Hearts of Darkness
By Richard Broderick

Minnesota Magazine (May-June issue)
Tuesday, May 11, 2004

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Sabina Zimering is not what most would consider a commanding presence.
These days, the life of the white-haired, soft-spoken retiree quietly
revolves around her children and grandchildren.

But there is more to Zimering than meets the eye. Milan Kundera once
said that the history of the modern world is the story of the struggle
of memory against forgetting. Zimering, a Polish Jew, is both witness
to that struggle and living proof that, at least some of the time,
memory triumphs.

This spring, the Great American History Theatre produced the world
premiere of Hiding in the Open, an adaptation of Zimering’s memoir of
the same name. Opening to rapturous praise from critics and audiences
alike, the script tells the improbable story of how Zimering and her
younger sister managed to escape the Holocaust by posing as Catholics—a
feat made possible by the fact that, in prewar

Poland, all public school students were required to study Catholicism.
Escaping from the ghetto in their hometown of Piotrkow the very night
the Nazis moved in to deport all the Jews to the death camps, Zimering
and her sister made their way to Germany itself, where they managed to
survive as “volunteer” laborers right in the heart of Hitler’s Reich.

While her book and the play adapted from it tell her story through
print and performance, Zimering travels to schools, community centers,
colleges, retirement homes, and elsewhere, relating her harrowing
tale of deception and survival. Speaking recently to gatherings at an
alternative high school at Dakota Technical College and at Hill-Murray
High School, she received what one observer describes as “overwhelming
response” with “awestruck” students glued to their seats and school
officials thrilled to see their charges so raptly attentive. In
response to her appearance, the principal at the alternative high
school has gone so far as to arrange a field trip next fall to
Washington, D.C., which will include a visit to the Holocaust Museum.

“This is a completely new world for me, but very rewarding,” says
Zimering, who, after emigrating to the United States, spent much of her
career as an ophthalmologist working with student health services at
the University. She confesses that she was unable to talk about her
experiences to anyone for a long time after the war ended—although
she survived, other family members and virtually everyone she’d known
growing up did not. Now, though, she realizes that what she has to
say is not rewarding only for her.

“To high school students, the history of 50 or 60 years ago is not
much different from 600 years ago,” she says. “But when a survivor
comes and tells their story, it’s completely different. It makes an
impact for a person to come that they can see and talk to.”

Zimering’s visits to high schools and college classrooms are arranged
through the University of Minnesota’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide
Studies (CHGS), a cross-disciplinary unit with a unique approach that
weaves together scholarship, community outreach, and art to explore
the darkest reaches of human experiences. This blend of scholarship,
storytelling, and art reflects the vision of the center’s director,
Stephen Feinstein, who came to the University from the University
of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he’d been the chair of the history
department.

Founded in 1997 with money from an anonymous donor, CHGS offers a
wide-ranging curriculum of classes on the Holocaust as well as the
genocides in Turkey, East Asia, Central Africa, the former Yugoslavia,
and elsewhere. But its reach is much broader than that—amazingly so,
given the center’s brief history. It also sponsors major art exhibits,
such as “Coexistence,” a traveling exhibition of poster art initiated
by Jerusalem’s Museum on the Seam (see page 34); brings Holocaust
survivors like Zimering to the community (her memoir was also
the subject of a class taught at the CHGS); conducts conferences;
presents guest speakers like Pulitzer Prize winner Samantha Power,
author of A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide; and
offers training and curriculum materials for use in high schools and
middle schools. One of the center’s new offerings is six “teaching
trunks” containing books, videotapes, posters, and curriculum guides
loaned by the center to participating schools.

*

Instead of establishing a separate department, the University
decided to organize its new program as a center located within the
History Department, an arrangement that, Feinstein explains, avoids
the possibility of overspecialization. Although small—the center’s
faculty consists of Feinstein and a handful of adjunct professors—the
goal of the center is, he says, “to think out of the box about how
we create programs that are of interest to scholars and the public,
to engage in research, and to gain prominence for the University by
having an active public dimension in this area.”

>>From the beginning, the center has drawn extensively from the
Twin Cities’ unusually large number of Holocaust survivors—about
150 individuals in all when the center opened its doors seven years
ago. But its growing renown in the field of Holocaust and genocide
studies owes a lot to Feinstein’s enthusiasm for scholarship that
examines and compares characteristics common to all episodes of
genocide (to some, the Holocaust is seen as a unique event, standing
outside of history) and his determination to weave the arts—literary,
visual, and cinematic—into the mix of offerings.

“You could have a center like this without including art, but
it wouldn’t be complete,” argues Feinstein, who has a background
in art history and has studied the underground art of the Soviet
Union. “There are people out there who think only straight history
is worth studying—no literature or other works of imagination. There
are some who even think that survivor testimony is of no value.”

But art, he observes, adds multiple dimensions critical to coming to
grips, if that is possible, with the worst of human behavior. Among
the millions killed by the Nazis—as well as the millions killed by the
Turks, the Khmer Rouge, and the Hutu—were musicians and artists and
writers and filmmakers as well as “ordinary” people. Just as important,
art—even mediocre art—has the power to engage a much wider audience
than scholarship ever could. “Schindler’s List is not the best movie
about the Holocaust, but it got the message out to millions of people,”
Feinstein says. “More than I could possibly reach.”

“The fact that the center is initiating bringing the ‘Coexistence’
exhibit to the Twin Cities is a testimony to what Steve’s perspective
enables him to add to this community,” says Rabbi Joseph Edelheit, the
director of St. Cloud State’s court-mandated Jewish studies program and
creator of the CHGS’s class in post-Holocaust theology. “My experience
with other institutions that offer Holocaust studies makes it clear to
me that this center is unique. Steve’s an internationally recognized
art historian. He’s not bringing untested theories to his role. His
maturity allows him to provide the center with seasoned leadership.”

Like other faculty associated with the center, Edelheit was drawn to
CHGS through his personal connections to Feinstein but has remained
involved with the center because of Feinstein’s demonstrated
willingness to think “outside the box.” When Feinstein invited
Edelheit to teach at the center, Edelheit responded that the only
class he wanted to teach would deal with theology.

“I asked, ‘Is that a problem at a public university?'” Edelheit
recalls. Feinstein assured him it was not, so Edelheit, who counts
27 members of his extended family lost to Hitler’s diabolism and has
the distinction of having been the first rabbi to earn a doctorate
in Christian theology, created a course in post-Holocaust theology,
which includes the works of both Christian and Jewish thinkers.

“I go into this class not with merely my academic credentials,
but more passionately my rabbinical credentials and my desire to
create interfaith dialogue,” Edelheit says. “My goal is to model the
commitment to dialogue.”

The center’s willingness to break new ground is also what brought
Patricia Baer, a professor of English at Gustavus Adolphus in
St. Peter, Minnesota, to the University in 2001 to teach a course
titled “Women in the Holocaust: Gender, Memory, Representation.”

As with other instructors working with the center, Baer has found
that her class draws a broad variety of students, attracting both
undergraduate and graduate students from Jewish studies and women’s
studies, but also history, education, nursing, political science,
Spanish, and art, as well as members of the broader community—including
a student who works with a shelter for battered women. Baer’s classes
have included both Christians and Jews. What’s more, each time she’s
taught the course, Baer reports, she’s also had students from Germany
enrolled.

“That’s made for an interesting dimension to our discussions,”
she says. “For Jewish students, I think many times they have had a
member of their family who is a survivor or know of family members who
died and now have a particular interest in how these events affected
women. International students often want to know how Americans look
at this event and how that view differs from what they are taught in
a place like Germany.

“Stephen is really quite extraordinary in his foresight,” she says. “At
the time I first offered this course, there were only five or six
similar courses in the United States. Holocaust studies have been slow
to embrace the insights of feminist studies. There are complicated
reasons for that, like the hegemony male historians have had in the
field who often feel that a feminist approach trivializes the issue.”
Some scholars and survivors, she says, also feel that a focus on gender
issues threatens to minimize “the racial basis for the Holocaust.”

Meanwhile, for Taner Akcam, a visiting history professor who teaches
courses on the Turkish genocide of the Armenians in 1915 and the
rise of nationalism in the Middle East, it is precisely the center’s
willingness to compare acts of genocide that constitutes one of its
principal values.

“This is something that has been lacking,” says Akcam, an ethnic Turk
who was the subject of a recent New York Times article detailing the
outrage his work on the Armenian genocide has elicited from the Turkish
government, which continues to deny any such event took place. “For the
most part each genocide scholar deals with his or her own specialty.
This helps bring us out of the shadows.”

*

The term crimes against humanity first appeared only in 1915 in
response to the Turkish killing of Armenians and the then-novel German
policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, and the word genocide, which
specifically refers to the intentional mass killing of a particular
people or ethnic group, was not coined until 1943 (by Rafael Lemkin,
a Polish Jewish lawyer). But genocide, along with the invention
of weapons of mass destruction, could be considered the signature
experience of the past 100 years of human history.

But why should this be so? What is it about global conditions that
made the 20th, and now, it seems all but certain, the 21st century,
an epoch so rife with a lust for extermination?

Not surprisingly, there aren’t any easy answers. But if one examines
the mass killings of the recent past, as the scholars and students
at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies do, certain patterns
begin to appear, not so much in the modus operandi of the killings—gas
chambers in the Reich, machetes in Rwanda—but in the ethnic, national,
and international circumstances that militate in favor of genocide. The
conclusions that can be drawn from this study are not hopeful: The same
toxic mix of forces that triggered the murder of more than a million
Armenians nearly a century ago are still at large in the global arena.

“In order to understand the killing of the Armenians, you have to
understand the emergence of the different nations within the context
of the demise of the Ottoman Empire,” explains Akcam. “The idea of
the nation state is a very homogenous group living within a defined
territory. In a polyglot empire like the Ottoman Empire, where 10
different ethnic groups might be living together in the same village,
the rise of nationalism created hostility and the basis of ethnic
cleansing.”

Similar forces were at work, Akcam points out, in the former
Yugoslavian Republic when it was disintegrating during the period
following Tito’s death, in the Kashmir and large swaths of Africa
and East Asia as well, all but ensuring future outbreaks of genocide.

The rise of Hitler, it should be added, took place against a backdrop
of what Feinstein calls “a template” of the collapsing empire/rising
nationalism scenario described by his colleague Akcam. Fueling the
downward spiral into genocide was a mix of pseudo-scientific theories
about “race” and a fundamental misapprehension of Darwin’s survival
of the fittest—and its deadly misapplication to human beings.

The fact that similar forces, from the post-colonial hangover
that continues to afflict much of the Middle East to the rise of
fundamentalism as a 21st-century version of extreme nationalistic
or racial ideologies, are still at work in the world today makes
the work of the center all that more relevant—and urgent. Memory’s
struggle against forgetting goes on.

“We need to be talking about how to prevent genocide from happening
in the future,” says Feinstein. “We need to create an early warning
system to predict the outbreak of these kinds of events that doesn’t
trample on national sovereignty.

“That’s one issue,” he continues. “The other issue is that we must
study these events as a facet of humanity on the presumption that,
by doing so, we can learn something from it.” n

Richard Broderick is a St. Paul freelance writer.

Russian and Armenian leaders discuss Caucuses problems

RosBusinessConsulting, Russia
May 14 2004

RBC, 14.05.2004, Moscow 14:53:31.In the course of their meeting,
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian President Robert
Kocharian focused on the situation in the Caucuses and the settlement
of the Nagorny Karabakh (Azerbaijan) conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. In addition, the sides considered cooperation in fighting
international terrorism and ensuring stability in the Caucuses
region. Putin and Kocharian also discussed measures to develop trade
and economic relations between the two states, Rossiya (Russia)
television reported.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Charles Aznavour made commander of Legion of Honour

Expatica, Netherlands
May 14 2004

PARIS, May 14 (AFP) – Charles Aznavour, the 80 year-old French singer
of Armenian origin, was on Friday made a commander of the Legion of
Honour by President Jacques Chirac.

“Among the 1,000 songs you have written and composed more than 100
are in the pages of the anthologies,” Chirac said in a ceremony at
the Elysee palace.

“It is to a man of infinite generosity, sincere, an incomparable
and uncontested artist, a marvellous ambassador for French song
and language that I am profoundly delighted to present this award,”
he said.

There are some 1,250 commanders of the Legion of Honour, the order’s
third highest rank.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
May 14 2004

FOREIGN MINISTER PARTICIPATES COE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS 114TH
SESSION
[May 14, 2004, 16:16:38]

A delegation of Azerbaijan led by Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov took part in the 114th session of the
Council of Europe Committee of ministers held in Strasbourg on May
12-13.

Prior to the session, Minister E. Mammadyarov met with COE Secretary
General Walter Schwimmer. During the meeting, the Minister signed a
protocol on changes in anti-terror Convention of 1977, the parties
discussed fulfillment by Azerbaijan of its commitments to the Council
of Europe and continuation of CE’s assistance to the country in this
sphere. The Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan updated the COE Secretary
General in detail on the activity aimed at settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

The Minister further met with members of the Committee Minister’s Ago
monitoring group to discuss Azerbaijan’s fulfillment of the
commitments to COE, measures taken in country for implementing
democratic reforms, and perspectives of the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict resolution. Pointing to the positive results of Azerbaijan
President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to the Council of Europe, the Minister
emphasized the importance of Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the
organization.

In accordance with the session’s first day agenda, Minister of
Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov delivered a report on political
issues and reformation of the European Court on Human Rights. On the
point “current political issues”, he stressed the importance of the
Council of Europe in creation of the United Europe without
borderlines, expressed Azerbaijan’s position towards this process.

The Minister also touched upon the bitter consequences of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict hampering development of South Caucasus
region, initiatives put forward by Azerbaijan for elimination of
these problems. He also drew the meeting participants attention to
the exceptional role of the European Human Rights Court in protection
of human rights and freedoms, and stated that Azerbaijani supports
the new 14th protocol of the European Human Rights Convention aimed
at reformation of the Court and improvement of its efficiency.

Later on the same day, Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenian
held meeting in presence of the OSCE Minsk group co-Chairs at the
office of he permanent representation of France to the Council of
Europe.

On the 13th of May, the 114th session of the Committee of Minister
continued its work. During the meeting presided by new Chairman of
the Committee Jan Petersen, Minister Elmar Mammadyarov supported the
idea of conducting 3rd Summit of the Council of Europe underlining
the importance if inclusion of topical issues, particularly that of
conflicts settlement, in its agenda. He noted that consequences of
the conflicts have a negative impact upon realization of the European
values in developing countries.

Speaking of the combat against terrorism, Mr. Mammadyarov stated that
he supports COE related efforts, particularly, preparation of the
general anti-terror convention, told of the terrorist acts committed
by Armenia against Azerbaijan and their bitter consequences, and
emphasized the need to intensify the combat against aggressive
separatism. The Minister, however, noted that Azerbaijan attaches
great importance to the values common to all mankind and dialogue
between cultures.

In conclusion of the session, the Foreign Ministers of the COE member
state adopted final official statement of the 114th session, and
Statement on advanced experience in the sphere of elections to the
effect that the unsolved conflicts pose threat to security,
territorial integrity and stability in the member countries, and pike
fear into their populations.

Another document adopted by the Ministers and concerning the results
of the Committee Minister’s Chairman says that the Committee welcomes
the three Azerbaijan President’s decrees on pardon, and supports
continuation of the way of national reconciliation and democratic
reforms.

It also welcomes the fact of continuation – parallel with the session
of – of the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan under the
trusteeship of the OSCE Minsk Group, and reminds the commitments to
the Council of Europe assumed by both countries in entry.

On the same day, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with PACE
rapporteur on Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict Terry Davis to exchange
views on the current situation.

Beside, COE Secretary General Walter Schwimmer held a meeting with
Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia to discuss the
fulfillment of obligations on the conflict’s resolution assumed by
the member states, and the relevant contribution of the Council of
Europe.

On the same day, Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia met in
presence of the Minsk group co-Chairs at the office of he permanent
representation of France to the Council of Europe.

Minister Elmar Mammadyarov had a separate meeting with the co-Chairs
as well.

MARDIN HOSTS ABRAHAMIC RELIGION AND PEACE SYMPOSIUM

Cumhuriyet, Turkey
May 14 2004

Mardin yesterday hosted a seminar on “Religion and Peace in Light
of the Prophet Abraham” organized by the Intercultural Dialogue
Platform. Among those attending were Interior Minister Abdulkadir
Aksu, Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomeos, Istanbul Chief Rabbi Ishak
(Yitzhak) Haleva, Eastern Orthodox Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud,
Turkish Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II and Religious Affairs Directorate
deputy head Muhammed Sevki Aydin. The symposium started with the Muslim
call to prayer and continued with hymns sung by a chorus with Muslim,
Jewish and Christian members. /Cumhuriyet/

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia’s FM terms Iran as a major regional partner

IRNA, Iran
May 14 2004

Moscow, May 14, IRNA — Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan in
a meeting with Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh in Yerevan Friday
referred to Iran as a major partner of his country in the region.
In the meeting, Oskanyan said that the agreement signed between
the two countries on sale of gas to Armenia is in line with Iran’s
political will to expand the mutual friendly ties.

He further underlined Iran’s decisive role and stance in the region.

Turning to the significance of Iran’s balanced regional policy, he said
that bilateral cooperation under the framework of North-South Route
and construction of Iran-Armenia gas pipeline are of great importance.

For his part, Zanganeh expressed pleasure over the finalization of
the contract on transfer of gas from Iran to Armenia on the basis of
exchange with power as a major development.

The minister noted that the materialization of the project marks
sustained and long-term collaboration between Iran and Armenia.

Referring to the pace of the global economic growth, he reiterated
the need for economic development in Caucasus, in particular in the
coming years.

On the first day of his visit to Armenia on Thursday, Zanganeh met
President Robert Koucharian, prime minister, energy minister, head
of presidential institution and the Armenian chairman of Iran-Armenia
Economic Commission and discussed matters of mutual concern.

The two sides signed an agreement on transfer of gas from Iran to
Armenia and a memorandum of understanding on collaboration in the
field of energy on Thursday.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
May 14 2004

SPEECH OF AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV AT SUPREME MAJLIS OF
NAKHCHIVAN AR
[May 14, 2004, 20:30:39]

Dear meeting participants!

Today is the second day of my staying in Nakhchivan. This is my first
visit to Nakhchivan after being elected as President, and what I have
seen today gives me a great pleasure. Great constructive work in
being carried out in Nakhchivan.

Nakhchivan is the land, which is living under very hard conditions.
The indivisible part of Azerbaijan is under blockade. Nakhchivan has
no communication with the greater part of Azerbaijan but airway.
Considering the situation, under the instruction of our esteemed
president, people’s nationwide leader Heydar Aliyev, the
international airport has been built and put into operation here in
Nakhchivan.

The basis for the work done in Nakhchivan within the past years was
laid in early 90s. That was the time when Heydar Aliyev came to
Nakhchivan. The people of the Republic elected him as their leader,
and intensive activity began here. Today, Nakhchivan is experiencing
the period of his revival.

Social and economic showings are very high in Nakhchivan. The
Republic’s GDP is growing from year to year, industrial potential and
local production are also increasing, important social problems are
being solved.

Azerbaijan as a whole is now the rapidly developing country, which
are realizing world-scale economic projects, and whose international
prestige has considerably increased. In other words, Azerbaijan has
strengthened its positions in the region.

A special decree has been issued recently to intensify social and
economic development in Azerbaijan, At the same time, the state
program on development of Azerbaijan’s provinces has been adopted.
However, opening of several works here during these two days shows
that the program has been launched in the Autonomous republic much
earlier.

One of the main problems of Nakhchivan is electricity supply. In this
connection, we are going to realize new projects to fully satisfy the
Republic’s needs in electric power. Gas supply is also on the agenda.
If Nakhchivan and the rest of Azerbaijan had communicated, there
would not be a problem to supply gas to the Republic. So, we are
searching for other ways to solve the problem. I hope we will achieve
the goal.

Although our economy is built on market base, the greater part of our
budget is spent on solving social problems. It indicates that solving
these problems, in other words, showing concern about people, is a
focus of attention. However, there are still a lot of people in
Azerbaijan whose living conditions are very hard: refugees and
displaced people. Measures for improvement the situation are in
progress. You know that on the initiative of our nationwide leader
Heydar Aliyev, $70 mln were allotted from the state Oil Fund for
construction of modern houses, apartment buildings and settlements
for them. And they have already been constructed in several regions,
and this course will be continued.

However, this is not a resolution of the problem. It may be
considered as solved when Armenian armed forces are withdrawn from
our lands and the refugees and IDPs return to their native places.
Huge efforts have been taken in this sphere, and I hope it will
manage to reach fair peace treaty based on the international legal
norms.

We support peaceful settlement of the conflict, but at the same time
we must be ready to solve the problem at any moment resorting to
other methods. Economic potential of Azerbaijan is increasing from
year to year, and the country is getting stronger. I am sure the
Azerbaijani lands will be released, and its territorial integrity
restored.

Dear friends!

I know and you know how much Heydar Aliyev wanted to see the results
of the projects he once initiated here, and to attend their openings.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be impossible for him to see that.

I also know that sometimes people need consolation. He saw that his
work was continued, that his creation – independent Azerbaijan – was
living following his path. He saw his people supported his policy.
The duty of ours is to continue Heydar Aliyev’s policy, and move the
country ahead.

Accept again my greetings and best wishes for your new successes, new
victories, good health and happiness.

Thank you,

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Telegraph, UK
May 14 2004

A canter through the Caucasus
Rachael Heaton-Armstrong revels in the peace of a country that’s
often in conflict.

Georgia basics

Terror and panic. What with civil wars, assassinated presidents and
ethnic tensions, I suppose most people on holiday in the Caucasus
experience some of that. In my case, though, the terror and panic I
felt shortly after my arrival in Georgia were related to horses.

Horse play: riding in the Caucasus

I spent most of my childhood on horses so, although I hadn’t ridden
for years, the fear that overwhelmed me when I saw some prancing out
of the stables took me by surprise. They were Arab/English/Akhaltekin
crossbreeds, a mixture of recently castrated geldings and young
mares, and somewhere in my nervous mind was the idea that they
wouldn’t understand English.

I was given a three-year-old filly. We greeted each other with mutual
trepidation and within minutes I found that, although she was
sure-footed and could come to a screeching halt if she wanted, both
her steering and brakes were capricious. We set off downhill at a
brisk trot. I clung to the pommel of the saddle – something I had
been forbidden to do as a child – adapted my English style and
ignored my nerves.

We were about to embark on a reconnaissance trip to check out this
idyllic country for a new trek. I was one of five Britons – the
others were a photographer living in Georgia, an actress, an art
dealer and the owner of Ride World Wide. Four Georgians took care of
our every need: a wild reprobate artist, a doctor trained in Vienna,
a taciturn engineer and the owner of the horses – all the soul of
courtesy.

Our introduction to the area had come during the car journey to the
stables when our tank was filled by an ancient babushka who shuffled
out of a roadside hut with a ceramic jug of petrol. A mile farther on
half of this was siphoned off to give to someone else who had run out
of petrol. This is the Georgian way.

We were in the beautiful rolling countryside of southern Georgia, an
hour from the capital, Tbilisi.

The bitter rivalries and tensions that continue to wrack this part of
the world (only this week civil war was narrowly averted in Georgia)
seemed a million miles away.

The Khrami Massif ranges from the gentle slopes of beech woods to
precipitous gorges of scrubby elm, hornbeam and oak that lead down to
fast-flowing rivers rushing towards the Black Sea. Wild boar live
here and show their appreciation by digging up the soft, fertile
ground.

We rode up sheer mountain paths that gradually faded out, testing our
tracking skills and the agility of the horses. On the steepest parts
we led them, their soft noses pressed hard against our backs, to
2,500ft crests where the meadows stretched far, far off to the
snow-capped Caucasus. These are picture book pastures – with
innumerable varieties of sweet-smelling flowers and herbs. The sound
of shepherds cracking their whips mingled with the skylarks’ songs as
swallows, house martins and swifts swooped around us for the feast of
insects the hooves would unearth.

Scores of tiny crumbling churches dot the landscape, hiding in the
woods or perching on hilltops. One of the finest is the 12th-century
Gudarekhi monastery, which sits miles away from any road. A stream
borders the surrounding walnut grove of this little Arcadia where
honeybees bliss out on pollen provided by the thick carpet of tall
flowers. Gudarekhi’s intricately carved arches and faded frescoes are
soon to be restored and the whole complex will be occupied by monks
whose predecessors were chased away by the Russians.

One afternoon, out of the silent dappled woods came an elderly man on
a pony, his burnished face and wide grin overshadowed by a huge furry
hat. Suddenly we were surrounded by his vast flock of goats and sheep
eager to reach their summer pastures.

Glorious days rolled into glorious days. Each started with morning
tea, sweetened with condensed milk, delivered to our tents by one of
our Georgian hosts, and ended 10 long hours later when we rode into
camp, usually well after dark, to be handed a bottle of potent
home-made chacha (Georgia’s answer to vodka).

In between we watched the scenery change every mile. We scrambled up
a five-storey seventh-century lookout tower topped with an eagle’s
nest, heard a bear playing in the river, watched a pine martin for
longer than it would have liked, rode along a railway track, saw
water buffaloes belonging to Azerbaijani nomads pulling carts laden
with wood, and swam in a silent, silky lake.

We picnicked in perfect spots, drank from mineral-rich springs, ate
succulent lamb kebabs and tiny river fish, washed in sparkling
streams and collapsed into exhausted sleep despite the loudest chorus
of frogs I have ever heard.

I soon regained my riding confidence, but after a couple of days I
wanted a change from the unpredictability of youth, so I swapped to a
perfectly mannered older horse that walked instead of pranced and
whose rolling canter was a real joy.

One magical day began with our first sight of Dmanisi, from the
opposite side of a deep gorge. Inhabited since Palaeolithic times,
the citadel stands high above a three-way junction of the east/west
Silk Road and the route south to Armenia. It was here that Professor
Kopaliani, who showed us around, discovered skulls that proved to be
1.7 million year old – the most primitive human remains ever to be
found outside Africa.

When we set off from Dmanisi at 3pm we were assured of a short ride
ahead. We took our time to wander through elegant beech woods, stop
for a lazy cup of tea and enjoy the novel idea of getting to camp
before dark. The track soon became a narrow path and finally even the
animal footprints disappeared. This didn’t seem to matter until we
reached a particularly breathtaking view we had seen well over an
hour before and we realised we were lost. Then we heard a chicken
clucking. Where there’s a chicken there’s a pot and where there’s a
pot there are people. We knew a village must be near.

We galloped up the hill to a clearing where an Asiri nomad summer
settlement was bathed in the setting sun, filtered through the smoke
of evening fires. Children led the procession to greet us with
turkeys, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats and the helpful chicken
looking on. But with the light fading we had to charge on, straight
into a ferocious, deafening wind that turned everything in its path
horizontal.

In the middle of this hostile, blasted plateau we managed to
rendezvous with a friend who was to guide us through the next part of
the journey. He was laden with manna – hot-from-the-oven khachapuri,
heavenly cheese-filled bread – and led us on his tiny pony down an
endless path of overhanging trees and sudden streams.

It was 11pm by the time we reached the dirt road and a house whose
owners spoke neither Georgian nor Russian. Instinct led us to the
village shop, which had for sale one pair of socks, giant sugar
lumps, Champagne, tinned meat, cheese, sweets, the odd toy and –
mercifully – cold beer. We then set off for the final, unbelievable,
five miles of the journey. We led the exhausted horses along the
moonlit, potholed road and finally collapsed at the gate of the
Bolnisi Sioni churchyard at 1am. Down the darkened path we saw an
ethereal blaze of candlelight flooding through the door of the
church. When the priest appeared in the doorway to welcome us with a
serene, beatific smile it seemed God had rewarded us with a glimpse
of heaven.

An enormous supra – a feast – was laid out in the tiny bell tower
where the priest lives, a gun hidden in his bed. Excellent
home-brewed wine accompanied the toasts of celebration and
thanks-giving that ended the day.

For six days we had seen no cultivation, but now on the home stretch
we meandered through tiny fields where women and men tended plots of
two or three crops sown together – maize and beans and potatoes. Then
up and over an escarpment to a sea of wheat.

We rode on through flowering acacia spinneys humming with bees and
cooled off in the Khrami River. But the rock I clung to – to save me
from being swept away – suddenly disappeared beneath me when the
river rose more than 12 inches in a few minutes and I had to be
pulled ashore.

We returned to Tbilisi shaking with exhilaration and exhaustion, our
spirits filled with the absolute beauty of the country and the charm
of its people. Legend has it that when God was dividing up the world
he kept the best, Georgia, for himself. He chose well.

Georgia basics
Ride World Wide (01837 82544, ) offers an
11-night trip similar to the one taken by Rachael Heaton-Armstrong
for £1,350 per person. This includes all meals and accommodation in
tents, hotels and guesthouses plus all riding and transfers.
International flights can be arranged separately.

Further reading: Stories I Stole from Georgia by Wendell Steavenson
(Atlantic Books, £7.99).

OSKANIAN RECEIVES MEMBERS OF GERMAN BUNDESTAG PARLIAMENTARY GROUP

ArmenPress
May 14 2004

YEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS: Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian
received today members of the German Bundestag multi-party South
Caucasus parliamentary group- Kristoff Bergner, Jorg Tauss, Lidia
Westrich and Ulla Heller.

Foreign ministry press services reported, that Oskanian underlined
that the delegation’s visit followed a successful visit by German
foreign minister to Armenia Joschka Fischer. He voiced his hope that
German -Armenian relations will continue developing.

The sides emphasized a decision by the European Commission whereby
Armenia and South Caucasus are included in the EU Wider Europe –
New Neighborhood project.

During the talk, the Bundestag delegation members noted that their
group has contributed to the passing of this decision because they
attach importance to South Caucasus’s integration to the EU.

During the meeting, the sides referred to the present phase of Nagorno
Karabagh conflict regulation. Armenian foreign minister has presented
his impressions from his recent talks with his Azeri counterpart
Mamedyarov in Strasburg.

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1) Putin, Kocharian Discuss Economic Ties
2) Some 1,000 Georgians Eager to Move to Tsalka
3) Pennsylvania House Passes Armenian Genocide Resolution
4) Ferrahian Celebrates 40th Anniversary

1) Putin, Kocharian Discuss Economic Ties

(AP/Itar-Tass)–Boosting trade between the two former Soviet republics topped
the agenda at Friday’s meeting between Armenian President Robert Kocharian and
his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Putin noted that trade has increased 34 percent in recent years. “This is a
record indicator that we are moving in the right direction.”
Kocharian recalled last year’s major agreement that gave Russia financial
control over Armenia’s sole nuclear power plant, in exchange for the
cancellation of $40 million dollar debts to Russian nuclear fuel suppliers.
The start of true economic cooperation came with that “major equity-for-debt
agreement,” Kocharian said. “I would like to say with utmost confidence
that we
started and are moving together on all issues.”
The meeting took place on the second day of Kocharian’s working visit to
Moscow that included meetings with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and
the chief executive of the Gazprom natural gas giant, Aleksei Miller.
Kocharian welcomed the increased bilateral commercial ties of recent years,
saying, “Until recently, we only talked about military cooperation while
mentioning that economic interaction is lagging. Now I can state with full
confidence that we began to move in all directions at a very even pace; it
serves as a very serious impetus to effective cooperation and
diversification.”

2) Some 1,000 Georgians Eager to Move to Tsalka

TBILISI (Armenpress/Civil.GE)–The Georgian ministry of refugees and
resettlement reported that approximately 1000 applications have been submitted
by Georgian families wishing to relocate to Georgia’s Tsalka district.
150-strong unit of Interior Troops were dispatched to the southern
multi-ethnic district of Tsalka on May 11, following clashes between local
ethnic Armenians and Georgians on May 9. Several people were reportedly
injured.
Ethnic Armenians comprise 57% of population of Tsalka district in the Kvemo
Kartli region, which has a population of around 20,000, according to the
Georgian department of statistics; 4,500 ethnic Greeks, 2,500 ethnic
Georgians,
and up to 2,000 Azeris live in the Tsalka district.
Local officials had described the clashes between ethnic Georgians and
Armenians sporadic “communal violence,” which has flared-up in the past
several
years.

3) Pennsylvania House Passes Armenian Genocide Resolution

PITTSBURGH CITY COUNCIL COMMEMORATES FIRST GENOCIDE OF 20TH CENTURY

HARRISBURG (ANC-PA)–The Pennsylvania House of Representatives unanimously
passed a resolution designating April 24, 2004 “Pennsylvania’s Day of
Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923.”
Representative Daylin Leach (D) and 56 co-sponsors introduced Pennsylvania
House Resolution No. 593 (HR593).
“The Armenian National Committee of Pennsylvania thanks Rep. Leach for his
leadership in introducing this resolution. We also commend the House of
Representatives for their unwavering commitment to recognize the Armenian
Genocide and to honor the memories of the victims whose descendants are
citizens of the Commonwealth,” said ANC Pennsylvania co-chairman Dr. Ara
Chalian. “The ANC of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania General Assembly
have an
enduring relationship that spans nearly twenty years. We look forward to
continue working closely with Rep. Leach and others who take an active role in
supporting the issues of the Armenian American community.”
The resolution identifies the Ottoman Empire as the perpetrators of a
genocide
that claimed the lives of one and a half million Armenian men, women, and
children from 1915 to 1923. It also acknowledges that modern Turkey continues
to deny and distort the facts of the Armenian Genocide. Through this
resolution, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania reaffirms its commitment to
condemn atrocities, such as the Armenian Genocide, and to prevent similar
crimes against humanity from occurring again.
This is the second consecutive year that the first-term legislator has
introduced an Armenian Genocide resolution. Rep. Leach, whose wife is of
Armenian descent, represents a district which includes a large Armenian
American constituency, two Armenian churches, and the Armenian Sisters
Academy.
“It is important that we never forget the atrocities visited upon the Armenian
People in the last century,” stated Rep. Leach. “It is only by remembering the
past that we can recognize the gathering warning signs of new oppression. As
long as I am in the legislature, I can assure you that no one will forget the
struggle of the Armenian People,” concluded Rep. Leach.
In addition to the Pennsylvania House Resolution, the Pittsburgh City Council
passed a proclamation declaring April 24, 2004 “A Day of Remembrance” for the
victims of the Armenian Genocide. The City Proclamation was introduced and
spearheaded by Councilman Douglas Shields, and was co-sponsored by Council
President Gene Ricciardi and Council members Luke Ravenstahl, Jim Motznik,
William Peduto, Len Bodack, Alan Hertzberg, Twanda Carlisle, and Sala Udin.
“On behalf of the Pittsburgh area Armenian-American community, I would
like to
thank Councilman Doug Shields and the City Council for observing the Armenian
Genocide,” stated ANC activist Rostom Sarkissian, who resides in Pittsburgh.
“This proclamation and others like it not only honor the victims and survivors
of the Armenian Genocide, but they also send a strong message to the Turkish
government that continued denial of this Genocide can no longer be a
state-sponsored policy. Time has come for Turkey to join the international
community in acknowledging the Armenian Genocide for what it wasgenocide,”
concluded Sarkissian.
The ANC-PA urges all Pennsylvania Armenians to contact their State
Representative to thank them for passing HR593 and the Pittsburgh City Council
for their “A Day of Remembrance” Proclamation.

4) Ferrahian Celebrates 40th Anniversary

ENCINO– Over 700 people–alumni, past and present students, parents, and
faculty and staff–gathered to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first
Armenian School in the United States–Holy Martyrs Armenian Elementary and
Ferrahian High School.
The May 2 event served to honor faculty members and teachers who have
dedicated over 15 years to the school for their exceptional contributions.
Former students praised the school not only for the level of education it
provides, but also for preserving and passing on Armenian language, history,
and culture to successive generations. The school’s founder Gabriel Injejikian
delivered a heartfelt address, praising the school’s achievements and
encouraging a continued path toward similar success.

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