Turks Demand Democratic Rights — And Justice Activist Targeted by Turkish Authorities Again By Muriel Mirak-Weissbach Special to the Mirror-Spectator COLOGNE, Germany — What is really happening in Turkey? And where is it going to lead? What began as a protest against government plans for Gezi Park in Istanbul’s Taksim Square has swelled into a mass movement throughout the country and those thousands of citizens engaging in civil disobedi- ence are giving no signs of capitulation. Not only: soli- darity actions are unfolding in other countries especially in Germany, which hosts a very large Turkish community. Here, a new judicial scandal against a leading German- Turkish intellectual, which broke out just prior to the Gezi protests, is intersecting the ferment and fuelling the wave of soli- darity with those fighting for democracy and free speech in Turkey. The victim of the new judicial scandal is Turkish-born Dogan Akhanli, a well-known writer and human rights activist based in Cologne, Germany. The author of several novels, articles and a recent play, he has dealt in depth with the issue of the Armenian Genocide and, as a civil society activist, has participated in seminars and conferences aimed at educating broader layers of the population about this and related historical issues. Not only in Germany but also in Turkey, he has engaged personally in activities of the growing civil society movement among intellectuals, presenting his literary works in public and writing in the Turkish press. His is a prominent figure, highly respected for his courage to speak out even in the face of harassment and repression. see DEMANDS, page 4 Mirror-Spectator Summer Break WATERTOWN — The Armenian Mirror- Spectator will close for two weeks in July as part of its annual summer break. The last issue published before the vacation will bethe June 29 issue, and the first edition back would be that of July 20. Liverpool Seeks Footballer Mkhitaryan LIVERPOOL, England (Armenpress) — According to unofficial sources, the Liverpool football team has a deal that would acquire Armenian National and Shakhtar player, Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The following tweet was published on the Liverpool club Twitter account, “Liverpool has agreed upon the transfer issue of Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The Club will pay 20 million pounds for the footballer.” Mkhitaryan is a midfielder who is the Ukraine national football league record holder and had 25 goals for his team last season. He is regarded as Ukraine’s “champion” and is the National Cup Holder. On June 22, Mkhhitaryan issued the following statement, “My official agent deals with my transfer issues. As a professional footballer, I’m not inter- ested in the agent’s or the club’s issues. I have an official agreement with my club to fulfill my duties.” Armenia Says Three Arrested for Spying YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia’s National Security Service says three individuals have been arrested on charges of spying for Baku. The National Security Service said on June 25 that a female officer in the Armenian Army, Mane Movsisian, was arrested in Armenia three days pre- viously for allegedly providing Azerbaijan with clas- sified information via the Internet. Another of the accused is an army officer with the Republic of Nagorno-Karabagh. That officer and a third person were both arrested in Karabagh. Khachaturian’s Works On UNESCO List YEREVAN (Arminfo) — A collection of manuscripts and film scores written by composer Aram Khachaturian has been included in the Memory of the World International Register. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Advisory Committee announced the decision dur- ing a meeting last week. Khachaturian’s name will be listed among com- posers such as Beethoven, Brahms and Chopin. INDEX Arts and Living ................... 10 Armenia ................... 2 Community News................ 5 Editorial ................... 13 International ...................... 3 Mirror- Spectator Mirror- Spectator T HE A RMENIAN Volume LXXXIII, NO. 49, Issue 4294 JUNE 29, 2013 $2.00 Tribute to Dedig Page 10 INSIDE The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932 NEWS IN BRIEF Armenian Medical Education Innovator Is Fulbright Scholar At BU By Alin K. Gregorian Mirror-Spectator Staff BOSTON — One can call Gevorg Yaghjyan many things: physician, plastic surgeon, associate professor, patriot, pio- neer and activist. One can also call him a Fulbright Scholar at Boston University School of Medicine since January. His resume covers four solid pages, with little fat to trim. It overflows with activities both professional and volunteer. Yaghjyan, born and raised in Yerevan and still a resident of that city, is not only a doctor of medicine, he also holds a PhD in medicine. see SCHOLAR, page 7 Dr. Gevorg Yaghjyan Dogan Akhanli GUMRI — British Embassy in Yerevan, London Tekeyan Trust and Tekeyan Centre Fund (Armenia) have initiated a project of to restore the heating system for the Lord Byron School. The heating system of the Lord Byron School has not operated for more than 16 years. During the 1990s, when independent Armenia suffered from economic crisis, it became too expensive to use the school oil- fired heating system installed by the British. Severe winters in Gumri have destroyed the school heating system beyond repair. Gumri has sub-zero temperatures (some- times -25°C) from December to March and 438 students have to sit in coats, hats and gloves with ineffective portable electric fires heat- ing some of the classrooms. Only sun-facing classrooms may be used in the winter and there is no running water at school in winter to prevent it freezing and then bursting the British-spec copper pipes in spring. UK Ambassadors to Armenia Kathy Leach and Jonathan Aves turned to Tekeyan Centre Fund (TCF) and London Tekeyan Trust (LTT) for help with funding the project. Since 2010, the TCF, chaired by Vartan Ouzounian, has ini- tiated a sponsorship of five Tekeyan Schools in Armenia and Karabagh and has already implemented a number of educa- tional, cultural, sports and social projects involving more than 1,000 students. The TCF was founded by London Tekeyan Trust, a charitable organization and part of the family of Tekeyan Cultural Associations. The LTT supports the diaspora-Armenia see FUNDRAISING, page 3 TCF, British Embassy Fundraise for New Heating System at Lord Byron School Margaret Thatcher opening the school BELMONT, Mass. — Rouben Hakhverdyan played a sold-out concert on June 22, sponsored by the Boston chapter of the Tekeyan Cultural Association. See photos and story on Page 8.
Transcript
TurksDemandDemocraticRights —And JusticeActivist Targeted by Turkish
Authorities Again
By Muriel Mirak-WeissbachSpecial to the Mirror-Spectator
COLOGNE, Germany — What is reallyhappening in Turkey? And where is it goingto lead? What began as a protest againstgovernment plans for Gezi Park inIstanbul’s Taksim Square has swelled into amass movement throughout the countryand those thousands of citizens engaging
in civil disobedi-ence are givingno signs ofcapi tulat ion .Not only: soli-darity actionsare unfolding inother countriesespecially inGermany, whichhosts a verylarge Turkishc o m mu n i t y .Here, a new
judicial scandal against a leading German-Turkish intellectual, which broke out justprior to the Gezi protests, is intersectingthe ferment and fuelling the wave of soli-
darity with those fighting for democracyand free speech in Turkey.
The victim of the new judicial scandal isTurkish-born Dogan Akhanli, a well-knownwriter and human rights activist based inCologne, Germany. The author of severalnovels, articles and a recent play, he hasdealt in depth with the issue of theArmenian Genocide and, as a civil societyactivist, has participated in seminars andconferences aimed at educating broaderlayers of the population about this andrelated historical issues. Not only inGermany but also in Turkey, he hasengaged personally in activities of thegrowing civil society movement amongintellectuals, presenting his literary worksin public and writing in the Turkish press.His is a prominent figure, highly respectedfor his courage to speak out even in theface of harassment and repression.
see DEMANDS, page 4
Mirror-SpectatorSummer Break
WATERTOWN — The Armenian Mirror-Spectator will close for two weeks in July aspart of its annual summer break.
The last issue published before the vacationwill bethe June 29 issue, and the first editionback would be that of July 20.
Liverpool SeeksFootballer Mkhitaryan
LIVERPOOL, England (Armenpress) — Accordingto unofficial sources, the Liverpool football teamhas a deal that would acquire Armenian Nationaland Shakhtar player, Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The following tweet was published on theLiverpool club Twitter account, “Liverpool hasagreed upon the transfer issue of HenrikhMkhitaryan. The Club will pay 20 million poundsfor the footballer.”
Mkhitaryan is a midfielder who is the Ukrainenational football league record holder and had 25goals for his team last season. He is regarded asUkraine’s “champion” and is the National CupHolder.
On June 22, Mkhhitaryan issued the followingstatement, “My official agent deals with my transferissues. As a professional footballer, I’m not inter-ested in the agent’s or the club’s issues. I have anofficial agreement with my club to fulfill my duties.”
Armenia Says ThreeArrested for Spying
YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia’s NationalSecurity Service says three individuals have beenarrested on charges of spying for Baku.
The National Security Service said on June 25that a female officer in the Armenian Army, ManeMovsisian, was arrested in Armenia three days pre-viously for allegedly providing Azerbaijan with clas-sified information via the Internet.
Another of the accused is an army officer withthe Republic of Nagorno-Karabagh. That officerand a third person were both arrested in Karabagh.
Khachaturian’s WorksOn UNESCO List
YEREVAN (Arminfo) — A collection of manuscriptsand film scores written by composer AramKhachaturian has been included in the Memory ofthe World International Register.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organization (UNESCO) InternationalAdvisory Committee announced the decision dur-ing a meeting last week.
Khachaturian’s name will be listed among com-posers such as Beethoven, Brahms and Chopin.
The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932
NEWS IN BRIEF
Armenian MedicalEducationInnovator IsFulbright ScholarAt BU
By Alin K. GregorianMirror-Spectator Staff
BOSTON — One can call GevorgYaghjyan many things: physician, plasticsurgeon, associate professor, patriot, pio-neer and activist. One can also call him aFulbright Scholar at Boston UniversitySchool of Medicine since January.
His resume covers four solid pages, withlittle fat to trim. It overflows with activitiesboth professional and volunteer.
Yaghjyan, born and raised in Yerevanand still a resident of that city, is not only adoctor of medicine, he also holds a PhD inmedicine.
see SCHOLAR, page 7
Dr. Gevorg Yaghjyan
Dogan Akhanli
GUMRI — British Embassy in Yerevan,London Tekeyan Trust and Tekeyan CentreFund (Armenia) have initiated a project of
to restore the heating system for the LordByron School.
The heating system of the Lord ByronSchool has not operated for more than 16years. During the 1990s, when independentArmenia suffered from economic crisis, itbecame too expensive to use the school oil-fired heating system installed by theBritish. Severe winters in Gumri havedestroyed the school heating systembeyond repair.
Gumri has sub-zero temperatures (some-times -25°C) from December to March and438 students have to sit in coats, hats and
gloves with ineffectiveportable electric fires heat-ing some of the classrooms.Only sun-facing classroomsmay be used in the winterand there is no runningwater at school in winter toprevent it freezing and thenbursting the British-speccopper pipes in spring.
UK Ambassadors toArmenia Kathy Leach andJonathan Aves turned toTekeyan Centre Fund (TCF)and London Tekeyan Trust(LTT) for help with fundingthe project. Since 2010, the
TCF, chaired by Vartan Ouzounian, has ini-tiated a sponsorship of five TekeyanSchools in Armenia and Karabagh and hasalready implemented a number of educa-tional, cultural, sports and social projectsinvolving more than 1,000 students. TheTCF was founded by London TekeyanTrust, a charitable organization and part ofthe family of Tekeyan Cultural Associations.The LTT supports the diaspora-Armenia
see FUNDRAISING, page 3
TCF, British Embassy Fundraise for NewHeating System at Lord Byron School
Margaret Thatcher opening the school
BELMONT, Mass. — Rouben Hakhverdyan played a sold-outconcert on June 22, sponsored by the Boston chapter of theTekeyan Cultural Association. See photos and story on Page 8.
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ARMENIA
BYURAKAN, Armenia —Astrophysicists at the University ofSantiago de Compostela (Spain) and theByurakan Observatory have detected astar of low luminosity, which within amatter of moments gave off a flare sostrong that it became almost 15 timesbrighter. The star in question is the flarestar WX UMa.
“We recorded a strong flare of the starWX UMa, which became almost 15 timesbrighter in a matter of 160 seconds,”explained astrophysicist VakhtangTamazian, professor at the University ofSantiago de Compostela. The finding hasbeen published in the Astrophysics jour-nal.
This star is in the Ursa Major constel-lation, around 15.6 light years from theEarth, and it forms part of a binary sys-tem. Its companion shines almost 100times brighter, except at times such asthat observed, in which the WX UMagives off its flares. This can happen sev-eral times a year, but not as strongly asthat which was recorded in this instance.
Tamazian and other researchersdetected this exceptional brightness fromthe Byurakan Observatory.
“Furthermore, during this period of lessthan three minutes the star underwentan abrupt change from spectral type M toB; in other words, it went from a temper-ature of 2,800 kelvin (K) to six or seventimes more than that.”
Based on their spectral absorptionlines, stars are classified using letters.Type M stars have a surface temperatureof between 2,000 and 3,700 K; Type Bbetween 10,000 and 33,000 K.
WX UMa belongs to the limited groupof “flare stars,” a class of variable starswhich exhibit increases in brightness ofup to 100 factors or more within a mat-ter of seconds or minutes. These increas-es are sudden and irregular — practicallyrandom, in fact. They then return to theirnormal state within tens of minutes.
Scientists do not know how this flaringarises, but they know how it devel-ops.“For some reason a small focus ofinstability arises within the plasma of thestar, which causes turbulence in its mag-netic field,” explained Tamazian. “A mag-netic reconnection then occurs, a con-version of energy from the magnetic fieldinto kinetic energy, in order to recoverthe stability of the flow, much like what
happens in an electric discharge.”Next, kinetic energy in the plasma
transforms into thermal energy in theupper layers of the atmosphere and thestar’s corona. This significant rise in thetemperature and brightness of the starenables astronomers to detect changes inthe radiation spectrum.
“Photometric and spectroscopic moni-toring of this kind of flare stars is very rel-evant because it provides us with infor-mation about the changing states andphysical processes, which are in turn keyto studying the formation and evolutionof stars,” Tamazian explained.
To carry out this study, in which flaresin other binary systems (HU Del, CM Draand VW Com) have also been analysed,the SCORPIO camera of the ByurakanAstrophysical Observatory was used. Thiscamera enables both the spectrum andthe brightness of these objects to bedetected.
Flare stars are intrinsically weak, andcan therefore only be observed at rela-tively short distances in astronomicterms, specifically in the vicinity of theSun, up to a distance of a few tens of lightyears.
Armenian Astrophysicists Detect Brightening Star
TALIN, Armenia — On Saturday, May18, US Ambassador to Armenia JohnHeffern, his wife Libby Heffern, formerchairman of the AGBU Western DistrictCommittee of California Haig
Messerlian and AGBU Armenia DirectorArpi Vartanian visited the AGBU HyeGeen Pregnant Women’s Center.
During the ambassador’s tour of theUS last year, Sona Yacoubian, chairper-son and founder of AGBU Hye GeenSouthern California, had invited himand his wife to visit the AGBU Hye GeenPregnant Women’s Centers in Armeniaand meet the expectant mothers to bet-ter understand the realities facingwomen and their families in Armenia’sregions today.
Yacoubian remarked, “The AGBUHye Geen Committee welcomes theinterest and the appreciation shown byAmbassador and Mrs. Heffern. We con-sider the Pregnant Women Centers inArmenia a priority. Healthy newbornsand healthy, educated mothers areessential to safeguard the future of ourhomeland. I also thank Haig Messerlianand Arpi Vartanian for their assistancein arranging this visit.”
Messerlian, Vartanian and AniAslanian, project coordinator of theAGBU Hye Geen Pregnant Women’sCenter in Talin, described the center’sactivities, accomplishments and chal-lenges. The 20 mothers-to-be weredelighted to share their impressionsand have a frank discussion about their
everyday challenges. The Hefferns, par-ents of five children and grandparentsto one child, welcomed the opportunityto interact with the women, learn abouttheir concerns, and share their experi-
ence and ideas.To date, the Talin center has served
close to 160 women and their healthybabies.
Libby Heffern said, “It was wonderfulto see so manyTalin womenactively participat-ing in the center. Ireally believe thatproper prenatalcare is the mostprecious gift fortheir children.”
A m b a s s a d o rHeffern stated,“Thanks to theArmenian GeneralBenevolent Unionfor its great work inArmenia. ItsWomen Centers allover the countryare prime examplesof what AGBU doesfor the Armenianpeople. Libby and Ihad a heart-warm-ing visit to the cen-ter in Talin, where we met two dozenpregnant women and discussed theirlives, families, challenges and opportu-
nities.”Messerlian, Vartanian and Aslanian
thanked the Hefferns for their visit andenthusiasm, and expressed appreciationfor their support to Armenia and theArmenian people.
The first AGBU Hye Geen PregnantWomen’s Center in Armenia wasestablished in 2002, in Gyumri, withthe goal of improving the health ofpregnant women and reducing infantmortality rates and complicated preg-nancies. In 2006, the second Centerwas opened in Vanadzor. In 2009, theTalin Center was established, replac-ing the Gumri Center. In 2011, theNora Injijian Center was launched inYeghvard. Most recently, theArshagouhi Tavitian Center wasopened in 2012 in Yerevan.Maintaining a constant number of 20pregnant women per site, the Centershave become a place for women to dis-cuss concerns, receive medical exams& pre-natal care, learn through indi-vidual and group consultations withexperts and form long-lasting bondswith one another. These Centers havebecome possible through the effortsof AGBU Southern California HyeGeen Southern California. To date,the Centers have served over 1,400
healthy babies and mothers. For moreinformation about Hye Geen, visitwww.hyegeen.com
From left, AGBU Hye Geen Pregnant Women’s Center inTalin Project Coordinator Ani Aslanyan, AGBU ArmeniaDirector Arpi Vartanian, Ambassador John Heffern, FormerChairman of the AGBU Western District Committee ofSouthern California Haig Messerlian, Libby Heffern, AGBUHye Geen Pregnant Women’s Center in Talin VolunteerRuzanna Mkrtchyan and Family Practitioner Mari Nazaryan.
US Ambassador Visits AGBU Hye GeenPregnant Women’s Center in Talin
Expectant mothers with: (front, kneeling) AGBU Former Chairman of the WesternDistrict Committee of California Haig Messerlian and Libby Heffern, (standing, front,center) US Ambassador John Heffern, (standing, third from right)
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FUNDRAISING, from page 1cooperation and preserves the nationalidentity through various cultural, edu-cational, community life activities.
The Lord Byron School was foundedfollowing the 1988 Spitak earthquakethat devastated the city. The school wasbuilt with funds provided by the Britishgovernment as well as the donationsraised by the British people and busi-nesses. The fundraising was initiated bythe Prime Minister Margaret Thatcherwho officially opened the newly con-structed school on June 10, 1990, dur-ing her first visit to the Soviet Union.The school replaced one of the 34schools destroyed in the quake. Duringthe earthquake, 44 students and teach-ers were buried under the ruins of theold school building and the total deathtoll was 25,000.
The school was named after LordByron to commemorate the British-Armenian friendship as well as the linkbetween this famous Britain andArmenian culture.
The British Embassy, LondonTekeyan Trust and Tekeyan CentreFund are currently fundraising throughvarious functions to be able to install anew, economical heating system in theLord Byron School. To donate, visitTekeyan Centre Fund www.tekeyancentre.am, or contact [email protected] or London Tekeyan Trust at [email protected].
TCF, British Embassy Fundraise for NewHeating System at Lord Byron School
Ambassador Kathy Leach and Vartan Ouzounian
By Nona Mchedlishvili
TBILISI (RFE/RL) — How do youmake a secret disappear?
That’s the question Georgian officialsand activists are mulling as they consid-er a stash of legally dubious phone andvideo recordings made by the InteriorMinistry, mainly under the rule ofPresident Mikheil Saakashvili.
The current Interior Minister IrakliGaribashvili has pledged to destroywhat he called a “dirty archive of privatelives” – hundreds, if not thousands, ofrecordings currently stored on ministrygrounds.
The recordings, with their unsavoryechoes of Soviet-era surveillance, havealready been used to pressure perceivedgovernment opponents, including anotorious 2011 case in which the gov-ernment used secret materials in accus-ing three Georgian journalists, includ-ing Saakashvili’s own photographer, ofspying for Russia.
Thomas Hammarberg, the formerCouncil of Europe’s human rights com-missioner, now serves as the EU’s spe-cial adviser for legal reforms in Georgia.Speaking in Tbilisi last month, he calledon the government to impose strict reg-ulations on when, and how, surveillancecan be ordered and used in the future.
“The principle must be that suchrecording is criminal,” he said. “To usethem for the purpose of blackmailing iscriminal. To keep them — to just havethem — is also criminal. And, of course,to disseminate them, to leak them toothers, is also criminal.
A recent review by the GeorgianParliament showed that courts havebeen grossly compliant in granting sur-veillance requests.
In 2012, for example — during a criti-cal election season — Georgian courtswere asked to consider 5,951 requestsfor permission to tap phones or traceother forms of communication. Only 12were denied.
The new move to destroy the ministryarchives could be seen as part of a larg-
er effort by new Prime Minister BidzinaIvanishvili to persecute members of theSaakashvili regime.
Vano Merabishvili, who is believed tohave personally managed governmentsurveillance during his eight years asSaakashvili’s interior minister, wasarrested and charged with abuse ofoffice last month in a case seen by someas political payback.
Ivanishvili’s Interior Ministry, howev-er, says the archive purge has no politi-cal agenda. Garibashvili last monthannounced that one of his owndeputies, Gela Khvedelidze, had beenarrested for leaking a secret sex tape fea-turing one of his personal rivals.
Garibashvili said he had no intentionof “covering for his own family mem-bers, friends, and relatives,” adding that“those times are over in Georgia.”
But while nearly all sides appear infavor of destroying the archives, thetask of eliminating a vast collection ofdigital files — easy to copy, easy to dis-seminate, and easy to hide — is far fromsimple.
According to Deputy Interior MinisterLevan Izoria, the government plans topropose an amnesty to encourage for-mer officials who may be holding secretcopies to turn their records in.
“Naturally, there are fears, doubts,and questions that some individualsmight have copies of this material,” hesaid. “We plan and we have alreadystarted negotiations with the membersof the parliament about an amnesty bill.According to this bill, people will be ablein a certain time period — we are talkingabout one month, two months maxi-mum — to hand in those copies to theinvestigation.”
It appears likely that the destructionof the records will take place under thesupervision of a commission comprisingmembers of both the government andcivil society.
Transparency International and theGeorgian Young Lawyer’s Association,which have both played an active role incalling for the records’ destruction, areexpected to be part of the commission.
For now, the date for the purge has
been delayed by doubts about whetherall, or only part, of the archives shouldbe destroyed.
Many observers say at least some ofthe records should be preserved for usein any future prosecutions involvingthose who ordered the tapes. The issueis complicated by the fact that thearchives are not only ample but in rela-tive disarray — making it impossible totell at a glance which have legal valueand which are simply salacious inva-sions of privacy.
According to Ghia Gvilava, a memberof Transparency International Georgia,the Interior Ministry has proposed athorough review of the contents beforeany archive materials are destroyed.
“We have received a satisfyinganswer. It seems that the Ministry [ofInterior] plans to distinguish betweentwo types of material. The former is theillegally obtained footage of privatelives. The latter is the material that isnecessary for the investigation. Thesetwo types of recordings will be set apartso that private information will not leakand the illegally obtained material willbe destroyed. That is a satisfying answerto me.”
Even if the current files are satisfac-torily dealt with, it is likely not to be theend of the privacy issue in Georgia.
More than 1,000 surveillancerequests were submitted to Georgiancourts in the first four months of 2013,under the Ivanishvili government. Andthe country continues to grapple withthe issue of “black-box” monitoring ofmobile phone and Internet activity,which provides security services with areal-time feed of all private communica-tions.
Transparency International and otherwatchdog groups have called on theInterior Ministry to remove the black-box devices from telecommunicationscompanies.
The move would set a significantprecedent in the former Commonwealthof Independent States, where black-boxsurveillance is widespread and has beenlinked to government crackdowns inAzerbaijan, Belarus, and Central Asia.
After Years of Secret Tapes, Georgia Mulls How to Destroy Them
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INTERNATIONAL
DEMANDS, from page 1Now, perhaps in reaction to this enhanced
stature, the Turkish judicial authorities haveunleashed a new witch-hunt against him. InApril, an Appeals Court in Ankara publishedits decision to re-open a case and even to seeka life sentence against him. The facts are thefollowing: Akhanli, who was a leftist in the1980s, had been arrested and jailed and tor-tured under the military regime at the time(1985-87). In 1991, he managed to flee toGermany, where he received political asylumand later citizenship. Years later, in August2010, he flew to Istanbul (regardless of thepossible political danger), because he wantedto visit his father who was very old and ill.Arrested at the airport, he was thrown intojail, and remained there for several months.(He was not allowed to visit his father, nor toattend his funeral.)
Serious charges were leveled against him.He was accused of having taken part in anarmed robbery at a currency exchange boothback in 1989, during which one person waskilled. In the court proceedings, his lawyersHaydar Erol (Istanbul) and Ilias Uyar(Cologne) rejected all accusations, arguingthat the key witnesses against the defendanthad provided testimony under torture. Otherwitnesses, sons of the murder victim, initiallythought they could identify Akhanli, but thenretracted their statements. The accused wasnonetheless thrown into prison. Finally, inDecember 2010, he was released andexpelled from Turkey, and told he would notbe allowed to enter the country again.
Associates and friends mobilized to defendhim from what was obviously a politically-motivated campaign to silence him. Press cov-erage of his case appeared in Germany, theUS and elsewhere. (Armenian Mirror-Spectator, September 11, 2010). A delegationof renowned human rights activists traveledto Istanbul for his trial, which took place inearly December 2011. Under the combinedpressure of international censure and theutter lack of any credible evidence againsthim, Akhanli (in absentia, because he was notallowed to enter the country) was acquittedon December 10. Since the Appeals Courtdid not take any steps to reverse the ruling, itheld.
It held — that is, until April of this year. Outof the blue, the Turkish Appeals Courtannounced in a rush procedure, against thevote of the State Attorney, that the caseagainst him had to be reopened. The courtstated that it would seek a life sentence in thenew trial. How? Why? On what grounds?Akhanli told the German press: “My defenselawyer at the time proved my innocence, theState Attorney did not prove my guilt. Howdo they now want to prove that I was thecriminal? There is no new evidence.”
The court argued as follows: the fact thatall the witnesses back in December 2010pleaded for his innocence, and that theyaccused the authorities of manipulation andtorture, was irrelevant. The only material ofrelevance, argued the Appeals Court, werethe original police protocols from 1989 to1992 and witness testimony submitted atthat time — that is, testimony submittedunder torture. Furthermore, they claimedthat an organization in which Akhanliallegedly belonged posed a threat to Turkey— even though the organization ceased toexist in 1993.
The news struck like a thunderbolt. InGermany, the Frankfurter AllgemeineZeitung — the newspaper of record, compara-ble to the New York Times — published anarticle by Karen Krueger, who follows devel-opments in Turkey, titled, “He Who IsSupposed to Be a Criminal Will Be Made Intoa Criminal.” She commented that “it looks asthough the Turkish judicial authorities havenothing better to do than to re-open casesthat have long since been closed.” She
referred to the case of Pinar Selek, a Turkishhuman rights activist living in France, whoafter having been acquitted several times ontrumped-up charges, was recently convictedin absentia and sentenced to life. She is nowconsigned to a permanent exile abroad. Thesame fate awaits Akhanli.
Why should the Turkish authorities indeedspend their time and efforts on such cases?Journalist Krueger suggest that the reasonwhy the authorities want to push aheadregardless of the irrationality of their efforthas to do with the growing impact ofAkhanli’s work. She reports on his recentactivities in Turkey, including an article in awell-known magazine, Birikim, in which hewrote about the significance of theHardenbergstrasse in Berlin, a street in thecapital that has been the site of historicevents, among them the assassination ofTalaat Pasha in 1921. “Perhaps,” Akhanli isquoted saying, “this report angered somepeople in Turkey.” The writer’s associateshave also stated that the appeals judges wantto suffocate the fruitful exchange betweenthe writer and his homeland, an intellectualexchange which is vital for him as well as forTurkey.
The new trial should get underway inIstanbul on July 31. The accused will not bethere, for obvious reasons. But there will be alarge delegation made up of well-known per-sonalities from Europe. In preparation, theyare organizing events, for example inCologne on July 5, to inform the public of thecase and organize further support.Describing the action as “vendetta justice,”the organizers stress the fact that thousandsof journalists, political figures, artists, intel-lectuals Kurds and others, are sitting inTurkish jails today, and that they see the sol-idarity movement for Akhanli as a manifesta-tion of support also for them.
One might add, it is also a manifestation ofsupport for the expanding civil disobediencecampaign in Turkey. The Akhanli case, inter-secting the Taksim ferment, indeed has thepotential to inject new energy into it and togenerate further solidarity from abroad fortheir efforts. Although the demonstrators inIstanbul have other slogans, they are in factdenouncing the same arrogance of powerand arbitrary “justice” of the AKP Party-ledgovernment that has asserted itself in thewitch-hunt against Akhanli and other dissi-dents.
Akhanli was one of numerous Turkish per-sonalities in Germany asked by theFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in a Sundayfeature on June 9 to comment on the eventsthere. The feature, titled, “What does Turkeyhave to do with us?” sought to identify therelevance of the new social phenomenon inTurkey to Germans — whether of Turkishextraction or not.
Akhanli answered: “There have beennumerous protests by organized forces inTurkish history. This time, a couple of ecolo-gists and leftist activists started a modestaction. Due to the brutality of the securityforces and the arrogance of the government,it turned into a mass rebellion. My utopia,” hewent on, “is that people develop a capacityfor tolerance and respect. The AKP govern-ment which dared to sit down at a table withKurds has forgotten that Turkey is a secularcountry … and that women in particular fearreligiously-motivated laws.”
He said he hoped that Turkey wouldbecome rational and predictable. “Thedemonstrators are an important correctiveforce for a policy which has become arrogant.Those who hold power have not yet under-stood that democracy and a state of law arethere for everyone.” He concluded by express-ing his excitement about the demonstrationshere in Germany, which, like those in Turkey,are multi-ethnic but at the same time, with amajority of German participants.
Turks Demand DemocraticRights — and JusticeBy Samyabrata Ray
Goswami
SURAT, India (Telegraph India) — PrinceWilliam need not come knocking to Surat; hisrelatives do not live here any more. The geneticneedle that threaded his DNA to an Indianancestor is more or less lost in the haystack ofhistory.
Researchers recently disclosed that William’sgreat, great, great, great, great grandmother,Eliza Kewark, was of Indian-Armenian origin. In1812, researchers say, Kewark gave birth toWilliams’s great, great, great, great grandmoth-er, Katharine Scott Forbes.
Two of Kewark’s direct descendants suppliedDNA to the Scottish-based company. Testsshowed that William carries Kewark’s mito-chondrial DNA (mtDNA). Mitochondrial DNA isa small piece of DNA inherited mostlyunchanged from a mother to her children.
“It is a great thing to unite people across thedistances,” Dr. Jim Wilson, a geneticist at theUniversity of Edinburgh and chief scientist atBritainsDNA, said, speaking from Scotland. “Itshows commonality.”
To add to the evidence about the possibleIndian link, results from the test revealed thatKewark had an extremely rare form of mtDNA.That rare form of mtDNA has only been found in14 other people, 13 in India and one in Nepal.
Research has found that Kewark served as ahousekeeper to William’s fifth great-grandfa-ther, Theodore Forbes, a Scottish merchant.Born in 1788, Forbes worked for the East IndiaCompany in the Indian city of Surat. Today,Surat cuts and polishes 90 percent of theworld’s diamonds.
Researchers believe Kewark was of Armeniandescent because her name is similar to theArmenian name Kevork. Also letters to herfrom Forbes have been found which containArmenian script. The company says Kewarkalso signed her name in Armenian script.
This information suggests a strong possibilitythat Kewark’s father was Armenian. The com-pany says it is positive that Kewark’s geneticheritage through her maternal line is Indian.
In a document written in 1937 and acquiredby The Telegraph from St. Andrews Library inSurat, eminent Calcutta-based Armenian histo-rian Mesrovb Jacob Seth writes that she waslisted as Elizabeth Farbessian, was one of thelast seven Armenians in the city after Forbes’sdeath in 1820.
It’s unclear whether Farbessian died in Surat— there are no graves in her name in the city’sonly Armenian cemetery in the Katargam Gatearea.
Nor, if she migrated to Bombay where Forbesonce worked, whether she did so with their sonAlexander, who stayed on in India after Forbessent his wife away to Scotland in 1818.
The Bombay Armenian Cemetery has thetombstone of a Kevorg, a derivative of Kevork.He was buried in 1927, according to the churchregister. (Kewark’s father was Hakob Kevork orKevorkian.)
“But no historian can say right now whether(Kevorg) was connected to Elizabeth orAlexander. The links, if any, are buried in thesands of time,” said Surat historian MohanMeghani who has done extensive research onthe city’s Armenians.
Seth, the Armenian historian, writes: “Thedecline and dispersion of the Armenians atSurat must have been very rapid … During thelast two decades of the 18th century (1780-1800), there were 33 (Armenian) merchantsbesides many others in the humbler walks oflife.… Their numbers dwindled down to only(seven) souls in 1820. Their names were: Mrs.Elizabeth Farbessian, Mrs. MaishkhanoomAvietian, Mrs. Mariam Vardanian, StephenPetrus, Minas Margarian, Gregore Agahian andArrathoon Balthazarian, the only well-to-doamongst them being the lady mentioned first.”
The last name is that of Kewark’s brother-in-law and Forbes’s Armenian agent, also knownas Arrathoon Baldassarian.
“If he (Arrathoon) was married to her(Eliza’s) sister and they had a daughter, PrinceWilliam may find some cousins in India,” saidMeghani.
Her last name has so far been mentioned asKewark by British researchers based on her let-ters available with them.
“Kewark is a variation of Kevork after herArmenian father Hakob Kevorkian. He seems tohave died in 1811. His tomb, in which he iscalled Gevorg — another variation of Kevork —was found in Surat’s Armenian cemetery and isnow in the city museum cellar,” said Bhamini A.Mahida, chief curator of Surat’s SardarVallabhbhai Patel Museum.
Eliza largely used Kewark as her surname inher communications with her husband or, later,his family.
“According to Armenian tradition, a girl’s lastname was a derivative of either her father’sname or husband’s name,” Meghani said.
“That she did not sign her name as Forbes orFarbessian indicates she did not have the legalsanction of a wife to use her husband’s name.But after Theodore’s death in 1820, she mighthave felt emboldened to use it in an Armenianway and call herself Elizabeth Farbessian.”
It may have helped that Forbes left her a tinyannuity in his will. He left substantialallowances for his children, with his daughterKitty Forbes — Prince William’s ancestor —receiving the lion’s share.
Kewark’s Indian mother was likely to havebeen Muslim.
“Because of the Armenians’ closeness to theMughals, it’s a possibility that she (Eliza’s moth-er) was a Muslim. Hindus would have beenmore unlikely to marry outside their caste,”Mahida said.
Meghani said that marriages betweenArmenian men and Indian women were uncom-mon but not unheard-of around the end of the18th century.
“The community had been settled in India forover 500 years by then and was seen as close tothe Mughal throne and hence powerful. So,intermarriages would not have been terriblyfrowned upon,” Meghani said.
The tombstone of another Elizabeth inSurat’s Armenian cemetery appears to bear thisout. Her name is spelt “Eligabeth” in the epi-taph — a typical Indian phonetic variation of the“z” sound, explained Mahida.
This Elizabeth died in 1784, at least six orseven years before Kewark would have beenborn. Her burial in the Armenian cemetery sug-gests her father or husband was an Armenian,given the strong patriarchal traditions of thecommunity. Yet the name of neither is men-tioned in the epitaph, written in the classicalArmenian script.
“The inscription on the tomb names her asEligabeth and mentions her as the daughter ofNazar Tilan, which is a Muslim woman’s name,”said Mahida. The tombstone with the epitaph isin the cellar of the museum.
British researchers say that Kewark andForbes married in an Armenian church inSurat. Of the two churches the city once had,the one in the cemetery survives but the one inthe old city, used mostly for weddings, does not.
Standing in its place are rows of ugly, four orfive-story buildings owned by local traders whorun establishments on the road level and liveand store their wares on the remaining floors.
Jahnubhai Patel, 62, who runs a zari businessin the area, does not remember any Armenians,but says his ancestors bought the home-cum-warehouse he owns from a Parsi businessman.
“There were many Parsis here then. TheEnglish Factory (a former East India Companywarehouse-cum-house where Forbes onceworked and lived) down the road was alsoowned by a Parsi businessman called Cooperwho bought it from the British,” Patel said.
“We know this because his last descendant,who lived in the massive building all alone inthe 1960s, was insane and broke down theplace using a bulldozer as he was tired ofresearchers from India and abroad coming tohis place regularly and requesting a tour of thepremises,” recounted Patel.
Meghani confirmed the building’s razing byits “insane” owner.
“Prince William better come and collect theremaining bricks on this half-wall of the EnglishFactory before the children of the adjoining IPMission school take them away to use them aswickets in cricket matches on the school com-pound,” he said.
On the Elusive Trail of Eliza Kewark
5
Community News
Vartan Gregorian HasBusy June Celebrating
EducationWALTHAM, Mass. —At the Commencement ceremony for Brandeis University’s
Heller School of Social Policy and Management, Vartan Gregorian, president ofCarnegie Corporation of New York, was awarded an honorary degree by the uni-versity, which recognized him as a “higher education visionary, passionate advo-cate for the humanities, professor, scholar and leader [whose] legacy is promotinga deeper appreciation of the role of higher education in society.”
Delivering the commencement address to the Heller School graduating class,Gregorian urged students to leave the world a better place than they found it.“What have you done to deserve your ancestors?” Gregorian asked the graduates.“What will you do as ancestors of future generations?”
On June 14, Gregorian and Carnegie Corporation of New York hosted GlobalKids, a nonprofit educational organization committed to advancing global learn-ing and youth development. Global Kids works to ensure that urban youth havethe knowledge, skills, experiences and values they need to succeed in school, par-ticipate effectively in the democratic process and achieve leadership in their com-munities and on the global stage.
Recently, as part of the Global Kids annual youth conference, high school stu-dents dedicated to the arts shared their rendition of Gregorian’s childhood by read-ing from his autobiography, The Road to Home: My Life and Times.
To join in celebrating the fifth grade class graduation at the Vartan GregorianElementary School in Providence, RI, on June 18, Gregorian spent the day withstudents at the school, which is named for him. He participated in the school’s tra-ditional “clap-out ceremony,” in which the younger grades and their teachers standin the hallway and applaud as the fifth-graders walk through the school corridorsto the auditorium for their graduation ceremony.
Gregorian also visited with the school’s eNewspaper club and said, “Nobody likeyou is going to come again.” He encouraged them to do justice to their intellectand “to learn, learn, learn.”
War in SyriaSparks Efforts toHelp Armenians
By Britanny Levine
LOS ANGELES (Los Angeles Times) — Tounderstand why Zaven Khanjian wants theArmenian community in Syria — a dwindlingpopulation caught in the crossfire of civil war— to endure, you have to go back nearly a cen-tury.
Long before in-fighting began more thantwo years ago, Armenians settled in Syriaafter being driven out of Turkey during thegenocide of 1915.
Destitute and sick, the Christians were wel-comed by the mostly Arabic Syrians and flour-ished, especially in Aleppo, a city close to theTurkish border and hard hit by war betweenrebel forces and the sitting government.
“We want the community to survive as longas the war is going on,” said Khanjian, aGlendale real estate agent and Aleppo nativewho leads the nonprofit Syrian ArmenianRelief Fund.
But while many Armenians may feel indebt-ed to Syria — a country that welcomed themwhen they were at their lowest point — thou-sands continue to flee amid an increase in thenumber of kidnappings and reported damageto homes and churches.
Even an Armenian Genocide memorial hasbeen ransacked, said Lena Bozoyan, chair-woman of the Armenian Relief Society ofWestern USA.
Humanitarian aid is the primary goal, butthere’s also a deeper desire to prevent anArmenian community with historical signifi-cance from disintegrating completely.
“The dwindling of the community in Syriawill have a detrimental, long-term impact forthe cultural vibrancy of the diaspora as awhole,” said Ara Sanjian, director of theArmenian Research Center at the Universityof Michigan-Dearborn.
But the effort to preserve the diaspora inSyria is increasingly difficult as fighting rageson, especially in Aleppo, which claims thelargest Armenian population. MostArmenians with roots there are known to beloyal to the current regime, but Khanjian saidphilanthropic efforts out of Glendale are apo-litical.
The US recently announced plans to bolstersupport of the rebels after determining thatthe Syrian regime had used chemical weaponsagainst its own people.
The Syrian Armenian Relief Fund, launchedlast year in partnership with Glendale-basedArmenian Relief Society and other Armenianphilanthropic groups, has sent $500,000 inassistance to struggling Syrian-Armenians.Organizers raised another $100,000 at a ben-efit concert in Hollywood two weeks ago.
The money is sent to a coalition ofArmenian nonprofits in Syria that doles outfood, clothing, construction materials fordamaged buildings and medical care to theneedy. During Armenian Christmas inJanuary, the group dispersed cash to about5,000 families, Khanjian said.
Before the fund started, the ArmenianRelief Society had already collected $100,000for Armenian schools.
But there are some things the fund won’tpay for, such as relocation costs.
“We want our people to stay there,”Bozoyan said.
Population estimates vary, but Sanjian, ofthe Armenian Research Center, said thatbefore the conflict began, there were about70,000 Armenians in Syria, 70 percent ofthem in Aleppo. Armenian news agencieshave reported that more than 10,000 havefled to Lebanon and Armenia, but some esti-mates peg the exodus as being almost twicethat.
Dr. Gevorg Yaghjyan
Dr. HagopInjeyan toSpeak onLaserTechnology
GLENDALE — “Lasers, From ScienceFiction to Reality” is the topic of the lec-ture hosted by the Armenian Engineersand Scientists of America (AESA). Thepresenter will be Dr. Hagop Injeyan, aretired scientist from Hughes Aircraftand Northrop Grumman and an adjunctprofessor at Pasadena City College andCalifornia State University, Los Angeles(CSULA.) The lecture will be held onThursday, July 11 at 7:30 p.m. in thelibrary of the Armenian Society of LosAngeles, 117 South Louise St. The eventis open to the public.
A fixture in just about any science fic-tion movie or TV series since the early20th century, lasers have become an inte-gral part of everyday life from theCD/DVD players in our homes to enter-tainment, automobile warning devices andnumerous sophisticated medical andindustrial tools. This lecture will providean overview of lasers through a brief dis-cussion of the science behind lasers, thevarious types of lasers developed to dateand an introduction to some of the moreadvanced applications of high powerlasers focusing on laser fusion and laserweapon systems of the future. Laserfusion is widely thought of as the cleanenergy source of the future with an unlim-ited supply of fuel, while advanced laserweapons are antizcipated to be gamechangers in the battlefield by providing aneffective deterrent against highly destruc-tive projectile based weapons such as mis-siles, artillery shells and mortars.
Hagop Injeyan, during his 32 years atHughes Aircraft and Northrop Grumman(NG), has worked on research and devel-opment of high power lasers for militaryand industrial applications. He is consid-ered a leading expert in solid state lasersand while at Northrop Grumman was akey contributor to the development ofthe highest power solid state laser builtto date. Injeyan earned BS, MS, inPhysics and a PhD in electrical sciencesand engineering from University ofCalifornia Los Angeles specializing in thefield of quantum electronics. He has 26patents in the field of lasers and non-lin-ear optics, has authored numerous publi-cations and conference presentations andis twice the recipient of NG’s Chairman’sAward for Innovation. He is the co-editorand co-author of a recently publishedbook by McGraw-Hill titled, High PowerLaser Handbook.
“We are very excited to have Dr.Injeyan a leading expert in laser technol-ogy field to talk about this technologywhich over the last five decades hasbecome an integral part in nearly everyaspect of our everyday life and can befound everywhere from high-techresearch applications to scanners at thegrocery store,” said AESA Vice-PresidentVasken Yardemian.
Established in 1983, AESA is a non-partisan and non-sectarian philanthropicorganization focused primarily onaddressing the professional, technicaland scientific needs of fellow Armenianengineers, scientists, industrialists andarchitects throughout the world. Formore information, visit www.aesa.org/.
S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
COMMUNITY NEWS
MATTHEW MUISE PHOTO
Vartan Gregorian with some of the students of the Vartan Gregorian ElementarySchool in Providence
By Seta. A. Buchter
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — “With this candle, wepass on to you . . . of our faith.”
Sunday, May 19, was a day of joyous celebra-tion and tremendous pride in the life of HolyTrinity Armenian Church of Greater Boston. Onthis day, seven Grade 12 students, having suc-cessfully completed the required course ofChristian Education as set forth by theDepartment of Youth and Education at theDiocese of the Armenian Church of America(Eastern), graduated from the Sunday Schoolin a ceremony in the church at the conclusionof the Divine Liturgy.
This year’s graduates were Rose Arslanian,daughter of Dr. Armen and Araz Arslanian ofLexington; Elizabeth Nayiri Ayanian, daughterof Dr. Mark and Maral Ayanian of Belmont; AniRose Hollisian, daughter of Ara and JuneHollisian of South Weymouth; Allison NicoleJakob, daughter of Christopher and BarbaraJakob of Lexington; Lori Keverian, daughter ofGeorge and Diane Keverian of Medfield; MelissaSahagian, daughter of Richard and NancySahagian of Burlington, and Caroline Thayer,daughter of Harvey and Valerie KolligianThayer of Concord.
Serving as ushers and participating in theGraduation Ceremony were Grade 11 studentsAlex Avakian, Gregory Dorian, Alex Ensign andHaig Torosian.
The morning began with the graduatesattending church services, reading theConfession and receiving Holy Communion.The Graduation Ceremony, which was presidedover by Fr. Vasken A. Kouzouian, began with
opening remarks by Seta A. Buchter, SundaySchool superintendent. She stated, “We havewatched our graduates, over the years, growand develop into the wonderful young adultsthey are today. For each of them, their yearsattending Sunday School has been a journey indiscovering who they are as ArmenianChristians. During this journey, it has beenextremely gratifying to witness our graduates’strengthening of their faith, their greater appre-ciation and understanding of their religion, cul-ture and heritage, and their growing dedicationand commitment to the Armenian Church,especially Holy Trinity Armenian Church.”
Buchter also noted the strong bonds of friend-ship this class has developed, not only throughthe Sunday School program, but also throughthe graduates’ participation in the ACYOAJuniors program. She commended the gradu-ates’ parents for their commitment, encourage-ment and sacrifices throughout the years.
Two Awards were then presented. The“Bagdasar and Elmas Garabedian Award,”which recognizes two graduating students ofthe Holy Trinity Sunday School who have main-tained an exemplary record throughout theiryears as a student of the Sunday School, waspresented to Ani Hollisian and Lori Keverian.The “Arsha Sarkisian Award,” which is given tothe “Outstanding Sunday School Student ofthe Year,” was awarded to two graduating stu-dents —Nayiri Ayanian and Caroline Thayer.
The Order of Graduates was then presentedto Kouzouian. Each graduate received herSunday School diploma from him and a gift ofthe book, Armenia: A Journey throughHistory, by Arra Avakian.
Due to the large size of the graduating class,each graduate’s remarks on “What Sunday
School or Church Means to Me” were printed inthe Graduation Program along with a briefbiography of each graduate. Three students,Thayer, Hollisian and Ayanian, were asked tospeak on behalf of the graduating class.
Melissa Sahagian presented this year’s classgift to Kouzouian, which was 21 copies of thesoon-to-be-printed children’s book, When I Goto Church, for the pews in the church sanctu-ary. Keverian offered the Bible reading of theday from the Book of Proverbs, chapter 1, vers-es 1-5 “. . . to receive the instruction of wisdom,justice, judgment, and equity . . . ,” while Jakobread the Gospel reading from John, chapter 20,verses 19-23.
The ceremony concluded with the graduatingclass, in a symbolic gesture, passing a lit candleto the students of Grade 11. The candle, whichalso represents the passing of leadership fromthe outgoing Graduating class to the incomingone, was passed from Arslanian to Torosian.Arslanian then briefly explained what the can-dle, as this “symbol of faith,” meant to her and
her fellow graduates.In closing remarks, Kouzouian congratulated
the graduates for their commitment to learningabout their faith since they were young chil-dren. He reminded the congregation thattoday’s graduation fell on the Feast ofPentecost. In drawing an analogy to the Feastof Pentecost when the students of Jesusstopped being called “Disciples” and went on tobe called “Apostles,” Kouzouian stated, “Today,we send out into the world seven new ‘Apostles’in the name of Jesus Christ and the ArmenianChurch. You are called to take your faith inChrist with you in life.”
He continued, “Our hope is that throughyour Sunday School and ACYOA experiences,you make good decisions in life and that you letyour faith help define the world — that’s thework of an ‘Apostle of Christ.’”
Kouzouian thanked the parents and Buchter.Following church services, the graduates,
their families and invited guests were honoredat a luncheon held in Johnson Hall.
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Holy Trinity Sunday School Graduates with Fr. Vasken Kouzouian and Seta Buchter
Holy Trinity Sunday School Graduates Seven on May 19
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A group of 31young people from parishes in the EasternDiocese met here last weekend for the fifthannual Armenian Church Youth Organizationof America (ACYOA) Chapter Workshop. TheJune 14-16 workshop was sponsored by theACYOA Central Council and hosted by St.Hagop Church of Pinellas Park.
The parish’s pastor, the Rev. HovnanDemerjian, served as the workshop chaplainand opened the weekend program with a ses-sion on the importance of understanding theArmenian Christian faith. Participants spokeabout ways they put their faith in action intheir daily lives.
Outgoing ACYOA executive secretaryNancy Basmajian, who designed the work-shop, made a presentation titled “Twenty-somethings, God and the Church,” in whichshe talked about young people’s involvementin the church and the challenges they face in
today’s secular world. In another session titled “What’s Your
SHAPE,” Basmajian helped participants iden-tify areas through which they can better servethe Lord. These included their spiritual gifts,passion, skills, personality traits and their lifeexperience.
“I was very pleased with how seriously thegroup approached the morning sessionswhich were very faith-oriented,” Basmajiansaid. “We need to provide our young peoplewith more opportunities to grow in their faithand think about ways they can commit theirlives to God and their community.”
The afternoon sessions focused on the mis-sion and work of the ACYOA. Participantsspoke about re-defining the organization forthe 21st century, shared practical tips andtools to use in strategic planning, and devel-oped regional goals and program ideas.
The Very Rev. Simeon Odabashian,
Diocesan Vicar, led a discussion titled“ACYOA: What’s in Our Future?” OutgoingACYOA Central Council Chair Danny Mantisand the newly-elected chair, Jonathan Pelaez,facilitated a presentation on how to approachchapter growth.
Participants then split up by region andconsidered goals and priorities for theirparishes. They also began to design programsfor the 2013-14 ACYOA season. Each groupthen shared its ideas and received construc-tive feedback.
The ACYOA members were proud to notethat three of the workshop participants arecurrently serving on the parish council attheir parishes. The three are Mallory Maslarof Pinellas Park, Fla.; Jon Simonian Jr. of NewYork, NY and Armen Terjimanian ofWashington, DC.
On Saturday evening, Demerjian and NancyBasmajian joined the young participants for a
dinner at a local restaurant. The event wasorganized by Mallory Maslar of the St. HagopChurch ACYOA, who served as the parish liai-son to the Central Council.
On Sunday morning, the young peopletook part in the Divine Liturgy at St. HagopChurch. Later they joined the parish for itsFather’s Day picnic. Harry Kezelian, chair ofthe ACYOA Chapter of St. John Church inSouthfield, Mich., entertained the crowd onthe clarinet.
During the weekend, participants also hadan opportunity to pray together at matins andvespers services and take part in meditationsled by Demerjian.
“I’m excited because I met so many peoplewith whom I hope to establish lasting relation-ships,” said Christina Azarian of Holy TrinityChurch of Cambridge, Mass. “It was nice to seeso many young people really concerned andpassionate about the future of the ACYOA.”
ACYOA Members Gather for Chapter Workshop
SCHOLAR, from page 1Speaking to Yaghjyan can be difficult at
times, since his brain seems to be working atspeeds higher than those of mere mortals.
He has received every honor from teachingawards at Yerevan State University MedicalSchool to the Drastamat Kanaian Gold Medalfrom the Ministry of Defense of Armenia.
Yaghjyan’s specialty is plastic surgery, recon-structive microsurgery to be exact, and in fact,one of his projects, along with other facultymembers dating back to 1997, is founding theprogram to teach medical students the special-ty of plastic surgery. His work often deals withreconstruction after injuries, work he perfectedafter his many years helping mine victims aswell as civilian and military victims of Azeri fire.He also works to help cancer patients afterlarge tumors are removed. “If an oncologistremoves the tumor,” he said, they often takeout more than the tumor itself, often leaving anegative space that would need to be filled.What Yaghjyan does is to “bring in tissue, mus-cle, tendon and bone and make it vascularized,”so that it would function and look as the nor-mal body part.
During the war, he said, he “was a resident inthe plastic surgery department, the only resi-dent.” As a result, he said, “I traveled a lot toKarabagh to do operations at the StepanakertHospital,” in addition to many surgeries inShushi. The latter hospital, lagging in terms ofconstruction, became one of the projects forthe Land and Culture Organization.
Yaghjyan this past spring taught a course atYale Medical School, where he presented thecases on which he had worked. Yale, lofty aperch as it might seem, is not a new experiencefor Yaghjyan, who spent six months there in2001 as a visiting scholar, making the acquain-tance of the head of the plastic surgery depart-ment at the medical school, Dr. John Persing,the current chairman, and the former chair-man, Dr. Stephan Ariyan. The Yale surgeons’work in Armenia dates back to the periodimmediately after the devastating 1988 earth-quake. They did their work, in conjunction withhelp from the AGBU and the US Agency forInternational Development.
In 1997, a group of Plastic Surgeons fromthe Mikaelyan Surgical Institute, under theSupervision of Dr. Artvazad Sahakyan, movedfrom the Mikaelyan Institute to Yerevan StateMedical University, where the curriculum wascreated through the Ministry of Health.Yaghjyan said that his training at Yale helped
him organize the plastic surgery residency pro-gram with other colleagues. In fact, Yaghjyansaid, through a team effort, Armenia becamethe first post-Soviet country to have registereda separate plastic surgery specialty.
“The former rector [2006-2011] Prof. GoharKyalyan was instrumental in reforming gradu-ate medical education and she invited me in2007 to be the vice dean [rector] for the med-ical school,” in charge of graduate and post-graduate medical education based on the workwhich was done for plastic surgery residencyprogram, he said.
“She was my anatomy professor at the med-ical school and knows my career developmentand achievement very well,” he added.
“In 2007, Dr. Gohar Kyalyan and I were invit-ed by Dr. Aram Chobanian to come here andsee new trends in medicine. We were invited tomeet the dean of the Boston University Schoolof Medicine,” he said, Dr. Karen Antman,
The collaboration between Antman andKyalyan proved to be fruitful. “We worked withBU to reform medical education and signed anew cooperation agreement with the BU facul-ty,” which agreed to come to Armenia to help toin curriculum reform on the undergraduate andgraduate levels.
Yaghjyan has the distinction of being pickedas a Fulbright Scholar not once, but twice. Thefirst time, he explained, was in 2007, but he wasnot able to come to the US because he was “inthe middle of the reforms.”
“I wrote a letter and said that I could notcome,” and asked to be reconsidered if thechance arose. He reapplied in 2011 and wasaccepted the following year and started atBoston University School of Medicine.
In 2011, Yaghjyan joined the NationalCompetitiveness Foundation of Armenia(NCFA) medical team, for which he becamemedical programs director in 2012.
The National Competitiveness Foundation ofArmenia is a public-private entity established in2008 through a partnership between theGovernment of Armenia and a group of globalbusiness leaders of Armenian descent. Boston-area Armenians Afeyan and Raffi Festekjian aremembers of the Board of Trustees. The boardfunctions under the aegis of the office of theprime minister.
Cancer Complex Being BuiltDuring his stay in the US, Yaghjyan is also
focusing on the organization of nuclear medi-cine education and management of cancer hos-
pitals. He visited leading cancer hospitals in theUS, including MD Anderson in Texas, SloanKettering Cancer Center in New York, the YaleCancer Center and the Cleveland Clinic.
The vision of the NCFA is to have a cyclotronbunker, a diagnostic center to run isotopes forimaging cancer, with work complete by 2013.
The project in Armenia is a “cancer city,” ineffect, to be run by the NCFA and the govern-ment of Armenia. If the center is finished asenvisioned, it would not only be a world-classcenter to provide first-rate care for patients inArmenia, but it would attract patients from farand wide.
Yaghjyan said that there are only threecyclotrons in Moscow and some additional fewin all of Russia and none in the countriesneighboring Armenia, including Georgia andIran.
Yaghjyan said that he has also been involvedwith the HYEBRIDGE telemedicine project thatArmenia Fund USA is leading and hopefullyafter his new connections with BostonUniversity and Boston Armenian MedicalAssociation, the Boston doctors will be moreinvolved in this initiative
In between his incredibly hectic professionalschedule, he finds time to head the Land andCulture branch in Armenia.
Land and CultureYaghjyan recalled that his work with the
Land and Culture Organization started soonafter the group came to Armenia in the wake ofthe 1988 earthquake that had destroyed muchof the north of the country.
“I started while I was in medical school. I wassent to them to be helpful and I started to vol-unteer with them in 1991. In 1992, he becamethe organization’s president in Armenia.
The group has worked on the school in theKarabagh town of Karintak, as well as rebuild-ing the church in Gogaran in Armenia, renovat-ing Tatev and the Shushi Hospital, which isnow complete.
Yaghjyan has made lasting friendshipsthrough the years, ones that have enriched notonly his personal life but also Armenia’s med-ical future. One such connection was with Dr.Rafi Avitsian, head of the NeurosurgicalAnesthesiology Section at the world-famousCleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. He got aninvitation in 2003 to visit the hospital as part ofan observership program. The program had nomoney and little capability for helping visitingdoctors, but through Avitsian, the program has
grown. He makes regular trips to Armenia toteach, in addition to being “the ambassador forthis program at Cleveland Clinic.” Since 2005,he has hosted students in his house. The pro-gram is free for all students from Armenia
During his incredibly rich medical career,Yaghjyan has worked from the bottom to thetop. It was what he saw in his duties as an inten-sive care nurse in post-quake Armenia andwartime Karabagh that he decided to pursuehis medical course relentlessly.
“I saw a lot of people during the Karabaghwar and the earthquake. I decided it was goodfor me to do something new and take somethingvery, very new, go on a long and difficult journey.In 2007 the Continuing Medical Education andgraduate medical education was in the process ofdeveloping and I was happy to use my knowl-edge and experience in that area. I am happy tobe at the front lines, be they medical, education-al, clinical or innovational.”
Yaghjyan will return to Armenia inSeptember.
7S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
COMMUNITY NEWS
Armenian Medical Education Innovator Is Fulbright Scholar at BU
Nahigian Reappointed toEducation Sub-Committee
NEWTON, Mass. — Rob Nahigian, FRICS,SIOR, CRE, MCR of Auburndale Realty Co. wasreappointed during June by Joseph Autilio, exec-utive director of the Massachusetts Division ofProfessional Licensure, to the MassachusettsBoard of Registration’s Real Estate Brokers andSalesperson’s Education Sub-Committee. Theeducation sub-committee offers recommenda-tions on continuing education requirements andcourse contents for the purpose of real estateagent license renewals.
The committee works to enhance the ability ofthe Board to protect the consumers inMassachusetts in the practice of real estate bro-kering. Nahigian has worked with the commis-sion and volunteered to develop new commercialcourses. More than 10 new commercial courseshave been approved in the last 1.5 years.
Additionally during the first half of 2013,Nahigian spoke at a number of regional andnational commercial real estate events through-out the US as an industry subject matter expert.
On February 7, Nahigian spoke to the Societyof Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR)Northern California Chapter on logistics andsupply chain industrial real estate decisions. Thethree hour program was titled “From Shanghaito Your Shelf: Logistics and Supply ChainDecisions Impacting Real Estate in the 21stCentury. More than 75 professionals attendedthis event at the Cassidy Turley’s office in down-town San Jose. The same program “FromShanghai to Your Shelf” was then presented onMarch 8 to the SIOR Oregon Chapter inPortland at the University Club. Nahigian theninstructed the national SIOR designation coursein Los Angeles on March 14. The program washeld at the Sheraton Downtown Los Angeles.
Nahigian is considered a national expert onthis topic and has taught the course since 1988for SIOR and at national events. On April 25, heagain delivered “From Shanghai to Your Shelf:Logistics and Supply Chain” to 120 attendees tothe SIOR Central Canada Chapter in Toronto.On June 14, the New Hampshire CIBOR hadNahigian speak on the “Art of NegotiatingSkills.”
Nahigian has been asked to instruct the SIORnational designation course on Synergistic SalesSkills on July 11 in Chicago. He will also deliver“From Shanghai to Your Shelf: Logistics andSupply Chain Impacting Industrial Real EstateDecisions in the 21st Century” on July 25 at theVinings Club in Atlanta, Ga. and on July 26 at theWatercolor Inn, Watercolor, Fla.
Nahigian will also be teaching the national des-ignation course for the MCR designation andCoreNet Global on September 16-17 at Johnson& Johnson World Headquarters in Brunswick,NJ. The new two-day course titled, “The NewSurvival Tools of Industrial Operations and RealEstate Decisions” was offered for the first time inChicago in November at the headquarters ofMillerCoors Co. This course was a new electivefor the MCR accreditation.
8 S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
COMMUNITY NEWS
BELMONT, Mass. — The Tekeyan CulturalAssociation Boston Chapter has recently beenrelaunched. The group, headed by BaydzigKalaydjian, held its inaugural event, a concertby renowned Armenian troubadour, RoubenHakhverdyan, at the hall of the Holy CrossArmenian Catholic Church here on Saturday,June 22.
The program was sold out, with more than150 requests for tickets had to go unanswered.
Hakhverdyan has a trademark style of gruffsinging voice along with playing the guitar. Hislyrics, capturing the day-to-day relationships,romance, frustrations and complications, havebeen popular since the independence ofArmenia.
On Saturday he was accompanied by ArtyomManukyan on cello and Gegam Margarian onkeyboards.
Serving on the organizing committee along
with Kalaydjian were Silva and SarkisAntreasian, Maral and Vatche Der Torossian,Marina Margarian and Sossi Yoghurtdjian.
Thanking her committee members,Kalaydjian said, “The Tekeyan Boston Chapteris a success today because we had friends whobelieved in us and we didn’t have the heart tolet them down...”
Plans are underway to bring him back toBoston in the fall.
The next Boston Tekeyan program will be aproduction of the play, “Beast on the Moon,” byRichard Kalinoski, tentatively scheduled forOctober.
The June 22 program, titled “Music of thePeople,” indeed lived up to its name, markingthe return of the Boston Tekeyan Chapter tothe city’s cultural life, stronger than ever, creat-ing a new venue which can be and has beenappreciated by the citizens of this state.
Boston Tekeyan Chapter Relaunches with Sold-out Concert
From left, Artyom Maunkyan, Rouben Hakhverdyan and Gegam Margarian
From left, Vatche Der Torossian, Marina Margarian, Maral Der Torssian, Rouben Hakhverdyan,Baydzig Kalaydjian, Silva Antreassian and Sarkis Antreassian
An overflow crowd packed the hall of the Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church.
Audience members, including Konstantin Petrossian, Raffi and Nina Festekjian, Very Rev. RaphaelAndonian, Hagop Vartivarian, Dr. Armen Demirjian and Vartiter and Kevork Marashlian enjoyed theperformance.
9S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
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NEW YORK — The Diocese of theArmenian Church of America (Eastern)announced recently that two interns —Anthony Aram Antreasyan and AlexanderCalikyan — have joined the Diocesan team fora hands-on summer program. The interns willassist with projects in the Diocese’s account-ing department and at the Krikor and ClaraZohrab Information Center.
“It’s wonderful to have young people whoare interested in learning about our churchjoin our Diocesan family for the summermonths,” said Archbishop Khajag Barsamian,Diocesan Primate. “The internship programis a good opportunity for participants todevelop professional skills while gaining adeeper understanding of their faith and afamiliarity with the operations of theDiocesan Center.”
Antreasyan, of Holy Martyrs Church ofBayside, NY, will work in the accountingdepartment. An economics major atBinghamton University in Binghamton, NY,where he just completed his junior year ofstudy, Antreasyan has also been active in hislocal ACYOA chapter, played on the HolyMartyrs basketball team and attended AGBUCamp Nubar for many years. In addition, hegraduated from the Holy Martyrs ArmenianSaturday School and attended the Diocese’sKhrimian Lyceum.
“It is a great honor to be able to join theDiocese to expand my involvement in theArmenian Church and community while gain-
ing real-world experience in the field offinance,” he said. “Through AGBU’s summerinternship program and my time at the
Diocese, I hope to obtain applicable knowl-edge in my field, and to make new connec-tions and friendships.”
Antreasyan is living in student housing atNew York University, along with some 40summer interns participating in the AGBUinternship program. He will join AGBUinterns for several educational, cultural, andsocial activities throughout the summer.
Calikyan, also of Holy Martyrs Church, willwork in the Krikor and Clara ZohrabInformation Center, under the supervision ofits director, the Very Rev. Daniel Findikyan.This spring he completed his sophomore yearat the Catholic University of America inWashington, DC, where he is studying philos-ophy.
Earlier this month Calikyan took part inthe Diocese’s Young Adult Pilgrimage to theHoly Land. His involvement in the Armeniancommunity also includes study at theDiocese’s Khrimian Lyceum and participationin the Holy Martyrs Hye Bar Dance Groupand Shnorhali Choir. He regularly serves onthe altar at Holy Martyrs Church.
“This summer I hope to gain experienceworking with older Armenian texts, partic-ularly those focusing on Armenian Churchhistory,” he said. “I am looking forward towhat promises to be a great learning expe-rience.”
Alexander Calikyan (left) and Anthony Aram Antreasyan at the Diocese’s Zohrab Center
Two Interns Join Diocese for Summer
Edward D. Jamakordzian, Jr. d/b/a
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10 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
Arts & LivingS A T U R D A Y, J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 3
Syria War Forces MusicFestival from Lebanon’s
Roman RuinsBEIRUT (Reuters) — Lebanon’s annual Baalbek music festival has been forced to
move from its usual venue among Roman ruins in the Bekaa Valley because of rock-et fire and a spillover of fighting from Syria,organizers said on Thursday.Baalbek is a stronghold of the Lebanese
Shi’ite militant group Hezbollah, which isfighting across the border alongside its ally
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against a two-year-old rebel uprising.Rockets thought to have been fired by supporters of the Syrian revolt over the
past few weeks have landed in Baalbek and Hezbollah fighters have fought Syrianrebels on Lebanese soil east of the town.The town is home to some of the best-preserved Roman temples, in which world-
renowned musicians such as jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald and British singer Stinghave performed.Nayla de Freij, chairwoman of the Baalbek International Festival Committee, said
that security concerns made holding the event among the town’s ruins an “impos-sibility.”But she said organizers were determined to press ahead with the festival, now
scheduled to open on August 9, and they were looking at new venues, probably inBeirut, that would be announced shortly.The festival, founded in 1956 by then-President Camille Chamoun, was halted dur-
ing Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990. It was also suspended duringa war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, when the modern part of the city washeavily bombed.The event normally draws in tourists during Lebanon’s summer season, especial-
ly Arabs from the Gulf countries who come to escape the heat and enjoy Lebanon’sbars and restaurants. This year, very few tourists have arrived, organizers say.The festival had originally been due to open in Baalbek on June 30 with a concert
by Grammy Award-winning US soprano Renee Fleming but she cancelled her visit toLebanon.Syrian helicopters have fired on Lebanese territory while hunting for fleeing
rebels. Militants supporting opposing sides of the Syria war have also clashed thisyear in Lebanon’s port cities of Tripoli and Sidon.Lebanon’s other summer cultural festivals, including one held in Beiteddine
Palace in the pine forest of the Chouf Mountains and another in the Phoenician portof Byblos, will go ahead as planned. The Beiteddine festival starts on Friday.Hala Chahine, director of the Beiteddine festival, said the number of foreigners
attending the festival had dropped by 15 percent last year due to a decline in touristarrivals.“Lots of people won’t come to Lebanon ... but despite all this, we have to contin-
ue ... to show there is another Lebanon, there is a Lebanon with a civilized face anda cultural face.”
Pianist Avo Kouyoumdjian, left, at Baalbek last year (Harry Koundakjian photo)
‘Women ofArarat’ GainsGround
By Tom Vartabedian
BOSTON— Playwright Judith BoyajianStrang-Waldau has made both Genocide recog-nition and highlighting resilient women whosurvived its atrocities part of her mission. Noone seems more aware than Strang-Waldau thata journey towards any destination begins witha single step. In her case, the steps have beengiant ones.Last March she conducted a reading for the
first act of her play, “Women of Ararat,” spon-sored by the Armenian International Women’sAssociation (AIWA). The cast included severalArmenian actors from Greater Boston and NewYork including Nancy Tutunjian Berger, JuneMurphy Katz, Judy Davis, Jennifer GuzelianFlanagan, Joy Renjilian and Sofie Refojo.“The result was unexpectedly moving when I
heard my words making people laugh and cry,”she recalled. “The audience was mixed withboth Armenians and non-Armenians. AlthoughArmenians have heard these stories before, theycried along with those who were hearing themfor the first time.”Three Armenian women approached the play-
wright after the reading to thank her for finallygiving them a voice. It made an impact, evenwith those familiar with the Armenian story.“I still can’t read the end of Act 2 without cry-
ing,” Strang-Waldau revealed. “It is written inthe voice of my grandmother whom I adored.When I think about what she lived through inthe old country and when she came to America,I am astonished by her continued strength andloving nature, despite what she saw happen allaround her. This play is dedicated to my grand-
mothers from whom I was given such a richheritage. They lived in Watertown.”Strang-Waldau resides in metro west Boston
with a husband, three dogs and cat. Shemajored in piano at the Boston Conservatory ofMusic, securing degrees in vocal/opera perfor-mance from the University of SouthernCalifornia and Arts Administration from NewYork University. She has worked in marketingand development at the Metropolitan Operaand Carnegie Hall, along with the OlympiaDukakis’ Whole Theater in Montclair, NJ. At theNew England Conservatory of Music, sheserved as director of Institutional Developmentfor the Preparatory School.Currently, Strang-Waldau gives private piano
and voice lessons in Wellesley and Natick andwill begin a teaching position in Sherborn thiscoming fall. She also runs an annual scholar-ship competition for advanced high school
see PLAYWRIGHT, page 12
Family CelebratesCentennialBirthday ofYervant BabayanBURBANK, Calif. — On the occasion of
Yervant Babayan’s centennial birthday andjubilee celebration, which took place on June16 in Burbank, his grandchildren, Yervant andTaleen Babayan, shared an open letter honor-ing their grandfather:“To everyone else, he was Dnoren Baron
Yervant Babayan. To us, he was simply Dedig.As children, a significant portion of our
leisure time was spent in Los Angeles with ourgrandparents, which left an indelible mark onour youth. From the moment we knocked ontheir door, fresh off a flight from New York, wewould be greeted with strong hugs and endlessservings of yahinov kufte prepared by ourgrandmother in honor of our arrival.After waiting in suspense to see who won the
grape hidden inside the kufte, we would retreatto the living room where Dedig would settlehimself in his armchair. He would patiently lis-ten to our answers as he inquired about school,our activities, and most importantly, what wewere learning in shapadoria (Saturday school).Sometimes we would pause for a moment as wesearched for an Armenian word. Without miss-ing a beat, Dedig would insert the appropriateword into our conversation. In fact, it was dur-ing these impromptu language lessons that we
learned more makoor hayren. Before we wentto bed, he would test us on our newly acquiredvocabulary — zovaspuyr (air conditioner,)zovatzootzeech (cold drink) and our favorite —gentanapanagan bardez (zoo.)Spending a day with Dedig was similar to tak-
ing a journey back in time to a more distin-guished and civilized era. After gliding into hissuit jacket and giving his silk red tie a final tug,he would take our hands and lead us down thepalm tree-lined Everett Street in Glendale. Ourfirst stop would be Alpha Beta — where hewould buy us whatever American-themedsnacks and cereals our elementary heartsdesired (Dedig wanted us to be disciplined, hewas also realistic about our juvenile cravings.)Our day would continue onto Abril bookstorewhere he would engage in conversation withthe late learned owner, Harout Yeretzian, whilewe would browse the extensive collection ofArmenian books ranging from authors of ourhistorical past to more contemporary writers.The illustrated Armenian children’s bookswould catch our eye and we would look forward
see BABAYAN, page 11
By Laila Bassam
Playwright Judith Boyajian Strang-Waldau
Taleen and Yervant Babayan with their grandfa-ther Yervant Babayan
BABAYAN, from page 10to Dedig reading them to us later that night.Our last stop of the day would be at Dedig’soffice on Allen Avenue in nearby Altadena.Sitting behind his large oak desk, flanked bybookcases on both sides, Dedig would readthrough his mail and welcome visitors. Formerstudents, neighbors and relatives would arriveas conversation naturally sparked in relation to
local happenings, politics and the growingpains of the then newly independent homeland.Our evenings would culminate — after more
yahinov kufte — with a friendly game of tavloo,or as Dedig also called it, nardi. As we contem-plated a move, Dedig would lift his pointer fin-ger up and urge us to think again. After wemoved our pieces across the white shell mosaicpatterns of the board, Dedig would suggest a
different — and morefavorable — move forus the followingturn. Often wewould win, thoughlooking back we arenot sure if we trulywere the “winners,”or if Dedig wantedhis grandchildren tofeel a moment ofpride. But when webecame too excitedin victory, or tooupset in defeat,Dedig would alwaysremind us:“Haghdutian mechhamesd, bardutianmech vehantsen”(In victory be hum-ble, in defeat be gra-cious.) The teacherin him was never muted, neither in actions norin lessons, no matter the situation.One lesson that remains with us to this day is
Dedig’s love of his culture and of his people,which is evident in a lifetime of dedicated ser-vice, passed down from his own father, Rev.Nersess Babayan. After studying in Paris toadvance his teaching credentials, he had theoption of returning to Aleppo to assume a posi-tion at the Giligian School or staying in Parisfor another teaching opportunity. He chose hispeople — and that is the same choice he hasmade throughout his life.When the Vahan Tekeyan School, an educa-
tional institution we had heard so much aboutin our youth, was in need of leadership duringa tumultuous time in its history, Dedig quietlyand diligently assumed the positions of teach-er and principal. A visit to the school in Beirut,Lebanon a few years ago brought to life thestories Dedig’s students and Dedig himselftold us from his forty-year tenure. Althoughthe building was a little more worn and thehallways a little emptier, Dedig’s spirit was stillalive. The lessons he had taught to us, hisgrandchildren, and thousands of otherArmenian youth, transcended space and timeand were silent ones we learned by watchingDedig’s actions. While we had only caught thetail end of it, we could sense, from a young agethat our Dedig had influenced so many peo-ple’s lives, shaped them and in a sense,fathered them, at a critical point in our histo-ry. The perilous descendants of the Genocidewere the inaugural students of the VahanTekeyan School and through Dedig’s tirelessefforts, he molded them and strengthened
them to create a stronger diaspora and inessence, a stronger homeland.Perhaps that is why, to this day, people still
bow their heads just a bit for their formerdnoren.
S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R 11
ARTS & LIVING
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A closer look at the ShushiDance OrganizationFAIR LAWN, N.J. — The latest family night program of the Shushi Dance Ensemble was
at the Abajian Hall of St. Leon Armenian Church on Saturday, May 18.The long-term success of the Shushi Dance Ensemble lies in a simple reality. When Seta
Kantardjian started the group, she did not have to, shewanted to. There is a big difference between having to dosomething and wanting to do something. That choice ofwanting to do it gave Shushi Dance Ensemble the long-term focus and enabled them to come this far.
The benefits and rewards of the Shushi organization is visible on stage as well as off thestage. Children of all ages on stage, dancing with pride and joy, dressed in color-ful costumes with traditional and modern Armenian songs in the background. On count-less occasions audience members have observed parents and family members watch theirloved one’s performance with tears of joy.It is equally uplifting to see the commitment and dedication of parents working within
the organization. As a result of these contacts a bond has been formed among parents.Parents are as excited to spend time with each other as are their children with other chil-dren. Equally interesting is that most of the parents are heavily involved with the Armeniancommunity at large.
By Vartan Abdo
Members of the Shushi Junior Group
Family Celebrates Centennial Birthday of Yervant Babayan
Yervant Babayan surrounded by his grandchildren, Yervant and TaleenBabayan
Djanikian Creates aDystopian World Fullof Secrets and IsolationTThhee OOffffiiccee ooff MMeerrccyy:: AA NNoovveell by ArielDjanikian. Viking Adult. 320 Pages
The Office of Mercy: A Novel is the firstbook by Ariel Djanikian and it is anachievement. It works in many ways andit skillfully conveys significant messages.Djanikian knows how to write, and herstorytelling in this futuristic romance issure-footed. It is a girl-boy story, but it isalso about a dystopian future and, as anovel, it is a far better read than GeorgeOrwell’s 1984.Unlike Winston in 1984, the protago-
nist Natasha is sympathetic and likable.She works in the Office of Mercy refer-enced in the title, and its function is toeliminate the tribal people surroundingan isolated fortress-like community. Theword “sweep” is used to mass murderthese less fortunate beings — the ratio-nale mandating that, with quick efficientdeath, a “sweep” avoids a long-sufferingdemise. The tactic attributes non-human,less intelligent traits to these alien tribes,while the need of the tribes for naturalresources is not addressed.The people in the Office of Mercy keep
their fingers clean. On the rare occasionduring which a one-on-one murder wouldbe needed, the weapon of choice is anLAV-3 armored vehicle. Djanikian obvi-ously had fun with her newspeak. TheOrwell influence is evident although theantiseptic world of The Office of Mercyowes something to Yevgeny Zamyatin’sdystopian novel, We.The mythical community is named
“America Five,” and it survives within apost-holocaust, bio-sealed perimeter withconsiderable power. For certain con-scripts of my generation, the very word“perimeter” would evoke dread — theperimeter being an armed border.However, “America Five” is a fortunatecommunity whose well-fed citizens liveforevermore yet whose perimeter is dan-gerous to any creatures that approach it. The novel’s conflict is that Natasha of
the title office develops sympathy for thepeople outside the community, a feelingthat can only pose a danger to her. Sheappears to be in love with both a seniorcolleague and a handsome tribal soldier. Drone strikes, childcare, and the tedi-
um of office work are some of the modernissues that appear. Those issues aside, thestory is the thing and I call it a great read.
— Michael Casey
PLAYWRIGHT, from page 10musicians through the Harvard MusicalAssociation.Strang-Waldau is proud of her ethnicity. She
is 100 percent Armenian — the descendent ofGenocide survivors from Mersin, Turkey — andwas christened at St. James Church inWatertown. She has been a church soloist andwas asked to sing a service during which the laypreacher gave a sermon on the ArmenianGenocide.The preacher had recently read Samantha
Power’s book titled, A Problem From Hell:America and the Age of Genocide” and deliv-ered an impassioned homily on what theArmenian people experienced.Strang-Waldau was deeply moved that a non-
Armenian could be so sensitive to this period ofterrorism and reopened a deep wound that wasa critical part of her family’s history rarely dis-cussed in her presence.“I remember during President Obama’s first
term how he addressed the topic of Genocideacknowledgement with the Turkish govern-ment and was unable to change their position,”she pointed out. “This ‘amnesia’ within theTurkish government is horrifying to theArmenian people. I decided that I wanted tofind a way to honor the centennial.”“Women of Ararat” is a full-length drama that
spans roughly 10 years from 1965 to 75. Theopening scenes are based upon the playwright’schildhood. She represents the fifth generationof women living on her maternal side.The play was written to commemorate the
100th anniversary to be held April 2015.Strang-Waldau says she hopes the play will edu-cate those who are unaware of this infamousperiod in history and make us more responsibleto those around the globe who are victims ofpolitical injustice.The play is about a family of Armenian
women who’ve survived the Genocide and thegreat-granddaughter who interprets their con-dition in a more modern and global world.It is a story of how women love, care for one
another and cope with the aftermath of warand inhumanity.“Women of Ararat” is also about secrets, not
thoughtlessly made, but done so to spare achild her innocence and help survivors stopreliving their excruciating past.Although containing tragic content, it also
shows the humorous and light-hearted ways thewomen relate to one another. It is aboutwomen, written by a woman and is based on
humanity rather than being a history lesson.There is one male in the cast and it is his char-acter that brings tension into their protectedworld.“I grew up with a great-grandmother and two
grandmothers whom I visited regularly,” shesaid. “They didn’t like to speak about what hap-pened during the years they were forced toleave Turkey and wandered until they made itto the US. My paternal and maternal grand-mothers had very different stories that are reliv-ed in the play. I was a young adult before I wastold what actually happened to them.”“Women of Ararat” was also selected for a
reading in the “Voices 7 Women Playwrights”festival at Wellesley College where it attractedconsiderable interest.“The most moving part was when three
Armenian women in the audience thanked mefor giving them a voice,” she said. “I couldn’thave asked for a more meaningful gift.”Her research included all Peter Balakian’s
books, including Armenian Golgotha. She con-tinued her research at Ellis Island and readingeverything she could find online. Discussionswith family members and friends were repletewith feedback.A visit to Turkey was made last summer,
spending time in Istanbul where the Genocideis still considered as “The Armenian Problem.”
“It was clear that the attitude toward our his-tory had not changed,” said Strang-Waldau. “Ialso spent time in Mersin where my grand-mothers lived. It was no longer the beautifulseaside town filled with fruit trees, rather asprawling Mediterranean city of high hotels andcondominiums.”The playwright brought along copies of fami-
ly photographs to bury there, but found nospace in the cemetery. Instead, she took thephotos to a beach where her grandmothers mayhave played and let them drift out to sea.“I’m very fortunate to have been guided by
many theater professionals in the Boston areawho’ve helped me through the playwriting pro-cess,” she says. “I’ve worked with local play-wrights, directors, theater administrators andactors, all of whom have given a great deal oftheir time to this project as they value its impor-tance.”A most unusual experience occurred during a
writing class she was taking to develop the play.Strang-Waldau was in a class of 10 people andupon being introduced found herself seatednext to a Turk from Istanbul.As it turned out, the student was a Turkish-
Jew whose grandfather had been unjustlyimprisoned by the Turkish government.“After reading the script, he suggested that I
produce it in Turkey since it reveals the deep
emotional impact of the Turkish government’sactions on the Armenian families they perse-cuted,” said Strang-Waldau. “Meeting myTurkish colleague in my first playwriting classcould be none other than divine intervention.He was more than supportive. He was encour-aging.”Strang-Waldau is looking to produce her
work throughout various parts of the countryduring the 2014-2015 theater season. She saidshe hopes to attract sponsors either through acentennial committee or an independent pro-ducer. She is prepared to meet her obstaclesand secure the necessary media hype sur-rounding it.“Boston can boast a population of extremely
well-educated residents,” she pointed out.“However, I often meet people who’ve neverheard of the Armenian Genocide. Once theylearn, they are not only appalled by the historybut that the Turkish government has notacknowledged their wrong-doing.”Looking back over her life, Strang-Waldau
never imagined writing a play as a musician andmusic teacher. Through it, she says she is hop-ing to create a level of understanding and empa-thy that will motivate people to assist us in ourwork — and have this historical atrocityacknowledged by the Turkish government.“Choosing to write a tragic historical drama
that focuses upon people I love was an enor-mous undertaking for a first-time playwright,”she feels. “This is the story I most wanted totell. My hope is that people of all nationalitieswill want to listen.”
12 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
ARTS & LIVING
S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 3
CC AA L E N D A RL E N D A R
JJUULLYY 44 aanndd JJUULLYY 1199 –– SSaayyaatt NNoovvaa DDaannccee CCoommppaannyy ooff BBoossttoonnperforms; two appearances, July 4, 6:15 - 7 p.m. at Jacob’sPillow Dance Festival Inside/Out Series at Becket, Mass., and July19, 7 p.m. at Outside the Box – Boston’s 9-Day Performing ArtsFestival held at Boston Common – Park Street stage. For com-plete schedules visithttp://www.jacobspillow.org/festival/insideout-schedule/ andhttp://outsidetheboxboston.org/timeline/#!programmation=timeline$2013-07-19; for Sayat Nova Dance Company info, visithttp://outsidetheboxboston.org/timeline/#!programmation=participant$sayat-nova-dance-company/209
JJUULLYY 1166 —— AALLMMAA SSppoorr ttss RRaaffffllee DDrraawwiinngg,, 6 p.m., ContemporaryArt Gallery, 3rd floor, with Bruins’ announcer Jack Edwards.Grand prize is a Boston Red Sox luxury box (22 seats) for August31 home game vs. the Chicago White Sox. Tickets: $100, or fivefor $300, available at www. Almainc.org or 617 926-2562.
JJUULLYY 1188 —— AAnn EEvveenniinngg wwiitthh MMaarrggaarreett AAjjeemmiiaann AAhhnneerr tt,,AAuutthhoorr ooff TThhee KKnnoocckk aatt tthhee DDoooorr,, an account of her mother’sdaring escape from sure death during the Armenian Genocide.Losh Kebab Dinner and Program. Sts. Vartanantz ArmenianChurch, 180 Old Westford Rd., Chelmsford. $10 donation, 7p.m. For dinner reservations, contact Ara,[email protected] or call 978-251-4845.
AAUUGGUUSSTT 44--1100 —— PPAACCEE [[PPaarreenntt aanndd CChhiilldd EExxppeerriieennccee]],, CraigvilleRetreat Center, Cape Cod. Private accommodations in Craigville’shistoric Inn with privileges to newly renovated beach club withaccess to private ocean beach, tennis lessons, courts, eveningconcerts, and more. Babies, grandparents, teens and all inbetween welcome! Contact [email protected]
SSEEPPTTEEMMBBEERR 88 –– SSaayyaatt NNoovvaa DDaannccee CCoommppaannyy performs atPeabody International Festival with favorite dances from theirrepertory; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Members of the Dance Companymanning dessert booth featuring homemade delicacies;Peabody Square on Lowell Street. For details, call Peabody TownHall.
OOCCTTOOBBEERR 1199 —— HHyyee KKeeff 55 featuring Leon Janikian, JoeKouyoumjian, Greg Takvorian, Ken Kalajian, Bob Raphalian andJay Baronian, Haverhill, MA, 7:30 p.m., Michael’s Function Hall-12 Alpha Street, Tickets: $40.00 Each Students $30, includesindividually-served mezza platters. Proceeds to benefit allArmenian churches in Merrimack Valley and New Hampshire.Call either John Arzigian, 603-560-3826; Sandy Boroyan, 978-251-8687; Scott Sahagian, 617-699-3581, or Peter Gulezian,978-375-1616. Organized by Armenian Friends’ of America.
NNOOVVEEMMBBEERR 2233--2244 –– TTCCAA MMhheerr MMeeggeerrddcchhiiaann TThheeaattrriiccaall GGrroouuppcelebrates 15th Anniversary with production of HagopBaronian’s “The Perils of Politeness” (KaghakavaroutyanVnasneruh) directed by Gagik Karapetyan from Armenia; DwightEnglewood High School, 315 E. Palisade Ave., Englewood, NJ.Nov. 23, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Nov. 24, Sunday at 4 p.m. Fortickets; $50, $35, $25; call Marie Zokian (201)745-8850 orMissak Boghosian at (212)819-0097 or (347)365-6985.
MASSACHUSETTS
On July18, Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Churchwill host Margaret Ajemian Ahnert, author ofThe Knock at the Door, at 7 p.m. There will bea losh kebab dinner served along with the pro-gram. For reservations, contact Ara,[email protected] or call 978-251-4845; $10 donation. Sts. Vartanantz is locatedat 180 Old Westford Road, Chelmsford, MA.
FFrreeee CCaalleennddaarr SSuubbmmiissssiioonnssThe Mirror-Spectator accepts calendar submissions free ofcharge. Calendar entries of a maximum of five lines can besubmitted to [email protected]; entries exceeding five lineswill be subject to charge. We encourage readers and com-munity members to submit their events so that we may pro-
NEW YORK
‘Women of Ararat’ Gains Ground
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S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
COMMENTARY
By Edmond Y. Azadian
When the Turkmenchay Treaty was signed in 1828 between theRussian and Persian Qajar Empires, the Khanate of Yerevan, effec-tively Eastern Armenia, was ceded to Russia. Armenians celebratedthe event as a liberation from Moslem rule. In reality, it was only achange of overlords. However, it was hailed by Khachatur Abovianin his epic novel, Wounds of Armenia, as a historic blessing.The rulers of Christian Russia were relatively more tolerant than,
let’s say, their Ottoman counterparts. But the word “relative” needsto be understood in its full implication here, as Armenians subse-quently heard warnings by Russian officials that Russia needsArmenia without Armenians. Just one example of Russian tyrannywas that Armenian church property was confiscated by a decree ofthe czar.The attitude of the Russians towards the Armenians did not dif-
fer much from other colonial powers such as Britain looking downon indigenous peoples over whom they had control. That attitudeis typically reflected by the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkinin his memoirs from Erzurum, denigrating Armenian common folkin the area, a disdain to be matched by the US Admiral Marc Bristolin his 1916 reports from Constantinopol to Washington.Even today, Armenians are bundled in with the rest of the
Caucasus peoples and are treated as second-class citizens by Russia,accordingly.Overall, Russian rule has proven historically more survivable than
the Ottoman rule. That is why Armenian leaders have favored aRussian orientation since the days of the Israel Ori in the 17th cen-tury. However, the Russians have sold their Armenian brothers atany given juncture of history. One such major deal was struck in1923 between Lenin and Ataturk, which sealed Armenia’s destinyand borders up to now.Since the collapse of the Soviet Empire, Armenia has served as
the vanguard of Russian political and military influence in theCaucasus and it is considered Moscow’s strategic ally. Yet Russia’streatment of Armenia has been more cavalier.During the first years of independence, as realignments were tak-
ing place in the Caucasus region, war broke out between Armeniaand Azerbaijan.At that time there were some political voices in Armenia that sug-
gested we have a “third alternative,” meaning Turkey. Especiallypatriotic scholar Rafael Ishkhanian advocated a rapprochementwith Turkey, clearly forgetting Yerevan’s futile call for help toTurkey during a February 1921 uprising against the Soviet rule.The Turks let Armenia be drowned in blood without lifting a finger.This was a policy which was as naïve as it was loud. President BorisYeltsin, at that time a personal friend of President Levon Ter-Petrosian, did not hesitate to help Azerbaijanis thrash Armenianforces and occupy almost half of Karabagh, until Yerevan called“uncle” and the fortunes of the war were reversed and Karabaghwas liberated, courtesy of Moscow.Recently Armenia has been seeking a middle role between major
contenders for influence in the region. Despite Yerevan’s strategicalliance with Moscow and the treaty to keep a military base onArmenian soil through the year 2044, Armenia has been cooperat-ing with NATO, supplying peacekeeping forces in Kosovo andAfghanistan. Armenia has been seeking a partnership in theEurasia Customs Union while trying to sign a Deep andComprehensive free-trade agreement with the European Union(DCFTA) — a mutually-exclusive possibility.Thus far, Moscow was weighing Armenia’s political positioning
with tolerant, yet watchful, eyes. It looks like what broke the camel’sback was Armenia’s absence from the military component of theCollective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), an alliance whichPresident Putin is trying to put together to counter NATO tacitly.Although a military delegation was sent from Yerevan, headed by
Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian, the president opted out of itsconvention, citing other obligations. This was interpreted as defi-ance in Moscow, while it was hailed as a courageous act in the West.The response and the signal were not delayed much, as it was
announced that Moscow was providing more than $1 billion in mil-itary hardware to Azerbaijan. This looks like a repeat performanceof the 1990s. There are pro and con discussions, but nevertheless,the move is more than a discomforting development for Armenia’smilitary planners. Every time we have rested our destiny in thehands of foreign military powers, we have been betrayed. Armeniais at a crossroads. How do we proceed from this point on?Russian arms sales to Azerbaijan will introduce an element of
uncertainly in a flammable region. The Russian defense industrysources recently reported that the Azerbaijani military will soon bereceiving 90 T-90C tanks, around 100 armored personnel carriersand dozens of multiple rocket systems and artillery cannon in accor-dance with defense contracts signed in 2011 and 2012, a total of$1 billion worth of military hardware.How interesting that the Russian leaders remember today mili-
tary contracts from a year or two back, when they are ready to exertpressure on Armenia. For Azerbaijan, it is the psychological boostas President Aliyev is preparing for his third term, to preserve theoffice inherited from his late father, Heydar Aliyev.There is also talk that he may transfer that dynastic office to his
wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, perhaps waiting for their children to growup and inherit, in turn, the dynastic rule.Yet, Aliyev received accolades during a recent trip to Europe,
from the British Prime Minister David Cameron and EuropeanCommission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who apologetically jus-tified Aliyev’s despotic rule, explaining away that “we are not per-fect in Europe.”Armenian officials are at a loss to justify the Russian arms deal
with Azerbaijan. They are still in denial mode. Armenians shouldnot criticize Russia for selling weapons to Azerbaijan despite its mil-itary alliance with Armenia, the secretary of President SergeSargisian’s National Security Council, Arthur Baghdasarian, said,adding Russia has legitimate right to make arms deals with thirdcountries, including Armenia’s archenemy. He also added thatMoscow and Yerevan are posed to sign a new agreement on defenseand security.Analysts such as Hrant Melik Shahnazaryan and military expert
Arkadi Grigoryan further supported the case by adding that Russianeeds the money, that arms sales to Azerbaijan will not tilt the bal-ance of power in the region, that Russia sells to Azerbaijan at inter-national market prices, while Armenia receives its arms at domesticmarket prices.Reassuring voices were also heard on the Russian side. “I think
that the presence of Russian servicemen is a guarantee that therewill be no negative development in Armenia,” Nikolay Patrushev,the secretary of the Russian Security Council said, while visitingthe Russian base in Gumri. Five thousand Russian personnel basedthere will fight along with the Armenian forces, should Armenia beattacked. Azerbaijan also bought arms from Israel. A balance ofpower does not guarantee Armenia’s security. Only a strategic edgecan serve as a deterrent against Azeri belligerence.All these rationales do not pacify the minds of citizens of
Armenia. They further encourage them to seek more peacefulhavens, away from a potential war zone.The director of the Modus Vivendi Center, scientist Ara Papyan,
condemns Russia’s sale of arms to Azerbaijan, saying that Russiashould not have done so, because it is Armenia’s ally. “Our ally armsour enemy. Armenia should condemn it officially,” he added,addressing reporters.As the atmosphere was about to improve in the Caucasus
through more friendly relations with Georgia’s new rulers and theelection of a moderate president in Iran, Russia’s actions come torender the region more explosive and lead the citizens of Armeniato wonder whether Moscow is a friend or foe.
Established 1932
An ADL Publication
EDITOR
Alin K. Gregorian
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Gabriella Gage
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Aram ArkunART DIRECTOR
Marc Mgrditchian
SENIOREDITORIAL COLUMNIST:Edmond Azadian
CONTRIBUTORS:Florence Avakian, Elizabeth Aprahamian,Daphne Abeel, Dr. HaroutiuneArzoumanian, Taleen Babayan, Prof.Vahakn N. Dadrian, Diana DerHovanessian, Philip Ketchian, KevorkKeushkerian, Sonia Kailian-Placido,Harut Sassounian, Mary Terzian, HagopVartivarian, Naomi Zeytoonian
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US Urges UK and France to Join inSupplying Arms to Syrian Rebels
By Robert Fisk
Washington’s decision to arm Syria’s SunniMuslim rebels has plunged America into thegreat Sunni-Shia conflict of the Islamic MiddleEast, entering a struggle that now dwarfs theArab revolutions which overthrew dictatorshipsacross the region.For the first time, all of America’s “friends” in
the region are Sunni Muslims and all of its ene-mies are Shiites. Breaking all President Barack
Obama’s rules of disengagement, the US is nowfully engaged on the side of armed groupswhich include the most extreme Sunni Islamistmovements in the Middle East.The Independent on Sunday has learned that
a military decision has been taken in Iran — evenbefore last week’s presidential election — to senda first contingent of 4,000 Iranian RevolutionaryGuards to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against the largely Sunni rebel-lion that has cost almost 100,000 lives in justover two years. Iran is now fully committed topreserving Assad’s regime, according to pro-Iranian sources which have been deeply involvedin the Islamic Republic’s security, even to theextent of proposing to open up a new “Syrian”front on the Golan Heights against Israel.
In years to come, historians will ask howAmerica — after its defeat in Iraq and its humili-ating withdrawal from Afghanistan scheduledfor 2014 — could have so blithely aligned itselfwith one side in a titanic Islamic strugglestretching back to the seventh-century death ofthe Prophet Mohamed. The profound effects ofthis great schism, between Sunnis who believethat the father of Mohamed’s wife was the newcaliph of the Muslim world and Shias whoregard his son in law Ali as his rightful succes-sor — a seventh-century battle swamped in bloodaround the present-day Iraqi cities of Najaf andKerbala — continue across the region to this day.A 17th-century Archbishop of Canterbury,George Abbott, compared this Muslim conflictto that between “Papists and Protestants.”America’s alliance now includes the wealthiest
states of the Arab Gulf, the vast Sunni territoriesbetween Egypt and Morocco, as well as Turkeyand the fragile British-created monarchy inJordan. King Abdullah of Jordan — flooded, likeso many neighboring nations, by hundreds ofthousands of Syrian refugees — may also nowfind himself at the fulcrum of the Syrian battle.Up to 3,000 American “advisers” are nowbelieved to be in Jordan, and the creation of asouthern Syria “no-fly zone” — opposed bySyrian-controlled anti-aircraft batteries — willturn a crisis into a “hot” war. So much forAmerica’s “friends.”Its enemies include the Lebanese Hizballah,
the Alawite Shiite regime in Damascus and, ofcourse, Iran. And Iraq, a largely Shiite nationwhich America “liberated” from SaddamHussein’s Sunni minority in the hope of balanc-ing the Shiite power of Iran, has — against all USpredictions — itself now largely fallen underTehran’s influence and power. Iraqi Shiites aswell as Hizballah members, have both foughtalongside Assad’s forces.Washington’s excuse for its new Middle East
adventure — that it must arm Assad’s enemiesbecause the Damascus regime has used saringas against them — convinces no-one in theMiddle East. Final proof of the use of gas byeither side in Syria remains almost as nebulousas President George W. Bush’s claim thatSaddam’s Iraq possessed weapons of massdestruction.For the real reason why America has thrown
its military power behind Syria’s Sunni rebels isbecause those same rebels are now losing theirwar against Assad. The Damascus regime’s vic-tory this month in the central Syrian town ofQusayr, at the cost of Hizballah lives as well asthose of government forces, has thrown theSyrian revolution into turmoil, threatening tohumiliate American and EU demands for Assadto abandon power. Arab dictators are supposedto be deposed — unless they are the friendlykings or emirs of the Gulf — not to be sustained.Yet Russia has given its total support to Assad,three times vetoing UN Security Council resolu-tions that might have allowed the West to inter-vene directly in the civil war.In the Middle East, there is cynical disbelief at
the American contention that it can distributearms — almost certainly including anti-aircraftmissiles — only to secular Sunni rebel forces inSyria represented by the so-called Free SyriaArmy. The more powerful al-Nusrah Front,allied to al-Qaeda, dominates the battlefield onthe rebel side and has been blamed for atrocitiesincluding the execution of Syrian governmentprisoners of war and the murder of a 14-year oldboy for blasphemy. They will be able to takenew American weapons from their Free SyriaArmy comrades with little effort.From now on, therefore, every suicide bomb-
ing in Damascus — every war crime committedby the rebels — will be regarded in the region asWashington’s responsibility. The very Sunni-Wahabi Islamists who killed thousands ofAmericans on 11th September, 2011 — who areAmerica’s greatest enemies as well as Russia’s —are going to be proxy allies of the Obama admin-istration. This terrible irony can only be exacer-bated by Russian President Vladimir Putin’sadamant refusal to tolerate any form of Sunniextremism. His experience in Chechenya, his
anti-Muslim rhetoric — he has made obsceneremarks about Muslim extremists in a press con-ference in Russian — and his belief that Russia’sold ally in Syria is facing the same threat asMoscow fought in Chechenya, plays a far greaterpart in his policy towards Bashar al-Assad thanthe continued existence of Russia’s naval port atthe Syrian Mediterranean city of Tartous. For the Russians, of course, the “Middle East”
is not in the ‘east’ at all, but to the south ofMoscow; and statistics are all-important. TheChechen capital of Grozny is scarcely 500 milesfrom the Syrian frontier. Fifteen per cent ofRussians are Muslim. Six of the Soviet Union’scommunist republics had a Muslim majority, 90per cent of whom were Sunni. And Sunnisaround the world make up perhaps 85 per centof all Muslims. For a Russia intent on reposi-tioning itself across a land mass that includesmost of the former Soviet Union, SunniIslamists of the kind now fighting the Assadregime are its principal antagonists.Iranian sources say they liaise constantly with
Moscow, and that while Hizballah’s overall with-drawal from Syria is likely to be completed soon— with the maintenance of the militia’s ‘intelli-gence’ teams inside Syria — Iran’s support forDamascus will grow rather than wither. Theypoint out that the Taliban recently sent a formaldelegation for talks in Tehran and that Americawill need Iran’s help in withdrawing fromAfghanistan. The US, the Iranians say, will notbe able to take its armour and equipment out ofthe country during its continuing war againstthe Taliban without Iran’s active assistance.One of the sources claimed — not without somemirth — that the French were forced to leave 50tanks behind when they left because they didnot have Tehran’s help.It is a sign of the changing historical template
in the Middle East that within the framework ofold Cold War rivalries between Washington andMoscow, Israel’s security has taken second placeto the conflict in Syria. Indeed, Israel’s policiesin the region have been knocked askew by theArab revolutions, leaving its prime minister,Benjamin Netanyahu, hopelessly adrift amid thehistoric changes.Only once over the past two years has Israel
fully condemned atrocities committed by theAssad regime, and while it has given medicalhelp to wounded rebels on the Israeli-Syrian bor-der, it fears an Islamist caliphate in Damascus farmore than a continuation of Assad’s rule. Oneformer Israel intelligence commander recentlydescribed Assad as “Israel’s man in Damascus”.Only days before President Mubarak was over-thrown, both Netanyahu and King Abdullah ofSaudi Arabia called Washington to ask Obamato save the Egyptian dictator. In vain.
If the Arab world has itself been over-whelmed by the two years of revolutions, nonewill have suffered from the Syrian war in thelong term more than the Palestinians. The landthey wish to call their future state has been sopopulated with Jewish Israeli colonists that itcan no longer be either secure or “viable.”“Peace” envoy Tony Blair’s attempts to createsuch a state have been laughable. A future“Palestine” would be a Sunni nation. But today,Washington scarcely mentions the Palestinians.Another of the region’s supreme ironies is
that Hamas, supposedly the ‘super-terrorists’ ofGaza, have abandoned Damascus and now sup-port the Gulf Arabs’ desire to crush Assad.Syrian government forces claim that Hamas haseven trained Syrian rebels in the manufactureand use of homemade rockets.In Arab eyes, Israel’s 2006 war against the
Shia Hizballah was an attempt to strike at theheart of Iran. The West’s support for Syrianrebels is a strategic attempt to crush Iran. ButIran is going to take the offensive. Even for theMiddle East, these are high stakes. Against thisfearful background, the Palestinian tragedy con-tinues.
(This column by Robert Fisk originallyappeared in The Independent newspaper’s
June 16th edition. Fisk is the Middle East cor-respondent for The Independent.)
To the Editor:This year, the Armenian people turned the cor-
ner on an outdated tradition in which their voic-es are not heard, their will is not registered andtheir sacrifices are not recognized. For the firsttime in modern history, citizens of the Republicof Armenia gave shape, form and dimension totheir civic and individual rights, responsibilitiesand entitlements.While unprecedented progress was realized in
villages, towns and cities across Armenia inbreaking the cycles of cynicism and indifference,some have taken the opportunity to characterizethe lack of absolute success as absolute failure.More often than not, the sticks and stones havecome off the keyboard fingers of those who werenot there, those who do not care and those whodo not dare to make a difference themselves.The entire illustrious spectrum of named and
unnamed political leaders and political partiesvoted with their two left feet long before and wellafter Armenia’s February 18 presidential elec-tion.They decided, for their own defensible and
indefensible reasons, to do little to build nationalconsensus and the bridges across which a broadoppositional current could gain momentumAlas, the popular movement was realized despitethe idleness and inactivity of so many naturalswho could have been constructively engaged.One leader was left standing after the dust of
everyone’s disengagement had settled and thatleader was Raffi Hovannisian. He stood with hun-dreds of thousands of his fellow citizens on pres-idential election day February 18, on inaugura-tion day April 9 and on mayoral election day May5. He stood, stumbled and got right back up withthem again. He became worthy of the powerfulwords of President Theodore Roosevelt: “It is notthe critic who counts, not the man who pointshow the strong man stumbles or where the doerof deeds could have done them better. The cred-it belongs to the man who is actually in thearena, whose face is marred by dust and sweatand blood, who strives valiantly, who knows thegreat enthusiasms, the great devotions and
spends himself in a worthy cause, who, at best,knows the triumph of high achievement, andwho, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails whiledaring greatly, so that his place shall never bewith those cold and timid souls who know nei-ther victory nor defeat.”Together, Raffi and the Armenian people ush-
ered in this momentous year that, on their watch,saw hope, dignity and self-worth being returnedto the Armenian people. He provided the guidinglight and many chose the right path to freedom.He, along with legions of other devotees ofdemocracy, justice and independence, helpedgive those defining national treasures back tothe ordinary Armenian man, woman and child, adeliverance which, unlike the near-million votescast for him, can never be ignored or uncounted.To be perfectly clear, the authors of this letter
are interested individuals, interested in the futureof Armenia, interested in Raffi Hovannisian andinterested in truth beyond the puff and punditrywhich routinely populate cyberspace. We aremembers of Raffi’s family and among his friendsand colleagues.It is funny how those who are the quickest to
try to project fault on Hovannisian are the oneswho did the least to make the current reality anydifferent than what it ultimately became. In fact,by doing so very little, they did so very much tomake sure that nothing at all would change.The naysayers and critics did nothing because
most of them were afraid of their own failure andbecause some were hoping for Raffi’s. He, on theother hand, was not afraid of his own failure andwas praying against theirs.It is sad how out-of-touch some appear to be
with the real-life miracles and positive changesthat played out this year through the inspirationand leadership of Raffi Hovannisian. Neverbefore in the history of the republic in its previ-ous election cycles did so many people really,truly believe in themselves as agents of change,worthy of the God-given promises of life and lib-erty. For Armenia’s first 22 years, these sacred
promises have not been well-kept either by thosein power or by those who are liberal with theircriticism of others and conservative with theircircumspection about themselves. We arereminded of and feel compelled to refer to theappropriate lesson from the Scriptures: “Andwhy do you look at the speck of sawdust in yourbrother’s eye and pay no attention to the plankin your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3.)It is wonderful how those who did something
good continue to do something good. Raffi didso then, and does so now.It is a shame how those who did nothing con-
tinue to do nothing unless, of course, ditheringon the internet is considered something.United we did not stand, divided we did fall.Let’s get it right next time.
— Garo B. Ghazarian, Esq. Armen K. Hovannisian, Esq.
Edvin E. Minassian, Esq.Encino, Calif.
14 S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
COMMENTARY
Centennial Calls for Anti-Genocide CampaignTo the Editor:I read Ed Azadian’s excellent article
(“Defining Our Demands and Course of Actionat Threshold of Centennial,” June 8, 2013) onpreparing for the Genocide centennial and I feelcompelled to suggest that the most effectiveaction to commemorate the centennial of theArmenian Genocide would be to organize anation wide PR campaign condemning ALLgenocides on the occasion of the “FirstGenocide of the twentieth century.”
— Dr. Edgar M. HousepianNew York
Mirror, Mirror, on the WallLETTERS
Iran to Send 4,000 Troops to Aid PresidentAssad Forces in Syria
S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R 15
COMMENTARY
Talaat Killed the Ottoman CrownPrince For Opposing theArmenian Genocide? It is not often that I cover murder mysteries, but I am
making an exception given the unusual circumstances ofan Ottoman Crown Prince’s death in 1916 and its possiblelink to Talaat and the Armenian Genocide. The first clue was an article I came across in the April 3,
1921 issue of The Pittsburgh Press, titled: “PatientlyTracked to His Hiding Place and Killed: How theBloodthirsty Turkish Grand Vizier, Talaat Pasha, WhoPlanned the Murders of a Million Armenians Met His Fate.”This news report was occasioned by Soghomon Tehlirian’sassassination of Talaat on March 15, 1921, in Berlin. One paragraph, in particular, buried in the middle of the
lengthy article, contained a shocking revelation: “Perhapsthe strangest fact of all in connection with Talaat’s careeris that he paved his way to this supreme office by murder-ing the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Youssouf Eddine,a nephew of the reigning Sultan. The young prince hadprotested strongly against Talaat’s announced policy of
exterminating the Armenians. Talaat, seeing a prospect ofserious opposition, shot the prince like a dog.” To ascertain the veracity of this surprising news item, I
conducted a lengthy internet search and consulted publi-cations in English, French, Turkish, Spanish, andArmenian, based on the different spellings of the Prince’sname: Youssouf Eddine, Yusuf Izzeddin, Yusuf Izzettin, etc. While most of these sources agree that the Crown Prince
died under suspicious circumstances, they present threedistinct narratives on how he met his untimely death.There is even an entire Turkish book on this mystery, titled:‘Shehzade Yusuf Izzedin olduruldu mu, intihar mi etti?’[Crown Prince Yusuf Izzedin was killed or committed sui-cide?]. The first account is the one mentioned by The
Pittsburgh Press claiming that the Crown Prince was killedby Talaat for opposing the extermination of the Armenianpeople. The second explanation for the premature death of the
Crown Prince is that he committed suicide by slashing hiswrists. The Young Turk government issued the followingofficial announcement on Feb. 3, 1916: “In consequence ofthe malady from which he suffered so long, His Highnessthe Heir to the throne committed suicide at half-past seventhis morning in the bedroom of the harem pavilion of thesummer-house at Zindjirly, by opening the veins of his leftarm.” This formal statement was met with widespread skepti-
cism, giving rise to a third explanation for the CrownPrince’s demise. French Minister of State Yves Guyot, inthe preface to his book’s English edition, ‘The Causes andConsequences of the War,’ published in 1916, wrote thatthose who had read the official communiqué were con-
vinced that the Young Turks “made the heir to the throne‘commit suicide.’ Information from many quarters confirmsthat suspicion.”Guyot and other chroniclers asserted that War Minister
Enver Pasha had Izzeddin killed for opposing the Ottomanalliance with Germany during World War I. “After the bom-bardment of Odessa by the Turkish fleet he [Izzeddin] indi-cated his disapproval in no uncertain manner. From thatmoment he was doomed,” wrote the French Minister. Guyot also described in detail a secret meeting in 1915
attended by Talaat, Enver and other Young Turk leaders,during which Enver advocated the elimination of theCrown Prince, who was “assassinated on the day before hewas to start for Europe,” according to Guyot. Bishop Grigoris Balakian, a prominent survivor of the
Armenian Genocide, affirms in his memoirs, ‘ArmenianGolgotha,’ that the Crown Prince was “killed by Enver andTalaat’s criminal clique…. Enver himself killed YusufIzzedin at the imperial farm of Balmomji.” Having wit-nessed the dead bodies of thousands of Turkish soldiers atthe Battle of the Dardanelles, the Crown Prince protestedto Enver that “the Dardanelles is the grave of the TurkishArmy.” He was murdered after threatening Enver with apistol.Those who think that the assassination of a Crown
Prince is too far-fetched to be credible should realize thatsuch palace intrigues were a common practice during thelong history of the Ottoman Empire. All too often, Sultanswould orchestrate the murder of scheming heirs, and rivalsiblings would kill each other to pave the way for their ownaccession to the throne. In fact, 15 of the 36 reigningSultans either abdicated (3), were overthrown (7) or weremurdered (5).
My TurnBy Harut Sassounian
By Sevag Tateosian
Each year on April 24, Armeniansaround the world commemorate one ofthe darkest times of recent memory andthe darkest period of the Armenian peo-ple’s 3,500-year history. No matter whichcountry around the world you visit, theArmenian diaspora, comprised of the off-spring of survivors, holds events dedicat-ed to remembering the 1.5 million whoperished and the countless others whowere kidnapped and tortured.Each year I join Fresno’s Armenian-
American community at Fresno’s City Hallto commemorate this period by raisingboth the US and Armenians flags to showsolidarity between the two countries.Words cannot express how supportive themayor, City Council and City Hall staffhave been. From the parking division tothe facilities department to the securitystaff, they all work together and make iteasy for us to observe this sad event.Commemorating is personal for me
because of my own family’s story, which Iknow because of an audio tape left by mygrandfather prior to his death. The tapedescribed just how horrific the acts of theOttoman Turkish soldiers were. In detail,he tells of being forced out of his homeand losing his father and brother duringthe march through the desert. Words can-not describe the scene he witnessedalong the way.While advocating for the official recog-
nition of the Genocide, Valley lawmakershave always been supportive of a just andaccurate representation of the events thatoccurred. Recently, freshman Rep. DavidValadao and the rest of the delegationfrom the central San Joaquin Valley —Representatives Jim Costa, Devin Nunesand Jeff Denham — co-sponsored HouseResolution 227, the Armenian GenocideTruth and Justice Act. Despite pressurefrom the Turkish government, these menstood up for what is right and that makesme proud to be a Valley resident.However, not everyone is supportive of
labeling the tragedy as Genocide. Twocommon questions that continuously arepresented to me are: it was so long ago,
why should we care? And why don’t yougo back home and fight for recognitionthere?I tell people that forgetting any atrocity
of this magnitude is difficult. I have spenta lot of time talking to elder Armenian-Americans in the Fresno area. The pain intheir eyes when telling the stories of theirparents and, in some cases, themselves,provides me motivation to continue themission to have the Turkish governmentrecognize and apologize for the actions oftheir predecessors.Armenian-Americans have thrived in
Fresno and throughout the Valley. Frompolitics to business to development to lawand many other fields, Armenian-Americans have contributed substantial-ly. It is important to know the history ofthis group of people who ended up here.The bulk of the population came becauseof the Genocide. Today, we see evidenceof the Armenian-American community allaround us.As to the argument that I should go
“home” and continue my fight there, withall due respect, I am home. My house isin west Fresno. My job, friends and fami-ly are all here. I was also educated inFresno area schools and my writing andspeaking English far outshines my abilityto read and write Armenian. AsAmericans (me included), we have aunique history. We all bring to this coun-try a special story and reason for cominghere. The Fresno area is no exception.Just look around you while out in ourcommunity. Each face has a differentstory and reason for coming here.Please do not ask me to forget my his-
tory and I will not ask you to forget yours.This diversity makes Fresno County sucha great place to live. This is “home” to meand the many others who ended up herefrom their historic homelands.We are Americans, but each of us has a
story that started on a different land andin a different place. I see no problem insharing that story. It helps us understandand respect each other better. I don’tknow about you, but I am here for thelong run.
(This editorial originally appeared inthe June 14 edition of the Fresno Bee.)
The Armenian Lion AwakensIn Los AngelesGreater Los Angeles has been a mecca for Armenian immigration for more than 100 years, as early
as the Turkish massacres of Armenians in 1895-96 and the Armenian Genocide of 1915.In the last four decades, the city has attracted an increasingly large number of immigrants from the
Middle East as well as from the former SovietRepublic of Armenia, which gained its indepen-dence after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.This complex yet vibrant community of
Hayastanci — Armenians from Armenia proper —have been notably absent from politics and public service, albeit for understandable reasons.Emigrating from the harsh politics and government policies of a communist regime, they learned notto rely on government for even their most basic needs. Their presence in the US has focused on rebuild-ing their lives and consolidating their presence through diligence and hard work. Embracing their free-doms in their newly adopted homeland, politics has become symbolic of past baggage.These apathetic political feelings changed last year when one of their own decided to run for pub-
lic office in East Hollywood. The show of unity and force became unprecedented for this community.When Sam Kbushyan, a former board member of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council and
executive director of the IC Foundation, decided to run for LA City Council District 13, he registeredthousands of Armenians in the district within several months. Perhaps even Kbushyan did not realizethe far-reaching implications of his personal initiative, which became a powerful drive not only or voterregistration but also for community empowerment and democracy-building.Even though Kbushyan lost in the primary election, he came in an impressive 3rd place to the sur-
prise of residents and city hall power-brokers alike. Kbushyan soon endorsed local candidate MitchO’Farrell over newcomer John Choi, and his loyal Armenian supporters helped secure O’Farrell’s vic-tory on May 21. About a quarter of the approximately 20,000 voters in the election were Armenians,mostly registered by Kbushyan. With the elections over, LA’s District 13 and its neighborhood of LittleArmenia inherited a politically-energized and newly-registered immigrant population from Armeniaproper — a victorious community that almost overnight gained the respect that it once did nothave, even amongst its own.The impact of Hollywood’s immigrant Armenian community on District 13 is quickly becoming a
benchmark for other parts of the city, particularly in the San Fernando Valley, where large communi-ties of Armenians reside. For many, the half a million-strong Armenian community in the greater LAarea represents an electoral goldmine that could sway many local elections.With continued community organizing and voter registration, the immigrant Armenian communi-
ties from Armenia could quickly become a powerful voting block within LA that will have national andeven international implications.The 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide is fast approaching, along with numerous impor-
tant local, state and national elections. The newly empowered population of immigrants from Armeniamay hold the key to the success of the highly regarded Armenian lobby in the US, including their abil-ity to further influence Congress as well as the president on critical issues such as the official recog-nition of the Armenian Genocide and a peaceful and just solution to the Nagorno-Karabagh conflictgrounded in the principle of self-determination for its native Armenian population. Already consideredby many to be the second most influential ethnic lobby after the Jewish lobby in Washington DC,Armenian prominence at the national level has serious potential to grow considering their new suc-cesses in California — the nation’s most populous and most powerful state.Given the internal feuds amongst the different Armenian factions in LA and beyond — which once
again surfaced during the May elections — the bigger question is whether Armenians will transcendtheir differences and the interests of a few personal fiefdoms to collaborate for the benefit of theirnational cause? This will serve as a test of the community’s maturity and fortitude during this signif-icant time in the history of this ancient nation.
(Harout Harry Semerdjian is a PhD Candidate at the University of Oxford. He holds MA degreesfrom the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and the University of California,Los Angeles. He is also a council member of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council. This article
originally appeared on Hetq.am on June 24, 2013.)
Why I fight for ArmenianGenocide Recognition
By Harout Harry Semerdjian
S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R16
