Author: Kanayan Tamar

EUROVISION
L’Azerbaïdjan remporte l’Eurovision 2011 !

Hier soir à Düsseldorf (Allemagne), Ell et Nikki, qui chantaient
“Running scared”, ont permis à l’Azerbaïdjan d’être sacrée au terme du
56e concours européen de la chanson. Pour sa quatrième participation,
l’Azerbaïdjan avec 221 points gagne ainsi le concours de l’Eurovision
2011 devant l’Italie (189 points) et la Suède (185 points). L’édition
2012 se déroulera donc à Bakou. Un sacré coup de pub pour
l’Azerbaïdjan et le régime d’Aliev qui ne manquera pas de dépenser des
millions de pétrodollars pour donner une image européenne et moderne
d’un pays pourtant corrompu et dictatorial. A noter que la chanteuse
azérie tenait à la main un drapeau…turc.

Précisions que l’Arménie était absente de la finale de l’Eurovision,
la chanteuse Emmy ayant été éliminée en demi-finale alors qu’elle
était donnée comme l’une des favorites au titre ! Lors du vote d’hier
soir, l’Arémnie donna 12 points à l’Ukraine, 10 à la Géorgie et 8 à la
Russie.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 15 mai 2011,
Krikor [email protected]

New Reality in the Middle East in Wake of Revolts, Reforms and
Religion: Eroding Diasporas Cling to Traditions
Posted on May 14, 2011 by Editor
By Alin K. Gregorian
Mirror-Spectator Staff

WATERTOWN, Mass. – Political events of the past three decades have
uprooted or altered the lives of many Armenians living in Middle
Eastern countries. From Iran to Lebanon, and now Syria, Jordan, Egypt
and Iraq, communities that seemed well-established – and well-heeled –
now seem to have either shrunk dramatically or shifted as equally
dramatically because of past, present or anticipated revolutions.

Two scholars studying Armenian diasporas shed some light on the
changing nature of the Middle Eastern communities, once home to the
largest Armenian Diaspora.

Prof. Ara Sanjian, director of the University of Michigan at
Dearborn’s Armenian Research Center, suggested that in the past three
decades, there has been a shift out of the Arab world for Armenians.

`If we take a very broad view since 1920, we see that there was an
influx of Armenians in the Arab world and some migration of Armenians
within the Arab world,’ he said.

The revolution in Iran, he said, changed the dynamics. When Armenians
left that country, he said, none went to Arab countries; instead, they
all headed West.

Regarding Iran, Khachig Tölölyan, a professor of English and letters
at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, as well as the editor of
Diaspora magazine there, cited an interesting change. About half of
Iranian-Armenians left when the revolution happened. Yet, the
remaining Armenians are still able to carve a strong presence for
themselves, albeit within the government-proscribed and sanctioned
church organizations. For Muslim fundamentalists, he said, it is
easier to recognize religion, therefore church organizations can play
a more prominent role.

Sanjian said that Armenian populations within the Arab world are
decreasing, but that decrease is not only a result of emigration; it
is that there is normal attrition and new people are not coming in to
take the places of those who have died.

`Arab countries are not attractive for new migration among Armenians,’
he stressed. The major group on the move among Armenians, he said, is
those from Armenia proper, and they don’t go to any countries in the
Middle East, except Israel.

The decrease of Armenians in the Arab world, he said, should also be
seen in the context of the Christian exodus out of the region. The
total number of Christians in the Middle East is decreasing, he said.

As for Lebanon, Sanjian said, the number of Armenians just prior to
the 1975 civil war was appropriately 180,000. Now that number is about
80,000, thought about 145,000-150,000 Armenians hold Lebanese
citizenship.

There are three kinds of diasporas, explained Tölölyan.

The first is residual, in which the community gradually and steadily
weakens, such as the Armenian community in Ethiopia, which was `very
strong’ from the 1920s through the 1970s and now has practically
disappeared.

Next, there are the emergent communities, which are the result of new
migration, thus they have higher numbers and great commitment to their
culture.

Third, he said, are the dominant communities, for example, Lebanon
before 1975 and Iran before 1979.

Tölölyan said that `just the passage of time changes the nature of any country.’

He ascribed many changes in the Armenian community there to those of
the greater host community, including the introduction of widespread
media, including Al Jazeera and Western program, as well as wealth
from oil and greater Islamization.

Tölölyan said that perhaps one should consider that a smaller
community is not necessarily a weakened community. `The core group
becomes even more committed. I don’t feel that everything is in
decline,’ he said, though in some communities the numbers are halved.

Western Armenian Culture in Jeopardy

One result of the move out of the Middle East, Sanjian said, is the
erosion of Western Armenian culture and language. In fact, he said,
last year the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) declared Western Armenian an endangered
language.

`Western Armenian culture is under serious threat. This is a delayed
consequence of the Armenian Genocide,’ he added.

The Middle East, including Istanbul, traditionally has
Armenian-speakers for about three generations, Sanjian said. However,
in Iran, he said, Armenians have been able to keep their language for
generations.

In France, the US and Canada, where newer waves of immigration have
led, there is more pressure to conform and speak the host country’s
language.

Tölölyan agreed that the attitude in Lebanon, unlike Iran, has been
much more inclusive.

`The attitude is, `Let’s all be Lebanese together.’ It is much more
receptive. Intermarriage has tripled and quadrupled. They say we can’t
keep separate,’ Tölölyan said.

Sanjian agreed that assimilation is happening rapidly. In countries,
like Egypt and Lebanon, he said, with large Christian Arab
populations, Armenians regularly intermarry with them. The region is
`overwhelmingly Muslim’ and thus, Armenians are marrying within their
group, though increasing the definition to mean Christians.

`They think it’s much easier to be with fellow Christians,’ Sanjian said.

At the same time, Tölölyan said, what is going on in Turkey, namely `a
debate among themselves to figure out if there is a pluralist way’ to
define their identity and to find out what makes a pluralist society,
makes it unique.

>From about 1900-1940s, the Middle East experienced a pan-Arab
movement, with the movement peaking in the 1960s. However, since the
1970s, instead of pan-Arab nationalism, it is pan-Islamism that has
risen.

`Since the 1970s, there has been a shifting identity’ in the Middle
East, so that any person does not define themselves as Arab, but
rather as Libyan, Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese, etc., Tölölyan noted.

The number of students in Armenian schools in Lebanon has gone down
accordingly – if not alarmingly. In 1975, he said, there were 21,000
Armenian students in grades K-12, but now it is about 7,000. There are
many more ethnic Armenian school children, but now, he said, most
parents opt for private Arabic-language schools in hopes of creating a
better future for their children by making them more fluent in Arabic.

In Syria, he said, the number of students has been holding,
approximately around 15,000.

In Egypt, Sanjian said that the number of Armenians, once so numerous,
is down to a few thousand. The creation of the new Egyptian
government, he said, once the dust settles, will resonate throughout
the Arab world. `It will affect policy and discourse in other Arab
countries,’ he said, including Lebanon and East Jerusalem. `The
changes are not going to stop at the Egyptian border,’ he said.

One bright light, paradoxically, is Istanbul, he said. `It still has a
thriving community,’ though many are Turkish or Kurdish speakers. `It
has recovered the feel of a community.’

news.am, Armenia
May 14 2011

Fate of Armenian-Jewish spouses in Iranian jail unknown – newspaper

May 14, 2011 | 10:52

YEREVAN. – Haraparak daily reports about Iranian spouses Varujan
Petrosyan – an ethnic Armenian – and Adiva Mirza, an ethnic Jew,
hanged for unknown reasons in “Evin” jail in Iran.

“Contrary to Armenia, U.S. State Department expressed its protest in
this regard,” the article reads.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry refused to release any comments on the incident.

“One might have an impression that Armenia gets interested in Diaspora
only when fundraising and implementing ‘Return Home’ program,” says
Hraparak.

Iran Book News Agency, Iran
May 14 2011

Atom Egoyan at TIBF

14 May 2011 13:16
`The sweet hereafter’ by Atom Egoyan which was translated by Shamim
Hedayati has been offered at the 24th Tehran International Book Fair.

IBNA: `The sweet hereafter’ is the 58th scenario of 100 preeminent
scenarios of Nei publication.

Atom Egoyan, is a critically acclaimed Armenian-Canadian independent
film maker, he was born Atom Yeghoyan in Cairo, Egypt, 1960. his
best-known work is The Sweet Hereafter (1997), which earned him
universal critical acclaim and Academy Award nominations for Best
Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The book is not about death but the grief of being alive. The
adventure happens in a town in Canada and people of the town are
woeful of losing 14 school children who died in falling to frozen lake
by school bus. Yet the scenario and the movie don’t talk about how it
happened or whose fault it was; it is a courageous jeremiad about
human life.

The movie, in which Sara Poly was played, was made on 1997 and was
directed by famous Canadian director.

As if the scenario affected the life of its young translator, Shamim
Hedayati. She worked on 12 translation works and she died in a car
accident with her husband Sina Modabernia. It is the first published
book of her translations.

The sweet hereafter has been published in 150 pages.

Foreign Policy Journal
May 14 2011

Is Another Nuclear Accident Waiting to Happen in Armenia?

by Richard Rousseau
May 14, 2011

As the political and radioactive fallout of Japan’s Fukushima meltdown
spreads, serious regional concerns over the safety of Armenia’s aging
Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant continue to mount. Not only does the
plant lie on a physical fault line, but it is also located in a
politically unstable neighborhood, intersected by ethnic and sectarian
divisions, especially with Azerbaijan and Turkey, the latter two being
at loggerheads with Armenia over political, territorial, and valid
environmental safety issues.

While all the parties have an interest in making sure there are no
problems at Metsamor, the recent Fukushima nuclear disaster has simply
magnified the security and environmental concerns of regional actors,
and this will inevitably have an effect on their political relations,
also.

One only has to look at the history of the Metsamor Nuclear Power
Plant to understand that it is basically an accident waiting to
happen. Following the earthquake in the Armenian city of Spitak in
1988, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale and killed over 25,000
people,[1] Soviet officials decided to shut down the plant. However, a
highly effective economic blockade imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey in
response to the illegal occupation of the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
by Armenian troops created conditions which led to the reopening of
the plant seven years later, despite expert advice that it should
remain deactivated.

Landlocked Armenia has few short term alternatives to nuclear power.
The Metsamor reactor provides about 40 percent of Armenia’s
electricity. Attempts to replace it have been continually frustrated
and efforts to find alternative energy sources, or install a new
reactor with state-of-the-art controls and backup systems, have so far
proved fruitless. However, something will have to be done because the
clock is ticking. In October 2008, Areg Galstyan, the Armenian Deputy
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced that the
construction of a new nuclear power plant is due to start sometime in
2011 and is expected to be commissioned in 2017.[2]

Hakob Sanasaryan, an Armenian chemist and head of the Green Union of
Armenia, claimed in 2003 that the Metsamor did not meet
internationally accepted nuclear safety standards, as it lacks a
containment vessel, whose function is to prevent radioactive release
in the event of an accident.[3] Moreover, the plant is located a mere
75 kilometers from the 1988 earthquake epicenter, an area with a long
history of powerful quakes, and 30 kilometers from the Armenian
capital Yerevan.

Nonetheless, officials in Yerevan insist that Armenia is immune to the
kind of nuclear emergency which has struck Japan, even if the country
is located in a seismically active zone. Ashot Martirosian, head of
Armenia’s State Committee on Nuclear Safety Regulation, claims that a
magnitude-8.9 offshore quake, such as the one that has wreaked havoc
on Japan, is extremely unlikely ever to hit Armenia.[4] He also claims
that the cooling system of the nuclear plant at Metsamor is superior
to that of the Fukushima Daiichi facility and that it can withstand an
even more severe earthquake than has been experienced either in Japan
or Armenia in 1988.

The consensus statements by Armenian officials indicate that they have
closed ranks on the nuclear issue. Rafael Arutunian, Deputy Director
of the Institute for Nuclear Energy Security Problems of Armenia,
thinks that Metsamor has shown its capability to withstand serious
earthquakes since 1988 and that any speculation about the threat posed
by Metsamor is merely politicking.[5] However, the Japanese tragedy
has definitely been a wakeup call, he believes. Additional security
measures will now have to be put in place to make the nuclear power
station safe for Armenians as well as for their immediate neighbors.

The Soviet-built nuclear power plant is not considered safe enough by
Western governments either, according to a Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty report.[6] Also, there has been considerable public
controversy – sometimes even hysteria – lately over the use of nuclear
energy and the nuclear industry has a contentious track record. So
much so, for example, that Germany has plans to decommission several
of its plants, even if they are considered as modern and
state-of-the-art. However, the trend for putting safety first is about
to stall in many regions of the world, as political and economic
expediency pushes safety concerns onto the back burner. In that
context, Armenia’s neighbors cannot now assume that the once
all-pervading anti-nuclear logic can be used as an unassailable
argument against the Metsamor plant.

The Azerbaijani government and international experts continue to voice
safety concerns over the Metsamor nuclear plant. Azerbaijan wants
solid assurances from Armenia that the plant does not constitute a
danger for any state in the region. Eduard Shevardnadze, former
president of Georgia, has urged his country’s authorities to negotiate
with Armenia on the safety of the plant. `Reports about the Armenian
NPP’s condition raise serious concerns. The Armenian NPP turned out to
be in the most deplorable condition and there are not any safety
guarantees, what threatens the entire region,’ reports PanArmenian.[7]
Up until now, however, it appears that the threat of nuclear disaster
and the damage this potential threat is inflicting to its
international relations are prices the Armenian government considers
worth paying to avoid losing face with their domestic consumers and
international lobby.

Azerbaijan and other regional states’ reasonable concerns deserve to
be taken seriously and properly addressed by the Armenian government.
In particular, they need to be reassured that there is an effective
emergency response plan in place; and that needs to be done without
any bias by all the sides as well as other stakeholders. The same
questions which have been thrown up by the Fukushima disaster should
be asked in the case of Metsamor and parallels should be drawn.

Another source of misgivings is the fact that Metsamor has been
operated since 2003 by the Russian Inter RAO UES, owned by Russian
state-run Rosatom Corporation. The contract is valid until 2013.
Azerbaijan and contiguous countries should be particularly concerned
by the `business ethic’ of Rosatom. A relic of the Soviet system, it
still operates largely with full autonomy and without oversight since
its activities are not under the scrutiny of any independent
agency.[8] Also, suspicions abounds that Rosatom’s officials and
scientists are engaged in money-laundering schemes, clandestine
technology transfers and other types of `transactions.'[9] An
embodiment of Cold War-style secrecy, Rosatom is a complex of
laboratories and secret `closed cities’ where mostly former soviet
scientists design and build nuclear power plants for local demand and
foreign markets.

Notes

[1] See

[2] See

[3] See

[4] See

[5] See

[6] See

[7] See

[8] See

[9] See ;

Richard Rousseau, Ph.D. is a professor of international relations at
the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy in Baku. Read more articles by
Richard Rousseau.

Sergey Tatevosyan: Abraham to face problems in bout vs. Ward

May 14, 2011 – 14:47 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net –

Well-known Armenian Russian boxer Sergey Tatevosyan said that the
American boxer is the favorite in Arthur Abraham-Andre Ward bout.

`First, Ward weights heavier. The American boxer does not allow his
rivals to strike even his arms, shoulders. It may become a serious
problem for Abraham’ allboxing.ru quoted Tatevosyan as saying.

At the same time, Tatevosyan admitted that he will be a fan of
Abraham, though he understands that Ward’s chance to celebrate victory
in the bout makes 80%.

On May 14, Ward and Abraham will clash at The Home Depot Center in
Carson, Calif. Showtime will televise in the U.S.

Jerusalem Armenian story finally being told
by Arthur Hagopian

Published: Saturday May 14, 2011

Jerusalem – It is a crying shame that a truly comprehensive and
scholarly gratifying history of the annals of the Armenians of
Jerusalem has yet to be penned.

Armenians have been living in Jerusalem continuously for over two
thousand years, even before their conversion to Christianity.

That’s a lot of history, by any reckoning.

Not that this demonstrably vital colony of artists, craftsmen, and
other creative spirits – the list is endless but runs the whole gamut
of human experience – lacks the necessary skill or expertise to do it,
scattered though most of its members may be around the four corners of
the world.

The reasons behind this omission are not mere inertia on the part of
Armenian scribes. The lamentable fact is that the ancestors of
Jerusalem’s Armenians gave record-keeping a pedestrian glance, leaving
their progeny with precious little reliable records or resources to
tap.

And let us not forget that the whole Middle East region has been so
enmeshed in periodic patches of political upheaval over the centuries,
the foremost preoccupation of the city’s Armenian denizens has always
been to win the struggle for survival.

But all is not lost.

As we look through the glass of history, darkly, though we perceive
dark clouds of unknowing, we can also sporadically discern some bright
lights of promise, personified in a minuscule pride of historians,
like Ormanian and Savalaniantz.

Their books have almost become objects of veneration, preserving for
posterity as they do segments of the story of the Armenians of
Jerusalem.

Several years ago, Jerusalem-born scholar Kevork Hintlian attempted to
fill part of the gap in the history of his people with a
well-researched, slim but titillating volume, “The History of the
Armenians in the Holy Land.”

It is unfortunate that this book remains generally undervalued and
unappreciated – it deserves better. Hintlian has been urged repeatedly
to expand it, extend its range. Hopefully, he will get around to it
sometime soon.

In sharp contrast to Hintlian’s 80-page tome, US-based Haig Krikorian
has just celebrated the culmination of a ten-year labor of love with a
massive 800-page endeavor, entitled “Lives and Times of the Armenian
Patriarchs of Jerusalem.”

Krikorian’s book is a timely treasure, foraging into the profound,
almost inaccessible niches and caves of disparate archives to
encapsulate for perpetuity the vicissitudes of the Armenian church in
Jerusalem.

The Armenian nation owns this patient plodder an incalculable debt of
gratitude for rescuing from obscurity the epic tale of the panoply of
Armenian church leaders, with a detailed chronicle that covers over a
millennium and a half of the lives of the Armenian patriarchs of
Jerusalem.

Krikorian has the good fortune of being a close friend of the current
incumbent, Patriarch Torkom Manoogian, and that, coupled with his
unflinching support for the Armenian Patriarchate, opened several
doors for him and accorded him unprecedented access to existing
records and private papers.

Despite the heavy lifting, I could not put the book down. Krikorian’s
fluid writing style, his meticulous choice of diction and paraphrase
and the lack of any literary mannerism of ostentation makes reading
his book a delight.

And there is plenty to tell his readers. Some of the facts he has
uncovered have probably never been revealed before. How many Armenians
are aware that Abraham (638-669), regarded by many as the first
Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, had trekked all the way to Mecca, to
plead with the Prophet Mohammed for protection for his flock?

[While it is almost impossible to determine the exact number of
Armenian Patriarchs in Jerusalem, various sources place the number
between 75 to 100].

Krikorian has taken great pains to trace the origins of the Armenian
presence in the Holy Land, and in particular in Jerusalem, and as you
read you come to realize that the story of the Armenians of Jerusalem
is actually the story of their church, embodied in the Patriarchate of
St James, with its grand cathedral, and that their history is linked
inevitably to their entity as Christians.

While recapping his chronicle, with a great eye for detail, the writer
also delves into the deeds and misdeeds of priestly members of the
Brotherhood of St James, an interlude that no doubt is bound to raise
eyebrows: not many Armenians will be happy to see the dirty wash of
their spiritual leaders aired in public.

Krikorian is not interested in a whitewash. He emphasizes that the
Armenian church survived the ravages of time despite the relentless
threat of internal strife and corruption at the hands of
unconscionable clergymen who pitted their ambitions ahead that of the
good of the church.

Inevitably, there is the sorry episode of the 25 manuscripts purloined
in the late 1940’s and the battle to get them back. Not all 25 were
retrieved. Three still remain unaccounted for, languishing perhaps in
the safe of some millionaire collector. Whether he or she would know
or appreciate half the value of so precious a possession, nobody will
know.

Nor does Krikorian shy away from pointing the finger at the attempts
by other Christian denominations, particularly the Greeks and Latins,
to expropriate Armenian properties and subjugate the Armenian church.

At some point down the timeline of history, Armenians are said to have
built over 500 monasteries in and around Jerusalem. Many of these have
been lost now – either destroyed or taken over, either through wars or
subterfuge, and sometimes by sheer chicanery or incompetence.

Ironically, while fellow Christians persecuted the Armenians, their
non-Christian overlords, particularly the Moslems, seem to have viewed
them with special favor, granting them rights and privileges they
enjoy to this day. Krikorian points out that this was no doubt
politically motivated, as a counter to their enemies with their
Byzantine sympathies and loyalties.

Krikorian, a former student at the theological seminary of the
Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, takes us through a travelogue that
spans the Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Maneluke, Turk, British and
Jordanian administrations, and down to the present era of the Israeli
and Palestinian conflict.

Throughout this epoch, pockmarked by frequent violence and endemic
corruption, the Armenians continued to survive and thrive, honing
their skills at diplomatic and politician maneuvering, alongside the
arts and crafts.

It is their presence that gives Jerusalem its unique flavor and
contributes to the city’s claim to be the center of the world.

Cafesjian Center opens exhibition of Hakob Hakobyan’s works (photos)

15:32 – 14.05.11

An exhibition featuring paintings and sculptures by contemporary
Armenian artist Hakob Hakobyan has opened in the Cafesjian Center for
the Arts.

The expositions include works representing both the earliest and much
later periods of Hakobyan’s creative life, the acting chief executive
of the center, Vahagn Mahrabyan, told Tert.am.

“We decided to open the museum week with an exhibition featuring the
works of the live legend of the Armenian fine arts,” he said.

Speaking of the great artist’s masterpieces, Mahrabyan gave special
attention to his marble sculptures, lay figures and tools,
characterizing them as unique symbols of art, offering interesting and
up-to-date solutions.

Speaking to Tert.am, Director of the Center’s Marketing and Public
Relations Department Anna Simonyan referred to the artist’s
philosophy, reflecting delicate and sharp humor through symbols.

“The paintings representing the Love Park series reflect different
perceptions through the diversity of colors and postures. The
contrapositions of love and struggle, life and death impart a profound
meaning to his works, adding in the meantime a special wittiness.”

The exhibition will run through August 14.
Entrance will be free until Saturday midnight and on Sunday.

Tert.am

ARMENIE-SOCIAL
Des logements pour le combattant du Karabagh
père de 11 enfants

Le 9 mai, sur décision du président arménien Serge Sarkissian, la
mairie d’Erévan a offert deux nouveaux appartements à Gaguik
Hovhannissian, ex-combattant du Karabagh, handicapé et père de 11
enfants. Le 31 mars dernier, G. Hovhannissian réalisait une demande
auprès du ministère de la Défense afin d’obtenir une habitation plus
grande pour sa famille nombreuse. Garen Garabedian devait très vite
lui trouver le logement situé dans le quartier de Kanaker-Zeytoun. G.
Hovhannissian recevait ainsi les clés de deux appartements. A
l’occasion de la date anniversaire de la Victoire et de la libération
du Chouchi, le 9 mai Gaguik Hovhannissian recevait par ailleurs les
félicitations du maire d’Erévan. « Que vos enfants vivent dans la paix
et qu’ils deviennent des citoyens modèles. Nous avons tous une dette
envers vous, les combattants de la guerre de libération de l’Artsakh
et de la Grande guerre » dit le maire d’Erévan Garen Garabedian, lors
de la remise des clés au combattant et père de famille nombreuse.
Gaguik Hovhannissian qui a perdu 12 de ses collègues au combat lors de
la guerre de libération du Haut Karabagh avait fait le v`u d’avoir 12
garçons. Pour l’heure, il en est à sept…mais comme il le dit
lui-même « j’ai encore du temps pour réaliser mon v`u ».

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 14 mai 2011,
Krikor [email protected]

COMMUNAUTE-VALENCE
Le square Charles Aznavour inauguré à Valence
en présence d’une foule très nombreuse…et Charles Aznavour en personne !

En ce vendredi 13 mai ensoleillé, ils étaient près d’un millier à se
presser face au Centre du Patrimoine arménien de Valence. Une foule
venue voir Charles Aznavour inaugurer en personne le « Square Charles
Aznavour », une place qui portera désormais le nom du chanteur
français d’origine arménienne au c`ur même du quartier arménien de la
ville qui compte près de 10% de citoyens d’origine arménienne.

Charles Aznavour était accompagné de son ami Chico des gypsies, de
l’acteur Jacky Nercessian, de l’Ambassadeur d’Arménie Vicken
Tchitétchian. Charles Aznavour était également entouré de nombreux
journalistes, photographes de presse et équipes de télévision -dont la
chaîne arménienne Armenia TV-. En compagnie d’Alain Maurice, Maire de
Valence (PS) et nombre d’élus et de personnalités -dont les sénateurs
de la Drôme- Charles Aznavour visitait tout d’abord le Centre du
Patrimoine arménien de Valence. Devant les photographies, objets et
documents souvent poignants, retraçant l’histoire de l’immigration
arménienne en France, Charles Aznavour lançait « ce que les Arméniens
ont souffert est encore plus terrible que ce que j’imaginais ! ».
Charles Aznavour s’attardait parfois sur un document à l’exemple d’une
liste de noms arméniens sur lequel était inscrit « Aznavourian ».
Interrogé par la presse sur le rejet par le Sénat du vote de la Loi de
pénalisation du génocide arménien, Charles Aznavour dit son «
incompréhension » tout en affirmant son espoir de voir le texte
représenté dans les prochains mois.

Puis traversant une foule dense qui l’applaudit à la sortie du Centre
du Patrimoine arménien, Charles Aznavour est invité à la tribune.
Alain Maurice, dans un discours précis, retraça le parcours de Charles
Aznavour dans la chanson française et internationale. A. Maurice
insista également sur l’homme qui avait su donner de l’espoir à
l’Arménie avec ses actions en faveur du pays meurtri par le séisme. Il
rappela également la très grande popularité de Charles Aznavour tant
en Arménie qu’en diaspora. Charles Aznavour prit à son tour la parole
pour dire son bonheur de « se trouver à Valence, une ville que je
connais bien et où j’ai de nombreux amis ». Charles Aznavour se dit
également « heureux de voir de mon vivant un square à mon nom ».
Prenant également la parole, Jacky Nercessian dit « lorsque je suis à
l’étranger, pour dire du pays où je suis originaire, je dis simplement
Aznavour et tout le monde comprend ! ». Enfin l’Ambassadeur d’Arménie,
Vicken Tchitétchian insistait sur « le grand Monsieur » qu’était aux
yeux de millions d’admirateurs, le grand Charles Aznavour. Puis
Charles Aznavour dévoila la plaque portant l’inscription « Square
Charles Aznavour, auteur, compositeur, interprète » sous les
applaudissements de la foule.

Valence venait de vivre un instant d’éternité et de bonheur retrouvé
autour de celui qui est l’Ambassadeur de la chanson française dans le
monde…et l’Arménien le plus célèbre de la planète !

samedi 14 mai 2011,
Krikor [email protected]