“GENOCIDE” ALLEGATION FROM ASSYRIANS, CHALDEANS
STAR
Turkish Press
Oct 17 2005
Press Review
A group of Assyrians and Chaldeans has dedicated a monument in Paris
to an alleged “genocide” committed against them in the waning days of
the Ottoman Empire. Some 10,000 Assyrian-Chaldeans live in Paris. The
monument is near a similar to the so-called Armenian genocide.
Francois Pupponi, the socialist mayor of Paris’ Sarcelles district,
said in a dedication speech that the monument was meant to show deep
sympathy for the Assyrian-Chaldean people who died 1915. He also
added that as long as Turkey resists the genocide allegations it will
never join the European Union. A Chaldean Iraqi parliamentarian,
Yonadam Kanna, also reportedly attended the dedication ceremony,
saying that the monument is not a symbol of hostility between Turkey
and Iraq but would help raise awareness of the subject.

C.H.P. CLINGS TO ITS FAIRY TALE
By SemÝh ÝdÝz
Turkish Press
Oct 17 2005
Inal Batu is one of the leading figures of the Republican People’s
Party (CHP) and he was shut out by the party administration. Speaking
to Haber Turk on Friday, Batu said that he was afraid of nobody and
that he would continue to speak his mind. Former Ambassador Batu said
that the decision to start Turkey’s European Union talks taken at
Luxembourg on Oct. 3 wasn’t ideal. However, he also said that Turkey
had moved to a higher class. In short, he is one of the people in the
CHP pleased with the outcome. However, he doesn’t care for the CHP’s
stance. He complains that although it has many international ties,
the CHP doesn’t use these ties on Turkey’s behalf on the EU issue.
Indeed, it’s difficult to say that the CHP lobbied hard for Turkey by
using its contacts at the Socialist International meeting before the
Luxembourg summit. Meanwhile, CHP leader Deniz Baykal met neither
with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, nor with any other social
democrat leader. The CHP staff was distant from social democratic
members of the European Parliament and national parliaments.
Actually, this is understandable because can you imagine CHP deputy
leader Onur Oymen or CHP Deputy Sukru Elekdag discussing the Kurdish,
Cyprus or Armenian issue with social democrats at the EU? When they
open their mouths, one could see that they’re not on the ‘social
democrat wing’ of the political spectrum because the political view
they claim to own is humanist, socialist and internationalist.
However, they’re proud of being nationalists and partisans for state
control.
In sum, the fact that the common view of social democracy clashes
with the remarks made by these people prevents them from taking their
place among their ‘comrades’ on the international level. They can’t
even exhibit solidarity with their brothers in the Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). They are afraid of giving an appointment
to discuss the Kurdish issue to the intellectuals who were received
by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and who call themselves social
democrats or socialists.
One can find information on definable characteristics of socialism in
the Declaration of Principles accepted by the Socialist International
in 1989 at socialistinternational.com. When the content of this
document is compared with the CHP’s remarks and stance, we see that
this party insists on keeping a lie alive. Actually, if the CHP says
that it’s not social democratic at all, there would be no problem.
However, it can’t say that and it’s falling apart in this dilemma.
–Boundary_(ID_Q5X3wHZfIipWX+SNfjJ1QA)–

PRESS RELEASE
October 14, 2005
American University of Armenia
40 Marshal Baghramian
Yerevan 375019 ARMENIA
Tel: (37 410) 512-522
Fax: (37410) 512-512
Contact: Diana Manukyan
E-mail: [email protected]
Cocktail Party celebrates 10th Anniversary of the first graduating class
of the School of Political Science and International Affairs
Yerevan-On Sunday, October 9, 2005, alumni and faculty members of the
School of Political Science and International Affairs at the American
University of Armenia gathered together at a cocktail party to celebrate
the 10th Anniversary of the School’s first graduating class. It was a
unique opportunity for alumni to meet each other and to remember the day
in October 1995 when the School of Political Science and International
Affairs welcomed its first graduates.
Since its establishment, 250 graduates have received their Master’s
degrees in Political Science and International Affairs and most are
making significant contributions to Armenia’s development. The majority
of the graduates of the School of Political Science and International
Affairs are working in governmental institutions, local and
international organizations, diplomatic missions, educational and
research institutes, and in a variety of development programs financed
by such organizations as USAID and EU’s TACIS.
On the occasion of this PSIA 10th anniversary celebration, PSIA alumni
organized a fund-raising campaign and made a donation of $2,700 to AUA
in support of the renovation of one of the classrooms into a distance
learning facility.
The School of Political Science and International Affairs offers
students a comprehensive set of courses dealing with the political
environment of the 21st Century. The Master of Political Science and
International Affairs aims to provide students with the knowledge and
perspectives needed to function effectively and responsibly in public
service, the private sector, and the non-governmental sector and as
agents for change in society.
—————————————-
The American University of Armenia is registered as a non-profit
educational organization in both Armenia and the United States and is
affiliated with the Regents of the University of California. Receiving
major support from the AGBU, AUA offers instruction leading to the
Masters Degree in eight graduate programs. For more information about
AUA, visit

Armenian pontiff: court settlements step to genocide recognition
By PETER PRENGAMAN
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Two recent life insurance settlements for decedents
of Armenians killed 90 years ago by the Turkish Ottoman Empire are a
first step toward international recognition that the bloodshed was an
act of genocide, the Armenian pontiff said Sunday.
His Holiness Aram I, on a two week visit through Southern California,
home to the largest Armenian community outside country, said the
financial settlements could help prod Turkey and Turkish allies like
the United States to declare the killing of up to 1.5 million
Armenians in eastern Turkey a genocide.
“The settlements will be helpful in raising awareness,” Aram I said
in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press. “If we are
committed to preventing future genocide in the world, the world must
recognize the genocide that has happened.”
Aram I, the spiritual head of one of the Armenian Apostolic Church’s
two branches, said gaining recognition for the mass killings took on a
religious meaning for thousands of Armenian families who fled Armenia
during the turmoil and have yet to return.
The church is a focal point for the Armenian diaspora, including the
estimated 500,000 Armenians living in Southern California.
“The crime and sin must be acknowledged by those who committed it,”
Aram I said.
Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died between 1915
and 1923, but says the numbers have been exaggerated and that the
deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire.
France, Russia and many other countries have declared the killings
genocide. Turkish allies including the United States and neighboring
Azerbaijan have not.
Last week, French life insurance company AXA agreed to pay $17 million
(euro14.17 million) to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by
descendants of Armenians killed, splitting the money between about
5,000 people and charities. That came after New York Life Insurance
Co. and heirs of some 2,400 policyholders agreed last year to a $20
million (euro16.67 million) settlement, believed to be the first in
connection with the disputed event.
Turkey, which has no diplomatic ties with Armenia, is facing
increasing international pressure to fully acknowledge the event as it
seeks membership in the European Union.
It was the pontiff’s third trip to California since being elected in
1995 as head of the Great House of Cilicia, the diaspora branch of the
church based in Lebanon.
During the visit, Aram I has led a handful of masses at Armenian
churches, met with local political leaders and spoken to groups
including the World Affairs Council of Los Angeles.
The church’s other branch, the Catholicosate of All Armenians, is
headquartered in Armenia. Its pontiff, His Holiness Karekin II,
visited California in June.
The church split administratively more than 50 years ago while Armenia
was under the control of the Soviet Union.
Aram I said the division turned out to be a “blessing” because it
allowed the Armenian Church to better connect with millions of
Armenians living abroad.
Less than 3 million live in Armenia while more than 1 million live in
the United States. There are also large numbers in Lebanon, Iran and
Syria.
“At this point, the two centers are serving their people,” said Aram
I when asked if the administrative centers might someday consolidate.
“What will happen in the future, nobody knows.”
10/16/05 19:01 EDT

National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Day to Day 4:00 AM EST NPR
October 11, 2005 Tuesday
Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s controversial Faulkner
ANCHORS: MADELEINE BRAND
REPORTERS: FRANK BROWNING
This is DAY TO DAY. I’m Madeleine Brand.
Turkey is trying to become part of the European Union, but Europe is
ambivalent and so for that matter are the citizens of Turkey. The
country’s bittersweet romance with the West permeates the work of
Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. His books have been promoted on
billboards in Istanbul and translated into more than 30 languages.
Yet now he is being prosecuted for defaming Turkish honor. Frank
Browning went to Istanbul to talk with Orhan Pamuk and brought back
this report.
Mr. ORHAN PAMUK (Author): This is Orhan Pamuk. We are in Istanbul at
my office overlooking the entrance of Bosphorus. So many people come
here and visit me, and each time I’m embarrassed to have which I
sometimes call the best audio studio in the world.
FRANK BROWNING reporting:
It’s late morning. The eternal mist of the Bosphorus nearly burnt
away, the constant rumble of diesel-driven ferries echoing up the
slopes. Soon the muazzin will launch his call to prayer from the
mosque of Sangir(ph), built 450 years ago by Suleyman the
Magnificent. This ancient landscape forms the terrain of Orhan
Pamuk’s work.
Mr. PAMUK: From my desk, I can see inside the Topkapi Palace, various
buildings. I know all these buildings by heart. Next to it is Saint
Sophia.
BROWNING: Orhan Pamuk’s latest book is called “Istanbul.” It’s a love
letter to the great melancholic city, but now it’s no longer clear
that he will be able to continue living in Istanbul.
Ms. MAUREEN FREELY (Journalist and Novelist): He was declared a
traitor in a number of newspapers.
BROWNING: Journalist and novelist Maureen Freely has known Orhan
Pamuk since they were in high school in Istanbul.
Ms. FREELY: There were death threats. There were invitations on Web
sites for somebody to silence this person forever, that kind of
thing. And so he was forced to leave the country and he had to stay
more or less in hiding for several months.
BROWNING: Pamuk’s offense was an offhand, almost incidental remark
made last spring to a Swiss newspaper.
Mr. PAMUK: I just made a statement about one of our great taboos:
What happened to Ottoman Empire’s Armenians in 1915? This is a taboo
we still cannot discuss.
BROWNING: The next day, his reference to the most contentious issue
in Turkish history, the massacre of Armenians during World War I,
made headlines across the country. It also brought the denunciations
that eventually led a prosecutor to charge Pamuk with defaming
Turkish national honor. Again Maureen Freely, Pamuk’s friend and
translator.
Mr. FREELY: He can’t imagine living anywhere but Istanbul. So he’s
trying to stay and defend his right to stay and also defend his
country because the irony about this is that he’s a patriot.
BROWNING: Few believe Pamuk will go to prison, but the sentiments
beneath the case cut to the deeper themes he explores in his memoir.
The Istanbul of his childhood in the 1950s and ’60s was bathed in a
heavy atmosphere of melancholy.
Mr. PAMUK: From a very young age, I suspected there was more to my
world than I could see. Somewhere in the streets of Istanbul in a
house resembling ours there lived another Orhan, so much like me that
he could pass for my twin, even my double. I can’t remember where I
got this idea or how it came to me. It must have emerged from a web
of rumors, misunderstandings, illusions and fears, but in one of my
earliest memories, it is already clear how I’ve come to feel about my
ghostly other.
BROWNING: It’s a collective sadness born of the city’s history.
Mr. PAMUK: All the riches of Middle East and Balkans came to this
town and the Ottoman Empire fell apart. And this glorious empyreal
city went into ruins. I spent my childhood in that ruins and I wrote
about how beautiful it is, something to do with what the Japanese
call nobility of failure, the willing embrace of failure.
BROWNING: For a nation struggling to be a modern European partner and
a city determined to reclaim its metropolitan glamour, any talk of
failure these days, and worse of guilt, provokes jitters even among
liberal Western-orientated Turks like Tharia(ph), an independent tour
operator on a busy street near the ancient Hagia Sophia mosque.
Tharia credits Pamuk as a great writer, but…
THARIA: Mr. Pamuk, he say one million Armenian killed, Turkish people
killed them. And we didn’t like his word because at the moment we
want to be one hand. You understand what I mean? We feel we have to
be a legal nation at least at the moment especially.
BROWNING: Others like Ebrahem(ph), who runs a Turkish sauna in a
crowded cafe district near Taksim Square, told me in French that he
views Orhan Pamuk as a sort of tool of the Europeans.
EBRAHEM: (French spoken)
BROWNING: `Here in Turkey,’ he said, `there are a few left-wing
intellectuals who are very well organized and connected to the media
who operate more or less like the Masonic societies. Well, Orhan
Pamuk said we killed the Armenians because the Europeans, they wanted
someone who would say that the Turks killed the Armenians.
EBRAHEM: (French spoken)
BROWNING: Both Ebrahem and Tharia are torn by deep Turkish patriotism
and their yearning for a democratic Turkey that respects free speech
and human rights. Yet they’re also afraid that too much
European-style criticism could provoke internal separatists and the
hard-lines. These are the tensions that course Orhan Pamuk’s
melancholy prose.
Mr. PAMUK: This fight is going through the souls of all the people in
this country. It’s not a fight between good people and bad people.
It’s a fight between two spirits of the same person. And the
popularity of my books in just five years is due to the fact that
Turkey’s problems between east and west, between modernity and
traditional Islam turn out to be the…
(Soundbite of call to prayer)
BROWNING: Just then, the muazzin at the Sangir mosque(ph) sounds the
midday call to prayer.
(Soundbite of call to prayer)
BROWNING: Though neither Pamuk nor his family were ever religious,
he’s not opposed to religion. In fact, Islam’s imprint, he says,
persists on everything from art and science to war and politics, and
the dance between Islam and secularism generates the stuff of
literature. The history feeds the melancholy and the melancholy
nourishes the revenue of moods that fill his journals, his essays and
his novels.
Mr. PAMUK: If one writes honestly about one’s moods, I think, then
one knows about not oneself but all humanity, and that we are all
made up of so many moods which continuously deceive us.
BROWNING: Deceive us?
Mr. PAMUK: Mm-hmm. In, say, for three hours, a bit sad, and for
another four years, you’re OK. And in another five hours, I may be
angry. Getting down your sentiments is the essential reflex of an
inborn order, I think.
BROWNING: Orhan Pamuk hopes he’ll be able to continue penning down
and writing about those sentiments in his home in Istanbul. His
hearing on charges of defaming Turkish honor is set for December
16th. For DAY TO DAY, I’m Frank Browning.
BRAND: NPR’s DAY TO DAY continues. I’m Madeleine Brand.

Daily Nebraskan via U-Wire
University Wire
October 12, 2005 Wednesday
U.S. pundits suppress honest look at history
By Andrew Moseman, Daily Nebraskan; SOURCE: U. Nebraska
LINCOLN, Neb.
Last month, Turkey’s streets erupted in rage. With its admission into
the European Union up in the air, the nation has been under
increasing pressure to acknowledge what many people consider a
genocide against Armenians in the early 20th century.
An academic conference had been organized to discuss the issue but
was pushed back and nearly cancelled after massive protests,
including the justice minister calling the admission a “stab in the
back to the Turkish nation,” according to Al-Jazeera.
In a nation without the same codified tradition of free speech as the
United States, perhaps this shouldn’t surprise. This kind of thinking
isn’t supposed to prevail back home.
In America, the shining light of free expression, citizens should
understand the importance of open exploration of history, both
glorious and ugly, and of questioning the past in order to avoid
duplicating mistakes. Practically, we know this doesn’t always
happen, but watching the nation’s powerful pundits, those who stir
national discussion, casts serious doubts on Americans’ ability — or
even willingness — to deal with their past.
To keep up on U.S. events during my Swedish study abroad, I
occasionally break down and watch bits of American TV online. Last
week it was clips from “The O’Reilly Factor,” and what I heard last
week sounded eerily familiar to the reports out of Istanbul.
O’Reilly’s goal this particular week was to put a smear-job on Cindy
Sheehan, the now-famous woman who became an anti-war activist after
her son’s death in Iraq, and he started with a Sept. 21 interview
with Phil Donahue.
Donahue’s semi-relevance stemmed from his public stance as a Sheehan
supporter. And with his token guest in place, O’Reilly had the
opportunity to spill his own feelings about her. Sheehan is a
“radical,” O’Reilly says because she said Israel is occupying
Palestine and that the American operations in Afghanistan have been a
failure.
The most egregious sin, though, is that she “has accused Americans of
killing people ever since we stepped on this continent,” O’Reilly
said on the show. He repeated the charge three days later, when he
brought on Wesley Clark and lambasted the general for meeting
publicly with Sheehan, which “lends her credibility.” And O’Reilly
went back to the same line — repeating that Sheehan is a radical for
stating that Americans have murdered people.
I don’t know out of what context O’Reilly pulled these statements; if
Sheehan did use them as reasons to oppose the Iraq war, it’s a
juvenile argument. But on the level of fact, it’s hard to deny the
fact that Europeans behaved rather brutally since day one of their
little New World adventure.
Of course, historical denial isn’t new with O’Reilly. If you saw the
documentary “Outfoxed,” which, in all fairness, was just as much
wholesale propaganda as the Fox News it criticized, you probably
remember Jeremy Glick. After his father died in the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks, Glick had the audacity to bring up America’s history of
financing some of the people who later became its enemies, like
Saddam Hussein. O’Reilly subjected Glick to a highlight-reel worthy
tirade, raising his blood pressure 10 or 20 points in the process.
Think what you want about Sheehan, Glick or anyone else; I’m not here
to defend them. When you enter the public sphere, you have to know
you’ll encounter criticism. The point is the dangerous rhetorical
fashion in which O’Reilly tries to marginalize those who dare to
deviate from “The Factor” line.
In the Clark segment, O’Reilly makes little, if any, effort to
discuss the actual issue of Sheehan’s activism — the war. When Clark
tries to introduce his ideas about what to do in Iraq, O’Reilly jerks
the segment right back to his line of logic for attacking Sheehan
personally — she said bad things about the country; therefore, she’s
a bad person.
So if you’re keeping score at home, anyone who brings up inglorious
facts about the country’s past is a radical, if not guilty of
outright treason. My, my, that sounds a lot like … Turkey. It’s not
terribly reassuring to know that after two centuries plus of
democracy, American public discourse gravitates to the same common
denominator as in a nation with a much younger and rockier history of
operating the “of the people, by the people, for the people” machine.
Noting that in the past, Americans have killed American Indians or
that Turks have killed Armenians doesn’t make someone a radical or a
traitor — it makes them a reasonably aware historical observer. Yet,
by making any insinuation of skeletons in America’s closet tantamount
to radicalism, O’Reilly and many others like him make reasonable
political discussion nearly impossible.
The powerful have always authored history, and personal attacks are
the lifeblood of American politics. But this game is different — not
rewriting history, but making ugly historical events untouchable. It
frees a nation from accountability and, perhaps more importantly,
impedes the nation from taking any lessons.
If anti-historical bullying dominates more of the public sphere,
American political discourse will limp to an even lower low. If
bringing up an ugly moment in American history means being labeled a
radical, people won’t do it, and that means public discourse minus
the irreplaceable perspective of the past.

Agence France Presse
14 octobre 2005 vendredi 5:12 PM GMT
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
Comité de défense de la cause arménienne salue un accord “historique”
PARIS
Le Comité de défense de la cause arménienne (CDCA) s’est félicité
vendredi de “l’accord historique” intervenu jeudi en Californie aux
termes duquel le groupe d’assurance français Axa a accepté de verser
une indemnisation de 17 millions de dollars aux descendants de
porteurs de contrats d’assurance vie décédés lors du génocide
arménien de 1915.
“Au-delà de l’indemnisation des victimes spoliées, votre action
démontre une nouvelle fois la réalité du génocide commis contre le
peuple arménien et la nécessité pour la Turquie actuelle, héritière
de l’empire ottoman comme des polices d’assurances impayées, de
reconnaître et de réparer ses fautes”, a indiqué le président du
CDCA, Harout Mardirossian, dans un courrier adressé à Vartkès
Yeghayian, l’un des avocats américains des plaignants, et cité par le
communiqué.
Cette décision intervient au terme d’une médiation menée en
Californie (ouest des Etats-Unis) entre le groupe français et ces
descendants qui avaient lancé une action judiciaire civile en nom
collectif (“class action”).
Aux termes de cet accord, Axa versera notamment trois millions de
dollars à des organisations caritatives arméniennes en France et 11 M
USD dans un fonds d’indemnisation des descendants des victimes.
Fin septembre, un porte-parole d’Axa avait confirmé à l’AFP la tenue
de cette médiation, ordonnée par un tribunal californien. L’affaire
portait sur des contrats souscrits à l’époque des faits auprès de
L’Union-Vie, une des sociétés constitutives de l’UAP (racheté en 1996
par Axa).
Un accord similaire a déjà été signé avec la compagnie américaine New
York Life en 2000 pour 20 millions d’euros.

Fresno Bee (California)
October 14, 2005, Friday FINAL EDITION
Dokoozlian, former Bulldog player and teacher, dies at 77
Bryant-Jon Anteola The Fresno Bee
Nick Dokoozlian, who played for the Fresno State football team from
1949 to 1951 and later was a member of the Bulldog Foundation, died
Monday of heart disease in Fresno. He was 77.
A three-year starter at fullback and kicker, Mr. Dokoozlian earned
all-conference, Little All-Coast and honorable All-America honors in
his final year. He also was named to the All-Armenian-American team
in 1951.
After football, Mr. Dokoozlian became a viticulturist and worked at
Fresno State for 20 years as an instructor and vineyard manager.
He stayed involved in Fresno State sports while serving on the
Bulldog Foundation board of directors, a fundraising group for Fresno
State athletics.
“The university was really the fabric of his life,” said Mr.
Dokoozlian’s son, Nick Dokoozlian Jr. “He loved football, and he
loved working in the vineyard.
“He had this favorite story he always told how he scored a tying
touchdown with no time remaining, then kicked in the extra point to
win the game.”
Mr. Dokoozlian, who graduated from Dinuba High in 1946, also played
at Reedley College for two seasons and was inducted into the Reedley
College Hall of Fame last year.
During his first year at Reedley College, Mr. Dokoozlian lettered in
football, basketball, baseball and track. He concentrated on football
during his second season and earned a scholarship to UCLA.
But before Mr. Dokoozlian could play at UCLA, he returned home from
Southern California after his father suffered a heart attack. Mr.
Dokoozlian then decided to attend Fresno State.
Smaller schools such as Fresno State at the time granted
junior-college transfers three years of playing eligibility.
“He was one of the hardest guys ever to bring down,” said Paul
Mitchell, a longtime coach, teacher and stadium announcer at Reedley
High who practiced against Mr. Dokoozlian in the late 1940s. “He
either ran over you or was dragging you for several yards.”
Mr. Dokoozlian is survived by Bernadine Dokoozlian, his wife of 491/2
years, and sons Nick Jr. and Jeffrey.
Funeral service is at 10 a.m. Monday at Holy Trinity Armenian Church.
Contact the Yost & Webb Funeral Home for more information at (559)
237-4147.

Fresno Bee (California)
October 12, 2005, Wednesday FINAL EDITION
Looking within, reaching out Armenian cleric says Mideast Christians
must rise to the challenge of living in a Muslim world.
Ron Orozco The Fresno Bee
Christians face a challenge living in the Middle East, His Holiness
Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia in Antelias,
Lebanon, said Tuesday.
Christians live as a minority in that part of the world, where most
people are Muslim. He said some Christian churches struggle for
survival and that they must reorganize themselves in order to live
peacefully with Muslims.
“It is a challenge that should move the Christian Church to recovery,
rediscovery and renewal,” said Aram I, moderator of the World Council
of Churches, which is made up of 340 churches representing more than
400 million Christians globally.
Aram I gave a lecture Tuesday in front of several hundred people at
Fresno Pacific University in southeast Fresno. It was part of a
pontifical visit in California, marking the 10th anniversary of Aram
I’s enthronement. The Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic
Church arranged the visit.
Before Aram I’s talk, an ecumenical prayer service was held in his
honor at Butler Church near Fresno Pacific. Ten doves were released
upon his arrival — one per enthronement year.
Bishop John T. Steinbock of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno gave
one of the opening prayers. And Pacific Chamber Singers wrapped up
the service by singing “The Lord’s Prayer” in Armenian.
“I didn’t know what to expect, but then everyone stood up and I
thought, ‘Oh, my, this guy is important,’ ” said Jennifer Eastwood, a
Fresno Pacific senior majoring in vocal performance and a chamber
singer. “I felt honored to sing.”
At Fresno Pacific’s Ashley Auditorium, Aram I’s lecture, “Challenges
Facing Christianity in the Middle East,” came just days after the
university held Building a Culture of Peace week. The university is
supported by the Mennonite Brethren Church.
Islam in the Middle East, Aram I said, has created a new context for
Christians to live out their faith in their communities — from
Greek, Armenian and Syrian Orthodox to Roman Catholic to Protestant.
“We live with Muslims; they’re our neighbors,” said Aram I, wearing a
black robe. “It is very important we reactivate our living together
as one community in the Middle East.
“With Muslims, we share common values,” he said. “We cannot live in
isolation. We need to develop a kind of theology as churches so
living together is manifested concretely. We still can preserve our
identity.”
Those attending the lecture had an opportunity to ask questions. One
student asked whether it was possible for Christians to serve Muslims
and still hold on to their faith beliefs.
Aram I answered yes. Christians shouldn’t compromise their missionary
role, including serving others such as Muslims.
“Serving doesn’t recognize boundaries,” he said.
Anna Ambaryan, a Fresno Pacific sophomore who is of Armenian descent,
said she felt a sense of pride as she listened to an Armenian
spiritual leader.
“He said not to compromise but to be strong in your faith,” Ambaryan
said. “That will show God’s love to others.”
Aram I’s Fresno visit will conclude today, when he blesses an
agricultural field at North and Clovis avenues and visits California
Armenian Home and First Armenian Presbyterian Church in Fresno.

Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City)
October 11, 2005 Tuesday
Symphony opens year luminously
by Edward Reichel
SALT LAKE SYMPHONY, Libby Gardner Concet Hall, Saturday.
The Salt Lake Symphony opened its new season Saturday under the baton
of its new music director, Robert Baldwin, with a program of music by
Barber, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky.
Baldwin led the orchestra in wonderfully articulate readings that
showed his keen sense of expression and perceptiveness. And the
orchestra, for its part, played luminously. The evening’s soloist was
the young Armenian pianist Karen Hakobyan, who played Tchaikovsky’s
ever popular B flat minor Concerto in the second half of the concert.
A former Gina Bachauer competitor and currently a student at the
University of Utah, Hakobyan is an immensely talented and dynamic
performer with an impressive technical command of his instrument. The
20-year-old made short work of the pyrotechnic demands placed on the
soloist in the first movement. However, Hakobyan was also at times
rather careless in his playing and fell to using the pedal
excessively.
In the first movement, Hakobyan attacked the music too aggressively,
making his interpretation too one-dimensional and monotonous. It also
frequently affected the balance between the piano and the orchestra.
The poetic slow movement and the fiery finale fared much better.
The concert opened with Barber’s “Essay No. 2.” This ruggedly
expressive piece with its bold statements and dramatic force is one
of the composer’s more intense forays into orchestral music.
Baldwin captured the drama and vitality of the “Essay” wonderfully,
giving a finely wrought reading that was dynamic and quite often
electrifying.
The orchestra, with few exceptions, played wonderfully. In
particular, tenor saxophonist Dave Feller was remarkable in his
extensive part, playing with expressiveness and eloquence.