Author: Kanayan Tamar

ARMENIAN FM DELIVERS SPEECH AT NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT SUMMIT

tert.am
31.08.12

Armenian FM Edward Nalbandian delivered a speech at the 16th Summit
of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran.

The Armenian FM noted that Azerbaijan, abusing its membership in the
Non-Aligned Movement, is trying to deceive the other member-states
into acting against the international community’s positions.

Minister Edward Nalbandian pointed to Azerbaijan’s intrigues involving
Paragraph 391, which runs counter to all the statements by the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs.

This approach poses a threat to the peace process and runs counter
to the Non-Aligned Movement’s principles.

International organizations have repeatedly expressed their attitude to
Azerbaijan’s xenophobia, racism and intolerance, the Armenian FM said.

Such behavior is unbecoming of a Non-Aligned Movement member-state,
he concluded.

PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S OFFICE WILL MAKE QUERY ON SAFAROV’S EXTRADITION

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 19:12:56 – 31/08/2012

YEREVAN, 31 AUGUST, PASTINFO

The spokesman for the prosecutor general Sona Truzyan commented on the
decision of Hungary to extradite Ramil Safarov who killed severely
the Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan. Ramil Safarov was sentenced
for life in Hungary. “The Office of the Prosecutor General will make
a query to find out the grounds and conditions of extradition by the
relevant authority of Hungary, the Ministry of Justice.”

The spokesman for the prosecutor general said she will inform about
further steps after receiving the answers to these questions.

CHESS TAUGHT IN NEARLY ALL SCHOOLS OF ARTSAKH

Karabakh-open.info
Friday, 31 August 2012 09:55

>From this academic year on 2nd grade learners of nearly all
comprehensive schools of Artsakh will learn playing chess, NKR Minister
of Education and Science Vladik Khachatryan announced during the
press conference convened on August 30.

As he reported they have acquired corresponding books and under the
sponsorship of philanthropist Seyran Karapetyan new chess watches
will be bought and presented to schools.

In answer to the question of Karabakh-open.info whether there
are corresponding specialists to teach the subject at schools the
Minister informed that in July chess academy specialists of Armenia
had conducted courses among the teachers who at the completion of the
courses got corresponding certificates and, consequently, the right
of teaching the subject.

Chess will not be taught only in some schools of the Republic because
of having no specialist, yet this problem as well will soon be solved,
the Minister assured.

SAFAROV’S AT HOME, WHERE IS ARMENIA?
HAKOB BADALYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 17:20:19 – 31/08/2012

Hungary has extradited murderer Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan and
Azerbaijan has granted him pardon. Perhaps everyone remembers well,
including the relevant Hungarian government agencies, that Safarov
hacked to death the Armenian army officer Gurgen Margaryan and was
sentenced for life by the Hungarian court.

Now Safarov is at large. Soon he will be covered with heroic shroud.

Now one wonders where Armenia is. Where is the state, the government
agencies, the foreign ministry, the national security service, the
ministry of defense, the national security council, the embassy,
and all the others? Where was Armenia when Hungary and Azerbaijan
agreed on Safarov’s extradition?

The human rights activist Larissa Alaverdyan and lawyer Nazeli
Vardanyan alarmed the issue on the eve. It turns out to be too
late though.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Armenia should have alarmed everyone a
long time ago. The state should have been aware of this.

The state should have all the possible means of learning about it,
as well as the abilities and skills required for that. Apart from
looking for business partners for ambassadors and other officials
our embassies should sometimes deal with national issues, gather
information about developments in those countries, especially when
they concern Armenia and the citizens of Armenia as well.

Apart from counting the profit of his brandy company the head of the
National Security Council should also follow developments relating
to Armenia, get information and bring up the issue through the council.

Apart from deporting Assyrian children who fled from the war in Syria
from the air gates of Armenia and controlling opposition’s offices
and dens of dissidence the National Security Service should handle
developments relating to Armenia that take place outside Armenia.

The Ministry of Defense should also be aware of Safarov’s release
instead of meaningless social activities of patriotic nature.

It is not hard to imagine what the situation would be had say an
Israeli military officer been killed. Perhaps the murderer would
not even survive till his trial and conviction, let alone travel to
Azerbaijan. He would be done in to show that it is dangerous to play
with the life of Israeli soldiers.

Ramil Safarov should have bidden farewell to life before he would
appear before court or in jail or on the way to Azerbaijan. That
would be a matter of dignity for the Republic of Armenia, as well as
a specific political issue – the issue of the political importance
of Armenia. So far these issues get a miserable response.

FLEEING WORLD WAR II, ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SURVIVER BUILT NEW LIFE IN US. POST INDEPENDENT

ARMENPRESS
31 August, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS: Annig Agemian Raley has lived in
Glenwood Springs with her husband, Howard, since 1981. They have
been married for 46 years and have two daughters, one son and three
grandsons. Raley teaches piano and yoga. As Armenpress reports citing
Post Independent, Annig Agemian Raley: My dad was an Armenian born
and raised in Bursa, Turkey. When he was about 11, he witnessed
the massacre of his father and other Armenian men by the Turks. He
was rescued by the Mekhitarist monks and taken to Italy to study
medicine, but the monks soon learned that my father fainted at the
sight of blood. He was transferred to Venice to begin studying for
the priesthood. During the seven years that he was there, my father
developed a fascination for art and began spending more time painting
and drawing. The monks finally told him that he was going to have
to choose between God and his art, and after some thought my father
decided that he could study God through his art. Eventually the monks
were so impressed with his religious paintings that they agreed to
continue to fund his education if he agreed to paint religious murals
for the school. So that is what he did. Gallacher: Your father was
caught up in the Armenian massacre by the Turks? Raley: Yes, it is
still not acknowledged by the Turks, but my father had very vivid
memories of the atrocities, and the Armenians that I have met will
not soon forget the genocide that devastated their families and their
culture. The Armenians were a very cultured and successful people in
Turkey, and their religion and their presence posed a threat to the
Turks. So the Turks began to systematically rid their country of all
Armenians. Gallacher: How many people were killed? Raley: Somewhere
between 1 million and 1.5 million people were murdered. Gallacher:
Did your father talk about that time? Raley: He did, and it came
out in his paintings. He painted a very vivid depiction of the
massacre. I think that experience colored his life. It is still on
the minds of most Armenians and is one of the first things to come
up in conversation whenever Armenians get together. There are still
very vivid memories and they are not forgetting or forgiving the harm
that was done to them. Gallacher: How do you think that experience
influenced your father’s life? Raley: I think he became more religious
and looked for hope through his faith. He tried to trust in God that
there was a reason why wars happen. Armenians are a resilient people,
and I think my father’s childhood experience made him more resilient.

He was very social and loved being with people, but he also loved
being alone with his art and creating. He had his scars from the
genocide, but he never let it affect him to where he was deeply
depressed. Gallacher: Why did the monks take your father? Raley:
The Mekhitarists rounded up the Armenian boys because the men were
being killed. They tried to save as many boys as they could and took
them for an education because they felt that was the only way to save
the Armenian culture. My father and his brother were both taken to
Italy to be educated. By the time my father was 21, he had earned a
doctorate in philosophy and a reputation as an accomplished artist. He
left Venice for Paris because he was commissioned to paint a mural on
a cathedral dome 50 miles outside of Paris. A few years ago, I visited
that church. I knew my father had paintings there but I had no idea it
was the entire dome. When I walked in and looked up, I was overwhelmed
by this sacred work my father had done as a young man. During my visit,
I met the priest who was my father’s friend, and he walked me through
the church and the gardens and told me stories of my father.

Apparently my father took time out from painting to come help him pull
weeds in the garden. My father eventually set up a studio and took
a job as a professor at the Mekhitarist monastery near Paris. He
painted every day and had a collection of 150 paintings. That’s
when he received an invitation from the Armenian community in New
York City to come to America and exhibit his work. He accepted and
chose 25 of his favorites for the exhibition. He would never again
see the paintings he left behind. It was 1937 and the war had begun
in Europe, and then his uncle who was an archbishop in the Armenian
church committed suicide. These two events brought the memories of
his childhood up and nearly put my father over the top. But I think
he reassured himself that because there was no war in America he
would be safe. He came to New York City to show his work, but he also
wanted to study the American people through his art. He wasn’t as much
interested in selling his work as he was just showing it and returning
home to Europe.But then he met my mom. They were married in 1939 and
my brother was born in 1941. In December of that same year the U.S.

declared war on Japan and Germany, and I think that’s when my
father decided to make New York City his home. Gallacher: How did
your parents meet? Raley: My father was teaching art classes, and my
mother was his student. My mother came to America from Milan, Italy,
with her parents when she was 2. She was an accomplished artist in
her own right. Her father was the opera coach for the Metropolitan
Opera Company and her mother was an opera singer from the Neapolitan
Conservatory in Italy. I can remember as a kid being surrounded by
art and music. We had opera singers dropping by. Our living room
was my parents’ studio. My dad was always painting, and my mother
was sketching. There was music playing and books and papers stacked
everywhere. It was an amazing environment to grow up in. Gallacher:
Was it just you and your brother? Raley: Yes, but my brother was born
with cerebral palsy, which left him severely delayed. Watching my
brother struggle to speak and walk made me so thankful for my health.

But there were times as a child when I was jealous of the constant
attention that he needed just to function. I craved attention
growing up, and as a result I was the class clown who got attention,
negative and positive. We lived in a very close-knit Italian-Catholic
neighborhood, so every Sunday we were Italian. My mom’s parents came
to the house for an Italian feast of pasta and meatballs. But when
it came time to celebrate the holidays, my father packed us up and
took us to Boston, Philadelphia or Watertown to visit all of the
Armenian communities and celebrate with them. Gallacher: What was
that celebration like? Raley: Oh, it was wonderful. Celebration was
in order every time we went. First of all it was a reunion and second
it was a holiday. There was endless food and dance. Those visits were
also part of an effort to keep the Armenian culture thriving. I was
encouraged to marry within the Armenian community. Gallacher: So what
is the difference emotionally between Armenian and Italian culture?

Raley: They blend pretty well, but I must say, whatever the idea is,
Armenians feel like they thought of it first. My father tried to
convince me that Saint Patrick was Armenian, and I know better. He
tried to teach his in-laws about opera. But all in all, the Italian and
Armenian cultures were well represented in my house. My parents loved
each other very much. We celebrated life in our home, but I’m sure some
people looked at our family and wondered, “What’s to celebrate?” We
were poor, we couldn’t go anywhere, my brother couldn’t talk, my
father was frustrated, my mother was constantly busy taking care of
my brother. But there were so many wonderful times that outweighed
the difficult ones. We had the best of all worlds.

‘TREASURED OBJECTS’ BRING WHISPERS FROM DISTANT HOMES

Posted by Nanore Barsoumian on August 30, 2012

When I climbed the wooden stairs-barefoot, as required-to the second
floor of the Sefik Gul Kultur Evi, the cultural house in Kharpert
(Harput), I was on high alert: One of the historic objects laid out
on shelves and tables was bound to betray its current owners. I had
found nothing on the first floor. A baby crib, hanging at chin-height
from the wooden ceiling, invited me into a sunlit room. Intricately
woven rugs decorated the floors, and walls.

Knee-high sofas claimed their spot against the wall opposite the
door. A round silver tray was at the center of the room; on it
four silver plates, evenly spaced. I carefully lifted each plate,
turning them around and over in my hands for close inspection, like
I had done in the room next door. I finally found it: the Armenian
inscription. “Kurdlu Stepan 1287,” it read. The letters were Armenian,
the numbers Arabic. The plate was engraved in 1870, 140 years before
I laid eyes on it. My co-travelers huddled around, staring at the
plate. Camera shutters clicked. It was raining when we returned to
our van. Realizing I had left my sweater behind, I ran back to the
house. I kicked off my shoes and returned to the room. I picked up my
sweater and froze before the plate. “I can’t leave you here. Can I?” I
thought. The plate remained a plate, silent but rebellious… “You
hold your ground,” I muttered, turned around and rushed to the van.

IMG 4315 resize 300×200 ‘Treasured Objects’ Bring Whispers from
Distant Homes

The letters were Armenian, the numbers Arabic. The plate was engraved
in 1870, 140 years before I laid eyes on it.

A plate here, an inscription on a house, a half-ruined church, and a
crumbling fortress speak of bygone times when Armenians thrived in the
Kharpert region. According to figures collected by Ottoman Minister
of Interior Talaat Pasha-one of the masterminds of the Armenian
Genocide-in 1914, 70,060 Armenians lived in the province of Mamuret-ul
Aziz (Elazig), where Kharpert is located; by 1917 no Armenians were
left in the villayet.* They were either killed or deported. Very
few-among the survivors- were able to hold on to their possessions.

“What would people choose to carry with them, if they could? Who
are the people who could salvage and transport more than the shirts
on their backs as they were driven from their homes? In some cases,
the items tell stories of Turkish neighbors’ loyalty and bravery,
keeping things safe, hoping for the owners’ return. In others, a few
pieces remained when survivors returned to a ransacked home. A small
number of families were spared the deportations or migrated earlier,”
wrote London’s Armenian Institute director, Susan Pattie, who co-edited
Treasured Objects: Armenian Life in the Ottoman Empire 100 Years Ago
(Armenian Institute: 2012) together with Vazken Khatchig Davidian
and Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian.

The 72-page book tells the stories of various Armenian possessions
once displayed at London’s Brunei Gallery of the School of Oriental
and African Studies. The featured items include objects and tools
(coffee grinders, colander, lunch box, water pipe, sewing machine,
backgammon board), photographs, clothing and textiles, trousseau
and wedding clothes, jewelry and silver, personal items used at
the hamams or baths (tass, bath clogs), religious items, documents
(diploma, land deed, birth certificate, a letter from Victor Hugo
to his Armenian translator), books, and ceramics. The photographs of
the items are accompanied by descriptions on their usage at the time,
and sometimes with the accounts of their owners.

“Each object has a story to tell and through them, we learn more
about Armenians as individuals and as a people,” wrote Pattie. “The
narratives behind these objects are an essential part of [their]
oral histories,” she added.

0011 242×300 ‘Treasured Objects’ Bring Whispers from Distant Homes

The cover of ‘Treasured Objects’

Kurdlu Stepan’s plate stayed behind in Kharpert. I doubt we’ll ever
discover what happened to its owners, or how it reached its current
residence.

But take, for instance, Takouhi Mayrig’s nightdress. Its journey
began in Smyrna and-with its owner and her descendants-continued on
to Athens, then Volos, Alexandria, Latakia, Trieste, Cairo, Haifa,
Jerusalem and, finally, London. A photograph of the nightdress
accompanies Denis Finning’s memories of his grandmother.

A 150-year old rug from Eskishehir was once owned by Sonia Marcar’s
paternal grandfather, Onnig Hougasian, who had a successful business
growing and exporting silkworm seed. In 1915, Hougasian was rounded
up with other intellectuals and community leaders. “In the middle of
one night, Sonia’s father Sarkis woke up to find his father beside
his bed saying a prayer with his hand on Sarkis’s head. Behind him
Sarkis could see two officials with red epaulets. Onnig was never
seen again. Somehow, without their father and with a new baby,
the family made the journey from Bursa to Istanbul and safety,”
reads the description beside the photograph of a beautiful rug,
and the portrait of a man, Onnig, gazing down.

A tin-coated copper plate dating back to 1761/2 once served a
purpose at church in the village of Kamarek. Now it hangs in Stepan
Sarkissian’s study room. His friend bought the plate, along with a
hamam tass (a bowl, also featured in the book), in a “dark bazaar” in
Turkey. “I consider them among my most valuable items,” he wrote. “They
link me to places (the village) and people (the woman who owned the
tass) and I try to imagine the times when these items were for use
rather than display.”

“There is also a darker side to this imagery-what happened when the
church was emptied of its congregation and the woman separated from
the tass? Who entered the abandoned places and took possession of
these items only for a descendant to pawn or sell these as unwanted
items?” he added.

A pair of scissors is among my most valuable possessions. My mother
purchased them-along with a water pot, two hamam tasses (both engraved
with names and dates: 1896, 1910), and a couple of coins-from the late
Asbed Donabedian, an antiquarian, writer, and teacher in Beirut. The
11-inch iron scissors originated somewhere in Cilicia. Aside from a
simple design, there are no markings on the scissors. I have inspected
them closely, numerous times. One can see the markings the ironsmith
left behind while hammering them into shape. As far as I know,
the scissors journeyed from Cilicia to Beirut, then on to Montreal,
and finally, to Massachusetts.

Old pots, plates, photographs, documents, clothing, jewelry, and
tools-they float around with us, sometimes with the descendants of
the original owners, but more often with new owners, or even alone.

They change hands, and the stories around them acquire new chapters.

We value them because they tie us to places and to a life much
different than now. They are the remnants of what was once a home in
a distant place and time.

*Sarafian, Ara. Talaat Pasha’s Report on the Armenian Genocide.

London: Gomidas Institute, 2011.

ARMENIAN MONUMENTS DESTRUCTION PRECIPITATED BY TURKEY IS AIMED AT VILOLATING REAL MASTER RIGHT: EXPERT ON MONUMENTS

ARMENPRESS
30 August, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS: Western Armenian Sasun province Maratuk
Mount High Saint Mariam Astvatsatsin half ruined church’s destruction
was not aimed at treasure seeking. In the briefing with Armenpress
expert on monuments Samvel Karapetyan denied the spread rumors that
church was destroyed due to treasure searching intentions.Treasure
seeking is widely occurring phenomena in the territory of Western
Armenia.

” Treasure seeking was orchestrated in Aghtamar Surb Khach church as
well. Church demolition is sponsored by state level, reportedly if
the state keeps an eye on Mren church demolition dating 7th century
, the state could as well be aware of Surb Astvatsatsin church
case”Karapetyan noted.Dwelling on Turkish policy the interlocutor
assures there is state project in accordance to which some profitable
churches are being kept, aimed at silencing Europe, yet simultaneously
they are engaged at totally ruing the rest historical cultural
monuments.Through the means of demolishing policy Turkey wishes to
get rid of those monuments testifying the real owners of the Homeland.

Karapetyan is sure Maratuk church demolition cannot prevent Sasun
village Christian Armenians not to participate in Christian rites.

Turks orchestrated demolition of Sasun province Maratuk Mount High
Saint Mariam Astvatsatsin Church on August 24. In accordance with
the info provided by the local residents eight criminals undertook
destroying the church territory by spades.

AN EARTHQUAKE MEASURING 5-6 WILL CAUSE NO DESTRUCTION IN YEREVAN, SPECIALISTS SAY
Lena Badeyan

“Radiolur”
30.08.2012 16:05

The earthquakes taking place around Armenia over the past year have
nothing to do with our country from the geological point off view,
Deputy Chief of the National Survey for Seismic Protection (NSSP)
of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Ashkhen Tovmasyan told
reporters today.

A macro-seismic study has been carried out in Armenia after the Iran
earthquake, Head of Buildings and Structures Seismic Resistance
Department Gurgen Namalyan said. According to him, an earthquake
measuring 5-6 on the Richter scale will cause no damage even in Agaram
and Meghri, located in the third seismic zone, where earthquakes
measuring 9 are possible.

According to Mr. Namalyan, an earthquake measuring 6-7 will cause no
destruction in Yerevan, either.

Ashkhen Tovmasyan noted that the NSSP can predict the earthquakes
two weeks ahead. There are 200 signs of earthquake, but only 40 of
them are observed by the Armenian NSSP.

The specialists assure the National Survey for Seismic Protection
has no alarming predictions at this point.

EXTRADITION OF RAMIL SAFAROV TO AZERBAIJAN IS UNACCEPTABLE: NAZELI VARDANYAN

ARMENPRESS
30 August, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS: The crime of Ramil Safarov committed
against Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan was the official order
of Baku. During the press conference on August 30representative
of interest of Gurgen Margaryan’s family in Budapest Nazeli
Vardanyan informed that during the whole case Azerbaijan had a
direct participation. “At the sessions took part representatives of
Azerbaijani, Turkish embassies which were interested and did their
best in order Safarov exempt form punishment or get more lenient one”
mentioned the lawyer as Armenpress reports. She reminded that Human
Rights Defender of Azerbaijan Suleymanova had said that Safarov is a
best example for the youth, Aliyev mentions that Armenians should be
killed in Artsakh and all these prove that Azerbaijan with its society
make the murderer hero. Eight years have passed and the lawyer becomes
surer that it was a state order.

Speaking about rumors that Safarov can be extradited to Azerbaijan
Vardanyan mentioned that it is not spoken about extradition as to
extradition are subjected wanted people.

She assured that the extradition of a murderer who is considered
to be hero in his homeland is unacceptable. Armenian authorities
must continue the struggle and should not let Safarov to be given
to Azerbaijan as he will escape punishment: even lawyer of Safarov
declares that killing an Armenian in Azerbaijan is not a crime.

Larisa Alaverdyan stressed that Azerbaijan has never recognized in
any level that it was a crime. Azerbaijan is also responsible for
that crime. “There is not yet official information whether Azerbaijan
officially applied to Hungary with that issue. Armenian state bodies
should apply to Hungarian side to find out whether such process
has begun or not. Almost 80 non-governmental organizations joined
signature gathering process demanding to exclude Ramil Safarov’s
extradition from Hungary” informed Alaverdyan.

On February 19 of 2004 in Budapest Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov
killed with an ax Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan when the latter
was sleeping. The two officers were taking part in the capital of
Hungary in English language courses in framework of NATO program.

Hungarian court sentenced Ramil Safarov to life imprisonment.

NAZIK AVDALYAN: IN SPORT, FAILURES ARE TO BE EXPECTED

hetq
11:09, August 30, 2012

In a statement to the press, Nazik Avdalyan, an Armenian Olympic
hopeful who had to bow out of participating, says that she was with
the team in spirit every step of the way.

Avdalyan also praises Armenian Olympic Committee President Gagik
Tsarukyan for providing all the necessary conditions for the
Armenian team to prepare for the games despite the country’s economic
conditions.

She concludes her statement that while the Armenian team is worthy
of praise, sport is a field of endeavour where failures are to be
expected.