The Armenian Weekly On-Line: AWOL
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Armenian Weekly On-Line, Volume 73, Number 24, June 16, 2007
News:
1. Argentina Conference Focuses on ‘Armenians and Progressive Politics’
Commentary:
2. To Be an Armenian in Turkey…
By Vahan Isaoglu
Translated by the Weekly Translation Team
3. Unspeakables. And Good News
By Garen Yegparian
Features:
4. Orientalism
By Lalig V. Arzoumanian-Lapoyan
5. Catholic Armenians in a ‘Democratic Orthodox’ Georgia
By Tatul Hagopian
6. Four Poems by Zahrad
Translated by Tatul Sonentz
Events:
7. Deranian on His New Book
By Andy Turpin
8. No ‘Red Blues’ at the Brattle
The Legacy of Rouben Mamoulian’s ‘Silk Stockings’ 50 Years On
By Andy Turpin
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1. Argentina Conference Focuses on ‘Armenians and Progressive Politics’
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Progressive activists and intellectuals from North
and South America gathered here on June 1-2 for a conference titled
"Armenians and Progressive Politics in the 21st Century." Organized by the
ARF’s Armenia Cultural Association, the conference sought to build on the
enthusiastic discussions generated by last year’s "Armenians and the Left"
project begun in New York and Boston. The conference was held in conjunction
with the ARF organizations of the Eastern and Western US, and included
prominent Armenian and non-Armenian participants from throughout South
America.
The program began with an opening plenary on Friday, June 1, featuring
renowned journalist Fabian Bosoer. A columnist for the Clarin newspaper of
Buenos Aires, Bosoer explored what a progressive politics might mean today,
focusing especially on South America. He noted that "progressivism" is not a
fixed, static concept, but fluid and changing depending on the social
context at hand. Bosoer’s comments were well-received by the largely
Armenian audience, which stayed to discuss these points during a reception
held afterward.
The bulk of the program took place in three panels held on Saturday, June 2,
at Buenos Aires’s Cultural Center for Cooperation. The first panel was
titled "Progressivism in the U.S.: Agendas, Protagonists, Perspectives," and
featured U.S.-Armenian panelists who spoke in English with simultaneous
translation into Spanish.
Moderated by Antranig Kasbarian, the panel featured topics including 1)
Neoliberal Economics and their Impact; 2) Armeno-Turkish Dialogue; 3)
Globalization and U.S. Hegemony; 4) U.S. Development Assistance; and 5) The
Role of the Armenian Diaspora.
These were presented, respectively, by scholars Ara Khanjian, Dikran
Kaligian, Levon Chorbajian, Markar Melkonian, and Razmig Shirinian, who
offered views alternative to-and sometimes scathingly critical of-U.S.-led
mainstream approaches.
The second panel dealt with "Progressive Politics in Latin America," and
featured South American panelists who spoke in Spanish with translation into
English. Moderated by Khatchik Derghougassian, the panel featured topics
including 1) Argentina’s Socioeconomic Collapse and the Progressive
Political Solution; 2) Electoral Processes in Latin America; 3) The
Political Experience of the "Frente Amplio" Party in Uruguay; 4) The
Political Experience of the "PT" Party in Brazil; and 5) Social Movements in
Latin America.
These were presented, respectively, by Jorge Halperin, Wilfredo Penco, Armen
Garo Sarkissian, Onnig James Tamdjian, and Julio Gambina, who are affiliated
with various academic and governmental bodies in Argentina, Brazil and
Uruguay.
The third panel dealt with "Armenian Participation in Progressive Politics,"
featuring many of the same participants as above. Here was a wide-ranging
discussion of strategic and organizational issues in building movements on
both continents-relating both to Armenian causes and to the wider politics
in which they are embedded. Discussion was followed by energetic and
sometimes contentious audience participation.
The conference closed with summary remarks by Pedro Tateossian of the host
committee. He underlined that the conference served as a link in an
ever-widening chain of outreach and discussion. With this in mind,
organizers are now considering a publication based on the conference, as
well as a larger, international gathering to be held in North America next
year.
Asked by the Weekly about his impressions, Antranig Kasbarian said, "It was
a refreshing experience. Our Argentinian counterparts are much more
accustomed to placing Armenian issues in a wider social context, and thus
issues of imperialism, globalization, class struggle, and social injustice
were all on the table. Indeed, they interwove with Armenian issues in new,
creative, and interesting ways."
For more on "Armenians and the Left," visit the project’s website at
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2. To Be an Armenian in Turkey…
By Vahan Isaoglu
Translated by the Weekly Translation Team
It is a strange feeling to be an Armenian in Turkey.
Even though after the so-called assassination of Hrant Dink, thousands of
people shouted "We are all Hrant, we are all Armenian," even though many
others mistook that slogan for something else, it really meant "We are all
human."
It is a strange feeling to be an Armenian in Turkey. In fact, one can hardly
get there just by shouting.
To be an Armenian in Turkey is to be asked to prepare topik1 by friends who
know. It is telling the government official your name and getting a peculiar
look from him, then being asked "Are you Armenian?" with a scornful stare.
It is having your name misspelled everywhere. During military service, to be
an Armenian in Turkey is to be asked by your friends to say kelime-i
shahadet2 ("just for once").
And yet, it is to fall in love with the Maiden’s Tower3, to be absorbed in
thought watching Istanbul from the Galata Tower4.
To be an Armenian in Turkey is to have children who read anti-Armenian
remarks in their school books; it is to have no answer when they ask what it
means. To be an Armenian in Turkey is to be mentioned as "an Armenian
friend.but a really nice fellow."
And yet, it is to sing Turkish classical music from the heart at a table
with fish, with raki5, with midye dolma6.
To be an Armenian in Turkey is to be called by some friends on some
occasions, who say "Don’t worry, they are ignorant. We know you, we love
you."
To be an Armenian is to hesitate to say your name when you meet someone, and
when you do, it is the habit of trying to guess what the other person is
thinking from his or her face.
It is to brood over what you are going to tell your children if they hear
the ministers calling a terrorist leader an "Armenian seed."
To be an Armenian in Turkey is to be asked what you think about the French
laws. It is to have to start your answer with a "so-called." To be an
Armenian in Turkey is to be unable to become a dustman, unable to become a
civil servant.
And yet, it is to remember how much you love Turkey, when you throw simit7
to the seagulls on a ferry.
To be an Armenian in Turkey is to have non-Armenian teachers placed in your
schools-teachers who are told by some "important" people to be their "eyes
and ears."
It is to find a subtle way to discourage your children from wanting to be
governors or ministers when they grow up. It is to have to convince them to
be something else, without breaking their hearts, without explaining
everything. Because to be an Armenian in Turkey is to be unable to become a
policeman, a civil servant, a deputy, an army officer, even though you are a
Turk. Unlike Turks in Germany, who can be all those things.
And yet, eating arabasi8 soup, watching Hababam Sinifi9, loving cig kofte10
is to be Armenian.
To think, to produce, to be an artist is to be Armenian.
Whenever the idea of emigration comes up, it is to think how much you love
this place.
To be timid like a pigeon.
And yet, it is to proudly sing the Independence March11 every morning and
shout "Happy to be a Turk" in a Turkey where you don’t have a say.
Only when a Turk of Armenian descent becomes a civil servant or army officer
will I believe that I am regarded as a Turk. Until then, I’ll be singing
Edip Akbayram’s Aldirma Gonul12.
That’s what it is to be an Armenian in Turkey-to be attacked by some when
you sing Sari Gelin13 in Armenian, and then say "never mind" and start
singing it in Turkish. And, sometimes, it is to lie on the street with a
hole in your shoe, eternalizing your ideas, making thousands of people learn
to sing Sari Gelin in Armenian.
In short.
It is not an easy thing, to be an Armenian in Turkey. And yet it is
beautiful, different as much as beautiful. It’s a love affair, to be an
Armenian in Turkey.
When you are told to "leave if you don’t like it," it is to say, "And yet,
this is my country as well."
***
Endnotes
(1) Armenian dish made with chickpeas, sesame seeds and onions.
(2) Profession of faith in Islam, which means "I testify that there is no
god but Allah and I testify that Mohammed is the messenger of Allah."
(3) A tower that sits on a small islet located in the Bosphorus off the
coast of Uskudar, Istanbul.
(4) A tower located in Istanbul, to the north of the Golden Horn.
(5) An alcoholic beverage of Turkey.
(6) Dish made with mussels.
(7) Circular bread with sesame seeds.
(8) A kind of chicken soup with batter.
(9) Popular comedy film directed by Ertem Egilmez.
(10) Raw kofte (meatballs), a specialty of Urfa region.
(11) National anthem of Turkey.
(12) A popular song, whose title roughly means "Never mind, my heart."
(13) Armenian/Turkish folk song.
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3. Unspeakables. And Good News
By Garen Yegparian
I’ll abide by the "lav, pav, tzav" (OK, enough, pain) admonition applied by
generations of Armenian parents. I’m going to have to mention a topic I
would have come close to sneering at just 15-20 years ago.
The third incidence of this unmentionable actually arose in an otherwise
laudable setting-Anahid Keshishian’s performance of her autobiographical "Ga
yev Chga" one-woman show. I found it very interesting as a snapshot of life
in a place and time of the Diaspora not very familiar, at least to me.
Judging by the audience’s reactions, it was very apt. Many were in tears as
virtually the whole audience stood in line to congratulate and hug Anahid
for conveying, evidently quite well, what they had experienced. It’s life
through the eyes of a child growing up on the outskirts of Tehran then
suffering a severe dislocation by repatriating to then-Soviet Armenia.
The small, 50-ish seat theatre was sold out for all its remaining shows.
Since then, June 24, June 28, July 1 and July 5 have been added. Contact
Anahid at (818) 395-8227 for tickets. I’d recommend seeing this play.
But the issue that troubled me is child abuse/molestation. Anahid made a
not-so-subtle reference to a childhood friend experiencing it when this
friend asked to hide until a guest had left the house. I’ve been made aware
of two other abusers, both of whom got off the hook completely. Ironically,
in one case the victim feared the response of those who might rise to
defend. the victim. In the other, it was posthumous, and other family
members chose denial.
It seems pathetic, but the obvious needs stating. These problems must be
addressed in the here-and-now, preferably through our own community-the
church and growing cadre of mental health professionals. Hopefully, these
problems can be licked without the intercession of law enforcement. The
latter would only drive this further underground and distort familial
interactions even more.
The good news is the June 9 Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry’s walkathon.
It was the second one organized by ABMDR with about 800 walkers-in person
and virtual. Approximately $50,000 was raised for the ongoing efforts to
maintain a database of Armenians who might be matches for marrow transplants
to fight disease. In fact, the organization’s new objective is to open a
transplant center in Armenia so patients don’t have to travel all over the
world for treatment.
ABMDR is a great effort. If you haven’t been tested yet, do it. You might
save a compatriot’s life! This project is a great example of what can be
done with good people with a focused objective. It’s too bad our established
organizations haven’t been able to organize around this type of need. Thus,
when something like ABMDR comes along, there’s a need to build
infrastructure. That takes time and effort, which would have been saved by
virtue of a larger organization’s credibility. Our institutions have to
become more flexible and nimble.
The juxtaposition of the two topics in this article isn’t just temporal by
virtue of coincidental events in the community. We are burdened with overly
strong "privacy/secrecy/embarrassment" concerns when it comes to our
afflictions. More openness in our lives would minimize the effects of the
ills we suffer, thanks to the power of "sunshine." That enables greater
interaction and information sharing leading to more easily finding
solutions. It would be preventive and curative.
Let’s modernize our mindsets to build stronger, more cohesive communities,
instead of relying on dated, overly clannish and closed approaches.
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4. Orientalism
By Lalig V. Arzoumanian-Lapoyan
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to read Berkeley history professor
Margaret Lavinia Anderson’s essay in the March 2007 number of the journal
Contemporary Issues in Historical Perspective of the University of Chicago,
titled "Down in Turkey, far away: Human Rights, the Armenian Massacres,
Orientalism in Wilhelmine Germany."
Anderson’s focus was on the German response to the Armenian-Turkish
conflict. The breadth and depth in which the hypotheses explaining the
German response were drawn, and Anderson’s personal reflections presented,
were remarkable.
As a Christian-Armenian, North American born in the Middle East having
realized how much there was to learn from the research deployed by Anderson,
pertaining not only to the Armenian cause but humanity in general, I’ve
embarked on summarizing it to an interested audience. That constitutes the
first part of my article. The second consists of a dialogue between the
reader and myself, regarding questions that reverberated in my mind in
response to Anderson’s essay.
Summary
When nearly 200,000 Armenians were massacred in the Ottoman Empire of Abdul
Hamid II for a period lasting about two years starting in 1894, Anderson
wonders if there was a moral connection established between the humanity of
the West and the distant sufferers, a sense of obligation to mobilize
support to the Armenian victims against the antagonist others.
Snatches of conversation among ordinary Germans in Goethe’s play "Faust,"
evoked in Anderson’s essay, reveal that townsmen of Wilhelmine, Germany, did
not care that folks were bashing one another "Down in Turkey, far away," so
long as all was the same there. Anderson adds that "Down in Turkey, far
away," later became a metonym for German indifference to Armenian suffering,
as long as they were not involved. She explains that in recent years, this
attitude has been translated into Edward Said’s "Orientalism," a discourse
which stipulates German praise for the Islamic other.
The opposite was true in the countries of the Entente. Anderson elicits the
following proofs for that matter: In 1896, the Swiss collected a million
francs for Armenian relief and more signatures of support than on any
petition in their history; in Britain and the United States, the Armenians
were considered to be "the outposts of Western enlightenment in the Ottoman
Empire"; in France, especially for the men of the Left, the torments of the
Armenians were "translated into the language of human rights."
"We see the world through the stories we tell," noted Mark Danner.
Anderson argues that in order for listeners to interpret events, they need
narratives in which they can imagine themselves, by placing them in contexts
they have already constructed.
As per Anderson’s research, narratives favorable to Armenian human rights
did not succeed in Germany, except for a small constituency of evangelicals,
led by Pastor Lepsius, who identified the horrors experienced by the
Armenians, the first nation to adopt Christianity in 301 CE, to the
traditional Christian narratives of suffering. 600,000 marks were collected
by January 1897 in rallies for clinics and orphanages to organize Armenian
relief in Germany; however, Lepsius’s efforts to mobilize political
intervention did not prevail.
Were the German townsmen of Wilhelmine, Germany, as described in Goethe’s
play, reacting spontaneously? Anderson’s answer to that question is clear:
German authorities did their best to smother any movement for Armenian human
rights. As Armenophile narratives were adopted in the countries of the
Entente, Anderson elicits the Turcophile counternarratives that were adopted
by the Germans.
Although Germany’s own liberal democratic press was supposed to be free,
Anderson remarks that the government downplayed narratives favorable to the
Armenian cause in the press and never contradicted the ones against it. The
Foreign Office was even involved in a story laundering system, where
information Berlin wanted to be trusted was leaked to a newspaper abroad, so
domestic editors reprinted it as a foreign, "unimpeachable" source.
The Turcophile counter-narratives were lead by the journalist Hans Barth,
Anderson elaborates. They consisted of three themes: the first one attacked
the Armenians as Christians; the second praised the Turks as "People of
Tolerance"; the third focused on Armenians as exploiters and agents for
English expansion. Barth wrote an article titled "Turk Baiting," which first
appeared in the weekly journal Die Zukunft, and soon expanded to a book,
Turk, Defend Yourself!
In Barth’s first theme, Armenians were identified to the Christian
"crusaders" against Islam. Past events such as the sack of Constantinople
and the Spanish Inquisition served as schema in people’s mind to apprehend
such movements. Insodoing, Barth also encouraged his readers to link Pastor
Lepsius’s movement for Armenian human rights to the West’s longtime
anti-Semitism.
The second theme in the Turcophile counter-narrative was addressed in the
second part of Barth’s book titled: "The Turks as Kulturvolk." It elaborated
on Abdul Hamid’s "reforms" and progressive Turkey, thus associating it to
the Germans’ commitment to modernity, with reforms inspired by German
thinkers (Friedrich List) and German advisors (Generals Helmut von Moltke
and Colmar von der Goltz).
As for the third theme, Armenians were represented as exploiters and tools
of England, and later of the Entente. This has long been emphasized by
Maximilian Harder, the editor of Die Zukunft, who has constantly criticized
the German Foreign Office of not being vigilant enough toward English
expansion and imperialism.
Another capturing detail Anderson draws out: Neue Freie Presse journalist
and activist Theodore Herzel’s own narrative. When the Entente was pressing
Abdul Hamid to accept reforms, the following is what Herzel had offered:
"The sultan gives us the piece of land (Palestine), and for that we will put
everything in order for him, regulate his finances, and determine public
opinion of the entire world in his favor."
On the other hand, Anderson brings proof of the bribery of the European
press by the Young Turks and the Ottomans. The sultan’s ambassadors were
required to give a regular accounting of how the press in their respective
capitals was reporting Ottoman developments. Fearful of repercussions of any
mistake on their carriers, they planted articles in the European press.
Anderson argues that Hans Barth, employed as Rome correspondent of the left
liberal Berliner Taggeblatt, was hired by the Ottomans.
As Anderson further reflects on the German difference, she brings attention
to the depth of Germany’s confessional antagonisms: suspicions between
intellectuals, Jews and the religious, in addition to the ones between
Catholics and Protestants, made it hard for Germans to create a humanitarian
coalition around the Armenian cause.
However, the most important narrative that Anderson brings to light, the
favorite one among the intellectuals then, is the Germans’ perception that
they had a future in the Orient. The "sense of proprietorship" of the
Germans "down in Turkey, far away" amid the expansionist ambitions of the
Entente encouraged them to identify with Turkish power.
Anderson states Social Democratic editor Max Grunwald’s words in October
1915, after learning that about 800,000 Armenians had been massacred over
the previous six months: "In judging one must observe Marx’s guiding
principle that historical development moves according to its own laws. If
one wanted to apply European concepts of morality in politics to Turkish
conditions, one would arrive at a completely distorted judgment."
In the same venue, as per Anderson, the liberal orientalist C.H. Becker,
founder of the journal Der Islam and later minister of culture in the Weimar
Republic, noted, "Never forget that in Turkey we do not have a Rechtsstaat
with an educated population and effective state authority; we stand here,
rather an Asiatic soil, where European culture and the discipline of a
European state are only slowly setting down roots." Turkey would eventually
"have to give up many Asiatic governmental practices" before Germans could
consider it their moral and cultural equal, "but for now Germany must stay
the course that its interests prescribed: alliance with the Ottomans."
Anderson remarks that the German argument of cultural relativism did not
evoke Marx’s theory of historical development. It grew out of a more
geopolitical narrative: "It continues to be the indispensable apology for
murderous regimes."
Questions
"It is my firm conviction that human nature is essentially compassionate,
gentle," invokes the Dalai Lama in The Art of Happiness. "As human society
and environmental conditions gradually became more complex, this required a
greater and greater role of our intelligence and cognitive ability to meet
the ever-increasing demands of this complex environment," the Dalai Lama
explains. "I think that if that human ability, that human intelligence,
develops in an unbalanced way, without being properly counterbalanced with
compassion, then it can become destructive."
When it comes to geopolitics, is there any room for compassion? In a world
dominated by the principle of the survival of the fittest, where might is
right, can conscience prevail?
Do we believe that we could bring justice and peace to the world, and make
it a better place to live, by joining our strengths and talents, as
individuals, no matter what our differences were? And if we did so, have we
been exerting ourselves enough, if at all, with that perspective in mind?
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5. Catholic Armenians in a ‘Democratic Orthodox’ Georgia
By Tatul Hagopian
Father Andre Yanetski complains that there is a serious lack of men in cloth
who could serve in the Catholic Armenian villages of Samkhe-Javakhk. The
Father’s attitude is appropriate. If Armenian Catholics in the region don’t
produce clergy who could serve in their churches, it will be more and more
difficult to find individuals like Father Andre, a Pole who has left his
land and come to cold Javakhk, to serve in the Holy Virgin Church of the
mostly-Catholic village of Dourtskh.
"I am Polish, I was born in Ukraine. The first time I came to Georgia was in
1987, when I came to Tbilisi. About a year after that one of the cardinals
at the Vatican sent me to Javakhk. It’s already been 20 years that I’m
here," Father Andre says, using the local Armenian dialect proficiently.
The Dourtskh village is on the road linking Akhalkalak to the resorts of
Paguria, at the feet of the Samsar mountains. After the collapse of the
Soviet Union, the village lost half of its population. At that time
Armenians in Javakhk, whether Orthodox or Catholic, were leaving the
country. This was their second large-scale move in the past two centuries.
In the 1820-1830s, Armenians, to avoid Turkish persecution, arrived in
Javakhk (which was then under Russian rule) from Erzeroum, Kars, Ardahan,
and other parts of Western Armenia.
The generations that came after those Catholic Armenians who escaped the
Turkish rule grew up under Russian rule.
The approximately 10 Catholic villages in Akhalkalak, Akhaltskha and
Ninotsminda, aside from the Polish Father, also have two Armenian priests,
and the three of them are ambulatory clergy for the local Armenian
Catholics. But the lack of additional staff is not Father Andre’s only
complaint.
"The only legally recognized religious entity in this country is the
Georgian Orthodox Church. No other religious groups have legitimate
recognition. We are just there hanging in the middle. In Georgia there is
what we call ‘Orthodox Democracy,’" he says.
In 2003, during his visit to the Caucasus region, Vatican Foreign Minister
Archbishop Jean Louis Toran was to sign an agreement in Tbilisi that would
legitimize the Georgian Catholic Church as a legal entity. The negotiations
and preparations for this agreement had begun in 1999, during a visit to
Tbilisi by Pope John Paul II.
Right before the Vatican Foreign Minister’s visit, Georgian Catholicos Ilia
II organized a press conference and announced that in his view, signing the
agreement with the Vatican would create a dangerous precedent for other
religious organizations and would create serious problems for Georgia.
During those days, a host of Georgian activists and organizations publicly
criticized Illia II, accusing him of creating "Orthodox Radicalism" in the
country.
In the last 20 years, religion in Georgia-Georgian Orthodox Christianity,
which is much more conservative than other denominations-has become part of
daily lifestyle. Every secular ceremony or event is attended by a clergyman.
In fact, Georgian Orthodox Christianity is considered a national ideology,
and for that reason other religions are seen as threats to national
sovereignty and stability. In 2001, the envoy of former Georgian president
Edward Shevarnadze to Javakhk, Gilga Baramidze, received an honorary award
from the Georgian Church for having "bolstered the position of the Georgian
Orthodox Church in the region."
When Jean Louis Toran, the Vatican Foreign Minister, landed in the Tbilisi
airport, he was welcomed by a few hundred radical Orthodox Georgian
students, and such anti-Catholic protests also occurred in front of the
President’s Palace and the Vatican embassy in Tbilisi. "The Vatican is
sincerely insulted by the treatment it received from the Georgian Orthodox
Church," announced Jean Louis Toran, cutting short his visit to the country.
The number of Catholics in Georgia is approximately 50,000, a portion of it
being Armenians. The latter are better known in Armenian circles as
"Franks." In Javakhk, particularly in the Northern regions (Ashotsk, Kumri,
Dashir, if you meet an Armenian man who says he is a Frank, it means he is a
Catholic Armenians.
In the last few years, however, this word has been dissappearing from the
local lexicon slowly, and the differences between the Armenian Apostolic and
Armenian Catholic Churches are disappearing. Today, Armenian Catholics
studying in Yerevan enter Apostolic Churches non-challantly, light a candle
and pray, while at the same time, people from the villages surrounding
Dourtskh use its Catholic Church due to the lack of churches in their
villages.
But there is no end to the humor created by some situations. For example,
sometimes, when Catholic Armenians in Javakhk are asked about the difference
between them and Apostolic Christians, they simply answer by saying
Apostolics are not true believers, they don’t go to church enough. Humor is
humor, but Catholic Armenians in this area are very protective of their
church rituals. The corpse of the deceased is always displayed in the church
and it is impossible to conceive of a wedding or another important ceremony
without the presence of a priest.
Sixty-eight-year-old Boghos Albertian remembers how in the years of his
youth, differences and prejudice were a lot more prevalent. "Our ancestors
came from Erzeroum, from the Vel village and Ardahan. Over there they were
Catholic. In the past there were very few cases of inter-marriage between
Armenians and Franks. Now, although some traditions have survived, it is not
like before. Armenia doesn’t discriminate, either, when they send aid; they
distribute it to all, whether Frank or Armenian," he says.
A portion of the Catholic Armenians in Javakhk is linguistically divided
from their compatriots. We are not talking about dialect here, since in
those regions there are dozens of Armenian dialects, some quite different
from others. A portion of Catholic Armenians were Turkish speakers from the
Western Armenian regions. Even now, in some areas, the elderly communicate
in Turkish.
Four Catholic Armenian villages in Javakhk were Turkish-speaking: Dourtskh,
Pavran, Kholkoumon and Kardikam. According to the elders of these villages,
their ancestors were actually Apostolic. The Bey of Ardahan forbade them to
speak Armenian, and those who did were fined. This is why those Armenians
were obligated to use Turkish, and when they migrated to Javakhk in the 19th
century, they were already Turkish-speaking.
Life is tough for Armenians in Javakhk regardless of their faith or even
language. No matter how much is said about discrimination against Armenians,
life is full of difficulties in Javakhk for Armenians as well as the few
Georgians and Russians (who are locally called "Toukhopors"). The merciless
winter lasts from October to April, a full half of the year; unemployment is
widespread; and many, finding no solutions, migrate.
Arayig Aparian, a beloved doctor in the region and an Akhalkalak regional
representative, confirms that most people migrate to Russia. Those who have
stayed mainly work in agriculture (wheat, barley and potatoes), or keep
flocks of cows and sheep.
"Out of 450 families there are only 230 left. The village is being emptied
day by day. There is no more youth left in Dourtskh. People are suffering,
the children have left their parents behind," he says, saddened by the
realities around him.
The Khoulkoumo Catholic village is one of the closest settlements to
Akhalkalak. It is only divided from the city by a small river. Being near
the city has given a few dozens villagers the chance to serve in the 62nd
Russian military base. In the coming years the base will be shut down, and
the staff, many of whom are Javakhk Armenians, will be unemployed.
Twenty-seven-year-old dentist Arthur Topalian is worried. He has no doubt
that those left jobless by the closure of the base will come to add to the
already-long unemployment line, though he is more keen to believe they will
migrate to Russia, as well. In the last 15 years, 150 out of the 417
families in Khoulkoumo have emigrated.
Churchgoers in Khoulkoumo wait for Father Andre every Sunday. Their Polish
friend and priest officiates mass every week at the St. Stephen’s Church,
which was founded in 1907 to replace a wooden hut of worship. Faith and love
toward the church are not only the signs of belief in God, but also a sign
of tough times.
In Khoukoumo, there are no industries. The main source of income for most
villagers is potatoes. Either the villagers personally deliver their goods
to Tbilisi, Koutaysi or other cities, or Georgian traders come through the
village.
In Khoulkoumo and Dourtskh, as well as in most villages of Javakhk, there
are no other sources of income. Sometimes the Vatican sends aid: flour,
sugar, oil and other necessities. But that modest aid cannot change the
difficult daily realities of life for Catholic Armenians in Javakhk.
(Translated by Simon Beugekian)
————————————— ————————–
6. Four Poems by Zahrad
THE CRAW
To try less
To know and perceive less
Only to learn
that if you climb up this steep hill
on the way back
your descent will be calmer still and easier
I am not the one saying this but an old black craw
that landed on my way one morning
THE BAT
While screaming "arrest them!
Catch them!" A crafty bat yells
a warning
at the words around him
to run and get away!
and the poem
is left half finished –
unable to reach you
MONKEY
You are the monkey
Supposedly you ape us –
You illicit forebear!
Who is aping whom?
THE DOVE
If words were to lack
bit by bit
I dampen old canvasses
I mend them
I collect – and dispatch
the words
to the oldest
deluge
the last dove
of which
has not returned yet
Should words be left over
I rekindle
I plan – I feed
with words
the foremother of birds
the dove of the deluge
And words cease to be words
They turn to dove
ZAHRAD
Translated by Tatul Sonentz
—————————————— ——————-
Deranian on His New Book
By Andy Turpin
BELMONT, Mass. (A.W.)- On June 14, Dr. Hagop M. Deranian gave a talk at
NAASR on the biography of plastic surgery legend Dr. Varaztad H. Kazanjian,
which he worked on over the course of his own career in dentistry.
The biography, published this past April, is Miracle Man of the Western
Front: Dr. Varaztad H. Kazanjian, Pioneer Plastic Surgeon (Chandler House
Press, 2007). It is the story of how Kazanjian helped invent modern plastic
surgery by finding creative ways to restore the faces of soldiers injured on
the battlefields of World War I.
Kazanjian was smuggled out of Ottoman Armenia in the 1890s and found his way
to Worcester, Mass. For several years, he worked at the Washburn & Moen wire
mill that employed nearly one-third of the city’s Armenian community.
By the time WWI broke out, Kazanjian was chief of Harvard’s Prosthetic
Dentistry Department, and had built both a thriving practice and a
reputation for treating the most difficult cases. In June 1915, Kazanjian
accepted a three-month assignment with the Harvard Medical Unit to treat the
wounded on the battlefields of France.
Drawing on the dexterity with wire he had acquired as a teenager, his
prosthetic work in Harvard’s dental lab, and his penchant for innovation, he
devised new ways to reconstruct the faces of soldiers with horrendous facial
injuries.
Nancy R. Kolligian, NAASR chair, provided the introduction to Deranian, who
later joked, "It’s not really a new book. I’ve been working on it for over
60 years!"
He began by explaining that following World War I, Kazanjian was summoned to
Buckingham Palace where he was bestowed the Orders of St. Michael and St.
George by King George and the Royal Expeditionary Force in France, the
highest military honor in the British armed services to be awarded to a
non-Briton.
Yet for a man with such outstanding laurels, Deranian said that it took
years of extensive research to find archival material related to Kazanjian’s
personal life. "He kept no diary or journal."
Deranian noted that even his given Armenian name, Kazanjian, yielded only so
much information to a researcher, because its translation is simply to
"coppersmith," a common profession all over the Anatolian region at the turn
of the last century.
"We do know his original name was Yereekyan." He followed, "We also know
that he always considered Sepastia his home."
Deranian spoke to the fact that as a teenager in the Ottoman Empire,
Kazanjian became closely associated with the Hunchak party and for these
associations was eventually imperiled to immigrate to America for what he
envisioned to be a temporary leave. Deranian quoted Kazanjian as saying,
"When I left Armenia, it was not because things were bad, but for political
reasons."
Arriving in Worcester, Mass., the traditional gathering place for
Armenian-American immigrants since the 18th century, Deranian said of the
"Armenian Metropolis": "It had the largest amount of Armenians in
America-there were 900."
Following his career in the wire mill, Kazanjian eventually moved inward to
Boston and worked furiously to master his skills at speaking English.
Deranian said Kazanjian remembered a particular English teacher who would
wait for him at night for special sessions. "There are some nice people here
who help others," he had said.
Deranian recited, "In 1905, he became a doctor of dental medicine and opened
his first office on the corner of Boylston and Tremont." He noted that at
that time, most of his bread and butter jaw injury cases were the result of
tenement residents brawling.
In 1912, Kazanjian married a Swiss woman named Sophie. In 1915, when the
first Harvard Medical Unit went to France with the British Volunteers,
Kazanjian was made Head of Operations and took over Hospital 22.
"The British insisted he stay longer after his initial three month were
over, saying that with him in France hundreds of more British soldiers could
be saved. He was even allowed to bring his wife, which was unheard of in a
battle zone," continued Deranian. "The commanding officer in charge of
medical units had said of Kazanjian, ‘Give that man anything he wants!’"
Deranian then noted, "He was mentioned in British War Office dispatches
three times. It was then he was deemed ‘the miracle man’. . The Western
Front] was his home until 1919."
A quiet and unassuming man outside the operating table, after the war
Kazanjian returned to Boston to his practice and work at Harvard. Deranian
related an anecdote, in which Kazanjian attended a lecture at Harvard
Medical School by two noted young British surgeons on technique. When the
surgeons saw Kazanjian standing nonchalantly in the back of the hall after
leaving the war zone to relative obscurity they bolted to his side, saying,
"What are you doing back here? You’re the one that taught us the technique
we’re lecturing about!"
Kazanjian wrote vast amounts of published monographs in medical journals in
his heyday and invented the "the Kazanjian Button" and "Kazanjian Clamp,"
both devices integral to modern reconstructive plastic surgery. His practice
continued till he was 86 years old. He died at the venerable age of 95 in
1974. He was the first professor of plastic surgery at Harvard University.
In the 1930s, Kazanjian was also the prized plastic surgical physician to
Sigmund Freud, whom he traveled to Vienna to treat, building him a special
prosthetic device. Deranian explained, "Freud smoked 20 cigars a day and
developed a painful cancer. Freud called him ‘a magician,’ yet I think
patronizingly always called him ‘that little Armenian.’"
Deranian said that over the years writing the biography, as he conducted
vast amounts of interviews with Kazanjian’s friends and colleagues, "People
took great pride in even having lived next to him." He added, "If there was
a milestone event in his life, I think it would have been in 1900, in
Worcester of all places, when someone said to him, ‘You should study
dentistry, that’s a good profession.’"
Kazanjian himself was noted for having as one of his mantras in his thirst
for knowledge, "Self pity has no place in the aggressive mind."
————————————– ———————————–
No ‘Red Blues’ at the Brattle
The Legacy of Rouben Mamoulian’s ‘Silk Stockings’ 50 Years On
By Andy Turpin
CAMBRIDGE, Mass (A.W.)-On June 9, the Brattle Theater presented a 50th
Anniversary screening of famed Golden-era film director Rouben "Mamoo"
Mamoulian’s 1957 production of Cole Porter’s "Silk Stockings."
"Silk Stockings" is a musical remake of the 1939 film "Ninotchka" produced
by MGM Studios. The original premise is of three Russian thieves who, after
having spent years fleeing the chaotic and poverty-stricken power vacuum
that was Russia following the 1917 Revolution, have arrived in Interwar
Paris to fence jewelry stolen from aristocrats.
A dashing count is sent on behalf of an ex-pat Grand Duchess to broker the
return of the jewels, while at the same time a by-the-numbers "cold fish"
treasury agent (played in the original by the sexually-charged stoic Greta
Garbo) is sent by the Stalin Soviet government to re-acquire the jewels for
the state. The count melts her icy exterior through the magic of romance and
the ambiance of the "City of Light."
In Mamoulian’s update, the dashing count is transformed into a streetwise
yet loveable movie producer, Steve Canfield (played by Fred Astaire), who
puppeteers the situation of trying to get a noted Russian musical composer
to defect from the Soviet Union and work on his newest film shoot in Paris.
The thieves are transformed into a trio of loveable, bumbling Soviet agents:
Iavnov (played by Joseph Buloff), Bibinski (Jules Munshin), and Brankov
(Peter Lorre), who are sent to coerce composer Boroff (Wim Sonneveld) to
return to Russia but get enchanted themselves with the nightlife of Paris.
The iron woman Ninotchka this time around is played by Cyd Charisse and is
characterized for the post-WWII setting with a Soviet-style "Rosy the
Riveter" tank-corp and paratrooper female soldiers that really did serve
their country valiantly in the real-life battles of Leningrad and
Stalingrad.
Both film versions were anti-Soviet and anti-Stalinist for their pre-war and
post-war time periods, but Mamoulian’s film being a musical, the charisma,
charm and schmaltz were in full tour-de-force.
Historically it is interesting to note the year 1957 because today it is
often glossed over as simply being a nominal date in the period considered
the high point of McCarthyism and the Cold War "Red Scares."
This is of course true, and Mamoulian’s film is as lightheartedly bombastic
in its anti-Communist propaganda as you could possibly get, but with good
reason.
In that period, after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 and the failed 1956
Hungary anti-Soviet uprising, but before the Cuban Missile Crisis, a fair
number of people were swayed to believe that the Cold War was in its last
throes.
This view quickly evaporated by 1962 and manifested itself on film in the
James Bond anti-Communist fad and a number of other media trends. But when
"Silk Stockings" hit theaters, the ideological Bolshevik roast was in
particularly high form.
This must have been compounded by Mamoulian’s personal experience with the
post Revolutionary Soviet period, having come to America from the Tiflis,
Georgia, Armenian community.
Cole Porter’s musical lyrics and compositions were spot on and as pithy as
his now legendary status. But as the credits rolled to the tune of the film’s
cheerily ironic theme, "Too Bad, We Can’t Go Back To Moscow," the question
that now begged to be answered was: "How far have Americans and the former
Soviets come since the propaganda pieces of 1957?"
The plucky wit and democratic values demonstrated by Fred Astaire’s
character, to say nothing of his even Judaic-sounding immigrant name
"Canfield," seem almost celluloid reliquaries of a bygone age compared to
today’s America and Putin’s Russia.
In a movie-musical perfect world, perhaps at this moment in the G-8
conference President Bush is melting Vladimir Putin’s iron exterior through
the magic of song over the re-assertion of human rights importance and
missile defense placements.
It is more than likely there is nobody in Estonia singing the "Red Blues"
over the loss of Soviet-era statues. About the only thing that is mutually
assured is that all of our governments should seek accountably and become
more familiar with, "Lets Face the Music and Dance".
***
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