Courier Online, July 20, 2023
1- Pashinyan is
Incorrect that Armenia
had
Agreed to
Exchange Meghri for Artsakh
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Preeminent
Historian, Scholar Prof.
Richard Hovannisian
Passes Away
3- At Haigazian
Conference, International Scholarly Community Discusses 'Transitions and Transformations in the Armenian Space:
1900-2020'
4- CA Senate
Unanimously Adopts Artsakh Resolution
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1- Pashinyan is
Incorrect that Armenia
had
Agreed to
Exchange Meghri for Artsakh
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attempted last month to
distract attention from Armenia’s
current tragic situation by blaming former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian.
This is a routine ploy used by Armenia’s
current leader to cover up his defeat in the Artsakh War and failure to protect
the country’s national interests.
This does not mean that the former leaders were faultless.
They made plenty of mistakes and I repeatedly criticized them at the time while
sitting in front of them in the Presidential Palace. Those who describe my
criticisms of Pashinyan as defending the former leaders are totally mistaken.
Here is what Pashinyan said last month while testifying in a
parliamentary committee investigating the circumstances of the 2020 Artsakh
War: “On June 2, 2000, Aravot newspaper [in Armenia] published the following
article: Vartan Oskanian, the Foreign Minister, on April 25, 2000, during his
meeting with the Armenian community of Glendale [California], described by him
as ‘very private, unofficial remarks,’ announced the following: ‘Meghri is
being given to Azerbaijan, Lachin [Corridor] along with Artsakh is being given
to Armenia. Through Meghri, Armenia
is being given a sovereign road with which Armenia
would be able to have a sovereign contact to enter Iran.’” Pashinyan added: “His
[Oskanian’s] remarks were published in The California Courier weekly newspaper
[in 2000] which also quoted Oskanian's words that the above mentioned proposal
has ‘some logic and needs serious consideration….’”
Since Prime Minister Pashinyan was referring to an editorial
I wrote in The California Courier on May 25, 2000, a few lines of which were
reprinted in Aravot, I would like to set the record straight by quoting from
what I wrote 23 years ago, titled: “Exchanging Meghri with Karabagh: Good Idea
or Political Suicide?”
What Pashinyan is referring to was a 1992 proposal by Paul
Goble, Special Adviser to Secretary of State James Baker, to exchange Meghri,
the strategically important Southern Region of Armenia, for Artsakh. This idea
was rejected by then Pres. Robert Kocharyan and subsequently by Azerbaijan’s
then Pres. Heydar Aliyev.
Pashinyan is partially distorting what Oskanian said in Glendale. In my editorial
of 2000, I quoted Oskanian as saying: “There are many rumors about the
resolution of the Karabagh conflict. There are criticisms alleging that the
Armenian authorities want to give Meghri to Azerbaijan. In fact, there is a
small degree of truth in those rumors. Such a proposal on the exchange of territories
has been made to the Armenian
Republic, to the
President of Armenia. But, such a proposal was rejected. Armenia did not
accept it as a basis of negotiations.” Oskanian repeatedly stated that this
proposal was rejected by the Armenian government. The proof is that Meghri was
not exchanged for Artsakh.
However, Oskanian continued his remarks, raising questions
about his assertion that Armenia
rejected the Goble Plan. Pashinyan is now capitalizing on Oskanian’s
supplementary statement.
Here is what Oskanian said in his additional statement which
I reported in my 2000 article: “But let me say the following: I don’t want you
to misunderstand me. It’s been rejected, it will be rejected and it’s not a
plan that can be realized. Nevertheless, this is such a proposal that is worth
thinking about. It’s not happening. It won’t happen, but when people say it’s
treasonous to even think about it, that’s what I would like to respond to:
Let’s think a little deeply about it. This proposal has certain logic. To simply
dismiss such a proposal on a purely emotional basis is wrong. We have done
that. We must seriously analyze it. I wonder, maybe we are wrong in saying no.
What are we afraid of? Why are we not analyzing it? Is it a taboo? Let’s make a
checklist. Let’s analyze it in newspapers. It has pluses and minuses. What I’m
calling for is that it’s possible to have a very healthy debate and a dialog on
this issue, because this proposal is worth thinking about.”
I don’t know why Oskanian, after repeatedly rejecting the
exchange proposal, went on to say that it is “worth thinking about.” In my
opinion, there was nothing to think about. It was clearly an unacceptable
proposal, suggesting that Armenia
exchange one Armenian territory, Artsakh, for another Armenian territory,
Meghri. Oskanian’s speculative words gave Pashinyan a reason to blame him for
even considering such a bad idea.
I concluded my editorial in 2000 with the following words: “Armenia has
nothing to gain and much to lose from such an exchange.” I am still of the same
opinion.
Finally, for those who think that since Armenia lost most of Artsakh in the 2020 War,
maybe Oskanian was correct about considering the exchange of Meghri for
Artsakh, I must say that Azerbaijan’s
insatiable appetite is not satisfied by the conquest of Artsakh or even Meghri.
Azerbaijan’s imperialistic
ambitions extend to the takeover of the entirety of Armenia. The more Armenia’s leaders make territorial concessions,
the more Azerbaijan
will be encouraged to demand further Armenian territories. The only solution is
to arm Armenia’s
military with modern lethal weapons and defend its territory from further Azeri
incursions.
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2- Preeminent Historian, Scholar Prof. Richard Hovannisian
Passes Away
By Prof. Bedross Der Matossian
Professor Richard G. Hovannisian, a paragon of enlightenment
and learning from one century into another, passed away on July 10, 2023, at
UCLA Hospital, on the same university campus where he taught for 60 years.
With his passing, the Society for Armenian Studies, the
academic world, the field of Armenian Studies, and the Armenian nation lost one
of the most prominent icons of the modern period.
Hovannisian was a monumental figure in the field of Armenian
Studies. Considered as the Dean of Modern Armenian History, he established the
field of Modern Armenian History in the Western Hemisphere.
He supported the establishment of some of the most important chairs in Armenian
Studies in the United States.
Hovannisian was the child of Genocide survivors. His father, Kaspar Gavroian,
was born in in the village
of Bazmashen near
Kharpert in 1901. Unlike others, he survived the Genocide and arrived in the U.S. He changed
his last name from Gavroian to Hovannisian after his father Hovannes. In 1928
Kaspar married Siroon Nalbandian, the child of Genocide survivors. They had
four sons: John, Ralph, Richard, and Vernon.
Richard was born in Tulare,
California, on November 9, 1932.
Being the son of Genocide survivors played an important role in his academic
path. In 1957, he married Dr. Vartiter Kotcholosian in Fresno and had four children: Raffi, Armen,
Ani, and Garo. Raffi would become the first Minister of Foreign Affairs
(1991-1992) of the Modern Republic of Armenia.
Hovannisian began his academic life in 1954 by earning a
B.A. in History, followed by an M.A. in History from the University
of California, Berkley. In 1966, he earned his Ph.D. from
the University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA). His dissertation was published in 1967
with the title Armenia on
the Road to Independence
which was the precursor to the four-volume magnum opus The Republic of Armenia.
Hovannisian played an important role in establishing the teaching of Armenian
history at UCLA. In 1987, he became the first holder of the Armenian Education
Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA, which after his retirement
was named in his honor as the Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern
Armenian History, with Prof. Sebouh Aslanian as its first incumbent.
Hovannisian was a Guggenheim Fellow and received numerous
prestigious national and international awards for his service to the field and
civic activities. He served on the Board of Directors of multiple national and
international educational institutions and was a member of the Armenian
National Academy of Sciences. After finishing his four-volume The Republic of
Armenia, he dedicated his research and career to battling the denial of
Armenian Genocide, resurrecting the history of Armenian towns and villages of
the Armenian Provinces of the Ottoman Empire,
and writing textbooks on modern Armenian history. Although not a scholar of
Armenian Genocide, he has contributed more to the discipline than many others
in the field. He edited multiple volumes on different facets of the Armenian
Genocide, including historical, literary, and artistic perspectives.
Hovannisian also spearheaded a monumental project to preserve the eyewitness
accounts of the Armenian Genocide survivors.
In the 1970s, he launched the Armenian Genocide oral history
project. He and his students interviewed more than 1,000 Armenian Genocide
survivors in California.
In 2018, Hovannisian donated the collection to the USC Shoah Foundation’s
Visual History Archive to be available to scholars around the world. He
single-handedly edited and published 15 volumes with Mazda Press as part of the
UCLA Armenian History & Culture Series. The 15 volumes covered the history
of Armenians in Van/Vaspourakan, Cilicia (with Simon Payaslian),
Sivas/Sepastia, Trebizond/Trabzon, Baghesh/Bitlis, Taron/Mush, Smyrna/Izmir,
Kesaria/Kayseri and Cappadocia among other
places. The final book in the series, The Armenians of Persia/Iran, was
published in 2022. Hovannisian’s also edited the two-volume The Armenian People
from Ancient to Modern Times, which is considered a classic Armenian History
textbook.
Hovannisian came from
a generation that fought against the stifling of Armenian voices within the
fields of Middle Eastern and Ottoman Studies, which had relegated Armenian
Studies to second-class status. He fought for the relevance of Armenian Studies
within these fields and tirelessly fought against the efforts to marginalize
Armenian issues and to deny the Armenian Genocide.
Besides his contribution to the field, Hovannisian also
mentored and educated multiple generations of scholars and thousands of
students. He was a strict mentor who demanded that his students work to reach
their full potential. He wanted to make sure that they would survive and thrive
in the tough terrain of the academic job market.
In his lifetime, Hovannisian was especially influenced by
two people: his wife Vartiter and Simon Vratsian (the last Prime Minister of
the First Republic of Armenia). Vartiter was his life’s partner for more than
half a century. Her dedication to Richard and the field of Armenian Studies
played an important role in shaping who Richard became. Vartiter was an
intellectual companion who read and reviewed every piece that he wrote. She was
also a constant presence at every conference he planned or attended. In the
early 1950s, Vratsian, the author of a major book on the First
Republic, became Hovannisian’s mentor
when he studied Armenian language at the Hamazkayin Nishan Palanjian Jemaran in
Beirut, Lebanon. This influence led
Hovannisian to write the first academic work on the First Republic of Armenia
and created the first step for his academic career.
In 1974, Hovannisian along with Dickran Kouymjian, Nina
Garsoïan, Avedis Sanjian, and Robert
Thomson spearheaded the project to establish a Society for Armenian Studies
(SAS). Considered as the pillars of Armenian Studies, the main objective of
this group was the development of Armenian Studies as an academic discipline.
With access to very limited resources, this group of scholars was able to
establish the foundations of a Society that would play a dominant role in
developing Armenian Studies in North America
and beyond. From a handful of chairs and programs that supported the initiative
at the time, today Armenian Studies as a discipline has flourished in the United States
with more than thirteen chairs and programs providing their unconditional
support to the Society. Hovannisian was the president of SAS for three terms
(1977, 1991-1992, 2006-2009). During his tenure the Society flourished and was
able to achieve major accomplishments in the field.
In 2019, the Society for Armenian Studies awarded
Hovannisian with the SAS Life Time Achievement Award in recognition and
appreciation for his outstanding service and contribution to the field of
Armenian Studies.
The community wake will take place on Wednesday, July 19 at
7 p.m. at Holy Cross Armenian
Apostolic Church,
located at 900 W. Lincoln Ave.,
Montebello, CA
90640.
The national funeral service will be held on Saturday, July
22 at 11 a.m. at Holy
Trinity Armenian
Apostolic Church,
located at 2226 Ventura Ave.,
Fresno, CA 93721.
Hovannisian was predeceased by his wife, Dr. Vartiter
Kotcholosian. He is survived by: Son, Raffi and Armenouhi Hovannisian, children
and grandson; Son, Armen and Elizabeth Hovannisian, children and granddaughter;
Daughter, Ani and Armenio Kevorkian and children; Son, Garo and Arsineh
Hovannisian and children; Sister-in-law, Nazik Kotcholosian Messerlian and
family; Brothers John, Ralph, and Vernon Hovannisian families (Fresno-Visalia);
In-laws, Takouhi Khatchikian family; Zabel Aranosian family; Seda Artounians
family; Zohrab Kevorkian family; and all relatives, friends, colleagues, and
students.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Orran (Center
for Underprivileged Children in Armenia),
c/o 2217 Observatory Ave.,
Los Angeles CA
90027 or the Richard
G. Hovannisian Scholarship Fund/Holy Martyrs Ferrahian High School, c/o 101 Groverton Place, Los Angeles, CA 90077.
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3- At Haigazian Conference,
International Scholarly Community Discusses 'Transitions
and Transformations in the Armenian Space: 1900-2020'
During three days between June 27 and 29, the Haigazian
University-based Armenian Diaspora Research Center (ADRC) organized in Beirut,
Lebanon, the second conference on “Transitions and Transformations in the
Armenian Space: 1900-2020” in collaboration with the Khatchadur Apovian State
Pedagogical University in Armenia (SPUA).
ADRC director Prof. Antranik Dakessian welcomed the audience
and noted that the conference “is a call to the researchers in the diverse
fields of Armenian Studies to observe and discuss anew the last 120 years of
the Armenians from the perspective of the proclamation of the republics of Armenia and
Artsakh.”
Due to the illegal Azeri blockade since April 2022, Mrs.
Elina Mekhitarian from Artsakh could not join the conference in person.
Nonetheless, she sent a short message to the conferees stating that the Azeri
violation of basic human rights is intended to force the indigenous Artsakh
Armenians to desert their homeland.
Rector of SPUA, Professor Serpuhi Kevorkian, noted that the
topics raised not only academic interests, but proposed practical resolutions
to basic issues concerning the Armenian Church, as well as to issues related to
Armenian socio-political institutions, Armenian culture, identity, world
perception, Armenian Genocide, and Armenian statehood.
In his lecture, titled “The periods of Armenian
transformations”, the guest speaker of the conference, Professor Khatchadur
Sdepanian, divided the Armenian transformation process into three different
periods and presented the social, linguistic, cultural, կենցաղային, and other aspects of
these transformations.
Haigazian University President, Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian
asked, ‘Whose task is it to crystallize such a strategy in both our conditions,
statelessness and having a state, a strategy that would contribute to Armenian
safety and security, national, educational, military, linguistic, ethical,
religious, economic, cyber, environmental and other fields?”
During the next two days of the conference, June 28 and 29,
17 presentaions were delivered. These included Prof. Vatchagan Krikorian’s
analysis of transformations of 20th century Armenian prose, Prof. Hagop
Cholakian’s in-depth analysis of the transformations of the Western Armenian
language, Prof. Claude Armen Mutafian narrated the transformation of the Carpathian
Armenians since the 1900s, Prof. Vahram Shemmassian (via internet) discussed
the transformations of the Musa Dagh Armenians, while Prof. Lusié Sahagian
discussed those of the Hamshen Armenians, Prof. Garen Megerdchian and Prof. Ani
Fishenkjian respectively highlighted the transformation of the Iranian and
Syrian Armenian communities, Rev. Dr. Haidostian focused on the transformation
of the Armenian Evangelical Church, Dr. Hratch Chilingirian discussed the
institutional secularisation of the Armenian Church, Prof. Raffi Cherchian
examined transformations in Armenian church architecture, Prof. Hovhannissian
highlighted the transformation of the Catholicosate of Cilicia between the
Genocide and the 1930s,
Prof. Lilit Hovhannissian spoke about the transformation of
the interpretations of the diplomatic history of the Armenian Cause between
1878 and 1923 in Soviet and post-Soviet Armenian historiography, Vilen
Mnatsakanian detailed the transformation of economic policy during
state-planned and market-run economies, Prof. Khachig Mouradian made a deep
observation on the transformation of genocide education from past to present
and presented its future prospects, Prof. Hagop Tatevossian analysed the
socio-psychological transformation of patriotism and its expressions, Harut
Sassounian discussed the transformations of Diaspora representations and the
project of a Diaspora parliament, and Dikran Yegavian examined the
transformations of the relations between the Republic of Armenia and the
Diaspora.
During the second day of the conference professor Mutafian’s
book “Jérusalem et les Arméniens jusqu’à la conquête ottomane (1516)” was
launched. Prof. Dakessian highlighted the scholar’s legacy while Prof. Mutafian
highlighted the main aspects of the Jerusalem Armenians until the Ottoman
conquest in 1516.
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4- CA Senate
Unanimously Adopts Artsakh Resolution
SACRAMENTO—The
California State Senate adopted a resolution on July 10 with a vote of 39-0
calling for the protection and security of the Armenian population of Artsakh.
The passage in the Senate follows the March 30 passage of the resolution in the
State Assembly and operates as a unified position by the State of California calling for
the protection and security of the Armenian population of Artsakh.
Senators Anthony Portantino (pictured) and Maria Elena
Durazo made statements on the Senate floor before the resolution was voted on.
The resolution condemns Azerbaijan’s
ongoing blockade of Artsakh and calls upon the United States Federal Government
to use any and all tools to compel Azerbaijan to end the blockade. The
resolution also calls on the federal government to end military assistance to Azerbaijan,
provide humanitarian aid to the people of Artsakh, establish an international
peacekeeping mission to ensure Artsakh’s safety and security, and support
Artsakh’s self-determination.
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