Author: Kafian Jirair

XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
April 4, 2004, Sunday

Olympic boxing qualifying results

SOFIA, April 4

Following are the results of Sunday’s finals in the Strandja Cup
Olympic boxing qualification tournament for the Athens Games (all
finalists qualify for Athens)in Plovdi, Bulgaria.

Light-flyweight (48kg):

Alexan Nalbandyan, Armenia, bt Redouane Asloum, France, on
points 42-23

Bantamweight (54kg):

Zsolt Bedak, Hungary, bt Maxim Tretyak, Ukraine, 40-30
Lightweight (60kg):

Amir Khan, Britain, bt Rovshan Hysynov, Azerbaijan

Welterweight (69kg):

Vilmos Balog, Hungary, bt Viktor Polyakov, Ukraine (referee
stops in 2nd round)

Light-heavyweight (81kg):

Yildirim Tarhan, Turkey, bt Clemente Russo, Italy 29-18

Super-heavyweight (91kg):

Sebastian Kober, Germany, bt Alexander Apanasionuk, Belarus, 21-
16

XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
April 4, 2004, Sunday

Olympic boxing qualifying results

SOFIA, April 3

Following are the results of Saturday’s semifinals in the Strandja
Cup Olympic boxing qualification tournament for the Athens Games:

Light-flyweight (48 kilograms):

Redouane Asloun, France, bt Siarhey, Belarus, on points 45-27

Nalbandyan Alexan, Armenia, bt Mumin Veli, Maceonia, 45-21
Bantamweight (54kg):

Maksym Tretyak, Ukraine, bt Wilhelm Gratschow, Germany, RSCO
2nd round

Zsolt Bedak, Hungary, bt Waldemar Cucereanu, Romania, 60-36
Lightweight (60kg):

Amir Khan, Britain, bt Adrian Alexandru, Romania, 46-27

Rovshan Hysynov, Azerbaijan, bt Mariusz Kopersk, Poland, 28-7
Welterweight (69kg):

Viktor Polaykov, Ukraine, bt Hrachya Hovhannisyan, Armenia, 45-
23

Vilmos Balog, Hungary, bt Bulent Ulusoy, Turkey, 27-23
Light-heavyweight (81kg):

Clemente Russo, Italy, bt Daugirdas Semiotas, Lithuania, 29-14

Yildirim Tarhan, Turkey, bt Tervel Pulev, Bulgaria, 19-11
Super-heavyweight (91kg):

Alexander Apanasionok, Belarus, bt Milan Vasiljevic, Serbia and
Montenegro, 26-8

Sebastian Kober, Germany, bt Mariusz Wach, Poland, 24-7

Notes: All winning semifinalists qualify for Athens.

Armenian opposition slams prosecutor for taking action against rally-goers

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
1 Apr 04

[Presenter] The first figures of the Justice bloc held a press
conference today [in connection with the criminal cases against
opposition members following a rally on 28 March].

[Correspondent over video of the press conference] On Thursday [1
April], the Justice bloc held a press conference which was devoted to
the statement of the Prosecutor-General’s Office issued on 31
March. The activists of the Justice bloc assessed the decision of the
Prosecutor-General’s Office as an unprecedented attempt at political
harassment. Speaking about the steps and measures taken by the
Prosecutor’s Office, Albert Bazeyan (Republic Party leader) did not
deny that they (opposition) had weapons and ammunition. We have a lot
of weapons and this is legal, the chairman of the Republic Party said.

The leaders of the Justice bloc stated that the actions of the
Prosecutor’s Office were illegal. The question is that they
[opposition] were having only a meeting with their voters. The
developments of the recent days, as Albert Bazeyan noted, prove that
the struggle is moving from the political field to the confrontational
field. The Justice bloc confirms that it has closed ranks to speed up
the process of changing power.

[Stepan Demirchyan, leader of the Justice bloc] We have done and will
do everything possible to stage these actions peacefully to the very
end for the sake of our state and nation.

[Correspondent] The Justice bloc stated that the illegitimate
president and his underlings are responsible for the explosive
situation in the country.

Nune Aleksanyan, Aylur.

Armenian holocaust meets brain disease

Robert Cushman
National Post

March 26, 2004

ROGUES OF URFA

Artword Theatre, Toronto

Araxi Arslanian’s grandfather survived the Turkish massacre of the
Armenians during the First World War. She herself has survived
Arterio-Venous Malformation, a brain disorder that kills most of the
people it afflicts. Her play Rogues of Urfa, which she performs
herself, is a solo piece that tells these two stories in alternating
slabs, narrated by protagonists whose kinship is revealed only at the
end.

One doesn’t want to make light of so much real suffering, but the
mixture doesn’t take. The monologue form is always perilous, and here
it has the effect of reducing an individual medical case-history and
the virtual elimination of an entire people to the level of a couple
of hard-luck stories. Plays about illness are always a tough
proposition because the pain, in most cases, is nobody’s fault; ergo,
there is no conflict. If such a subject is to have any dramatic life,
it has to be approached from other points of view besides that of the
sufferer; otherwise, the play becomes a mere complaint.

The Armenian holocaust obviously presents different opportunities and
different problems. The event may be said to have set the tone for the
20thcentury; Hitler famously said the world’s amnesia about the
Armenians made him feel safe about eliminating the Jews. The details
are horribly familiar: the families burned alive in their own homes,
the mass graves dug by the victims, the death marches, the war
obscuring the whole operation. (At that, there seems to have been more
international protest over this genocide than over the later one —
not that it did any good.) Only the gas chambers are missing, but
doubtless the Turks would have got around to those if they’d had the
technology and if they’d had numbers as great to dispose of. It’s a
story that still needs telling, and it provides some duly harrowing
moments here. But it is diminished — not only in scale but in
emotional impact — in being presented so much as the story of one
man. Arslanian’s forbearer comes from the town of Urfa, identified as
the birthplace of Abraham (and so presumably identical with the
Bible’s Ur of the Chaldees).

“I am a young man of the city,” he says, “its secret prince.” Many
times he repeats this rubric, whose first part may be unexceptionable,
but whose second is never supported: His story supplants that of his
granddaughter every time. It functions, in fact, as a form of aural
ID — one that starts out mildly irritating and ends up screamingly
intolerable by the end. He and two friends escape from one of the
forced marches and take refuge with the French army; returning home
after the war they find prejudice as rampant as before — another
example of history, so to speak, anticipating itself. The trio are
presumably the title’s “rogues of Urfa” but there is nothing very
colourful about themto justify the appellation — and it also seems to
devalue the intercut story of Arslanian herself, which is surely meant
to be equally important.

That it is literally her story is only made explicit at the very end,
when her father addresses her by the author’s own first name; but it
has been plain enough all the way through. She begins by telling us
how, as a schoolgirl in Canada, she tried to present a puppet play on
the Armenian experience, and how her classmates laughed at her;
initially one assumes that this was racial prejudice, but it turns out
that she was exhibiting the first symptoms of AVM. Admitted, full of
hope, to the National Theatre School, she is forced to leave — by
what seems, from her account, to have been a monstrously unsympathetic
administration — when she started having seizures. Then came a spell
at university and an eventual breakthrough into the professional
theatre, where she went through hell at the hands of colleagues who
referred to her as “Seizure Sally.” This seems to refer to her
appearance in a Toronto production of Our Country’s Good for which,
nonetheless, she won a Dora — an event she has recalled in interviews
with, it must be admitted, justifiable satisfaction.

One sympathizes, sometimes painfully, with her constant feelings of
being excluded, but still feels that one is only hearing half the
story; however appallingly people may have behaved to her, the laws of
the theatre dictatethat they should be condemned out of their own
mouths rather than hers. George Orwell said that an autobiography
should only be believed when it shows its subject in a bad light, and
the same applies even more to a play-length soliloquy. Everything
Arslanian tells us may be factually true, but it doesn’t make good
drama.

In pursuing her drive toward self-vindication (or, if jargon’s your
dish, self-empowerment) Arslanian may actually be short-changing
herself, since she seems competent as a writer and skilled as a
performer. A big lady, she throws herself enthusiastically into the
angular bits of mime-to-music that her director, Rebecca Brown, has
either devised or permitted to mark the transitions between her two
principal personae. None of her characters is much characterized, but
she shifts very confidently between voices.

The conclusion, that survival runs in the family, comes across both
hurried and sentimental; one can feel happy at the escapes of both
generations without regarding them as more than a fortunate
coincidence. Recurring references to “sand” and “white light” are not
enough to unify the play’s two halves. As a person Arslanian is fully
entitled to her convictions on this score — she has probably more
than earned them — but as a dramatist she needs to persuade rather
than affirm.

The Artword Theatre hosts this production, but did not originate it;
all the same, despite the horrors that it relates, it’s very much in
the house’s familiar folksy feel-good mould.

Until April 4. Box office: 416-504-7529

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

PRESS RELEASE
March 18, 2004
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

OVER 65 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS COHOST ANCA ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
OBSERVANCE ON CAPITOL HILL

WASHINGTON, DC – A growing bipartisan list of over 65 Senate and
House members – including several key Committee leaders – have
joined the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) in co-
hosting the tenth annual Armenian Genocide Observance on Capitol
Hill. The event will take place at the historic Cannon Caucus room
on Wednesday, April 28th from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.

The Senate co-hosts include Finance Committee Chairman Charles
Grassley (R-IA), Government Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan
Collins (R-ME), Agriculture Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS),
Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA), Armed
Services Committee Ranking Democrat Carl Levin (D-MI), as well as
Senators George Allen (R-VA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Elizabeth Dole
(R-NC), John Ensign (R-NV), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Barbara Mikulski
(D-MD), and Jack Reed (D-RI).

In the House, co-hosts include Congressional Genocide Resolution
lead cosponsors George Radanovich (R-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and
Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and
Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) as well as House Financial Services
Committee Ranking Democrat Barney Frank (D-MA) and Representatives
Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Gresham Barrett (R-SC), Shelley Berkley (D-
NV), Howard Berman (D-CA), Michael Bilirakis (R-FL), Benjamin
Cardin (D-MD), Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Jerry Costello (D-IL), Joseph
Crowley (D-NY), Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Anna
Eshoo (D-CA), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Mike Ferguson (R-NJ), Bob Filner
(D-CA), Mark Foley (R-FL), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Maurice Hinchey
(D-NY), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Michael Honda (D-CA), Steve Israel (D-
NY), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Gerald Kleczka (D-WI), Dennis Kucinich
(D-OH), Barbara Lee (D-CA), William Lipinski (D-IL), Zoe Lofgren
(D-CA), John Lewis (D-GA), Edward Markey (D-MA), Jim McDermott (D-
WA), James McGovern (D-MA), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Richard Neal
(D-MA), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Steven Rothman
(D-NJ), Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), H. James Saxton (R-NJ), Christopher
Shays (R-CT), Mark Souder (R-IN), John Sweeney (R-NY), Bennie
Thompson (D-MS), John Tierney (D-MA), Christopher Van Hollen (D-
MD), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Joe Wilson (R-SC),
Frank Wolf (R-VA), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

“We are pleased to see so many legislators from across the nation
joining together with the Armenian American community in this
solemn remembrance,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
“Armenian Americans value their principled support and appreciate
their commitment to ensuring that the lessons of the Armenian
Genocide are used to prevent future crimes against humanity.”

The ANCA’s Annual Capitol Hill Observance provides Members of
Congress the opportunity to commemorate the Armenian Genocide with
members of the Armenian American community. This year, the ANCA
will be honoring New York Times Best Selling Author Peter Balakian,
who, over the past decade, has emerged as an exceptionally
powerful, eloquent, and effective voice against Armenian Genocide
denial, most recently through the publication of “The Burning
Tigris,” his landmark study of the U.S. humanitarian response to
the Armenian Genocide.

Joining Armenian Americans and elected officials at the observance
will be survivors of the Armenian Genocide, members of the
diplomatic community, and leaders of civil and human rights
organizations.

The Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region, Western
Region and Washington headquarters cordially invite community
members from across the U.S. to participate in the Capitol Hill
Genocide Observance.

For further information, contact the Armenian National Committee of
America Washington office at (202) 775-1918 or the Eastern or
Western Region headquarters at (617) 923-1918 and (818) 500-1918
respectively.

#####

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 16, 2004, Tuesday

Egyptian stabs three Armenians to death in Cairo

CAIRO

An Egyptian man stabbed to death three Armenians – an elderly man and
two women – Tuesday after a dispute over who would use an elevator
first in Heliopolis neighbourhood of Cairo, police said. The sources
said the man, unemployed for eight years, had disputed with a
75-year-old Armenian man and his 40-year-old daughter over the
elevator. A relative of the Armenians who came out of her apartment
after she heard screaming was also stabbed to death. Police said the
man was mentally disturbed. dpa ye sc

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

March 17, 2004
___________________

TALKING ABOUT FAITH & INSPIRING OTHERS IS FOCUS OF ACYOA CONFERENCE

How can you tell someone about Christianity if you don’t first feel the
spirit?

That was the question underlying the fifth annual National Young Adult
Leadership Conference, co-sponsored by the Armenian Church Youth
Organization of America (ACYOA) and the Diocese of the Armenian Church of
America (Eastern)

The sessions focused on the two sides of Christian witness: experiencing the
Holy Spirit at first-hand, and then communicating it to others. “This
conference really helped me understand what witnessing is and why we need to
witness,” said Justin Ajamian, 20, a participant from St. Leon Church of
Fair Lawn, NJ.

The conference, held from March 12 to 14 in Stony Point, NY, brought
together 48 young adults from 22 parishes. More than half of the
participants were new to the leadership conference. Four parishes sent
young representatives for the first time: Baton Rouge, LA; Livingston, NJ;
Springfield, MA; and St. Petersburg, FL.

“It was interesting to hear different opinions about religion, our culture,
and different parishes,” said Leana Garibova, 18, from St. Hagop Church of
St. Petersburg, FL. “It was enlighteningan experience every young Armenian
should have.”

BUILDING LEADERSHIP THROUGH WITNESS

The goal of the annual conference is to find and develop future leaders for
the ACYOA and the Armenian Church. Each year the presentations and
discussions focus on one of five features of Christian life: worship,
fellowship, education, service, and witness — which serve as basis for
programming by ACYOA.

“The leadership conference expanded my knowledge and strengthened my faith,”
said Johnny El Chemmas, 19, of St. John Church of Southfield, MI. “I can
take back this understanding of witness to my parish.”

This year, the group focused on the idea of witnessing, finding personal
faith, and then sharing your Christian feeling with others.

The tone of the weekend was set by Fr. Vahan Hovhanessian, pastor of the
Church of the Holy Martyrs in Bayside, NY, who defined witness as the living
and sharing of our Christian faith and experiences with others.

“It was great to see a such a large group of young folks open to exploring
the beliefs, values, and spiritual depths of the church,” said Jason
Demerjian, college ministry facilitator for the Eastern Diocese. “Thats
the first step of sharing your faith with other people–of witnessing your
faith.”

During the three-day conference, held at the Don Bosco Conference Center in
Stony Point, NY, Demerjian led a workshop in which participants were asked
to examine how they witness through consumerism, lifestyle, attitudes, and
actions.

Witnessing one’s faith in the workplace was the focus of a panel discussion
featuring Becky Bagdasarian, Sevan Topjian, and Greg Tashjian. They
explained how they came to know Christ and witnessed in their everyday lives
at school, in the workplace, and with family and friends.

Another panel, led by Arda Nazerian Haratunian, a communications
professional, focused on developing a communication plan. She worked with
small groups for setting goals that would help the ACYOA communicate its
ideas, objectives, and faith.

Witnessing as an organization was also the focus of a session led by Nancy
Basmajian, executive secretary of the ACYOA, and Saro Kalayjian, former
Central Council chairman of ACYOA. Along with ACYOA Central Council members
Daron Bolat and Rita Akaraz, the participants discussed how the organization
should witness its faith.

“It is important that we, as an organization, step forward and witness our
faith,” Basmajian said. “We are a Christian organization and our main
purpose is to bring others closer to God.”

FAITHFUL SERVICE

The weekend also touched on the importance of serving the Lord and
community. One panel discussion featured clergy speaking on their journeys
of service to the church. The discussion included Fr. Diran Bohajian,
pastor of St. Leon Church in Fair Lawn, NJ; Fr. Daniel Findikyan, dean of
St. Nersess Seminary; Dn. Sebuh Oscherician, from St. Leon Church; and
Diocesan staff members Jason Demerjian and Nancy Basmajian.

“This experience changed me for the better,” said Niree Kaltakdjian, 18, of
St. Garabed Mission Parish in Baton Rouge, LA.

Through multi-media presentations, participants also explored ways each can
serve individually. Karen Khatchadourian, of the St. Thomas Church in
Tenafly, NJ, spoke on the ACYOA’s Armenia Service Program, where
participants help run a summer camp for needy children in Armenia. Anna
Demerjian, originally from Armenia and now a member of St. Gregory Church in
White Plains, NY, spoke about the Armenian Volunteer Corps, a Peace
Corps-like program pairing volunteers with social service organizations in
Armenia. Lori Hovsepian, from St. Leon Church, spoke about her first-hand
experience in Armenia with Habitat for Humanity.

“It’s exhilarating to witness the variety of ideas, diverse levels of faith,
and genuine love shared here this weekend,” said Areg Bagdasarian from Holy
Trinity Church of Cambridge, MA. “This weekend was great, especially for
anyone wanting to understand their own faith better.”

FAITH-FILLED WEEKEND

Along with discussions of witness and fun and games, the weekend also
included many worship opportunities. Martins, Vespers, Lenten Evening
Vigil, and Sunday Midday services were all led by Dn. Diran Jebejian, ACYOA
Central Council chairman.

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese, presented each
participant with a copy of a book on the sacraments of the Armenian Church.
The Primate spoke to the participants following the Vespers service,
focusing his remarks on one of today’s most noticeable acts of witness: Mel
Gibson’s new movie, “The Passion of the Christ.”

“We find ourselves in a remarkable moment,” he said to the participants.
“We find ourselves in a time when people are talking about the meaning of
Christ’s sacrifice. A truly unexpected turn of events, made even more
remarkable because this interest has been sparked by the release of a
movie.”

Organizing the conference was Yn. Arpi Kouzouian, youth outreach coordinator
for the Diocese; Nancy Basmajian, ACYOA executive secretary; and Central
Council members Diran Jebejian, Rita Akaraz, Jennifer Morris, Maria
Derderian, Daron Bolat, Tammy Bagdigian, and Chris Tashjian. Since it’s
inception five years ago, the conference has served as a key to ACYOA’s
effort to strengthen its leadership.

“Coming to this oasis of Armenian Christian fellowship has given me so much
to strive for,” said Julie Hoplamazian, 25, a parishioner at the St. Mary
Church of Livingston, NJ, and student at Princeton Theological Seminary.
“Now I am so much more aware of the leadership task that lies ahead, for my
parish and the ACYOA as a whole.”

For more on the ACYOA, go to its website:

— 3/17/04

E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable on the Eastern
Diocese’s website,

PHOTO CAPTION (1): Almost 50 young leaders from throughout the Diocese of
the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) gathered from March 12 to 14 for
the annual ACYOA National Young Adult Leadership Conference, where they
explored the idea of witnessing: living and sharing of our Christian faith
and experience with others.

PHOTO CAPTION (2): Speaking to the ACYOA National Young Adult Leadership
Conference on witnessing in the real world are, from left, Greg Tashjian,
Becky Bagdasarian, and Sevan Topjian.

PHOTO CAPTION (3): Archbishop Khajag Barsamian speaks about the presence of
Christ in our everyday lives to the participants of this year’s ACYOA
National Young Adult Leadership Conference.

PHOTO CAPTION (4): The ACYOA National Young Adult Leadership Conference,
held in Stony Point, NY, from March 12 to 14, featured many worship
opportunities.

# # #

Armenian opposition demands government’s resignation in regional rally

Arminfo
10 Mar 04

YEREVAN

Representatives of the opposition’s Justice bloc today staged a rally
in the town of Alaverdi, Lori Region.

It must be remembered that unlike the previous events arranged by the
opposition bloc in the regions of the republic, the turnout at today’s
rally was poor. In his speech, the head of the newly-formed
headquarters to save the fatherland under the Justice bloc, MP Viktor
Dallakyan, said that the illegitimate authorities were relying on
criminal local administration whose staunchest supporter is the
governor of Lori Region, Genrik Kochinyan. “Therefore, we warn all the
local underlings that they will soon end up behind bars, and we
promise this to them,” Dallakyan said.

The rally spoke about extremely low pensions and allowances, high
water prices and the political coalition’s promises to return
citizens’ savings accounts. The leader of the Union of Constitutional
Law and a member of the Justice bloc, MP Grant Khachatryan, said that
the coalition was not able to adopt any law of vital importance to the
people. All the problems facing Armenia will be resolved only after
the government is changed, and this process has already started, the
members of the Justice bloc think.

The resignation of the current administration is a requirement of the
day, the leader of the Justice bloc, Stepan Demirchyan, said.

The members of the Justice bloc promised to inform the public about
their next measures “to topple the authorities”.