Category: News

PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
395 Concord Ave.
Belmont, MA 02478
Phone: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
Contact: Marc Mamigonian
GERARD LIBARIDIAN TO OFFER SEMINAR
ON “ARMENIA TODAY: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS”
AT NAASR CENTER
Prof. Gerard J. Libaridian, Alex Manoogian Visiting Professor of
Modern Armenian History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, will
conduct a one-day seminar on “Armenia Today: Problems and Prospects”
at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research. It
will take place on Saturday, October 9, 2004, at the NAASR Center,
395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA. The seminar will run from 9 a.m. until
4 p.m. with breaks for coffee and lunch.
Prof. Libaridian’s seminar will serve as a follow-up to his
well-received October 2003 seminar “Making Sense of the Armenian
Republic,” at the end of which Libaridian said he had only gotten
through a portion of what he had to say on the subject. “Armenia Today:
Problems and Prospects” offers both to those who attended last year’s
seminar as well as newcomers the opportunity to gain even greater
understanding of the complexities of modern Armenia.
In addition to Libaridian, NAASR’s program of adult education seminars
and mini-courses has included such authorities as Harvard University
Prof. James R. Russell, Prof. Simon Payaslian of Clark University,
Dr. Suzanne Moranian, and Dr. Barbara Merguerian. This series of
courses represents a new aspect of NAASR’s ongoing efforts to give
the public access to leading Armenian Studies scholars and their
research in an in-depth and meaningful fashion.
Focus on Recent Developments in Armenia and Karabagh
The seminar will explore the most recent developments in the Armenian
Republic in the areas of politics, economics, and foreign policy,
including the Karabagh negotiations. It will attempt to view these
developments from a variety of perspectives which will lead to
assessments regarding future developments.
Special attention will be paid to the actions and strategies of the
opposition parties and the response of the government beginning in
April 2004, the implications of these positions for the development
of democracy and economic viability, as well as for the resolution
of the Karabagh problem.
Experienced Scholar and Policy Maker
Gerard J. Libaridian received a Ph.D. degree in history from the
University of California, Los Angeles, and served as an advisor to
President Levon Ter Petrossian of Armenia from 1991 to September 1997.
During his time as a presidential advisor he served as Senior Advisor
for foreign policy and security issues (1994-97), First Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs (1993-94), negotiator for the Karabagh conflict,
and coordinator of conflict-related policy in the office of the
President. He is the author of Armenia at the Crossroads: Democracy
and Nationhood in the Post-Soviet Era, The Challenge of Statehood:
Armenian Political Thinking Since Independence, and most recently
Modern Armenia: People, Nation, State.
Admission is open to all, but enrollment will be limited in order to
encourage active discussion and interaction. It is strongly urged
that participants register by October 1. Please contact NAASR for
information about registration fees.
The NAASR Center is located near Belmont Center and is directly
opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. Post Office.
Ample parking is available around the building and in adjacent areas.
More information on Prof. Libaridian’s seminar or about NAASR and
its programs for the furtherance of Armenian studies, research, and
publication may be had by calling 617-489-1610, by fax at 617-484-1759,
by e-mail at [email protected], or by writing to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave.,
Belmont, MA 02478.

PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
395 Concord Ave.
Belmont, MA 02478
Phone: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
Contact: Marc Mamigonian
NEW PUBLICATION FROM NAASR’S
ARMENIAN HERITAGE PRESS
The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research proudly
announces the publication by the Armenian Heritage Press of Hagop:
An Armenian Genocide Survivor’s Journey to Freedom by Theodore
Kharpertian.
A Remarkable Chronicle of an Unusual Journey
Hagop recounts the life of Hagop Kharpertian, the sole survivor in
his family of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, in which more than one
million Armenians perished at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
Written by his son in the form of a memoir, covering nearly a century
and spanning locales from Asia Minor and the Middle East to Europe
and the United States, Hagop represents the odyssey of one man’s
lifelong struggle and tenacity: the Genocide and his miraculous
but bitter childhood survival; the uncertain and difficult years
of transition from Malatia, his birthplace in Turkey, to Asnieres,
his home in France; and the surprising decision after World War II
to settle and raise a family in the United States.
A Family Saga Across Three Continents
Both a historical account and a poignant family saga of sorrow and joy,
of loss and triumph, Hagop is a tale of crime without punishment –
the Genocide – and the narrative of a remarkable life and its impact
on a new, American-born generation.
The author, Theodore Kharpertian, was born in Jersey City, New
Jersey, in 1949. He is currently Professor of English at Hudson County
Community College, where he has been a full-time faculty member since
1979, and has taught at Rutgers University in Newark. He received
his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from McGill University in Montreal and did
his undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition
to Hagop, he is the author of A Hand to Turn the Time: The Menippean
Satires of Thomas Pynchon, and his poetry has appeared in Talisman:
A Journal of Contemporary Poetry and Reviews, for which he serves as
Associate Editor. He lives with his family in Montclair, New Jersey.
Hagop, his father, also resides in New Jersey and remains active at
age 97.
Hagop is available at NAASR’s Armenian Book Clearing House.
More information about Hagop, or NAASR and its programs for the
furtherance of Armenian studies, research, and publication may be had
by calling 617-489-1610, faxing 617-484-1759, e-mailing [email protected],
or writing to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.

Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Varekai’ premières tonight at RFK Stadium.
By LISA CHINN
Fredericksburg.com
Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Varekai’ premières
Date published: 9/16/2004
THE FREE LANCE-STAR
pART CIRCUS, part theater, but mostly mystery and mag- ic, Cirque du
Soleil pushes the athleticism of its performers and the imaginations
of its viewers to the limit.
Formed by a group of street performers in 1984, the company’s
presentations are known for their amazing midair acrobatic silhouettes,
human juggling and contortionist acts, and a myriad of incredible
feats.
Cirque du Soleil is “a theatrical blend of circus arts played
out against fairyland sets, awash in magical effects and set to
spellbinding music.”
This, according to a press release touting one of the company’s
nine shows currently being presented on two continents. “Varekai,”
now touring North America, opens tonight at 8 p.m. on the grounds of
RFK stadium in Washington.
The show promises to weave incredible choreography with the strength,
grace and agility of more than 50 acrobats, jugglers, gymnasts and
others from across the globe. Performers hail from 14 countries,
including China, Mexico, Russia and Spain, as well as the United
States.
The story of “Varekai,” which means “wherever” in the Romany language
of the gypsies, is a nomadic tale that takes place deep in a forest–in
a place where anything is possible.
The show’s costume crew spent 33,000 hours creating a collection
of 130-plus outrageous outfits, which are fashioned from Lycra and
special materials, including flexible titanium rods, sponge nylon
and fire-resistant fabrics.
Composer Violaine Corradi concocted a unique blend of sounds from
Hawaii, France and Armenia, as well as some gospel, to create the
unusual effect needed to complement the otherworldly aura of “Varekai.”
A host of fantastical creatures will perform on a set consisting
of more than 300 trees that stretch as high as 35 feet. Audiences
will witness these extraordinary entertainers teetering on canes,
catapulting and catching one another, and soaring through the air
via trapeze, hoops, swings and straps.
Cirque du Soleil’s “Varekai” takes place beneath the company’s
trademark blue and yellow Grand Chapiteau at RFK stadium. The show
will remain in Washington for a limited engagement through Sunday,
Oct. 24, before moving on to Dallas.
To reach LISA CHINN: 540/374-5412 [email protected]
Date published: 9/16/2004

Armenian MPs to attend NATO seminar in Baku in November
Trend news agency
16 Sep 04
Baku, 16 September, Trend correspondent S. Logmanoglu: Armenian
representatives’ visit to attend the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s
Rose-Roth seminar scheduled for 26-28 November has not been cancelled,
the head of the Azerbaijani delegation at the NATO Parliamentary
Assembly and deputy speaker of the Milli Maclis [Azerbaijani
parliament], Ziyafat Asgarov, has told Trend news agency.
Armenian MPs are not servicemen but civilians and therefore this
visit to Baku will not cause serious protests, he said.
The seminar that has been postponed since 2003 will be held at
Hotel Hyatt Park, which was chosen by the leadership of the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly during their visit to Baku.

Armenian leader notes need to “modernize” CIS
Mediamax news agency
16 Sep 04
Yerevan, 16 September: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said in
Astana today that it is important to “modernize” the Commonwealth of
Independent States [CIS].
The Armenian president said this in reply to a question from a special
Mediamax correspondent in Kazakhstan at a press conference on the
results of the CIS leaders’ summit.
Kocharyan said that addressing the session today, the Kazakh president
suggested that CIS bodies be radically reformed. The Armenian president
expressed the hope that the CIS leaders will succeed in defining the
outlines of the reforms within a year.
“The CIS has potential, but we need to define exactly the objectives we
are striving to achieve. It is necessary to establish which structures
of the CIS are functioning objectively and which structures need to
be improved,” Robert Kocharyan said.

Armenian speaker, top Italian MP discuss ties
Public Television of Armenia
15 Sep 04
The speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, Artur Bagdasaryan, and
Italy’s Deputy Senate Speaker Lamberto Dini discussed in Yerevan today
the importance of creating an Italian House in Armenia. They noted that
the opening of the Italian House in Armenia will promote the deepening
of Armenian-Italian scientific-cultural and trade-economic relations.
Bagdasaryan and Dini are sure that cooperation between the regions
will promote the development of small and medium-sized businesses
and increase foreign investments in Armenia.
The Italian deputy senate speaker arrived in Yerevan as a member of
a delegation from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
[Video showed the meeting]

Armenian MP unhappy about Council of Europe Karabakh report
Public Television of Armenia
16 Sep 04
[Presenter] Adequate, but unsatisfactory – this was the assessment of
democratic changes in Armenia in a report by a co-rapporteur of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] on Armenia’s
commitments.
At another debate in Paris, MPs of PACE heard a report on Karabakh. The
report had been drawn up by [Council of Europe Secretary-General]
Terry Davis, who said that it should not be accepted as the
secretary-general’s view. This report was filed once it was submitted
to the political commission.
The head of the Armenian delegation at the Council of Europe, Tigran
Torosyan, said that the filed report by Terry Davis did not contain
favourable statements on the Karabakh conflict. Now the major goal
is to have a new report drafted that will describe the real situation.
[Tigran Torosyan over telephone] I suggested in my speech that a
meeting be arranged without delay between representatives of Nagornyy
Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the presence of the co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group. The presence of the co-chairs is of utmost
importance as Terry Davis’s report also refers to the Minsk Group.
[Presenter] The MP from the opposition, Shavarsh Kocharyan, is unhappy
about the PACE report on Armenia honouring its commitments. PACE
expressed its “satisfaction” with the fulfilment of the requirements
of the January session of the Council of Europe. Kocharyan said that
the word “satisfaction” implied honouring the commitments.
Armenian delegates who were absent from the PACE session believe that
the report is impartial.
[Passage omitted: covered views of parliamentary factions]

Baku made mistake by denying Armenians entry to Azerbaijan – pundit
Ekho, Baku
16 Sep 04
Azerbaijan’s refusal to entertain Armenian officers at the NATO
Cooperative Best Effort 2004 exercises in Baku has been stirring the
Azerbaijani public for several days now.
[Passage omitted: reported statement by the US ambassador about
Washington regretting that Armenian officers were denied visas]
The ambassador is right that earlier Baku, namely its president,
gave assurances that it would ensure the security of the Armenian
officers, should they take part in the NATO exercises. It happened in
summer. Let’s also recall that after their latest meeting in Prague
on 30 August, Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanyan
gave very high assessments of the talks, saying that their results
were reassuring and could lead to progress in the negotiations between
Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharyan.
>>From this standpoint, the following excerpt from the Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry’s statement made after the NATO decision to cancel the
exercises looks quite strange: “In the circumstances of the ongoing
occupation of 20 per cent of Azerbaijani territory and the presence
of 1m refugees, the leadership of the Republic of Armenia is taking
an increasingly non-constructive position in the negotiations.”
The former head of the Azerbaijani presidential secretariat and
currently the chairman of the public forum In the name of Azerbaijan,
Eldar Namazov, believes that the Azerbaijani leadership is to blame
for the tension that has taken shape.
“This is totally wrong when such an important event, which had been
planned for a long time, is called off hours before it is scheduled
to start. And this was done for a reason which, as it was clear
from the very beginning, could bring about serious consequences. The
Azerbaijani authorities should have raised the issue at an earlier
stage and shouldn’t have waited for visitors to arrive from a number
of countries and, with only several hours left till the start of
the exercises, made a hasty decision which will obviously affect our
relations with NATO,” Namazov said.
The political analyst thinks this is a “serious mistake by the
Azerbaijani authorities”.
“As for the implications of the decision, I think there will
probably be a pause in our relations now. But I think this will
first of all concern the NATO administration’s assessment of the
Azerbaijani leadership’s actions, while Azerbaijan as a state will
continue to attract the alliance’s interest. Because we are located
at a very important strategic junction between Europe and Asia,
the South-West and North-South corridors go through Azerbaijan,
Caspian oil resources will be transported to the world market through
Azerbaijan. All this causes permanent interest in our country on the
part of world superpowers and leading international organizations,
and this interest is unlikely to lessen because of such short-sighted
actions by the Azerbaijani leadership,” he said.
“I am unhappy with the way international bodies are handling the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, but from the standpoint of the state we
have to bear in mind that Azerbaijan’s national security is threatened
by dozens of international challenges. The Armenian aggression is the
main, but not the only one of these challenges. And if NATO can help
us avert other threats, then cooperation with NATO represents great
value for us,” Namazov added.
Namazov does not believe that things will reach a point when relations
with NATO will be terminated, “but further steps will be taken with
a view to how consistent the Azerbaijani authorities will be”.

CIS leaders realize need to reform to resist terrorism
RTR Russia TV, Moscow
16 Sep 04
[Presenter] CIS leaders met in the Kazakh capital of Astana today. The
central theme was one that both politicians and ordinary citizens
now talk about, namely the fight against terrorism.
They decided to pool their efforts: a CIS security council is being
set up to coordinate the fight against the common threat.
Our special correspondent Andrey Kondrashov reports from Astana:
[Correspondent] In the Kazakh capital of Astana, formerly Tselinograd,
where virgin lands are now ploughed to build palaces, today was the
day of CIS reform. The first item on the agenda was the main one:
joint resistance against terrorism. It turned out that everyone
feels solidarity with Russia – the only problem is that the CIS as a
structure hardly offers efficient help. Major reform now looms large
for the commonwealth.
The heads of state had agreed a week in advance of the summit that
the fight against terrorism and nothing else would be the central
issue. At their meeting without aides, the statement on the Beslan
tragedy was not even discussed. Everyone was in agreement, so the
chairman, [Ukrainian President Leonid] Kuchma, went on to read it
out in the presence of ministers and the press. [Passage omitted.]
[Kazakh President Nursultan] Nazarbayev said the current summit
was being held against a backdrop of advances made by international
terrorism. We need to respond together, the summit’s host went on,
and the first step is a drastic reform of the CIS. It turned out that
this step came as no surprise to the presidents. Everyone is sick of
the cumbersome bureaucratic structure, only a handful of the hundreds
of documents signed are working and officials who have been pensioned
off eat away at the common funds on foreign trips.
[Nazarbayev, in Russian] The total of our countries’ contributions
to the single budget of CIS bodies is 7m dollars. Large sums are
spent on holding summits, council meetings and sending experts to
various conferences. In January-August this year alone, over 30 expert
conference were held, many of them yielding practically no results.
[Correspondent] It has been proposed that virtually all CIS structures
should be reorganized and that a real security council should be set
up in their place so that the joint fight against terrorism is no
longer just talk, as they put it.
All the documents signed today were clearly antiterrorist in
nature. After that, Leonid Kuchma stepped down from his post and was
awarded the top CIS decoration for his good work. Taking over from
him as chairman of the council was not [Robert] Kocharyan [Armenian
president], [Ilham] Aliyev [Azerbaijan’s president] or [Alyaksandr]
Lukashenka [Belarusian president, as dictated by the alphabet, but
Putin – presumably as dictated by the situation. This meant that
everyone had the same understanding of what terrorism was. [Passage
omitted.]
It is impossible to fight terrorism efficiently as long as there are
conflicts in the CIS, including frozen one, the [final] news conference
was told. From that moment, each participant started believing that
his conflict was the most important.
[Georgian President] Mikheil Saakashvili said everything turned out
fine in Georgia once he had come, and the only outstanding issue
was Abkhazia. [Passage omitted] Robert Kocharyan then spoke about
[Nagornyy] Karabakh, but not for long: the Georgians once again
recalled Abkhazia, which they regard as the most frozen conflict.
At the end of the news conference, the Uzbek president could no
longer contain himself. He said it was not proper to use the CIS
platform for self-promotion. Mikheil Saakashvili, who obviously had
not received all the answers, was invited to a separate meeting with
Vladimir Putin. They did not talk long. [Passage omitted.]

Bulgaria says no military cooperation with Azerbaijan, Armenia until settlement
Trend news agency
16 Sep 04
Baku, 16 September, Trend correspondent S. Agayeva: “Bulgaria will
cooperate in the military sphere with neither Azerbaijan nor Armenia
until the conflict around Nagornyy Karabakh is settled,” Ivan Palchev,
Bulgaria’s charge d’affaires in Azerbaijan, has told journalists.
Palchev said that the Bulgarian Defence Ministry had been successfully
cooperating with the defence ministries of Azerbaijan and Armenia only
in the military-technical sphere. Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar
Abiyev’s official visit to Sofia is scheduled for late October. The
Azerbaijani and Bulgarian defence ministers will discuss prospects
of future cooperation during the visit.
Palchev added that official Sofia adhered to its position on the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict believing that “Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity must be preserved, while Nagornyy Karabakh’s status is
Azerbaijan’s internal affair”.