California Courier Online, February 10, 2005
1 – Commentary
TARC Moderator’s Book Reveals
Initiative’s Anti-Armenian Intent
By Harut Sassounian
California Courier Publisher
2 – Hovnanian Enterprises Listed 5th
By Forbes as Best Big Company
3 – Southern California Armenian Man Pledges
To Raise $1 Million for US Troops’ Families
4 – United Human Rights Council
Campaigns Against Turkish Goods
5 – Djabourian Runs for
Pico Rivera City Council
6 – Tashjian Opens Exhibit
In New Mexico Senate
7 – Numismatic Society Needs
Donations to Publish Book
8 – Surmelian’s Play to be Performed at
L.A. Public Library, Feb. 2-March 11
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1 – Commentary
TARC Moderator’s Book Reveals
Initiative’s Anti-Armenian Intent
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
David Phillips, the moderator of the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation
Commission, is about to publish a book that discloses the true motives of
those who initiated and supported TARC.
Based on an advanced copy of Phillips’s book, “Unsilencing the Past: Track
Two Diplomacy and Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation,” analyst Emil Danielyan
wrote two lengthy reports last week for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Here are some of the highlights of Phillips’s interesting revelations, as
reported by Danielyan:
— Phillips confirms that the US government was the driving force behind
TARC. The idea was suggested to him by Undersecretary of State for
Political Affairs Marc Grossman, the number three figure in the State
Department under the Clinton and Bush administrations. TARC held its first
meeting in Vienna in early 2001.
— Phillips acknowledges that the State Department provided “some of TARC’s
direct costs.” All of the sources of TARC’s funds and their uses have not
been made public.
— Phillips accuses Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian of reneging on his
pledge to support TARC. Apparently, he would have preferred that Oskanian
continue backing TARC, even after it became clear that TARC was a clever
ploy to undermine the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
— Phillips bitterly complains: “Instead of standing by its commitments,
the Kocharian government ran for cover.” This made Phillips so furious that
he slammed the Kocharian regime in an op-ed column in the Wall Street
Journal by calling it “corrupt and inept,” and accusing Pres. Kocharian of
“running a mafia state.”
— Phillips attributes Oskanian’s change of mind on TARC to criticism from
Armenian “nationalist circles.” Once TARC’s anti-Armenian intent became
clear, just about everyone in Armenia and the Diaspora opposed this
sinister initiative. Shortly after TARC’s creation, one of its Turkish
members, Ozdem Sanberk, even gave an interview acknowledging that the
purpose of this initiative was to block the international recognition of
the Armenian Genocide.
— Gunduz Aktan, a Turkish member of TARC, who repeatedly and aggressively
denies the Armenian Genocide, put his foot in his mouth by suggesting that
an independent panel of experts review the facts of the Genocide. TARC
engaged the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) for that
purpose. Aktan boasted that he would “destroy” the ICTJ experts with his
legal arguments during his testimony. Phillips says that Aktan appeared
“nervous” after making his presentation. Aktan had good reason to be
nervous. The ICTJ qualified the events of 1915 as genocide.
— Trying to give importance to his own efforts, Phillips claims that
Turkey came within an inch of opening its border with Armenia in the summer
of 2003. Showing his political naiveté, Phillips says in his book: “I had
hoped that Ankara would quietly open its border sometime during the dead of
summer, when everyone was on holiday and not paying attention.”
— Phillips writes that when Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul came to
Washington in July 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vice President
Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and National Security
Advisor Condoleezza Rice reminded him at every meeting that “the issue of
genocide recognition was not going away. He was told that real progress was
the best way of deflecting pressure.” Not surprisingly, the US officials’
real intent for pressuring Turkey into opening its border with Armenia was
not the improvement of Armenia’s economy, but the removal of the nettlesome
Armenian Genocide issue from the agenda of the Congress.
— As further evidence of the sinister intent of the Bush Administration,
Phillips writes that Vice President Cheney personally intervened by
lobbying against a congressional resolution that barely mentioned the
Armenian Genocide. “Cheney worked the phones and was assured by [House
Speaker] Dennis Hastert that [the resolution] would be kept from the House
floor,” Phillips says.
— In an interesting revelation, Phillips reports that Pres. Kocharian was
highly infuriated when the Armenian Genocide resolution was blocked by
Pres. Clinton and Speaker Hastert. A month later, when Pres. Kocharian
received Stephen Sestanovich, an assistant secretary of state in the
Clinton administration, the Armenian President was “in a foul mood and
railed against Clinton’s betrayal,” Phillips says. This is yet another
indication that Armenian officials, not just the Diaspora, care deeply
about the Genocide issue.
— Phillips reveals that he helped arrange the controversial February 2001
interview between Pres. Kocharian and prominent Turkish journalist Mehmet
Ali Birand that “helped mollify [Turkish] concerns about Armenia’s
intentions.” Apparently, Phillips promised Pres. Kocharian that should he
make conciliatory statements during the interview, the Turks would then
open the border with Armenia. Pres. Kocharian kept his end of the bargain.
Phillips did not or could not, since the border remained closed!
— Phillips wrongly blames “Armenian nationalists” for both of his failures
– inability to have Turkey lift its blockade of Armenia and collapse of the
reconciliation efforts. Phillips refuses to acknowledge that his profound
ignorance of Armenian-Turkish issues played a much greater role in his
failures than anything said or done by so-called Armenian nationalists.
More on Phillips’s escapades, once we get hold of his book!
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2 – Hovnanian Enterprises Listed 5th
By Forbes as Best Big Company
RED BANK, N.J., (PRNewswire-FirstCall) — Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc., a
leading national homebuilder, announced last week that for the fourth
consecutive year it has been named to Forbes Platinum 400, an annual
listing of “America’s Best Big Companies.” Hovnanian ranked fifth on the
list based on five-year annualized total return.
To make the list, a firm must have revenue of more than $1 billion and rank
in the upper half of one of 26 industry groups in Forbes’ composite scoring
for return on capital, sales growth and earnings growth. Forbes also
considers a company’s accounting and corporate governance practices.
“In 2004, we once again achieved significant returns on capital, as well as
revenue and earnings growth, and we are honored that Forbes has recognized
this outstanding performance and acknowledged us as one of America’s Best
Big Companies,” said Ara K. Hovnanian, President and Chief Executive
Officer of the Company. “Our achievements are a direct result of the
efforts of our operating management teams and talented associates across
the Company. We expect to continue our strong performance in 2005 as we
build on our solid market position and implement further improvements to
our operating processes.”
Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. founded in 1959 by Kevork S. Hovnanian,
Chairman, is headquartered in Red Bank, New Jersey. The Company is one of
the nation’s largest homebuilders with operations in Arizona,
California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Michigan,
Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas,
Virginia and West Virginia. As the developer of K. Hovnanian’s Four Seasons
communities, the Company is also one of the nation’s largest builders of
active adult homes.
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3 – Southern California Armenian Man Pledges
To Raise $1 Million for US Troops’ Families
CAMARILLO, CA – Armen Eloyan of Camarillo, Calif., has promised to raise
over a million dollars to help the US military families left behind cope
with everyday problems. Eloyan has volunteered his own
money and time to launching a “One Nation” wristband campaign for Operation
Homefront.
As American troops are being asked to shoulder more responsibility and
danger, their families also feel the
burden. Often it is financial. Many troops leave behind young families for
whom the daily task of life can become overwhelming hardships.
Operation Homefront was established in the aftermath of the September 11th
disaster to channel volunteer and monetary aid to the families of troops
stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. The program has successfully
helped thousands of military families deal with everything from car repair
to extremes like homelessness. Their recent pairing with the entrepreneur
is reaping thousands of dollars of aid to families in need, although much
more is needed to meet the climbing demand.
As an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Eloyan is grateful to
American troops for ensuring the rights of all people around the world.
The wristband campaign consisting of selling red silicone “One Nation”
wristbands, similar to those popularized by the Lance Armstrong Foundation,
with 100 percent of proceeds going directly to Operation Homefront.
So far the campaign has netted thousands of dollars for families and Eloyan
is optimistic about reaching his one million dollar goal within the year.
The wristbands can be purchased on the Operation Homefront website as well
as on For more information and to find out how
you can help the families of American troops, contact: Mamie Maywhort,
Homefront Foundation Comptroller, email: [email protected]
phone: (949) 248-9468.
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4 – United Human Rights Council
Campaigns Against Turkish Goods
GLENDALE – On Jan. 29, the United Human Rights Council (UHRC) held its
first large-scale fact strip distribution of they year. Members visited
Armenian grocery stores in both Glendale and Pasadena, providing them with
informative flyers about human rights abuses committed by the Turkish
government. Store clerks and managers were urged to place the flyers on
their checkout counters for customers to pick up.
According to Ani Garibyan, one of the organizers of Saturday’s action, the
UHRC regularly carries out such fact strip distributions in order to “raise
the awareness of Armenian consumers” about buying Turkish products.
“We figure that if we want to stop Armenians from buying Turkish products,
the best thing to do is to directly go to the stores where they shop,”
stated Garibyan.
Many of those who took part in the distribution explained that most store
managers were receptive to their campaign. Several clerks even insisted on
putting the fact strips in the grocery bags of customers.
In addition, the UHRC members conducted a survey of Armenian shoppers at
the stores they visited. Customers were asked a series of questions
regarding Turkish products being sold in Armenian stores, including whether
or not they realized that the Turkish government receives tax revenue from
companies exporting such products to the U.S. The results of the survey
will be used to help structure future campaigns aimed towards ridding
Turkish products from Southern California stores.
The United Human Rights Council (UHRC), by means of action on a grassroots
level, works toward correcting the human rights violations of those
governments who distort, deny, and delude their own history to disguise
past and present genocides, massacres, and human rights violations. The
UHRC is a collective of concerned citizens, including a diverse spectrum of
members and supporters from various community- based organizations and
student associations of universities and colleges.
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5 – Djabourian Runs for
Pico Rivera City Council
PICO RIVERA, Calif. – Surprising local political scene observers,
19-year-old Natalie Djabourian entered the political race for one of the
two open seats in the Pico Rivera City Council. Elections are set for March
8 in the suburb southeast of Los Angeles.
Currently on the Dean’s Honor List as a student at the University of
California, Irvine, Djabourian graduated from Mesrobian Armenian School in
June of 2004 as a valedictorian. Six months earlier, she graduated Cum
Laude from East Los Angeles College, receiving an Associate in Arts.
Despite her young age, Djabourian has not stayed away from performing her
civic duty, by volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club of Whittier, the
YMCA Headstart Program in Montebello and at the Admitting Department of
Beverly Hospital, also in Montebello.
Currently, she majors in English and minors in Political Science and
Philosophy at UCI, while tutoring graduate students in ESL.
Her political platform includes increasing public safety along with
after-school programs to keep youth and adolescent off the streets. She
also plans to better the appearance of the city by instituting
graffiti-fighting programs and help eliminate the image of Pico Rivera and
its perceived association with crime.
On the business side, she hopes to bring new businesses into the city to
increase the tax-base in the city and to preclude residents from long
drives for their shopping needs.
Djabourian can be contacted at her e-mail:[email protected].
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6 – Tashjian Opens Exhibit
In New Mexico Senate
SANTA FE, New Mexico – An exhibition of paintings by Richard Tashjian
opened Jan. 23, in the office of the President Pro-Tempore of the New
Mexico Senate, Den Altamirano. The exhibition will be open until March 20,
through the Legislative session.
Tashjian, a former resident of Watertown, Mass., is now residing in Santa
Fe, where he is being represented by a Taos gallery and a Santa Fe gallery.
The exhibition was made possible by New Millenniun Fine Art Gallery of
Santa Fe.
Tashjian has successfully captured on canvas colorful scenes from Santa Fe
and Taos, representing the true colors of the American Southwest.
Recent works of oil and acrylic paintings depict the cliff’s O’Keefe
painted in Ghost Ranch near Abiqiu, Taos in the Fall, cliffs near Gallup,
and snow-covered Ortiz Mountains near Madrid, New Mexico.
Senator Altamirano welcomed Tashjian and the exhibition warmly on opening
day.
For further information, contact Tashjian at (505) 955-1578.
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7 – Numismatic Society Needs
Donations to Publish Book
PICO RIVERA, Calif. – The Armenian Numismatic Society, based in Pico
Rivera, Calif., is soliciting donations from members and the public at
large to help publish Y.T. Nercessian’s “Silver Coinage of the Artaxiad
Dynasty in Armenia.”
The book is an extended and upgraded compilation of three study works that
were published in the “Armenian Numismatic Journal.”
The book is expected to encompass 200 pages of text and 96 plates to
include about 600 coins, far more than the original few hundred though to
have been struck during the reign of Tigranes II. According to Nercessian’s
extensive research into auction catalogues, books, museums and collectors,
832 coins have been classified.
Nercessian expects to have the book ready for printing in late 2005.
According to preliminary bids, the publishing expense is expected to be
near $15,000.
The Executive Board of the Armenian Numismatic Society decided to create a
“Table of Gratuity,” in the book, acknowledging the donors. All donors will
have their names published in alphabetical order. Each donor of $100 or
more will receive a free copy of the publication. As before, the names and
the amount of funds accumulated will be published in the “Armenian
Numismatic Journal.”
Donations can be sent to the Society, attention of M. W. Gewenian,
Treasurer, 8511 Beverly Park Place, Pico Rivera, CA 90660-1920.
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8 – Surmelian’s Play to be Performed at
L.A. Public Library, Feb. 2-March 11
LOS ANGELES – The Cornerstone Theater Company will present Leon Z.
Surmelian’s “I Ask You, Ladies & Gentlemen,” at the Los Angeles Public
Library’s Central Library. Eighteen weekday performances have been
scheduled, starting Feb. 2 through March 11.
The two-hour program is free for students and begins at 10:30 a.m. The
performances are appropriate for seventh-12th grade students. The text
contains explicit language relating to war and death.
Adapted by Yehuda Hyman and directed by Christopher Liam Moore, the play is
the true story of an Armenian orphan boy whose brace and poetic spirit
guides him through a tragic odyssey in his war-torn country and propels him
into a new life in America.
The Cornerstone Theater’s mission is to promote reading, inspire writing,
increase critical thinking and introduce theater to young people. After
each performance, students participate in a post-show discussion and poetry
writing exercise.
Teachers will receive a resource guide. Pre-show discussion questions are
available online at , or will be faxed to
teachers prior to the performance.
For reservations and information, call Pesha Rudnick at (213) 613-1700 ext.
38.
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress