Author: Jalatian Sonya

UNITED HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
P.O. Box 9426
Glendale, CA 91206
Contact: Serouj Aprahamian
Tel: (951) 316-6351 – mobile
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

UNITED HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL CONDUCTS FACT STRIP DISTRIBUTION

Glendale, CA – On Saturday, January 29, the United Human Rights
Council (UHRC) held its first large-scale fact strip distribution of
2005. Council members visited Armenian grocery stores in both
Glendale and Pasadena, providing them with informative flyers about
human rights abuses committed by the Turkish government. Store clerks
and managers were urged to place the flyers on their check-out
counters for customers to pick up.

According to Ani Garibyan, one of the organizers of Saturday’s action,
the UHRC regularly carries out such fact strip distributions in order
to `raise the awareness of Armenian consumers’ susceptible to buying
Turkish products. `We figure that if we want to stop Armenians from
buying Turkish products, the best thing to do is to directly go to the
stores where they shop,’ stated Garibyan.

Many of those who took part in the distribution explained that most
store managers were receptive to their campaign. Several clerks even
insisted on putting the fact strips in the grocery bags of customers.

In addition, the UHRC members conducted a survey of Armenian shoppers
at the stores they visited. Customers were asked a series of
questions regarding Turkish products being sold in Armenian stores,
including whether or not they realized that the Turkish government
receives tax revenue from companies exporting such products to the
U.S. The results of the survey will be used to help structure future
campaigns aimed towards ridding Turkish products from Southern
California stores.

The United Human Rights Council (UHRC), by means of action on a
grassroots level, works toward correcting the human rights violations
of those governments who distort, deny, and delude their own history
to disguise past and present genocides, massacres, and human rights
violations. The UHRC is a collective of concerned citizens, including
a diverse spectrum of members and supporters from various community-
based organizations and student associations of universities and
colleges.

EARLY GORKY WORKS & CATALOGUE BREAK NEW GROUND

“ARSHILE GORKY: THE EARLY YEARS” EXTENDED THROUGH FEB. 2005

Also on View: Jerome Witkin: Site & Insight Part 2

Jack Rutberg Fine Arts
357 North La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90036-2517
Tel (323) 938-5222
Fax (323) 938-0577
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:

PRESS RELEASE

LOS ANGELES, CA – Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) is widely regarded as one of
the most pivotal and significant artists in the development of 20th
century American art. After moving to America from Armenia in 1920, he
quickly became a lightning rod for other artists in the late 1920s and
early 30s, sparking the genesis what was to become the “New York
School”and setting the course of modern art in America.

Now, in a ground-breaking exhibition entitled Arshile Gorky – The Early
Years, and with a 96-page catalogue of the same name, Jack Rutberg Fine
Arts in Los Angeles is showing 66 rare works by Gorky from a private
collection, most previously unexhibited. This exhibition is thought to
be the largest exhibit of Gorky’s works ever presented outside of a
museum, and breaks new ground in addressing Gorky’s earliest stylistic
development.

“Arshile Gorky -The Early Years” offers new references and insights into
this legendary artist during his seminal period as he explored the avant
garde sensibilities of the time. As Melvin P. Lader (widely regarded as
the eminent scholar on the work of Arshile Gorky and author of numerous
books on Gorky and abstract expressionism) notes in this exhibition
catalogue’s text: “As a group, the drawings and paintings mirror Gorky’s
stylistic evolution, up to the point in the late 1930s when he began to
truly digest and synthesize so many of his early influences on the verge
of finding his own unique language and style. Examples of his absorption
of Analytic Cubism, Synthetic Cubism, and aspects of Surrealism are
plentiful among these works . . . and they offer us the rare opportunity
to view a good number . . . from a very fertile period of his artistic
career.”

As Donald Kuspit notes in his 1998 essay Arshile Gorky in the Thirties:
“Gorky began his `self-analysis’ in the drawings and painting of the
thirties . . . already beginning to move beyond [modernist elders] ideas
. . .in the thirties still lifes [which are] surrealized and
abstractified versions of Cezanne’s still lifes.” Indeed, Kuspit says
“we see the beginning of this pure, autonomous, highly fluid,
unpredictable line . . . which begins in nature and ends in pure
expression – as abstract expression.”

That this exhibition was even possible is due to the long-standing
friendship between Gorky and the Swiss-born American artist Hans
Burkhardt (1904-1994), who shared a studio with Gorky in New York for
many years, and acquired a formidable collection of Gorky’s early works.

As Lader observes: “Among them were Gorky’s small Cezannean landscape
Staten Island and an equally significant early Self Portrait, both of
which are key pieces in understanding Gorky’s early absorption of modern
influences” and the “Burkhardt collection Gorky drawings provides a
rather unique opportunity to see the artist’s art and ideas evolve
within an important period of his artistic transformation. Drawings, by
their very nature, register the artist’s first impulses in creating a
work. As such, they can often be of enormous value in understanding how
an artist thinks and in tracing the various stages through which his art
has progressed.”

“Arshile Gorky: The Early Years” is currently exhibited at Jack Rutberg
Fine Arts gallery, 357 North La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, through
February, 2005.
The exhibition is accompanied by a 96-page text with 103 color
illustrations; essay by Dr. Lader, who co-curated the recent major
retrospective of Gorky drawings at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York
and the Menil Collection in Houston.

Gallery hours are Tuesday – Friday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and
Saturdays from 10:00 to 5:00 pm or by appointment.

A portfolio sampling of Arshile Gorky’s exhibition may be viewed at the
gallery’s Web site,

indystar.com

City violin event to get more play

By Whitney Smith
[email protected]
January 29, 2005

A documentary chronicling the most recent International Violin Competition
of Indianapolis will be broadcast by dozens of public television stations
across the country this spring.

“Pure Gold — the 2002 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis” has
been picked up by 51 markets, including San Francisco, Denver and Atlanta.
It will be telecast starting in April.

The 56-minute documentary traces the 17-day contest from the opening
ceremonies through the finalists’ performances with the Indianapolis
Symphony Orchestra at Hilbert Circle Theatre. “Pure Gold” aired on WFYI
(Channel 20) in October and is expected to be repeated in the spring.

“We want to get our story about the competition out to the rest of the
country,” said Glen Kwok, the violin competition’s executive director, who
co-produced the documentary with former competition Director Thomas
Beczkiewicz. “The national broadcast will provide tremendous exposure, not
only for the competition, but Indianapolis in general.”

The quadrennial contest attracts violinists ages 16 to 29 from around the
globe. Josef Gingold, the late Indiana University School of Music professor,
helped start the contest.

The first Indianapolis competition took place in 1982. For the sixth edition
in September 2002, 43 competitors vied for about $200,000 in cash prizes and
career assistance.

Barnabas Kelemen, a 24-year-old Hungarian violinist, won the $30,000 top
prize, a gold medal, concert dates and the four-year use of Gingold’s
Stradivarius violin.

Sergey Khachatryan, 17, Armenia, won the silver medal and $15,000. Soovin
Kim, a 26-year-old American, won the bronze medal and $10,000. Kim narrates
“Pure Gold.”

Kwok said documentaries also were made about the 1986 and 1994 competitions.
A DVD recording of “Pure Gold” is available for $18 from the competition
office by calling (317) 637-4574.

Call Star reporter Whitney Smith at (317) 444-6226.

PARUYR HAIRIKIAN REQUIRES FROM FOREIGN MINISTRY OF ARMENIA STEPS ON
CANCELLATION OF MOSCOW AND KARS TREATIES OF 1921

YEREVAN, JANUARY 28. ARMINFO. Leader of the party Self-determination
unity Paruyr Hairikian demanded from the Ministry of foreign affairs
of Armenia to cancel the Moscow and Kars Treaties of 1921 signed by
Soviet Russia and Turkey.

During the news conference he reminded that in 1921 he Soviet Russia
“gifted” Turkey a number of native Armenian lands – Karsa, Ardahan,
Bitlis, and Nakhichevan and Nagorny Karabakh were transferred to
Azerbaijan. “Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Erdogan states that the
Armenians have the right not to admit the Kars and Moscow Treaties,
but Vardan Oskanian declares that Armenia does not consist in the
revision of the Kars and Moscow Treaties. Erdogan more cares of
Armenia than the Armenians themselves”, Hairikian stated, requiring
form the foreign political office of Armenia to start the process of
revision of the aforementioned Treaties.

CIS body chief suggests single global list of terrorist groups

Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency
26 Jan 05

Almaty, 26 January: The world community should form a single list of
terrorist and extremist organizations in addition to other measures in
order to fight terrorism effectively, the head of the CIS
Antiterrorist Centre, Boris Mylnikov, told a session of the UN
Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee in Almaty on Wednesday
[26 January].

Mylnikov regards countries forming a single list of terrorist and
extremist organizations as “an effective way of anti-terrorist
cooperation”.

He recalled that similar lists had already been adopted within a
number of regional organizations, particularly within the CSTO
[Collective Security Treaty Organization; members are Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia] and the SCO
[Shanghai Cooperation Organization; members are China, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia].

[Passage omitted: exchange of information about terrorist
organizations is necessary to work out this kind of list]

[In a separate report, in Russian, at 1448 gmt, the
Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency quoted Mylnikov as saying that a draft
agreement on exchange of information about terrorist and extremist
organizations is being considered in the CIS. He said, according to
the agency, was no similar agreement in the world.]

ZORYAN INSTITUTE OF CANADA, INC.
255 Duncan Mill Rd., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, Canada M3B 3H9
Tel: 416-250-9807 Fax: 416-512-1736 E-mail: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
Date: January 26, 2005
Contact: George Shirinian Tel:
416-250-9807

Zoryan Institute Invites Applications for Ph.D. Scholarship Fund

TORONTO, CANADA – The Zoryan Institute is now inviting applications for its
new Ph.D. Scholarship Fund. This fund has been established through the
generosity and vision of the Bal family of Montreal. It is intended for
Ph.D. students preparing their thesis on the Armenian Genocide or a
comparative study with other genocides.

“We are very pleased to be able to offer this support to doctoral students,”
commented Lisa Siraganian, a member of Zoryan’s Academic Board. “The
scholarship program is designed to provide assistance when they are at what
is known as the ‘All But Dissertation’ stage. This is the point when they
have finished all their course work and comprehensive exams,” she explained,
“and must now begin the long and arduous task of researching and writing
their thesis.”

Applicants must be currently enrolled full-time in an accredited Ph.D.
program at a university in North America or Europe. They must be a Ph.D.
candidate in good standing at the ABD stage, (i.e., all requirements for the
PhD have been completed except for the dissertation).

Awards will be made on the following basis. First, academic excellence,
based on a review of graduate transcripts. Second, two letters of
recommendation from professors–at least one from a dissertation advisor who
is sufficiently familiar with the project and can attest to the candidate’s
research skills and intellectual capabilities. Third, a six-page description
by the candidate of the thesis, including theoretical approach to be used,
methodology to be applied, and goals to be achieved, along with his/her
assessment of the subject’s importance in the context of current
scholarship. Fourth, a sample of a graduate paper related to the thesis
topic or a dissertation chapter, 25-30 pages in length, if preferred.

The following languages are considered an asset to the applicant’s
candidacy: Armenian, Ottoman Turkish, Modern Turkish, English, and German.

There are no restrictions as to the nationality of the applicant.

Applications must be received by March 31, 2005. Scholarships will be
awarded by the end of June.

The amount awarded will vary according to each application, and will not
exceed $10,000 per year or $20,000 per individual in total, over the course
of four years. Students will be re-evaluated every year.

Further details about the scholarship can be found at
For more information about the scholarship, please
contact the Zoryan Institute, 255 Duncan Mill Rd., Suite 310, Toronto,
Canada M3B 3H9, 416-250-9807, [email protected].

The Zoryan Institute is the first non-profit, international center devoted
to the research and documentation of contemporary issues related to Armenian
social, political and cultural life. To this end, the Institute conducts
multidisciplinary research, publication, and educational programs dealing
with Armenia, the Armenian Genocide, and Diaspora, within a universal
context.

Armenian nuclear plant produces record levels of electric power in 2004

Arminfo
26 Jan 05

YEREVAN

The Armenian nuclear power plant produced record levels of electric
power in 2004 since its reopening in 1995 – 2.4bn kWh, the general
director of plant, Gagik Markosyan, has told Arminfo.

He said that 2.2bn kWh of electric power were released into the
grid. This record level was achieved thanks to the timely supply of
fuel to the station and to its timely re-opening after major repairs
in October last year. In addition, Markosyan noted that the high level
of output was due to optimisation of labour at the plant and to the
reduction of power loss.

The general director went on to say that during the current year, the
nuclear power plant’s projected power output would be 2.52bn kWh of
electric power. This rate of production will be ensured by reducing
the amount of time production is halted by repairs and refuelling to
45 days, plus 10 days for the major repair of one of the turbines. The
general director of the power plant said that in 2004, the plant’s
output accounted for 44 per cent of the overall electric energy
production in Armenia.

[Passage omitted]

PRESS RELEASE
Office of U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr.
Jennifer Karch Cannata
PRESS SECRETARY
420 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4671 office
(202) 225-9665 fax

Contact: Christopher Close/Knollenberg (202) 225-5802
Jennifer Cannata/Pallone (202) 225-4671

January 25, 2005

ARMENIAN CAUCUS CO-CHAIRS CALL ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO RENOUNCE
ACCUSATIONS BY STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Reps. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone,
Jr. (D-NJ), cochairmen of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, today
called on the U.S. State Department to formally renounce remarks by a State
Department official in Moscow describing the government of Nagorno-Karabakh
as “criminal secessionists.” The lawmakers made the request in a letter to
Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice.

Text of the letter to Secretary Rice follows.

January 25, 2005

Secretary Nominee Condoleezza Rice
U.S. Department of State
2201 C St, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Ms. Rice:

We write to you today to welcome your nomination as Secretary of State and
to bring to your attention our profound concern over a matter of vital
importance to the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, and to our
nation’s more than one and a half million citizens of Armenian heritage. We
refer to a statement made by Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones
during a January 13th digital video-conference with journalists at U.S.
Embassies in Moscow, Rome and Bratislava. In these remarks, Assistant
Secretary Jones described the government of Nagorno-Karabakh as “criminal
secessionists” that ought to be removed from office.

We are seriously troubled that this clearly unfair and manifestly inaccurate
characterization of Nagorno-Karabakh has harmed our ability to advance U.S.
interests and promote American values in an important region of the world.
First and foremost, these unfounded and incendiary accusations undermine the
very principles underlying our role as an honest broker in the Organization
for Security and Cooperation’s Minsk Group Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.
Secondly, the mistaken description of the citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh as
secessionists inappropriately prejudices the outcome of the OSCE peace
process, which has been tasked to resolve both status and security issues
through negotiation. Thirdly, the highly charged and patently false charge
that the government is “criminal” only serves to further encourage
irresponsible senior Azerbaijani leaders that are already calling for a
military solution to the Karabakh issue. Finally, we are concerned that the
reckless call for the removal of Nagorno-Karabakh’s leaders unfairly
denigrates the tremendous progress that the people and government of
Nagorno-Karabakh have made in establishing democratic institutions, even as
they have struggled to rebuild their homes, schools and farms destroyed by
years of brutal Azerbaijan aggression.

We look to you to demonstrate strong leadership in restoring balance to our
efforts toward peace in Nagorno-Karabakh, by formally renouncing these false
and unfair remarks. We would also welcome the opportunity to work with you
to ensure that similar setbacks such as this do not arise in the future.

Thank you for your attention to our concerns.

Sincerely,
JOE KNOLLENBERG FRANK PALLONE, JR.
Member of Congress Member of Congress

RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 25 2005

RUSSIA’S NUCLEAR POWER OUTPUT DOWN

MOSCOW, January 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s nuclear power plants cut
electricity generation by 3.8 percent last year, said the chief
engineers of Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian nuclear power plants at
a conference that began Tuesday.

“In 2004 Russia’s nuclear power stations generated 142.9 billion
kilowatts per hour of electricity, or 96.2 percent of the
corresponding period last year,” Rosenergoatom said in a press
release.

“Simultaneously, last year’s performance merits a positive
assessment. In 2004, upon modernization, 300 megawatt-limitations
were lifted for Unit Two of the Kursk Nuclear Power Station, service
life extended for 15 years for Unit Two of the Kola Nuclear Power
Station, modernization completed and service life extended for Unit
One of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Station [and] Unit Three of the
Kalinin Nuclear Power Station was put into service,” Rosenergoatom
reported.

“Already this year, return from these attainments will mean an
increasing utilization rate of the installed capacity and, of course,
an increasing commercial output,” the press release stated.

Azerbaijan should not be used against Iran – analyst

Ekspress, Baku
25 Jan 05

An Azerbaijani political analyst has said that Azerbaijan should not
be used as an instrument against Iran. In remarks to Ekspress
newspaper, Baku State University history professor Musa Qasimli said
that Azerbaijan could play a role in improving relations between Iran
and the USA. The following is an excerpt from Jala Sabirqizi and Abbas
Ali report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekspress on 25 January headlined
“New war in the region is a threat” and subheaded “Musa Qasimli:
‘Azerbaijan may play a role in easing the tension in US-Iranian
relations'”. Subheadings inserted editorially

“President [Ilham] Aliyev’s visit to Iran is undoubtedly very
important from the viewpoint of bilateral and regional relations.
First of all, the visit lays the foundation for a new stage in the
development of Azerbaijani-Iranian relations,” said PhD in history
Musa Qasimli, professor of the department for new and modern history
of European and American countries of Baku State University, in
comments to Ekspress on the president’s official visit to the
neighbouring country.

“Bound together”

[Qasimli] Iran and Azerbaijan are bound together by religion, history,
literature, geography and a common fate for many centuries. No matter
which regime rules in that country, it needs good relations with
Azerbaijan. Our country should maintain good relations with all
countries, including Iran, at a time when a fifth of our territories
have been occupied following Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan.

[Interviewer] But there have been quite chilly relations between Iran
and Azerbaijan until recently. Can we expect any changes after this
visit?

[Qasimli] I think there have been both objective and subjective
reasons for these cold relations from time to time. Both sides have
created conditions for it. Nevertheless, I believe that it is
necessary to have much better relations. This visit will help resolve
some problems in bilateral relations and gradually eliminate the
chill. Opening a consulate in Tabriz [in northern Iran predominantly
populated by ethnic Azeris] was a foreign policy success after the
2003 presidential elections. Railway construction between the two
countries is also in the interests of both countries. We should not
view Iran as our enemy, and neither should Iran view us as a threat.

[Passage omitted: possible impact of visit on resolving problems of
ethnic Azeris in Iran]

Iranian-Armenian ties

[Interviewer] Can Iran’s broad economic and political relations with
Armenia be identified as an obstacle to the development of
Iranian-Azerbaijani relations?

[Qasimli] Some issues should be openly declared. One million
Azerbaijani Muslims have become refugees after Armenia occupied a
fifth of Azerbaijani territories. It is not good for Iran, which has
undertaken to defend the rights of world Muslims in its foreign policy
and declared itself to be an Islamic republic, to cooperate with
occupying Armenia. It deals a blow to our bilateral relations. If Iran
were faithful to the principles it has declared, it would never
establish relations with and help Armenia. Iran is like a small window
for Armenia today. If they did not have close cooperation and Iran did
not help Armenia economically, Armenia would probably not reach its
current level and continue the occupation of Azerbaijani lands.

Security issues

[Interviewer] Iran and Azerbaijan have recently signed a security
treaty. What do you think motivated it? Was it because of the
appearance of new nuances in bilateral relations or the threat of US
attacks on Iran?

[Qasimli] To begin with, if Azerbaijan and Iran border on each other,
they should have common security issues. Therefore, security treaties
are important. As for US-Iranian relations, Azerbaijan’s foreign
policy priority is to integrate into the Euroatlantic space. The USA
is our strategic partner, while Iran should be our kind neighbour. I
think Azerbaijan may play a role in easing the tension in US-Iranian
relations. The president’s visit to Iran may lead to a thaw in
US-Iranian relations.

I believe that a new war in the region is a threat, especially one
with such a big country as Iran. Most of those who will suffer in
Iran, where 30 million ethnic Azerbaijanis live, may be Azerbaijanis.
I do not believe that the press reports about the possibility of the
USA’s hitting Iran will come true under the current circumstances,
because this is against US interests. Washington is competing with the
EU, while Europe’s economic centres are closely cooperating with
Iran. I think they will also have some influence in the improvement of
US-Iranian relations. Iran, for its part, should firmly reject
supporting terrorism and stop its nuclear programmes.

[Interviewer] If this threat against Iran is realized, what position
should Azerbaijan take?

[Qasimli] As an independent state Azerbaijan should not become an
instrument for any country or group of countries in relation to
Iran. Our foreign policy should be balanced and each country should
have its place there. At the same time, Azerbaijan should continue to
be in the antiterrorism coalition as a country that has suffered from
terrorism and aggression. It would not be reasonable to predict how
developments will unfold in the future. I think the USA and Iran will
try to resolve these issue by peaceful means. If the USA is our
strategic partner, Iran is our neighbour. In any case, peoples should
live in a kind neighbourhood and should not use their territory
against each other.