The Providence Journal (Rhode Island)
April 25, 2006 Tuesday
All Editions

The Darfur crisis, the delegation, and you

M. CHARLES BAKST

In a recent House speech, Rep. Jim Langevin said of Darfur, “We
should all be ashamed that the atrocities that have taken place there
are happening in our time. Where is the world’s outrage? Why have we
not learned from the mistakes in the past — the Holocaust, Armenia,
Cambodia and Rwanda?”

He was speaking for a bill, which the House passed, directing
President Bush to impose sanctions on Sudan and calling on NATO to
step in to help protect people.

Government-sanctioned genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region has killed
400,000 civilians and displaced millions. Rape and hunger are
rampant.

There’ll be a Save Darfur rally in Washington on Sunday
(). Fittingly, the 150-plus sponsor organizations
include more than 20 Jewish groups. In light of the Holocaust, Jews
should feel a special obligation to demand that Mr. Bush and Congress
intensify efforts to end the horror in Darfur.

Rhode Island’s congressional delegation says constituents are far
likelier to talk about, say, gas prices, health care, immigration or
Iraq. Indeed, the heavy commitment of troops in Iraq can work against
acting on Darfur. For example, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, the Rhode
Islander most vocal in support of sending troops to Darfur — in
concert with forces from African countries and the United Nations —
finds no appetite for it in Washington.

Sen. Jack Reed says America probably could provide some limited
logistical military support but, given the Iraq war and threats from
North Korea and terrorists, “The strain on our military forces is
severe.”

To many Americans, Darfur is remote and complex. “It doesn’t have the
clarity of what we recognized too late was the Holocaust,” says Reed,
who nevertheless deems it imperative to act. (Darfur would be an apt
place for the kind of up-close, on the ground observation mission he
likes to make.)

There are several economic and diplomatic steps the United States
could take in regard to Darfur and which Rhode Islanders in Congress
endorse.

For instance, Sen. Lincoln Chafee says U.N. peacekeeping troops
showed “amazing effectiveness” in Liberia and the United States
should lean on the U.N. to send a force to Darfur.

But Washington needs to be jolted into making Darfur a top priority.
Langevin says, “Get educated about the issue.” And contact Congress
and the White House. A critic of the Iraq war, Langevin asserts,
“It’s amazing that the president can act decisively when he cares
about injecting the U.S. into a situation. Why can’t he get this
worked up about the genocide that’s occurring in Darfur?”

Kennedy, discussing Sunday’s rally, says that advances in America,
such as on civil rights, haven’t happened simply because they’re
just. “They’ve happened because people have petitioned their
government and raised the consciousness of America.”

He says of the atrocities in Darfur, “I don’t think human beings can
look the other way.”

I’d like to think he is right.

Certainly, he is right when he says that Darfur calls to mind a quote
identified with Martin Niemoeller, who was a Protestant minister in
Nazi Germany:

“They came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I
wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak
up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they
came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a
Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left
to speak up.”

Will you speak up for Darfur?

M. Charles Bakst is The Journal’s political columnist.

Los Angeles Times
April 30, 2006 Sunday
Home Edition

THE GENERATIONS ISSUE / Things Handed Down: Sometimes the most
precious gifts passed on to us aren’t trust funds or jewels but
everyday objects that evoke the richness of family;
Hoe;

As a backyard gardener, his grandfather was pure brilliance. Now Mark
Arax wields the secret weapon.

by Mark Arax, Mark Arax is a senior writer for West.

My grandfather loved the idea of farming. Tilling, irrigating,
harvesting, pruning–he came to each one as a romantic. But he wasn’t
a farmer, at least not the kind who could feed three children and
cover his losses at the pinochle table. That poets made poor farmers
should have been clear to him early on. Still, he kept growing crops
in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s. Vine hoppers devoured one raisin
harvest. Mildew ate another. If the weather was good and the pests
light, his own sloth would do him in. Relatives had a one-word
explanation for his failure: politics. He was too busy reading New
Masses, the Marxist monthly, when he should have been walking the
rows.

Every family lugs around a story of lost gold. That last farm along
the San Joaquin River became ours. A patient man would have found a
way to keep it, Grandma said. A patient man would have been around to
see it developed into big fancy houses. By the time I was growing up,
the only vineyard in the family was the one in a painting that hung
from our adobe fireplace. My grandparents had moved into a house on
Garland Street in the heart of Fresno, where their distance from the
farm was made plain everyday. Right outside the front door, a huge
irrigation canal sliced through the neighborhood, shooting Sierra
snowmelt past suburbia to faraway farms.

I was 9 or 10 when Grandpa took aim at a giant pine tree in their
tiny backyard next to the swimming pool. He cut it down and for
months hacked and picked at its trunk. Into its hollowed core he
poured bags of salt, but the roots refused to die. They seemed to
reach everywhere, and he went at them with shovel and ax. At some
point, he decided that the tree’s roots weren’t enemies but friends.
Given enough time, he reasoned, they would decay into mulch. And
mulch was just what he needed to turn suburban dirt into country
loam.

By spring, he had finished clearing the 30-by-30 plot and carved out
a dozen rows. We drove to Kmart and he bought six-packs of every
vegetable I could name. The way he placed them into the
ground–measuring 22 inches between each plant, pressing gently and
then firmly with both thumbs–it took all afternoon. Then he put the
hose on one end and let it trickle for hours. The old pine tree
roots, it turned out, made for a marvelous system of sub-irrigation.
All by themselves, they channeled the water row to row until the
earth turned black on the other end. It was drip irrigation before
its time.

Grandpa believed any hardening of the earth choked the young plants.
“They’re like people,” he said. “Plants need to breathe to grow and
produce.” So a few days after each soaking, as the ground began to
crack, he’d grab his cherished long-handled hoe and go to work. He’d
spend 20 minutes bent over each row, hoeing and hoeing until every
last dirt clod was broken up, and the earth was fine and fluffy. He
was so fastidious that when he finished the last row, he returned to
the first row to hoe away any prints left behind by his shoes. Only
then did he light his pipe and stand there admiring his labor: sturdy
young tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, squash, cucumbers and melons
rising from fresh beds across what was once Bermuda grass.

My grandfather, I discovered, was not alone. A legion of failed
Armenian, Italian and Japanese farmers were making last stands in
their backyards. He’d take me to the houses of Armenian friends,
houses filled with doilies and mothballs, and as we walked past the
front door, old country men would bend down and yank on my ear. For
the unbearable pain of getting it nearly pulled off my head, they’d
reach into their pockets and hand me a nickel or dime or quarter,
depending on whether they came from Van or Bitlis or Moosh.

They’d ask me, “Who do you love better, your mother or your father,”
a riddle I took to mean that life itself was made up of impossible
choices. Then we’d have to go in their backyards and marvel at the
size of their Ace tomatoes or stare in wonder at the deep purple of
their Black Beauty eggplants. After a cup of Turkish coffee, Grandpa
would say goodbye and we’d climb back in the car. “Can you believe
the state of that garden?” he’d ask me. “He thinks water can make up
for every sin. What the eesh (jackass) needs is a good hoe.”

I knew my grandfather was a good backyard farmer, but it wasn’t until
he added okra to the summer mix that he showed a truly special touch.
The plants came up strong and never stopped growing, rising past me
and then the roofline and then straight to the sun. He had to climb a
ladder to harvest the fuzzy green pods filled with tiny egg-like
seeds that he devoured like caviar whenever Grandma made her bahmya
stew.

As his eyesight began to dim, he counted on me to find the Armenian
cucumbers, the gootahs, hiding beneath the vines. Having a keen eye
was important because a day of irrigation followed by a night of warm
air was enough to double a cucumber’s size. Left to grow, the gootah
became a rank melon. Picked at the right time, it had the nuttiest
and sweetest flavor of any cucumber around, making poor cousins out
of the English and Japanese.

Grandpa died in 1989, and the ground went back to dirt and then
Bermuda. A few years later, after placing Grandma in a nursing home,
we all gathered at the Garland Street house to divide up their small
estate. There were filigreed coffee holders from Armenia and antique
glassware from San Francisco and old issues of Soviet Life. I made a
beeline to my aunt’s painting of Grandpa sitting in his summer garden
and gave a best case why it should go to me. If there was a protest
or two, I didn’t hear it.

But that’s not all I really coveted. Before I left, I sneaked into
the backyard and reached into the tool shed and grabbed Grandpa’s
hoe.

I had become a decent backyard farmer myself. Everything I knew he
had taught me in the years after my father was murdered in 1972. The
one lesson I found hardest to master was the lesson of tilling. No
matter what hoe I used, I could never get the earth to look the way
he made it look. And then he was gone, and I decided to give his hoe
a try. There was a slight crack in the handle, and I babied it at
first. As it turned out, it was plenty sturdy. Like one of those Big
Bertha golf clubs that add 80 yards to your tee shot, it had a
perfect head, just the right weight, and seemed to do all the work
for you.

Row after row, I hoed and hoed, and then I gave the ground a good
soaking. And here is what I discovered, what my grandfather never
told me, what I am reminded of each new summer: It wasn’t those pine
tree roots after all. The secret of sub-irrigation was all in the
soil and the hoe. The soil, if properly worked, was its own sponge.
The soil, if allowed to breathe, soaked in air and water. You just
put the hose on one end and let it trickle.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO: (no caption) PHOTOGRAPHER: PHOTOGRAPHED BY JAMES ERIN
DE JAUREGUI

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA)
April 27, 2006 Thursday

Road to Sucess: L.V. couple admit life hasn’t always been easy, but
it’s been a good ride

IMANI TATE, STAFF WRITER

Cars and community have always been natural links for Charlie and
Elaine Tachdjian of La Verne.

The man who graduated from what his wife of 49 years calls “the
school of hard knocks” can now afford to indulge their favorite hob,
collecting classic cars. He recently sold nine restored hot rods,
roadsters and stylish sedans he and Elaine drive and enjoy, but they
still own more than 40 cars from bygone but memorable eras, including
a miniature school bus and a fully operational 1958 Seagraves fire
truck.

“We’ll probably put the grandchildren and some community kids in the
little bus and on the fire truck for the La Verne Fourth of July
parade,” said Charlie, the man who still gets excited every time he
gets another blast-from-the-past vehicle.

The Tachdjians displayed 10 cars at La Verne’s Cool Cruise Classic
Car Show held April 15 in Old Town La Verne to promote community and
camaraderie among business owners, car collectors and auto
enthusiasts.

Cars have been the focus for Charlie Tachdjian, 69, since he dropped
out of Pasadena’s Washington Junior High School to work with his
father, Matios Tachdjian, and help take care of the family that
included his mother, Izabel, and six younger siblings.

His father’s small salvage yard was the incubator that nourished his
lifetime appreciation of cars. His father’s philosophy about helping
others and having good character also rubbed off on him.

It’s obvious from the spacious Spanish hacienda-style home, two acres
of beautifully landscaped grounds and the bevy of cars, trucks and
novelty vehicles that the Tachdjians are considerably more than
comfortable. But Charlie’s and Elaine’s modest attitudes, warm
hospitality, good humor and down-to-earth conversation reflect their
simple and genuine beginnings.

Elaine, 71, admitted she didn’t agree to marry him for two years
because “I couldn’t see myself marrying someone younger than me.” But
love and admiration for his fortitude, faithfulness and hard work
overcame her misgivings about the younger man she has called husband
since 1957.

“It’s been an experience married to this man. It’s been a good ride,”
Elaine added, smiling tenderly.

Elaine, the L.A.-born, Pasadena-raised, oldest child of Mary and
Frank Cobos’ six children, graduated from Pasadena City College when
it was both a high school and community college. Elaine turned the
conversation away from herself and to Charlie’s remarkable family and
personal history.

His father survived the genocide against Armenians early in the 20th
century because his mother, Charlie’s paternal grandmother, dressed
him as a girl and fooled the Young Turks. Charlie’s grandmother and
great-aunts were forced to watch as their husbands and father were
beheaded.

The three women and their small children then struck out on their
own, fiercely determined to save what was left of their family. They
migrated to Cuba.

“What always amazed me was how three lonely women with six kids,
including a 6-month-old ba, got from Armenia to Cuba,” Charlie said.
“They had no money. There were no airplanes in 1910. They just got on
a boat, this raft, and went. It took almost a year, but you’ve got to
give them credit for their courage and determination.” His mother,
Izabel, was born in Spain. Her parents frequently vacationed in
Havana where she met and fell in love with Matios Tachdjian, a young
cab driver. Noting their different social status, Izabel’s mother
disowned her only child after Izabel married the cabbie.

Charlie was born in Havana, the first of Izabel’s and Matios’ seven
children. One of the Armenian aunts married an older man who brought
all her family to the United States.

Charlie came to Pasadena at age 8. He was sworn in as an American
citizen with thousands of others during a bicentennial induction at
the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 1976.

“We were the only white family in a black neighborhood, and we were
very poor,” Charlie recalled. “Jackie Robinson (the pioneering
baseball player) lived on the street behind us. I used to go visit
him because the Robinsons had a TV and we didn’t. Those were the days
when neighbors helped one another.”

Nurtured in that environment, Charlie learned to value service and
family.

“He dropped out of school in 1952 because he had to help feed the
family,” Elaine said. “They didn’t have much of anything. We got
married in 1957.”

People paid $5 to $10 for the father and son to haul off their old
cars. When his father closed the wrecking yard, Charlie picked up a
truckload of watermelons in Bakersfield and returned to Pasadena to
sell them for 50 cents each. Elaine worked part time as a
hairdresser. He then got a job as a used-car lot boy, washing and
cleaning vehicles.

They lived frugally to save money. After a year, he bought the
used-car lot from “a little old lady from Pasadena who let him buy
the property on time,” Elaine said.

The 1962 purchase of that used-car lot, renamed Park Motors because
it was on Parkwood Street, set in motion five decades of selling cars
in Glendale and Pasadena. He bought his first new-car dealership in
Glendale in 1967. He subsequently owned Pasadena Datsun, Crown
Oldsmobile, Pasadena Mazda and Pasadena Dodge.

“I’ve always liked cars,” said Charlie.

He built a business around cars to provide for Elaine and their
children, Carol, David, Brenda, Marilyn and Charles G.

Elaine said Charlie never selfishly coveted success. He remembered
the poverty of his youth and the fact others were willing to share,
even if they didn’t have much themselves.

He towed Tournament of Roses floats to the Colorado Boulevard route
from a pavilion near his used-car lot. This sparked his interest in
doing more, so he began 34 years as a Tournament of Roses board
member. He worked wherever he was assigned, helping with music, food
services, transportation, equestrians, guests’ and kickoff luncheons,
post-parade cleanup, security and float construction.

“There were many New Year’s Eve nights spent visiting him at the
barricades leading to Colorado Boulevard,” said Elaine, who
remembered bundling herself and their children up to keep them warm
and keep him company throughout long, chilly nights.

“I’m still a committee member, but they retire you at age 65,”
Charlie said. “Now I can pick where I volunteer.”

Charlie remembered childhood hardships, so every year he gave a new
car to a student from a poor family so that young person could drive
to college.

“That was my scholarship,” he said. “The families picked the car, not
me. They could have anything on the lot.”

During the Vietnam War era, he gave returning veterans a car for six
months until they got on their feet and readjusted to civilian life.
One goodwill project — planting pine trees in the national forest
each time someone bought a car at his Datsun dealership — got
unexpected opposition.

“The tree planting stopped when we got a letter from a Sierra Club
attorney telling us to cease and desist. It said you’re selling a
Japanese car and planting trees in a U.S. forest. That reasoning
sounded ridiculous since the forest was getting trees for free,” he
said, shaking his head.

Elaine’s first car was a used 1955 Chevrolet, so Charlie bought her a
now-classic ’55 Chevy, restoring it with all stock parts and painting
it gypsum red and Indian ivory.

“It’s original, just like me,” Elaine said, smiling.

Alarmed others’ horror stories about building cars from scratch and
wanting workmanship worthy of their time and money, they began
collecting cars in 1974. Their first was a little black, 4-speed
turbo coupe 1965 Corvair they bought just because it was cute.
Charlie scoured auto auctions, searching for originally restored,
stock classic cars as well as classic cars beefed up with modern
conveniences ranging from more powerful engines to automatic
transmissions, brakes and steering. They love hot rods, convertibles,
muscle cars that were called clones before they evolved into the
trendy “re-creations” moniker and cars of every era from the early
1930s to the 1970s.

The cars come in many colors, but many are red, Charlie’s favorite
color.

“We call it re-sell red,” Elaine interjected.

He earned the nickname Checkbook Charlie when he was a used-car
dealer buying cars from the L.A. Auto Auction, paying check and
building a dealership reputation for trustworthiness. The nickname
even followed him cross country. “We were in New York going through
Central Park in one of those carriages and all of a sudden somebody
yelled, `Checkbook Charlie!’ It was the guy who did the pricing for
Kelly’s Blue Book,” Charlie said, laughing.

They’ve collected approximately 125 classic cars in 32 years. Their
cars are expensive and in pristine condition, but are not just for
show.

“We enjoy taking them to local shows,” Charlie said. “Some owners
don’t want you to get within five feet of their cars and if you touch
’em, they go ballistic. I don’t want anyone damaging them, but they
can look. The car shows are a social event for us. We talk to other
hot-rodders and spectators and have a great time.”

Their eight grandchildren have varying levels of interest in their
grandparents’ old cars, but they each have dibs on a favorite one.

Charlie now owns American Vans, a vehicle accessory firm, and Orange
County Choppers, which builds custom Harley-Davidson motorcycles. –
Imani Tate can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or by
phone at (909) 483-8544.

Armenian Memorial

The Salt Lake Tribune
April 25, 2006 Tuesday

Members of the Armenian community in Salt Lake City hold signs and
carry flags as they walk around the plaza at the Bennett Federal
Building to commemorate the 1915 deaths of Armenians at the hands of
the Ottoman Turks during World War I.

GRAPHIC: Members of the Armenian community in Salt Lake City hold
signs and carry flags as they walk around the plaza at the Bennett
Federal Building to commemorate the 1915 deaths of Armenians at the
hands of the Ottoman Turks during World War I.

Former Soviet Union Media Still Under Assault — Freedom House

Created: 29.04.2006 14:04 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:04 MSK

MosNews

Independent media in the countries of the former Soviet Union have
come under further assault over the course of the last year, Freedom
House said in its annual report. The political, legal, and economic
environments in most of the non-Baltic former Soviet countries remain
distinctly inhospitable to independent journalism, Christopher Walker,
the organization’s director of studies, wrote in an article for Radio
Liberty’s web-site.

Of the 12 non-Baltic former Soviet states only Georgia and Ukraine,
which are categorized as “Partly Free,” escape the Not Free
designation. No country in the region achieves the designation of
“Free.” The degree to which each country permits the free flow of
information determines the classification of its media as “Free,”
“Partly Free,” or “Not Free.”

The downward trend was particularly evident in countries with
regimes that place a premium on controlling the airwaves. Among
the Not Free states, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Tajikistan, and
Uzbekistan experienced declines. Uzbekistan and Russia suffered the
most dramatic backslide.

Russia slipped due to the Kremlin’s ongoing obstruction of journalists
from reporting on sensitive topics and its tightening of control
over news sources. According to this year’s report, the Russian
“authorities continued to exert direct influence on media outlets and
determine news content, as the state owns or controls the country’s
three main national television networks — Channel One, RTR, and
NTV.” In 2005, Russian journalists continued to be subjected to
detention or physical attack, ostensibly from coverage of sensitive
topics such as corruption. The Russian government’s posture toward
the media has also led to increased self-censorship.

Critical coverage of the Kremlin on national broadcast media is
virtually nonexistent today.

The government in Uzbekistan, which has crushed independent voices
throughout society, paid particular attention to the elimination of
independent media. The Uzbek press freedom rating for the last year
dropped accordingly.

The Andijan massacre, which occurred one year ago, was the trigger
for the further crackdown on the media in Uzbekistan. In the
immediate aftermath of the events in Andijan, the regime of President
Islam Karimov instituted a news blackout, preventing virtually any
information about the violence in the eastern Uzbek city from reaching
wider audiences.

Western-funded media in Uzbekistan drew particularly intense attention
from the government. The Karimov regime refused to renew the agreement
that allowed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to operate a bureau in
Tashkent. It likewise forced other international news and media support
organizations, including the Institute for War and Peace Reporting
(IWPR) and Internews, to close their operations in the country.

Manipulation of television news content in Uzbekistan, as in a number
of neighboring repressive countries, reached new heights over the
last year. The television medium was a favored tool in regime security
efforts. The report on Uzbekistan in this year’s press-freedom survey
cites the September trial of 15 men accused of involvement in the
Andijan unrest, where “prosecutors charged that the BBC, Institute
of War and Peace Reporting, and RFE/RL had advance knowledge that
violence would break out in the city.

State-controlled media gave prominent coverage to these unsubstantiated
charges.”

In Belarus, the autocratic government of Alexander Lukashenko
intensified its control over the country’s media, at least in part
due to elections taking place this spring. Last year, among the
measures taken by the Belarusian authorities was passage of broadly
defined legislation that makes it a crime punishable by up to two
years in jail to “discredit Belarus” in the eyes of international
organizations and foreign governments. The same prison terms apply
to those convicted of distributing “false information” about Belarus’
political, economic, social, or international situation.

Among the regulatory tricks relied upon by media-unfriendly regimes,
the Belarus press-freedom report relates a May 2005 decree issued
by Lukashenko that banned all privately owned, but not state, media
from using the words “national” or “Belarus” in their names, forcing
a number of publications to reregister.

In a region where good news on the news media is hard to come
by, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan were the only countries to register
improvement. In Kyrgyzstan, given the larger questions concerning the
country’s overall political direction, the durability of the positive
press-freedom change was far from certain, however.

Kyrgyzstan remains in the Not Free category.

Ukraine enjoys a wide range of state and private television and radio
stations, as well as print and electronic news outlets. While Ukraine’s
media ownership is diverse, it still confronts the challenges that
accompany oligarchic ownership structures.

Nevertheless, since the end of 2004 the media in Ukraine, while today
still designated Partly Free, have achieved a degree of pluralism
and independence that would have been unthinkable in the pre-Orange
Revolution era.

Ukraine, now with the strongest press-freedom rating among the former
Soviet states, therefore remains a critical media case study. Just 1.5
years ago, the country suffered from many of the same pathologies that
continue to confront most of the media in the region today. In the
run-up to Ukraine’s pivotal 2004 elections, for example, “temnyky” –
editorial theme directives from the president’s office — were standard
operating procedure. This practice was purged from the Ukrainian media
landscape but remains a blight on many other former Soviet states’
media systems.

The significant yet incomplete progress in Ukraine should serve as
a reminder that overcoming deeply entrenched Soviet-era habits and
practices will be a trying, long-term effort for reform of the media,
as well as for other key institutions that form the building blocks
of democratic societies.

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address:  Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact:  Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel:  (374 10) 517 163
Fax:  (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail:  [email protected]
Website: 
April 30, 2006

Celebration of Youth in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

On Palm Sunday, April 9, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, hosted the 7th Annual Day of Youth in Holy
Etchmiadzin.  Soon after his election and enthronement as the 132nd Pontiff
of the Armenian Church, His Holiness declared Palm Sunday to be an annual
day for blessing children.

Immediately following Morning Services, the Catholicos of All Armenians
offered a special “Andastan” service in the courtyard of the Mother
Cathedral, where he blessed the four corners of the world, as well as
thousands of willow branches which were to be distributed to the young boys
and girls as they arrived in the Mother See.

At 11:00 AM, a special Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Rev. Fr. Vasken
Nanian, a member of the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin and Vice Dean of the
Gevorkian Theological Seminary.  At the conclusion of the Liturgy, His
Holiness invited all the children to gather around him standing before the
Holy Altar of Descent, where he offered a special service and prayer for
blessing the young sons and daughters of the Armenian people.

In the afternoon, His Holiness opened the doors of the Pontifical Residence
to the children of the city of Vagharshapat.  Led by the mayor of the city,
hundreds of young boys and girls were treated to a special tour of the
museums and were received by the spiritual father of all Armenians.  His
Holiness congratulated the young guests and delivered a special fatherly
message and blessing to them.

In keeping with the spirit of the day, His Holiness also received students
from the Vahan and Anoush Chamlian Armenian School in Southern California,
who had traveled to Armenia on their annual pilgrimage.

##

–Boundary_(ID_AkffWuTL2RV4euQ7Eo C4kQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 10) 517 163
Fax: (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website:
April 30, 2006

His Holiness Karekin II Visits Special-Care Orphanage in Nor Kharberd

On the afternoon of Sunday, April 9, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme
Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, visited the special-care
orphanage in the city of Nor Kharberd. His Holiness brought his
Pontifical blessings and fatherly love to the 240 mentally and
physically handicapped children residing in the orphanage who do not
have the opportunity to attend church services on a regular basis.

Upon his arrival in Nor Kharberd, His Holiness was greeted by
Minister of Labor and Social Services Aghvan Vartanian; the Dean of
the orphanage, Mr. Haroutiun Balasanian; and the dedicated staff of
the center. They accompanied His Holiness as he first visited the
bedrooms of those children who could not be moved due to medical
reasons. The Catholicos offered a prayer and gave his blessing to
all of the children as he presented each one with a small cross.

On the occasion of the visit of the Pontiff of All Armenians, a special
program had been prepared by the children of the Armenian Church Youth
Center of Nor Nork, operating under the auspices of the Mother See of
Holy Etchmiadzin and the AGBU. The dean of the orphanage welcomed the
Catholicos and his accompanying clergymen, stating that their visit and
blessings would help the children withstand their physical ailments and
emotional pain with greater courage. In appreciation for the musical
and dance program presented by the Youth Center, the children of the
orphanage also presented a program filled with songs and music.

His Holiness addressed his message of blessing to the children and
stated, “We wanted to visit the Nor Kharberd Orphanage because we
know that our dear children living here do not have the opportunity
to come and visit our churches and participate in our services. We
came to bring with us our love for you and our blessings from Holy
Etchmiadzin and to tell you, our boys and girls, that we love you,
we are grateful and proud of you.”

His Holiness also addressed his message of appreciation to the dean
and the staff of the center, noting, “We all know that the message
of Christ is the message of love. We know that God created the world
through His love and that guided by that same love, He sent His
Only Begotten Son to save the world. As St. Paul says, ‘Love never
fails’, and as we know from our faith – Love conquers all.”, stated
His Holiness, asking for God to strengthen the staff and volunteers
of the orphanage, granting them unending love and patience, so that
they may transmit the warmth of their spirits to the children and
lighten the burdens placed upon these innocent souls.

At the conclusion of the visit, His Holiness offered a service
for blessing children prepared especially for this day. Prior to
His Holiness’ departure, the children of the Nor Nork Youth Center
distributed presents which they had prepared for the children of the
Nor Kharberd Orphanage.

##

Viewpoint: Armenia’s last best chance
Raffi K. Hovannisian

_ al.php?StoryID=20060501-063914-5198r_
( ID=20060501-063914-5198r)
May 1, 2006

YEREVAN, Armenia — Yerevan-Armenia, the great regional power that
extended from sea to sea in the first century before Christ and for
ages played a central role in the history of Western Asia, has been
reduced to a land-locked rump in modern times.

Millennia of foreign conquest and domination, occupation and
genocide, have delivered to today’s world a nation that is long on
culture and civilization, but short in statecraft. The catastrophic
dispossession of the Armenian homeland by the rulers of the Ottoman
Empire; the subsequent Bolshevik-Turkish pact partitioning Armenia
and effectively tendering Karabagh, Nakhichevan and other integral
parts of the Armenian patrimony to Soviet Azerbaijan; and Armenia’s
inclusion in the Soviet empire may form the basis of an explanation,
but they do not excuse Armenia’s current smallness.

The nation’s historic losses and intermittent statelessness are only
prologue. The real story is in a failed leadership that seeks to
rationalize the steady decline of the Armenian factor in world affairs
by reference to external adversaries and geopolitical limitations.

In fact, the major constraint is the insecure myopia of a semi-feudal,
soft-authoritarian regime with a parochial mindset that makes a mockery
of Armenia’s ancient values and, in the very name of democracy,
smothers human rights, civil liberties, free speech and assembly,
and the rule of law. Of course, Armenia is not alone in this demeanor.

In the 15 years of the country’s newly rediscovered statehood,
authority has never been transferred from incumbent to challenger by
free and fair elections. They have always been forged – unfortunately
always by the administration. The sitting presidency is no exception
to this deplorable rule of illegitimate government.

For Armenia to reclaim its democratic advantage in the region, to
become a competitive contributor to peace, development and security,
and to realize its strategic credentials at an increasingly critical
crossing on the global map, it must transform itself both at home
and abroad.

Fresh Elections: In view of its series of falsified elections,
and most recently the constitutional referendum held last November,
Armenia requires an electoral transformation. Our American, European,
and other international partners have the capacity to make this happen
through the empowerment of Armenian citizen and society alike. This
is the expectation of the Armenian body public. An orchestrated theft
of votes and conscience is alien to the long-standing Armenian quest
for rights and redemption. Armenia must satisfy the highest possible
criteria for electoral legitimacy and accountable governance.

Rule of Right: The supremacy of rights with due process and an equal
application of laws needs in short order to become the foundation of
the state. From corruption and conflicts of interest to responsibility
for grave crimes and other misconduct, all citizens must face the
same standard of justice – starting from the very top and going all
the way down the hierarchy. The self-confidence of an independent
judiciary, elusive as it may seem, is pivotal on this score. Raise
their salaries and strictly hold them to the law.

International Standing: Armenia’s democratic transformation, much
like Georgia’s attempt, will find its reflection in international
affairs. The republic’s sovereignty is a supreme value and the most
meaningful means for pursuit of vital national interests. Armenia must
become a bridge of balance and understanding in the wider region,
intersecting as it does Western civilization and Eastern tradition,
the CIS and the Middle East, and the future linkage between its
southern neighbors and the trans-Atlantic hemisphere. Official Yerevan
should take its rightful place in the regional security system and,
in dialogue with NATO, the European Union, Russia, China, and other
centers, strive within the next decade to achieve security and energy
independence – or at least diversification.

Turkey: In all of history, no bilateral agreement, concord or treaty
has ever been negotiated or entered into force between the sovereign
republics of Armenia and Turkey.

A brave new discourse and enlightened statesmanship must guide
the initiative to normalize the Turkish-Armenian relationship in
a multi-track process that takes into account, not escapes, the
historical record and hammers out solutions to a comprehensive agenda
of outstanding issues, including but not limited to establishment
of diplomatic ties without preconditions; political, economic and
ultimately security-related cooperation; the restoration of rights
of the dispossessed; the guaranteed voluntary return of deportees or
their progeny to their places of origin; respect for and renovation
of the Armenian cultural heritage; and delimitation of boundaries
directly between the parties involved.

As it stands, however, Turkey continues to enforce a blockade against
Armenia, an act of war and a material breach of the pact that Turkey’s
Kemalist regime and Soviet Russia signed in 1921 and on which Ankara
relies for assertion of its eastern frontier. Without resolution
of this strategic connection – rather the absence thereof – neither
Turkey nor Armenia can ever join the EU, and no enduring settlement
will ever be found in the case of Mountainous Karabagh and its struggle
for liberty, democracy and self-determination.

Karabagh and Azerbaijan: There can be no true movement on this
regional conflict as long as a) Armenia and Azerbaijan remain in
essentially undemocratic hands and thus without civic mandate;
b) the republican entity of mountainous Karabagh, which declared
its independence according to a plebiscite held in 1991 under the
Soviet Constitution and relevant norms of international law, is
excluded from the peace process; c) Azerbaijan refuses to cease and
desist from its xenophobic rhetoric and its outrageous desecration
of Armenian religious treasures, including an entire cemetery of
medieval khachkars (cross-stones) finally and fully destroyed in
broad daylight by uniformed soldiers in Nakhichevan last December;
and d) the Turkish-Armenian divide stays intact and insurmounted.

Short of this, the consequences of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan
against Karabagh in 1988, resulting in thousands of casualties,
hundreds of thousands of refugees and scores of reciprocal expulsions
on both sides, must be approached on the humanitarian level. A
pilot program to demilitarize a local segment of the conflict zone,
allowing for the conditional return and restitution of both Armenian
and Azerbaijani refugees, might under the circumstances be the only
rational avenue for the initial cultivation of mutual confidence and
gradual reconciliation of peoples. In all events, for the long-term
development, prosperity, and equity of the region, Azerbaijan,
Karabagh, Armenia and Turkey must abide by the same supervisory
regime and terms of engagement as they relate to demilitarization,
repatriation, opening of frontiers, transportation and communication
and potential peacekeeping.

An old nation with a young state, Armenia does indeed face a
constellation of contemporary challenges, foreign and domestic,
which must be overcome creatively and fundamentally. Neither wishful
evolution nor artificial revolution will carry the day. Only a
peaceful, system-wide, citizen-driven transformation – anchored in a
correlation of the national will and international imperatives – can
shift the paradigm and provide the land of Ararat with one ultimate
opportunity to close the democratic deal, to turn swords into shared
interests, and to redefine its identity, place and promise in the
new era.

Freedom and justice in the world begin at home.

Raffi K. Hovannisian, Armenia’s first minister of foreign affairs,
is chairman of the Heritage Party and founder of the Armenian Center
for National and International Studies in Yerevan. Acknowledgement
to United Press International

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2006
CONTACT: Karoon Panosyan
E-mail: [email protected]

CAUCUS CO-CHAIRS, MEMBERS URGE PRESIDENT BUSH TO CONDEMN AZERI ACTIONS AGAINST ARMENIA, KARABAKH

President Bush, Azeri President to meet tomorrow

Washington DC – On the eve of President Bush’s meeting with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev, Members of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian
Issues are calling on the U.S. leader to firmly denounce Azerbaijan’s
ongoing war mongering, and other actions, against the Republic of
Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

Caucus Co-Chairs Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ),
along with Caucus Members George Radanovich (R-CA) and Adam Schiff
(D-CA), sent a letter to the President that states in part:

“Azerbaijani government officials have consistently threatened war and
fostered anti-Armenian intolerance. Ignoring international criticism,
President Aliyev has repeatedly declared that Azerbaijan could launch
a new military offensive against Karabakh, and that he is waging a
‘cold war’ against Armenia where the ongoing negotiations are only a
way to achieve unilateral Armenian concessions.” (The complete text
of the congressional letter is attached below.)

“We thank Congressmen Knollenberg, Pallone, Schiff and Radanovich for
expressing their strong concerns regarding Azerbaijan to President
Bush,” said Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “Rather than
continuing to threaten military aggression and blockade Armenia,
Azerbaijan should instead adhere to the standards of democracy, human
rights, and justice as espoused in our National Security Strategy
which was announced by President Bush last month.”

In a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington
today, Aliyev continued making bellicose statements against Armenia,
saying that the “war is not over,” and that the “patience of the
Azerbaijani people has limits.”

The congressional letter also notes that in the past year, Baku has
increased its military spending by 100 percent and is working with
Turkey to push forth an $800 million railroad proposal aimed at
isolating Armenia from East-West commercial corridors.

The lawmakers also highlight Azerbaijan’s continued human rights
violations, specifically a disturbing film which captured Azerbaijani
soldiers destroying historical Armenian monuments in the medieval
cemetery of Julfa, Nakhichevan in Azerbaijan.

The Congressmen also underscored the fact that Azerbaijan’s actions
are counterproductive to the stability of the South Caucasus as well
as U.S. objectives in the region.

###

NR#2006-043

Editor’s Note: Attached is the full text of the congressional letter
to President Bush.

April 26, 2006

The Honorable George W. Bush President of the United States The White
House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

It is our understanding that you will be meeting with President
of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev later this week. We urge you to take
this opportunity to condemn the Azerbaijani war rhetoric and other
actions taken against the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh
which undermine U.S. objectives in the region.

In the years since the 1994 cease-fire agreement in the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani government officials have consistently
threatened war and fostered anti-Armenian intolerance. Ignoring
international criticism, President Aliyev has repeatedly declared that
Azerbaijan could launch a new military offensive against Karabakh,
and that he is waging a “cold war” against Armenia where the ongoing
negotiations are only a way to achieve unilateral Armenian concessions.

As part of this campaign, this year Azerbaijan has increased its
military spending by 100% over the previous year to more than $600
million. It has also tightened the seventeen year economic blockade
against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. Moreover, President Aliyev has
indicated he would not engage in any confidence-building measures with
Armenia and he had “no desire” to tone down his country’s war-mongering
and anti-Armenian propaganda.

Under the backdrop of the peace talks last December, eyewitnesses
captured on film Azerbaijani soldiers destroying historical Armenian
monuments in the medieval cemetery of Julfa, Nakhichevan of the
Azerbaijan Republic. Condemned by the European Parliament, this
incident is not isolated. A Scottish expert on Armenian architecture,
who traveled through Nakhichevan in the summer of 2005, found that a
number of Armenian monuments that were intact as late as the 1980s
were razed to the ground. Knowingly expunging traces of Armenian
presence also raises serious questions about Azerbaijan’s commitment
to engage in the peace process.

We acknowledge and appreciate the assurances of the Administration that
U.S. opposition to such tactics has been officially conveyed. However,
the United States will be unable to advance its policy objectives and
the OSCE Minsk process will achieve nothing if Azerbaijan is allowed
to risk war with impunity. These counterproductive strategies are
undermining the stability of the South Caucasus region.

We urge you to condemn these actions and call upon President Aliyev
and Azerbaijan to desist from making any further threats against its
Christian neighbors Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

We look forward to working with you on this issue and look forward
to your response.

Sincerely,

Rep. Joe Knollenberg Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr.

Rep. George Radanovich Rep. Adam Schiff

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1) Oskanian: Karabakh Will Never be A Part of Azerbaijan
2) Gul Criticizes France over Bills Proposing Jail Time for Genocide Denial
3) Thousands Rally to Stop the Violence in Darfur

1) Oskanian: Karabakh Will Never be A Part of Azerbaijan

STEPANAKERT (Combined sources)–“Negotiations for the settlement of the
Karabakh conflict have reached a stalemate after Rambouillet. A certain
progress was observed before those talks, and now attempts are being made to
restore it,” Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated at Artsakh State
University during his two-day visit to the Republic of Mountainous Karabakh.
Oskanian said the settlement of the Karabakh conflict is one of the most
important issues of Armenia’s foreign policy. The minister also said the two
most current issues in the foreign political sphere are public democratization
and stable economic development. He also stressed the importance of
cooperation
in various spheres with Russia, and the necessity for Armenia and Karabakh to
integrate into European structures.
Regarding the current state of the negotiation process, Oskanian said
“Azerbaijan should understand that one cannot turn back the clock. Baku should
get rid of the idea of a forced settlement of the conflict.”
Touching upon mutual concessions, Oskanian said, ~SMutual compromises
should be
born during talks. Each of the parties has a line that the other cannot
overstep.~T
For the Armenian side, that line is the guarantee of Karabakh security,
independence for Karabakh, and uninterrupted land communication with Armenia.
Oskanian made clear that these points are not negotiable and they won~Rt be
compromised.
“I don’t know what status Karabakh will have in the future, but I know for
sure what it will not be: Karabakh will never be a part of Azerbaijan. That is
absolutely impossible,” Oskanian said. ~SKarabakh has never been part of
Azerbaijan,~T he emphasized.

2) Gul Criticizes France over Bills Proposing Jail Time for Genocide Denial

(Combined sources)–Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul met his French
counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy in an informal meeting of NATO foreign
ministers in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia last week.
During the meeting Minister Gul sharply criticized France for five bills in
the legislative proposing jail sentences and fines for denying the Armenian
genocide. Turkey asked France to stop these resolutions, which were submitted
to the French parliament by the Socialist Party with the aim of punishing
those
who deny the Armenian genocide.
Gul asked the French minister, ~SIf I visit France and say there is no
Armenian
genocide, will you imprison me too?~T
The minister went on to ask if the French government would imprison Turkish
politicians paying an official visit to France and they deny the Armenian
genocide to reporters. “Will you put these politicians in jail? If our
president or prime denies the Armenian genocide in France, will you imprison
them too?~T
Gul stressed that if these proposed resolutions are enacted, they will create
problems with the political and economic relations between Turkey and France.
The French parliament will debate the resolutions on May 18.

3) Thousands Rally to Stop the Violence in Darfur

Protesters urge Bush to push for a stronger multinational peacekeeping force.

WASHINGTON (Reuters)–Thousands of people rallied Sunday on the National Mall
against human rights abuses in Darfur, joining celebrities, politicians and
activists who called on the Bush administration to strengthen its efforts to
end the violence in Sudan’s western region.
“Let’s tell President Bush he needs to do more,” said David Rubenstein,
coordinator of the Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of 165 religious and
humanitarian groups that sponsored the rally. “His heart is in the right
place,
but he is not doing enough. We need George Bush to work harder to save Darfur
now.”
People came from as far away as California to send that message and to hear
such speakers as actor George Clooney, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Nobel Peace
Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and Olympic speedskating gold
medalist Joey Cheek.
The Save Darfur Coalition wants Bush to push harder for a stronger
multinational peacekeeping force to protect people in Darfur. Its members have
collected more than 750,000 postcards urging him to do so.
The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when Arab tribal militias, known as
janjaweed, began a campaign of terror to crush a rebellion in Darfur. The
Sudanese government denies widespread accusations that it backs the militias.
The White House and Congress have described the campaign of mass killings and
rapes of civilians as genocide. More than 180,000 people have died, and more
than 2 million are homeless.
On Sunday, hours before a deadline for peace talks imposed by African Union
mediators, the rebels rejected a proposal to end the fighting, the Associated
Press reported. One rebel faction said the measure did not address its demands
for greater autonomy and for the appointment of a vice president from Darfur,
the Associated Press said.
The Sudanese government had said earlier in the day that it would agree to
the
plan, although there were indications that it did so only after determining
that the rebels would reject it.
The proposal could bring as many as 20,000 United Nations forces to bolster
the 7,000 African Union troops that have largely failed to prevent violence.
In response, the African Union extended the deadline for negotiations for 48
hours.
Appearing Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice called on China and Russia to join the United States in trying to get
Sudan to accept U.N. truce forces.
“Obviously, a peace agreement would be a very important step forward in
getting this done,” she said.
On Sunday afternoon, Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick issued a
statement “urging the parties to finalize the agreement right away.”
He praised the participation of the thousands who came to more than a dozen
rallies scheduled in cities across the country, including Austin, Texas; San
Francisco; Seattle; and Portland, Ore.
“People want a solution,” he said. “Their activism and energy is
commendable.”
The rally on the Mall attracted 240 busloads of activists, according to
organizers, who said last week that they expected 10,000 to 15,000 to attend.
The National Park Service, which is responsible for events on the Mall, no
longer provides estimates of crowd sizes.
Sunday’s gathering under a bright blue sky brought together older people,
families with young children, and students from a wide variety of religious
and
ethnic backgrounds.
“I heard that there wasn’t a bus left in New Jersey,” said Stacey Orden of
Hillsdale, N.J., who came with 55 people from her temple.
“In 1944, when 6 million people died in concentration camps, the U.S. waited
too long to intervene. Never again. And never again means never again,” Orden
said. “Innocent people are being killed, and women are being raped.”
Nan Myers of Philadelphia said she wanted to “make our views known to the
people who can make a difference to stop the genocide in Darfur. It is
gratifying to see so many young people.”
About 50 students traveled from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, even though they have final exams today.
“This is a lot more important than exams,” said Joanna Zelman, 20. “There is
genocide going on, and you cannot sit by and let that happen.”
She and her friend Jamie Persons, 19, said they were inspired by the movie
“Hotel Rwanda,” which told how hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina saved more than
1,000 lives during ethnic violence in that country.
Rusesabagina, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year and
has visited Sudan, addressed the rally: “What I saw in Darfur is exactly what
was going on in Rwanda.”
Seminary students Dan Peake and Kevon Gray came from Columbus, Ohio, because
Gray had heard about the problems in Darfur while on an evangelical mission in
Africa.
Anderia Arok, a Sudanese who came to this country four years ago and lives in
Colorado, said, “They are committing genocide to get land in Darfur.”
Peter Marcus, a Los Angeles lawyer, led a delegation of more than 100 from
Jewish World Watch, a Southern California organization he described as
opposing
“egregious human rights abuses, including genocide.”
“Darfur is currently our primary focus,” Marcus said. “The rally this weekend
is to draw attention to the issue. Genocide is a particularly sensitive issue
in the Jewish community, for obvious reasons.”
He said of Darfur: “The United States and the world are not doing enough.”

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress