A Feast from Fire
Any occasion will do for an Armenian barbecue

Bronwyn Dunne
Saveur Magazine, no. 87 (October)
“Fare,” p. 28

My introduction to the Urartu fire god occurred last year while my husband
and I were living in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. A new friend,
Yulia, announced one day that we were going on a picnic to experience the
national food and outdoor event known as khorovats. The word is Armenian
for barbecue–typically a spread of grilled skewers of lamb or pork served
with vegetables, lavash (flat bread), and ample helpings of vodka–but it is
also Armenian for birthday party, wedding anniversary, or any other
celebration you have in mind. If the weather is beautiful or your cousin
has just bought a new car or your two-year-old has just lost a tooth, then
you have an excuse for a khorovats.

Khorovats also celebrates something far more ancient: fire. Looking up at
Mount Ararat, a peak looming nearly 17,000 feet over Yerevan, you can
imagine the importance of fire when the winter winds blew down the
mountain’s lofty flanks and swept over the shepherds guarding their flocks
below–so it’s no wonder that a principal deity of the Urartu, an ancient
Armenian civilization dating to the 13th century B.C., was the one concerned
with flame. It was an Urartu tradition that the men would build a fire
after they’d returned from the hunt and pray to the gods for another day of
good luck.

The first stop on the morning of our picnic was at the apartment of one of
Yulia’s friends, Armen. He was to be the chef and manager at our event. We
watched with a mixture of alarm and admiration as Armen packed his
Soviet-era Lada with all thenecessities for our meal–blankets, trays of
marinating pork, a heavy iron coffeepot, skewers as long as swords, bottles
of vodka and water, and plastic bags full of peppers, eggplants, tomatoes,
and potatoes–along with his wife, twin daughters, and young son. Then our
little band caravaned off to the highlands north of Yerevan. We forded a
stream almost too deep for our cars to cross and drove through the rural
countryside on challenging wagon roads until the ideal site was found.

Armen, his friend Tigran, and the other men–men are always responsible for
the cooking at a khorovats–built a fire in the grill and then gathered
around, beers in hand, looking a lot like their suburban American
counterparts. Our food was cooked in a specific order: first the skewers
threaded with the whole vegetables, then the skewers of seasoned ground pork
and of alternating chunks of pork and potato. The lavash bread, which we
would use in place of utensils, was baked in a tonir, an oven dug in the
ground.

Peeling the cooked vegetables was a ritual overseen by the women. We
stripped the skins with our fingers and then sliced them into a bowl filled
with onions, salt, and pepper. Our fingers became so black from the charred
skins that there was much laughter over the mess that we were making.

Once everything was ready, the vodka was poured, and, with raised paper
cups, we made a toast to our Armenian friends. They wished us good health
in return, and then we broke bread in the shadow of Mount Ararat, just like
the shepherds of old.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +37410. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +37410. 562543
Email: [email protected]:

PRESS RELEASE

13-09-2005

Strasbourg Meetings of the Foreign Minister Oskanian

September 13, 2005

On September 13 in Strasbourg, Minister Vartan Oskanian met with Bruno
Haller, the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe and Ambassador Roland Wegener, Head of the Ago Monitoring Group of
the COE Committee of Ministers. Afterwards Minister met the members of the
Ago Monitoring Group with participation of Gianni Buquicchio, the Secretary
of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.

During the meetings the sides discussed the process of the constitutional
reforms in Armenia and the implementation of the commitments undertaken by
Armenia to the Council of Europe upon membership

Council of Europe officials reaffirmed their assistance for the reform
package and underlined the importance of the constitutional reforms for the
development of democracy in Armenia.

Minister Oskanian briefed the Council of Europe officials on the recent
developments of Nagorno Karabakh peace process.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I GOES TO GENEVA

His Holiness Aram I left for Geneva on September 12. In the next few days he
will head the meetings of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) secretariat,
executive committee and several specialized committees as chairman of WCC.

##

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

Caucasus Environmental NGO Network
(CENN)
Weekly Digest
September 14, 2005
NEWS FROM GEORGIA

Projects Under Millennium Challenge Program to be Launched in Spring
2006

Source: Sarke Information Agency, September 6, 2005

Projection works are underway, while projects themselves, which are
worth
around $300 million, will be launched in spring 2006 as part of the
Millennium Challenge
<; more

Poverty risks in Georgia

Source: The Messenger, September 9, 2005

At the UN Millennium summit n 2000, former President Eduard Shevardnadze
signed the Millennium Declaration with other world leaders and it so
doing,
shouldered the -obligation to reduce poverty in Georgia by one half by
2015.
During the subsequent five years, however, poverty has only riser in the
country.

In determining the definition of poverty, the indicators used are the
minimum cost of living and the poverty line, though many experts contend
<; more

Tbilisi’s Lost Secret Garden

Source: The Georgian Times, September 12, 2005

The green wonder above Tbilisi, the invigorating fresh air, the merry
and
sparkling splashes of a mountain cascade, the balmy rainbow of rare
flowers
and the self-sacrificing work of devoted research assistants and simple
workers, their heartache for the beauty they have taken care of during
all
their lives – this is ‘Tbilisi’s lost secret garden’. Throughout its
long
history, the Tbilisi Botanical Garden (TBG) has seen periods of
development
and prosperity, as well as hard times of pain and humiliation when it
fell
into decay.

The Tbilisi Botanical Garden of the Academy of Sciences of Georgia has
passed through some significant stages in the almost 370 years of its
existence. The history of the Garden began in 1636
<; more

Amazing and Colorful Variety of Flowers

Source: The Georgian Times, September 12, 2005

Bright and always lively flowers have great power and this has been
known
since the very ancient times. A bunch of flowers can make a crying child
smile as he becomes interested in their shape and color; it can melt a
cold
heart of a woman and cause the tears of gratefulness, love and
tenderness in
the mother’s eyes. Many think that they posses really mystic power and
it is
hard not, to agree with it, at least partly, as flowers are with us
during
the most emotional minutes of our lives.

Georgia was always famous for its rare and beautiful flowers. As our
warm
and mild climate was favorable to the growing of almost all kinds of
decorative plants
<; more

NEWS FROM AZERBAIJAN

CONSTRUCTION OF AZERBAIJANI PART OF SCP TO BE COMPLETED IN 2005

Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, September
4,
2005

The overall South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) project’s Azerbaijani part
is
about 70 per cent complete, AzerTAj correspondent told by the BP
press-service.

To date the constructors had strung 398 km of pipe, welded 330 km in
Azerbaijani sector
<; more

BP SOCIAL INVESTMENT PROGRAMME UNDERWAY

Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, September
5,
2005

Implementation of a $1mln 736 thousand-social investment programme,
covering
the Baku-Tbilisi Ceyhan Oil pipeline and South Caucasus Gas Pipeline
<; more

NEXT MEETING OF KAZAKH-AZERBAIJANI WORKING GROUP ON BTC DUE

Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, September
5,
2005

The Kazakh-Azerbaijani intergovernmental working group that has been
established for transporting of Kazakh oil via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main
export pipeline will hold its next meeting on September 15, AzerTAj
correspondent refers on the State Oil Company (SOCAR).

The meeting will discuss all concluding details of the agreement
<; more

Swiss company purchases September portion of Baku-Novorossiysk oil

Source: Inside Europe, September 7, 2005

Swiss Litasco company has become the purchaser of 79,000 tons of oil to
be
exported by the State Oil Company (SOCAR) through the Baku-Novorossiysk
northern pipeline in September. The consignment loaded into tankers
<; more

NEWS FROM ARMENIA

Yerevan to be Cleaned

Source: Eeinnews, September 5, 2005

Yerevan will be cleaned with the help of a Russian company with which
the
Armenian side has signed a contract to get refuse-cleaning containers.
The
head of the Construction, reconstruction and communal economy department
of
the Yerevan municipality Frunzik Basentsyan informed about it today.

The residents of the Arabkir community
<; more

Basin of Lake Arpi to Become National Park

Source: ARMENPRESS, September 7, 2005

The basin of Lake Arpi and Akhurian River, situated in the Ashotzk
mountains, close to the borders with Turkey and Georgia, approximately
110
km northwest of the city of Yerevan, in northwestern Armenia will be
turned
into a national park.

Financial aid is expected
<; more

FORESTS IN ARZNI AND NUBARASHEN RESTORED

Source: ARMINFO, September 7, 2005

The Forests Restoration and Development Fund of Armenian jointly with
the
Armenian Agricultural Ministry have elaborated two programs on
restoration
of forests in Arzni and Nubarashen. Executive Director of FRDF Vladimir
Movsisyan made this statement at a discussion at the Armenian Government
today.
<;
more

Economic Growth and Reduction of Poverty in Armenia?

Source: Einnews, September 9, 2005

According to the 2005 report about Human development, Armenia occupies
the
83rd place among the 177 countries in the world. The calculations of the
report have been made on the ground of the 2003 statistic facts and in
three
directions: education, life length and Gross output.
<; more

International News

Environmental-US: Wetlands Loss Left Gulf Coast Naked to Storm

Source: Inter Press Service News agency (IPS): by Stephen Leahy,
September
1, 2005

Massive destruction of wetlands and rampant coastal development are
among
the reasons Hurricane Katrina may have killed thousands of people on the
U.S. Gulf Coast and wreaked upwards of 25 billion dollars in damages.

“This was predicted. It is not surprising that a Category Four storm
like
Katrina would result in such devastation,” said Robert Twilley, director
of
the Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute at Louisiana State University
<; more

River Roding Flood Risk Strategy Open Meeting

Source: Environmental Agency, September 5, 2005

People living or working in the floodplain of the River Roding can find
out
about their level of flood risk and the long-term options to manage it,
at
an open evening next week.

On September 14 the Environment Agency is holding an open evening in
Woodford Green giving people an opportunity to view large maps showing
the
extent of the floodplain and look at the different options currently
being
investigated to manage the risk of flooding
<; more

Millennium Golas: Watery South Pacific Has Not a Drop to Drink

Source: Inter Press Service News agency (IPS): by Kalinga Seneviratne,
September 5, 2005

The Pacific Ocean covers 32 million square kilometers of blue water that
takes up a third of the world’s surface, and its 10,000 scattered
islands
with a land mass of 130,000 square kilometers is home to 8 million
people.
Yet, most of them lack potable water.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG), committed to by the world’s
governments five years ago, aims
<; more

EU and China Climate Policy cut from the Same Cloth

Source: WWF News, September 5, 2005

The EU and China, two key actors in the global political arena, have
signed
an agreement on global warming, recognizing the huge economic, social,
and
environmental importance of climate change.

At the Annual EU-China Summit in Beijing, China’s Prime Minister Wen
Jiabao,
Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, who holds the European Union
Presidency, and the President of the European Commission, José Manuel
Barroso, agreed
<; more

Mount Elgon Regional Ecosystem Conservation Programme begins in East
Africa

Source: The World Conservation Union (IUNC), September 6, 2005

Good news for the conservation of Mount Elgon: On 2 September an
agreement
was signed between the East African Community Secretariat, the
Government of
Norway and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to implement the
four-year
programme of integrated ecosystem management for Mount Elgon, one of
Africa’s largest mountains shared between Kenya and Uganda.
<; more

Hundreds of Orangutans Captured or Killed Each Year in Kalimantan, New
Report Shows

Source: WWF, September 6, 2005

Hundreds of orangutans are either killed or captured every year in
Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo.

A new Traffic report, launched today to coincide with the
Inter-governmental
conference of UNESCO’s Great Apes Survival Project in Kinshasa (DRC),
warns
<; more

`Green’ Parliamentarians to Promote Improved Forest Governance in
Central
Africa

Source: IUNC The World Conservation Union, September 6, 2005

Gland, Switzerland, 2 September 2005 (IUCN) – A high level delegation
from
the Republic of Cameroon, headed by His Excellency Roland Matta,
President
of the Central African network of parliamentarians for sustainable
forest
management, recently visited the IUCN headquarters. This visit formed
part
of a European tour (Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, France and the
Netherlands) to raise
<; more

Community Service for Breaking Waste Rules

Source: Environmental Agency, September 6, 2005

On September 2, 2005, Joseph Toon, 66, operating from Beveridge Lane
Industrial Estate, Ellistown, Leicestershire pleaded guilty at Coalville
Magistrates to four charges relating to him depositing, keeping,
treating
and disposing of waste on land which did not have a Waste Management
License.
<; more

EU to Help China Tackle Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Source: Planet Ark, September 6, 2005

The European Union agreed on Monday to give China the technology for a
coal-fired power station designed to combat global warming as part of a
wider accord on energy issues and climate change

The clean coal-power plant will employ
<; more

Oil Industry Embarks on Recovery

Source: The Messenger, September 7, 2005

Though still seriously hobbled by Hurricane Katrina, the vast and
crucial
Gulf Coast energy infrastructure showed signs of recovery yesterday, as
some
refineries worked to restart and the price of oil in overseas trading
fell
to near pre-storm levels.
<; more

Rosneft Could Finance Burgas-Alexandroupolis Pipeline on Its Own

Source: SEEUROPE.NET, September 7, 2005

Rosneft is ready to independently finance the Russian part of the
Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, Rosneft President Sergei
Bogdanchikov
said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
<; more

Louisiana Scientists Expect Major Environmental Damage

Source: Planet Ark, September 9, 2005

Biologists expect to find major destruction when they take their first
close-up look at Hurricane Katrina’s impact on wildlife habitats and
Louisiana’s vital fishing industry, the state’s top conservation
official
said Thursday.

Dwight Landreneau, Louisiana’s secretary for the department of wildlife
and
fisheries
<; more

NGO NEWS

WWF Continues Leopard Protection Project in Syunik

Source: ARMENPRESS, September 5, 2005

Traces of three out of 10-12 leopards believed to live in Armenian
forests
are recorded in the southern province of Syunik. The total number of
leopards in the South Caucasus is 20-24, with another 10-12 in
Azerbaijan.
The number of leopards in the conflict zone of the district of Karabakh
is
estimated
<; more

Legal News

New law would curb air pollution by school buses, garbage trucks

Source: AP New Jersey, September 7, 2005

A diesel engine emission reduction plan signed into law Wednesday could
have
New Jerseyans breathing easier in the years to come. But first, voters
must
approve a constitutional amendment in November that would put the
program
into effect.

The plan, which backers called the most comprehensive in the nation, is
geared to cut air pollution and health risks by
<; more

NEW PUBLICATIONS

Collection on Environmental Law

Source: Environmental Public Advocacy Center (EPAC), September 7, 2005

Development of the human society in the twenty-first century is supposed
to
be accompanied by the increasing role of the environment. Meanwhile, the
more human beings want to extract from nature, thereby violating the
ecological balance, the fewer chances nature and its components have to
recover. Ecological crisis as a violation of the balance of ecological
systems and the relationship of humans and nature is a matter of concern
worldwide.
<; more

Announcements

Explore Georgia with Caucasus Travel – Adjara

Source: The Messenger, September 2, 2005

What is Adjara: Located in the south-western corner of Georgia, this
glorious place has always been a paradise for tourists – an attractive
spot
with its nature, climate, hospitable people and diverse variety of
cultures
and religions. So familiar, on the one hand, and completely unknown on
the
other hand. Control over this region has changed hands many times over
the
Centuries between Turks, Georgians, Russian, At present Adjara is
undergoing
a very difficult period, though one day this Eden will no doubt
rediscover
its former glory.
<; more

Announcement – Georgian Health and Social Projects Implementation
Center
Invitation for Bids

Source: `24 Saati'(`24 Hours’), September 5, 2005

Georgia

Primary Health and Social Development (PHCD) Project

This invitation for bids follows the general procurement notice for this
project that appeared in Development Business, issue no. 585 of June 30,
2002, most recently updated on Jan 16 2005, Issue No. 646.
<; more

Georgian Tourist Agency `La-Ta’ Tour

We represent a young Georgian tourist agency `La-Ta’ Tour, which
despite of
6 months existence has established itself on the market as a company
offering premium service quality. Our main aim is to promote tourism in
Georgia and show you the `hidden’ wealth of our ancient country.
<; more

First Announcement and Call for Papers – ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF OIL
TRANSPORTATION

European Commission

FP6 INCO SSA-Research Workshop

Organizer: Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Institute of
Radiation
Problems

Date: November 22-25, 2005.

Place: Baku, Azerbaijan
<; more

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Noyan Tapan Highlights” N37
September, 2005

September 12, 2005

PAPLAVOK’S REVOLUTIONARY SITTING

By Garin K. Hovannisian

Yerevan–I’d like to think that it used to be just cigarettes, coffee, and
jazz. But our own time is a bit more complicated than this. The tables
unfurled at Paplavok are now stacked with pyramidal fruit platters, French
pastries, and glamorous cocktails. Instead of Vahagn Hayrapetian’s classic
quartet, we are more likely to hear Aramo’s doo-bop improvisations. And the
characters that nightly enliven Yerevan’s famous café have kindled there a
colorful and brave revolutionary culture.

At the table to your left, for instance, you might find a couple of
university students prodding the case of Yektan Turkyilmaz, the Turkish
historian who was locked up for two months in a National Security cell
without trial. Or maybe it’s a group of tourists who’ve come to see with
their own eyes that mythic bathroom where the president’s bodyguards beat
and killed an impious citizen. “Privet, Rob,” he’d said. It could be a
circle of brute-businessmen with appetites as big as their villas or it
could be a group of unsuspicious girls lavished in the latest Louis Vuitton.
But they talk about the same things: October 27, Armen Sargsyan, rigged
elections, and Northern Avenue.

Unlike the musings of the past, however, today’s sizzling political
discussions are not mere laments and longings anymore. In the people’s
sarcasm and metaphor, you hear clearly (for they are no longer in whispers)
the sure notes of revolution.

Democracy. Freedom. Human rights. The Apricot Revolution. These are the
roots of Paplavok’s intellectual lexicon–the trendiest echoes from the
lakeside. With the excited company, the far-fetched music, the lush cuisine,
and the romantic possibilities of night, the fiery exchanges convince us
that a movement is being born.

But it’s already four in the morning, and even the most passionate
provocateurs must go home now. As Paplavok’s revolutionaries disperse and
fall asleep, the new day’s first minibuses begin their rounds. As the sun
casts its first rays onto reality, the people who need the revolution most
prepare for the day ahead. After all, they cannot afford nocturnal
fantasies. They have families to feed and jobs to fight for.

And that’s precisely Paplavok’s revolutionary paradox. On the one end, the
fly-by-night café is perfect for revolutionary beginnings. It’s where the
endless discussion of corruption and redemption has become an art, fashion,
and profession. It’s where the corruption itself has turned up. In
character, Paplavok is the ultimate spark of political change. On the other
end, it’s so far removed from and so incapable of solving Armenia’s
problems. For Paplavok’s post-midnight personalities don’t really need and
so will not join the revolution at all. They’ll design it. They’ll sell it.
They’ll claim it their own. But when in that final push their commitment is
tested, they will back down. The break between the dreamers and the doers is
simply too wide.

Yet revolutions are not built and achieved in one night. In regard to
America’s epic defiance in 1776, John Adams observed that “the Revolution
was in the minds and hearts of the people.” In this important sense, Armenia
‘s own revolution is well on its way. Which doctor or school teacher is not
ready for a complete recognition of his own freedom and citizenry? Who now
is unprepared to accept a tolerant, liberal democracy? Even Arsen, an old
Soviet-friendly cabbie who drives drunken tourists to their hotels on summer
nights, agrees that if a sincere liberal democracy were set up, it would
beat the communist regime he felt so comfortable in. This seems obvious to
him.

The tougher question is: When will the collective wish become a popular
ultimatum? When will the revolution in the mind and heart of people mean a
revolution in their government? One more time. One more instance of mass
corruption; one more serious scandal; one more catastrophe. Something big.
Or, failing that, iconic. Then, then the people will snap! This is what the
Paplavok intellectuals always have claimed. Just one more time, and mark my
words. But this time, it looks more serious. This time, the present
leadership is informed of the pressure. Hence, we have ongoing deliberations
of constitutional reform to which we are all urged to contribute so that we
might feel counted and proud. Hence, we have the release of Turkyilmaz.
Hence, in one day, the 30-dram increase in mini-bus prices is quashed.

But where the government can hold seminars, issue clean verdicts, and manage
its own unworkable fee hikes, it cannot lose elections. If the government
makes the right moves in public–as it seems to be doing–it will survive
for another couple of years. But by the next elections, Armenia’s spiritual
revolution will be far too developed. The authorities will decide on the
means. But the end will not be theirs to negotiate. A revolution will have
taken place, one way or the other.

Much to the distress of its nightly romantics, Paplavok will have had little
to do with it.

Garin K. Hovannisian is a student at the University of California, Los
Angeles and the founder and editor-in-chief of The Bruin Standard.

Sunday, September 11, 2005
**********************************
CONTRADICTIONS
***************************
If we are smart, why do we treat one another like idiots? On more than one occasion I have myself been treated like an idiot by idiots.
*
If we are civilized, why do we behave like barbarians?
*
Am I a failure if I cannot educate the uneducated, teach tolerance to fanatics, and civilize barbarians? And if I am a failure, how successful have we been collectively in civilizing the barbarians who oppressed and massacred us? What if it was the barbarians who, as our lords and masters, were more successful in recreating us in their own image? What if these so-called barbarians are now ahead of us today?
*
Smartass is not smart, and smart is not intelligent; and hurling verbal abuse at Turks or at fellow Armenians (our two national sports) doesn’t even qualify as smartass.
*
It is a universally shared human weakness to prefer flattery to criticism, but it is a dangerous addiction to prefer lies to truth.
#
Monday, September 12, 2005
*************************************
Millions of Armenians believe Turks are guilty of genocide, and millions of Turks believe Armenians are liars, traitors, and killers of innocent Turks. I am not questioning anyone’s credibility here. What I am trying to do is point out the ease with which millions can be brainwashed.
*
Human nature continues to elude me. No matter how hard I try I cannot understand why millions of people are fascinated by individuals who hit a ball with a modified stick.
*
When I was young, ambitious, and hungry for knowledge, I wanted to master all the sciences, arts, letters and languages of the world. I know now that human knowledge is as vast as the ocean and all I can master is one drop of it.
*
Every Armenian should carry a sign with the warning: “Contradict me and make an enemy for life!”
*
As a child I was taught obedience but I was not warned against kissing ass.
#
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
*******************************
The morally superior does not feel the need to assert moral superiority.
*
Asserting moral superiority is the surest symptom of moral inferiority.
*
What separates the civilized from the barbarian is degree of awareness. To share one’s understanding means to share one’s awareness.
*
The barbarian is convinced he knows everything he needs to know even when the idea of civilization is beyond his compass.
*
It is not easy convincing barbarians that they are barbarians.
*
The barbarian does not feel the need to ask questions because he already has all the answers.
*
A religious or philosophical system has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with its power to shape our perception of reality.
*
Faith may also be defined as an advanced and refined form of cobra fascination in which common sense, reason, even the instinct of self-preservation are paralyzed and perverted. How else to explain the fascination of Western intellectuals with totalitarian communism and Stalin? Or terrorists who kill and commit suicide in the name of Allah?
*
All men of faith will agree with me provided I agree with them that their own faith is an exception to this general rule.
*
Americans are suspicious of philosophers but they are more than willing to tolerate the sophistries and perversions of lawyers and politicians. They seem to be unaware of the fact that if it’s not philosophy (love of wisdom) it is bound to be philomoronism.
#
BOOK REVIEW
***************************
By Ara Baliozian
*****************************
THE FACES OF COURAGE: ARMENIAN WORLD WAR II, KOREA, AND VIETNAM HEROES. By Richard N. Demirjian. Introduction by Art Sarkisian. Illustrated. 656 pages. Ararat Heritage Publishing Company (P.O.Box 396, Moraga, CA 94556-0396). 2003. $36.95.
***************************************************
This mammoth compilation based on extensive interviews may come as a surprise to readers whose image of Armenians is that of passive victims of Turkish atrocities during World War I, but not to historians like Toynbee. Speaking of Urartu (ancient Armenia) we read the following in his STUDY OF HISTORY: “Militarily, Urartu was the most effective as well as the most resolute, of all Assyria’s opponents in the last millenium B.C.” Further down: “The Assyrian Empire never succeeded in conquering the rival Empire of Urartu.”
Armenians have played key roles in the military careers of the Byzantine, Ottoman (as Janissaries), and Soviet Empires. According to Steven Runciman, “The Armenians provided many of Byzantium’s most vigorous rulers,” among them Basil I, “a Napoleonic figure” (Oswald Spengler).
In the Middle Ages, the most highly paid and feared mercenaries were Armenians. In Art Sarkisian’s introduction we read, “out of more than 400,000 Soviet Armenians who served during the war, 250,000 were killed, an appalling death-toll for what was then a republic of less than two million inhabitants.” And, “62 Soviet Armenians were promoted and bestowed the ranks of field marshals, admirals and major generals. More than one hundred Armenians servicemen were awarded Heroes of the Soviet Union (equivalent of the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor), and two of these received the honor twice.”
Very few of the names in FACES OF COURAGE will be familiar to the average reader. Of the nearly fifty names, I recognized only those of Edward Alexander (diplomat and author), Anne Avakian Bishop (journalist), Vahe “Buck” Kartalian (actor), Carl Mahakian (film and sound editor, producer, and book collector), Moorad Mooradian and Joe Vosbikian (both regular contributors to the ARMENIAN REPORTER), and Barry Zorthian (whose multi-faceted contributions and activities in politics, international affairs, and the media are too numerous to list here). They all tell their own stories, invariably absorbing, sometimes harrowing, and always admirable.
If I were to sum up this volume I would say that it is a heroic enterprise about remarkable heroes that will dispel once and for all the image of Armenians as victims.
Himself a commanding officer of the 334th Military Intelligence Detachment, Richard Demirjian is the author of several other reference works, among them ARMENIAN-AMERICAN/CANADIAN WHO’S WHO OF OUTSTANDING ATHLETES, COACHES, AND SPORTS PERSONALITIES, 1906-1989, and TRIUMPH AND GLORY – ARMENIAN WORLD WAR II HEROES.
#

Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th St., NW, Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:

PRESS RELEASE
September 13, 2005
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

RECORD NUMBER OF ARMENIANS SET TO
WATCH WEBCAST OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VOTE

— Armenians from across United States and around the World
Tracking Progress of Legislation on the Internet

WASHINGTON, DC – Thousands of Armenians from the United States and
throughout the world are expected to watch the live internet
Webcast this Thursday, September 15th (starting at 10:30am EST) of
a key Congressional panel’s consideration of Armenian Genocide
legislation, reported the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA).

For the first time in nearly five years, the influential U.S. House
International Relations Committee will discuss and vote upon
legislation on the Armenian Genocide (H.Res.316 and H.Con.Res.195).
In October of 2000, the panel voted 24 to 11 to approve the
Armenian Genocide Resolution, but the measure was eventually
withdrawn from consideration only minutes before it was to go
before the full House of Representatives.

To watch the live Webcast, visit the website of the U.S. House
International Relations Committee and click on “Live webcast of
meeting.”

Thursday, September 15th – 10:30 am

“We have been tremendously encouraged by the growing number of
Armenians who are taking advantage of webcast technology to watch –
in real time – the Committee’s consideration of legislation on the
Armenian Genocide,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the
ANCA. “We join with Armenians throughout the United States in
looking forward to this opportunity to watch the legislative
process in action.”

The Committee meeting will be held at 10:30 am in room 2172 of the
Rayburn House Office Building, on Capitol Hill. Among the other
issues which are set to be considered by the panel during its
September 15th meeting are the following:

* H. Con. Res. 238: Honoring the victims of the Cambodian
Genocide that took place from April 1975 to January 1979.

* H. Res. 38: Expressing support for the accession of Israel to
the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

* H. Res. 388: Regarding the July, 2005, measures of extreme
repression on the part of the Cuban Government against members of
Cuba’s pro-democracy movement.

* H. Res. 409: Condemning the Government of Zimbabwe’s “Operation
Murambatsvina”

* H. Con. Res. 237, Welcoming President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan
to the U.S. on September 20, 2005.

####

PRESS RELEASE
September 13, 2005

Junior Achievement of Armenia
1102 North Brand Blvd. #61
Glendale, CA 91202
Contact: Beth Broussalian Tel/Fax: 858-792-4656
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Street Beat Armenia to Promote SOAD’s “Mezmerize”
JAA Alumni Group to be Exclusive Promoter of New Album in Armenia

YEREVAN, ARMENIA – Raging with its hypnotically dark, dense and arty
style, System of a Down (SOAD) recently released Mezmerize, its third
album and perhaps its hardest-hitting effort to date. Reviewed by
critics as “intense,” “progressive” and “thrillingly original,”
Mezmerize challenges the senses. With their newest album already topping
the music charts in the United States, members of the band,
guitarist/singer Daron Malakian, singer Serj Tankian, bass player Shavo
Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan, are looking to unleash Mezmerize in
Armenia.

SOAD approached Street Beat Armenia, comprised of members of Junior
Achievement Alumni of Armenia, to take the lead in promoting Mezmerize
in the homeland. Armed with SOAD CDs, t-shirts, posters, signs, stickers
and stencils, Street Beat Armenia will be the exclusive promoter of
Mezmerize in the Republic and is currently preparing to launch a media
blitz of Armenia’s television and radio stations.

Robert Shahnazarian, Manager of Core Production at Sony BMG Music
Entertainment, is working with Tankian to record a series of exclusive
interviews that will be distributed by Street Beat Armenia to major
radio and television stations in Yerevan. The interviews will feature
Tankian speaking in Armenian and discussing details of the band’s most
recent venture and future plans. Promotion efforts also will include
distributing printed materials in towns and cities in each region of the
Republic as well as college and university campuses.

“We truly appreciate the opportunity that the band is giving our alumni
to utilize the lessons learned in our classes through this real-life
experience in marketing and teamwork. System of a Down is very popular
in Armenia and have worked hard to gain recognition of the Armenian
Genocide,” comments JAA Executive Director Armine Hovannisian.

In 2002, Ani Movsisyan, President of Junior Achievement Alumni of
Armenia, spearheaded an effort modeled after Streetwise in the US, to
bring the extraordinary music and unique message of SOAD to the
forefront in Armenia. With guidance from Shahnazarian and underwriting
from JAA Founder Cynthia Tusan, Movsisyan and other JAA graduates
together formed Street Beat Armenia. They toured radio and television
stations in Yerevan, distributing information, CDs and posters of the
band. The stations quickly embraced SOAD and began giving more airtime
to its music. Street Beat Armenia’s biggest break came when it was
interviewed on Armenia’s public television station.

“It was such a challenging and, at the same time, exciting task. Being
novices at promoting, we were quick to learn the great art of
persuasion. We worked hard to reach our target audience and developed a
message that was engaging and informative. Getting in contact with radio
and TV stations, scheduling and conducting meetings, and relating
SOAD’s history and international popularity were all thrilling and
rewarding experiences,” shares Movsisyan.

Tusan points out that “Junior Achievement’s mission is all about
providing our youth in Armenia with meaningful entrepreneurial
experiences.” She goes on to say, “The formation of Street Beat Armenia
is exactly that. This year, Margrit Shahnazarian, who originally came up
with the name `Street Beat Armenia’ in 2002, is our volunteer
Project Coordinator. She will maintain close contact with the team to
provide guidance in executing the media blitz and to facilitate
communication with the band.”

Established in 1992, Junior Achievement of Armenia is dedicated to
promoting free market economics, democratic governance, social
responsibility and ethical business practices in the Republic of Armenia
through economic and civic education. With courses in every high school
in the country, JAA-trained educators now reach 170,000 students in
Armenia each year. Nearly 20% of the total population of Armenia has now
taken a JAA course. For additional information, call (818) 753-4997 or
visit

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian

September 13, 2005

EASTERN PRELACY PRPARES TO WELCOME
CATHOLICOS ARAM I

HIS HOLINESS WILL LEAD THE COMMEMORATIONS OF THE
75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SEMINARY AT ANTELIAS

TWO MAJOR SYMPOSIUMS WILL TAKE PLACE IN
NEW YORK CITY AND CAMBRIDGE

NEW YORK, NY-The Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
is preparing to welcome His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House
of Cilicia who this year has embarked on visits to all of the dioceses
within the jurisdiction of the Cilician See, in commemoration of the 75th
anniversary of the establishment of the Seminary at Antelias, Lebanon.
The Catholicos will arrive in New York during the evening of October 19
and will visit various parishes of the Eastern Prelacy until November 1.
Regional events celebrating the 75th anniversary will take place in New
York, Washington, DC, Boston, and Chicago. Highlights of the public events
in these cities follows:

New York City
On Thursday, October 20, the Catholicos will be at St. Illuminator’s
Cathedral, 221 East 27th Street, New York City, where he will be welcomed by
the community with a Hrashapar service and Achahampooyr, beginning 7:30 pm.
On Friday, October 21, His Holiness will be at Sts. Vartanantz Church,
461 Bergen Blvd., Ridgefield, New Jersey, where he will preside over the
75th anniversary commemorative program, which will bring together a large
group of Armenian Americans from the metropolitan area. The event will begin
at 7:30 pm.
On Saturday, October 22, an Ecumenical Service and Symposium will take
place at the Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, New York City. The
topic of the symposium which is jointly sponsored by the Eastern Prelacy and
the United States Conference of the World Council of Churches, is
“Challenges Facing the Ecumenical Movement in the 21st Century.” A large
number of top ecumenical leaders will participate.
On Sunday, October 23, a Pontifical Divine Liturgy will take place at
St. Bartholomew’s Church, Park Avenue, between 50th and 51st Streets,
beginning at 1:30 pm. His Holiness will officiate and deliver the sermon.
The Liturgy will not be celebrated in the metropolitan area churches; all
parishioners will be encouraged to attend the service at St. Bartholomew’s
Church. The choirs of the metropolitan area churches will participate.
Following the Liturgy a gala banquet in honor of His Holiness and the
75th anniversary will take place at The Pierre, Fifth Ave. at 61st Street.
The cocktail reception will begin at 5 pm, followed by dinner at 6 pm. The
program will include a short video presentation about the Seminary.
Bus transportation is being arranged from various locations. Please contact
your local parish for information or contact the Prelacy, 212-689-7810.

Washington, DC
His Holiness will then travel to Washington, DC, where on Tuesday,
October 25 he will be officially welcomed by the community at Soorp Khatch
Armenian Church, 4906 Flint Drive, Bethesda, Maryland, and will preside over
the 75th anniversary commemoration, at 7:30 pm.
During his visit to our nation’s capital, His Holiness will make a
number of diplomatic visits as well as attend private receptions.

Boston
His Holiness’s visit to Boston will be marked by several important
events including the 75th anniversary celebration on Thursday, October 27,
at 7:30 pm, at St. Stephen Church, 38 Elton Avenue, Watertown, MA. He will
also visit the St. Stephen Elementary School in Watertown.
On Friday, October 28, His Holiness will attend the opening session of
an international conference dedicated to the 1600th anniversary of the
founding of the Armenian Alphabet, organized by the Eastern Prelacy and
Harvard University’s Center for Government and International Studies and the
Mashtots Chair, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Top
scholars from Europe, Middle East, Armenia and the United States will
participated. His Holiness will open the first session and address the
conference, Friday evening at 7 pm. The conference will continue with
morning and afternoon sessions on Saturday.

Chicago
On Saturday, October 29, His Holiness will travel to Chicago where he
will be officially welcomed by the community at All Saints Armenian Church,
1701 North Greenwood, Glenview, Illinois, and preside over that community’s
75th anniversary celebration dedicated to the Seminary, at 7:30 pm.
The following day, Sunday, October 30, His Holiness will officiate over
the Divine Liturgy and deliver the Sermon at All Saints Church. A banquet
will follow the church service at Fountain Blue, 2300 Manheim Road, Des
Plaines, Illinois.

Visit Web Page
Details of the individual events will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
For up-to-minute information about the visit, please go to the Prelacy’s web
site, , where you will also find a detailed biography
of His Holiness, photographs, and various messages recently issued by His
Holiness.

# # #

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Russia struggles to keep grip in Caucasus

By Fred Weir, Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Tue Sep 13, 2005

Murat Zyazikov, the pro-Kremlin president of the southern Russian republic
of Ingushetia, is a hunted man.

Since taking office in 2003, he has narrowly escaped assassination at the
hands of a suicide car-bomber and a sniper, allegedly sent by local Islamic
militants. In the past month alone, insurgents have bombed the motorcade of
his deputy premier and opened fire on his security chief. A year ago,
fighters loyal to Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev briefly seized the Ingush
capital of Nazran, killing almost 100 police officers and government
officials.

Mr. Zyazikov, a former general of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB),
shrugs all that off. “Things here are calm and peaceful,” he told
journalists at a meeting in his plush, golden-domed presidential palace.
“These attacks against me and my officials are the work of desperate men who
want to destabilize the situation in southern Russia. They hate the fact
that we are building a worthy life for our people.”

As the war in neighboring Chechnya grinds into its seventh year with no
resolution in sight, conflicts are metastasizing around the troubled north
Caucasus, which has been a zone of tension since it was conquered by Russia
in the 19th century. The region is a patchwork quilt of warring ethnic
groups and rival religions that makes Europe’s other tangled knot, the
Balkans, look tame by comparison.

Many experts say the Kremlin’s grip, iron-hard in Soviet times, has slipped
disastrously in recent years. “The Chechen conflict is spilling into
neighboring republics, escalating the process of destabilization,” says
Alexei Malashenko, an analyst with the Carnegie Center in Moscow.

Zhairakhsky, a sparsely populated district amid the high, snow-capped
mountains of southern Ingushetia, has remained relatively untouched by
conflict. But, says local administrator Yakhya Mamilov, “if you stand on a
mountaintop here and look around, you’ll see wars flaring or brewing in
every direction. It’s impossible to build for the future with any confidence
while these conditions last.”

Rebel fighters from Chechnya, a few kilometers to the east, often take
refuge among their Ingush ethnic kin in Zhairakhsky, locals say.

Further east is the Caspian Sea republic of Dagestan, with 32 constituent
ethnic groups, where Islamist rebels stage almost daily bombings and
ambushes against Russian security forces.

To the south and west two breakaway republics, South Ossetia and Abkhazia,
are locked in long-simmering wars of independence against the post-Soviet
state of Georgia. Just next door on another side is traditionally Christian
North Ossetia, hereditary enemy of the mainly Muslim Ingush, with whom they
fought a savage border war in 1992.

Moscow has tried to maintain its authority by phasing out “unreliable” local
leaders, and replacing them with loyalists like Zyazikov. “This tactic is
not working,” says Alexander Iskanderyan, head of the Center for Caucasian
Studies. “Moscow imagines that exchanging ‘bad’ officials with ‘good’ ones
will change things, but the main trend we see is a steady loss of control.”

Passions in Ingushetia and N. Ossetia are still seething over the Beslan
school massacre a year ago. On Sept. 1, 2004, a squad of 32 terrorists, most
of them ethnic Ingush, drove from Ingushetia and seized 1,200 hostages in
Beslan’s School No. 1, just across the border in N. Ossetia. Three days
later Russian security forces launched a massive assault on the building,
leaving 331 people dead, half of them children.

Zyazikov, and other pro-Kremlin officials, blame the outrage on
“international terrorism.” North Ossetia’s acting president, Taimuraz
Mamsurov, says the Beslan school siege was a deliberate attempt by “certain
forces” to stir up ethnic war between Ingush and Ossetians. “Tensions have
increased (since Beslan), that’s natural,” he says. “But I think we’ve
succeeded in restraining our people from fulfilling that scenario.”

Others doubt the danger has passed. “Everyone here is always talking about
getting ready for war with the Ingush, to get even with them,” says Madina
Pedatova, a teacher at Beslan’s spanking new School No. 8. “I’m terrified of
it, but I’m sure it’s coming.”

Just across the heavily fortified Ingush-N. Ossetian border thousands of
Ingush refugees forced from their homes in N. Ossetia in 1992 live in a
sprawling, squalid refugee camp. Here the hatred is palpable. “The Ossetians
are like Nazis. They drove us from our homes (in 1992) like cattle, showing
no humanity,” says Umar Khadziyev, unemployed, who lives in a small hut with
his wife and three children.

Mr. Khadziyev says he condemns the Beslan attack, with its terrible death
toll of children. But then he adds: “Do you know why the fighters drove past
two Ossetian schools before taking School No. 1 in Beslan? It’s because the
Ossetians used that very school as a prison for our people in 1992. Yes, our
women and children were held there, in that same gym, beaten up and denied
food and water. Nobody talks about that, do they?”

For Moscow, the spreading unrest, fuelled by Islamic extremists in some
republics and ancient ethnic antagonisms in others, poses an almost
nightmarish challenge. After Beslan, President Vladimir Putin warned that
the cost of failure could be “the destruction of Russia.” Says Khadziyev,
the Ingush refugee: “Our grandfathers told us the USSR would collapse one
day. I’m sure that Russia is going to fall apart too.”

Copyright © 2005 The Christian Science Monitor