SOCHI’S ARMENIAN DIASPORA WEEPS
By Carl Schreck
Staff Writer
The Moscow Times, Russia
May 4 2006
Pavel Yeremyan, left, Vram Cholokyan, center, and an unidentified
man lamenting the crash Thursday near Sochi.
SOCHI — Pavel Yeremyan had been drinking and smoking cheap Yava
cigarettes for hours.
“This is a terrible tragedy for us,” Yeremyan, a subsistence farmer,
said Thursday of the Armenian airliner that went down a day earlier
off the coast of this Black Sea town.
The crash killed all 113 people on board and has left the local
Armenian community stunned. With 125,000 ethnic Armenians in Sochi,
out of a total of 400,000 people, the community is one of the largest
in the country.
In Yeremyan’s village of Baranovka, like many of the 20 mostly
Armenian villages in the hills above Sochi, you don’t have to look
far to find people who knew someone, or knew someone who knew someone,
on the late-night flight from Yerevan.
“The young woman who lived in that house was on the plane,” said
Yeremyan’s friend, 69-year-old Vram Cholokyan, who wheezed as he
pointed to a two-story, white concrete house. “She was about 22 and
had a young child. I saw them walking around here just before Easter.”
Both Yeremyan and Cholokyan have lived in the village their entire
lives. Their families came here in the early part of the last century
to flee the Turks. Today, they live off the fruits and vegetables
they grow on small plots of land. Whatever they don’t eat is sold at
market, Cholokyan explained in a raspy, almost inaudible voice.
Grach Makeyan, deputy head of the Sochi branch of the Union of
Armenians in Russia, said only 26 of those who died in the plane
crash were permanent Sochi Armenians. Most of the victims, he said,
were among the seasonal workers who come to Sochi from Armenia for
the vacation season, which lasts until November.
“But we’re all Armenians, even if we’re not relatives,” Makeyan said
in his office at the Kamelia Hotel. “There aren’t that many of us, so
almost everybody knows somebody who died, even if indirectly through
friends or neighbors. We are all in mourning. This will be a very,
very difficult time.”
A priest from Sochi’s Holy Cross Armenian Church, known to all
simply as Father Komitas, said all the Armenians in the community
felt personally affected by the crash.
“Around 70 of the victims were citizens of Armenia and didn’t have
relatives here,” Father Komitas, 38, said Thursday in his cramped
office decorated with his own sculptures and drawings. “But this
terrible tragedy is all of ours.”
Makeyan noted that a close friend of his had invited several of the
people on Wednesday’s flight for a birthday celebration.
“Genocide, the war in Karabakh, the earthquake, and now this,”
Makeyan said. “Every time we get our heads just above the water,
something like this happens. But we will stick together. Armenians
are the people most capable of enduring tragedy after tragedy.”
Because of their heavy smoking and poor diet, Armenian men tend to
age rapidly. Many in their thirties look twenty years older.
Lev Dashchyan, 28, a cab driver from Sochi’s Adler district, home to
about 80,000 ethnic Armenians, said war, natural disaster — and now
the plane crash — had exacerbated local Armenians’ plight.
“My father-in-law’s friend lost his wife and children in the
earthquake,” Dashchyan said, referring to the 1998 Spitak disaster.
“They never even found the bodies. Then he remarried, and his new wife
and child died in the plane crash. He has suffered a lot. He’s 55,
but looks like he’s 70.”
Dashchyan belongs to the Hamshen Armenian community. His ancestors,
Makeyan said, fled across the Black Sea from Turkey to settle in
the Krasnodar region and Abkhazia in the early 19th century. Hamshen
Armenians comprise most of Sochi’s Armenian population; while they
speak an old dialect featuring many Turkish words, they are close to
other Armenians.
Komitas looking at a photo album.
“Sometimes we have a difficult time understanding each other because of
our different dialects,” Karina Mardvitskaya, 37, a Hamshen Armenian
and a florist, said of her friend, non-Hamshen Armenian Violeta
Muratyan, who tends the bar at an outdoor cafe on Kurortny Prospekt,
Sochi’s main drag.
Mardvitskaya, a Sochi native, and Muratyan, who came to Sochi from
Stavropol three years ago to find work, said Wednesday evening that
they had been frantically calling friends to find out if anyone they
knew had been killed in the plane crash.
“I was on the phone all day,” Muratyan said. “Everyone was calling
trying to figure out who had heard what. Luckily, no one close to me
was on the plane.”
But Muratyan said a young Armenian woman who frequented the cafe had
apparently died in the crash.
“Some customers came in today and told me she was on the plane,”
Muratyan said. “I remember her face clearly. She must have been
around 21.”
Other Armenians spent the better part of Thursday finding out that
people who had been a part of their lives for years were now gone.
Flipping through a photo album, Father Komitas turned to a group
picture of several of his congregants, pointing to a middle-aged
blonde woman.
“She came to church regularly,” he said of the woman, who had been
on the flight. “It’s important now that we find the bodies so they
can be put to rest, hopefully in Armenia, in their homeland.”

KEAN BACKS STEM-CELL RESEARCH ON AN ‘INTIMATE’ TRIP TO ISRAEL
by Gil Hoffman
NJJN Israel Correspondent
New Jersey Jewish News, NJ
May 4 2006
JERUSALEM – State Sen. Tom Kean Jr., who is running for the Republican
nomination for the United States Senate, expressed support for
controversial embryonic stem-cell research on a visit to Hadassah
Hospital in Jerusalem last week.
Kean, visiting Hadassah at the culmination of a weeklong trip to
Israel, told hospital officials that he supports such research and
reported about problems obtaining approval for state initiatives in
New Jersey. He also spoke to Hadassah director-general Professor
Shlomo Mor-Yosef about the hospital’s collaboration with Robert
Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick in preparing for
mega-terrorist attacks.
Mor-Yosef said the hospital’s stem-cell research had cured mice
with Parkinson’s disease and that testing on monkeys and then humans
would soon follow. He said Hadassah was an international pioneer in
stem-cell research and had even secured funding for the research from
the U.S. government.
Kean was visiting Israel for the first time on what he termed an
educational visit. He was following in the footsteps of his father,
former NJ Gov. Thomas H. Kean, who visited Israel three times. The
younger Kean viewed a plaque at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum
honoring his grandfather, Robert Winthrop Kean, one of the earliest
members of Congress to warn the United States about the impending
Holocaust.
The visit’s first day coincided with Holocaust Memorial Day,
during which a two-minute siren sounded nationwide to memorialize
the victims. As Kean approached the luggage carousel at Ben-Gurion
International Airport, the siren went off, and Kean joined Israelis
standing in painful reflection.
“The most moving experience on the trip for me was seeing everyone
stop and pray during the siren,” Kean told NJJN in an interview at
his Jerusalem hotel. “It was extraordinarily memorable for me to
experience Holocaust Day so intimately, to be part of such a special
moment in time and then go to Yad Vashem that afternoon.”
Kean came with a delegation of NJ Republican pro-Israel activists,
including Short Hills publisher Steven Klinghoffer; Livingston
resident and Corporation for Public Broadcasting chair Cheyl Halpern;
Lakewood attorney Sean Gertner and his wife, Marla; and Johnson &
Johnson company group chair Gerald Ostrov of East Brunswick.
Also along were Teaneck attorney Martin Fineberg; Mark Levenson,
president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Clifton-Passaic, and his
daughter, Hadassah; and Justin Richards, an assistant to the senator.
Kean, hoping to unseat Sen. Robert Menendez in November, said he came
to Israel to get a feel for its terrain and geography.
“Starting next year in the U.S. Senate, I will be very involved with
issues that relate to Israel and the Mideast in a direct fashion,”
Kean said. “I have been a strong supporter of Israel throughout my
career. I am glad I got to meet with many Israelis, from members
of parliament to ordinary citizens. Coming with people who have had
strong and varied experiences with Israel was also an important part
of the trip.”
When Menendez came to Israel last year, as a member of the House
International Relations Committee, he led the last congressional
mission that met with former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon before his
career-ending stroke.
When Kean visited the Knesset, the highest-ranking official he met was
Meir Sheetrit of the Kadima Party, who was Education and Transportation
minister at the time and was named Construction and Housing minister
on Monday. He also met former Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom of Likud
and Labor Member of Knesset Colette Avital.
Kean met with victims of Palestinian terrorist attacks and with
Jews who had been evacuated from Gaza Strip settlements. He toured a
military base outside the Gaza Strip with IDF commanders and viewed
land where Israeli settlements stood until recently and that is now
being used by Palestinians to fire rockets at the southern Israeli
city of Ashkelon.
As Kean looked out over Gaza, he saw black smoke emanating from Deir
El-Balah, south of Gaza City. He later found out it was the result
of what the Israeli army said was an Israeli aircraft attack on two
cars packed with rockets. Israel said the attack killed one Islamic
Jihad militant and critically wounded another.
“Seeing this made it very real and enabled me to understand with a
real perspective the threats Israeli citizens live with each and every
day of their lives,” Kean said. “I felt it was imperative for me to
come to Israel so that as a U.S. senator I will have that real-life
experience.”
Kean said he had always supported foreign aid allocations and he is
sure he would continue in the Senate.
In Jerusalem’s Old City, Kean toured the Western Wall tunnels, visited
Christian holy sites, and met the Armenian Christian patriarch of
Jerusalem. He also visited several communities that have partnered
with United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, including the Sha’ar
Hanegev Regional Council and Kibbutz Erez outside the Gaza Strip,
the Gush Etzion bloc of West Bank settlements, and the low-income
Ramat Eliyahu neighborhood of Rishon Letzion. Klinghoffer is a former
president of UJC MetroWest, although organizers emphasized the trip
was privately sponsored and not an official mission of any federation.
In Rishon, Kean met with people involved with Project Atzmaut, UJC
MetroWest’s pioneering program to help improve the lives of Ethiopian
immigrants. Perhaps the saddest part of the trip was a meeting with
American immigrants Seth and Sherri Mandell, whose young son Koby was
murdered by terrorists near their home in the West Bank community of
Tekoa in 2001.
The Israel activists who accompanied Kean on the trip said that during
the visit with the Mandells, they watched his facial expressions and
saw that he was deeply moved. They said they were glad that he proved
himself able to relate to people on a human level and not merely as
a politician.
“He is a real mensch,” Klinghoffer said. “This guy is the real deal.
He came with the right background, and having this personal experience
reinforces the senses and the feelings that he already had. I’ve
dealt with many candidates and elected officials. Tom stands out in
the way he relates to Israel.”
Ostrov said he was glad to expose the senator to Hadassah Hospital,
where he and his wife are major donors.
“I have been impressed with him the whole trip,” Ostrov said. “He’s
gotten a knowledge base that he can use to govern. He has asked good
questions that show that he understands.”
Kean faces Bergen County financial data analyst John Ginty in the June
Republican primary. A Quinnipiac University poll last week predicted
that Kean would win the primary by a landslide but it found that he
trailed Menendez by six points.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BODIES, FLIGHT RECORDERS SOUGHT IN BLACK SEA
By Mike Eckel / The Associated Press
Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
The Moscow Times, Russia
May 4 2006
Relatives grieving at an identification procedure at a Sochi morgue
Thursday.
SOCHI — Searchers combed the waters off the resort city of Sochi on
Thursday, looking for bodies and a flight recorder from an Armenian
passenger jet that slammed into the Black Sea in bad weather and
ripped apart, killing all 113 people on board.
Anguished relatives and friends gathered at a central hotel and at a
city morgue, where many stared ashen-faced at grotesquely disfigured
faces and bodies appearing in coroners’ photographs.
Transportation Minister Igor Levitin said just 28 bodies had been
identified so far, out of a total of 53 recovered.
Levitin told reporters that searchers had located a large part of
the plane’s fuselage that was emitting a radio signal believed to be
from a flight recorder. But he said the piece of debris lay in some
680 meters of water and that authorities did not have the equipment
to raise the wreckage.
“We will turn to other countries that have experience in raising
objects from the depths,” he said.
The Airbus A320 plunged into the sea in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday
in heavy rain and poor visibility as it was approaching the airport
in Adler, about 20 kilometers south of Sochi. Searchers found wreckage
spread over a wide area about 6 kilometers offshore.
“We are not considering any working theory until we get a better
understanding of the events that took place, and that will require
deciphering the black boxes,” Levitin said earlier.
Prosecutors dismissed the possibility of terrorism, and other officials
pointed to the rough weather or pilot error as the likely cause.
The head of the Georgian air control agency, which covered 90 percent
of the Armavia jet’s final flight, said the crew had begun to return
to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, because of weather conditions around
Sochi but that when it was over the Georgian city of Kutaisi, Russian
air controllers announced the weather at Adler airport had improved.
“And since they had enough fuel, the pilot decided to fly back to
Adler,” agency chief Georgy Karbelashvili said.
Interfax, citing a source in the Russian commission investigating
the disaster, said there was information indicating the crew was
informed just 5 to 6 kilometers from the runway, when the plane was
at an altitude of 300 meters, that landing was “not recommended.” The
source said the plane was turning back when it hit the water.
In televised comments, President Vladimir Putin told Prosecutor General
Vladimir Ustinov to work fast to determine the cause of the crash,
but acknowledged that it would be difficult without flight recorders.
At a Sochi morgue, grim-faced relatives — mostly men — peered at
a nearly 2-meter-high wooden board in the courtyard holding coroner
photographs, some showing barely recognizable corpses and faces.
Forensic authorities emerged from the building periodically, asking
if anyone had recognized a person in the photographs.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

JEWISH COMMUNITY ASSISTS FAMILY OF PLANE CRASH VICTIM
Federation of Jewish Communitites of CIS, Russia
May 4 2006
SOCHI, Russia – Last night, an A-320 airplane routed to fly from the
Armenian capital of Yerevan to the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi
ended up crashing in the sea just 500 meters off the coast. Upon
arriving at the accident site, the Russian search and rescue team
discovered that all of the 105 passengers and 8 crew members have died.
Rabbi Arie Edelkopf, the Chief Rabbi of Sochi and a Chabad Lubavitch
emissary, arrived to the site together with the rescue team. He
discovered that one Jewish person, who happens to be a citizen of
Armenia, was among the passengers to die on this tragic day. “With
the help of the rescue team, we will find the remains of this person
in order to bury him in accordance with Jewish national traditions,”
said Rabbi Edelkopf in reaction to this tragedy and the local Jewish
community’s response.
The Chief Rabbi of Armenia, Rabbi Gersh Burshtein, has already been
in contact with the family of the Jew whose life ended with this
airplane accident. He informed them about the carrying out of the
search for their loved-one at the accident site and promised to
provide the family every assistance possible.
Because of the catastrophe, Armenia and Russia have declared May,
5th the day of national mourning.
Both the Jewish communities of Armenia and the Jewish community
of Russia send their condolences to the families of this terrible
accident.
From: Baghdasarian

ARMENOUHIE NAZIKIAN, 96, BENEFACTRESS FOR ARMENIAN CAUSES
Pasadena Independent, CA
Arcadia Weekly, CA
May 4 2006
Aram and Armenouhie Nazikian’s memory lives on setting an example
for others to follow. God bless their souls.
In 1985, Mrs. Armenouhie Nazikian read an article in the newspaper
about the difficulties the newly formed Western Region of the Armenian
Relief Society (ARS WR) was having regarding funding for an ARS WR
headquarters. This was the first of several serendipitous moments in
the life of Armenouhie Nazikian.
She had just lost her husband Aram and wanted to do something special
in his name. The rest is history. Her call to the Regional Executive
led to a contribution of $50,000. This generous donation became the
down payment of the ARS Aram and Armenouhie Nazikian Home. The ARS WR
celebrated the opening of the Center on December 4, 1988. Four days
later, the world was shocked by the Armenian Earthquake. The Home
became the center for donations and relief efforts from the Western
United States.
The ARS-WR was saddened that this kind unassuming woman recently was
laid to rest at Rose Hills. Members from the ARS-WR attended the
modest funeral where her nephew, Robert Sarkis Lion presented the
ARS-WR with a large framed wedding picture of Aram and Armenouhie
Nazikian. Nazikian was born April 18, 1910, in Sebastia (Sivas),
one of the Armenian provinces in the Ottoman Empire, to Azniv and
Hagop Samuelian. After surviving the genocide, she married Aram
Nazikian and lived in South America, New York, San Diego and finally
settled in Montebello, California. Her last years were spent at the
Ararat Home. Armenouhie Nazikian is survived by her nephew, Robert
Sarkis Lion (Aslan) and his wife, Maria; her grandnephew, Charlie and
grandniece, Michelle Poladian; who just gave birth to Jasmine Liona
Poladian. Coincidentally, Armenouhie was born in 1910, the year ARS
was born and she was buried on what would have been her 96th birthday,
which was also the date for the burial of her husband, Aram.

IN AFTERMATH OF PLANE CRASH, GRIEF AND SPECULATION ABOUND
Compiled By Rachel Thorner
New York Times
May 4 2006
A summary of the top stories in the Russian newspapers appears Monday
through Friday.
The crash of an Armenian airliner in southern Russia, which killed
all 113 aboard, led the newspapers. The airliner, an Airbus 320
belonging to Armavia airline, crashed into the Black Sea as it flew
to the resort city of Sochi from Armenia’s capital of Yerevan.
Vremya Novostei reported that by Wednesday night, rescue workers had
found 47 bodies and continued to search for the others as relatives
waited anxiously for news.
A team of experts has been assigned to investigate the the crash. “We
are considering two versions-technical problems and a mistake by
the pilot,” Izvestia quoted the prosecutor general in Krasnodar, the
region’s capital, Sergei Yeremin, as saying. A colleague of the crew,
whom it did not name, said that they could not “imagine that these
people who knew the route like the back of their hands could make
a mistake.”
Kommersant reported that investigators suggested that the crewmembers’
“moral state” had been affected by the fact that they had to turn
back to Yerevan because of a storm, and that this might have caused
them to falter. Vremya Novostei reported that reason for the crash
would likely never be established conclusively.
Vremya Novostei led with a photograph of distraught relatives. Many
sat around an airport television, with their heads in their hands,
consoling one another. The airports in Sochi and Yerevan have provided
medical and emotional support to family members and friends.
“Many of them needed our help,” an airport nurse told Izvestia after
being called to work at 4 A.M. “But I understand that it is impossible
to console them right now.”
IZVESTIA
GEORGIA TO WITHDRAW FROM ALLIANCE: President Mikheil Saakashvili of
Georgia announced his intention to resign from the Commonwealth of
Independent States, a loose political and economic alliance of former
Soviet republics. “Georgia does not get anything from the C.I.S.
except humiliation,” he said, in the latest manifestation of a
deepening rift between Russia and Georgia.
KADYROV GIVES INTERVIEW: Ramzan Kadyrov, the prime minister of
Chechnya, said in an interview that it was his duty either to “jail
or destroy” Shamil Basayev, the notorious Chechen rebel leader who
has carried out some of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Russia.
VREMYA NOVOSTEI
RICE URGES CHANGES BY RUSSIA: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
said at a news conference that although Russian-American relations
were mutually beneficial, Russia needed to shift its stance on several
issues. Ms. Rice cited Russia’s position on Iran and the Middle East,
and its reaction to former Soviet republics that form alliances with
the United States, among other things. Her comments were followed up
today in a speech given by Vice President Dick Cheney, who sharply
criticized Russia for what he said was backsliding on human rights;
Mr Cheney also suggested that Moscow is interfering with democratic
movements among its neighbors.
KOMMERSANT
RUSSIAN ROLE IN SERBIA DISPUTE: The European Union ended talks with
Serbia on normalizing relations after the country refused to turn
over the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, Ratko Mladic
– its leading war crimes suspect – to the International Criminal
Tribunal. The paper suggested the conflict could entangle Russia
because it is harboring another Bosnian Serb, Dragan Zelenovich,
who is also wanted by the Tribunal for war crimes.
MEETING WITH JAPAN COAST GUARD: The head of Japan’s Coast Guard,
Hiroki Ishikawa, is to meet with Russian security service officials to
discuss environmental-protection projects, the preservation of marine
biological resources, and joint efforts against contraband goods.
ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA
CLAIMS OF PROGRESS ON PIRACY: The paper reported that Russia is
clamping down on the pirating of intellectual property, one of the
major impediments to its entry into the World Trade Organization.
“America refuses to also recognize the positive changes in our
country,” the paper said.
MOSKOVSKAYA PRAVDA
INSIDE THE KREMLIN: A new television film, to be shown on May 10,
explores the mysteries of the Kremlin, showing chambers that, the
article says, some politicians do not have access to. The film is
named after the garden just outside the Kremlin, Alexander Garden.

APPEALS COURT QUASHES DINK VERDICT
BÝA, Turkey
May 4 2006
Court of Appeals overrules verdict deferring 6 months jail term for
bilingual Armenian Turkish Agos newspaper editor Hrank Dink.
Journalist-writer may be retried on charges of insulting Turkish
identity.
BÝA (Ankara) – The Court of Appeals has quashed a verdict deferring
a 6 months jail sentence for Hrant Dink, editor of the bilingual
Armenian Turkish “Agos” newspaper convicted originally for “insulting
Turkish identity”.
The 9th Department of the Appeals Court on Wednesday cited
“procedural deficiencies” in the original sentence as reason to
overrule the verdict, pointing out that Dink’s remarks “The poisoned
blood that will spill from Turks will be replaced by noble blood of
the Armenians who will create Armenia” constituted the offence of
“insulting Turkish identity”.
The decision said Dink’s remarks did not fall under the scope of the
freedom of expression as defined by the European Convention on Human
Rights and disagreed with the Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor’s
previous evaluation that a local court verdict against Dink should
be overruled on grounds that the physical and moral conditions of an
offence had not taken place.
The court also found a procedural flaw in the Sisli 2nd Court of
First Instance trial of Dink where lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz and his
colleagues were not accepted by the court as complainants as they were
not directly affected by the offence. It also cited these individuals
being paid representation fees as part of its decision to overrule
the verdict.
Following this decision the case file is to be submitted to the Court
of Appeals Chief Prosecutor’s office. If the Chief Prosecutor’s Office
does not appeal against the decision, the case will be re-sent to a
local court where Dink is to be retried. If the decision is appealed,
the case file will then be submitted for a decision to the General
Commission of the Council of State.
–Boundary_(ID_Jz2AzFbbLiSd2N7Wrzkr0w)–

BOOK: A SYRIAN JOURNEY
The source of the speech is:
Alarab online, UK
May 4 2006
“A Syrian journey” is new book about Syria co-authored by the diplomat
Dnayneshwar Mulay and his wife, the economic expert Sadhna Shanker. The
book is launched in attendance of HE Dr. Saad Allah Agha Qalla,
Minister of Tourism, and HE Ambassador of India in Damascus.
The book falls into six chapters, to include the experience of Mr. and
Mrs. Mulay in traveling and visiting the touristic, archaeological,
cultural and economic sites and their interaction with several
communities of the Syrian society all over Syria.
Mr. Ayman Abdel Nour delivered a speech in the occasion of launching
the book. Bellow is the transcript of his speech:
HE Dr. Saad Allah Agha Qalla, Minister of Tourism, HE Ambassador of
India, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I’m standing here today to talk about (Ahlan Wa Sahlan …A Syrian
journey) a book co-authored by the diplomat Dnayneshwar Mulay and his
wife,the economic expert Sadhna Shanker,. I’m standing here today to
talk about a book, whose co-authors’ main objective was not to come
up with a book for promoting Syria, attracting FDI’s into the country,
or a book to be used as a tourist guide.
However, the authors’ job was not to bring out such kind of books.
Moreover, they were not basically required to bring out such books.
But the feelings and sentiments implied in the book, the tales and
stories contained therein on Syria, the humanitarian attitudes
it mentions on the Syrians and the pictures it displays on the
archaeological sites, throw into the heart of the reader a message that
is much more important than all objectives that I previously mentioned.
The book, like any other book, reflects the experience, maturity,
wisdom and style of its authors. A senior career diplomat, who has
published several books of prose and poetry in several languages,
and also an experienced photographer, who has held several solo
exhibitions of his photographs; and also his wife, an economic expert
and a senior officer of the Indian Ministry of Finance, both, Mr. and
Mrs. Mulay, make a harmonious couple with multidimensional experience
in several domains.
Their experience is coated with a subtle human sense, nobility of
character, tolerance, good manners and renunciation of the worldly
pleasures. Thus, what else could we expect from such a couple,
other than a creation that is soaring high in the realm of art and
literature.
The book, which falls in six chapters, depicts the practice and
experience of Mr. and Mrs. Mulay in traveling and visiting the tourist,
archaeological, cultural and economic sites and their interaction
with several communities of the Syrian society all over Syria. Their
expert-eyes have captured images and incidents that we view as ordinary
or natural. But they are not, in the perspective of such a couple,
who have come from another country.
The book starts with describing the mixed feelings of apprehension
and excitement when Syria was identified as Mr. Mulay’s next
destination. They had barely known about Syria when they landed
there. ‘Syria? Is it Sierra Leone or Siberia? Some have warned that
it might be the next target after Iraq. In their news-hungry BBC,
CNN dominated lives, Syria may not make news. And when it does, it is
mostly in the context of US sanctions and Arab-Israeli conflict. When
they had typed ‘Syria’ in the search columns, ‘a desert country’,
stretches of sand’ popped up on the net invariably. When they arrived
in Damascus, they were still under the impression that they were
coming to ‘the Great Syrian Desert’.
The authors conclude by saying that the years they have spent and
lived in Syria, and contrary to all stereotyped images, have unveiled
an enchanting mosaic for a magical landscape, ancient civilization,
stupendous ruins, soothing forests, imposing citadels, mystical
churches, biblical roads and warm hospitable and friendly people.
Ultimately, they come to the conclusion that Syria is a well-kept
secret treasure in the chaotic abyss of our contemporary commercial
world. It allows you to slow down from the pace of New York and
London and grows upon you silently the way civilizations have grown
upon each other from at least the last 5000 years here in Syria.
Syria is unbelievably safe and a tranquil peaceful place to live in,
with the snow, rains, heat, desert, magnificent rivers and seashores,
which offers a mind-boggling diversity.
The authors request anyone who is willing to see Syria and give
his judgment of it, to cross the barriers of his own prejudice and
be prepared to savor in Syria the way Ibn Jubair, the 12th century
Andalusian traveler, savored Damascus: “If paradise be on earth,
it is, without a doubt, Damascus.”
The first chapter sheds the light on simple-assistance incidents the
two authors have received from ordinary people in the street, which
generates in them a deep impression on the nobility and genuineness
of these people. They mention that the ‘smile’ and ‘Ahlan wa Sahlan’
mark spirit of the Syrian people, their history and their daily life.
The second chapter (Land and Its History) demonstrates the diversity
and tradition of Syria, starting with the coastal line through the
eastern desert. They also come to the mention of all civilizations
and peoples that had dwelled this part of the world, its history and
major incidents.
The third chapter talks about the Syrian cities and the competition
between Damascus and Aleppo, be it history-wise or economy-wise. The
authors talk of the capital, its smooth roads and close-to-earth
buildings (fewer tall buildings), and how it, from Qasyoon, lights up
like a crown in the evenings. All the mosque spires sparkle in green.
The buildings and illuminated signboards impart special flavor on
Damascus, which appears like a kaleidoscope, anyway you turn it you
have a different view or vision to offer.
Talking of Aleppo, they describe it as ‘a city that carries on-
it stands there as a proof and promise that life is all about
regeneration’. Talking about Quneitra, he describes how marriages
get solemnized in this remote part of the world, in the so-called
‘Shouting Valley’ on both sides of the Syrian borderline, which is
occupied by Israel. He says that the family whose child has gone
over, look on return as if they had attended a funeral, rather than a
wedding. Then they shift to Homs, which he calls, ‘the city of smiles’,
which gives rise to a host of Syrian jokes that bring a smile to many
faces. Moving to Der ez-Zor, he points out how the city was also home
to many of the Armenians fleeing the genocide of 1915 and how they
were welcomed with open arms.
In the fourth chapter, the authors talk about society and culture and
shed the light on the ethnic, sectarian and religious diversity, which
marks unity of the Syrian society, which is known for its tolerance,
respect of difference and pride in their own cultural heritage, which
substantiates the view that Syria is ‘the cradle of civilization.’ In
their description of the Syrian cuisine, they indicate that what we
know as ‘Kebab Hindi’ is known as ‘Kebab Shami’ in India.
The last chapter touches upon the Indo-Syrian relations and reviews
history of the Silk Road through Mahatma Gandhi, who had advocated
of rights of the Palestinian people. It also talks about the close
relation between Indira Gandhi and late President Hafez al-Assad
and that there are about 200 students from India studying theology
in Sayeeda Zenab, a Shiite Islamic shrine devoted to the great
granddaughter of Prophet Mohammad in Damascus. It also mentions that
3.5 million of followers of the Syrian Christian church live peacefully
in India.
I conclude by saying that the book, in its diversity, constitutes a
major contribution to the Syrian library and a book that is worthy to
be read. Also, it might be worthily recommended to use parts of the
book in the teaching syllabuses of the intermediate schools in Syria.

THE CRUELEST MONTH
by Nickolai Butkevich
Transitions Online, Czech Republic
May 4 2006
April saw a rash of particularly ugly attacks against minorities,
as fascism finds fertile soil in Russia.
On 20 April, neo-Nazis around the world celebrated the 117th
anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birth. Nowhere was the date marked
with more violence than in Russia, a country that, paradoxically,
lost tens of millions of its citizens in the struggle against Nazism
six decades ago.
When it comes to racist violence, April 2006 will go on record as
the bloodiest month in recent Russian history, with at least seven
murders and more than a dozen assaults blamed on neo-Nazi groups.
Since the late 1990s, Russia’s homegrown fascists have spent the
days surrounding 20 April stepping up their year-round campaign of
violence against dark-skinned ethnic minorities, foreign students
(predominantly from developing countries), and Jews. This disgusting
annual spectacle is presumably deeply embarrassing to President
Vladimir Putin, who has publicly condemned racism and anti-Semitism.
Yet despite the mobilization of thousands of extra police officers
in Moscow and other cities every April, Russian authorities seem
helpless to stem the tide of violence.
Nowhere is the situation worse than in Russia’s beautiful “northern
capital,” St. Petersburg. On 7 April, skinheads in that city shot dead
an African student. Lamzar Samba, a 28-year-old Senegalese national,
became the ninth African killed there over the past year, according to
a local African student group. Police discovered a swastika engraved
on a shotgun near the scene and briefly arrested a suspect before
releasing him.
Several racist assaults also occurred in St. Petersburg last month
– a Chinese student was attacked outside her apartment, a Ghanaian
man was savagely beaten in the city’s suburbs, a mob of soccer fans
assaulted two Mongolian students on a metro train, and an Indian
medical student was stabbed.
Local neo-Nazi web sites brazenly called for more violence against
non-Russians to mark Hitler’s birthday and even posted a how-to manual
with advice on how to evade arrest afterward.
Unfortunately, St. Petersburg is not the only Russian city where
violent racists are running amok. On 8 April, a Moscow paper reported
that skinheads beat two Tajik men on a suburban Moscow train before
throwing them off, killing one of their victims. No arrests were
reported in connection with that murder. Even ethnic Russian youths
are not safe in Moscow if they belong to an anti-fascist youth group.
On 16 April, skinheads stabbed to death an anti-fascist punk rock
fan in what his friends termed a coordinated attack. One suspect has
been detained.
On 13 April, a group of young men armed with iron bars and wooden
clubs attacked a Romani camp in Volzhsky, killing two and seriously
injuring an 80-year-old woman and a 14-year-old girl. Police detained
nine teenage suspects, some of whom admitted that their attack was
motivated by ethnic hatred. Other racist murders committed during
the month include the killing of a 50-year-old Vietnamese man in
Ostrogozhsk, in the Voronezh region; the stabbing death of a Tajik
man in Moscow (his friend was seriously injured); and the murder of
an Armenian student by skinheads on the Moscow metro.
Other non-fatal attacks were reported last month in Ryazan (where
four youths were charged with a hate crime after beating up an Indian
student); Chita (where a dozen youths shouting racist slogans attacked
a group of Chinese construction workers, leading to six arrests on
charges of “minor hooliganism”); Nizhny Novgorod (where a Malaysian
student was hospitalized after an assailant hit him on the head and
fled and two Syrian students were beaten up in a nightclub); and Surgut
(where, in separate incidents, a group of skinheads attacked an ethnic
Kazakh youth and an ethnic Lezgin, leading to hate-crimes charges).
The leader of the Jewish community of Izhevsk narrowly avoided a
similar fate on the second evening of Passover, when he and another
member of the community ducked into a hotel lobby to avoid a mob
of youths parading down the street shouting “Sieg Heil!” and other
anti-Semitic slurs. A similar incident took place in Rybinsk, in
Yaroslavl region.
HALF MEASURES
While racist violence has become a daily feature of Russian life,
it should be noted that there have been some improvements in the
way the government deals with hate crimes. Starting in 2002, the
number of arrests of skinheads increased. To their credit, police
this year prevented similar crimes by quickly rounding up skinheads
in Bryansk and Novosibirsk before they could strike. Unfortunately,
police chiefs in St. Petersburg and Voronezh – the cities with the
worst reputation for racist violence in the country – minimized the
extent of the problem by blaming a supposed media conspiracy against
local officials. The Voronezh chief of police even went so far as to
state that the number of murders in his region (four in recent years)
was “not that many.”
Given the multiethnic nature of the country, xenophobic violence has
clear implications for future political and economic stability if it is
allowed to spin out of control. In combination with a greater emphasis
on promoting tolerance among the nation’s youth, federal and regional
authorities must systematically crack down on skinhead gangs, and the
media need to have regular access to hate-crimes trials in order to
discourage judges from giving neo-Nazi thugs lighter sentences than
ordinary criminals.
Most importantly, Kremlin political advisers should never again
create and support openly racist parties like Motherland, which was
put together before the last parliamentary elections in order to
drain votes away from the nationalist opposition. Only then will it
be possible to imagine a time when 20 April returns to being just
another ordinary spring day in Russia.
Nickolai Butkevich is research and advocacy director for the Union
of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union.

OFFICIAL: 28 OF BLACK SEA AIR CRASH VICTIMS IDENTIFIED
Interfax, Russia
May 4 2006
SOCHI. May 4 (Interfax) – The bodies of 48 of the 113 people killed
in the crash of an Armenian airliner off the Russian Black Sea coast
on Wednesday have been pulled from the water, and 28 of them have
been identified, a senior official said on Thursday.
Gen. Sergei Kudinov of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry
cited the statistics in talking to reporters.
The plane, an Airbus A-320, was flying from Yerevan to the Russian
Black Sea resort of Sochi and crashed in stormy weather while on
approach to landing at Adler airport near Sochi.