Author: Jagharian Tania

BRITISH AMBASSADOR ATTENDS LAUNCH OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION CENTER

YEREVAN, JULY 14, ARMENPRESS: Today Manuk Topuzian ,Government
Chief of Staff, opened a new Information Center in Government Building
Number 3 in the presence of the British Ambassador, Thorda
Abbott-Watt. The Information Center has been funded by the British
Department for International Development’s Armenia Public Sector
Reform Project (APSREP). It is one of eight new business initiatives
funded by the project to be implemented over the next two years.
The main role of the Information Center is to make government
administration more accessible to the public by welcoming visitors and
helping them with their enquiries. The Center covers seven ministries
including Health, Education, Labor and Social Issues and the National
Statistics Service. TheCenter is on the first floor of the
building. The staff are trained to handle enquiries and able quickly
to communicate with the Public Relations Departments of the
Ministries. APSREP has also provided the Public Relations Departments
of the Ministries of Education and Social Security with new computers
and telephones.
There are ramps at the roadside and main entrance to provide access
for the disabled and small meeting rooms in the foyer for those who
have difficulty climbing the stairs. Signs point the way to the
various sources of information. Information boards displaying ministry
service charters and citizens rights are also under preparation, and
will be installed over the next 6 months.

Turkish Press, Turkey
July 12 2004

What Edwards Means
BYEGM: 7/12/2004
BY ASLI AYDINTASBAS

SABAH- Does everybody really want George W. Bush to lose the coming
US presidential elections? Will a new administration led by
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry really manage to turn a
new page on US foreign policy?

For Turkey, the situation is quite complicated. As a matter of fact,
Ankara doesn’t willingly support the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive
strikes whose ultimate aim is to expand American military and
economic power in the Islamic world. However, on the other hand,
neither does Ankara oppose the `star’ role Washington has set for
Turkey in its Greater Middle East Initiative (GME), which is why
certain domestic circles were extremely pleased with Bush’s speech at
Galatasaray University at the closing of NATO’s recent Istanbul
summit. Having seen Turkey’s critical importance in the wake of Sept.
11 attacks, the Bush administration is now lending its full support
to Ankara on both its EU membership bid and relations with the
International Monetary Fund. Bush somehow knows and likes our
country.

Therefore, Ankara foreign policy circles believe that the devil we
know is better than the one we don’t. Let’s recall that Kerry is one
of the supporters of the so-called Armenian genocide bills. In
addition, he is a member of US leftist circles, which are known for
their harsh criticisms of Turkey. Unlike Bush, Kerry won’t be willing
to pressure EU countries for Turkey’s EU membership.

However, Turkey shouldn’t let itself get worried. Let’s not forget
the Clinton administration, once very close to the leftist and Greek
lobbies in the US, and how Clinton’s term was one of the golden eras
for Turkish-US relations. What I’d like to stress here is no matter
what the US president thinks about our country, Turkey is a sine qua
non for US foreign policy. There are fixed, inevitable parameters in
Washington’s foreign policy which no leader can alter. Moreover,
would a Kerry administration be able to ignore the nuclear power
plant that Iran is currently building in Natanz? Kerry certainly
doesn’t have any magic wand with which to change the world.

Kerry and his charismatic running mate John Edwards so far seem very
clumsy in their campaigning, as Edwards is voicing a very leftist
rhetoric which means little to the US nation. The specter of `class
war’ which Edwards often raises in his speeches is not a popular
theme for Americans. This duo must prove to their country that they
are capable of correcting things inside and outside the homeland.
Otherwise, Americans too might opt to stick with the devil they know.

ROMANIA HOSTS CONFERENCE ON BLACK SEA REGIONAL SECURITY

Rompres news agency
12 Jul 04

Bucharest, 12 July: Cooperation of countries in the Black Sea area on
regional security, including border security, is one of the key
factors of European and international security, highlighted
participants to the works of an international conference dubbed
“Strategic planning of a regional border security drill”, organized
between 12-15 July in Bucharest by the George C. Marshall Centre, in
cooperation with the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE), and the
US Department of Defence.

In the opening of the conference, State Minister for the Coordination
of National Defence, European Integration and Justice Ioan Talpes
underscored the importance of more effective international cooperation
within the post-11 September security context, with a view to fighting
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, ballistic missiles and
risk-bearing materials.

Talpes highlighted Romania’s initiatives in the field, mentioning the
one taken on 20 May 2004 on the development of regional cooperation in
fighting trafficking in nuclear, biological and chemical materials, to
which Bulgaria, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and the Ukraine are
parties. State Minister Ioan Talpes also pointed out that of late the
cooperation in the Black Sea area has proved to be increasingly
important both for regional and for European and international
security.

Ambassador Mary Ann Peters, director associate for international
relations with George C Marshall European Centre said that
participants would try to find during this border security drill the
best solutions for cooperation between national and multinational
institutions to harmonize procedures in the field for a better
exchange of information and inter-agency cooperation. Safer borders is
one of the most important tasks for a country’s institutions, Mary Ann
Peters said, and at the close of the conference, participants will
have to seek to carry out the solutions found on this occasion.

In his turn, counsellor on terrorism fighting with the US Department
of Defence John Markley appreciated the SECI (Southeastern European
Cooperation Initiative) Regional Centre’s activity in fighting
crossborder crime, saying that at present attempts are made at
strengthening cooperation between SECI-member countries in legal
matters. Markley added that the SECI is a model of cooperation for
other countries in the area, with the GUAM project underway, including
Georgia, Uzbekistan, Armenia and the Republic of Moldova, seeking to
forge a similar partnership.

SECI Centre Director and conference host Yalcin Cakici underscored
that border security is one of the SECI’s main objectives within the
context of the institution’s concern over fighting human beings and
drug trafficking as well as international terrorism. In its four years
of activity, the SECI managed to carry out successful regional
initiatives, becoming part of an integrated European system fighting
crossborder crime and constantly benefiting from US support.

Director for international programmes on the non-proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction with the US Department of Defence Harlan
Strauss said that one of the conference’s main aims is to examine the
ways in which the benefits of the Black Sea area cooperation taking
the form of the Black Sea Cooperation Process can be used.

President of the George C. Marshall Association in Romania Doru
Frunzulica underscored Romania’s activity and efforts in solving
regional security issues, which also contributed to Romania’s
integration into NATO. Frunzulica appreciated that the Black Sea is
nowadays a linchpin for European security, while success in the area
can only be secured through the cooperation of the respective
countries.

The conference is part of an initiative recently launched in Romania
dwelling on regional cooperation on fighting the proliferation of
nuclear, biological, chemical and radioactive materials, with
representatives of national institutions holding positions in border
check, export control, national security and national defence in
member countries of the SECI Regional Committee on fighting
crossborder crime attending.

L’Express
12 juillet 2004

Oubliée entre Orient et Occident;
Le roman d’Athènes

Par Makarian Christian; Stavridès Yves

Après l’occupation romaine, voici que le christianisme gagne la Grèce
et efface Athènes. Constantinople, siège d’une nouvelle Grèce, règne
sur l’Empire byzantin; la cité de Périclès, elle, n’est plus qu’un
village boueux

Et l’on s’avance ainsi vers l’an 1… Le Christ. Quand il dispense
son enseignement, il y a un moment où il voit arriver des Grecs, et
il dit: “Maintenant, nous sommes sauvés.” Cela signifie: nous passons
dans l’universel. La seule langue qui soit parlée partout, c’est le
grec, qui rend les Méditerranéens homophonos. Et le seul grec qui
soit parlé partout, c’est celui de l’Attique. L’universalité devient
donc la nouvelle marque d’Athènes. Certes, Sylla a détruit la ville
en 86 avant Jésus-Christ. Mais, après, Rome et Athènes deviennent
alliées. “Nous avons des ennemis communs”, dit un texte. Sous les
Romains, la ville-monde continue d’avoir un rayonnement à travers son
universalité. Au IIe siècle, certains empereurs vénèrent la
civilisation athénienne. C’est Marc Aurèle, qui écrit en grec. C’est
Hadrien, qui reconstruit Athènes. Il élève ce portique qui existe
toujours. D’un côté, il y a l’ancienne ville de Thésée; de l’autre,
celle d’Hadrien, qui va jusqu’au stade. Cette importante extension
architecturale s’accompagne d’un accroissement de la population, qui
dépasse, à un moment, 200 000 personnes.

A quoi ressemble alors cette Grèce sous domination romaine? Toute la
Méditerranée est sous influence romaine, ce qui signifie qu’on y
parle deux langues. Le grec, donc. Et, bientôt, surtout à partir du
règne de Caracalla (211-217), qui étend le droit de citoyen romain à
tout l’Empire, le latin. Toutefois, chaque langue affirme un
territoire de prédilection. C’est la mer Adriatique qui sert de
frontière linguistique: à l’ouest, le latin; à l’est, le grec. C’est
la même ligne qui va séparer les mondes catholique et orthodoxe,
l’Europe chrétienne de l’Ouest et l’Empire ottoman, clivage
fondamental que vous retrouvez jusqu’à nos jours dans la guerre qui a
déchiré la Yougoslavie.

Diriez-vous que la Grèce va peu à peu s’ “orientaliser”? Non. Mais la
période hellénistique, qui va des conquêtes d’Alexandre à la période
romaine, est indiscutablement marquée par la montée de certaines
influences “orientales”, si l’on peut alors employer ce mot. Des
divinités féminines venues d’Orient ou d’Egypte, comme Astarté,
Cybèle, Isis, font leur entrée dans le panthéon grec. On en voit le
signe dans le regain de succès que connaissent les fameux mystères
d’Eleusis. Située au nord-est d’Athènes, Eleusis est une ville
sacerdotale où les Athéniens s’initiaient au mysticisme orphique,
mélange d’immortalité de l’me et de réincarnations jusqu’à la
purification définitive, au cours de rites sacrés qui séduisirent,
notamment, Euripide et Aristophane. C’est important, car, à cause de
son insistance sur la vie future et de sa tendance monothéiste,
l’orphisme d’Eleusis va préparer, dit-on, le terrain du
christianisme. On a trouvé à Eleusis la célèbre arétologie,
c’est-à-dire un texte d’une forme très élaborée du culte de la déesse
égyptienne Isis. Or, dans ce texte d’éloges consacrés à Isis, on
retrouve les épithètes dédiés plus tard à la Vierge Marie. Un des
textes les plus connus de l’orthodoxie, l’hymne acathyste, emprunte
sans doute beaucoup à l’arétologie. C’est très frappant. Athènes est
assise sur la gloire de son passé mais s’ouvre progressivement au
nouveau monde.

Comment expliquer que, lorsque le christianisme apparaît, Athènes ne
joue pratiquement aucun rôle à l’égard de cette nouvelle religion?
Athènes ne joue aucun rôle, mais pas la langue ni l’esprit grecs, qui
se situent, au contraire, à l’origine même du christianisme. Quand
l’apôtre Paul vient visiter Athènes, il s’adresse aux andres
athinaioi, aux hommes d’Athènes, c’est-à-dire à l’assemblée. Ce qui
prouve que les institutions gardaient encore leur importance. Il leur
rappelle que, parmi tous leurs dieux, il existe un culte au dieu
inconnu, qu’il va évidemment assimiler à son propre Dieu. Mais, avant
d’arriver à Athènes, il est passé par Philippes, Corinthe, Salonique,
aux habitants desquelles il destine des lettres essentielles, les
fameuses épîtres. Or il n’existe pas d’épître aux Athéniens. Ce qui
donne une idée précise des lieux qui comptent à cette époque.
L’importance économique s’est visiblement déplacée. La grande cité
active est alors Corinthe. Saint Paul s’adressant en priorité aux
juifs, il en trouve un grand nombre dans cette ville, qui est un port
très prospère.

Pourquoi Athènes reste-t-elle à l’écart du message paulinien? Est-ce
parce qu’on n’y comptait pas de juifs? Il y avait sans doute des
juifs à Athènes, puisque Paul va y faire tout de même quelques
disciples. Mais ils y sont beaucoup moins nombreux qu’à Corinthe ou à
Salonique. Cela dit, ce n’est pas la raison pour laquelle le
christianisme ne fleurit pas à Athènes. La vraie raison tient à la
mentalité et aux préjugés des premiers penseurs chrétiens. Saint Jean
Chrysostome va nommer Athènes “Kateidôlos polis”, la “ville qui adore
les idoles et qui en est pleine”. Athènes ayant gardé tout son aspect
architectural du passé, elle regorge de statues, de sculptures, de
monuments – jusqu’au Parthénon lui-même – entièrement consacrés à la
gloire du panthéon et de la mythologie. Ce qui déplaît au plus haut
degré à la religion profondément “aniconique” qu’est, au moins à ses
débuts, la foi chrétienne. Chrysostome prend même le déclin d’Athènes
comme le témoin privilégié du triomphe du christianisme. Face à la
diffusion victorieuse du message chrétien, il écrit: “Où est donc
passé l’orgueil d’Athènes?” Autrement dit, le déclin d’Athènes est la
preuve que le Christ est vainqueur. Pour trouver une Athènes
chrétienne, il faudra attendre la période byzantine, plusieurs
siècles après. Le Parthénon deviendra alors un temple consacré à la
Vierge.

Athènes ne deviendra pas pour autant une grande capitale
chrétienne… Evidemment non. Ce sera Constantinople. Pour une raison
assez simple: Constantinople a été créée pour devenir la capitale de
la chrétienté. Se produit alors la translatia imperii, le transfert
de souveraineté impériale. Mais on entend beaucoup d’erreurs à ce
sujet. Il faut donc apporter ici quelques précisions. En 313,
Constantin proclame un édit de tolérance qui autorise la foi
chrétienne dans tout l’Empire romain. Les persécutions cessent, mais
le monde romain ne devient pas chrétien pour autant. Le 11 mai 330,
l’empereur inaugure sa ville, Constantinople, en lui donnant son nom
sur le modèle d’Alexandre. Il songe d’abord au site de l’antique
Troie et se rallie finalement au site de l’actuelle Istanbul sur les
conseils de ses amiraux. Puis il choisit la rive orientale du
Bosphore, face à Constantinople, et fait creuser des fondations.
Selon la légende, le choix final viendra des anges qui déplacent
nuitamment les blocs de pierre installés de jour et les déposent sur
la rive occidentale du Bosphore. De sorte que le mythe s’empare de la
vérité: la création de Constantinople est issue de la volonté divine.
Le problème, c’est que Constantin n’est pas chrétien, contrairement à
ce que raconte la tradition. Peut-être a-t-il été baptisé sur son lit
de mort, encore n’est-ce pas sûr. Son grand souci est de faire
barrage à l’autre puissance mondiale qui dispose d’un dominium mundi,
à savoir la Perse sassanide. A l’ouest et au nord, l’Empire romain
n’a plus d’ennemi inquiétant, en tout cas pas pour l’heure. En
revanche, du côté de l’Orient, la menace perse est constante. Comment
convaincre les populations orientales de l’Empire de combattre les
Perses? En adoptant, en apparence, leur religion ou leur
spiritualité. Car le christianisme a gagné toute l’Asie mineure. Il
suffit de relire l’Apocalypse pour y retrouver les sept lampes de la
foi: Ephèse, Smyrne, Laodicée, Philadelphie, Pergame, Sardes,
Thyatire. La fondation de Constantinople s’inscrit complètement dans
cette perspective purement stratégique. La preuve en est que
Constantin n’envisage pas le transfert de tous les pouvoirs de Rome à
Constantinople. Il dédouble les capitales et les pouvoirs, ce qui est
fort différent, afin de pouvoir répondre aux invasions des Goths, au
nord de l’Italie, comme à la puissance des Perses, à l’est du monde
grec. Finalement, 330 marque surtout le transfert de l’esprit grec
d’Athènes à Constantinople. Face à la Rome ancienne, Constantinople,
également nommée Byzance, à la fois Nouvelle Rome et Nouvelle
Jérusalem, mais jamais Nouvelle Athènes, va s’imposer comme la grande
capitale hellénophone, c’est-à-dire aussi héritière d’Athènes.

Athènes entre dans l’ombre de l’Histoire… On ne sait pas
grand-chose de ce déclin. Administrativement, Athènes se dilue dans
la grande province d’Illyrie. Au profit de Salonique, grand centre
administratif et culturel situé sur la route de Rome à
Constantinople, qui dispose de palais, d’hippodromes, d’absides. La
Grèce continentale est appelée ta Katotika, province du bas,
dénomination presque péjorative. Avec l’arrivée des grandes invasions
slaves qui déferlent vers la Méditerranée à partir du VIe siècle, la
route du nord, qui achemine marchandises et personnes par Salonique,
est coupée ou devient incertaine. La voie maritime du sud, dont une
station est Monemvassia, a alors la préférence. La provincialisation
d’Athènes continue et même s’accélère avec le règne de Justinien,
dernier empereur à persécuter les païens. Athènes devient une cible.
Un premier choc l’avait atteinte de plein fouet sous Théodose Ier
(379-397), qui proclama la foi chrétienne religion d’Etat. Il ordonna
la fermeture des temples, bannit définitivement les Jeux olympiques
et fit détruire un nombre considérable de monuments païens. Mais,
sous Justinien (527-565), l’école d’Athènes est fermée et ses
professeurs s’enfuient en Perse, où ils traduisent les grands
philosophes, Platon, Aristote et les autres, dans les langues
orientales. C’est ainsi que, notamment via la Perse, les Arabes vont
recevoir la pensée antique, qui restait par ailleurs enfermée dans le
secret des monastères byzantins. Justinien, btisseur de
Sainte-Sophie de Constantinople, marque la rupture définitive avec
l’Antiquité. A partir de son règne, le terme hellen (grec) signifie
idoltre. Pendant tout la période byzantine, hellenica grammata, la
littérature hellénique, ne veut plus dire qu’une seule chose: le
paganisme. La plus grande réussite du christianisme est d’avoir fait
croire cela. Les Grecs anciens n’étaient pourtant pas idoltres; leur
panthéon ne supposait pas d’attitude idoltre de la part des
Athéniens. On ne se prosternait pas devant des idoles. C’était un
polythéisme, mais, en aucun cas, une idoltrie. Le christianisme
avait-il besoin de cette caricature pour surmonter ses propres
divisions? Je ne sais pas. Peut-être. N’oublions pas qu’il faudra six
conciles oecuméniques, réunis par Byzance sur plusieurs siècles, pour
trancher de la nature, divine ou humaine, du Christ. Jusqu’à ce que
les Arabes fassent leur apparition en Syrie-Palestine, provinces
byzantines, pour s’en emparer au nom de l’islam. A partir de là,
l’Egypte et le Machrek sont définitivement perdus. Byzance ne
s’appuie plus que sur l’Asie Mineure, de la côte égéenne à l’Arménie,
pour résister aux Arabes et à l’islam.

La Grèce continentale reste-elle constamment hors du jeu? Oui,
vraiment. Quand, au milieu du VIIIe siècle, surgit la crise de
l’iconoclasme, volonté farouche de l’empereur de détruire les images
chrétiennes, Athènes et le sud de l’Italie sont considérés comme
iconodoules, c’est-à-dire favorables aux icônes, tandis que les
provinces orientales sont clairement iconoclastes. Encore une fois,
on explique le fait par l’attachement d’Athènes à l’idoltrie, alors
que l’est de l’Empire subit l’influence des religions judaïque et
musulmane, toutes deux aniconiques. Isolée, oubliée au milieu de
cette ligne de fracture, Athènes retrouve, de temps en temps, un
petit rôle. En l’an 800, une impératrice née à Athènes, qu’on a voulu
marier à Charlemagne, se trouve sur le trône de Byzance. Plus tard,
en 1014, l’empereur Basile II, dit le Bulgaroctone (le tueur de
Bulgares), tient à célébrer sa victoire en montant à l’Acropole, où
l’on vénère la Sainte Vierge.

A quoi ressemble cette Athènes reléguée à un rang plus que
secondaire? A la fin du XIIe siècle, alors que Constantinople dispose
d’une université très prestigieuse, d’une encyclopédie due à
Constantin Porphyrogénète, d’une pléiade d’artistes encouragés par la
dynastie des Comnène, Michel Choniate, frère du plus haut dignitaire
de l’Etat byzantin, arrive à Athènes pour y exercer sa charge
d’évêque métropolite. Il écrit à ses compatriotes
constantinopolitains: “Comment avez-vous pu m’envoyer dans un village
plein de boue où j’ai du mal à trouver un livre?” Autre critère du
déclin, il n’y a à Athènes aucune grande famille susceptible de
donner des dignitaires à Constantinople. Les grandes familles
byzantines sont arméniennes, capadocciennes, micrasiates (de l’Asie
Mineure), macédoniennes.

Quel genre de population habite à Athènes? Nous possédons un texte
impérial qui évoque une éventuelle slavisation de la ville au temps
d’Irène l’Athénienne. Il y a deux sortes de Slaves. Ceux qui se
regroupent en Bulgarie pour attaquer Byzance et ceux qui évoluent en
bandes autonomes émigrant vers le sud. Ces bandes se fixent dans de
petits fiefs, de la Thessalie au Péloponnèse, sous l’autorité d’un
chef local byzantin, et font souche en acceptant l’autorité de
Constantinople. Hellénisés, christianisés, ils se mêlent à la
population grecque et participent à l’effort de guerre ou fournissent
des cadres à l’administration. Ajoutons qu’ils sont d’autant plus
nombreux que, en 756, une terrible épidémie de peste décime la
population grecque. Face aux Slaves venus du nord, les empereurs
byzantins, à la suite de Nicéphore Ier le Logothète (début du IXe
siècle), vont se montrer créatifs. Ils recourent largement aux
Micrasiates et aux Arméniens, qu’ils installent en Grèce, dans les
zones tampons, comme en Macédoine, ou même à Athènes, afin de
rebyzantiniser le pays pour que l’élément slave n’y soit pas
dominant. C’est ainsi qu’une des grandes lignées d’empereurs
byzantins – la dynastie macédonienne, fondée par Basile Ier – est
arménienne. Enfin, bien plus tard, au milieu du XIVe siècle, ce
seront les Albanais qui descendront à leur tour vers Athènes. Le
résultat en est que la population athénienne est très mélangée, mais
se trouve unie par l’orthodoxie et la langue grecque. Du reste,
Athènes change de population, mais garde tout le temps son nom.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
July 8 2004

ONE-ON-ONE MEETING OF PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN AND PRESIDENT OF
PAKISTAN
[July 08, 2004, 18:56:59]

Private meeting of the President of Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev
and President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf was held at the President
Palace, on 8 July.

In the course of meeting, heads of state expressed their satisfaction
with the existing mutually beneficial relations founded by the
nationwide leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev. It was stated that the
bilateral relations are developing in numerous fields. President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev with a great pleasure stressed persistent and
fair position of the Pakistani state related to the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh conflict.

In the meeting, discussed were issues of enhancing bilateral
relations, prospects of cooperation in the international
organizations, problems of international and regional safety and
others.

The meeting passed in an atmosphere of friendly and mutual
understanding

ITAR-TASS, Russia
July 6 2004

Russian FM Segei Lavrov and his Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanian
focus on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement

MOSCOW, July 2 (Itar-Tass) – Russian Foreign Minister Segei Lavrov
and his Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanian are discussing ways to
settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

`Russia is ready to help settle the conflict and take on the role of
a guarantor to an agreement the two parties will come to,’ Russian
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said earlier. `The
conflicting parties should find a compromise to resolve the problem.’

The two parties are expected to discuss cooperation in the CIS
format, including in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation
(CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC). They will also
discuss pooling the two foreign ministry’s efforts to improve the
situation in the Northern Caucasus.

Bilateral trade and economic cooperation are on the top of the
agenda. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, in 2003 trade
turnover between Armenia and Russian grew by 34.5 percent to reach
203.3 million U.S. dollars. Russian exports went up by 33.5 percent
to reach 126.6 million U.S. dollars and imports by 36 percent to
reach 77.1 million U.S. dollars.

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
July 3 2004

WRITING THE RIGHT
Becoming a voice in their culture

ANI AMIRKHANIAN
Women’s liberation. The Sexual Revolution. These were the social
movements of the 1960s that broke down gender barriers and allowed
women in America to exercise their rights, gain equality in the
social, political and cultural arenas, and enjoy the personal
freedoms that had been dormant 100 years earlier.

Women have come a long way and still have a long way to go. Women are
more influential in more ways than one, and to some extent are
becoming the backbone of their male counterparts.

Ethnic women living in the U.S. also reap the benefits that they
would otherwise not have in their own countries. Armenian women, for
example, are making decisions that shape their futures and are
breaking away from the typical cultural norms that often dictate
their lives and determine their futures.

Today, many Armenian women living in the U.S. are delaying marriage
and instead choosing an education and career first. Like most women
today, they are in charge of their futures and take advantage of
every opportunity available to them. Yet despite the freedom to make
their own decisions, there are still certain expectations from their
families that many Armenian women feel they need to meet.

Take, for example, gender roles. Women by tradition are caretakers
and men are the breadwinners. It is becoming more common and more
widely accepted for men and women to switch roles, or to accept more
diverse ones. As more men take on the role of stay-at-home fathers,
women pursue jobs and careers.

But for many Armenian families, men and women still comply by the
traditional gender roles. For some families, these gender roles are
strictly enforced.

A few years ago, a college classmate of mine, a young Armenian woman
named Serbui, came to class one day and said she was engaged to be
married. Serbui was about 21 and excited about her proposal, but also
had hopes of continuing her education after she got married. I asked
her what she thought the future held after her marriage.

“My fiancé doesn’t want me to work after we are married,” she said.
“He won’t allow me to go to work.”

After her response, I couldn’t tell whether she disagreed with her
fiancé’s decision or was glad she would be a stay-at-home wife.

But for one thing, Serbui had no say in the decision and had made no
attempt to compro- mise with her soon-to-be husband. After all, she
did want to continue with her education.

I don’t know what became of Serbui or her husband, but I can imagine
she is a stay-at-home mother and homemaker, because that is what was
expected of her.

It always amazes me when I speak to young Armenian women and men –
there is always a disparity in opinions. Some families favor the
reversal of gender roles, while others suggest that a woman’s place
is in the home as a caretaker and homemaker – as is expected – while
a man’s is at work.

Despite the fact that Armenian women are encouraged to pursue
careers, some are also encouraged and even sometimes required by
their families to be “domestic” for their husbands when they are
married. Mothers are the ones who “pass down” their domestic
abilities to their daughters.

It seems as though the Armenian culture is split in half when it
comes to role play between the two genders.

It is not uncommon for some members in the Armenian community to
disagree with the unconventional gender roles to which most people
are now becoming accustomed. There is yet a need for the Armenian
population to adapt and embrace the social changes that take place
with regards to gender roles in the West.

Armenian women are perhaps the best at initiating change for the
Armenian populace. More are furthering their education rather than
rushing into marriage and are entering into careers and showing a
steady progression of achievement and success.

Women are making strides. Armenian women are contributing to the
Armenian culture and society in more ways than ever before. They are
the role models for the new generation of independent- thinking,
hard-working and ambitious young women who are eager to find success.

I am proud of my accomplishments as an Armenian woman. And as for my
efforts and achievements, I thank all the Armenian women who came
before me and proved that women can also have a voice in our culture.

Thank you.

– ANI AMIRKHANIAN is a resident of Glendale, a graduate of USC and a
freelance writer. Reach her at [email protected].

Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, FL
July 3 2004

For those who have joined the American family, liberty can never be
taken for granted

By John Dolen
Arts & Features Editor
Posted July 4 2004

July Fourth, Independence Day, our day of freedom.

In 1776, it meant Americans were no longer subject to the whims of
kings. Today it means Americans are not subject to central
committees, tyrannical mullahs or dictators.

Many Americans will pay fleeting heed to this as they scurry to
barbecues and beaches today. But for those who’ve come from elsewhere
to our land of freedom, the memories, and sometimes the fears, are
never far behind.

So is the gratitude for being able to pursue happiness without being
pursued.

While the world’s lack of freedom is front-page news — Cuba opposing
a pro baseball player’s family reunion, a journalist being gunned
down in Mexico — for some, freedom is a lot simpler.

For Johnson Ng, 46, publisher of a Florida-wide Chinese newspaper,
freedom can be about the small things.

“Things are common sense here. Say you have a hole in the wall of
your restaurant. OK, so the inspector comes and says, you have two
weeks to repair,” says Ng. “He doesn’t come back three days later and
demand money.”

Ng (pronounced Eng) has traveled throughout Asia and notes that in
many places, money still has to grease palms to get things done, or
not done. An unlikely newsman, Ng studied drama and stagecraft in his
native Hong Kong. Here he has worked as a chef and as a manager for a
bean sprout business in Miami, where he lives.

When Ng became a manager, his father advised him, “Johnson, no matter
how well you work for that business, even after 17 years, you will
still be somebody else’s manager. This is America. You should have
your own business.”

Not long afterward, Ng started the United Chinese News of Florida.
Once he got the weekly going, his wife became editor. Ng also does
photos and reporting.

So he claimed his piece of freedom: “In the U.S., no matter who you
are, you have your own environment that you can survive in, and
grow.”

Robert Taheri is known around Davie for the sage nutritional advice
he gives out at his health food store, Simply Natural, which he
opened 16 years ago.

Taheri was 14 when he left his native Iran with his family for
London, before the revolution that deposed the Shah and launched the
regime of Ayatollah Khomeini.

“Before the revolution you could do pretty much everything, have
businesses, whatever, although you didn’t have freedom of speech 100
per cent,” Taheri says. “Now, everything there is restricted because
of the Islamic rule.”

How about opening up a health foods store? “Ownership is not
guaranteed,” says Taheri, 47. “They can come anytime and take over
the business with different excuses or reasons.”

Taheri should know. He not only monitors Iran today on satellite
channels but also by staying in touch with two of his brothers, both
of whom support democracy in Iran.

His brother Amir has written books about Iran and, according to
Taheri, “has interviewed most of the leaders of the world.” Amir
currently writes for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and
El Figaro, among others.

His brother Ali was editor of one of the two major newspapers in
Tehran. He fled the country after the revolution, when, according to
Taheri, “freedom of the press was immediately demolished.”

Ali later signed on with Radio Free Europe in Prague, Czech Republic,
which counters the heavily censored Islamic radio. Of Ali, Taheri
says: “He is a man of honor telling the truth. He is fighting for the
country, not just for himself.”

Taheri’s wife, Satti, is Armenian. In Iran, certain parts of her
culture had to be suppressed. Says Taheri with a smile, “The
Armenians, they like wine, they have pork, all this is not allowed.”

Making his own transition to the subject of women’s rights in Iran,
Taheri paraphrases the words of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner,
Shirin Abadi, also from his country: “They lose their freedom before
they even go out the door, having to dress the way [the ayatollahs]
want, and you can’t wear makeup.”

The Taheris and their 16-year-old son are U.S. citizens. “The Fourth
is a glorious day for us … doubly thrilling,” Taheri says. “Because
we had freedom and then we lost it in our home country. When you have
it and then lose it, you really know what it is.”

First impression

One immigrant remembers an afternoon more than 40 years ago when, as
a teenager, she was looking forward to a big social that night.

But her parents swept her off “to the other side of the island.” The
next thing she knew she was on a plane, soon landing at the Fort
Lauderdale-Hollywood airport.

She remembers being miserable without her friends back in Cuba and
not being able to speak the language of her new country. But soon she
began watching the TV news and teaching herself English “by staring
at the mouths and listening carefully.”

“I was probably more attuned to current events than the average
teenager,” says Diana Wasserman-Rubin of the Broward County
Commission. “The whole civil rights movement, it took me off guard.
That wasn’t what I expected.

“I saw people protesting, and this was my first impression of
freedom.”

It was such a foreign concept: “If you disagreed with someone where I
came from you could not express your disagreement in public.”

Wasserman-Rubin attended schools in Miami Beach and moved to Pembroke
Pines in 1971. Shortly after, she became involved in voter
registration drives.

In the 1980s, she became a member of the South Broward Hospital
District; in the 1990s, the Broward School Board; and she has been on
the Broward County Commission since 2000, where she has served as
mayor in a rotating position.

During that time she has been known as a voice for Hispanics and
blacks.

“If I had similar job in Cuba now I would have some responsibilities
but not the tools to do the job,” the commissioner says. “The Cuban
government is not for the people, not by the people, and people don’t
have a say in who they elect.”

Wasserman-Rubin says she gets emotional on the Fourth of July.

“I’m one of those hokey people who reflects on the meaning of the
holidays, Thanksgiving too,” She says. It reminds me how lucky I am,
to be able to contribute to my adopted country.”

Now the woman who once landed at the strange airport in Fort
Lauderdale serves on the council that runs it.

Wedding massacre

South Florida professor Dominic Mohamed was born and raised in the
Sudan, a country facing a refugee crisis so dire that Colin Powell
and Kofi Annan visited it just days ago in a high-profile effort to
prevent disaster.

The State Department blames Arab militias backed by the government
for the current refugee situation in the west of Sudan, reports The
New York Times, saying the militias “have systematically attacked
hundreds of black African villages in western Sudan and neighboring
Chad.”

Most of his life Mohamed has seen a country at war, between the Arab
Muslim north and the African animists and Christians of the south.

Mohamed’s parents and family were Christian and, tragically, victims
of the conflict.

“Ninety-nine members of my family were killed, children, women and
men, lined up against the wall at a wedding reception,” says Mohamed.

Those who managed to escape the 1965 massacre blame Arab militias,
similar to those that are now waging war on the African Muslim
population in west Sudan.

“They were after the educated and the Christian Africans,” says
Mohamed, who was spared because his flight to the wedding was
canceled due to gas shortages.

Eventually, Mohamed made a new life for himself in the United States
and has been teaching at Florida International University in Miami
for 31 years.

He traces a detailed timeline of civil war and brief truces since
Egypt and Britain ceded control of the Sudan in 1957. It’s a sober
and ongoing story for the 60-year-old professor.

Now with his own family (he married an Ethiopian woman and has three
grown children), Mohamed teaches vocational and technical education.
He stays in touch with the situation in Sudan through Web sites and
letters from those who get out.

He does not take freedom lightly.

“In America, you have unlimited opportunities and you have freedom of
speech,” he says. “You have absolute freedom to choose and practice
any religion you desire, without social or political constraint at
all.”

Raised a Catholic, he is now a Lutheran and worships at the Lord of
Life Lutheran Church in Kendall. When he thinks of Independence Day,
he also thinks of a day 12 years ago.

“When I became an American citizen in 1992, it was the first time I
voted in my whole life,” says Mohamed softly. “I cried in the voting
booth.”

John Dolen can be reached at [email protected] or 954-356-4726.

Baku Today
July 2, 2004

Azerbaijan’s Military Expenses Increased

More 171 billion manats ($34.9 million) will be allocated from
Azerbaijan’s state budget for the country’s military expenses in line
with changes in the 2004 budget, ANS reported on Wednesday.

The amount of money earmarked from the budget for military
expenditures currently equals $147 million, according to ANS. The
figure is $86 million in Armenia, ANS said.

Finance Minister Avaz Alakbarov told reporters that the additional
amount allocated from the budget makes up for 2.3 per cent of the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Azerbaijan.

`It’s not a large figure. One should make strong efforts to find 171
billion manats and finance something. Therefore, I think the
president’s step is very necessary and timely,’ Alakbarov said.

The Republican, MA
6/29/2004

Turmoil in homeland prompts move to U.S.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004

The end of the Cold War was not peaceful for Stella Gabriyelyan. It
brought her the loss of her home, the threat of mortal danger to her
family and years of uncertainty and bitterness.

The Gabriyelyans arrived in America on May 15, 2003, after living for
13 years as Armenian refugees in Moscow.

The date means a lot for them. It was exactly 14 years earlier that
the family arrived in Moscow fleeing ethnic violence in Azerbaijan,
then one of the 15 Soviet republics.

Before 1988, Gabriyelyan recalls, Azerbaijan had just one nationality
– bakinets – residents of Baku, its vibrant capital, located on the
western shore of the Caspian Sea. It was home to about 2 million
people, mostly Azeris, but also Armenians, Russians, Ukrainians and
Jews. “It really didn’t matter what culture a person came from. We
all were just bakintsy. It was such a friendly city. Everyone loved
each other. And then suddenly everything changed.”

Scholars and politicians would likely explain that the ethnic
conflict broke out in the Caucasus as part of a horrible legacy left
by Stalin in his re- drawing of the country’s ethnic map that exiled
entire nations from their ancestral homelands and fomented
disagreements that had been smoldering for decades.

Still, it’s hard to believe that people who used to live and work
side-by-side their entire lives would suddenly find themselves bitter
enemies.

It was the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of Azerbaijan that
became a bone of contention for Armenia and Azerbaijan. After the
Armenian majority there broke off relations with Azerbaijan and
joined Armenia in 1988, the conflict between the two neighbors
flared, leaving many dead.

In January 1990 Baku was hit by days of anti-Armenian violence that
claimed dozens of lives. There were certainly stories on both sides
and each side would offer their own explanation. But for sure, it was
not safe for any Armenian to stay in the city.

“I narrowly avoided being killed,” says Stella, who now calls West
Springfield home. “I don’t miss the city. I feel only fear and pain
thinking about those days.”

Vadim, her husband, is a Russian. But as long as Stella’s
“non-Russian” appearance was the obvious sign of an “unfriendly
nationality,” they told their son, Misha, who was 8, that his mom was
a Jew.

Their last days in Baku were spent hiding in their Russian neighbors’
apartment. “We left very early in the morning and we left everything
there.”

Stella doesn’t miss Moscow either.

Many Russian-speaking Baku Armenians sought refuge with friends and
relatives in Moscow and other Russian cities rather than in Armenia,
mainly because of their lack of Armenian language skills.
Unfortunately, they were not welcomed, particularly in Moscow with
its growing “Caucasus phobia” and registration regulations for
non-Muscovites which give police the right to expel non-residents who
had failed to register with the authorities.

Due to the arbitrary refusal of Moscow authorities, the Gabriyelyans,
like thousands of other forced migrants, did not receive local
propiskas – residence permits – and were not recognized by the
authorities as citizens of the Russian Federation after the collapse
of the Soviet Union.

So they became refugees in their own country.

“My grandfathers fought for this country in the second world war. My
father was a border guard. I did nothing wrong. I was a teacher all
my life. Why did I have to have problems acquiring Russian
citizenship?”

There is still much bitterness in her voice.

The first group of Baku Armenians who applied for U.S. resettlement
came to America in 1990. Stella, a Russian and English language
teacher, helped many of them to fill out the forms.

The Gabriyelyans themselves had to wait for a while until they were
granted refugee status. When it was granted, Stella remembers
thinking, “Now we have to start all over again.” Again.

Alex Peshkov, a staff writer for The Republican, emigrated to Western
Massachusetts from Arkhangelsk in 2002. His column focuses on the
Russian-American community. He can be reached at [email protected]