thinks the case is absurd, many Turks would probably
agree. So would the European Union, which Turkey wishes to join. The
EU has put freedom of expression high on its list of issues Turkey
must address if any progress on entry is to be made.
In particular, the EU wants Turkey to change or abolish Article 301
of the revised penal code passed by this government, which is seen as
a license for any prosecutor to pursue a case against an individual
based on the flimsiest evidence.
The furore that invariably surrounds the prosecution of freedom of
expression cases in Turkey does immense damage to the country’s image
at home and abroad.
This raises the intriguing question of why Turkey, which is a modern
democracy with a pluralist media and no shortage of opinions on every
conceivable subject, still puts writers and journalists on trial,
and why such a powerful country is still so seemingly terrified of
wayward, unorthodox, or subversive yet non-violent opinion.
One reason, commentators say, is because the legal system tolerates it.
Although a constitution drafted by the military top brass and imposed
after a coup d’etat in 1980 has been heavily amended, its legacy has
been pernicious and authoritarian.
Even today, commentators and diplomats say, vaguely worded articles
allow for severe restrictions on freedom of expression. These
restrictions are less draconian than a decade ago, but they are still
effective in making a writer think twice before putting an opinion
down on paper.
Much of the impetus for prosecutors to pursue writers who might
be considered to have insulted Turkey in some way comes from the
hard-line, xenophobic nationalist extremes of Turkish politics.
This is not a large group but it is exceptionally noisy – perhaps
because it feels itself alienated from the modern trend of Turkish
politics – and it uses the legal system to announce and pursue its
grievances.
“Nationalists are feeling besieged,” says Ali Tekin, a political
scientist at Bilkent University. “When they see an avenue to express
their frustration, they seize it.”
A second reason is that, although debate on contested historical
questions is now more open in Turkey than it was five years ago,
some subjects are still regarded by some Turks as taboo, such as the
fate of Ottoman Armenians, the plight of the Kurds, or the continuing
usefulness of Kemalism, the republican nationalist ideology bequeathed
by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Turkey. Those who would
silence debate on these issues say European countries do the same
thing.
They point to Austria, which jailed David Irving – a British historian
who denied the Nazi Holocaust – for three years.
That is a more severe sentence than any handed down in recent months
by a Turkish court. The saving grace of Turkish cases is that many
are either withdrawn or collapse under the weight of contradictions.
A third, and perhaps more important, reason why freedom of expression
is so sensitive in Turkey is that it is a country where opinions are
important, especially if they challenge received wisdom.
The columnist Cengiz Candar has described Turkish intellectuals as
” iconoclasts in a conservative society”, holding Turkey to account
on behalf of the world. There is a vast amount of opinion in Turkish
newspapers, sometimes at the expense of news, but it plays a vital
role in shaping public opinion.
Orhan Pamuk, the novelist whose trial last December on a charge of ”
insulting Turkishness” led to an international outcry, recently made
a similar point about writers.
He told a conference of PEN, the international writers’ organisation,
that part of a writer’s task was to raise forbidden subjects “purely
because they were forbidden”.
In his PEN lecture published in the New York Review of Books, from
which these quotations are taken, he recalled a visit to Istanbul
in the mid-1980s by the playwrights Arthur Miller and Harold Pinter,
to show support for jailed writers in Turkey.
Things are not that bad today. But Mr Pamuk observed that for a
writer to self-censor himself simply to avoid upsetting anybody was
“a bit like smuggling forbidden goods through customs” and was shaming
and degrading.
He has refused to be silenced in his own writings. Other Turkish
writers, as Ms Magden shows, feel the same way.

STRENGTHENING DEFENSIVE MEASURES ON ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN BORDER
AZG Armenian Daily
28/06/2006
The number of frontier guards’ stations have increased on the
Armenian-Georgian border. A new frontier guard station opened in
the Kalinino village of Ninotsminda region. While the control of the
Turkish-Georgian border has weakened.
New Passport Checking Point to Open in Ninotsminda
In the course of his visits to Javakhk, the Georgian justice minister
promised to open a new passport checking point in Ninotsminda
region. “A-Info” informed that there had been no passport checking
point in Ninotsminda for the last two years. It’s worth mentioning
that in 2005, the Akhalkalaki based department for international
passport checking was closed for a short time, too.

California Courier Online, June 29, 2006
1 – Commentary
State Dept. Should Pay a Price
For Dismissing Amb. Evans
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
2 – The Actors’ Gang Brings Director/
Actor Simon Abkarian to U.S.
3 – Ararat Nursing Facility Receives Honor
From State Department of Health Services
4 – Balakian Visits Athens and Thessaloniki for
Greek Edition of ‘The Burning Tigris’ Book’
5 – Doctors Visit Shepherds and
Families in Armenian Highlands
6 – Paris High Schools Distribute Armenian
Genocide Circular to 500,000 Students
7- Western Prelacy Allocates
Scholarships to Students
8 – Catholicos Karekin II’s Pontifical Visit
Sparks Protests by Turkish Nationalists
************************************* *************************************
1 – Commentary
State Dept. Should Pay a Price
For Dismissing Amb. Evans
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
For several months now, State Department officials have been hiding behind
such nonsensical statements as “ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the
president,” when confronted with questions regarding the dismissal of John Evans, the
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia.
More than 60 members of the House and Senate have sent letters to Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice asking for an explanation for the dismissal of Amb.
Evans after acknowledging the Armenian Genocide during his visit to California
in February of 2005. Following protests from Turkish officials, the State
Dept. forced Amb. Evans to issue a retraction, not once, but twice. He alsolost
a “Constructive Dissent” Award that he was scheduled to receive from the
American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) for his candid remarks on the Armenian
Genocide. According to the Washington Post, the State Dept. contacted the AFSA
to rescind this distinguished award.
The State Dept. has not responded to any of the congressional inquiries nor
to the large number of e-mails sent by members of the Armenian American
community on this issue in the past 5 months. State Dept. officials can no longer
hide, as the Senate has a constitutional oversight responsibility on
ambassadorial appointments. This week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding
a confirmation hearing for Richard Hoagland, the Ambassador Designate to
Armenia (in replacement for Amb. Evans) on Wednesday, June 28, at 2:30 p.m.(East
Coast Time). The nomination hearing can be viewed live on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee website:
Members of the Armenian American community should request that all 18 members
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee attend this important hearing.
Unless urged to do so, most committee members usually do not attend such hearings.
It would be particularly effective if voters could urgently contact the
Senators from their own state. Please call the Senate switchboard (202) 224-3121
and ask to be connected to the legislative aides of the following Senators and
send e-mails, urging the Senators to attend the June 28 hearing and ask Amb.
Hoagland what he knows about the dismissal of Amb. Evans and what instructions
he has been given about his use of the term Armenian Genocide after his
confirmation:
Richard Lugar (Chairman, R-Indiana): [email protected]
Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska): [email protected]
Lincoln Chafee (R-Rhode Island): [email protected]
George Allen (R-Virginia): [email protected]
Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota): [email protected]
George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio): [email protected]
Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee): [email protected]
John E. Sununu (R-New Hampshire): [email protected]
Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska): [email protected]
Mel Martinez (R-Florida): [email protected]
Joseph R. Biden (Ranking Member, D-Delaware): [email protected]
Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Maryland): [email protected]
Christopher J. Dodd (D-Connecticut): [email protected]
John F. Kerry (D-Massachusetts): [email protected]
Russell D. Feingold (D-Wisconsin): [email protected]
Barbara Boxer (D-California): [email protected]
Bill Nelson (D-Florida): [email protected]
Barack Obama (D-Illinois): [email protected]
Given the evasiveness and unresponsiveness of State Dept. officials to the
letters and e-mails sent to them by members of congress as well as the public
at large, Senators have no choice but to demand that the State Dept. provide an
honest explanation regarding the dismissal of a distinguished career
diplomat, before they confirm his successor. If Amb. Evans’s career is indeed being
terminated for acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, State Dept. officials should
have the courage to face the U.S. Senate as well as the American public and
say so.
The Armenian American community should not allow such ill-advised action be
taken by cowardly officials who are hiding behind closed doors. Let them come
forward and subject themselves to the scrutiny of U.S. Senators and the
American public. If the State Department gets away with sweeping this sinister
decision under the rug, it would be encouraged to repeat it over and over again
with impunity.
Unless meaningful and honest explanations are provided, Senators should be
asked to place a temporary hold on the confirmation of Amb. Hoagland. It makes
no sense to replace an ambassador without being told the reason why.
Otherwise, a few months from now, the new ambassador could also get dismissed without
any public explanation.
Callous and arrogant State Dept. officials must be made to pay a price in
terms of public humiliation and delay in the confirmation of the new nominee, so
they would think twice before taking such capricious decisions in the future!
It is simply unacceptable that a group of individuals in the upper echelons
of the U.S. government act as accomplices to the denialist regime in Turkey!
****************************************** ********************************
2 – The Actors’ Gang Brings Director/
Actor Simon Abkarian to U.S.
CULVER CITY, CA – The Actors’ Gang brings French director Simon Abkarian to
the U.S. for its final offering of the 2005-06 season, Love’s Labor’s Lost.
The seldom-produced romantic comedy by William Shakespeare opens for the press
on Saturday, July 22 and continues through September 16 at The Gang’s new home
in Culver City’s Ivy Substation. Low-priced previews begin July 8.
Ferdinand, King of Navarre, and three of his friends give up women and the
world to devote themselves to learning. But their foolish vows can’t bar Love –
from their gates or from their hearts. Will Love’s labors be lost or won?
“One of the many reasons I’m drawn to this play is because it talks about the
secret relationship between women and men, and because I’m 44 and that’s
still a question for me,” laughs Abkarian. “Also, when you’re an actor andyou
play in Shakespeare, it’s like a dancer going back to the bar. There is no
escape.”
“Simon’s insightful and provocative approach promises a thoughtful, amusing
and reconstructed look at one of Shakespeare’s most challenging comedies,” says
Actors’ Gang co-founder and artistic director Tim Robbins. He and Abkarian
have remained friends since they first met at a workshop during the 1984
Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles.
In Paris, Abkarian was a member of Theatre du Soleil, a company that, under
the direction of the legendary Arianne Mnouchkine, is known for interspersing
modern theater techniques with masks, music, movement and classical and world
traditions such as Italian and French “commedia dell’arte,” Indian “Kathakali,”
and Balinese “Topeng.” Abkarian directed
three major productions for the company. He left Theatre du Soleil in 1993
to work with various companies in and outside of Paris, and finally createdhis
own, T.E.R.A., for which he most recently staged a critically-acclaimed
production of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus in Paris. He also continues to work
as an actor, both on stage (he is a recipient of the Moliere Award for Best
Actor for his work in Beast on the Moon, the haunting tale of two Armenianswho
flee the Turkish genocide of 1915); and in film, including villainous roles
in Cedric Klapisch’s Neither For Nor Against and the new James Bond remake,
Casino Royale, and the romantic lead in Sally Potter’s Yes, opposite Joan Allen.
Love’s Labor’s Lost runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays
at 2 pm, July 22 through Sept. 16. Fridays through Sundays, tickets are $25;
students and seniors pay only $20. Tickets to all Thursday evening
performances are Pay-What-You-Can. Preview performances take place on July13 at 8 pm;
July 14 at 8 pm; July 15 at 8 pm; and July 16 at 2 pm. Preview tickets are
$15.
The Actors’ Gang is located in the Ivy Substation at 9070 Venice Boulevard
(near the intersection of Culver and Venice Blvds.) in Culver City. Two hours
free parking is available throughout downtown Culver City.
For reservations and information, call The Actors’ Gang Box Office at
310-838-GANG (310.838.4264).
************************************************** ***********************
3 – Ararat Nursing Facility Receives Honor
From State Department of Health Services
LOS ANGELES – The Mission Hills Ararat Nursing Facility again received a
“Zero Deficiencies” report from the California State Department of Health Services.
This is the third time in four years (2003, 2004 and 2006) that the Nursing
Facility at Mission Hills has received this award. There are approximately
1,500 similar facilities in California and less than one percent are awarded the
“Zero Deficiencies” classification each year.
While Ararat Home’s Eagle Rock Convalescent Hospital has not yet been
examined by the Department of Health Services in 2006, they received the “Zero
Deficiencies” status in 2003 and 2004.
John Yaldezian, Chairman of the Board, said, “We are honored to again receive
this prestigious designation. The Board of Trustees are most appreciative of
the staff at our facilities and to Mission Hills Nursing Facility
Administrator Walter Hekimian and Executive Director Margo Babikian, as well as Eagle
Rock’s Administrator Violette Alahaidoyan. These individuals and their staffs
continually strive to offer the best possible care to patients from the Armenian
community.”
The Ararat Home and Nursing facility has been serving the Armenian community
in Southern California since 1949. It currently has four facilities, two in
Mission Hills, Eagle Rock and Montrose that can accommodate more than 400
residents and patients.
For additional information, contact Beatrice Malkhasian at: (818) 838-4860.
**************************************** **********************************
4 – Balakian Visits Athens and Thessaloniki for
Greek Edition of ‘The Burning Tigris’ Book’
By Doris V. Cross
Peter Balakian recently returned from a week in Greece where he was invited
to speak about The Burning Tigris, published in Greek this spring by
Kastaniotis Editions. As a Michael Dukakis Fellow in Public Policy at Anatolia College
in Thessaloniki (May 12-15), he delivered a public lecture on May 15 that was
co-sponsored by the Thessaloniki Hamazkayin cultural organization and the
Anatolia College alumni association. The lecture commemorated the 120th anniversary
of the founding of Anatolia College in Marsovan, Ottoman Turkey. Earlier in
the day he also met with two classes to lead discussions on cultural identity
with more than 50 students and faculty.
Balakian’s Greek translator, the distinguished novelist Joanna Karatzferi,
was instrumental in arranging the tour as were Garabed, Anahid, and Diroui of
the Kalfayan family of Thessaloniki.
In his introduction to Balakian, College President Richard Jackson called him
the “most prominent American voice for historical justice for the Armenian
people.” He also recalled Anatolia College’s close ties with the Armenians of
Sivas Province, who constituted the majority of Anatolia’s early student body.
Balakian, he noted, has written of the role played by missionary schools such
as Anatolia in bearing witness to the fate of the Armenians, and also quotes
George White, president of Anatolia in 1915, in his narrative. In Black Dogof
Fate, Jackson added, Balakian relates that it was a former student in another
missionary school-Balakian’s grandmother, who attended the missionary school in
Diyarbekir–who helped him discover his own voice as a writer.
In his opening remarks, Balakian said: “Your institution has had a remarkable
and profound history. As Anatolia College of Marsovan, it witnessed the
devastation of the Abdul Hamid massacres in 1894-96 and then again, in an even more
dramatic way, the deportation and massacres of your own Armenian students in
the Armenian Genocide of 1915.”
“As if that weren’t enough, your college was also occupied by the Nazis
during WWII; for drama and trauma it’s hard to top this.”
“Congruent with the history of the liquidation of the Christian minorities
from Turkey (the Greeks, Armenians, and Assyrians) during the genocide period,
Anatolia College also made the migration west, to freedom–to Greece–to this
great city-in 1923 to continue the project of higher education. It is hard to
think of another school that has borne witness to such history.
On May 17, Balakian spoke in downtown Athens to a capacity crowd at the Hall
of Speech and Drama. The program was sponsored by Kastaniotis Editions and the
Hamazkayin, and accompanied by a panel that included journalist Stavros
Theodorakis; journalist and translator of The Burning Tigris, Elias Maglinas;
actress Christina Alexanian, who read passages from the book; and Hamazkayin
director Stavros Abarian.
Balakian’s visit was covered by the major press in Athens and Thessaloniki.
He also did several major television interviews.
“I was delighted and surprised with the intensity of the coverage of my
visit,” Balakian remarked. “The Greeks are as engaged in the Armenian past as any
country in the world.” He also noted how deeply the genocide of the Pontic
Greeks at the hands of the Ottoman government in 1915-17 is now gripping the Greek
people.
“I was in Thessaloniki just as the new memorial there to the Pontic Greeks
was making headlines. When Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan visited the city in
May he made a diplomatic complaint about the monument to the Greek government.
It’s a sad and ongoing pattern with Turkey–the refusal to accept its own past.”
********’***************************** ************************************
5 – Doctors Visit Shepherds and
Families in Armenian Highlands
Reuters, UK
For the first time, doctors visited shepherds and their families in the
pastures of Armenia’s northern Lori region thanks to World Vision Medical Outreach
Teams (MOT) project and local polyclinic doctors.
A fully equipped truck with a medical team – general doctor, laboratory
technician, gynecologist, and pediatrician – drove through almost impassable
mountain paths to provide important primary healthcare to the highland families.
‘During the summer months, people in the pastures are too far from villages
and health posts, so they can’t see doctors for months. Our goal is to take
doctors close to them,’ explains Marat Manoukian, Lori ADP Health Coordinator.
Animal breeding is the main source of income for many rural populations in
Lori. The shepherds take the cows or sheep to far-off mountains with rich
pastures and live with their families in small temporary dwellings usually made of
old wooden panels or rusted plates. Staying for far away from their native
villages, for four to five months, they suffer many hardships such as no access to
even the simplest health services.
“This is the only way for me to earn a living for my family nowadays: in
winters I have no work to do,” confesses Mukuchyan Saro from Odzun village,a
specialist in the energy industry who has worked as a shepherd for the lastfour
years.
In summer, Saro stays in a pasture of Garakhach mountain with three other
shepherds, milking some 80 cows a day. This backbreaking work caused him severe
pain in his arms. After a medical examination, MOT doctors found certain
problems with his joints, prescribed medicines and referred him for future treatment
to the local polyclinic.
“I’m happy that my children will be examined by specialists: the conditions
here are far from being ideal for children, so I constantly worry about their
health,” said a surprised Shushan Sargsyan, mother to 11-year-old Serine and
13-year-old Sargis. Serine helps her mother with cooking and washing dishes,
while her brother helps the men to tend the herd.
Seventy-five-year-old Mhoyan Syomka helps his younger counterparts look after
the herds. He is short of breath and speaks with
difficulty. Syomka says it’s the first time he has been examined by a
physician in his life: “If it were not World Vision, I would never see a doctor.”
The doctors concluded that Syomka’s condition is quite serious and decided to
hospitalize him.
“Ultimately, World Vision’s assistance contributes to the expanded role of
local health care providers and strengthens the community-based health system,”
said Robert Dilbaryan, Head of Lori Health Department, commenting that the
regular monthly visits of MOTs serve as a basis for the Health Ministry to
develop new regulations, to ensure health services are made available to rural
population at least once a month.
World Vision’s MOT project funded by USAID started in Lori in July 2004. MOT
team regularly visits remote and needy communities, and provides free medical
services that include laboratory tests, ultrasound examinations and referrals
to district doctors.
***************************************** *********************************
6 – Paris High Schools Distribute Armenian
Genocide Circular to 500,000 Students
PARIS – In May 2006, 500,000 high school students and 80,0000 teachers and
government officials of the French Ile-de-France region, which represents the
Paris metropolitan area, received an informative brochure about the Armenian
Genocide written by the Regional Council of Ile-de-France in cooperation with the
Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations in France (CCAF-Paris).
Emphasizing that the history of the Armenians is part of the history of France, the
four-page color document, entitled “Genocide of the Armenians,” was writtenby
historians Philippe Videlier of CNRS in Lyon, Claude Mutafian, and Raymond
Kevorkian, the Director of AGBU’s Nubarian Library in Paris.
The brochure’s content was tailored to the region’s high school students and
included the crucial facts and lessons of the Armenian Genocide. Intended for
use as an educational tool, teachers have been using the materials during
classroom discussions on the topic. The document illustrates the context ofthe
Ottoman Empire at the time, the situation of the Armenian population on theeve
of the Genocide, the tragic decision to eradicate the Armenian population by
the Young Turk government, the creation of concentration camps, the role ofthe
Young Turk Central Committee, and the criminal Turkish trials that followed
(1919-1920). It also includes a brief history, complete with photos and maps,
of the forced Armenian exile, and presents an overview of the Armenian diaspora
and realities faced by Armenians in present day Turkey.
The Armenian Genocide brochure was a result of the vision of CCAF, that after
seeing that the Regional Council of Ile-de-France published several documents
pertaining to the Holocaust, contacted the region in 2004 and persuaded them
of the necessity to relate an important event that has impacted the lives of
all French Armenians.
Other French regions, including Provence-Côte d’Azur and Rhône-Alpes, are
considering distributing similar informational brochures to their students.
The Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations in France (CCAF) brings
together 23 French Armenian organizations, 17 of which are permanent members
(AAAS, ADL, AGBU, ANACRA, CBAF, CDCA, FRA, GIIA, JAF, MAFP, Nor Seround, SD
Hentchak, UCFAF, UMAF, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian CatholicChurch,
and the Armenian Evangelical Church), to coordinate joint initiatives. In
addition the “Genocide of the Armenians” document, this year’s CCAF activities
also included the organization of April 24th commemorations, the mobilization
against Turkish denial efforts, the inauguration of Lyon’s Armenian Genocide
memorial, and the organization of demonstrations that supported the law that
would criminalize genocide denial.
The mission of AGBU’s Nubarian Library, based in Paris, is to preserve,
promote and highlight the Armenian heritage. Historians, researchers, musicians,
movie producers, and journalists consult the library’s rich archive-which
includes over 40,000 books, periodicals, photos, post cards, musical scores, and
maps-for projects ranging from academic studies to television documentaries. The
library also publishes books, as well as, the quarterly journal, “Revue
Arménienne des Question Contemporaines
*********************************** ***************************************
7 – Western Prelacy Allocates
Scholarships to Students
LOS ANGELES – Western Prelate Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, and the
Western Prelacy Executive Council announced that, as in previous years, theWestern
Prelacy allocated scholarships to students of Prelacy schools who met the
eligibility requirements.
There are several scholarship funds under the auspices of the Western
Prelacy, the annual interests of which are allotted to students of Prelacy schools
who meet the conditions.
The scholarships, amounts and recipient schools are: Angel Arpajian
Scholarship: $150 to a student from Rose & Alex Pilibos School; Robert Artounian
Scholarship: $400 to two students from R. & A. Pilibos School who excel in Armenian
and English; Alex and Maro. Iskenderian Scholarship: $400 to two needy
students from Pilibos School; Haroutioun & Araxie Keosseian Scholarship: $250 to a
student from Ferrahian School; Victoria Minassian Scholarship: $900 to three
students from Ferrahian School who excel in Armenian; Charles Keyian
Scholarship: $2,800 to the top four graduating students of Mesrobian Schooltowards
their college education.
Two allocations were made from a special scholarship fund; one in the amount
of $1,500 to a university student in Beirut, and the other in the sum of
$1,000 to a university student in Los Angeles.
Currently, candidates are being considered for the Garikian Scholarship,
which is specifically for college students.
**************************************** **********************************
8 – Catholicos Karekin II’s Pontifical Visit
Sparks Protests by Turkish Nationalists
ISTANBUL – The Lraber newspaper, the official publication of the Armenian
Patriarchate of Turkey, noted last week that the arrival of Catholicos Karekin II
of Etchmiadzin for a pontifical visit to the country last week was marred by
a rowdy demonstration of about 50 Turkish nationalists at the Ataturk Airport.
Eggs were thrown at the motorcade of Patriarch Archbishop Mesrob Mutafian and
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. No one was reported injured.
The Catholicos was taken to the Patriarchate in Istanbul which, according to
the Lraber report, is guarded around the clock by Turkish security forces.
“We are worried and this refers not to the Catholicos but nationalism and
chauvinist moods,” Archbishop Mesrop Mutafian said. The same day, Lraber reports,
the Patriarch of Constantinople addressed a written request to Istanbul
governor take strong security measures.
The Turkish Daily News reported that the ultranationalist head of the Turkish
Lawyers’ Union, Kemal Kerincsiz protested the visit of the Catholicos to the
closed Greek Orthodox Monastery in the Heybeliada Island near Istanbul. Police
prevented Kerincsiz from traveling to the seminary.
The Halki Seminary was closed in 1971 under a law requiring state supervision
of university-level religious education.
“Religious education being given by a seminary is against the Turkish
Republic’s Constitution and the principle of secularity,” Kerincsiz said.
Turkey sees Patriarch Bartolomeos as the leader of the Greek Orthodox
community, although the world Orthodox community considers him to be their spiritual
leader.
Turkey’s position puts it at odds with the European Union, which it aspires
to join, and the United States, which consider the status of the patriarch as a
matter of religious freedom. In its regular progress report assessing
Turkey’s membership efforts, the EU Commission urged Turkey to improve religious
rights for non-Muslim communities and complained, among other things, that “public
use of the ecclesiastical title of ecumenical patriarch is still banned.”
A U.S. State Department report on international religious freedom in 2005
highlighted concerns related to the status of the patriarch and reopening of the
Orthodox seminary.
**************************************** **********************************
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Armenian President Departed for Minsk to Participate in CSTO Meeting
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.06.2006 13:08 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian has
departed for Minsk to take part in the recurrent session of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), reported the RA
leader~Rs press office. Before the CSTO session, the sitting of the
CSTO Defense Ministers and the Committee of the Secretaries of National
Security Councils will be held in the Belarusian capital. The session
will be opened in a limited composition during which the leaders of
the CIS member states will exchange views on the military-political
situation within the CSTO zone.
Then the session will be continued with the participation of Foreign
Ministers, Defense Ministers and Secretaries of Security Councils. The
top officials are expected to sign the declaration on perfection of
CSTO efficiency and also a number of documents on legal interaction. In
Minsk the Armenian leader will take part in the EurAsEC Interstate
Council as an observer.

MORE THAN 40 EVENTS TO BE ORGANIZED WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF “ONE NATION, ONE CULTURE” SECOND ARMENIAN FESTIVAL
Noyan Tapan
Jun 22 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 22, NOYAN TAPAN. More than 40 events will be organized
within the framework of the “One Nation, One Culture” second Armenian
cultural festival to be held on June 23-30 in Armenia and Artaskh. As
Hrachya Ashoughian, producer of the festival’s opening ceremony,
informed at the June 22 press conference, each day of the festival
will be dedicated to one branch of art – theater, cinema, music,
literature, dancing, painting, etc. The festival participants will
also have an opportunity to see Armenian films at the Moscow cinema,
to meet with Armenian cinematographers and writers.
H.Ashoughian also said that the opening of the festival at K.Demirchian
sports and cultural complex will be non-stop and theatrical and dance
items will be performed.
According to Armen Manukian, festival Art Director, the holding of the
festival is especially important for the inhabitants of the Armenian
regions: “The inhabitants of the regions are looking forward to such
events and within the framework of the festival they will have an
opportunity to associate with art figures creating in the Diaspora
and in Armenia,” A.Manukian stated.