The Halifax Herald, Nova Scotia, Canada
April 22 2004

Forever in her debt
Armenians remember N.S. nurse who saved thousands of orphans
By STEPHEN MAHER / Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA – A Nova Scotia woman was honoured Wednesday on Parliament
Hill for saving the lives of thousands of orphans in 1922.

Eighty-two years ago, Greece lost the city of Smyrna (now Izmir) to
Turkey. After the city fell, Turkish soldiers massacred thousands of
Greek and Armenian civilians and then set the city ablaze.

Sara Corning, a Red Cross nurse from the Chegoggin area of Yarmouth
County, helped to rescue 5,000 children, escorting them through chaos
to the harbour, where they were rowed in small boats to safety aboard
an American destroyer.

A year later, Ms. Corning was decorated for her bravery by King
George II of Greece, receiving the Silver Cross of the Knights of the
Order of the Saviour, which is similar to the Order of Canada. She
died in 1969 at the age of 97.

On Wednesday, Bagrat Galstanian, the bishop of the Canadian diocese
of the Armenian Apostolic Church, presented relatives of Ms. Corning
with an encyclical – a papal letter – from Karikan II, the
Catholocos, or pope, of the church.

As Armenian-Canadians, dignitaries and relatives of Ms. Corning
struggled to hold back their tears, the encyclical was read:

“The name of the late philanthropist Sara Corning is very cordial and
precious to Armenians living around the world. Despite grave dangers
and difficulties in the Ottoman Empire, brought up by unprecedented
massacres, as a nurse she brought care and help to the persecuted
Armenians and those who survived unbearable tortures,” the letter
said.

“More specifically, we acknowledge with deep gratitude her efforts to
salvage several thousands of Armenian orphans from burning cities and
rural villages. With her life and her accomplishments, Sara Corning
confirmed to the world and condemned the great holocaust of the
Armenians.”

Ms. Corning’s grandniece, Margaret Pedersen, who lives in Toronto,
thanked the bishop for the letter.

“It is a great honour to have this,” she said. “And a full circle has
been completed. And I think we should all rejoice.”

Ms. Corning, who trained as a nurse in New Hampshire, joined the
American Red Cross during the First World War. She served in Turkey
during the war and afterward ran an orphanage for Amenians at the
foot of Mount Ararat.

She described her experience in Smyrna in a letter to an alumni
magazine.

“The Turkish army was just taking the city as we arrived, but we went
ashore and as the place was crowded with many sick refugees, we
opened a clinic to care for as many of them as we could, but it was
soon closed by the soldiers.

“We then went to another place and opened up, but before we could do
more than one or two dressings, they closed that also. After the city
was looted, then they began to burn it down, then the refugees had to
get to the shore, but many were drowned rather than be burned.

“Then we had to evacuate Miss Morley’s orphanage. They were counted
carefully as they came out and I was sent with the first ones to the
quay. From there they were taken by the sailors in small boats out to
the destroyer.”

Canada became one of few countries to formally recognize the genocide
of Armenian Turks during the First World War in a strongly worded
motion adopted 153-68 in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Government members were discouraged from voting for the motion, which
is sure to anger a Turkish government that has never recognized the
massacre of 1.5 million Armenians starting in 1915.

Nova Scotia MPs Alexa McDonough and Robert Thibault were present at
the reception Wednesday. There was a display of photographs from the
Yarmouth County Museum of Ms. Corning at work with orphans in Turkey.

Mary Anne Saunders, Ms. Corning’s first cousin twice removed and a
volunteer at the museum, was one of the relatives present for the
reception.

Sarkis Assadourian, the Armenian-Canadian Liberal MP for Brampton
Centre, organized the reception. In the House of Commons late
Wednesday, MPs voted 153-70 in favour of a private member’s bill
recognizing the massacre.

Ms. Corning’s relatives described her as a quietly determined woman
who was motivated by her strong Baptist faith. She retired to the
Chegoggin area in the late 1930s or early 1940s.

Ms. Corning rarely talked to her relatives about her experiences in
Turkey and Armenia, and her surviving relatives say they were in awe
of her as children.

“I think the people in my hometown were in awe of her because she had
travelled so and she had done something wonderful,” Ms. Saunders
said.

“And that didn’t come to many of her family. They were farmers who
stayed in the area, so she was really looked up to.”

Ms. Corning’s headstone bears the epitaph: “She lived to serve
others.”

Bishop Galstanian said that there is a lesson for everyone in the way
Ms. Corning lived.

“Looking at her story, we understand that justice shall prevail in
this world,” he said Wednesday.

“For us, her memory is very, very dear. Unfortunately, we couldn’t
recognize her in her lifetime properly. But now we’re happy that we
have this opportunity to recognize her memory and pray to the
Almighty for everlasting life for her.”

The bishop said we should remember the message on her headstone.

“The memory of Sara Corning tells us to be dedicated and selfless
people. This is a good model for us, for us to live and create and
pray in this way.”

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 1) 517 163
Fax: (374 1) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
April 22, 2004

His Holiness Karekin II Commends Canadian Parliament for Genocide
Recognition

On April 22, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of
All Armenians, sent a letter to the Honorable Peter Milliken, Speaker of the
House of Commons of Canada. In the letter, His Holiness expresses the
gratitude and appreciation of all Armenians throughout the world for
yesterday’s decision, whereby the Canadian Parliament officially recognized
and condemned the Armenian Genocide.

Addressing the members of the House of Commons, His Holiness states in part,
“We are grateful that following the brutal years of 1915 through 1923, the
Armenian people found shelter and acceptance in the blessed country of
Canada, as in many other countries throughout the world. The children of
the first genocide of the twentieth century not only survived in their new
homes, but they thrived, becoming contributing, loyal and worthy citizens.

“However, as we approach the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in
2005, the important issue of genocide remains before the whole of mankind.
Genocide can never be the solution to the religious, social and political
conflicts of our times. The way to prevent genocide is to recognize it.
The only way to find justice for its victims, both living and dead, is to
condemn it. Genocide is not a crime against one nation, but rather it is
against man and against God. It is the gravest crime against humanity. God
‘s primary grace is the gift of life. The defense of life has been
entrusted to governments, and each life protected is a gift we offer to God.
All should be made aware that any action directed against the life of man,
shall be condemned from its inception. Human suffering can be stopped,
through the actions of brave men and women such as you, which help justice
to prevail.”

The Pontiff of All Armenians, offering his prayers and blessings from the
spiritual center of the worldwide Armenian Church, commended the members of
the House of Commons for their “consideration of this issue (Genocide
recognition), and readiness to champion its resonance to greater awareness”.

##

The Globe and Mail, Canada
April 22 2004

Turkey slams Parliament’s genocide vote

Ankara – Turkey on Thursday condemned a decision by Canadian
legislators to recognize as genocide the mass killing of Armenians
during the First World War, accusing Canadian politicians of being
`narrow minded.’

Canada’s Parliament on Wednesday backed a resolution condemning the
actions of Ottoman Turkish forces eight decades ago.

Government members were discouraged from voting for the motion, which
was adopted 153-68 in the House of Commons. Prime Minister Paul
Martin was absent during the vote.

The motion read: `… this House acknowledges the Armenian genocide
of 1915 and condemns this act as a crime against humanity.’

In a written statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Turkey
strongly condemned the Canadian Parliament’s decision and accused
Canadian legislators of blindly `following those with marginal
views.’

`Some narrow minded Canadian politicians were not able to understand
that such decisions based on … prejudiced information, will awaken
feelings of hatred among people of different [ethnic] roots and
disturb social harmony,’ the statement said.

It said it was not up to parliaments to `reach conclusions over
controversial periods in history’ and insisted that the vote would
not benefit Armenians in Canada or Armenia.

Canada is the 16th country to label the killings as genocide, a step
already taken by Switzerland, France, Argentina and Russia, as well
as 11 U.S. state governments.

Armenians say a 1915-1923 campaign to force them out of eastern
Turkey amounted to a genocide and some 1.5 million people were
killed. The Turkish government rejects the charge of genocide as
unfounded and says that while 600,000 Armenians died, 2.5 million
Muslims perished in a period of civil unrest.

In 2001, Turkey cancelled millions of dollars worth of defence deals
with French companies after legislators in France recognized the
genocide.

The statement did not say if Turkey planned similar sanctions but
said Canadian politicians would `bear the responsibility for any
negative developments the decision will bring.’

The Canadian vote split the ruling Liberal party between backbenchers
and cabinet ministers. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham
said the Turkish government had warned that recognizing the genocide
could have economic consequences and that he wanted to maintain good
relations with Turkey.

On Thursday, the Canadian Embassy released a statement in an attempt
to distance the government from Wednesday’s vote.

`Private member’s motions are not binding on the government of
Canada,’ the statement read.

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
April 22 2004

Germany wants rapid solution for Karabakh

Germany backs quick settlement for Karabakh conflict said, German
foreign minister Joschka Fisher during his meetings with senior
Azerbaijani officials in Baku yesterday.

The sides of the conflict should step towards each other with the
help of the international community, said Fisher, adding , Germany
will continue contributing to peaceful solution of the conflict.
Germany is a member of the OSCE’s Minsk group which mediates peaceful
solution to Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Alongside with Karabakh issue Fisher and Azerbaijani officials have
considered security, economy and democracy issues.

Calgary Herald, Canada
April 22 2004

Massacre of Armenians recognized

Canada became one of few countries to formally recognize the genocide
of Armenian Turks during the First World War in a strongly worded
motion adopted 153-68 in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Government members were discouraged from voting for the motion, which
is sure to anger a Turkish government that has never recognized the
massacre of 1.5 million Armenians starting in 1915.

Following a charged debate at their weekly closed-door caucus
meeting, Liberal backbenchers voted massively in favour while the
party’s cabinet contingent rejected the Bloc Quebecois motion.

Prime Minister Paul Martin was absent during the politically
sensitive vote, but Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham defended the
government’s opposition.

The Turkish government has warned that recognizing the genocide could
have economic consequences and Graham said he wanted to maintain good
relations with Turkey.

CBC Manitoba, Canada
April 22 2004

Turkey condemns Canada’s Armenian genocide vote

OTTAWA – Turkey condemned as “narrow-minded” the decision by Canada’s
House of Commons to recognize as genocide the mass killing of
Armenians during the First World War.

“Some narrow-minded Canadian politicians were not able to understand
that such decisions based on … prejudiced information, will awaken
feelings of hatred among people of different [ethnic] roots and
disturb social harmony,” a statement from Turkey’s foreign ministry
said.

Canada became one of only a few nations to recognize the deaths of
1.5 million Armenians in 1915 as genocide when the House of Commons
late on Wednesday reversed Ottawa’s stated policy on the issue by
passing a private member’s bill.

Canada’s official position to date has been that the deaths
constituted a “tragedy” rather than the purposeful extermination of
minority Armenians by the then Ottoman Empire during the First World
War.

But in a free vote, Parliament voted 153 to 68 to adopt the Bloc
Québécois motion which stated: “[T]his House acknowledges the
Armenian genocide of 1915 and condemns this act as a crime against
humanity.”

Bill Graham

Foreign Minister Bill Graham defended the government’s position
saying: “What we seek to do in our foreign policy is to encourage the
forward dimension,” said Graham. “We’d like our Armenian friends and
our Turkish friends to work together to put these issues in the
past.”

In 1915, during the First World War, Turkish troops put down an
Armenian uprising. Armenians say about 1.5 million people were killed
by the Ottoman Turks during an eight-year campaign.

Turkey has always fought attempts by Armenians and international
human rights organizations to have the events declared a genocide.
Previously, Ankara has warned countries contemplating similar action
that there would be negative consequences. In some cases business
contracts have been held up or denied.

In 2001 France backed the Armenian case. Ankara responded by freezing
official visits to France and temporarily blocking French companies
from competing for defence contracts.

The U.S. dropped a similar resolution a year earlier after the White
House warned it could hurt U.S. security interests.

The United Nations recognizes the events as genocide.

Liberal backbenchers, including former Chrétien cabinet member Herb
Dhaliwal supported the motion, while Cabinet members, including Prime
Minister Paul Martin, were largely absent from the charged debate.

The opposition, including Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, largely
voted in favour and accused Martin of hypocrisy for promoting free
votes but not showing up for one himself.

Armenian-Canadians greeted the vote with elation, but
Turkish-Canadian observers reacted angrily.

Armenian-Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, whose film Ararat was about
the subject, said: “What is amazing is that it’s law, and it’s
something that we can tell for generations to come.”

But Kevsai Taymaz of the Federation of Turkish-Canadian Associations
insisted: “It was a terrible time and both sides lost lives, it
wasn’t a genocide.”

Liberal MP Hedy Fry, who supported the motion, said it was important
to note the atrocities took place under the Ottoman empire, long ago
replaced by a modern Turkish state.

“I think it doesn’t mean we’ve broken ties with the current regime in
Turkey. They are our colleagues, they are our NATO allies. They are a
moderate, Muslim government and I think we need to work with them,”
Fry told The Canadian Press.

Baku Today
April 22 2004

Mann is in Azerbaijan

Baku Today 22/04/2004 16:07

OSCE Minsk group’s US chairman Steven Mann has arrived in Baku today.
Mann is having talks with Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar
Mammadyarov at the moment.
Later today he will meet with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev.
Mann started his fist tour of the South Caucasus as the OSCE Minsk
group’s US chairman on April 19, 2004.

He has visited Armenia and Georgia earlier.

The United States authorized Mann for the Minsk group on April 17.

US’s third spokesman at the group Rudolf Perina handed over his power
to Mann during the Minsk group’s peace mediating meeting in Prague
between Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers over Karabakh
conflict.

Deutsche Welle, Germany
April 22 2004

German Foreign Minister Pushes for Reform in Armenia, Georgia

Armenian President Robert Kocharian is under pressure to resign.

Joschka Fischer will wrap up his trip to the Caucasus region on
Thursday with stops in Armenia and Georgia. His visit in Armenia
comes during considerable political instability in the country.

Following visits to Afghanistan and Azerbaijan, Germany’s Fischer
continued his week-long trip abroad by arriving in the Armenian
capital Yerevan on Thursday morning. As he did in Azerbaijan, he is
expected to encourage both southern Caucasus nations to continue to
improve their democratic and human rights credentials by holding out
the prospect of closer ties to the European Union.

Fischer will need plenty of diplomatic tact in Yerevan, since
Armenian President Robert Kocharian is under increasing pressure to
step down. On Wednesday, opposition groups held a protest rally that
attracted an estimated 10,000 people, according to the Associated
Press. Opposition groups allege Kocharian won reelection last year
only through widespread election fraud, a charge which the president
denies.

Tensions in the country rose on April 13, when police used force to
break up a protest rally. Around 100 people were reportedly detained
and several protestors were injured. “Any administration relying on
violence is doomed. Kocharian must go,” said Stepan Demirchyan,
leader of the opposition Justice Party and runner-up in last year’s
presidential election, according to the Reuters news agency.

Kocharian’s opponents hope to oust him though continued popular
unrest, similar to how neighboring Georgia toppled the government of
former President Eduard Shevardnadze late last year. But some experts
are skeptical Kocharian will be removed from power.

“The Armenian authorities are better consolidated and will defend
their position more strongly. Moreover, there’s no clear leader of
the opposition like there was in Georgia,” Andranik Migranyan told
DW-Radio.

Conflict with Azerbaijan

While in Yerevan, Fischer will also address the dispute over the
Nagorno-Karabakh region, which though part of Azerbaijan has been
separated from the country since the mid-1990s after a war with
ethnic Armenians. A cease-fire in the conflict was signed in 1994,
but the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh has not been resolved. In
the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Wednesday, Fischer already said
Germany and the EU were prepared to help find a solution to the
conflict.

Fischer’s visit to Armenia will also include a memorial for Armenians
killed by Turks in 1915. The Armenians claim Ottoman Turkish forces
committed genocide at the time, slaughtering some 1.5 million people
between 1915 and 1923. Turkey rejects the charges, saying the
Armenians were killed in a partisan war as the Ottoman Empire
collapsed.

Heading to Tbilisi later in the day, Fischer will meet with Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili to show support for his western
oriented reform course. Saakashvili came to power in a bloodless coup
that ousted Shevardnadze in November, but he has run into trouble
recently, as military commanders in the rebellious Black Sea province
of Adzhara refuse to follow the orders of the central government.

Akron Beacon Journal , OH
April 22 2004

Yo-Yo Ma travels The Silk Road

Yo-Yo Ma now trades safety for unusual exotic sounds of Silk Road

By Elaine Guregian

Beacon Journal music writer

As one of classical music’s biggest names, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma could
easily have spent his career playing only the most mainstream of
classical pieces. Audiences would have been happy. But curiosity got
the best of this inquisitive player, who next month will receive the
Harvard Arts Medal from Harvard University, where he graduated in
1976.

Ma branched out. He played bluegrass with Mark O’Connor and Edgar
Meyer on Appalachia Waltz and Appalachian Journey. He stepped up to
tango music in Piazzolla: Soul of the Tango.

And in 1998, he began his most ambitious, wide-ranging project so
far: The Silk Road Project, a combination of performances,
commissions of new music and education, all with a global reach. The
concept for the project comes from the idea of looking at the ancient
Silk Road trading route used from the first millennium B.C. to the
middle of the second millennium A.D. The Silk Road stretched from
China and Japan across Central Asia to reach Persia (now Iran),
Turkey, Greece and Italy.

In these a vast number of cultures thrived, with their music
cross-pollinated by the travelers on the trade route. (For a map of
the route and other information on the Silk Road project, go to
)

Tonight, Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble are coming to E.J. Thomas Hall
under the auspices of Tuesday Musical to perform a program that
includes music from Turkey, China and Armenia. Some of the music is
traditional folk songs or instrumental pieces. Other are newer works,
like Kayhan Kalhor’s Gallop of a Thousand Horses, that build on the
past. In this piece, the Iranian composer took folk songs of his
country as the basis of a new string quartet.

Akron is part of a seven-city U.S. tour by the ensemble, a fluid
group that changes according to the repertoire scheduled for
different concerts. Before the tour began, Yo-Yo Ma spoke by phone
from Cambridge, Mass.

One thing he’s trying to do with this project, he said, is to show
different ways music gets passed on. “Your mother may have sung it
to you (or) you heard pieces and transferred (them). Some people
write them down. Some people collect things and then re-invigorate
(the music) in other ways,” Ma said.

One such historian was Vartabed Komitas (1869-1935), an Armenian
singer who collected more than 1,000 Armenian folk songs. The
Armenian people’s numbers were decimated by massacres in the late
19th and early 20th centuries, so it’s especially significant that
Komitas preserved an aspect of this small country’s cultural history.

Besides doing concerts like the one at E.J. Thomas nationally and
internationally, the Silk Road Ensemble has been involved in projects
like a two-week residency last January at the Peabody Essex Museum in
Massachusetts. Here the musicians had a chance to study the
collection with the curators and improvise in the galleries.
Storytellers and craftspeople were present, too, rounding out the
offerings.

“It was, I would say, one of the highlights of my entire life, being
able to interact with an audience in a very relaxed way, to work with
schoolchildren, at-risk kids, drum circles. It’s sort of like what
Bali is like, in that theater and art and entertainment are all mixed
and everybody participates,” Ma said.

The Essex is a large museum of Asian art and culture. What would Ma
think of doing a project at the Cleveland Museum of Art, whose
collection of Asian art is world-renowned?

The question was hardly out of a reporter’s mouth before Ma responded
appreciatively. “I know the Cleveland Museum, I love that museum. If
the opportunity ever came up, we would love to do that.”

Making plans seems to be as much fun for Ma as carrying them out.
He’s involved in plans with NHK, the Tokyo broadcast giant, which is
doing a documentary on the Silk Road Project. And he’s working hard
to generate excitement for another round of Silk Road commissions as
well as another recording. Commissioning new pieces that extend
centuries-old traditions is part of renewal, Ma said.

“And it’s fun to present it in a setting where it’s not like, this
is a new music concert. It all works together.”

Doing more commissioning and recording another Silk Road CD would
call for major financial backing, but it’s not out of the realm of
possibility for an organization that boasts as its supporters Ford
Motor Co., Siemens and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. “We’re
pushing for it!” Ma said enthusiastically. And as the saying goes,
when he speaks, people listen.

Elaine Guregian is the Beacon Journal’s classical music critic. She
can be reached by phone at 330-996-3574 or e-mail at
[email protected]

CTV News, Canada
April 22 2004

Turkey condemns Canada’s genocide vote
CTV.ca News Staff

Turkey is condemning a decision by the House of Commons to approve a
motion calling the Armenian genocide a “crime against humanity.”

Parliament voted Wednesday 153-86 in favour of a private member’s
bill formally recognizing the genocide of Armenian Turks during the
First World War.

Turkey had warned that Canada would face economic consequences if it
recognized the killings as genocide, and in a statement issued
Thursday accused Canadian legislators of being “narrow-minded.”

“Some narrow minded Canadian politicians were not able to understand
that such decisions based on … prejudiced information, will awaken
feelings of hatred among people of different (ethnic) roots and
disturb social harmony,” the statement said.

Prime Minister Paul Martin was absent for the vote on the motion,
which read: “… this House acknowledges the Armenian genocide of
1915 and condemns this act as a crime against humanity.”

Armenia says 1.5 million people were killed between 1915-1923, during
a campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey.

Turkey’s government rejects the label of genocide, saying 2.5 million
Muslims were also killed during this period of civil unrest. It
estimates 600,000 Armenians were killed.

Canada is among a handful of countries to formally label the killings
as genocide. They include Switzerland, France, Argentina, Russia, as
well as U.S. state governments. The United Nations have also
recognized the genocide.

When French legislators recognized the genocide in 2001, Turkey
cancelled millions of dollars worth of defence contracts.

The Canadian Embassy in Turkey issued a statement today distancing
itself from the vote.

“Debates and votes on private member’s business in the House of
Commons are an integral part of the Canadian democratic process but
private members’ motions are not binding on the Government of
Canada,” it said.

It also reiterated Canada’s position on the killings from a June
10,1999, vote in the House of Commons as “tragic.”

Most Liberal backbenchers voted for the motion Wednesday, while many
cabinet ministers were not present.

Martin was accused by the opposition of hypocrisy for promising more
free votes but not showing up for this one.

Liberal MP Hedy Fry, who voted for the motion, said it’s important to
remember the atrocities were carried out by the Ottoman empire, which
has since been replaced by the current Turkish state.

“I think we need to recognize the past,” she said.

“I think it doesn’t mean we’ve broken ties with the current regime in
Turkey. They are our colleagues, they are our NATO allies. They are a
moderate, Muslim government and I think we need to work with them.”