The Detroit News
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Obituaries
Nerses ‘Nick’ Serkaian, Northville: Armenian radio show’s producer
For nearly 40 years, Nerses `Nick’ Serkaian spent Sunday mornings talking to
thousands of people in Metro Detroit’s Armenian community.
Mr. Serkaian, of Northville, was the longtime host and producer of the
`Armenian Radio Hour,’ which was broadcast at 10 a.m. Sundays on WNZK-AM.
`The program was a celebration of the Armenian community in Detroit,’ said
his son, Stephen. `It truly was a labor of love.’
Mr. Serkaian died of cancer on Monday, July 19, 2004, in Providence Hospital
in Southfield. He was 72.
He was born in Detroit and graduated from the Henry Ford Trade School. He
served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, and later attended the
University of Detroit.
Before getting into radio, Mr. Serkaian owned his own construction business,
Serkaian Construction, based in Northville.
Mr. Serkaian began working on the `Armenian Radio Hour’ in 1967. The show
was popular among Metro Detroit’s 40,000 Armenians, his son said.
`Every week he announced Armenian community news, like marriages, births and
deaths, and church announcements,’ his son said. `He also would read
advertisements for Armenian-owned businesses. In between, he played Armenian
music.’
Survivors include two sons, Stephen and John; a daughter, Roxanne
McLaughlin; and eight grandchildren.

Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th Street NW Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:
PRESS RELEASE
July 25, 2004
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
ANCA ENDORSES KERRY FOR PRESIDENT
— Cites Senator Kerry’s Long Record of Support on
Armenian American Issues, President Bush’s Retreat
from his Pledge to Recognize the Armenian Genocide
WASHINGTON, DC – In a move expected to impact electoral outcomes in
key presidential election swing states this November, the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA), the nation’s grassroots
Armenian American organization, today announced its endorsement of
the Kerry-Edwards ticket.
“For Armenian Americans, the clear choice is John Kerry,” said ANCA
Chairman Ken Hachikian. “Senator Kerry has been a friend of the
Armenian American community for over twenty years, with a proven
track record of fighting hard for issues of concern to Armenian
Americans across the nation. He faces an incumbent, President
Bush, whose record on Armenian issues has grown progressively more
disappointing throughout his tenure in the White House, beginning
with his broken campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide,
including his Administration’s attempt to end military aid parity
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and up until this week, with his
Administration’s strident attacks on legislation recognizing the
Armenian Genocide.”
John Kerry welcomed the ANCA endorsement, stating that, “John
Edwards and I would like to thank the ANCA for its endorsement. We
are looking forward to working with all Armenian Americans to
create a stronger America, more respected in the world.”
“We call upon Armenian Americans to compare the respective records
of Senator Kerry and President Bush, to weigh the importance of
their ballot for the future of U.S.-Armenian relations, and to cast
their vote for the Kerry-Edwards ticket on November 2nd,” added
Hachikian.
The ANCA endorsement follows closely in the wake of the Bush
Administration’s forceful attack on the Schiff Amendment, a
provision adopted last week by the U.S. House that prevents Turkey
from using U.S. foreign aid to lobby against the Genocide
Resolution. Armenian Americans, particularly those in key swing
states such as Pennslyvania, Ohio, and Florida, are positioned to
play a decisive role in what looks, by all accounts, to be a hotly
contested election.
—————————————————————-
ANCA’s Outreach to the White House and Republican Leaders
—————————————— ———————-
The ANCA has, on several occasions over the past four years,
specifically asked for a meeting between President Bush and the
Armenian American community leadership. These formal requests,
which never received a response, were supported by a series of ANCA
and community-wide letters outlining the views and disappointments
of Armenian Americans on specific issues, ranging from the Armenian
Genocide to foreign aid policy.
In April of this year, the ANCA sent detailed letters to the
Chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign, Marc Racicot, and the
Congressional Republican leadership voicing disappointment over the
Bush Administration’s record on Armenian issues, and expressing
frustration with the lack of responsiveness by the White House to
the concerns of the Armenian American community. The ANCA’s
concerns were grouped, in this letter, into three broad categories:
1) unfulfilled commitments, 2) opposition to community concerns,
and 3) failure to prioritize Armenian issues.
The Senate and House letters, addressed to House Speaker Dennis
Hastert (R-IL) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN),
highlighted the powerful leadership demonstrated by a great many
Republicans on Armenian issues, notably by Armenian Caucus Co-
Chairman Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Genocide Resolution author George
Radanovich (R-CA), and Senators such as Mitch McConnell (R-KY),
John Ensign (R-NV), George Allen (R-VA), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), and
many others. These letters included more than a dozen specific
recommendations by the ANCA about how the Congressional leadership
could encourage the White House to improve its standing among
Armenian American voters.
Neither the President nor his campaign responded to the ANCA’s
appeal for their intervention to help establish a constructive
dialogue between the Administration and the Armenian American
community.
For additional information on the ANCA’s outreach to Republican
leaders concerning the Bush Administration’s record on Armenian
issues, visit:
;pressregion=anca
—————————————————————-
ANCA Backs Up Endorsement by Calling
for Greater Grassroots Activism
———————————————— —————-
Along with its Presidential endorsement, the ANCA reminded Armenian
Americans that their ability to impact policy-level decision-making
depends, first and foremost, on the continued expansion of advocacy
efforts at all levels of government. The ANCA’s detailed
Congressional endorsements, which will be announced later this
year, will represent an important element of this process by
providing Armenian American voters with the information they need
to solidify the strong support our community enjoys in Congress.
“The challenge before the Armenian American community, as in years
past, remains growing our activism and strengthening our voice in
the public policy debates and within the foreign policy community,”
said Hachikian. “We call upon Armenian Americans to meet this
challenge by increasing our engagement with the Executive Branch
and providing the strongest possible support for our friends in the
U.S. House and Senate on November 2nd and throughout the 109th
Congress.”
—————————————————————-
The Kerry Record
——————————————- ———————
During his long tenure in the US House and Senate, Senator Kerry
has consistently been a leading advocate of issues of concern to
Armenian Americans. As a U.S. Senator, Kerry has forcefully fought
for U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and is currently a
cosponsor of the Genocide Resolution, S.Res.164. In 1990, Senator
Kerry voted on the Senate floor for Senator Bob Dole’s (R-KS)
Genocide Resolution.
The Massachusetts Senator has been a vocal and effective champion
of stronger U.S.-Armenia relations and has consistently backed
legislative initiative to increase aid and expand trade with
Armenia. He is currently a cosponsor of legislation, S.1557, which
would grant Armenia permanent normal trade relations status.
Senator Kerry has spearheaded a number of initiatives to lift the
Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades. In 1991, he was the lead sponsor
of legislation, which was later enacted as Section 907 of the
Freedom Support Act, restricting U.S. aid to the government of
Azerbaijan until its blockades of Armenia and Mountainous Karabagh
are lifted. He also worked for the adoption of the Humanitarian Aid
Corridor Act, which called for US aid to Turkey to be cut off
unless Turkey lifted its blockade of Armenia. As recently as this
January, Senator Kerry formally called on President Bush to press
the visiting Prime Minister of Turkey to lift his nation’s illegal
blockade of Armenia.
—————————————————————-
The Bush Record
——————————————- ———————
The full text of the Armenian American Presidential Report Card on
the Administration of George W. Bush is provided below:
1) Broken campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide
Almost immediately after taking office, President Bush abandoned
his campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide. This
promise, which he made in February of 2000 as Texas Governor, was
widely distributed among Armenian Americans prior to the hotly
contested Michigan primary. It read, in part, as follows:
“The twentieth century was marred by wars of unimaginable
brutality, mass murder and genocide. History records that the
Armenians were the first people of the last century to have endured
these cruelties. The Armenians were subjected to a genocidal
campaign that defies comprehension and commands all decent people
to remember and acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful crime
in a century of bloody crimes against humanity. If elected
President, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the
tragic suffering of the Armenian people.”
Rather than honor this promise, the President has, in his annual
April 24th statements, used evasive and euphemistic terminology to
avoid describing Ottoman Turkey’s systematic and deliberate
destruction of the Armenian people by its proper name – the
Armenian Genocide.
2) Opposition to the Congressional Genocide Resolution
The Bush Administration is actively blocking the adoption of the
Genocide Resolution in both the House and Senate. This legislation
(S.Res.164 and H.Res.193) specifically cites the Armenian Genocide
and formally commemorates the 15th anniversary of United States
implementation of the U.N. Genocide Convention. The Genocide
Resolution is supported by a broad based coalition of over one
hundred organizations, including American Values, the NAACP,
National Council of Churches, Sons of Italy, International Campaign
for Tibet, National Council of La Raza, and the Union of Orthodox
Rabbis.
As recently as July 16th of this year, the Bush Administration
reiterated its opposition to legislation recognizing the Armenian
Genocide. In response the adoption by the U.S. House of the Schiff
Amendment, which blocks Turkey from using U.S. aid to lobby against
the Genocide Resolution, the Administration pressed Congressional
leaders to prevent the enactment of any provision recognizing the
Armenian Genocide.
3) Failure to condemn Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide
The Bush Administration has failed to condemn Turkey’s recent
escalation of its campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide. Notably,
the Administration has remained silent in the face of the decree
issued in April of 2003 by Turkey’s Education Minister, Huseyin
Celik, requiring that all students in Turkey’s schools be
instructed in the denial of the Armenian Genocide.
The State Department’s 2003 human rights report on Turkey uses the
historically inaccurate and highly offensive phrase “alleged
genocide” to mischaracterize the Armenian Genocide. In addition,
despite repeated protests, the Bush Administration’s State
Department continues to host a website on Armenian history that
fails to make even a single mention of the Genocide.
()
4) The Waiver of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act
The Bush Administration, in 2001, aggressively pressured Congress
into granting the President the authority to waive Section 907, a
provision of law that bars aid to the government of Azerbaijan
until it lifts its blockades of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh.
President Bush has subsequently used this authority to provide
direct aid, including military assistance, to the government of
Azerbaijan, despite their continued violation of the provisions of
this law.
5) Reduction in aid to Armenia
In the face of the devastating, multi-billion dollar impact of the
Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades on the Armenian economy,
President Bush has, in each of the past three years, proposed to
Congress that humanitarian and developmental aid to Armenia be
reduced.
6) Abandonment of the Military Aid Parity Agreement
The Bush Administration abandoned its November 2001 agreement with
Congress and the Armenian American community to maintain even
levels of military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan. Instead, the
Administration, in its fiscal year 2005 foreign aid bill, proposes
sending four times more Foreign Military Financing to Azerbaijan
($8 million) than to Armenia ($2 million). This action tilts the
military balance in favor of Azerbaijan, rewards Azerbaijan’s
increasingly violent threats of renewed aggression, and undermines
the role of the U.S. as an impartial mediator of the Nagorno
Karabagh talks.
7) Mistaken Listing of Armenia as a Terrorist Country
The Bush Administration, through Attorney General John Ashcroft,
sought, unsuccessfully, in December of 2002 to place Armenia on an
Immigration and Naturalization Service watch list for terrorist
countries. This obvious error was reversed only after a nation-wide
protest campaign. Neither the White House nor the Department of
Justice has apologized for the offense caused by this mistake.
8) Neglect of U.S.-Armenia relations
While the Bush Administration has maintained a formal dialogue with
Armenia on economic issues through the bi-annual meetings of the
U.S.-Armenia Task Force, it has, as a matter of substance, failed
to take any meaningful action to materially promote U.S.-Armenia
economic ties. Specifically, the Administration has not provided
leadership on legislation, spearheaded by Congressional Republicans
and currently before Congress, to grant Armenia permanent normal
trade relations (PNTR) status. Nor has the Administration
initiated any steps toward the negotiation of a Tax Treaty, Social
Security Agreement, Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, or
other bilateral agreements to foster increased U.S.-Armenia
commercial relations.
The President neither visited Armenia nor has he invited the
President of Armenia to visit the United States.
9) Failure to maintain a balanced policy on Nagorno Karabagh
The Bush Administration, to its credit, took an early initiative to
help resolve the Nagorno Karabagh issue in the form of the Key West
summit meeting in 2001 between Secretary of State Powell and the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. After Azerbaijan’s failure to
honor its Key West commitments, however, the Administration failed
to hold Azerbaijan accountable for unilaterally stalling the
Nagorno Karabagh peace process.
10) Increased grants, loans and military transfers to Turkey
The Bush Administration has effectively abandoned America’s
responsibility to link aid, loans, and arms transfers to Turkey’s
adherence to basic standards for human rights and international
conduct. The most notable example was the $8 billion loan package
provided to Turkey in 2003 despite Turkey’s refusal to allow U.S.
forces to open a northern front during the war in Iraq.
11) Taxpayer financing of the Baku-Ceyhan bypass of Armenia
The Bush Administration is supporting American taxpayer subsidies
for the politically motivated Baku-Ceyhan pipeline route that, at
the insistence of Turkey and Azerbaijan, bypasses Armenia.
12) Refusal to pressure Turkey and Azerbaijan to end their
blockades
The Bush Administration has not forcefully condemned the Turkish
and Azerbaijani blockades as clear violations of international law,
nor, outside of occasional public statements, has it taken any
meaningful steps to pressure the Turkish or Azerbaijani governments
to end their illegal border closures.
13) Lobbying for Turkish membership in the European Union
The Bush Administration has aggressively pressured European
governments to accept Turkey into the European Union, despite
Turkey’s consistent failure to meet European conditions for
membership, on issues ranging from the blockade of Armenia and the
Armenian Genocide to the occupation of Cyprus and human rights.
14) Down-grading relations with the Armenian American community
Breaking with the tradition of the last several Administrations,
the Bush White House failed to reach out in any meaningful way to
our nation’s one and a half million citizens of Armenian heritage.
While the State Department, Pentagon and National Security Council
maintained their long-standing, policy-level dialogue with the
Armenian American community leadership, the White House itself
essentially neglected Armenian Americans as a political
constituency. Perhaps the most telling example of this is that,
during the course of the past three years, despite repeated
requests, the President did not hold any community-wide meetings
with the leadership of the Armenian American community, nor did his
Secretary of State or National Security Advisor.
15) Armenian American appointments
To the Administration’s credit, the President appointed Joe
Bogosian to an important Deputy Assistant Secretary position at the
Commerce Department, John Jamian to a key maritime position in the
Department of Transportation, and Samuel Der-Yeghiayan as a Federal
Judge in the Northern District of Illinois.

Armenian American Democratic Leadership Council
1900 S Eads #1231
Arlington, VA 22202
E-mail: [email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
July 25, 2004
Contact: Tsoghig Margossian
E-mail: [email protected]
Armenian Democrats to Join In Ethnic Diversity Celebration at the
Democratic Convention
* DNC Convention Features Ethnic Caucus Meeting; Highlights
Pivotal Role of Ethnic Vote
Boston, MA: The Armenian American Democratic Leadership Council
(AADLC) and Armenian American Democrats from across the country
will participate in a celebration of ethnic community activism
hosted by the National Democratic Ethnic Leadership Council (NDELC)
at this week’s 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. The
reception is part of a series of programs, meetings and events
spotlighting the key role of ethnic communities in this election
season and throughout the American political process.
Grassroots leaders representing a diverse groups of ethnic American
communities, including Albanians, Arabs, Armenians, Germans,
Greeks, Italians, Irish, Polish, Serbian among many others, will be
joining together at the reception on Wednesday, July 28th, at The
Harp, across from the Fleet Center. Participation in the “NDELC’s
Celebration and Appreciation of Ethnic Democrats” is by invitation
only and has received enthusiastic responses from Convention
delegates, Members of Congress and community leaders who understand
the pivotal role that ethnic voters are expected to play in
electoral swing states this November. The reception is one of
several daytime and evening functions organized by ethnic
communities throughout the Convention week.
“The Armenian American Democratic Leadership Council is proud to
partner with the NDELC as it brings together ethnic community
leaders from across the country in support of the Democratic Party
agenda,” stated NDELC Board Member and AADLC activist Sushan
Demirjian. “We look forward to mobilizing the Armenian American
community, with its active presence in key swing states across the
country, to play a decisive role in support of the Kerry/Edwards
ticket and pro-Armenian democratic candidates on November 2nd.”
The National Democratic Ethnic Leadership Council (NDELC) is an
ethnic constituency based organization encompassing the community
of immigrants and descendants of immigrants who primarily trace
their heritage from Europe and the Mediterranean. During the
Clinton presidential campaign in 1992, democratic activists began a
deliberate initiative to redefine the Democratic Party’s
relationship with Ethnic Americans. Over the past twelve years, the
party has made great strides to ensure that Ethnic Democrats
continue to be players in American politics. The NDELC, with its
diverse membership including representatives of the Armenian
American Democratic Leadership Council, plays a pivotal role in
nurturing that relationship.
==============================================================
Democratic Party to Host Ethnic Democrats Caucus Meeting and
Workshop at Democratic National Convention
==============================================================
The 2004 Democratic Convention will also feature a first-ever
Caucus Meeting and Workshop bringing together ethnic leaders
committed to a Kerry-Edwards victory in November. Community
representatives will participate in briefings and a full agenda of
activities on Wednesday, July 28th from 10:00am to 12:00pm at the
Sheraton Hotel.
“Ethnic Americans have always been a base in the Democratic party.
The values of family, hard work, faith and opportunity are the
values that they bring to the Democratic Party and contribute to
building a stronger America,” explained John Kerry for President
Director of Ethnic Outreach George Kivork, who is helping to
coordinate the function.
The AADLC works with the Democratic National Committee to
foster support within the Armenian American community for
the Democratic Party and national Democratic office
holders, while promoting the election of Armenian American
Democrats to political office and encouraging participation
by Armenian American Democrats at all levels of the public
policy process.

RIA Novosti, Russia
July 25 2004
KARABAKH: INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS WEIGH SETTLEMENT CHANCES
YEREVAN, July 25 (RIA Novosti) – Stepanakert, capital of the
unrecognized Armenian-populated Karabakh Republic in Azerbaijan,
hosted an international expert team today, who were discussing
prospects for peaceful Armenian-Azeri conflict settlement, announced
the Central Information Board under the Karabakh president.
The visitors held a conference with the republican top to blueprint
measures the conflicting parties should take to pace up settlement.
They called to enhance international involvement in the cause. The
experts also reported their impressions of contacts with Karabakh
authorities and NGO spokesmen.
Leading the delegation is Bruce Jackson, NATO committee head in the
U.S. Senate, in charge of Project Transitional Democracies. The other
delegates are Daniel Twining, director for foreign politics, German
branch of the U.S.-based Marshall Foundation; Ronald Asmus, head
expert of the Marshall Foundation trans-Atlantic relations board;
Randy Scheuneman, Orion strategic center president; Istvan Gyarmati,
Hungary, board chair of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Integration and
Democracy; and Robert Cotrell, European branch editor of the UK-based
journal, The Economist.
A truce was made on Karabakh more than ten years ago. Painstaking
international mediation by the OSCE Minsk group has not brought
settlement a step closer since that day. Occasional skirmishes are
lately reported from the conflict zone day in, day out, the
belligerents shifting the blame on each other.
Azeri authorities are willing to grant extensive autonomy to what
they regard as a rebellious province, but are set on Azerbaijan
retaining it for the sake of territorial integrity. Baku also insists
on regaining long-established Azeri areas bordering on Karabakh and
seized in the warfare, and on Azeri refugees returning home. The
latter demand is a worthy reason for negotiations, agree Armenian and
Karabakh leaders. They, however, would not listen about Karabakh ever
getting back under the Azeri wing.

Gulf States Newsletter
Zawya.com
July 25 2004
Aleppo joins Syria’s Islamic revival, Damascus responds by courting
old foes

Cosmopolitan Aleppo has joined Syria’s Islamic revival, highlighting
a trend the Baathist regime can ill afford to ignore – which is why
President Assad is courting the Muslim Brotherhood his father smashed
two decades ago. GSN reports from Aleppo on the mood in the city and
from Damascus on rumours of political games-playing by the regime and
its Islamist opponents, and rapprochement with Turkey.
Syria’s northern capital has long been the region’s most cosmopolitan
town, its population including Armenians, Kurds, Turks, Jews and
Arabs. This diverse heritage remains to this day, with the mix of
churches and mosques resembling Jerusalem, Cairo and Damascus’
eclectic mishmash of religious orthodoxies. But tensions are running
high in Aleppo 2004 version: the Kurdish riots in parts of northern
Syria in March drew in Aleppo’s Kurdish minority – curfews were
imposed on their quarter – and the city is in the grip of an Islamic
revival. Only a handful of women, mainly Christian, now go around in
public without the hijab.
Throughout Aleppo’s famous souk, Koranic slogans hang from the
arcaded ceilings. This is a somewhat different town to the one that
provoked Egyptian-born World Trade Center lead attacker Mohammed
Atta’s ire during the 1990s, when the then star student’s research
into Aleppo’s architectural heritage played a role in his conversion
to Jihadist militancy. Atta had a long-standing affection for
Aleppo’s souk, the subject of his thesis at Hamburg Technical
University in the 1990s. According to the travel writer Jonathan
Raban, here, “Atta had found an age-old, smelly world of half-lit
arched passages, violated by shameless and greedy kufr
(non-believers).” Atta saw the souk as being under siege by tourists
and their architecture of fast-food restaurants and hotels.
A decade later, Atta might find Aleppo a more convivial prospect. One
theory for the popular revival of Islam is that the secular Arab
Baath Socialist Party Regional Command regime, weakened by the death
of Hafez Al-Assad and assailed by US policy-makers as a ‘state
sponsor of terrorism’, is unable to exert its grip as tightly here as
it can in its Damascus power base. In Aleppo, wearing the hijab can
be construed as a personal gesture of opposition to the regime.
The city boasts some firebrand preachers, including Sheikh Mohsen
Al-Qaaqaa, who was removed from his mosque in Q1 04 having previously
cultivated a private militia and openly called for Syria to become an
Islamic state.
On another level, the demise of Syrian secularism appears a
by-product of a shift in sentiment throughout the Middle East in the
wake of 9/11 and the Iraq war. Even Damascene women are turning to
the headscarf in increasing numbers.
But even an Islamicised Aleppo is unlikely to lose its cosmopolitan
edge, and the tourist coaches still queue outside the city’s famous
citadel. The city is increasing its ties with Turkey, only a short
drive across the border. Since Syria expelled Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, relations with Ankara have
improved across the board; President Bashar Al-Assad visited in
January. Recent faltering ties between Turkey and its regional
strategic ally Israel – fanned by reports that Israeli special forces
are training and co-operating with Kurdish Peshmerga militias in
northern Iraq – are playing well in Syria.
If Aleppo is able to leverage its geographic influence as a regional
trading post, enabling Turkish products to penetrate Arab markets
further south, it could play a key role in fostering the emerging
bilateral economic relationship. GSN was in the city when in late May
when Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen, a regular visitor, came
with 400 Turkish businessmen and 33 MPs to explore increased
commercial relations. Such was the minister’s enthusiasm, he happily
participated in communal dancing.
With its own Kurdish flank to look after and both countries wary of
US influence in the region, Damascus has reason enough to throw in
its lot with Ankara. A dose of Turkish secularism may also help to
offset the Islamic fervour gripping Syria’s second city
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse — English
July 25, 2004 Sunday 7:54 AM Eastern Time
The war to end wars brought collapse of four empires
PARIS, July 25
World War I, which broke out 90 years ago on July 28, 1914, embroiled
35 countries from every continent and resulted in about 10 million
deaths and 20 million injuries.
The conflict, which brought to a head the rivalries that had torn
Europe apart for half a century, began with the declaration of war on
Serbia by the Austro-Hungarian empire on July 28, a month to the day
after the assassination of the heir to the imperial crown in Sarajevo
by a Serbian nationalist.
One by one, the European powers were drawn into the conflict because
of their territorial and colonial rivalries, and their alliances.
Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and the Ottoman Empire were pitted
against the countries of the triple alliance — Britain, France and
Russia, to which were added Italy in 1915. The entry into the war of
Japan and above all of the United States, in 1917, made this the
first conflict of a truly global nature.
The illusion that the war would be of short duration was shattered
with the failure of the first great offensives on the eastern and
western fronts.
Russia launched a major offensive against Germany’s East Prussia in
August 1914, suffered a crushing defeat at Tannenberg, followed by
lesser setbacks at the first and second battles of the Masurian
Lakes. That was the start of a steady retreat towards the east that
ended with the 1917 Bolshevik revolution and the signing of the
Brest-Litovsk treaty between Germany and Russia.
The conflict spread over four fronts — in the Balkans, in France, in
Russia, and later in Italy.
>From 1915, the western front was established from the North Sea to
the Swiss frontier, and the grinding, interminable war of the
trenches began. Vast human wave assaults into the teeth of cannons
and machine guns annihilated much of a generation.
In 1916, more than 700,000 men on both sides died in the battle of
Verdun, and in 20 weeks of combat on the Somme river, 1.2 million
young men were slaughtered. Some 330,000 soliders were killed in
three years along the road known as the Chemin des Dames, leading to
mutinies in the French army against the wasteful loss of life.
Elsewhere, the allied expedition to gain control of the Dardanelles
straits, the principal access to Russia’s Black Sea coast, ended in
disastrous defeat by the Ottoman empire, and the loss of 260,000 men
killed or missing.
But the Russians pushed the Ottomans back in the Caucasus and in
Armenia and the British, exploiting Arab aspirations for
independence, managed to capture both Baghdad and Jerusalem from the
Ottoman empire.
In 1918, the allied armies, reinforced in men and supplies by the
United States, defeated the Germans at the Battle of the Marne.
Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman empire and Bulgaria suffered crushing
defeats and signed armistice agreements in September and October.
The guns officially fell silent on the eleventh hour of the eleventh
day of the eleventh month of 1918 when Germany signed the armistice
at Rethondes, near Compiegne, France.
The map of Europe was totally refashioned by the war. The peace
treaties, principally the Versailles treaty of June 28, 1919 on the
fith anniversary of the Sarajevo assassination, imposed severe
territorial, military and economic clauses on the vanquished. Germany
lost one seventh of its territory and one tenth of its population.
The conflict resulted in the collapse of four empires —
Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman and Russian — and brought into
being new states like Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
The war also marked the end of European dominance in the political,
economic and military spheres, and created a new world order in which
the United States and Japan emerged as global powers.
The “Great War” was to have been the war to end all wars — and it
gave birth to a League of Nations that was intended to assure world
peace.
But the shock of a conflict that introduced the use of poison gas,
submarines, tanks, and aerial bombardment of civilians was not
sufficient to prevent the outbreak of a second world war 20 years
later that swallowed up five times as many victims.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
July 25, 2004 Sunday
Armenian premier to discuss electricity in Tbilisi
By Tengiz Pachkoria
TBILISI
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan will arrive in Tbilisi on
Sunday evening on a two-day visit. He will discuss “smaller charges
on the Armenian electricity supplied to Georgia,” Georgian Energy
Minister Nika Gilauri told the press.
“Armenian electricity charges for Georgia are higher than prices on
Russian electricity,” the minister said. “We will also discuss
parallel functioning of the Georgian and Armenian energy systems, and
Georgia’s affiliation to the Armenia-Iran energy grid. We would like
to deliver electricity to Iran via Armenia in summer and receive
Iranian electricity via Armenia in winter.”
The Armenian delegation led by Margaryan will attend a session of the
Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission for economic
cooperation on Monday, July 26. Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili will receive Margaryan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
July 25, 2004 Sunday
Armenian premier to discuss cooperation in Tbilisi
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan will discuss economic
cooperation with Georgia in Tbilisi. He will attend a session of the
Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission for economic
cooperation.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and other officials will
receive Margaryan. He will also visit the burial vault of Armenian
artists and a memorial to heroes who died for independence of
Georgia. The premier will meet with Georgian Armenians at the St.
Gevork Cathedral. The Armenian community in Georgia has 250,000
members.
Yerevan and Tbilisi think that bilateral trade and economic
cooperation fails to meet their potential. Last year bilateral trade
amounted to $43.2 million, a source in the Armenian government office
told Itar-Tass. Georgia supplies nitric fertilizers, petroleum
products, gas and knitted wear, while Armenia supplies electricity,
trucks and construction materials. Armenian businessmen are
interested in the Georgian market. Twenty-five ventures with Armenian
capital are functioning in Georgia nowadays.

The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY)
July 19, 2004 Monday Final Edition
REFUGEES’ LATE SON LIVES ON IN PORTRAIT;
WORKING FROM TINY SNAPSHOT, HAMILTON ARTIST MEMORIALIZES TODDLER WHO
DIED IN RUSSIA.
By Mike Fish Staff writer
Grigoriy and Yelena Bagiryan celebrated their daughter Marya’s fifth
birthday Saturday with gifts and a taste of cake.
But the Bagiryans, refugees from Russia who have lived in Syracuse
almost a year, also received a special gift of their own, one that
gave them a taste of what it feels like to live in a community where
they are loved and welcome.
Susan Naef, chair of the Social Justice Committee of St. Mary’s
Church in Hamilton, one of three churches that have taken the
Bagiryan family under their wings, presented Grigoriy and Yelena with
a portrait of their son, Nerses, who was 18 months old when he died
in an accident in their Moscow home in October 2002.
The portrait, done free by artist Rosita Dickson, of Hamilton, now
supplements their only photo of Nerses, one that’s about the size of
a quarter and fits in a refrigerator magnet in their kitchen on Park
Street.
“I am very thankful,” Yelena said in Russian through an interpreter,
Alex Sukhorukov.
The Bagiryan family, which includes six children and Grigoriy’s
mother, Vartush, came to Syracuse in September. The family is
sponsored by three churches: St. Mary’s in Hamilton, Our Lady of
Lourdes in Syracuse and St. Joan of Arc in Morrisville.
With considerable help from Catholic Charities and others, the
support group has provided furnishings, bicycles for the children, a
washer and dryer, a computer, a sewing machine, many Christmas gifts,
lots of food supplies and dinners, and help with the monthly rent,
when needed.
And St. Mary’s parishioners recently decided to cover the $5,000
travel bill the family still owes the U.S. government, Naef said. The
church so far has paid about four monthly installments of about $100
against that bill, she said.
Nerses died when he stuck his hand in an electrical outlet, and his
parents were able to visit his grave every day in Moscow. But in
Syracuse, their only reminder – until Saturday – was the tiny photo
on the kitchen fridge.
The family several months ago asked Naef for a few favors, including
a portrait of their late son.
Dickson, who is well-known for her pastel portraits, saw a photocopy
of the boy’s snapshot and volunteered to do his portrait.
“Rosita saw the snapshot copy and cried,” Naef said. “She did it from
the heart.”
Lauri Tomberlin, who owns a frame shop in Hamilton next door to
Dickson’s store, agreed to frame the portrait at no cost.
Grigoriy was from Azerbaijan, and when the Soviet empire crumbled and
Azerbaijan regained its independence, Armenian Christians like him
were no longer welcome there, Naef said. The family was forced to go
to Moscow, but because of their ethnic background, they were treated
poorly there, too, and sought refuge in the United States.
Speaking through the interpreter, Yelena said the family is happy to
be out of Moscow, where they were treated like third-class citizens
and lived in a neighborhood full of criminals. Her children, she
said, “may have a future here.”
In Russia, their children’s future looked bleak.
Yelena told one story describing the contrast between life in Moscow
and life in Syracuse.
In Russia, authorities thought their son, Armen, was mentally ill and
treated him that way.
When the family moved to Syracuse, doctors quickly discovered there
was hardly anything wrong. Armen, now 7, simply had a hearing
problem. He now has a hearing aid, and everything is fine.
“He acts so much better here,” his mother said.

San Bernardino Sun (San Bernardino, CA)
July 24, 2004 Saturday
Weddings windows to diversity
Mirjam Swanson said it was going to be her “Big Fat Armenian
Wedding,’ and she wasn’t exaggerating.
Mirjam is the sports editor of The Sun. On Friday night she married
the sports editor of the Glendale News-Press, whose name is Hamlet
Nalbandyan – which is as Armenian as he is.
Hyphenated-American weddings are great fun and of great interest to
the more-or-less assimilated of us as the remarkably successful 2002
film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ demonstrated.
A bonus to living in Southern California: We don’t have to try very
hard to turn up at wedding ceremonies far outside the traditions we
learned in our parents’ house. Mexican-American, African-American,
Jewish-American …
See enough weddings in SoCal, you ought to be able to get college
credit for cultural anthropology courses.
Mirjam’s and Hamlet’s wedding was celebrated at Saint Mary’s Armenian
Apostolic Church, in Glendale, home to some 80,000 ethnic Armenians
which gives Glendale the second-largest Armenian population of any
city in the world, behind only Yerevan, the capital of the nation of
Armenia.
The ceremony was conducted almost entirely in Armenian. Sensibly,
since it was the native tongue of most of the people in the church,
including the men officiating.
We asked directions on where to sit groom’s side vs. bride’s side and
one of the the groom’s relatives said, “Boy left, girl right!’
Armenia was the first nation to embrace Christianity [in the year
301], and its church has been pivotal in the retention of ethnic
identity during centuries of domination by non-Christian invaders. We
now know.
An interesting feature of the ceremony: The bride and groom touch
foreheads for long stretches of it. Hadn’t seen that before.
The reception, at the Yepremian Banquet Hall, was an Armenian
party-down event, and indicated the apparent Armenian preference for
the spare-no-expense celebration.
We arrived to a surfeit of food, so much that the groaning tables
could not accept one more plate. And those were just the appetizers.
Fifteen of them, at the least. Hummus, olives, cheeses, veggies,
salmon eggs, cured meats, everything but a partridge in a pear tree.
Each table also featured a fifth of Absolut vodka [Armenia once was
part of the Soviet Union], a bottle of Hennessy brandy and two
bottles of wine. Which were useful fuels for the dancing that ensued.
The band was made up of a keyboardist, a couple of drummers and a guy
on a violin, and they weren’t shy about performing Armenian folk and
pop tunes at bleed-from-the-ears volume.
Armenian dance features hand movements of the sort you might
associate with India or Iran, even Arabia, and a tendency to arrange
themselves in a circle which you might see at a Greek or Jewish
wedding.
Mirjam led the way for her family, which was laudably game in the
cross-cultural dance-floor events.
The band and its lead singer mixed in a slow dance or two, for the
old folks, presumably, then would start in with something “everyone’
knew the Armenian answer to, oh, “Shout!,’ perhaps and the crowd
would buzz with excited approval and rush the floor for more dancing.
The dinner courses arrived about 20 minutes apart. Mushrooms stuffed
with meat; seasoned potatoes; an enormous platter of boneless
barbecued meats [chicken, beef, pork]; stewed mushrooms with cheese;
boiled beef with rice; melon and strawberries.
More than a college football team could hope to consume. Our table
had been overpowered way back at the appetizers.
Between the barbecued meats and the stewed mushrooms, three
gypsy-style dancers made their appearance in a flash of sequins and
veils, repeatedly drawing members of the wedding party back out to
the dance floor, tiring out spectators just from watching.
We lasted till 11 p.m., amid reports “they’ll shut the place down,’
from veterans of other Armenian-American weddings.
We left with the idea of how we Americans routinely make cultural
leaps that would never occur in The Old Country. Our colleague
Mirjam, basically WASPy a few days ago, now can present herself as
Mirjam Nalbandyan, if she chooses.
Some of us believe that sort of marital jump is a sign of America’s
healthy acceptance of cultural diversity. We all can agree it makes
for a great show.
Paul Oberjuerge’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and
Friday. Readers may call him at [909] 386-3849 or e-mail him at
[email protected].
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress