Author: Chilingarian Babken

Durango Herald, CO
March 18 2005

Concert to benefit Armenian family

Herald staff report

Ouray will hold a benefit concert Saturday for the Sargsyan family.
Their supporters fear that five members of this Armenian family face
deportation to their home country where the Russian Mafia may cause
them harm.

The money raised will help with the family’s legal defense fund.

Ridgway singer/songwriter Leigh Ann Phillips and cellist Mark Dudrow
will provide the music. The Sargsyan family is preparing Armenian
desserts. Tickets are $10 adults/ $5 children; larger donations are
encouraged.

So far, determined residents of Ouray County have raised more than
$70,000. All expenses and advertising for the event have been donated
by community members and the Ouray Performing Arts Guild.

If you go

A benefit concert for the Sargsyan family of Ridgway is scheduled for
7 p.m. Saturday in Condor Hall of Ridgway School. Read about the
family’s plight and the concert at

Phillips is a singer, composer and pianist. She was classically
trained in voice and piano, attending Boston University and
Tanglewood Institute for voice. Her CD, “Just Over Those Mountains,”
was released in 2004, and the title track won the 2004 Silverton
Jubilee Songwriting Competition.

Dudrow has played and recorded with the San Juan Symphony Orchestra.
He has also been a featured artist in the “Fiddling While Rome Burns”
Ice Music Festival, playing cellos made of ice.

PCC Courier Online (Pasadena City College)
March 17 2005

Sister Cities Heads to Beijing, China

Kate Murray, Staff Writer

Japan, Finland, Germany and Armenia are all places that the Pasadena
Sister Cities Student Exchange Program has sent students in past
years. Now back in its seventh year, the exchange program to Beijing,
China is being offered to PCC students for summer 2005.

“China is an old country with more than 5,000 years of rich history,”
said Dr. Cathy Wei, coordinator of the exchange program at PCC.
“Beijing has been the capital city of China for more than 1,000
years. Students will definitely learn a lot through this trip.”

The program is offered to full-time college students aged 18 to 24
who are either enrolled at a college in the Pasadena Area Community
College District or are Pasadena residents. In addition, applicants
must be able to demonstrate basic fluency in Mandarin Chinese. Two
applicants will be chosen to represent Pasadena. These “young
ambassadors” will be flown to Xicheng, the center of Beijing, where
they will stay with a Chinese family for four to six weeks.

“[The students] will have the first-hand opportunity to observe how
the Chinese people live daily life,” Wei said. “The Chinese host
families may take the students to visit the historical sites around
Beijing, [like] the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Temple of
Heaven and the Summer Palace.”

The exchange program will give students a chance to immerse
themselves in Chinese culture and practice the language in its native
land. Once in Beijing, students may also have internship
opportunities in the area of their majors.

“If a selected student is a business major he or she may have the
chance to be an intern at the famous Financial Street Business Center
in Beijing and observe a variety of international business
interactions,” Wei said.

Application packages for the Beijing exchange program are currently
available in the languages division office in C247. The deadline for
applications is March 25. For more information, contact Cathy Wei in
R223D or email her at [email protected].

The Messenger, Georgia
March 11 2005

Young opera stars test their skills in Tbilisi
By Nino Kopaleishvili

About 40 young Georgian opera singers participated in the preliminary
round of the Hans Gabor Belvedere International Singing Competition
2005 held on March 7-9 at the Tbilisi Conservatory.

This was the second time that such rounds for choosing singers for
the Belvedere competition were held in the Caucasus. Last year a Jury
from Vienna chose five Georgian participants along with other
participants from Baku, Azerbaijan and Yerevan, Armenia.

“Last year it was very interesting and I think very successful,” said
Musical Director of the Vienna Chamber Opera Daniel Hoyem-Cavazza,
who anticipates that only three participants will be chosen from
Tbilisi this year.

“From Tbilisi I think we had five candidates that came to the
competition. All were very good, but it is always also a question of
luck,” he said.

Singer Ketevan Kemoklidze from Georgia was selected from last year’s
competition and chosen to sing at the final gala concert as well. As
a result of her exposure, Kemoklidze received an offer from La Scala
Studio in Milan.

“She is a very talented singer,” said Hoyem-Cavazza.

“To me it is astonishing the voices [Georgian singers] have from
nature. It is a talent that we do not find in Vienna,” said
Hoyem-Cavazza, who also gave advice on nurturing young singers. “They
have strong voices but sometimes they need to cultivate their voices.
Some of the singers are very talented, they have beautiful voices but
they are giving too much,” he added.

Many Georgian novice opera singers who do not have many opportunities
to present their skills find the competition as a good chance for
them to appear before a professional panel of judges.

“For the first time I appeared before a Tbilisi audience, and this is
of great importance for me,” said one of the participants Nino
Gogichaishvili who arrived from Batumi to compete.

For Tamuna Svanidze, who participated in the preliminary round last
year, this is a second chance to try her luck.

“The competitions here in Georgia are not frequent. Only once in four
years is there the [Georgian] Republic Competition,” she said.

In her final year of studies at Tbilisi Conservatory, Svanidze plans
to sing at Tbilisi Opera House and later pursue an education abroad.
“First I want to sing for the opera house here and just to test
myself, and then I want to go abroad and to study there,” she said.

The preliminary rounds for the 24th International Hans Gabor
Belvedere Singing Competition 2005 were held in two Caucasus counties
(Georgia and Armenia). According to Hoyem-Cavazza, the lack of
financial resources prevented them from holding a round in Baku.

For the 2004 competition, participants were selected from 50 cities
and about 3,000 young singers participated, 152 of them qualifying
for the finals in Vienna.

Official denies 40,000 Armenian nationals living in Turkey

Mediamax news agency
5 Mar 05

YEREVAN

The chief of the Migration and Refugees Department under the Armenian
government, Gagik Yeganyan, today described as “absolutely
inconsistent with reality” the recent statement of Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul that 40,000 Armenian citizens are permanently
living in Turkey.

“Gul’s statement, to put it mildly, amazed us,” Yeganyan said. He said
that the statement of the Turkish foreign minister pursues purely
political aims.

Yeganyan expressed the opinion that against the backdrop of the talks
on Turkey’s entry into the European Union, Abdullah Gul attempted to
demonstrate that Armenians are getting on very well with Turks.

SUMGAIT WAITS FOR A POLITICAL ASSESSMENT

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
04March 05

In the Azerbaijani town of Sumgait referred to as `international’ at
the beginning of the 20th century a new genocide of Armenians was
committed, instigated by the government of the republic and with the
tacit consent of Moscow. By the crime against the Armenian population
of Sumgait organized at the governmental level on February 26-29, 1988
Azerbaijan actually declared waragainst the Armenians transforming the
peaceful process of settlement of the issue of Nagorni Karabakh into
an armed ethnic conflict. Every year on February 28 in all those parts
of the world where Armenians live, people go on demonstrations address
international organizations claiming a political evaluation of the
Sumgait genocide. On February 28 in Stepanakert people walked to the
Memorial with slogans condemning Sumgait. NKR president Arkady
Ghukassian, NA speaker Oleg Yessayan, prime minister Anoushavan
Danielian, the archbishop of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian
Apostolic Church Parghev Martirossian, members of parliament and
government, the city hall of Stepanakert and different organizations
paid homage to the innocent victims of the genocide and laid wreaths
at the memorial statue. Archbishop Parghev conducted a commemoration
service.

ARKADY GHUKASSIAN, president of NKR: `Sumgait is one of the most
tragic events in our history. After Sumgait everybody understood that
it would be difficult to solve the problems existing between
Azerbaijan and us in a peaceful way. This proved once again that the
Armenians cannot live in Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani state is a
threat for the Armenian nation. Sumgait was the beginning; then Baku,
Kirovabad, Maragha followed â’ Life showed that our choice wasright,
that the Soviet country was collapsing, and that there was no place
for the Armenians in independent Azerbaijan. We were to build a
history and defend our fatherland, and we did itâ’I am sure that after
Sumgait all the variants suggested by Azerbaijan are unreal, absurd
for Sumgait is the vivid example of the fact that it was not an
incident but a state policy. Azerbaijan opposes to Sumgait the events
of Khojalu, exaggerating and placing it against a political
background. The Armenian party seems not to take necessary steps in
this directionâ’ I am sorry that a country where Sumgait took place
speaks about Khojalu. Everybody knows the events of Khojalu. The
victims of Khojalu were near Aghdam. The world knows that we provided
corridor to Azerbaijanis. The interviews of Mutalibov open the
brackets. Everybody knows it was an act of provocation directed
against the authorities of Azerbaijan where a political struggle was
going on. The Popular Front was trying to discredit the present
government of Azerbaijan, oust them using the events in Khojalu. In my
opinion, the noise made by the present authorities of Azerbaijan does
not favour the settlement of the problem of Nagorni Karabakh, as well
as the creation of an atmosphere of mutual confidence without which
the settlement of the Nagorni Karabakh issue is impossible.’

LAURA GRIGORIAN.
04-03-2005

Armenian Assembly of America
122 C Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

March 4, 2005
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
Email: [email protected]

Caucus Co-Chairs Launch Letter-Writing Campaign to Urge Bush to
Recognize the Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Assembly of America commended Congressional Caucus on
Armenian Issues Co-Chairs Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone,
Jr. (D-NJ) today for launching a letter-writing campaign to ask
President Bush to appropriately acknowledge the Armenian Genocide in
his remembrance remarks next month.

The Co-Chairs are circulating the letter below among Members of the
House of Representatives with the strong support of the Armenian
Assembly and the Armenian-American community.

**********************************************************************

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

We are writing to urge you to join us in reaffirming the United States
record on the Armenian Genocide in your upcoming April 24th
commemorative statement.

This date marks the 90th anniversary of the systematic and deliberate
campaign of genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Over
the following eight years, one and a half million Armenians were
murdered, and more than half a million were forced from their homeland
into exile. In the years since, descendants of Armenian immigrants
have clung to their identity and have prospered across this nation and
throughout the world. The United States is fortunate to be home to an
organized and active Armenian community, whose members contribute and
participate in every aspect of civic life.

By properly recognizing the terrible atrocities committed against the
Armenian people as “genocide” in your statement, you will honor the
many Americans who helped launch the unprecedented U.S. diplomatic,
political and humanitarian campaign to end the carnage and protect the
survivors. The U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry
Morgenthau, acting on instructions from Secretaries of State William
Jennings Bryan and Robert Lansing, protested the slaughter of the
Armenians to the Ottoman leaders. Without our intervention, the
Ottoman Empire’s genocidal plan would have been even more lethal.

As you have eloquently declared, Americans are blessed with freedom
and security, but that good fortune brings with it an important
responsibility. The United States must never allow crimes against
humanity to pass without remembrance and condemnation. As
U.S. efforts to aid victims of genocide continue, it is imperative
that we pay tribute to the memory of others who have suffered and to
never forget the past. By commemorating the Armenian Genocide, we
renew our commitment to prevent future atrocities, and therefore
negate the dictum that history is condemned to repeat itself.

We look forward to your April 24th statement and, as always, stand
ready to work with you on this and the many other matters of
importance to our nation.

Sincerely,

####

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness
of Armenian issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership
organization.

NR#2005-022

LEADER OF NATIONAL REPUBLICAN PARTY OF TURKEY TO COUNTERACT TO REMOVE
ARMENIAN CAUSE FROM TURKEY’S AGENDA

YEREVAN, MARCH 2. ARMINFO. The leader of the National Republican Party
of Turkey Deniz Baikal is going to counteract on parliamentary level
“to have removed the Armenian cause from Turkey’s agenda,” reports
Radical newspaper (Turkey).

Baikal says that Turkey should no longer be defensive in the issue. He
proposes changing the tactics and starting openly discussing the
problem in its full spectrum. “Let’s everybody say what they know and
stop their grudges,” says Baikal.

The counter-measures will start from the parliament where MP Sukur
Elekdar is going to propose officially demanding that the UK
parliament qualify as militarist propaganda the “Treatment of
Armenians in Ottoman Empire”, a so-called Blue Book published by
Wellington House in 1916 and approved by the British MPs

Elekdar is also suggesting setting up an Armenian-Turkish historical
commissions for examining archives not only in Armenia and Turkey but
also in the US, UK, Russia, Germany and France and presenting its
findings to international organizations like UNESCO.

Radical assumes that NPP’s initiative is aimed to calm down the ruling
Turkish party “Justice and Prosperity” and to create large area for
maneuvering. Possibly such initiatives will free Turkey-Armenia
relations of the Genocide shadow, says Radical.

Obituary: Former News staffer Araik Barsegian, 48

New York Daily News
March 1 2005

Araik Barsegian, a former Daily News editorial systems editor, died
Saturday after suffering a massive heart attack at his Queens home.
He was 48.

Barsegian, who lived in Auburndale, left The News in 1999 to become
the vice president of database administration for Merrill Lynch.

He was born and raised in Armenia, and emigrated to the United States
in 1991.

He earned math and computer science degrees from the State University
of Armenia.

He is survived by his wife, Karine Sogomonian; two children, Gary
and Areg; a brother, Artour; a sister-in-law, Margarita, and a niece,
Arpine.

Visitation will be today from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Edward
Lynch Funeral Home in Sunnyside, Queens.

A religious service will be held at 8 tonight at the funeral home.

A funeral service will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow, also at the funeral
home.

Burial will be at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Flushing.

PRESS RELEASE

UNITED ARMENIAN FUND
1101 N. Pacific Avenue # 301
Glendale, CA 91202
Tel: 818.241.8900
Fax: 818.241.6900

For Immediate Release

28 February 2005

UAF Reaches $400 Million Mark
In Relief Supplies to Armenia

Glendale, CA – The United Armenian Fund’s 132nd airlift arrived
in Yerevan on February 27, delivering $3.2 million of humanitarian
assistance.

The UAF itself collected $2.6 million of medicines and medical supplies
for this flight, most of which were donated by the Catholic Medical
Mission Board ($2.4 million) and AmeriCares ($196,000).

Other organizations which contributed goods for this airlift were:
Medical Outreach for Armenians ($170,000); Nork Marash Medical Center
($101,000); Armenian General Benevolent Union ($80,000); Armenian
Eye Care Project ($31,000); Harut Chantikian of New Jersey ($26,000);
Dr. Stephen Kashian of Illinois ($23,000); and Fund for Armenian Relief
($22,000).

Also contributing to this airlift were: Innotech Projects
Inc. ($19,000); American University of Armenia ($17,000); Glendale
Ghapan Sister City Association ($17,000); Howard Karagheusian
Commemorative Corp. ($16,000); Bay Area Friends of Armenia ($11,000);
and Armenian Gospel Mission ($11,000).

Since its inception in 1989, the UAF has sent $400 million of
humanitarian assistance to Armenia on board 132 airlifts and 1,153
sea containers.

The UAF is the collective effort of the Armenian Assembly of America,
the Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Armenian Missionary
Association of America, the Armenian Relief Society, the Diocese of
the Armenian Church of America, the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic
Church of America and the Lincy Foundation.

For more information, contact the UAF office at 1101 North Pacific
Avenue, Suite 301, Glendale, CA 91202 or call (818) 241-8900.

###

Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th St., NW, Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 2005
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

AMBASSADOR EVANS’ STATEMENTS RECOGNIZING THE ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE DO NOT REPRESENT A FORMAL CHANGE IN U.S. POLICY

— ANCA Voices Community Outrage Over Administration’s Inability
to Withstand Turkish Pressure over Ambassador’s Statements

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Marshall Evans, only
days after completing an official tour of Armenian American communities
during which he repeatedly gave recognition to the Armenian Genocide,
has noted that these comments were his private views and do not
reflect a change in U.S. government policy. His statement on this
subject was posted today on the Embassy’s website –

“Armenian Americans are profoundly disappointed by those influential
officials that remain within the Administration who – against all
facts and contrary to U.S. interests – are still able to impose their
agenda on every front of the increasingly untenable and lop-sided
U.S.-Turkey relationship. This is particularly troubling, coming at
a time when Turkey has obstructed U.S. regional objectives, deceived
U.S. policymakers, and fostered an unprecedented level of anti-American
sentiment among its citizens. As a community, we vigorously condemn
the ongoing policy of U.S. complicity in Turkey’s shameful campaign
of Genocide denial,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

“Regardless of the disappointing outcome of this episode, we commend
Amb. Evans for his courage in coming forward and publicly stating his
views on the Armenian Genocide, views that are shared by all but the
Turkish government and its surrogates. In so doing, the Ambassador
has placed this issue prominently on America’s public agenda. For our
part, as Armenian Americans, on this year of the 90th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide, we will pursue this matter with renewed
vigor – with the White House, Congress, and the entire foreign policy
community,” added Hamparian.

Ambassador Evans comments were made at a series of public Armenian
American community outreach events in Boston, New York, New Jersey,
San Francisco, Los Angeles, Fresno and Washington, DC. During his
presentations in these cities, the Ambassador spoke with a level of
candor on the Armenian Genocide that was specifically welcomed by
Armenian Americans.

During his public presentation at the University of California,
Berkeley, hosted by Armenian Studies Program Executive Director,
Prof. Stephan Astourian, Evans announced, “I will today call it the
Armenian Genocide.” The Ambassador, who has studied Russian History
at Yale and Columbia universities and Ottoman History at the Kennan
Institute, argued that, “we, the US government, owe you, our fellow
citizens a more frank and honest way of discussing this problem.
Today, as someone who’s studied it… There’s no doubt in my mind
what happened.” He explained that he had also consulted with a State
Department lawyer who confirmed that the events of 1915 were “genocide
by definition.”

Amb. Evans’ commitment to moral clarity came through in further
remarks, stating “I think it is unbecoming of us as Americans to play
word games here. I believe in calling things by their name.”

During a speech to schoolchildren at the Alex Pilibos Armenian School
in Los Angeles, Amb. Evans cited with pride that 37 U.S. states had
recognized the Armenian Genocide.

The full text of Amb. Evans February 28th statement follows.

#####

Public Affairs
News Release

EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
MARSHALL BAGHRAMIAN STREET 18
YEREVAN, ARMENIA
TELEPHONE (+374 1) 52 78 71; 52 16 11; 52 46 61
FAX (+374 1) 52 08 00
E-MAIL: [email protected]

U.S. Ambassador: Regarding comments made in the United States

I would like to clarify U.S. policy. Misunderstandings make have
arisen as a result of comments made by me during recent informal
meetings with Armenian-American groups in the United States
regarding the characterization of the Armenian tragedy in Ottoman
Turkey and the future status of Nagorno Karabakh.

Although I told my audiences that the United States policy on the
Armenian Genocide has not changed, I used the term “genocide”
speaking in what I characterized as my personal capacity. This was
inappropriate.

The President’s annual statement on Armenian Remembrance Day
articulates U.S. policy on this matter. My government acknowledges
the tragedy that befell the Armenian community in Anatolia during
the last years of the Ottoman Empire. We have been actively
encouraging scholarly, civil society and diplomatic discussion of
the forced killing and exile of Armenians in 1915. We have also
encouraged economic and political dialogue between the governments
of Armenia and Turkey in order to help all parties come to terms
with these horrific events.

In addition, my comments on the status of Nagorno Karabakh may have
also created misunderstanding on U.S. policy. The U.S. government
supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and holds that the
future status of Nagorno Karabakh is a matter of negotiation
between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The United States remains committed to finding a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict through the Minsk group
process. We are encouraged by the continuing talks between the
Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan under the auspice of
the Minsk group co-chairs.

I deeply regret any misunderstanding caused by my comments.

Sincerely,

John M. Evans
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia