Author: Torosian Aram

MARGARIAN, FRENCH SENATOR DISCUSS BILATERAL TIES

Armenpress

YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS: Before departing for Belarus on a
three-day official visit prime minister Andranik Margarian received
today members of a French delegation, headed by Bernard Pirass, who is
also the mayor of Bourg de Valance and chairman of a French-Armenian
parliamentary friendship caucus and his first deputy Jacques Kollett.

The government press office quoted Margarian as saying that Armenians
are thankful to the French Senate for a resolution recognizing and
condemning the Armenian genocide. Margarian also singled out the
personal contribution of Bernard Pirass to the resolution. He also
said that good relationships between Armenian and French presidents
are a good incentive for others to further develop bilateral ties,
also between Armenian and French regions.

Bernard Pirass in his turn noted that like Armenians who are grateful
to the French the latter are likewise grateful to French Armenians
for their heavy contributions to all areas of life. He said Armenia
and France have to join efforts to seek broader recognition of the
genocide, including Turkey.

Zee News, India
May 1 2005

PM’s decision not to send Veda to Armenia hailed

London, May 01: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s reported decision not
to send Veda, a six-year-old female elephant from Bannerghatta
National Park near Bangalore, to an Armenian zoo has been hailed by
UK-based born free foundation, saying India was leading the way for
other nations to follow.

“We are absolutely delighted that Dr Singh has made this
compassionate decision to keep Veda in Bannerghatta where she
belongs,” said Virginia McKenna, founder of the Born Free Foundation,
an NGO working for animal welfare, and star of the film Born Free.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the suffering Veda would have had
to endure through being uprooted from her family would have been
immense. I would like to thank all those that have offered us their
support in this campaign”, she said.

McKenna said “India is leading the way for other nations to follow”
and added “we truly hope that the use of animals as diplomatic gifts
will soon become a thing of the past, and would like to strongly
encourage other countries to follow India’s example.”

Earlier, when it was announced that Veda was to be sent to Armenia to
join the only male elephant in Yerevan zoo there, animal rights
activists opposed it pointing at the conditions in the Armenian zoo.

Alison Hood, head of campaigns for Born Free Foundation recently
visited the Yerevan zoo in Armenia.

“The conditions at the zoo are clearly inappropriate for elephants,”
said hood. “Yerevan suffers severe winters, with temperatures often
falling below freezing (point), in stark contrast to the conditions
Veda currently enjoys in India.”

The Birmingham News , AL
May 1 2005

Bayrakdarian finds way to engineer a career in music

MICHAEL HUEBNER
News staff writer

Isabel Bayrakdarian’s life so far:

Born to Armenian parents, raised in Lebanon. Moved to Canada at 15.

Interrupted a biomedical engineering program at the University of
Toronto to win the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

Got the degree (with honors), won more vocal competitions, debuted at
the Met, Chicago Lyric and Canadian Opera, sang on a “Lord of the
Rings” soundtrack, performed early music in Salzburg, Austria.

Got married in an Armenian monastery to pianist Serouj Kradjian.

Cut several solo albums, one of which pictures her in a Cleopatra
outfit.

“When you open it, it becomes a centerfold, but in a nice way,” she
quips. “Good marketing.”

Try to learn how to pronounce her eight-syllable name. She’s only 30,
and likely has a long career ahead of her. Starting with a recital of
Viardot and Rossini songs with hubby Kradjian at the piano, tonight
at the Alys Stephens Center.

Engineering a career

When Bayrakdarian (“bay-rack-dare-ee-an”) entered college, her
counselors warned her not to take singing lessons. Reluctantly, she
took their advice.

“I wanted to major in engineering and minor in music,” she said by
phone last week from Edmonton, Alberta. “They just laughed at me.
They literally did. They said, `Do you have any idea of the workload
you’re going to get?’ They knew what they were talking about.”

Still torn between her love for music and a career in science,
Bayrakdarian started having second thoughts about her destiny.

“It was the darkest period of my life because I had no music in it,”
she recalled. So she took voice lessons on the sly at Toronto’s Royal
Conservatory, doing a balancing act between the two disciplines.

“I can’t describe how different they were. They’re polar opposites.
One is plain logic and hard facts. You have to have a technical
background. You’re doing absolutely no creativity, like music.”

It was that creative spark that prompted her to enter the Met
auditions in 1997. It was one of her three most memorable experiences
in her professional life so far.

“You have to be young to do those things,” said Bayrakdarian. “Back
then, I thought, `I’ll just go out there and sing.’ It was a
wonderful feeling to be on this stage and to sing my two arias, even
if I never sang at this place again. Now, I would be terrified.”

The second was the Grammy-winning recording of “Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers.”

“That was pure fun,” she said. “We did it in Abbey Road studios, in
the exact same place where the Beatles recorded. They’ve kept
everything the way it was. You can tell by the colors. They could
have changed the colors.”

Also on her list was “every single time I’m on stage. Regardless of
what stage I’m on, I’m allowed to express my own reactions to a word,
or to the music, and make it unique. And nothing says it better than
recitals. Its just you and the audience and the piano taking a
five-minute journey for each song. I’ll never get tired of it.”

For the Birmingham recital, she’ll perform songs by Gioacchino
Rossini. Kradjian, who has racked up impressive credentials in Europe
and North America as a solo artist, chamber musician and orchestral
soloist, will accompany. Bayrakdarian will also offer songs by the
19th-century composer Pauline Viardot, each of which has a distinct
national character. She and Kradjian recorded them recently on the
Analekta label.

“Viardot was able to change her style to suit the language in every
single song,” she said. “When Viardot composed lieder, they sounded
like lieder. The Spanish songs have the fire in them; the French have
the aloofness.”

Ancestral wedding

In Bayrakdarian’s private life, her wedding tops her “most memorable”
list. Although her grandparents were born in Armenia, she hadn’t set
foot on her ancestral soil until a year ago. Prompted by a Canadian
film crew, which followed her to film a documentary, she sang
liturgical songs in the churches and monasteries, many of which she
had recorded for her first album, “Joyous Light.” The experience
convinced her to have her wedding in a 4th-century monastery in
Keghart.

“I felt an omnipowerful presence,” she said. “I felt the steps of
thousands of people who had come here. At that moment, I made the
decision. This is where I’m getting married.”

Many family members came for the July wedding. Most had never been to
Armenia.

“It was a beautiful opportunity to see their ancestral land,” she
said. “It should have been done years ago.”

Bayrakdarian’s voice has been compared with Cecilia Bartoli’s.
Although the turning point of her singing career came when she heard
the Italian diva perform, she doesn’t emulate her.

“The ease with which Bartoli carried herself inspired me to seek my
own freedom, to be confident in what I do,” she asserts. “I needed to
find my own identity.”

Like most things in her life so far, that hasn’t been an obstacle.

Le Point , France
28 avril 2005

Génocide arménien de 1915-1916;
Les turcs font de la résistance

par Charles Jaigu

La commémoration du génocide arménien, le 24 avril, a été une
démonstration de force. Mais Ankara campe encore sur ses positions.
Pour combien de temps ?

M ême Jacques Chirac! En recevant la semaine dernière à Paris son
homologue arménien, Robert Kotcharian, le président de la République,
premier défenseur de la candidature d’Ankara à l’Union européenne, a
déposé une gerbe devant le monument arménien dédié aux victimes du
génocide. Et il a de nouveau évoqué un nécessaire«devoir de mémoire»
de la part du gouvernement turc. La journée de commémoration du
génocide, dimanche 24, n’a pas non plus arrondi les angles pour
Ankara.

Des dizaines de milliers d’Arméniens se sont recueillis à Erevan
devant le monument du génocide de 1915. En France, ils étaient plus
de 10 000 à Paris ou à Marseille, avec en tête de cortège, devant
l’ambassade de Turquie à Paris, François Hollande, François Bayrou,
Philippe de Villiers et Patrick Braouezec pour le Parti communiste. A
ces bruyantes mobilisations se sont ajoutés les messages de sympathie
de toutes parts, y compris de George Bush, qui n’a cependant pas
prononcé le mot, redouté par Ankara, de«génocide» . Face à cette
tempête annoncée, le gouvernement de Recep Tayyip Erdogan est resté
droit dans ses bottes. Il continue de nier obstinément l’ampleur des
massacres et, plus encore, toute allégation de génocide. Pourtant,
livres et témoignages continuent de s’empiler. Le dernier en date, un
livre-enquête intitulé «Deir-es-Zor» (Actes Sud), de Bardig
Kouyoumdjian et Christine Siméone, revient sur les traces d’un ancien
camp de la mort.

Deir-es-Zor est aujourd’hui une plaque tournante de l’extraction du
pétrole syrien. La ville grouille d’ouvriers et l’on voit, au loin,
les grandes flammes des torchères qui montent vers le ciel. Au-delà
règne le désert. Cailloux et buissons secs le long des routes
rectilignes. C’est dans les espaces oubliés de ce no man’s land que
s’est écrite la chronique oubliée du massacre des Arméniens. Les deux
auteurs traquent les derniers témoins et exhument des os dispersés
dans les champs irrigués ou dans les crevasses. Comme cette grotte
bourrée de squelettes, découverte par des Français en 1929.«Trois
mille personnes ont été poussées dans cette galerie avant qu’on y
mette le feu», leur raconte un rescapé.

Entre avril 1915 et 1916, ce sont des centaines de convois qui ont
sillonné l’Empire ottoman. Interpellées par les commandos de
l’«organisation spéciale» de l’armée ottomane, les populations
civiles étaient rassemblées à la sortie des villes. Les hommes
rapidement emmenés par une troupe de soldats, noyés dans les rivières
proches ou abattus en avançant dans l’étroit goulet d’un défilé de
montagne. Puis les femmes, les enfants et les vieillards se mettaient
en route pour une marche exténuante, sur des centaines de kilomètres,
jusqu’à Kharpout, Alep ou Deir-es-Zor. Au cours du voyage, ils
étaient décimés par le typhus et la faim.

Génocide, terme tabou.

Du côté d’Ankara, ces récits provoquent un unanime courroux. La
polémique porte d’abord sur les chiffres. Sur les quelque 2 millions
d’Arméniens installés dans l’Empire ottoman dans les années 10, 300
000 auraient été massacrés, jure Ankara. Entre 1,2 et 1,5 million,
affirment les Arméniens, et avec eux la grande majorité des
historiens. La question, en tout cas, est posée. Le gouvernement
jeune-turc, au pouvoir depuis 1908, a-t-il planifié l’anéantissement
de la «race arménienne»? Ou bien s’agit-il de dégts collatéraux, de
ceux qui ont accompagné l’agonie de cet«homme malade de l’Europe»
qu’était l’Empire ottoman? La turquisation de l’Anatolie, dernier
sanctuaire de l’Empire ottoman, aurait-elle entraîné ce«crime
fondateur» qui, selon la diaspora arménienne, a accouché de la
Turquie moderne? La polémique sur ce sujet est allée crescendo après
que la notion de génocide a été portée sur les fonts baptismaux à la
convention de l’Onu en 1948. A tel point que le terme même de
«génocide» est devenu, avec Chypre,«la ligne rouge du nationalisme
turc», rappelle un diplomate.

«Forteresse assiégée», Ankara a multiplié les contre-feux et les
parades.«En 2003, le ministère de l’Education a enjoint les
professeurs des établissements scolaires turcs de préparer les élèves
à la réfutation des allégations à propos d’un “génocide arménien”»,
raconte un diplomate en poste à Ankara. Un documentaire d’une chaîne
de la télévision publique montrait, il y a quelques semaines, des
«charniers» de Turcs qui auraient été massacrés par les Arméniens en
1915 – justifiant ainsi l’attitude d’autodéfense des Turcs face à une
minorité «entrée en rébellion». Plus récemment, l’affaire Orhan Pamuk
a provoqué une vague d’indignation en Turquie(voir encadré) .

Même si l’obligation d’une reconnaissance du génocide ne figure pas
au nombre des critères d’adhésion à l’Union européenne, la pression
internationale est telle que le Premier ministre turc, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, vient de proposer, dans un message au président de la
République arménienne, l’instauration d’une commission mixte composée
d’historiens des deux pays afin d’enquêter sur les «massacres» des
Arméniens en 1915.«Ankara souffle alternativement le chaud et le
froid depuis des années. Les Turcs établissent des contacts avec les
historiens de la communauté internationale,puis se rétractent et
maintiennent leurs thèses sans tenir compte des éléments produits par
la partie adverse !» se désole Yves Ternon, historien de la Shoah qui
s’est depuis penché sur le génocide arménien.

Pas d’ovation pour Aznavour.

Auteur d’un ouvrage décapant intitulé «Du négationnisme» (Desclée de
Brouwer), Yves Ternon se livre à une analyse de cette demande
exorbitante d’une preuve«au-delà de tout doute possible» par les
négateurs du génocide.«Faut-il faire comme si les archives
diplomatiques de tous les pays présents, la documentation du procès
de Constantinople en 1918, les témoignages d’étrangers sur place et
les témoignages des rescapés recueillis depuis les années 20
n’avaient aucune valeur historique ?» s’interroge l’historien.

Préfiguration de l’horreur de la Shoah, la «catastrophe» qui a frappé
le peuple arménien ne fait pas partie du débat public à Ankara. Hors
les déclarations d’Orhan Pamuk ou de l’historien turc Taner Akçam,
peu de signes indiquent une décrispation de l’ombrageuse république
kémaliste. Il y a peu, Charles Aznavour, qui refuse pourtant de jeter
du sel sur la plaie, regrettait qu’une délégation turque soit restée
assise, lors de l’élection de Miss Europe, quand tous se levaient
pour applaudir la «vedette» venue saluer la nouvelle Miss. Il est
vrai que le crooner d’origine arménienne a chanté, il y a vingt
ans,«Ils sont tombés», en mémoire du génocide.«La délégation devait
s’en souvenir», a glissé le chanteur, déçu

Armenpress

TURKISH COURT BANS SALE OF ARMENIAN BRANDY

ANKARA, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS: An intellectual property court in Ankara,
Turkey, has turned down a petition by the Yerevan Brandy Company against the
Turkish Patent Institute that had banned the import of Armenian brandy to
the country.
According to Turkish press, the court based its decision on the fact that
bottles of Armenian brandy carry labels depicting Mount Ararat. They quoted
the judge as saying that the picture of the mountain “could create wrong
opinion among Turkish consumers as if Mountain Ararat is in Armenia.”
Another cited reason was a same-name film by Canadian Armenian film
director Atom Yegoyan, which is about the 1915 genocide.
Turkish media said Turkish Patent Institute is well aware that Armenians
have claims to Mount Ararat and surrounding areas.

Fresno State News, CA
April 27 2005

Lecture Series to Feature Acclaimed Authors, Illustrator on May 2

The award-winning husband and wife team of author David Kherdian and
author/illustrator Nonny Hogrogian will discuss and read from their
new books at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 2, at California State
University, Fresno.

The lecture is part of the Armenian Studies Program Spring 2005
Lecture Series and is co-sponsored by the Armenian Students
Organization. It will be held in the Industrial Technology Building,
room 101 (corner of Barstow Avenue and Campus Drive).

David Kherdian, a Newberry Award winner, and Nonny Hogrogian, a
two-time Caldecott Medal winner have written, edited or illustrated a
combined total of more than 100 books.

Their work has encompassed the Armenian Genocide, life in America as
first-generation Armenians, children’s books, memoirs in verse and
prose, folklore and the mystical teachings of George Gurdjieff.

David Kherdian will read from one of his latest books, `The Song of
the Stork,’ a spirited translation of an important collection of
poems first compiled and published by the Mekhitarist priest and
scholar Levond Alishan in Venice in 1850. Kherdian writes of these
songs/poems that “their humility and troubled faith draws a response
from that place in us that is reserved for the essential and true
from our own unspoiled reservoir of spirit, that understands what has
been lost and can yet be regained.” The book features illustrations
by his wife.

He also will read from some earlier books of poetry and memoirs,
concluding with readings from his new book, `Letters to My
Father,’ which is a meditation on the elusive bond between fathers
and sons.

Kherdian won the Newberry Award for `The Road From Home: The Story
of An Armenian Girl,’ which detailed his mother’s experiences in
surviving the Armenian Genocide. Read by students and adults alike,
it has contributed greatly to increasing awareness of the Genocide.

He has been widely recognized as one of the most important and
distinctive voices in

-more-

Armenian-American poetry for nearly four decades. The title poem to
his collection `On the Death of My Father’ was praised by William
Saroyan as “one of the best lyric poems in American poetry.”

Hogrogian has twice won children’s literature’s highest honor, the
Caldecott Medal, for her books `Always Room for One More’ and
`One Fine Day.’

Her newest book, `Finding My Name,’ is a memoir of her first 13
years growing up in the Bronx in New York. It explores both her
efforts to find herself as a budding artist and the joys and
difficulties of growing up as an Armenian-American torn between two
cultures.

Her illustrations to Virginia Tashjian’s Armenian folktale
collections `Once There Was and Was Not’ and `Three Apples Fell
from Heaven’ and her husband’s retelling of the Armenian tale
`The Golden Bracelet’ are beloved by several generations of
Armenian children.

Following the authors’ talk and question-and-answer period, they will
be available to sign copies of their new titles and selected older
titles. Copies of Kherdian’s books will be available for purchase.

Relaxed parking will be available in Lots Q, K, and L after 7 p.m.
the night of the lecture. For more information on the presentation
please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669.

Pan Armenian News

OSKANIAN MET AMBASSADORS OF SEVERAL COUNTRIES TO ARMENIA

27.04.2005 02:56

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian has met with
Gaboon Ambassador to Armenia Benjamen Leniogo Ndumba, Belgian Ambassador to
Armenia Daniela Dermamol, Finnish Ambassador to Armenia Terry Akala, Zambia
Ambassador Peter Lusaka Chintala, Temporary Charge d’Affaires of Argentina
Alejandro Pineiro Aramburu and Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to
Armenia Khalifa Shakh Al Merri, reported the Press Service of the Armenian
Foreign Ministry. The diplomat had arrived to Armenia to take part in events
marking the 90-th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. In the course of the
meeting the parties discussed a range of international and regional issues,
as well as prospects of intensification of the relations.

Azerbaijan News Service
April 26 2005

PEACEFUL TALKS OVER DAQLIQ QARABAQ SETTLEMENT TO TAKE PLACE IN
FRANKFURT
2005-04-26 19:05

The following round of negotiations over the settlement of Daqliq
Qarabaq conflict within the so-called Prague process will take place
on April 27 in Frankfurt city of Germany. OSCE Minsk group co-chairs
will have meeting with foreign minister of Azerbaijan. Foreign
minister Elmar Mammadyarov is leaving for Frankfurt together with US
co-chair Steven Mann visiting Baku. Exact date for the meeting of the
co-chairs with Armenian foreign minister will be determined after
negotiations in Germany informed ANS Russian co-chair to Minsk group
Yuriy.Merzlyakov. It is better to get to know details of the
negotiation process during separate meeting with foreign ministers.
It is very important for us to get to know positions of the sides in
details. We must conclude the details and present to the sides and
find touching points. Following meeting between Presidents of
Azerbaijan and Armenia seems not to depend on the this meeting much
more as thinks Russian co-chair. There always issues for the
Presidents to discuss and we need discussion with them. I am hopeful
to get final reply in Frankfurt and consider it will make certain
issues clear ahead of that meeting. Mr. Yuriy Merzlyakov didn’t rule
out possibility of discussing regular breach of ceasefire during the
meeting.

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, NY
April 25 2005

Somber ceremony recalls horrific genocide

Enid Arbelo
Staff writer

(April 25, 2005) – With lit candles in hand, about 50 people recited
the Lord’s Prayer in Armenian.

They listened in silence as the names of relatives, friends and loved
ones who died during the Armenian genocide in 1915 were read and
remembered.

Members of the Armenian Church of Rochester hosted a prayer service
and special ceremony Sunday at St. Thomas Episcopal Church to
commemorate the 90th anniversary of the massacre of 1.5 million
Armenians in Turkey.

Although April 1915 was a cruel time for the Armenian people, the
world soon forgot about the first major genocide of the 20th century,
said Max Boudakian, the keynote speaker after the prayer service.

That’s why the group thought it was important to gather and be
assured their voices would be heard.

“The world had turned a deaf ear to the Armenians. That is why the
1915 Armenian genocide is often referred to as ‘The Forgotten
Genocide,'” said Boudakian, of Pittsford.

He also shared stories about a recent trip to the Armenian Genocide
Memorial in Yerevan and his mother Gadarine Boudakian, Rochester’s
last genocide-era survivor. She died in 2000 at the age of 94.

“The genocide curtain of silence is slowly being opened,” he said,
noting that recognition of the tragic events seems hopeful and
attainable. The Turkish government has never officially recognized
the Armenian genocide.

At Sunday’s event, Armenian-born Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
violinist Tigran Vardanyan performed, and others read poetry and sang
songs about loved ones lost to the genocide.

Wearing pins symbolizing the Armenian flag made from orange, blue and
red ribbons, the group sat quietly as a brief program documenting the
genocide was given. The slides depicted a horrific truth for many in
the room.

“All Armenians have been touched,” said Berdjouhi Esmerian,
chairperson of the Armenian Church of Rochester.

The frustration, she said, is that despite the catastrophic history,
Armenians still have not gotten the recognition or compensation they
deserve.

So people, such as Cathy Salibian of Fairport, came to remember the
tragic events, but also look to the future.

“People say, ‘It’s over. Why don’t we just move on?’ It’s not over,
and denial is one way to allow it to happen over and over again,” she
said.

Agence France Presse — English
April 24, 2005 Sunday 3:27 PM GMT

Thousands of diaspora Armenians return home to commemorate slayings

YEREVAN

Syrian-born Sako Kasapian is one of the many descendants of Armenians
expelled from Ottoman Turkey in 1915 who have come to the homeland of
their ancestors to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the massacres
at Yerevan’s genocide memorial.

“We have not forgotten the genocide and we don’t consider it to be
just a matter of history,” the 25-year-old, a third generation
diaspora Armenian told AFP at the monument where tens of thousands of
people have come to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Ottoman
slaughter.

The events being commemorated are the mass expulsion and killings of
Christian Armenians in what was then the Ottoman Empire during World
War I.

On April 24, 1915 the Ottoman Turkish authorities arrested some 200
Armenian community leaders in the start of what Armenia and many
other countries contend was an organized genocidal campaign to
eliminate ethnic Armenians from the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey denies this, saying that 300,000 Armenians and thousands of
Turks were killed in “civil strife” when the Armenians rose against
their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

Officials have estimated that 1.5 million people would visit the
memorial through Sunday, including thousands of Armenians from
abroad. The hoped-for showing is meant to represent the number of
people Armenians believe were killed between 1915 and 1917.

In the run-up to the anniversary, Armenia has pulled out all the
stops in an effort to make Turkey acknowledge the massacres as
genocide, organizing a series of seminars, film screenings and
exhibitions.

A mass was to be celebrated on Sunday in Yerevan’s Saint Gregory
cathedral, as well as in churches all over Armenia, and a minute’s
silence was to be observed throughout the country at 7:00 pm (1400
GMT).

“I am a member of the third generation of Armenians who survived the
genocide. My grandmother and grandfather would always tell of the
nightmares they went through in Turkey with tears in their eyes,”
Kasapian said.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians living in Europe, North and South
America and the Middle East had been key in keeping the memory of the
massacres alive through the years of communist rule in Armenia where
the subject was taboo.

Today, they have influential communities in many Western countries
some of which have officially acknowledged the Armenian massacres as
genocide. The issue is believed to have played a role in the
Armenians’ ability to retain their language and culture after almost
a century in exile.

Only 40,000 Armenians remain in Turkey down from an estimated 3
million before World War I.

“As we live on, we must show Turkey, which tried to annihilate us,
that they were wrong,” said Vaagn Ovnanian, an American-born
millionaire who has invested heavily in luxury real estate in
Yerevan.

Today many Armenians from abroad send their children to school here
and buy homes in the former Soviet republic.

“I am filled with joy when I see so many young people participating
in the commemoration,” said 66-year-old Rubina Pirumian from Los
Angeles, “It means you can’t ignore or forget the genocide issue,
that’s why I brought my sons along with me.”