Author: Navasardian Karapet

V.OSKANIAN: RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS NOT A PRECONDITION FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF RELATIONS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND TURKEY

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Dec 04 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. "I have always said
and will say that the issue of Genocide does not play a leading part in
Armenia-Turkey relations." RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian declared
this in his interview to the New Anatolian Turkish periodical. In
the Minister’s words, the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is
not a precondition for establishment of bilateral relations. "The
recognition of the Armenian Genocide is a moral obligation, but it
should not be an obstacle for improvement of relations between the
two countries. As the Armenian side does not present the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide as a precondition, Turkey should not demand
that Armenia give up demands on this issue," the Minister added. In
Oskanian’s words, neither Turkey nor Armenia should put forward
demands. "We carry on policy of recognition of the Genocide, Turkey
of its denial. I really do not see the reasons, because of which the
borders cannot be opened and the peoples cannot cooperate. This would
create more positive conditions for more constructive settlement of
existing problems," RA Foreign Minister emphasized.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY’S IGNORING KARABAKH POPULATION’S DEMOCRATIC ASPIRATIONS IS NOT CONSTRUCTIVE, V.OSKANIAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Dec 05 2006

BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
made a speech on December 4 at the OSCE Foreign Ministers’ Council
sitting being held in Brussels. The Minister spoke in his speech about
the OSCE reforms, presented Armenia’s position, then touched upon
priorities of deepening democracy in Armenia, economic achievements
and development of the state. Touching upon the negotiations proceeding
round the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, the Minister mentioned:
"We are well aware that the world observes our region arising of other
reasons as well. Nobody wants to reach the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement as much as we do. The Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents’
last meeting gave us hope that it is still possible to reach agreement
even on those principles concerning which we still have difference of
opinions. We know that the long-lasting solution will depend on the
Nagorno Karabakh people’s status and security. The conflict started
when their security was subjected to violence, and their right to
self-determination was defied. The discussed principles attempt to
satisfy the Nagorno Karabakh people’s right to self-determination,
at the same time, liquidating consequences of the conflict. We
expect that Azerbaijan, really, will find will to recognize and
respect the Nagorno Karabakh people’s own rights to decide its own
future, status, security system. The constitutional referendum will
be held in Nagorno Karabakh in few days. Political institutes were
created, authorities were formed with the means of elections, the
legislative field developed in Nagorno Karabakh during the recent
15 years. They understand the necessity of the fundamental law and
accept that the referendum is the only admissible way to universally
adopt that law. The international community’s ignoring the Karabakh
population’s democratic aspirations as well as accusing them of being
democratic is not constructive. Azerbaijan’s insistences that holding
of the referendum will lay obstacles for the negotiation process,
are far from the reality. But the real obstacle is their intolerant
response to democratic actions of Karabakh, their refusal to involve
Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiation process, repeated martial calls
and efforts to avoid the Minsk Group negotiation process."

Within the framework of the OSCE Foreign Ministers’ meeting, the
Minister had a number of bilateral meetings: with Daniel Fried, the
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State; Urmas Paet, the Foreign Minister
of Estonia; Jean Asselborn, the Foreign Minister of Luxemburg; Noul
Treacy, the Ireland State Minister on European Issues; Lobo Antunes,
the Portugal State Minister on European Issues; Bernardo Leon, the
Spain State Secretary for Foreign Affairs; Marc Perrin de Brichambeau,
the OSCE Secretary General; Goran Lenmarker, the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly Speaker. The RA Foreign Minister’s meeting with the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairmen also took place. As Noyan Tapan was informed by
the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Department, the OSCE
Foreign Ministers’ Council sitting will discuss the OSCE reformation
package on decisions concerning strengthening of the OSCE efficiency,
including the OSCE regulations. It is expected that, particularly,
the decision on the organized crime, decisions concerning illegal
circulation of small and light armament, OSCE future transport
dialogue, struggle against intolerance and discrimination and
concerning spreading mutual respect and mutual understanding will
be agreed.

ARAM KARAPETYAN’S MONEY BELONGS TO HIM

A1+
[07:01 pm] 04 December, 2006

"I want to become an independent president", announced leader of "New
Times" party Aram Karapetyan in club "Urbat". By saying "independent"
he meant financial independence which he claims to have had so far.

Nevertheless, he wouldn’t mind financial support. But he did not accept
the support of any businessman named by the journalists. "There is
a working middle class, and if I manage to have power, I would like
that class to continue their work".

Aram Karapetyan who is famous for his pro-Russian policy referred to
Armenian-Russian relations too.

"Our national tragedy is that we have a police way of thinking: only
that is right what I need. A politician can say that the Russian are
our brothers after he gets a medal, but the next day he will say that
joining the NATO is our priority. Our approaches have to be sensible".

As for the murders of Armenians in Russia, the leader of "New Times"
thinks they are directed by the criminal world. "These murders have
only one aim: to deteriorate the Armenian-Russian relations. Who is
it profitable for? The Mafia which earns money and those powers which
want to alienate Armenia from Russia".

IN ISTANBUL’S BLUE MOSQUE THE POPE PRAYS FOR THE BROTHERHOOD OF HUMANKIND
by Franco Pisano

Asia News, Italy
Nov 30 2006

In a relaxed atmosphere following weeks of tensions and fears that
accompanied the Pope’s arrival, Benedict XVI also visits Saint Sophia
and the Armenian cathedral. Now it is time to wait for reactions in
the Muslim world. From our special correspondent.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) – Two minutes of silence, a prayer made
obvious only by the moving lips of Benedict XVI and the imam of
the Blue Mosque. Different prayers, of course, elicited by the Pope
who said-"Let us pray for brotherhood and the good of humanity!-in
response to the imam, who during the visit to Istanbul’s Blue Mosque,
showed the Pontiff the Muslim prayer book, saying that "each Muslim
prayer begins with the name of Allah; Allah is the name of God".

Having placed his hand on the book, the Pope invited those presents
to pray. At the moment he was in front of the mihrab, the niche in
direction of Makkah.

Fr Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican Press Room, denied
there was a prayer. "The Pope," he said, "stood before the Mihrab in
meditation and he certainly turned his thoughts to God".

However one may want to characterise what Benedict XVI did, it has an
illustrious precedent in John Paul I’s prayer in the Damascus Mosque,
although there it took place before the spot that is traditionally
considered to be the burial place of John the Baptist.

The "meditation" occurred in the afternoon, which was set aside for
visits to three places each in its way linked to religion: Saint
Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Armenian Cathedral of Saint Mary.

In Turkey, each scheduled event is awaited expectantly for the fear
of what Islamo-nationalists might do if the Pope tried to repeat what
Pope Paul VI did and pray. Even the meeting with the Armenians raised
concerns over the possibility that he might make a reference to the
Armenian genocide, an event which the Turkish government denies.

The visit to the mosques was added to the original plan. It was meant
as a way to soothe relations between Catholics and Muslims by showing
respect towards the Islamic religion.

The Pope himself indirectly confirmed this inside the building. As he
and the mufti exchanged gifts-a blue tile with the stylised image of a
dove with an olive branch from the mufti and a mosaic with four doves
from the Pope-, he said that "this visit will help us find together
the means and ways of peace for the good of humanity".

"This is meant," the Pope said, "to be a message of brotherhood in
remembrance of a visit I shall certainly never forget," adding at the
end of the meeting, "thanks for this occasion of prayer". And now we
will have to wait for reactions in the Islamic world.

Arriving from nearby Saint Sophia, where he had been welcome by
Istanbul’s grand mufti, Mustafa Cagrici, Benedict XVI removed
his shoes, but not the cross on his chest, and entered the mosque
accompanied by the grand mufti and the mosque’s imam. Both showed
him the beautiful elements of the building, officially named after
Sultan Ahmet Camii, but better known as the Blue Mosque for the
blue tiles in its interior. It is certainly the best known Muslim
sacred building in Istanbul. Built in the early 1600s, it was once
the gathering point for Turkish pilgrims on their way to Makkah.

Saint Sophia-Hagia Sophia-, the Holy Wisdom of God, is much older.

Muslims say that it is the only church Mehmet II, the conqueror of
Constantinople, wanted to turn into a mosque.

First built under the Emperor Constantine, after being ravaged by fires
it was rebuilt under Justinian in 532 to make it "the most sumptuous
basilica since creation" and in effect it was rich in marbles, precious
materials, mosaics and much more. Until Saint Peter’s Basilica was
built in Rome, it had the biggest dome. Its many mosaics survived the
iconoclasts and Muslim conquest but in the 18th century were covered
with plaster.

In 1935 Ataturk turned the building into a museum which it still is,
but as early as 1847 craftsmen have been working on salvaging the
mosaics, a process that is still going on.

Turkish Islamo-nationalists groups would like to see the building
revert to its old status as a mosque. And some Muslim charitable
organisations have already set up shop around it.

Protected by an imposing security detail, Benedict XVI arrived at the
mosque 5 pm. Accompanied by the museum’s director, he looked closely
to the mosaic on top of the entrance; it depicts Constantine and
Justinian giving the two churches (the old and the new) to Mary and
Jesus. Inside the building the Pontiff also admired another mosaic,
one that showed the face of Virgin Mary, an image that he eventually
found again in the amphora that was given to him as a gift.

As he left Saint Sophia, the Pope stopped to meet a group of disabled
Muslims.

Benedict XVI’ last visit of the day, shrouded in suspicions, was to
the Armenian Cathedral of Saint Mary where he was to celebrate the
Word. Welcomed by Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafian

Was, upon entering he was offered bread, salt, rose water and a
thurible as tokens of welcome.

In his greeting, Benedict XVI made a reference to the Armenian
genocide. "I give thanks to God," he said in fact, "for the faith
and Christian witness of the Armenian people, passed on from one
generation to the next, often in truly tragic circumstances like
those endured in the last century".

Earlier, in Saint Sophia’s guest book, Benedict XVI wrote: "In our
diversity, we find ourselves before the faith in the One God. May
God enlighten us and make us find the path of love and peace."

California Courier Online, November 30, 2006

1 – Commentary

1 – US Government’s "Sensitive" Study
Of Armenian-Americans Made Public
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
2 – Armenians in the Ottoman Photograph Collection
Of the Getty Museum is Topic of Dec. 3 Lecture
3 – ‘Case of Misak Torlakian’
Book Published by CAR
4 – Book Unearths New Incriminating Evidence
About Long-Censored Fraud and Mass Murder
5- ‘My Son Shall Be Armenian’
Film Now Available on DVD
6 – Developing Western Armenia
After Recognition of Genocide
Is Topic of Dec. 3 Lecture
7 – Dilijan Chamber
Holiday Concert
Features Children
***************************************** *************************
1 – Commentary
US Government’s "Sensitive" Study
Of Armenian-Americans Made Public

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

The U.S. government recently made public a fascinating internal study on the
Armenian-American community. The study, prepared in June of 2004 by the
American Embassy in Yerevan, carries the following classification: "Sensitive –
Please Treat Accordingly." It is titled, "Deciphering the Armenian-American
Diaspora," and was recently released by the Department of State at the request of
the Armenian National Committee of America, under the Freedom of Information Act.

While the study relates commonly known facts about the Armenian-American
community, it reveals for the first time the views of the U.S. government on the
Armenian community, its assessment of major Armenian-American organizations
and their impact on U.S. – Armenia relations. As the study contains some
inaccurate facts and misjudgments about some segments of the Armenian American
community, I would urge the groups concerned to send a letter to the editorand set
the record straight.

According to this study, around 1.5-2 million Armenians, out of an estimated
8-10 million Diaspora Armenians, live in the United States. This is the
second largest Diaspora Armenian community after Russia which reportedly has 2-2.5
million Armenians. The study lists "some of the largest Armenian Diaspora
populations" as living in France, Lebanon, Syria, Argentina and Turkey. Thelarge
Armenian community of Iran is not mentioned at all.

The study contends: "The Armenian-American Diaspora continues to wield
considerable influence upon the foreign and domestic policies of the Government of
Armenia [GOAM]. The influence ranges from the obvious connection of U.S.-born
and/or trained GOAM officials, the influence of private and public U.S.
assistance funding and the more nuanced impact of person-to-person relations between
the GOAM and the Diaspora."

The study specifically mentions "a number of current and former high-level
GOAM policymakers [who] were born, raised or trained in the United States with
long-term connections to the Diaspora community in the U.S. Current examples
of this connection include Armenia’s Foreign Minister, both Deputy Foreign
Ministers, various Presidential Advisors, including the Chief Advisor on Economic
Issues, the Minister of Trade and Economic Development and a number of deputy
ministers in other ministries."

According to the study, while it is not certain whether Russian-Armenians or
American-Armenians wield greater influence in Armenia, "it is impossible to
underestimate the impact of the Armenian-American community on the GOAM." Its
influence is measured in terms of being the wealthiest community of the
Armenian Diaspora, the most diverse, providing the largest amount of assistance to
Armenia, and the most organized. The study asserts incorrectly: "Roughly fifty
Armenian-American organizations claim nationwide membership somewhere in the
thousands."

The unknown authors of the study have grouped the Armenian-American
community into the following seven "clusters" or "broad categories that involve
intersecting political and religious affiliations and historical considerations":

1) "The AGBU, Ramkavars, Diocese"

2) "Dashnaks (ARF), ANCA, Prelacy"

3) "Organizations close to the ‘Hnchaks’ "

4) "The Armenian Protestant Community"

5) "Armenian-American Catholic Organizations"

6) "Professional and Cultural Organizations on the Rise"

7) "Humanitarian Groups and Private Foundations"

1) "The AGBU, Ramkavars, Diocese"

The study states: "This grouping captures roughly 30% of those active in the
Armenian-American community. While often less politically active than the two
largest advocacy organizations in the Diaspora (the AAA and the ANCA), the
AGBU and its affiliated organizations exercise considerable influence upon
grassroots thinking about Armenia-related issues."

The study describes the AGBU as "the largest worldwide charitable
organization in the Armenian Diaspora and constitutes one of the three largest groups of
Armenians in the United States today. While the AGBU claims a non-political
agenda and concentrates its programming on educational or humanitarian pursuits
worldwide, it also touts itself as the ‘mainstay of Armenian liberalism’
among Armenian-Americans."

It describes the ADL or the Ramkavar Party as "the second largest political
party" in the Armenian-American community with "considerable connections with
the AGBU. Historically, the majority of AGBU donors and board members were
members of or sympathized with the Ramkavar Party to some degree. The Ramkavars
represent one of the most politically conservative elements of the
Armenian-American community=80¦. While generally less nationalistic than some of their ANCA
counterparts in the U.S., the ADL’s political agenda includes a major push for
worldwide recognition of the events of 1915 as a ‘genocide.’ "

The Knights and Daughters of Vartan, which the study describes as "a service
organization whose recent activities are based loosely upon models such as
the rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, is one of the most active Armenian-American
fraternal associations based in the U.S. This organization claims membership in the
tens of thousands and sponsors humanitarian activities in the Republic of
Armenia including the renovation of schools and health facilities in rural
communities."

Stating that the AGBU and affiliated organizations such as the ADL and
Knights/Daughters of Vartan are generally linked with the Diocese of the Armenian
Church, the study describes the Diocese as "the largest branch of the Armenian
Church=80¦. Diocese congregations make up the majority of Armenian religious
groups in the United States. While it would be inappropriate to state that all
AGBU or ADL members worship as part of a Diocese congregation, there is a
tendency for these groups to align with one another on political issues. The
humanitarian arm of the Diocese, the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR), raisesand
distributes millions of dollars in humanitarian relief aid to the Republic of
Armenia each year." FAR also carries out humanitarian projects in Artsakh, the study
states.

(Next week: The Armenian Assembly and the six other organizational clusters)

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

2 – Armenians in the Ottoman Photograph Collection
Of the Getty Museum is Topic of Dec. 3 Lecture
MISSION HILLS, CA – The illustrated lecture "A World in Transition: Armenians
in the Ottoman Photographs Collection of the Getty Museum" by Van Aroian will
take place at the Ararat-Eskijian Museum on December 3, at 3:30 pm.
Co-sponsored with the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR),
the lecture will look at photographs from the Getty Research Institute’s
invaluable collection from the Ottoman period. The program will be followed by a
reception.
The program will provide a visual presentation and sampling of these Ottoman
photographs, with a focus on its Armenian flavor and contributions. On a
fundamental level this collection provides investigators with a rare opportunity
actually to see aspects of Ottoman life and culture – a presentation of a world
in transition captured for succeeding generations. Through the social and
historical commentary provided by these photographs, audience members will walk
down memory lane and share a unique experience exploring their history and
identity.
This collection is an invaluable resource for Ottoman scholars,
ethnographers, historians of Ottoman photography, and students of Armenian Ottoman life.
Furthermore, this collection provides a valuable resource for an investigator
interested in developing the significant contribution of Armenian photographers
to the early development of photography throughout the Ottoman Empire.
Van Aroian spent some six weeks in 1999-2001 looking through the Getty’s
Ottoman photograph collection. He first presented the results of his
investigations into the Getty’s collection in an article in NAASR’s Journalof Armenian
Studies (vol. 7, no.1, Fall-Winter 2002-2003) entitled "Ottoman Photographsat
the J. Paul Getty Research Institute: Armenian Themes and Contributions."
There he offered an overview of the collection and provided detailed analyses of
several photographs of direct or indirect relevance to the Armenians.
Aroian earned a B.A. at Boston University and M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies
at Harvard University. He was a fellow in Urban Geography at Clark University
and an Urban Planner and Deputy Director of the Worcester Redevelopment
Authority. He later joined his brother-in-law Kevork and wife Mary Balekdjian
Aroian in importing and retailing Oriental carpets. He is currently a member of
the NAASR Board of Directors.
The Ararat-Eskijian Museum was founded in 1993 by Armenian Genocide survivor,
philanthropist, and art collector, Luther Eskijian, to preserve Armenian
history and heritage for future generations. It is located on the grounds of the
Ararat Home of Los Angeles at 15105 Mission Hills Road, Mission Hills, CA
91345. For information call AEM (818) 838-4862 or visit
Free admission and parking
************************************************** ***********************
3 – ‘Case of Misak Torlakian’
Book Published by CAR
LOS ANGELES – "The Case of Misak Torlakian", a new book by Attorney Vartkes
Yeghiayan and Ara Arabyan, for the first time brings to the reader the
fascinating and revealing trial transcript of Misak Torlakian, an Armenian Ottoman
subject, who was tried by the British Military Court, on the charge of murdering
Bihbud Khan Jivanshir, the Ex-Minister of interior of Azerbaijan, outside the
Pera Palace Hotel in Constantinople (Istanbul) on July 18, 1921.
It is often forgotten that before a single drop of oil had been discovered
in the Middle East, Armenians were already extracting and exporting oil from
Baku on an industrial scale. Thus this book, this primary source, in its simple
trial-transcript format, reveals new insights into the rivalries between
Armenians, Azeris, Turks, Brits, and Bolsheviks for control of the liquid black
gold.
"The Case of Misak Torlakian" is the twin of the book "The Case of Soghomon
Tehlirian."
Both trials involved the murder of a tyrant, and both of the perpetrators
were found not guilty.
During both trials, history, theology, philosophy, physiology, psychology,
and politics were invoked by both sides to sway the Military Judge in the case
of Torlakian, and the Jury of Peers in the case of Tehlirian. Thus in addition
to being landmark legal cases, these two trials clearly reveal the prevailing
mindsets and political strategies of the key participants in the Great War,
namely: Germany, England, France, Turkey, Armenia, the Azeris, and the
Bolsheviks.
Both books have been brought to the public by Attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan,
who is in the news again this week because checks went out to heirs of Armenian
genocide victims as part of the $20 million dollar settlement reached between
New York Life Insurance Company and the heirs of genocide victims. Not all of
the money was claimed by surviving heirs. The extra money, according to
Vartkes Yeghiayan, will go to Armenian charitable organizations.
Yeghiayan also has personal motives for bringing out "The Case of Misak
Torlakian."
"When I was a student at the University of California," he said, "I had the
chance to meet Misak Torlakian. Overall he was a very unassuming, inconspicuous
and modest man, who, despite his trauma, was a man who motivated others with
his humility and service to his people and his country. He was imbued with a
devotion that is difficult to find elsewhere. He inspired people with his open
minded liberalism, and others were keen to emulate him. When asked whether it
was worth it? He always answered with an unequivocal: ‘It was.’"
Turkish and British sources, were used to put together "The Case of Misak
Torlakian". The summations came from British sources, while the witness
testimonies came both from the British sources and a Turkish source.
"The Case of Misak Torlakian" is one of over a dozen primary documents
related to the Armenian Genocide that a cadre of writers, translators,
researchers, and technicians are putting together in book form, under the overall title
of "The Armenian Genocide and the Armenian Case." The next book in the series,
"The Case of Soghomon Tehlirian," will come out in December of 2006, to be
followed by "Vahan Cardashian: Advocate Extraordinaire of the Armenian Cause" and
"British Policy and the Armenian-Greek Section," to come out in January and
February of 2007.
The series is published by the Center for Armenian Remembrance. Books may be
ordered by mail, phone or email.
Send your order request to: Center for Armenian Remembrance (CAR) P.O. Box
250322 , Glendale, CA 91205-0322
[email protected]
The retail price is $20 US and $24 in Canada.
************************************************** ************************
4 – Book Unearths New Incriminating Evidence
About Long-Censored Fraud and Mass Murder
LOS ANGELES – In addition to eliminating the Christian minority Armenians in
1915, the Ottoman Turks also tried to profit from their slaughter by cashing
in on the life insurance policies of the dead Armenians – something the Nazis
would do to the Jews only 20 years later.
In a rallying cry for Justice, Dr. Hrayr S. Karaguezian – research scientist
at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA professor of medicine – has released
"Genocide and Life Insurance: The Armenian Case" to unearth the unpleasant
truth about the long covered-up Armenian Genocide of 1915.
"My book is entirely document-based; drawing pertinent information from
never-before-processed documents pulled from the US National Archives. It was
inspired by the discovery of a highly informative letter that was declassified only
in the 1980s and which proved instrumental for both the defendant and
plaintiffs in the 2004-2005 class action settlements in Los Angeles," Dr.
Karagueuzian says. "This letter-document exposes the cunning, yet spectacular, deceit on
behalf of both the insurers and the perpetrators and is the first account of
life insurance policy claims in the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide. It
traces the efforts of insurance beneficiaries, beginning with the heirs of the
victims over 90 years ago and ending with the symbolic recognition of the
victims’ rights and partial compensation granted to the descendants of someof the
insured victims only in 2004-2005 in a Los Angeles court system."
Dr. Karagueuzian "spent the past twenty years investigating the history of
just one of the large catalogues of losses: the unclaimed life insurance
policies owned by Armenian victims of the Genocide," writes Dickran Kouymjian,
Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno, in a foreword to the book.
"Since only a few of the actual policies issued have survived, it is hard to
imagine that tens of thousands of them were bought by Armenians living in the
Ottoman Empire. Since the purchasers were the heads of households, responsible
for large extended families, a considerable portion of the Armenian population
was affected."
Dr. Karagueuzian’s study "provides the essential background for understanding
the recent class action settlements of Armenian insurance claims that date
back to the tragedy of the last century., Dr. Kouymjian concludes in his
forward. "It is powerfully suggestive of all the work, the scholarship and
litigation, perhaps political activism, facing those who believe that justice can still
be done for the memory of the victims of the Genocide and the nation they
represented."
According to Karagueuzian, the book with its rich documentation is "aimed at
Universities (Departments of: History, Law School, Political Science, Ethnic
Studies, Sociology, Victimology and Libraries); genocide scholars, politicians,
insurance companies and insurance Commissioners, various worldwide Armenian
and Jewish charitable and benevolent associations and
organizations."
Published by the University of La Verne Press, La Verne Calif., the book
(paperback) is available by sending $20 check payable to: Health Risk Prevention
, P.O Box 4810, Glendale, CA 91222-0810
********’****************************** ***********************************
5 – ‘My Son Shall Be Armenian’
Film Now Available on DVD
MONTREAL – Hagop Goudzouzian’s documentary film," My Son Shall be Armenian,"
is now available in DVD format for purchase in time for holiday giving, the
producers announced last week.
Exploring the question of Armenian identity, "My Son Shall Be Armenian"
follows the initial voyage of filmmaker Goudsouzian, who, accompanied by five
Montreal men and women of Armenian origin, returned to the land of his ancestors in
search of survivors of the genocide of 1915.
Through the moving testimony of those centenarians and the funny and touching
accounts of his fellow travelers from the New World, Goudsouzian has crafted
a dignified and poignant film on the need to make peace with the past in order
to turn toward the future.
Produced by Yves Bisaillon and written by Hagop Goudzouzian and Georgette
Duchaine in 2004, the 80-minute film is in French with English subtitles.
For more information, call toll-free, NFB Customer Services : In Canada:
1-800-267-7710; in the Montreal area: (514) 283-9000; in the US: 1-800-542-2164.
************************************************** ***********************
6 – Developing Western Armenia
After Recognition of Genocide
Is Topic of Dec. 3 Lecture
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Shant Student
Association (ARF Shant) will host a pioneering panel discussion by experts on Dec.
3 at the Karapetian Hall, discussing the re-integration and re-development of
Western Armenia upon recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
By hosting such a unique event, the ARF Shant’s goal is to take the Armenian
Cause to the next level and begin planning for what comes after Turkey has
been forced to recognize the Armenian Genocide and provide restitution and
reparations.
The panel discussion will concentrate on the political, constitutional,
economic, and infrastructural challenges that the
Armenian nation faces in the implementation of a free, independent, and
united Armenia.
Experts who will be making presentations and participating in the panel
discussion are historian and political scientist Dr. Garo Moumdjian, economist Dr.
Ara Khanjian, and Civil Engineer Aram Kaloustian. The panelists will also
field questions from the audience.
The lecture, open to the community will be held at Karapetian Hall, 1614 N.
Alexandria Ave in Hollywood,.
For more details, please visit or call (818) 462-3006.
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7 – Dilijan Chamber
Holiday Concert
Features Children
LOS ANGELES – A new work for violin and piano by 11-year-old Orange County
resident Vartan Simonyan will be performed by the Glendale-based Lark
Conservatory students at the Dilijan Chamber Music Series’ Holiday Concerton December
17, 2006 at Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
The program will also feature Roland Kato’s arrangement of Prokofiev’s Music
for Children, a storytelling act from bass virtuoso Richard Hartshorne
("Dobbs"), and Schubert’s "Trout" Quintet. Performers include pianist Norman
Krieger, violist Paul Coletti, cellist Timothy Landauer, bassoonist Rose Corrigan,
and violinist Movses Pogossian, Artistic Director of the series.
Highlights of the 2006/07 season include three world premieres commissioned
by the Dilijan Series, and appearances by distinguished musicians such as Ani
Kavafian, Allan Vogel, Ida Levin, Michele Zukovsky and Antonio Lysy, among
others. In January, Gaudeamus International Competition winner and Grammy nominee,
soprano Tony Arnold, presents György Kurtág’s monumental Kafka Fragments
(1985) for voice and violin, with Movses Pogossian on the violin.
The March program welcomes the Apple Hill Chamber Players, known throughout
the globe for their high quality music-making, as well as their heralded
"Playing for Peace" initiative.
The final concert of the season, in commemoration of the 92nd anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide, features world-renowned violist Kim Kashkashian in a
program of music by Tigran Mansurian.
Founded by members of the Glendale, California-based Lark Musical Society,
the Dilijan Chamber Series is dedicated to showcasing masterpieces of Western
classical music, as well as promoting Armenian chamber music.
Tickets are available by calling (818) 572-5438, or at the door. Inquiries
can be addressed to [email protected], or
[email protected].
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The Telegraph, UK
Nov 26 2006

To understand the Middle East today, turn to Romeo and Juliet
By Niall Ferguson
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 26/11/2006

It was three years ago that a prescient Beirut journalist I know
predicted that Iraq would end up as "Lebanon to the power of 10";
meaning Lebanon during its 16-year civil war between 1975 and 1991.
This year, his prophecy has been fulfilled as Iraq has spiralled into
bloody fratricidal strife.

By contrast, my friend was quite optimistic about Lebanon’s future.
But last week’s assassination of the industry minister, Pierre
Gemayel, raises the grim possibility that Lebanon may now go the way
of Iraq.

Civil war is the disorder of the day in the Middle East.
Unfortunately, politicians in the United States and Europe remain
chronically incapable of understanding how civil wars work. As a
result, not only do they struggle to stop them once they get going,
they also sometimes inadvertently fan their flames – a good
illustration being the way that Germany’s ill-considered recognition
of the independence of Slovenia and Croatia in December 1991
accelerated the break-up of Yugoslavia and the "ethnic cleansing" of
Bosnia.

advertisementToday’s equivalent idiocy is the enduring belief that,
by over-throwing Saddam Hussein and "liberating" Iraqis, the United
States could unleash a wave of democratisation throughout the Middle
East. It was in those terms that many commentators interpreted the
mass demonstrations in Beirut in March last year – the so-called
"Cedar Revolution" – that led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from
Lebanon. Those events were also triggered by an assassination, that
of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. It will be ironic indeed if
this latest political murder sets the cedars of Lebanon blazing once
again.

The dream of a democratised Middle East had its origins in another
bad idea: the notion that the principal conflicts in the post-Cold
War era would be clashes between civilisations, in particular those
of Islam and the West. Turning Iraq into a democracy was supposed to
initiate a fundamental transformation of Islamic civilisation: to
westernise it politically and therefore to neutralise it
strategically.

The reality, however, is that the majority of conflicts in our time
have been within civilisations, not between them: civil wars, not
holy wars. And, as the cases of Lebanon and Iraq clearly illustrate,
such wars tend to be fought by neighbouring ethnic groups. Only
occasionally are the Muslims all on one side and the "westerners" –
shorthand for Christians and Jews – all on the other.

Remember Romeo and Juliet? The Montagues are not followers of Sharia
law; nor are the Capulets upholders of Judaeo-Christian values. They
are just "two households, both alike in dignity / In fair Verona".
Yet that does not stop an interminable civil war being waged between
these two clans, who "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny / Where
civil blood makes civil hands unclean".

Shakespeare calls the families "profaners of this neighbour-stained
steel… you men, you beasts / That quench the fire of your pernicious
rage / With purple fountains issuing from your veins". Those lines go
to the heart of what civil war is about: mutual hatred between
neighbouring groups, sustained by a cycle of violence.

It was not so very different in the Glasgow of my youth. No one could
conceivably call the ancient grudge between Rangers fans and Celtic
fans a clash of civilisations: more like a clash of barbarities.
True, the former are the Protestants and the latter are the
Catholics. But those are both Christian sects and, in any case, the
finer points of Reformation doctrine were seldom mentioned when the
rival gangs were kicking each other’s heads in.

The stakes are higher and the weapons much deadlier in the Middle
East. Take Lebanon. It certainly would be easy if the population
could be divided into Islamist bad guys and "pro-western" good guys.
Officially, it’s true, Muslims account for just under 60 per cent of
the population and Christians just under 40 per cent. But the former
can be sub-divided into Druze, Isma’ilite, Alawite or Nusayri, Shiite
and Sunni Muslims, while the latter include Catholics (Armenian,
Maronite, Melkite, Roman and Syrian) and Orthodox (Armenian, Greek
and Syrian) – not forgetting the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Copts and
Protestants. Officially, Lebanon’s population is divided into no
fewer than 17 religious sects.

Last week’s scenes in Beirut perfectly illustrate the complexity of
the conflict that is now simmering. The murdered man was himself a
Maronite Christian, the grandson of the founder of the Phalange Party
that once allied itself with Israel (Jews) to fight the Palestine
Liberation Organisation (Muslims). But the mourners spat on pictures
of General Michel Aoun, a Christian who has aligned his party with
Hezbollah (Muslims).

Ominously, one woman demonstrator was quoted by the New York Times as
saying: "There will come a day when we have revenge." One of Mr
Gemayel’s relations? No: a 39-year-old Muslim woman who attended the
demonstration with her seven children. She is almost certainly a
supporter of the Future Movement, a Sunni party whose leader, Saad
Hariri, is the son of the former prime minister whose assassination
began the Cedar Revolution.

Remember how the 1970s comedy Soap used to begin: "Confused? You will
be."

In one respect, in fact, it’s not that confusing. The paths of
Lebanon and Iraq diverged in 1991, when the United States waged its
first war against Iraq. At that time, a deal was quietly cut that
ended the civil war in Lebanon by handing the country over to Syria.
The recent spate of political assassination against anti-Syrian
politicians such as Mr Gemayel suggests that the Syrians have no
intention of letting Lebanon go.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, Bush Jnr is realising just why Bush Snr did not
march all the way to Baghdad back in 1991. For regime change in Iraq
has unleashed Lebanese-style centrifugal forces. Here, once again,
it’s not a clash between civilisations. True, the war between
American troops and al-Qaeda insurgents is not over, but it’s now a
sub-plot in a wider civil war between Shias and Sunnis. Thursday’s
lethal car bomb explosions in the Shiite district of Baghdad known as
Sadr City were just the latest and biggest of a succession of
sectarian attacks that dates back to the bombing of the Askariya
mosque at Samarra last February.

The key, as in Romeo and Juliet, is that each such attack begets
another attack, in an almost unstoppable cycle of tit-for-tat
killing. In retaliation for the Sadr City car bombs last week,
militiamen belonging to the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi
army fired mortars into the Sunni neighbourhoods of Adhamiya and
Ghazaliya.

The Bush administration still believes that Iraqi politicians can be
browbeaten into sharing power with each other and taking
responsibility for security. Dream on. Last week, Sunni gunmen
attacked the health ministry, because it is run by a Shiite minister,
in retaliation for earlier Shiite kidnapping raids on the education
ministry, which is run by (you guessed it) a Sunni minister. In civil
wars, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. And often more
than equal.

In Baghdad these days, Mahdi army thugs drive around with kidnapped
Sunnis in their car boots, offering on-the-spot revenge to bereaved
Shias. Three Sunnis for a dead brother is the going rate. That is the
psychology that made October the bloodiest month in Iraq since the
American invasion.

The bad news, as James D Fearon of Stanford University explained to
members of the US Congress in September, is that withdrawing American
troops from Iraq will only accelerate Iraq’s descent into the abyss.
The worse news is that increasing troop numbers may only slow the
descent. The worst news is that civil wars like these tend to last a
long time. Of 54 major civil wars since 1945, half lasted more than
seven years. And most such wars don’t end with power-sharing
agreements, but with victory for one side or the other, often as a
result of foreign intervention.

Did I say "end"? The real lesson of Lebanon – and, indeed, of Bosnia
– may be that some civil wars never really end. No amount of tragedy
brings the real-life Montagues and Capulets to their senses. There
are merely ceasefires. And then the cycle of killing resumes.

– Niall Ferguson is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard
University and Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution (as was Milton
Friedman)

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 24 2006

WAIT FOR SENSATIONAL REVELATIONS

During the meeting of the anti-criminal movement on November 24 the
leader of the National Self-Determination Union Paruir Hairikyan
proposed that the participants adopt the `declassification of the
Armenian KGB agents’ as a priority and offer such a demand to the
government. Paruir Hairikyan believes that thereby the persons who
were `described as agents formerly, and betrayors and spies
presently’ will become free, and we will live quietly. Simply it is
necessary to define clearly in the law that these persons do not have
the right to work for government agencies for 5 or 7 years. `Everyone
must confess, including Andranik Margaryan, those who refuse to
confess will be called to account in accordance with the Armenian
legislation,’ Paruir Hairikyan stated. Paruir Hairikyan also notices
that the countries of the Socialist camp, which declassified their
KGB agents, became members of the European Union.

The leader of the Nor Zhamanakner Party Aram Karapetyan is likely to
use airtime in the pre-election period, if the law enables him, to
release the names of certain government officials who are emissaries
of one country or another. Aram Karapetyan is also going to offer
these officials to release facts on his being the emissary of certain
Russian forces, `if there are such facts.’

Cyprus News Agency, Cyprus
Nov 24 2006

CYPRUS PRESIDENT BACKS ARMENIA, EXPECTS EU "SANCTIONS" ON TURKEY FROM
MID-DEC

Nicosia, Nov 23 (CNA) – "The Cyprus problem is irrelevant to and
cannot be associated with Ankara’s commitments vis-a-vis the European
Union," stressed here tonight Cyprus President Tasos Papadhopoulos.

Addressing a state dinner given at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia
in honour of visiting President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan,
President Papadhopoulos said Turkey’s obligations as an occupying
power as regards the Cyprus problem are a completely different issue.

"These are obligations that dictate its positive contribution to the
efforts to achieve a functional and viable solution. The fulfilment
of these obligations is pending for 32 years now, resulting in the
continuing forceful division of our country and the terrible tragedy
of our people," the Cypriot president noted.

He stressed that "we have supported and continue to support the
European course of Turkey. However, it is Turkey that undermines this
course with its continuous denial to comply with the European
prerequisites and respond in a positive way to the commitments she
has undertaken. The Report by the European Commission, issued only a
few days ago, notes this provocative denial by Turkey. A denial which
in essence equals with contempt of the European accession criteria
and the European rules of political behaviour," Papadhopoulos added.

The Cypriot president wondered "when Turkey challenges the European
Union, of which it aims to become a member, what should be the
reaction of the European partners? When Turkey refuses to fulfil her
obligations vis-a-vis the European Union in general and vis-a-vis the
Republic of Cyprus in particular, what should be the consequences?"

For certain, he added, the European Union cannot tolerate this
provocative stand and behaviour of Ankara and has no right to consent
to a smooth and unhindered course for Turkey, as if nothing happens.
It is not possible, because of Turkey and for the sake of Turkey, to
ignore the established European procedures and to bypass the
statutory European rules, which are valid for every candidate
country, prior to accession.

Papadhopoulos said, however, that there is still time for Turkey to
comply with the recommendations and the demands of the European
Union. "So far we do not have valid reasons to be optimistic. On the
contrary, we have sound reasons to believe that it will continue her
negative stand. And unavoidably, it becomes clear that measures and
sanctions must be imposed on Turkey by the European Council, in the
middle of next month".

"We are not happy with this development, for which Turkey and no one
else is to blame. From the moment, however, that Turkey entrapped
itself into provocatively denying to fulfil its European obligations
there is no reasonable excuse, nor a legal way to avoid measures
against it," the president added.

He referred to the friendly ties between Cyprus and Armenia assuring
his Armenian counterpart that Cyprus "remains firm and consistent on
issues of principle that concern our steady and loyal friends, like
Armenia, especially when the issues of principle are common."

He said Cyprus, as a full member state of the great European family,
and Armenia as a country participating in the Action Plan, in the
framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy, have now, one more
opportunity to promote and expand their relations. Geographically,
Cyprus, more than any other European country, is closer to Armenia
and can, through the European Union Policy, become a communication
bridge between Europe and Armenia.

"I assure you, Mr President, that Cyprus, within the framework of the
European Union and on the basis of the European Neighbourhood Policy,
will support your friendly country in all its European aspirations
and in all its efforts for participation in European structures and
markets," Papadhopoulos pointed out.

Furthermore, he assured him that Cyprus fully supports the Minsk
Group efforts to achieve a peaceful and viable solution to the issue
of Nagorno-Karabakh in the framework of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Such a solution must of course meet
your own positions and aspirations, the Cypriot President concluded.

Robert Fisk: A French colonial legacy of despair
They wanted Lebanon’s ‘independence’ – but they wanted it in France’s favour

The Independent/UK
25 November 2006

I couldn’t help a deep, unhealthy chuckle when I watched the French foreign
minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy arrive outside the wooden doors of Saint
George’s Maronite Cathedral in Beirut this week. A throb of applause drifted
through the tens of thousands of Lebanese who had gathered for the funeral of
murdered industry minister Pierre Gemayel. Here, after all, was the
representative of the nation which had supported the eviction of the Syrian army last
year, whose president had been a friend of the equally murdered ex-prime
minister Rafiq Hariri, whose support in the UN Security Council was helping to set
up the tribunal which will – will it, we ask ourselves in Beirut these days? –
try the killers of both Hariri and Gemayel.

Douste-Blazy was aware of all this, of course, and uttered a statement of
such self-serving exaggeration that even Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara would have
felt jealous. "President Jacques Chirac is the best defender on earth of
Lebanon’s sovereignty," he proclaimed. "France is determined … now more than
ever (to) defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence." Now I’m not sure I
would want the man who once embraced Saddam Hussein as a close friend to be my
greatest defender, let alone my greatest defender "on earth" – funny, isn’t
it, how the French can never shake off their Napoleonic self-regard – and like
the doggy poo on Parisian streets, I’d certainly want to tread carefully
around France’s interest in Lebanon’s "independence".

I hasten to add that – compared to the mendacious, utterly false,
repulsively hypocritical and cancerous foreign policy of Dame Beckett of Basra –
Chirac’s dealings with France’s former colonies and mandates are positively
Christ-like in their integrity. But the Lebanon that France was to create after the
First World War was to be based on the sectarian divisions which the infamous
François Georges-Picot had observed earlier as a humble consul in this jewel
of the old Ottoman empire, divided as it was between Shia Muslims and Sunni
Muslims and Druze and Christian Maronites – France’s favourite community and
the faith of the murdered Pierre Gemayel – and the Greek Orthodox and the
Greek Catholics and the Chaldeans and the rest. At that time the Maronites
represented a thin majority, but emigration and their propensity for smaller
families than their Muslim neighbours steadily turned the Christians into a
minority which may now number 29 per cent or less.

But the French wanted the Maronites to run Lebanon and thus after
independence bequeathed them the presidency. Sunni Muslims would hold the prime
ministership and the Shias, who are today the largest community, would be
compensated by holding the speakership of parliament. The French thus wanted Lebanon’s
"independence" – but they wanted it to be in France’s favour.

Two problems immediately presented themselves to the Lebanese. By claiming
the largest area which it was possible to rule with the tiniest majority – the
Maronite religious leader of the time, Patriarch Hayek, was responsible for
this – the Christians ensured that they would soon be outnumbered and thus
rule their country from a position of minority power. After Irish partition, old
James Craig, the founder of Northern Ireland, was a wiser bird than Hayek.
>From the historic province of Ulster, he ruthlessly dispensed with the three
counties of Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan because their Protestant communities
were too small to sustain – and created a new Ulster whose six counties
ensured a Protestant majority for decades to come.
The other Lebanese problem – which the people of Northern Ireland will
immediately spot – is that a sectarian state, where only Maronites can be the
president and where only Sunnis can be the prime minister, cannot be a modern
state. Yet if you take away the sectarianism France created, Lebanon will no
longer be Lebanon. The French realised all this in the same way – I suspect – as
the Americans have now realised the nature of their sectarian monster in
Iraq. Listen to what that great Arab historian, Albert Hourani, wrote about the
experience of being a Levantine in 1946 – and apply it to Iraq. To live in
such a way, Hourani wrote:

"is to live in two worlds or more at once, without belonging to either; to
be able to go through the external forms which indicate the possession of a
certain nationality, religion or culture, without actually possessing it. … It
is to belong to no community and to possess nothing of one’s own. It reveals
itself in lostness, cynicism and despair."

Amid such geopolitical uncertainties, it is easy for westerners to see these
people in the borders and colours in which we have chosen to define them.
Hence all those newspaper maps of Lebanon – Shias at the bottom and on the
right, the Sunnis and Druze in the middle and at the top, and the Christians
uneasily wedged between Beirut and the northern Mediterranean coast. We draw the
same sectarian maps of Iraq – Shias at the bottom, Sunnis in the middle (the
famous "Sunni triangle" though it is not triangular at all) and Kurds at the
top.

The British army adopted the same cynical colonial attitude in its
cartography of Belfast. I still possess their sectarian maps of the 1970s in which
Protestant areas were coloured orange (of course) and Catholic districts were
green (of course) while the mixed, middle-class area around Malone Road
appeared as a dull brown, the colour of a fine, dry sherry. But we do not draw these
maps of our own British or American cities. I could draw a map of Bradford’s
ethnic districts – but we would never print it. I could draw a black-white
ethnic map of Washington – but the Washington Post would never dream of
publishing it.

And thus we divide the "other", while assiduously denying the "other" in
ourself. This is what the French did in Lebanon, what the British did in
Northern Ireland and the Americans are now doing in Iraq. In this way we maintain
our homogenous power. Pierre Gemayel grew up in Bikfaya, firmly in that wedge
of territory north of Beirut. Many Lebanese now fear a conflict between those
who support the "democracy" to which Gemayel belonged and the Shias, the
people – in every sense of the word – at the "bottom". And the French are going
to ensure the country in which all these poor people are trapped remains "i
ndependent".

Quite so. And by the way, when did we ever see an ethnic map of Paris and
its banlieues?

ARA ABRAHAMYAN IS FOLLOWING ATTENTIVELY

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 20 2006

The chair of the Murmansk branch of the Union of Armenians of Russia
killed on Thursday had great connections with Armenia, stated Ara
Abrahamyan, the chair of the Union of Armenians of Russia on November
20. The murder is in the focus of attention of Ara Abrahamyan, he had
a talk with the prosecutor, and arranged to meet with the officers
investigating the case every ten days. Today he says it is early to
express an opinion but he thinks that it was not a racial murder but
involved a clash of business interests. By the way, Arthur Harutiunyan
was said to own 70 percent of stocks of one of the Murmansk-based
banks. He ran realty and entertainment businesses.