Author: Nalbandian Albert

ARKA News Agency
April 25 2005

US President fails to honor his pledge

Armenian Ambassador to Bulgaria presents his credentials to Bulgarian
President

RA Minister of Culture receives famous Spanish writer Gonzalo Guarcha

EBRD’S annual meeting to be held in Belgrade on May 22-23

Issues of expanding Armenian-Canadian relations discussed by RA
President and representatives of House of Commons of the Canadian
Parliament

A number of Turkish organizations of Europe express their support to
Armenian people in relation to Armenian Genocide recognition

Dozens of thousands of Armenians march along Teheran’s central
streets on Armenian Genocide day

Mass held in St. Nazareth Armenian church in Kalkutta to commemorate
victims of Armenian Genocide in Ottoman empire

Denial of the fact of the Genocide of Armenians by Turkey is a
challenge to all legal and moral norms

A photo exhibition on the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
held in Stepanakert

A wedding fair to be held in Armenia on May 7-8

George w. Bush: the U.S. seeks a deeper partnership with Armenia that
includes security cooperation

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US PRESIDENT FAILS TO HONOR HIS PLEDGE

YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA-YERKIR/. Ignoring calls from a record two
hundred and ten U.S. legislators, President Bush failed, once again,
to honor his pledge to properly characterize the Armenian Genocide as
a “genocide” in his annual April 24th remarks, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA). In a statement issued today, on
April 24th, the annual day of remembrance for the Armenian Genocide,
the President again resorted to the use of evasive and euphemistic
terminology to obscure the reality of Turkey’s genocide against the
Armenian people between 1915-1923. In retreating from his promise,
the President ignored the counsel of the one hundred and
seventy-eight Representatives and thirty-two Senators who had written
letters urging him to properly characterize the Armenian Genocide.
“While we appreciate the President’s willingness to join with
Armenians around the world by issuing a statement on this occasion,
we remain deeply troubled by his continued use of evasive and
euphemistic terminology to obscure the moral, historical, and legal
meaning of Turkey’s genocide against the Armenian people,” said Aram
Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “This statement, sadly,
once again, represents a form of complicity in the Turkish
government’s shameful campaign to deny a crime against humanity.”
The ANCA has also expressed concern that the Administration’s refusal
to recognize the Armenian Genocide reflects a broader unwillingness
to confront genocide – as evidenced by the White House’s failure to
take decisive steps to bring an end to the genocide in the Darfur
region of Sudan. The ANCA is working with a broad coalition of
organizations to pressure the Administration to respond in a timely
and meaningful way to the worsening crisis in Darfur. “If we are to
end the cycle of genocide, we must, as a nation, generate the resolve
to forcefully intervene to stop genocide when it takes place, to
unequivocally reject its denial, to hold the guilty accountable, and
to secure for the victims the justice they deserve,” added Hamparian.
In February of 2000, then presidential candidate George W. Bush,
campaigning for votes among Armenian voters in the Michigan
Republican primary, pledged to properly characterize the genocidal
campaign against the Armenian people. In his statements as President,
he has consistently avoided any clear reference to the Armenian
Genocide, and his Administration has consistently opposed legislation
marking this crime against humanity.P.T.–0–

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ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO BULGARIA PRESENTS HIS CREDENTIALS TO BULGARIAN
PRESIDENT

YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA/. The RA Ambassador to Bulgaria presented
his credentials to Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. The press
service of the RA Foreign Office reports that during their meetings
the sides discussed issues of mutual interest, as well as Armenia’s
European integration. The Armenian Ambassador expressed his readiness
to contribute to the development of bilateral relations and
cooperation. P.T. -0–

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RA MINISTER OF CULTURE RECEIVES FAMOUS SPANISH WRITER GONZALO GUARCHA

YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA/. The RA Minister of Culture and Youth
affairs Hovik Hoveyan received today the famous Spanish writer
Gonzalo Guarcha and Martin Moller Marques, deputy of the Spanish
Senate. As the Press Service of the RA Ministry of Culture and Youth
Affairs told ARKA News Agency, Hoveyan called Guarcha’s `Armenian
Family Tree’ a peculiar mirror, in which everyone can see a period of
our past, cut branches of our families’ history. According to the
Minister, the work of the Spanish writer is thrice valuable, as it
denounces the genocide, as a crime against not only Armenians, but
against the whole humankind.
In his turn, the senator Martin Moller Marques noted that he was
shocked by the crime against the Armenians in the beginning of the XX
century and is deeply impressed by the great will of the Armenians to
live and create. `Getting acquainted with the art and culture of the
Armenian nation, we will try to render any possible assistance and
become the translators of your line and your culture’, said the
Spanish Senator. L.V. – 0–

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EBRD’S ANNUAL MEETING TO BE HELD IN BELGRADE ON MAY 22-23

YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA/. The European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) is to hold a 2005 annual meeting in Belgrade, on
May 22-23. The EBRD London-based press service reports that prime
ministers from southeastern Europe, finance ministers and
international business leaders, heads of international institutes and
government and nongovernmental organizations are to attend the
meeting themed Building Bridges, Promoting Prosperity. Giuliano
Amato, former Prime Minister of Italy, and Chairman of the
International Commission on the Balkans ()
is to deliver a speech at the meeting. `The event is an opportunity
for debate and discussion about the investment climate of the Bank’s
region,’ says the EBRD’s press release. The EBRD Business Forum,
which runs in parallel with the annual gathering of the EBRD’s
governors, will begin with a discussion of south-east Europe and how
these countries can be seen as one economic space with more of the
unified physical, legislative and political infrastructure that
investors are seeking.

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ISSUES OF EXPANDING ARMENIAN-CANADIAN RELATIONS DISCUSSED BY RA
PRESIDENT AND REPRESENTATIVES OF HOUSE OF COMMONS OF THE CANADIAN
PARLIAMENT

YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian received
today the representatives of the House of Commons and Armenian
Diaspora of Canada. As the Press Service of RA President, the
participants of the meeting discussed issues of expanding
Armenian-Canadian relations. The sides mentioned that the opening of
the diplomatic representation of Canada in Armenia will allow
considerably intensifying economic cooperation between the two
countries. The participants also discussed issues of international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In this connection, the sides
noted the fact of adopting the resolution denouncing the Armenian
Genocide in Ottoman Empire by the Canadian Parliament in 2002 and
efforts of the Armenian lobbyists to impart legal force to the
resolution. L.V.–0

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A NUMBER OF TURKISH ORGANIZATIONS OF EUROPE EXPRESS THEIR SUPPORT TO
ARMENIAN PEOPLE IN RELATION TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA/. A number of Turkish organizations of
Europe expressed their support to Armenian people in relation to
recognition of Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire. As Ozgur Jan, the
representative of Turkish Labor Confederation of Europe during the
conference in Yerevan, the deportation, followed by annihilation of
Armenians were carried out by the heads of `Union and Progress’ party
of Young Turks to achieve the final solution of Armenian cause.
According to him, Young Turks took advantage of freedom of action,
emerged as a result of WWI. According to him, the genocide became the
result of the policy, carried out by the Turkish power. At that, the
policy of violence still goes on in Turkey even today. In particular,
according to Ozgur Jan, 28 revolutionaries were killed in Turkish
jails in 2000, thousands of representatives of Armenian, Kurdish and
Turkish intellectuals had been missing during 1993-96, women’s
demonstration was broken up on March 8, 2005. In this connection, the
recognition of the fact of genocide on behalf of this kind of country
cannot be of vital importance. `Today’s Turkey may recognize the
Armenian Genocide under the pressure from the outside, however it
won’t cover its chauvinistic and fascist essence by doing that’, he
said and added that Turkey is not ready to join the EU so far. He
also said that Turkey is to recognize the fact of the Armenian
Genocide, because a country which does not accept its historical
realities cannot build the future. The representative of Turkish
Labor Confederation of Europe announced that their organization
intends to continue democratic fight against antidemocratic
manifestations in Turkey.
In his turn, the representative of International Cultural Exchange
Federation Yashar Arif said that they realize that not only the power
of Ottoman Empire should be blamed for Armenian Genocide, but also
the Turkish and Kurdish laborers. He apologized on behalf of common
Turks and Kurds for not having prevented this crime. According to
him, their organization demand not only recognition and denunciation
of the Armenian Genocide, but also issue of compensations and giving
the Armenian Diaspora the right to return back to their historical
homeland. L.V. – 0–

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DOZENS OF THOUSANDS OF ARMENIANS MARCH ALONG TEHERAN’S CENTRAL
STREETS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DAY

YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA/. Dozens of thousands of Armenians marched
along Iranian capital’s central streets this Sunday to commemorate
Armenian Genocide victims. According to Press Center of the State
Commission on organization of events dedicated to 90th anniversary of
Armenian Genocide, the march followed the liturgy held by the head of
Armenian Diocese in Teheran Archbishop Sepuh Sargsyan in Surv Sargis,
an Armenian church. The march’s participants expressed gratitude to
those countries having admitted the fact of the Genocide. On the same
day, other events dedicated to memory of Armenian Genocide were held
in Ararat concert-sport complex. Armenian Ambassador to Iran Karen
Nazaryan took part in the events. M.V. -0–

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MASS HELD IN ST. NAZARETH ARMENIAN CHURCH IN KALKUTTA TO COMMEMORATE
VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN OTTOMAN EMPIRE

YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA/. Mass was held Sunday in St. Nazareth
Armenian church in Kalkutta, India, to commemorate victims of
Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire. According to Press Center of the
State Commission on organization of events dedicated to 90th
anniversary of Armenian Genocide, Armenian gymnasium students, the
church council members and guests come from New Deli took part in the
liturgy. Armenian Ambassador to India Ashot Kocharyan spoke upon the
liturgy completion. In his words, the international community’s
approach toward this complicated issue has become more serious. The
Ambassador also presented information about details of Ultimate
Crime, Ultimate Challenge international conference held Apr 20, 21 in
Yerevan.
Ashot Kocharyan met with the gymnasium students and answered their
questions. M.V. -0–

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DENIAL OF THE FACT OF THE GENOCIDE OF ARMENIANS BY TURKEY IS A
CHALLENGE TO ALL LEGAL AND MORAL NORMS

STEPANAKERT, April 25. /ARKA/. In connection with the 90th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey, the Union of
Journalists of NKR applied to international journalists’
organizations. According to the appeal, NKR Journalists’ Union
condemns the genocide as ultimate crime against humanity and notes
that denial of the fact of genocide of Armenians by Turkey is a
challenge to all legal and moral norms. `No juridical and political
evaluation of the tragic events by the international community that
took place in Turkey in 1915-1923, became a precedent for pursuing a
step-wise policy of ethnic cleanings by the Azerbaijani authorities
that resulted eventually in massacre and deportation of Armenians
populated in that country at the end of the last century’, according
to the appeal.
The Union of Journalists of NKR appealed to all journalists’
organizations of the world for contributing to the international
recognition of the crimes committed in Turkey and Azerbaijan as facts
of genocide êàê ôàêòî ãåíîöèäà, considering it a pledge for not
repeating ethnic cleanings in the world, establishment of tolerant
relations between states and peoples. A.H. -0 –

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A PHOTO EXHIBITION ON THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
HELD IN STEPANAKERT

STEPANAKERT, April 25. /ARKA/. A demonstration hall devoted to the
90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey was
opened in the historic museum of regional studies of NKR capital,
Stepanakert. According to the ARKA’s reporter in Stepanakert, the
photos exhibited tell about crimes committed against Armenians in
Western Armenia in 1915, about the tragedy, bitter fates of people,
who survived the massacre by miracle. For the first time photos of
representatives of Armenian intellectuals, who became the victims of
the genocide, were exhibited in the museum. Also, a scientific
sitting was organized in the museum. The participants of the sitting
condemned the ultimate crime against Armenians at the beginning of
the last century in Ottoman Turkey.
NKR Vice-Prime Minister Ararat Danielyan and NKR Minister of
Education, Culture and Sport Ashot Gulyan were present at the
sitting. A.H. -0–

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A WEDDING FAIR TO BE HELD IN ARMENIA ON MAY 7-8

YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA/. A wedding fair will be held in Armenia on
May 7-8. According to the information center of the hotel `Marriott
Armenia’, the exhibition will allow all those becoming engaged to
receive information about the organization of weddings, purchase of
necessary accessories.
The organizers of the fair is `Marriott Armenia’.
The first wedding fair was held in October 2004 in Armenia. The best
couple got a prize from the hotel: to spend a vacation in one of 2700
hotels of `Marriott’ hotel network in any place of the world. A.H.
–0–

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GEORGE W. BUSH: THE U.S. SEEKS A DEEPER PARTNERSHIP WITH ARMENIA THAT
INCLUDES SECURITY COOPERATION

YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA-RIA Novosti/. George W. Bush called on the
Government of Armenia to advance democratic freedoms and said the
U.S. `seeks a deeper partnership with Armenia that includes security
cooperation and is rooted in the shared values of democratic and
market economic freedoms’ in his statement issued Sunday in
connection with 90th anniversary of Armenian Genocide committed by
Ottoman Turks.
`I join my fellow Americans and Armenian people around the world in
expressing my deepest condolences for this horrible loss of life’,
the U.S. President said calling the genocide `loss of life’. `We also
look toward a promising future for an independent Armenian state’,
the President said in his statement.
Bush also expressed gratitude `for Armenia’s contributions to the war
on terror and to efforts to build a democratic and peaceful Iraq’.
`We remain committed to supporting the historic reforms Armenia has
pursued for over a decade. We remain committed to a lasting and
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’, he said. M.V.
-0–

Los Angeles Times
April 26, 2005 Tuesday
Home Edition

THEATER REVIEW;
Personal horror;
An eyewitness account of the Armenian holocaust is skillfully
detailed in ‘I Ask You’ at the Alex Theatre.

by Philip Brandes, Special to The Times

The horrors of events like the Armenian holocaust are so vast that
it’s hard to imagine them from a distance as anything other than a
numbing abstraction. It’s primarily through the stories of survivors
that casualty statistics hit home with the immediacy and intensity of
personal experience — qualities vividly evoked in “I Ask You, Ladies
and Gentlemen” at Glendale’s Alex Theatre.

Author Leon Surmelian’s memoir, a harrowing account of the World War
I-era ethnic cleansing of Turkey’s Armenian population, has been
skillfully adapted for Cornerstone Theatre Company by Yehuda Hyman.
Created as part of the Cornerstone’s youth-focused educational
program, the piece does not entail the level of community
participation for which the company is best known, but it’s a
powerful and educational outreach effort nonetheless.

In staging this narration-heavy chronicle of Surmelian’s boyhood
ordeal — the brutal murder of his family and his own narrow escape
— director Christopher Liam Moore artfully extends the piece beyond
just storytelling.

Playing Surmelian as an adult narrator and at various times between
the ages of 8 and 17, solo actor Ludwig Manukian proves a perfect fit
for the role. His boyish face and exuberance convincingly evoke
Leon’s shattered innocence and courage as he endures the idyllic,
multiethnic seaside village of his childhood torn apart by rabid
Turkish nationalism in 1911.

Piercing details such as watching his female relatives sewing poison
tablets into their dresses to save themselves from violation stand
out starkly against the earlier happy memories included in Hyman’s
adaptation.

The minimal backdrop — an illuminated map of Leon’s homeland —
serves as both information resource and backlit screen for Michelle
Zamora’s inventive shadow puppets. Composer John Bilezikjian provides
near-continuous accompaniment on a variety of string and percussion
instruments.

Transcending the specifics of race and history, Surmelian’s memoir
calls out for universal tolerance, longing for a time when, “as
children we spoke the same true language, although the words were
different.” It’s a message that might sound Pollyannaish from less
authentic voices, but Surmelian earned the right to every syllable.

*

`I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen’

Where: Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale

When: 8 p.m. today and Wednesday

Ends: Wednesday

Price: $10

Contact: (818) 243-2539 or

Running time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Die Welt, Deutschland
Montag, 25. April 2005

Alles unterschreiben, wenig einhalten

Debatte: Ob Armenien-Frage oder EU-Beitritt – die Türkei macht den
Europäern leere Versprechungen

von Heinz Odermann

Als am 23. und 24. April 1915 insgesamt 609 armenische Journalisten,
Theologen, Ärzte, Anwälte, Lehrer, Professoren und Schriftsteller aus
dem damaligen Konstantinopel deportiert wurden, verlor das armenische
Volk auf einen Schlag seine Wortführer. Nur 14 der Deportierten
überlebten. Von da an setzte sich die systematische Vertreibung und
Ermordung im gesamten Land bis Ende 1916 fort, sie flackerte 1918 und
1922 noch einmal auf. Die Zahl der Getöteten wurde 1916 mit 1 480 000
angegeben. Nach dem Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges nannte der Kommissar
des Völkerbundes, Fridtjof Nansen, die Zahl von eineinhalb Millionen
Opfern.

Der deutsche Pfarrer Dr. Johannes Lepsius (1858-1926) hatte bereits
1896 in seiner Schrift “Armenien und Europa” die Großmächte zum
Schutz der Armenier aufgerufen. Immerhin: Sie hatten auf dem Berliner
Kongreß 1878 den Artikel 61 zum Schutze dieses Volkes in den Vertrag
aufgenommen, nachdem es in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts
wiederholt zu antichristlichen Pogromen gekommen war. Doch dem
Berliner Vertrag folgten die Massenmorde von 1894/95, die dann 1896
mit 350 000 getöteten Armeniern ins Unfaßbare stiegen. Nach den
neuerlichen Armeniergreuel von 1909 und 1912 bekräftigten europäische
und türkische Diplomaten dann Anfang 1914 noch einmal den Beschluß
des Berliner Kongresses von 1878. Die Türken unterschrieben alle
Papiere – und hielten nichts: Ein Jahr später, an eben jenem 23.
April 1915, begann in der Türkei der erste Völkermord des 20.
Jahrhunderts. Lepsius dokumentierte ihn 1916 (“Der Todesgang des
Armenischen Volkes”), mit großer Unterstützung vieler Zeitzeugen.

Geleitet von dem panislamischen Gedanken, alle türkischstämmigen
Völker in einem ethnisch reinen osmanischen Großreich zu vereinen,
das in seiner Mitte keinen Platz für ein Volk von Christen haben
sollte, verband sich der türkische Nationalismus mit der islamischen
Ideologie, und die jungtürkischen Revolutionäre übernahmen vom Sultan
das intolerante Staatsprinzip. Die Unfähigkeit der europäischen
Politiker, ihren Beschlüssen Taten folgen zu lassen – wozu noch
ökonomische und strategische Interessen traten -, nutzten die
Machthaber der Türkei, um den Genozid aus dem Gedächtnis sowohl ihres
eigenen Volkes als auch der europäischen Öffentlichkeit zu tilgen.
Hitler versuchte, sich dies bekanntlich beim Völkermord an den
europäischen Juden zunutze zu machen: Im August 1939 fragte er in
kleinem Kreis in Berchtesgaden, wer denn noch an die Vernichtung der
Armenier denke.

Bis heute sperrten sich noch alle türkischen Regierungen dagegen, den
Völkermord vorbehaltlos anzuerkennen – im Gegensatz zu vielen
aufrechten Türken, die sich 1915 dem Genozid entgegenstellten, auch
im Gegensatz zu nicht wenigen deutschen Offizieren im türkischen Heer
und deutschen Diplomaten in Anatolien, Syrien und Mesopotamien. Durch
ihre Berichte waren die Reichsregierung und der deutsche Kaiser über
all das Grauen in Konstantinopel, Erzinghan, Schabin-Karahissar und
vielen anderen Orten unterrichtet. Doch das Deutsche Reich hat nicht
versucht, die türkische Ausrottungspolitik aufzuhalten. Darin liegt
eine schwere moralische Mitverantwortung der Deutschen. Dabei hatte
Deutschland durchaus die Möglichkeit zum Eingreifen, seit im August
1914 der deutsch-türkische Militärpakt galt, der dem Interesse beider
Staaten diente, Rußland an seiner Südflanke und England am Suezkanal
zu bedrohen.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
April 24, 2005 Sunday

Genocide must be on agenda of EU-Turkey talks – federation

By Vitaly Makarchev

PARIS

The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy called on
the European Union on Sunday to put on the agenda of future accession
negotiations with Turkey the Turkish recognition of Armenian genocide
in the Ottoman Empire.

The EU and Turkey will start the accession negotiations this October.
The negotiations may make Turkey a EU member country within the next
10-15 years.

The denial of genocide endangers such fundamental European values as
justice and peace, the Federation said.

Nine of 25 member countries – France, Belgium, Italy, Greece, the
Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Slovakia and Cyprus – have called for
discussing the genocide question at the negotiations with Turkey.

Pan Armenian News

ARA ABRAHAMIAN: WE HOPE FOR TURKISH PEOPLE TO CONFESS AND CENSURE ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE

24.04.2005 04:44

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Turkish propaganda aimed against international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey has not brought any
desirable results, says the address of the Chairman of the World Armenia
Congress, Russian entrepreneur Ara Abrahamian on the occasion of the 90-th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. At present more and more countries
tend to address the issue and this resulted in the inclusion of the question
in the agenda of the negotiations for Turkey’s accession to the EU, the
messages says. The omissions of the Turkish propagandist machinery are more
and more spoken of in Ankara, Abrahamian writes. `By confessing the
commitment of a crime a person mitigates his guilt. We hope for the Turkish
people to display will, confess and censure the Armenian Genocide. We
suppose that the Turkish people will ever frankly reach out its hand to the
Armenian people and that hand will hang in the air. New relations cannot be
built on justification of violence, pillage and Genocide. In the name of
that goal the World Armenian Congress calls all those, who appreciate
friendship and neighborly relations between states and peoples, to
cooperate,’ Abrahamian writes.

Woonsocket Call, RI
April 23 2005

This Week at the General Assembly:

Candlelight march, State House event commemorates Armenian Genocide

The Rhode Island Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide was
marked Friday at the State House with a ceremony at the conclusion of
a candlelight march commemorating the 90th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide of 1915. The event began with a memorial service at
Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Apostolic Church at 402 Broadway,
Providence. Participants then marched to the State House, where
federal, state and local dignitaries participated in a program
commemorating the tragedy.

Zaman, Turkey
April 21 2005

Turkey Approves US Demand for Incirlik Base
By Suleyman Kurt
Published: Thursday 21, 2005
zaman.com

Turkey has approved a US demand to use the Incirlik Air Base as a
“logistic hub” for humanitarian operations.

A decree responding to the US demand will signed by the Turkish
Cabinet Council to extend the period of a “secret” decree dated 23
June 2003 for one more year for the second time. It will not be
published in the Official Gazette like the former decision. Opponents
of the secret decree claimed that it was illegal. If the Cabinet
approves it, the US will use the Incirlik Base as the logistic hub
for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, in a speech at Esenboga
Airport before his departure for Lithuania yesterday (April 20) said
that the process is underway: “In fact there is nothing new. What we
have done is to make things more regular. It will be adopted as the
extension of former decrees as there are no new dimensions to be
considered. I think that the process will be completed soon.”
Although both Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Gul have
explicitly expressed that there was no link between the Armenian
genocide allegations and the Incirlik Base decision, it has drawn
attention that the decree has been approved before April 24. The US
asked Turkey to use the Incirlik Base comprehensively in May 2004
with demands beyond those in the recently approved framework. The
previous demands were to use the base for other regional countries
beside Iraq and Afghanistan and for military purposes. The agreement
reached today was gained after months of negotiations between the two
countries.

Edmonton Journal (Alberta)
April 22, 2005 Friday
Final Edition

Award-winning opera diva thrives on diversity of work

Bill Rankin, The Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON

EDMONTON SYMPHONY MASTERS SERIES

Guest conductor: Yves Abel

Guest artist: Isabel Bayrakdarian

with the U of A Madrigal Singers

When: Tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m.

Where: Winspear Centre

Tickets: Winspear box office, 428-1414

– – –

EDMONTON – Juno one, Juno two, now what’s she going to do?

Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian has been busy, busy, busy after
taking home back-to-back Juno Awards in 2003 and 2004. She finished
her third role at the Metropolitan Opera last weekend, this time as
Zerlina in Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni. She also has plenty of
variety in her engagements: some opera, some recitals, some concerts,
like tonight’s with the Edmonton Symphony and the University Madrigal
Singers. She has operas on the horizon at Toronto’s new opera house,
opening in September, and the Met has teamed her up with superstars
Susan Graham and Bryn Terfel to perform a big part in its opening
gala in September. The Madrid-based artist could have been developing
a better prosthesis at this point in her life if she hadn’t decided
on a singing career.

Asked if she has any regrets about passing on a career in biomedical
engineering, which she trained for at the University of Toronto while
she was simultaneously getting a degree in singing, her answer is
really no surprise.

“A big no! No regrets.”

In an interview, Bayrakdarian talks about “following your heart” as
she tries to explain how she is where she is today. Then she shares a
little joke.

“If you want to give God a laugh, start planning. You can plan as
much as you want, for or against something, but life inevitably
throws you a curve and you just go one day at a time. That’s the best
way.”

Bayrakdarian hasn’t just been building up treasures in this world.
Her well-known devotion to her Armenian Christian faith has led to
perhaps more surprising honours as well. Bayrakdarian’s Junos for her
CBC Records discs Azul–o in 2003 and Cleopatra in 2004 recognized
her musical accomplishment, but she also received the highest
recognition the Armenian Church can bestow on an artist. In February,
she was given the Pontifical Encyclical of His Holiness Karekin II.

“It’s one of the highest honours that the equivalent of our Pope
could give. As a matter of fact, I got two in the same year because
we have two patriarchs, so to speak … the eastern and western. So
in the same year I got both the highest medals for artistic
achievement and I wasn’t even 30. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I still have
a lot to do.’

“I think it’s more to do with my general service to the church, which
I still continue to do today. One never does these things expecting
reward, ever. But when it does come, it humbles me. It doesn’t make
me boast about it.”

Her first CD, Joyous Light, is dedicated to Armenian liturgical
music, which was the first music she sang as a girl. Bayrakdarian
doesn’t want to do just opera or just recitals, but admits that
working at the Metropolitan Opera has its special compensations. At
the Met, she’s treated like royalty, but despite her relative
inexperience as a diva, she says she moves about the place with the
same confidence better-known artists in the opera world do. “The Met
is the shrine, the mecca, whatever you want to call it, but the plain
truth is you’re prepared. You are 120 per cent ready for it. You know
what you’re doing. Like any other place, as soon as you have any kind
of insecurity about what you’re doing, it shows in your singing and
you start overcompensating, which they detect. Everybody can detect
that, even the audience can detect it.”

Even rubbing shoulders with the world’s elite singers soon loses its
glamour because the Met is first and foremost a job site.

“It’s a beautiful workplace because all your colleagues are of
excellent quality, so there’s no insecurity. In smaller houses,
sometimes the tendency of other singers is tinged with envy or with
rivalry. There’s none of that (at the Met) because we’re all here
because we’re all good and we’re all doing our own parts. Nobody’s
taking anybody else’s part. It’s a healthy place if you have a
healthy disposition.”

Her summer schedule includes mainly recitals with her new husband and
accompanist Serouj Kradjian, with whom she recorded an Analekta disc
of songs by 19th-century French composer-singer Pauline
Viardot-Garcia. CBC Records’ Randy Barnard says Bayrakdarian will
record a disc of Mozart arias in June with with Michael Schade and
Russell Braun to help celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday next year.

Bayrakdarian will sing arias by Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi and Rossini
with the ESO tonight.

[email protected]

HEAR A CLIP

Listen to soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian sing an excerpt from Rossini’s
Bel raggio lusinghier.

and click on Online Extras

Armenian president sings anti-terrorist law

Arminfo
20 Apr 05

Yerevan, 20 April: The Armenian president signed the law on the fight
against terrorism on 19 April, the presidential press service has
told Arminfo new agency.

We should note that this document establishes a legal and organized
basis for the fight against terrorism and puts in order the
principles and issues of coordinating the fight.

[Passage omitted: Reported details of the law]

Salem News, MA
April 21 2005

Local artist participates in annual commemoration
By The Lookout
Robyn Day

A wall-hanging created by Rockport artist Ann Goolkasian O’Donnell
will be displayed at the Statehouse tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
as part of the annual Armenian Genocide Commemoration.

O’Donnell’s mixed media collage, “Why Do You Care About Something
That Happened 90 Years Ago?” includes actual pages from the journal
of her grandfather, who survived the genocide but lost his entire
family.

Still unacknowledged by the Turkish government, the Armenian genocide
is recognized by survivors and their kin in this annual ceremony,
hosted by state Rep. Rachel Kaprielian, Rep. Peter Koutoujian and
Sen. Steven Tolman.