Author: Badalian Vardan

PRESS RELEASE

June 14, 2004

American University of Armenia Corporation
300 Lakeside Drive, 4th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576

Contact: Gohar Momjian
E-mail: [email protected]

Preventing Blindness: A Top Priority at the Garo Meghrigian Eye Institute

Preventing blindness in Armenia – this is the bold and ambitious mission of
the Garo Meghrigian Eye Institute for Preventive Ophthalmology (GMEIPO).
The institute is located in Yerevan at the AUA Business and Conference
Center, and was established in 1999 within the AUA Center for Health
Services Research and Development of the College of Health Sciences.

“In our experience, screening over 6,000 children in Armenia’s summer camps
and other vulnerable populations in the regions, we have found that a large
majority of eye diseases and problems could be avoided with proper
education, affordable access to regular eye examinations, and treatment,”
said Naira Khachatryan, ophthalmologist, AUA graduate, and GMEIPO Program
Manager, who is also completing her Doctorate in Public Health at the London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “Preventable blindness is such a
tragedy, and playing a small part in preventing a single case or in
restoring proper vision is immensely gratifying.”

Mr. and Mrs. Garo and Gloria Meghrigian generously contributed $500,000 to
establish the Eye Institute in memory of their daughter, Christine Hripsime
Meghrigian (Dec. 10, 1953-Feb 26, 1991). Mr. Meghrigian was experiencing a
gradual loss of his eyesight, and he felt that adults as well as children
may be facing similar situations in Armenia. It was his vision to help other
Armenians not suffer the same fate by providing ongoing screenings in
Armenia; educating eye care providers and the general public on scientific
advances in detecting, preventing, and treating eye diseases; and more
importantly, translating these advances into nationwide clinical practices.
Mr. Meghrigian has passed away, but his wife Gloria and other family members
have a keen interest in the ongoing work of the Institute to prevent
blindness.

Continuing AUA’s track record of building relationships and partnerships
with international and local agencies, most recently, the GMEIPO in
partnership with Armenia’s Ministry of Health and the Ararat Lions Club, was
awarded the Lions Club International Foundation SightFirst grant to improve
eye care in Gegharkunik Marz. “This collaborative project is comprehensive
and system-oriented. It establishes a regional ophthalmic unit in Sevan to
provide eye care on the district level, strengthening local infrastructure,
and providing services in the Marz currently only available in Yerevan,”
said Michael Thompson, Director of AUA’s Center for Health Services Research
and Development. “GMEIPO’s plan is to develop a mode of organizing,
financing, and delivering regional ophthalmic services for Armenia that
could be replicated as a national model of quality and affordable medical
services. Unlike other humanitarian efforts that simply provide care,
GMEIPO focuses on developing infrastructure, local expertise, and
sustainable systems.”

GMEIPO will be taking the lead to build a regional ophthalmic unit according
to Armenia’s Ministry of Health standards and equipped per the World Health
Organization standard list. Human resources will be developed, and training
will consist of international experiences, local academic training, and
local practical training covering both treatment and management skills.
Together, GMEIPO and the Ministry of Health will establish village
examination centers, and will complete mass screenings of approximately
20,000 people who are over the age of 50 in the Gegharkunik Marz. All
prevalent cases of bilateral blinding cataract, estimated at 1,000-1,500, in
the Marz, will be identified and treated during a one and a half year
period.

“AUA is proud of the Garo Meghrigian Eye Institute and its outstanding
achievements. All of the AUA academic programs operate research and
development centers rooted in their academic fields that strive to impact
the community, to help improve the lives of individuals, and also to serve
as examples and catalysts for systemic change,” said AUA President,
Haroutune Armenian.

—————————————-

The American University of Armenia is registered as a non-profit educational
organization in both Armenia and the United States and is affiliated with
the Regents of the University of California. Receiving major support from
the AGBU, AUA offers instruction leading to the Masters Degree in eight
graduate programs. For more information about AUA, visit

Pictures: GMEIPO actively participated in the Boarding School Visual
Impairment Project – 2002, supported by UNICEF/Armenia and the Jinishian
Memorial Fund.

Armenia to dispose Soviet liquid missile fuel
By Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 13, 2004 Sunday

YEREVAN, June 13 — Armenia will dispose liquid missile fuel, which is
left on the national territory from the Soviet period. A memorandum
to the effect has been signed between Armenian Defense Minister and
Secretary of the National Security Council Serzh Sarkisyan and head
of the OSCE mission in Yerevan Vladimir Pryakhin.

Further storing of the liquid missile fuel is dangerous, because the
fuel containers have decayed. The OSCE is ready to assign experts
for helping the Armenian project.

New Lessons: Armenia prepares for significant changes in secondary education
By Gayane Abrahamyan, ArmeniaNow reporter

ArmeniaNow.com
June 11,2004

A Project on Education Quality and Compliance has been in public
discussion for several months and proposes fundamental changes in
Armenia’s schools of general education.

According to the new state education system, beginning 2006 secondary
education in the republic will be 12 years and children will be
admitted at the age of six. (Presently, the system is 10 years,
with students entering at age six.)

Ten years will become 12 for general education students..

The new education system was developed by a working group selected
through competition, 40 percent of which were teachers, the
others were professors at universities, members of the center for
educational reforms at the Ministry of Education and Science and also
representatives of non-governmental organizations.

According to this educational system secondary general education will
be carried out through a three-level system: 4 years elementary school
(1st to 4th grades); 5 years secondary school (5th to 9th grades);
and 3 years senior school (10th to 12th grades).

The complete program of reforms also includes a methodical re-training
of 40,000 teachers, publishing of new textbooks, providing computers
and introduction of a new evaluation system.

According to the Minister of Education and Science Sergo Yeritsyan in
the aspect of educational reforms Armenia is not only behind European
but also CIS countries. It has been several years that Russia, Belarus
or other CIS countries have passed on to a 12-year education plan.

“We haven’t had a defined educational strategy after independence,”
Yeritsyan says. “Different tests have been done, a project has been
developed proceeding from the present moment, while this new project
is complete. It involves pre-school education up to post graduate
education.”

The Minister points out that one of the main advantages of this
project is that the new educational system will give an opportunity to
combine final school exams with entry exams at institutes of higher
learning. It will also allow for a lighter load of subjects and at
the same time it will add 20 percent of new subjects.

According to the director of Educational Project center Karine
Harutyunyan, the project will be implement by a $45 million credit
allotment from World Bank.

NIE director Melikyan is in favor of the changes..

The new educational system became subject to active discussions among
society. For instance, the dean of the journalism faculty at Yerevan
State University, Garnik Ananyan, believes the new educational policy
will lead to a weakening of the education system.

And Anahit Simonyan, a teacher for 30 years, says a four-year
elementary system isn’t needed, as three years are more than enough
for the material provided to cover that level.

Gagik Melikyan, deputy director of National Institute for Education,
says objections to the new educational system initially was the lack
of awareness and wrong opinions. Included in the misunderstanding was a
wide-spread belief that Armenian children would start school at age 5.

“All those conversations that in case of passing on to a new
educational system children will go to school at the age of five,
are not true. Moreover, nothing is said about it in the project,”
points out Melikyan.

He clarifies that the issue of 5 year-old children was touched since
there was some discussion of organizing a pre-school education program,
aimed to bring those children who are not attending kindergartens to
the necessary level.

“Not everyone can afford to take their children to kindergartens,
and as a result the child comes to school unprepared,” says Melikyan.

According to information of the National Statistics Service
today in Armenia only 18 percent of 5-6 year-old children go to
kindergartens. To fill in this gap the new educational system provides
state assistance thanks to which the last kindergarten year will be
free of charge.

“It does not mean that kindergartens will lose their main
activity which is to prepare children for school, like many people
think. Simply, if now that process is carried out by communities then
in case of passing to the new educational system it will be carried
out through the means and with the control of Ministry of Education
and Science,” adds Melikyan.

A lot of attention in the project is paid to teachers’ training,
re-training and re-qualification, as well as to the issue of computer
usage. According to Melikyan there already is a group consisting of 40
teachers who have been re-qualified abroad and who will be teaching
at the branches of the Institute for Re-Training that exist in all
the regions of the republic.

There also is a center for knowledge evaluation and testing, which
will be carrying out both current and final school exams, which will
at the same time be entry exams. According to Yeritsyan, the new
evaluation method will give an opportunity to prevent corruption.

To clarify society’s opinion the Armenian Sociology Association
recently sponsored an opinion poll.

Six hundred teachers, principles, high grade pupils and parents and
160 experts from 100 schools randomly chosen from five regions of
Armenia participated in the poll.

Sixty five percent were dissatisfied with what they knew about the
proposed system. Forty-seven percent believe the reform is aimed
at improving the quality of education. Twenty percent answered that
the reform is for monetary gain of the specialists and six percent
believe it is to improve personnel.

Twelve percent think that reforms will lead to deterioration of the
educational system. Nine percent think the number of unemployed
teachers will increase as a result of reforms. According to 4.5
percent the number of schools will be cut.

The topic on which there was overwhelming agreement was teacher salary:
Almost 92 percent of those who took part in the poll complained of
the amount of salary paid to teachers and they pointed out that it
is not enough to take care of their family needs. One third of them
have no choice but doing something else in addition to their main job.

Editorial Chief Ending 27-Year Courant Run
By MIKE SWIFT, Courant Staff Writer

Hartford Courant, CT
June 9 2004

John J. Zakarian, The Courant’s editorial page editor and a prominent
figure in opinion writing in Connecticut and beyond, said Tuesday that
he will retire after guiding the newspaper’s voice of institutional
opinion for more than a quarter-century.

A past president and life member of the National Conference of
Editorial Writers, Zakarian became The Courant’s editorial page editor
in 1977, following a career that took him from covering horse races
as a cub reporter for The Associated Press in Chicago to a Nieman
Fellowship at Harvard University, and to a host of news organizations
in between.

Zakarian guided The Courant’s editorial page through a number of
bruising public battles, drawing the public’s ire for the newspaper’s
strong backing for a state income tax in the early 1990s. He balanced
publishers and editorial boards dueling over the endorsement of
presidential candidates from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush.

In recent years, he has headed an editorial board that campaigned for
the creation of a Coltsville National Park in Hartford and championed
Park Street as the region’s Hispanic Main Street. The board’s “Cranes
and Scaffolds” and “Keys to the City” features prodded developers
and government officials to pay attention to the city’s revitalization.

A native of the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem who grew up trying to
balance the highly charged views of both Arabs and Jews, a fluent
speaker of Arabic, Armenian and English, Zakarian said that he tried
to avoid putting a particular ideological stamp on The Courant’s
editorial page.

“I came to The Courant when it was known as a very conservative,
Republican paper,” Zakarian said in an interview Tuesday. “It has
changed.”

Nevertheless, Zakarian said The Courant has taken many positions on
issues over the years that could be characterized as conservative,
such as championing welfare reform and endorsing Reagan in 1984 and
Bush in 2000.

“You always recognize that not everything is black and white. You
give the other side the benefit of hearing them out,” Zakarian said,
describing the philosophy he grew up with. “But, ultimately, you
can’t go along with somebody just to go along with them.”

Zakarian, 66, said he would have liked to work for several more years,
but decided to retire because of a recent policy by the Tribune Corp.,
The Courant’s corporate parent, that employees who retire after July
1 will not be eligible for post-retirement medical benefits. He will
retire at the end of this month.

“I probably would not have been pressed to make a decision right away”
but for the policy, Zakarian said.

Jack W. Davis Jr., The Courant’s publisher, said he would be
“open-minded” about where Zakarian’s successor would come from and
his or her politics.

“I think there are people from the editorial board who ought to be
considered as successors, and people from the rest of The Courant
and from Tribune,” as well as candidates from outside, Davis said.

Zakarian’s “27 years as editorial page editor epitomize the best of
journalism and the best of The Courant,” Davis said.

The Courant’s editorial page, he said, “is as innovative and assertive
an editorial page as you have anywhere in the United States. I think
John’s peak is in the future as far as being an editorial page editor,
which was why I was hoping he’d stay.”

Zakarian said he arrived in New York on the Queen Elizabeth in 1957,
knowing that he had scholarships from Southern Illinois University
and San Francisco State University, but knowing little more about
the United States.

Going to the ticket window at Penn Station, he told the clerk: “I
want to go to Carbondale, Ill., or San Francisco, whichever is closer.”

He ended up in Carbondale at Southern Illinois, supporting himself
partly by working as a janitor.

In the course of his journalism career, Zakarian received awards that
included the Walker Stone national award for editorial writing and an
Overseas Press Club award for a series on the Middle East in 1987. In
1981, he led a delegation of editorial page editors on a tour of the
Middle East, arranging interviews with leaders including Yasser Arafat
and Bashir Gemayel.

Zakarian received praise Tuesday from other editorial page editors,
in Connecticut and beyond.

“I think John, when he came to The Courant, sort of raised the level
of sophistication of the editorial page, made it more far-reaching.
It had more of a national and international sense,” said Morgan
McGinley, the editorial page editor of The Day of New London.

“John is a wisdom figure in editorial writing,” said Maura J. Casey,
The Day’s associate editorial page editor. “He is both an old-fashioned
gentleman and a person of stature. He is a person whose integrity is
just unquestioned.”

Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
and a Pulitzer Prize winner, said Zakarian was a notable journalist
for both his civility and his ability to argue an opinion.

‘Thank you for your service’
Ray Brecheisen/The Morning Sun

By OLIVE L. SULLIVAN
Morning Sun Staff Writer

Former Sen. Robert Dole may have been the keynote speaker for the
dedication of the Pittsburg State University Veterans Memorial
Amphitheater dedication Monday, but he made it clear he was there
more as a veteran of World War II than as a politician.

Dole’s remarks highlighted a “grand celebration of freedom,” said
Dr. James AuBuchon, PSU vice president for university advancement
and one of those who spearheaded the memorial’s creation.

The celebration was grand indeed, featuring “Rolling Thunder” from
several area motorcycle clubs, military aircraft flyovers, a 21-gun
artillery salute, and all the pomp and glory of two military bands.

AuBuchon estimated that more than 4,000 people – twice his original
expectation – showed up for the afternoon celebration.

Following a welcome and introductions by AuBuchon, John Devitt,
a Vietnam combat veteran, placed the “seat for the missing,” a
symbolic empty chair draped with the black and white POW/MIA flag,
showing that all veterans were being recognized in the ceremony.

In his remarks, Dole often returned to that theme. The senator said
the PSU memorial, and the national World War II memorial he helped
dedicate in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, are important not just for
those who died in combat, but for all those who served in the armed
forces – and for many who didn’t.

“We couldn’t all wear the uniform,” he said. “Someone had to stay
home and preach and teach and keep the shops open, farm the crops.”

Dole praised the families of military veterans as well, especially
those who lost their loved ones in the service of our nation.

He pointed out that young people today often don’t have the sense
of a nation pulling together that characterized World War II, when
everybody faced rationing and grew victory gardens. Compared to the
current war in Iraq, he said, the average American doesn’t do much
sacrificing in support of the military.

He urged the audience to remember veterans not just on Memorial Day,
pointing out that there are hundreds of veterans languishing in nursing
homes and veterans hospitals who would love a visit, and would love
to hear the five simple words, “Thank you for your service.”

“That’s what today is all about,” he said.

In a rare moment, Dole talked about his own war experiences. A second
lieutenant, he was trying to rescue his radio officer when shrapnel
ripped into his arm and back, nearly killing him. He was rescued by
a fellow soldier, but spent four years struggling to recover from
his wounds.

That moment changed his life and led him to politics, where he has
achieved much in a different kind of service.

He said his doctor had lost a brother in WW II, and treated him -and
his mother’s varicose veins – at no charge because he felt he owed it
to the nation. He also pointed out that the largest single donation
to the WW II memorial in Washington was from an Armenian-American
with no military experience who felt he should pay back the country
for his freedoms.

“He said, ‘I’m not a veteran, I wasn’t totally poor when I came to this
country, but if it hadn’t been for events in WW II, I wouldn’t have
been able to send anything.’ He felt he owed it to America,” Dole said.

The senator said the goal of success is to be able to look back and
say, “I made a difference,” and then to reach down the ladder and
help someone else to the top.

He also honored the Vietnam veterans, present in a large group to
celebrate the presence at PSU of the half scale replica of the Vietnam
Wall in Washington, D.C.

Dole said the veterans weren’t always honored when they returned home
to a country opposed to the war, and he talked about veterans of Korea,
“the forgotten war.”

Dr. C.J. Chris Johnson, retired PSU biology professor and WW II
veteran, gave the veteran’s response to Dole’s speech, repeating
Dole’s assertion that Memorial Day honors not just those veterans
who survive, but those who fell on foreign shores or sleep beneath
the waves, those who worked in factories at home, and the military
personnel behind the lines who supported the troops on the front.

“Today’s dedication is about veterans and about our freedom,” he said.
“Without that additional support, we could not celebrate by conducting
Memorial Day dedications today or any other day,” he said.

The ceremony also included brief remarks from PSU President Tom Bryant,
and a special message from Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, presented by David
Taylor, the chairman of the Governor’s Military Advisory Board.

She wrote, “Our world is a dangerous place today,” and Sebelius
pointed out that more than 4,000 Kansans are serving today in Iraq
and Afghanistan, fighting for freedom.

Bryant pointed out the thing that makes the PSU memorial unique is
that it is not a memorial to just one war, battle or branch of service.

“It is so much more than that,” he said. “Today we honor the spirit
of duty and sacrifice that these veterans represent.”

Following a ribbon cutting that officially opened the memorial,
veterans were invited to enter the memorial first. Vietnam vets entered
from the west rampart, where they were guided by Girl Scouts to the
replica Wall. All other veterans entered at the east rampart and
were assisted by area Boy Scouts, who led them through the various
features of the amphitheater.

The ceremony ended with a performance of “Taps” and a musical postlude
by the 312th Army Band.

Staff Writer Olive L. Sullivan may be reached at (620) 231-2600,
Ext. 134, or by e-mail at [email protected]

Armenian opposition set to continue protests, leader says

A1+ web site
30 May 04

An interview with the head of the Justice bloc, MP Stepan Demirchyan.

[Correspondent] Do you intend to continue your protest?

[Demirchyan] Our position and principles are well known and we will
be consistent. Peaceful demonstrations are an integral part of the
opposition’s activities. At the same time, we will not confine our
actions to rallies alone. Our actions will be diverse.

[Correspondent] [Defence Minister] Serzh Sarkisyan said that it is
impossible to seize power through rallies, given that there is a
proper power.

[Demirchyan] It is the people who should provide power. There is
no need to seize it as the current leadership did. But no-one can
maintain power through violence and illegality.

[Passage omitted: minor details]

[Correspondent] Do you think that our society will be able to protect
their rights and to achieve legal power?

[Demirchyan] Yes, our country will see positive changes.

[Correspondent] The authorities do not rush to meet PACE’s
[Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] requirements. If
there are no positive changes before the autumn session, would the
opposition take more “dirt” to the session from home?

[Demirchyan] You should not forget that representatives of the
Council of Europe and other international bodies are following the
situation in the country and are well-informed about it. Moreover,
the authorities should draw conclusions from the PACE resolution but
not blame the opposition.

[Correspondent] Do you think that dialogue could be held with the
authorities?

[Demirchyan] Dialogue is possible if the authorities act within the
law. The constitution’s and PACE’s demands must not be disputed but
immediately met. Dialogue is possible if we see practical steps
in this direction. However, the authorities are continuing to take
illegal steps.

Wordsmiths rage aginst censorship
By Jane Ganahl

San Francisco Chronicle
May 29 2004

Writers sure have gotten uppity lately. Whatever happened to the
stereotype of the agoraphobic attic-dweller who only emerges to check
the mailbox for rejection letters or residuals?

These days, you’re more likely to see them on stage for a cause
that has nothing to do with their own fame. Earlier this month, it
was City Lights’ “Manifesto,” with 30 authors shouting three-minute
diatribes against complacency. Just last week, writers organized
by socio-political bulldog scribe Stephen Elliott did a benefit for
the liberal group MoveOn.org at the Makeout Room. The readings will
continue monthly until the election.

On this midweek night, it’s another chance for wordsmiths to rage
against the machine. It is hot and uncomfortable, standing-room only,
in the tiny stage area of Bruno’s. But it feels appropriate somehow,
because the subject matter of the evening is torrid and difficult:
violence, albeit literarily- depicted violence, in writings chosen
by 14 authors.

It’s not a randomly chosen subject. Passages from “Macbeth” to
“The Odyssey” to “Charlotte’s Web” are on tap, to both entertain and
solicit audience reflection on the issue of violence in writing. And
our First Amendment right to both read and write it, and feel inspired
or repelled.

“Fighting Words,” sponsored by the First Amendment Project, has
billed itself as “a protest against youth censorship that celebrates
the vital role violence has played in our literary heritage.” But
there is precious little rhetoric tonight; the written words —
some thousands of years old — speak for themselves.

“Frankly, this is not pacifist lit,” says Tamim Ansary, Afghani
writer of adult and children’s books, before he dips into a section of
“The Odyssey” devoted to Odysseus returning home to find his friends
have taken over his house. Chaos and violence ensue — poetically,
of course.

Ansary has done enough in one lifetime to forestall violence that he
need not ever apologize for exalting it. As the writer of the famed
e-mail defending his homeland that circulated after Sept. 11 —
sent to 20 friends and quickly circulated to millions — Ansary’s
plea for peace granted him international notoriety.

Swedish-born poet Agneta Falk has chosen a soliloquy by Lady Macbeth
about swords, although in the dimly lit room she has trouble following
the words on the page.

Tony Swofford, author of “Jarhead,” reads a harrowing passage from
Mario Vargas Llosa’s “The Feast of the Goat,” which involves electric
chairs and testicles. After his reading, an elderly woman in the
audience has had enough, and quietly makes her way to the exit.

Michael Chabon, dark hair dangling to his goateed chin, plays door
monitor, standing alone by the swinging glass door that separates
Bruno’s dining room from its entertainment venue. When the door
opens, exposing the room to outside noise, he quietly closes it
again. Brilliant words require silence.

Novelist/lawyer Ayelet Waldman peels off her fashionable long plaid
coat in the heat, and gives Chabon, her husband, a furtive kiss in the
dark. Daniel Handler, best known to the world as young adult fiction
writer Lemony Snicket, stands back by the bar with literary “it” boy,
Andrew Sean Greer, and fidgets when writers read past their suggested
eight-minute time frame, which is often.

Asked what he plans to read, the willowy-tall Greer whispers,
“something short!” In fact, Greer reads a selection from a metaphysical
mystery by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Chronicle of a Death Foretold.” And
he does keep it short, leaving the audience thirsting for more of
the beautiful words.

Standing up for First Amendment rights is tough duty in a hot,
packed bar, but all 14 writers volunteered to do so. Some have even
put themselves physically on the line for the cause, joining in
protests of student expulsions at the Academy of Art College and
writing letters denouncing what they see as censorship.

And sometimes, as in the case of Micheline Aharonian Marcom, East
Bay author of the recently released “The Daydreaming Boy,” testifying
in court.

“A student included a violent dream sequence in a story,” she whispers
in the back of the room. “But because he used a classmate’s name,
that was it. He was expelled.”

She reads a heartbreaking passage from her own book, a flashback
sequence about the rape of an Armenian woman that is both horrifying
and hypnotic.

Later, she admits that it’s not easy to read such things aloud,
but adds, “I feel strongly that these stories be told.”

Ergo, the point of the evening.

Chabon reads Chapter 66 of “Moby Dick,” his youthful voice evoking
strong visual images of fish carcasses, sharks and the terrors of
the sea. Waldman soon follows with a peppery reading of the gorgeous
prose of Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian,” considered a landmark
of violence in fiction.

But Handler, ever the comedian wrestling with alter-ego Snicket,
gets the most applause for his reading of the first chapter of the
children’s classic, “Charlotte’s Web.”

“It certainly has the threat of violence,” he says, suggesting that
perhaps it might get author E.B. White in trouble today. “I think
I’d be speaking to the choir if I expressed my outrage over all this.”

So instead, he leads off with “the greatest opening line of all time:
‘Where’s Papa going with that ax?’ ”

The audience roars with relieved laughter, happy for a relative breath
of fresh air.

E-mail Jane Ganahl at [email protected]

USA to expand military ties with Azerbaijan – US congressman

Trend news agency
27 May 04

Baku, 27 May: “We welcome the Azerbaijani peacekeepers’ involvement,
along with the US military, in the fight against international
terrorism,” Congressman Curt Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed
Services Committee, said at a meeting with Azerbaijani Defence Minister
Safar Abiyev on 26 May.

The US Congressman’s mission in Baku is to expand military cooperation
between the USA and Azerbaijan, Weldon said. He highly praised
Azerbaijan’s role in regional security issues. The USA intends to
make greater efforts for settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict,
he said. “The USA will continue its relations with Azerbaijan as with
its strategic partner,” he said.

Defence Minister Abiyev stressed that Azerbaijan is working shoulder
to shoulder with the USA in NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme and
in the struggle against international terrorism. Since the first days
of its independence, Azerbaijan has given preference to integration
into Europe and the USA and firmly has kept to this position, Abiyev
said. He also provided the congressman with detailed information
about the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

Armenian opposition suspends protests until June 4

Interfax
May 24 2004

Yerevan. (Interfax) – The Armenian opposition intends to suspend
its protest activities until June 4, prominent opposition leader
and former prime minister Aram Sarkisian said at a rally in downtown
Yerevan on Friday evening.

“If our arrested friends are not released by this date, we will march
to President Kocharian’s residence and explain our demands to him,”
Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian said hurrying could harm the opposition’s struggle for a
change of power in the country.

“The opposition should not hurry its actions,” he said. The Friday
rally in Yerevan was organized by two forces represented in the
parliament, the Justice bloc of parties and the party National Unity.

The organizers claimed that the rally gathered about 30,000 people,
while the police said there were no more than 4,000.

PRESS OFFICE

Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

May 21, 2004
___________________

DIOCESAN KHRIMIAN LYCEUM COMMEMORATES CULTURE, WORKS TO KEEP IT ALIVE

The setting was modern: the Eastern Diocese’s Haik and Alice Kavookjian
Auditorium, with parents and friends waiting for students in the
Diocesan Khrimian Lyceum educational program to showcase their talents
on stage. But the message was one from the past: the importance of the
Armenian culture and language, and the need to vigorously pass it on to
the next generation.

To open the Khrimian Lyceum’s 2004 “Gala des Amateurs” — the annual
opportunity for students in the six-year program to display their
Armenian language skills, musical ability, and cultural knowledge — the
group of students led the audience in singing “Mer Hayrenik”.

About 60 students attend the Diocese’s Khrimian Lyceum in New York City.
(Similar programs were opened this year in Boston and Chicago.) During
the Gala, they sang songs in Armenian, such as: “Ov Soorp Mesrob”,
“Asdvatdzhshoonts”, and “Eentchoo”. Several students also performed
solos during the show, including Grace Tcholakian who sang “Hayerenuh
Eem Baberoos”. The choirs sang an ode to St. Vartan Cathedral, with Ani
Nalbandian accompanying them on the piano.

STRONG ACADEMICS

During the school year, the Diocesan Khrimian Lyceum — a six-year
program designed to train12- to 18-year-old graduates of Diocesan
Armenian schools to become the next generation of leaders for the
Armenian Church — brings experts to the students through monthly
classes, lectures, and workshops. The program also organizes an annual
symposium, which this year took students on a “virtual tour” of Armenia,
past and present.

The speakers opened the world of Armenia to the students. Arto
Vorperian, who has worked for Armenia’s tourist industry and now works
with the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR), took the participants to
Armenia through a lively presentation. Artemis Nazerian spoke about the
talented musicians who have come from Armenia for more than 15
centuries. Armenian arts and crafts came to life with a hands-on
discussion led by Mariam Atarian. Armenian literature and journalism in
the Republic of Armenia and the diaspora was covered by Vehanoush
Tekian.

The students got an authoritative exploration on the Armenian Christian
faith from Fr. Haigazoun Najarian, who told them about its role in
historic Armenia and for Armenians today.

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Along with language lessons, the students also get lectures on what it
means to be a leader, and take non-academic studies such as orchestra
and drama. During the “Gala des Amateurs”, the Khrimian Lyceum
orchestra, joined by pianist Deanna Gulmezian , performed a number of
lovely Armenian-themed pieces, such as: “Zeytoontsener”, “Arpa Sevan”,
“Azk Parabandz”, and “Gakaveek”. Other solo instrumental performers
included Nareg Naviters on the saxophone, and Sharis Aiazian on piano.

Along with the orchestra and choir groups, the program’s dance troop —
under the direction of Talar Zokian — also took the stage, and
performed a number titled “Ov Hahyots Ashkhar”, in beautiful costumes
borrowed from the Shushi Dance Ensemble.

The school’s actors took the stage to perform a play called “Ahnpahn
Hooren”, which recreated a slice of Armenian village life.

SENDING OFF THIS YEAR’S CLASS

Along with being a celebration of the Armenian spirit, the Gala was also
a chance to honor those students who completed the six-year program.
The 2004 graduating class includes: George Chahinian, Grace Cholakian,
Laura Dulgerian, Mary Gulmezian, Talar Parisian, Roy Seter, and Ida
Zohrabian.

“My parents were surprised to see how much we had learned,” Ida
Zohrabian said that night, when the students thanked their instructors
by approaching them and presenting them with red roses.

For more information on the Khrimian Lyceum programs in New York,
Massachusetts, and Illinois, and to sign your child up for next year’s
classes, contact Sylva der Stepanian, coordinator of Armenian education
at the Diocese, by calling (212) 686-0710, ext. 48.

— 5/21/04

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