Author: Zakarian Garnik

EXPLODING PREJUDICE: "SAPYORY" IS A WAR STORY OF PARTISANS FIGHTING NAZI OCCUPIERS.
By Alexander Bratersky

The Moscow Times
June 6 2008
Russia

The plot of "Sapyory," or "Sappers," sounds just like any other
Russian-made World War II movie: A small band of partisans sets out
to try to save Soviet soldiers captured by the Nazis. But in a genre
often used to promote patriotic feelings, the choice of an Armenian
protagonist as a partisan commander, played by an Armenian actor,
is perhaps unusual.

"I was very surprised when I was selected for the role," said Sayat
Abadzhyan in an interview last week. "I liked that it was a war hero,
not some gangster or crook."

In the Soviet period it seemed natural for filmmakers to show
the contributions of all ethnic groups in the fight against Nazi
Germany. But in recent years, multitudes of war films have tended to
focus on the Russian war effort.

Abadzhyan, 38, graduated from the All-Russia State Institute of
Cinematography (VGIK), where he attended the classes of Armen
Dzhigarkhanyan, the leading Soviet actor of Armenian descent.

His character is a former literature teacher turned amateur sapper,
who heads a small partisan unit in occupied Ukraine. With only limited
forces at his disposal he tries to free Soviet prisoners of war,
who are being forced to work in a military factory manufacturing
landmines for the German army.

"Sappers" was jointly produced by Sinebridzh Kinokompania and Odesskaya
Kinostudia, and shot on location in the village of Yegorovka in
Ukraine. The movie is a filmmaking debut for the prominent film actor
Boris Shcherbakov, who played action heroes in a number of war movies
in the Soviet period. "Every filmmaker has a duty to make a war movie,"
Shcherbakov said at the premiere Kinoteatr Khudozhestvenny in April,
where it headlined a series of films screened to mark Victory Day.

"I was shocked recently then I saw a television program about the
rise of neo-Nazi movement in Russia," Shcherbakov said in a recent
interview in Kazanskiye Vedomosti. "Most of them are young Russian
kids. I cannot comprehend how those people, whose grandfathers took
part in the war, became followers of Nazi ideology."

While "Sappers" doesn’t bring anything particularly new to the genre,
the decision to have an Armenian as a lead character comes against
the background of increasing xenophobic, ultranationalist violence
in Moscow. Just last month, four people were convicted of carrying
out an attack at Cherkizovsky Market in 2006 motivated by hate for
natives of the Caucasus and Asian countries.

At the premiere, Moscow businessman and part-time actor Dmitry Potash
said showing people of different ethnicities as war heroes can help
to cool violent nationalism. "If someone sees a Caucasian man on the
screen as a soldier, he will think about this country’s contribution
to the victory," he said.

"Making an Armenian a leading movie hero refreshes our memory about
the war, which had an international character," Potash said. "It
would be wrong to say that only Russian soldiers fought in the war."

"Nationalism is a very painful subject," said Midia Muradova, 31,
an Armenian-born Muscovite who also attended the premiere. "My
grandfather fought too. At that time we were one big country."

"Sappers" (Sapyory) is showing at the Sputnik Cinema, located at 15
Soldatskaya Ul. Metro Aviamotornaya. Tel. 361-4220. The film is also
available on DVD.

TRIBUTES TO VETERAN JOURNALIST GEORGES DER PARTHOGH

Cyprus Mail
June 4 2008
Cyprus

VETERAN journalist, international news photographer and a leading
member of the Armenian community, Georges der Parthogh, died in
Nicosia on Monday at the age of 84.

"Whatever anyone says about Mr Georges der Parthogh is not enough,"
said Armenian Representative Vartkes Mahdessian yesterday.

"It is a huge loss for the Armenian community and for Cyprus. He
was always smiling, humorous and positive in life, and he would pass
these vibes onto the people around him," he added.

The Cyprus Journalists’ Union said der Parthogh had served journalism
for over half a century with exemplary integrity, capturing scenes
of history for the past 60 years.

"As a man, Georges der Parthogh stood out for his wealth of virtues,
humanity, kindness, love, modesty, virtue, approachability, sweetness,
a never fading smile, honesty, and unceasing action," said the union
statement.

Born in Harar, Ethiopia on December 18, 1923, Georges came to Cyprus
with his family in 1935. He attended the English School in Nicosia
after which he served with the Air Ministry. He later joined the
Times of Cyprus where he worked from 1955 to 1959 and where he met
Lana Matoff, whom he married in 1960.

Georges’ career as an international correspondent saw him working
for Reuters (1959-1963) and United Press International (1963-1979)
covering wars and civil commotion in Cyprus, Malta, Middle East,
Iran and East Africa.

In 1979, he co-founded The Cyprus Weekly with fellow journalists
Andreas Hadjipapas and Alex Efthyvoulou. Also, from 1989 he was a
special correspondent for Azg newspaper in Yerevan and the Armenian
Mirror-Spectator in Boston.

During the catastrophic earthquake in Armenia and the Nagorno Karabakh
war, Georges led several humanitarian aid delegations, for which he was
awarded the Nagorno Karabakh Gold Medal. He was granted an honorary
citizenship of the Republic of Armenia and received the Golden Pen
Award of the Union of Armenian Journalists for his 50-year career
as a journalist. He also received the Intercollege Media Institute
Award as a prominent journalist and photoreporter.

He actively supported photography at home and abroad, encouraged
young photographers and received several awards as a member of the
Cyprus Photographic Society where continued judging competitions
until recently.

He served his community as spokesman to two Armenian Representatives,
a member of the Board of Governors of the Melkonian Educational
Institute and as Past President of the Lions Club Nicosia Cosmopolitan.

He had two sons and two granddaughters.

The funeral will take place at the Sourp Asdvadzadzin Armenian Church,
Armenia Street, Nicosia this Friday at 4pm.

MATTHEW BRYZA: THE NEXT MEETING BETWEEN PRESIDENTS WILL DEPEND ON THEIR WILL

armradio.am
03.06.2008 17:31

"The next meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will
depend on their disposition and on whether they will manage to
establish normal relations," US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group
Matthew Bryza told reporters in Baku preceding the meeting with the
Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov.

"The primary purpose of the meeting in Saint Petersburg on June 6 is
for the two leaders to become acquainted with each other. They will
meet for the first time. What will be after the meeting depends on
the disposition of the Presidents," Bryza noted.

KHAZAR IBRAHIM: "RUSSIA SHOULD DEMAND ARMENIA TO WITHDRAW ITS FORCES FROM THE TERRITORIES OF AZERBAIJAN"

Azeri Press Agency
June 2 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Lachin Sultanova-APA. "Russia should demand Armenia to withdraw
its forces from the territories of Azerbaijan", said Spokesman for
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Khazar Ibrahim during the briefing
on Monday.

Reacting to the thought of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
that there is no military option of the solution of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, which was expressed at the press conference after his meeting
with Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian, Khazar Ibrahim said
Russian diplomat should encourage his statement by the appropriate
message to Armenia. "Russia should demand unconditional withdrawal
of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan".

SCHOOL FINAL AND UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE UNITED EXAMS START ON JUNE 2 IN ARMENIAN AND ARTSAKH SCHOOLS

Noyan Tapan

Ju ne 2, 2008

YEREVAN, JUNE 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Nearly 15 thousand leavers of Armenian
and Artsakh schools, on June 2, took state final and university
entrance united exams in Armenian Language, Armenian Literature in
55 examination centers.

Levon Mkrtchian, the RA Minister of Education and Science, visited some
examination centers with the participation of education responsible
persons and journalists at 10:00.

177 out of 180 leavers submitting bids at Shirvanzade secondary school
N 21 were present at the examination. 20 minutes before the examination
the examination procedure was presented to the pupils, after which they
filled in their personal data in the forms distributed to them. Later
the organizers coming up to children one by one and cutting off the
form’s part containing personal data sent them to a special center,
where the personal data of pupils taking exams that day were to be
entered in the computer base.

The examination started at 10:00. It lasted 3 hours, after which
all works were collected and sent to the Center of Giving Marks and
Testing: they were scanned and entered to the computer there. The
examination results will be published on June 5, after which the
works can be appealed against until June 6, 18:00.

The whole examination process was videod at Shirvanzade school N 21
and was shown by 8 monitors placed outside. According to Minister
Levon Mkrtchian, monitors are placed in all examination centers,
and the examinations will be held by the principle "one monitor,
one video camera." He said that everybody who wishes can demand video
recording’s copy if necessary.

The Minister said that pupils taking exams in the centers will be given
marks by both A and B variants, separately for the school-leaving
certificate and university. For each wrong answer 0.25 points will
be subtracted from general 20 points.

GEORGIA CARRIES ON ANTI-ARMENIAN POLICY TO ARMENIANS OF COUNTRY, MITK
ANALYTICAL CENTER ASSERTS

YEREVAN, MAY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. "The policy carried on by Georgia to
Armenians in religious, ethnic, cultural spheres can be characterized
by one word, anti-Armenian," Vahe Sargsian, a representative of the
Mitk analytical center, stated at a discussion organized on May 30.

Mentioning a number of historic facts, he, in particular, said that as
far back as in 1918-1921 Georgia twice permitted Turkish bands to
unimpededly enter the Samtskhe-Javakhk region, and nearly 50 thousand
Armenians of Akhalkalak and Akhaltskha were killed in the massacre
organized by the Turks. According to him, in the past and today, as a
result of Georgia’s policy in Samtskhe-Javakhk-Tsalka, the region faced
a grave socio-economic situation and many Armenians left the region due
to that policy. Georgia being a member of the Council of Europe since
1999, does not fulfil the commitments regarding national minorities it
has assumed towards that organization so far.

According to V. Sargsian, mentionings about some problems of Armenians
done to the Georgian side during Armenian-Georgian bilateral meetings
are in vain. "We should rise against this unbridled policy through
organizing the Armenians living in Georgia and supporting then. Only
with organized force we can exclude or reduce possibilities of taking
such further steps by Georgia," the speaker said.

LE COEUR BRISE DES HEROS ANTIQUES

Les Echos
29 mai 2008 jeudi
France

Le mythe d’Ulysse revisite dans une belle douleur tendre.

Avec Catherine Schaub-Abkarian, John Arnold, Simon Abkarian, Georges
Bigot.

Plus grand monde n’ose etre lyrique aujourd’hui. Peu d’ecrivains de
theâtre ne se risquent a ecrire ainsi : " Lune, retiens ta course,
apaise les marees, ces putes echaudees qui vont et viennent sur le
ventre du monde. " Simon Abkarian, dont la pièce " Penelope, ô Penelope
" brasse un ocean de metaphores, tourne le dos aux modes et semble
mediter dans un monde où l’Antiquite, l’Orient eternel et l’Orient
d’aujourd’hui sont dans la meme echelle du temps. On le connaît comme
acteur : il a ete l’un des grands interprètes du Theâtre du Soleil
d’Ariane Mnouchkine et de pas mal de films. Il concoit ses propres
spectacles depuis une dizaine d’annees mais il n’etait jamais exprime
de facon aussi personnelle, n’avait jamais autant devoile ses dons
de poète de la scène.

Il reprend le thème de " L’Odyssee ", la solitude de Penelope,
la violence des guerriers, le retour d’Ulysse. Mais il prend ses
distances, change certains noms (Ulysse est devenu Elias), fait
apparaître la mère d’Ulysse, le dieu Antee devenu boucher, une
personnification de la Conscience…

Spectacle heteroclite

Où sommes-nous ? Quelque part, dans le bassin mediterraneen,
au bord de la mer, mais aussi sur un champ de bataille, dans le
domicile d’un simple, femme, dans le debarras d’une maison grecque,
libanaise ou armenienne. Au tout debut, Penelope gemit de tristesse et
d’insatisfaction sexuelle. Tout ne sera ensuite que plaintes doucement
proferees ou tues tandis que le passe douloureux et les cris de la
guerre tentent d’imposer leur concert. Simon Abkarian est lui-meme
Ulysse, ou plutôt Elias, un homme defait par la guerre et qui n’ose
plus croire a l’amour, avec une etonnante intensite douce. Catherine
Schaub-Abkarian est une grande tragedienne. Georges Bigot, travesti
en vieille femme fantomatique, est magnifique. John Arnold est coupant
comme une lame. Sarajeanne Drillaud parvient a etre reelle et irreelle.

Pourquoi ce spectacle heteroclite, comme bricole, nous emeut-il
tant ? Parce qu’en arrière-plan, une confession intime nous est
faite. Abkarian se souvient de sa mère et de son Armenie, dans la
pudeur du secret et la flamboyance du verbe.

–Boundary_(ID_2+7qw7tyr2J9oJnzQQRb7A)–

Interfax News Agency, Russia
May 27 2008

Russia ready to provide further assistance in Karabakh talks – Russian
Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW May 27

While it is up to Azerbaijan and Armenia to choose a mutually
acceptable formula in the Karabakh conflict resolution, Russia is
ready to act as a guarantor in the conflict settlement, Moscow says.

"Russia’s fundamental position on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
remains unchanged. We are planning to provide further assistance to
the conflicting parties in finding a mutually acceptable solution. The
main responsibility for the final choice of the conflict resolution
formula rests on Armenians and Azeri themselves," Russian Foreign
Ministry spokesperson Andrei Nesterenko told journalists ahead of the
arrival of Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandian in Moscow for a
visit.

"Russia would be willing to support a solution that will be acceptable
to both parties involved in the conflict, and in case of a compromise
it will act as a guarantor of the conflict settlement," he said.

The Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA.)
May 29, 2008, Thursday

SHOPPING TRIP: SCHOOL BENEFACTORS PAY FOR NEW GRADUATION CLOTHES;
Dress, Success;

Val Verde Students Treated To New Suits

byIMRAN VITTACHI, THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE

LOS ANGELES

Except for the black brush of his Mohawk cut, fringed by a mat of
black hair on his scalp, Manuel Najar emerged onto Hollywood Boulevard
a transformed young man.

The 19-year-old from Perris had just walked out of Suit City of
Hollywood, a Tinseltown clothing store. He wore a rayon and polyester
black suit with red pinstripes and a pair of red-topped black
shoes. Earrings still hung from his earlobes, but the sleeves of his
new suit concealed the star-shaped tattoos on his forearms.

"That whole look is a higher class look," Najar had said earlier in
the day when he was picking out his suit. "It’s a look I’m not used
to."

The suit is the first he has ever owned.

Najar and 35 other male students from the Student Success Academy, a
Val Verde Unified campus in Perris, spent the day May 20 traveling to
Hollywood to acquire a free new suit and clothing accessories. Each
student is to wear his suit for graduation night Friday and for the
school’s award ceremonies Wednesday.

On May 20, a group of 10 girls from the academy traveled separately by
van to the Ontario Mills mall to shop for dresses to wear for those
occasions. They also will be able to wear them again for job
interviews. A few of the male and female students are not graduating
this year but were getting new formal outfits as a prize for winning
Student of the Month honors.

ROYALTY FOR A DAY

In what has now become a four-year-old tradition at graduation time
for this small school, the shopping trips are the academy’s way of
rewarding the students for turning their secondary educational careers
around. Not too long ago, many of them were at risk of dropping out or
failing.

But not a penny of district money was spent on the suits for the boys
and dresses for the girls, school officials said. The $5,415.45 for
the 36 suits bundled with an equal number of dress shirts, ties,
handkerchiefs, belts, socks and shoes came from donations from the
district’s business partners and corporate benefactors, and campus
barbecues and other student-led fund drives, school officials said.

The idea, said Principal Norman Towels, is to make these youngsters
feel like royalty for at least a day.

"What I wanted for them was to have the experience of going to a shop
and being treated like someone," Towels said.

The 36 boys invaded the store, owned by a family of Armenian
immigrants, at Hollywood and Schrader boulevards. The store owner’s
son, clothes salesman and part-time actor Greg Grigorian, had attended
his own graduation from Cal State Northridge that morning. He, his
mother, his father and aunt had returned to the store to fit the 36
students with suits and accessories.

FEELING ACCOMPLISHED

By sunset, the students’ rapper musician chains, and shorts and baggy
jeans that sagged to the ankles, were replaced with new suits and, in
some cases, faux alligator-skin shoes.

"It feels good. I feel accomplished," said Donnie Cantrell, 17, of
Moreno Valley, who wore an Atlanta Braves cap. He plans to take
business classes at the Riverside Community College campus in his
hometown. Most of the seniors are heading to two-year community
colleges.

The students also visited a university campus May 20. The boys went to
USC and the girls went to UC Riverside

"We want them to understand that it’s not that far away. It’s not out
of their reach," said James Macaraeg, an anger management and drug
counselor at the academy, who co-chaperoned the girls on their trip to
UCR.

Najar had dropped out of high school before enrolling at the
academy. All of his four siblings, he said, are high school dropouts.

He had been thinking of becoming an off-road racer. Now, he plans to
train as a mechanic at Universal Technical Institute in Rancho
Cucamonga.

"Other schools don’t give you this opportunity to feel good about
yourself, like you’ve accomplished something," Najar said.

ATOM EGOYAN DELIVERS LECTURE IN TEL-AVIV UNIVERSITY

Noyan Tapan

Ma y 26, 2008

TEL-AVIV, MAY 26, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. The Bar-Shira
Auditorium at Tel-Aviv University was packed with cinephiles eager
to see Canadian-Armenian filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s film. In Israel
Egoyan delivered a stunning lecture on the Armenian genocide, using
his critically acclaimed film Ararat as a springboard for discussing
the representation of history in art, and the tragically unending
efforts of the Turkish government to deny the atrocities of the
past. The lecture was followed by a candid question and answer period.