Press Conference
Assembly of Armenians of Europe
Contact : Arminé Grigoryan
Tel : +32 2 647 08 01
Fax : +32 2 647 02 00
E-mail : <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]

Turkey’s accession to the EU – Blind spot for the European Union

Non-Muslim minorities in Turkey as targets of a recent hate campaign

TOMORROW – Wednesday, September 22, 2004, 14:00

Residence Palace – International Press Center

Rue de la Loi 155, 1040, Brussels, Salle « Passage ».

Embargo until 14:00, 22 September 2004

Brussels, September 21, 2004

Will the European Commission, in its report of October 6, 2004, consider
Turkey as « ready » for the EU accession? Will the European Council
start the negotiations for Turkey’s accession to the EU at the end of
this year?

In recent years, Turkey has made certain legal and administrative
progress. Nevertheless, at the same time, it has significantly hardened
its position towards fundamental rights, such as the freedom of opinion
and has adopted a repressive policy towards the minorities living in
Turkey. In particular, traditional prejudice towards Non-Muslim
minorities is kept alive by the public education system and the state
controlled media. Such an attitude, however, is incompatible with the
Copenhagen criteria required for accession negotiations of a new member
State.

In this regard, a Memorandum, initiated by the Working Group Recognition
– Against Genocide, for International Understanding (Berlin) and the
Switzerland-Armenia Association (Bern), was submitted to the attention
of the European Council, Council of the European Union, members of the
European Commission and European Parliament. Recalling the Copenhagen
Criteria, the Memorandum explains the concern of the signatories for a
lasting improvement of the minority situation in Turkey. The dozens of
national and international NGOs which signed this Memorandum protest
against the hate campaign of Turkey’s minister for education, Dr.
Hüseyin Çelik, which includes the official denial of the genocide,
committed on the Christian population of the Ottoman Empire and
resulting in 3.5 million victims (1912-1922). For this reason, the
signatories want to draw the EU’s attention to the necessity of
safeguards and profound reforms in the education system and in media
control, for public education and mass media are the main `opinion
leaders’ and directly responsible for an extremely negative perception
of these minorities in Turkey and for subsequent attacks on institutions
(churches, synagogues, schools and representatives of Non-Muslim
communities), which did not even cease during Turkey’s reform process of
late.

The Assembly of Armenians of Europe, together with the initiators of the
Memorandum are inviting you to the Press Conference for the presentation
of the above mentioned document.

Speakers to the Press Conference (by alphabetical order):

* Mister Baastian Belder, Independence/Democracy Group, Member
of the European Parliament, Netherlands

* Mister Michalis Charalambidis, writer, member of the Central
Committee of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of
Peoples, expert on the genocide of Greeks in Pontos, Athens;

* Baroness Caroline Cox of Queensbury, Deputy Speaker of the
House of Lords, United Kingdom, Chairperson of the Christian Solidarity
Worldwide, London;

* Ms. Hülya Engin, Committee member of TÜDAY, organization for
the defence of human rights in Turkey and Germany, Cologne;

* Dr. Tessa Hofmann, scholar of Armenian studies and sociology;
scientific documentarist at the Free University of Berlin; writer, human
rights activist; chairperson of the Working Group Recognition – Against
Genocide, for International Understanding;

* Monsieur Johny Messo, chairman of the Foundation Study Centre
Aramea, main representative of the Syriac Universal Alliance (SUA) to
the United Nations Office in Geneva;

* Prof. Dr. Yves Ternon, doctor, historian and writer,
researcher and expert in genocide studies, in particular the genocide of
Armenians and its denial, Paris.

Mr. Nicolas Tavitian, expert in international political relations,
Brussels, will assume the role of the moderator.

Simultaneous translating from English and French is offered.

A welcome coffee is offered at 13 :30 at the entrance to the salle
“Passage”, Résidence Palace.

Arminé Grigoryan
Assembly of Armenians of Europe
In charge of the European Union Contact and Information Office
Brussels

All the documentation regarding the Memorandum will be available in the
following web sites from 14:00,

22 September 2004 (in English and French; some documents are also
available in German):

<;

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Age, Australia
Sept 23 2004

One-way odyssey
September 23, 2004

Exciting jobs created by the Olympics have made young Greek
Australians want to stay in Athens. Victoria Kyriakopoulos reports.

Four years ago, Melbourne chef Costa Garyfallou quit Australia to try
his luck in Greece, curious about the heritage he had resisted for
most of his life.

His first taste of Greece had been during a working European holiday
in 1997 and he was determined to return and see more of the country
his parents had left behind. In 2000, he did six months in the Greek
army to get his Greek citizenship before landing a job in one of
Athens’ trendy new restaurants.

Since then, Garyfallou, 32, has cooked Australian-style fusion at
leading restaurants in Athens, Mykonos and Santorini, spent a summer
as the chef on a private cruiser, and cooked for the Prime Minister
and Greece’s top businessmen, actors and celebrities. This year he
landed the plum job of executive chef at the Karaiskaki soccer
stadium, cooking for 1500 people a day during the Olympics.

“The irony is that the land of opportunity for me has been Greece,”
says Garyfallou, who grew up in Keilor Park and learnt his craft at
Melbourne restaurants including Cafe e Cucina in South Yarra. “Doors
opened for me here that I couldn’t have dreamed of in Australia.”

Garyfallou is part of a small but steady wave of young Greek
Australians who have been drawn back and are thriving in the country
their parents or grandparents forsook to give their children a better
life.

But in contrast to their parents, who migrated to Australia as
largely uneducated, unskilled workers, this generation has returned
to Greece equipped with education, professional skills and
confidence. To their surprise, many are finding themselves staying.

“I came here to find out what my heritage was about. It’s something
that I came to embrace late. Before that I was almost anti- Greek. I
didn’t even want to speak Greek,” Garyfallou recalls. “Greece gives
me work and it gives me a good life and lifestyle and it gives me
history, culture and a sense of belonging.

“I can’t see myself going back (to Australia). Here I work to live
not live to work. It’s not a work ethic but a life ethic. It’s just
that I’ve now split the family in two.”

More than 40,000 Greek Australians are estimated to be living
permanently in Greece, a reverse migration that began in the 1970s,
when some families started returning while their children were
relatively young. Others, many of them young women, came to Greece
for a summer holiday and ended up getting married and staying. Others
have come back to retire.

While most Greek Australians feel a strong sentimental pull, Greece
was until recently seen as a great place to visit but not to live.
Few seriously contemplated leaving steady jobs in Australia to work
in the urban jungle of Athens. But Greece today is a far cry from the
poverty-stricken country their parents left. And in the past five
years, Athens has developed rapidly.

Melbourne architect Kalliope Malapani, 34, was one of many Greek
Australians who jumped at the chance to work in Athens for the
Olympics, arriving at the end of 2000 to work on the design of the
stadiums. She has since taken a longer-term job that allows her to
stay on indefinitely.

While Greece’s notorious bureaucracy remains a major source of
frustration, Malapani says she takes the negative in her stride and
uses the experience she gained in Australia to her advantage. “One of
the fantastic things about professional life in Australia is they
take you and, if you have smarts, they push you. You can be well
rounded at a relatively young age. Here the 35-year-olds don’t have
the confidence.”

She is thrilled that her Greek is now good enough to be making
presentations in Greek architecture-speak. Malapani feels something
innate and comfortable about living in Greece, but she is still torn
about whether she will make the choice for life. Feeling
professionally challenged is paramount, but social and emotional
aspects weigh heavily on her decision. “Part of what drove me here
was a need to live my culture, and then maybe reject it and put it in
a box, but I remember thinking when I came here how far it had
slipped away from me.

“It’s a complex and beautiful city and country, and I am challenged
on all levels. It’s enlivening and you are not getting into the rut
that can exist in professional and social life in Australia.

“But having been given the gifts of Australia, and coming here and
making an intelligent, informed choice to stay, it’s very difficult.”

While her family in Melbourne is proud she got the Olympics job, no
one anticipated it could be a permanent move. “I think they feel some
sort of comfort from the fact that they know the environment I have
put myself in, but if I called up and said `Mum I just met a Greek
and I am about to commit to living here,’ I don’t know what they
would say.” For men, a major deterrent has always been the mandatory
military service, but these days many are opting to do a commuted
six-months’ service to secure citizenship and a coveted EU passport.

Shipping lawyer George Panagopoulos, 35, has just finished his stint
in the army, clearing the way for a future in Greece. He moved to
Piraeus, the heart of Athens shipping industry in 2001, from London,
and later joined the international firm Richards Butler.

“The opportunity arose to come here and it was too good to refuse,
professionally and in all sorts of ways. I know both cultures and
both languages and it was a great way to utilise all my skills.”

With the Olympics and the introduction of a common European currency,
the timing could not have been better. “Professionally it’s been a
good place to be. The work here is very interesting, it’s very
international and probably more international that I would have been
doing in Australia.”

Panagopoulos has no short-term plan to return to Australia but does
not discount the possibility. “If I was going to leave Greece I would
go back to Australia. I think it is a bit easier to bring up a family
there. But Australia is not like it used to be. It is a totally
overregulated society in many ways. Greece is still quite liberated.”

Panagopoulos, an only child, says his parents, who are retired and
spend time in Greece, have been positive about his decision, and are
even considering returning themselves. “I think they are going to
come back for good if I don’t go back to Australia.”

Not everyone has that option, and many families are dealing with the
trauma of being split again, with children and grandchildren now
living in both countries. In one family all three children moved back
to Greece, leaving their parents alone in Australia waiting until
they were eligible for their pensions.

Musician Hector Cosmas was drawn to Greece in 1998 by the music, but
has now married and started a family in Athens. A third-generation
Australian, he arrived in Greece with his violin, very poor Greek and
a passion for rebetika (Greek blues) and traditional Greek music.

“A lot of Greek Australians of my generation come to Greece on
holidays and feel some sort of connection to this place. For a Greek
musician that connection is something more.

“I felt that in Australia I was stagnating a little and I knew that
if I wanted to grow as a musician this was the place to be. I didn’t
really think about where I would be 10 or 20 years down the track.”

Cosmas has been playing with one of the most established rebetika
musicians and has had the opportunity to work with some of the finest
artists in the country. He married a Greek-Canadian in 2000 and has
two children. “Athens has improved dramatically as a place to live,”
he says. “As a musician I can see a future here for myself and I can
see us being here long-term, but when you have a family with kids
there are other considerations.

“But for now Greece is home.” Cosmas believes Australia has gone
backwards in terms of multiculturalism, and has become more
xenophobic. “There have been lots of times in the last few years that
I’ve felt glad I’m not living there.”

Tania Nassibian, 25, has been in Greece for five years making a
career as a singer, recording two CDs with Sony Music and
collaborating with some of Greece’s leading artists. “I never thought
I’d work here. It never crossed my mind, but I have loved the
experience. I’m happy that I’ve finally learnt Greek. I have family
here and it was a good opportunity to get to know them.”

Nassibian grew up in Sydney where her Greek mother ran a folkloric
dance school and her Armenian father ran a business. She had finished
school and was living in Paris when she was offered the recording
contract in Greece.

Nassibian, who sings in English, Greek and French, is now trying to
break into the international scene and expects to stay in Greece for
the short term at least.

“I love Greece. It is the land of opportunity because you can do
whatever you want. I have enjoyed my life here but I’ve also
struggled a lot because of the disorganisation. I don’t think that
I’d like to permanently stay here,” she says.

“I have sacrificed my family and I never expected to be overseas for
so long. I love the craziness of Europe but I also miss the
Australian way of life, and I miss my brothers and dad. “Australia
has everything except the life and spirit that Europe has. I have a
feeling I will end up in Australia. The ideal thing would be to have
a house there and a house here.”

Ecumenical News International, Switzerland
Sept 22 2004

Trading, and possession, of nuclear weapons denounced by WCC head

Peter Kenny

Geneva (ENI). Revelations that nuclear weapons technology have been
traded are a scandal, but it is equally disgraceful that countries
possessing nuclear arsenals are unwilling to renounce their use and
are even developing terrifying, new technologies, the head of the
World Council of Churches, Samuel Kobia said on Tuesday.

Kobia, who is general secretary of the world church grouping, said
that the United Nations has called on all its member states to
observe 21 September as the International Day of Peace and the WCC
observed it in accordance with the International Day of Prayer for
Peace.

“Nuclear proliferation is an outrage to all humanity,” said Kobia,
noting that “violence as the opposite of peace, as a damage to the
image of God in us, takes many forms, including poverty.

“Poverty degrades human dignity and the human spirit,” said Kobia.
“Indifference to poverty and to the aspirations of those who have
been subjected to historical humiliation is as big a threat to global
peace as terrorism.”

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Orthodox
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I of Constantinople, and the head
of the Evangelical Church in Germany Bishop Wolfgang Huber were among
more than a dozen Christian leaders and peace-makers from all over
the world who affirmed churches’ and faith communities’ work for
peace and justice in a series of messages broadcast and Web cast
around the world.

Tutu said: “God weeps over God’s world, aching because of conflict in
Darfur, in Beslan, in Harare, in Colombia, in Jerusalem, in Belfast.”
The retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town said, God depends on
Christians to use their “influence on the powerful to use their power
for justice, for peace, for compassion, for gentleness, for caring,
for sharing”.

Patriarch Bartholomeos, who has spiritual authority over the world’s
300 million Orthodox Christians said in his message: “All of the
ideologies and convictions on the necessity and effectiveness of
violence are wrong and are to be condemned.”

His message was backed by Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian
Apostolic Church and WCC central committee moderator who said: “Peace
is an essential dimension of our Christian life and witness. Peace is
a gift of God given to humanity through the incarnation of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Peace is also a God-given vocation that must be
fulfilled in obedient response to the call of God.”

:: Peace messages of church leaders Web cast on:

Pulse of the Twin Cities, MN
Sept 22 2004

Diamanda Galás: Jazz?

by Holly Day

For some odd reason, the All Music Guide categorizes Diamanda Galás a
jazz performer. Maybe it’s because she plays the piano, usually
unaccompanied, and that’s something jazz performers do. If Diamanda
Galás is considered a jazz artist, then I hold great and high hopes
for the future of jazz. Jazz that includes Diamanda opens the door to
a potential horde of intense, wild-eyed performers that scream in
multiple octaves and utilize Tibetan throat singing and operatic
wails, sometimes all in the same song. Because this is what Diamanda
does in her
music, and whether you’re frightened or intrigued by her
performances, one thing’s for sure – you will never forget having been
in her presence.

Over the twenty-some years of her recording career, Diamanda’s
released fourteen imposing and mostly thematic albums. She’s written
entire albums about AIDS (Plague Mass, Masque of the Red Death),
imprisonment (Panoptikon), sexual oppression (Wild Women with Steak
Knives), dementia (Vena Cava), and torture (Schrei X). She also does
some awesome and frightening covers of blues standards, and has
collaborated with artists as diverse as Led Zeppelin’s John Paul
Jones and cornet player Bobby Bradford.

`Spend one week with a Greek family, and all the darkness and despair
and melodrama will find its way to the surface,’ says Diamanda of her
choice of subject matter. `It’s a culture that is kind of a dark
culture. It’s dark by the standards of what Americans consider to be
`normal’ culture. [The Greek people] are very concerned with things
like death, and very concerned with the politics of genocide, because
that’s how the culture was shaped. That’s the experience of the
culture. For the Greeks, life is a celebration, so the thing they’re
most afraid of is death. So that would be an obsession. The
discussion of death is a mirror of the brilliance and the gift of
life, you know, the beauty of life, and so that is why there’s so
much of that discussion. And also, the issue of mortality has to do
with the fact that this was a culture that was invaded so many times
by Italians, Germans, Turks. And so I think that has something to do
with the darkness in my work, because I’ve heard lots of stories
since I was a little girl of deportations, and genocide, of the
Greeks by the Turks, because my father is from Asia Minor.’

It’s those stories passed down to her by her father that form the
basis behind her newest release, Defixiones: Will and Testament (Mute
Records), which covers the mass exodus and genocide of the Greeks,
Assyrians, and Armenians by the Turks in the years between 1914 and
1923. The two-disc collection contains poems and journal entries from
survivors of the exodus, as well as many writings from those who
didn’t make it. Ali Ahmad Said’s `The Desert,’ a first-hand account
of being forced to march across the desert with hundreds of other
refugees, says, `My era tells me bluntly/You don’t not belong …You
die because you are the face of the future.’ Diamanda relays the
story in the original Armenian in a dizzying volley of operatic
screams that rise up in anger and throb low in hopelessness within
heartbeats of each other. `Orders from the Dead,’ one of only two
songs here that Diamanda wrote the words to herself, provocatively
summarizes collection with a scream of, `I am the man unburied/who
cannot sleep/in forty pieces!’

`The Defixiones refers to the verb `to fix,’ to fix, to mark,’ says
Diamanda. `It’s like a needle that goes into a doll. It’s marking a
territory as your own, and it says that, with the marking of that
territory, you have certain power. Whether this is the power to, say,
put a curse on a competitor, or an enemy, or to say, `If you
desecrate this grave, your daughter’s daughter’s daughter will perish
slowly from a horrible disease.’ That’s the nature of this type of
curse. It’s something that was and still is practiced throughout the
Middle East by people who have very little power, and this is their
response, these curses are their only resource available. For
example, if you had Greek, Assyrians, Armenians, living under the
power of the Turks, the Turks, because they could, could easily dig
up a grave to steal the jewels, or steal anything that’s buried in
the grave. So there would be curses on the graves to warn them, and
maybe, that would be all they had, were those curses. That would be
the only thing they had to protect them, and that may have been quite
a delusional kind of power, but nonetheless, it was the only power
that was had by these people. So that’s pretty much what this album
is. I am saying, you cannot desecrate this memory,’ she explains,
wrapping up the interview. `You cannot pretend this grave, and these
people, did not exist by digging it up. It exists, and when you dig
it up, the power of these people’s anger will outlast you, and it
will drag you down screaming.’
Diamanda Galás performs on Tue., Sept. 28, at the Fitzgerald Theater.
7:30 p.m. All Ages. $27 adv/ $29 door. 10 E. Exchange St.
651-989-5151.

EurasiaNet Organization
Sept 22 2004

IRAN TALKS PEACE, ENERGY TO BUFF IMAGE
Haroutiun Khachatrian 9/22/04

Tehran has embarked on a “good neighbor” campaign designed to
highlight its role as a potential catalyst for peace and prosperity
in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Plans for a $120 million gas
pipeline to Armenia, a longtime Iranian ally, have headlined this
venture, but beneath the show of goodwill between Yerevan and Tehran,
serious stumbling blocks remain.

“Iran is interested in peace and stability in the South Caucasus and
is prepared to assist in settling all conflicts in this region,”
Interfax reported Iranian President Mohammad Khatami as saying during
a two-day visit to Yerevan on September 9. “The relationship between
the Armenian and Iranian peoples can serve as the best example for
all those who want to live side by side and respect each other’s
sovereignty.”

Tehran has reason to talk cooperation. Khatami’s visit to Armenia, a
subsequent trip to Tajikistan and travel last month to Azerbaijan
come at a time of increased international scrutiny of Iran as a
regional player with nuclear ambitions. As the wrangling between the
Islamic Republic and the International Atomic Energy Agency
continues, Washington has begun to raise the alarm that an Iran
equipped with nuclear reactors could prove a force for instability
throughout the Middle East and bordering regions.

By reaching out to nearby countries with offers of conflict
negotiation, trade and investment, Khatami can present a different
image of Iran. In this, Armenia proved a ready assistant.

Preserving ties with Iran, which, as Persia, once occupied the
eastern half of Armenia, has long been critical for the landlocked
Caucasian republic. In the years following Armenian independence in
1991, civil war in Georgia and the Azerbaijani-Turkish border embargo
made Iran the country’s only avenue to the outside world. Though
bilateral trade has declined in the past five years, the energy-rich
country accounts for 8.9 percent of Armenia’s annual trade turnover,
making it a significant trading partner.

Playing to that history, Khatami told an audience at Yerevan State
University that “[e]ven religious and ideological differences . . .
have been unable to destroy the civilizational unity of the Iranian
world and the Armenian people.” A joint statement signed by Khatami
and Armenian President Robert Kocharian went on to express Iran’s
support for the country’s September 15 talks on Nagorno-Karabakh with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as a way of “reaching a rapid and
final solution of the problem, which takes into account the existing
realities and will ensure an enduring and fair peace in the region.”

But this was more than mere diplomatic-speak. In Yerevan, “existing
realities” has been interpreted to mean Armenians’ current control
over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. As an additional
sweetener, Khatami also endorsed Kocharian’s style of governance,
telling Armenia’s parliament that discussions about democracy in “a
non-Western region” should take into account local norms of behavior,
Interfax reported.

Sheer economics is pushing Yerevan’s political class to listen.
Khatami’s trip coincided with the finalization of a 20-year agreement
for a 141-kilometer pipeline to transfer 36 billion cubic meters of
natural gas from Iran to Armenia beginning in 2007. Work on the
energy line is expected to start by late October, Armenia’s Iranian
ambassador, Gegam Garibdzhanian, told Interfax.

Iran has provided a $30 million loan for the project, thereby
removing one of the largest obstacles to the project – the
construction cost for the 41 kilometers of the pipeline which will
pass through Armenian territory. In exchange for the gas, Armenia
will supply Iran with electricity from a new, Yerevan-based thermal
power plant with an energy capacity of 1.5 megawatts. Under a
memorandum of cooperation signed by Iran and Armenia’s energy
ministries, the Islamic Republic will also receive up to 140
megawatts in electricity from a hydropower station to be built next
year on the Araks River between the two countries. The planned
wattage will make up nearly one-third of the current capacity of
Armenia’s only nuclear power station, the Russian-operated Metsamor.

At first glance, the Iranian energy deal appears an all-round winner
for Armenia. Yerevan comes away with an alternative gas supplier to
Russia, currently Armenia’s sole supplier, as well as a growing
market for Armenian hydropower. At a joint news conference with
Khatami, Armenian President Robert Kocharian told reporters that
“more serious steps will be taken based on this experience . . . to
unite the infrastructure of both states,” Interfax reported.

Yet despite the deal’s attractions, many specialists argue that
Armenia came up short. Contrary to the government’s ambitions, the
pipeline’s size will not allow Armenia to export Iranian gas to
Europe. The lack of a high-capacity export pipeline is widely
believed to have been the result of pressure from Russia, which
controls 90 percent of Armenia’s energy market and supplies the
cash-rich markets of Western Europe with about half of their natural
gas. According to former Minister of Statistics Eduard Agajanov,
Russia may also jeopardize Armenia’s electricity supply to Iran with
the construction of a new power line via Azerbaijan that will
undercut Armenian prices.

Energy also served as Khatami’s calling card in related visits to
Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.

Longstanding disputes over division of the Caspian Sea’s energy
resources shadowed the Iranian leader’s August 5 talks with President
Ilham Aliyev, but plans exist for an energy deal that will bind the
two countries closer. Under an agreement signed at the summit, Iran
will start transferring up to 350 million cubic meters of natural gas
to Azerbaijan each year beginning in 2005, the Islamic Republic News
Agency reported.

Another longstanding bugbear for Baku – Nagorno-Karabakh – was given
a similarly positive treatment, with the statement that Iran supports
Azerbaijan’s “territorial integrity” – a remark interpreted by Baku
as a reference to Azerbaijan’s right to the breakaway enclave.

On a September 11-14 trip to Tajikistan, where ethnic and religious
ties to Iran are strong, the energy and economics theme continued.
Khatami pledged to cover half of the $500 million cost of a
hydroelectric plant on the Vakhsh River and promised investment of
more than $700 million into the poverty-stricken Central Asian
country’s economy over the next five years. A road link to Iran via
Herat in Afghanistan also featured prominently as an option for
boosting trade.

Editor’s Note: Haroutiun Khachatrian is a Yerevan-based writer
specializing in economic and political affairs.

The Spectator Newspapers, NJ
Sept 22 2004

Her heart is on base
Bayonne senior is archivist organizing MOTBY’s ‘attic’

The Military Ocean Terminal Bayonne (MOTBY) closed in 1999, but as
long as Jasmine Hammond is on the job, it will not be forgotten.
Hammond, who just turned 70, is in charge of organizing, reviewing
and archiving many boxes containing letters, contracts, and
memorabilia that encapsulate the history of MOTBY.

“My heart is here; I lived on the base and worked for the Department
of Defense in Building 42 for more than 20 years,” said Hammond, who
is now a project assistant with the Bayonne Local Redevelopment
Authority, owner of the property. Her co-workers call her “Jazz.”

“The boxes were scattered around the base; everything was neatly
labeled by number, but nobody really knew what was inside,” this
great-grandmother told me as we talked in her office on a humid
September morning. Hammond works five days a week on the former base,
now known as The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor.

“There is so much material that concerns Bayonne’s development, as
well as the creation of this base, established as a dry dock for
ships moving military cargo up and down the Eastern seaboard,” she
explained in her lilting accent. (Hammond was born in Tehran, Iran,
where her family was part of the close-knit Armenian community, and
educated in British schools in India.)

“Look at this handwritten letter, dated 1872!” she exclaimed. Next
she picked up an auction book from 1901 describing real estate for
sale by the city of Bayonne. There is also what she called a
“meticulous” ledger containing handwritten records of supplies and
purchases, among many city records that Hammond intends to turn over
to the official city historian.

“Here’s an Auction Book from 1901 outlining real estate for sale by
the City of Bayonne. This is a meticulous ledger containing
hand-written records of supplies and purchases,” she said. Hammond
intends to turn over many City of Bayonne records to the official
city historian.

Among the treasures she has discovered are hand-drawn blueprints for
buildings on the property, which opened as a port in 1935 and became
a military base under Army and Navy control in 1939. “Our modern
architects are astounded at the accuracy of these old plans,” she
noted.

She is proud of a charming photograph of Great Britain’s Queen
Elizabeth II greeting dignitaries during her visit to Bayonne in
1976. Hammond found a montage of faded photographs that includes
Robinson’s Farm (dated 1850), the Bayonne Yacht Club in 1869 and a
small house brought over by barge to become the base commander’s
residence.

“We’ve never had all these documents, photos and letters collected in
one book before. That’s my goal,” she told me. “It’s very interesting
work! I was one of the last to leave when the base was disbanded,
after starting here as a secretary in 1980. I was active in the base
community as a founder of the Thrift Store, superintendent of the
Sunday School, and a founder of the Youth Club,” she recalled.

Hammond and her husband, Thomas, have been married 29 years. They
have four daughters: Susan Humenic, a Bayonne librarian; Jasmine
DeSanta of Vernon, an avid volunteer who also owns a chocolate store;
Nancy Selagado of Bayonne, an accountant in New York City; and
Roberta Connolly of Stanhope, owner of a photography business.
Hammond has four grandchildren, two girls and two boys, and a
five-year old great-granddaughter, Julia Edgerton of Bayonne. She
belongs to Holy Cross Armenian Church in Union City.

Hammond, who lived in Japan and Taiwan in the late 1950s, is fluent
in Farsi, and speaks a bit of French and Italian. She enjoys
decorating, and knitting and crocheting.

“Armenians were always famous for their skill in handicrafts,” she
told me.

This energetic senior has no plans to retire. “I’m always on the go,
and I want always to be involved with the MOTBY,” she said firmly.
“When I retire, what will I do? Who knows what would have happened if
I hadn’t started to look through all those boxes stored in Building
42?”

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
09/22/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://

1) Reps. Eshoo and Sweeney Urge House Colleagues to Call for a Vote on the
Armenian Genocide
2) 13th Anniversary Independence Celebrations
3) Garamendi Appoints Members of Armenian Insurance Settlement Fund Board
4) Conference Celebrates 100th Anniversary of Lebanon ARF Zavarian Student
Association
5) Georgia President Suggests Stage-By-Stage Settlement Plan

1) Reps. Eshoo and Sweeney Urge House Colleagues to Call for a Vote on the
Armenian Genocide

–Support Continues to Grow for Congressional Letter to Speaker Hastert in
Support of the Schiff Amendment and H.Res.193

WASHINGTON, DC (ANCA)–New York Republican John Sweeney and California
Democrat Anna Eshoo have joined together in the effort encouraging their
Congressional colleagues to cosign a letter to Speaker Hastert urging him to
maintain the Schiff amendment in the House Foreign aid bill and schedule a
vote
on the Genocide Resolution.
The letter currently has over 60 signatories and support continues to grow in
the days leading up to the House and Senate conference to finalize the FY 2005
foreign aid bill.
In a letter to House Members, Reps. Eshoo and Sweeney, both of Armenian
descent, explained:
“Under the Ottoman Empire, nearly two million Armenians who were living in
Eastern Anatolia were deported from their homes. Of the two million deportees,
only 500,000 survived this ordeal. The historical record is clear. From
1915 to
1923, the Ottoman Empire succeeded in systematically eliminating the Armenians
from their historical homeland where they had lived for over two thousand
years. H.Res.193 reaffirmed our nation’s commitment to the noble aims of the
Genocide Convention, and urges the American people to learn from the
lessons of
past genocides in order to help prevent future crimes against humanity.”
The Schiff Amendment, spearheaded by California Democrat Adam Schiff, was
unanimously adopted by the House in a voice vote, during discussions of the FY
2005 foreign aid bill. The legislation would bar the Turkish government from
using US foreign aid funds for lobbying against the Genocide Resolution.
Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), and Majority
Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) immediately denounced the measure in a harshly worded
press release placed on the front page of the House Speaker’s website, citing
concerns about its effects on US-Turkey relations and pledging to remove the
language from the final foreign aid bill.
Following the Speaker’s announced opposition to the measure, more than a
dozen
national grassroots Armenian American organizations cosigned a letter to the
House leader, voicing the community’s unequivocal opposition to efforts to
reverse the Schiff Amendment to the fiscal year 2005 Foreign Operations bill,
and expressing the community’s “great dismay with your public statement
against
holding a vote on the Genocide Resolution, H.Res.193.”
The organizations that signed the community-wide letter were the ANCA, the
Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church–Eastern and Western US, the Prelacy
of the Armenian Apostolic Church–Eastern and Western US, the Armenian
Missionary Association of America, and the Apostolic Exarchate for Armenian
Catholics, as well as the Armenian General Benevolent Union, Armenian
Democratic Liberal (Ramgavar) Party, United Armenian Fund, Armenian Relief
Society, Armenian Bar Association, National Organization of Republican
Armenians, Armenian Youth Federation, Homenetmen–Armenian General Athletic
Union, and Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural and Educational Association.
Reps. George Radanovich (R-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Congressional
Armenian
Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) introduced
the
Genocide resolution (H.Res.193) in April, 2003. The legislation (H.Res.193)
was
unanimously adopted by the House Judiciary Committee in May of that year and
currently has 111 cosponsors. Similar legislation in the Senate (S.Res.164)
has
over 40 cosponsors.

2) 13th Anniversary Independence Celebrations

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)–Armenia’s President Kocharian kicked-off official
ceremonies marking Armenia’s independence from the Soviet Union, by visiting
the Yerablur military cemetery in Yerevan where hundreds of Armenians killed
during the war with Azerbaijan are buried.
“Today’s Armenia is an established state with a pronounced commitment to
deeper economic reforms, democratic transformation and international
engagement,” Kocharian told government officials, foreign diplomats, and other
dignitaries attending an official reception later in the day.
The holiday marks the September 21, 1991 referendum in which 94.99% of
Armenians voted in favor of secession from the Soviet Union, just months
before
its collapse.
In separate messages to President Robert Kocharian, the presidents of the
United States and Russia pledged to strengthen their relations with Armenia
US President George W. Bush described Armenia as a “major partner” of the
United States, according to Kocharian’s office.
“The United States will work hard to assist the government and the people of
Armenia in achieving economic growth, strengthening democratic institutions
and
resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Bush was quoted as saying. “I expect
that cooperation between our nations and the very friendly ties between our
peoples will be further reinforced.”
“I am particularly thankful for Armenia’s important anti-terrorist support
for
the United States,” he said.
Armenia opened its airspace for the US military aircraft following the
September 11 terrorist attacks.
“I am convinced that a further deepening of the Russian-Armenian strategic
partnership is in tune with the fundamental interests of our countries and
plays an important role in maintaining peace and stability in the Caucasus,”
read Russia’s President Vladimir Putin letter cited by the Armenian
presidential press service.

3) Garamendi Appoints Members of Armenian Insurance Settlement Fund Board

LOS ANGELES (Insurance Journal)–Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has
announced three appointments to the Armenian Insurance Settlement Fund Board,
created to oversee the settlement of claims against New York Life Insurance
Company as directed in the settlement of a class-action lawsuit on behalf of
heirs and descendants of policyholders who were killed during the Armenian
genocide more than 90 years ago.
The board members, Viken Manjikian, Paul Krekorian, and Berj Boyajian, will
evaluate claims and determine which are to be paid pursuant to the terms of
the
settlement agreement. The board’s decisions will be final with no right of
appeal.
“I am honored to appoint these three accomplished, capable and fair
individuals who will further the pursuit of justice for heirs and descendants
of victims of the Armenian genocide,” Commissioner Garamendi said. “This is an
important step to help bring closure to the victims and their families.”
Early this year, Garamendi secured a $20 million fund to help finance the
payment of claims in the case. At least $3 million of that amount will be put
into the “Unclaimed/Heirless Fund,” which will be contributed to
court-approved
charitable organizations–as set forth in the settlement agreement–whose
activities advance the Court-approved charitable interests of the Armenian
community.
Manjikian, of Lancaster, is Director of Inpatient and Emergency Radiology,
and
Director of Vascular and Interventional Radiology at Antelope Valley Hospital.
He has extensive credentials in the field of radiology and earned his medical
and undergraduate degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Boyajian, of Beverly Hills, operates Boyajian and Associates in Los Angeles.
His practice specializes in business and toxic torts, and he has extensive
experience in litigation on behalf of individuals and workers exposed to toxic
substances.
Krekorian, of Burbank, is a founding partner of the law firm Fisher &
Krekorian in Los Angeles. His practice specializes in representation of
business, charitable organizations and individuals in matters involving
trademark, copyright and commercial disputes.
Potential claimants in the Armenian genocide case have been informed via
Notice by the Court and published statewide. The Department of Insurance
consumer hotline will also be able to direct potential claimants to the
settlement Web site. Or, call the Department’s hotline at 800-927-HELP
(800-927-4357).

4) Conference Celebrates 100th Anniversary of Lebanon ARF Zavarian Student
Association

BEIRUT–A five-day pan-Armenian student conference commenced on September
20 in
Beirut, Lebanon, in celebration of the ARF Zavarian Student Association’s
(ZSA)
100th anniversary.
Representatives of various youth and student organizations from Armenia,
Mountainous Karabagh Republic, Javakhk, Russia, Iran, Iraq, France, Canada,
Germany, Greece, the US, Syria, and Lebanon are taking part in the before
mentioned conference gathered for the opening ceremony on September 20 at the
Aghpalian Sports and Cultural Center.
In his address, ARF Bureau representative Hrant Margarian said that students
must view the homeland and diaspora as one entity–the combined strength of
which can be coordinated and utilized to the benefit of its people.
A congratulatory letter from the International Union of Socialist Youth
(IUSY)
was read, and the ceremony ended with a documentary on ZSA founder Simon
Zavarian.
The conference, “Armenian Students Facing Challenges of The 21st Century,”
will run through September 25, allowing students the opportunity to strengthen
mutual relations and exchange ideas and experiences in facing challenges of
the
21st century. Participants will also examine their roles in the context of
realities Armenians throughout the world face.
The conference will address the following topics: The Armenian cause in light
of the presence of the Armenian Republic; the integration of the Armenian
Republic in the European Union: advantages and disadvantages; Globalization
and
the problems facing the Armenian Republic; the meaning of mutual relations
between Armenia and the diaspora and respective roles (diaspora in promoting
the development of the Armenian Republic and Armenia’s role in maintaining the
liveliness of diaspora); students and the Armenian national heritage
preservation (emigration, assimilation); the current situation and mission of
Armenian students living in Armenia or in the diaspora.
For more information, contact: [email protected] or [email protected].

5) Georgia President Suggests Stage-By-Stage Settlement Plan

UNITED NATIONS (Itar-Tass)–Speaking at the 59th UN General Assembly
session on
Tuesday, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili presented a stage-by-stage
plan
of settling the Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts.
The first stage of the plan would include concrete confidence-building
measures–specifically the exchange of people and goods, joint economic
projects, and the restoration of the right of displaced persons to return
home.

The second stage, he said, provides for material guarantees of the
dismantling
of military bases, demilitarization, internationalization of peacekeeping
efforts, as well as international monitoring aimed at achieving a peaceful
settlement.
According to Saakashvili, the third stage includes the granting of the
broadest possible autonomy to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which would ensure
“the protection of their culture and language, local government, fiscal
control” and equal participation in the settlement of all problems, which fall
under the jurisdiction of the national government.

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) 2004 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.

RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 22 2004

ARMENIA TO SEND DOCTORS & ENGINEERS TO IRAQ: FOREIGN MINISTER

YEREVAN, September 22 (RIA Novosti’s Hamlet Matevosyan) – Armenia is
willing to send military doctors and engineers to Iraq-but not before
parliament debates and approves the prospect, Vardan Oskanyan,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, said to the media.

Presidents Robert Kocharyan of Armenia and Aleksander Kwasniewski of
Poland signed a bilateral security cooperation agreement, September
6. It envisages an Armenian contingent of fifty-doctors, engineers
and drivers-dispatched to Iraq toward this year’s end or early next
year, to join Polish-commanded coalition troops.

The Armenian government determined to have a contingent in Iraq as
“Armenia feels part and parcel of Europe, however small and remote
from [a greater part of] Europe it may be,” said Serge Sarkisyan,
Defence Minister.

The Communist and Democratic parties are offering bitter opposition,
and qualify the prospect as “a dangerous headlong move”.

The government decision clashes with Armenia’s national interests and
undermines its security. Endangered the worst will be a 25,000 strong
Armenian ethnic community in Iraq, and all ethnic Armenians resident
in other Muslim countries, argue Democrats.

The Dashnaktsutyun political party, on the coalition in office, is
also alarmed with the decision to have an Armenian contingent in
Iraq.

The Armenian-Polish agreement is now for the National Assembly,
Armenian parliament, to ratify. The chance to dispatch peacekeepers
will soon come up for debates, says Speaker Arthur Bagdasaryan. The
matter concerns only a small force-by no means a large contingent, he
reassures.

RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 22 2004

ARMENIA DISSATISFIED WITH PACE REPORT ON NAGORNY KARABAKH

YEREVAN, September 22 (RIA Novosti) – Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanyan has expressed dissatisfaction over the report on
Nagorny Karabakh delivered by Terry Davis, ex-Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) reporter on Nagorny Karabakh.

“It is unacceptable for Armenia,” Mr Oskanyan told pressmen.

The minister does not believe either that the new PACE reporter,
David Atkinson of Britain, will be unbiased. Mr Oskanyan said he was
aware of Britain’s position on territorial integrity issues.

“The ex-rapporteur’s report shall be seen merely as a viewpoint that
is not legally binding and is not fraught with any consequences,”
Tigran Torosyan, Armenian Parliament Vice-Speaker, said in earlier
remarks on Mr Davis’ report. Mr Torosyan noted that terms like
“ethnic cleansing” had appeared in the report. However, he complained
that they were applied equally in relation to Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Besides, the report acknowledges Azerbaijan and Armenia’s equal
rights to territorial integrity and national self-determination.

Mr Torosyan said the phrase “A major part of Azerbaijan’s territory
is so far occupied by Armenia and the separatist forces are
continuing to maintain control over the Republic of Nagorny Karabakh”
was absolutely unacceptable for Armenia.

Armenia believes the only positive provision in the report is the one
reading that the Azerbaijani authorities have been invited to
establish contacts with the republic’s forces for discussing its
status in the future.

Terry Davis, who led the British delegation at PACE and the
organisation’s socialist faction, was appointed reporter on Nagorny
Karabakh at the summer session in 2002. In June 2004, Mr Davis was
elected Secretary General of the Council of Europe. His report on
Karabakh was heard at the PACE Political Council’s meeting in Paris
on September 14. British deputy David Atkinson was elected new
reporter on the Krabakh problem on the same day.

Mr Atkinson has already announced an intention to meet all parties to
the conflict. However, it is not immediately clear when his visit to
the region will take place.

Deutsche Welle, Germany
Sept 22 2004

Prodi Urges Turkey to Reopen Armenian Border

During an official visit this week to Azerbaijan, Georgia and
Armenia, Romano Prodi, head of the European Commission, said Ankara
must reopen its border with Armenia as a condition for eventual
membership. “Personally, I do not like that the Armenian-Turkish
border gate is closed,” he said, according to Armenia’s Medimax news
agency. “I do not exclude that the issue of closed borders could be
one of the preconditions for Turkey’s membership.” It was the first
time an EU official linked the border situation to accession talks.
Turkey closed its gate with Armenia and severed its diplomatic ties a
decade ago, in protest of Armenia’s occupation of the Azeri territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh.