Author: Nalbandian Albert

ARMENIANS of COLORADO
Tax I.D. #L98-09585

P.O. Box 13854
Denver, Colorado 80201
Contact: Betty Ohannessian, President
E-mail: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

April 2, 2009

ARMENIANS OF COLORADO HOST AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF ARMENIA GUESTS

The Armenians of Colorado (AOC) welcomed Mr. Ronald Altoon and Mr.
Edward Avedisian to Louisville, Colorado on March 24, 2009 with a
festive reception and a full table of delicious Armenian delicacies
prepared by the AOC board members. The group gathered at the lovely
home of Betty and John Ohannessian to hear Mr. Altoon describe his
experiences in designing a state-of-the-art educational building for the
American University of Armenia (AUA).

Dr. Kenell Touryan, an AOC member and AUA’s Vice President for Research
and Development, welcomed the 35 guests, including Mr. Bruce Janigian,
AUA’s Vice President for Development and Government Relations, and Mr.
Dan Maljanian, AUA’s Director of Development. AUA’s founding Chairman
of the Board of Trustees and former University of California official
Dr. William Frazer is an Aspen, Colorado resident and had hoped to
attend, but weather prevented him from traveling.

Mr. Altoon, founding design partner of Altoon + Porter Architects in Los
Angeles, presented slides of the $16 million Paramaz Avedisian Building
project and described the numerous challenges he faced in bringing new
building techniques and environmentally sensitive solutions to the
country of Armenia. The 100,000 square foot building, which doubles the
size of the AUA campus in Yerevan, Armenia, added a new lecture hall,
classrooms, laboratories, research centers, faculty offices, conference
rooms, a café, and an art gallery. The project was established with a
lead gift from the family of Khoren and Shooshanig Avedisian.

Altoon, of Los Angeles, California and Avedisian, of Lexington,
Massachusetts, were in town to make a presentation to the Society for
College and University Planning (SCUP) conference in Boulder on March
25. Quoting William Saroyan, Mr. Altoon remarked that AOC had indeed
created a "New Armenia" by joining together in the state of Colorado and
providing Armenians with the opportunity to gather and enjoy fellowship.
He also invited the Armenians of Colorado to join AUA in its efforts to
support the future of Armenia by ensuring the availability of quality
graduate education. Mrs. Mara Gevorgian, an AOC member and a graduate
of AUA’s business school, who now works for Standard & Poors, closed the
program by telling of the impact her MBA has had on her career and the
fond memories she has of her time at AUA.

Armenians of Colorado, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit cultural
organization established in June of 1980. Its purpose is to create a
cohesive Armenian community and to further the understanding of Armenian
history, culture, language, customs, and heritage. AOC actively supports
issues and concerns of the Armenian-American community in Colorado as
well as those identified within the Armenian Diaspora communities
throughout the world.

The group facilitates Armenian scholars and artists to share their work
with the Colorado community. AOC also works with the Denver Starz Encore
Film Festival, the Denver Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Colorado in
supporting Armenian talent from many parts of the world. It is through
programs such as these that AOC provides inspiring events and enhances
cultural diversity within the Colorado community.

In addition to offering stimulating cultural and educational programs,
AOC is working toward establishing an Armenian Cultural Center. AOC
recently purchased a property in the Denver area and hopes to raise
sufficient funds to build the center in the near future. For additional
information about AOC, please visit For
additional information about AUA, please visit

THE REAL JEW: A LESSON FROM TURKEY
By Arnold S. Leese

20Real%20Jew%20-%20Turkey.htm
March 1939

The Turkish revolution which dethroned the Sultans was Jewish. The
Jews used Freemasonry as a tool. It has been said with considerable
truth that the Young Turks were old Jews.

The active agency of Revolution was the Committee of Union and
progress.

This was fostered and manned by Freemasonry while Freemasonry was
itself in the hands of the Jews. The center of revolt was at Salonika
where a majority of the population was actually Jewish.

The Jew Emmanuele Carasso used the Masonic Lodge "Macedonia Resorta"
for the secret meetings of the Committee of Union and Progress and
when Sultan Abdul Hamid was deposed Carasso was one of the four
men who went to Yildiz to tell the Sultan that his reign was at an
end. The Committee of Union and Progress firmly seated itself in the
saddle of government with Mahommed V as puppet Sultan.

The Minister for the Interior of this regime was Talaat Bey. De Nogales
in his Four Years Beneath the Crescent (Charles Scribners Sons, 1926
p.26) reveals Talaat as "the renegade Hebrew (Donme) of Salonika." A
"Donme" is a kind of Marrano Jew, a descendant of Jewish refugees in
Turkey who pretended to be Muslims. This fact of the Jewishness of
Talaat is of great importan ce and little known. The Encyclopedia
Britannica 12th edition Vol. XXXI p. 1222, calls him "the sinister
figure largely responsible for the downfall of the Ottoman Empire."

In The Cause of World Unrest he is stated to have been responsible,
"perhaps, more than anyone else for handing over Turkey to Germany
and thus encompassing her ruin." Talaat had been President of the
Committee Party. De Nogales in his work above cited says Talaat was
"the principal organizer of the massacres (of Armenian Christians)
and deportations." Dr. H. Stuermer in Two War Years in Constantinople
(Hodder & Stoughton, 1917) says on p. 72 "Enver, and still more
Talaat, who as Minister of Interior and really Dictator of Turkey
was principally responsible for the Armenian persecutions…."

Until now Talaat seems to have remained unrecognized by the world as
a Jew "patriot" who ruined his country and was responsible for the
wholesale slaughterer of Christians.

-2-

The German Government made use of the services of a criminal Jew called
Nelken to gain control over the Young Turks. He called himself Mehmed
Zekki Bey and edited several newspapers in Constantinople. These and
other Jew run newspapers in the town did all that was possible to
poison the Turkish mind against the British.

Talaat’s Finance Minister was another Jew, Djavid Bey, who arranged
the f inances of revolution in Turkey with Jewish banks abroad. He
had a Jew Messim Russo as ‘his chef de cabinet.’

When Djavid Bey was finally hanged by Kemal Ataturk, "a number of great
financial concerns including the banking houses of the Rothschilds in
Vienna and London tried to persuade the English and French Governments
and the leading newspapers in both countries to use all their influence
to make a personal appeal for Djavid." (Grey Wolf by H. C. Armstrong
published by A. Barker, Ltd.) The French Freemason Sarraut actually
visited Kemal in Angora and appealed to him as a fellow mason to spare
Djavid’s life. He was not successful. Kemal Ataturk who had been a
Freemason and a revolutionary, seemed to have changed his nature with
his name when he ceased to be Mustapha Kemal and closed the Masonic
Lodges. His actions were Aryan. His mother is said to have had Donme
blood (Lewis Browne’s How Odd of God, 1935) but The Times November 1,
1938, said she was an Albanian who "may have transmitted the Nordic
type to her boy." She had fair hair and blue eyes. The Donme blood
if present, must have been thin.

Kamal’s Turkish patriotism was his only decent quality.

Another leading Jew of the Committee of Union and Progress as
Refik Bey who in 1939 was Prime Minister of Turkey under the Refik
Saydam. During the First World War the Jew=2 0Carasso became a food
controller in Constantinople and as a result, many people died of
starvation. Meanwhile he amassed a fortune of two million Turkish
pounds which was seized from him after the war. He saved some of
it by suddenly claiming to be under Italian protection. Another
"Turkish patriot!"

In The Cause of the World’s Unrest published by Grant Richards,
Ltd. in 1920, we learn that even the counter revolutionary forces
were controlled and made ineffective by Jews. The Commander being
the Jew Renzi Bey. Jews controlled the Revolutionary Press.

Whoever was prominent in the revolution and was not a Jew was a
Freemason of "synthetic Jew."

Today.Az, Azerbaijan
March 29 2009

Armenia attempts to provoke Azerbaijan on response actions:
Azerbaijani deputy

29 March 2009 [00:30] – Today.Az

According to Milli Medjlis deputy from Shusha region, member of the
parliamentary committee on issues of defense and security Elman
Mamedov, "by its military trainings at the front line in Agdam Armenia
attempts to provoke Azerbaijan on holding military actions in order to
accuse us of aggression and unwillingness to settle the conflict
peacefully before the whole world community".

Notably, despite the recent intensification in the negotiation process
on Nagorno Karabakh, the Armenian armed forces have been holding large
scale trainings in the occupied territory of Agdam for already three
days.

The deputy considers that Yerevan does not pay serious importance to
the peace talks. "Armenians today are provoking us to respond the same
way for it to grow into confrontation. This is an elaborated
provocation but I think Azerbaijan will not yield to it", announced
the parliamentarian.

Military expert Uzeir Jafarov has a different point of view of the
issue.

"Armenia has not the least intention to do it considering its present
position. It is quite satisfied with holding 20% of our lands. They
just continue such trainings in order to maintain the readiness of
their positions near the front line. If we consider the news archives
of the past years, we can see that Armenia usually holds such
trainings in these regions in March-April", considers Jafarov.

He said Armenians have already taken all valuable things in these
lands and now these lands are used as polygons.

/Day.Az/

URL:

Interfax, Russia
March 27 2009

Cooperation with Russia doesn’t hamper Armenia’s ties with other
countries – official

MOSCOW March 27

Military-technological cooperation between Yerevan and Moscow
continues at a rapid pace, secretary of the Armenian National Security
Council Artur Bagdasarian told Interfax-AVN.

"Russia is Armenia’s main military and political partner. It means
that cooperation in the military area continues actively, including in
the sphere of military-technological contacts," Bagdasarian said.

Political relations between Russia and Armenia are "at their highest",
the Armenian official said. "We are holding intensive dialogue in all
areas all the time," he said.

However, vigorous cooperation with Russia is not standing in the way
of Armenia’s efforts to promote relations with other international
organizations and countries, including Georgia, Bagdasarian said. "We
favor good-neighborly relations with this country, despite tensions
between Tbilisi and Moscow. Stability in Georgia is important to
Armenia as well," he said.

"As far as the EU is concerned, we have a special cooperation
program. At its session, the Security Council of Armenia confirmed a
European neighborhood program for 2009-2011, which includes 195
specific reforms and measures in all areas. We will advance our
cooperation with the EU," he added.

PRESS RELEASE
From: Mira Yardemian
Public Relations Director
Haigazian University
Mexique Street, Kantari, Beirut
P.O.Box. 11-1748
Riad El Solh 1107 2090
Tel: 01-353010/1/2
01-349230/1

Haigazian University Raises $217,000/- at its Beirut Gala

Haidostian: If Lebanon has a small yet special place in its region,
Haigazian University has a small yet special place in Lebanon

Haigazian University’s Fundraising Gala Banquet, in support of the New
Heritage Building Project, a rousing success for itself, was held on
Thursday the 19th of March, 2009, in the Emirates Hall of the Habtoor
Grand Hotel, Beirut.

The banquet, which raised $217,000/-, came at a time when Haigazian
University is witnessing a significant growth in the level of financial
support it is receiving from individuals and through the developing
partnership with the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), and at the final months of the fundraising campaign of the New
Heritage Building Project, started four years ago.

The grandiose Emirates Hall, beautifully decorated with cheerful flower
arrangements, and special lighting effects, glittered with the presence
of around 380 guests, including the President of the Union of the
Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East, Rev. Megrdich
Karageozian, the President of the Armenian Evangelical Union of Armenia,
Rev. Rene Leonian, Bishop Kegham Khatcherian, Cabinet Ministers Jean
Oghasabian and Alan Tabourian, MPs Hagop Kassardjian, Serge
Toursarkissian, and Bassem Shabb, former ministers, members of the
Haigazian Univerity Board of Trustees, community leaders of various
sects, and a full complement of deans, professors, staff, and alumni.

After the Lebanese Anthem, Public Relations Director, Mira Yardemian
welcomed the audience, acknowledging the vibrant role of Haigazian
University in the Lebanese community for more than 50 years, and
introduced the Master of Ceremonies, Maestro Harout Fazlian, the much
admired and respected conductor in the symphonic and operatic life in
Beirut.

After his brief introduction, MC Fazlian invited Rev. Megrdich
Karageozian for the prayer of invocation.

Mayda Kelechian, from the class of 1982, presented a power point
projection of the Haigazian University Campus, and its development
projects. Kelechian covered all the buildings of the University,
highlighting their historic evolution, symbolic value, and current
function.

Haigazian University students presented a Lebanese Heritage Costumes
show, featuring the socio-cultural evolution of Lebanon, presenting a
unique collection of dresses from the late 16th century till the 20th
century, including an astonishing 18th century "sarma" wedding dress.
The show was the courtesy of Ms. Samia Saab, a senior consultant in
Lebanese and Eastern culture, who put on stage her private collection
and creations of ancient costumes.

The six young virtuosos of Armenia, with their conductor Roupen
Asatryan, who specially arrived from Armenia for this special occasion,
astonished the audience with 6 musical pieces of Tchaikovsky,
Hakhvertyan, Piazzola, Khatchaderian, and of the Lebanese Rahbani
Brothers.

This group of youngsters with ages from 12 to 15, is a recently
established musical group of children sponsored by the AMAA in Armenia.

In his keynote address, President Paul Haidostian acknowledged the
role Haigazian University plays in preserving culture and heritage. "You
know that we have a strong sense of heritage. We want heritage to free
our youth to learn, to develop and to serve. Heritage is not a
liability, it is wealth. Heritage is not a cage, it is life giving
space. If Lebanon has a small yet special place in its region, Haigazian
U. has a small yet special place in Lebanon," Haidostian noted.

Haidostian clarified that Haigazian University’s mission and
challenge will always stretch beyond the politics of the day, of the now
and of the here, stressing the fact that the University works for human
dignity, and for the discovery of the image of God in all people.

The Gala Banquet formed the perfect opportunity to declare
two newly-established awards granted in the name of Haigazian University
to a few people who have helped the University to build much quality and
morale.

The "Distinguished Supporter Award" was granted to Mr. & Mrs. Garbis and
Lucy Tutunjian, for their enduring and generous support of Haigazian
University. The Tutunjians had not only established a fund, but kept
supporting the University and their fund in a most humble, unassuming,
and continuous way. "Even though the fund carries their name, it is
their spirit and constant availability that has been appreciated. How we
give is what gives meaning to what we give," noted President Haidostian
while presenting the couple with the award.

The "Distinguished Scholar Award" was granted to Monseigneur Antarnig
Granian, for his venerable devotion to Armenology and liturgical
studies, with enduring faith and nurturing grace. Father Granian’s
ecclesiastical and scholarly portfolio is as full as it could be. He is
an author, playwright, editor of dictionaries, and founder of magazines,
Armenian church youth movements and Armenological volumes. His
contribution to the Haigazian University community, in particular
through his leadership as editor in chief of the prestigious Haigazian
Armenological Review has been invaluable.

"But again, the reason why he deserves merit is not only the amount of
knowledge he owned and taught and continues to communicate, but his
Christ-like spirit," said President Haidostian, very emotionally touched
upon presenting the award to his professor, acknowledging the fact that
he has been blessed to disciple such great men as Father Granian.

Finally the recipients of the awards joined President
Haidostian to cut the celebratory cake of the occasion.

6 CRIMINAL CASES WERE INSTIGATED IN 2008, BASED ON EXAMINATION OF 37 DOUBTFUL TRANSACTIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.03.2009 18:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 6 criminal cases were instigated in 2008, based on
examination of 37 doubtful transactions by CBA Financial Monitoring
Center.

According to "2008 Annual report of CBA activities in preventing
financing of terrorism and illegal money-laundering in banks and
credit organizations", 93 396 transactions were subject to obligatory
reporting, 37 of which were considered doubtful.

In 2008, 37 doubtful transactions effected by financial organizations
were reported, 36 reports were filed by commercial banks of Armenia,
and one of them from a person engaged in sale and purchase of currency.

Suspension of financial assets totaling USD 80 000 was effected based
on 6 doubtful transactions FMC was founded on Dec. 14, 2004 under the
Law "On preventing financing of terrorism and illegal money-laundering
in banks and credit organizations."

16:48 25/03/2009
TURKEY KEEPS SILENCE: NO RESPONSE IS GIVEN
Source: Panorama.am

Turkish party has not taken any measures to start the activities of
shooting a film in Armenia. According to our sources, Turkish party
has applied to the Armenian Government to get permission to shoot a
film in the territory of Armenia. The name of the film, `Break up’,
created some divergence of opinions, and they asked the Turkish party
some explanation in that regard.

Since that neither response not explanation has been received by the
Turkish party.

Interview
State Dance Ensemble of Armenia
Contact: Harutyun Azaryan
Tel:+ 37410 58-14-26
Email: [email protected].

STATE DANCE ENSEMBLE OF ARMENIA SET TO MARK 50TH ANNIVERSARY IN GRAND STYLE

Interview by Sona Hamalian

For the past 50 years, the State Dance Ensemble of Armenia has been
synonymous with grand, dazzling performances.

In the Soviet era, it helped preserve the rich heritage of traditional
Armenian music and dance, energetically cultivating its repertoire
within a modern artistic context. As the ensemble regularly appeared
on the world stage and garnered great acclaim, it also functioned as a
cultural bridge between Armenia and diaspora communities.

Following Armenia’s independence, the ensemble initially fell on hard
times and even faced closure. But it re-emerged, stronger than ever,
thanks to the dedication and many sacrifices of its leadership and
performers alike.

Today, as the State Dance Ensemble of Armenia prepares to celebrate
its 50th anniversary, a string of special performances is in the
works. The concert series will kick off with a gala Yerevan appearance
in late April. Subsequently the ensemble will tour diaspora
communities across the globe, beginning with a performances on May 1
at the prestigious Kremlin Palace Theater in Moscow, with more
appearances in the Middle East, Europe, the United States, Canada, and
elsewhere.

Given the considerable scale of the tour, artistic director Eric
Chanchurian says the ensemble is welcoming sponsorships to help offset
the cost of the planned performances. Event sponsors can include
governments, embassies, international arts agencies, and corporations,
as well as diaspora foundations and individual benefactors.

I caught up with Chanchurian in Yerevan, where his troupe’s rehearsals
are in full swing.

Q: During the Soviet period, what role did the State Dance Ensemble of
Armenia have in terms of preserving traditional Armenian music and
dance, and also helping them evolve and gain further popularity?

A: With its prolific output, both within the Soviet Union and beyond
its borders, the ensemble became one of Armenia’s most recognizable
calling cards. It came to represent a certain cultural brand. The
ensemble was created with a clear goal: to safeguard the age-old
traditions of Armenian music and dance. Today this goal continues to
be realized, and with considerable success.

Q: What were some of the basic practical and esthetic challenges which
the ensemble faced in the decades between its founding and Armenia’s
independence?

A: The challenges were many. In general, the ensemble needed to sift
and purify Armenian music, dance, and folk attire. It needed to
achieve a certain level in terms of dance design and vision so that
the spirit of the people, its struggles, triumphs, existential
philosophy ` that is to say, the very identity of the Armenian nation
` would be reflected in the ensemble’s repertoire and presented to the
world at the highest standards of the art form. This, I believe, was
fully accomplished. There was another set of challenges, one that
pertained to the difficulties of ` and obstacles to ` staging purely
national dances. The Soviet authorities mandated that the dances of
`brother’ peoples also had to be staged, in conjunction with the
Armenian repertoire, that Armenia and Armenian dances had to be
manifested as part and parcel of the Soviet fatherland. I’m proud to
say that, despite the restrictions of those years, the ensemble was
able to maintain its performances of Armenian dance at the highest
artistic level.

Q: What can you tell us about the ensemble’s performances in diaspora
communities during the decades prior to Armenia’s independence, when
links between Armenia and the diaspora were quite limited?

A: Our ensemble was that `wing of the crane’ which, overcoming the
`iron curtains’ of the Soviet Union, presented to the worldwide
Armenian community the homeland it yearned for. It was often jokingly
said that the ensemble was guest-performing in Armenia ` that’s how
often the troupe toured abroad. Indeed, through its performances, the
ensemble brought a breath of fresh air to diaspora communities and, by
doing so, contributed to the burgeoning of an Armenian consciousness,
a heightened sense of identity. Today, too, our compatriots abroad
welcome our performances with utmost enthusiasm. I even know people
who travel from one country to the next to catch one of our
appearances.

Q: In general, have the ensemble’s overseas performances helped
enhance its artistic evolution?

A: Absolutely. Isn’t it a fact that contact with various cultures and
traditions helps expand and enrich one’s artistic and intellectual
horizons?

Q: Would it be accurate to say that Armenia’s independence was also a
turning point for the ensemble? What were some of the practical
changes that occurred, and what were the new challenges, especially in
the early years of independence?

A: We all know what it took to establish the independence of which our
nation had been dreaming for centuries: earthquake, war, economic
blockade, those cold and dark years… All this couldn’t have not
impacted the country’s culture as well. In turn, the State Dance
Ensemble faced many difficulties. There came a point when it was in
danger of being shut down. I’ve been witness to those days, when the
Ministry of culture tried hard to convince my father, Suren
Chanchurian, to assume leadership of the troupe in the absence of
costumes and musical instruments. In the absence of every necessity
imaginable. But, within a short time, the ensemble regained
itself. Everyone involved proved to have an indomitable will to
persevere. And they all pulled through.

Q: Would you say that Armenia’s independence, and consequently the new
social and cultural situation, compelled the ensemble to change its
artistic direction, to any extent?

A: Of course. Today, as the republic’s main dance troupe, we have a
duty to help reassess and give fresh meaning to the Armenian
identity. This entails fundamental changes in artistic, programmatic,
and esthetic terms.

Q: Today, when the ensemble prepares to commemorate its 50th
anniversary across the world, what is your vision regarding the
troupe’s next phase of development?

A: We are now in the process of finalizing an entirely new concert
program, dedicated to celebrating the ensemble’s 50th
anniversary. With this program, which very much reflects the troupe’s
next phase of evolution, we seek to speak to the world in today’s
language. A culture is not measured by the size of a country. We have
the will to become one of the world’s most sought-after dance troupes.

Q: Given the fast pace of economic and possibly cultural changes
taking place in Armenia today, and also a more pronounced clash
between the traditional and the modern, how do you envision the role
of a phenomenon like the State Dance Ensemble, in terms of larger
patterns of cultural evolution?

A: Throughout its history, the ensemble has harmonized the traditional
with the contemporary. I think this is one major reason that the
troupe today remains artistically relevant and its performances
continue to draw large audiences, in Armenia and the diaspora alike.
I think genuine cultural values always remain modern and relevant. But
beyond this, I think it is precisely in times of transition, such as
the one experienced by Armenia today, that traditional culture ` the
classical ` helps nations not to lose their character, not to plunge
into mediocrity, to avoid becoming mere consumer societies. Wise
nations always succeed in accomplishing this.

Q: What, would you say, are some of the defining artistic and thematic
characteristics of Armenian music and dance? And do you agree that
these art forms generally express an irreducible youthfulness?

A: If we were to enumerate those characteristics, our conversation
would take hours, if not days. In the main, Armenian music and dance
remain distinct insofar as the Armenians as a nation remain
distinct. And for as long as the Armenian nation exists, its music and
dance will continue to be youthful, given their inevitable and welcome
evolution. We only need to make certain that the evolutionary changes
take place within an Armenian context.

Q: Do you think that traditional Armenian music and dance ` with their
compositional structure, esthetic sensibilities, and thematic
possibilities ` can have a meaningful place in the development of
Armenian culture in our century, and consequently in the daily life of
the Armenian people?

A: Yes, without a doubt. I say this because I believe that the
Armenian is an Armenian not merely because his or her passport says
so, but on the strength of language, mindset, and culture ` which
certainly includes music and dance. Indeed, on the Armenian cultural
palette and in our daily lives alike, Armenian music and dance have
their unique, and essential, place.

ELIE WIESEL’S UNENDING SEARCH
By Donna Rifkind

Washington Post
March 23 2009

A MAD DESIRE TO DANCE
By Elie Wiesel
Translated from the French by Catherine Temerson
Knopf. 274 pp. $25

When writers become statesmen — Gunter Grass, say, or Nadine Gordimer
— it’s easy to forget that they first connected to audiences in
one-on-one encounters between author and reader. These days, we’re
more apt to regard the large-scale public face of Elie Wiesel:
his Nobel Prize, his "Oprah" appearances, his condemnations of
the Armenian and Darfur genocides, the news that his life savings
were pillaged by Bernard Madoff. We’re less likely to remember that
"Night," Wiesel’s internationally best-selling Holocaust-survival
memoir, was rejected in the late 1950s by major American publishers
before it finally found a home, for a $100 advance, at a courageous
then-independent house called Hill & Wang. The first print run of
"Night" was 3,000 copies and took three years to sell.

The publication of Wiesel’s latest novel provides a good opportunity
to return to that intimate connection that he first established with
those few early readers of "Night." The book’s style and themes will
be familiar to those acquainted with his previous fiction (now 80,
he has written more than 50 books), yet "A Mad Desire to Dance"
shows the sensibility of a literary wanderer who has not finished
searching for answers to his original anguished questions.

The new novel’s narrator is 60ish Doriel Waldman, himself a certain
kind of spiritual wanderer. What Doriel asks, again and again,
is how he, a Holocaust survivor, can hope for faith, equanimity
or even sanity during a life "amputated" by overwhelming personal
suffering and loss. Like other Wiesel protagonists, he’s preoccupied
with madness — his own and the world’s — and he seeks treatment in
the office of Therèse Goldschmidt, a Jewish psychotherapist who also
managed to survive the war.

If nothing else, Doriel’s sessions with his therapist prove how
thoroughly unsatisfactory is the shorthand description "survivor." It’s
true that Doriel survived the war as a young child in Poland, hiding
in a barn with his father while his mother, blond and passing as a
gentile, traveled as a secret liaison for the Jewish Resistance. Yet
for Doriel, survival has meant not triumph but a life painfully
truncated. Most of his family died by the time he was 11: his two
siblings as victims of the Nazis, and his parents in a car crash in
France shortly after the war, preparing to make their way to Palestine.

Since childhood Doriel has drifted, staying with an uncle in Brooklyn,
wandering among yeshivas in New York and Jerusalem, spending time near
his parents’ graves in France, alighting in Manhattan. He never managed
to maintain a strong connection to another person or to lay his ghosts
to rest. For what purpose has he survived? For this empty pilgrimage?

It’s this mystery, and more, that Doriel dances fitfully around during
his therapy sessions. There is also the question of where he acquired
his considerable wealth, and the nagging suspicion, whose clues he
has attempted to bury, that his mother may have had an affair during
her Resistance missions. On the whole, his visits to Goldschmidt are
mutually frustrating experiences. The doctor despairs of curing his
bottomless despair, while the patient dodges unbearable truths in a
filibuster of philosophizing and storytelling.

Some of Doriel’s stories are glancingly personal, touching on several
of his doomed romantic relationships, or on his spectral reconnections
with other survivors. Others are woven from classical Jewish texts,
for Doriel is a serious and sometimes too-fervent scholar, giving
lessons to adolescents on medieval Jewish history. He’s been taught
that memory is the cornerstone of his religion — over and over again
in their liturgy, faithful Jews exhort themselves never to forget —
but how can one live within that faith if forgetting is the only way
to endure?

This is a ruthless book, with little of the redemptive spirit that
American readers have grown attached to in tales of the Holocaust. It’s
a difficult story, moreover, told in a difficult way, deliberately
discursive and without regard for chronology. Its purpose is to
disorient the reader, echoing Doriel’s psychological dislocation,
wandering as he wanders. The translation provides additional obstacles,
distancing readers from the story with distracting word choices
("fecundated"?) and calcified dialogue.

Surprisingly, though, despite these impediments, a reader willing to
navigate the thickets will find rewards. The novel’s grim satisfactions
lie in a sense of shared responsibility between teller and listener,
a confidential yet far-reaching partnership that began four decades
ago with "Night." "I tell my students and my readers," Wiesel has said,
"that whoever reads or listens to a witness becomes a witness."

Rifkind is a book reviewer based in Los Angeles.

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS OBAMA’S UPCOMING VISIT "IMPORTANT MESSAGE"

Anadolu Agency
March 18 2009
Turkey

Ankara, 18 March: The Turkish foreign minister saw Wednesday US
President Barack Obama’s visit as an important visit.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said that US President Barack
Obama would pay one of his first foreign visits to Turkey.

"This is an important message to the entire world," Babacan told
private TGRT Haber channel.

Obama is expected to pay a visit to Turkey on April 6-7.

Babacan said that the United States clearly stated that it wanted to
work closely with Turkey, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
noted down his recommendations during their meeting in the Turkish
capital of Ankara.

Clinton promised to work on those recommendations after she returned
to Washington D.C., Babacan said.

Babacan also said that the foreign policy agenda of Turkey and the
United States fully coincided with each other, and the United States
attached importance to Turkey’s perspective on Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Middle East, Caucasus and Iran.

"The new era in the United States offers significant opportunities
for Turkey," Babacan said.

Babacan said that Obama could make his planned speech in a Muslim
country either in Turkey or another country.

"We will be pleased if he chooses Turkey," he said.

Babacan said that Turkey was sharing its views with the United States,
and would give priority to communication and contacts.

Turkey was expressing its thoughts to the United States without any
hesitation, and as two equal and sovereign countries, he said.

Babacan also said that the United States had not made any concrete
demands regarding withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, and Turkey would
assess it when a concrete demand was made.

"We will extend any support for our own national interests and for
our neighbour Iraq if necessary," Babacan said.

On Turkish-Armenian relations, Babacan said Turkey wanted to normalize
its relations with Armenia, and was talking with Azerbaijani, Armenian
and Russian authorities to establish good relations in the Caucasus.

Babacan said that it was the first time that the United States and
Russia were extending support for an initiative.

Turkey had told the US authorities that it was not right to take some
steps in a third country when such talks were going on, he said.

"But, we cannot say that there is no risk like a decision regarding
April 24 despite all these developments," Babacan said.

Regarding developments in Pakistan, Babacan said that he wanted
to go to a meeting on Pakistan in Japan, and Turkey was planning a
trilateral summit with Pakistan and Afghanistan in coming months.

Babacan said that Turkey would assess whether or not to send additional
troops to Afghanistan if a concrete demand was made, but problems in
Afghanistan could not be solved with more troops, tanks or arms.

The Turkish foreign minister underlined the requirement of a political
solution for stability and peace in Afghanistan, and said that Turkey
had met all groups in Afghanistan and told them to get involved in
the political process.

Also, Babacan said that a new era had begun in Turkey’s fight against
terrorism, and Turkey had taken diplomatic, economic and socio-cultural
steps besides military methods.

Babacan said that it was time that the regional administration in
north of Iraq to make some decisions, and the terrorist organization
PKK did not have any vogue from no one.

The Turkish minister said that it was easier to make a financial
pursuit after the United States included the PKK in the list of
illicit drug trafficking organizations.

Babacan said that the terrorism issue should be out of Turkey’s and
Iraq’s agenda.

The Turkish foreign minister defined Israel’s operation on Gaza as
a big mistake, and said that the Israeli-Syrian talks could resume
again after the message of the parties that they were ready.

The talks were interrupted due to Israel’s operation on Gaza. More
than 800 people were killed and around 3,000 others were injured
in the 22-day Israeli offensive against Gaza that was launched on
December 27, 2008.