Category: 2022

UCI – Leading with language: For six UCI alumni, learning a new language launched their careers

Emil Lazarian
UCI School of Humanities
July 15 2022


For six UCI alumni, learning a new language launched their careers



OFFICE of the Dean
Armenian Studies
Arabic
German
Japanese Language & Literature
Korean Literature & Culture

By Lilibeth Garcia

An entertainment entrepreneur. A field representative for a California State Assembly Member. A writer for one of the top healthcare websites. These are just a few of the career paths made possible for UCI alumni by studying languages other than English.

At UCI’s School of Humanities, students can take courses in 14 languages other than English, and major or minor in several languages.

Fluency in languages other than English has enabled our students and alumni to study and travel abroad, launch careers domestically and overseas, and deepen their connection to their own cultures and that of others.

These are the stories of six multilingual alumni.

Christopher Khachadour grew up speaking Western Armenian, an endangered language with only 200,000 native speakers and about a million second-language speakers.

Between 1915 and 1923, the Ottoman Empire systematically killed over a million Armenians in what is known as the Armenian Genocide. Khachadour’s great-grandparents were orphaned because of the war. His ancestors escaped to various parts of the Middle East and later to Los Angeles.

A hundred years have passed since the Genocide ended, but the Western Armenian language is still in peril. Western Armenian is rarely taught intergenerationally, with fewer descendants of genocide survivors who live outside of Armenia learning the language.

After three generations of expulsion due to violence, Khachadour’s family fought to keep the language alive. His parents enrolled him and his sister in an Armenian private school where he learned how to read and write Western Armenian.

“For me, the Armenian language is a treasure, almost like a family heirloom passed down over generations,” Khachadour says. “While we cannot return to our ancestral homes in modern-day Turkey, we have this unbroken bond via the language.”

His early education ignited a passion that he continued to nourish at UCI, where he enrolled in all courses related to Armenian history and language. He took classes with Houri Berberian, professor of history & Meghrouni Family Presidential Chair in Armenian Studies, who founded UCI’s Center for Armenian Studies and has led the development of Armenian language instruction. He also studied under Talar Chahinian, who currently serves as interim director of the center.

“Armenian history and language courses took me back to my childhood years in Armenian school,” he says. “Many of us in the program had previously attended Armenian school, and Dr. Chahinian would give us advanced coursework to accommodate our capabilities and keep us engaged. She was a great teacher. Dr. Berberian always found a way to look at the greater picture and tie Armenian history to world history, reminding us that we did not develop in a vacuum of history.”

While a student, Khachadour served as the Armenian Students Association’s liaison to UCI’s Armenian Studies Program, where he encouraged his peers to enroll in Armenian courses and attend lectures organized by the program. He also worked as a tour guide, providing campus tours to Armenian middle and high school students in Southern California. His fluency in Armenian even enabled him to catalog a collection of about a thousand Armenian books at the UCI Libraries.

Khachadour double majored in history and political science, with a focus on the Middle East. While at UCI, he spent four years as a board member of the Olive Tree Initiative, through which he planned and led trips to Armenia, Turkey and Georgia in 2017 and to Boston, New York City and Washington D.C. in 2018 and 2019. There, he met with local Armenian and Turkish lobbying groups as well as journalists, NGOs, religious leaders, former ambassadors, the United Nation’s representatives and the State Department.

After graduation, he spent six months volunteering in Armenia with various organizations that required in-depth knowledge of the Western Armenian language and the region’s history, including the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, the Armenian United Nations Association and RepatArmenia.

Since returning from Armenia, he has worked part-time at USC’s Institute for Armenian Studies and full-time as a field representative for California State Assembly Member Laura Friedman, who represents the 43rd district, encompassing the cities of Glendale, Burbank and La Cañada Flintridge; the unincorporated communities of La Crescenta and Montrose; and a portion of Los Angeles, including Little Armenia and East Hollywood.

The 43rd district represents the largest Armenian constituency in the country. Khachadour, who works with 150,000 ethnic Armenian constituents, is the sole Armenian staffer.

“Having the ability to study Armenian is a privilege, as it’s not offered at many institutions. It is an ancient and unique language. I encourage everyone to study a second language, if not a third. And for those interested in engaging with the influential Armenian community of Southern California, I’d strongly recommend it.”

The School of Humanities offers a minor in Armenian studies and two years of Western Armenian language courses.

To read the five other stories, click at the link below

https://www.humanities.uci.edu/news/leading-language

Music: Rosa Linn Snaps up millions of new fans

Arpi Talalian
July 18 2022
Rosa Linn Snaps up millions of new fans

Rosa Linn took Armenia to an 11th Grand Final this May, and now she’s enjoying life beyond the Eurovision Song Contest as her song ‘Snap’ becomes a viral summer sensation.

Rosa wasn’t quite able to follow in the footsteps of her country’s Junior Eurovision counterpart, Maléna, who won the most recent Junior Contest for Armenia, but she is gaining legions of new fans thanks to her entry’s enduring popularity.

‘Team Snap’ has revealed to Eurovision.tv that the song has gained 4.2 million new listeners on Spotify, culminating in over 23 million streams, with a huge chunk of that audience originating in the United States of America, thanks in no small part to Snap’s success on TikTok and social media.

The song's hook 'Snapping 1, 2 – where are you?' is proving popular with content creators, using it to soundtrack their short videos.

Even Hollywood superstar Reece Witherspoon used the track as part of an Instagram Reel… but sadly missed the opportunity to reference the ‘bend and snap’ from her cult film Legally Blonde.

This new found popularity has propelled the song into the UK and Italian charts this week at numbers 67 and 83 respectively, also charting at number 32 in Germany, while over on the Emerald Isle the track has reached 16 on the Irish Official Charts.

Snap is also doing well on the Viral 50 (USA) Spotify list and steadily climbing the global Spotify chart.

As Rosa pointed out back in March: ‘The power of manifestation is real when it is combined with hard work; persistence; and just putting oneself out there’ - and that seems more true now than ever. 

Here’s hoping Snap continues to gain traction across the globe, and who knows… perhaps we’ll see a performance later this year in Yerevan when Armenia hosts the 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest?

https://eurovision.tv/story/rosa-linn-snaps-millions-new-fans 









The EU Turns to Baku

Meline Chalian
July 18 2022

By Colm Quinn, the newsletter writer at Foreign Policy.
JULY 18, 2022, 4:44 AM

Welcome to today’s Morning Brief, looking at the EU’s gas search in Azerbaijan, the latest from Ukraine, Britain’s next prime minister, and the world this week.

If you would like to receive Morning Brief in your inbox every weekday, please sign up here.

Von der Leyen Prepares EU Gas Deal

Just days after U.S. President Joe Biden’s fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman showed the lengths the world’s largest energy consumer will go to secure its supplies, European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen visits another authoritarian regime to help keep the bloc’s energy market afloat.

Von der Leyen visits Azerbaijan today, where she is expected to sign a gas deal to help cover European supplies as the EU seeks to wean itself off Russian gas.

With Russia focused on Ukraine, the European Union has become more engaged in mediation efforts between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. In May, Brussels hosted rare face-to-face talks between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The foreign ministers from the two countries held their first bilateral talks since 2020 just yesterday.

But as EU leaders seek to present a neutral position between the two countries, some Armenians fear a gas-fueled shift toward Azerbaijan, which could have an impact on Nagorno-Karabakh, over which Baku and Yerevan fought their most recent war in 2020.

Gabriel Gavin, writing in Foreign Policy in May, spoke with Artak Beglaryan, the state minister and de facto leader of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian enclave within territory internationally recognized as Azerbaijan’s, who expressed concern over Europe’s growing dependence on Azerbaijan. “If democracy and human rights, as well as regional stability, matter to the West, there should be conditions set as part of gas negotiations with Azerbaijan,” Beglaryan said.

Today’s meeting is part of a European plan to diversify its energy imports and decrease reliance on Russian gas. That’s a tall order: Around 40 percent of EU gas imports came from Russia in 2021. So far, EU members have not set out to ban Russian gas entirely, but they have agreed to reduce dependence by two-thirds by the end of this year.

So how much can Baku make up? Russia’s gas deliveries to Europe amounted to 155 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2021, but current EU plans call for Azerbaijan to supply only a fraction of that—just 11 bcm—by the end of this year.

Today’s agreement between EU and Azerbaijani officials plans to change that—but slowly. A draft deal between the two sides says they “aspire” to almost double imports of gas to 20 bcm by 2027 by relying on upgrades to the Southern Gas Corridor, an array of pipelines that moves gas from the Caspian Sea through Turkey and onward into Europe.

Europe’s gas hunt. Where Europe can find the rest of the gas it needs is a question that has taken EU leaders across oceans and in search of both traditional and unorthodox partners: Norway, Israel, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar have all been tapped as candidates to provide increased flows.

New markets are also being considered. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz went to Senegal in May to encourage its government to boost offshore gas production. Italy has recently made gas deals with Algeria, Angola, and the Republic of the Congo.

Heat warnings. Even though Scholz has tried to play down the renewed focus on fossil fuels as “temporary,” the increase in exploration comes at a perilous time.

The International Energy Agency has already sounded the alarm, warning that the world cannot afford any new fossil fuel projects if net-zero targets are to be met—a key consideration in keeping the planet below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. EU officials argue that gas is a better alternative to much dirtier coal, and that liquefied natural gas terminals can later be converted to hydrogen facilities, so the investment does not necessarily tie them to gas.

The reality of a warming planet is already apparent across the world: Dozens of Chinese cities operated under heat alerts this month, wildfires have raged across Southern Europe as well as the United States, and this week the United Kingdom is forecast to record its highest-ever temperature—over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cutting demand. There’s one option Europe has yet to take that doesn’t involve politically fraught deals or investments in infrastructure—simply using less energy. The difference in energy use between a typical Westerner and people in the developing world is vast: An average European uses more than five times as much electricity as the average Indian, while the average American uses 10 times as much as an Indian consumer.

As part of its 10-point plan to reduce dependency on Russian gas, the International Energy Agency recommends reducing home thermostats by 1 degree Celsius, a reduction that would save 10 bcm in gas—or Azerbaijan’s current EU export volume.

Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O’Sullivan, writing in Foreign Policy in June, argue that “the world has sadly lost sight of one of the most important energy facts: Efficiency investments and demand conservation are often the cheapest and quickest ways to cut the use of oil, gas, and coal—and to reduce the need for replacing Russian supplies (not to mention carbon emissions).”

Bordoff and O’Sullivan echo energy efficiency guru Amory Lovins’s call, made in 1973, for governments to choose the “soft path” of conservation, efficiency, and renewables rather than the “hard path” of mining, extraction, and more industrial construction. “If the best time to have followed the soft path would have been decades ago,” Bordoff and O’Sullivan write, “the second-best time is now.”

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/07/18/azerbaijan-gas-eu-von-der-leyen/

Opposition outrage following Armenian film producer’s death in court

Emma Nadirian
July 18 2022
 18 July 2022

ByAni Avetisyan

Armenian opposition groups have accused the government of killing Armen Grigoryan, after the controversial film producer died in court.

Dramatic footage of Grigoryan’s death in the courtroom was spread widely online on Friday. Doctors on the scene announced the cause of death as a stroke, while the preliminary results for his autopsy have yet to be released.

The producer had been in pre-trial detention since May after being charged with inciting violence and ‘publicly humiliating national dignity’.

Grigoryan was known for his controversial statements, often calling for violence against supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and, in one instance, claiming that people from the Shirak Province and the Ararat Valley were offsprings of Armenian women ‘raped by Turks’ during the Turkish-Armenian war of 1920.

‘The people of Shirak and the Ararat valley have always been traitors, and the highlanders [from] Tavush, Syunik, and Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] have always been true Armenians because they did not mix blood with Turks; half of them are Turks, they are bastards of Turks, how can they be Armenians?’.

Armenian authorities have stated that Grigoryan’s lawyers did not inform them of his medical history or request any special treatment, despite claiming that he had ‘apparent health issues’. 

The Armenian opposition has raised concerns about Grigoryan’s pre-trial detention conditions, accusing the government of ‘killing’ the producer, whom they claimed was a ‘political prisoner’.

Following news of his death on Friday evening, the Resistance Movement, an opposition coalition, held a rally in Yerevan holding signs that read ‘Nikol [is a] murderer’.

However, Ruben Melikyan, a senior opposition figure and the former Human Rights Defender of Nagorno-Karabakh, said during the rally that they had not seen any mistreatment of Grigoryan in detention.

‘There were minor problems that were resolved. The problem is for what and on whose order he was arrested’, Melikyan said. ‘Armen Grigoryan was in prison solely for his political views’.

Kristine Grigoryan, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender, said that it was ‘unacceptable and worrisome’ that the ‘conditions of pre-trial detention and the right to health care are not guaranteed to a person’.

She also stated that she had requested ‘clarifications’ from the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Justice regarding Grigoryan’s diagnoses, and the measures taken by the authorities to treat them along with ‘other possible circumstances that led to his death’. 

‘I will be consistent in bringing the culprits to justice’, Grigoryan wrote on Facebook.

 

Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers meet in Tbilisi

Emil Lazarian
July 18 2022
 18 July 2022

ByIsmi AghayevandAni Avetisyan

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan have met in Tbilisi — the first meeting of its kind since the end of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Neither delegation announced updates on a potential peace agreement or the delimitation of borders between the two countries.

The Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov touched on a number of issues related to the normalisation of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the 16 July meeting, which was mediated by Georgia’s own Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ilia Darchiashvili.

They also discussed the implementation of mutual commitments and exchanged views on possible future steps regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Bayramov noted that all efforts should be aimed at achieving progress in the regulation of interstate relations based on ‘post-conflict realities’ following the war. 

The Azerbaijani minister also emphasised the need to implement the provisions of the ceasefire and the ‘withdrawal of Armenian forces from the territory of Azerbaijan’, referring to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Bayramov also requested clarification on the fate of nearly 4,000 Azerbaijanis who remain missing, mostly from the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Similarly, the Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan emphasised the importance of addressing humanitarian issues, including the release and repatriation of Armenian POWs.

Mirzoyan also stressed the importance of reaching a political settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through the OSCE Minsk Group, the status of which has become controversial.

Details about a peace agreement and the delimitation of the borders were not mentioned in either statement released by the two ministries.

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, commended the meeting, saying that ‘direct dialogue is the surest path to resolving Azerbaijani and Armenian differences’.

Since the end of the war, Armenia and Azerbaijan have repeatedly accused each other of violating the ceasefire agreement.

However, in recent months, both countries have taken several steps toward more active negotiations on the resolution of the conflict and the demarcation of borders.

Despite meetings mediated by Russia and the EU, however, the sides were unable to reach agreements regarding a peace treaty, demarcation, or opening transport links.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev welcomed the meeting in Tbilisi, at the same time demanding the withdrawal of all Armenian troops from Nagorno-Karabakh. He claimed that a senior official from Russia’s Ministry of Defence had promised him that Armenia would withdraw its troops by June, but that they did not ‘keep their word’.

‘If Armenia does not want to withdraw its armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan, then let us know this clearly, and we will know what to do next’, Aliyev said.

‘What will be our answer? Perhaps it is inappropriate to say it now.’

A day prior to the meeting in Tbilisi, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced plans to station border guards from the National Security Service across all of Armenia’s borders.

Currently, only the borders with Georgia and Iran have border guards stationed on them, while Russian troops observe the border with Turkey, and the Armenian army the border with Azerbaijan.


Armenian PM stresses “great importance” of strengthening relations with Georgia

Ani Kharatian
Georgia – July 18 2022
Agenda.ge, 18 Jul 2022 – 11:15, Tbilisi,Georgia

Armenia has “always attached great importance” to the development and strengthening of relations with “friendly Georgia”, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Sunday in a congratulatory message to his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Pashinyan stressed the past 30 years was “just a moment in the centuries-old history” of the Armenian and Georgian peoples, noting the recent decades had been characterised as the “most important” period of establishing “neighbourly interstate relations”, the Armenian Government Administration said.

Armenia has always attached great importance to the consistent development and strengthening of relations with neighbouring and friendly Georgia, and the intensity of high-level meetings between the two countries proves our firm commitment to further expand the existing mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas”, Pashinyan said.

The head of the Armenian Government expressed confidence that the “mutual desire” to develop Armenian-Georgian relations and reliable dialogue at the official level would continue to “determine” the common efforts for the benefit of the two peoples.

 

Sports: Next round in Armenia

Markos Nalchajian
July 18 2022
For lack of a precise date, the International Boxing Federation (IBA, ex AIBA) has found a place for its extraordinary congress. It will take place in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. The decision was taken at the end of the week by the board of directors of the authority, meeting in hybrid mode from Algeria. The congress will be held at a date yet to be determined, between September 24 and October 1, 2022. It will be accessible via streaming, to allow all delegates to participate, at least online for those who can not travel in person to Armenia. This extraordinary congress promises to be decisive for the Olympic future of boxing, as it will be dominated by a new election for the presidency of the IBA. The last election, held in May in Istanbul, saw the victory of the Russian Umar Kremlev, re-elected to the presidency after the exclusion of his only rival, Boris van der Vorst (photo above). Judged ineligible on the eve of the vote, for an obscure story of rules, the Dutchman appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). He won his appeal. A new electoral battle will therefore take place in Yerevan, at the end of September, between Umar Kremlev and Boris van der Vorst. It will be closely observed by the IOC, which has never made a secret of its doubts and concerns about the Russian leader.

https://www.francsjeux.com/breves/next-round-in-armenia

Aircompany Armenia and Georgian Airlines order three Boeing 737-800BCFs

Raffi Khondkarian
July 18 2022

By Rebecca Jeffrey

Aircompany Armenia and its partner company Georgian Airlines have ordered three 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters (BCF) as part of the group’s plan to add more dedicated cargo airplanes to its operations in the Caucasus region.

The first 737-800BCF on order will be delivered next year, with deliveries continuing into 2024, said Boeing. The converted freighters will be operated by Georgian Airlines, which already operates one 737-800BCF.

The 737-800s will be modified at Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Company Limited (GAMECO) and at Taikoo (Shandong) Aircraft Engineering Co. Ltd. (STAECO) in China.

“We are thrilled to bring more much-needed air cargo capacity to the region with the addition of three 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters,” said Tamaz Gaiashvili, president of Georgian Airlines Group. “The 737-800BCF has the payload, range and capability to carry both e-commerce and general cargo.” 

Stephanie Pope, president and chief executive of Boeing Global Services, added: “We are pleased Aircompany Armenia and Georgian Airlines have selected the 737-800BCF to meet growing demand for air cargo in the markets they serve, and are honoured to continue to support their dedicated freighter operations’ expansion.”

The 737-800BCF carries more payload – up to 23.9 tons (52,800 lbs.) – and flies farther – 3,750 km (2,025 nautical miles) compared to 737 Classic freighters. The 737-800BCF has secured more than 250 orders and commitments from more than 20 customers, said Boeing.

In its recently published Commercial Market Outlook (CMO) for 2022-2041, Boeing predicted that over the next 20 years the global freighter fleet will grow by 80%, with conversions accounting for two third of deliveries.

https://www.aircargonews.net/services/freighter-conversions-mro/aircompany-armenia-and-georgian-airlines-order-three-boeing-737-800bcfs/

Armenian PM, chief of Russia’s Intelligence Service discuss processes taking place in the South Caucasus

Sonya Jalatian
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – July 18 2022
July 18, 2022, 16:25

 1 minute read

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received the Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation Sergey Naryshkin.

The Prime Minister noted that Mr. Naryshkin’s visit is another good opportunity to discuss issues on the agenda of Armenian-Russian allied relations. Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and expressed confidence that joint efforts will make the cooperation more effective and stronger.

Sergey Naryshkin expressed gratitude for the warm reception and emphasized the high-level political dialogue between Armenia and Russia, which contributes to the development and strengthening of cooperation in various fields.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to international and regional security. Reference was made to the processes taking place in the South Caucasus region.

https://en.armradio.am/2022/07/18/armenian-pm-chief-of-russias-intelligence-service-discuss-processes-taking-place-in-the-south-caucasus/

Levon Aronian wins FTX Road to Miami

Babken Chilingarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – July 18 2022
July 18, 2022, 13:04

 1 minute read

Levon Aronian needed just three games on Sunday to wrap up victory in the FTX Road to Miami, adding the $25,000 top prize to his $5,500 earnings from the Prelims. Wei Yi came out all guns blazing, but a late blunder in the first game left him with an almost impossible task, Chess24 reports.

Levon Aronian finished 7th in the Prelims but ultimately won 7 games and lost just one on the way to triumph in the knockout stages. In the final he won three games, all with the black pieces.

Asked what most satisfied him with his victory, he commented: “The steady improvement, I think! Of course I didn’t really deserve to be Top 8 because my play was very, very poor, and then after that I think I got myself together and I think I played better.”