15:34,
YEREVAN, JUNE 22, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government will provide an additional 2,9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh in the form of an “interstate loan” to help mitigate the social tension.
The bill was approved at the Cabinet meeting on June 22.
The bill envisages providing a 2,9 billion dram interstate loan from the tax revenues of the 2023 state budget to Nagorno Karabakh for additional funding aimed at mitigating the social tension in Nagorno Karabakh in the post-war period.
Georgetown’s Cedarvale Farm was never meant to be a permanent home for the 109 Armenian boys who lived there a century ago – nor for the 39 girls who joined them. It was merely a school for them to become good citizens.
But after their time there, it’s hard to know where a lot of them ended up as the trail went cold… mostly.
Thanks to the work of Armenian-Canadian author Hrad Poladian, it’s possible to follow some of their journeys. His book The Georgetown Boys Stories by their Sons and Daughters gives voice to 11 alumni of Cedarvale Farm – now known as Cedarvale Park.
“It (the Georgetown Boys’ experience) is a historic fact. It should be recognized and known to all other Canadians,” Poladian emphasized.
The tales of three of them are at times tragic, colourful and hopeful. Here are their stories.
Krikor “Greg” Kasparian
At 452 Richmond St. in Toronto, one will find the Turco Persian Rug Company. This store has been selling and cleaning rugs for 117 years. One of the owners was a Georgetown Boy named Krikor Kasparian, who was married to Kohar Bedrossian, a Georgetown Girl.
After the owner of the rug company, Socrates Utudjian, died, there was a question of who would get the business.
“There was him and another [potential heir]. There was a coin flip for who would get the company and he won,” said Jessica Kasparian, Krikor’s granddaughter and current owner of the rug shop.
Georgetown Boys reunion in the 1960s. Wellington County Museum and Archives ph20017
The United Church of Canada brought Kasparian in the early 1920s to be a Georgetown Boy. It’s not known how old he was – his date of birth is an estimate – but he was likely 17 when he arrived in Toronto. His application was initially rejected because he was too old. But after the church listed him as a teacher, he was accepted.
Details are scarce about his life before coming to Canada – what’s known are simple snippets. He was conscripted by the Ottoman army and was injured. Somehow, he was reunited with his mother while still wounded. He lost a brother and both parents. His sisters survived and one of them moved to the United States.
Kasparian suspects that trauma may be why her grandfather didn’t talk about his experiences much.
“He saw some pretty awful things,” she told HaltonHillsToday.
“There were some occasions where he talked to my dad, and I know at some point my dad recorded it,” she recalled.
Much of what was on those tapes, however, have been lost as they were inadvertently recorded over.
Greg Kasparian died in 1989.
Sarkis Sarkissian
Sarkis Sarkissian was 10 years old when he arrived in Georgetown. His memories before that were only fragments. The Armenian Genocide started in 1915 when he was a mere two years old.
His parents were Krikor and Miram. In an interview in the 1980s with his son, he said he doesn’t remember anything about his parents. He also admitted that Sarkissian may not be his real last name. He had memories of living in the Turkish city of Adana, where many anti-Armenian pogroms happened.
He was sent to live with his paternal grandmother. While he wasn’t sure why, at some point she had him sent away to a nearby orphanage.
“She was getting old and I guess she couldn’t look after me anymore,” he told his son in the ’80s.
He often ran away from the orphanage to go be with his grandmother, but an uncle would inevitably take him back.
He was then shipped off to Cyprus and then Corfu in Greece, his final home before arriving in Canada.
After leaving Cedarvale, he worked on a farm near Guelph. Despite all the boys receiving training as farmers, Sarkissian is probably the only one who chose farming as a career.
He briefly journeyed to Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, to find work with a buddy named Fred Aitchison. It was here that he met his wife, Anne Popiel, the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants.
He spent the rest of his life on an Orangeville farm. He died in 1997.
Harry Hatch
Born Haroutioun Khatchadourian, he was not supposed to be a Georgetown Boy. His older brother, who was caring for their mother at the time, put him in an orphanage.
A different boy had originally been chosen to come to Canada. But when he was discovered to have head lice, Hatch was picked instead.
He arrived in Georgetown at the age of 12, making him one of the older boys. After his time there was over, he worked many farms.
Harry Hatch with wife Roxanne later in life. Susanne Felkner photohttps://www.haltonhillstoday.ca/local-news/where-did-the-armenian-orphans-of-georgetowns-cedarvale-farm-go-7100185
He often struggled to find work. A friend suggested that he should change his name. Thus, Harry Hatch was born.
He served in the Canadian Army and fought in the Second World War. He was almost part of the ill-fated raid on Dieppe, but a sergeant stopped him from being part of the attack.
“Where do you think you are going, Hatch? You are one of the only drivers we have and we need you here to drive,” the sergeant apparently told him. He worked as a driver during the war years.
He and his wife, Roxanne, moved to the Mountain in Hamilton. There, he first worked as a cleaner at a jail, while his wife operated a bread and milk shop they opened together. He started working at the shop when the behaviour of the local youth made her uncomfortable. Eventually this shop was turned into a restaurant.
Harry Hatch died in 1974 from a brain tumor.
July 1 will mark the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Georgetown Boys. The Sara Corning Centre for Genocide Education will commemorate the occasion with a ceremony at Cedarvale Park on Saturday (June 24). The gathering will begin at 2 p.m. and various government and local dignitaries, including descendants of the Georgetown Boys, will be present.
The California
Courier Online,1- Pashinyan
Refuses to Resign, DespitePrecipitous
Decline in his PopularityBy Harut
SassounianPublisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com2- Glendale: 3 arrested as
protesters outside board meetingclash over
LGBTQ curriculum3- Fallen
Soldier’s Mother Freed After Judge Hands Down Suspended Jail Term4- Letter to the Editor
****************************************************************************************
1- Pashinyan
Refuses to Resign, DespitePrecipitous
Decline in his PopularityBy Harut
SassounianPublisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.comTwo polls were conducted in Armenia recently, giving the people
a chance to express their views on various issues, including the sharp decline
in Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s popularity.The first survey was conducted January 23-March 4, 2023 by
the Center for Insights in Survey Research, a project of the Washington,
D.C.-based International Republican Institute. This scientific survey, based on
a random sample of Armenia’s
population, was funded by the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID).Question: “Do you think Armenia is heading in the right
direction or wrong direction?” 52%: wrong direction (up from 11%-14% in 2018 when
Pashinyan first came to power); 36%: right direction (down from 72%-73% in
2018).Question: “How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the
pace of democracy in our country?” 17%: satisfied; 46%: dissatisfied; 35%: no
change.Question: “How much interest do you have in politics?” 43%:
very much or somewhat interested; 57%: not at all or somewhat not interested.Question: “How would you evaluate the prevailing mood of the
Armenian population?” 44%: future will be better or somewhat better; 55%:
insecurity, worry, fear for the future, total disappointment, and disbelief in
any improvement.Question: “Which politician or public person do you trust
the most?” 64%: none; 14%: Nikol Pashinyan; 3%: Ararat Mirzoyan; 2%: Robert
Kocharyan; others 2% each.Question: “Which political party or alliance, if any, you
would vote for if national parliamentary elections were held next Sunday?” 47%:
would not vote or refused to answer or don’t know; 17%: Civil Contract; 5% Armenia Alliance;
4%: Public Voice party; 2%: Prosperous Armenia party; 2%: ARF Dashnaktsutyun;
others 1% each.Question: “How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the
following institutions?” Armenian
Apostolic Church,
54%: very or somewhat satisfied; 40%: very or somewhat dissatisfied; Prime
Minister’s office, 38%: satisfied (down from 82%-85% in 2018); 61%:
dissatisfied (up from 13-17% in 2018).Question: “How do you feel about the direction of each of
the following spheres during the past six months?” Freedom of speech, 56%:
improved a lot or somewhat improved (down from 73%-83% in 2018); 18%: regressed
a lot or somewhat regressed (up from 3%-6% in 2018); 26%: no change (up from
19% in 2018). Foreign policy, 37%: improved a lot or somewhat improved (same as
2019); 33%: somewhat regressed or regressed a lot (up from 17% in 2019); 26%:
no change (down from 39% in 2019). Armenia’s policy on Artsakh, 10%:
improved a lot or somewhat improved (down from 32% in 2019); 69%: regressed a
lot or somewhat regressed (up from 18% in 2019); 18%: no change (down from 45%
in 2019). Direction of fight against corruption, 43%: improved (down from 82%
in 2018); 22%: regressed (up from 2% in 2018); 32%: no change (up from 14% in
2018).Question: “What do you think is the biggest success of the
government in the last 6 months?” 43%: none; 21%: don’t know or refused to
answer; 6%: development of diplomatic relation; other minor issues.Question: “What do you think is the biggest failure of the
government in the last 6 months?” 21%: don’t know or refused to answer; 15%:
closure of Lachin Corridor; 9%: overturning the Artsakh issue; 8%: national
security of Armenia
and border issues; 7%: loss of territories; other minor issues.Question: “What are the things Pashinyan’s government must
achieve in the next 6 months?” 23%: improvement of army conditions; 22%:
protection of Armenia’s
national security and borders; 16%: creation of jobs; 15%: establish peace;
13%: opening of Lachin Corridor; 13%: Pro-Armenian settlement of the Artsakh
issue.Question: “To what extent is corruption a problem?” 73%:
very large or somewhat large problem; 25%: somewhat small, very small or no
problem.Question: “How do you evaluate the relationship between Armenia and…?”
96%: France (very good or somewhat good); 91%: Iran;
88%: United States; 86%:
European Union; 84%: China;
80%: Georgia; 50%: Russia;
44%: Ukraine; 23%: Turkey; 4%: Azerbaijan. The relationship
between Armenia and Russia has gone
down from 87%-92% in 2018 to 50% good in 2023. The relationship between Armenia and Turkey
has gone up from 1%-11% in 2018 to 23% good in 2023, while 75% of Armenia’s
citizens (down from 85% in 2018) consider the relationship bad.A second poll was carried out in May 2023 by the Marketing
Professional Group, affiliated with Gallup International. This is a scientific
survey based on a random sample of Armenia’s population.Question: How do you evaluate Nikol Pashinyan’s recognition
of Artsakh as a part of Azerbaijan?
3.8%: definitely positive; 5.4%: rather positive; 63.4%: not positive; 18.5%:
rather not positive; 8.9%: no answer.Question: Do you think it is possible for Artsakh Armenians
to exist as an ethnic minority in Azerbaijan? 2.8%: yes; 5.6%: rather
yes; 77.7%: no; 8.7%: rather no; 5.1%: no answer.Question: “Which of these judgments do you agree with?”
32.8%: Pashinyan is trying to conduct a balanced policy with the West and Russia; 20.5%: Pashinyan is trying to integrate Armenia with Europe, the West and NATO circles;
14.7%: Pashinyan is aiming to bring Armenia
closer to Azerbaijan and Turkey; 12.9%: Pashinyan’s actions are directed
to push Russia out of Armenia; 19%:
no answer.Question: “Given Armenia’s internal and external
challenges, is it necessary to hold extraordinary parliamentary elections and
form a new government?” 41%: definitely necessary; 18.9%: rather necessary;
12.2%: rather not necessary; 19.5%: not necessary; 8.5%: no answer.Question: “Turkey
expressed its displeasure at the placement of the Nemesis statue in Yerevan and as a first
step closed its airspace to Armenian flights. Do you think the Armenian
government or city officials should give in to Turkish pressures and dismantle
the memorial dedicated to the Nemesis heroes?” 82.5%: definitely no; 7.7%:
rather no; 2.6%: definitely yes; 3.5%: rather yes; 3.5%: no answer.Question: “Did you participate in the 2018 revolution?” In
the 2023 survey, 62.6%: no; 37.4%: yes. In the 2018 survey, 91%: yes; 9%: no.Question: “Is it right for protesters to block streets and
movement of cars?” In the 2023 survey, 44.5%: yes; 50.8%: no. In the 2018
survey, 87.1%: yes; 8.7%: no.Question: “Five years have passed since the revolution: In
the meantime, how well were your expectations realized?” In the 2023 survey,
3.8%: fully realized; 21.5%: partially realized; 18%: partially not realized;
52.1%: not realized. In the 2018 survey, 14.4 %: fully realized; 64.2%:
partially realized; 7.6%: partially not realized; 10.9%: not realized.Question: “Evaluate Prime Minister Pashinyan’s performance.”
In the 2023 survey, 5.4%: fully positive; 13.4%: rather positive; 24.2%: rather
negative; 47.1%: negative; 10%: no answer. In the 2018 survey, 45.4%: positive;
46.2%: rather positive; 3.9%: rather negative; 2.4%: negative.We all have our personal opinions, but it is important to
know what the citizens of Armenia
think about these issues. There are major changes in their perceptions from
2018 to 2023.****************************************************************************************
2- Glendale: 3 arrested as protesters outside
board meetingclash over
LGBTQ curriculumA furious debate over how gender identity and sexual
education should be taught to children and protected in schools unfolded on
Tuesday, June 6 at the night meeting of the Glendale Unified School District
(GUSD) School Board.At 5 p.m. a crowd of more than 200 gathered outside GUSD
headquarters. The crowd stood in two physically and ideologically divided camps
with a row of Glendale
police officers between them. The protest swelled in size and intensity and
police set up physical barriers between the two sides and around the building’s
entrances.Several police helicopters circled overhead. Glendale Police
Department officers locked down the building at one point after a fight broke
out outside. Police called all staff to return to the building, declared an
unlawful assembly and cleared a crowd from the parking lot. On one side were
protesters opposed to teaching children about sexual identities in
school—including a large number of Hispanic Americans and Armenian Americans—
holding American flags and signs that said, “Leave our kids alone.” On the
other side were LGBTQ+IA advocates speaking a message of inclusion.The school board’s agenda included a resolution celebrating
Pride month, but the agenda had no items related to curriculum changes or
gender policies.Law enforcement arrested three individuals amid the mayhem
after the protest “exceeded the bounds of peaceful assembly,” for various
charges including unlawful use of pepper spray and willfully obstructing
officers in the course of their duties the Glendale Police Department announced
Tuesday night.Attendance at the meeting was capped at 75 public speakers
who, over the course of several hours, shared their views on the district’s
LGBTQ+IA inclusive curriculum, on allowing students to select their own
pronouns, and on transgender students’ access to bathrooms and locker rooms.“I’m here on the side of parents who want to keep the focus
in schools on academics rather than on sexual orientation, or on so-called
gender identity, which is a fake, made-up concept with no basis in material
reality and does not help kids get ahead in life,” said Alyssa Cohen. “LGBTQ+,
those letters represents a harmful ideology that’s impacting kids’ education.”GUSD on Monday, June 5 further released a statement and FAQ
in response to criticisms raised by the anti-LGBTQ+IA activists. “Recently,
intentional and harmful disinformation has been circulating about what is being
taught in our district and the ways we serve our students,” said GUSD
Superintendent Vivian Ekchian. “This includes disinformation about LGBTQIA+
curriculum, sex education, and supporting transgender and gender nonconforming
youth. We have absolutely no agenda. We are not in the business of converting
anyone’s child.”At GUSD, tension has grown for more than a year over the
district’s approach to gender and sexuality identity. In a recent statement,
Ekchian said that GUSD is committed to “providing a safe, inclusive environment
where every child can learn and thrive” and follows “all laws and policies
established by the California
legislature and Department of Education.”In elementary school, GUSD students are not taught specific
information about LGBTQ+IA or gender identity, but are taught lessons on
diversity and about different types of families. In secondary school, GUSD
students are taught about the contributions of LGBTQ+IA Americans in their
social studies curriculum as required by the state in Senate Bill 48.The district’s policies of allowing students to select their
own gender pronouns, and use the restroom of the gender with which they
identify, are also in line with California
state laws. Since 2013, state law and the interpretation of state law by the
California Department of Education have mandated that students have a right to
ask to be referred to by a name or pronoun that might be different from that on
their official record.California
law requires that, “students shall have access to the restroom and locker room
that corresponds to their gender identity asserted at school.” No student is
ever forced to disrobe or change clothes in front of any adult at school.Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement after
Monday’s reports of violence outside of a Glendale Unified
School District board
meeting: “I spoke with Superintendent Ekchian and I want to thank her and the
Glendale Unified School Board for standing tall against this organized campaign
of hate. In California,
we celebrate the beauty of pluralism — how our diverse communities, heritages,
and identities belong and, together, make us whole. Glendale represents the best of this
commitment, but the hate we saw on full display last night does not,” said
Newsom in the statement.“What should have
been a routine vote — simply recognizing Pride Month for the fourth year in a
row — turned to violence. The words of the resolution did not change from years
past, but what has changed is a wave of division and demonization sweeping our
nation. With hate on the rise nationally, we must rise together in California to affirm what both Pride Month and Immigrant
Heritage Month represent — that in the Golden State,
no matter who you are or what diverse community you are from, you belong,”
Newsom concluded in the statement.Many people spoke out during the meeting about the
importance of embracing the LGBTQ+IA community as did members of local advocacy
organizations including GALAS LGBTQ+ Armenian Society, the Armenian American
Action Network, Southern California Armenian Democrats and the LA LGBT Center.“My experience as a young LGBTQ+ student was made difficult
because I did not see any representations of what it meant to be gay,” said
Erik Adamian, a former GUSD student and board president of the GALAS LGBTQ+
Armenian Society. “We are in full support of our public schools’
acknowledgement that diverse families and LGBTQ-plus identities exist, and we
ask our community members and allies to push for safe and welcoming schools for
all students.”Planned performances by students, listed on the meeting
agenda, were scrapped due to safety concerns expressed by the Glendale Police
Department, said Board President Nayiri Nahabedian.“I feel like that’s a huge loss for all of us in this room,
and watching online, to not get to celebrate children because of arguments
adults are having about politics,” said GUSD parent Amanda Shiroh. “So I wanted
to recognize those children who didn’t get to be here today and express a great
gratitude to all of you (school board members) for supporting our inclusive, diverse
community.”The heated meeting came on the heels of a June 2 protest at Saticoy Elementary School, where parents
objected to a book reading that explained same sex parents. LGBTQ advocates
organized a counter-protest. Days before the reading, a transgender teacher’s
Pride flag was burned at Saticoy Elementary School in North Hollywood, California.
The flag burning incident is under LAPD investigation.On Thursday, June 8, the Armenian Sisters of Academy in Montrose, California
(which falls within the Glendale
school district) issued a promotional statement “in support of the GUSD parent
voices who are speaking out against the sexualization of our children. The
actions of public schools have highlighted the incredible differences between
the curriculum, which is based on political ideologies, and our school, based
on the Christian faith and the Armenian culture.”“Don’t let the public education system steal your children’s
minds away from you,” said the statement. “Especially in these times devoid of religion
and morals, consider us for your child’s education. You will recognize how
important a decision this was not too long from now.”****************************************************************************************
3- Fallen Soldier’s Mother Freed
After Judge Hands Down Suspended Jail TermBy Robert
Zargarian(RFE/RL)—A woman accused of attempting to “kidnap” Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s son was freed on Friday, June 10 after a court in Yerevan gave her a
four-year suspended prison sentence at the end of a short trial. Gayane
Hakobian, whose son Zhora Martirosian was killed during the 2020 war in
Nagorno-Karabakh, walked free because of pleading guilty to the accusation
strongly denied by her until then. She avoided talking to the press after the
announcement of the guilty verdict. The final session of the trial took place
behind the closed doors.The lawyers who represented Hakobian for the last two weeks
said earlier in the day that she has fired them because of disagreeing with
their defense tactic. They did not deny that she struck a deal with
prosecutors.“There is a conflict between Mrs. Gayane’s and our
positions,” one of the lawyers, Hovsep Sargsian, told reporters. “We planned on
continuing our defense aimed at her acquittal, but Mrs. Gayane is of a
different opinion now.”Hakobian already replaced other lawyers who represented her
right after her arrest on May 17, which sparked angry protests by several dozen
other parents of fallen soldiers and hundreds of their sympathizers. That move
fueled speculation that she is cooperating with what the protesters condemned
as a politically motivated investigation into her argument with Ashot
Pashinyan.Armenia’s Investigative Committee charged Hakobian with
tricking the prime minister’s son into getting in her car and trying to drive
him to the Yerablur Military Pantheon where her son was buried along with
hundreds of other soldiers killed in action. Pashinyan jumped out of the car on
their way to Yerablur.The grief-stricken woman insisted at the start of her trial
on June 5 that Ashot Pashinyan was not forced into her and that she only wanted
to talk to him at Yerablur.The high-profile trial began hours after the Court of
Appeals moved Hakobian to house arrest. The lower court judge presiding over
the trial promptly issued a new arrest warrant demanded by the prosecutors and
Ashot Pashinian. The latter told the judge that she committed a “grave crime”
and must remain behind bars.Armenian opposition leaders and other critics of the
government claim that Nikol Pashinyan ordered Hakobian’s arrest in a bid to
muzzle the families of deceased soldiers who have staged demonstrations over
the past year to demand his prosecution on war-related charges. Hakobian
actively participated in them.Pashinyan triggered the regular demonstrations in April 2022
when he responded to continuing opposition criticism of his handling of the
disastrous war with Azerbaijan.
He said he “could have averted the war, as a result of which we would have had
the same situation, but of course without the casualties.” The soldiers’
families say Pashinyan thus publicly admitted sacrificing the lives of at least
3,800 Armenian soldiers.****************************************************************************************
4- Letter to
the EditorDear Editor:
Finally we witness some show of spine and self respect when
Nikol Pashinyan in his interview with CNN Prime News of Check Republic has said
that, “In the Russia’s war with Ukraine Armenia is not Russia’s ally.”
Putin’s secretary Dimitry Peskov acknowledged the announcement and said, “We
accept this as an information…”.Well, I suppose it is payback time. During the 44-day War,
our so-called trusted ally Russia,
did not lift a finger to help Armenia.Sincerely,
Armine Koundakjian
Torrance,
Calif.****************************************************************************************
California Courier Online provides readers of the Armenian News News Service with a
few of the articles in this week’s issue of The California Courier. Letters to
the editor are encouraged through our e-mail address, .
Letters are published with the author’s name and location; authors are required
to disclose their identity to the editorial staff (name, address, and/or
telephone numbers for verification purposes).
California Courier subscribers can change or modify mailing addresses by
emailing .
09:55,
YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. Twenty-two U.S. service members were injured in a helicopter “mishap” in northeastern Syria on June 12, U.S. military’s Central Command said in a statement.
It did not disclose the cause of the incident.
In a twitter post, the U.S. military said no enemy fire was reported but added that the cause of the incident was under investigation.
DEARBORN, Michigan — Reparations of the Heart, Chicago-based artist Kristin Anahit Cass’s exhibition at the Stamelos Gallery Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, features more than 100 photographs that prompt the question: Where would diaspora Armenians and other Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) communities be if the Armenian Genocide had never happened? Cass’s images, which position people in both traditional and futuristic environments, build an imagined world of inclusivity through self-determined and alternative narratives. These narratives re-present ancient indigenous lands and their people — whose ancestors endured the trauma of genocide and displacement — as healed bodies and spaces.
Cass’s work depicts the story of Armenian families who, in the late 19th and early 20th century, were systematically massacred and deported from their ancient lands of Armenian Cilicia, and forced to migrate and settle across a number of Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) lands and communities. A descendant of genocide survivors, the artist’s work collectively acknowledges the generational trauma living in the bodies of the descendant generations, but also sees this generation as the conduit through which the reparations of both heart and body can become actualized.
For example, in one photograph, two women sit across from each other drinking coffee, a backgammon board set on the table between them. They seem to be outside a village home, under the shade of a tree — the highlands in the backdrop. Both wear black and white, but a striking royal blue dominates one of the women’s traditional garments. These two women symbolize a hopeful present and future in a place they can no longer claim as their own. At the same time, the scene paints a picture of synergy between one woman in traditional dress who has stayed on that land, and the other, who seems to be imported from the present day. The indigenous land is untouched by war and genocide. One woman remained, and the other returned. They both embrace their culture, merging the past, present, and future into a new moment captured by the light of this photograph.
In these ways, Cass’s work collectively functions like a reparation — each photograph, set side by side, reaffirms the desire for amends of the past and draws from indigenous geography to project a healed global community. People are aligned and within a SWANA futurity. Some images are set in space, on the moon, or on mythical mountaintops. What becomes apparent in the work is also the artist’s critique of the exclusion of SWANA communities in science fiction, technology, and mainstream media as she forges images that move away from Western European conventions and toward a range of scenarios and phenomena where cultural traditions are celebrated across their own space and time. Through these interjections, this exhibition is in dialogue with the lived experiences of other Indigenous communities around the world, who have faced similar experiences of genocide, colonialism, and displacement.
In Cass’s world, peace and harmony dominate. Women and members of the LGBTQ+ community are active contributors. As one of the photographs inscribes, “Our space is destroyed but we are not.” Each photograph recognizes the lived experience of trauma, yet owns the ability of humans to individually and collectively reframe that experience in their hearts to make way for reparations.
Reparations of the Heart: Recent Work by Kristin Anahit Cass continues at the Stamelos Gallery Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn (First Floor, Mardigian Library, UM-Dearborn, 4901 Evergreen Road, Dearborn, Michigan) through June 25. The exhibition was curated by Laura Cotton, Stamelos Gallery curator and manager, and Kristin Anahit Cass.
See photos at
17:37,
YEREVAN, JUNE 10, ARMENPRESS. According to the data of the first five months of this year, approximately 806 thousand tourists visited Armenia, ARMENPRESS reports, Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan informed in a post on his Facebook page.
The Minister said that he participated in the Sheep Shearing Festival in Khot settlement of Syunik region.
“I am very happy that such events are organized and we are able to strengthen and activate our communities, show the importance of local businesses in communities.
Tourism in Armenia is developing quite well now, and according to the data of the first five months, we have approximately 806,000 tourists, but I must say that domestic tourism is also very important,” Kerobyan wrote.
He also noted that the Ministry, together with the Tourism Committee, supports more than two dozen festivals every year, one of which is this festival.
The International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA) is proud to launch three grants for creative writing and translation—each worth $2,500—to one writer and two translators. Applications will be open from September 1-30, 2023, and the winners will be announced in December 2023.
IALA’s Creative Writing Grant will award $2,500 annually to one Armenian writer whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2023, the grant will be awarded for a collection of poetry, and in the coming years, to works of creative nonfiction and fiction, as well as other mixed genre forms. The grant will be judged by Gregory Djanikian and Raffi Wartanian.
IALA’s Creative Writing Grant, made possible by a generous donation from the Armenian Allied Arts Association, is meant to foster the development of contemporary Armenian literature in English through an annual monetary award and support Armenian writers who have historically lacked resources in the publishing world.
The Israelyan Armenian Translation Grant from IALA will award $2,500 to one translator working from an English source text into Eastern Armenian, whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2023, the grant will be awarded for a work of literature (in any form) that stimulates the imagination of young adults at a formative time in their development. In the coming years, the grant will also be awarded to translators working from English source texts into Western Armenian. The 2023 grant will be judged by Anna Davtyan, Armen Ohanyan and Zaven Boyajyan.
Despite the growing number of translated works from English to Eastern Armenian in recent years, translated literature remains an area that needs further attention and development. IALA’s Israelyan Armenian Translation Grant, made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan, supports translators working with literature written in the English language through a monetary award.
The Israelyan English Translation Grant from IALA will award $2,500 to one translator working from Eastern Armenian source texts into English, whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2023, the grant will be awarded for a work of literature (in any form) written in Eastern Armenian and published any time after 1900, and in the coming years, to works written in Western Armenian. The judges for this grant will be announced later.
Given the traumatic history of the Armenian diaspora, many readers are unable to read works in the original Armenian, and therefore, have centuries of literature inaccessible to them. Translators working with Armenian texts have traditionally lacked resources in the publishing world, as well as access to other funding, due to the overwhelming influence of so-called “majority languages.” IALA’s Israelyan English Translation Grant, made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan, supports translators working with contemporary Armenian literature through a monetary award.
IALA will support all grant recipients in promoting their publications through marketing on our website and social media channels, book reviews, readings and discussions.
For more details, full eligibility criteria and more information on past grant recipients, please visit IALA’s website or contact IALA’s program manager Hovsep Markarian at [email protected].
16:27, 6 June 2023
YEREVAN, JUNE 6, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has met with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar.
Pashinyan and Klaar discussed “the course of implementation of the agreements reached during the trilateral and five-sided meetings in Brussels and Chisinau,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a readout.
The Armenian Prime Minister attached importance to the consistent implementation of these agreements.
PM Pashinyan and the EU envoy also discussed the normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno Karabakh resulting from the illegal blockade of Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan and issues pertaining to addressing the rights and security of the people of Nagorno Karabakh under an internationally guaranteed dialogue mechanism. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan presented Armenia’s approaches around the resolution of the key existing issues.
CHISINAU — Azerbaijan’s president and Armenia’s prime minister met European leaders in Moldova in a renewed effort to resolve tensions between the two countries.
Armenia and Azerbaijan appear to have taken another step towards normalizing ties following a round-table meeting at the European Political Community Summit in Moldova.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met President Emmanuel Macron of France, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Council President Charles Michel on the fringes of the summit.
The Caucasus neighbors have been seeking to negotiate a peace agreement over the decades-long Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the help of the European Union and the United States.
On May 14, they agreed on mutual recognition of territorial integrity at a meeting hosted in Brussels by Charles Michel.
But the West’s diplomatic engagement in the Caucasus has irked Moscow, the traditional power broker in the region.
Pashinyan and Aliyev had separate meetings with Vladimir Putin in late May before sitting down for three-way talks aimed at resolving the dispute. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars in 2020 and in the 1990s for control of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Six weeks of fighting in 2020 killed more than 6,500 people and ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire that saw Armenia cede swathes of territory it had controlled for decades.
Armenia, which has relied on Russia for military and economic support since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, has accused Moscow of failing to fulfil its peacekeeping role in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Yerevan’s concerns have grown after Azerbaijani activists blocked Nagorno-Karabakh’s only land link to Armenia in December. In April, Azerbaijan set up a checkpoint manned by border guards along the route.
Last year, Armenia also accused Azerbaijan of occupying a pocket of its land, in what it has said amounted to military aggression and demanded military help from Russia, which has never materialized.
With Russia bogged down in Ukraine and unwilling to strain ties with Azerbaijan’s key ally Turkey, the United States and European Union have sought to repair ties between the Caucasus rivals. — Euronews
Armenia’s prime minister will attend the inauguration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday, his office said, the latest sign of a thaw between the two arch foes.
“Armenia received an invitation to attend the ceremony of inauguration of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” the statement said.
“Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will travel to Ankara on June 3 to take part in the ceremony.”
Armenia and Turkey have never established formal diplomatic relations and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s.
Their relationship is strained by World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, atrocities Yerevan says amount to genocide.
But in December 2021, the two countries appointed special envoys to help normalise relations — a year after Armenia lost to Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan in a war for control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Azerbaijan used the help of Turkish combat drones to recapture most of the contested territory that had been under ethnic Armenian control since the 1990s.
Last year, Turkey and Armenia resumed their first commercial flights in two years.
In 2009, Ankara and Yerevan signed an agreement to normalise relations, which would have led to the opening up of their shared border.
But Armenia never ratified the deal and in 2018 ditched the process.
mkh-im/dt/cw
https://www.barrons.com/news/armenian-pm-to-attend-erdogan-s-inauguration-armenian-govt-cbffcf0c