Author: Yeghisabet Arthur

THE GEORGE MOURADIAN INTERVIEW
Michael Shelton

Spinal Column Online
i-2009-07-01-70028.113117_The_George_Mouradian_Int erview.html
July 1, 2009

July 01, 2009 – George Mouradian, 82, is a Commerce Township
resident of Armenian descent working through his writing to spread
awareness of Armenia’s history, which dates back more than 10,000
years, and the issues the country is currently facing. Mouradian
has written five books, including three about Armenia. One is
geared toward adults and is entitled "Never To Die: A Historical
Novel About Armenia and The Quest for Noah’s Ark," while "Armenian
InfoText: A Mini-Encyclopedia," provides a retrospective of Armenia’s
history. His most recent book, entitled "Your Journey Into Armenia,"
is geared toward children. Mouradian, a retired engineer, has
not only visited his homeland, but has also taught engineering at
the American University of Armenia, which is also where he started
research for his books. He developed a curiosity about his ethnicity
in high school and is now looking to educate fellow Armenians and
others about issues such as the massacre of 1 million Armenians at
the hands of the Ottoman Turks during World War I, which Turkey has
yet to recognize. Mouradian has been married for 58 years and has
three children and four grandchildren.

The George Mouradian Interview

SCN: We understand that you’re an American-born Armenian. When did
you first become interested in your Armenian heritage and what did
you do to further that interest?

GM: I think it probably started in high school when there was some
questions and differences between people and I did more reading on
it and I found out that we had quite a bit of history, and I just
got more interested in it.

Later on in life, in college, I wrote papers on the genocide and what
happened to our ancestors and then I got into writing books on it,
so that’s pretty much the way it went.

SCN: How did you become involved in engineering and what were your
proudest accomplishments in your career?

GM: I guess I was always interested in putting stuff together. At
first I started out being a school teacher, a mathematics teacher,
but I got a job at Cadillac and I found out, "Gee, I like this, too,"
so I went on and got my engineering degree.

I guess the most interesting job I had was the one at Aero General in
California. We were making the Minuteman Missile at the time and I was
working with people from all over the United States. We were able to
deter a nuclear war that was potentially damaging at the time and the
Minuteman was a highly deterred missile that the Soviets respected –
it kept the Cold War down to nothing.

I taught at the Detroit high schools for awhile and I also taught at
the American University of Armenia in Yerevan. I taught reliability
engineering and quality management there in 1997, and I also have done
a lot of teaching, instruction work, ISO 9000, quality engineering
and reliability engineering and quality auditing.

At Cadillac I was a quality analyst and we did work on the production
lines to make sure that the parts that are made met the tolerances
that they were supposed to meet.

SCN: You taught engineering at the American University of Armenia. Was
that your first trip to your homeland, and how did the experience of
actually living in the country compare to what you had learned about
Armenia previously through studying?

GM: I visited Armenia in 1972, during the Soviet period, and we went
in as tourists. I went there as an instructor in ’97.

It more or less verified what I was reading, and of course I had the
chance to talk to all the people there, the inhabitants and the natives
and … talking to the young people was even more exciting, I think.

Basically, it verified pretty much what I was putting together.

SCN: What are some similarities and differences that you can tell us
about modern Armenian life as compared to life in America?

GM: There’s a big difference now. There’s still a little bit of the
Soviet mentality there, where they’re waiting for the government or
somebody to come in and straighten things out. One of the things I
couldn’t fathom is that the people didn’t know how to take care of
things themselves, as we do in America. When we see something wrong
here, we get together and take care of the problem. In Armenia,
I didn’t see that too much and I was a little disappointed in that
regard.

The other thing is that in the quality management part of things,
the students would say "This is how we do it in Armenia," and I said
‘Well, you young people will be the leaders of Armenia in another
10 years and this is the way you should be doing it," and I tried to
teach them the way we do things in America as far as quality management
and reliability goes.

SCN: When people think of Armenia, they think about the genocide at
the hands of the Ottoman Turks during World War I. Why do you think
that tragedy doesn’t receive more attention. What other hardships
are Armenians and Armenian-Americans currently facing?

GM: Armenian-Americans are all U.S. citizens here and we live just
like all the other citizens. We have problems with unemployment and
the economy just like everybody else, so there’s no problem there.

We have, what I feel, is an obligation. We should get Turkey to
recognize what they did and they still deny it. The reason they deny
it is because they’re afraid of the retribution that’s going to come
from it. Just like Hitler did to the Jews, present-day Germany is
civilized enough that they recognize what Hitler did and they have
helped the Jews and the Jewish state quite a bit, and I think Turkey
is a little bit afraid of that and this is why they’re denying what
really was a genocide.

SCN: Have you ever thought about involving yourself in the political
process in order to raise awareness of Armenians?

GM: I think I do that quite a bit, not from a political point where
I’m a candidate for office or anything like that, but I think the
books I’ve written bring that out.

Of course, I’m always writing letters to the editor whenever I see
something that should be done. Also, whenever there’s any campaigns
or movements to get Turkey to recognize the genocide, I’m involved
in that quite a bit also.

I haven’t gone to Washington, but I’ve certainly talked to
(U.S. Rep.) John Dingle when I lived in Allen Park and got him to
recognize pretty much what’s going on, and I’ve talked to (Former
U.S. Rep.) Joe Knollenberg quite a bit and he has been a very big
factor in helping us out. Our current (U.S.) representative is
Thaddeus McCotter and he has been very supportive of us. So I get
involved when I can.

SCN: Tell us about your book "Your Journey Into Armenia," what it
entails and how people can pick up a copy. Also, what other resources
can people that are of Armenian descent or are just interested in
Armenia turn to for information?

GM: The reason I wrote the book is because I wrote a previous book for
adults, "Never To Die." It’s supposed to be a novel about historic
Armenia and the quest for Noah’s Ark. I was giving a presentation
in Watertown, Massachusetts and there was a woman in audience who
said "This is a wonderful book, but there isn’t anything like it
for children."

Right away the mind started working as to what can I do with this thing
and I put seven years into "Never To Die," gathering information and
research and so forth and so on, and it was just a matter of doing
something for the children, which is "Your Journey Into Armenia."

I tried to keep it at the children’s level, anywhere from the
fifth-grade on up. I put in color illustrations and photographs and
real short paragraphs on what it’s all about. I want to educate our
American-born to recognize what has happened in our long history,
and that’s what I’ve tried to do with writing these books.

I never thought of myself as an author in high school and certainly
not in college, either, but I was reading a lot about Armenians and
Armenian history and saying to myself "Gee, I’m absorbing all this
information, why can’t I put something together and help other people
to do it in one book?"

And that’s pretty much what I did. It was pretty much late in my
career, but I’m still going and still doing things like this whenever
I can. So it wasn’t like a reawakening, I just kind of flowed into
it. When I was working on "Never To Die" – this was several years ago
– my wife came up with the idea that I should write something more
like an encyclopedia and that’s the first book that I wrote. There’s
nothing like it in America. The Soviet Union had a 29-volume book that
was very much slanted and it was in Armenian, but for a short 500,
600 page encyclopedia, it turned out to be a really nice thing that
got me started on this thing.

The library is full of stuff. The University of Michigan-Dearborn
Armenian Research Center has a big library where anything you want to
know about the Armenians is there, the people there are very helpful,
and any kind of research you want to do, it’s there.

Of course, we’ve got books galore on it and my books are available
just by calling me up on the telephone and asking me about it. I’d
be glad to send them a copy.

They can call me at my home at 248-684-5651.

POLISH INSTITUTE RECOMMENDS EU TO COOPERATE WITH TURKEY IN CAUCASUS

Turk.Net
July 1, 2009

BRUSSELS (A.A) – 01.07.2009 – A Polish institute recommended on
Wednesday the European Union (EU) to cooperate with Turkey in South
Caucasus.

The Polish Institute of International Affairs prepared a report on
"South Caucasus: The Case for Joint Commitment of Turkey and the EU"
which underlined the strategic importance of the region for the EU
and Turkey.

In the report, the institute said that EU’s regional policies would
be successful in case it worked together and supported Turkey.

The report said Turkey, despite many constraints, was attempting to
play a more active role in the South Caucasus.

"Hence, it has become an important partner for the European Union,
whose interest in the region has been growing over time. Turkey and
the EU can work together towards reaching the shared goal of creating
an area of security in the South Caucasus, an outcome instrumental
to the development of economic projects (with a special emphasis on
energy issues)," the report said.

The institute said that the stability of the region was crucial for the
security of the Turkish state, and the South Caucasus was important
for the Turkish economy because it serves as the transport route and
supply corridor for energy resources from the Caspian basin.

"The South Caucasus is significant for the EU for similar reasons,"
the report said.

In its report, the institute said the region played a crucial role
in EU energy security because it contributed to the diversification
not only of energy resources, but also of delivery routes.

The institute said both Turkey and the EU shared similar goals of
stability and security in the South Caucasus.

"These include, the peaceful settlement of the "(un-) frozen"
regional conflicts in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Upper Karabakh; the
establishment of good governance in those states whose state-building
processes are still ongoing so as to assure that the region will
not become a threat in the areas of international organized crime,
terrorism or drug trafficking," the report said.

The report said Turkey and the EU could achieve their common goals
in the South Caucasus if the EU took action to strengthen Turkish
assets and mitigate the country’s weakness.

"This could establish an implicit division of labor between the two
entities," the report said.

The report said Turkey could concentrate on improvement of regional
security, consolidating its role as the region’s energy hub and a
model of political and economic development.

The report also said that the South Caucasus states’ awareness of
their weakened international position following Georgian-Russian
conflict and the willingness of the new Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet
Davutoglu, to implement a new foreign policy based on the concept of
"zero problems with the neighbors", and his readiness to use soft
measures in order to stabilize the neighboring regions.

Also, the report said the prospect for engagement in the
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process appeared slightly more promising,
and some sort of resolution of the Upper Karabakh dispute would pave
the way for normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations.

In the report, the institute recommended the EU countries to
differentiate between Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora, and said the
EU should take a more critical stance towards the Armenian Diaspora,
whose actions were harmful to Armenian interests.

On Nabucco natural gas pipeline project that will transport gas from
Turkey to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, the report said
if Turkey and other consumer countries in the EU jointly negotiated
with the producer states from the Caspian region, the Turkish partner
could be helpful.

Also, the institute said the EU should avoid creating the impression
that Turkey no longer had any prospect of membership.

The Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) is a foreign
policy think-tank based in Warsaw, Poland. It provides unbiased
research in international relations for policy makers, academics and
the Polish public.

In 2009, PISM was listed among top 50 non-US think-tanks in the
world.

PETROL PRICES IN ARMENIA GROW 8.8% IN JUNE 2009

ARKA
June 30, 2009

YEREVAN, June 30. /ARKA/. Petrol prices in Armenia grew 8.8% in June
2009, compared with May, National Statistical Service of Armenia
reports.

According to the statistical report, diesel prices rose 5.3%.

Petrol and diesel prices plunged 17% and 32.5% in June 2009, compared
with June 2008.

Petrol prices leapt 15.2% in June 2009, compared with December 2008,
while diesel became 2.3% cheaper.

As a whole, non-food prices climbed 2% in June, compared with
May.

NEXT ROUND OF AZERBAIJANI-ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS’ GARABAGH TALKS TO BE HELD IN MOSCOW THIS JULY

Azerbaijan Business Center
30.06.2009 12:57

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The French Embassy in Azerbaijan has disseminated
the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European issues
of its country following the Paris meeting (June 26) of Azerbaijani
and Armenian foreign affairs ministers within the process of peaceful
settlement of Nagorno Garabagh conflict.

The statement says that in early July the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs
are to make a trip to Baku, Yerevan and Nagorno Garabagh for
organization of the next round of negotiations between Azerbaijani
and Armenian leaders in Moscow in mid-July.

The statement also says that the Paris meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian FMs, Elmar Mammadyarov and Edvard Nalbandyan respectively,
took place on the MG co-chairs’ initiative.

"For the purpose to study opportunities of continuation of the quite
positive St.Petersburg meeting in early June between president Ilham
Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan both FMs with constructive mood met first
each separately with the mediators and then held a meeting between
each other with co-chairs’ involvement. These negotiations allowed
strengthening achieved progress and define new areas of possible
advances. The co-chairs made new compromise proposals on these areas,"
the statement says.

Yesterday following Baku talk with his Russian counterpart Dmitry
Medvedev the Azerbaijani leader claimed that the St.Petersburg meeting
with participation of the Russian president between him and President
Sargsyan created a favorable atmosphere for further negotiations.

"In the future we also hope for active participation of Russia as
mediator and neighbour of Azerbaijan in settlement of this difficult
question. Today the negotiation process enters, I would say, in
final stage.

Today we emphasized that the round of negotiations in St.Petersburg
was sufficiently effective this month. We managed to take some more
steps ahead. Of course, there are great expectations in Azerbaijan as
well as maybe in Armenia and in the world that the conflict would be
settled as faster as possible, but we are moving forward. It raises
optimism and strengthens the negotiation process.

Despite the fact that since 1994 when a ceasefire decision was made
the conflict has not been settled, nevertheless, today there are
more hopes for conflict settlement than several years ago. That is
why in the spirit of constructive co-operation and in the spirit
of understanding of priorities and interests of all the parties, I
think that we are going to achieve the settlement. We wish that, we
strive to that and do our best to obtain that as faster as possible,"
President Aliyev said.

In his turn, Medvedev stated that Russia was ready to help in the
settlement process further and was ready to ensure its mediator
services to promote the process to approach to the successful end.

He also stated of grounds for a hope that this difficult and quite
long conflict had chances to be settled.

"In the opinion of the Russian Federation the participants of
negotiations (I mean Azerbaijan and Armenia) are ready to solve
gradually the disagreements existing in their positions on separate
issues and move forward. This conflict has all chances to be settled
in quite close historical prospect. And Russia together with other
countries will do its best to obtain settlement of the conflict in
a maximum effective way," President Medvedev said.

ARMENIAN NA SPEAKER UNDERSCORES CONDUCTION OF SYRIAN CULTURAL DAYS IN ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
June 29, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS: Armenian National Assembly Speaker Hovik
Abrahamyan received today Syrian Culture Minister Riad Naasan Agha.

Public relations department of the NA told Armenpress that greeting
the guest the speaker expressed his satisfaction on the activation
of Armenian-Syrian contacts during the recent period. He highlighted
the conduction of Syrian Cultural Days in Armenia as a manifestation
of bilateral cooperation.

During the meeting the interlocutors stressed the role of the
Syrian-Armenian community in boosting cooperation between the two
countries as it may become a natural bridge between two friendly
peoples. The sides particularly pointed out the necessity of
promoting bilateral cooperation thanks to which it will be possible
to consolidate basis of Armenian-Syrian relations.

ARTHUR ABRAHAM: I WANTED TO LET ORAL ATTACK EARLY DOORS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
29.06.2009 13:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Unbeaten middleweight world champion Arthur Abraham
retained his IBF title with a thrilling tenth-round technical knockout
over German-based Turk Mahir Oral (on Saturday night at the Max
Schmeling Halle in Berlin, Germany. Abraham scored five knockdowns
in all, including three in round ten before Oral’s corner stopped
the fight.

On Saturday, Oral got off to a good start, making good use of his jab
and trying to exploit his advantage in reach. King Arthur started out
defensively. "I am a rather slow starter," he explained. "Sometimes it
takes a little longer until I really get going. That is why I wanted
to let Oral attack early doors. But then I gave my best and gave the
right answers," fightnews.com cited Abraham as saying.

NKR PRESIDENT MEETS THE RECTOR OF THE YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY

armradio.am
27.06.2009 15:01

On 27 June President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan
met a delegation led by rector of the Yerevan State University Aram
Simonyan.

Issues related to the development of science and education were
discussed at the meeting.

The Head of the State emphasized the important role the Yerevan State
University plays in the development of national science and education.

The President underlined the necessity of tight cooperation between
the Artsakh State University and the Yerevan State University,
considering it one of the key factors of developing science and
education in Nagorno Karabakh.

NKR minister of education Vladik Khachatryan and rector of the Artsakh
State University Stephan Dadayan partook at the meeting.

ISRAEL WANTS STRONGER ECONOMIC TIES WITH AZERBAIJAN – PERES

Day.Az
June 25 2009
Azerbaijan

Day.az presents an exclusive interview with President of Israel Shimon
Peres held by the European bureau of Trend news agency ahead of his
visit to Azerbaijan on 28-29 June.

[Correspondent] You are scheduled to visit Azerbaijan next week. What
documents will be signed during the visit? How do you assess the
present and the future of bilateral relations between Israel and
Azerbaijan?

[Peres] We have many things in common. Azerbaijan does not only have
large gas resources but it’s also a country with rich culture. People
are unaware that Azerbaijan granted women the right to vote earlier
than Switzerland and the USA.

Azerbaijan has demonstrated tolerance and respect to the place
where Jews, Muslims and Christians could live without hatred and
fanaticism. Therefore, it’s a special country for me which I am sure
I can trust. It has its own cultural roots. Oil can be purchased,
but culture has to be created. Azerbaijan has created its own culture.

Azerbaijan is a small nation. Both Azerbaijan and Israel face the same
problems. How can a small nation become great despite its size? You
can become great regardless of [the size] of your territory if you
embrace all the richness of modern science and technology.

President of Azerbaijan Mr Aliyev commands the deepest respect. I
find him extraordinarily humane, quiet modest, educated, subtle. It’s
nice to communicate with him. He had shown interest in fields such
as agriculture, water reserves, health care, high technologies. We
discussed these topics.

Israel almost has neither territory, nor water, nor gas, nor
petrol. Therefore, we should concentrate on our intellect, our science
and we should share everything that Azerbaijan is interested in.

It’s also important that Israel is not dangerous. We are too small to
frighten somebody. But on the other hand, we have worked out and are
ready to share with our friends with what we can offer in science
promotion and other similar fields. These are the fields where we
can cooperate in full.

We have culture, will and readiness. I also knew the father of the
incumbent president [of Azerbaijan] and was impressed by him. I met
him twice. He was a highly-educated man respecting traditions.

I am aware that Azerbaijan has a serious problem. This problem mainly
comes from your neighbours. It’s impossible to choose a neighbour in
politics, just like a family where you cannot choose a parent. Such is
life. Israel fully supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. We
believe that no country has the right to seize another country’s
territory.

So, before my visit to the country (Azerbaijan), (I was there
once) I cherish kind feelings towards it. In addition, the fact of
Azerbaijan’s consistent good attitude towards Jewish people has a
historical significance. Most of them have emigrated to Israel but
have preserved the warmest feelings towards Azerbaijan. Therefore,
I think there are a number of reasons which cause special interest
in the expected visit to your homeland.

[Correspondent] Do you expect the expansion of diplomatic relations
between our countries?

[Peres] I hope that a full-scale embassy of Azerbaijan would be opened
in Israel. I think the more cooperation develops, the more necessary
this step will become. This will definitely happen, because I hope
that we will enrich our relations during the visit.

A large delegation from Israel will accompany me in Baku. We want to
establish stronger relations in the economic and science sectors. After
the visit, the opening of an embassy will become a necessity.

[Correspondent] You mentioned that Israel supports Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity. Israel has a constructive position on the
settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy
Karabakh. Is Israel ready for a more active involvement in the
resolution process?

[Peres] We are a small country, we have no great power. We can express
our view, but we have no power when we talk about our views, relations
and positions. I think Azerbaijan would want to come closer not
only with Israel, but with the whole European community, including
the USA. All we can do is just support the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan.

[Correspondent] Israel has lately talked about its intention
to purchase Azerbaijani gas which comes from Azerbaijan through
Georgia and Turkey. A gas pipeline is needed for this purpose which
would go through the seabed of the Mediterranean Sea from Turkey
to Israel. In what quantities do you think the gas purchase will be
possible? And what party will take the responsibility for expenses
on the construction of the pipeline?

[Peres] The minister of infrastructure who is in charge with this
will accompany me in Baku. I would prefer him to answer this question,
because he knows all the details. But the purpose of his visit to Baku
is to estimate the real possibilities of shipment of Azerbaijani gas
to Israel.

MEMBER OF ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO PACE: WE ARE DISSATISFIED WITH THE ASSEMBLY’S POSITION IN RESPECT TO ARMENIA

APA
June 25 2009
Azerbaijan

Strasbourg. Fuad Gulubayli – APA. The Document 11962 "The functioning
of democratic institutions in Armenia" prepared by co-rapporteurs on
Armenia Georges Colombier (France) and John Prescott (United Kingdom)
was presented at the plenary meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) on June 24, APA’s Europe bureau
reports. The rapporteurs spoke about the state of democracy in the
country and touched on the main problems.

French co-rapporteur Georges Colombier highly appreciated the act of
amnesty adopted in Armenia and said the decree is applicable not only
to the imprisoned persons, but also to the persons, who hid from the
police during March happenings.

"If they surrender to the law-enforcement bodies by July 31, 2009, the
amnesty will also be applied to them. It should be noted that PACE had
a great role in the adoption of the amnesty. I think independent and
transparent investigation should be carried out concerning the March
happenings and this process should be completed. Moreover, there is
a need for reforms in the judicial and police system. Reforms should
also be carried out in Armenia concerning the right of election in
the mayor elections. We, co-rapporteurs, consider that under the
present circumstances PACE Monitoring Committee should support the
reforms carried out in Armenia," he said.

The other co-rapporteur John Prescott said the problems have not been
completely solved in Armenia, but important steps have been taken in
accordance with PACE requirements.

"Anyway, we will continue expressing our concern, advance our work
in the Monitoring Committee," he said.

Following this, discussions began on the report. Most parliamentarians
expressed their concern over the state of human rights and democracy
in Armenia.

Zaruhi Postanjyan, member of Heritage faction of Armenia, criticized
Armenian government. She said the Armenian people are disappointed,
as Armenian government does not fulfill the commitments undertaken
vis-a-vis the PACE.

"I also want to express my dissatisfaction with PACE that prefers
more geopolitical and other interests," she said.

According to Zaruhi Postanjyan, the police system in Armenia is fully
dependent on the government, no political conditions have been created
for independent and alternative mass media, fundamental freedoms.

"Despite all this, no sanction is imposed on the country. The present
political system in Armenia does not meet criteria of the Council
of Europe. The attitude towards the criminal Armenian government,
this position confuse the Armenian people. Therefore I consider that
we should use more effective means within PACE in order to establish
justice," she said.

The document was put to the vote and adopted.

A MEMORABLE TRIP TO ARMENIA
By Jerry Tarkanian

Las Vegas Sun
009/jun/25/memorable-trip-armenia/
June 26 2009
NV

BASS LAKE, California – As I sit here, near Yosemite National Park,
with 38 other Tarkanians on our annual retreat, I take a lot of pride
in family and can’t help thinking about my family’s roots.

By the lake, we’ll eat a variety of grape leaves, some stuffed with
rice and meat, which also will make me think about Armenia.

My mother, Haighouhie "Rose," was born there. Her father and brother
were decapitated by the Turkish military, just for being Armenian,
during the genocide there between 1915 and 1922.

Her mother sent her and her brother out of the country on horseback,
and Rose eventually met George, her husband and my father, in
Lebanon. They married and immigrated to Euclid, Ohio, outside
Cleveland.

I went to Armenia for the only time in my life four years ago, with
a priest from Fresno who took more than two dozen of us. Some of my
family went along on the trip.

We went for about 16 days. We had tour guides and buses, and we stayed
in a nice Marriott in Yerevan, the capital.

We went to the Armenian Holocaust Museum and saw where my mother
was raised. It was very emotional going through that museum. In the
genocide, 1.5 million were killed by the Ottoman government in Turkey.

My wife’s parents were killed in the holocaust. There was so
much poverty there, in the towns. So many buildings weren’t even
completed. It was frightening.

We went to one city that had been hit by an earthquake. Boy, that
was really brutal. We went to a lot of school functions. Everyone
donated something to them. They didn’t have anything.

It was tough.

They’ve wanted me to go back. They wanted to dedicate an outdoor
basketball court to me. That was nice, but I haven’t been able to
get away. It’s such a long trip. My legs bother me on airplanes.

Some television and radio stations, and newspaper people, did
interviews with me or wrote stories on me.

At the Marriott, a few tourists recognized me. At other places,
some people said "Jerry" and "UNLV," but there were very few.

I was in a health club at the Marriott and a 35-year-old guy, who
was with the FBI working in the country of Georgia, next to Armenia,
came up to talk to me.

I said, "What are you doing in Europe?" He said he was headquartered
in Georgia but his district was Armenia. He said there was a lot of
bad crime in Armenia.

"But it’s not real bad here," the guy told me. "Most of the bad
criminals have moved to California."

I said, where?

"Glendale," he said. "I’m in constant contact with the FBI in
Glendale."

That FBI agent played football at North Carolina State.

But that was the trip of a lifetime and I could not believe how those
people had to live. It was incredible.

A great many of those people were living in nothing more than big
shipment boxes. They had so little on the shelves in stores. They’ve
had so many years without electricity.

Can you imagine that?

I loved all of the Armenian food. I could eat that every day. I was
raised on it. The lamb was great. Fantastic. Every time I’m in Fresno,
I eat Armenian food half the time.

Here at the lake, it’s most of the time. This is also where, and when,
I am so thankful for my family and everyone else in my life. And I
will never forget that trip to Armenia.