California Courier Online, March 16, 2006

1 – Commentary
Widespread Outrage Over News of
U.S. Ambassador Evans’ Recall

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

2 – SOAD Cancels April 23 Benefit Concert
3 – Sassounian Presents Lincy Projects
To Knights of Vartan Sevan Lodge
4- APN-WD Hosts
Aslamazian Art
Exhibit at Diocese
5 – Ararat Nursing Facility Receives
Fourth 2006 Quality First Award
6 – Dr. James Reid to Speak at CSUF, March 22
7 – Khachatryan’s Film to Show at
Washington National Art Gallery
8 – UAF’s 137th Airlift
Delivers $3.6 Million
Of Aid to Armenia
9 – Historian Nina Garsoian
To be Honored at UCLA
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1 – Commentary
Widespread Outrage Over News of
U.S. Ambassador Evans’ Recall

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
I reported last week that the State Department had decided to recall Amb.
John Evans from Armenia for having acknowledged the Armenian Genocide last
year. This callous decision has outraged Armenians worldwide and angered
many members of Congress.
By sheer coincidence, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew
Bryza was in Armenia the day after my column was posted on the Internet.
During a press conference in Yerevan, journalists repeatedly asked Bryza
and Evans to comment on the recall decision. The two diplomats made a
delicate dance around the subject, neither denying nor confirming the news.
Since some of their comments were distorted because of mistranslation or
inaccurate reporting, here is the transcript of what they actually said in
English:
When a journalist asked Bryza in Armenian if Amb. Evans was being
“recalled,” the Embassy staff mistranslated the question to: “Is it true
that Amb. Evans is retiring?” Mr. Bryza answered: “~Eregarding Amb. Evans,
he can certainly comment on his own plans to retire, which I hope are
nonexistent, because he is a fantastic ambassador. He, like all of us,
serves at the pleasure of the President of the United States. I used to
work for the President’s staff; and one thing I learned is that I will not
speak about any decision of the President — it is up to the President to
make his decisions. I advise him, but he makes the decisions, including
[those] on personnel~E.”
Amb. Evans then added: “~E I want to echo what Mr. Bryza said. We all serve
at the pleasure of the President. I hope nobody expects any ambassador to
stay forever~Ethe fact of the matter is that I do not know when I will be
leaving Armenia and I have not submitted my retirement papers. And I’ll add
one other thing and that is: as long as I am the ambassador here, until the
day I step on the plane, I will be in charge of this mission.” Bryza then
added: “Which we hope will be as late as possible.”
The news of the Ambassador’s recall was prominently featured on Armenian TV
stations that night and subsequently reported by wire services and
newspapers in Armenia, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
During State Dept.’s daily news briefings on March 8, 10 and 13, a
spokesman was repeatedly asked to confirm the recall of Amb. Evans.
Reporters were given evasive answers with a promise “to look into it.”
Finally, in the afternoon of the March 13, the State Dept. issued the
following written response to the journalists’ insistent questions, giving
the same evasive answer: “Question: What is the status of U.S. Ambassador
to Armenia Evans? Was he recalled for statements acknowledging the Armenian
‘genocide’? Answer: U.S. Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the
President. Amb. Evans and his capable team have the full confidence of the
administration.”
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) issued a press release on
March 8, announcing that its chairman had written a toughly worded letter
to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking her to address reports that
Amb. Evans is being forced from office for acknowledging the Armenian
Genocide. “The prospect that a U.S. envoy’s posting – and possibly his
career – has been cut short due to his honest and accurate description of a
genocide is profoundly offensive to American values,” wrote ANCA’s Chairman
Ken Hachikian. “It would also represent a new low in our government’s
shameful complicity in the Turkish government’s campaign of denial ~E by
muzzling and punishing an American diplomat for his speech and his
acknowledgement of a genocide,” Hachikian wrote.
Cong. Grace Napolitano (Dem. of Calif.) submitted a pointed question to
Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried on March 8, while he was testifying
before the House International Relations Committee, on whether any
restrictions are placed on State Dept. officials concerning their use of
the term “genocide” when referring to the Armenian Genocide. She also asked
for confirmation on whether Amb. Evans was being recalled because of his
remarks on the Armenian Genocide. Dan Fried was asked to respond in
writing.
Cong. Frank Pallone (Dem. of New Jersey), the Co-Chairman of the
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, wrote to Secretary Rice on March
11, expressing his extreme disappointment over reports of the recall of
Amb. Evans. He told her that he is “outraged that the State Dept. is
recalling Amb. Evans as retaliation for statements he made in recognition
of the Armenian Genocide.” He added: “It is simply wrong for the State
Dept. to punish Amb. Evans for statements he made that are factually
correct.”
Secretary Rice has yet to respond to the written questions submitted on
Feb. 16 by Cong. Adam Schiff (Dem. of Calif.) during her testimony before
the House International Relations Committee. She was asked to assure the
Committee that the State Dept. “has not taken – and will not take – any
punitive action against Amb. Evans for speaking out about the Armenian
Genocide.”
Readers worldwide have reacted with anger to the news of Amb. Evans’ recall
and indicated their willingness to participate in protest actions in front
of U.S. Embassies in various countries as well as the State Dept. in
Washington, D.C. Please continue writing to Secretary Rice by e-mailing her
at: Click on “contact us” and then click on “send a message
to the Secretary of State.”
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2 – SOAD Cancels April 23 Benefit Concert
LOS ANGELES (Rolling Stone) – System Of A Down cancelled their fourth
annual Souls Concerts, an event aimed at raising awareness about Armenian
Genocide, slated for April 23 in Los Angeles’ Greek Theater.
Just three days after announcing their annual Souls benefit concert to help
raise awareness and pay tribute to the Armenian Genocide, System of a Down
have cancelled the event. A message on the band’s official web site reads
as follows:
“The recognition of the Armenian Genocide has always been a first and
foremost priority in the minds of SYSTEM OF A DOWN, so it’s unfortunate for
us to announce that Souls 2006 has been cancelled. Despite the
cancellation, SYSTEM will always continue to fight for this truly important
cause, and encourages all of our friends and fans to help educate the world
about a forgotten genocide and the importance of recognizing this atrocity.
We thank you always for your undying support.~E”
The band did not cite a reason for the cancellation.
Meanwhile, the rockers will hit the road this summer as main stage
headliners for this year’s Ozzfest.
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3 – Sassounian Presents Lincy Projects
To Knights of Vartan Sevan Lodge
VAN NUYS, CA — Harut Sassounian, the Vice Chairman of The Lincy
Foundation, presented to the Sevan Lodge of the Knights of Vartan the
projects of The Lincy Foundation in Armenia on Feb. 21.
The program was held after a pre-meeting dinner at the Saint Peter Armenian
Apostolic Church Hall. In attendance were members of the Sevan Lodge, its
associated Daughters of Vartan chapter and the general public. Also present
were Daughters of Vartan Grand Matron Asien Surmeian and members of her
Grand Council.
Sassounian first presented a short DVD detailing the various projects of
The Lincy
Foundation in Armenia and the completed infrastructure projects such as
streets, highways, bridges, tunnels, residential and cultural buildings.
The audience was pleasantly surprised to learn of the vast expanse of these
projects and that over $150 million have been donated to, and invested in,
these projects in Armenia by philanthropist Kirk Kerkorian’s Lincy
Foundation.
The question and answer period after the formal presentation gave members
of the audience more detailed information about the specific projects they
were interested in. Sassounian also expanded the question and answer period
to cover recent Armenian
events which have been reported in his newspaper, The California Courier.
This lecture is part of Sevan Lodge’s ongoing program of presenting various
representatives of Armenian organizations, both in the U.S. and Armenia, to
discuss the background, functions and operations of their particular group.
In previous months, presentations have been made by leaders of the Armenian
Assembly, Junior Achievement of Armenia and others. This lecture series
aims to provide more authoritative, detailed and factual information about
the activities of various organizations which are involved in Armenian
issues.
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4 – APN-WD Hosts
Aslamazian Art
Exhibit at Diocese
BURBANK, CA – The Armenian Professionals Network of the Western Diocese of
the Armenian Church of North America (APN) ,together with the Armenian
Student Association of Woodbury University, and under the auspices of
Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, will host an evening for artist Karine
Aslamazyan on March 30, at 7:30 p.m., at the Diocesan complex’s Armen &
Gloria Hampar Primate’s Reception Room. A light reception will follow the
presentation.
The exhibit will stay open until April 2.
Aslamazyan was born in 1956 in Yerevan. She has received her education at
the Yerevan State Academy of Creative Art
Painting & Design. Her works, exhibited at the Hall of the Union of Artists
of Armenia, has earned her the respect of acclaimed art critics of Armenia.
Currently, Aslamazyan creates and lives in Yerevan.
This event is sponsored by Mr. & Mrs. Antranik Zoroyan.
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5 – Ararat Nursing Facility Receives
Fourth 2006 Quality First Award
LOS ANGELES – The Ararat Nursing Facility received a Quality First Award
for 2006 from the California Association of Homes and Services for the
Aging (CAHSA), marking the fourth time the Award has been received by the
Ararat home. It is the 15th national and state awards received during the
past 12 years.
The Ararat Nursing Facility’s program will be highlighted during the CAHSA
annual meeting in Palm Springs this month, and featured on the CAHSA
website.
“We are honored to be the recipients of such a prestigious award,” said
Ararat Home Chairman of the Board John Yaldezian. “We strive to serve the
Armenian community and give the best possible care to our patients.”
The award recognized CAHSA member communities that demonstrate a Qualify
First commitment to exceptional care, services, systems and practices. More
specifically, Ararat was honored for its Resident Center Care Model Program
acknowledging the Nursing Facility’s Leading Edge Care & Services, Human
Resources Development, Consumer-Friendly Information and Consumer
participation.
The Ararat Home and Nursing Facility has been serving the Armenian
community in Southern California since 1949. It currently has four
facilities in Mission Hills, Eagle Rock, and Montrose that can accommodate
more than 400 residents and patients.
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6 – Dr. James Reid to Speak at CSUF, March 22
FRESNO – Dr. James Reid, Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies at
Fresno State for the Spring 2006 semester, will be giving the second of his
three part lectures series on “The Inner Dimension of the Armenian
Genocide,” on March 22. The title of the second lecture is “The ‘Death
World’ and Its Influence on Victim Survivors.”
The lecture will begin at 7:30 PM in the Peters Auditorium of the
University Business Center at Fresno State and is free and open to the
public.
Lecture II will examine how the “Death World” created by war and
perpetrators influenced the mentality of Armenian and Pontic Greek victims
and survivors. The “Death World” [from German Totenwelt] was the
individual’s and the community’s resignation to the belief that life would
end soon and that all living was dominated by a killing and death
environment. The psychological repercussions of accepting the dominance of
the “Death World” were immense. The realization of the “Death World” as a
power in one’s life represented the first and most powerful symptom of post
traumatic stress disorder in the individual. This lecture will cite
survivor memoirs with comparisons to other World War I writings.
Dr. Reid holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and a
Ph.D. from UCLA and is the author of several books, including Crisis of the
Ottoman Empire: Prelude to Collapse, 1839-1878; Studies in Safavid Mind
Society and Culture and Tribalism and Society in Islamic Iran, 1500-1629.
Dr. Reid is a Tsakopoulos Hellenic Fellow, from 2001-2003 he was the
director of the Vryonis Center, and from 1991-2001 he was a senior research
fellow at the Center. He has written extensively on the Ottoman Empire and
modern Greece.
For more information on the lecture, contact the Armenian Studies Program
at (559) 278-2669.
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7 – Khachatryan’s Film to Show at
Washington National Art Gallery
WASHINGTON, DC – After wide recognition at premieres in Rotterdam, Tehran,
and Göteborg, “Return of the Poet”, a film by Harutyun Khachatryan, will be
presented at the Washington National Art Gallery during Filmfest DC, on
April 30.
Khachatryan’s “Return of the Poet” captured the attention of Washington
National Art Gallery program director Margaret Parsons during a screening
at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Past Filmfest DC Audience Award winners include remarkable and recognized
directors such as Chen Kaige of China, Costa-Gavras of France and Italian
actor and director Jacques Perrin.
Worldwide attention for Khachatryan’s “Return of the Poet” has been
expressed in the vast number of festival invitations. The film has been
invited to festivals in cities all over the world including Jerusalem,
Melbourne, Sidney, Vrotzlav and Washington. Screenings and lectures by
Khachatryan are planned in three cities of Belgium, as well as, Pusan,
South Korea, Buenos-Aires, Marseille, Khars, Latvia and Moscow
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8- UAF’s 137th Airlift
Delivers $3.6 Million
Of Aid to Armenia
GLENDALE – The United Armenian Fund’s 137th airlift arrived in Yerevan on
March 11, delivering $3.6 million of humanitarian assistance.
The UAF itself collected $2.9 million of medicines and medical supplies for
this flight, most of which were donated by AmeriCares ($2,100,000);
Operation Blessing/Armenia Fund U.S.A. ($570,000); Brothers Brother
Foundation ($266,000) and Catholic Medical Mission Board ($39,000).
Other organizations which contributed goods for this airlift were:
Armenian General Benevolent Union ($213,000); Michael Der Boghosian from
Boston Medical Center ($166,000); Dr. Stephen Kashian ($65,000); Nork
Marash Medical Center ($42,000) and Armenian Missionary Association of
America ($28,000).
Also contributing to this airlift were: Howard Karagheusian Commemorative
Corp ($19,000): Armenian Relief Society ($15,000) and Armenian American
Health Association of Greater Washington ($9,000).
Since its inception in 1989, the UAF has sent $428 million of humanitarian
assistance to Armenia on board 137 airlifts and 1,285 sea containers.
The UAF is the collective effort of the Armenian Assembly of America, the
Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Armenian Missionary Association of
America, the Armenian Relief Society, the Diocese of the Armenian Church of
America, the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America and the
Lincy Foundation.
For more information, contact the UAF office at 1101 North Pacific Avenue,
Suite 301, Glendale, CA 91202 or call (818) 241-8900.
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9 – Historian Nina Garsoian
To be Honored at UCLA
LOS ANGELES – The Friends of the UCLA Armenian Language and Culture Studies
will bestow the Narekatsi Medal for lifetime achievement in Armenian
studies on Professor Nina G. Garsoïan of Columbia University at its Fourth
Annual Banquet, March 25 at the UCLA Faculty Center, beginning at 6 p.m.
Professor Garsoïan’s name is indelibly associated with Columbia University
where she taught Armenian history from 1965 and was appointed Kevork
Avedissian Professor of Armenian Studies at that same university from 1979
until 1993, the year of her retirement.
Since 1993, she has been spending six months of the year in Paris – her
birthplace, where she is Associée at the Centre d’Histoire et de
Civilisation de Byzance at the Collège de France, Paris. In Paris, she has
also served at editor/”Directeur” of the prestigious Armenological journal
Revue des études arméniennes since 1988 along with Jean-Pierre Mahé and
Charles de Lamberterie.
During her tenure at Columbia, Nina G. Garsoïan produced a generation of
scholars who went on to carve names for themselves, among them Dickran
Kouymjian, Professor of Armenian Studies at CSU Fresno, Ronald Suny,
Professor of Political Science at Chicago, James R. Russell, Professor of
Armenian Studies at Harvard, Levon Avdoyan, Director of the Caucasian
Section at the Library of Congress. Garsoïan has been awarded many honors
including the Anania Shirakats’i prize from Armenia.
Garsoïan, daughter of Georges and Srpouhi Garsoïan, was born in Paris in
1923. The family moved to the United States in 1933. She received her
B.A. degree in 1943 from Bryn Mawr, and then went to Columbia for her M.A.
and Ph.D. degrees. She earned the latter in 1958. Her teaching career
began in 1956 at Smith College, Mass., where she taught history and rose to
the rank of Professor of History. In 1965, she was appointed Associate
Professor of Armenian Studies and Byzantine History in the Departments of
Middle Eastern Languages and History at Columbia University and in 1969 she
was promoted to full professorial rank. From 1973-77 she served as
Chairman of the Department of Middle Eastern Languages. After a two-year
stint as Dean of the Graduate School at Princeton, Garsoïan returned to
Columbia in 1979 as Kevork Avedisian Professor of Armenian Studies until
her retirement in 1993.
The honoree will be introduced by noted historian, Professor Richard
Hovannisian, holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern
Armenian History at UCLA. The MC will be Professor R. Hrair Dekmejian,
Director of the Institute of Armenian Studies at the University of Southern
California.
During the evening, an artistic program will be offered by the Elixir Piano
Trio and the Lark Conservatory Hand Chimes Group conducted by Ashot
Kartalyan.
For further information on the banquet, call: (310) 704-4353 or (818)
468-4542.
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