PRESS RELEASE
Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th Street, NW, Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
Email: [email protected]
Web:
MULTI-PLATIMUM ROCK BAND SYSTEM OF A DOWN ASK HOUSE SPEAKER DENNIS
HASTERT TO ‘DO THE RIGHT THING’ IN SUPPORT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
LEGISLATION
BAND RALLIES THEIR FANS WITH ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF AMERICA
(ANCA) IN FRONT OF HASTERT’S BATAVIA, IL OFFICE TUESDAY, SEPT 27 AT
NOON
Band Are In Chicago in Advance Of Their Friday
Evening Concert at Chicago’s Allstate Arena
Los Angeles, CA – September 23, 2005 – System of a Down, one of rock’s
most daring and innovative bands, have just announced that they –
along with their fans, the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA; ), Axis of Justice () and the
Armenian Youth Federation – will visit the Batavia office of
Rep. Dennis Hastert on Tuesday, September 27 (Noon) to ask Speaker
Hastert to ‘do the right thing’ and keep his commitment to hold a vote
on the pending Armenian Genocide legislation. If passed, the
legislation will officially recognize Turkey’s destruction of 1.5
million Armenians between 1915 and 1923. The band have invited their
fans to join with them in this effort by attending the rally and have
set up a system by which fans can directly email Speaker Hastert on
the issue.*
System of a Down’s four band members – Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian,
Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan – are of Armenian descent and have
made awareness of the genocide, and genocide around the world, a
central message of the band. All have lost family members to the
Armenian Genocide.
On September 15, the House International Relations Committee
overwhelmingly approved legislation recognizing the Armenian Genocide,
despite objections from both Turkey and the Bush Administration.
Despite his previous public support for the measure in 2000, Speaker
Hastert has twice prevented the Armenian Genocide legislation from
coming to a full vote in the House. Today the fate of this human
rights issue rests in the Speaker’s hands. He has two choices: either
allow a vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution, giving the 435
Members of the U.S. House a chance to cast their ballots on this human
rights measure or, delay, defer, and ultimately defeat the Armenian
Genocide Resolution by refusing to bring the measure to a vote of the
full U.S. House. The rally is in support of a fair and full vote in
the House of Representatives, ending U.S. denial of this crime and
opening the doors to justice – to the restoration, reparation, and
restitution owed to the victims of genocide.
“Dennis do the right thing” stated Serj Tankian, “I just visited my
97 year old grandfather, my only link to the far past, and promised
him that I would go and try to talk to Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the
House, and make sure that he takes this opportunity to bring up the
Armenian Genocide Resolution to the floor of the House of
Representatives. This is a personal issue to me and System.”
The System of a Down/ANCA rally will take place at the offices of
Rep. Dennis Hastert – 27 North River Street, Batavia, Illinois (about
an hour from downtown Chicago). The rally is scheduled for
12Noon-2:00 PM on Tuesday, September 27. The Armenian community,
activists, and the band’s fans from across the greater Chicago area
are expected to attend the rally.
Members of System of a Down and Aram Suren Hamparian, Executive
Director of ANCA, are available to discuss the rally and pending
legislation on Tuesday, 9/27 and Friday, 9/30, the day of their
concert at Chicago’s Allstate Arena.
* System Of A Down have asked their fans to take action and send a
free WebFax urging Hastert to hold a vote on the Armenian Genocide
Resolution:
;amp;u=c9oct
About System Of A Down: Six months after their album Mesmerize debuted
at number one on Billboard’s Top 200 album charts, the quartet returns
with Hypnotize on November 22, part two of a promised two-album set.
The American/Columbia recording artists are nominated for an American
Music Award in the “Favorite Artist” in Alternative category and are
currently on a North American headlining tour through October 12. For
more information, visit the band’s website:
Background on the issue:
On September 15th of this year, the International Relations Committee
overwhelmingly approved legislation properly recognizing this crime
against humanity. During the course of a three-hour meeting, 21
Representatives on this 50-member panel spoke in favor of H.Res.316
and H.Con.Res195, which were adopted by bipartisan majorities of 40 to
7 and 35 to 11, respectively. Clearly, just as in 2000, legislation
recognizing the Armenian Genocide enjoys the support of a large
Congressional majority.
The full video of the 9/15/05 webcast can be viewed at:
In October of 2000, Speaker Hastert withdrew the Armenian Genocide
Resolution from consideration only moments before it was to reach to
House floor.
Following his withdrawal of this measure, he issued a statement
affirming his personal support for the Armenian Genocide Resolution,
stressing that the Resolution enjoyed the support of a bi-partisan
Congressional majority, and pledging to bring this legislation back to
the House floor.
The Speaker has, in the past, taken positive actions on the Armenian
Genocide issue:
1) Remarks on the House floor, on April 19, 1994, marking the 79th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide: “Over a million Armenians were
exiled and eventually murdered by the Ottoman Turks beginning on April
24, 1915. As a result of this genocide, the Armenian population of the
Ottoman Empire was effectively eliminated through a carefully executed
government plan.”
2) He voted, on June 5th of 1996, for the Radanovich Amendment, to cut
U.S. aid to Turkey until it ceases denying the Armenian Genocide.
This measure was adopted on the House floor by a bipartisan majority
of 268 to 153.
#####
For more information, please contact:
Angelica Cob-Baehler, Vice President, Columbia Records, Media,
Santa Monica, 310-449-2508; email: [email protected]

International Herald Tribune
Turkish court’s ban of Armenian conference is circumvented
The Associated Press, Reuters
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2005
ISTANBUL An Istanbul court’s decision to block a conference on the World
War I massacre of Armenians has embarrassed Turkey at a sensitive moment
and angered EU states just 10 days before the planned start of EU entry
talks.
But conference organizers moved on Friday to circumvent the ruling,
which banned it from two universities. A spokeswoman for a third
Istanbul university said it would act as the host for the conference.
Turkey has always denied claims that Ottoman Turkish forces committed
genocide against Armenians during the war, but under pressure from the
European Union it has called for historians to debate the issue, not
politicians.
The Istanbul university conference aimed to give historians that chance,
but on Friday, when the conference was due to open, the debate was
political rather than academic.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the court verdict had “nothing to do
with democracy.” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Turkey had only
itself to blame. “There is no one better than us when it comes to
harming ourselves,” he said.
Late on Thursday, an Istanbul court barred two universities from playing
host to the conference pending information on the qualifications of the
speakers. The court also wanted to know who was participating and who
was paying for it.
But Justice Minister Cemil Cicek later said there was nothing to stop
the conference from moving to another location.
Aydin Ugur, president of Istanbul Bilgi University, said the conference
would be held Saturday morning at Bilgi. He said the court’s order had
been directed at two other universities, and had “nothing to do with Bilgi.”
The European Commission condemned the court’s verdict.
Krisztina Nagy, the EU executive’s spokeswoman for enlargement said that
the timing of the ruling, coming a day before the conference, and the
apparent lack of legal motivation behind it “looks like yet another
provocation.”
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn previously called a Turkish court’s
plans to prosecute a best-selling novelist, Orhan Pamuk, a provocation.
Pamuk faces as much as three years in jail on charges of “denigrating
the Turkish identity” on accusations he backed claims that Armenians
suffered genocide 90 years ago. Turkey accepts many Armenians were
killed during World War I, but says they were victims of a partisan
conflict that also claimed thousands of Turkish lives. Turkey denies any
systematic genocide.
The Armenian conference had already been postponed in May after the
justice minister accused its organizers of treason.
Turkey closed its border and cut diplomatic ties with Armenia in 1993 to
protest against Armenian occupation of the territory of Azerbaijan, a
regional Turkic-speaking ally of Ankara.
Turkish academics and European Union observers have insisted that the
conference was not only a chance for Turkey to face one of the most
sensitive issues in its history, but also a test of Turkey’s willingness
to permit open discourse.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Guardian (UK)
Saturday September 24, 2005
Books Review – Commentary
The cloak of love
Sylvia Paskin on the all-encompassing passions of the Turkish Chekhov
“Each day thousands of trains are bringing in thousands of stories and
carrying away thousands of stories”
A20-minute ride from the maelstrom of Istanbul is the Adalar, the
archipelago of nine islands which lie off the Asian coast of the Sea of
Marmara. The principal islands have long been an enchanting maritime
alternative to the city and have taken on the distinctive cultural
lustre of various communities; Buyukada, the largest island, has a
strong Jewish contingent and Kinaliada is predominately Armenian.
Burguzada is known as the Greek island, but in Turkey it is more famous
for being the home of Sait Faik, Turkey’s greatest short-story writer,
whose work is compared to Chekhov and whose family home where he lived,
worked and died is now a museum.
Sait Faik’s life was brief, intense and alcoholic. He was born in 1906
into a well-off mercantile family who dealt in lumber. Restless,
bisexual and unfocused, he studied in Turkey, Switzerland and France,
where he travelled widely. He never finished any course of studies and
rarely stayed in a job longer than he could help. He returned to
Istanbul in 1935 where he taught Armenian orphans before becoming a
court reporter for the Istanbul daily Haber. The job lasted only a
month, but this was long enough for him to gather material for his short
stories.
As a writer he was prolific, in contrast to his sporadic employment
record. By the time he died in 1956, of cirrhosis, Faik had established
a formidable literary reputation based on more than 190 short stories,
two novellas, numerous essays and 40 poems.
A passionate, maverick humanist, Faik’s writing took time to be accepted
in Turkey. First, in an era of rampant nationalism, his work was not
considered sufficiently nationalist in tone. His first story was
rejected by a magazine as being too kozmopolit because it featured Greek
“nationals” as principal characters. Second, Sait Faik’s stories
embraced “ordinary” people’s lives – “our forlorn, beautiful, everyday
faces”. His fiction deals with the lives of Armenian fishermen, Greek
Orthodox priests, the workers, waiters, clerks, children, the whores and
criminals of Istanbul, the bored, the disillusioned and disenfranchised.
This too was heavily criticised at the time.
Under his piercing, democratic gaze these characters took on immense
stature and resonance. “I love people more than flags,” he wrote. And he
illustrated this love in his choice of a name. After the Turkish
Republic passed its Surname Law in 1934 – which enforced the mandatory
registration and use of fixed surnames – he became Sait Faik Abasiyanik.
The name derives from his family name of Abasiyoglu. Aba means a heavy
felt-like material, which is worn as an outer garment, and is associated
with poverty. Sait Faik’s subtle modification to Abasiyanik means
someone whose aba is scorched, itself a figurative expression for “a
person desperately in love”.
His was a boundless love; for nature and the natural world. He writes
lyrically and pantheistically of island life. “Getting out of the city
is like escaping from yourself. Our memories, our passions, our
friendships, our infidelities, the good and bad things in us, our
wretchedness and our shame are all left behind in the city. Here we are
surrounded by trees, fruit, vegetables and animals” (“Life Outside the
City Walls”). It was a love which extended to unloved everyday objects
as in the story of “The Gramophone and the Typewriter”, in which he uses
the two everyday machines as the basis for a meditation on the use and
function of writing. And it was a love for his characters and their
marginalised lives. In the poem “Sunday” he writes:
On Sundays
I drink beer
With radishes and pistachios.
A young boy
Serves me for a pittance
But all I want
Is to be his father.
One criticism of his work has been a perceived lack of unity and
dramatic intensity. But as the distinguished editor Talat S Halman
wrote, “Sait Faik wrote the way he lived – spontaneously, sensually,
impressionistically, experientially, always stressing the authentic
touch and the ring of truth. He probably felt that a story is a
microcosm or slice of life and cannot be, should not be, any more
perfect than life itself … In exploring human situations, his stories
reflected, not only in substance but in form as well, the flaws of life.”
In “The Story that Dropped in My Lap”, a hapless waiter is delivering
lunch to an office and drops the plate with “A brain, green salads and
three stuffed peppers” on it. He picks up half of the broken plate but
leaves the food, abandoned and dust-covered on the floor. A porter comes
along, picks up the other half of the plate and daintily arranges the
food on it, saying to the nearest old lady “it’s a sin, Auntie, a shame.
At least it ought to go into somebody’s gut.”
“One could not resist the sweet smile that this beautiful heaven-sent
coincidence had brought to the unshaven face of a lowly porter,” Sait
Faik continues before concluding the story: “And at the cost of a brain
salad and three stuffed peppers it has fallen to his servant Sait to sit
down and write it up.”
· Sait Faik – books in English: A Dot on the Map: Selected Stories and
Poems (Indiana University 1983). Sleeping in the Forest: Stories and
Poems edited by Talat S Halman, associate editor Jayne L Warner
(Syracuse University Press 2004).

Dear Friend,
Please note, that the initially announced room B-369 Rayburn has
been changed to 1539 Longworth House Office Building. The updated
invitation is below.
We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday,
NKR Office
——————————————-
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
Armenian Assembly of America
Armenian National Committee of America
Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the United States
In cooperation with Co-Chairs of the Congressional Armenian Caucus
Representatives Frank Pallone and Joe Knollenberg
Cordially invite You to a Capitol Hill Event
14 years of Nagorno Karabakh Independence:
Progress Toward Freedom, Democracy and Economic Development
With Keynote Speaker
Baroness Caroline Cox
September 28, 2005
1539 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC
5:30PM – 7:30PM
For additional information, please contact us at
Tel: (202) 223-4330, Fax: (202) 315-3339
Email: [email protected]
Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the United States
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Web:
* * *
This material is distributed by the Office of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic in the USA on behalf of the Government of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic. The NKR Office is registered with the U.S.
Government under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. Additional
information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.
The Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the United States is
based in Washington, DC and works with the U.S. government, academia
and the public representing the official policies and interests of
the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

A CAMPAIGN TO TERRORIZE FOREIGNERS LINKED WITH ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
AZG – 09/24/05: Turkey has launched a campaign to terrorize all foreigners
who are somehow connected with the issue of the Armenian Genocide, a press
release by Turkish Press Review says. According to September 19 reports of
Ankara Anatolia news agency, the Republican Prosecutor of Skyutar brought an
indictment against a number of Armenian scientists who demonstrated
Ataturk’s picture with puppets in front of him at the conference on Armenian
Genocide at UCLA (it was a hint at a poster depicting Ataturk with 2 dead
children at his feet that was once well-known in a number of Armenian
communities in Diaspora).
Among the participants of the conference there were Vahram Shemmasian,
Artashes Kasakhian and Levon Marashlian. The indictment came from Dr.
Ibrahim Oztek, Dr. Zihni Papakci and Metin Hajimustafaogli, owner of Iqtidar
weekly. “We sue them for insulting the Turks and the founder of Turkey
Ataturk “, Oztek said.
The same day Ankara Anatolia agency informed that the leader of Turkish
Labor Party, Mehmed, Bedri Gyultekin, announced about it’s Party’s campaign
under the banner of “Do Not Buy Swiss Products” that will last until the
Swiss Parliament reconsiders its decision on Armenian Genocide. The Party
members gathered at one of the main squares of Ankara, Kizika, call for
their fellow citizens not to buy Swiss goods.
By Hakob Tsulikian

Investment Opportunities in Armenia & Georgia
BISNIS Trades & Tenders
09/07/05 – 09/21/05
BISNIS Trades & Tenders program designed to help U.S. companies secure
export transactions and take advantage of tender opportunities in the
region. Trades & Tenders summary reports are distributed via email. To
search previously distributed
Trades & Tenders leads online, visit
This issue of BISNIS Trades & Tenders includes opportunities in:
– Aviation and Aerospace
– Consulting
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AVIATION AND AEROSPACE LEADS
EBRD – Armenia: Advisory Services – EBRD – Armenia, Consultancy
Services, Airports/Transport: Armenian International Airports
New Passenger Terminal – Advisory Services to EBRD
For more information on the Aviation and Aerospace Sector in the NIS,
please contact Irina Mitchell at BISNIS at
[email protected]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CONSULTING LEADS
EBRD – Georgia – Public Administration – Consultancy Services –
Technical Assistance to Ministry of Environment, Georgia
For more information on the Consulting Sector in the NIS, please contact
Ellen House at BISNIS at [email protected]
Note: These opportunities are provided solely as an informational
service and do not represent an endoresment by the U.S. Department of
Commerce. Verification of these leads is the responsibility of the reader.
This report is provided courtesy of the Business Information Service for
the Newly Independent States (BISNIS). BISNIS is the
U.S. Government’s primary resource center for U.S. companies exploring
business opportunities in Russia and other Newly
Independent States of the former Soviet Union. BISNIS website:
.
+++++++++++++++Forwarded by:+++++++++++++++
Katie Kane, Trade Program Assistant
BISNIS- U.S. Department of Commerce
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 202-482-3100
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Academics in Turkey to avoid ban on Armenian massacre conference by
changing venue
.c The Associated Press
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) – A group of academics planning to hold a
conference on the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire has
decided to skirt a court order banning the conference by changing the
venue to another university, an academic official said Friday.
The conference deals with one of the most sensitive issues of Turkey’s
history, the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks at around the
time of World War I. An Istanbul court on Thursday ruled the meeting,
which was originally scheduled for Friday at Bogazici University, had
to be canceled. The court demanded details on how the scholars were
chosen and asked for the credentials of all those intending to
participate.
But Aydin Ugur, president of Istanbul Bilgi University, said the
conference would be held Saturday morning at Bilgi. He said the
court’s order was directed at two other universities, and had
“nothing to do with Bilgi.”
Turkish academics and European Union observers have insisted that the
Armenian conference is not only a chance for Turkey to face one of the
most sensitive issues in its history, but also a test of Turkey’s
willingness to permit free speech and open academic discourse.
The European Commission on Friday condemned the Turkish court ruling,
saying it deplored “this new attempt to prevent Turkish society from
freely discussing its history” and that it would make note of it in a
Nov. 9 progress report on Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union.
Ugur said at a news conference Friday that the Turkish court’s demand
to review academic credentials of conference participants “threatens
every serious academic institution.”
Turkey has been trying to rapidly implement reforms in the run-up to
opening EU membership talks on Oct. 3.
09/23/05 11:14 EDT

ARMEN RUSTAMYAN: “THERE MAY BE NO TALKS WITHOUT NAGORNO KARABAKH’S
DIRECT PARTICIPATION”

DEFACTO NEWS SERVICE – 09/23/05: “The talks are not conducted at
present, as there may be no talks without an immediate participant of
the conflict – Nagorno Karabakh”, stated Chairman of the Parliamentary
Commission for Foreign Issues Armen Rustamyan in the course of the
press conference on September 22.
According to Armen Rustamyan, if Azerbaijan broaches the Karabakh
issue at the UN without participation of the NK representatives
Armenia will not participate in the discussions. He stressed Armenia
was the guarantor of Nagorno Karabakh independence and security. In
his opinion, the talks should be conducted on the settlement of
Nagorno Karabakh, and not “Armenian – Azeri” conflict with
participation of the three conflict sides.
A member of ARFD faction touched upon the issue referring to adoption
of the two resolutions on the Armenian Genocide by the US Congress
House of Representatives Committee on International Relations. In the
parliamentarian’s opinion it will play an important role in the
international recognition of the Genocide.
Armen Rustamyan noted the Turkish society was not ready to recognize
the Genocide. The reason is the Turkish authorities’ inactivity. In
his words, the agreement with Turkey on recognition of the Genocide
should be package, while the realization phased. A member of ARFD
faction thinks there are two options of the problem solution:
recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey and opening of the
border; establishment of relations with Armenia and international
recognition of the Genocide.
In Armen Rustamyan’s words, the issue referring to recognition of the
Armenian Genocide has not only moral and historic, but also the
political aspect. “Recognition of the Armenian Genocide should become
the matter of all the countries, and the issue is not subject to
bargaining”, emphasized he. Armenian parliamentarian added there
should be no closed borders between Armenia and Turkey. “Unless Turkey
recognizes the fact of the Genocide there are no guarantees that the
history will not be repeated”, said Armen Rustamyan.

PRESS RELEASE
September 22, 2005
ARMENIAN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY
CONTACT: Peggy Pailian
Tel: 818-685-9946
[email protected]
GEORGE AVAKIAN HONORED AT ARMENIAN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY’S
47TH ANNUAL PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR AWARD
& SCHOLARSHIP BANQUET
Who is George Avakian?
George Avakian can best be described as a passionate jazz enthusiast
and 20th Century’s greatest producer of jazz music. His credits
include the all-time best-selling albums by Duke Ellington, Benny
Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, and Sonny
Rollins. His million-seller singles are extraordinarily eclectic;
they feature France’s Edith Piaf, Mexico’s Trio Los Panchos,
Nashville’s Everly Brothers, and polka king Frank Yankovic. At
Columbia Records, he began as a part-time researcher and rose to the
position of manager of the International and Popular Album
Departments; he helped found Warner Brothers Records, and at RCA he
was Director of Popular Artists & Repertoire. He remains the only
person to have held top executive positions at all three of the
largest American record companies. Mr. Avakian is a Founder and
President-Emeritus of the National Academy of Recording Arts &
Sciences.
George Avakian was born in Armavir, Armenia in 1919. In 1923,
following the Armenian Genocide, his family immigrated to the United
States and settled on the East Coast. Young George spent a lot of
time listening to music on the radio. As a young teenager he heard
Benny Goodman’s compositions and fell in love with jazz. He was
fascinated with that unique, and at the time not so popular, brand of
music. Later, as the editor of his high school’s
newsletter, he decided to interview Benny Goodman as a way to meet his
idol. This life changing experience validated his devotion to jazz
and the rest is jazz history.
George Avakian’s significant contributions to the jazz industry began
in 1937 while he was attending Yale University and where he met
Marshall Stearns, an early jazz scholar and collector of an extensive
collection of early jazz albums. It is important to note that during
this period the record industry was in its infancy and only a scant
few jazz singles were available to the public. Avakian’s vision was
to compile these scattered singles into a collection. He proposed the
idea to Decca Records and in 1939, he producedthe very first American
jazz album called `Chicago Jazz’.
While still a student at Yale, Decca’s competitor, Columbia Records,
which at the time was a very small company with a total staff of 16 in
all departments, offered Mr. Avakian a part-time position researching
Americanjazz artists and their compositions. This led to the
reissuing of undocumentedmusic under the label of `Hot Jazz Classics,’
making him the pre-eminent authority on the history of jazz.
Concurrent with his work at Columbia, he wrote a weekly jazz column
for Tempo Magazine, helping to set standards for jazz literacy and
appreciation.
After graduating from Yale, Avakian was drafted into the army and
served at Pearl Harbor during WWII. After five years in the military,
he returned home in 1946, needing to plan for the future. He had
already received an offer by the president of Columbia Records; he
also knew that he was expected to work in his family’s oriental carpet
business. His father, quite aware of his passion for music, offered
him a little time off to `go and play’ since he had `earned it’ by
fighting in the Big War. George did not hesitate, began at Columbia
the following Monday, and later became Manager of the International
and Popular Album Departments.
In 1948, with postwar emerging technologies in communication and
electronics, George Avakian played a pivotal role in the invention of
the Long Playing (LP) record. The release of his first 100 LPs made
the single record obsolete as the industry’s major music medium, and
elevated his division into the largest income-producing unit in the
company.
In addition to his contributions to jazz, Mr. Avakian also recorded
every type of music, from rock & roll to Broadway shows and opera.
His many talent discoveries include singer Johnny Mathis,
arranger-conductor Michel Legrand, comedian Bob Newhart, and
pianist-composer Keith Jarrett. He also brought international record
stardom to, Erroll Garner and Mahalia Jackson.
In 1961, Avakian was a key figure in establishing the first
Soviet-American cultural exchange program; the following year, he
recorded Benny Goodman’s USSR tour. He is the only producer to have
recorded American jazz musicians in the former Soviet Union. He also
produced the first joint concert by American and Soviet musicians, in
1990, at the Village Gate Theatre in New York. In 1990, he became the
only American citizen ever to receive the Order of Lenin, the highest
decoration in the Soviet Union.
George Avakian’s devotion to the researching, preservation and
dissemination of American music has earned him a knighthood in the
Knights of Malta (l984). His wife, violinist Anahid Ajemian, received
the same honor in the same year. Among his many honors, the American
Federation of Jazz Societies presented him with the 1998 Benny Carter
Award, “in deep appreciation for his tremendous contribution to jazz.”
In 1999, he received Japan’s `His Master’s Voice’ Award, and in 2000,
he received Down Beat Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Among
countless worldwide radio and television interviews are the
unprecedented eight-part BBC-Radio series, “George Avakian: The Myth
Maker,’ in which the veteran producer reminisced about his career. In
2003, in an interview at WNYC Radio, Sara Fishko talked about
Avakian’s adventures in the early days of jazz recording and called
him the `Ambassador of American Music’. In 2005, The Wall Street
Journal declared that his pioneering work created the canon which
enabled newcomers to jazz music to learn about, hear and appreciate
the great performances in the early history of what was at thattime a
virtually undocumented music. As author of the first series of
annotations of jazz albums, he set standards for explanatory album
notes that are still emulated. In recent years, more than half a
century after discovering Louis Armstrong’ s music in the archives of
Columbia Records, Avakian continued to research original jazz
compositions and came upon seven previously unknown Armstrong works at
the Library of Congress, which he later produced on CD. Additionally,
Avakian has been invited to work on Columbia’s Golden Age reissuesof
Jazz Classics of the 1950’s.
When asked what the essence of his job as a producer has been, Avakian
responded, `the job of a producer is to present the artist in a
waythat best serves the artist, the record company and the public.
That is, to bring everybody together in the best possible
circumstances and satisfy all three interests.’
The Armenian Professional Society will be honoring music industry
producer George Avakian with the Professional of the Year Award at its
47th Annual Professional of the Year Banquet, Saturday, November 5,
2005 at Los Angeles Music Center – Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. For
information regarding the event, contact the APS (email:
[email protected] or voicemail: 818-685-9946).
APS is a non-profit organization established in 1958 for the purpose
of fostering fellowship among Armenian professionals and providing
annual grants and scholarships to universities in Armenia & Karabagh,
and to graduate students in the United States. Each year APS
recognizes an individual who has provided outstanding service to the
Armenian community or an Armenian who has excelled in his or her field
with the Professional of the Year Award. Past recipients include:
George Deukmejian, Governor State of California; Armand Arabian,
Supreme Court Justice State of California; Elizabeth Dole,
PublicServant; Jerry Tarkanian, Basketball Coach; Mark J. & Paul J.
Geragos, Attorneys.

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09/23/2005
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) On Again, off Again, Again Back on... Instanbul's Armenian Genocide Conference Continues to Cause Stir 2) ANCA-WR Banquet Draws over 600 Federal, State, and Local Officials, Community Members 3) System Of A Down Calls on Speaker Hastert to Hold Vote on Armenian Genocide Resolution 4) Scholars Urge Ankara to Allow Free Debate on Armenian Genocide 5) LA Mayor Villaraigosa Names Armenian Americans to Administration 6) US House of Representatives Marks Upcoming Visit of Catholicos Aram I 7) ANCA-WR Wraps up Local Summer Internship 8) Critics' Forum- Literature 9) G_d's Wrath* 10)HARVEST GALLERY presents Anahit 11) SKETCHED--A one-woman show written and performed by Lory Tatoulian 1) On Again, off Again, Again Back on... Instanbul's Armenian Genocide Conference Continues to Cause Stir ISTANBUL(AFP/Reuiters)--A conference on the genocide of Armenians will be held on Saturday at a new Istanbul location to circumvent a Turkish court ruling banning the meeting, organizers said on Friday. The CNN Turk television channel said the rectors of Bilgi University in Istanbul had agreed to a request by the organizers to host the conference. The Turkish courts ruling following a complaint by nationalists, comes just days before Turkey is due to start talks on joining the European Union. One of the organizers of the conference on ''Ottoman Armenians During the Fall of the Empire,'' Dr. Halil Berktay of the Sabanci University, remarked that the conference must take place as soon as possible so that democracy, academic freedom and university's autonomy are not damaged. Meanwhile, chairman of the Turkish Confederation of Revolutionary Labor Unions (DISK) Suleyman Celebi has noted that the court decision that suspended the Armenian conference is against laws and scientific freedom. ''The conference was initially postponed due to a reaction from the Minister of Justice of Turkey. The conference was re-scheduled for September 23-25 with the cooperation of Bogazici, Bilgi, and Sabanci universities,' Celebi said. A group of Bogazici students protested the Istanbul court's decision by putting tapes on their mouths. The students stressed that the court decision to suspend the Armenian conference is actually a blow to democracy and academic freedoms in Turkey. The first attempt to stage the conference in May was abandoned after Turkey's justice minister accused organizers of stabbing Turkey in the back. The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says it was illegal even to discuss the issue until a very recent reform inspired by Turkey's bid for membership of the European Union. 2) ANCA-WR Banquet Draws over 600 Federal, State, and Local Officials, Community Members LOS ANGELES, CAThe Armenian National Committee of AmericaWestern Region (ANCA-WR) played host to a maximum capacity audience at its annual banquet on September 18, 2005 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel. Over 600 supporters of the ANCA-WR attended the annual banquet, including dozens of federal, state, and local legislators, and community leaders. The event raised over $200,000 to help the ANCA-WR advance issues of concern to Armenian American community. Banquet benefactors Khachik and Elo Mouradian were joined by Frank and Houri Melkonian, Ashken Pilavjian, John and Asdghik Bedrosian, and Sarkis and Noune Sepetjian in cosponsoring the event. The ANCA-WR presented California State Senator Jackie Kanchelian-Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) with the 2005 ANCA-WR Woman of the Year Award and the ANCA's own Elizabeth Chouldjian with the 2005 ANCA-WR Vahan Cardashian Award for her dedication and tenacity in advancing the Armenian Cause. Congressman George Radanovich (R-CA), by video, joined Congressman Adam Schiff (D-29) in praising the ANCA-WR's efforts in helping the Armenian Genocide resolutions pass through the House International Relations Committee last week. Newly elected Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave special remarks during the evening's program where he expressed his appreciation for the support that the ANCA-WR and the Armenian American community have given him during his tenure as a legislator. The Mayor also used the opportunity to announce appointments of Armenian Americans to his administration. In her acceptance speech, Senator Speier told the attendees about her Armenian roots, reaffirmed her commitment to the Armenian American community, and praised the ANCA for its activism within the American political sphere. `The Armenian National Committee of America has gone beyond the call of duty in pushing Congress to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and I applaud them,' said Senator Speier. The ANCA-WR Annual Banquet is the largest event of its kind and helps raise funds to operate the nation's largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots and political advocacy organization. Through these funds, the ANCA-WR is able to educate the general public about the Armenian Genocide, the Republic of Armenia, Mountainous Karabagh, and other vital issues of concern to the Armenian American community. `I'm inspired by your generosity, by your continued commitment to support this organization to support this community's voice in public affairs and to continue to demand that we get the Armenian voice heard by public officials, by policy makers, and law makers,' said ANCA-WR Board Chairman Steve Dadaian in his remarks that closed the evening's program. 3) System Of A Down Calls on Speaker Hastert to Hold Vote on Armenian Genocide Resolution Thousands of Fans Respond to Alert on News Section of WASHINGTON, DC--Within hours of posting a notice on Tuesday night on the System Of A Down website, thousands of fans from across the United States have sent ANCA WebFaxes urging Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert to schedule a US House vote on legislation recognizing the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). The letters, sent through the ANCA's free WebFax system, urge the Speaker to honor his pledge, made in October of 2000, to hold a vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution. The WebFaxes stress that `The Armenian Genocide is a clear-cut moral issue. Our government's failure to stand up to Turkey's denial is an outrage... Today, the fate of this human rights issue rests in your hands. Do the right thingkeep your pledge. Serve US interests and American values by allowing this legislation to reach the floor for a vote at the earliest possible opportunity.' On September 15, the House International Relations Committee overwhelmingly approved legislation properly recognizing the Armenian Genocide. During the course of a three-hour meeting, 21 members of this 50-member panel spoke in favor of HRes316 and HConRes195, which were adopted by bipartisan majorities of 40 to 7 and 35 to 11, respectively. Similar legislation was adopted by the Committee in 2000, but was withdrawn by Speaker Hastert, at the urging of President Clinton, only moments before it was to reach the House floor for a vote. In the aftermath of his withdrawal of the measure, Speaker Hastert pledged to hold a vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution, but has failed to honor this promise. In May of this year, Mezmerize, the first half of the band's two-part album Mezmerize/Hypnotize, debuted as the number-one selling CD in the United States. On April 24 of this year, System held a sold-out `Souls 2005' benefit concert for the ANCA and other groups working to prevent genocide and counter genocide denial. The band has sold nearly 10 million CDs worldwide. A Google search for `System of a Down' returns over 1.6 million hits. The ANCA, at the invitation of the band, has worked alongside Amnesty International and Axis of Justice at activist tables at concerts to distribute educational materials, secure signatures on petitions, field questions, and promote discussion about the Turkish government's ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide. For information about System of a Down, including a full listing of their remaining tour dates, visit http: The full text of the System of a Down action alert can be viewed on-line by visiting and clicking on `NEWS.' 4) Scholars Urge Ankara to Allow Free Debate on Armenian Genocide (RFE/RL)--More than 60 Turkish, Diaspora Armenian and Western academics have sent a joint letter to official Ankara expressing `deep concern' about what they see as a continuing persecution of Turkish intellectuals challenging its vehement denial of the Armenian genocide. `We think Turkish state and society can only attain peace within Turkey and abroad by critically confronting its own history,' reads the letter obtained by RFE/RL on Wednesday. `A critical analysis, discussion and debate of the location of minorities in that history is essential for the replacement of violent solutions with peaceful ones.' The statement was addressed to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his top ministers. Its signatories specifically urged the Turkish leaders to ensure that a landmark conference on the 1915-1918 mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which is scheduled to start in Istanbul on Friday, proceeds `without harassment or interference.' The three-day conference titled `Ottoman Armenians of an Empire in Decline' is organized by the private Bosphorus Univeristy of Istanbul. It will bring together Turkish scholars and intellectuals who question the official line on the Armenian massacres. The conference was originally scheduled for May, but was postponed after Turkey's Justice Minister Cemil Cicek condemned the initiative as `treason' and a `stab in the back of the Turkish nation'. The comments were denounced by senior officials from the European Union who warned that they could complicate the upcoming start of Turkey's membership talks with the EU. The Turkish government said subsequently that it does not object to the holding of the forum. `Given the current hostility regarding the public discussion of minorities in Turkey, we cannot overstate how important it is for the rescheduled conference that is to take place during 23-25 September 2005 to proceed without harassment or interference,' says the letter. The academics who signed it also condemned criminal proceedings launched against prominent Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk and Hrant Dink, the ethnic Armenian editor of an Istanbul newspaper. Pamuk was charged with `denigrating Turkish identity' in a February interview with a Swiss newspaper in which he stated that `one million Armenians were killed in these lands.' Dink is facing potential imprisonment on similar charges. One of the letter's signatories is Taner Akcam, a University of Minnesota professor and one of few Turkish historians who openly refer to the slaughter of more than a million Ottoman Armenians as genocide. Also signing it were two dozen Turkish scholars, most of them working at US and European universities. 5) LA Mayor Villaraigosa Names Armenian Americans to Administration LOS ANGELES--Newly elected Mayor of the City of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa this week announced appointments of Armenian Americans to one of the city's departments and various commissions. The announcement of Maria Armoudian, Ara Bedrosian, Ed Ebrahimian, and Raffi Ghazarian to the City of Los Angeles' administration came during special remarks the Mayor delivered at the 2005 Armenian National Committee of America Western Region (ANCA-WR) Annual Banquet. `There were a great deal of people wanting to be a part of my administration because we said that it would be an administration that would reflect every community in Los Angeles,' said Mayor Villaraigosa during his remarks. Most notably, the Mayor appointed Ed Ebrahimian General Manager of the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting. Ebrahimian is the Mayor Villaraigosa's first appointment as a department head and is the first Armenian American to head a department in the City of Los Angeles. Prior to his appointment, Ebrahimian served as the Interim Director of the department. As General Manager, he will be in charge of the department which is responsible for providing over 5,000 miles of street lighting, which includes over 240,000 street lights, within the city. The Bureau of Street Lighting is one of six bureaus in the Los Angeles City Department of Public Works and is responsible for the design, construction, operation, maintenance, and repair of the city's street lighting system. Ebrahimian is a longtime member of the Homenetmen Glendale `Ararat' Chapter. Maria Armoudian, a member of the Green Party and an ANC-Burbank activist, was appointed to the Los Angeles Commission of Environmental Affairs. She is the Vice President of Programming at KPFK radio and was an instrumental part of State Senator Richard Alarcon's staff. Ara Bedrosian, an ANCA-WR Board member and Chairman of the National Organization of Republican Armenians (NORA) was appointed to the Los Angeles Police Permits Review Commission. He is an attorney in a private practice law firm in downtown Los Angeles. Raffi Ghazarian, who is a member of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) Camp Management Board, Homenetmen `Masis' Chapter's athletic director, and a former longtime AYF member, was appointed to the Los Angeles Children, Youth, and Their Families Commission. Since taking office, Mayor Villaraigosa has honored his pledge to have Los Angeles's diverse ethnic communities represented in his administration. Speaking in front of the over 600 people at the ANCA-WR Annual Banquet, the Mayor emphasized that he made the first appointments of Armenian Americans because they were the best candidates for the chosen roles. The Mayor's appointments are subject to confirmation by the Los Angeles City Council. 6) US House of Representatives Marks Upcoming Visit of Catholicos Aram I LOS ANGELES--Two prominent Members of Congress have submitted official statements in the Congressional Record marking the upcoming visit in October of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia. Los Angeles area US Representatives Adam Schiff (D-29) and Brad Sherman (D-27) both expressed their great anticipation of the arrival of His Holiness. Congressman Schiff stated that "the main theme of the Pontiff's visit is 'Towards the Light of Knowledge.' This theme reflects the Pontiff's deep faith that only with greater education and dialogue can the world's conflicts be properly addressed." Meanwhile, Congressman Brad Sherman followed by saying "Mr. Speaker, please join me in recognizing His Holiness Aram I, a man who has been a strong voice for mutual understanding among religions, cultures and civilizations; a true spiritual leader committed to peace, justice, and human rights." The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when Congress is in session. Following are the full statements that were submitted by the two congressmen. US Representative Adam Schiff Member of Congress In Recognition of Catholicos Aram I's Pontifical Visit to California Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join my Armenian American constituents in California's 29th Congressional District in welcoming the upcoming Pontifical visit of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia. His Holiness will be visiting the State of California this October at the invitation of His Eminence, Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian of the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America. His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia is the spiritual leader for hundreds of thousands of Armenians around the world and one of the most prominent Christian leaders in the Middle East. The Pontiff presently serves as the Moderator for the World Council of Churches (WCC). This prominent ecumenical organization is comprised of more than 340 churches from different cultures and nations around the world representing over 400 million Christians. The Pontiff, who is the first Orthodox and the youngest person to be elevated to this post, is currently serving his second term as Moderator. The main theme of the Pontiff's visit is "Towards the Light of Knowledge." This theme reflects the Pontiff's deep faith that only with greater education and dialogue can the world's conflicts be properly addressed. The Catholicos's visit will be marked by a number of major events, including a speech he will deliver on October 14th at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council concerning the challenges to inter-religious dialogue in the Middle East. He will also participate by giving the main address at a symposium to be held at the University of Southern California focusing on "Christian Responses to Violence." Of special significance to the 29th Congressional District, the Catholicos will be consecrating the Saint Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church in Pasadena and blessing a new headquarters for the Western Prelacy. I ask all Members to join with me and the Armenian American community throughout the State of California in welcoming the upcoming Pontifical visit of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia. US Representative Brad Sherman Member of Congress Tribute To His Holiness Aram I Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to join my Armenian American constituents of California's 27th Congressional District in welcoming His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, to the State of California. His Holiness Aram I was elected Catholicos on June 28, 1995. Four years earlier, His Holiness had been selected to serve as the Moderator for the World Council of Churches (WCC). This prominent ecumenical organization is composed of more than 340 churches from around the world and represents over 400 million Christians. His Holiness is the first Orthodox Christian and the youngest person to be elevated to the post of Moderator of the WCC. Aram I was ordained a priest in 1968 and obtained the title of Vartabed (Doctor of the Armenian Church) in 1970. In 1979 he was elected Primate of the Armenian Orthodox community in Lebanon. The next year he received his Episcopal ordination. His tenure as Primate of the Armenian community in Lebanon coincided with the Lebanese Civil War. During this time and after, His Holiness reorganized parishes and schools, restructured and reactivated church-related institutions, and renewed community leadership. As a strong supporter of inter-religious relations, dialogue and cooperation, Aram I has played a significant part in promoting common values, mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence among religions. He has worked tirelessly as Primate to foster tolerance and build mutual confidence between Christian and Muslim communities. His Holiness is also active as a scholar and has written several books in which he frequently admonishes the vital importance of dialogue and collaboration among the living faiths of the world. We can expect a message of peace and unity when His Holiness addresses the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on October 14th, 2005. His Holiness will also present the main address at a symposium to be held at the University of Southern California that will focus on how Christians respond to violence. I am honored that the Catholicos will be visiting the 27th District on October 7th to preside over church services to be held at Holy Martyrs Armenian Apostolic Church in Encino, California. Mr. Speaker, please join me in recognizing His Holiness Aram I, a man who has been a strong voice for mutual understanding among religions, cultures and civilizations; a true spiritual leader committed to peace, justice, and human rights. 7) ANCA-WR Wraps up Local Summer Internship LOS ANGELES--The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region (ANCA-WR) recently wrapped up its Annual Summer Internship Program, which took place at the regional offices in Glendale, CA. The internship program is an opportunity for Armenian American youth to gain the experience of grassroots community outreach by working on a variety of issues of concern to Armenian American communities such as increasing Armenian American political activism at the local level and developing economic links between California and the Republic of Armenia. `This internship allows us to further advance our grassroots efforts in the Armenian American communities. Having the opportunity to help the youth perfect its grassroots and advocacy skills will ensure that the Armenian Cause will continue to advance,' said ANCA-WR Board member Leonard Manoukian. This year's interns were chosen from a large pool of young Armenian American community-leaders and activists. Through the extensive application process completed by the ANCA-WR Executive Board, Kaiane Habeshian and Shant Krikorian were selected for the six-week program. Kaiane Habeshian, a resident of Waltham, MA, is in her second year at Brandeis University in Massachusetts where she plans on double majoring in Biology and Spanish. She is currently playing a key role in establishing an Armenian Student Association at her university. Shant Krikorian who is a resident of Glendale, CA is in his first year at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He has grown up as an active member of the Armenian American community, having been a Patrol Leader in the Homenetmen Glendale `Ararat' Chapter's Scouting Division. He was also most recently a board member of the Transnational Council of the European Union Center of California. 8) Critics' Forum- Literature Curious Sightings: Armenian Papers By Hovig Tchalian This week's article looks at a collection of poems neither new nor recently re-published but nonetheless relevant. I refer to a curious collection of poems published by the American man of letters, Harry Mathews. The collection bears the even more curious title, Armenian Papers: Poems 1954-1984. Mathews is a quintessentially American poet born in New York in 1930 who emigrated to Europe in the early 1950's and, after living in various countries, finally settled in France. At the time, he had already become associated with the New York school of poets, which included the likes of John Ashbery and Kenneth Koch. In 1972, Mathews became a member of the French intellectual group, Oulipo, composed of mathematicians, poets and thinkers interested in exploring the boundaries of form. The groups had previously included other great minds, such as the Italian philosopher Italo Calvino. Over the years, Mathews has published a variety of literary works--novels, poems, and experimental pieces. The poems and some prose poetry are collected in Armenian Papers. The curiosity of the collection in this particular case lies in two elements: the content of the work; but equally, its effect on the reader, particularly the Armenian reader. First, a look at the content. The collection brings together disparate pieces, many of a consciously enigmatic nature. The quietly disturbing poem, `Deathless, Lifeless,' describes the aftermath of a passing, then moves to what appears to be a nature scene, in the process expanding the description outward: Where did we First separate? Descending with difficulty from gulley to gulley To break at the start? Here is that country, The blue sky dives, Steps up, and emerges at the bus, Under oaks. The cloudy hag swept through the black trunks Lagged too much in her cloaked legs, You, with stone legs. The speaker is mindful of a `first' separation, a false `start,' as though that smaller parting looked forward ominously to this infinitely larger one. The search acts as a willful un-forgetting of the separation that has already arrived and a mourning of what could have been. The anthology is full of such descriptions of loss and forgetting, all absorbed in the context of the larger experiment with thought, language and form signaled by Mathews' membership in Oulipo. A brief poem entitled `Of Course' (it is worth noting that the `title' appears underneath the poem itself) sums up Mathews' style, what can only be called a series of experiments in sensibility: I could hardly expect you to love me if I couldn't make up my mind about you. If I thought love was pointless, how could I fail to repulse you? I wouldn't expect your support if I derided beauty as skin-deep. If I was a jerk, why would your intelligence tolerate it? Who wants to fly his rocket ship through solid rock? Who cares for strolling on the unpaved void of night? Who takes icicles to bed in winter? Who likes his ice cream boiled? Nobody wants that kind of world. Please agree. The simple, almost simplistic, series of questions in the poem culminates in a final plea, to a lover, a reader, or perhaps a higher being. These various experiments culminate in the collection of poems that give the volume its name, Armenian Papers. The collection is named after the group of lost Armenian medieval poems on which they are based, discovered in Italian and `translated' by the poet into English. As the Philadelphia City Paper's Justin Coffin puts it, `Mathews' adaptation is an attempt to rehabilitate the original work he has never seen. The chance of success is perhaps a little better than the typewriting monkey's banging out King Lear, but Mathews' inevitable failure stands on its own.' The failure, in this case, is almost pre-determined, a part of the game Mathews plays with the poems and with himself, very much in line with the rest of the volume. The theme is brought out clearly in the poems, which together tell a tale of a man introduced into a village community and enamored of a married woman named Sirvan. The love story touches on the same issues of love and loss mentioned earlier but with the added layer of identity issues, generated primarily by the context of translation--across languages, across cultures. The very first poem end with these lines, which could have just as easily come from a modern European novel: `As I looked around me, I saw among others what I myself was feeling, a pride familiar (as in one's own family), and this has probably withstood the failure of the sacrifice, the desolation of the city, the years of massacre and captivity.' The description perfectly encapsulates the poems' feeling of identity (`family,' or what we might today call `nationality') created, paradoxically, in a moment of isolation. The final mention of massacre and captivity binds together the moment being described with its future historyoursand both Armenian and non-Armenian readers. It is a line of thought picked up again by the speaker of the fifth poem: `When I sit in the darkness of never-harvested firs, the fruit over smokeless charcoal seethes so faint you can hear a butterfly's flapping, or a wren as [it] hops up the crannies of a wall: the wall my father rebouldered, in the last summer of our life together, truncated by a Settler's ax.' The blow of the ax finds its echo several pages later, in these words that complete the eighteenth poem: `You will know our powers for what they are: nothing more than a recognition of helplessness in the face of a destiny that does not exist.' If the poet had written the words himself, he might have added, `please agree.' This series of poetic exercises begs the question--why Armenian poems? And why these? We might imagine that Mathews chose these particular poems for one of many reasons--the sense of enigma of words written long ago; or perhaps the strange novelty of a foreign language. For the Armenian reader, perhaps, coming across a volume like this one presents the curious sensation of a satisfying `sighting'--akin to noticing an Armenian last name in the otherwise anonymous list of credits that scroll by at the end of a film. But what remains of that satisfaction when we come to realize the exact nature of the poems and their origin--medieval Italian poems thought to have been written originally in Armenian? Considering the answer to this question bring us to the second curiosity I mentioned earlier--the reaction of the Armenian reader to the volume, or more accurately, the relationship among the various parties in the curious triangle created by that same reader, an American writer, and a series of enigmatic poems of mysterious origin. It also brings the Armenian reader to the uneasy realization that his estranged relationship to the poems is finally curiously akin to the distant relationship of the American poet to his own material--a curious distance, a sighting and no more. Hovig Tchalian holds a PhD in English literature from UCLA. You can reach him or any of the other contributors to Critics' Forum at [email protected]. 9) G_d's Wrath* By Garen Yegparian Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, and high gas prices- all increasing in frequency... See what we have wrought? We have angered the Almighty by transgressing against His laws. And now we are reaping the whirlwind of G_d's wrath. We have despoiled and degraded Creation. Water and air, intelligently designed to sustain us, now poison us. The land, where it has not been defiled with outrageous construction is rendered too toxic to much of life through our use of pesticides, herbicides, or outright industrial dumping. We have initiated a period of unparalleled extinctions, the ultimate insult to the Creator, and severely limited the range of the plants and animals He intended us to be the stewards of. In the more specifically human realm we have engaged in numerous transgressions against the Decalogue. We have sanctioned murder, mass-murder actually, by engaging in needless, unprovoked warfare and the legitimation of the death penalty- think of Texas alone, where some 200 descendants of Adam and Eve, created in His image, have been put to death over the last decade. We have lied, deceived, and distorted, as when it comes to genocide and preventing or atoning for it. We have been covetous and greedy. We allow people to work all seven days of the week with very little recompense. We allow the needy to suffer. And all this we do and legitimize through our laws and societal systems. Worse still, much of this is done in the Lord's name as when men of the cloth such as Rev. Jerry Falwell after the September 11 attacks and Rev. Pat Robertson recently regarding policy towards Venezuela's president advocate opinions and approaches in direct contravention of His love and dictates. Finally, we have disregarded the sage advice of our wise scientists who, using their G_d given intellect have warned against the dire consequences of our planet destroying actions. If you were the one true G_d, wouldn't you demonstrate your ire, particularly by smiting those people and areas who have committed the worst sins? * This article was conceived before hurricane Katrina struck. 10)HARVEST GALLERY presents Anahit Artist Opening Reception: Friday, September 30, 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. September 30 through October 2 GLENDALE--Harvest Gallery will be exhibiting the paintings and drawings of Anahit Ar, beginning September 30. Working with numerous art forms including graphic art and costume design, Anahit Ar's paintings showcase figurative compositions and portraits that are strong, expressive and dramatic yet flow with a sense of elasticity. Her work has been displayed in several exhibitions and shows in fine art museums throughout Russia and Armenia, as well as in private art collections. Anahit Ar was born into a family of artists whose artistic roots span three generations. Earning a bachelor of fine arts from Terlmezyan Fine Arts College and a doctorate in art from the University of Fine Arts and Theater in Armenia, Anahit Ar became an accomplished artist-painter and international costume designer with extensive associations with Russian drama theaters, ballet organizations and opera houses, including the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet. Anahit Ar's exhibit will be on display from Friday, September 30 through Sunday, October 2. Gallery hours are Tuesday Sunday from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. Harvest Gallery: 938 North Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA For information about the exhibit, call Harvest Gallery at 818.546.1000 or visit <; 11) SKETCHED--A one-woman show written and performed by Lory Tatoulian LOS ANGELES--On October 1-22, Dandigin Productions presents SKETCHED , a one-woman show written and performed by Lory Tatoulian at HeartBeatHouse Studio in Atwater Village. Tatoulian is an actress and playwright whose work explores issues of cultural identity, gender and ethnic community dynamics. Her comedic character-studies define the core of her style. Tatoulian's explorations take root in theatrical monologues that meld the comedic and absurd experiences of several ethnic groups, including Armenians, who make-up the American tableau. Her intelligible character portraits range from an Avon Lady who wants to help democratize the world, to a housewife jazz singer from Beirut, to a car addict who contemplates her free-will on the freeway in the award-winning piece "Autosapiens," a comedic realization of Californians' intricate relationship with their automobiles. The San Diego Union Tribune writes, "The boldly physical writer-performer Lory Tatoulian sent up SoCal's car mania in her explosive satiric solo. Tatoulian is a find. In 'Autosapiens,' she creates a freeway-crazed gal who's decided to spend her life in her car. As she eats, observes, makes love and fights other drivers on the highway of life, she devolves into another species altogether, the Autosapien." SKETCHED is a collection of humorous stories and musical vignettes. Throughout the evening, Tatoulian manages to incarnate into 10 different characters from across the globe. She collaborates with talented musician and composer Ara Dabandjian. Together they bring jazz to Armenian children's songs, rhythm to the stylings of Glendale and sheer satire to the peculiar inhabitants of all those who live on the periphery of society. SKETCHED will be running on the first four Saturdays in October at 8 p.m. The exact dates are October 1,8,15,22. Tickets are $15 and are available at the door. Location: HeartBeatHouse Studio 3141 Glendale Blvd. LA CA 90039 In the heart of Atwater Village Limited Seating, Reservations recommended by contacting Arpy Jahjah at 626-296-0028. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2005 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.