The Boston Globe
May 24, 2004, Monday ,THIRD EDITION
KEVERIAN IS STILL KING OF HEARTS
FORMER MASS. HOUSE SPEAKER CONTINUES TO HELP ANY WAY HE CAN
By Phil Santoro, Globe Correspondent
EVERETT – The gold-plated sign on his desk reads: “It’s Good To Be
King.” But his drab, rank, closet-size office at Everett City Hall is
fit more for a municipal bureaucrat than for a king. It’s a far cry
from his palatial digs in the State House when he served as speaker
of the House of Representatives from 1985 to 1990. Yet George
Keverian, at one time one of the most prominent figures in Boston
politics, appears, if not regal, then content as the city’s part-time
chief assessor.
At 72, Keverian has returned to his roots in city government, roots
that were planted in 1953 when, fresh out of Harvard University at
the age of 21, he was elected to the Everett Common Council and began
a 37-year career as a Democratic office-holder. He may no longer
wield the kind of influence that determined the size of the House,
but he is not easily forgotten. At City Hall, officials turn to
Keverian to negotiate tax deals with developers, set the tax rate for
the city every year, and guide them through local matters that
involve state agencies.
Last year, Everett officials named a City Hall hearing room after
him. That may not seem to be a big deal, but in Everett, where
campaign signs are as common as street signs, it’s huge. And a few
months ago, the new George Keverian Elementary School opened.
More than his widely fluctuating weight and his mutinous overthrow of
longtime House Speaker Thomas McGee, Keverian is well known for his
compassion and for wearing his heart on his sleeve, traits that some
say cost him his speaker’s job in 1990 when he failed to coalesce a
fractured House because he tried to please everybody. That same year,
Keverian lost his Democratic primary bid for state treasurer to
William Galvin because many of the speaker’s loyal supporters
deserted him.
Today, Keverian finds other ways to care for people. In the past
year, he has “adopted” three Haitian families in Everett, including a
single mother and her twin 5-year-old daughters, who had been evicted
from their apartment because the mother couldn’t keep up with the
rent. Keverian took them into his home for several weeks, getting
their furniture out of storage and into his garage and helping them
find public housing. A lifelong bachelor who for many years cared for
his ailing mother, Keverian chuckles at the suggestion that they may
be the family he never had. But he doesn’t dismiss the notion.
“Oftentimes when their mother picks [the twins] up from school,
they’ll walk here to City Hall and I’ll drive them home. They come in
the door and they run to me – ‘Uncle George, Uncle George,’ ”
Keverian says. “And they hug me and kiss me, and as I’m taking them
home – you know I never married, I never had children – it’s ‘Uncle
George, can we get a Dunkin’ Donut?’ They’ll say, ‘I’m hungry.’
Forget the doughnut. ‘I want a sandwich. With egg and sausage and
bacon and cheese. And I want something to drink.’ And the mother
says, ‘I’ll have a sandwich, too.’ And it’s like $15. But I love
doting on them.”
Keverian met the mother (who wished to remain anonymous), a medical
technician at a Boston hospital, on two separate occasions two years
ago when he was recovering from gastric bypass surgery. He learned
she was living in Everett. Last year, when Keverian was going through
the drive-through at Dunkin’ Donuts, he saw the woman standing nearby
and greeted her. As they chatted, he learned she had been evicted and
her furniture had been seized.
“I said, ‘Where did you sleep?’ ” Keverian says. “She said, ‘I slept
on the stairs of the apartment outside. I came here to clean myself
up in the lady’s room.’ I said, ‘Where are the children?’ She said,
‘With a friend.’ I said, ‘Where are you going to stay?’ She said, ‘I
don’t know.’ Well, I wasn’t going to let her be homeless. I said,
‘Bring the children and come down to my office.’ ”
Keverian invited them to stay at his house while they tried to find
another apartment. During the family’s 2 1/2-week stay, Keverian sent
the mother to the local welfare office, where it was determined that
her $330 net weekly pay made her ineligible for assistance. The woman
is also a part-time student at a community college in Brockton,
studying to become a respiratory therapist.
“She’s one of these people who makes too much for welfare and too
little to live,” he says in a tone of indignation. Her husband,
Keverian says, is a substance abuser who left the family and does not
provide support. Keverian eventually was able to help her land an
Everett Housing Authority apartment, got an accountant to complete
her tax returns at no charge, negotiated with Mass. Electric and got
donations from the community to pay off her $500 overdue electric
bill, and is working to secure income-eligible discounts for her gas
and telephone expenses. Recently he threw a birthday party for the
twins at his office, soliciting and receiving gifts for the girls
from a more than willing City Hall staff, including Mayor David
Ragucci, who occasionally seeks Keverian’s council on sticky
municipal matters.
“George is an invaluable asset to me and the city,” Ragucci says.
“He’s an icon in this city. He’s been a lot of help to a lot of
people over the years. He has that unique ability to make people
happy.”
In the past few months, Keverian also helped a Haitian immigrant go
through the permitting process to open a hair salon and “made a few
calls” for a Haitian woman who was trying to get accepted to Bunker
Hill Community College. Michelle Volmar said she would never have
been able to open her Malden hair salon without Keverian’s guidance.
“He’s my adviser,” Volmar says. “He’s a wonderful man; he has a good
heart.”
One of only a handful of Armenian-Americans growing up in the mostly
Italian and Irish city of Everett, Keverian says he has a soft spot
for people who are “trying to fit in” and need guidance.
“Some people kiddingly call me the ambassador to Haiti,” Keverian
says. “But it just happened to be Haitian people who asked me for
help. . . . I don’t care who it is, if someone asks for help, if I
can help them, I will.”
Keverian laments, however, that he can’t help as much as he could
when he presided over 160 members of the House. Lots of friendships
were won and lost during his 12 years of political maneuvers at the
State House, which included his work on redistricting (and
subsequently reducing) House seats, his successful bid to wrestle the
House speakership from the decade-long tenure of McGee, his
replacement of key McGee appointees with his own, and his swan song
in elected politics – a failed campaign for the state treasurer’s
office in 1990.
Is there loyalty among politicians? “Very little,” says Keverian,
“When you find it, you worship it.”
It was his loyalty to the late Speaker McGee that enabled Keverian to
rise to power; he earned McGee’s trust and respect by taking on the
thankless task of redistricting the house seats, reducing the number
from 240 to 160. His reward for the project and for his loyalty to
McGee was getting appointed House majority leader and a promise that
he would get the speaker’s gavel when McGee stepped down at the end
of his sixth year, as had been the practice of the four previous
House speakers. Six years turned into seven, then eight, then nine;
each year Keverian would ask McGee when it would be his turn to steer
the ship. Frustrated by McGee’s vague responses, Keverian took a huge
risk in plotting McGee’s ouster.
Now, at times, Keverian finds it frustrating to be out of the
spotlight.
“When you’re speaker, people would do anything for you,” Keverian
says. “Today, sometimes I pick up the phone and ask somebody for help
and they ask you to spell your last name.”
Keverian can still count on the friendship of a handful of folks at
the State House, including State Representative Robert Correia of
Fall River, who served as the House whip under Keverian’s leadership,
House general counsel Louis Rizoli, and a few national politicos,
including President Bush’s chief of staff, Andrew Card, who served in
the House with Keverian, and US Representative William Delahunt,
whose daughter is Keverian’s godchild.
Since leaving the State House, Keverian has been beset with a number
of health problems, most of which are a result of his weight, which
has fluctuated from 420 to 160 pounds. Though he speaks about it
candidly, being overweight has always been a sensitive topic for
Keverian, who has been the subject of some public ridicule.
“Sometimes people say things to get a laugh, but they don’t stop and
think about what effect that has on the person who’s the subject of
their joke,” he says. “They wouldn’t make jokes about someone in a
wheelchair or someone with an illness.”
The decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery two years ago was a
risky one, Keverian says, though he felt he had little choice. Given
his poor health, including a diabetic condition that required him to
take two shots of insulin a day, Keverian’s doctors at Mass. General
warned him there could be complications with the surgery. However,
his surgeon told him “because of my health, not having the surgery
was even riskier. I was desperate. I knew bad things were starting to
happen.”
After the surgery, Keverian lost 100 pounds. Since then, he says his
health has improved. Because of the weight loss, his insulin
production is sufficient and he no longer needs to take shots. Today
he weighs 290 pounds and says he’s trying to lose 80 more. Keverian
says his struggles with weight make him “quite sensitive” to issues
of popular diets, such as the South Beach and Atkins diets, and
obesity among children.
“People like me, when we are desperate to lose weight, we’ll try
anything. But the question is, will you be able to live like that.
It’s a lifestyle change, not a diet. Exercise is the key. That’s the
only way to do it. People who walk every day or go to the gym,
they’re serious. I don’t exercise; I’m not proud of it. But I realize
that’s the key, and I’m trying.”
Though in semi-retirement, Keverian fills each day by keeping regular
hours at City Hall and by running errands for and with his newfound
friends. One of those errands found Keverian waiting in his car with
the 5-year-old twins while their mother was in the supermarket. “One
of the girls says ‘Uncle George, I have to go to the bathroom,’ ”
Keverian recalls. “And now I have to take them in to the supermarket
so they can go to the bathroom.”
It’s a far cry from the days when he was holding court with needy
legislators and lobbyists who were dependent upon him to enact
legislation that would affect the state’s 6 million residents. Within
a smaller circle of people who look to him to help solve their
problems, Keverian can still be king.
Phil Santoro can be reached at [email protected].
GRAPHIC: PHOTO ,
1. George Keverian has helped many people in Everett, including
Michelle Volmar (rear right) and a Haitian woman who asked that her
name and those of her children not be used. / GLOBE STAFF PHOTO /
MICHELE MCDONALD 2. Michelle Volmar says she never would have been
able to open her hair salon without the help and advice of George
Keverian. / GLOBE STAFF PHOTO / MICHELE MCDONALD
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AGBU PRESS OFFICE
55 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone (212) 319-6383
Fax (212) 319-6507
Email [email protected]
Webpage
PRESS RELEASE
Monday, May 24, 2004
A “CALIFORNIA HARVEST” YIELDS NEW CROP OF TALENT
New York – ARARAT’s fall 2003 issue examines the talents emerging
from America’s West Coast, where Armenians have a long history in the
arts. Entitled, “California Harvest,” the collection gathers together
the work of 20 writers and artists.
Edited by awarding winning journalist, Mark Arax, and novelist
Aris Janigian, the special West Coast edition includes work by
established figures, including Aram Saroyan, Peter Najarian, and
Micheline Aharonian Marcom, along with a wealth of emerging talents,
including Michael Simonian, Armen Hogtanian, Daniel Melnick, Jeanette
Arax Melnick, Silva Dakessian, Shahé Mankerian, Vic Jabrassian and
David Mushgain.
The special issue includes an exclusive excerpt from the
much-anticipated release of Markar Melkonian’s memoir/biography,
Terrorist, Saint, that tells the complicated and intense story of his
brother, Monte Melkonian, a figure renowned as a freedom fighter and
champion of the Armenian cause.
Other works include Simonian’s radical “24110,” which as the editors’
note, “provocatively centers a nuclear waste disposal site near the
Capital Mall in Washington,” a short story by Saroyan that takes a
satirical look at Hollywood life, Janigian’s correspondence with the
L.A. Times over their use of the term “alleged” in reference to the
Armenian Genocide, and the emotionally charged images of Jabrassian
that form a stark contrast with the coolness of Mushgain’s photography.
Arax and Janigian have gathered together a bounty of works that reflect
a new multifaceted reality. The coeditors write in their introduction:
“Today, Armenian-Americans have committed themselves to artistic
propositions that feel unparalleled in their scope and depth, and
one cannot help sensing that this vitality is the first stirring
of a renaissance the likes of which we may not have seen since the
Turks swept away the great generation of Varoujans and Siamantos in
the Genocide.”
Available through AGBU, copies of ARARAT’s California Harvest can be
ordered by phone, 212.319.6383, or email, [email protected]. Individual
issues are $7. Since 1960, ARARAT Quarterly has been a leading voice
in Armenian-American writing, culture and ideas. Published by AGBU,
ARARAT showcases established and emerging talent with an interest in
representing the richness of the Armenian experience in America and
around the world.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Att. Luiz Bakar
Patriarchate Press Spokesperson
Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Istanbul
T: +90 (212) 517-0970
F: +90 (212) 516-4833
GSM:+90 (533) 516-2212
E-mail: [email protected]
A news item concerning the status of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey
appeared in the 20 May 2004 edition of the Cumhuriyet daily newspaper.
In the aforementioned news item it was stated that the Foreign Ministry has
prepared a working paper for the “election and duties of the Patriarch” and
that the Interior Ministry had also offered certain responses to this paper.
We feel it necessary to notify the public that we have no new request
concerning the legal status of our Patriarchate before the Foreign or
Interior Ministry.
Again, we want to state unequivocally that we have no connection whatsoever
with the views attributed to our Patriarchate in this news item about the
study carried out by these two Ministries.
We do not believe that such news items will be of any benefit either to the
Ministries carrying out the study or to our Patriarchate. What is more, they
could impede the efforts of our Government, which desires to find solutions
to the existing difficulties.
In conclusion, the very existence of views such as those mentioned in the
news item, that the patriarchal election be conducted in the presence of a
notary public and, again, that the Interior Ministry could recommend the
deposition of the Patriarch, are damaging to the image of the Republic of
Turkey. 23 May 2004.
Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey
Press Office

Interior Ministry To Recommend Deposition of Armenian Patriarch
LRAPER Church Bulletin
Armenian Patriarchate
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Istanbul
Contact: Deacon V. Seropyan
T: +90 (212) 517-0970
F: +90 (212) 516-4833
E-mail: [email protected]
or [email protected]
LRAPER Church Bulletin, 23 May 2004 (Istanbul) — In a news article
prepared by the Ankara bureau of the Cumhuriyet daily newspaper and
dated 20 May, it is claimed that the Turkish Interior Ministry seeks
legal authority to recommend the deposition of the Armenian Patriarch
of Turkey.
The Cumhuriyet Bureau reported that the Interior Ministry objected to
a working paper prepared by the Foreign Ministry about the election
and duties of the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey.
The Cumhuriyet report continues, “The Interior Ministry emphasized that
the Patriarchate is “responsible only for providing religious services”
to the minority citizens, “has no political or administrative duties”
and that such a privilege would exceed what the International Treaty
of Lausanne prescribes.
“The Interior Ministry thus refuted a draft directorium prepared by
the Foreign Ministry which concerns the Patriarchal See that provides
the religious needs of the Armenians of Turkey whose minority status
is recognized by the Treaty of Lausanne.
“Experts at the Interior Ministry, who have evaluated the Foreign
Ministry working papers, indicated that there is no mention of the
Patriarchal See in the Treaty of Lausanne, and to this day, no laws,
constitutions or other binding legal arrangements of the sort have
been formulated.”
“The Interior Ministry observed that a 1961 ‘Armenian Patriarchate
Election Directorium’ had been implemented in previous elections
and that, in this case also, a similar decision by the Cabinet of
Ministers would be in order. “

ARMENIA THIS WEEK
Friday, May 21, 2004
KOCHARIAN DROPS TURKEY VISIT FOR LACK OF PROGRESS IN RELATIONS
Armenian officials confirmed this week that President Robert Kocharian would
not attend the NATO summit in Istanbul, Turkey set for late June. Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian, who will head the Armenian delegation to the
Summit, said that the president made the decision due to absence of any
appreciable progress in relations between Armenia and Turkey after years of
talks. At the same time, Oskanian noted that Armenia’s partnership with the
NATO alliance would continue to expand.
Turkey has steadfastly refused to establish diplomatic relations with
Armenia, since the latter became independent in 1991. For over a decade
Turkey has also kept its land border with Armenia closed, linking
normalization to Armenian concessions on the Armenian Genocide and Karabakh
issues. Turkey has also provided military and international support to
Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict, and has been slow to improve the rights
of the Armenian minority and conditions of the Armenian cultural heritage in
Turkey.
U.S. and the European Union have long urged Turkey to reconsider these
policies. Direct Armenian-Turkish contacts resumed after Armenia lifted its
objections to holding the 1999 summit of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul and as several Western democracies
officially affirmed the Armenian Genocide. The new Turkish government
elected in late 2002, after initially hinting at a positive change of
policy, has now ruled the lifting of preconditions as “out of question.”
In the meantime, Armenia has significantly strengthened security links with
NATO and directly with the United States, by signing new multilateral and
bilateral agreements, hosting NATO events and deploying peacekeeping forces
under NATO command earlier this year. Armenia is expected to join the NATO’s
Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) program – a key stepping stone for
potential future membership. Last month, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
Elizabeth Jones noted that “Armenia has taken big steps to enhance its
security relationship with the United States and NATO.”
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer noted this week that, among
other issues, the summit will focus on “increasing our co-operation with the
Caucasus and Central Asia – areas that once seemed very far away, but that
we now know are essential to our security.” So far, out of the three
Caucasus countries, only Georgia is publicly seeking NATO membership.
Armenian leaders, while expanding cooperation with the Alliance have said
that membership is not presently on the country’s agenda. Following several
contradictory statements, Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov
announced earlier this month that “Azerbaijan is not planning to join NATO.”
(Sources: AAA R&I Fact Sheet: Armenia and NATO 2-17; Lider TV 5-4; Mediamax
5-4; Arminfo 5-17, 21, 24)
AZERBAIJAN CONTINUES PUSH FOR UNILATERAL ARMENIAN CONCESSIONS IN KARABAKH
Azerbaijani officials said this week that they will continue to push for the
so-called “stage-by-stage” settlement of the Karabakh conflict, which has
been repeatedly dismissed by the Armenian side and dropped by the mediators.
The plan first considered in 1997 called for Karabakh Armenian withdrawal
from areas adjacent to Nagorno Karabakh in exchange for lifting of the
Azerbaijani blockade of Armenia and limited security guarantees, with the
status of Karabakh left to be determined in future talks.
Both President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov discussed
the plan in talks with senior European Union officials and media this week.
Earlier this year, the European Parliament voted down a similar proposal
when discussing a resolution on the Caucasus. Incidentally, the Parliament’s
Caucasus Envoy Per Gahrton who raised the possibility of the Armenian
withdrawal came under a blistering attack this week, when he told the Azeri
press that Nagorno Karabakh could no longer be ruled by Baku. Former senior
presidential advisor Vafa Gulizade and pro-government MP Rafael Husseinov
accused him of “taking bribes from Armenians.”
Azeri officials have said publicly that the “staged” plan’s implementation
would put Azerbaijan in a better position to exert more pressure on Armenia.
This week, Armenia’s Defense and Foreign Ministers again ruled out the plan,
with the Armenian side perceiving exchange of the security buffer for
communications as inequitable. (Sources: Armenia This Week 2-26, 5-7, 14;
Arminfo 5-15, 17, 18; EU Observer 5-18; EuroNews 5-18; AFP 5-22)
Note to Readers: Armenia This Week will not be published Friday, May 28 due
to the Memorial Day Holiday. Publication will resume on June 4.
A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY THE ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA
122 C Street, N.W., Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20001 (202) 393-3434 FAX
(202) 638-4904
E-Mail [email protected] WEB
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkey in EU only after reconciliation with Armenia
Reformatorisch Dagblad
May 21, 2004
The relation between Turkey and Armenia must be re-established before the
admission of Turkey to the European Union can be considered, states prof.
dr. J. A. B. Jongeneel.
The European Union (EU) will probably decide this year upon the possibility
and desirability for allowing Turkey to become a member in the long run. The
Netherlands will soon be President and will therefore have extra
responsibility.
It is extremely remarkable that neither Dutch policy, nor the Dutch press
publicly pay attention to the broken relation between Turkey and its
neighbouring country Armenia. This relation must be re-established before a
EU membership of Turkey can be considered seriously.
When Turkey is admitted to the EU in the long run, we will become direct
neighbors with Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaidjan, Iran, Iraq and Syria. This
article will only discuss the external border with Armenia.
Change
Approximately 99 percent of Turkey is Muslim today. A century ago, however,
this was entirely different. An estimated 77 percent was Muslim and
approximately 22 percent was Christian. At that time most of the Christians
in Turkey belonged to the Armenian church or the Greek Orthodox church. In
the past century Christianity in Turkey has thus on the one hand been
excessively marginalised and on the other hand Islam has developed into a
religion which has an uncontested monopolized position. This development to
a mono religious society – with barely any churches, synagogues and temples
still in use – is problematic.
The enormous degradation of the number of Christians in Turkey at the end of
the nineteenth century and in first half of the twentieth century has been
caused by terrible events there. Two things stand out. First of all the
‘exchange’ of population between Greece and Turkey, which was enforced by
the politicians at that time: approximately 1,000,000 Greek orthodox were
forced to move from Turkey to Greece, and approximately 400,000 Moslems from
Greece to Turkey.
Much more terrible than this “ethnic cleansing” was the deportation and the
massacre of approximately 1,500,000 Armenians. This genocide, dating from
the time before Atatürk came to power in Turkey, is still strongly denied by
the current government of Turkey. Without batting an eye, Turkish historians
also deny this historically well-established fact.
Compensation
Similar to Germany being able to become a full member of Europe after the
second world war only by doing penance and giving compensation, present-day
Turkey must also be able to qualify as a member of the EU right after
recognition of and dealing with the above mentioned genocide. The
Netherlands as temporary president of the EU must take the initiative for
the reconciliation by means of a thorough historical study into the charged
past.
The best way for this to happen is through an EU commission of two Turkish,
two Armenian and two European top historians (with a European President),
with the task to describe and analyze the said genocide within a maximum of
five years and consequently indicate ways in which to re-establish the
mutual relations. A “great reconciliation” is desirable and subsequently
history books should be rewritten for Turkish schools and other Turkish
institutions.
This way Turkey can not only learn how it has lost its multi religious and
multicultural society in one hundred years¹ time, but also learn how it can
regain this in the coming one hundred years. Reorientation will also be
necessary for Armenia. As the victims of the apartheid in South Africa have
required that peace be based on justice, in the same way the Armenians too
will have their conditions for the reconciliation with Turkey.
The Netherlands
The admission of Turkey to the EU in the long run is one of the greatest
European questions of this moment. Nevertheless it plays no role of meaning
in the run-up to the European elections. Let us hope that the Dutch
government will exploit its temporary presidency of the EU to turn the
Armenian Genocide into a hard point of negotiation in the discussion
concerning the admission of Turkey to the EU and will pursue an equitable
reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey.
The author is Professor Emeritus in Missiology at the University of Utrecht.

California Courier Online, May 27, 2004
1 – Commentary
TARC Moderator’s Anti-Armenian
Article in Wall Street Journal
By Harut Sassounian
California Courier Publisher
**************************************************************************
2 – Library of Congress Area Specialist
Dr. Levon Avdoyan Speaks at AUA
3 – YWCA Honors
Women of Heart
4 – Armenian Bobsled Team to Participate
In Fresno Armenian Summer Games
5 – FAPC Hosts Memorial Day
Picnic, May 31 in Fresno
6 – Ararat Nursing Facility Earns
Deficiency-Free State Surveys
7 – NY Life Settlement Improperly
Handled, Attorney Appeals to Judge
************************************************************************
1 – Commentary
TARC Moderator’s Anti-Armenian
Article in Wall Street Journal
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
David Phillips, the moderator of the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation
Commission (TARC), and a senior fellow and deputy director of the Center
for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations, finally exposed
his true colors by writing a blatantly anti-Armenian commentary in the
April 14 issue of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
His column is replete with factual errors, falsehoods and erroneous
judgments. Normally, no major American newspaper would publish such trash
without at least checking the accuracy of the dates and events mentioned,
independently of the author’s opinions. The editors of the Wall Street
Journal, however, being more pro-Turkish than those of most Turkish
newspapers, probably jumped at the opportunity to publish this
anti-Armenian diatribe without giving a second thought to verifying any of
the writer’s false statements. This is regrettable, but not surprising, as
the WSJ has taken anti-Armenian positions on practically all issues for
many years.
Two groups should be blamed for pandering to Phillips to such an extent
that he now feels he can preach to Armenians in a condescending tone: 1)
Armenian members of TARC; and 2) Armenian government officials who nurtured
a close relationship with him for several years. Unknowingly, these friends
of Phillips harbored a rabid anti-Armenian in their midst. It is noteworthy
that in the past six weeks not one Armenian from these two groups has said
a single critical word about the insulting article written by Phillips.
Could it be that they are too embarrassed to admit that they were
associated with him?
Let us start with the outright falsehoods written by Phillips: “Armenia has
been in crisis ever since Mr. Kocharian forced former President
Ter-Petrossian from power in 1996.” Incredibly, there are three factual
errors in this one sentence: 1) Pres. Ter Petrossian left office in 1997,
not 1996; 2) He was not ousted by Kocharian; and 3) Rather than being in
crisis since 1996 or 1997, Armenia in fact has had many crises ever since
its independence in 1991. On the contrary, in some respects, conditions of
life have somewhat improved in recent years.
The second group of errors is found in the following two sentences written
by Phillips: “Tens of thousands were killed [during the Karabagh war] and
almost a million Azerbaijanis were driven from their homes in a spasm of
bloody fratricide. The bloodletting stopped when international mediators
brokered an uneasy cease fire in 1993.” Here are the errors: 1) The figure
of one million Azerbaijani refugees is exaggerated. Phillips is simply
repeating Azeri propaganda; 2) He does not say one word about the several
hundred thousand Armenians expelled from Azerbaijan; 3) Phillips uses the
generic term “international mediators” in order not to give credit to the
Russians who actually brokered the truce; and 4) the cease fire was in
1994, not 1993!
It is amazing that such a self-proclaimed “expert” on Armenia does not even
know the correct name of one of the oldest Armenian political parties. He
mistakenly refers to “the Armenian Revolutionary Federation” as “the
Armenian National Federation.” He describes the group “as an extremist
party that opposes all contact with Turks until Ankara provides an official
apology for the Armenian genocide, pays compensation to its victims and
hands over territories constituting ‘Greater Armenia.’ ” First of all,
these are the proper demands of all Armenians, not those of one group.”
Secondly, rather than dreaming of a “Greater Armenia,” Armenians simply
want the return of the lands usurped from them. Thirdly, Phillips does not
seem to know that contrary to his false assertion, the ARF did meet with
the Foreign Minister of Turkey back in the 1970’s, without any
pre-conditions. Phillips is just bitter that the ARF refused to join his
anti-Armenian “Reconciliation Commission.”
These are just a few of the falsehoods written by Phillips. If he makes so
many mistakes in such a short article, we shudder to think of the plethora
of errors that we would find in the book that he is rumored to be writing
on Turkish-Armenian relations.
Let us now turn to his anti-Armenian judgments. By couching himself in the
cloak of an advocate of democracy in Armenia, Phillips hysterically
suggests that in order “to avoid a bloody conflict, an internationally
supervised referendum should be held to determine whether a majority want
to recall President Robert Kocharian.” The last thing Armenia needs is one
more controversial election that would surely end in violence – which is
probably why Phillips is advocating it in the first place. He refers to
Pres. Kocharian’s administration as “corrupt and inept.” Would Phillips
write and would the Wall Street Journal publish a similar description of
the Aliyev administration, knowing full well that the officials in
Azerbaijan are much more “corrupt and inept” than those in Armenia? He also
misrepresents the size of the population of Armenia as being “about two
million.”
Phillips repeats the shameful and wholly unsubstantiated charge of
“collusion between Mr. Kocharian and the killers” of high-ranking officials
in Parliament in 1999. He also repeats the accusation that Mr. Kocharian is
running “a mafia state.” He uses the excuse of the electoral violations in
2003 to castigate the President for “refusing to step down.”
Rather than condemning the repeated threats made by Pres. Ilham Aliyev to
“liberate Karabagh by force,” Phillips shamelessly blames Pres. Kocharian
for something he has not done. “Mr. Kocharian may respond to the Azeri
president’s rhetoric with threats of his own,” Phillips writes. “By
maintaining Armenia in a state of constant conflict, Mr. Kocharian has
successfully used the insecurity of Armenians and manipulated their fear to
his political advantage.” He then insults all Armenians by making the
shameful accusation that they are “wallow[ing] in victimization” because of
the Genocide.
Exposing his close links to the leaders of Turkey, Phillips discloses a
private conversation he has had with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
regarding the possible opening of the Turkish border. Phillips invents a
non-existent problem by blaming the Turkish blockade on “Mr. Kocharian’s
refusal to issue an unambiguous statement renouncing claims on territory in
Eastern Turkey.”
Finally, Phillips urges the U.S. government to use its foreign aid as a
stick to pressure the Armenian government to hold a presidential referendum
“within three months.” He fantasizes that Turkey would open the border, the
Karabagh peace talks would make progress and the influence of Russia and
Iran would be lessened, only if Armenia would become more democratic,
enabling “the Armenian people to finally look forward and begin to build a
brighter future.”
It is very clear that Phillips and his neo-conservative colleagues in the
Bush Administration want to do in Armenia what they are trying to
accomplish in Iraq. Under the guise of bringing democracy to the country,
they are trying to undermine the government of Armenia so the Armenian
people would forget the Genocide, give up Karabagh and reconcile with
Turkey and Azerbaijan from a position of weakness! Phillips does not want
democracy in Armenia. What he really wants is a subservient Armenia that is
willing to follow the dictates of foreign masters!
Those Armenians who befriended Phillips in the past should immediately
denounce him publicly and cut off all future contacts with him. Phillips is
no friend of Armenia or Armenians!
**************************************************************************
2 – Library of Congress Area Specialist
Dr. Levon Avdoyan Speaks at AUA
YEREVAN – Dr. Levon Avdoyan, Armenian and Georgian Area Specialist of the
U.S. Library of Congress’ African and Middle Eastern Division, visited AUA
on May 11 and discussed the Near East Section of the Library of Congress
and the Armenian portal within their website.
Avdoyan described the Library’s rich depository of materials in over 40
languages about the area known as the Near East, including the countries
and peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia. The Armenian portal has a
comprehensive collection of materials published in the Republic and the
Diaspora, including manuscripts, books, serials, newspapers, electronic
media, motion pictures, music, etc. and encompasses subjects related to
Armenian life and culture.
Avdoyan noted that while there is much material on the Armenian Genocide,
the portal does not use the term Genocide. He expressed hope that with
Armenian-American lobbying efforts that will soon change.
AUA Papazian Library staff and other library representatives participated
in the lively exchange. This includes representatives from Armenia’s
National Library, Gladzor University Library, National Assembly Library,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Library, Yerevan City Central Library, National
Academy of Sciences Fundamental Library, US Embassy’s Information Resource
Center, and students from the Yerevan State University’s Library
Department.
Satenik Avagian, the AUA Papazian Library Director, thanked Dr. Avdoyan for
his informative presentation. The Library is a major participant in the
region’s development of Library Sciences, providing innovative services and
utilizing technological advances in the field.
It is currently the only fully automated library in the region and has an
open access policy for most of its collection, serving students and
scholars from other institutions and the community at large. AUA also
developed the Alice Ohanasian Digital Library of Classical Armenian
Literature, which makes original works from the 5th – 18th centuries
available online.
**************************************************************************
3 – YWCA Honors
Women of Heart
GLENDALE – Glendale’s Dr. Frieda Jordan is among four women from the
Glendale area honored at this year’s YWCA Legacy Award luncheon.
Jordan is the founder of the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry in
Glendale and Armenia.
“It is a way for us to recognize women in the community who are making a
difference and creating a legacy for other women through the work they are
doing today,” said Mary Boger, chairwoman of the YWCA Awards Luncheon.
Event proceeds will benefit the YWCA’s Domestic Violence programs and
ENCOREplus, a program that provides breast- and cervical-cancer screenings
to low-income women.
**************************************************************************
4 – Armenian Bobsled Team to Participate
In Fresno Armenian Summer Games
FRESNO – The Armenian Bobsled Team, fresh off a Silver medal finish at the
America’s Cup 2-Man Bobsled Championship, will be participating in the 34th
Annual Armenian Summer Games, June 18-20 at Buchanan High School in Clovis,
Calif.
Team members Allen Babayan, Dan Janjigian, Ara Bedzjian and Yorgo
Alexandrou made their Olympic debut in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in
Salt Lake City, Utah. Allen, previously a member of the 2000 US Olympic
Trials Teams where he competed in the shot put, joined the Bobsled Team in
2002.
Their unique story of success has earned them an abundance of media
coverage, including ABC World News, CSB News, numerous other TV spots, as
well as newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle,
and other periodicals.
The Summer Games will have several new activities on Saturday, including a
continental breakfast to start off the day, and Radio Disney to entertain
the kids with music, games and prizes. There are activities and sports
events for everyone.
For more information, call Marty Bohigian at (559) 297-7887 or Van Der
Mugrdechian at (559) 298-2372.
**************************************************************************
5 – FAPC Hosts Memorial Day
Picnic, May 31 in Fresno
FRESNO – The First Armenian Presbyterian Church of Fresno will observe
Memorial Day by hosting its 108th Annual picnic at the Central Unified
Aquatics Complex in northwest Fresno, on May 31 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Complex is located at the Central High School East Campus, 3535 North
Cornelia Avenue at Dakota Avenue, one and one-half miles west of state
Highway 99.
Dedicated in the millennium, the Complex features enclosed and open-air
waterslides leading to a spacious landing pool. An adjacent zero-entry
activity pool includes an array of water novelties for swimmers and waders
of all ages. Shaded canopies, a lush terrace, and a lush snack/beverage bar
round out the venue.
The Memorial Day picnic menu features barbecues shish kebab dinners for $12
per person, and gourmet hot dog dinners for $7. Each dinner included
unlimited beverages, oven-baked peda bread, garden salad, rice pilaf, and
homemade desserts prepared and served by the Fidelis Women’s Society. Meals
are available on a dine-in or take-out basis and guests are encouraged to
dine early.
In addition to water sports and dining, the picnic will include a
backgammon tournament, softball, tennis, games for children, Armenian and
patriotic music, and a book/tape/CD sale to benefit ministries at home and
abroad.
Rev. Mgrdich Melkonian is the Senior Pastor. Rev. Samuel Albarian is the
Associate Pastor for Mission and Outreach, and Elder Larry Shapazian, Esq.,
is the General Chairperson of the 2004 Memorial Day Picnic.
**************************************************************************
6 – Ararat Nursing Facility Earns
Deficiency-Free State Surveys
MISSION HILLS, CA – In the intensively regulated profession of nursing
facilities, Ararat Home of Los Angeles has achieved the nearly impossible –
not one but two consecutive years of perfect annual inspections by the
state Department of Health Facilities.
“When the surveyors delivered the survey results this year, they indicated
their office had never before given two consecutive zero-deficiency surveys
to the same facility,” said administrator Walter Hekimian.
The accomplishment is even more noteworthy because Ararat, which has 196
beds, is nearly twice as large as the average nursing facility in
California.
“With twice the number of residents, twice the staff, twice the scope of
everything, there’s that much more opportunity for a technical violation of
the rules,” said Betsy Hite, director of public affairs for the California
Association of Health Facilities, of which Ararat is a member.
Devoting 200 hours of inspection each year on more than 900 separate
regulations, California’s oversight of long-term care facilities is the
most rigorous in the nation and the most comprehensive for any category of
health-care provider in the state.
Every facility must meet state licensure standards, and any facility
certified to participate in the Medicare or Medi-Cal programs also is
governed by stringent federal requirements.
“We’re incredibly proud of Ararat’s achievement,” Hite said. “A perfect
survey is the dream of every nursing facility, but it is so difficult as to
be just about unheard of. To do it twice is sterling proof of the highest
standards and best of care.”
Actually, Ararat’s superlative reputation is nothing new. The facility –
located at 15099 Mission Hills Road in Mission Hills – has received nine
national or state awards of excellence and last year was one of only 20
facilities to receive cash awards from the state of California for survey
excellence.
“These monetary awards were given directly to the staff, who were most
appreciative of the recognition and thankful for the award,” Hekimian said.
Founded in 1949 as a nonprofit facility, Ararat occupies a 10-acre campus
which includes a residential-care facility for the elderly, a 500-seat
banquet hall, a church and a museum dedicated to Armenians and Armenian
culture.
“Once a month the Armenian community joins us for a luncheon to raise funds
for the home,” Hekimian said. “Attendance for this event averages about 400
people. In April, Rep. Brad Sherman spoke at our luncheon.”
Individuals can become members of the organization for a nominal entrance
fee, and presently there are about 3,500 members.
“Were it not for our patrons, the home would be severely challenged to
remain viable,” Hekimian said. “The resident population is nearly
100-percent Medi-Cal recipients. Because of this fact and because of all
the rising costs associated with workers’ compensation, professional
liability insurance, utility bills and health insurance, the home and its
residents rely heavily upon the generosity of its members and supporters.”
**************************************************************************
7 – NY Life Settlement Improperly
Handled, Attorney Appeals to Judge
Los Angeles, CA – Following a proposed settlement in Marootian v. New York
Life Insurance, class action attorney Ben Nutley has filed papers in court
saying that notices of the settlement published in newspapers are
incomplete and leave out the term “Armenian Genocide.” Nutley added that
the notices are not even being handled according to the terms set by the
judge.
What is interesting, Nutley states, is that there is not one mention of the
term “Armenian Genocide” in the official website of the proposed settlement
or in any other official document related to the case. According to Nutley
and his clients, the absence of the words “Armenian Genocide” is an
outrage. The law passed by the California legislature that made this case
possible was commonly referred to as “The Armenian Genocide Insurance Bill”
and the statute had several references to the term “Armenian Genocide.”
Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew living in New York City, invented the very
word “genocide” to characterize the Armenian massacres.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, New York Life Insurance has
agreed to pay $20 million which covers payment to identified heirs of more
than 2,000 policyholders, a contribution to nine Armenian organizations,
administrative expenses, and attorney fees. The terms of the settlement
require that potential claimants must be notified so they can either join
the class-action lawsuit or be excluded in the event they want to bring
their own case. They may also remain in the case and object to the terms of
the proposed settlement. Judge Christina Snyder has set a hearing for July
30, 2004, at which she will consider whether to give final approval to the
settlement.
The motion just filed in the case charges that policyholders are not being
given adequate notice of the settlement, that the notice being used does
not contain the minimum information required by law and that the lawyers
handling the case ignored Judge Snyder’s specific instructions on the
content of the notice. The motion asks the judge to require the parties to
provide a more detailed notice and to expand the geographic scope of its
publication to include all areas in which a significant number of Armenians
reside.
“This case involves Armenians all over the world, yet the settling parties
have only published notice in a few newspapers, mostly in the United
States. They have completely left out the former Soviet Republics other
than Armenia, where some 30% of Armenians worldwide are living, as well as
other geographic areas where a significant number of Armenians reside,”
said Nutley. “By and large, the settling parties are ignoring their legal
obligation to provide notice of this settlement to the members of the
class.”
“We’re asking Judge Snyder to ensure that proper notice gets out in this
case,” said Nutley, who filed the motion on behalf of several class members
interested in the case, “and I am confident she will do so.” “What is even
more amazing,” Nutley added, “is that the descendants of one policyholder
stand to receive as much as $1 million. However, the official website of
the proposed settlement hides this fact by not listing the amount of any
insured’s unpaid insurance policy.”
In class actions, notice to potential claimants is important because people
with legitimate claims can lose their rights and are not paid from a
settlement if they do not file to join the claim. This is true even if
potential claimants never receive notice or obtain any knowledge about the
case.
Nutley also asserted that the notices published in newspapers are
confusing, and in incredibly small, tiny print that is almost illegible.
Although the case is based on life insurance claims for people who died
during the Armenian Genocide, the notice does not contain the term
“Armenian Genocide.” Instead, it refers to policies “in force as of January
1, 1915.” According to the motion papers, that description doesn’t make it
obvious to people reading the newspaper that this is a case that involves
insurance claims from the Armenian Genocide. As a result, people are likely
to skip over it without realizing it applies to them. In fact, many of
Nutley’s clients have indicated to him that they received the newspapers in
which publications of notice were printed, and never even identified the
published notice (some were in small 1/8 page advertisements).
“Even if you happen to see it, and you can make out the small print, and
you understand that it might apply to you, the notice leaves out all kinds
of information that claimants must know to make a decision about the
settlement and otherwise protect their rights, ” said Nutley. People
without internet access will not be able to get information about the case
because only an internet website address is given in the notice for class
members to find out more information. Nutley said Judge Snyder ordered that
a telephone number and address be included in the notice so that class
members could get more information, but the parties did not follow her
instructions. For those potential class members who do manage to visit the
official proposed settlement website, Nutley adds that they will not even
be able to review a list of policyholders unless they correctly understand
that a small space at the bottom of the home page entitled “Subject
Policies” contains the official list of policyholders.
Nutley suggests that interested parties go to a website operated by
concerned members of the Armenian-American community –
, which contains much more information about the case
and is easier to use.
****************************************************************
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**************************************************************************

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
05/21/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) ARF Aharonian Gomideh Banquet Raises $300,000 for Planned Armenian Center in Glendale 2) Vahan Hovhannisian Addresses Legality of Boycotting Parliament 3) Turkey to Build Military Airfield in Georgia 4) CIS Defense Chiefs Meet in Yerevan 5) Karabagh President Greets ANCA Head Hachikian 6) Random Ramblings and the Rambling Rabble Rouser Who Recites Them 7) Notes from another Place 1) ARF Aharonian Gomideh Banquet Raises $300,000 for Planned Armenian Center in Glendale DR. ALBER KARAMANOUKIAN DONATES $250,000 IN MEMORY OF HIS PARENTS GLENDALE--Based on the premise that an Armenian center is essential in nearly all sizable Armenian-American communities, a center is usually planned for construction, usually alongside the Armenian church, in order to fulfill the needs of local Armenian organizations and the community at-large. In the evening of Saturday, May 15, for that very purpose, a banquet took place in the hall of the Glendale "Ararat" Homenetmen chapter's new center, organized by the area's ARF "Aharonian" gomideh. The event's benefactor was Dr. Alber Karamanoukian, whose princely quarter-million-dollar contribution will go toward the building of the Armenian center on the property adjoining Glendale's St. Asdvadzadzin church. In total, the night's event raised some $300,000 for that worthy goal. Banquet guests and attendees included US Representative Adam Schiff, Glendale Mayor Bob Yousefian, Glendale City Council member Rafi Manoukian, benefactor Alber Karamanoukian, ARF Western US Central Committee member Vahe Bozoyan, Glendale Unified School Board President Greg Krikorian, Glendale Community College Board of Trustees members Dr. Armine Hacopian and Ara Najarian, State Senator Jack Scott's representative Vahik Gourjian, Rev. Ardag Demirjian, and past and present member of church boards of trustees, Armenian and non-Armenian members of the business community, and members of the Armenian community--all told, more than 400 people. The event's emcee, Vahe Peroomian, in his opening remarks pointed out that purpose of the gathering was to place the plan to build a new Armenian center on more firm foundations. He then introduced the honored guests and officiated over the evening's program after dinner was served. The first to speak was Mayor Yousefian, who said the community had gathered to realize a beautiful dream. He pointed out that Glendale has a population of more than 100,000 Armenians, who need such a center for their community life. He called on those present to be generous with their donations. Peroomian announced that the ARF gomideh had received written congratulations from Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, Congressman Schiff, and State Representative Dario Frommer. On behalf of the gomideh, Lena Bozoyan presented a plaque to Patrik Chrakhjian for his dedicated work on behalf of the Armenian Center project. Next to address the attendees was Harout Manoukian, the representative of the ARF "Aharonian" gomideh. He said that it is an honor to address the community on such an important occasion, and especially in the center of an active organization such as Homenetmen, because it is here that the foundations of an Armenian Center are being laid. Manoukian said that now, more than ever, such a densely Armenian-populated place as Glendale needs a new haven for our youth organizations, the Armenian Relief Society and its Saturday school, Hamazkayin with its choral and dance groups, the Sunday school of the St. Asdvadzadzin church, and the local chapter of the Armenian National Committee. "As a political organization, we have a responsibility not only to ensure that our rank-and-file remain vigilant and effective, but also to defend the interests and rights of the Armenian community and carry out our civic duty toward Glendale," Manoukian stressed. "Thanks to the Armenian National Committee, we have taken on leadership responsibilities in this community and will continue to do so, through the joint efforts of not only our members, but large numbers of supporters." He stressed the importance of making the Glendale-Ghapan sister city project a living, breathing effort that accomplishes real results and leads to more such undertakings and the development of schools, villages, and towns in Armenia. In the event's biggest surprise, Manoukian then announced the night's chief benefactor. "The benefactor of our Armenian Center is a person imbued with Armenia and 'Armenianness'," Manoukian said. "He is a skilled physician, a businessman…he is our 'Dr. K,' who is beloved by all and who since the tragic earthquake in Armenia has on every occasion participated in efforts to realize projects both in Armenia and locally." Manoukian next announced the benefactor's generous gift of $250,000, made in memory of his parents, Krikor and Mariam Karamanoukian. In this festive atmosphere, Cong. Schiff also spoke to the attendees, congratulating them and wishing them continued success. Rev. Vazken Atmajian transmitted the blessings of the Prelate, Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, and announced that the Archbishop had just been elected by the National Representative Assembly for another four-year term as Prelate. Speaking at the end of the official portion of the night's ceremonies, benefactor Alber Karamanoukian expressed gratitude toward his nation and homeland for educating him and making possible his success, and therefore his contribution to the Armenian Center. He honored the memory of his parents, noting that they had bequeathed their home to the nation, to be used as an Armenian school. Dr. Karamanoukian called on those present, "Open wide your purse strings for the sake of our youth, so that this center planned for our new generation may become reality." On this auspicious occasion, the gomideh had issued a booklet clearly explaining the timely purpose and essential need for an Armenian Center. 2) Vahan Hovhannisian Addresses Legality of Boycotting Parliament YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)--According to National Assembly (NA) regulations, opposition members of Armenia's parliament or factions opposing the work of the body must boycott individual votes on issues rather than entire sessions, clarified NA Vice Speaker and Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau member Vahan Hovhannisian. Their absence is otherwise considered to be in bad faith, explained Hovhannisian, speaking at the National Press Club. Hovhannisian did not rule out the possibility of depriving the absent MPs of mandates. "Of course, application of these sanctions depends on the decision of the NA Chairman and the entire parliament…I do not know whether the issue will be placed on the NA's agenda; if so, it will be done within the framework of the law," he said. "The right to boycott is the right of each MP and political faction," stressed Hovhannissian, "but the methods displayed by the opposition today make it impossible to call it a parliamentary boycott because the parliamentary opposition is struggling in the street, not in the parliament." 3) Turkey to Build Military Airfield in Georgia TBILISI (Russia Journal Daily)--Turkey will construct a military airfield in the Georgian city of Marneuli, located in the eastern part of the country. The facility, which will be equipped with day and night vision systems, will take nearly two years for full implementation. A corresponding agreement was achieved during an official visit of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to Turkey. Georgian Defense Minister Gela Bezhuashvili told Imedi television that the sides had agreed on implementing two more projects with Turkey's participation. According to the minister, Turkey will train servicemen of the Georgian Defense Ministry's Kodzhori special battalion of the 11th brigade, as well as create a military facility for special training. As reported earlier, Turkey has already invested $6 million in upgrading a Georgian military base in Vaziani, where Russian military men were deployed earlier. 4) CIS Defense Chiefs Meet in Yerevan YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--Senior defense officials from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) met in Yerevan on Friday to discuss strengthening military ties among the twelve former Soviet republics. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov, who heads the CIS Council of Defense Ministers, the two-hour meeting marked "yet another positive step to develop military cooperation" across the former Soviet Union. "We considered the pressing issues of improving multilateral military and military-technical cooperation," he told a news conference. Ivanov said the Council made a number of "important decisions" that will lead to the creation of a CIS peace-keeping force, the setting up of a system of interstate military communication, and improved safety of military aircraft flights. He said the participants also approved plans for the strengthening of a single air defense system covering much of the Soviet Union. It remained unclear, however, whether the arrangements will encompass all CIS countries. Six of them, including Armenia, are part of the Russian-dominated Collective Security Treaty (CST) organization and are bound by a formal commitment to defend each other in the event of a military aggression. The treaty signatories regularly hold joint military exercises and receive Russian military supplies on privileged terms. But the other CIS countries are more wary of close military ties with Moscow. Some of them, including neighboring Georgia and Azerbaijan, as well as Ukraine, have openly expressed their desire to join NATO. Ukraine was represented at the meeting by its military attaché in Yerevan, while Uzbekistan sent a liaison officer representing its military in Moscow. Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan avoided any participation in the Yerevan meeting, with Baku attributing its boycott to the unresolved conflict over Mountainous Karabagh. "We don't knock on the enemy's door," a spokeswoman for the Azeri Defense Ministry was quoted as saying. 5) Karabagh President Greets ANCA Head Hachikian STEPANAKERT--The president of Mountainous Karabagh Republic (MKR) Arkady Ghukasian received Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Kenneth Hachikian on Friday, along with ARF Australia Central Committee representative Berj Mamjian, and his spouse. Mountainous Karabagh ARF central committee representative Grigori Hayrapetian also attended the meeting. Ghukasian spoke of the value of ANCA's efforts in advancing Armenian issues in the international arena, but stressed the necessity of more active Diaspora participation in the process of gaining international recognition of MKR, and suggested that Diaspora political organizations coordinate efforts with MKR's foreign affairs bodies. Hachikian assured President Ghukasian that the ANCA, in fact, attaches great importance to the final and complete political regulation of the Mountainous Karabagh issue and pledged that the ANCA will continue to actively support the protection of human rights and promote the socio-economic development of MKR. 6) Random Ramblings and the Rambling Rabble Rouser Who Recites Them BY SKEPTIK SINIKIAN Since I began writing this column, many readers have suggested that I digress from my usual political commentary and address issues that affect Armenians in the United States and at large. I've received recommendations to write about the cult of materialism that pervades Armenian culture in the Diaspora, the state of our youth, the state of our adults, and of course the ubiquitous issue of Armenians dating non-Armenians amongst many others. Now, I have my opinion on these issues but I'm not sure if writing rambling articles about the demerits or virtues of Armenians listening to Arabic and Turkish music at Armenian functions is going to change the minds of anyone out there. I've learned that most of us are opinionated creatures--myself included. And I don't feel comfortable speaking about certain issues without having enough knowledge about them. The philosopher Socrates remarked that "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." As such, we need to continuously ask questions to acquire knowledge and a better understanding of society and the world we live in. So this week, I wish to pose some questions to which perhaps some of you may have the answers. If you do, I'd love to hear them. Let's start off light and leave the heavy stuff for the end. • Why is it that every time I finish reading an issue of Asbarez, I end up looking like I just wrestled a West Virginia coal miner? Someone told me that the Asbarez has no more or less ink than any other newspaper, so I put it to the test. I read four different newspapers from cover to cover to compare the results. I suppose it's a trade off. In none of the other newspapers I read did I find as much news about issues that affect the Armenian community, but after I was done my hands were covered in so much black ink that I look like one of the chimney sweeps from Mary Poppins. • Why is that every April 24, Armenian youth feel the urge to drape their cars in the tri-color flag and drive down streets playing loud Armenian music as if they're at a World Cup soccer match? Our parents and grandparents didn't march through hundreds of miles of desert sand so their descendants could act like soccer hooligans. It seems strange that Armenian parents who are notorious for their strictness and discipline can't seem to keep their own kids in check on the most solemn day in our culture. • Why do the same Armenians that close their establishments on April 24th to commemorate the Armenian Genocide also sell Turkish products? I also would like to know why some Armenians are obsessed with "made in Turkey" products. No where else in the world outside of Turkey and other Turkic states are Turkish products held in such high regard as in Armenian grocery stores or on Armenian dinner tables. My favorite excuse was someone who told me that they will not stop buying Turkish products because some of the products are manufactured by Armenians in Turkey. They went on to explain to me that by boycotting Turkish products they would be hurting Armenian business located in Turkey who are just trying to make a living and that was against their Armenian principles. I suppose the next time I'm picking up a jar of pickled red peppers I'll have to keep an eye out for the label that says "Made in Turkey by Boghos Boghosian who has four kids and is barely making ends meet." Ridiculous! • Ok, one final thing that I'm confused by and maybe you can help me understand this. Last week, Americans witnessed the horrific beheading of young American Nicholas Berg by a group of presumably Arabic militant Islamic fundamentalists. Speaking on the South Lawn of the White House, President Bush commented that "The actions of the terrorists who executed this man remind us of the nature of the few people who want to stop the advance of freedom in Iraq. Their intention is to shake our will. Their intention is to shake our confidence. Yet, by their actions, they remind us of how desperately parts of the world need free societies and peaceful societies. And we will complete our mission. We will complete our task." My question is the following (and I'm going to devote an entire column to this in the coming weeks). Why is the beheading of this one innocent person such a tragedy and the beheading of thousands upon thousands of innocent Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks by the Turkish authorities between 1915-1923 a debatable topic for the President? That's it for this week. I'm going to spend the time between now and next week pondering these mysteries. Hopefully, next week we'll have some answers. Until then, don't stop asking questions and seeking answers. Skeptik Sinikian does not take any responsibility if the above column confused anyone and apologizes for digressing from his usual rants on random topics. He promises to behave next week and write something more sensible and less controversial. He can be reached at [email protected]. 7) Notes from Another Place BY ALEX SARDAR I write this week's column from Los Angeles; ironically, I will recount an experience I had in what seems to be a land far away, yet extremely close when I stand in the middle of the Glendale Galleria and look around at my compatriots--and all this not for the obvious reasons. On a visit to Karabagh a few weekends ago, I discovered truth. This truth came in the form of Shoghig--a ray--and not a small one, as the name might suggest. Shoghig was the home that four strangers visiting the monastery of Gandzasar, in the heart of Karabagh, were looking for to make sure that the stories of war and peace, the stories of sacrifice and survival, and the stories of renewal and resilience all had an ending--very American of us, if you will. The strangers spoke to Shoghig at length, while she cooked tea and coffee, made them a comfortable place to sit, and sent the youngest of her sons to buy a cake. A cake that came pre-packaged with sweet chocolate icing and a bitter taste of poverty. And so it goes, the story of Shoghig--the happy ending that was to be. Shoghig and her husband, along with their three sons, Hovsep, Hriar, and Haik, were the idealists who moved from Yerevan, a relatively comfortable life, to this remote site with the promise of a house, some land, and a teaching job for Shoghig to practice her craft in German and Russian. And they took this. I asked Shoghig why, and she said that she needed her sons to be raised in a good environment, and so, the American in me said, and war torn mine fields are that? I didn't understand. Some facts about Shoghig's life: • Shoghig teaches at two schools. She crosses a forest each weekday morning to get to a village school to teach 230 kids. She crosses that forest knowing that wolves may be her adversaries, so she's prepared to fight. • Shoghig teaches then at another school a bit further. She has 15 students at this school. She walks her two job route--a combined commute time of 1.5 hours each day. • She has a plot of land in front of her house. The practical and naïve Americans visiting her that day looked in vain for farming equipment--the plow, the shovels, and the rest. We didn't see, so we asked. She pulled out two sharpened rocks, and said those to be the plows--and her knees the imaginary mules that pulled or rather pushed the plow. The small plot of land Shoghig had plowed on her hands and knees and it was ready for giving birth to potatoes. • Shoghig's eldest son was in the army. The next eldest, a brilliant student, was ready to go, while the third son, a young and happy teenager, was still playing football. • She had been forced to sell her cow and its calf in the winter to pay for outstanding obligations, so there were no animals to speak of. So, the four strangers sat around a wooden table, a stove cooking some home-made warmth, and ate the cake of sweet chocolate and bitter poverty, and added a taste of cheese and bread, with berry preserves. Shoghig didn't ask for anything. The strangers didn't offer anything. But, the strangers felt embarrassed, because Shoghig had instead given them a gift. She had offered in her rugged hands, with her golden smile, the chance for the strangers to have a happy ending, a Hollywood ending, to go on their way thinking that there was a purpose for it all. And so we did. The strangers walked down a hill once more, got into a mini-van, quietly sobbing our happiness--or was it our shame, or disappointment with our own failure that Shoghig considered the happy ending. We went on to our lives, thinking that we could help Shoghig by ordering farming equipment--desperately seeking our happy ending. Yesterday, in a supermarket in Glendale, I overheard an Armenian mother and son arguing first over the size of the cake they should buy, and then the conversation carried into the color of the car the son had just received as a gift--a white or black sports vehicle--and the son wasn't sure if it was the right color. So, there was a reason for it all, I thought to myself, thinking of Shoghig, her scraped knees, her chapped palms and finger tips, all accented by her big beautiful golden smile. 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.

Armenian community still living the history
By Doug Irving Daily Breeze
Daily Breeze
Monday, May 24, 2004
SOUTH BAY: Local members of ethnic group aid in struggle to gain
recognition for travesty — one memory at a time.
Steve Charelian grew up with the stories of his grandfather, a
survivor who had crawled into the dusty chimney of a bakery when the
killing started.
Only a few thousand people in the South Bay share Charelian’s Armenian
ancestry, a small community stitched together by the memories of what
happened all those years ago. Their children still learn to speak
the language at a community center in Lomita, and that’s where they
learn about the genocide.
Armenians say some 1.5 million people were killed from 1915 to 1923
in massacres organized by the old Ottoman Empire. They have urged
the United States to recognize their ordeal as a systematic genocide,
the first of the 20th century.
For those of Armenian descent living in the South Bay, there is more
to the history than grainy photographs and academic reports. There
are parents and grandparents who remembered walking past corpses or
hiding from soldiers.
Charelian’s grandfather would sometimes talk about the morning he
found his family dead. “I woke up and I went to my mom and tried to
wake her up,” he would say, speaking softly and in Armenian. “She
wouldn’t wake up. Nobody would wake up.”
“That echoes in my head,” Charelian says now.
The Ottoman Empire rounded up hundreds of Armenian activists, academics
and public officials on April 24, 1915. Armenians recognize that date
as the start of the genocide.
In the years to come, Armenians were deported from what is now Turkey
toward the Syrian desert. Some starved along the way, or froze to
death. Others were executed by soldiers or armed gangs.
While Armenians believe the Ottoman government carried out the
systematic massacre of 1.5 million people, Turkish-American groups
insist that no more than 600,000 Armenians died, many from the
hardships of World War I.
“We acknowledge that there have been some bad events at that time,
there have been people that were killed,” said Terken Gupur, the
director of policy and communications at the Assembly of Turkish
American Associations in Washington, D.C.
“It was not a systematic killing,” she added. “It was during the time
of war.”
Armenians have long sought world recognition of their suffering as
a full-fledged genocide. The United Nations defines genocide as an
effort to destroy, “in whole or in part,” a national, ethnic, racial
or religious group.
In recent years, presidents Bush and Clinton have carefully avoided
the word genocide in proclamations marking the day of remembrance on
April 24. This year, Bush called it an annihilation, and one of the
“most horrible tragedies of the 20th century.”
But California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called it a genocide. And
California’s teaching standards require 10th-graders to learn about
what happened to the Armenians as part of their curriculum on human
rights violations and genocide.
The Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles includes the Armenian Genocide
in its exhibit on crimes against humanity. “We’re unambiguous about
calling that a genocide,” museum director Liebe Geft said.
Last month, Rolling Hills Estates formally recognized the Armenian
Genocide. Councilman Frank Zerunyan introduced the proclamation.
His grandfather survived only by slashing his own throat so soldiers
would think he was dead. Zerunyan remembers his grandfather years
later playing the ud, an instrument similar to a guitar, and sobbing
for his lost father and uncle.
Zerunyan’s grandmother also survived a march toward Syria. She talked
about passing rivers that had turned red with blood.
Genocide “can only be eradicated by constant recognition, by calling
it what it is,” Zerunyan said.
“If the Rwandan rebels knew that every genocide was recognized,
every genocide was punished, they would have thought very hard,”
he said. “And they would have known there was nowhere in the world
they could go.”
Little more than 2,000 people in the South Bay claimed Armenian
ancestry in the 2000 Census. They make up less than 1 percent of the
population in all of the South Bay cities.
But it’s a tight-knit community, and many of its members can share
stories of what their relatives went through. “This is a big chunk
of our history,” said Lori Khajadourian, a member of the South Bay
chapter of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Her grandfather was only about 7 years old when he heard the soldiers
coming. He and a brother hid in an earthen storage pot; they never
saw their parents or siblings again.
The push for formal recognition of the killings as genocide has taken
on a higher profile in recent years.
A movie released last year, “Ararat,” explored the events of those
years. A heavy-metal group with Armenian roots, System of a Down,
has grown in popularity with lyrics such as: “The plan was mastered
and called Genocide/Took all the children and then we died.”
Armenian-American groups are lobbying Congress to pass a resolution
that deplores the Armenian Genocide along with the Holocaust and
genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda.
“Euphemisms don’t count,” said Elizabeth Chouldjian, a spokeswoman
for the Armenian National Committee of America.
Nevart Barsoumian’s great-grandmother froze to death as she fled
Turkey, after she gave away her shawl. Barsoumian remembers her
grandmother weeping whenever she hung the laundry to dry — a chore
she had helped her mother with before they had to flee.
Barsoumian now teaches the history of what happened to a few dozen
students at the Lomita community center.
People “should know that we had a genocide,” she said. “If they don’t
recognize it, it’s all on the air, like nothing happened.”
Publish Date:May 24, 2004

Religious Life (Bucharest)
Weekly bulletin
Year XII, No 555, 23 May 2004
8. COMMEMORATION IN BUCHAREST OF THE GENOCIDE OF 1915 AGAINST THE ARMENIANS
On 24 April last, a remembrance service took place at the Armenian
Cemetery in Bucharest for the victims of the genocide of 1915 against
the Armenians, in Turkey. The religious service was celebrated by His
Eminence Dirayr Mardichian, Archbishop of the Orthodox Armenians in
Romania, vartabed Khoren Zakarian, Rev. Bogdan Ezras, deacons Haig
Azarian and Radu Holca, near the khacikar raised in the cemetery
in the memory of those killed 89 years ago. Wreaths of flowers were
laid on behalf of the Armenian Embassy in Bucharest, of the Armenian
Archdiocese and of the Armenians* Union in Romania. After the service,
His Eminence Dirayr Mardichian and His Excellency Eghiºe Sarksian,
Ambassador of the Armenia in Bucharest took the floor. The Armenians
present at the remembrance service lit candles and laid flowers near
the khacikar.
Next day, at Dudian library, in the courtyard of the Armenian
Cathedral in Bucharest, a meeting dedicated to the commemoration of
the genocide took place, where publicist Vartan Arachelian and writer
Mihai Rãdulescu delivered speeches. Vartan Arachelian said that the
Armenians in Romania should make the state authorities sensitive
to this issue so that, in the perspective of the anniversary next
year of nine decades since the tragic events in the Ottoman Empire,
the Parliament from Bucharest should recognize the genocide, as the
Parliaments of some other countries have already done. Writer Mihai
Rãdulescu read a lengthy material about the massacres committed
against the Armenians in 1915.
One week before, the Armenian Liturgy of Catholic rite had been
celebrated in the *Holy Trinity* church in Cluj-Napoca, in the
memory of the victims of the Genocide of 1915. Rev. Szakacs Endre,
the parish priest of the Armenian church in Gherla (county of Cluj)
celebrated the religious service.
In the same city, in March, the film Ararat by Atom Egoyan producer was
presented at the headquarters of the German Forum while on 27 April a
photo exhibition was varnished displaying images of the deportations
and massacres committed against the Armenians * informs us the Ararat
magazine, the publication of the Armenians* Union in Romania, issue 8
(293) of 16-30 April 2004.