Category: News

San Bernardino Sun, CA
Redlands Daily Facts, CA
Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA
Feb 23 2005
The Armenian table
Make it soecial with cusine’s unique flavors
By Natalie Haughton
Staff Writer
Armenian cooking, a cuisine that blends Mediterranean flavors with
Persian, Turkish and Russian accents, stirs up fond childhood
memories for Carla Simonian of Woodland Hills for foods like shish
kebabs, sarmas (stuffed grape leaves), dolmas (stuffed vegetables),
basterma (air-dried beef), boeregs (filo cheese triangles), lavosh,
lahmajoun (Armenian pizza), pilafs and kadayif (filo dessert).
Whenever her family gathered, there were abundant tables of food. Now
she’s sharing her culinary heritage with her daughters.
“I think my cooking was influenced by a tight family background and
always being around Armenian food,” said Simonian, who taught herself
to cook Armenian food with the help of books and advice from her
aunts, grandmother, cousins and mother-in-law.
Food traditions are important to Armenian families.
In a recently released cookbook, “The Armenian Table” (St. Martin’s
Press; $29.95), Victoria Jenanyan Wise of Oakland shares her heritage
and treasured family recipes.
Wise recalls regularly visiting her father’s relatives in Sacramento
(her father was Armenian) “who were the major family figures of my
childhood in terms of food.” For major celebratory occasions, the men
always grilled the shish kebabs while the woman handled the other
cooking tasks.
“Altogether, the cupboard holds a nutritious and fragrant mix,
aromatic and colorful as a spice bazaar or open-air market,” said
Wise of Armenian cuisine.
Hallmarks include lamb, dried fruits (apricots, dates, raisins, figs,
prunes), nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, almonds, pistachios), yogurt,
string cheese, filo dough, butter, olive oil, bulgur, rice, lemon
juice, cider vinegar, lots of vegetables (eggplant, green beans,
tomatoes, fresh peppers, etc.), fresh herbs such as mint, dill and
parsley, and spices and seasonings like cumin, paprika, cinnamon,
Aleppo pepper and sumac.
“Most of the ingredients in Armenian food are very natural and
healthy,” said Simonian. “We were eating yogurt years before it ever
caught on here.”
While Armenian food has some similarities to other Middle Eastern
cuisines, there are differences. Armenians typically don’t use tahini
or hummus.
Simonian, a Los Angeles native, recollects her grandfather (who
raised her along with an aunt after her mother died) making a
delicious hot yogurt soup and lots of stews (green beans with lamb
and others with leeks).
“We had lots of vegetables (green beans, stuffed bell peppers,
stuffed onions, squash and so on), only a small amount of meat and
often just sliced cucumbers, tomatoes or radishes or olives instead
of a green salad.”
Lavosh — a yeast dough Armenian cracker bread that softens when you
dampen with a little water and let stand covered with a towel for 20
to 40 minutes — replaced bread. Available in bags of 6 in Middle
Eastern markets, large dry lavosh rounds will keep for weeks at room
temperature.
When friends and relatives gathered, a glorious, colorful maza
(appetizer) platter — a mainstay of the Armenian table — with
basterma (dried beef with a coating of chaiman, a paste made of
fenugreek with paprika and other spices), string cheese, assorted
black olives, tourshi (pickled vegetables like carrots, cabbage,
cauliflower or green beans), eggplant dip, lavosh, boeregs and more
was always served before dinner, said Simonian. It’s a tradition
she’s kept alive when entertaining today, even when she serves
nontraditional Armenian entrees like grilled steaks, chicken or
chops.
Although neither Simonian nor Wise serves Armenian fare daily (it’s
reserved for special occasions and family gatherings), the flavors
and scents permeate their everyday cooking.
Wise’s informative cookbook, her 13th, contains more than 165
recipes, a mix of traditional signature favorites along with
inspired, innovative and contemporary variations on the theme. For
cooks, it’s Armenian 101 and much more — a great way to learn about
the cuisine. Wise made a concerted effort to make the recipes
approachable and easy to execute.
Particularly interesting are her notes accompanying each recipe and
her from-scratch renditions of yogurt, lavosh, mock basterma and
lahmajoun.

Rocky Mountain News, CO
Feb 23 2005
15-member Camerata a quartet at heart
By Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News
February 23, 2005
Let’s get a few things straight about Camerata Sweden.
First, we really shouldn’t call it Camerata Sweden.

“After next season, we’ll officially call ourselves Camerata
Nordica,” said the group’s music director, Levon Chilingirian. “We
have players from several Scandinavian countries and from the Baltic
countries, so the old name has never really fit.”
On Sunday the 15-member chamber orchestra will be appearing in an
Artist Series concert at Macky Auditorium in Boulder.
Oops – did we say orchestra? That’s not right, either.
“For us, orchestra is a dirty word,” said Chilingirian.
“Some in the group are chamber-music players (including the music
director, who is first violinist of the venerable Chilingirian String
Quartet), and some are concert soloists. In fact, on this tour, three
players are members of the same string quartet.”
One more thing: Chilingirian is leader of the ensemble, but he’s not
the conductor. There isn’t one.
“We’re like an extended string quartet,” he explained. “All of us
stand (except, of course, the cellists). I’ll take the lead in terms
of an interpretation, but the players are far more active with their
input than in a normal chamber orchestra.”
The Armenian violinist came aboard in 1997, when a former student of
his, now a member of the 30-year-old ensemble, invited him to help
solidify the group’s sound. He shares the leadership role with
associate director Terje T?nnesen.
Now that we’re clear about the chamber-music roots of Camerata Sweden
(uh, Nordica), it should come as no surprise that the group’s
repertory focuses on settings of string quartets.
The Camerata – which consists of five first violins, four seconds,
three violas, two cellos and a double bass – will play quartets by
Shostakovich (No. 8), Mozart (No. 2) and Grieg (No. 2), as well as
the Violin concerto by Swedish composer Anders Eliasson.
“It’s a fantastic experience for them,” Chilingirian said of the
impact this repertory has had on the musicians.
“When we played through the Beethoven Opus 59, No. 3 (not on Sunday’s
program), it really stretched us. It added to the whole chamber-music
experience.”
Not every quartet lends itself to such string-orchestra settings.
“I would never do any of the Mozart Quartets dedicated to Haydn, but
the early works (such as No. 2, played Sunday) work wonderfully. And
I believe that large-scale pieces such as Schubert’s G-major
(Quartet) and the C-major (String) Quintet would simply be too
ridiculous to attempt.”
Chilingirian stressed that these settings are not meant as
improvements of the originals.
“You can say they all work best as string quartets. But, on the other
hand, some of them were conceived just as pieces of music. Of course,
the pure form is the quartet.”
The task of converting a four-voice piece into a 15-voice piece
involves more than adding more instruments to each part, he noted.
“I’m thinking about repertory all the time – about what will work and
what won’t. It’s important in the arrangements to have everyone play
as much as possible.”
He acknowledged that the Shostakovich No. 8 also exists as the
Chamber Symphony, orchestrated by Rudolf Barshai.
“We’re doing the Eighth (Quartet) – simple as that,” the violinist
said. “This version is lean and small.”
In other words, when converting quartets to larger-size ensembles,
too many notes can spoil the score.
“Years ago, I did the (late Beethoven) Grosse fuge with a string
orchestra, and was handed the (Felix) Weingartner edition. I stayed
up all night with the white-out, getting it into shape.”

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Feb 23 2005
AZERBAIJAN TO DEEPEN LINKS WITH ARMED FORCES OF BELGIUM
[February 23, 2005, 12:04:03]
This idea has been stated by Minister of Defense, colonel-general
Safar Abiyev at the meeting with the ambassador of Kingdom of Belgium
in Turkey and Azerbaijan Mark Van Risselberg.
Colonel-general Safar Abiyev, having welcomed the ambassador, has
congratulated him on a new post and has wished successes. The
Minister has told: `Representatives of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan
and Belgium closely cooperate within the framework of antiterrorist
coalition and the NATO `Partnership for Peace’ Program. We are going
to deepen our links with the NATO and Armed forces of Belgium.
Ambassador Mark Van Risselberg has noted that is glad to arrival in
Azerbaijan, highly has estimated active participation of the Republic
in antiterrorist coalition, and has expressed regret in connection
with occupation by Armenia of the Azerbaijan lands. In this sense,
the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan from the beginning of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict have developed and became stronger. But I
would like, that settlement of the conflict has taken place without
use of the Armed Forces.
Having touched upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, minister Safar
Abiyev has noted, that in some days would be marked anniversary of
the Khojali tragedy – Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Azerbaijan city of Khojali in one night has been burnt and
destroyed together with inhabitants.
Having emphasized, that the management of Azerbaijan aspires to peace
and fair settlement of the conflict, that at the same time the people
of Azerbaijan is concerned with that the world community till now has
not recognized Armenia as a state- aggressor, he has told: `’To tell
the truth, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in the
resolution adopted recently has named Armenia as a state-aggressor.
But all international organizations should make it. Armenia
systematically resettles the occupied Azerbaijan lands. It is
irresponsibility. We once again declare, that Azerbaijan will not
concede Armenia a span of its land. Until the conflict has not found
its resolution, the probability of renewal of military operations is
great enough. If it will take place, the responsibility will lie on
Armenia’.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Feb 23 2005
NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT TO BE DISCUSSED AT OSCE PA SUMMER SESSION
[February 22, 2005, 12:01:04]
The Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict will be discussed
at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly summer session on July 4-9, in
Washington.
Chairman of the economic policy standing committee of Milli Majlis,
head of the parliamentary delegation at OSCE Assembly Sattar Safarov
said the document prepared by the OSCE PA special representative on
the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Goran Lenmarker and
which was accepted in the Council of Europe, there are moments that
do not meet interests of Azerbaijan. Official Baku demands the
document, which will be accepted by the OSCE PA to be amended, and
Armenia recognized as aggressor state.
Until the session, Mr. G. Lenmarker is expected to visit the region
and make possible amendments in some items.

Armenian president offers condolences to Iranian leader over quake
A1+ web site
23 Feb 05
Today President Robert Kocharyan sent his condolences to the Iranian
president, Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, in connection with the devastating
earthquake in Iran.
The message said: “I received with great pain the news about the
earthquake in the province of Kerman in Iran Islamic Republic which
caused the deaths of so many people.
On behalf of the Armenian people and myself I would like to offer my
deep condolences to you and to the friendly Iranian people and
especially to the relatives of the victims”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Easterner, WA
Feb 23 2005
Armenian educators head to university March 1
By Thomas Coghlan, News Assistant
February 22, 2005
Six Armenian educators will be coming to EWU in March to participate
in a social science curriculum development program.
`It is a new program for Eastern, previously housed at George Mason
University,’ said Earl Gibbons, junior executive director of
Educational Outreach.
EWU received the $63,900 grant from the Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs (ECA) in collaboration with the International
Research and Exchange Board (IREX).
The ECA, part of the State Department, is aimed at creating
international education and training programs that help the U.S. and
other countries promote a mutual understating of each, while
presenting the historical, social and cultural aspects of America.
The IREX, founded in 1968, is an international nonprofit organization
that specializes in education, independent media, Internet
development and civil society programs. The grant that EWU received
was part of their educational outreach program designed to contribute
to other countries.
In May 2004, IREX won the 2004-2007 High School Social Science
Development and Teacher Education Project for Armenia (HST). Their
goal with this program is to provide professional development for
educators and expose them to new ideas and programs that they can
take home with them and apply to their school system.
The Armenian school system has suffered since the fall of the Soviet
Union. Since Armenia has not been an independent country for a long
time, they lack the infrastructure and experience to provide the
level of education that they need.
The HST program is one of the ways in which they are trying to
rebuild their education system.
Although this program is specifically designed for the social studies
program, which includes areas like history, government, global issues
and others, it will have a reverberating effect on other aspects of
the Armenian education system.
The programs that these educators take back home will be piloted and
adapted to fit the needs of their school system. These educators will
then share what they have learned with other educators.
Gibbons and Gary Varella, the principal investigators who have been
working in Armenia for a number of years, traveled Feb. 1 to Armenia
to meet with the candidates and then select the six-member team.
They performed field assessments of the needs and priorities of the
high schools then later gave a two-day workshop in Yerevan, Armenia,
focusing on the results of what they discovered in their assessments.
This initial meeting helps the American side of this program prepare
the training program at EWU.
The Armenian educators will arrive at EWU March 1 to begin the
program. They will participate in a 12-week workshop focusing on
researching and creating a Handbook for Training High School
Teachers.
The Armenians will also work on a new curriculum for their high
school social studies program as well as beginning the preliminary
training for the high school pilot representatives that will help
other educators in Armenia benefit from the information learned at
EWU.
At the conclusion of the 12-week program there will be another
workshop in Yerevan and the final scheduling of the pilot-testing
program will begin.
This program represents EWU’s devotion to cultural diversity here on
campus, as well as a continued support for the international
community. Each program that EWU hosts opens doors for future
developments and will be sure to attract similar programs and grants.

Armenian minister lays wreaths at war tomb
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
23 Feb 05
[Presenter] Russia and some other CIS countries celebrate 23 February
as Defender of the Fatherland Day. In Soviet times 23 February was
celebrated as Red Army Day.
Defender of the Fatherland Day or Red Army Day is not celebrated
officially in Armenia. Armenia celebrates the establishment of the
Army Day on 28 January.
Every year Armenian and Russian servicemen and high-ranking officers
come to Victory Park in the Armenian capital Yerevan to lay wreaths
and flowers at the Unknown Soldier Tomb. Representatives of the
Armenian army said that not to celebrate 23 February, means to forget
the past. But it is impossible to forget it. The Armenian army was
established on the basis of the Soviet army.
[Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, captioned, shown in
Victory Park] I came here, first of all, because our army was
established on the basis of the Soviet army, second, we all came from
and grew up in that country and third, as you all saw on 28 January
our Russian colleagues had played an active part in our army’s
anniversary celebrations.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Feb 23 2005
Russian political analyst proposes Upper Garabagh be managed by UN

Baku, February 22, AssA-Irada
Freezing the Upper Garabagh conflict settlement will result in
long-term bloody developments, political analyst, chairman of the
Presidium of the Council of Foreign and Defence Policy under the
Russian President, Sergey Karaganov, has told Armenia’s ANKA news
agency.
Karaganov said that the parties to the conflict will never come to
terms or make mutual concessions. `If any Azerbaijani leader agrees
to give up Garabagh, it will mean a political fiasco for him,’ noted
Karganov, expressing the same opinion on Armenia. As for a suitable
way of resolving the Upper Garabagh conflict for Azerbaijan and
Armenia in the long run, the Russian political analyst proposed that
a concept on territories under the UN mandate be set up in the
region. The concept envisions that the conflict zones are managed by
the United Nations.*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Feb 23 2005
`One should be ready for war to achieve peace’ – Belgian Amb.

Baku, February 22, AssA-Irada
The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh was in focus of
discussions at the meeting of Minister for Defence, Colonel-General
Safar Abiyev with the Belgian Ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan
Marc Van Risselberg on Monday.
The ambassador expressed his disappointment with occupation of 20% of
Azerbaijan’s territory by Armenia and stated that one should be ready
for a war in order to achieve peace.
Risselberg noted that the Azerbaijan Armed Forces have become
stronger since the Upper Garabagh conflict started. `I wish armed
forces not to be involved in settling the conflict,’ he said.
Minister Abiyev, in turn, said that Azerbaijan is making every effort
to resolve the conflict peacefully. He said that the Azerbaijani
people are concerned over the fact that the international community
has not recognized Armenia as an invader yet.`The Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe has recently passed a resolution
calling Armenia an aggressor and forces in Upper Garabagh as
separatists. All international organizations must adopt similar
decisions. Armenia is purposefully settling population of Armenian
descent in the occupied regions of Azerbaijan. We restate that
Azerbaijan won’t give up a single inch of its territory to Armenia.
The longer the Upper Garabagh conflict remains unsettled the more the
possibility of launching military operations. If this happens,
Armenia will bear full responsibility.’*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Feb 23 2005
Baku demands to amend document to be adopted by OSCE PA
Baku, February 22, AssA-Irada
The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh will be discussed
at the summer session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) due in
Washington on July 4-9.
Sattar Safarov, chairman of the permanent parliamentary commission on
economic issues, head of the Azerbaijani delegation at OSCE PA, says
that there are some provisions in the report prepared by the
Assembly’s special envoy on the Upper Garabagh conflict Goran
Lennmarker which don’t fully meet the national interests of
Azerbaijan.
`Official Baku demands that amendments be made to some provisions of
the document to be adopted by the OSCE PA and Armenia be recognized
as an aggressor,’ Safarov stressed.
Some issues will be reconsidered during the planned visit by
Lennmarker to the region before the OSCE PA session.*