Sunday, April 09, 2006
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THE WISDOM OF NASREDIN HOJA
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Nasredin Hoja was fixing his roof when a passerby asks him to come down. When Nasredin Hoja climbs down, the man identifies himself as a beggar and says, “Give me some money.” “Come on up to the roof with me,” Nasredin tells the man; and when they both go up to the roof the beggar says, “Where is my money?” To which the Hoja replies: “I have no money for you.”
*
I am afraid something similar may happen to us on the day the Turks admit the reality of the Genocide: they may ask us to climb to the roof with them. As for allowing us to annex historic Armenia: I doubt if the regime in Yerevan will want to assume the additional responsibility of depopulating it.
*
To those who disagree with me, let me recount another Hoja story. When a dying man asks Nasredin to teach him a prayer that will ease his passage to the next world, the Hoja says, “Say, God help me and Devil help me.” “That’s crazy!” the dying man says. “Not so, my dear fellow,” replies the Hoja. “You are in no position to reject anyone’s help.” Translated into idiomatic English: “Beggars can’t be choosers.” And when it comes to wisdom, who among us will dare to say he is not a beggar?
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Monday, April 10, 2006
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We speak of books only when they are written and published. What about books that are never written because the author is convinced they will be rejected by editors, or suppressed by censors, or ignored by an intolerant, hidebound, brainwashed, or philistine public?
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In an environment where even written books are ignored, why should anyone bother to mention unwritten ones?
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We may not have a contemporary literature but we do have publishers whose function appears to be to see that only politically correct trash gets into print. We also have well-paid editors by the dozen whose number one priority is to be on good terms with bosses, bishops, and benefactors not because they know better but because they have God and capital (make it Capital and god) on their side.
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Unlike Hitler and Stalin we don’t build concentration camps, but we have become experts on how to alienate, isolate, and silence. I speak as an inmate.
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We tend to confuse our spirit of contradiction with intelligence or erudition. As a child I had an overdeveloped spirit of contradiction and an underdeveloped brain. Any moron can contradict, that doesn’t make him a genius, only a nuisance.
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Tuesday, April 11, 2006
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Very often in life that which is most obvious is ignored. Or, in Cocteau’s own words: “Nothing is more easily ignored than the essential.” The following Nasredin Hoja story illustrates this brilliantly.
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In his youth the Hoja amassed a vast fortune by dealing in contraband. Everyone knew this but no one could figure out what he was smuggling, not even the border guards who would search him and his mule thoroughly. Years later when one of the guards met the Hoja and wanted to know what was it that he used to smuggle, the Hoja replied: “Mules.”
*
When it comes to the Genocide, the question that gets ignored is this: Why is it that after 600 years of coexistence the Turks suddenly decided to exterminate their most loyal subjects? The answer I was brought up to believe is, “Because they are bloodthirsty Asiatic barbarians.” Why did these barbarians, after managing an empire that lasted much longer than most empires (including our own under Dikran the Great) suddenly decide to act against their own interests? If we say “mass hysteria,” we give the Turks an out by allowing them to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
*
Speaking of insanity: what could be more insane than to surrender our destiny into the hands of barbarians and to serve them loyally for 600 years?
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Why did the Turks try to exterminate us? The short answer is, we don’t know. Not even the Turks know. That’s because none of us is equipped to understand and explain the incomprehensible, and a great deal about human conduct remains incomprehensible.
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Speaking for myself, I can’t even explain the crimes committed in my own neighborhood by people I know. Also, I can’t always explain why I behaved as I did. I can only repeat Toynbee’s explanation in reference to the Genocide: given the right (or wrong) combination of circumstances we are all capable of committing unspeakable acts.
*
I may not be sure about many things, but I am sure of this: there will come a time, and the sooner the better, when both Turks and Armenians will do what’s best for themselves by deciding to coexist in peace, and this time not as masters and subjects but as equals. However, this time may never come if we think of them as bloodthirsty Asiatic barbarians.
*
Allow me to conclude with another Nasredin Hoja story. A man once found a mirror. He picked it up, took a close look at it, didn’t like what he saw, and reasoning that if it was discarded by its original owner it must be useless, he threw it away. Isn’t that what we do too whenever we don’t like what we read about ourselves?
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Wednesday, April 12, 2006
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TOPICS FOR FUTURE SERMONS
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Faith becomes a liability when, instead of enhancing our understanding, tolerance, and compassion, it legitimizes our need to judge, condemn, and assert moral superiority.
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Stress the negative in yourself and you may succeed in enhancing your credibility. Speak well of yourself and run the risk of projecting the image of a self-satisfied jackass.
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We either advance towards the truth even if it means a fraction of an inch in our lifetime or we sink deeper into lies.
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When it comes to politicians, vote for the lesser of two evils, adopt a wait-and-see attitude, and prepare yourself to be disappointed.
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If you want to understand a country, read its dissidents and critics, not its propaganda. Read its propaganda only if you want to gauge the magnitude of its illusions.
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I may not be a candidate for literary immortality but I think I have a chance of getting there someday because even those who hate me read me (judging by the number of nasty e-mails I get) and I’d rather be read and hated than loved and ignored.
#

AZERBAIJAN KEEPS ARMENIAN PRISONERS OF WAR AS SLAVES
Panorama.am
16:28 11/04/06
The UNO proclaimed April 11 as day of those missing or those
kept in slavory. Today Armenia also remembers those missing after
Karabakh war. Today there are about 130 Armenian prisoners of war
in Azerbaijan. The data has been published by deputy chairman of
“Community and law” public organization Souren Hovhannisyan.
“At first Azeri government condemned Armenian prisoners of war and
sentenced them to 15 years, later they announced that there are no
prisoners of war in Azerbaijan which brought to a deadlock,” S.
Hovhannisyan says. The latter also informed that in the course of
meetings with Azeri mothers of those missing it became known that
Armenian prisoners are used as free man power.
As the head of department of Social Defence of Soldiers colonel
Harutyun Balayan says once the real location of prisoners of war was
already ascertained and when the community learned about it Azeri
government transferred the prisoners to another place.
A. Balayan did not exclude that there are Armenian prisoners of war not
only on the territory of Azerbaijan but Turkey as well.

ALBERT BAZEYAN EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT INCIDENTS WITH “YERKRAPAH” UNION
Yerevan, April 11.ArmInfo.Albert Bazeyan, chairman of “National
Revival” party, expressed concern about the recent incidents with
“Yerkrapah” union.
He said that the law enforcement bodies didn’t arrest one of
the initiators of the attempted murder against Sasoun Mikaelian,
member of “Yerkrapah” Union, though they were informed about that a
week earlier. Bazeyan said that the suspect who wasn’t arrested was
attacked and wounded. As a result, he was taken to the hospital. “If
the criminals are not punished, the crime causes another crime, while
the punishment of the criminals is of mere preventive character,”
he said.
He also reminded about the incident in Armavir, stating that Roustam
Gasparian survived by some miracle and is recovering at present.
Bazeyan believes that the threats of the authorities to deport Zhirayr
Sefilian, former commander of Shoushi battalion, is conditioned by the
fact that Sefilian and his colleagues criticized the recent tendencies
in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.
“In the conditions, when the enemy constantly threats to settle the
conflict by unfolding military actions, the presence of the members
of “Yerkrapah” union of home guards in Armenia is very important,”
Bazeyan said. He called for all the participants of Karabakh war to
unite and struggle for the rights of their colleagues.

ITALIAN EMBASSY TO ARMENIA ANOUNCES GRANTS COMPETITION FOR STUDYING AT ITALIAN UNIVERSITIES
Yerevan, April 11. ArmInfo. The Italian Embassy to Armenia announced
a grant competition for studying at the Italian Universities. Roberto
Nociella, first secretary of Italian Embassy to Armenia, informed
at today’s press conference that the grant will be allocated in the
course of 26 months.
Those who want to participate in the competition may appeal to
the Embassy. The relevant commission will choose the winners. The
participants of the competition should have brilliants command of
Italian for their further study at the Italian Universities. The
preference will be given to those who want to enter the
architectural-construction Universities. The monthly grant will total
to EURO 619. The Armenian students will have to pay 50% of the tuition
fee, as well as the trip and food expenses. The Italian government
has allocated EURO 30 thousand.

ARMENIAN IT-SPHERE REPRESENTED IN VIENNA
Yerevan, April 11. ArmInfo. Armenian Information Technologies
representation in Europe has opened in Vienna, Head of Enterprise
Incubator Foundation (EIF) Bagrat Yengibaryan said at a press
conference, Tuesday.
At present 60% of Armenian companies engaged in the IT-sphere cooperate
with the USA, while only 10% of Armenian companies are represented
in Europe, he said. The opening of the representation in Vienna is
a regular initiative of the Foundation which aims to stimulate the
cooperation of Armenian and European IT- companies. B.
Yengibaryan said the representation in Vienna plans to gain at least
$200-300,000 orders for 2006. The representation will work to increase
the Europe’s awareness of the Armenian IT-sphere as well as to present
and distribute IT products and services, to ensure the cooperation
of Armenian and European companies for the purpose of establishing
joint ventures and implementing joint programs.
Head of Armenian IT-sphere representation in Vienna, Robert Trausnig,
says the representation will focus on off-shore orders, however direct
sale of Armenian IT-products is not ruled out either. R.
Trausnig believes Armenian IT- developments for health care,
communications and web-technologies spheres may be in demand
in Europe. He informs of the upcoming joint Armenian-European
conferences wherein the prospects and possibilities of bilateral
cooperation will be discussed. To recap, an Armenian Information
Technologies Representation opened in Toronto in the October of
2004 which had contributed to preparation of 7 contracts between 19
Armenian IT-enterprises and Canadian ones for about a year. Due to
the representation in Toronto, Armenian companies received about
$800,000 orders, with new programs for $1 million are currently
under discussion.

ARMENIAN LAWYER CALLS IMPOSSIBLE THE DEMAND OF AZERBAIJANI MURDERER-OFFICER’S ADVOCATES FOR REPLACEMENT OF THE COURT COMPOSITION
Yerevan, April 11. ArmInfo. The “advocates” of the Azerbaijani
murderer-officer Ramil Safarov demand replacement of the composition
of the court on the eve of the verdict announcement fixed for April
13, Azerbaijani agency APA reports. The Committee for protection of
R.Safarov’s Rights NGO demand a cancellation of the forthcoming court
session. They also demand sending a group of parliamentarians and
journalists to Hungary to achieve Safarov’s extradition irrespective
of the verdict.
In a phone conversation with ArmInfo, the lawyer Nazeli Vardanyan,
who represents the legal successors of the killed Armenian officer G.
Margaryan at the court, called the demand on replacement of the court
composition impossible at present. The lawyer believes the NGO’s
assemblies will not affect the proceedings. She says the Azerbaijani
party keeps misinforming the public. It’s worth mentioning that the
Azerbaijani party made public that the Prosecution had demanded
30 years of imprisonment for R. Safavor, whereas in reality, the
prosecution demanded life imprisonment without the right of pardon
for 30 years. N. Vardanyan says “if the Azerbaijani party intended to
challenge the judge, it should have been done by the lawyer and not
at present. They had enough time for it as the trial last for already
two years,” N. Vardanyan says. She says that due to his lawyer, who
tried to prove Safarov’s insanity, the latter occurred in rather a
ridiculous state. Now, he has to either prove his insanity or the
“appropriateness” of his deed, which will even aggravate his state.
To note, on February 19 2004, R. Safarov viciously axed the asleep G.
Margaryan in Budapest. Both the officers were undergoing an English
language course under the NATO PfP program. Safarov is charged with
Article 166.2 of the Hungarian Criminal Code ( first degree murder )
implying 10-15 years or life imprisonment. Chairing the trial is
the judge Andrash Vaskuti. Armenian and Hungarian lawyers Nazeli
Vardanyan and Gabriela Kaspar defend the interests of Margaryan’s
family and Hayk Makuchyan, Armenian officer whose life was attempted
by Safarov. Representative of the Armenian Defense Ministry Hayk
Demoyan attends the trial.

THE COUNTRY THAT WILL TRY TO RESOLVE THE KARABAKH CONFLICT THROUGH MILITARY MEANS WILL HAVE NO PLACE IN THE COE
ArmRadio.am
11.04.2006 18:13
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Rene
van der Linden told in exclusive interview to MEDIAMAX Agency that
the country that will undertake military resolution of the Karabakh
conflict will be excluded from the Council of Europe.
“In case military actions restart in Nagorno-Karabakh, I do not think
that the presence of the country that employs armed forces for the
resolution of the conflict is possible in the Council of Europe,”
Rene van der Linden said.
PACE President called on the parties to the conflict to refuse form
militant statements and to realize that the conflict may be resolved
solely in the peaceful way.

RA PRESIDENT AND NEWLY APPOINTED AMBASSADOR OF HUNGARY ATTACH IMPORTANCE TO ACTIVIZATION OF BILATERAL BUSINESS CONTACTS
Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Arpad Szekely, the newly
appointed Ambassador of Hungary to Armenia (residence in Moscow)
handed his credentials to RA President Robert Kocharian on April
11. Congratulating the Ambassador on the occasion of undertaking the
post, the President expressed a hope that during his activity new
steps will be undertaken in the direction of widening the bilateral
relations. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the President’s Press Office,
the sides considered primary formation of the legal-contractual field
necessary for the cooperation and attached importance to activization
of the business contacts and planning of concrete spheres of mutual
cooperation. The Ambassador presented the political, economic state
of Hungary as well.

DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF ARMENIA AND AMBASSADOR OF HUNGARY MENTION NECESSITY OF COMPLETING LEGAL-CONTRACTUAL FIELD OF BILATERAL COOPERATION
Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Arpad Szekely, the newly appointed
Ambassador of Hungary to Armenia (residence in Moscow) handed on
April 11 copies of his credentials to Armen Bayburdian, the Deputy
Foreign Minister of Armenia.
Congratulating the guests on the occasion of appointment, A.Bayburdian
wished the Ambassador success in his responsible mission. During
the conversation the sides touched upon issues of bilateral
cooperation. The necessity of completing the legal-contractual field,
purposefulness of organizing visits at high level as well as holding
of consultations among the Foreign Ministries were bilaterally
mentioned. The Ambassador presented briefly the situation created
after the parliamentary elections held two days before in Hungary as
well as the Hungarian experience of Eurointegration. The RA Foreign
Ministry’s Press and Information Department submitted to Noyan Tapan
the Hungarian Ambassador’s brief biographic data. Arpad Szekely was
born in 1957 in the Hungarian city of Miskolc. In 1976 he graduated
from the Physics Department of the Foldes Ferenc Grammar School
of Miskolc. In 1976-1981 he studied at the International Journalism
Department of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. In
1981 he started work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. In
1984-1989 he worked at the Embassy of Hungary to Germany. In 1990-1992
he worked as the Prime Minister’s Personal Assistant for Inner Policy
and Trade. In 1990 he was the representative of the Hungarian part
of the Hungarian-Bavarian Intergovernmental Council. In 2005 he was
appointed the Ambassador of Hungary to Russia. He knows Russian,
English, French. Married, has three children.

UNLIKE OTHERS, OPPOSITION’S SILENCE AND WEAKNESS NOT CAUSE VAZGEN MANUKIAN’S ANXIETY
Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. “The opposition is estranged and
is not strong, but process of uniting goes on, and what will be the
result, we’ll see in future,” Vazgen Manukian, the Chairman of the
National Democratic Union stated in the interview to the Noyan Tapan
correspondent. According to him, confidential negotiations are in
process among the opposing forces at present, and it’s already felt
that uniting of all of those is not possible. Vazgen Manukian mentioned
that unlike others, today’s silence and weakness of the opposition does
not cause his anxiety: “Such a period of time always exists before
the storm: and that period of time is called incubation.” As for the
future of the existing “Ardarutyun” (Justice) and “17+1” formats,
V.Manukian mentioned that both alliance and “17+1” union gradually
start to have a formal club appearance where people gather and discuss
future and today’s issues: “I do not see that our 2007 activities must
be decided by strengthening of one of those formats, one must create
a new format.” So, according to the NDU leader, it would be funny if
parties related to the coming parliamentary elections as to a just
process and made an attempt to overpass the 5%. “It’s necessary to
gather a great power, and I think that the most purposeful thing would
be if two camps, the authiorities and the opposition, stand in front
of one another, and the struggle was for having power but not for
having few more places at the NA. Authorities of such a quality may
not bring Armenia forward, it must be changed, and the year of 2007
may become a proper occasion for doing it,” Vazgen Manukian stated.