Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am, Armenia
Aug 29 2009

Komitas, Arshile Gorky, and roadmap: Diaspora this week

12:55 / 08/29/2009This week the Lebanon-based Aztag daily has
published the reasoning of Gegham Sareyan, one of the members of the
Armenian community in Lebanon. He speaks of the importance of
preserving the pure Armenian language. Sareyan considers it
inadvisable to use foreign words while the Armenian language has
equivalents for all of them.

According to him, `during the personality cult, it was not only
humans, but also art, literature and language that suffered. Without
having necessary knowledge of their native language, some statesmen,
made arbitrary decisions making some Armenian words `obsolete’ and
putting their foreign equivalents into use. All that had no scholarly
basis, being the result of personality cult. It should be noted,
however, that attempts to restore the pure Armenian language were
made: teachers, writers and public representatives addressed the
problem. Even world-famous scholars addressed the problem, but, for
some unclear reasons, all that remained &`voice crying in the
wilderness.’ In modern times, a language is a vital factor for both
individuals and entire nations. Is it necessary to prove one that
knowing his or her native language is each person’s sacred duty? It is
through the use of mother tong that a person’s life and mental and
spiritual world is shaped¦’

The Asbarez newspaper reports that `the Philadelphia Museum of Art
will present a major traveling retrospective celebrating the
extraordinary life and work of Armenian American artist Arshile Gorky,
a seminal figure in the movement toward gestural abstraction that
would transform American art in the years after World War II.

‘The exhibition, which will run from October 21 to January 10, 2010 in
Philadelphia, will travel to Tate Modern, London (February 10 ` May 3,
2010) and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (June 6 `
September 20, 2010) following its debut in Philadelphia. A
Retrospective will premier at the Museum and present 180 paintings,
sculptures and works on paper reflecting the full scope of Gorky’s
prolific career.

The exhibition has been organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art
and will be accompanied by a major publication, published in
association with Yale University Press.

Born Vosdanig Adoian around 1904 near Lake Van in an Armenian province
of Ottoman Turkey, Gorky witnessed as a young boy the ethnic cleansing
of his people, the minority Armenians. Gorky’s mother died in his
arms¦

Gorky took his own life on July 21, 1948, leaving behind an impressive
body of work that secured his reputation as the last of the great
Surrealist painters and an important precursor to Abstract
Expressionism¦

The Argentina-based Komitas choir, 35 singers, has marked its 80th
anniversary. On the occasion a Diario Armenia reporter met with
Makruhà – Eolmessekian, Director of the choir. Ms. Eolmessekian has
been directing the choir for almost 40 years. She says she loves
music, and all that has to do with the Armenia and Armenians, best in
the world. When a child, she loved Komatas’ works and dreamed of
becoming a pianist. She entered the National Conservatoire of Music
and Scenic Art (Conservatorio Nacional de Música y Arte
Escénico). Ms. Eolmessekian tries to speak Armenia as often as
she can. She thinks Armenian is a very beautiful language and advises
young Armenians living in Argentina to learn their mother tong. She
also admires Armenian literature. During concerts Ms. Eolmessekian
often recites poems in both Armenia and Spanish.

The Komitas Choire was founded in 1929, and has since been doing its
best to take the ancient Armenian cultural heritage to people
everywhere. On August 29, the choir is to start the celebrations of
its 80th anniversary with concerts, including solo performances.

Diario Armenia also addressed politics. Specifically, Jorge
Rubén Kazandjian, Editor of Diario Armenia, speaks of the
passivity, laziness and inconsistency of Armenian diplomats, which
allowed the Turkish foreign office to achieve success in pursuing its
Armenian Genocide denial policy not only in Europe, in the Middle
East, but also in South America.

Specifically, Turkish diplomats launched vigorous activities in
Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Chile. Under the circumstances, the
resignation of RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan, whose response
was nothing but worthless comments, is quite logical in the context
unfavorable for both Armenia and the Diaspora. Meanwhile, the Turkish
diplomats’ activities produce results¦

The Antelias agency reports that an international academic conference
on the Armenian Genocide and International Law will take place from
September 2 to 4 at Haigazian University.

Organized by the Haigazian University and the Armenian National
Committee-Middle East, the conference will discuss the Armenian
Genocide from the perspective of international law and tackle issues
such as professional ethics and genocide denial, the consequences of
the Genocide and the rights of the Armenian nation within the context
of international law, and means of further promoting the field of
Armenian Genocide Studies.

A number of scholars in genocide studies and experts in international
law have been invited to the two-day conference. They will be arriving
from Armenia, Canada, Egypt, Ireland, Lebanon, England, Switzerland,
Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

A book telling the truth about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been
published. The Noyev Kovcheg (Noah’s Ark) newspaper recently published
an article about the book written by the political scientist and
journalists Arsen Melik-Shahnazarov. The book entitled
`Nagorno-Karabakh: facts versus lies’ deals with information and
ideological aspects of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Melik-Shahnazarov’s work contains an in-depth analysis of
the history of the conflict between the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh
in its broad sense (not to be mixed with the Nagorno-Karabakh
autonomous region) and the pseudo-Azerbaijani nationalist
authorities. The author’s father, Ashot Melik-Shahnazarov (1931-2004)
was a well-known Armenian and Soviet diplomat. His ancestors were
princes in Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1988, Melik-Shahnazarov Senior
actively joined his people’s struggle against the colonial rule of the
Baku regime.

Melik-Shahnazarov was going deeply into all the aspects of the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem, paying special attention to well-reasons
exposure of falsifications `heaped up’ by the Baku-based claimants to
Nagorno-Karabakh and their supporters abroad. The result is a most
interesting fundamental work for the general public.

`Can Turkey wish away the Armenians and their past, by denying
historical facts?’ asks the Lebanon-based Daily Start newspaper. The
newspaper provides an answer by drawing parallels between some
problems.

`Turkey’s decision to dramatically switch gears on how it deals with
its Kurdish citizens is part of a &`Kurdish initiative’ by Prime
Minister Erdogan, and gives the region a considerable amount of food
for thought. Turkey’s earlier policies were well-known, if not
infamous: erasing the names of villages of its Kurdish community and
banning the use of the Kurdish language in public settings, among
other measures, all a part of `Turkification’,’ the newspaper
writes. According to the authors, the same `the old-style policies of
ethnic `cultural cleansing” can be seen in Palestine.

The newspaper refers to similar cases in North Africa, where `the
Amazig people of North Africa, commonly referred to as the Berbers,
face similar struggles over asserting their cultural and other
rights.’ As regards Iraq, the newspaper writes that `[it] provides an
example of non-state actors targeting ethnic and religious groups,
such as Kurds, Turkmen and various Christian sects, to create a
supposedly `purer’ country.’ The authors arrived at the conclusion
that `such policies are doomed to fail.’ A striking example is Turkey,
which `was mired in a fierce strain of nationalism over six
decades¦’ On our part, we would like to note that Turkey has so far
had courage to show goodwill to the Kurdish issue. As regards the
Armenian Genocide, the Turkish Government prefers the criminal
negationist ideology.

Progress in the Cyprus, Kurdish and Armenian issues will help the
region achieve stability, writes Hürriyet Daily News, quoting
the British Ambassador to Turkey Nick Baird, whose new post will start
next month in London as director-general for Europe and Globalization.

According to the ambassador, `Turkey is making good progress in
solving the points of contention.’ He expressed the confidence that
`we have to make progress on that [Nagorno-Karabakh] issue in order to
take a step forward in the Armenian road map more generally.’

The newspaper writes on that `[this] April, both Turkey and Armenia
announced a road map to normalize their troubled relations, saying
they achieved tangible progress and mutual understanding in
talks. Ankara’s move drew criticism from Azerbaijan, which argues that
opening the border will block a settlement in
Nagorno-Karabakh. Opposition to the road map, both inside Turkey and
from Baku, prompted Ankara to return to its original position, with
the prime minister assuring that the border would not be opened before
a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.’ Commenting on Anraka’s
position, Baird said the Turkish Government did not `have very much
choice.’

He outgoing British Ambassador also mentioned the problem of Cyprus in
the context of Turkey’s integration into the European Union (EU).

Mustafa Kemal, the first president of Turkey, who is better known as
Ataturk, continued his predecessor’s criminal policy and set a good
example to his successors in denying the Armenian Genocide. On March
7, 1920, he sent a telegraph to Admiral Bristol refuting `the claims
of so called Armenian genocide, which [were] fabricated to break away
Armenians from Turkish community,’ reported In his
`righteous indignation’ Ataturk asked the U.S. Government and allied
forces to enlighten the `World community about the essence of this
propaganda of slaughter of Armenians.’ He claimed those pursuing their
own interests fabricated a lie about the number of slaughtered
Armenians.

`What is hampering the normalization of relations between Ankara and
Yerevan is a dispute over Karabakh and Turkey’s support for
Azerbaijan, not the widely discussed topic of genocide,’ the political
analyst and journalist Vicken Cheterian writes in Le Monde
diplomatique.

Ankara wants Armenia to withdraw its troops from Karabakh and other
occupied territories ob Azerbaijan before it opens the border and
establishes diplomatic relations with Armenia, the authors writes.

The expert also mentioned Barack Obama’s 24 April speech to the
Armenians, when he `used the expression `medz yeghern’, meaning `great
calamity’, and not the word which Armenian militants have been
struggling for decades to hear.’

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress