Author: Khondkarian Raffi

ARMENIA NOT UNDER TRANSPORT BLOCKADE, BAKU STATES
15.07.2005 03:26
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Armenia is not under transport blockade”,
Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Transport Musa Pakhanov stated, Trend
news agency reports. “If Armenia were under blockade it would not
be able to receive the cargo. Presently Armenia receives the cargo
destined for it via Georgia and Iran. That is why the claims of the
alleged transport blockade of Armenia are not true”, he noted. When
touching upon the new railway route Sukhumi-Tbilisi-Yerevan, M.
Pakhanov said that it’s merely an idea at the moment. “Over the
availability of a number of political problems the project is not
promising, moreover in the soviet period the route for conveyance of
passengers only”, he resumed.

AZG Armenian Daily #128, 13/07/2005

Karabakh issue
MINSK GROUP WORKING OUT ‘BASIS OF SETTLEMENT’ OF THE CONFLICT
Co-Chairs Will Discuss ‘Wording Alternatives’
Co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk group arrived in the region on
Sunday. This is the first visit of the mediators since the
parliamentary elections in Nagorno Karabakh on June 19 that were
estimated as democratic by international and local observers.
On July 11, Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Steven Mann (USA) and Bernard
Fassie (France) met with the Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar
Mamediarov. The so-called head of Karabakh’s Azeri community, Nizami
Bahmanov, brought up some details after the meeting. According to
Armenpress, the talks focused on opening a transport route from
Azerbaijan to Armenia through Karabakh’s territory as well as
returning the refugees to their permanent domiciles.
Bahmanov said that “the key issue is returning Azeris to their
settlements” and “the status of the region cannot be settled without
returning them to Nagorno Karabakh”. “There is advance in the talks,
and we are hopeful that the public will be informed on August 26 after
the meeting of Azeri and Armenian president in Kazan”, Bahmanov said.
Mediamax informs that the co-chairs and Mamediarov discussed “the
present stage of Karabakh settlement process and the situation created
after the Warsaw meeting between Armenian and Azeri presidents and the
Paris meeting of foreign ministers”. After the meeting with President
Aliyev, Minsk group co-chairs will set off for Yerevan to meet
Armenian authorities. Settlement talks will continue further in
Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh.
Lately, authorities in Baku have been often speaking of exploiting
common transport corridors. The former Russian co-chair to the Minsk
group, Vladimir Kazimirov, told Vremya Novostey paper on this occasion
that official Baku’s offer is “directed to the electorate and the
outer world”.
“Azerbaijan is getting ready for parliamentary elections, and
pre-election calculations influence Baku’s talks strategy”, Kazimirov
said. He thinks that “Armenians, who are not squeezed by the election
factor yet, have positive but reserved evaluation of the talks
process”.
Kazimirov noted that despite belligerent statements and harshness over
key issues, Azerbaijan has also begun speaking of trust-inspiring
arrangements, of which it did not want to hear formerly. The former
co-chair pointed out to Baku’s proposal to maintain common control
over Aghdam-Nakhijevan road (via Nagorno Karabakh, Lachin and
Armenia).
“The issue of communication in the conflict zone is important, but
that is no key for the settlement”, Kazimirov said, adding “the status
of Nagorno Karabakh and liberation of regions Armenia occupied 11-12
years ago are still in the epicenter of discords”.
A day before the visit, Yuri Merzlyakov stated that the mediators will
continue working out the ” basis of regulation” of the confrontation
with the sides. “We are in high and working mood. I think that this
visit will be beneficial for further talks process”, Merzlyakov said.
The visit of Minsk group co -chairs to the South Caucasus will last
till July 16. On August 26, Armenian president will meet his Azeri
counterpart in Kazan on the sidelines of CIS non-official
meeting. Before that, it is expected that Armenian and Azeri foreign
ministers will have 1 or 2 meetings.
By Tatoul Hakobian

Armenia sends second batch of peacekeepers to Iraq for rotation
Arminfo
11 Jul 05
YEREVAN
Armenia does not pursue any military goals by sending peacekeepers to
Iraq, this is an exceptionally humanitarian mission, Chief of the
General Staff Col-Gen Mikael Arutyunyan has said at a ceremony to
dispatch the second group of peacekeepers to Iraq for six months.
The chief of the General Staff noted that participation in the
post-war restoration of Iraq is not the only peacekeeping mission in
which Armenia is taking part. Armenian peacekeepers are serving in
Kosovo, and they have been rotated twice already.
Talking to journalists after the ceremony, Arutyunyan said that at the
beginning the peacekeepers will be trained in Kuwait and will then be
redeployed to Iraq where they will fulfil their task under the Polish
command. They will stay there with the first group for several days,
after which the first group will return to Armenia. He noted that the
Polish command is very pleased with the Armenian peacekeepers who are
rated highly.
“I met the chief of the General Staff and the first deputy defence
minister of Poland in Brussels and they are very pleased with our
group. They noted the discipline and professionalism of the Armenian
servicemen,” Mikael Arutyunyan stressed.
Asked whether a third group of peacekeepers might be sent to Iraq, the
chief of the General Staff noted that the Armenian army was ready for
this. At the same time he noted that the Armenian parliament has
adopted a decision on sending Armenian peacekeepers to Iraq for a
year. “At the end of the year the parliament will return to this
issue. Only after this will it be possible to say whether the third
group will be sent,” the colonel-general noted.
The first batch of Armenian peacekeepers left for Iraq on 18
January. The second group will return on 20 December. The Armenian
servicemen are engaged exclusively in humanitarian activities in Iraq,
including medical aid, mine clearing and delivery of humanitarian aid.
The Armenian peacekeepers include 46 servicemen, including 30 drivers,
three doctors, 10 sappers, a liaison officer, a platoon commander and
an officer who will be in charge of overall command.

The American Spectator
July 2005 – August 2005
Cigar Symphony
by Jed Babbin
WINSTON CHURCHILL SAID, iSmoking cigars is like falling in love;
first you are attracted to its shape; you stay for its flavor; and
you must always remember never, never let the flame go out.i Mark
Twain, Ulysses S. Grant, and Churchill are perhaps historyis three
most famous cigar smokers. Twain said heid decline an invitation to
Heaven if he couldnit smoke cigars there, but never shared his method
of judging cigars. His admonition that ia woman is just a woman, but
a good cigar is a smokei is of no use to modern man. Weill probably
never know, but quantity probably weighed more heavily than quality
to Grantis taste. Only Churchill left us instruction on how to choose
a cigar. He said, iOf two cigars pick the longest and the strongest.i
Everyone who deeply enjoys a good cigar knows why Churchillis analogy
to love is perfect and why his rule of choice is perfectly wrong.
Choosing a cigar is an intensely personal matter. My father followed
Churchillis rule. He smoked the strongest cigars imaginable, but when
old enough to try one I quickly learned that some cigars are too
heavy, bitter, or even intoxicating. My taste varies with the time of
day, what Iim doing, and even my mood. The best cigar for an
afternoon aboard the tractor mowing grass isnit usually the right one
to accompany a brandy after dinner. During Bill Clintonis tenure, a
larger, stronger cigar, or two or three, were necessary companions
while writing a column about the villainy of the week. Yet another
type of cigar is appropriate for a shooting event or a long drive.
Because there are so many variations of taste, the cigar makeris task
is a complex one. Mass-produced cigars are one thing. Itis enough for
them that they have a consistent — usually awful — taste, uniform
size and weight, and above all are produced cheaply by the tens of
thousands without a humanis touch. The premium cigars, those aimed at
the discriminating consumer and the true connoisseur, are a much more
complex task.
Making a great cigar, I guessed, was probably like making a great
wine. What kind of tobacco seed is used, the soil in which it is
grown, how it is aged, and the skill of the cigar roller — the
person who actually forms the leaves into the cigar — must, I
assumed, be essential to the cigar makeris art. As far as that goes,
itis right. But thereis much more. As I have learned from two grand
masters of the cigar-making art, creating a great cigar is less like
making a fine wine than composing a beautiful symphony.
ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO I came across a cigar brand that was new to me.
It was a Dominican cigar and the label said iPaul Garmirian.i I
bought a few and, about a week later, a few more. Soon, I was smoking
little else, other than another cryptically labeled cigar, the iAvo
Uvezian.i The PGs had an oaky, nutlike flavor. Full-flavored but not
overbearing, they seemed to meet almost every need. The Avo, a bit
stronger, covered my more restive moods. The PGs and Avos became a
consistent habit, broken only by a few Cuban cigars that, ah, somehow
fell into my hands. Then, at a cigar dinner at the Lansdowne Resort
about six years ago, a gent with a broad smile came up, stuck out his
hand to shake mine, and said, iHi. Iim Paul Garmirian.i We have since
become very good friends. Thanks to Paul, and his kind introduction
to Hendrick Kelner, president of Tabacos Dominicanos (TD), I have
learned a bit about cigars.
Mr. Hendrick Kelner is an engineer by profession. Of Dutch ancestry,
Kelner grew up in the Dominican Republic and has been working in and
studying the manufacture of cigars since he graduated from college.
Dr. Paul Garmirian — like his pal Avo Uvezian — is of Armenian
ancestry. He emigrated to the United States from Lebanon after
studying in London. Garmirian is an academic, and expert in
international relations. Like Kelner, he seemed destined for his
career in cigars, having grown up under a cigar connoisseur for a
father.
Together, Kelner and Garmirian make my favorite cigars. The two are
to cigars what Rachmaninoff and Aaron Copland are to music. They
donit just make cigars, they compose them lovingly, arranging sizes,
shapes, and tastes for different smokers in just the same way a
composer arranges his music for orchestras and bands.
Garmirian takes pride in his cigars, but only a small part of the
credit for their taste Heis told me again and again, iItis 90 percent
Henky and Eladio and 10 percent me.i iHenkyi — Hendrick Kelner — is
one of the leading tobacco growers and makers of premium cigars in
the world. And yes, Virginia, that includes Cuba, whose cigar
industry is declining dramatically. iEladioi — Mr. Eladio Diaz — is
Kelneris chief iblender,i the expert who takes the tobaccos grown,
aged, and fermented under Kelneris exacting standards and blends them
to the desired strength and taste. Kelner is the maker of the
world-famous Davidoff cigars as well as the Avo, Griffin, and PG
Cigars.
Wait a minute, you say. Tobacco is grown and harvested, sure. But
aged? Fermented? Now we are back to wines. Tobacco, according to both
Kelner and Garmirian, is — like grapes — better in some years than
others. And to make a great cigar, it needs to be grown carefully,
harvested at the precise moment of maturation, and cured before it
is, literally, fermented. In Garmirianis The Gourmet Guide to Cigars,
he quotes Kelner as saying, iA complete curing is realized in curing
barns where the starch in the leaves is converted into fructose and
sugar products which ultimately convert into alcohol thus bringing
about the process of fermentation.i The fermentation and aging remove
the tobaccois naturally bitter oils, ammonia, and other chemicals
that would produce the wrong flavors. Before tobacco becomes a PG
cigar, it has been cured, fermented, and aged for four years or more.
When you buy that PG cigar, it will be comprised of tobaccos that can
be up to five years old.
Kelneris growing the tobacco, aging and fermenting it, is engineering
and science. The remaining 10 percent is Paulis art.
PAUL GARMIRIAN IS A RENAISSANCE MAN. He speaks six languages, plays
classical guitar, and has a Ph.D. from Catholic University, where he
used to teach. As Paul told me, his taste — his palate for cigar
flavors — is partly nature (his daughter has it) and partly nurture.
His father was a cigar aficionado. From the time Paul could walk, he
was around people who smoked fine Cuban cigars. He tasted champagne,
caviar, and while a youth found himself fascinated with the
tantalizing smell of cigars in the box. As he explains, about 80
percent of taste is smell. Paulis nose — what little talent it
didnit inherit — was trained by decades of smelling the best cigars
in the world.
As youid expect of an academic, Paul decided to research and write a
book about cigars. When the first edition of his Gourmet Guide to
Cigars came out in 1990, the industry greeted it warmly. He met Avo
Uvezian and, through him, Hendrick Kelner. Events — propelled by the
almost instantaneous friendship between Kelner and Garmirian — led
to the launch of the PG cigar brand later that same year. And thatis
when a theory of music was brought to the world of cigars.
In 1991, Paul was sitting in Kelneris office, talking to him and
Eladio Diaz, the chief blender of cigars at TD. Paul is a guitarist
of 50 years, and thinks in musical terms. He said, iI was sitting in
his office and I was trying to communicate the fact that the
particular blend had a high-pitched tone and I compared it to a
piccolo. I said we needed more bass.i Garmirian wondered how his
explanation was received.
Five years later, Garmirian again visited Kelneris Dominican Republic
office to discuss new cigar blends. In that meeting, Kelner turned to
Eladio Diaz and said the particular blend needed iless alto and more
bass.i Garmirian told me, iI said to Henky, I remember a few years
ago when I said that I felt awkward because, maybe, you thought I was
crazy. He — a little tongue-in-cheek — said no, Paul, we have
adopted your music theory on the blending of cigars. I told him that
I thought that I write the music and they perform it to perfection,
and [Kelner] told me, eNo, you donit write music, you write
symphonies.ii
I asked Mr. Kelner, who makes cigars for every taste, how that theory
is applied at the extremes. How do you satisfy the customer who wants
a Wagnerian cigar? Whatis the difference between that one and the
cigar for someone who wants to smoke a Tchaikovsky?
Kelner said: iWagner and Tchaikovsky are very different and they
would be two completely different cigars. Wagner — because of his
personality, character, and the era that he had to live in Germany,
as well as his deep anarchist conviction of his youth — his music
was influenced as revolutionary and nationalist. It could be
summarized as a strong music that was torture to the criticis ear.
The passionate Wagnerians are in ecstasies with his melodies and then
exhausted, fatigued of their own pleasure. A Wagner cigar would be a
strong cigar, of intense flavor, stimulating, exciting, that the
smoker becomes exhausted and then enjoying later its aftertaste. It
would be cigar for one kind of smoker.i
For other smokers, Hendrick and Paul offer other cigars. For example,
Kelner said, iTchaikovsky [was] a different personality. Influenced
by the death of his mother when he was a boy, a fragile personality
that avoided physical contact with the opposite sex, he idealized the
woman, creating pure, feminine characters in his works (Tatiana,
MarIa, Liza, Juana de Arco). Therefore his music was soothing,
harmonious, and spiritual, which compared to a cigar would be a
smooth and harmonious cigar, with the complexity of a genius but
without attacking the senses. It would be a goodO cigar [with which]
to meditate.i Or, as I can attest, with which to write. DON’T THINK
ABOUT GENERAL GRANT when you go out to buy your next smoke. Grant
said he only knew two songs: one was Yankee Doodle, and the other
wasnit. Think about your music and apply it to your cigar. Is your
favorite CD Borodin or Rossini? Copland, Mancini, or the Rolling
Stones? Do you know what you will be doing when you smoke it? Do you
have an inkling of what your mood might be? If you think in those
terms, and carefully absorb the scent of the unlit cigar, youill make
the right choice. My tastes tend to Ahmad Jamal on the piano, or
Tchaikovsky, or Aaron Copland.
Tomorrow, as I climb on the seat of my big tractor for a three-hour
mowing session, Iill have a big stick in my pocket. The PG
Celebration is the music of America, and big enough to last through
five acres of mowing. Itis summer, and though Loudoun Countyis
rolling, grassy hills arenit the Appalachian Mountains, when I light
up I will taste Coplandis iAppalachian Spring.i Jed Babbin, an
American Spectator contributing editor, is the author of Inside the
Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe Are Worse Than You Think.

Daily Times, Pakistan
July 7 2005
THINKING ALOUD: National borders and international disputes – Razi
Azmi
Few Pakistanis know that Gwadar, the country’s up-coming port, which
is regarded as a strategic and economic asset by the government,
belonged to the Sultan of Oman until 1958. It was purchased by the
Pakistani government for Rs 90 million
`What is mine is mine, what is yours in mine too’. Nowhere does this
seem more true than in the case of international borders. The list of
countries with territorial claims on a neighbouring state is long.
Often, border disputes have led to skirmishes, even full-scale wars
and conquests.
Historically, the spoils of war belong to the victor. The worst
recent example of this is the territorial settlement imposed by the
victorious Anglo-French alliance on a defeated Germany after the
First World War. She was deprived of 13 percent of her territory
(40,000 square kilometres), home to seven million people.
Following the German defeat and Soviet victory in the Second World
War, Russia annexed Eastern Prussia from Germany, besides regaining
Western Ukraine from Poland. Being on the winning side, Poland was
duly compensated by being moved approximately 120 kilometres further
west into what had been Germany.
In 1939, as tension was building towards the Second World War, the
Soviet Union invaded little Finland to its north. The Finns put up a
stiff resistance, but lost one-tenth of their territory for good.
Two of the worst examples of territorial aggrandisement in modern
times are the occupation of Mexican territory by the United States
and of Bolivian territory by her neighbours.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican War
(1846-1848) awarded all lands north of the Rio Grande to the United
States. By the terms of the treaty, Mexico ceded to the United States
two-fifths of its territory and received an indemnity of $15 million.
Bolivia lost great slices of territory to three neighbouring
countries. Several thousand square kilometres of land, 315 kilometres
of coastline and its outlet to the Pacific Ocean were taken by Chile
after the War of the Pacific (1879-1884). In 1903, a piece of
Bolivia’s Acre Province, rich in rubber, was ceded to Brazil. And in
1938, after losing the Chaco War of 1932-1935 to Paraguay, Bolivia
lost 160,000 square kilometres of territory. Today’s Bolivia is a
land-locked country, a mere three-fifths of its original size.
Hoping to take advantage of the disarray in Iran after the Islamic
revolution in 1979, Saddam Hussein invaded Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan
province in 1980 and renamed it Arabistan, only to be thrown back
after an eight year-long war. Two years later, to salvage his pride
and wipe off his debts in one stroke, Saddam occupied his
defenceless, oil-rich neighbour, Kuwait, declaring it Iraq’s 27th
province. That venture, too, proved to be a bloody and costly fiasco.
India and China went to war in 1962 after Indian border patrols
discovered that her `brotherly’ neighbour (`Hindi-Chinee bhai bhai’)
had quietly taken possession of thousands of square kilometres of
territory in the remote Aksai Chin area of Kashmir. India lost the
war and some pride too. China continues to be in de facto possession
of 20 percent of Kashmir. This includes over 8,000 square kilometres
ceded to China in 1963 by Pakistan, which wisely took advantage of
the Indo-Chinese conflict to seal its alliance with that country by
donating a piece of strategic real estate.
Both India and Pakistan do not accept the Line of Control in Kashmir
as a permanent border between them. India regards the Chinese
presence in Aksai Chin as illegal and China does not recognise the
border along the McMahon Line with India’s northeast. Afghanistan
disputes the Durand Line with Pakistan. The two countries fought
border skirmishes in the early 1960s.
China and Russia clashed over a disputed border on the Ussuri river
in 1969. Libya disputes its borders with all its neighbours and had
occupied Chadian territory for many years. Armenia has seized about
10 percent of Azerbaijani territory (Nagorno-Karabakh) inhabited by
ethnic Armenians.
In 1976, Morocco conspired with Mauritania to divide and annex the
Western Sahara as soon as Spain granted it independence. Three years
later, when Mauritania withdrew its forces because of guerrilla
warfare led by the Polisario Front, Morocco helped itself to the rest
of the Western Sahara. Thus, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic
has the distinction of being the world’s only stillborn country.
Cambodia, on the other hand, has the distinction of shrinking in
peacetime. According to reports coming from there, all three of
Cambodia’s neighbours, but particularly Vietnam, are slowly creeping
into Cambodian territory, having moved the border at some points by
as much as 15 kilometres.
The former `Father King’, Norodom Sihanouk, has commented that the
stone border markers with Vietnam had legs and kept walking deeper
into Cambodian territory. In late March this year Sihanouk sent an
open letter to the governments of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand accusing
them of `nibbling away’ at Cambodian territory.
Nations, national borders, passports and visas are relatively recent
concepts. For example, until the middle of the 19th century, Germany
was a conglomeration of dozens of states and principalities. British
India included hundreds of princely states of various sizes with
their own rulers, spread over two-fifths of the subcontinent. Kashmir
and Hyderabad were the largest and best-known of them. Pakistan
inherited a number of princely states, namely Kalat, Bahawalpur,
Swat, Hunza and Chitral.
They were vestiges of a bygone era when there were neither nations
nor countries as we now know them. Land belonged not to nations or
people but to rulers. Territories were bought and sold and could even
be given as a gift. Principalities merged as a result of matrimonial
alliances. The states of Monaco, San Marino and Leichtenstein in
Europe survive from that era.
Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867 for $7 million. The
purchase was approved by the US Senate by just one vote because, at
the time, many Americans regarded it as a bad deal. Few Pakistanis
know that Gwadar, the country’s up-coming second port, which is
regarded as a strategic and economic asset by the government,
belonged to the Sultan of Oman until 1958. It was purchased by the
Pakistani government for Rs 90 million.
Colonisation by European countries created empires where kings,
rulers, princes, potentates and chiefs once held sway over pre-modern
societies. Countries and nations as we now know them emerged as a
result of decolonisation. It is worth pointing out that the United
Nations, which now has 191 member-states, had just 51 at the time of
its founding in 1945.
Is it possible in the current era of nationalism – with its dogma of
`every inch of the motherland is sacred’ – even to imagine such deals
as Gwadar or Alaska? Leave alone selling land for money, even the
hint of ceding land for peace, friendship and security has the
potential for toppling governments.
Jewish extremists in Israel are violently opposed to the full return
of Gaza to the Palestinians even by a government that has served
their interests very well. Any mutually-acceptable, realistic deal on
Kashmir by India and Pakistan is sure to be denounced as a sell-out
by virtually all opposition parties in both countries. Such is the
nature of populist politics that this will happen regardless of which
parties are in power and which in opposition.
But, then, successive governments in the two countries have only
themselves to blame for raising national expectations to levels that
now prevent them from achieving a realistic solution to a territorial
dispute.

“NEW NEIGHBORHOOD” PROGRAM OUTLINES INTERRELATIONS BETWEEN US AND
RUSSIA IN SOUTH CAUCASUS, ARMENIAN EXPERT CONSIDERS
YEREVAN, JULY 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The “New Neighborhood” EU program
peculiarly outlined the interrelations between the US and Russia in
the South Caucasian region. Stepan Safarian, coordinator of studies of
the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, declared
this at the July 1 seminar organized by the center and dedicated to
Armenia’s role in the region. In his estimation, in the “New
Neighborhood” policy the American strategists gave Europe only the
role of a spreader of western, namely, democratic values, as well as
participation in oil projects. At the same time, Americans prefered
not to give Europe the right to solve issues of security in this
region. Stepan Safarian mentioned that cooperation between the US and
EU was more activized over the recent years than Russia was able to
use the contradictions between the EU and US. According to the expert,
some western analysts consider that Russia’s influence in the South
Caucasus is preserved owing to presence of a number of conflicts, the
solution of which can be a pretext in ending of a “Big Game” supposing
ousting of Russia from the South Caucasus. According to S.Safarian,
it’s worth considering the “europeanization” of such conflicts as
Dniester and Georgian-Abkhazian in the very context. He assured that
at present the issue of “europeanization” of Karabakh conflict is also
being considered in European structures. He mentioned that in this
respect Armenia should strive for using its potential of
“europeanization”.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 4 2005
OSCE rapporteur elaborates on Garabagh conflict report

Baku, July 1, AssA-Irada
The international community is not ready to grant the status of
independence to Upper Garabagh, despite its aspirations, says the
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly special envoy on the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict over Upper Garabagh, Goran Lennmarker. He indicated in his
report that since numerous ethnic minorities live in the Caucasus,
`it is dangerous to divide the region into small independent states
and this is not an alternative for settling conflicts’.
The rapporteur regarded the conflict as `frozen’ due to the ongoing
casualties on the frontline and the suffering of refugees and
displaced persons. He positively assessed the ongoing peace process
within the mediating OSCE Minsk Group, the Council of Europe and
other international organizations but called on the intermediaries to
step up efforts.
Lennmarker also said that both Azeri and Armenian parliament members
should refrain from harsh statements.*

Los Angeles Times, CA
July 4 2005
Group Knit Together by Aid Project
Language and cultural barriers fall as a diverse assortment of
seniors unites behind a common cause and a shared talent.
By Ann M. Simmons, Times Staff Writer
A cacophony of Korean, Spanish, Chinese, Armenian and English filled
the room as a gaggle of seniors armed with crochet and knitting
needles huddled around a long table piled high with woolen garments
and multicolored yarn.
Their mission is to knit and crochet clothing that will be donated to
homeless shelters and battered women’s homes.
But the effort – known as Project HANDS, or Helping Angels National
Donated Support – is giving these seniors more than just a chance to
let their fingers work for charity. It is exposing them to ethnic
diversity and helping them to foster friendships and cultural
understanding they might otherwise have missed.
“That side is Mexicans,” said Baidzar “Sunshine” Sanossian, pointing
to two Latinas sitting across the table from her one recent Friday.
“There’s the Philippines right next to me here. We are Armenian. But
we like to join and make one family.” At 93, Sanossian is the most
senior participant of the chapter of Project HANDS, which meets once
a week in a community room at the Vistas retirement housing facility
in Van Nuys.
It is the camaraderie that most appeals to Sanossian, a retired
registered nurse. An ethnic Armenian who was born in Lebanon and
educated in Israel, she mainly associates with pals Armine Bezdjian,
82, also from Lebanon, and Janet Kasparian, 73, a native of the
former Soviet republic of Armenia.
But meeting for a few hours each Friday afternoon to knit with 20 or
more residents from different ethnic backgrounds has exposed
Sanossian to a cultural kaleidoscope. She showed off a scarf of
baby-blue wool she recently finished knitting and playfully draped a
bright orange shawl over her head, causing her knitting partners to
gesture and chuckle.
“It brings all the languages, cultures, races and generations
together,” said Judy A. Shaw, service coordinator manager for
Retirement Housing Foundation, a nonprofit group that provides
services for older adults and runs Vistas. “They can’t speak the same
language. They don’t all have the same cultural background. But the
thing they have in common is good hearts. And they have commonality
in that they know how to knit and crochet.”
At Vistas, located along a busy thoroughfare, 22% of residents are
Korean, 19% are Latino and 15% are Russian speakers, according to the
facility’s manager, Suki Kim. The remaining hodgepodge of
nationalities includes immigrants from Lebanon, Iran, China, Cuban,
Chile and the Philippines, to name a few.
“They may speak different languages, but they are all in their senior
years, and they are in the same boat no matter where they came from,”
Kim said. “They see different people in the same situation, and they
get comfort from that.” It is clearly easier for the elderly
participants to communicate with those who share a common tongue. But
many choose to employ the physical lexis of handicraft.
They peak and point over their colleagues’ shoulders and advise about
stitching methods and styles by touching and showing. They take turns
inspecting or trying on the neatly folded mounds of women’s hats,
shawls, scarves and gloves, the children’s vests and sweaters, and
babies’ blankets. Vistas’ residents have so far donated six boxes of
such items to two Los Angeles-area shelters for battered women.
Kesun Kim, 78, originally from Korea and a 12-year resident of the
83-unit Vistas, used to associate mainly with Korean speakers before
joining Project HANDS. Now she proudly recites a few words that she
picked up from her knitting mates.
“Uno, dos, amigo, poquito, frio,” she said, giggling as she chirped
the Spanish words for one, two, friend, very little and cold. The
fellow knitters, who happened to be from Cuba and Chile, raised their
eyebrows and shyly smiled.
Filipina Josefina De Leon, 78, one of a handful who can converse with
relative ease in English, merrily chimed in that she also knows the
Spanish word for tomorrow, manana.
“And I can count to a million in Spanish,” she said with a laugh.
When Ok Whan Chang, 82, read about Project HANDS in a local
Korean-language newspaper, she couldn’t stay away.
Not a resident of Vistas, she has to travel for an hour on two buses
from her home in Northridge each Friday.
“I don’t mind the trip,” said Chang, an ethnic Korean who was born in
Manchuria in northeast China and now has friends from Cuba, Chile and
Mexico. “I want to help other people. And knitting is my talent.”
Chang proudly held up a gray sweater and a burgundy vest that she
made in just four days.
Hundreds of seniors from 49 Retirement Housing Foundation communities
have adopted Project HANDS and have given more than 2,430 articles of
clothing to homeless children, according to Shaw. The average age of
the participants is 80.
At least 19 other senior facilities have expressed a wish to start
the project, which relies on donated yarn. The bulk so far has come
from Dai-Ho Choi, president of the Korean Apparel Manufacturers Assn.
He estimated that the thousands of balls of brightly colored wool he
has contributed totaled about $10,000.
“It’s Korean tradition to respect older people,” said Choi, a
first-generation American-born Korean, while visiting Vistas
recently. “My father is 78 years old. These people here are like my
parents.”
As the babble of various tongues blended with the faint clicking of
needles, Carmen Glenn, one of a few American-born Project HANDS
participants at Vistas, circled the table covered with recently
completed clothes and blankets, and cream, blue, pink, red and
burgundy yarn.
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A native of New Mexico who is fluent in Spanish, Glenn helps
translate the accented English banter about wool texture and
stitching methods for participants like Rosalia Baghetti, 71, of
Chile and Carmen Naveira, an 82-year-old Cuban mother of five,
grandmother of nine and great-grandmother of 10.
Arthritis keeps Glenn and her best friend – Jessie Azali, a
78-year-old Indonesian-born Chinese fluent in Dutch and Chinese –
from actually knitting or crocheting. But it hasn’t stopped them from
doing their part and having fun.
“We put on name tags and fold and laugh and talk,” Glenn said.
Suddenly a chorus of “oohs” and “ahs” rang out as someone tried on a
sweater.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Lennmarker: There is a ‘golden’ opportunity to settle conflict
04.07.2005 12:51
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – “There is no alternative to a peaceful solution. In
fact there is an urgent need to solve the conflict in order to end the
personal, economic and social suffering on both sides,” says Swedish
MP Goran Lennmarker, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special
Representative on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, according to a
Euro-Reporters.com report.
The armed spat is far from frozen, according to Lennmarker. “Several
people are killed along the line-of-contact every year,” says the
Swede.
Lennmarker was speaking yesterday in Washington at the OSCE’s
Parliamentary Assembly annual session. Lennmarker still remains
optimistic of the chancesfor a peace settlement and talks of ‘golden
opportunities’ and ‘win-win concepts’. Lennmarker says OSCE
parliamentarians from Armenia and Azerbaijan have also contributed to
dialogue.
“Once a peace agreement has been finalized by the two Governments, the
parliamentary dimension becomes invaluable in informing the public and
in ensuring the implementation. It is of utmost importance that
networks of Members of Parliaments already exist and stand ready to
take on these tasks.”
The Azerbaijani delegation was planning to submit its own report based
on the one made by David Atkinson at the winter session of the
Assembly but the Assembly parliamentarians turned it down.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
HIS HOLINESS ARAM I CONGRATULATES THE NEWLY ELECTED
PRESIDENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
His Holiness Aram I sent the following congratulatory letter to the newly
elected president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Your Excellency
Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President-elect of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Tehran
Your Excellency,
We gladly received news of your election as president of the Islamic
Republic of Iran. Your election is tangible proof of the people’s love and
confidence in you, as well as their expectations from you. In all the
governmental obligations you undertook, you always remained true to your
commitment to serve the people, fulfill the people’s needs and protect their
interests. We are sure that as president, you will continue your service to
the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the same spirit and
dedication.
The Armenian and Persian peoples are connected by long-standing close
relations. We are sure that the relations between the two nations will be
further enhanced during your tenure, for the sake of the peaceful
coexistence and cooperation of nations.
As you know, we have a well-organized community in the Islamic Republic of
Iran and it continues to actively contribute to the country’s progress in
the various fields of society. During our recent visit to the Armenian
community of Iran, we attested to the strong commitment of Iranian Armenian
to the country. We are sure that you will express your care towards our
community’s needs and rights through tangible measures.
On behalf of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, as well as personally, we warmly
congratulate your election and wish you full success in your mission.
ARAM I
CATHOLICOS OF CILICIA
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.