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EXPORTED INFAMY: GEORGIAN ARMENIAN CONFESSES TO TERRORIST ACT DURING
BUSH VISIT
By Suren Deheryan and John Hughes
ArmeniaNow reporters
An ethnic Armenian who is a citizen of Georgia has confessed to
throwing a grenade toward the stage where US President George W. Bush
greeted well-wishers during the president’s visit to the Georgian
capital May 10.
Vladimer Arutyunian, 27, was arrested Wednesday (July 20) following
a gunfight with police in which Ministry of Internal Affairs Officer
Zurab Kvlividze was killed, and Arutyunian himself was wounded. Police
say Arutyunian initiated the gunfight, but it is not clear whether
the policeman was shot by Arutyunian.
(The man’s name is variously reported as “Arutiniani” and
“Arutyunian”. His Georgian passport holds the name “Arutunov”. It
is common for Armenians in Georgia to alter the spelling to a more
“Georgian-ized” variant.)
Georgia’s Minister of Interior, Vano Merabishvili announced that
Arutyunian confessed, to doctors, from a hospital bed. As of today
(July 22), formal charges have not been filed against Arutyunian,
who is said to have three wounds from which he is expected to
recover. There have been no direct comments from Arutyunian himself.
On May 10, tens of thousands gathered in Tbilisi’s Freedom Square
to greet the US President. While Bush stood with Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili and other dignitaries, a grenade was thrown and
landed some 100 feet from the stage.
The device did not detonate, and there were no injuries. Georgia’s
Interior Ministry first described the implement as a Soviet-era
training grenade, saying that it was harmless. Later, however, the
US Embassy in Georgia called it “a live device that simply failed
to function”.
Georgian officials have also said that the grenade was made in Armenia.
Colonel Vreg Isrealyan, of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia told
ArmeniaNow that Armenian officials believe the device was home-made,
and it is impossible to say where it might have been made.
The New York Times () reported today that Merabishvili
has said that Arutyunian is “a member of a separatist party that
supported the deposed leader of Ajaria, a region formerly out of
Georgia’s federal control that rejoined the nation last year . . .”
According to the Times, Arutyunian is unemployed and lives with
his mother.
Van Bayburd, a member of the Georgian Parliament and editor-in-chief
of Georgia’s Armenian-language “Vrastan” newspaper told ArmeniaNow
that the Arutyunians are Georgian-speaking Armenians who are “a very
poor family.
“The mother, Anzhela, is an intellectual, a former French language
teacher, who now earns her living selling napkins on the market. And
they are so poor that the mother cannot afford to pay for the elevator
and has to use the stairs to get to the fourth floor every time.”
A search of their residence on Wednesday night found more grenades,
military manuals and a (Russian) copy of “The Day of the Jackal”,
a novel about an assassination plot against Charles de Gaulle.
On Monday, Georgian officials released photographs of the suspected
terrorist and a reward of more than $80,000 was offered for information
about him. A tip to authorities led to the altercation and eventual
arrest of Arutyunian.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation cooperated with Georgian
authorities during the investigation. The US Embassy in Georgia called
the arrest “a model for international law enforcement cooperation”.
The arrest of Arutyunian comes amid growing tensions between ethnic
Armenians and Georgians (see “Bad Blood”).
According to REGNUM news agency (), the General Prosecutor
of Georgia, Zurab Adeishvili, played down Arutyunian’s ethnicity.
“The suspect,” Adeishvili said “is a citizen of Georgia and the
incident occurred in Georgia and has (no relevance) to Armenia.”
Ethnic Armenian Georgian MP Bayburd also said the event should not
have negative bearings on neighborhood relations:
“I am convinced that this incident will not affect Armenian-Georgian
relations,” he said. “Many even speculate that Russian forces are
behind this guy. But I am convinced that Arutyunian has nothing to
do with any special services. Had he been executing the assignment
of any country, then after the (May 10) incident he would have been
evacuated from the country and isolated by the forces who commissioned
the crime.”
(Information for this report was also gathered from )
BAD BLOOD: CLASH IN AKHALKALAK THE LATEST EVIDENCE OF TENSIONS
IN GEORGIA
By Aris Ghazinyan ArmeniaNow Reporter
The situation in the Samtskhe-Javakheti province of Georgia, where half
of the population is Armenian, continues to be unstable. Tension has
existed between the Armenian population and the Georgians since 1990,
and have grown more tense since March, when the government of Georgia
decided to withdraw a Russian military base (where many Armenians
are employed) in Akhalkalak.
Matters intensified last weekend in the Akhalkalak region, when
residents of the Armenian-populated village of Samsar barred entrance
for Georgian students as well as representatives of the Georgian
clergy to the 12th century Armenian church of Surb Gevorg. As
some participants told ArmeniaNow, the action was in protest of the
destruction of several Armenian khachkars (stone crosses) situated in
the vestibule of the church, by students. (The Georgian Prosecutor’s
Office initiated two criminal proceedings related to the vandalism.)
“Everything began on July 15, when a group of Georgian students, church
ministers and nuns – 30 people all in all – arrived in the village and
made themselves comfortable in the church territory,” Samsar villager
Arakel Mahtesyan told ArmeniaNow. “This caused a certain concern
among the villagers, as the process of Georgianization of Armenian
churches long ago went beyond the boundaries of our province. Only
a few years ago someone scratched Georgian letters on the walls of
this very church.”
Mahtesyan said some members of the Georgian party carried ladders
and spades.
“It is remarkable that the group was accompanied by representatives
of the regional militia, as well as members of the provincial
administration,” villager Armen Kirakosyan said. “Students put up
tents in the church vestibule, and militia explained to us that the
group had come here for summer vacation. However, what we saw on the
third day of their stay dispelled our doubts. The broken khachkars –
one of the major symbols of the church’s Armenian identity – forced
us to retaliate.”
Villager Aram Kalantaryan said a fight broke out, during which one
Georgian clergy drew a knife and, after the clash said: “This puts
an end to Armenian-Georgian brotherhood”.
The old Armenian village of Samsar situated 30 kilometers from the
regional center of Akhalkalaki, was always famous for its church,
which was a place of pilgrimage for the residents of the area.
Villagers say the Georgians plan to build a monastery on the church
site.
“Such behavior of the Georgians testifies about the continuation of
the policy aimed against the architectural monuments of Armenian
spiritual culture,” said Superior of the Surb Khach Church Samuel
Torosyan. Residents of the Akhalkalaki region blame the local diocese
of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
On July 19, a meeting was held at the building of the Akhalkalaki
regional administration between members of the “United Javakhk”
Union and the unregistered “Viryu” organization. The meeting was
also attended by the authorized representative of the President of
Georgia in Samtskhe-Javakheti Giorgi Khachidze, head of the regional
administration Artur Yeremyan and head of the Samtskhe-Javakheti
diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Father Babken Salbiyan.
During the meeting the sides discussed a broad spectrum of
Armenian-Georgian relations, including the events of last weekend. It
was mentioned during the meeting that only three months ago a bilateral
Armenian-Georgian agreement was reached about the so-called “disputable
churches”, on which no one – either juridical or physical persons, are
entitled to dispute the belonging of any “disputed cultural facility”
until the Armenian Apostolic Church acquires a state status in Georgia.
The participants of the meeting said that this agreement was violated
by the Georgian side on July 15-17. As the “Javakhk-info” news agency
reports, Khachidze stated during the meeting that no such incidents
will occur in the future.
“The events of July 15-17 in the Akhalkalaki region are, of course,
another provocation, however, today one should barely pay attention
to the details,” says political analyst Petros Arakelyan. “Similar
manifestations took place in the past and take place always and they
are only a tip of the iceberg. Now there is a vital need to develop
normal and constant contact between official representatives of both
neighboring states with discussions of concrete problems. Only in
this case will it become possible to prevent more radical forms of
outbreak of tensions.”
“Currently, official Tbilisi and Yerevan continue to think that
it is the economic factor is the chief problem of the region,”
historian and political scientist Armen Ayvazyan told ArmeniaNow. “The
short-sightedness and artificial nature of such an approach is beyond
doubt and it is fraught with unpredictable and undesirable consequences
for both states. A strictly economic factor is only separate, and
can be even the last link in a longer chain of problems surrounding
the areas of compact residence of Armenians.
Ayvazyan speculates that failure to settle tensions in the Armenian
community of Georgia could lead to an exodus of Armenians, who would
likely be replaced by Meskhet Turks.
“The Turkic ring around Armenian statehood would be completed,”
Ayvazyan says, “for all the exits from Armenia to the outer world
would lie through Turkic-populated territories.”
SUMMER REMEDIES: ARMENIAN HEALTH OFFICIALS WARN OF PERILS OF HOT
WEATHER
By Julia Hakobyan ArmeniaNow Reporter
Armenian health specialists invited journalists on Wednesday to share
their concerns, raise public awareness and give tips to the population
on how to cope with what they are calling the hottest July since 1980.
Last Sunday (July 17), the republic’s southernmost city, Meghri,
registered 43C (109.4 F), while in Yerevan the Ararat valley and
Yerevan the thermometers hit around 39C (102.2F).
This July is hotter than last, by an average of 3C and, as they do
each summer, health care specialists are especially concerned about
the effects of heat on the elderly, on the pregnant, on children,
and on those suffering chronic ailments such as diabetes.
Nune Zhamkochyan, the deputy head of the Shtapognutyun ambulance
service says from the beginning of July their service received some
450 calls, at least 100 more than in the same period last year.
Ara Asoyan, the republic’s Chief Epidemiologist says that the number
of patients in infections hospitals increased by 25 percent comparing
to spring. But, he says, there is no cause for panic.
The health specialists recommend avoiding draughts, staying inside
during the hours of 12-6 p.m., and distaining from alcohol.
During the press conference Asoyan addressed a special message to
Armenian youth: to give up their habit of wearing black clothes in
these days, and drink matsun, which promotes digestion.
The specialists also say they are concerned with the bad quality of
street food and home-preserved canned products which they say the
Armenians abuse.
“Cases of botulisms are registered in the republic since the
beginning of the summer,”Asoyan says. “The reason is that now, when
the season of home preserving is in its full swing, Armenian women
do not through away the products kept since last year, which causes
the food poisoning.”
The doctors also recommend taking baths several times a day, but
warning of a danger of swimming in the city’s pools and reservoirs.
The heat makes many people to find escape in the water reservoirs,
rivers and ponds, but apart from a danger of catching of infection,
people directly risk their lives.
According to data from Armenia’s Emergency department, since April
to July 26 people have drowned, 10 of them children.
ArmGidroMet, the metrological office in Yerevan does not raise hopes
for any significant drop in temperature. However Zaruhi Petrosyan,
the Chief Specialist of ArmGidroMet says that temperatures in August
should not be higher than normal.
Petrosyan says that that their service is concerned with the false
weather data provided to the population via TV. All Armenian local
channels broadcast the meteoforecast, however only few take the data
of ArmGidroMet; others use the Russian Internet resources.
HIGH-TECH HELP: SYNOPSYS IT COMPANY ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR “SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY”
By Suren Musayelyan ArmeniaNow Reporter
Seven months into its first year of operation in Armenia, the world’s
hi-tech giant Synopsys has announced the establishment of a charitable
foundation to assist local talented youths.
The Synopsys Outreach Charitable Foundation for Armenia is set to
unfold its activities in two program sections: educational and social.
The Foundation’s educational plans include equipping distance-learning
classrooms in universities to create sustainable opportunities for
ongoing professional engineering education, while the social part
will focus on special programs and donations.
Synopsys, a world leader in electronic design automation software
for semiconductor design that has offices in more than 60 locations
in the world, hopes that its support to specialized hi-tech education
will inspire new generations of students to continue the long-standing
Armenian tradition of engineering excellence.
At the launching of the charitable foundation on Thursday Rich Goldman,
Vice-President of Strategic Market Development and Synopsys Armenia
CEO, said the company hopes that by providing universities with the
latest technology and concepts in electronic design automation and
semiconductor design, teacher training and support, it will enable
the engineering community to steadily increase the quality of its
design work and advance the hi-tech industry.
“We hope to be able to make some difference by contributing to
organizations that are less fortunate than us. For us a very important
aspect of the future is education of tomorrow’s specialists in Armenia
and hi-tech and engineering are very important aspects for Armenia,”
said Goldman.
Goldman said that Synopsys will continue and strengthen its partnership
with the State Engineering University of Armenia.
Synopsys Armenia SG Executive Director Hovik Musayelyan said the
company’s revenues last year made $1.2 billion and reiterated that
its entrance into Armenia was a landmark event for the country’s IT
industry. Musayelyan said Synopsys currently has about $270 million
invested in Armenia.
“Synopsys implements large-scale charitable actions worldwide and it
is not a coincidence that it is doing charity in Armenia as well,”
he added.
The Foundation is also funding the “President of the Republic of
Armenia Awards” to honor the best students in the IT industry and to
sponsor school physics-mathematics Olympiads.
Presidential advisor Vigen Sargsyan welcomed the establishment of the
Foundation and the new phenomenon in Armenia that he called “business
social responsibility” when a company expects long-term development
in a society where it works.
Sargsyan also welcomed the social part of the Foundation’s plans
targeting disabled people and socially vulnerable groups in Armenia.
The Foundation’s Board of Trustees member Tony Moroyan put emphasis on
the commitment of Synopsys to Armenia and said that the establishment
of the foundation is the testimony of this commitment.
“Despite its long-standing hi-tech traditions in the Soviet times
Armenia was struggling to survive in the early 90s and it was
difficult to talk about hi-tech then. Synposys’s entrance here was
a historic moment that punctuated and changed the history of the
hi-tech industry in Armenia,” he stressed. “The establishment of this
foundation testifies to another significant thing – the company’s
multidimensional commitment to Armenia.”
ICE AGE: OUTDOOR RINK TO MAKE “SWAN LAKE” YEAR-ROUND RECREATION SITE
By Arpi Harutyunyan ArmeniaNow Reporter
While Yerevan residents smother in temperatures of 38 or more
(100-plus Fahrenheit), the city’s first outdoor ice skating rink is
being constructed promising winter recreation beginning in October.
“Swan Lake”, the miniature Sevan next to Opera Square is presently
wrapped in the familiar blue plastic of construction windscreens,
while workers turn the popular site into its cold-weather variant.
The project is the idea of the Municipality of Yerevan, and Vice-Mayor
Vano Vartanyan says the new attraction is sure to draw ice-skating
enthusiasts. (Armenia now has one indoor ice skating rink, which
operates only during cold months.)
In announcing the project, the Vice-Mayor said the lake will function
as a swimming pool during spring and summer, and will make its icy
transformation during autumn and winter.
“The amateur version of this sport is spread across the world and in
Armenia it will start this winter,” says Gurgen Musheghyan, Director of
the “Yerevan Project” Institute. “The skating-rink will fully serve
people for enjoying their rest. But I think it will facilitate the
development of skating to some extent as well,”
Musheghyan said his company consulted with meteorologists, and are
assured that there are at least six months when temperatures do not
exceed 10C, during which time conditions will be suitable for the
ice rink.
The City has allotted 200 million drams (about $460,000) for renovation
of the old pool, including installation of new tiles and pipes. New
lighting will be put up for night-time skating. Once opened, the rink
will offer rental skates.
The working hours of the skating rink will be decided upon demand.
“Of course that would very nice if the rink was free of charge but
we live in conditions of market economy, therefore one should pay
in exchange for any service,” Musheghyan says. “It should be taken
into account that big money will be spent for electricity, water
and equipment.”
The pool was built in the 1960s and named after the famous ballet by
Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky. It has become a popular swimming
and wadding spot for Yerevan youth, though its waters have not always
been so sanitary, considering that it has only been repaired once in
its 40 years.
FROM KESABE TO YEREVAN: GYULENA MUSOYAN’S 90 YEARS OF SURVIVING
By Ruzanna Amiraghyan ArmeniaNow Reporter
“Everyone go out of the room! You stay,” says the old woman sitting
in her bed with her knees covered with a checked blanket pointing
out to the man in his forties standing in the corner of the room with
low ceilings and dark walls.
“We would go, knowing no date or time through the desert without water,
or bread or anything,” tells Gyulena Musoyan. She is 102. In 1915
she was 12, and destined to become a survivor of the Armenian Genocide.
The village of Kesabe Ottoman Turkey where Gyulena was born had a
school and a church before 1915. “We would go to the church every
day after the classes. We used to play in the yard of the church,”
tells Gyulena her glance clear as her memories. “We lived peacefully,
until one day when the men of our family – I heard them talking by
my side in the yard.”
So many years later, she still remembers the distinct warning:
“Slaughterers are coming.”
The Turkish military units came to the village in the night. The men
in the village were conscribed to the Turkish army. Only the youngest
of Gyulena’s six uncles who was sent to Cyprus for studies escaped the
mobilization. “We piled our stuff on a donkey and left the village –
there were only women, children and my old grandpa.”
“The sun was burning, but we were going further and further. We
would go in the daytime and would sleep in the night – we slept in
the desert – wherever we managed. Then one morning a rider approached
us and began beating my grandpa.”
“My mother spoke good Turkish, so she approached the rider, took him
to his hands and shook asking: ‘Why did you beat him? What is his
guilt?’ My grandpa died on the way. We buried him there – under a
big stone.
The family ended up in the village of Hamma.
“Turks placed women and children in a house where a man in his mid
ages looked after us,” tells Gyulena, rumpling a small handkerchief
in her wrinkled tidy hands.
“Can you imagine the Father of the Kesabe church wedded 30 couples
in a single night? Do you know why?” asked Gyulena looking strait
her guest’s eyes. “We were afraid the Turks would come and take our
beautiful girls away. There was little distinction between relatives
and others. Families agreed with each other and the girls and the
boys were married.”
In the coming days Gyulena saw her uncle die, then his son, then many
of her neighbors.
“In 1918 we went to Jerusalem,” she says, showing a stamp on her arm
that now resembles a deep blue bruise rather than the mark of the
Christian cross. This is made in Jerusalem, where my mother went ill
and was taken to a hospital. The children were taken to Port Said to
an asylum where we ate twice a day. We could also gather biscuits
that were spread on the ground, distributed as humanitarian aid
by foreigners.”
After four years the family returned to Kesabe. There they found
only destruction and ruin; no school, no church. But: “With the
help of the foreign countries we reconstructed all of them. I went to
school again. I was an excellent pupil but my father didn’t allow me
to continue studies at a benevolent school preferring me to stay at
home. Instead my brother studied in that school in Cyprus. In a while
I began working in the local school. Then in 1939 I got married. I
have two daughters. I have no son.”
In the 1940s during the second wave of repatriation more than 89,000
Armenians spread around the world came to Soviet Armenia. Among them
was Gyulena Musoyan’s family. “A priest in the village was preaching
resettlement to Armenia,” tells the old woman. “We reached Batumi. The
picture became clear to us. People in the railway station were
gathering bread crumbles from under the trains. But we stayed. Thank
God we have seen both good and bad. The state gives me pension and
I am glad.”
The man in the corner who was silently listening while his grandmother
was telling the story of her life smiled: “Now sing a sharakan (hymn),”
he asked. The old 102-year-old woman said in a while: “Excuse me for
my bad voice today. What do you want me to sing? Narekatsi? Nalbandyan
. . .”
UNBOUNDED BY BORDERS: “NEUTRAL” ZONE ALLOWS ARMENIANS A VIEW ANI
By Gayane Lazarian ArmeniaNow Reporter
A group of Armenian tourists gather early in the morning near the
monument to Alexander Tamanyan in Yerevan. They have a lively talk
while waiting for the coach. They speak of one subject: seeing the
ruins of Ani.
In two hours the coach has passed Gyumri, and nears the
Armenian-Turkish border, passing Akhuryan reservoir, commonly known as
“Turk’s Lake”.
At the border, Russian frontier guards collect passports and give the
bus a half-hour inspection. With a warning that taking photographs
is forbidden, the travelers are allowed into the “neutral” zone.
“Look!” one of the tourists shouts, “Ani!”
Cameras start shooting, as if the guards had insisted that photographs
be taken, rather than just the opposite.
The group crosses a small hill and sees Ani. There is a gorge below,
the river Akhuryan flowing through it, and on a very near height in
front of them there are majestic churches that are the ruins of Ani,
the most beloved of “East Armenia” settlements.
Just 30 kilometers southwest of Gyumri, on the bank of the Akhuryan,
Ani is close, but she is spiritually distant, locked away by politics
and history. She sits on a 150 hectare triangle cape, some 1,500
meters high. Once the jewel of Armenia, she is Turkish possession,
but is “owned” in the hearts of these Armenian tourists.
Hripsime Khachatryan, one of the passengers, a historian by training,
says that in its heyday, in the 10th-12th centuries, Ani had a
population of 100,000 people. She points at the cathedral of Ani built
in 989-1020 during the time of King Gagik I. She says that Amenaprkich
(Savior) Church built in Gyumri is a replica of this cathedral.
“In history Ani was for the first time mentioned in the 5th
century. It belonged to the Kamsarakan princes who ruled over Shirak
and Arsharunik. In the 9th century Armenia’s ruler Ashot Bagratuni
bought the provinces together with the fortress of Ani and annexed them
to his lands. In 961, the Bagratunis transferred their royal palace
from Kars to Ani and declared it the capital city,” Hripsime tells.
The ruined walls of the city are seen from the distance. The group can
only get its glimpse from the neutral zone. The border guards ignore
their own rule, and let the Armenians make photographs freely. Hripsime
continues her history lesson:
“In 964 King Ashot III built walls that were called
Ashotashen. Situated on a large international trade road, Ani grew
even bigger. As Ani was growing fast, in 989 Smbat II had to build
the second row of walls, which were named Smbatashen.”
However, people in Ani lived even outside the walls in the
suburbs. Hripsime says that on the Armenian side excavations are
conducted today by an expedition of Shirak’s Regional Geography
Museum.They found man-made caves there. They studied the well-known
olive oil factory of Ani.
The ornaments of the ruined walls are barely seen with a naked eye,
but the frontier-guards let the tourists have their binoculars,
and people can distinguish something. According to historians, the
influence of Ani architects was so great that certain architectural
buildings of European culture bore that influence. Ani was also called
“a thousand and one churches.”
Among the guards is an Armenian. Private Hakobyan has guarded
the border check-point at that section. He says that people often
come from the Armenian side to watch, but they go back in 15-20
minutes. Meanwhile, on the Turkish side one can often see 100-150
tourists every day.
“They examine the ruins of the city for hours. There is the village
of Anikyu behind the ruins. Look over there. It is their newly built
hotel,” Hakobyan says.
And Hripsime says that the place of this capital had a strategic
importance. It had links with Byzantium, Persia, Arabic countries,
southern Russia and Central Asia. Ani’s carpets, silk, wool,
decorations made of gold, silver and copper, various types of weapons
did not yield to the products of the best contemporary craftsmen of
the world.
“In the 11th century it was a city that had the guilds of merchants
and tradesmen. By uniting, people defended their rights” says Hripsime.
She presents the history of the old capital with such inspiration
that it seems for a moment that you find yourself in medieval Armenia,
see the kings, the zenith of Ani, and then its defeats.
In 1045, Ani fell under the yoke of Byzantium. In 1199, Ani passed
under the rule of the Zakaryans. The city again began to thrive. The
historians of that period called Ani “great”, “universal”. The period
of the Zakaryans was interrupted by the raids of Mongols.
Hripsime says: “The final desertion of Ani is linked to the earthquake
of 1319. In the 16th century Ani was a small village, in the 18th
century it was a heap of ruins and belonged to Turkish beys. In 1878,
the city passed to Russia, and in 1920 it was handed over to Turkey
under the Alexandropol treaty.”
Ani went through three stages of development – the periods of the
Kamsarakans, Bagratunis and Zakaryans. The group members spoke about
the 40 doors of Ani, each of which had its name. Hripsime says that
they were meant to regulate access to the city and keep the streets
clean.
“There were three big doors – Karuts, Dvno and Avag. For example,
to go to Dvin people exited from that door,” she says.
The passengers prepare for departure, when suddenly the wind brings
to them the sounds of a prayer. They looked through binoculars and
see a mosque, a Turkish flag flying a little aside.
They departed with difficulty, held, it seems, by an unseen but
forceful attraction.
“The ruins of Ani seem to tolerate this arrest with pride,” one of the
tourists says. “It is in its own homeland, without its own homeland
. . .”
MOURNING GLORY: ARTIST USES THE BEAUTY OF FLOWERS TO CONVEY THE HORROR
OF THE GENOCIDE
By Gayane Abrahamyan ArmeniaNow Reporter
“Only an Armenian woman with her endless love and devotion could feel
our great sorrow and console the souls of innocent victims with her
clear, bright colors,” says Garnik Asmaryan who has come to Yerevan
from Gyumri, just to see “My Flowers to the Victims” exhibit by artist
Arevik Petrosyan.
In the personal exhibition devoted to the 90th Anniversary of the
Genocide organized under the sponsorship of the Prime Minister of the
Republic of Armenia the artist has presented 16 works with various
flowers on organic glass, in the Armenian Painters Union.
“I couldn’t keep silent and not reflect on the 90 year old tragedy,
the wounds of which have not yet healed over. I am a mother and I can
imagine the sorrow of those mothers who lost their children until now,”
says the 30-year old artist.
According to Petrosyan we genetically carry the sorrow of the Genocide;
there is a cell living inside us that reminds us of the crime at the
beginning of last century and will live unless there is recognition.
“The Genocide deprived my mother of her parents and she grew up in
an American orphanage and there she embroidered flowers as gentle as
the ones this girl has painted; I am very touched for these flowers
are devoted also to my mother,” says Asmaryan.
Petrosyan’s exhibit is in fact a performance that begins with the third
symphony by Avet Terteryan whose impressive massive sounds confront
the gentle transparent colors of the flowers and tune the viewer onto
the world created by the artist – the sorrow of the Genocide and the
life-nourishing light sparking from the flowers.
“I couldn’t depict the horrifying pictures of the massacres – it is not
typical to me to show mourning. On the contrary, you should be higher
than the problem in order to be able to solve it,” says the artist.
Actor Hovhannes Babakhanyan attended the opening and says with its
taste, color and energetic meaning the exhibit is like being consoled
in sorrow by bright flowers instead of black mourning cloth.
In the beginning of the exhibition are the grey blue thorn-flowers
rimmed with black that, according to Arevik, symbolize pain and
sorrow, violent extinguishing and life turning into ashes. Through the
thorns totally covering the surface of the painting, rays of hope,
silver lights are twinkling – the manifestation of the optimism and
the belief of the artist.
Each of the variety of flowers depicts a mood; the artist has created
her inner world, emotions and thoughts through colors.
“The closest painting here are the petals of the bright red poppies –
they are the life, birth and eternal love,” says Petrosyan, looking
at the painting.
The petals of the bright juicy red poppies that let the black color
through like a liquid depict a clash of emotions, or the eternal
struggle between life and death.
“Painting is me – all the things my essence and my emotions paint,
and painting on glass and feeling the transparency of the surface
for me is an irreplaceable pleasure, when you see your own reflection
in a painting of your own, when you feel even your breathing on the
things you create. On the other side of the glass you see distance,
you see a world of other things and you are not suppressed by the
limited frame of the canvas,” says the artist.
The exposition closes up with a triptych – the only work in the
exhibition that has a title. The first part is “The Sublimity”, the
second is “The Sorrow” and the third is “The Silence” where there are
words about the eternity of life on the enlightened golden background:
“And the Morning will Come Again…”, the light morning that will
bring Arevik Petrosyan’s flowers to the generations.
These works created on organic glass, with special paints and special
agents of gold and silver demand not only high mastery and hard work,
but also big material means. Only one plate of organic glass costs 80
dollars, and the special paints the artist has brought from Moscow. A
catalogue will be printed about the exhibition that will have several
pages telling also about the Armenian Genocide.
“I already have invitations to present the exhibition in several
countries; my works will be presented during the whole year in London,
Moscow, Iran and Paris. I think telling different nations of the world
about our tragedy seems to be the most comprehensive and powerful
means,” says Arevik.
The exhibit continues through July 29.
“FANTASTIC” FESTIVAL: ACTRESS ARSINE KHANJIAN PRAISES SECOND
INSTALLMENT OF “GOLDEN APRICOT”
By Vahan Ishkhanyan ArmeniaNow Reporter
Last week, on the penultimate day of the Golden Apricot film festival,
Canadian-Armenian actress Arsine Khanjian met with writers and artists
from Bnagir literary magazine at NPAK (Armenian Center for Contemporary
Experimental Art) to share her impressions of the second festival.
Khanjian had brought to the festival two movies in which she has
roles. Her husband, director Atom Egoyan, served as chairman of the
festival’s jury.
The actress called this year’s festival a great success and praised
organizers for the improvements that were made since last year’s
inaugural event.
“It is fantastic to put Yerevan on the map of cinema art,” Khanjian
said. “To create a cinema institution in Armenia is, indeed, a very
good idea, but we are excited like in Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic).”
Khanjian recently was at the Karlovy Vary film festival, which is now
in its 12th year. She compared the environment of the Golden Apricot
with that event.
“Young people would come to the festival, would spend the night
near the cinema houses only to be able to buy tickets the following
morning. Simply, when people come to festivals to watch films it is
already a big step.”
Drawing a comparison, she said that the Yerevan festival had made
a giant step forward within a year. Last year the halls were empty,
it was not organized well, and only works by Armenians were presented:
“We thought with Atom – what if the halls in Yerevan would be empty
like last year? But it didn’t happen. While Karlovy Vary emerged within
12 years, then Yerevan made a giant step within just a year, especially
taking into account the fact that funds are scarce. Guests, the quality
of films, there were the best films that we would see in Europe and
the interest among the audience – all tickets had been sold out.
“True, there were some organizational difficulties, but
it is not only the problem of the festival, the country has
difficulties. Nevertheless, it was a great surprise, and Atom and I
will surely become participants in the years to come.”
The actress, who has appeared in such films as “Ararat”, “Sweet
Hereafter”, “Exotics”, says that Armenia can enter the international
arena through culture, in particular through cinema: “It is vital
for the state that it acknowledges that our politics is a little
thing in the world, it is invisible. The economy is more ridiculous,
but when we (make an impression) with the weapon of art, we will be
successful. If a low-budget movie is interesting, a French distributor
will make every effort to show it to the French audience.”
For developing cinema art Khanjian said it is necessary to develop a
state concept and to assist directors. Instead of allocating funds
from the state budget to shoot only a couple of films, the state
should spend the same amount of money to produce numerous low-budget
films. Most of her husband’s films, she said, were produced with
state assistance.
The actress said she was distressed by a statement made by President
Robert Kocharyan during one of their meetings.
According to her, the President said: “We do not need Fellinis and
Parajanovs, but we need to develop commercial movies”.
“The President’s words took the guests aback,” said Khanjian.. “But
the president has the right. If a film director said he would shoot
Parajanov, cinema would not become Parajanov (there are so many films
dedicated to Parajanov that even a festival was held). The president
is not a fool, and he is knowledgeable on cinema. The question is how
to explain that not everyone is a pseudo-Fellini and that Parajanov
is not a wrong idea, Parajanov is worshiped in Europe today.”
The following day, the couple met the president again: “I said we had
made a dangerous and wrong remark, Parajanov and Fellini are the gods
of world filmmakers.”
Khanjian herself once worked in a state agency assisting cinema and
video development, and when her son was born she decided to continue
her career as an actress only: “This model is familiar to me. There
may be no studio demand now, as digital technologies have advanced
immensely, and one can produce a film with the same quality using
digital technology. An artist has an opportunity to spend a much
more modest sum of money, some $5,000 instead of $50,000, and create
a film.”
Khanjian and Egoyan twice met with President Robert Kocharyan during
their visit. Khanjian says the President shares their concern about
developing cinema in Armenia. She said, too, the president is aware
that money designated for such purposes does not always reach its
intended recipient.
“The president himself said that they give large sums every year to
one or two persons to produce films, but the money does not reach
the films and he said that these sums become personal sums. He said
that the ministers of culture will not be able to advance culture,
in the same way as the economy will advance.”
Khanjian also spoke about her role in the film “Sabah”, in which she
plays the part of a 40-year-old Muslim woman who breaks patriarchal
concepts and family taboos inside herself and embarks on a romantic
relationship with a Canadian.
“Of course, it will not go down in the history of cinematography. But I
was interested in the material. By scenario the woman is 40 years old,
and not 20, which would be of more interest to the audience. The film
director (R. Nada, an Arab by origin) who was young and had done only
short films, said she would rather target a 40-year-old for whom it
is more difficult to change her habits than a 20-year-old. I wanted
to show that a 40-year-old will try to let herself change, which is
very hard to do,” said Khanjian, who herself is 46.
The other film is “Stone, Time, Touch” whose director Karine Torosyan
was attending the meeting. The film tells about a Canadian-Armenian
woman’s travel around Armenia. The woman had come in search of her
national identity.
Khanjian was born in Beirut and says that when they lived in Lebanon,
she didn’t have this question: “When we lived in Lebanon I never
asked myself who we were, because we had structures, a school, a
church, the policeman was Armenian, the shopkeeper was Armenian. Many
didn’t even speak Arabic. We were prohibited to communicate with
Arabs. Why? Because we were to marry an Armenian only.”
Khanjian left Lebanon at age 17.
“When we went to America and Europe, the reality changed. Some were
assimilated, those who didn’t want to get assimilated, but didn’t
have a possibility to remain Armenians, as there was no school, and
were left in a state of mental commotion as they could no longer know
whether they were Armenians or Americans, or Canadians. The issue of
identity does not look to be that easy for us. I have lived in Canada
for 30 years, I have represented Canada in the cultural domain, but
during the festivals we say we are Canadians, but at the same time
of Armenian descent.”
The issue of identity is more difficult for Karine Torosyan, as she
left Lebanon for Canada at the age of only 8. The Canadian-Armenian
woman in the film discovered a world different from the Armenia
she dreamed of, the disaster zone where people live in domigs, with
poverty met everywhere, with long-suffering women who toil in the
village and say they didn’t have a single happy day in their lives.
Torosyan says her identity is mixed: she is not 100 percent Canadian,
nor is she 100 percent Armenian. Through this film she wanted to
understand who she was. Upon completing it, she says she has learned
that she is more Canadian than Armenian.
PAINTING FOR PEACE: EXHIBIT SHOWCASES WORKS AIMED AT CREATING COMMON
BONDS
By Suren Deheryan ArmeniaNow Reporter
“All the paintings displayed at this exhibition are the works of
talented children,” explained professor of the State University of
Georgia Mikheil Kurdiani. “But their works contain a certain pain. And
it means that these children suffer and it is from the heritage that
they received from their fathers and grandfathers,”
In this way Kurdiani described “Armenia-Azerbaijan-Georgia – Together”
an exhibition of paintings by 15 youngsters from Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Georgia, on display Tuesday (July 19), in Yerevan’s Tekeyan Center.
The exhibition was organized by the Caucasus Center of Peace-Making
Initiatives NGO (CCPMI), and commemorated all the victims of conflicts
in the South Caucasus.
Besides the exhibition, there also took place a working discussion
entitled “South Caucasian Integration: Ways of Eliminating Stereotypes
and Overcoming Obstacles”.
Through similar cultural projects and civil discussions CCPMI of
Armenia, the Azeri “Peace, Democracy and Culture” NGO and the Georgian
“Rustaveli all Georgia Society” NGO are pursuing the goal of forming
an atmosphere of trust towards each other among citizens of the South
Caucasus countries.
The paintings were first exhibited in Tbilisi, Georgia, four months
ago. It was there that within one exhibition hall Azeri, Armenian
and Georgian painters had made their paintings a week before,
participating in the master classes for young painters from the South
Caucasus republics.
Each of the painters aged 18 to 27, was given a subject “A Step into
the Future” and was to put on a canvas within a week what he or she
saw in that title. As a result, the young people drew paintings that
older generations at the exhibit pondered.
“Those classes had a very important meaning. It was a proof that
three republics in one region can work with each other, although
it was for the first time when the Armenian young man saw an Azeri
in person and the Azeri saw an Armenian in real life,” says Rauf
Rajabov, the chairman of the “Peace, Democracy and Culture” NGO,
who had arrived in Yerevan in connection with the opening of the
exhibition and presented the works by Azeri painters.
His Georgian colleague Kurdiani gives assurances that similar cultural
events can reconcile the conflicting peoples in the South Caucasus
and adds:
“If we look at historical maps, then we will see that Georgian
and Armenian states at one time occupied vast territories in the
South Caucasus and in the Middle East. But what is left today?” he
queries. “Do not let anyone be taken by euphoria and think that any
territorial conquest is eternal. No, all this is a fantasy.” (See “Bad
Blood” for latest news about clashes between Armenians and Georgians.)
“The only thing that we can take pride in is our language, our culture
and our future, which is connected with our talented children. And
if the generation is with complexes, then it cannot create talented
works.”
A canvas by 20-year-old Ruben Bubushyan was among the works on
display. He called it “Optimism”. On the canvas there is the painter’s
room where although it is night and darkness outside the window,
day was depicted on the painter’s canvas. Ruben comments on it the
following way:
“No matter how dark it is around you, you must see light,” he
says. “We met our Azeri coevals, worked together, but I must confess
that we didn’t become friends, as the atmosphere was tense. However,
we made a little step towards the future, as it was planned, and it
is important that we continue it.”
For this joint work to be known also outside Yerevan, the leaders of
the NGOs decided to exhibit it in all regions of Armenia in the next
month, at the same time presenting the “Karabakh” documentary shot
jointly by Georgians and Abkhazians.
“We will present this documentary and paintings with my Azeri colleague
Rauf Rajabov, after which there will be public debates and I hope
that after communicating with Rauf, many of the seminar participants
will change their ideas and approaches to our neighbor,” says Georgi
Vanyan, Chairman of CCPMI.
In November, again in Yerevan, the same organizations are planning a
weekly master class of jazzmen from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which will end in a
“Reconciliation Jazz Improvisation” concert.
Well-known Armenian jazzmen Levon Malkhasyan and Armen Martirosyan
volunteered to conduct the master class and be artistic directors of
the concert.
Jazz colorings of Caucasians will be sounded in Yerevan in November
when “parliamentarian sounds” will be in Azerbaijan at the same time.
“The holding of such an exhibition in Baku is yet impossible, as
parliamentary elections will be held in Azerbaijan in November,”
says Rajabov. “But I hope and am convinced that we will hold this
exhibition after the elections.”
Rajabov is sure that today’s civil societies in Armenia and Azerbaijan
are more prepared to solve this conflict in peaceful conditions than
a few years ago.
“It is desirable that this conflict be solved at least during the next
year, because years pass by, new generations rise, and in this case
a generation isolated from the generations of neighboring nations,
which is very bad.”
The people whose works are presented at the exhibition are
representatives of this generation – Ruben Bubushyan, Jahangir Ahmedov
and Shota Gharebashvili, who were born a few years before the outbreak
of wars in the “modern” Caucasus and grew as the wars were raging,
in some cases also inside them.
They met each other once in Tbilisi. And who knows how much paint
and canvas and how many trumpets are needed for all those negative
opinions that formed and continue to be formed over the last 15 years
to be painted over or conscribed to song.
For Ruben his optimistic painting is very dear and after all exhibition
tours he wants it to be given back to him, since as he says himself
unforgettable memories are connected with it.
AND THE WINNER IS . . . MURAD JANIBEKYAN: FILM MAKER’S “HAMLET”
GETS TOP PRIZE IN NEW YORK
By Marianna Grigoryan ArmeniaNow Reporter
Murad Janibekyan, of the Gabriel Sundukyan National Academic Theater
in Yerevan, has been named Best Actor in the New York International
Independent Film and Video Festival.
Four thousand eight hundred films of various genres – from three
minutes to three hours in length – from all over the world were entered
in the festival during April and May. Of that number, 300 qualified for
second-round judging, from which 11, including Janibekyan’s 61-minute
film “Hamlet” were awarded prizes.
Janibekyan is the film’s director, producer and lead actor.
Janibekyan says his “Hamlet” is a unique and personal brainchild.
“Only Hamlet speaks in the film,” the actor/director says. “He was
biblical, God sent. The rest of the actors are marionettes, who are
not given the right of speech in my film.”
The film is bilingual – a synthesis of Armenian and English.
The hero speaks Armenian, then shifts to English.
“I wanted the foreigners to hear my language, hear the sound of
Armenian and it made a great impression,” says Janibekyan, who adds
that one audience in New York gave the film a five-minute standing
ovation.
“Hamlet” was shot over a six month period last year and this. Its
cast includes 8 actors, all from Armenia. The film cost $32,000,
which Janibekyan raised by selling his home and three summer houses
that belonged to his family.
“Many people told me ‘Think of yourself Murad, you have sold
everything, you will lose everything’,” tells Janibekyan. “But there
was no time for fear, while shooting ‘Hamlet’. I put my soul into
the creation of the film.
“If I lived 200 years something could be saved, but in our life you
should leave something beautiful after you,” smiles Janibekyan.
Janibekyan has won other awards for acting in theater but he is proud
he has been among the best in an international contest of prestige.
“When I learnt I was awarded at such a high level festival, I did not
believe I could serve such a service to my nation,” says Janibekyan.
But there is a familiar sad Armenian variant to this success story:
Having spent all his money on making the film, Janibekyan could not
afford to go to New York to receive his award, which was given out
June 17 in New York.
He applied to the Ministry of Culture for travel expenses, but was
denied. (The festival celebration includes New York, Los Angeles,
Cannes, Las Vegas.)
But the actor’s friends helped, and he went to New York and Los
Angeles.
“When I went on stage and said that Armenia was presented for the first
time I was very proud and the people there were very warm,” he says.
Janibekyan says he made important contacts while in New York. The
success has also been an inspiration.
Janibekyan says he has received good offers and invitations at the
Los Angeles International Video Festival.
“I have interesting ideas for shooting films in the future, but I do
not have anything else to sell,” says the award winner.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress