ASBAREZ Online [04-22-2005]

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04/22/2005
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1) Armenian Genocide Marked in Capitol Hill Observance
2) State of California Commemorates the Armenian Genocide
3) Turkish Army Urges Armenia to Drop Genocide Claims, Work for Good Ties
4) European Armenian Federation Praises Poland's Armenian Genocide Resolution
5) European Armenian Federation Issues Proclamation on 90th Anniversary of
Armenian Genocide
6) SOAD Set to Perform on Saturday Night Live
7) KPFK 90.7 to Air Program on Armenian Genocide
8) Armenian-American Community of South Bay Cities Mark 90th Anniversary of
the
Armenian Genocide
9) Diaspora Armenians Flourish as They Remember Events of 1915
10) LETTER TO THE EDITOR
11) Paragons of Shame
12) Rally for Justice And Truth - Friday, April 29, 2005
13) Near East Foundation Celebrates 90th Year
14) Beyond Genocide: The Semantics of Deception and Elimination
15) Confessions of an Angry Armenian
16) Tidbits From The DinerÂ*Â*Â*
17) Genocide Acknowledgment: A Dead End?
18) Our Grandmother's Heritage to Us All
19) Armed with Knowledge
20) Nightmare on Los Feliz St.--Revenge of the Living Braindead
21) UCLA Student Government Takes Decisive Stance on Sale of Turkish Goods on
Campus
22) Talking Turkey

OUR NEXT ISSUE: In observance of the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide,
Asbarez offices will be closed on Monday, April 25; our next issue will be
posted on Tuesday, April 26.


1) Armenian Genocide Marked in Capitol Hill Observance

-- Armenian Caucus, Community Leaders, Armenian Embassy Host Special 90th
Anniversary Remembrance

WASHINGTON, DC--Armenian Americans from throughout the US gathered on Capitol
Hill on Thursday to participate in a special series of events marking the 90th
Anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
Over 20 Armenian American organizations coordinated a gathering with
Members of
Congress, providing an opportunity for constituents to discuss key concerns
with their legislators and speak out in support of proper US reaffirmation of
the Armenian genocide. Representatives joining with community members included
Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairmen Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Joe
Knollenberg (R-MI), as well as Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Jeb Bradley (R-NH),
Eric
Cantor (R-VA), John Conyers (D-MI), Joe Crowley (D-NY), Barney Frank (D-MA),
Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Steve Rothman (D-NJ), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Hilda
Solis
(D-CA), and Diane Watson (D-CA).
The Capitol Hill reception was organized by the Armenian Assembly of America,
Armenian National Committee of America, Armenian Relief Society and Armenian
General Benevolent Union, and sponsored under the auspices of Armenia Fund
USA,
Armenian International Women's Association, Armenian American Cultural
Association, Armenian Bar Association, Armenian Church Youth Organization,
Armenian Democratic Liberal Organization, Armenian Engineers and Scientific
Association, Armenian Missionary Association, Armenian National Institute,
Soorp Khatch Church, ARMENPAC-Armenian American Political Action Committee,
Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Armenian Youth Federation, Armenian Council
of America, Daughters of Vartan, Diocese of the Armenian Church, Hamazkayin
Armenian Cultural Organization, Knights of Vartan-Avaktivan, Office of the
Nagorno-Karabagh Republic, Prelacy Armenian Apostolic Church, Social
Democratic
Hnchakian Party, and the Tekeyan Cultural Association.
Following the gathering, community members went to the historic Cannon Caucus
room for the 90th Anniversary Observance of the Armenian Genocide on Capitol
Hill, organized by the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, held in
cooperation with the Armenian Embassy and Armenian American groups. The
program
included moving speeches by Henry Morgenthau III, the grandson of US
Ambassador
Henry Morgenthau, who worked valiantly to call attention and stop the Armenian
Genocide in his capacity as US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
Spotlighting the US record of relief aid to the survivors of the Armenian
Genocide, the program also included keynote remarks by Ryan LaHurd, President
of the Near East Foundation, which was formed in 1916 to help the victims of
the Armenian genocide. Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-chairmen Frank
Pallone,
Jr. (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) were masters of ceremony for the
function, which included remarks from Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Paul
Sarbanes
(D-MD) and Jack Reed (D-RI), as well as Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier
(R-CA), House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Foreign Operations
Subcommittee Ranking Democrat Nita Lowey (D-NY), and Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA),
George Radanovich (R-CA), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Edward Royce (R-CA), Anna Eshoo
(D-CA), Thad McCotter (R-MI), Mark Foley (R-FL), and James Langevin (D-RI).
Newly appointed Armenian Ambassador to the US Tatoul Markarian and Mountainous
Karabagh Representative Vardan Barseghian outlined their respective
governments' commitment to genocide recognition and praised the US heroic
efforts to assist genocide survivors in 1915. Cypriot Ambassador to the US
Euripedes Evriades also participated in the solemn Capitol Hill event.
Other Members of Congress in attendance included Reps. John Conyers (D-MI),
Lane Evans (D-IL), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Mike Honda (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee
(D-TX), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), and Mark Souder (R-IN).
His
Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan and Bishop Vicken Aykazian provided the
invocation and closing prayers respectively.


2) State of California Commemorates the Armenian Genocide

--Gov. Schwarzenegger signs Poochigian's SB 424 into law
--Sen. Jackie Speier delivers SJR 2 to a rally of over 1,500
--March for Humanity ends at State Capitol

SACRAMENTO--California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger invited, on Thursday,
California Armenian American community leaders, along with State Senators
Jackie Speier and Charles Poochigian and Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, to his
chambers to commemorate the Armenian genocide. Armenian National Committee
(ANC) Western Region Chairman Steven Dadaian and Sacramento Chapter Chairman
Hovanes Boghossian were among those at the special occasion. Prior to visiting
the Governor, the ANC organized the Armenian genocide 90th Anniversary
Commemorative Committee of California's day of remembrance in the Golden
State's capital.
The day began with the last leg of the March for Humanity from the Sacramento
Armenian Apostolic Church to the State's Capitol building. Over 500 members of
the California Armenian American community--along with Senator Jackie Speier
and State Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer--joined the marchers in
concluding their 215-mile, 19-day journey that began in Fresno on April 2. The
procession was met at the Capitol steps by legislators, including Sen.
Poochigian.
Armenian American community leaders were welcomed into the Senate as it
took up
SJR 2--the resolution that marks April 24, 2005 as California's day of
remembrance led by Sen. Speier.
With an overflow crowd of March for Humanity supporters attending the day's
Senate session, His Eminence Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian gave the
invocation in commemoration of the Armenian genocide.
"This week we commemorate the 90th anniversary of this most atrocious massacre
perpetrated by the Turkish Government," said the Archbishop in his opening
prayer. "Bless our Governor, our State Senators, State Assemblymen, and all
those elected officials who are staunch supporters for truth and justice."
Sen. Speier, who is Armenian American, gave a heartfelt account of the
Armenian
genocide for the Senate's record. Other Senators presented statements as well,
in support of Sen. Speier's resolution, and passed the resolution unanimously.
Following the Senate's conclusion of its commemoration of the Armenian
genocide, the Armenian American group, composed of approximately 30 community
leaders, including the clergy, the Armenian Consul General of Los Angeles, and
the March for Humanity, left the floor of the Senate to be introduced on the
floor of the State Assembly for the consideration of SB 424--the bill that
permanently designates the week of April 24 California's week of
remembrance of
the Armenian genocide authored by Sen. Poochigian. After supportive
speeches by
Assemblymembers Greg Aghazarian, Dario Frommer, Juan Arambula, Carol Liu,
Jerome Horton, and Jackie Goldberg, the Assembly voted unanimously 70-0 to
pass
the Poochigian Bill.
Following the sessions, leaders of California's legislature joined the Rally
for Humanity on the South Steps of the Capitol. Master of Ceremonies and
ANC-Western Region Chairman Steven Dadaian welcomed the crowd of almost 2,000,
who turned out from communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin
Valley, and Southern California to thank California on its principled
leadership on the issue of the Armenian Genocide recognition. Dadaian then
introduced legislators Poochigian, Speier, Scott, Alquist, Simitian, Yee,
Frommer, Aghazarian, Liu, Villines, as well as Controller Steve Westly, who
all
addressed the gathering demanding that the US Congress and the Administration
acknowledge the Armenian genocide properly, and require that Turkey atone for
this monumental crime against humanity.
"We call on Turkey to stop its shameful campaign of denial of the Armenian
Genocide, and are proud that we are unanimously joined by the entire
government
of the State of California," expressed Dadaian.
After the signing ceremony with the Governor, Hovanes Boghossian said, "In all
my years in Sacramento I have never seen so many Armenians so motivated as
they
were today."


3) Turkish Army Urges Armenia to Drop Genocide Claims, Work for Good Ties

ISTANBUL (AFP)--The head of the powerful Turkish army on Wednesday called on
Armenia to drop allegations that Turks committed genocide against Armenians
during World War I and work towards improving bilateral ties.
"Turkey wants to normalize its ties with Armenia," General Hilmi Ozkok said in
a yearly evaluation speech at the military academy here. "But for this to
happen, Armenia must abide by international law and fulfill the obligations of
good neighborly relations."
His call came just days before Armenians prepared to commemorate the 90th
anniversary of the massacres.
Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia since the
former Soviet republic gained independence in 1991 because of Armenian efforts
to secure international condemnation of the 1915-1917 massacres as genocide.
In 1993, Turkey shut its border with Armenia in a show of solidarity with its
close ally Azerbaijan, which was at war with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh
enclave, dealing a heavy economic blow on the impoverished country.
Ozkok argued that there was no basis for the genocide allegations and that
Turkey could not be held responsible for the killings during the
dissolution of
its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire.
The 1923 Lausanne Treaty, which established modern-day Turkey, "put an end to
the baseless genocide claims politically and legally," Ozkok said.
"No responsibility was passed on to the Turkish Republic with the treaty," he
added.
The Armenian massacres of World War I are one of the most controversial
episodes in Turkish history.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in orchestrated killings
during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey argues that 300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks were killed in
what was civil strife during World War I when the Armenians, backed by Russia,
rose against their Ottoman rulers.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week proposed to President Robert
Kocharian the creation of a joint commission to study the genocide allegations
as a first step towards normalizing ties between the two estranged neighbors.
Yerevan has not yet responded to the offer, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman
Namik Tan said Wednesday.


4) European Armenian Federation Praises Poland's Armenian Genocide Resolution

(EAFJD)--As the Polish Sejm (Poland's Parliament) unanimously passed on April
19 a resolution officially acknowledging the Armenian genocide, the European
Armenian Federation hailed the action and expressed appreciation on behalf of
all Armenians.
The document, initiated by the Sejm Presidium, reads in part, "The memory of
the crimes of those years is a moral duty of all the states and people of good
will. In the process of Turkey's integration in the EU, the European Union
demands the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide and establishment of
relations with Armenia." The resolution is awaiting consideration in the
Senate.
With this resolution, Poland became the 9th State of the European Union to do
so, after Cyprus, Greece, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, France, Slovakia, and the
Netherlands.
"We hail this resolution marked by greatness and lucidity. Through this vote,
the People of Poland testified their attachment to the ethical values of the
Union. We extend to them our congratulations and our fraternal thanks," stated
Hilda Tchoboian, chairperson of the European Armenian Federation
"We note that with this last resolution, 210 of 460 millions Europeans
directly
ask Turkey to recognize the genocide and, if tomorrow Germany votes a similar
text, it will be nearly 300 millions Europeans who will support this demand.
With these repeated resolutions, Europeans confirm the resolution voted by the
European Parliament in 1987. Turkey must now assume its responsibility by a
sincere and explicit recognition of the Armenian Genocide," concluded
Tchoboian.


5) European Armenian Federation Issues Proclamation on 90th Anniversary of
Armenian Genocide

BRUSSELS--On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide,
the
European Armenian Federation issued a statement calling on European civil
society--including representatives of associative organizations, survivors of
the Armenian genocide, children and grandchildren of Armenian genocide
survivors, among others--to sign a declaration urging the democratic and
executive institutions of the European Union to appropriately commemorate the
90th anniversary of the first Genocide of the 20th century. The Federation
also
called on national Parliaments and the European Parliament to clearly express
their will for Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide in all official
documents regarding future negotiations with the Republic of Turkey.
The Federation stressed that this anniversary, falling on the actual year set
for the opening of negotiations with Turkey, must mark a turning point in the
priority given to the Genocide issue by the European Executive in its
relations
with Turkey.
The European Commission, in the framework of defining its perspective on
regional policy, made reference to the Armenian genocide in its last report on
Turkey. The Commission, however, failed to use the proper term of genocide,
and, inappropriately, reduced this international issue to a simple bilateral
one between Turkey and Armenia.
"Accepting a denialist country in its midst, is first of all, a serious
problem
for the future of Europe. The European Executive cannot ignore anymore the
continued calls of national Parliaments and the European Parliament, whose
resolution of December 15th, 2004 asked the European Commission and Council to
demand that Turkey recognize the Genocide," said Hilda Tchoboian, Chairperson
of the European Armenian Federation.
The European Federation's statement also recalled that many European countries
were witnesses to the annihilation of the Armenians, which occurred on the
borders of Europe, while others actually were complicit in its implementation.
Others promised to work for justice and to institute legal proceedings against
the responsible state and its guilty leaders. In the end, however, these
promises were never fulfilled due to political compromises by the Allies,
which
led to a general amnesia regarding this tragedy throughout Europe, the
statement read.
"The Europe of today--made up of these states--cannot escape its
responsibility
for addressing this crime. The duty of memory is essential for all Europeans
and European democratic institutions," noted Tchoboian.
The declaration of the European Armenian Federation is open to all democratic
and constituent organizations that comprise European civil society.
The text is available on www.eafjd.org.


6) SOAD Set to Perform on Saturday Night Live

LOS ANGELES (Blabbermouth)--System Of A Down will appear as the musical guest
on "Saturday Night Live" on Saturday, May 7. This will be the band's
first-ever
appearance on the show, where they will perform two songs--"B.Y.O.B." and
"Chop
Suey." Johnny Knoxville will be hosting the program, which airs on NBC.
In other news, System Of A Down has announced the following US dates: Apr.
25--San Francisco, CA, at The Fillmore and Apr. 30--Austin, TX, at Austin
Music
Hall.
As previously reported, the band held an exclusive preview of "Mezmerize," the
first half of their new double-CD set, on April 13 in New York City. The
listening session for the record was held at a hotel in the city's downtown
Soho district. The second half of the "Mezmerize/Hypnotize" project,
"Hypnotize," is due out sometime this fall.
"Mezmerize" arrives in stores on May 17.
System Of A Down will hold its annual Souls benefit concert, in memory of
Armenian genocide victims, on April 24 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los
Angeles. A full North American tour is tentatively slated for August and
September.


7) KPFK 90.7 to Air Program on Armenian Genocide

LOS ANGELES--The Pacifica Foundation will air a special on-air programming
called "The Armenian Genocide," co-hosted and co-produced by Pacifica National
Board member, and weekly KPFK drive-time public affairs show host and producer
Maria Armoudian and co-producer Lucy Der Tawitian.
Guests include author Peter Balakian, survivor Sam Kadorian, System Of A Down
singer Serj Tankian, and legendary journalist and media critic Ben Bagdikian
among others.
The program will air on Sunday, April 24, at 3:00 PM Pacific Standard Time on
KPFK 90.7 FM, other Pacifica stations, and on the Web at www.kpfk.org.


8) Armenian-American Community of South Bay Cities Mark 90th Anniversary of
the
Armenian Genocide

TORRANCE--The City Councils of three South Bay Cities have joined other
California cities and Armenians around the world in commemorating the 90th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide. The Cities of Lawndale, Rolling Hills
Estates, and Lomita have passed or will be passing proclamations honoring the
memory of the victims of the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman
Turkish
Government.
On April 12, the Mayor of the City of Rolling Hills Estates presented a
proclamation declaring April 24, 2005 as a "Day of remembrance of the Armenian
Genocide of 1915-1925." The Mayor presented the proclamation to Councilmember
Frank Zerunyan, whose grandparents are survivors of the Genocide. Councilman
Zerunyan will also be one of the featured speakers at a commemorative event
organized by the Torrance chapter of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF),
which
will be taking place at the Armenian Community Center located at 2222 Lomita
Blvd. on Friday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m.
The City of Lawndale followed suit on Monday, April 18, passing a similar
proclamation, as the City of Lomita will be doing during its City Council
meeting on Monday, May 2. "We are thankful that our civic leaders are taking
the time to recognize an issue that is so important to members of our
community
both young and old", commented the chairperson of the ANC-South Bay, Khajik
Khajadourian. "These proclamations not only commemorate the Armenian Genocide
but also send a message that present-day Turkey must come to terms with its
past."
The South Bay ANC and AYF chapters will be working together to encourage more
South Bay cities to join the growing number of California cities in
commemorating the Armenian genocide next year.
The Armenian-American community in the South Bay includes active chapters of
the Armenian Relief Society, which operates a weekly Armenian language school,
Armenian National Committee, Homenetmen Armenian General Athletic Union, and
Armenian Youth Federation "Potorig" Chapter.


9) Diaspora Armenians Flourish as They Remember Events of 1915

By JOSEPH PANOSSIAN
Associated Press Writer

[excerpts]

ANJAR, Lebanon (AP)--As the Ottoman Turkish army was driving Armenians from
their homes during World War I, people from six villages along the
Mediterranean coast fled to the Musa Dagh peak andwith a few hundred rifles
and
provisions they dragged up the mountainheld off attacks by the Turks for more
than 40 days.
Finally, surrounded by thousands of troops, the Armenians managed to flee in
September 1915 by getting word to a French warship below. Their story,
recounted in the popular novel "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh" by Austrian
writer
Franz Werfel, became a symbol of resistance by the Ottoman Empire's Christian
Armenian minority.
Ninety years later, many of the descendants of that epic defense live in the
village of Anjar in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border. They are
among an estimated 5 million to 6 million in a worldwide Armenian diaspora
that
resulted largely from the expulsions and massacres by Turks during World
War I.
In Anjar, Vartouhi Sannakian, who was 7 when she fled Musa Dagh, remembers
trekking down the steep slopes of the 1,335-meter (nearly 5,000-foot) mountain
to a rocky bay, joining thousands of other villagers sailing into the Armenian
diaspora.
Now bedridden, she speaks in short spurts of her escape from the mountain in
southern Turkey called Musa Ler, or the Mount of Moses, in Armenian.
"We were hungry ... we were thirsty. French soldiers came and carried us and
said, 'Don't be afraid, don't be afraid,'" she said. French warships took the
fleeing Armenians to Egypt to wait out the war, and later the French returned
them home. But when a 1939 partition put Musa Dagh in Turkish territory,
France
again stepped in, taking the villagers to Lebanon.
Around the world, diaspora Armenians have flourished in business, politics and
the arts. Luminaries include former California Gov. George Deukmejian,
American
author William Saroyan, painter Arshile Gorky, Argentinian financier Eduardo
Eurnekian, French singer Charles Aznavour, former French Prime Minister
Edouard
Balladur, and singer-actress Cherylyn Sarkissian, known to the world as Cher.
Though many have melted into their adopted lands, diaspora Armenians say they
still want modern Turkey to recognize atrocities committed by its Ottoman
predecessors. Armenians estimate 1.5 million people died in massacres or
forced
marches.
"Acknowledgment of truth in totality is the first concrete step toward a new
beginning (with Turkey). Healing is generated primarily through
truth-telling,"
Catholicos Aram I of the House Of Cilicia, the spiritual head of about 2
million Armenian Orthodox in the diaspora, said from his seat at Antelias just
north of Beirut.
Anjar in the early 1900s was a stretch of arid land surrounding Roman,
Byzantine and Omayyad Muslim Ruins. Now it is the only all-Armenian town
outside the Republic of Armenia.
Most language in the town of 3,000--from street signs to store ads--is in
Armenian, and the people speak a dialect few other Armenians understand. All
three Armenian religious denominations--Orthodox, Catholic and
Evangelical--have their own churches, schools and clubs.
In the summer, Anjar's population more than doubles, with people returning for
family reunions and ceremonies at a memorial for the 18 villagers killed in
the
1915 fighting, according to Hagop Ainteblian of Anjar's municipal council.
Visitors share traditional herissa wheat and mutton soup--along with arak, an
anise-flavored liquor.
The Armenian community throughout Lebanon once numbered 350,000, but it's
shrunk to about 80,000-100,000 after emigration during the country's 1975-90
civil war. Among the largest Armenian communities worldwide are the 2 million
living in Russia and former Soviet republics.


10) LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor,

In reading your publication and many other viewpoints on the lingering
issue of
Turkish admission of the second Armenian Genocide in modern times, I am
troubled by the relatively myopic stance the Armenian-American press and
political organizations continue to take on this event.
As an Armenian-American, whose grandparents were survivors of the genocide
that
began in 1915, I am personally touched and shaped by the policies of ethnic
cleansing pursued and executed by the CUP (Young Turks). I am, however, not in
the least bit naive of the current geopolitical environment we face, as
Americans and Armenians, in the quickly reshaping Middle East.
The current US Administration has made a clear and pronounced pursuit of
democratization in the region. To materialize this 'new' Middle East, it will
require the compliance and peripheral aid of the only steadfast allies the US
has in this area: Israel and Turkey, two nations with similar, revisionist
official views on the Armenian genocide.
The global legitimacy of the Armenian nation's claim against Turkey, it seems,
can only be derived by a tacit American acceptance of the facts of the
Armenian
genocide, as presented for nine decades by the Armenian churches, diaspora
organizations, objective historical reviews and US State department accounts.
Simply put, without the American government accepting the general facts of the
Genocide as known to the Armenian diaspora for almost a century, Turkey will
not yield on the issue of admission. Objectively viewed, today's political
climate does not call for American pressure on Turkey to resolve the Armenian
genocide issue expeditiously and fairly. Coupled with Israel's official
waffling on the facts, we as Armenians find ourselves, in the halls of the UN,
EU, or Congress, in a scene tantamount to talking to ourselves.
What does hold political value in the eyes of the current administration, as
well as members of Congress, is the Armenian republic's ability to participate
in a positive, productive manner in the world's economic and political forums.
This requires all Armenians, citizens of the Republic and members of the
diaspora, to work together to strengthen the viability and importance of our
small nation, in the eyes of the world. A dogged determination to run a free,
democratic and capitalistic nation in the Caucasus while maintaining a
position
of open dialogue with Muslim, Arab and Slavic neighbors is more vital to the
future prosperity of the Armenian nation than most diasporan organizations
seem
to realize. The events of 1915-1918 happened; they are known; they are
historically catalogued and they will continue to be a mandatory subject in
the
construct of rapprochement with Turkey. Armenians, however, must realize that
this singular issue cannot define our people nor the republic's policies, and
that a broader internal and external examination of today's challenges must be
at the forefront of public debate as it relates to Armenia's future.
Armenia has a violent history, some of it very recent.
Diasporan organizations pursued terrorism as a means of vindication; more
recently, violence was used in voicing political dissent in the Armenian
Parliament. This stain on our heritage must also be addressed, openly and
honestly. The incorporation and assimilation of Armenian immigrants as
positive, productive members of society in California and beyond must also
be a
topic significantly pursued and discussed in editorials and public debate. The
political cache for Armenians in the US is under-developed, in comparison to
other ethnic groups, for a multitude of reasons, one of which is the
consistent
endorsement of political candidates by Armenian organizations based almost
solely on the candidate's stance on the Genocide. Armenians are generally very
well-educated, politically literate and vocal, and above all, passionate about
the very values that American society is returning to today: Family, personal
responsibility, political participation--these values are what should drive
our
political views and participation, a more comprehensive assessment of
political
candidates beyond strictly Armenian issues will lend more power and persuasion
to the voting block than simple 'party line' votes based on the Genocide
issue.
It would be at least refreshing to know that the great and historically
important Armenian publications and organizations based in the US and abroad
can discuss and address issues important to Armenians and Armenia beyond the
Genocide. The Genocide gives the Armenian people an important cultural,
historic, and personal bond with one another. It can never, ever be
understated. However, the true test of societal and cultural perpetuation is
EVOLUTION. I look forward to seeing Armenian discourse evolve, particularly in
the US, to issues that are immediately important to Armenians, such as
immigration, language, political participation and representation, social
behavior and assimilation and economics. I personally would like to see a
renewed proliferation of Armenian culture and service in the regional
societies
where Armenians live and work, reaching out to other cultures and political
organizations so that the voice of Armenia is heard from city council chambers
to the West Wing, where we can write a new chapter in the annals of Armenian
history, one that is impacted and shaped by the Armenians of today.

Regards,

Raffy Ohannesian
Los Angeles, CA


11) Paragons of Shame

By Garen Yegparian

This is a sad, bad true tale of arrogant, egotistical, and community-damaging
behavior by some Armenians. It's the tale of the Tuesday, April 5, 2005
City of
Glendale General Municipal Elections.
Let's get a few facts and guiding assumptions out. At the time of writing,
this
piece is based on numbers as of the wee hours of Wednesday morning.Â*
Provisional ballots have not been counted, nor have late-receipt absentee
ballots been completely counted as of this writing. Based on information from
the Glendale City Clerk's office, the relative positions have not changed with
the additional votes counted since election day. So, the points raised here
are
not impacted. I also assume that an overwhelming proportion of Armenian
voters,
I would guess some 90%, voted exclusively for Armenian candidates, a sign of
our political immaturity.
Of course the good news is that Ardashes Kassakhian got elected as Glendale's
new City Clerk. But even here there's some bad news. Had the three other
Armenian candidates not run, he would have been elected with half of the total
votes cast instead of just over a quarter. That would have been much more of a
mandate. The Armenian vote was scattered by Narineh Barzegar, Lorna Vartanian,
and Paulette Mardikian. Particularly worthy of scorn is the last person named,
whose claim of service to the Armenian community was that she served Armenians
who needed language assistance, while doing her full-time city job. How
ridiculous! How pathetic! Our community's loudmouth, ill-informed, and
deceitful talk show hosts also contributed to an aura of suspicion being
created around Ardashes, which can't but have hurt the results. They raised
the
issue that because the city clerk is a full time paid position, it is somehow
different from the other elected offices. What a red herring! All elected
officials receive payment, though some are nominal. Too bad. An excellent
opportunity and result sullied and diminished by a bunch of electoral idiots
(henceforth--"EIs").
In the City Council and School Board races, the EIs actually prevented some of
the best candidates from getting elected. Taking the votes utterly wasted on
EIs Naira Khachatrian and Hasmig Aslanian and allocating just half of those to
Nayiri Nahabedian would have secured the latter's victory. Similarly, Vrej
Agajanian, Hovik Gabikian, Garry Sinanian garnered enough votes to seriously
hurt Anahid Oshagan and Chahe Keuroghlian. Without those three EIs, there's an
excellent chance that both Anahid and Chahe would have been elected.Â*
Certainly, at least one of them would have.


12) Rally for Justice And Truth

Friday, April 29, 2005

A peaceful rally demanding official US recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
and a just resolution to the Armenian Case will take place on Friday, April 29
in front of the US Federal Building located at 11000 Wilshire Blvd. in Los
Angeles. Organized by the United Human Rights Council, the rally is scheduled
to take place 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM.

Transportation to the rally will be provided at the following locations:
BURBANK, Jons Market, Western and Glenoaks 9:30
BURBANK, Public Library, Olive and Glenoaks 9:30
GLENDALE, St. Mary's Church 500 S. Central 9:30
HOLLYWOOD, St. Garabed Church, 1614 N. Alexandria 9:30
ENCINO, Holy Martyrs Church/Ferrahian, 5300 Whiteoak 9:30
MONTEBELO/ PICO RIVERA, Mesrobian School, 8110 Paramount 8:30
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Armenian Center, Colfax and Moorpark 9:30
PASADENA, Armenian Center, 740 Washington 9:00
LA CRESCENTA, Armenian Center 2633 Honolulu 9:30

For more details call 818-507-1933


13) Near East Foundation Celebrates 90th Year

The Near East Foundation (NEF), a pioneer of American philanthropy abroad, is
commemorating its 90th anniversary this year, with a series of celebratory
events planned throughout the year, highlighted by a gala dinner to take place
September 21 in New York City.
Founded as Near East Relief in 1915 in urgent response to the Armenian
genocide
and deportations, the Foundation pioneered international humanitarian
assistance in the process.
During World War I, the Near East Foundation is credited with saving million
lives of Armenians, Assyrians, Arabs, Persians, and others in the region, as
well as 132,000 orphans. Many Armenians can trace their lives or those of
their
parents and grandparents back to Near East Relief orphanages and camps. NEF's
rescue mission and relief operation during war and subsequent reconstruction
work in its aftermath employed techniques that reverberated through the
following decades and are employed to this day. NEF's approach created the
models for the Marshall Plan, Truman's Point IV Program, the Peace Corps, the
US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the United Nations
Development Program.
"While the Near East Foundation has an extraordinary record of past
accomplishments, we remain on the cutting-edge of practice today.
Currently, we
are at work in a wide range of development projects in a dozen countries of
the
Middle East and Africa, carrying out this organization's historic mission--'To
help the people of the Middle East and Africa build the future they envision
for themselves'," commented NEF President Ryan A. LaHurd.
Corroborating that view, NEF received the prestigious Arab Gulf Program for
United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND) International Prize for
Pioneering Development Projects in 2004, for enhancing nursing as a career in
Upper Egypt. Announced in Riyadh, the award came as a result of a competition
with 83 projects from 32 countries on three continents.
The Near East Foundation also received the 2004 Freedom Award, the highest
recognition granted by the Armenian National Committee of America, for the
organization's "longstanding history of aiding the Armenian people and others
in their darkest hours." In February of this year, NEF was among those
honored,
and NEF's President delivered the keynote address, at the "International
Relief, Refuge, and Recognition" luncheon sponsored by The Armenian
Assembly of
America, The Armenian General Benevolent Union, and The Western Diocese of the
Armenian Church of North American, to honor Near East Foundation's
humanitarian
response to the Armenian genocide.
Further recognition came in the 2003 museum exhibition, "Near East/New York:
The Near East Foundation and American Philanthropy," of 300 photographs and
objects from the Near East Foundation archive chronicling its early work.Â* The
show debuted at the Museum of the City of New York in Manhattan, and has
subsequently toured this past winter to the Doheny Memorial Library at the
University of Southern California. In 2004, NEF's history--as well as its
current work in Morocco and Egypt--were featured in two, half-hour, television
programs, produced for "The Visionaries," a series on "philanthropies that
make
a difference" broadcast nationally on PBS.

ORIGINS

NEF was created in response to an alarming cable from American Ambassador to
the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau to the US Secretary of State stating that
the Turkish "destruction of the Armenian race is progressing rapidly," and it
was urgent that something be done. Within two week, a group of civic,
business,
and religious leaders, led by Cleveland H. Dodge, formed a committee, mostly
comprised of distinguished New Yorkers, to rescue over a million people caught
up in the tragedy. Dodge's grandson, David S. Dodge, still serves the Near
East
Foundation, having been for many years the chair of its board of directors. He
is representative of the intergenerational commitment of many of the founding
families and their ongoing financial support through the years.
The volunteer committee quickly met its $100,000 goal, thanks to donations
from
those early board members. By 1919, the committee was chartered by Congress
and
designated the primary channel for US postwar aid to the region. From 1915 to
1930, Near East Relief raised $110 million for refugees--that is about $1.25
billion in today's dollars--including $25 million in in-kind food and
supplies.Â* This remarkable outpouring occurred at a time when bread cost a
nickel a loaf.
More than one million people had been rescued from certain death by starvation
and exposure. Some 12 million people had been fed, and at one point between
1919-20, an average of 333,000 people were fed daily. Forty hospitals were
built. Over 130,000 children were housed, fed and taught in orphanages and
provided with medical care. One of these Armenian children was Phoebe
Kapikian,
who, thinking back to her memories of being a two-and-a-half year old in the
village of Sivas, recalled only "confusion~Edriven out~Egroups with bundles on
their backs of things that belonged in the house going on ahead~E60-70 children
left behind and I was clinging all the time to my older sister Ashan~Ea long,
hard journey~E."
She was piled into one of the many carriages hired to rescue abandoned orphans
and taken to the Island Of Syra. "The buildings already were in construction.
We were taken care of very well by the Near East Foundation. We would rise on
time, wash our faces. There was plenty of water. They tested every child for
his or her capacity of how much they could read and write. So we had to go to
school and we had food," she explained, recalling her years at the orphanage.
Nearing the age of 10, she was chosen to join a group of children being
sent to
England, later joining her older sister in America--thanks to the tireless
efforts of Katharine Reynolds McCormick, a philanthropist who traveled the
United States lecturing about the plight of orphans, raising funds and finding
homes. "She was a mother for all that she did for me and my sister too," said
Kapikian in an interview shortly before her death in 2004, after a rich life
and career as a librarian in Queens, New York.
Very early in the relief effort, attention focused on helping these rescued
orphans to become self-supporting and contributing members of the communities
that absorbed them. Both in its orphanages and in foster care homes under NEF
auspices, attention shifted to teaching agriculture and industrial skills,
primarily at NEF demonstration centers. A generation of poultry raisers,
dairymen, mechanics, shipbuilders, cabinet makers, masons, shoemakers, tailors
and nurses grew up and moved out into their adopted countries. Thus, NEF went
beyond relief to become the first true international development organization.
In the Middle East, NEF became a symbol of American generosity and a prototype
for the Peace Corps, besides its work with orphans, providing medical aid to
six million patients. NEF was the vehicle for service to the region by
hundreds
of American volunteers--doctors, nurses, teacher, and social workers. NEF
provided hope, home, training, and education to a generation "without a
childhood." NEF saved the remnants of Armenians, helping resettle them in
Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, Greece, and the United States. It also helped
rescue other wartime victims including Assyrians, Greeks, Turks, and Kurds.
NEF
was at work in Armenia, Turkey, Persia, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and
the Caucasus.

PHILANTHROPY

An unsurpassed achievement at the time and remarkable even today, all this was
accomplished by pioneering philanthropic techniques which continue to be
used.Â*
Among the innovations, NEF produced a series of compelling posters created by
top American illustrators. Their national fundraising campaign featured
Madison
Avenue-style slogans like "Hunger Knows No Armistice" and "Clear Your
PlateRemember the Starving Armenians." NEF Bundle Days encouraged Americans to
send used clothing overseas, which they did--by the tons. Celebrities became
spokespersons. Child-actor Jackie Coogan spearheaded the NEF Milk Campaign and
cans of condensed milk were collected at screenings of his films at movie
theaters around the country. He even visited the region, traveling on a "milk
ship" out of New York. Americans were urged to "adopt an orphan," being told
"$60 a year cares for a child." On International Golden Rule Sunday, families
across the country ate a simple orphanage meal and donated the equivalent cost
of their average Sunday dinner. Based on population, each American town and
city was asked to contribute. President Woodrow Wilson issued proclamations
and
wrote endorsement letters.
The lingering impact of NEF fundraising is evident in today's
attention-grabbing graphics on through celebrity endorsements. And the Milk
Campaign continues as well. Twenty tons of milk was distributed by the Near
East Foundation to malnourished children in the West Bank from December
2003 to
early May of 2004. Since then milk, cheese, and other local dairy products
were
delivered to the families of 836 children enrolled in all 17 kindergartens in
the cluster of West Bank villages north of Nablus, where NEF currently is at
work on a range of development projects.
Forty tons of water, much of it to be mixed with powdered milk for children,
was trucked to Baghdad by NEF at the height of the Iraq war along an extremely
dangerous route during US bombings. Also, despite extreme risk for
humanitarian
personnel, NEF delivered 50 sheep to the Abou Shashir refugee camp in Darfur,
Sudan, for the special occasion of the recent Eid Al-Adha celebrations. For a
brief time, despair in the camp lifted and life seems almost normal for people
who feel preyed upon by all sides. NEF was the only non-Islamic, Western
agency
participating in the feast with the local people of Darfur. An NEF shipment of
medicines and blankets followed.

As Early as 1930: Near East Foundation Moves from Relief to Development

Known for emergency relief during the Armenian genocide and deportations and
continuing assistance in the aftermath of World War I, the Near East
Foundation
has been a force for the human and economic development of the region since
1930, when it had successfully completed its refugee activities.Â*
NEF aimed for long-term change, particularly attending to vocational education
and agriculture, including experimental projects and instruction in raising
sheep, poultry and cattle and the use of fertilizer's, seeds and mechanized
farm equipment. NEF had become America's first international development
agency, teaching people skills that could permanently improve their lives. The
idea expressed in the saying, "give a man a fish and he will eat for a day;
teach him to fish and he will eat for a lifetime," became NEF's watchword.Â*
"NEF's approach has had far-reaching significance and has impacted foreign aid
programming for the past half century," according to Dr. Linda Jacobs, a
Middle
Eastern archeologist and current chair of the NEF board of directors.Â* The
Jacobs Family Foundation, set up by her parents, Dr. Joseph and Violet Jabara
Jacobs, has been a long-time generous supporter of NEF's work, and her mother
is NEF's largest individual donor. The Jacobses represent yet another example
of the intergenerational commitment of many NEF supporters through the years.
"Today this approach is termed 'self help'," Dr. Jacobs continued, "but NEF
has
been doing this since the 1920s and 1930s, decades before it became widespread
practice. And 'self help' remains a cornerstone of our development work
internationally to this day. In dozens of programs we work at the grassroots
where training, technology and community-based organizations touch people's
lives."
The NEF-American University of Beirut Institute of Rural Life and its
specialists provided much of the leadership in the post World War II Middle
East in the areas of education, economic development, and health. Activities
ranged broadly from water purification and sanitation improvements, to
decreasing infant mortality and introducing malaria control, to home and
welfare demonstrations and small industries employing women, to organizing
schools and teacher training and developing rural cooperatives.
The Near East Foundation's first experimental rural development program was in
Greece where they worked in 48 villages on land donated by the Greek
government. The program consisted of training in practical farming adapted to
local conditions; water management; basic education in literacy, and health
maintenance. From the beginning, the aim was to develop local leadership and
create programs which could carry on after NEF staff departed. Using this
Macedonian experiment, NEF's work spread eastward to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan,
and Iran. Just one case in point, in 1946, the Iranian government asked the
Near East Foundation to establish a rural improvement program for 350 villages
based on their successful Macedonian model. Four years later in 1950,
President
Truman established the Point IV Program on international aid modeled on NEF's
work in Iran.

PHILOSOPHY

"Many of the now standard ways of going about the business of international
development," Dr. Jacobs commented, "can be traced back to the Near East
Foundation way before the 1960s cries of 'power to the people' and subsequent
social movements. I cannot emphasize this enough since it is an amazing fact
given the prevalent paternalism or worse at the time."
"From its earliest days the philosophy of the Near East Foundation has been
never to impose an agenda, never to come into a community with preconceptions
of what is best, but to listen and learn about the needs from the people
themselves, then get down to work and help," she continued. "The Near East
Foundation has an enviable record through the years of valuing the dignity of
people and respecting their opinions way before it was considered the
preferred
way to proceed," she summed up, concluding, "And unfortunately many
organizations involved in similar work still remain painfully remiss on this
issue today."
Her opinion is reiterated by Steven W. Lawry, Ford Foundation staff person who
was former representative for that foundation's Middle East and North Africa
programs, based in Cairo. He had many opportunities to observe NEF in
action up
close. According to Lawry, "The Near East Foundation has made remarkable
contributions toward alleviating human suffering over the many years since its
founding. My belief is that NEF is best characterized as a humanistic
organization, dedicated to giving vulnerable communities the capacity to shape
sustainable solutions to their own problems. Their staff are dedicated
professionals, highly trained and practiced in sociology, agriculture,
engineering, urban planning, and other fields relevant to development and
change.
"But they also understand the central importance of giving leadership to
beneficiary communities in the design and governance of development and change
initiatives," he emphasized. Importantly, NEF staff members bring to their
work
a profound respect for the dignity and knowledge of those they wish to serve.Â*
This results in interventions and programs that build community social capital
and better enable individuals and communities to constructively address their
problems over the long-term. In short, I personally have had very rewarding
experiences with the Near East Foundation and the qualities of
professionalism,
service and imagination that characterize their work."

INTO AFRICA

In 1964, the Near East Foundation began working with the newly-independent
African countries on agricultural development, recruiting hundreds of
technicians trained in livestock improvement, water management, and scientific
crop improvement. As its work evolved, NEF established a separate African
Endowment Fund that by 1980 financed development of experimental projects in
new areas. In the 1980s, the Near East Foundation responded to the threat of
famine in Mali with a program that embraced livestock rehabilitation, village
seed and cereal banks, agricultural credit, literacy, and soil and water
conservation.Â* Even before the end of Lebanon's civil war in 1988, NEF had
launched a vocational training initiative in that country, including projects
to assist those disabled by the war to find employment.
In the competition between population growth and food shortages in Africa and
the Middle East throughout the 1980s, NEF continued to work on agricultural
improvement tailored to local conditions and the strengthening of local
institutions and communities--what they had been very good at accomplishing
historically. Increasingly, NEF cooperated with other donor agencies to
implement projects ranging from beekeeping in Sudan and Swaziland to community
development in Egypt and Jordan and seed and cereal banks in Mali.
It was in Mali that Steve Lawry of the Ford Foundation first became acquainted
with the Near East Foundation. He was there supervising a University of
Wisconsin group researching forest rights and management. "The locally-based
NEF team asked us to help evaluate their efforts to build an efficient,
low-cost system for better harvesting rainwater for agricultural and forestry
purposes.Â* What we found was astounding," he still sounds astounded to this
day.
"NEF staff had designed a simple water harvesting technology based on
surveying
natural water run-off patterns and constructing, with village volunteer labor,
low-level earthen ridgelines that channeled water to cultivated areas. The
practice reduced stress to crops and improved food security. It represented in
important ways an adoption and extension of traditional and locally-familiar
water conservation techniques.
"However, traditional harvesting practices were limited to individual farms,"
Lawry continued, "To successfully extend the design to a larger water
catchment
area, NEF helped community members work through a number of complex questions
around land tenure, water rights and labor management. NEF staff worked with
intelligence and sensitivity at every level, the technical as well as the
social, in helping shape an intervention that yielded sustainable benefits and
could be managed by the local community permanently." He remains an NEF fan to
this day and later, as the Ford Foundation representative for the Middle East
and North Africa, recommended Ford funding for a variety of NEF research and
community development initiatives.

CENTER FOR DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

A major NEF milestone occurred in 1990 with the establishment of the Center
for
Development Services in Cairo, with assistance from the Ford Foundation, to
support their initiatives in community development. The center maintained that
early focus on self-help in dozens of programs and brought together a cadre of
professionals who could become a "think tank" of practicing development
workers
to refine techniques and mentor local talent. Current projects range widely
from a number of Egyptian initiatives on through street children to recover
their lost potential in five Arab countries and a six-country initiative on
Islamic philanthropy.
"After working in the country for several years, NEF leadership had concluded
that the most enduring contribution it could make to Egypt would be to help
establish an Egyptian development support organization, embodying many of
NEF's
own traditions of professionalism and service, but bolstered by the added
knowledge, experience and legitimacy that Egyptian staff would bring to the
fore over the long-term," Lawry said.Â*Â*Â*
"It is rare for international development organizations to design initiatives
with the explicit aim of putting themselves out of business. But this was
effectively the goal of NEF in establishing the Center for Development
Services
as a resource for Egyptians to struggle with complex problems on their own
terms," he continued, adding, "This initiative distinguishes, in my mind at
least, NEF as a humanistic as well as a technical assistance organization."Â*
One of those Egyptians was Montasser Kamal, a medical student 20 years ago at
Cairo University. He first became associated with the Near East Foundation's
work in Egypt, and later a manager at the Center for Development Services.
"NEF
has had a profound impact on my life," he states categorically, "work ethos,
team work, mutual respect, and having an investigative mind are all qualities
which I gained while at NEF, and which I carry with me to this day. As NEF
'pushed the envelope,' its ethos was embraced by its staff throughout their
professional and even personal lives and in turn by the communities where NEF
worked."Â* Dr. Kamal also obtained a PhD in medical anthropology and is now
with
the World Health Organization.
He elaborates further: "NEF has without doubt come to be one of the most
influential institutions in the lives of many disadvantaged people in Egypt
and
other countries of the Middle East. NEF also became influential in my life and
the lives of many other development practitioners in the region. The influence
of NEF, however, cannot be attributed to the scale of its financial resources,
which was always modest. Rather, the influence can be attributed to the
ability
of NEF's leadership to tackle key cutting-edge development issues before they
became 'flavor-of-the-month' and pursuing them long after others were swayed
away from them because of their inherent challenges."
"The abilities to make timely decisions, charter new strategic directions, and
create alliances have helped so many poor because, in part, these were
qualities that inspired new generations of professionals to enter the field of
development," he believes.
In 1991, NEF began working in Lesotho in southern Africa on a comprehensive
rural development program based on the creation of a local non-governmental
organization called GROW. In 1993, an Appropriate Technology Training Center
was established in Morocco to promote technical alternatives for
development by
rural women. That same year they started a micro-credit program in the rural
villages of Jordan.Â*

PALESTINE

In 1994, NEF enhanced its program in West Bank/Gaza by supporting water
resources with the Palestinian Hydrology Group to help save some 400 springs
and ponds. Other programs included a community health unit at Birzeit
University; specialized training for United Nations Development Program
personnel in multi-village development; technical assistance to UN's Relief
and
Works Agency providing education, health and social service to 2.8 million
registered Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan and
Syria; job creation and building up technical expertise.
"The needs were enormous," commented Dr. Vartan Gregorian, president of the
Carnegie Foundation, an Armenian, long-time NEF supporter, and member of its
International Council. "If Palestinian self-determination and home rule had to
become a reality; if its economy had to be viable, its economic infrastructure
had to be secured and strengthened. Hence, NEF had established several
important programs."

PRO-POOR

In 1998, NEF expanded its urban development work in some of the poorest
sections of Cairo, which in the opinion of the Ford Foundation's Lawry "were
decisive in saving a low-income community in central Cairo from being forcibly
removed to make way for historic conservation and tourism projects."Â* He says
the Center for Development Services demonstrated that the community, though
poor, was stable and had a variety of closely-knit economic and financial
arrangements that created large numbers of service and small-scale
manufacturing jobs.Â* "Importantly, and perhaps ironically," he commented, "the
research also found that the volunteer efforts by community members had over
the years been decisive in saving many revered Islamic monuments from
collapse,
while wealthier groups had long-ago abandoned the district for the suburbs."
"The Center's research findings were taken up by the staff members of the Aga
Khan Foundation, who were leading restoration efforts in the district, and
used
to convince Cairo local government authorities that displacement would destroy
vital social and economic support networks and that the community should be
allowed to remain," said Lawry.
While working at the Center, Dr. Montasser also saw NEF's pro-poor ethos and
participatory modus operandi in development in action, up front and
personally.
He credits NEF's approach with "substantially helping to alleviate the
suffering of poor women, men and children in the region" in both urban and
rural areasand impacting the professional development community in the
process.Â* "The work of NEF in urban development, in health programming, in
local community development and in economic development has helped so many
poor
to stand up for their rights and to become sufficient," he says. "NEF was
there
to see them through and is still there to tap into these communities as a
resource to help others in need."
"NEF works in many areas where poverty has alienated people and government
apathy has left societies disenfranchised," he continued. "In the context of
this all too common picture in developing countries, the extraordinary work of
NEF was felt and will be felt for many years to come. The poor and
underprivileged who have become independent and vocal; the women who are now
more assertive and financially independent; the youth who are now working and
are fully engaged in the affairs of their community; and the men who are now
more actively engaged in the governance of the resources in their
communities--are all extraordinary examples of how local development can
change
lives if done properly."
"Through gradual and sustained effort, profound changes in the lives of people
NEF works with have taken place," Dr. Montasser reaffirmed. "From dependent,
expecting handouts with a sense of political hopelessness, NEF has helped
people to be independent active members of society who are socially engaged in
a process of change."
"Perhaps one of the most extraordinary achievements of NEF has been to bring
the voice of the poor to policymakers," he added. "In the absence of
democratic
processes, people's voices are often lost to the more powerful. That is not
the
case where NEF works. Where NEF works, people now know that power is not a
zero-sum game and that they have an ally who can help them bridge this power
gap in various effective and constructive ways." Mentioning a case in point,
Dr. Montasser continued, "I remember the time I was working at NEF, when the
concept of citizen participation in development was paid lip-service at best.Â*
NEF had embarked on a change strategy by which all its projects and programs
had to demonstrate that they were participatory in nature. It was not easy. It
is still not easy. But progress has been made, and NEF has come to set the
ground rules on how to encourage participation and create the social sphere
for
it to take place."

Near East Foundation Today: Venerable & Cutting Edge

In 2005, the Near East Foundation continues to transfer technical skills and
training, leverage funding for projects with strong local support, and extend
its reach through inter-agency cooperation. "Being the oldest, nation-wide,
international assistance organization in the United States gives us certain
advantages," commented NEF President Ryan A. LaHurd, PhD. "We have the history
and experience that attracts a constantly-growing group of affiliates and
contacts as well as highly-qualified staff. And with few exceptions, they are
all nationals from the countries in which they work."
"So we operate with a strong network of partners and the confidence and trust
of local authoritiesright now in 12 countries," Dr. LaHurd continued.Â* "Our
Cairo regional office and Center for Development Services are both highly
regarded in the Middle East in particular. That we are the largest
publisher of
development materials in Arabic is just one of many reasons we are so well
respected."Â*

FISH FARMING

What is particularly noteworthy is how the Near East Foundation's successful
approaches in one country are replicated in others where they work. A case in
point: the generation of supplemental income from fish farming in irrigation
ponds of poor farmers pioneered in the 1980s in Jordan is now expanding
wonderfully in the Jordan Valley--going soon to Gaza and Sudan when funding is
available.
For Abou Baker, a 60-year-old farmer in an agricultural community in the Gor
Al-Safi district south of the Jordan Valley, fish farming brought in $700 last
November, a traditional down-season, increasing his family income 15-20
percent. This was very important to him, since he is getting older. He lost a
leg because of a landmine accident and has a family of 14 to support on his
small farm burdened by its location in an area of water shortages, high
production prices, and poor marketing. Abou Baker, 60,Â* was one of 25 small
farmers who received fingerlings, fish feed, and technical and financial
assistance when NEF initiated a fish farming program in his area in 1999.Â*

MICRO-CREDIT

Then there is the Near East Foundation's pioneering work in micro-credit
dating
from long before it was chic and used in many countries where NEF works, like
Sudan. Here the so-called "popsicle lady" lives, a widow with a family to
support and doomed to beg in the streets~Euntil receiving her $200 NEF loan.
She
bought a refrigerator with a freezer and every evening fills small plastic
bags
with juice. The next morning, she heads to the nearby elementary school and
sells them to school children at recess-and supports her family. She was able
to repay the loan in a year.
In Jordan, NEF's micro-credit activities have recently taken a new twisthome
improvement loans for the urban poor. While in Lebanon, where NEF has had
long-term involvement in landmine issues, they are now providing loans to
disabled victims and their families and caretakers. Abo Khalid is a blind man
who used his $700 loan to furnish his small kiosk with goodstea, newspapers,
cigarettes, children's candies. His average monthly income of $300 helps feed
his children. Thanks to NEF-provided-credit, wheelchair-bound Ali was able to
establish a small maintenance service center for computers and electronic
equipmentand a reputation for high quality work. Both have been freed from
previous dependency on others, regained control over their lives, and become
fully productive members of society.

DESERTS

The Near East Foundation also has particular expertise in desert environments,
both adapting agriculture to harsh conditions and desert reclamation,
including
10 years of research on trees best suited to Mali's Sahel, ultimately fruitful
in every sense of the word. Now NEF's involvement with reclaimed desert around
Egypt's Lake Nasser could in time become the largest agricultural project NEF
has ever undertaken in that country. The Near East Foundation has completed
planning and is now seeking funds for what could prove to be the most
far-reaching initiative in NEF's entire history of development work in Africa,
involving nine countries and over 100 million people. It would support local
governance in West Africa's huge Niger River Basin under severe environmental
threat and competing demands, building on successful approaches modeled in
Mali
since the 1980s.

WEST BANK

NEF continues its investment in the people of the West Bank, most intensely
involved in a cluster of villages north of Nablus in a wide range of projects,
from traumatized children and nutrition, to environmental issues and community
organization, to good drinking water and youth centers, even helping train two
promising Palestinian athletes bound for the Athens Olympics.
It is a particularly rewarding sight to see kindergarteners from the six
participating West Bank communities clapping their hands and bursting into
grateful song when they see the NEF team approaching to distribute their
packages of dairy products. Later, when group pictures were taken, the
children
held their milk cartons high above their heads and loudly cheered. As the
mother of Sabreen from Ijnisniya said, "It feels so happy when I see my child
drinking the milk, especially the chocolate-flavored--she loves that kind. We
put the cheese and yogurt in the fridge to eat later. I am so happy that we
have these important foods for such a price. You know how bad our economic
situation is nowadays, and without this program, we could not get these milk
products for our children." While there had been some absenteeism in the
kindergartens at the beginning of the school year, during the "Cup of Milk"
distribution dates there was absolutely none.

WOMEN & DEVELOPMENT

In over 70 villages in the Souss-Massa Dra'a area of southern Morocco where
NEF
has been working, in literacy alone, 92 percent of women participating say
they
have learned to read, and 72 percent can now add and subtract and report using
their skills regularly. Fifty-thousand people in southern Morocco--women in
particular--have gained new self-esteem, education and income because of NEF's
programs over the years. Women like Fatima Bouhassi from the village of N'Kob,
who can now read and write, has completed NEF-sponsored midwife training, and
gathers all the other village women in her house and shares everything she
learns. Using innovative theater techniques, NEF promoted Morocco's new and
historic Family Code that took effect last July, governing women's position in
society and status. With seven women playing various roles for illustration
and
clarification, NEF field staff discussed the new laws, particularly marriage,
divorce, child custody and inheritance, with large groups of village women. It
was so unique that it got attention from the BBC in news reports

AIDS

The little white house at the GROW compound in Mokhotlong, home to NEF Lesotho
country director Ken Storan, has some new visitors, named Hlompho, Tumeliso,
Rorisang, Thabang, Tiisetso~E. The latter is about one-and-a-half year oldhis
exact age is unknown. Before being embraced by Ken, he lived by himself, most
of the time in a cold house, sometimes outside, even in the rain. Hungry and
skinny on arrival, two months later he had gained seven pounds and could stand
up by pulling on a chair. Tiisetso also can breathe easily since his pneumonia
is gone. He has learned to smile and laugh--and will likely soon walk and run
too.
This is what the AIDS pandemic really means and the Near East Foundation is
helping children--the most vulnerable victims of disease and poverty in many
countries in Africa and the Middle East. Beyond providing individual children
with emotional and physical warmth, safety, rehabilitation from malnutrition
and sickness or care with terminal illness, reconnection with family or caring
adoptive homes, schooling and mentoring, the Near East Foundation is combating
the AIDS calamity with an integrated and comprehensive approach that combines
health, agriculture, infrastructure development and more.
In Swaziland, which has the highest HIV infection rate in the world--close to
40 percent--NEF is using that comprehensive approach in 18 chiefdoms in the
northern Hhohho area of the country. NEF works with people like Lussy Tfwala,
chairperson of the water committee of Nkonjaneni homesteaders. They had a
water
source in the mountains above, but no means of getting it except by making
hours of trips up and down steep slopes, carrying water by oxen cart, and on
their heads. With NEF support, the committee, once organized, successfully
obtained $17 from every homestead family who would benefit from a domestic
water supply, for the engineering, materials and heavy machinery needed.
Contributing their labor, association members carried the material up the
mountain and dug kilometers of trenches to bring the pipes from the water
source to local taps.Â* Four homesteads share a tap and take rotational
responsibility for maintenance chores. The amount each homestead contributed
has become a fund for repair and maintenance costs, augmented by a small
monthly fee--for ownership leads to responsibility and commitment.
This Nkonjaneni association now has the skills, organization, data to build
on,
new ways to assign community responsibility, and the means to sustain their
critical water supply. It demonstrates NEF's approach: true development is not
primarily about the project, but more about the capacities built in the
community that sustains NEF undertakings long after their staff has moved on.

BACK TO ARMENIA

And last year the Near East Foundation returned to Armenia, for the first time
since their expulsion by the Soviets in 1927, to work with street children.Â*
They were the only foreign agency allowed to operate in the Caucasus even
after
the Sovietization of the region, and supervised the welfare of 17,000 children
in Armenia alone until being forced out. NEF Chairperson Linda Jacobs received
an overwhelming reception that left her deeply moved by the often teary-eyed
Armenian representatives who greeted her so warmly in every
sector--government,
education, social welfare, religion, as well as ordinary citizens.
Â*
IN CONCLUSION

The final word on the Near East Foundation goes to an Armenian, Dr. Vartan
Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Foundation, an Armenian, long-time NEF
supporter and member of its International Council. "It is an honor and a
privilege for me as an Armenian, Iranian, Middle Easterner and an American to
pay tribute to the Near East Foundation as it celebrates its 90th birthday.Â*
"NEF is not a charitable institution. It is a philanthropic one. It
invests, it
welcomes investors. It builds. Its aim has always been 'to help people help
themselves.' It aims to assist the people of the Middle East and Africa in
their quest of autonomy in the social, economic, and cultural realms.Â* It
provides people know-how, wants to endow them with hope, to assist them in
their struggle against poverty, disease, hunger and injustice. That is the
mission of NEF. NEF stands for dignity. It stands for our community with
mankind. It stands for the best ideals and impulses of the American people,
its
idealism, altruism, and generosity."
Dr. Gregorian concludes eloquently, "You, who are a rescuer of a nation,
planter of seeds of hope, promoter of economic and social progress in the
Middle East and Africa, symbol of America's faith and goodwill, we
congratulate
you for generating knowledge, generating goodwill, generating hope, generating
progress.Â* Building bridges of brotherhood and sisterhood in a world that will
transcend religion, ideological, ethnic, regional and racial conflicts,
especially now when more than ever we need to stress common values and bonds
that unite the 'People of the Book,' the Jews, the Christians and the
Muslims.Â*
May you continue your good work. May you bring peace to the region."

For an up-to-the-moment report on the Near East Foundation's activities, visit
<http://www.neareast.org/>www.neareast.org. Detailed descriptions of their
projects country-by-country in their 2004 annual report are also on the
website. To contribute to the Near East Foundation, send your gift online to
<http://www.neareast.org/>www.neareast.org or mail your check to Near East
Foundation, 90 Broad Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10004.


14) Beyond Genocide: The Semantics of Deception and Elimination

By TATUL SONENTZ-PAPAZIAN

Ninety years ago, a sporadically applied genocidal processstarted around a
quarter of a century earliertook an ominously sinister leap into the
unthinkable. Having already claimed over a million innocent lives, concealed
behind the smokescreen of the Great War of 1914-1918, it did not come to a
close with the signing of the Armistice. Fanned by the worst aspects of human
intolerance, greed and predatory international deals, its murderous process
continued to create new killing fields from Smyrna, Turkey, to Adana, Cilicia,
and Baku, Azerbaijan, well into the early 1920s, while the other aspects of
this odious processin one form or anothercontinue to this day, denying a
closure to what is referred to as the very first genocide of the 20th century.
Now, 90 years later, one may look back on the panorama of dehumanizing horrors
that the land known as Armenianamed after the people who inhabited it since
the
beginning of recorded historypresented to a war-weary world at the close of
the
first global conflict and wonder whether the word 'genocide,' coined decades
later, can begin to describe what we, Armenians, call Metz Yeghern"The Great
Crime."
Less than a quarter of a century after that first attempt to murder an entire
nation, and the hasty burial of the moribund Armenian Case at Lausanne, as
World War II was winding down, and the total shock of the Nazi concentration
camps and crematoria hit the world's consciousnessif not always the
consciencethe great communicator, Winston Churchill, stated that humanity had
come face to face with "a crime that has no name." Indeed, history had little
to offer in the search for a word that could adequately convey the nature of a
recurring crime that threatened the very foundations of civilized existence.
Convinced that "new conceptions require new terminology," Raphael Lemkin, in
his book, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, published in 1944, making use of two
classic wordsthe Greek "genos" (race or tribe) and the Latin suffix "cide" (to
kill)came up with the "G" word to which, for many decades now, Ankara and
Washington, whenever referring to Armenians, have displayed severe allergic
reactions, routinely treated with a massive dosage of the word "alleged"as
prescribed by renowned Israeli specialists.
Genocide, according to Lemkin, signifies "the destruction of a nation or of an
ethnic group" accomplished through a coordinated plan, having as its aim the
total extermination of persons marked as victims exclusively because they are
members of the target group. As such, the Jewish Holocaust and most other mass
slaughters that followed it fit Lemkin's formula. The Armenian experience, in
its awesome entirety, spills over the semantic boundaries set by the generally
accepted terminology.
As a rule, persons, groups and nations (in its demographic connotation)
targeted for genocide, fall victim at a clearly defined time segment of their
history. As was the case of the Jewish Holocaust, genocidal campaigns usually
run their course and subside, ending in some sort of closure, sinceat an
opportune momentthe perpetrator usually has a clear political or strategic
purpose arising from immediate objectives at a particular time in its history.
The Great Crime against the Armenians, started in earnest over a century ago,
initiated and pushed to its apocalyptic climax in 1915 by the rulers of a
crumbling empire, still maintains its atavistic momentum sustained by the
present Turkish state's hegemonic policies vis-a-vis its neighbors, upon whose
territorial and cultural patrimonies it has established itself and has drawn
the present imperial boundaries of its "nation state." This single irrefutable
fact makes a mockery of Ankara'sand its supporters'argument that the "modern"
Turkish republic cannot be held responsible for the crimes committed almost a
century ago by the defunct empire of the Ottomans.
This argument could have had some credibility today, if the Sevres treaty had
prevailed and Turkey, like all the other constituting nations of the empire,
had established its national republic within the confines of its natural
central Anatolian boundaries, divesting itself of historically Armenian, Greek
and Kurdish lands. Those who conceived and signed the Lausanne Treaty not only
made a mockery of justice, but disrupted the natural and logical progress of
history creating a gap of some nine decades, trapping the Armenians, the Kurds
and the Assyrians in the vicious circle of that time warp, leaving them pretty
much to their own devices in a desperate struggle to break loose from a
distorted past that continues to encroach upon the present and to block the
road to a normal future.
Unlike the Kurds, the Armenian presence in Eastern Anatolia was not always a
demographic spread of a distinct people struggling to maintain its cultural
identity within imposed yet constantly changing political boundaries of
foreign
states established by foreign conquerors. Since the beginning of recorded
history (preceding even the Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations by 2,500
years,
according to a recent work by Professor Boris Herouni, published in Moscow in
December 2004,) the Armenian nation's uninterrupted presence in Eastern Asia
Minor and the Armenian Plateau has manifested itself with consecutive dynastic
kingdoms, principalities and fiefdomseven a powerful empire, challenging Roman
hegemonydistinctly Armenian in culture, language and customs.
Thus, an identity, solidly imprinted over 75 centuries in the consciousness of
a people and literally etched on the landscape of a homeland with countless
monumentsstarting with the prehistoric Carahunge observatoryreflecting its
unique culture and style, belies the outlandish assumption that, out of the
blue, influenced by the rise of European nationalism, the Armenians, after a
period of some six centuries without a unified national independencea
relatively brief period, compared to their history that covers
milleniasuddenly
and treacherously rebelled against their masters and decided to become a
nation, trying to carve out a homeland for themselves on the very lands of a
vast territory that, since time immemorial, has been called Armenia by one and
all. This, and relatively recent notions of "nation building"which may very
well apply to many a contemporary "nation state"remains a misguided premise
bordering on deception when applied to the Armenians, for it deliberately
sidesteps history and confuses two comparatively distinct concepts: "nation"
and "state."
While states may exist based on the ethnic stock and culture of a variety of
nations, a nationwith its distinct language, culture and historycannot be
created merely by establishing a state, which is a device structured to
helps a
nation endure, prosper and choose its own destiny in freedom. Recorded history
tells us that the Armenians were a distinct nation and Armenia was their
universally recognized homeland long before the advent of modern-day
"nation-states."
What struck the Armenians in 1915 was the apex of an all-consuming storm that
had been gathering for decades, parallel to the decay of a dying empire.
Unlike
the Jews living in Nazi-occupied Europe, it struck a nation in its own
historic
homeland, in a desperate attempt to wipe out not a despised minority, but an
entire country known as Armenia, along with its people, its monuments, its
language and religion, its social and cultural institutions, culminating in
the
erasure of its historyrendered mute and invisible by the perpetrator through
the contrived pages of "history" books soon to flood the schools and brainwash
the minds of present and future generations privileged to call themselves
"Turks" and citizens of a reconstituted Turkish empire disguised as a modern,
secular "republic."
The word "genocide" speaks of "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic
group," nowhere does it mention the total elimination of a country, along with
its population, cultural and spiritual treasures, its very history and
identity. The Ottomans killed 1.5 million Armenians, confiscating their lands
and belongings. The Kemalist Turks not only inherited the looted wealth, but
with a renewed zeal, attacked and put an end to the hopes of the survivors of
the Yeghern by confiscating the major portion of the newly recognized Armenian
Republic's territories, putting an end to its independence. And, to this day,
through persistent campaigns of denial and re-writing of history, they
continue
their overt and covert efforts of the elimination of all that is Armenian.
As a matter of semantics, no one can deny that this monstrous process of
ongoing Armenocide goes beyond all that the word "genocide" attempts to
convey.
The world will have to wait for another Lemkin, to coin a word describing the
premeditated murder and destruction of a nation, along with its homeland,
culture and identity. Let us hope that there will be no need for it in the
future.


15) Confessions of an Angry Armenian

By George Aghjayan

I confess, I am angry. I have been angry my entire life. The anger has not
dissipated; in fact, it is growing year by year and I am glad for that. It may
seem strange, but I would not have it any other way. An Armenian who is not
angry is no longer human.
To most people, anger is irrational. It is an uncontrollable emotion. As we
shall see, there are people who not only use this to their advantage, but also
actively pursue the goal of generating irrational anger among Armenians. And
there are others who are willing to sacrifice their humanism for the sake of
supposed rational contentment.
For most people, anger is associated with loss of control, possibly a certain
level of frustration and even violence. There are some who view anger as
brought on by an injustice, injury (whether psychological or physical) or
invasion.
A more complicated view accepts that anger can be purposeful or spontaneous,
and constructive or destructive. While the most common perception of anger
holds that it is spontaneous and destructive, there is also the circumstance
where anger brought on by an injustice or injury can be purposeful and
constructive.
In the case of widespread and systematic human rights violations, and more
specifically, crimes against humanity of the magnitude of the Armenian
genocide, purposeful and constructive angerat a mininumis required.
Shamefully, more and more I see reference to the view that Armenian outrage
over the lingering injustice is irrational and unhealthy. In fact, quite to
the
contrary, it is unhealthy for mankind not to be outraged. Is this not the
foundation for the consequences of genocide, the very basis for the term
"crime
against humanity"?
Purposeful and constructive anger is necessary to initiate change and maintain
commitment to justice.
The following are a litany of the causes for my distress.
The Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC), the International
Center
for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) report and TARC chair David Phillips all
indicate the solution to the injustice of the Armenian genocide is
acknowledgement without repercussions. One way to trap people into this
mentality is the view that the magnitude of the crime of genocide prohibits
complete justice. While it is correct to view justice for the crime of
genocide
as imperfect, it is quite another thing to imply then that no justice
should be
sought.
Each and every time I am reminded of the many faces of the crime of genocide,
my anger and frustration reinforces my commitment for a just resolution. The
extent of imperfect justice we seek is debatable, but surely acknowledgment
alone is insufficient as a form of protection for not only Armenians but also
all mankind. In addition, true acknowledgement requires remorse for the crimes
that ended the Armenian presence in a homeland occupied for three millennia,
and a desire to atone for that crime.
Speaking of David Phillips, there is a lot to be angry about the way he
trampled Armenian rights. His total disregard for valid criticisms of his
methods and the issues with TARC are shockinghe chose to reduce every
criticism
to jealousy or political pettiness.
Phillips attempts to hide under the common misconception that a mediator
should
not take a position that offends one side or the otheror if a position should
be taken, it must be such that is unsatisfactory to both sides to ensure
reasonableness.
Instead, Phillips comes off as dishonest and ill suited as a mediator, as
anyone unwilling to acknowledge a known genocide would be.
It is even more shocking that Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, should give
tacit approval to Phillips' madness by authoring the preface of Phillips
memoirs of the TARC fiasco. One could understand Wiesel's enthusiasm for
dialogue if the Turkish members had been human rights activists or others
showing a keen interest in promoting democracy in Turkeybut a cursory
review of
the participants' names should have quickly dispelled such honorable notions.
Would Wiesel applaud a similar commission formed of descendents of Holocaust
survivors and David Irving, Mark Weber, Bradley Smith and others intimately
tied to Holocaust denial?
Phillips absurdly claims that the cycle of hatred can also be broken when the
victim acknowledges how their actions may have contributed to their
victimization. Phillips has a complete misunderstanding of the nature of
genocide, and victimizes Armenians once again with a form of denial we have
been subjected to for 90 yearsa denial campaign that has made all of us
victims
of the Armenian genocide.
I am angry at Armenians within the community who have not only embraced those
who belittle the very basic rights Armenians deserve, but celebrate our
victimization as if it were some sort of victory for Armenians.
The battle over the historical accuracy of the Armenian genocide has been
wonit
had been won long before the ICTJ report. The entire community can take credit
for that, but especially those historians who raised awareness within the
field
of comparative genocide studies. This development, so obvious to those who
attended the Congressional hearings regarding the Armenian Genocide Resolution
of 2000, led to the formation of TARC by our opponents as a way to slow
international recognition.
The two-pronged approach of TARC was meant, on the one hand, to regain lost
credibility for the notion of two sides to the story and, on the other, remove
any basis for reparations or restitution.
We should all be outragedas Armenians and as humansat the methods employed,
the
messages implied and the underestimating of community sophistication that is
taking place today. Phillips, TARC and those who support them should be
exposed
for their role in the continued victimization of Armenians.


16) Tidbits From The DinerÂ*Â*Â*

By Tatul

Sitting by the window, picking at my food and watching the noontime traffic on
Mt. Auburn Street, my thoughts went back to the hectic days of the 50th
Anniversary of the Medz Yeghern; busy days, buoyant with optimism and
collective confidence in a newly discovered national unity--a phenomenon that,
alas, barely held together until the 60th Anniversary.
Since then, after four decades of turmoil, marked with both natural and
man-made calamity and victory, the very first genocide of the 20th century has
reached its 90th year, its one-and-a-half million victims' bones crushed to
dust under the weight of nine decades of solemn memorials, frustrated activism
and shameless denial. Many of the Watertowners who, forty years ago, helped
raise the flag of revival by raising their voices against fifty years of a
conspiracy of silence are now either dead or have moved away~E
The scenery is almost unchanged. Sitting here by the window--as we used to in
those days after long, arduous meetings full of the tensions of newly achieved
harmony--I could almost see the shadows of long-forgotten comrades-in-arms
walking towards the corner of Bigelow and Mt. Auburn, rushing to the Diner, on
cool, early April evenings, for the warmth of coffee and conversation~E
"You seem to be in a trance! I see you have started without me. Sorry I'm
late," said Marty, as he settled down and ordered a Greek salad to the smiling
Irish waitress.
"That girl has a crush on you," I said, trying to shift my commemorative mood
from past to present, with little success. "See how her face lights up when
she
sees you? And don't tell me it's the large tips~Eyou're pretty tight when it
comes to that!"Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*
Ignoring my comments, yet giving a furtive glance at the retreating waitress's
shapely legs, Marty pushed a letter-sized sheet in front of me; it was a
print-out from the Groong news service titled 'Desperate Turks.'
"Now what?" I said, "What do they have to be desperate about?"
"Read it," said Marty, "you'll see that not much has changed in Osman's realm
over the last ninety years. The bloody process of ethnic cleansing in Anatolia
has now assumed a zoological aspect~ERead it. Read it out loud! Let everyone
hear it."Â*Â*
'In the process of creating Turkish history,' read the news item, 'Turkey has
taken a new, cunning step recently. According to the electronic newspaper
Day.az, by the decision of the Turkish Ministry of Environmental and Forest
Protection, the names of animals containing the adjectives Armenian or Kurdish
have been changed~E'
"Is this some kind of a joke?" I asked, looking Marty in the eye, "You didn't
fabricate this, did you?"
"I assure you, it's authentic," said Marty, "Read the whole thing, for cryin'
out loud!"
Returning to the sheet, I continued reading: 'From now on, the reddish
fox--the
international name of which is Kurdish Fox--will lose the adjective Kurdish.
The Wild Armenian Rams, native to the Anatolian mountain, are now called
Anatolian Wild Rams and the Armenian Goats have now become simply~Egoats.'Â*
"This is unbelievable," I said, "it is almost a parody~E"
"Close, but not quite," interjected Costa who, unnoticed by us, had been
standing near by, listening. "It's paranoia," he said, "PARANOIA! Not
parody."
"Explain," said Marty, putting down his fork, "This is about Anatolia, it
concerns you too."
"Well," said Costa, putting his hand on Marty's shoulder, "look at it this
way:
since the time of Ataturk's Kemalist regime, the recycled Osmanlis have been
strapped in a make-believe identity in borrowed costumes, living on land
robbed
from their neighbors, closets full of skeletons, so, native names steeped in
real history--Greek, Armenian, Kurdish or Assyrian--sound like bells tolling
and awakening a past best forgotten~Ethe very sound of these names scares the
hell out of them~E"
"Gogh sirte dogh," said Marty in Armenian, "A thief is in constant fear of
being discovered~E"
"Particularly when he has robbed most of his neighbors," said Costa. "Let me
get you some more Greek coffee; it's on the house."Â*
Â*Â*

17) Genocide Acknowledgment: A Dead End?

By David B. Boyajian

Worldwide Armenian political demands on Turkey have always included land,
restitution, and Genocide acknowledgment. Over time, however, the demand for
acknowledgment has eclipsed the other demands.
In view of the obvious obstacles the land and restitution issues have faced,
that's understandable.
Genocide acknowledgment is different. Armenians, and many non-Armenians, have
readily rallied around such a straightforward and relatively non-aggressive
demand. Moreover, a Turkish confession--apparently a mere sentence or two--has
seemed achievable.
Suppose, therefore, that Turkey's Prime Minister announced today that "Turkey
acknowledges that 90 years ago, during a time in which both Turks and
Armenians
were murdered, some individuals in the Ottoman regime committed genocide
against Armenians. Let us and Armenia now begin a new era."

Dead End

Would that really heal our collective psyche? Would it be sincere and
signify a
genuine shift in Turkish attitudes? Would Turkish organizations and
individuals
cease their Genocide denial? Would the remaining survivors and their
descendants receive restitution/reparations?
Would Armenia's security be measurably enhanced? Would Turkey open its border
with Armenia? Would it end its pan-Turkic thrust--similar to the one that
spawned the Genocide--into the Caucasus and Central Asia? Could Armenians
resettle in Anatolia/Western Armenia? Would Armenia recover even small amounts
of that territory?
That the likely answer to each question is "No" should cause us to rethink our
emphasis on acknowledgment. Among the political scientists doing that are Dr.
Simon Payaslian, Nicolas Tavitian MS, and Dr. Khatchik Der Ghougassian
(Armenian Forum, Vol. 2, No. 3, Gomidas.org).

Rethinking Acknowledgment

The "essential component" of "historic Armenian lands," says Payaslian, has
been "redefined as, or totally replaced by, recognition."Â* Western countries'
"commemorative statements that ignore the territorial issue should be
rejected."
He lists four goals of acknowledgment: territory, emotional healing,
restitution, and enhanced international standing for Armenia. Only the last,
Payaslian concludes, is realistically achievable through acknowledgment.Â*
He is troubled by "the lack of public debate" on the "purposes and
problems" of
"Genocide recognition."
So is Tavitian: "Striving for genocide recognition has long been a reflex
rather than an action toward a goal...Armenians should rethink their
approach."
However, acknowledgment could be a "security guarantee" for Armenia if it can
"transform Turkey [and] the West's understanding of Armenia's security."
The quest for acknowledgment, Der Ghougassian believes, maintains "vigilance
against the Turkish threat." Acknowledgment might be a "first step" towards
"normalization of relations." Nevertheless, "a response to the Genocide must
deprive Turkey" of the land it took in the genocide.
Clearly, then, we need to rethink the pursuit of acknowledgment. If not, we
may
regret it.

Land and Restitution

The European Union (EU), which Turkey aspires to join, is asking Turkey to
recognize the Genocide. Suppose Turkey complies.
The EU and the US would likely conclude, since the land and restitution issues
are not now prominently on the table, that Armenians had received everything
they had asked for. For Armenians to subsequently try to drag those two issues
into the spotlight would be difficult. And, as argued above, acknowledgment
alone is unlikely to benefit Armenia much anyway.
Worse, an educated guess is that the West would accept a sham acknowledgment,
such as "Turkey regrets the wrongful murder of Armenians in 1915 by the old
Ottoman regime."
Frankly, acknowledgment, in the absence of the restoration of Armenian rights,
may be undesirable. The pursuit of acknowledgment, rather than acknowledgment
itself, helps to maintain a strong defensive posture against Turkey and is a
valuable tool to keep Armenia's foe off balance.
Placing restitution and territory near the front of our agenda, therefore,
serves two purposes. First, Turkey is unlikely to issue an acknowledgment at
all, for fear of the consequences. Second, if an acknowledgment does come,
Turkey and the West would less able to close the book on the Armenian case.
In the meantime, efforts are underway to undermine the restitution and land
issues.

State Department Trap

John Evans, the US Ambassador to Armenia, and David L. Phillips, a State
Department consultant and moderator of the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation
Commission (TARC), recently toured the US gleefully claiming that Armenians
cannot ask for restitution or land from Turkey.
They cite a 2003 "report" sponsored by TARC. The report affirmed the
factuality
of the genocide, but deviously asserted that the UN's 1948 Genocide Treaty
cannot be applied retroactively to 1915 and that "legal, financial, or
territorial" claims are invalid.
Indeed, Phillips hints that four years ago it was he who arranged for
President
Robert Kocharian to tell Turkish TV that Armenia will not press for
restitution
or territory.
This, then, is the trap being laid for us: the US, and possibly Turkey, may
someday issue a Genocide "acknowledgment," but Armenians must abandon all
claims, particularly territorial ones, against Turkey.
Why is America worried about Turkish territory? Because the State Department,
not to mention Europe and Israel, regards eastern Turkey as a vital path to
the
Caspian Sea region's oil and gas. By disposing of Genocide acknowledgment and
trashing Armenian land claims, the State Department hopes to both protect
eastern Turkey and more easily penetrate the Caucasus.

The Future

Genocide acknowledgment is a vital, and perhaps permanent, weapon in Armenia
and the Diaspora's arsenals. It must not be dealt away cheaply.
Armenia and the traditional diasporan political parties should immediately
place land and restitution alongside, or close to, the acknowledgment demand.
Realistically, of course, Armenia cannot recover territory anytime soon.
Still,
that territory is vital for long-term security. For example, Armenia
requires a
secure path to the Black Sea and, therefore, to Europe and Russia.Â*
Needless to
say, to attain that goal, Armenia must become much stronger. (See "The
Armenian
Land Question: Misunderstood Terrain," July 31, 2004).
Recovering territory and obtaining material restitution someday will heal our
wounds more than all the Turkish acknowledgments in the world. Notice, for
example, that as Armenians now control Karabagh and the surrounding territory,
the repression and massacres that Azerbaijan inflicted on Armenians in the
last
100 years take a back seat.Â*
Winning, therefore, is the best revenge, though we will always honor those who
perished and suffered in the Genocide.
Lastly, we need to better educate ourselves about land and restitution.
Genocide related commemorations, lectures, and conferences should emphasize
the
ongoing geopolitical consequences of 1915: loss of historic lands and
individual and historical property, and an adversary that remains committed to
a dangerous, pan-Turkic philosophy.Â* Younger generations, particularly--by
nature action-oriented--crave such meaty political issues.
And if Turkey never acknowledges the Genocide? Security and the restoration of
rights and the Armenian homeland are more important.

The author can be contacted at David_Boyajian@yahoo.com


18) Our Grandmother's Heritage to Us All

By Harry L. Koundakjian

To the Armenian Press around the world, as well as members of the Koundakjian
Clan.

Dearest cousins, nieces, uncles, aunts, sisters and brothers, relatives from
near and far,
We are Hassanbeylitsis. Almost all of our great grandparents came from
Hassanbeyli, a mountainous region in Cilicia. Some others are from Aintab,
Adana and nearby villages and towns.
This is a portion of a letter that was recently found in Germany. I understand
other parts of this letter may be around and we are searching for them.
It was written by our grandmother, Yeretsgin Mariam (Mary) Koundakjian, widow
of Rev. Hagop Koundakjian of Hassanbeyli (Amanos) of the Armenian Evangelical
Church.
Â*Â*Â*Â* Medzmama (grandmother) wrote this letter on May 7, 1909, after the
massacre of our grandfather Hagop and 28 members of his congregation,
including
cousins and uncles. She addressed this letter to her three daughtersPersape
(nee Koundakjian) Badeer, wife of Dr. Sarkis Badeer of Beirut, Lebanon; Helen
(nee Koundakjian) Hadidian, wife of Rev. Yenovk Hadidian, Pastor of the
Ashrafiyeh Armenian Evangelical Church of Beirut, Lebanon; and Yevnigue, (nee
Koundakjian) Jebejian, wife of Dr. Avedis Jebejian of Aleppo, Syria)as well as
to us, their grandchildren.
Â*Â*Â*Â*
My dearest children,

I wish I had not been compelled to write about the terrible and frightening
tragedies that took place here. The tragedy struck us like a lightning.
With tears in my eyes, I write to you. Your father [Rev. Hagop Koundakjian]
was
more lucky than we were, because at the beginning of the catastrophe, he was
killed on his way to Adana, burned alive inside his church with his 28-person
congregation, and did not see the sudden destruction and premeditated attacks
on our city.
He did not witness the burning of his city, nor did he hear the shootings by
the enemy. He did not see his sisters, brothers and relatives shot to death
indiscriminately. On April 11th 1909, we had our Communion [at church, during
the service]. It was a rather heartfelt ceremony. Nobody knew that this would
be his last sermon...
On the next day, father journeyed for the annual Conference of the Armenian
Evangelical Churches. As you might have already heard, all in the group were
burned alive in Osmanya and your father was killed with the 28 delegates of
the
congregation from our church.
We, the womenfolk, were driven [exiled] towards Bakhche, where we are until
today. [The Ottoman Turks] threatened us with death if we did not convert to
and accept Islam... I want to assure you, my children, that all these
difficulties, persecutions and doomsday announcements have strengthened us in
our Father, Christianity and belief in God.
Everything down to the roots was destroyed: the church, in which your father
served for over 30 years disappeared. But we think of Hebrews 10, verses 32-34
where we read: 'Remember those earlier days after you had received the light,
when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering.
Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times
you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with
those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property,
because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.'
Dirty, dry and hard pieces of bread were put in front of us, while the
children
were dying of starvation ..."

This is only a portion of the letter. All efforts to locate the rest have so
far been in vain. But we will continue the search.

Harry L. Koundakjian is International Photo Editor at The Associated Press
Headquarters in New York City.


19) Armed with Knowledge

Forty years young, England's first documented rapper--Knowledge--was born in
London, of Jamaican descent. He was a member of England's first break-dance
crew in 1983--The South London Breakers. On their tour of South Africa,
Knowledge witnessed apartheid first hand--providing impetus and inspiration to
his first political poem "Are You Listenin?" in 1984. He came to America in
1989, with a script in hand about the apartheid situation. But it was not long
before Knowledge immersed himself into poetry, writing a new poem weekly on a
variety of subjects and blowing away the management at Greenway Court Theater
(on Melrose and Fairfax)--his weekly venue. He first came to educate himself
about the Armenian genocide while walking in Westwood, CA, when he noticed a
poster on a salon window about the Armenian genocide--prompting his
interest in
the subject. He wrote "Speak on It," the title of his first poem dedicated to
the Armenian genocide. Though Knowledge had always been a fan of System Of A
Down, he only decided to send a copy of his poetry CD once he learned of the
band's Armenian descent. Lead singer Serge Tankian, blown away by the album
its
range of topics, invited him to perform for the Axis of Justice benefit
concert. He has also performed at Glendale City College with The Apex Theory,
as well as UCLA ASA's vigil, which took place on April 14. Rhyming and writing
poetry is an all-consuming passion for him. Speaking about the Armenian
genocide, Knowledge says, "Don't let it just be this one day a year~Eone day a
year doesn't solve it." He knows more historical information about Ataturk,
Talaat Pasha, Soghomon Tehlirian, among other things, than many Armenians do
today. His zeal for revealing truth drives him.

An excerpt from "A Marked Man"

"He suffered from nervous breakdowns and he had plenty
when he arrived in Paris at the beginning of 1920
He talked about the massacres a lot and found out some facts
>>From the newspapers in Constantinople he found out who were the authors of
these acts

"About 20,000 Armenians in Erzinga were removed and deported
after they'd been divided into various groups and assorted
In 1908 uniting with the Young Turks is what the Armenians did
But they became terribly disappointed when they saw that the Young Turks
Behaved much worse than Sultan Hamid

"In 1908 young Armenians working with the Young Turks
was something that you took for granted
until 40,000 Armenians being massacred in Adana in 1909 left them quite
disenchanted

"Soghomon Tehlirian was an Armenian Protestant
Throughout the trial he maintained that he was innocent
According to Article 211 of the Penal Code he'd committed homicide
But Armenians everywhere knew that he was justified

"They listened closely to his explanation
The presiding judge asked the interpreter to explain to Soghomon that the
indictment
Accused Soghomon of killing Talaat Pasha with premeditation
In his head the massacres would continually repeat
So he thought of killing Talaat two weeks before he gunned him down in the
street

"He said that he'd never had a premeditated plan
He just woke up all of a sudden and decided to kill the man
>>From February 1921, Turkey and the Armenian Republic had been at war
And the fighting reached its peak between March 1st and April 1st, 1921
Soghomon chose to shoot Talaat around this time because he saw his mother's
corpse
Saying, "You know Talaat is here and yet you do not seem to be concerned
You are no longer my son"

"Talaat Pasha was the one that Soghomon decided to hunt
Around this time Moscow had given its blessings for the Torco-Bolshevik attack
against Armenia and had sent Enver Pasha to command the front
When he saw his mother in a dream and heard her, he questioned what he was
seeing
He began to deliberate and asked himself how he could kill another human being

"But in his heart he knew that Talaat had to die
which is why he moved to Hardenbergstrasse because Talaat lived nearby
Five weeks prior to this he'd had verified
That living in Berlin was the author of the Genocide

"Soghomon made those in attendance realize
that certain scenes from the massacre would often appear before his eyes
Soghomon had an overwhelming feeling of sadness and gloom
When he saw Talaat for the first time on March 15th
While he himself walked around his room

"The thought of killing him made him feel hesitant
until he saw Talaat on the balcony of his apartment
Seeing the man he had come to Hardenbergstrasse to find
caused his mother to once again come to his mind

"The presiding justice wanted to know what him having a pistol was all about
Soghomon said that he bought it when he was in Tiflis in 1919 because the
Turks
said
that if they returned and didn't find the Germans there
then again the massacres would be carried out

"Soghomon knew what he had to do
He shot Talaat as he was heading in the direction of the zoo
He walked past him on the sidewalk and then he shot him
That's the breakdown on how he got him
He held the barrel to Talaat's head
Then he shot him dead

"Soghomon purposely ran along the same side of his street as his apartment
He closed in on Talaat and shot him, but he didn't know how he felt after the
incident
He'd killed the man who'd tried to wipe out his entire nation
He only realized what he'd done after they brought him to the police station

"The presiding judge asked him what was his reaction
and Soghomon said that he felt a great satisfaction
The justice asked him how he felt about it today
And Soghomon said that he still felt the same way"


"The justice, feeling that Soghomon bore a deep rooted grudge
said that no one has the right to be his own judge
No matter how great the suffering
He felt that Soghomon was wrong to do the shooting

"He shot him in the head, Talaat's blood was spilled
He said that his mother instructed him to kill Talaat because he was guilty
of the massacres so he didn't realize that he shouldn't have been killed

"The justice felt that Soghomon had been too raw
He said that their laws prohibit killing and Soghomon said that he didn't know
the law
Ever since he shot Talaat, Soghomon felt a whole lot better
Prompting the judge to ask him if the Armenians had a vendetta

"The crowd beat him up and made him bleed
Right after he'd done the deed
A little while after Talaat was shot
He was arrested on the spot

"In shooting Talaat, Soghomon felt that the problem had been solved
He told the crowd that he and Talaat were foreigners, so they shouldn't get
involved
Shooting Talaat had set his mind free
He told the crowd that Talaat's death was no loss to Germany"


20) Nightmare on Los Feliz St.--Revenge of the Living Braindead

BY SKEPTIK SINIKIAN

My grandma always told me, "If you don't want to be disappointed, then don't
have any expectations." She would then follow with, "Here, eat this, it will
make you grow strong and healthy!" and would shove a cucumber and cheese
"lavash" wrap in my face. Good times~E(sigh)~Eand smart words from a smart
woman.
And lest I forget the meaning of this subtle and pessimistic aphorism, the
most
recent Glendale municipal elections and the political cannibalism amongst
Armenian-American candidates served as a nice reminder.
So I'm ready to face the worst that the upcoming 90th Remembrance of the
Armenian Genocide will throw our way. Just a word of caution before you read
further--this article may offend some people. To which I say~Etough! The truth
always hurts a little.
Why is the 90th Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide going to be such a
letdown? Well for starters, it already is. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, knows
what's really going on. It seems as though for all the time that we've had to
prepare for this (minimum one year), there has been little or no coordination.
And if there actually has been any coordination between organizations and
groups, then they've done a poor job of letting the rest of us know what they
are doing. But at least there's an attempt on the part of the major groups to
work together. And by "major groups" I mean the three traditional Armenian
political parties, the major philanthropic organization, the two churches, and
the partridge in a pear tree.
Yet in the middle of all this "April 24" madness and disorganization, other
groups are popping up and as my grandma used to say (translating from
Armenian)
"They are driving their own donkeys!" There are so many "united" Armenian
"youth" organizations running around that it makes me wonder who they're
exactly uniting other than their hands to peoples' wallets? I know that one of
the groups who organized the Little Armenia Demonstration/March, recently held
a telethon to raise enough money to make their silly idea a reality. You read
that correctly. I called the idea silly. Maybe I'm just not smart. Maybe I
stood too close to the microwave to watch the cheese melt. But someone,
ANYONE,
please explain to me how having 7,000 people march around a modern day
Armenian
ghetto helps draw attention to the Cause of recognition? Wouldn't this
group of
people make a far greater impact if it were better organized in five groups of
1,000, and dispersed all over the City of Los Angeles in high traffic areas to
draw attention to the protest? Incidentally, the organizers of the protest
claim that they attract nearly 15,000-30,000 people. I estimate the march
being
closer to 5,000, and if I'm wrong, I'll eat one of those awful misspelled
signs
they carry around--you know the ones that spell Hitler with two "T's" or
ignore
all conventional rules of grammar. These folks spend more time coming up with
"cute" logos and slogans for T-shirts than they do actually contributing
constructively to Genocide awareness or recognition.
I have to apologize for being so harsh in my critique; I know these kids
are at
least attempting to do something that seems positive to them. But it doesn't
help their cause when on one of the most solemn and thought provoking days on
the Armenian calendar, they drive up and down Los Feliz Blvd. or even
Glenoaks,
hanging out of their cars, waving flags, blasting awful Turkish-infused
"rabiz"
music, and hollering like they are at the World Cup Finals.
Perception is everything. And first impressions are last impressions. You know
how when you smell that certain perfume, it will always remind you of your
aunt
Takuhi--the one who used to make that great "dolma" or "garmir pilaf," and
always gave you candy? That's because you associate the sights, the smells,
the
flavors--all with that first encounter or your ability to retain certain
information. The mind is an amazing thing. Well, now imagine the reaction of
your average non-Armenian stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Sunday as they
try to make their way through LA, and realize that what's holding them up is a
group of young wannabe soccer hooligans holding up unintelligible signs and
blasting music that sounds like cats being beaten. Here's a guess as to how
one
conversation in a car would go:

White guy 1(WG1): Hey, is there a concert at the Greek Theater today or an
accident or something?
White guy 2 (WG2): Naw, it's just some Armenian celebration of some sort
today.

WG1: What are they celebrating? It must be something big 'cause I've never
seen
Mexicans get this wild on Cinco De Mayo.
WG2: I'm not really sure, but I think it has something to do with the Turks. I
think that the Turks killed a lot of Armenians back in the day.
WG1: They did what?
WG2: Killed a bunch of Armenians
WG1: For doing what? Were they holding up traffic back then too?
WG2: I don't know man. All I know is a bunch of them died and today's the day
we all have to sit through traffic and watch these young punks in supped-up
cars ride hollering and shouting.
WG1: It doesn't make sense to me. That's just retarded. They were killed so
they celebrate? I bet you're wrong. I bet the Armenian Elvis is having a
concert at the Greek today and it just got out.
WG2: Whatever man, roll up the windows. That music a