Author: Tadevosian Garnik

CanWest Global Communications Corp.
All Rights Reserved
The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec)

Accomplished playwright had Armenian connection:

Won 10 National Endowment for the Arts awards. Professor awarded a
Fulbright Scholarship in 1995 to teach creative writing at university
in Yerevan, Armenia

Boston Globe
By GLORIA NEGRI

The last play Barbara Bejoian wrote was about an elderly man who is
taken from his nursing home to attend what he knows will be his last
Red Sox game.

Like him, Bejoian, an accomplished playwright whose works have been
performed in the United States, Britain and Armenia, was a lifelong
Red Sox fan.

Like him, she was also looking forward to what she sensed might be
her last Red Sox game, this Sunday, against the Yankees.

Bejoian, 49, formerly of Watertown, died Saturday at her home in
Barrington, R.I., after a long battle with metastatic rectal cancer.

A fleece Red Sox blanket given to her by a godchild kept her warm
during her final illness, her husband, Newell Thomas, said Tuesday. It
will be buried with her.

Bejoian, winner of 10 National Endowment for the Arts awards,
was a professor of playwriting, English and creative writing. Her
students ranged from children whose second language was English to
undergraduates and graduate students at Brown University, New York
University, Rhode Island School of Design and Rhode Island College. One
of her plays will appear in a future anthology of Armenian writers,
to be published by Columbia University Press.

No matter what Bejoian undertook, friends said, she did it with a
zest for life, and always succeeded. “Barb was gorgeous inside and
out,” said Marjorie Hatten of Medfield, a friend since both were
12. “She would decide she was going to achieve something and, then,
reach to the top ring before figuring out how she was going to get
there.” (One time, Bejoian was determined to meet playwright Neil
Simon, and she did.)

She would always go the extra mile for a friend, Hatten said. “Barb
always brought out the best in people,” she said. “If she told you
that you were beautiful and talented, you believed it because she did.”

Bejoian was born and raised in Watertown. Her brother, Robert, still of
Watertown, said their mother made her take ballet lessons as a child,
“because with three brothers, mother didn’t want her to become a
tomboy.” Ballet is what got her started in a career in the arts,
he said.

A cheerleader for the Watertown High School football team, Bejoian was
the school’s homecoming queen in 1972 and graduated a year later. She
was chosen as one of two women in the state to attend the Girl’s
Nation Assembly in Washington, D.C.

She was also an award-winning speaker at Voice of Democracy contests –
writing her speeches and then reciting them from memory. In the early
1970s, she played lead roles in Boston Children’s Theatre productions.

She graduated from Wheaton College in 1977 with a degree in
English. She held a variety of jobs in publishing and in television
as an advertising executive. During one period, she worked for the
BBC in London while researching a play about Virginia Woolf. Her
works were later performed at the New End Theatre.

Her “true love was always playwriting,” her brother said, and she
enrolled in courses at Radcliffe College. When she decided to get a
master’s degree in fine arts, Bejoian moved from Boston to Providence
and received her degree from Brown University in 1984.

She won many awards for her plays, including several
artist-in-residence posts, the Brown University Creative Writing
Fellowship, a Rockefeller grant and the Critics Choice Award at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

She won a Fulbright Scholarship in 1995 to teach creative writing at
the American University in Yerevan, Armenia, where she was accompanied
by her husband and their two sons. Her plays were performed at Yerevan
State University and at the American embassy in Armenia.

She wrote her Red Sox play three years before her diagnosis, ending it
with the old man’s words to the young man who had brought him to the
game. “Don’t worry, Tom,” the older man said. “Nobody can live forever.
We just have to make the most of every moment on Earth.”

Sunday, her family plans to attend the Red Sox-Yankees game in
her honour.

Ultimatums no way to reach settlement, Armenia’s speaker says

Aravot, Yerevan
14 Apr 04

The chairman of the Armenian parliament, Artur Bagdasaryan, has said
that political consultations between the government and opposition
should continue. “We cannot reach political settlement by means of
ultimatums,” he told Armenian newspaper Aravot. “Confrontation,
artificial tension will complicate the situation more.” Bagdasaryan
rejected the description of the dispersal of the opposition’s sit-down
strike as a “military operation”, but condemned the violence against
journalists. The following is the text of Margarit Yesayan’s interview
with Bagdasaryan in Aravot on 14 April headlined “We shall not reach
political dialogue by means of ultimatums”; subheadings inserted
editorially:

An interview with chairman of the National Assembly Artur Bagdasaryan.

[Aravot correspondent] Mr Bagdasaryan, on 12 April a group of deputies
wanted to meet you, but they were not allowed to enter the National
Assembly. Don’t you think that you’ve been rather aloof?

[Artur Bagdasaryan] Since I was elected chairman of the National
Assembly, no deputy has had difficulty meeting me or talking to me by
phone. Moreover, during these tense days I had meetings with the
leaders and members of the opposition and we discussed the actions
necessary to get out of this domestic political situation. In addition
I had numerous telephone conversations with them and they asked me to
talk with the law-enforcement agencies about their problems. As for 12
April, you know very well that the sitting of the National Assembly
did not take place in order not to aggravate the situation further. At
1800 I left the building of the National Assembly. So there was not a
problem about not meeting them, my door is always open to deputies.

Not responsible for police guarding parliament

[Correspondent] The leader of the Justice bloc, Stepan Demirchyan,
said that you are responsible for what happened after midnight,
because the troops that attacked the sit-in came out from the National
Assembly.

[Bagdasaryan] This is either Stepan Demirchyan’s subjective view or he
does not know the law about guarding the National Assembly
building. Armenian police guard the building, it is not the National
Assembly chairman who guards it.

[Correspondent] Do you not think that in this situation the coalition
should express its political position, not only by refusing to attend
National Assembly sittings but also by assessing the situation?

[Bagdasaryan] The coalition did not conduct the 12-14 April sittings
of the National Assembly and, in this connection, made a specific
political comment in its statement. And it is difficult to say if
there would have been worse events if the sitting had taken place. In
addition, let us not forget that the opposition has not taken part in
National Assembly sittings for a long time. Whereas I am sure that we
should find the key to settle political problems in parliament. As for
the coalition’s political assessment of the current situation, I think
the coalition member-parties will talk about this concretely.

No military operation took place, violence against journalists
unacceptable

[Correspondent] It is obvious that military actions were applied
against peaceful and unarmed people. Who will be responsible for the
violation? What international assessment will be given to all this?

[Bagdasaryan] First, I do not think that “military actions” took
place. Bagramyan Avenue was closed, traffic was stopped, the police
were trying to open the street and ensure normal traffic. I am against
violations and I censure what happened to the journalists. The rest
will be clarified by the investigation. I think that first we
ourselves should understand and assess the reasons for and
consequences of what happened in our country, then we should listen to
the views of other countries.

[Correspondent] There are rumours that the prosecutor-general is going
to enter parliament to arrest some deputies. Will you please comment
on this?

[Bagdasaryan] At present as chairman of the National Assembly I have
no information about the arrest of some deputies. My attitude towards
the arrest of deputies is negative, as political problems should be
settled in the political field, and crimes should be punished
according to the criminal code.

Dialogue only solution

[Correspondent] What do you suggest at this moment in connection with
the domestic political situation?

[Bagdasaryan] I am sure that political consultations should continue
and we should be able to find political solutions. I have already made
relevant political statements in connection with this. We cannot reach
political settlement by means of ultimatums, as it may have a
short-term, but never a long-term, positive result both for political
forces and for society. Confrontation, artificial tension will
complicate the situation more. Only political discussions, the
settlement of the accumulated problems by means of political dialogue
and talks may lead us to development.

Russian TV cameraman beaten up at Armenian opposition rally

Channel One TV, Moscow
13 Apr 04

A Russian Channel One TV cameraman, Levon Grigoryan, was beaten up as
he was filming the opposition rally in Yerevan, Channel One reported
on 13 April.

Grigoryan was attacked by riot police and he regained consciousness
only in the ambulance. His camera was broken and the tape with the
footage of the events on it had disappeared. Video shows his jacket,
covered in blood.

Video also shows night-time pictures of the riot police dispersing the
rally.

OPPOSITION TO ORGANIZE PROCESSION TO PRESIDENTIAL RESIDENCE

YEREVAN, APRIL 12. ARMINFO. Armenia’s political opposition is
organizing a procession to the presidential residence today, Secretary
of the opposition bloc “Justice” Victor Dallakian told a press
conference.

According to him, the people will exclusively act within the
Constitution. “In case of violence, all responsibility will rest with
the junta,” Dallakian said. He reported that the Parliament members
Vardan Mkrtichian and Tatul Manaserian were detained this morning,
while they were informing citizens of the procession. Mkrtichian is
now at the Shahumyan district police department, and Manaserian at the
Kanaker-Zeitun district police department. Dallakian stressed that the
country’s authorities are violating citizens’ constitutional rights to
rallies and processions. In fact, Yerevan and Armenia’s regional
centers are surrounded, the highways are blocked by armed police.
According to the opposition, over 250 people have been detained and
subjected to administrative punishment since March 28. Dallakian also
called a provocation the information spread by the RA Prosecutor
General’s Office that two Moscow residents were detained yesterday.
They were allegedly preparing a terrorist act during the opposition’s
rally, “by an opposition deputy’s order.” “The situation is extremely
strained, and the authorities are exacerbating it. All responsibility
for further developments rests with the authorities,” Dallakian
said. In his turn, the Parliament member of the “Justice” bloc
Shavarsh Kocharian added that “the illegal authorities’ actions are
nothing but terror against their own people.” According to him, the
authorities’ actions run counter not only to the Armenian legislation,
but also to the European Convention on Human Rights. “Even in 1937
people were not kidnapped in the street or taken hostage,” he
said. According to Sh. Kocharian, Armenia has found itself outside the
civilized world due to its own authorities. “We have a choice – either
we return to the Middle Ages or the country’s authorities must leave,”
he said. Sh. Kocharian added that even Azerbaijan is enthusiastic
about the Armenian authorities’ acting in Heydar Aliyev’s
spirit. Artak Zeinalyan, member of the Political Council of the
“Republic” party, adduced the example of Gayane Ashugyan, an active
opposition member, whose 16-year-old daughter was allegedly kidnapped.

Commenting on the Political Coalition’s refusal to take part in the
Parliament’s three-day session, Dallakian stated that “together with
the illegal President, the coalition is responsible for the ongoing
situation in the country.” It is the execution of the RA
Constitutional Court’s decision on amendments to the Law “On
referendum” that must be the basis for the opposition’s dialogue with
the authorities, particularly, with the coalition. However, the
opposition was offered ministerial posts, seats in the “nonexistent”
Security Council. The Coalition is a cover of the authorities’
illegal authorities. Dallakian also reported that the “Justice’ bloc
informed CE Secretary General Walter Schwimmer and PACE President
Peter Shider of the political situation in Armenia. Moreover, in its
the letter Armenia’s political opposition proposes holding a hearing
“Armenian authorities’ antinational policy and a domestic political
crisis.”

Armenia opposition rally partakers to stay for night by parliament

By Tigran Liloyan

Tass, YEREVAN
April 12, 2004

Partakers of the opposition rally intend to stay for a night near the
Armenian parliament building, deputy from the opposition Shavarsh
Kocharyan said. He called on demonstrators “to go home, have a rest
and then return with other people.”

About 1,500 action participants are listening to music and cry out
slogans with demands of Robert Kocharyan’s dismissal from time to
time. Meanwhile policemen in helmets, with shields and sticks blocked
Bagramyan Avenue, two lines of barbed-tape obstacles are set and water
jets are brought.

Alongside the Armenian pro-presidential coalition urged the opposition
to discuss the political situation through talks. Head of the Armenian
presidential administration Artashes Tumanyan made the statement in an
interview to the Armenian Public Television.

“Accentuated revolutionary radicalism is the weak chain in the stand
of opposition,” he emphasized. In his view, “such approach extremely
reduces possibilities for negotiations practically leaving no space
for maneuvering.”

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan is currently in his cabinet in the
presidential palace, and the state authorities are functioning well in
the republic, deputy chief of the presidential press service Armine
Balyan said.

The opposition demands to provide the air to it on all Armenian
television channels and meet with Parliament Speaker Artur Bagdasaryan
and police chief Gaik Arutyunyan. Secretary of the parliamentary
faction Justice Viktor Dallakyan made public these requirements at the
rally.

Meanwhile some Yerevan television channels reported about the meeting
that took place between the speaker and some deputies from the
opposition.

Rally partakers called on the parliament’s speaker “to go out to
people and share the requirement of Robert Kocharyan’s dismissal.”

Police who blocked Bagramyan Avenue do not take any force actions
against the demonstrators.

The opposition blamed Robert Kocharyan for “seizure of power as a
result of the falsified election in 2003.” Meanwhile the Armenian
Constitutional Court confirmed the validity of the official returns of
the election already last year but at the same time recommended to
hold a referendum on trust to authorities in the course of the
year. At present when this term expired the opposition demands to hold
the referendum but the parliament did not support this question.

Meanwhile the Constitutional Court confirmed Monday that its proposal
put forth last year to hold a referendum on trust to the president in
the course of the year “is not imperative and does not envision any
legal consequences,” the court ruling said.

The proposal pursued the goal to defuse the domestic political
situation on the eve of the parliamentary election and the referendum
on constitutional reforms that were held on May 25 2003. Taking this
into account the Constitutional Court urged “not to use this proposal
for political speculations.”

The court ruling also confirmed that by its decision on April 16, 2003
the Constitutional Court remained in effect the decision of the
Armenian Central Election Commission on March 11, 2003 on the victory
of Robert Kocharyan at the presidential election on March 5 2003. This
decision is final and imperative, the ruling emphasized.

The ruling majority of the Armenian parliament announced on Monday
that it would not participate in the plenary session of the National
Assembly on April 12-14. This decision is taken “to avoid the
artificial deterioration of the political situation,” Parliament
Speaker Artur Bagdasaryan pointed out.

The Armenian president said Sunday “Armenian authorities have enough
resources to curb political extremism in the country by legal means.”
Meanwhile he noted that police are instructed to show restraint.

Armenian web site says 30 demonstrators arrested

A1+ web site
10 Apr 04

The leaders of the united opposition – [ex-Prime Minister] Aram
Sarkisyan, [Justice bloc leader] Stepan Demirchyan, [National Unity
Party chairman] Artashes Gegamyan, MPs Smbat Ayvazyan, Albert Bazeyan
and Arshak Sadoyan and representatives of the political council spent
the night with participants in a sit-in on Freedom Square [central
Yerevan].

According to various calculations, between 500 to 1,500 people were on
the square. Although the police said that 10 people were detained
after the rally yesterday [9 April], we have information that 30
people were taken to police stations. As soon as a participant in the
sit-in moves away from the crowd, he immediately finds himself first
in an unknown vehicle and then at a police station.

The head of the Armenian police press service said yesterday that two
Makarov pistols had been seized from protesters. According to
representatives of the opposition, the two people holding the pistols
are not their supporters, and if someone went to the meeting with MPs
with the pistols, let they be punished in accordance with law.

Incidentally, we learnt today that refuse collection vehicles had been
instructed not to remove rubbish from the square.

Some 100 Armenian opposition activists detained after rally

Azg, Yerevan
10 Apr 04

Large numbers of people packed Freedom Square in downtown Yerevan
yesterday. According to independent sources, from 10,000 to 15,000
people were there. [Passage omitted: repeated details of the rally]
The event, though, was quite an interesting show for those who like to
watch, as well as for journalists who looked for an extra chance to
snatch an interesting story. The policemen seemed quite nice to
journalists after the 5 April rally when the journalists were
physically harassed by unknown men believed by many to be anonymous
law enforcers, hence the cameras and recorders were flashing
everywhere.

Anyway, while for some the rally was a matter of life and death, the
contrast amid the people in the first lines of the crowd and those in
the last seemed incomparable. An elderly woman uttered in a heartfelt
squeaky voice “Kocharyan, go away!”. This was supported by teenage
shouting. They were waving flags and anti-government posters in front
of cameras. These sounds were funnily accompanied with laughter of
groups of well-fed young men standing just several lines behind the
elderly woman.

Although the authorities have “installed” their men in the crowd, it
was not only them who were indifferent towards what’s going on. As the
last line of the crowd were thinning at the end of the square towards
the green territory where the open cafes are situated, one would have
difficulty to say who is who there.

Next to several Europeans gazing quite keenly at the crowd with their
digital cameras working non-stop, there was a long haired Armenian
from abroad with a bottle of cola in his hands. A little further three
beautiful ladies were pushing their way through the crowd, in an
obvious attempt to attract the attention of young men. At a cafe next
to the square one would have a great difficulty finding a vacant table
to sit at. All the cafe tables were occupied, mostly by plump men who
helped themselves to beer and salty peanuts, watching the
demonstration and discussing politics from a comfortable angle.

Though the law-enforcers seemed to be tolerant of journalists, the
harshness was yet to be displayed. The lower-rank policemen in
civilian clothes were tracing down the most active members of the
opposition on orders from their bosses standing further away on
sidewalks going round the Opera and Ballet Theatre’s green
area. Having received a wink, three sporty men twisted the hands of
one activist and rushed him out of the crowd and forced him into a
Soviet Gaz 2106 vehicle which immediately drove off at high
speed. This, though, was the debut of the mass arrests.

By 2300 an estimated 100 activists were detained. However, there were
people who came here with the sole purpose to help oust the current
authorities from their posts. Among the protesters were people from
all over Armenia [Passage omitted: names of areas from which
protesters came and that rallies to continue until the president
resigns]

Eurasianet Organization
April 6 2004

ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES CARRY OUT PREEMPTIVE ROUNDUP OF OPPOSITION
ACTIVISTS
4/06/04

In an apparent effort to preempt an opposition campaign to force “the
departure of the illegitimate regime,” Armenian authorities have
conducted a roundup of opposition activists in recent days.
Opposition leaders vow to continue with plans to stage massive
protests designed to force the resignation of President Robert
Kocharian. Meanwhile, the building threat of political violence has
prompted a member of Armenia’s governing coalition to issue a call
for dialogue between the opposing political forces.

According to representatives of the opposition alliance, which
comprises the Justice bloc and the National Unity Party, at least 200
supporters have been arrested across Armenia since April 1. The
government has rebuffed efforts by opposition leaders to obtain an
explanation for the mass detentions. The opposition maintains the
government has no probable cause to make the arrests.

On March 31, the Armenian Prosecutor-General’s Office announced that
it was launching a criminal investigation into the opposition’s
protest plans. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Officials have denounced the opposition for striving to foment unrest
in Armenia. According to a report by the Armenpress news agency,
approximately 40 opposition members are facing criminal charges for
“making public calls for a change in the constitutional order” of
Armenia.

On April 5, the two main opposition leaders – the Justice bloc’s
Stepan Demirchian and the National Unity Party’s Artashes Geghamian –
held a rare joint news conference, during which they confirmed their
intention to use mass protests as a means to unseat Kocharian. Both
opposition leaders insist the Kocharian administration stole the
presidential and parliamentary elections held in 2003. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The first mass rally is
scheduled to be held April 9. Opposition leaders remain tight-lipped
about details concerning the protest in hopes of keeping the
government off balance.

At the news conference, Demirchian characterized Kocharian’s
administration as a “junta” that sought to “frighten the opposition”
into abandoning its protest strategy, the Noyan Tapan news agency
reported. A joint opposition statement assailed Kocharian for
ignoring a Constitutional Court recommendation, issued in the
aftermath of the contentious presidential vote, that urged a
nationwide referendum of confidence in the administration by April
16. “The [Kocharian] regime … rejected the well-known decision of
the Constitutional Court on the conduct of a referendum on a vote of
confidence,” the statement said. “There is only one way out, i.e. the
regime that has usurped power must go.”

If what occurred at a National Unity Party rally on April 5 is any
indication, Kocharian’s government appears prepared to use force to
confront any opposition protest action. At the rally, Geghamian as he
urged the crowd to join “the quest to overthrow Armenia’s
unconstitutional authorities,” the Arminfo news agency reported. As
he spoke, the opposition party leader was repeatedly pelted with eggs
hurled by people believed to be Kocharian partisans.

The rally was also marred by brawls, initiated by what local reports
described as thugs “with shaven heads.” Witnesses reported that a
sizeable riot police contingent was present, but did nothing to
intervene when goon squads clashed with opposition activists. The
apparently pro-government young toughs also went after journalists,
in particular photographers, smashing equipment and physically
assaulting many media representatives.

The Kocharian administration’s hard-line stance towards the
opposition is evidently sowing dissension in the ranks of the
government coalition in parliament. On April 5, the Dashnaktsutiun
Party (Armenian Revolutionary Federation), which is one of the three
coalition partners, issued a statement that expressed alarm that the
“internal political situation in the country is reaching a critical
point of open confrontation.”

The Dashnaktsutiun statement placed the bulk of the blame for the
rising tension on the “intolerant radical behavior of the
opposition.” But it also suggested that the Kocharian
administration’s efforts to exclude the opposition from the political
process had contributed to the creation of a confrontational
atmosphere. The statement went on to call on Kocharian to engage the
opposition in a substantive dialogue.

“There should be no winners and losers in this dialogue,” the
statement said. “Either we all win and ensure the rapid and stable
development of the country, or we all lose and face devastating
consequences.”

“It is necessary to effectively use this period [before the
opposition protests begin] for voluntary compromises,” the statement
continued. “Otherwise the entire responsibility for the confrontation
will fall upon those who will lose the opportunity to reach an
agreement.”

Anadolu Agency
April 6 2004

Turkey Should Be Grouped With European Countries In Greater Middle
East Project

WASHINGTON – Gen. Ergin Saygun, the representative of the Turkish
Armed Forces to NATO, said on Monday that Turkey should be grouped
with European countries, not with the target countries within Greater
Middle East initiative of the United States.

Speaking at a panel discussion in the 23rd conference of
American-Turkish Council (ATC), Saygun said, ”we are willing to
support a reasonable initiative in the Middle East. Turkey wants to
see peace and stability in its region. We appreciate Greater Middle
East Initiative of the United States. However, there are still
uncertainties in this project. The uncertainties should be
clarified.”

Saygun said peace could only be provided in the Middle East through
peaceful methods.

Saygun said this would be important in determining future of Iraq. He
said Iran was in closer cooperation with Turkey in the recent period,
stressing that better relations were accepted with ”cautious
optimism”:

Saygun said recent clashes between Arabs and Kurds in Syria caused
concern.

Saygun said Israeli-Palestinian problem was of key importance in
solution of problems in the region, and stressed that Turkish-Israeli
relations were strong.

Mentioning relations with Armenia, Saygun said Turkey did not oppose
establishment of better relations with Armenia, yet noted that an
appropriate atmosphere should be found.

PRAVDA, 18:45 2004-04-05

Opposition members arrested in Armenia

Opposition activists are being rounded up in Armenia, according to the press
secretary of the opposition bloc Justice, Ruzanna Hatchatrian. As reported
by a Rosbalt correspondent, she said more than 10 members of opposition
parties were arrested Sunday night and Monday morning in Yerevan and
surrounding regions. In addition, another 40 people were summoned to the
procurator’s office for questioning. Among those arrested was the press
secretary of the party Anrapetutiun (Republic), Suren Sureniants.