Author: Zaminian Bedik

Journal Times Online, WI
Feb 26 2005

Group from St. Mesrob will be building a home and hope in Armenia
this summer

By Marci Laehr

Parishioners at St. Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church know they take
for granted everyday blessings many people in their homeland will
never know. Like indoor plumbing. That is why a group from the church
is going to Armenia to help build a new home for a family there
through Habitat for Humanity International’s Global Village Program.

The St. Mesrob team members will be taking time off from their jobs
and away from their children to labor with concrete work, helping to
build a home for people they have never met before.

They are happy to do it.

“It’s for the love of our people,” said Avak Grigorian, one of the
nine people making the trip this summer.

Abe Ouzounian, the team leader, will be going back to Armenia for the
second time with the program. He called the project a “labor of
love.”

“We’re paying to go and build someone else’s house,” he said. “We’re
doing it out of sheer love.”

Abe is the only one in the church group who has made the trip before.
The others, including his wife, Michelle; Avak; and Meline Grigorian
have been inspired by him and others to participate.

Meline, who has seen video from previous trips, said she always is
brought to tears by the photographs of the homeowners smiling.
“That’s why I want to go,” she said. “I want to see that smiling face
and know I was a part of it.”

The group will be making the journey July 23 and staying until Aug.
6. They are one of several teams who will help build one home,
working alongside the homeowners. Each team does a portion of the
work until the house is complete, Michelle said.

While they haven’t been told exactly what community they will be
helping to build a home in yet, they know what to expect. According
to Habitat for Humanity, over 50 percent of the people in Armenia
live in poverty.

“It’s very primitive by American standards,” said the Rev. Yeprem
Kelegian. “Bread is still made in ovens in the ground.”

This is the fourth year that St. Mesrob has participated in the
program, Kelegian said. Habitat for Humanity International has been
working in Armenia for five years. In that time, volunteers from
around the world have helped build 90 homes, with 34 of those being
completed just last year.

However, the experience is not just about the homes being built. It
is just as much, if not more important to everyone involved, to build
friendships and bond with the homeowners and the people in their
village.

“It’s not about building a home,” Kelegian said. “It’s about respect
for humanity; helping lift people up. It’s not charity. These
families are awesome. They barely make enough to live. It’s
humbling.”

And yet they all help each other. In years past, all the people from
a village where a home is being built stop to help daily.

Those in the St. Mesrob group said they feel they need to help, and
come face-to-face with the reality of just how blessed they are. Most
of those going are first-, second- and third-generation
Armenian-Americans who hope to reconnect with the people of their
motherland, by giving of themselves.

“Some are living in dire situations,” Michelle said.

Kelegian said the last time they were in Armenia, he blessed the new
home of a family of six, who had previously been living in the
basement. It was damp, dark and they lived down there for 10 years,
because they didn’t have the money for the brick and mortar to build
up their home.

Through Habitat, the family received an interest-free loan, and
volunteers helped to build their house. Offering that type of help to
people is inspiring, and the group from St. Mesrob is excited to
participate.

Last year, Abe was reluctant to make the trip for the first time.
Michelle convinced him to go. He came back and told her she had to go
back with him.

“Now he’s our team leader for our church,” Michelle said. “That’s how
excited he is about it.”

Avak said he would like to know what Armenia is like, and see how the
people there live. “We want to be there and help people of our own,”
he said.

Meline was in Armenia 23 years ago. She is interested to see how much
has changed in the country. She also hopes to meet with some friends
she has there.

“I want to come home with the knowledge and satisfaction that we
helped a family,” she said. “It’s something God put in front of us.
It’s something we want to do every year.”

The group has already raised enough money to cover the cost of
building a home, and are now fund-raising to help offset the costs to
the group to make the trip. It will cost each team member $3,000 to
go, in addition to the vacation time they have to take from work.

Burlington Union

Winchester woman brings Armenian treasures to area

By Christopher Rocchio/ Staff Writer
Thursday, February 24, 2005

Gail O’Reilly, a Winchester resident since 1979, has served the community in
a variety of ways over the years. She is a member, and former president, of
the Winchester League of Women Voters. She was also a Town Meeting member
from 1985 to 2003.

Her memberships, O’Reilly said, are an outlet for her sense of civic
duty and she has enjoyed the experiences and people. But while she was busy
serving the community, her father asked a question that impacted her life:
Why don’t you do something for your own people? he said to her.

O’Reilly took her father’s advice, and in 2000, began Made in Armenia
Direct, a business that brings authentic treasures made by Armenia’s most
skilled artisans to the U.S. She said the business idea originated when she
made her first trip to Armenia in 1991. There she took pleasure strolling
through a local park. On weekends, she said many Armenian artisans would
gather to peddle their goods, but appeared to be having a tough time
supporting themselves.

“It broke my heart,” said O’Reilly. “There were very few tourists, so I
was concerned the artisans would leave the country, which in turn would then
lose the skill.”

After another trip in 2000, she decided expose the artisans and their
goods to an American market. The operation began as a Web site. At the time,
she said, Armenians who had lived under communism their whole lives had no
idea about accountability and quality control. O’Reilly said the artisans
never thought of being entrepreneurs, and she was unsure what could be
delivered, in what quantity and how fast. Now she knows, and the system has
grown smoother.

“One of my goals is to be in as many retail stores in the U.S. as
possible,” she said.

Made in Armenia Direct currently works with about 50 artisans and three
cooperatives. Goods include handmade jewelry (pendants, earrings and
bracelets), leisure items (toys, games, dolls, musical instruments,
postcards and books), home decor items (wall hangings, paintings, decorative
plates, vases, candleholders and tableware), apparel and accessories
(scarves, ties, bags, hats and capes) and holiday specialties.

Currently, Made in Armenia Direct goods are sold in 12 retail stores
across the nation, with some as close as Arlington and others as far as
Wisconsin. While she doesn’t mind the Web-based business, she said the work
attracts more attention if sold in retail stores.

“Every artisan is an independent agent,” she said. “They’re not
employed by me.”

O’Reilly said she is very cognizant of child labor laws, and none of
the goods she sells are produced in sweat shops. Also, she doesn’t negotiate
with the artisans, and generally pays them what they ask. If the product
does not sell because the cost is too high, she believes the craftspeople
will understand why she doesn’t order from them anymore.

“I don’t want to compete with third-world countries for goods,” said
O’Reilly.

When the business first began, she found artisans by walking through
the park that gave her the idea for the business, and approaching them to
ask if she could market for them. She also knows a few Armenian Americans
who have since moved back to Armenia, and help her identify certain gifted
artisans. Mostly, her search for craftspeople passes from word-of-mouth, and
she almost never returns to the park that sparked the idea.

“Some artisans who used to sell their goods in the park aren’t there
anymore,” said O’Reilly. “It’s because I’m giving them enough business.”

O’Reilly showed off examples of several of the goods that Made in
Armenia Direct sells. She said hand-sewn cards, available only in retail
store locations, were made in an orphanage. O’Reilly said this may sound
like a sweat shop, but explained the children who live in the orphanage are
trained with a skill at 16 years so they will be prepared to enter the world
once they turn 18. The cards are made by teen-agers preparing to leave the
orphanage.

“It fits nicely with one of my goals to keep the artisans in Armenia,
but allow them to work and live with dignity,” she said.

Also, O’Reilly said she worked with college-aged students at a design
school in Armenia to design and create a cape. While the student’s work was
terrific, O’Reilly said the project hit a snag when she realized the
students did not have “American taste” and were unsure what colors, fabrics
and patterns to incorporate in the design. From now on, O’Reilly brings
American catalogs with her whenever she travels to Armenia to show the
artisans the type of things people in this country have a desire for.

“It was a lot of work designing the cape but we all did it together,”
she said.

While she travels a lot with her husband, O’Reilly said they had never
been to Armenia before 1991 when they accompanied the Armenian Assembly of
America. She said a devastating earthquake hit Armenia in 1988, and the
assembly and U.S. government raised a total of $7 million for relief
efforts. Specifically, she said the money was used to build a housing
manufacturing plant to help more than 500,000 displaced Armenians.

“Attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the factory is what brought
me to Armenia, and the trip changed my life,” she said.

O’Reilly tells all the Armenian Americans she meets if they visit their
home country – they will not return the same. She saw many impoverished
people, thought of her grandparents and felt how fortunate she was.

“I felt for those people and thought it was my responsibility to take
care of my homeland,” she said.

Made in Armenia Direct products can be purchased at Artwear or
Crossroads Trade, both located on Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington. They
can also be found via the Web site

WORLD BANK EXPERTS CONSIDER POSSIBILITY TO FINANCE PROJECT ON
DISCOVERY OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23. ARMINFO. Armenian Government appealed to the
World Bank for financing the works on exposure of geothermal energy in
the Syunik region, chief of the fuel-energy resources department of
Armenia’s Energy Ministry, candidate of technical sciences Andranik
Aghabalyan told ARMINFO.

He said that the WB experts will prepare a project report this spring
and evaluate the works expediency. In case of positive conclusion a
borehole will be drilled in the Syunik region. It is planned to
discover a conditioned steam for production of energy and then to
construct the first geothermal electric power-station in Armenia.

Aghabalyan noted that “Armenergo” CJSC ordered to conduct nearly
$50.000 geophysical and geochemical researches last year the Gyumri
Scientific Research Institute of geophysical and engineering
seismology. The most perspective plot and the spot for drilling of the
first borehole were fixed as a result.

Armenia’s Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan informed journalists earlier
that the program on using of geothermal energy for power purposes
should be elaborated and confirmed by the end of 2005. -r-

Harold Doan and Associates, CA
Feb 22 2005

On Cooperation Between Belarus and Armenia in Economic Sphere

Feb. 22 2005

Press Release – Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Belarusian embassy in Armenia has been developing projects on
setting up assembling manufacturers for Belarusian tractors and
agricultural equipment in that country. As councilor of the
Belarusian embassy in Armenia Alexander Soloviev informed, this will
help to increase competitiveness of the Belarusian commodities by
cutting down its prime cost.

In 2004 the trade-economic relations between Belarus and Armenia had
been developing quite dynamically. The mutual trade turnover reached
$10,8mln, an increase of 12,4% on 2003. The export jumped to $8,7mln,
a 19,3% increase.

The Belarusian commodities at the Armenian market face tough
competition on practically all positions. At the same time they are
still in demand. Thus, products of BelAZ continue to top the list of
the most important exports to that country. Last year 12 dump trucks
to the total amount of $1,5mln were bought by Armenia. Belarusian MAZ
trucks, tractors, road equipment are in high demand there as well.

In 2004 for the first time Belarusian foodstuffs and alcoholic
beverages came on the Armenian market as a shop selling the products
of the republican unitary enterprise Minsk-Kristall opened in
Yerevan. The products of the joint venture Santa Bremor as well as
dried milk and chocolate goods are in demand in Armenia. The
Belarusian embassy plans to increase the supply of the
above-mentioned goods and expand their assortment in the near future.

2004 saw opening of the affiliate of the republican unitary
enterprise Belmedpreparaty in Armenia. This step enabled to increase
by 46% the export of the Belarusian medicine to the country. By the
way, Belarusian medicine has always been a traditional item in the
Armenian import paradigm.

The main objective of the Belarusian embassy in Armenia in 2005 is to
provide stable functioning of the active trading network as well as
its expansion, Alexander Soloviov stressed.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Feb 22 2005

US, Russian presidents to discuss Upper Garabagh conflict

Baku, February 21, AssA-Irada
US and Russian presidents Vladimir Putin and George Bush will discuss
the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh during the
US-Russian summit to be held in Bratislava on Thursday.
`Positive results will be achieved during the discussions,’ Bush told
the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency.
The US President has started a five-day tour of European countries.*

Azeri, Russian Presidents to discuss Garabagh conflict

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Feb 17 2005

President Ilham Aliyev has told Moscow-based “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”
newspaper that he will bring the attention of the Russian leader
Vladimir Putin to the Upper Garabagh conflict during his visit to
Moscow, which started on Tuesday.

“We will not negotiate just for the sake of negotiating”, he said.
Aliyev said that Russia, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, has
considerable leverage for influencing the conflict resolution process.
“Russia is the only MG co-chair that shares a border with Azerbaijan
and is the largest regional state. This, certainly, further increases
its responsibility in the conflict settlement.”

The President also said he is dissatisfied with the activity of the
OSCE Minsk Group and that talks on resolving the problem have been
fruitless.

“The patience of the Azerbaijani people is not inexhaustible and we
cannot carry on with the talks for another 10 years.”

Aliyev said that if the negotiations yield no results, Baku will halt
them and move to respond to the new situation.

“We are strengthening our armed forces. If we put it in figures, the
funds we spent on defence exceed those spent by Armenia two times,
and we will further expand this potential. Armenia will not last long
compared to Azerbaijan in terms of the armament tempo.”

With regard to the possible stationing of foreign military contingent
in Azerbaijan, the President addressed the issue in the context of
the conflict resolution. He termed this as unacceptable, but said
that “if this implies admissibility of such an involvement for the
resolution of the Garabagh problem, then we may consider it”.

Building a theater of their own: Armenians join forces for project
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer

Los Angeles Daily News
Feb 14 2005

GLENDALE — Several Armenian-American doctors, lawyers, businessmen
and artists have gotten together to realize a dream: building the
first Armenian arts venue in Los Angeles.

The force behind the project is Aram Kouyoumdjian, who got a group of
friends together in November to attend a critically acclaimed play in
Los Angeles. The group has now grown to 56, and they have five plays
under their belt, including “The Goat, or, Who Is Sylvia?” at the Mark
Taper Forum, Harold Pinter’s “The Homecoming” at A Noise Within and
“Doubt” at the Pasadena Playhouse.

The success of the outings confirmed what Kouyoumdjian — a civil
litigation attorney by day and a theater buff by night — had known
all along: The theater-loving Armenian community needed a place to
call home.

“I think we have the sense that not only it’s time for something like
this, but that it’s overdue,” said Kouyoumdjian, 36, who co-founded
a theater company in Sacramento in 1999 and worked as its artistic
director.

“People sense the importance of filling the void and doing so in a
way that will have permanence. Our predecessors have been successful
in building schools and churches, and many of us who are now in our
mid-30s feel that it’s our turn to step up and make a contribution.
It’s sort of picking up the responsibility.”

Feeling the need and the importance of the endeavor, this group,
which includes an architect, a poet, a scientist, the CEO of a
software company, attorneys and businessmen, is not approaching the
task willy-nilly.

“The combined efforts of everybody makes this ambitious project
far more realistic,” Kouyoumdjian said. “We’re making sure that the
project is rooted in the best foundation possible.”

The architect in the group has already started the initial
drawings for the group’s vision of the facility: a building with
two performance spaces — a 400-seat performance hall and a 99-seat
theater — an exhibition gallery and space for workshops, labs and
rehearsals. Initial estimates put the cost at between $4 to $5 million.

At a time when theaters are struggling to stay afloat, Kouyoumdjian
said, all the group’s members are all aware of the financial challenges
of opening and operating a theater.

They have created an aggressive fund-raising plan to get started on
a building, and they plan to create a center with multiple uses that
they would be able to rent out to the artistic community.

Members of the organizing group, many of whom regularly write,
produce and perform plays, have no doubt there is a demand for an
Armenian arts center in Los Angeles. There are an estimated 400,000
Armenians living in Los Angeles County.

Betty Berberian, a film set decorator, recalled that, when she, her
husband and friends formed the Armenian Experimental Theater in the
1980s, they always played to full houses, but they had to spend up
to $10,000 each month to rent spaces to perform.

But when they tried to raise money to build a theater, the support
simply was not there.

“I think the community would be much more open to it now,” Berberian
said. “I think we’ve shown the audiences and Armenian people that
this is a necessity.

“Theater is the lifeblood of the community. For a small community,
especially an ethnic community, theater is the pulse, and it keeps
the youth together.”

But so-called ethnic theater in a diverse Los Angeles is now
experiencing an interest and reception it never had before.

Jose Luis Valenzuela, theater professor at the University of
California, Los Angeles, said the group of young Armenians is
responding to its community’s needs, which is always how ethnic
theater is created.

“Ethnic theater is in response to the needs and aspirations of their
communities, a need to express something of your own history, of who
you are,” said Valenzuela, the artistic director of the 19-year-old
Latino Theatre Company. His group, which currently rents a space in
downtown, is currently in discussions with the city of Los Angeles
to renovate the Los Angeles Theater Center.

“When you have a lack of opportunity for ethnic theater in Los
Angeles, you have groups responding to the needs of the community
because nobody else is giving them access.”

But financially, it’s not going to be easy, said Tim Dang, producing
artistic director of the East West Players, an Asian-American theater
that has been in Los Angeles since 1965.

The Players’ main source of financial support is the Asian-Pacific
community, Dang said. But what happens over time is that, as the
audience grows, drawing non-Armenians to the facility, the donor base
slowly diversifies.

It took 20 years for the theater to get financially comfortable. They
started out in a 99-seat theater in Silver Lake until they moved into
their current 240-seat theater in downtown.

But what ultimately drives an ethnic group’s desire to have its own
theater and take on the struggles is that need to share its culture.

“It’s a double perspective in that, yes, we want to do this for
our community to see ourselves on the stage because we rarely see
ourselves on the stage or in the media, but we also want to enlighten
the greater community about us,” he said.

For more information on the Armenian Center for the Arts or to get
involved, e-mail [email protected] .

Azeri civilian reportedly wounded by Armenian sniper

Lider TV, Baku
13 Feb 05

The cease-fire agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia has been
broken again. Our correspondent reports from Karabakh that Armenian
snipers wounded a resident of the village of Tartar’s Qapanli, Farman
Mehdiyev, while he was grazing his cattle.

Mehdiyev, wounded to his arm, was taken to Tartar’s central hospital.

Génocide ou «malheurs de la guerre»

Libération, France
jeudi 10 février 2005

La Turquie reconnaît la réalité des massacres contre la population
arménienne en 1915, alors que les armées russes avançaient à l’est,
mais elle récuse le terme de «génocide» et les chiffres de 1,2 à 1,3
million de morts avancés par les Arméniens, estimant le nombre de
victimes à 250 000 ou 300 000. Officiellement, on préfère parler de
«déportation», d’«exil» ou de «malheurs de la guerre». En Turquie,
la communauté arménienne ne compte plus que quelques dizaines de
milliers de membres.

–Boundary_(ID_aYwGrfsYUQyRAt1uaOvRFw)–

DECREE ON AWARDING SPEAKER OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT WITH LEGION OF
HONOR ALREADY SIGNED PRESIDENT OF FRANCE

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12. ARMINFO. The decree on awarding Speaker
of National Assembly of Armenia with Legion of Honor is already
signed by President of France Jacques Chirac. Speaker of Armenian
parliament Arthur Baghdasarian informed in the interview to daily
“Haykakan Zhamanak”.

According to him, he has officially received the aforementioned decree
already. As regards my contacts with the West, “they are brilliant”,
Arthur Baghdasarian stressed.