Tweet
ARMENIAN REPORTER
PO Box 129
Paramus, New Jersey 07652
Tel: 1-201-226-1995
Fax: 1-201-226-1660
Web: http://www.reporter.am
Email: [email protected]
June 9, 2007 -- From the front section
To see the printed version of the newspaper, complete with photographs
and additional content, visit www.reporter.am and download the pdf
files. It's free.
1. Republicans share power despite winning majority (by Armen Hakobyan)
* Armenia's fourth parliament convenes
2. 50,000 attend Children's Day Festival at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts
* Yerevan's Cascade is home to the 4th annual street party and concert
3. Soccer: Armenia 1 - Poland 0
4. From Washington, in brief (by Emil Sanamyan)
* House subcommittee proposes Armenia, Karabakh aid levels
* Newly elected members of Congress urged to support Genocide resolution
* Reports of Turkish invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan seen as a "trial balloon"
* Russia offers U.S. joint use of missile defense radar in Azerbaijan
* DC think tank publishes journal on the Caucasus
5. Chile's Senate call for recognition of the Armenian Genocide
6. Interview: Washington's Dean Shahinian straddles Congress, Armenian
community service (by Emil Sanamyan)
7. Nagorno-Karabakh's final status is the main stumbling block in
peace negotiations (by Tatul Hakobyan)
* Stepanakert will not cede its independence and Azerbaijan will not
come to terms with the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh
* Bryza clarifies that he expects no "huge breakthrough in Saint Petersburg"
8. NKR President Arkady Ghoukassian: "Not a single decision will be
taken behind people's backs" (by Armen Hakobyan)
9. Mstislav Rostropovich, 1927-2007, cellist and humanitarian (by Ara Arakelian)
10. Art therapists and a new school in Yerevan open doors for autistic
children in Armenia (by Betty Panossian- Ter Sargssian)
11. Deadly hate crimes on the rise in Russia
12. Commentary: Not a hopeless cause (by Nubar Dorian)
13. Living in Armenia: School's out, university entrance exams are in
(by Maria Titizian)
14. Letters
* Money laundering charge sounds strange (Patricia Constantinian-Voskeridjian)
* Consider helping a student in Armenia (Yeretzgin Violet Kasparian)
* Profile of Richard Kloian "got it right" (Jack Weinstein)
15. Clarification
16. Editorial: Armenia beckons this summer and beyond
****************************************** *********************************
1. Republicans share power despite winning majority
by Armen Hakobyan
* Armenia's fourth parliament convenes
YEREVAN - Prime Minister Serge Sargsian, head of the Republican Party
of Armenia (RPA), and Gagik Tsarukian, president of the Prosperous
Armenia Party (PAP), on June 6 signed an agreement to form a coalition
government. Immediately afterward, the two men signed an agreement of
cooperation on behalf of the coalition with the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) Supreme Body of Armenia, represented by
Armen Rustamian.
Whereas President Robert Kocharian was a party to the coalition
agreement signed after the 2003 parliamentary elections, he was not a
party to either of the agreements signed on June 6. It is understood,
however, that he played a key role in the negotiations that led to
these power-sharing agreements, which were reached even though the RPA
had the votes to govern alone, without a coalition.
The agreements are in effect until the presidential election slated
for the early spring of 2008.
The outgoing government has now tendered its resignation, which the
president accepted on June 7, with the proviso that the ministers
carry on their responsibilities until their successors are named. Many
of the ministers are expected to retain their portfolios.
* The new government
The complete and official list of new ministers is expected soon.
However, most of the ministers have already been identified. The RPA
will retain a majority of the portfolios.
Serge Sargsian will remain prime minister. Hovik Abrahamian will
remain minister of territorial administration. Andranik Manukian,
minister of transport and communication. Armen Movsisian, minister of
energy; Vardan Khachatrian, minister of finance and economy. The
minister of urban development, Aram Harutiunian, will remain a
minister, but he will switch over to the Ministry of Nature
Protection.
Nerses Yeritsian of the RPA will be appointed minister of trade and
economic development.
The urban development portfolio will go to Vardan Vardanian of the
PAP, until now deputy minister of transport and communication. The
ARF's Norair Davidian will cede his post as minister of health to the
PAP's Artiom Kushkian, who runs the Erebuni Medical Center. The
Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs will be split into a Ministry of
Culture and a Ministry of Sports, with the latter portfolio going to a
PAP appointee, Armen Grigorian. The current minister of culture,
Hasmik Poghosian, may well remain in her post. She was nominated by
the United Labor Party (ULP), which was part of the former governing
coalition but fell 0.5 percentage points below the threshold to win
seats in the current parliament.
The ARF will retain two ministries: Levon Mkrtchian will remain
minister of education and science, and Davit Lokian will remain
minister of agriculture. In addition, Aghvan Vardanian of the ARF will
remain minister of labor and social affairs, but as a nominee of the
RPA, meaning that the RPA can replace him at any time with a person of
its choice.
The president appoints certain ministers directly. Vartan Oskanian
will remain minister of foreign affairs and Mikayel Harutiunian,
minister of defense. Both are nonpartisan. So is Gevorg Danielian, now
deputy prosecutor general, who will be the new minister of justice.
The incumbent, Davit Harutiunian, has become a member of the National
Assembly. The incumbent minister of nature protection, Vartan
Ayvazian, and the minister of trade and economic development, Karen
Chshmaritian, too, have moved to the legislature.
* Opening ceremony
The National Assembly held its opening session on June 7. President
Kocharian addressed the parliament. He said, "Without doubt, this is
an important event and as a result of the elections, a great step has
been taken toward the democratization of the country. Clearly, this is
a big investment in providing for the country's stability because
there is no question about the legitimacy of the parliament. I believe
this is an important guarantee of stable and productive work. I am
pleased that a convincing parliamentary majority has been established,
and an interesting [power-sharing] arrangement has been made, which I
think will allow the parliament to work productively for many years."
The president also said, "There is much work in the country that is
awaiting your decisions and those of the government. Much is expected
of the new parliament; the country's fast growth of the past years
places greater demands on the parliament and the government, and
requires them to work better."
After the president's opening address, Karekin II, Catholicos of All
Armenians, said a few words and intoned the Lord's Prayer. The members
of parliament then took their oath of office as required by law. Raffi
Hovannisian and the remaining members of parliament from the Heritage
Party and Artur Baghdasarian and the remaining members of parliament
from the Orinats Yerkir (Country of Laws) Party were absent from the
induction ceremony. They did not attend the opening session of
parliament and did not take the oath to serve the people. Nor did they
pick up their official mandates. They justify their choice by noting
that the election results have been contested in the Constitutional
Court.
The vice president of the RPA, Tigran Torossian, was reelected
speaker of the National Assembly. Vahan Hovannisian of the ARF was
reelected deputy speaker, and Ishkhan Zakarian of the PAP was also
elected deputy speaker. The number of standing committees was changed
to 9 from 6. In accordance with the coalition agreement, PAP
representatives Avet Adonts and Arevik Petrossian, two young and
educated specialists, were appointed as chairs of two of the new
committees, European Integration and Human Rights Protection. The
health, social affairs, and nature protection committee chair, Ara
Babloyan, is likewise with the PAP. Armen Rustamian of the ARF
retained the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Artur
Aghabekian of the ARF became chair of the Defense, National Security,
and Internal Affairs Committee. RPA members will lead the other four
committees: Gagik Minassian, Finance and Budget; Hranush Hakobian,
Science and Education; Vartan Ayvazian, Economic Affairs; and Davit
Harutiunian, State and Justice.
As for why the ARF negotiated the odd arrangement under which has
ministers in the government but is not formally part of the governing
coalition, Mr. Rustamian said that cooperation with the coalition is a
more flexible arrangement than membership in the coalition, and that
will allow the party to retain its independence. He noted that the ARF
will nominate its own presidential candidate in the 2008 elections.
************************************** *************************************
2. 50,000 attend Children's Day Festival at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts
* Yerevan's Cascade is home to the 4th annual street party and concert
YEREVAN - Heralded by trumpeters dressed in red caps and royal cloaks,
a parade of cartoon characters, circus acrobats and jugglers marched
into Yerevan's Gerard L. Cafesjian Center for the Arts (Cascade) as
part of the 4th annual Junior Achievement of Armenia's Children Day
Festival.
A crowd of more than 50 thousand gathered for the spectacular
outdoor dubbed by many as "the children's event of the year."
Accompanied by their parents and grandparents, tens of thousands of
wide-eyed children flocked to the Cascade to attend the
larger-than-life festival celebrating International Children's Day.
"Anyone who attended the Children's Day Festival, will have lasting
memories of this very sweet day," said Madelene Minassian, Director of
Public Relations at the Cafesjian Museum Foundation. "This is our
favorite day of the year, where the Cascade is transformed into the
second 'happiest place on earth.'"
In addition to the Cafesjian Family Foundation (which also owns this
newspaper), the organizations sponsoring this year's event were the
Junior Achievement of Armenia (JAA), Cafesjian Museum Foundation,
Armenia TV, Cascade Bank and the Orran Benevolent Organization.
"The festival is intended to be fun and memorable for the thousands
of children who attend," said Armine K. Hovannisian, Executive
Director of Junior Achievement of Armenia. "But it is also meant to
carry a strong message of working hard, and having campassion for
those in need."
At the heart of the Children's Day Festival was a trade show,
drawing public attention to companies established by students as part
of JAA's 9th-grade Economics education program.
Throughout the school year, 25,000 high school students, enrolled in
JAA's Applied Economics courses, were manufacturing and selling their
student company products.
The festival showcased 55 companies that were selected to represent
the best of the more than 400 companies that were formed this year.
Products on sale and display included handmade toys, jewelry and
crafts, candles, key chains and wall decorations. Last year, students
raised more than a thousand dollars at the trade show and donated the
proceeds to charity. This year's revenues will also be donated to
charity.
Along with the trade fair, the festival included a variety of
performances on four separate stages.
The shows featured popular Armenia TV children's character Yo Yo, a
circus, two puppet theatres, a pantomime theater, Gyumri's talented
Deghtsanik group, Sophie Devoyan's Dance Ensemble, a fashion show
featuring designs from Nina Hovnanian's Treasures of Armenia, and the
British Bus Project, which teaches kids public responsibility.
To make it a fun for all ages, the Children's Day Festival featured
a jazz concert by Arsen Nercisyan and the Cactus Band featuring Ani
Arzumanyan, Gor Mkitarian and the Reincarnation band. Other performers
at the open air concert included renowned Armenian singers Nune
Yesayan, Arthur Ispirian, Aramo and Emma, Forsh, Emi, Christine
Pepelyan, Silva Hakobyan, Arsen Grigorian, Hamlet Gevorkyan and
others. The big finish of the event came courtesy of Armenchik, whose
performance was welcomed by thunderous applause, a sing-along and
capped with a spectacular firework show - the traditional close of the
annual fairytale-of-a-day.
The tradition of celebrating International Children's Day on June
1st began at the World Conference for the Well-Being of Children in
Geneva , Switzerland, in 1925. Representatives from 54 countries met
at the conference and passed the Geneva Declaration Protecting
Children. The declaration addressed poverty, prevention of child
labor, education, and other issues related to the welfare of children
around the world. Since 1925, Children's Day is celebrated around the
world to remind and educate people about the universal responsibility
to protect children's rights.
***************************************** **********************************
3. Soccer: Armenia 1 - Poland 0
On the heels of a 2-1 victory over Kazakhstan last week, Armenia's
soccer team on June 6 defeated Poland, one of Europe's leading soccer
teams, 1-0 in Yerevan.
In the 70th minute, Hamlet Mkhitaryan fired a free kick, which
curled over the Poland wall and beyond the despairing right arm of
goalie Artur Boruc, uefa.com writes.
Despite the defeat the Poles still lead the Euro 2008 Group A with
19 points from nine matches, five points ahead of both Portugal and
Serbia, who have two games in hand each.
This was Armenia's second win in seven games.
****************************************** *********************************
4. From Washington, in brief
by Emil Sanamyan
* House subcommittee proposes Armenia, Karabakh aid levels
A key congressional subcommittee allocated almost twice as much
foreign aid to Armenia as was requested by the Bush Administration and
proposed more aid to Nagorno-Karabakh in Fiscal Year 2008,
Armenian-American advocacy groups and congressional sources reported
on June 5 and 6.
Subcommittee allocations are typically endorsed without major
changes in the Appropriations Committee and the full House of
Representatives' votes, which are expected to take place later this
month. But the bill would still need to be reconciled with the Senate
version before being signed into law.
In its June 5 meeting, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Foreign Operations, chaired by Rep. Nita Lowey (D.-N.Y.), suggested
$68 million in assistance to Armenia, $6 million to Karabakh, $18
million to Azerbaijan, and an additional $3.3 million in military aid
to Armenia and Azerbaijan each.
The military aid falls under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF)
and International Military Education and Training (IMET) programs, and
does not cover other security assistance, such as the eight-year
$100-million Caspian Security program, which the U.S. has been
implementing in Azerbaijan.
The administration's budget request called for $35 million in
economic aid to Armenia (and none for Nagorno-Karabakh). The proposed
cut was part of an across-the-board reduction in U.S. assistance to
the former Soviet Union to $356 million in FY08 from $509 million in
FY06. Under the same request, Armenia would have received $3.3
million, and Azerbaijan $5.3 million under FMF/IMET programs.
The request was criticized by the AAA, ANCA, and USAPAC, which in
recommendations submitted for the March 29 Subcommittee hearing urged
Congress to provide equal amounts of military aid to Armenia and
Azerbaijan, "not less than" $75 million in economic aid to Armenia and
$10 million to Karabakh.
Similar recommendations were made in the March 16 letter the
Armenian Caucus co-chair Rep. Frank Pallone (D.-N.J.), Rep. George
Radanovich (R.-Calif.), and 29 other representatives sent to the
Subcommittee chair Rep. Lowey and ranking member Rep. Frank Wolf
(R.-Va.). The current Subcommittee proposal comes close to meeting
these recommendations.
Armenia is also set to receive U.S. developmental assistance under
the $235 million, five-year Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)
program, for which Congress provides funds in bulk, without
country-by-country allocations. In the same funding bill, the
Subcommittee proposed $1.8 billion for all countries that have
qualified for MCA.
* Newly elected members of Congress urged to support Genocide resolution
Freshman Reps. Tim Walz (D.-Minn.) and Gus Bilirakis (R.-Fla.) sent a
letter to 54 fellow members of Congress newly elected in the 2006
elections, urging them to co-sponsor House Resolution 106 affirming
the Armenian Genocide.
Out of 196 representatives who have already endorsed H. Res. 106,
nineteen are new members. In their June 6 "Dear Colleague" letter, a
copy of which was made available by USAPAC, Reps. Walz and Bilirakis
urged fellow members to help reaffirm "U.S. commitment to
acknowledging and studying past cases of genocide and working to
ensure genocide never happens again."
They also noted the Turkish government's opposition to the measure,
but argued that by threatening sanctions against the U.S., "Turkey has
failed to take into account the damage that would be done to its own
interests. . . . Furthermore, Turkey maintains normal relations with
other nations who have officially acknowledged the Armenian genocide."
* Reports of Turkish invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan seen as a "trial balloon"
Anonymous Turkish security officials told the Associated Press on June
6 that a large number of Turkish soldiers, up to several thousand,
crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan in "hot pursuit" of Kurdish rebel forces.
The report was soon denied by U.S., Turkish, and Iraqi Kurdish
officials, but not before causing widespread concerns and jolting
Turkish and international financial markets.
A senior Iraqi Kurdish defense official, Jabar Yawir, told Reuters
that on June 6, "10 Turkish helicopters . . . with around 150
soldiers" landed inside Iraqi Kurdish territory, but then quickly left
without engaging Kurdish forces. A Turkish military official confirmed
that a "limited" raid was conducted. A Kurdish commander, Bahouz
Ardal, called the earlier report of a larger invasion and the raid a
"trial balloon from the Turkish army" to gauge U.S. reaction.
Turkish armed forces commander Gen. Yasar Buyukanit has for months
called for a military operation inside Iraqi Kurdistan, a move opposed
by the U.S. but backed by many Turks, frustrated with the recently
increased tempo of rebel Kurdish attacks inside Turkey. On June 4
seven Turkish gendarmerie soldiers were killed in Tunceli province,
long a hotbed of Kurdish resistance.
On May 30, U.S. forces in Iraq formally handed over security
responsibilities for northern Iraq to the Kurdish regional government,
which runs the area as an autonomous state. In the meantime, tens of
thousands of Turkish forces have been concentrated near the border
with Iraqi Kurdistan.
U.S. officials, most recently Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have
repeatedly issued warnings to Turkey not to invade, fearing a
Turkish-Kurdish war in Iraq.
* Russia offers U.S. joint use of missile defense radar in Azerbaijan
After threatening to point its missiles at planned U.S. missile
defense sites in central Europe, Russia offered to cooperate with the
U.S. on missile defense in Azerbaijan, where Moscow has an early
warning radar that illuminates Iran's entire territory, The Associated
Press reported on June 7.
U.S. National Security Advisor Steve Hadley called the proposal,
which was made by Russia's President Vladimir Putin during the G8
summit in Germany, "interesting" and added, "Let's let our experts
look at it."
Worried by Iran's likely acquisition of longer-range missiles and
development of nuclear weapons, the U.S. has sought to establish radar
and interceptor sites in Poland and Czech Republic and at least one
senior U.S. official has expressed interest in deploying a mobile
radar in one of the Caucasus countries (see this column in the April 7
Reporter).
But the various Caucasus governments' reaction to the idea has been
far from enthusiastic - most likely out of fear of likely Iranian
retaliation. There have also been vocal concerns from the Czech
Republic.
While missiles currently in Iran's arsenal are not believed to be
able to reach beyond the Black Sea, the country has been quickly
upgrading its capabilities. The Caucasus, Czech Republic, and Poland
all have mountainous areas lying on a hypothetical missile trajectory
from Iran to Britain and further across the Atlantic. U.S. officials
said they would go ahead with the program despite Russia's concerns.
The Russian ballistic missile defense radar in northern Azerbaijan
at Gabala is part of the Soviet-era missile defense system. According
to recent media reports, in the next five to six years Russia plans to
replace it with new radar being built on the Russian side of the
Caucasus mountains.
Russia's ambassador to Azerbaijan previously floated the idea of
"joint use" of Gabala on May 15. Presidents Bush and Putin may further
discuss this and other issues during bilateral talks in the U.S. set
for early next month.
* DC think tank publishes journal on the Caucasus
Beginning last month, the Washington-based World Security Institute
(WSI) has been publishing the journal Caucasus Context. Prof. Jim
Wertsch, a Georgia expert at the Washington University in St. Louis,
Mo., first launched the journal together with Zurab Karumidze
(Caucasus International Forum, Tbilisi) in 2004. They are now joined
as editors by Fariz Ismailzade (Cornell Caspian Consulting, Baku) and
Lilit Petrosyan (WSI, Washington).
The spring 2007 issue includes interviews with Nagorno-Karabakh's
president Arkady Ghoukasian, Armenia's former defense minister (and
now prime minister) Serge Sargsian, former Karabakh army commander
Samvel Babayan, and Azerbaijan's foreign minister, Elmar Mamedyarov -
all conducted by American journalist Jon Sawyer in the summer of 2006.
The journal also carries a never-before-published English version of
remarks then-president Levon Ter-Petrossian made at the January 1998
meeting of Armenia's National Security Council. The disagreements on
Karabakh policy aired at that meeting resulted in Ter-Petrossian's
resignation the following month. Visit www.worldsecurityinstitute.org
to find out more.
******************************************* ********************************
5. Chile's Senate call for recognition of the Armenian Genocide
YEREVAN - The Senate of Chile on June 5 unanimously adopted a
resolution that calls on the Chilean government to condemn the
Armenian Genocide, Yerkir reports, crediting the efforts of the
Armenian National Committee of South America.
The draft resolution was submitted by Socialist Party member Ricardo
Nunies Munios.
Chile becomes the fourth Latin American nation, after Uruguay,
Argentina, and Venezuela to address the Armenian Genocide of 1915-17.
**************************************** ***********************************
6. Interview: Washington's Dean Shahinian straddles Congress, Armenian
community service
WASHINGTON - In a May 25 interview with Washington editor Emil
Sanamyan, Dean Shahinian, senior counsel on the U.S. Senate's Banking
Committee, discusses his days as an Armenian "guerilla diplomat," his
efforts to battle corporate corruption through Congress, the
challenges facing the Armenian Church, and the story behind D.C.'s
largest annual Armenian event.
The part of the interview that covers the challenges facing the
Armenian Church will appear in the June 16 edition of the Armenian
Reporter.
Reporter: Can you say that your 27 years so far in the federal
government have been rewarding? Would you recommend this line of work?
Shahinian: All in all yes. I have opportunity to exercise
responsibility. [In this line of work] one has an opportunity to try
to formulate the law in a way that is appropriate or right. In my area
of securities and banking, this has to do with trying to make relevant
laws more fair - more "righteous," as it were. And because Congress
makes law and regulatory agencies make regulations, you have a role in
doing that. As an example, I was involving in drafting legislation
that came out of what became known as the Enron scandals in the early
part of this decade: the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, named after
then-chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Paul Sarbanes and
chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Mike Oxley.
We were faced with the scandal at Enron and other companies, massive
dishonesty in certain segments of the professions - accountants,
executives in public companies, stock analysts - and also failure to
perform duties by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as
well as state regulators.
We had a massive problem, the stock market fell, savings were lost.
So, what do you do? The Banking Committee under Sen. Sarbanes held 10
hearings, and I staffed a majority of them. As a result, we wrote
legislation, and I drafted several titles of what became known as the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Reporter: As you were holding hearings and drafting legislation, was
there an effort by companies through their interest groups to
influence the process?
Shahinian: When the news was coming out, 11 congressional committees
held hearings. That's what Congress does, when there is a problem that
people are upset about and it's on TV - members of Congress make
speeches, hold hearings, or introduce legislation. Some of the
committees invited former Enron executives, who by and large refused
to testify, pleading the Fifth Amendment.
Sen. Sarbanes, a very brilliant man, and we at the Banking Committee
decided to look not just at Enron, but also to see if there are
systemic problems. Our staff was experienced in these issues. So we
set up 10 hearings, inviting people from the industry, as well as
academics, former government officials.
At that point the industry started to get very active trying to
prevent legislation from being enacted - formally, lobbying members -
and they were successful by and large until the WorldCom scandal hit
the news. Until then, when we would try to have, for example,
accounting representatives look at our draft legislation and provide
suggestions, we would hear back from their lobbyists: "We are not
going to help you make this bill any better." And that was foolish on
their part.
Reporter: More broadly, Congress is involved in many, many issues,
some of which are on TV, but many others that are not. When you do
have serious corporate or government opposition on a legislative
initiative, what typically makes or breaks legislation?
Shahinian: It depends. Some legislation is relatively
uncontroversial; that type of legislation goes through if there are
enough people who want it. But what if there are some people who want,
and some people who don't what it? What can actually be enacted?
In my experience, when there is strong opposition, it is very
difficult to get legislation through. There is a negotiations process,
when some provisions might be eliminated. In the Enron case, there
were lot of companies who cooked their books, and there was still a
lot of opposition.
There were enough dishonest people [opposing reform], even though
there was a combination of media heat, so many instances of fraud,
plus financial pain individuals felt. So, you had six or seven months
of scandal in the media until WorldCom hit [and that created the
momentum for passage].
* * *
Reporter: As someone who straddles both the federal government and
community life, why would you say there are so few Armenian-Americans
in government?
Shahinian: I think Armenians don't generally get into the government
for two reasons. One, they assume that truth will win out and
therefore they don't expend special effort to bringing truth or their
concerns to the eyes of politicians. By and large, they are not
involved in that.
Second, Armenians tend to go for professions such as lawyers,
doctors, teachers, or for business, and they don't view political
involvement with the same degree of prestige.
Having said that, I am a lawyer and I am where I am because of legal
background and work experience as a lawyer.
Reporter: For many years, there has been an effort by organizations,
particularly by the Assembly and ANCA, to bring young
Armenian-Americans to Washington as interns. From what I can tell, not
too many have returned to make their careers here. Have you thought of
ways more young Armenians could be attracted, and do you even think
there is a need for that?
Shahinian: I think it is a worthwhile goal. People could come and
have responsible positions. Having said that, to do responsible work
in Congress, you do need a graduate degree.
I think the best way to find out why so few come back would be to
ask those former interns. I don't know, it may have something to do
with the internships they had. Because, in some of the internships,
from what I hear, they Xerox-copy papers and run errands. Well, that's
not a stimulating job description for anyone.
To the extent possible, you need to identify people who would really
work with a student. I have had interns through the offices I worked
at, and I gave them responsible work, helping staff hearings and doing
research. Some of them ended up going into financial services. The
intern I had last summer just got a job on the House Financial
Services Committee.
* * *
Reporter: Can you tell me about the Alexandria Festival (see the
story in Section B): it came about?
Shahinian: After the earthquake in December 1988, citizens in
Alexandria wanted to help. The City Council formed a committee to see
how they could help. There were architecture students who were brought
over [from Armenia to study]; there was artwork from Gyumri that was
exhibited in Washington.
And they thought, How can we fund some sort of ongoing relief? And
they said, Alexandria has ethnic festivals, let's do an Armenian one
in addition to the Italian, Irish, and so forth!
So we had a festival with food which [the local] St. Mary and Sourb
Khatchchurches helped prepare, live entertainment, and tables with
arts and crafts, and had it all in front of the City Hall in
Alexandria during the spring, so that people could come by and
participate. And we did it for another year and now we are in the 15th
year. The proceeds, fairly modest, have been used to help children in
Armenia, including orphans, at risk youth.
In the process, we try to showcase local Armenian talent, to make
people aware of the Armenian culture, and let Armenians be proud of
it.
Reporter: Would you say this is the biggest Armenian event in the
Washington area?
Shahinian: Parks and recreation officers tell us that several
thousands come to the festival. I personally don't think so, but we do
get one to three thousand. But in terms of the number of people, that
stillmakes us the largest regular Armenian event in the area. When
youth Olympics take place here - they are certainly larger.
Reporter: How did you yourself get involved? Since 1998, when I
moved here, I can't remember a festival without you.
Shahinian: What happened was on a Saturday morning, it was in 1990 I
think, I got a phone call from the Der Hayr, Fr. Vertanes, who had a
very bad cold and said that he was supposed to go and testify before
the Alexandria City Council on why we need this [Alexandria-Gyumri
Sister-City] committee. So, I went and testified, and since then I
have been a committee member and involved with the festival.
* * *
Shahinian: Years ago, after the earthquake, I started a small
foundation, called the Ararat Foundation. And over the years we have
done a bunch of different things.
Before the Embassy was established [in Washington in 1992], arrogant
as I am, if there were visiting heads of state at a venue that I could
get into, I would arrange to meet them and give a book or something
about Armenia. [I met] the Prime Minister of Iceland, a delegation
from Romania. And I remember the Romanians kind of spooked me, because
after it was over they said let's get together and have a meeting.
That was just after the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown.
We also did lectures on Armenian topics at the churches.
* * *
* Dean V. Shahinian
Mr. Shahinian is senior counsel on the U.S. Senate's Banking
Committee. He currently works under Committee Chair Sen. Chris Dodd
(D.-Conn.) He worked under former Ranking Member and Chair Sen. Paul
Sarbanes (D.-Md.), from March 1997 until the senator's retirement last
year.
Following the widely reported scandals involving the Enron and
WorldCom corporations, Mr. Shahinian played a key role in negotiating
and drafting the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that seeks to limit
corporate corruption in America.
From 1987 to 1997, Mr. Shahinian served in the Office of Thrift
Supervision (now part of the Department of Treasury) as assistant
chief counsel for corporate activities. From 1982 to 1986, he worked
at the Securities and Exchange Commission as legal assistant to
Commissioner B. S. Thomas. From 1980 to 1982 Mr. Shahinian was on the
staff of Rep. Carl D. Perkins, then Chair of the House Committee on
Education and Labor.
A native of Washington, Mr. Shahinian graduated from Yale
University, the University of Virginia School of Law, and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management.
He has served as a teaching fellow at Harvard University and on the
adjunct faculty of the Columbus School of Law.
******************************************** *******************************
7. Nagorno-Karabakh's final status is the main stumbling block in
peace negotiations
* Stepanakert will not cede its independence and Azerbaijan will not
come to terms with the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh
* Bryza clarifies that he expects no "huge breakthrough in Saint Petersburg"
by Tatul Hakobyan
YEREVAN - Today in Saint Petersburg, on the sidelines of an informal
CIS summit, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are expected to
meet. During this, their ninth meeting, Presidents Robert Kocharian
and Ilham Aliyev will try to come closer to an agreement on three
fundamental and so far intractable questions in the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The main obstacle remains the final status
of Nagorno-Karabakh.
President Arkady Ghoukassian of Nagorno-Karabakh, in a June 5 news
conference in Yerevan, after a meeting with Miguel Ángel Moratinos,
the foreign minister of Spain and the chairman-in-office of the
Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, said it is
meaningless to have serious expectations about the Saint Petersburg
meeting of the two presidents.
"The main issue in the conflict is that of the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh, and if we have not come to an agreement on that
issue, I cannot imagine what kind of optimism we can be talking
about," Mr. Ghoukassian said. "If there is no agreement around the
final status, then it is meaningless to examine all the other
questions. There is an alternative: resolve nothing. That is a
solution too. By resolving nothing, resolve the question."
But "Nagorno-Karabakh will never agree to be part of Azerbaijan.
Nagorno-Karabakh will not cede its independence," Mr. Ghoukassian
stressed. "Other questions can be on the agenda, and we are willing to
discuss them. The final word belongs to Nagorno-Karabakh, and our
people will not accept any decision that contradicts the interests of
the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh."
Which is the "red line" that Armenia is unwilling to cross in the
negotiations, a Spanish journalist asked Vartan Oskanian, Armenia's
foreign minister, at a joint news conference with the OSCE
chairman-in-office. Mr. Oskanian said that in the first place, it is
the recognition of the right of self-determination of the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Without the recognition of this right to self-determination, it is
not possible to speak of or agree on other matters," Mr. Oskanian
said. "We should not forget that this conflict began fundamentally
because of the question of self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh. It
is the question of self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh. All the
other questions that have arisen afterward are consequences of steps
initiated by Azerbaijan, of their starting a war, of their military
response to peaceful calls for self-determination. We have to be able
to concentrate on the fundamental question and that is the final
status of Nagorno-Karabakh. In today's circumstances, that question
can be resolved only by recognizing and allowing the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determine. If this is recognized, I think the
other questions will be resolved."
Mr. Moratinos in turn explained a statement he had made in Baku to
the effect that the sides are close to an agreement. He said that in
Baku and Yerevan he sees optimism and political will to reach the
resolution of the conflict. "Hope, optimism, and mutual concessions
must resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," he said. "Look to the
future with hope and optimism, not to the past."
* Bryza's optimism
A few days earlier, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew
Bryza, co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, expressed optimism about the
upcoming meeting of the heads of state. "If the Saint Petersburg
meeting is successful, then the number of differences remaining on
basic principles could be reduced to close to zero," Mr. Bryza told
The Associated Press.
Was there a basis for optimism, the Armenian Reporter asked Mr.
Oskanian. "Any meeting of the presidents raises expectations," he
said. "In the first place, if there is a meeting of the presidents,
that means there are grounds for a meeting. And because the final
decision is made on the presidential level, those expectations must
always exist. How likely is serious progress, I find it hard to say.
But I can say that as a result of the efforts of the foreign ministers
of Armenia and Azerbaijan, there are serious grounds for the
presidents to make decisions. If there is agreement, we will have
progress. If not, we must continue our efforts on the foreign
ministerial level."
Meanwhile, President Kocharian told Mediamax that he "is unaware of
the grounds for the American co-chair's optimism. The present state of
the negotiation process, as well as the statements of the Azerbaijani
side over the past two months, leave little room for hope for positive
results."
Expressions of optimism on the part of the mediators and expressions
of pessimism on the part of the parties to the conflict have long been
the norm. Such was the case in April 2001, before the Key West
meetings, and such has been the case ever since.
In Yerevan on June 7, Mr. Bryza explained his statement: "We had
very open, very honest, very constructive discussions with President
Kocharian and Minister Oskanian. We talked about expressions of
optimism and pessimism. I made a point that when I talk about
optimism, it reflects my personality. I am an optimistic person. That
is why I am a diplomat. I don't mean by any means that we anticipate
some huge breakthrough in Saint Petersburg. Now we have a very active
process that is going to see a meeting of two presidents. We see
discussions that are serious, respectful, in which the differences are
nearing between the sides."
Asked by the Armenian Reporter to comment on Mr. Oskanian's and Mr.
Ghoukassian's statements that the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh is
the priority for the Armenian side, Mr. Bryza said, "It is to be
expected that each side has its priority issues. Personally I wouldn't
expect anything else then that Oskanian and Ghukassian would look at
the status question as their most important issue because that is and
always has been the case. Of course, status and security is the most
important issue for Armenian side. And so this is the process that we
have been developing - not just sort of going through blindly, but
thinking through how to structure the proposals."
Yuri Merzlyakov, the Russian co-chair, said: "In our Baku and
Yerevan meetings, the co-chairs have decided the framework of the
questions that we think should be brought to the attention of the
presidents in Saint Petersburg. The resolution of those questions
will, in our opinion, allow progress in the negotiation process."
Bernard Fassier, the French co-chair, said, "We can speak of a
breakthrough only when the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
instruct their foreign ministers to start working on the text of a
peace agreement."
******************************** *******************************************
8. NKR President Arkady Ghoukassian: "Not a single decision will be
taken behind people's backs"
by Armen Hakobyan
YEREVAN - "I think all of us should be interested in the quick
resolution of the issue," said Arkady Ghoukassian, president of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic at a press conference after meeting at the
NKR Representative's Office in Yerevan with Miguel Ángel Moratinos,
the foreign minister of Spain and the chairman-in-office of the
Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe. "This is the
common desire. I don't think that Azerbaijan is uninterested in it.
But the Azerbaijani government wishes to get everything without any
concessions. If this is the position of Azerbaijan, I cannot see the
resolution of the issue in the nearest future. Because we are not
ready to yield everything without getting anything,"
In a later press conference, held after a meeting with the co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Mr. Ghoukassian went farther: If Azerbaijan
continues to use the negotiation process solely for propagandistic
purposes - without showing a willingness to make concessions - then
Nagorno-Karabakh will issue an ultimatum to Armenia demanding that it
withdraw from further negotiations.
Mr. Ghoukassian emphasized on both occasions that Nagorno-Karabakh
finds its own absence from the negotiations to be unacceptable.
"Armenia-Azerbaijan is a destructive format. And it is an illogical
format. The problem concerns the fate of the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh, and it is unclear why Nagorno-Karabakh is not
directly involved in the negotiation process," Mr. Ghoukassian said
after meeting Mr. Moratinos.
"It is the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh that is being decided," Mr.
Ghoukassian continued, "and it is natural that the last word will be
that of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh." No matter how confidential
these negotiations may be, he added, it is impossible that anyone will
be able to make any decision or sign any document "behind the backs of
the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia."
Mr. Ghukassian said he was certain that the conflict cannot be
resolved in the current format. "I am 100 percent confident that it
will happen one day: Everybody will understand that this format is not
realistic, and Nagorno-Karabakh will certainly sit at the
[negotiation] table."
On differences between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, Mr. Ghoukassian
said the differences that exist are not "crucial."
On the question of ceding liberated territory to Azerbaijan, Mr.
Ghoukassian said the primary issue is the final status of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Beyond that, "it is impossible to get everything you
want. It would be a one-sided demand, like what Azerbaijan is doing
today. Azerbaijan poses one-sided demands, and if they come up with
such one-sided demands, I can assure you there won't be any solution
of the problem."
The Armenian Reporter asked the president whether the next president
of Nagorno-Karabakh, to be elected in July, will take a softer line.
"Whatever the outcome of the election, it won't be like that. The
position of Karabakh does not depend on individuals. This is not
Ghoukassian's position. This is the position of the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh," Mr. Ghoukassian said. "Anyone who may become
president is obliged to take into account the opinion of the Karabakh
people. But I don't think that the position of Karabakh is rigid. I
think that the position of Karabakh is constructive."
***************************** **********************************************
9. Mstislav Rostropovich, 1927-2007, cellist and humanitarian
by Ara Arakelian
WATERTOWN, Mass. - The legendary Russian cellist and conductor
Mstislav Rostropovich, who died on April 27 at the age of 80, was by
most accounts a larger-than-life figure. His enormous contributions to
the world of music - more than 170 works for cello were written
specifically for him during his long career - and his fearless,
selfless humanitarian actions in the face of tyranny and injustice are
virtually unparalleled in modern times.
Born in Baku, in today's Azerbaijan, and endearingly called "Slava"
by friends and admirers (the nickname means "glory" in Russian),
Rostropovich was a self-made man. At the age of four, his family moved
to Moscow in pursuit of a better future. His father and first teacher
was an accomplished cellist who had studied with Pablo Casals. Facing
economic hardship in Moscow, the family had to plea for lodging and
was offered shelter by an Armenian woman in her small apartment.
"I will never forget the generosity of that beautiful lady,"
composer and friend Tigran Mansurian recalls an emotional Rostropovich
saying in 1998, when the two last met during a music festival. He told
Time magazine in 1977: "If you have a place with 10 rooms for three
people and take in four, it is not such a great thing; but if you have
two small rooms for three people and take in another four, that is
incredible. Zinaida Cherchopova kept us for three years without asking
money. People, simple people! That's why in my heart, all my life I
will be grateful to my country."
His father died when Rostropovich was only 13, but Slava worked hard
- extremely hard - mixing work as a carpenter with musical studies at
the conservatory, quickly making a reputation for himself in the
Soviet Union as an extraordinary cellist. He studied with and
befriended the great composers of the 20th century, Shostakovich and
Prokofiev, who wrote and dedicated major works for the cello to the
cellist. His tonal range and irresistible beauty of sound, along with
his agile technique, made him an unrivaled instrumentalist and a
household name.
His sphere of influence and inspirational forces reached many
musical circles and generations in both the former Soviet Union and
abroad. "My musical views, like that of many other cellists of my
generation, were greatly affected by him at different points of our
lives," says cellist Suren Bagratuni, who studied with a former
student of Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory. "His contributions
to the music world are truly immeasurable."
But perhaps what distinguished Rostropovich most among his peers was
his humanity: the pure love and passion he had for life in general and
for colleagues and friends. His sense of idealism eventually brought
him problems with the Soviet authorities in the 1970s, when he
supported and provided housing for the dissident writer Alexander
Solzhenitsyn. Outraged by the treatment of the Nobel laureate author,
Rostropovich also wrote an open letter to the state-controlled
newspaper Pravda, which was never published but got circulated in the
West. The reaction was swift and cruel for the celebrated artist who
had been decorated with both the Lenin and Stalin Prizes: cancelled
performances throughout the Soviet Union, followed by a virtual travel
ban abroad, and the abrupt removal of his wife, soprano Galina
Vishnevskaya, from the famed Bolshoi Theater. Soon after, in 1974,
they were granted exit visas and eventually stripped of their
citizenship while in the United States.
Rostropovich continued his career in the U.S., assuming the music
directorship of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.,
for almost 20 years. In November of 1989 Rostropovich was on hand in
Berlin for an impromptu concert, playing Bach's suites for solo cello,
as demonstrators tore down the Berlin Wall. In the following year, the
then-Soviet leader Gorbachev reinstated his citizenship, enabling him
to make a dramatic return to Russia with the National Symphony
Orchestra. And in 1991, when Soviet hardliners attempted to undermine
the democratic reforms with a military coup, Rostropovich appeared on
Boris Yeltsin's side, protesting in the parliament building for days.
Rostropovich also had many Armenian composer friends and made
extended professional and recreational trips to Armenia. Aram
Khachaturian dedicated his Concert-Rhapsody for cello and orchestra to
the cellist, and conducted the Armenian premiere himself with
Rostropovich as the soloist. Arno Babadjanian likewise wrote his cello
concerto for his dear friend and colleague, who performed and recorded
it. (In 1993, Rostropovich served as honorary chairperson for a
commemoration concert in Boston honoring Babadjanian.)
The maestro, along with his wife Galina, also performed in a benefit
concert in December of 1988 on the occasion of the devastating
Armenian earthquake, one of their many charitable activities. In 1991
the couple founded the Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation to assist
the children of Russia and the newly independent states of the former
Soviet Union, supporting vaccination programs and public health reform
initiatives.
Rostropovich lived his dramatic life with passion, zest and a sense
of idealism. He once declared: "The best thing I produced was not
music, but that letter to Pravda. Since then I have had a clean
conscience." He also considered himself a foot soldier in service of
music - a foot soldier who, in the words of fellow cellist Yo-Yo Ma,
"was reporting on the tragedies and the triumphs of the world."
Rostropovich was laid to rest in Moscow's Novodevichy cemetery
alongside the remains of his teachers Shostakovich and Prokofiev.
************************************** *************************************
10. Art therapists and a new school in Yerevan open doors for autistic
children in Armenia
by Betty Panossian- Ter Sargssian
YEREVAN - On June 1, Mher, 11, celebrated International Children's Day
by showing his paintings and pottery at the Gevorgian Gallery here.
The artwork was in bright, cheerful colors. The paintings depicted
faces and a farm animal. The pottery, which he had made from scratch,
was a bit crooked, but really lovely.
The exhibit featured the work of autistic children, aged 9 to 13,
all clients of art therapist Armineh Arakelian. Ms. Arakelian says she
carefully directs the children into the world of shapes, colors, and
emotions, but refrains from any interference.
Their paintings open the doors to a sweet and innocent world, where
colors and expressions speak of inner planets in which the children so
often lock themselves.
The paintings on exhibit were the fruits of long and patient work.
Ms. Arakelian and the children had in some cases worked together for
years to reach to the point where the child could not only make good
use of paints and brushes, but could also delve into colors and
express himself or herself and relate to others through the medium of
painting.
The opening reception was well attended. Mher's mother, Karine
Sardarian, was beaming, as was his brother Armen, who had graduated
from high school a couple of days earlier.
"I am very happy that so many people are interested in paintings by
children with developmental problems," Ms. Arakelian said. "This is an
opportunity for my students to mingle in a social event, to meet new
people, make new bonds, and see their work valued. They feel good
about themselves here."
All children are open to expressing themselves through art. But
progress tends to be slower and demand more patience and perseverance
on the part of adults when the child is autistic or faces other
developmental challenges. But the result is rewarding. "What I wish
for my students is to become full-fledged individuals and fully
realize whatever potential they might have. I want them to be relaxed
in social settings. And painting helps a great deal," Ms. Arakelian
said.
Art is also an outlet for excess energy. Mher's pottery teachers,
Gevorg Baghdasarian, Aram Mouradian, and Kostia Petrossian, started
working with children with physical and mental development problems
three years ago. From their experience, Mr. Baghdasarian says, "Our
students are easily into pottery, because pottery has the
characteristic of taking energy, and the students have a lot of energy
in them. After using most of that energy in the pottery class, the
students feel more relaxed."
* A school with an individual approach
Like other autistic children, Mher has trouble expressing himself and
interacting with other people. Far from being isolated, however, he
has a busy scholastic, artistic, and social schedule. The doors of his
inner world are now ajar thanks in great part to the loving and caring
people who surround him.
At the Armenian International Child Development Center (AICDC),
opened a year ago, Mher has learned to expand the range of his
self-expression through a one-on-one teaching approach.
The center is an international branch of California-based Pacific
Child and Family Associates LLC, which offers applied behavior
analysis and other services for children and adults with autism and
other developmental disabilities.
The center in Armenia, located in central Yerevan, "strives to
become a comprehensive center for treating developmental disorders
caused by autism," to quote its literature.
The center is not a mere shelter for autistic children, says
executive director Heghineh Koshtoyan. It provides them with a
high-quality education through a one-on-one approach, providing the
students with essential social and educational skills.
Special-needs schools in Armenia seldom meet the basic human and
educational needs of children, several parents and other individuals
involved in the education system report. The establishment of the
AICDC is a hopeful sign that things may be changing.
The seven children who attend the AICDC begin their day with a
gathering to say hello. They have play and music hours and group
activities, as well as one-on-one lessons that include various
activities to teach basic skills at the child's level. They end their
day with a goodbye gathering.
The staff receives ongoing training and evaluations.
"The ultimate goal for each student is to reach to a point of
self-realization, and feel himself or herself an integrated member of
the society," Ms. Koshtoyan says. "We set individual and more tangible
goals for each child. It may be language acquisition and speech
improvements for one, and basic self-help skills for another."
"We work with children taking into consideration each child's
personal abilities and potential," says Nelly, the one-on-one teacher
who works with Mher. She carries out exercises that help him get the
concept of time, work with numbers and math, letters and
picture-reading, differentiating between "you" and "me," and so on.
The teaching materials include colorful and bright picture cards.
The teachers are pleased to report that after a year at the center,
some students now recognize some letters, colors, and shapes. Others
have made progress in speech. Still others can communicate more easily
with word and picture cards, which are important milestones for them.
The center's group activities help the children learn how to have
fun together. In addition, "when we see that different students have
reached more or less the same level of achievement in one-on-one
sessions, we bring them together in combined classes as well," Nelly
says.
Art therapy has an important place in the curriculum. "We want to
open these children to the world through musical rhythms and tunes,"
says the school's music therapist. The music hour stimulates the
children, who enjoy the active and rapid rhythms of the music. "Both
with its positive (making the children excited) and negative (boring
them or making them tired) effects, music helps the children," she
says. "That's because music takes them away from their inner static
state. The songs we choose make references to the words and themes
they are studying."
Can some of the children eventually be integrated into the public
school system? "We have students who have the potential of one day
returning to public schools," Ms. Koshtoyan says. But she does not see
much cooperation on the part of the public schools.
The educational experience of an autistic child cannot be complete
without school-home cooperation. "Parents participate in our training
sessions and they get a good idea of what we do here," Ms. Koshtoyan
says. But the center cannot reach all its targets in parental
integration because of financial limitations. "We reach a point where
we realize we have to focus on more fundamental needs, although we do
consider parent-school cooperation and parental trainings essential,
too."
The center is expensive, considering local wages. Parents are
expected to pay 200,000 drams (approx. $550) a month in tuition,
though not everyone pays the full amount. The fee does not cover all
the school's expenses, Ms. Koshtoyan says.
The founder and general director of the center, Dr. Ira Heiveil, who
is based in Glendale, Calif., covers a significant part of the
deficit. The US Autism International Foundation also extends a helping
hand. "Assisted by the foundation, we plan to work with more autistic
children," Ms. Koshtoyan says.
Ms. Sardarian, Mher's mother, is grateful for the center. But she
attributes much of Mher's progress to his extracurricular activities:
painting with Ms. Arakelian, pottery, swimming, and even skiing.
And at the exhibit on International Children's Day, it was obvious
that this 11-year-old boy was the pride and joy of his loving family
and community.
connect:
www.aicdc.am
www.pacificchild .com
******************************************** *******************************
11. Deadly hate crimes on the rise in Russia
WASHINGTON - Throughout Russia, 31 individuals were murdered in crimes
apparently motivated by ethnic hatred since the beginning of this year
according to a Russian human rights group, PanArmenian.net reported on
June 5.
ArmeniaNow.com reported on June 1 that among them were five ethnic
Armenians, including 30-year-old Aharon Tigranyan murdered in late
May.
Pointing to the rise in hate crimes, Alexandr Brod of the Moscow
Bureau on Human Rights said there were seven such murders in the first
half of 2004, and 10 and 17 murders over the same periods of 2005 and
2006, respectively. Most of the victims were reportedly Azerbaijanis,
Uzbeks, Armenians, or Africans and most murders, 21, occurred in the
capital, Moscow.
On June 1, a Moscow jury acquitted a teenage suspect in the murder
of 19-year-old Artur Sardarian, Russian news agencies reported.
Sardarian was stabbed to death on a commuter train in May 2006 in what
appeared to be a hate crime; the second suspect has not been
identified.
But an Armenian Embassy official in Moscow told ArmeniaNow that so
far "this year, suspects in all murders of Armenians were detained [by
police] very quickly."
Russia's RIA Novosti reported on May 28 that 18-year-old Artur Ryno,
a student at an icon-painting school, was detained in mid-April as a
suspect in a brutal stabbing murder of 46-year-old businessperson
Karen Abramyan.
Ryno has since claimed that since August 2006 he and a friend have
hunted down and murdered 37 other individuals who looked like natives
of the Caucasus throughout Moscow. A police source, cited by the news
agency, appeared to confirm Ryno's mass-murder claim, but an
investigation is ongoing.
Further south, in Russia's Stavropol Kray, on May 22 police charged
four teenagers for vandalizing forty Armenian gravestones in a
cemetery in Krasnokumsky, the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former
Soviet Union reported in its "Bigotry Monitor."
- E.S.
******************************************** *******************************
12. Commentary: Not a hopeless cause
by Nubar Dorian
Predictably, we commemorated our Genocide again this year with flags,
marches, and speeches. Our future as a community may be obscured by
bewilderment and doubt. Our present institutions may be ungovernable,
lacking cohesion, and leaving many vital community questions
unaddressed. But we do have one, clear certainty: That the April 24th
commemoration of next year, and all the years yet to come, will
thrive.
Not surprisingly, our annual Genocide commemoration not only unites
us, but also reminds us of who we are: the totality of us, our roots,
our heritage, our traditions and values; those Armenian qualities that
coalesce wherever we live on this earth, whatever language we speak,
and however we worship.
As citizens of a great country where we enjoy every freedom, it has
been our choice to commemorate our Genocide, even though most of us
have not experienced it ourselves. However familiar we may get with
the routine of April 24th, the magnitude of the Genocide itself is
still hard to conceive. You can see it in the many details that escape
us. Most of us cannot imagine, for example, how mothers fed their
newborn babies in those times; what allowed some to escape and how
they others simply survived; what they told their God, and whether
they assumed He had failed them; and whether they taught their
children how to pray. The totality of horrors suffered still escapes
us.
But when details fail us, we turn to numbers. These, too, simply
overwhelm the human mind. One million? One and a-half million? Two
million - or more? The actual number of martyrs is unknowable. They
were our parents, grandparents, uncles, neighbors, friends. They were
all God's innocent children, who died along with their dreams,
expectations, visions and hopes. Old age, pestilence, or sickness did
not kill them. Human cruelty, anger, passion, and madness ordered them
killed, or left helpless to serve as prey for vultures and wolves.
"When numbers fail us, we turns to words," a Holocaust survivor said
some years back. Those deeply sad words and stories are the only means
we have to build a bridge between those who were killed during the
Genocide and our children, and even those yet to be born. Words help
us create images of those lost thousands who would have been our
leaders, scientists, editors, visionaries and poets, but whose
bleached bones are instead spread across deserts.
Finally, when words fail us we turn to facts. Today, a mountain of
facts higher than Mount Ararat - documents, letters, telegrams,
testimonials, eye-witness accounts - all fight for prominence.
Libraries throughout the world hold factual accounts of our Genocide
in many languages, waiting to be read. On the other hand, the storm of
Turkish distortions, denials, and protestations of innocence continues
to rain on absolute fact.
Facts reveal truth. Each April 24th sees more facts coming out, and
more people convinced to join in advocacy for our rights and claims.
Contrary to Charles Dickens, "The frequency of exposure" has not
proved to be "the wet-nurse of indifference." Each April 24th
commemoration builds fact upon fact into a circle of truth. And if
denial is like a hammer that drives the "crucifixion nails" deeper
into our wounded palms and feet, then every truth-revealing fact helps
to draw those nails out - in preparation for an even greater victory.
Our pilgrimage to Death is over! We are no longer helpless and weak;
we are no longer adrift in a sinking boat, waiting to be thrown as
dead weight into the sea. Someday soon an April 24th will dawn when
the salt water of our tears will be replaced by song and dance, in
Homeland Armenia and here in America, and wherever anyone proudly
carries the sweet burden of Armenian nationhood.
Beyond this life, an implacable and universal Judge will surely hand
us the equitable decision that has escaped us now for more than nine
decades. But in the meantime, details, numbers, words, and facts are
all coming together to help us prevail. As never before, the world is
watching our actions, and listening to our story. And the Armenian
world needs us - needs our honor and our love. So hold fast. Stand
tall. And soldier on!
* * *
Mr. Dorian, a longtime contributor to the Armenian Reporter, resides
in Cliffside Park, N.J.
******************************************** *******************************
13. Living in Armenia: School's out, university entrance exams are in
by Maria Titizian
A few days ago I was sitting at an outdoor café with some friends,
enjoying the cool evening breeze after a blisteringly hot day. We were
discussing the election results and the rumors flying about whether
there would be a coalition government, which political parties would
get which ministerial portfolios, and which ones would choose to go
into opposition.
Those of us sitting around the table all came from different
political and social beliefs. The one thing that united us was our
commitment to this country. Underlying our conversation, however, was
a deep-rooted suspicion that these elections which, on the surface
appeared fair, transparent, and clean were in reality tainted with
bribes and not-so-subtle coercion. Every election I endure in Armenia
strikes a fear deep in my heart that the country is going to unravel.
Of course I have the propensity to overdramatize. The country did
not come apart; there were no massive demonstrations or protests; the
voice of the radical opposition withered; and the powers that be
marched on.
Exhausted from philosophizing and contemplating what the future
held, we were sitting silently, each of us lost in thought, when we
heard voices getting louder as they approached. We turned to see
groups of young girls and boys, all dressed in similar clothes, with
corsages carefully pinned to their chests, balloons in hand, walking
in tight groups, squealing with joy.
Smiles began to appear on our faces as we realized that it was
Verchin Zank - the final bell, the last day of school, when tenth
graders from all over the city celebrate their graduation from high
school and gather in Republic Square for an evening of collective, I
daresay national celebration.
This year 50,000 students celebrated their Verchin Zank and are now
taking their state exams, which will be followed for many by
university entrance exams. State exams - which are identical across
the country - have always been conducted in the schools the students
have attended. So school administrations organize and mark exams at
their own discretion. This practice meant that the marking procedures
weren't always fair. For the first time the Ministry of Education has
set up a pilot project to conduct two of the required state exams,
Armenian language and Armenian literature, for students outside their
own schools to avoid favoritism and rigging. This is a positive and
welcome step forward. However, once the pressure of state exams is
over, the students must face the daunting task of taking the dreaded
university entrance exams.
Every university faculty offers a few scholarships for students
based on the outcome of their entrance exams. Every family with a
child preparing to enter the halls of higher education is caught up in
a maelstrom of finding tutors a year in advance, fretting and wringing
their hands, pushing their children to the limits of exhaustion to
guarantee that they are able to secure one of these coveted
scholarships. For most families sending a child to university is a
luxury that is unattainable, and if their child's performance on the
exams is not up to par then all hopes for higher education are wiped
out. Then the connections and bribes come into play.
Yerevan is a big village, where everyone knows everyone else, and if
they don't, then they invariably have a cousin, uncle, aunt, or
godfather who does know someone who can pull strings who can make sure
that their child gets in. It's an impossible situation for everyone. I
know, we went through it last year.
By the time our daughter celebrated her Verchin Zank, we had already
ensured that she was tutored for Armenian history, Armenian language,
and English, the three exams she had to take to get into the faculty
of her choice. An entire year in advance of the exams, she was running
from one tutor to another, studying, reading, and writing until
blisters formed on her fingers. They have yet to recede.
Her first scheduled exam was English, a subject you would think she
would breeze by, but as I have written before things are not so simple
here. Having a native speaker of English for a mother, having been
born and educated in Canada for the first 11 years of her life, she
would, you would think, consider this exam the least of her worries.
Think again. I will not bore you with the details except to say that
while she scored a perfect 20 out of 20 on her Armenian-language exam,
she scored a 19.6 on her English exam. A year later and I still have
not come to terms with that outcome.
Nevertheless Verchin Zank for our family was an important milestone.
After so many years of adjusting and having to learn Eastern Armenian
and acclimatizing to a social and educational culture that was so
different from what we knew, our daughter had graduated with honors
and is now completing her first year in university. These bittersweet
memories came flooding back as I sat in the café with my friends and
watched groups of young people celebrating their own personal
milestones. For me the worrying, the fretting, and the wringing of
hands coincided with the sheer joy of realizing that we had overcome
one of the biggest hurdles in this journey of living in Armenia.
I am thankful for every moment no matter how difficult or
heartbreaking, because I have been blessed with experiences which I
will carry with me always. Like the day we went to the university to
find out the results of her Armenian language exam. The scores were
posted on the entrance doors of the university and when we arrived
there was a mob of people clamoring to see the scores. We joined the
melee and were struggling to move in to find our daughter's name. My
husband was the first one to see it and when he called out, "20 out of
20," I nearly collapsed, and on one of the busiest street corners of
Yerevan I wept until I was breathless. That moment in time will
forever be etched in my memory.
It not only reminds us but is a reaffirmation of why we chose to
come here in the first place. So while elections cloud some of my days
and the future is still as ambiguous as it was when I first stepped
foot here, we are on the greatest rollercoaster ride of our lives.
****************************************** *********************************
14. Letters
* Money laundering charge sounds strange
Sir:
The news of former Armenian foreign minister Alexander Arzoumanian's
arrest on suspicion of money laundering strikes me as strange. I
worked at Armenia's UN Mission in New York City back when he was
Armenia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. It may not
be easy to like Arzoumanian on a "warm and fuzzy" level; but money
laundering? It's not his style. And based on the assumption that a
person's character stays relatively consistent over his lifetime, I'm
guessing he continues to be honest and precise in matters of money.
I can imagine, however, that he will extract maximum mileage from
this imprisonment. There is at least one precedent in Armenian
political culture of gaining legitimacy by going to jail. Arzoumanian
himself has been there, done that, before.
I can also imagine Arzoumanian - in the interval between the house
search and the arrest - chain smoking, nervously pacing, mumbling
under his breath, poring over the dog-eared papers in his hand,
obsessively considering and reconsidering each word and phrase of a
statement such as the one released by him, or rather his family,
shortly after his arrest. Anyone who's worked with him knows just what
I mean. That's his style.
What most concerned me in this whole situation was the news that
Armenia's secret police arrived to find Arzoumanian's 10-year-old son
home alone. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but why was a 10-year-old
home alone?
Very truly yours,
Patricia Constantinian-Voskeridjian
Bryn Mawr, Pa.
* Consider helping a student in Armenia
Sir:
This is the time of year when many of us are thinking about where we
will be going on vacation. Those of us who have children are waiting
for school to finish, and off we will go. Thankfully, most of us are
not thinking of how we will buy our children the necessary materials
they will need to return to school next fall.
But many parents in Armenia are thinking of how they can afford to
get their children any of the necessities they need. And they're
hoping and praying that someone, somewhere, will give them a helping
hand.
In response to that need, the Eastern Diocese's Women's Guild
Central Council (WGCC) started its "School Bag Project" in January
1992, in the aftermath of the 1988 earthquake in Armenia. It's been an
ongoing project ever since.
Today, with a small donation of only $20, people can help us fill a
lovely canvas bag with 14 basic materials needed by all students,
including a three-ring notebook, 200 sheets of lined notebook paper,
pencils, ballpoint pens, erasers, scissors, a pencil sharpener, a
12-inch ruler, a composition book, a 16-color box of Crayolas, a box
of colored pencils, a 9" x 12"-inch blackboard, a box of chalk, and a
package of 48 sheets of varied-color construction paper.
Because the WGCC exists under the auspices of the Eastern Diocese of
the Armenian Church of America, we also include a book of Bible
stories, written in the Eastern Armenian dialect, for each student.
To date, seven shipments of filled school bags have been sent to
Armenia (roughly once every two years) for distribution in Yerevan,
Gyumri, Stepanavan, Karabakh, and the Davoosh region of Armenia. More
than 9,000 students have happily received these much-needed materials
to do their schoolwork.
Please, before your readers go on vacation this year, I hope they
will consider supporting the School Bag Project. Checks payable to the
WGCC can be mailed to the project's chair, Yn. Violet Kasparian, at
263 Ridge Street, New Milford, NJ 07646.
Let me thank our donors past and present for helping us put big
smiles on the faces of so many Armenian students. It's a great feeling
to help them, and to help build the future of Armenia, too.
Very truly yours,
Yeretzgin Violet Kasparian
New Milford, New Jersey
* Profile of Richard Kloian "got it right"
Sir:
Congratulations on the profile of Richard Kloian ("A Man's Work, a
Nation's Heritage," May 26). To have his work made more public within
and outside the Armenian community is a richly deserved honor. I have
forwarded the story to many people as a way of honoring Richard's
efforts.
All of my colleagues at Facing History and Ourselves offices
throughout the country and around the world know that our ongoing work
toward the goal helping teachers develop and deliver in-depth units or
courses on the Armenian Genocide has been made much more possible by
the work of this amazing man.
Facing History's successes related to teaching the Armenian Genocide
would not be possible without Kloian's support, encouragement, and
guidance. I appreciate his commitment to truth-telling, his rigorous
scholarship, and his prodigious "networking" abilities. Hundreds of
teachers have benefited from his willingness to introduce us to
scholars. He is legendary among educators in our region because of his
willingness to share resources such as readings, videos, DVDs, and
archival materials that inform and shape curricular journeys. His
"cosmic patience" in dealing with so many people, and his "wise
counsel" around how to approach particular historical and pedagogical
issues, informs much of the work I am privileged to do in relation to
this important history.
It is not enough to simply say "thank you" to Richard. I am pleased
that the Armenian Reporter "got it right" by publishing this very good
article.
Very truly yours,
Jack Weinstein
Hayward, Calif.
Mr. Weinstein is the director of Facing History and Ourselves
(www.facinghistory.org)
*************** ************************************************** **********
15. Clarification
Last week's Letter from Moscow, "Observing Armenia on the elections'
eve," was researched and prepared by Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan and Anna
Rulevskaya. We regret that Ms. Rulevskaya's name was omitted from the
byline.
************************************* **************************************
16. Editorial: Armenia beckons this summer and beyond
In the early days of Armenia's independence, Armenian-American
individuals and organizations asked themselves what would happen to
their Armenianness and their community life now that there was an
Armenian state again.
Recalling that they traced their roots to Western Armenia, some
Armenian-Americans played down the significance of the
Eastern-Armenian republic to their identity. Others took the position
that what goes on in distant Armenia is not really their concern.
They, among others, worried that the needs of Armenia would drain
Armenian-American communities of resources they needed to invest in
the communities' own preservation and development.
Of course, the overwhelming sentiment was one of joy, celebration,
and hope. Here was a long-held dream coming true. Here was a promise
of living in freedom - and not only in Armenia, but also throughout
the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc. Here was a promise that Armenia
could now choose its own path in the world.
Alongside the joy and the hope was the knowledge that the path ahead
would be full of difficult challenges and obstacles. It was, and
continues to be.
But Armenians have persevered and have overcome some of the most
difficult challenges. Armenians defeated Azerbaijan, which sought to
crush Artsakh; Armenians overcame the energy crisis; and Armenia went
from economic devastation to years of double-digit economic growth.
Of course, important challenges remain: creating economic
opportunities for a greater proportion of the population, especially
in strategically important area; developing greater respect for the
rule of law - in elections, in governance, in the economic sphere; and
maintaining security in a difficult environment, to name some.
And what has become of our Armenianness and our community life?
For one thing, the composition of the Armenian-American community
has changed: Armenians from Armenia form a large part of the community
now. In significant part, the new diasporans are well-educated
polyglots - including scholars, artists, artisans, and entrepreneurs -
with a strong sense of Armenian identity and a lively connection with
Armenia. They have given an enormous boost to Armenian artistic and
cultural life in America.
But it is not only recent immigrants. Armenian-Americans whose
families have been in the United States for generations, or have
immigrated from places other than Armenia have been inspired by their
pride in Armenia to become more active in their communities.
Beyond community life, Armenian-Americans with no prior connection
to the Republic of Armenia or Artsakh have developed a dynamic
relationship with Armenia. Indeed, some Armenian-Americans have moved
there. Others have bought property and spend part of the year there.
Others have invested in businesses there, in some cases serving as
models of law-abiding good corporate citizenship. Yet others share
regularly of their expertise, traveling back and forth.
A significant segment of the Armenian-American population continues
to donate to charities that support Armenia in dozens of ways -
building schools where they're needed, planting trees, educating young
people, providing health care, and more.
Armenian-Americans are also active in promoting a strong
U.S.-Armenia relationship through political advocacy and lobbying
organizations.
Armenia, in turn, has reached out to Armenian-Americans. The Special
Residency Status, which allows people of Armenian ancestry to visit
without a visa, to work without a special work permit, and to own land
has helped make Armenian-Americans feel at home in Armenia.
A wide variety of programs in Armenia attracts people of varied
interests. There's the Golden Apricot Film Festival in July, for
example, which is a perfect opportunity for film-lovers to visit
Armenia, and while they're at it, to munch on the most delicious fruit
they've ever tasted - in its natural habitat. The Pan-Armenian Games
brings athletes and their families. Conferences on various subjects,
including the Second International Medical Congress of Armenia later
this month, are another important attraction.
In addition to these occasions - there are many others, and besides,
who needs a special occasion to visit Armenia? - there is a growing
infrastructure to receive visitors. You arrive by airplane in an
ultramodern air terminal that has become a model of comfort, service,
and efficiency - in other words, nothing like its former self.
Accommodations in the capital and beyond are comfortable and cater to
every budget. Language is no problem, as English-speakers abound and
signage is in English as well as Armenian. The free tourist
information center in the center of the capital is staffed with
helpful, knowledgeable people who go out of their way to be helpful.
Internet, telephone, cell phone, and PDA connectivity are so
advanced that you need not worry about being cut off from relatives or
your business. And you can stay abreast of world news in real time:
Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, CNN broadcasts on antenna TV and in
English.
And people have responded. The Republics of Armenia Nagorno-Karabakh
together received 381,000 visitors last year - up 20 percent from
318,000 last year and up 450 percent from 84,500 in 2000.
The distance from the United States to Armenia is not that great.
Sometimes the mist of outdated information, poor information, past
misunderstandings, and language barriers makes the distance seem
greater. Your newspaper can help bridge the gap.
But there is no substitute for experiencing today's Armenia
yourself. See you there!
****************************************** *********************************
Please send your news to [email protected] and your letters to
[email protected]
(c) 2007 CS Media Enterprises LLC. All Rights Reserved
PO Box 129
Paramus, New Jersey 07652
Tel: 1-201-226-1995
Fax: 1-201-226-1660
Web: http://www.reporter.am
Email: [email protected]
June 9, 2007 -- From the front section
To see the printed version of the newspaper, complete with photographs
and additional content, visit www.reporter.am and download the pdf
files. It's free.
1. Republicans share power despite winning majority (by Armen Hakobyan)
* Armenia's fourth parliament convenes
2. 50,000 attend Children's Day Festival at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts
* Yerevan's Cascade is home to the 4th annual street party and concert
3. Soccer: Armenia 1 - Poland 0
4. From Washington, in brief (by Emil Sanamyan)
* House subcommittee proposes Armenia, Karabakh aid levels
* Newly elected members of Congress urged to support Genocide resolution
* Reports of Turkish invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan seen as a "trial balloon"
* Russia offers U.S. joint use of missile defense radar in Azerbaijan
* DC think tank publishes journal on the Caucasus
5. Chile's Senate call for recognition of the Armenian Genocide
6. Interview: Washington's Dean Shahinian straddles Congress, Armenian
community service (by Emil Sanamyan)
7. Nagorno-Karabakh's final status is the main stumbling block in
peace negotiations (by Tatul Hakobyan)
* Stepanakert will not cede its independence and Azerbaijan will not
come to terms with the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh
* Bryza clarifies that he expects no "huge breakthrough in Saint Petersburg"
8. NKR President Arkady Ghoukassian: "Not a single decision will be
taken behind people's backs" (by Armen Hakobyan)
9. Mstislav Rostropovich, 1927-2007, cellist and humanitarian (by Ara Arakelian)
10. Art therapists and a new school in Yerevan open doors for autistic
children in Armenia (by Betty Panossian- Ter Sargssian)
11. Deadly hate crimes on the rise in Russia
12. Commentary: Not a hopeless cause (by Nubar Dorian)
13. Living in Armenia: School's out, university entrance exams are in
(by Maria Titizian)
14. Letters
* Money laundering charge sounds strange (Patricia Constantinian-Voskeridjian)
* Consider helping a student in Armenia (Yeretzgin Violet Kasparian)
* Profile of Richard Kloian "got it right" (Jack Weinstein)
15. Clarification
16. Editorial: Armenia beckons this summer and beyond
****************************************** *********************************
1. Republicans share power despite winning majority
by Armen Hakobyan
* Armenia's fourth parliament convenes
YEREVAN - Prime Minister Serge Sargsian, head of the Republican Party
of Armenia (RPA), and Gagik Tsarukian, president of the Prosperous
Armenia Party (PAP), on June 6 signed an agreement to form a coalition
government. Immediately afterward, the two men signed an agreement of
cooperation on behalf of the coalition with the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) Supreme Body of Armenia, represented by
Armen Rustamian.
Whereas President Robert Kocharian was a party to the coalition
agreement signed after the 2003 parliamentary elections, he was not a
party to either of the agreements signed on June 6. It is understood,
however, that he played a key role in the negotiations that led to
these power-sharing agreements, which were reached even though the RPA
had the votes to govern alone, without a coalition.
The agreements are in effect until the presidential election slated
for the early spring of 2008.
The outgoing government has now tendered its resignation, which the
president accepted on June 7, with the proviso that the ministers
carry on their responsibilities until their successors are named. Many
of the ministers are expected to retain their portfolios.
* The new government
The complete and official list of new ministers is expected soon.
However, most of the ministers have already been identified. The RPA
will retain a majority of the portfolios.
Serge Sargsian will remain prime minister. Hovik Abrahamian will
remain minister of territorial administration. Andranik Manukian,
minister of transport and communication. Armen Movsisian, minister of
energy; Vardan Khachatrian, minister of finance and economy. The
minister of urban development, Aram Harutiunian, will remain a
minister, but he will switch over to the Ministry of Nature
Protection.
Nerses Yeritsian of the RPA will be appointed minister of trade and
economic development.
The urban development portfolio will go to Vardan Vardanian of the
PAP, until now deputy minister of transport and communication. The
ARF's Norair Davidian will cede his post as minister of health to the
PAP's Artiom Kushkian, who runs the Erebuni Medical Center. The
Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs will be split into a Ministry of
Culture and a Ministry of Sports, with the latter portfolio going to a
PAP appointee, Armen Grigorian. The current minister of culture,
Hasmik Poghosian, may well remain in her post. She was nominated by
the United Labor Party (ULP), which was part of the former governing
coalition but fell 0.5 percentage points below the threshold to win
seats in the current parliament.
The ARF will retain two ministries: Levon Mkrtchian will remain
minister of education and science, and Davit Lokian will remain
minister of agriculture. In addition, Aghvan Vardanian of the ARF will
remain minister of labor and social affairs, but as a nominee of the
RPA, meaning that the RPA can replace him at any time with a person of
its choice.
The president appoints certain ministers directly. Vartan Oskanian
will remain minister of foreign affairs and Mikayel Harutiunian,
minister of defense. Both are nonpartisan. So is Gevorg Danielian, now
deputy prosecutor general, who will be the new minister of justice.
The incumbent, Davit Harutiunian, has become a member of the National
Assembly. The incumbent minister of nature protection, Vartan
Ayvazian, and the minister of trade and economic development, Karen
Chshmaritian, too, have moved to the legislature.
* Opening ceremony
The National Assembly held its opening session on June 7. President
Kocharian addressed the parliament. He said, "Without doubt, this is
an important event and as a result of the elections, a great step has
been taken toward the democratization of the country. Clearly, this is
a big investment in providing for the country's stability because
there is no question about the legitimacy of the parliament. I believe
this is an important guarantee of stable and productive work. I am
pleased that a convincing parliamentary majority has been established,
and an interesting [power-sharing] arrangement has been made, which I
think will allow the parliament to work productively for many years."
The president also said, "There is much work in the country that is
awaiting your decisions and those of the government. Much is expected
of the new parliament; the country's fast growth of the past years
places greater demands on the parliament and the government, and
requires them to work better."
After the president's opening address, Karekin II, Catholicos of All
Armenians, said a few words and intoned the Lord's Prayer. The members
of parliament then took their oath of office as required by law. Raffi
Hovannisian and the remaining members of parliament from the Heritage
Party and Artur Baghdasarian and the remaining members of parliament
from the Orinats Yerkir (Country of Laws) Party were absent from the
induction ceremony. They did not attend the opening session of
parliament and did not take the oath to serve the people. Nor did they
pick up their official mandates. They justify their choice by noting
that the election results have been contested in the Constitutional
Court.
The vice president of the RPA, Tigran Torossian, was reelected
speaker of the National Assembly. Vahan Hovannisian of the ARF was
reelected deputy speaker, and Ishkhan Zakarian of the PAP was also
elected deputy speaker. The number of standing committees was changed
to 9 from 6. In accordance with the coalition agreement, PAP
representatives Avet Adonts and Arevik Petrossian, two young and
educated specialists, were appointed as chairs of two of the new
committees, European Integration and Human Rights Protection. The
health, social affairs, and nature protection committee chair, Ara
Babloyan, is likewise with the PAP. Armen Rustamian of the ARF
retained the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Artur
Aghabekian of the ARF became chair of the Defense, National Security,
and Internal Affairs Committee. RPA members will lead the other four
committees: Gagik Minassian, Finance and Budget; Hranush Hakobian,
Science and Education; Vartan Ayvazian, Economic Affairs; and Davit
Harutiunian, State and Justice.
As for why the ARF negotiated the odd arrangement under which has
ministers in the government but is not formally part of the governing
coalition, Mr. Rustamian said that cooperation with the coalition is a
more flexible arrangement than membership in the coalition, and that
will allow the party to retain its independence. He noted that the ARF
will nominate its own presidential candidate in the 2008 elections.
************************************** *************************************
2. 50,000 attend Children's Day Festival at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts
* Yerevan's Cascade is home to the 4th annual street party and concert
YEREVAN - Heralded by trumpeters dressed in red caps and royal cloaks,
a parade of cartoon characters, circus acrobats and jugglers marched
into Yerevan's Gerard L. Cafesjian Center for the Arts (Cascade) as
part of the 4th annual Junior Achievement of Armenia's Children Day
Festival.
A crowd of more than 50 thousand gathered for the spectacular
outdoor dubbed by many as "the children's event of the year."
Accompanied by their parents and grandparents, tens of thousands of
wide-eyed children flocked to the Cascade to attend the
larger-than-life festival celebrating International Children's Day.
"Anyone who attended the Children's Day Festival, will have lasting
memories of this very sweet day," said Madelene Minassian, Director of
Public Relations at the Cafesjian Museum Foundation. "This is our
favorite day of the year, where the Cascade is transformed into the
second 'happiest place on earth.'"
In addition to the Cafesjian Family Foundation (which also owns this
newspaper), the organizations sponsoring this year's event were the
Junior Achievement of Armenia (JAA), Cafesjian Museum Foundation,
Armenia TV, Cascade Bank and the Orran Benevolent Organization.
"The festival is intended to be fun and memorable for the thousands
of children who attend," said Armine K. Hovannisian, Executive
Director of Junior Achievement of Armenia. "But it is also meant to
carry a strong message of working hard, and having campassion for
those in need."
At the heart of the Children's Day Festival was a trade show,
drawing public attention to companies established by students as part
of JAA's 9th-grade Economics education program.
Throughout the school year, 25,000 high school students, enrolled in
JAA's Applied Economics courses, were manufacturing and selling their
student company products.
The festival showcased 55 companies that were selected to represent
the best of the more than 400 companies that were formed this year.
Products on sale and display included handmade toys, jewelry and
crafts, candles, key chains and wall decorations. Last year, students
raised more than a thousand dollars at the trade show and donated the
proceeds to charity. This year's revenues will also be donated to
charity.
Along with the trade fair, the festival included a variety of
performances on four separate stages.
The shows featured popular Armenia TV children's character Yo Yo, a
circus, two puppet theatres, a pantomime theater, Gyumri's talented
Deghtsanik group, Sophie Devoyan's Dance Ensemble, a fashion show
featuring designs from Nina Hovnanian's Treasures of Armenia, and the
British Bus Project, which teaches kids public responsibility.
To make it a fun for all ages, the Children's Day Festival featured
a jazz concert by Arsen Nercisyan and the Cactus Band featuring Ani
Arzumanyan, Gor Mkitarian and the Reincarnation band. Other performers
at the open air concert included renowned Armenian singers Nune
Yesayan, Arthur Ispirian, Aramo and Emma, Forsh, Emi, Christine
Pepelyan, Silva Hakobyan, Arsen Grigorian, Hamlet Gevorkyan and
others. The big finish of the event came courtesy of Armenchik, whose
performance was welcomed by thunderous applause, a sing-along and
capped with a spectacular firework show - the traditional close of the
annual fairytale-of-a-day.
The tradition of celebrating International Children's Day on June
1st began at the World Conference for the Well-Being of Children in
Geneva , Switzerland, in 1925. Representatives from 54 countries met
at the conference and passed the Geneva Declaration Protecting
Children. The declaration addressed poverty, prevention of child
labor, education, and other issues related to the welfare of children
around the world. Since 1925, Children's Day is celebrated around the
world to remind and educate people about the universal responsibility
to protect children's rights.
***************************************** **********************************
3. Soccer: Armenia 1 - Poland 0
On the heels of a 2-1 victory over Kazakhstan last week, Armenia's
soccer team on June 6 defeated Poland, one of Europe's leading soccer
teams, 1-0 in Yerevan.
In the 70th minute, Hamlet Mkhitaryan fired a free kick, which
curled over the Poland wall and beyond the despairing right arm of
goalie Artur Boruc, uefa.com writes.
Despite the defeat the Poles still lead the Euro 2008 Group A with
19 points from nine matches, five points ahead of both Portugal and
Serbia, who have two games in hand each.
This was Armenia's second win in seven games.
****************************************** *********************************
4. From Washington, in brief
by Emil Sanamyan
* House subcommittee proposes Armenia, Karabakh aid levels
A key congressional subcommittee allocated almost twice as much
foreign aid to Armenia as was requested by the Bush Administration and
proposed more aid to Nagorno-Karabakh in Fiscal Year 2008,
Armenian-American advocacy groups and congressional sources reported
on June 5 and 6.
Subcommittee allocations are typically endorsed without major
changes in the Appropriations Committee and the full House of
Representatives' votes, which are expected to take place later this
month. But the bill would still need to be reconciled with the Senate
version before being signed into law.
In its June 5 meeting, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Foreign Operations, chaired by Rep. Nita Lowey (D.-N.Y.), suggested
$68 million in assistance to Armenia, $6 million to Karabakh, $18
million to Azerbaijan, and an additional $3.3 million in military aid
to Armenia and Azerbaijan each.
The military aid falls under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF)
and International Military Education and Training (IMET) programs, and
does not cover other security assistance, such as the eight-year
$100-million Caspian Security program, which the U.S. has been
implementing in Azerbaijan.
The administration's budget request called for $35 million in
economic aid to Armenia (and none for Nagorno-Karabakh). The proposed
cut was part of an across-the-board reduction in U.S. assistance to
the former Soviet Union to $356 million in FY08 from $509 million in
FY06. Under the same request, Armenia would have received $3.3
million, and Azerbaijan $5.3 million under FMF/IMET programs.
The request was criticized by the AAA, ANCA, and USAPAC, which in
recommendations submitted for the March 29 Subcommittee hearing urged
Congress to provide equal amounts of military aid to Armenia and
Azerbaijan, "not less than" $75 million in economic aid to Armenia and
$10 million to Karabakh.
Similar recommendations were made in the March 16 letter the
Armenian Caucus co-chair Rep. Frank Pallone (D.-N.J.), Rep. George
Radanovich (R.-Calif.), and 29 other representatives sent to the
Subcommittee chair Rep. Lowey and ranking member Rep. Frank Wolf
(R.-Va.). The current Subcommittee proposal comes close to meeting
these recommendations.
Armenia is also set to receive U.S. developmental assistance under
the $235 million, five-year Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)
program, for which Congress provides funds in bulk, without
country-by-country allocations. In the same funding bill, the
Subcommittee proposed $1.8 billion for all countries that have
qualified for MCA.
* Newly elected members of Congress urged to support Genocide resolution
Freshman Reps. Tim Walz (D.-Minn.) and Gus Bilirakis (R.-Fla.) sent a
letter to 54 fellow members of Congress newly elected in the 2006
elections, urging them to co-sponsor House Resolution 106 affirming
the Armenian Genocide.
Out of 196 representatives who have already endorsed H. Res. 106,
nineteen are new members. In their June 6 "Dear Colleague" letter, a
copy of which was made available by USAPAC, Reps. Walz and Bilirakis
urged fellow members to help reaffirm "U.S. commitment to
acknowledging and studying past cases of genocide and working to
ensure genocide never happens again."
They also noted the Turkish government's opposition to the measure,
but argued that by threatening sanctions against the U.S., "Turkey has
failed to take into account the damage that would be done to its own
interests. . . . Furthermore, Turkey maintains normal relations with
other nations who have officially acknowledged the Armenian genocide."
* Reports of Turkish invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan seen as a "trial balloon"
Anonymous Turkish security officials told the Associated Press on June
6 that a large number of Turkish soldiers, up to several thousand,
crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan in "hot pursuit" of Kurdish rebel forces.
The report was soon denied by U.S., Turkish, and Iraqi Kurdish
officials, but not before causing widespread concerns and jolting
Turkish and international financial markets.
A senior Iraqi Kurdish defense official, Jabar Yawir, told Reuters
that on June 6, "10 Turkish helicopters . . . with around 150
soldiers" landed inside Iraqi Kurdish territory, but then quickly left
without engaging Kurdish forces. A Turkish military official confirmed
that a "limited" raid was conducted. A Kurdish commander, Bahouz
Ardal, called the earlier report of a larger invasion and the raid a
"trial balloon from the Turkish army" to gauge U.S. reaction.
Turkish armed forces commander Gen. Yasar Buyukanit has for months
called for a military operation inside Iraqi Kurdistan, a move opposed
by the U.S. but backed by many Turks, frustrated with the recently
increased tempo of rebel Kurdish attacks inside Turkey. On June 4
seven Turkish gendarmerie soldiers were killed in Tunceli province,
long a hotbed of Kurdish resistance.
On May 30, U.S. forces in Iraq formally handed over security
responsibilities for northern Iraq to the Kurdish regional government,
which runs the area as an autonomous state. In the meantime, tens of
thousands of Turkish forces have been concentrated near the border
with Iraqi Kurdistan.
U.S. officials, most recently Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have
repeatedly issued warnings to Turkey not to invade, fearing a
Turkish-Kurdish war in Iraq.
* Russia offers U.S. joint use of missile defense radar in Azerbaijan
After threatening to point its missiles at planned U.S. missile
defense sites in central Europe, Russia offered to cooperate with the
U.S. on missile defense in Azerbaijan, where Moscow has an early
warning radar that illuminates Iran's entire territory, The Associated
Press reported on June 7.
U.S. National Security Advisor Steve Hadley called the proposal,
which was made by Russia's President Vladimir Putin during the G8
summit in Germany, "interesting" and added, "Let's let our experts
look at it."
Worried by Iran's likely acquisition of longer-range missiles and
development of nuclear weapons, the U.S. has sought to establish radar
and interceptor sites in Poland and Czech Republic and at least one
senior U.S. official has expressed interest in deploying a mobile
radar in one of the Caucasus countries (see this column in the April 7
Reporter).
But the various Caucasus governments' reaction to the idea has been
far from enthusiastic - most likely out of fear of likely Iranian
retaliation. There have also been vocal concerns from the Czech
Republic.
While missiles currently in Iran's arsenal are not believed to be
able to reach beyond the Black Sea, the country has been quickly
upgrading its capabilities. The Caucasus, Czech Republic, and Poland
all have mountainous areas lying on a hypothetical missile trajectory
from Iran to Britain and further across the Atlantic. U.S. officials
said they would go ahead with the program despite Russia's concerns.
The Russian ballistic missile defense radar in northern Azerbaijan
at Gabala is part of the Soviet-era missile defense system. According
to recent media reports, in the next five to six years Russia plans to
replace it with new radar being built on the Russian side of the
Caucasus mountains.
Russia's ambassador to Azerbaijan previously floated the idea of
"joint use" of Gabala on May 15. Presidents Bush and Putin may further
discuss this and other issues during bilateral talks in the U.S. set
for early next month.
* DC think tank publishes journal on the Caucasus
Beginning last month, the Washington-based World Security Institute
(WSI) has been publishing the journal Caucasus Context. Prof. Jim
Wertsch, a Georgia expert at the Washington University in St. Louis,
Mo., first launched the journal together with Zurab Karumidze
(Caucasus International Forum, Tbilisi) in 2004. They are now joined
as editors by Fariz Ismailzade (Cornell Caspian Consulting, Baku) and
Lilit Petrosyan (WSI, Washington).
The spring 2007 issue includes interviews with Nagorno-Karabakh's
president Arkady Ghoukasian, Armenia's former defense minister (and
now prime minister) Serge Sargsian, former Karabakh army commander
Samvel Babayan, and Azerbaijan's foreign minister, Elmar Mamedyarov -
all conducted by American journalist Jon Sawyer in the summer of 2006.
The journal also carries a never-before-published English version of
remarks then-president Levon Ter-Petrossian made at the January 1998
meeting of Armenia's National Security Council. The disagreements on
Karabakh policy aired at that meeting resulted in Ter-Petrossian's
resignation the following month. Visit www.worldsecurityinstitute.org
to find out more.
******************************************* ********************************
5. Chile's Senate call for recognition of the Armenian Genocide
YEREVAN - The Senate of Chile on June 5 unanimously adopted a
resolution that calls on the Chilean government to condemn the
Armenian Genocide, Yerkir reports, crediting the efforts of the
Armenian National Committee of South America.
The draft resolution was submitted by Socialist Party member Ricardo
Nunies Munios.
Chile becomes the fourth Latin American nation, after Uruguay,
Argentina, and Venezuela to address the Armenian Genocide of 1915-17.
**************************************** ***********************************
6. Interview: Washington's Dean Shahinian straddles Congress, Armenian
community service
WASHINGTON - In a May 25 interview with Washington editor Emil
Sanamyan, Dean Shahinian, senior counsel on the U.S. Senate's Banking
Committee, discusses his days as an Armenian "guerilla diplomat," his
efforts to battle corporate corruption through Congress, the
challenges facing the Armenian Church, and the story behind D.C.'s
largest annual Armenian event.
The part of the interview that covers the challenges facing the
Armenian Church will appear in the June 16 edition of the Armenian
Reporter.
Reporter: Can you say that your 27 years so far in the federal
government have been rewarding? Would you recommend this line of work?
Shahinian: All in all yes. I have opportunity to exercise
responsibility. [In this line of work] one has an opportunity to try
to formulate the law in a way that is appropriate or right. In my area
of securities and banking, this has to do with trying to make relevant
laws more fair - more "righteous," as it were. And because Congress
makes law and regulatory agencies make regulations, you have a role in
doing that. As an example, I was involving in drafting legislation
that came out of what became known as the Enron scandals in the early
part of this decade: the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, named after
then-chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Paul Sarbanes and
chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Mike Oxley.
We were faced with the scandal at Enron and other companies, massive
dishonesty in certain segments of the professions - accountants,
executives in public companies, stock analysts - and also failure to
perform duties by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as
well as state regulators.
We had a massive problem, the stock market fell, savings were lost.
So, what do you do? The Banking Committee under Sen. Sarbanes held 10
hearings, and I staffed a majority of them. As a result, we wrote
legislation, and I drafted several titles of what became known as the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Reporter: As you were holding hearings and drafting legislation, was
there an effort by companies through their interest groups to
influence the process?
Shahinian: When the news was coming out, 11 congressional committees
held hearings. That's what Congress does, when there is a problem that
people are upset about and it's on TV - members of Congress make
speeches, hold hearings, or introduce legislation. Some of the
committees invited former Enron executives, who by and large refused
to testify, pleading the Fifth Amendment.
Sen. Sarbanes, a very brilliant man, and we at the Banking Committee
decided to look not just at Enron, but also to see if there are
systemic problems. Our staff was experienced in these issues. So we
set up 10 hearings, inviting people from the industry, as well as
academics, former government officials.
At that point the industry started to get very active trying to
prevent legislation from being enacted - formally, lobbying members -
and they were successful by and large until the WorldCom scandal hit
the news. Until then, when we would try to have, for example,
accounting representatives look at our draft legislation and provide
suggestions, we would hear back from their lobbyists: "We are not
going to help you make this bill any better." And that was foolish on
their part.
Reporter: More broadly, Congress is involved in many, many issues,
some of which are on TV, but many others that are not. When you do
have serious corporate or government opposition on a legislative
initiative, what typically makes or breaks legislation?
Shahinian: It depends. Some legislation is relatively
uncontroversial; that type of legislation goes through if there are
enough people who want it. But what if there are some people who want,
and some people who don't what it? What can actually be enacted?
In my experience, when there is strong opposition, it is very
difficult to get legislation through. There is a negotiations process,
when some provisions might be eliminated. In the Enron case, there
were lot of companies who cooked their books, and there was still a
lot of opposition.
There were enough dishonest people [opposing reform], even though
there was a combination of media heat, so many instances of fraud,
plus financial pain individuals felt. So, you had six or seven months
of scandal in the media until WorldCom hit [and that created the
momentum for passage].
* * *
Reporter: As someone who straddles both the federal government and
community life, why would you say there are so few Armenian-Americans
in government?
Shahinian: I think Armenians don't generally get into the government
for two reasons. One, they assume that truth will win out and
therefore they don't expend special effort to bringing truth or their
concerns to the eyes of politicians. By and large, they are not
involved in that.
Second, Armenians tend to go for professions such as lawyers,
doctors, teachers, or for business, and they don't view political
involvement with the same degree of prestige.
Having said that, I am a lawyer and I am where I am because of legal
background and work experience as a lawyer.
Reporter: For many years, there has been an effort by organizations,
particularly by the Assembly and ANCA, to bring young
Armenian-Americans to Washington as interns. From what I can tell, not
too many have returned to make their careers here. Have you thought of
ways more young Armenians could be attracted, and do you even think
there is a need for that?
Shahinian: I think it is a worthwhile goal. People could come and
have responsible positions. Having said that, to do responsible work
in Congress, you do need a graduate degree.
I think the best way to find out why so few come back would be to
ask those former interns. I don't know, it may have something to do
with the internships they had. Because, in some of the internships,
from what I hear, they Xerox-copy papers and run errands. Well, that's
not a stimulating job description for anyone.
To the extent possible, you need to identify people who would really
work with a student. I have had interns through the offices I worked
at, and I gave them responsible work, helping staff hearings and doing
research. Some of them ended up going into financial services. The
intern I had last summer just got a job on the House Financial
Services Committee.
* * *
Reporter: Can you tell me about the Alexandria Festival (see the
story in Section B): it came about?
Shahinian: After the earthquake in December 1988, citizens in
Alexandria wanted to help. The City Council formed a committee to see
how they could help. There were architecture students who were brought
over [from Armenia to study]; there was artwork from Gyumri that was
exhibited in Washington.
And they thought, How can we fund some sort of ongoing relief? And
they said, Alexandria has ethnic festivals, let's do an Armenian one
in addition to the Italian, Irish, and so forth!
So we had a festival with food which [the local] St. Mary and Sourb
Khatchchurches helped prepare, live entertainment, and tables with
arts and crafts, and had it all in front of the City Hall in
Alexandria during the spring, so that people could come by and
participate. And we did it for another year and now we are in the 15th
year. The proceeds, fairly modest, have been used to help children in
Armenia, including orphans, at risk youth.
In the process, we try to showcase local Armenian talent, to make
people aware of the Armenian culture, and let Armenians be proud of
it.
Reporter: Would you say this is the biggest Armenian event in the
Washington area?
Shahinian: Parks and recreation officers tell us that several
thousands come to the festival. I personally don't think so, but we do
get one to three thousand. But in terms of the number of people, that
stillmakes us the largest regular Armenian event in the area. When
youth Olympics take place here - they are certainly larger.
Reporter: How did you yourself get involved? Since 1998, when I
moved here, I can't remember a festival without you.
Shahinian: What happened was on a Saturday morning, it was in 1990 I
think, I got a phone call from the Der Hayr, Fr. Vertanes, who had a
very bad cold and said that he was supposed to go and testify before
the Alexandria City Council on why we need this [Alexandria-Gyumri
Sister-City] committee. So, I went and testified, and since then I
have been a committee member and involved with the festival.
* * *
Shahinian: Years ago, after the earthquake, I started a small
foundation, called the Ararat Foundation. And over the years we have
done a bunch of different things.
Before the Embassy was established [in Washington in 1992], arrogant
as I am, if there were visiting heads of state at a venue that I could
get into, I would arrange to meet them and give a book or something
about Armenia. [I met] the Prime Minister of Iceland, a delegation
from Romania. And I remember the Romanians kind of spooked me, because
after it was over they said let's get together and have a meeting.
That was just after the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown.
We also did lectures on Armenian topics at the churches.
* * *
* Dean V. Shahinian
Mr. Shahinian is senior counsel on the U.S. Senate's Banking
Committee. He currently works under Committee Chair Sen. Chris Dodd
(D.-Conn.) He worked under former Ranking Member and Chair Sen. Paul
Sarbanes (D.-Md.), from March 1997 until the senator's retirement last
year.
Following the widely reported scandals involving the Enron and
WorldCom corporations, Mr. Shahinian played a key role in negotiating
and drafting the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that seeks to limit
corporate corruption in America.
From 1987 to 1997, Mr. Shahinian served in the Office of Thrift
Supervision (now part of the Department of Treasury) as assistant
chief counsel for corporate activities. From 1982 to 1986, he worked
at the Securities and Exchange Commission as legal assistant to
Commissioner B. S. Thomas. From 1980 to 1982 Mr. Shahinian was on the
staff of Rep. Carl D. Perkins, then Chair of the House Committee on
Education and Labor.
A native of Washington, Mr. Shahinian graduated from Yale
University, the University of Virginia School of Law, and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management.
He has served as a teaching fellow at Harvard University and on the
adjunct faculty of the Columbus School of Law.
******************************************** *******************************
7. Nagorno-Karabakh's final status is the main stumbling block in
peace negotiations
* Stepanakert will not cede its independence and Azerbaijan will not
come to terms with the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh
* Bryza clarifies that he expects no "huge breakthrough in Saint Petersburg"
by Tatul Hakobyan
YEREVAN - Today in Saint Petersburg, on the sidelines of an informal
CIS summit, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are expected to
meet. During this, their ninth meeting, Presidents Robert Kocharian
and Ilham Aliyev will try to come closer to an agreement on three
fundamental and so far intractable questions in the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The main obstacle remains the final status
of Nagorno-Karabakh.
President Arkady Ghoukassian of Nagorno-Karabakh, in a June 5 news
conference in Yerevan, after a meeting with Miguel Ángel Moratinos,
the foreign minister of Spain and the chairman-in-office of the
Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, said it is
meaningless to have serious expectations about the Saint Petersburg
meeting of the two presidents.
"The main issue in the conflict is that of the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh, and if we have not come to an agreement on that
issue, I cannot imagine what kind of optimism we can be talking
about," Mr. Ghoukassian said. "If there is no agreement around the
final status, then it is meaningless to examine all the other
questions. There is an alternative: resolve nothing. That is a
solution too. By resolving nothing, resolve the question."
But "Nagorno-Karabakh will never agree to be part of Azerbaijan.
Nagorno-Karabakh will not cede its independence," Mr. Ghoukassian
stressed. "Other questions can be on the agenda, and we are willing to
discuss them. The final word belongs to Nagorno-Karabakh, and our
people will not accept any decision that contradicts the interests of
the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh."
Which is the "red line" that Armenia is unwilling to cross in the
negotiations, a Spanish journalist asked Vartan Oskanian, Armenia's
foreign minister, at a joint news conference with the OSCE
chairman-in-office. Mr. Oskanian said that in the first place, it is
the recognition of the right of self-determination of the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Without the recognition of this right to self-determination, it is
not possible to speak of or agree on other matters," Mr. Oskanian
said. "We should not forget that this conflict began fundamentally
because of the question of self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh. It
is the question of self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh. All the
other questions that have arisen afterward are consequences of steps
initiated by Azerbaijan, of their starting a war, of their military
response to peaceful calls for self-determination. We have to be able
to concentrate on the fundamental question and that is the final
status of Nagorno-Karabakh. In today's circumstances, that question
can be resolved only by recognizing and allowing the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determine. If this is recognized, I think the
other questions will be resolved."
Mr. Moratinos in turn explained a statement he had made in Baku to
the effect that the sides are close to an agreement. He said that in
Baku and Yerevan he sees optimism and political will to reach the
resolution of the conflict. "Hope, optimism, and mutual concessions
must resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," he said. "Look to the
future with hope and optimism, not to the past."
* Bryza's optimism
A few days earlier, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew
Bryza, co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, expressed optimism about the
upcoming meeting of the heads of state. "If the Saint Petersburg
meeting is successful, then the number of differences remaining on
basic principles could be reduced to close to zero," Mr. Bryza told
The Associated Press.
Was there a basis for optimism, the Armenian Reporter asked Mr.
Oskanian. "Any meeting of the presidents raises expectations," he
said. "In the first place, if there is a meeting of the presidents,
that means there are grounds for a meeting. And because the final
decision is made on the presidential level, those expectations must
always exist. How likely is serious progress, I find it hard to say.
But I can say that as a result of the efforts of the foreign ministers
of Armenia and Azerbaijan, there are serious grounds for the
presidents to make decisions. If there is agreement, we will have
progress. If not, we must continue our efforts on the foreign
ministerial level."
Meanwhile, President Kocharian told Mediamax that he "is unaware of
the grounds for the American co-chair's optimism. The present state of
the negotiation process, as well as the statements of the Azerbaijani
side over the past two months, leave little room for hope for positive
results."
Expressions of optimism on the part of the mediators and expressions
of pessimism on the part of the parties to the conflict have long been
the norm. Such was the case in April 2001, before the Key West
meetings, and such has been the case ever since.
In Yerevan on June 7, Mr. Bryza explained his statement: "We had
very open, very honest, very constructive discussions with President
Kocharian and Minister Oskanian. We talked about expressions of
optimism and pessimism. I made a point that when I talk about
optimism, it reflects my personality. I am an optimistic person. That
is why I am a diplomat. I don't mean by any means that we anticipate
some huge breakthrough in Saint Petersburg. Now we have a very active
process that is going to see a meeting of two presidents. We see
discussions that are serious, respectful, in which the differences are
nearing between the sides."
Asked by the Armenian Reporter to comment on Mr. Oskanian's and Mr.
Ghoukassian's statements that the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh is
the priority for the Armenian side, Mr. Bryza said, "It is to be
expected that each side has its priority issues. Personally I wouldn't
expect anything else then that Oskanian and Ghukassian would look at
the status question as their most important issue because that is and
always has been the case. Of course, status and security is the most
important issue for Armenian side. And so this is the process that we
have been developing - not just sort of going through blindly, but
thinking through how to structure the proposals."
Yuri Merzlyakov, the Russian co-chair, said: "In our Baku and
Yerevan meetings, the co-chairs have decided the framework of the
questions that we think should be brought to the attention of the
presidents in Saint Petersburg. The resolution of those questions
will, in our opinion, allow progress in the negotiation process."
Bernard Fassier, the French co-chair, said, "We can speak of a
breakthrough only when the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
instruct their foreign ministers to start working on the text of a
peace agreement."
******************************** *******************************************
8. NKR President Arkady Ghoukassian: "Not a single decision will be
taken behind people's backs"
by Armen Hakobyan
YEREVAN - "I think all of us should be interested in the quick
resolution of the issue," said Arkady Ghoukassian, president of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic at a press conference after meeting at the
NKR Representative's Office in Yerevan with Miguel Ángel Moratinos,
the foreign minister of Spain and the chairman-in-office of the
Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe. "This is the
common desire. I don't think that Azerbaijan is uninterested in it.
But the Azerbaijani government wishes to get everything without any
concessions. If this is the position of Azerbaijan, I cannot see the
resolution of the issue in the nearest future. Because we are not
ready to yield everything without getting anything,"
In a later press conference, held after a meeting with the co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Mr. Ghoukassian went farther: If Azerbaijan
continues to use the negotiation process solely for propagandistic
purposes - without showing a willingness to make concessions - then
Nagorno-Karabakh will issue an ultimatum to Armenia demanding that it
withdraw from further negotiations.
Mr. Ghoukassian emphasized on both occasions that Nagorno-Karabakh
finds its own absence from the negotiations to be unacceptable.
"Armenia-Azerbaijan is a destructive format. And it is an illogical
format. The problem concerns the fate of the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh, and it is unclear why Nagorno-Karabakh is not
directly involved in the negotiation process," Mr. Ghoukassian said
after meeting Mr. Moratinos.
"It is the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh that is being decided," Mr.
Ghoukassian continued, "and it is natural that the last word will be
that of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh." No matter how confidential
these negotiations may be, he added, it is impossible that anyone will
be able to make any decision or sign any document "behind the backs of
the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia."
Mr. Ghukassian said he was certain that the conflict cannot be
resolved in the current format. "I am 100 percent confident that it
will happen one day: Everybody will understand that this format is not
realistic, and Nagorno-Karabakh will certainly sit at the
[negotiation] table."
On differences between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, Mr. Ghoukassian
said the differences that exist are not "crucial."
On the question of ceding liberated territory to Azerbaijan, Mr.
Ghoukassian said the primary issue is the final status of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Beyond that, "it is impossible to get everything you
want. It would be a one-sided demand, like what Azerbaijan is doing
today. Azerbaijan poses one-sided demands, and if they come up with
such one-sided demands, I can assure you there won't be any solution
of the problem."
The Armenian Reporter asked the president whether the next president
of Nagorno-Karabakh, to be elected in July, will take a softer line.
"Whatever the outcome of the election, it won't be like that. The
position of Karabakh does not depend on individuals. This is not
Ghoukassian's position. This is the position of the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh," Mr. Ghoukassian said. "Anyone who may become
president is obliged to take into account the opinion of the Karabakh
people. But I don't think that the position of Karabakh is rigid. I
think that the position of Karabakh is constructive."
***************************** **********************************************
9. Mstislav Rostropovich, 1927-2007, cellist and humanitarian
by Ara Arakelian
WATERTOWN, Mass. - The legendary Russian cellist and conductor
Mstislav Rostropovich, who died on April 27 at the age of 80, was by
most accounts a larger-than-life figure. His enormous contributions to
the world of music - more than 170 works for cello were written
specifically for him during his long career - and his fearless,
selfless humanitarian actions in the face of tyranny and injustice are
virtually unparalleled in modern times.
Born in Baku, in today's Azerbaijan, and endearingly called "Slava"
by friends and admirers (the nickname means "glory" in Russian),
Rostropovich was a self-made man. At the age of four, his family moved
to Moscow in pursuit of a better future. His father and first teacher
was an accomplished cellist who had studied with Pablo Casals. Facing
economic hardship in Moscow, the family had to plea for lodging and
was offered shelter by an Armenian woman in her small apartment.
"I will never forget the generosity of that beautiful lady,"
composer and friend Tigran Mansurian recalls an emotional Rostropovich
saying in 1998, when the two last met during a music festival. He told
Time magazine in 1977: "If you have a place with 10 rooms for three
people and take in four, it is not such a great thing; but if you have
two small rooms for three people and take in another four, that is
incredible. Zinaida Cherchopova kept us for three years without asking
money. People, simple people! That's why in my heart, all my life I
will be grateful to my country."
His father died when Rostropovich was only 13, but Slava worked hard
- extremely hard - mixing work as a carpenter with musical studies at
the conservatory, quickly making a reputation for himself in the
Soviet Union as an extraordinary cellist. He studied with and
befriended the great composers of the 20th century, Shostakovich and
Prokofiev, who wrote and dedicated major works for the cello to the
cellist. His tonal range and irresistible beauty of sound, along with
his agile technique, made him an unrivaled instrumentalist and a
household name.
His sphere of influence and inspirational forces reached many
musical circles and generations in both the former Soviet Union and
abroad. "My musical views, like that of many other cellists of my
generation, were greatly affected by him at different points of our
lives," says cellist Suren Bagratuni, who studied with a former
student of Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory. "His contributions
to the music world are truly immeasurable."
But perhaps what distinguished Rostropovich most among his peers was
his humanity: the pure love and passion he had for life in general and
for colleagues and friends. His sense of idealism eventually brought
him problems with the Soviet authorities in the 1970s, when he
supported and provided housing for the dissident writer Alexander
Solzhenitsyn. Outraged by the treatment of the Nobel laureate author,
Rostropovich also wrote an open letter to the state-controlled
newspaper Pravda, which was never published but got circulated in the
West. The reaction was swift and cruel for the celebrated artist who
had been decorated with both the Lenin and Stalin Prizes: cancelled
performances throughout the Soviet Union, followed by a virtual travel
ban abroad, and the abrupt removal of his wife, soprano Galina
Vishnevskaya, from the famed Bolshoi Theater. Soon after, in 1974,
they were granted exit visas and eventually stripped of their
citizenship while in the United States.
Rostropovich continued his career in the U.S., assuming the music
directorship of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.,
for almost 20 years. In November of 1989 Rostropovich was on hand in
Berlin for an impromptu concert, playing Bach's suites for solo cello,
as demonstrators tore down the Berlin Wall. In the following year, the
then-Soviet leader Gorbachev reinstated his citizenship, enabling him
to make a dramatic return to Russia with the National Symphony
Orchestra. And in 1991, when Soviet hardliners attempted to undermine
the democratic reforms with a military coup, Rostropovich appeared on
Boris Yeltsin's side, protesting in the parliament building for days.
Rostropovich also had many Armenian composer friends and made
extended professional and recreational trips to Armenia. Aram
Khachaturian dedicated his Concert-Rhapsody for cello and orchestra to
the cellist, and conducted the Armenian premiere himself with
Rostropovich as the soloist. Arno Babadjanian likewise wrote his cello
concerto for his dear friend and colleague, who performed and recorded
it. (In 1993, Rostropovich served as honorary chairperson for a
commemoration concert in Boston honoring Babadjanian.)
The maestro, along with his wife Galina, also performed in a benefit
concert in December of 1988 on the occasion of the devastating
Armenian earthquake, one of their many charitable activities. In 1991
the couple founded the Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation to assist
the children of Russia and the newly independent states of the former
Soviet Union, supporting vaccination programs and public health reform
initiatives.
Rostropovich lived his dramatic life with passion, zest and a sense
of idealism. He once declared: "The best thing I produced was not
music, but that letter to Pravda. Since then I have had a clean
conscience." He also considered himself a foot soldier in service of
music - a foot soldier who, in the words of fellow cellist Yo-Yo Ma,
"was reporting on the tragedies and the triumphs of the world."
Rostropovich was laid to rest in Moscow's Novodevichy cemetery
alongside the remains of his teachers Shostakovich and Prokofiev.
************************************** *************************************
10. Art therapists and a new school in Yerevan open doors for autistic
children in Armenia
by Betty Panossian- Ter Sargssian
YEREVAN - On June 1, Mher, 11, celebrated International Children's Day
by showing his paintings and pottery at the Gevorgian Gallery here.
The artwork was in bright, cheerful colors. The paintings depicted
faces and a farm animal. The pottery, which he had made from scratch,
was a bit crooked, but really lovely.
The exhibit featured the work of autistic children, aged 9 to 13,
all clients of art therapist Armineh Arakelian. Ms. Arakelian says she
carefully directs the children into the world of shapes, colors, and
emotions, but refrains from any interference.
Their paintings open the doors to a sweet and innocent world, where
colors and expressions speak of inner planets in which the children so
often lock themselves.
The paintings on exhibit were the fruits of long and patient work.
Ms. Arakelian and the children had in some cases worked together for
years to reach to the point where the child could not only make good
use of paints and brushes, but could also delve into colors and
express himself or herself and relate to others through the medium of
painting.
The opening reception was well attended. Mher's mother, Karine
Sardarian, was beaming, as was his brother Armen, who had graduated
from high school a couple of days earlier.
"I am very happy that so many people are interested in paintings by
children with developmental problems," Ms. Arakelian said. "This is an
opportunity for my students to mingle in a social event, to meet new
people, make new bonds, and see their work valued. They feel good
about themselves here."
All children are open to expressing themselves through art. But
progress tends to be slower and demand more patience and perseverance
on the part of adults when the child is autistic or faces other
developmental challenges. But the result is rewarding. "What I wish
for my students is to become full-fledged individuals and fully
realize whatever potential they might have. I want them to be relaxed
in social settings. And painting helps a great deal," Ms. Arakelian
said.
Art is also an outlet for excess energy. Mher's pottery teachers,
Gevorg Baghdasarian, Aram Mouradian, and Kostia Petrossian, started
working with children with physical and mental development problems
three years ago. From their experience, Mr. Baghdasarian says, "Our
students are easily into pottery, because pottery has the
characteristic of taking energy, and the students have a lot of energy
in them. After using most of that energy in the pottery class, the
students feel more relaxed."
* A school with an individual approach
Like other autistic children, Mher has trouble expressing himself and
interacting with other people. Far from being isolated, however, he
has a busy scholastic, artistic, and social schedule. The doors of his
inner world are now ajar thanks in great part to the loving and caring
people who surround him.
At the Armenian International Child Development Center (AICDC),
opened a year ago, Mher has learned to expand the range of his
self-expression through a one-on-one teaching approach.
The center is an international branch of California-based Pacific
Child and Family Associates LLC, which offers applied behavior
analysis and other services for children and adults with autism and
other developmental disabilities.
The center in Armenia, located in central Yerevan, "strives to
become a comprehensive center for treating developmental disorders
caused by autism," to quote its literature.
The center is not a mere shelter for autistic children, says
executive director Heghineh Koshtoyan. It provides them with a
high-quality education through a one-on-one approach, providing the
students with essential social and educational skills.
Special-needs schools in Armenia seldom meet the basic human and
educational needs of children, several parents and other individuals
involved in the education system report. The establishment of the
AICDC is a hopeful sign that things may be changing.
The seven children who attend the AICDC begin their day with a
gathering to say hello. They have play and music hours and group
activities, as well as one-on-one lessons that include various
activities to teach basic skills at the child's level. They end their
day with a goodbye gathering.
The staff receives ongoing training and evaluations.
"The ultimate goal for each student is to reach to a point of
self-realization, and feel himself or herself an integrated member of
the society," Ms. Koshtoyan says. "We set individual and more tangible
goals for each child. It may be language acquisition and speech
improvements for one, and basic self-help skills for another."
"We work with children taking into consideration each child's
personal abilities and potential," says Nelly, the one-on-one teacher
who works with Mher. She carries out exercises that help him get the
concept of time, work with numbers and math, letters and
picture-reading, differentiating between "you" and "me," and so on.
The teaching materials include colorful and bright picture cards.
The teachers are pleased to report that after a year at the center,
some students now recognize some letters, colors, and shapes. Others
have made progress in speech. Still others can communicate more easily
with word and picture cards, which are important milestones for them.
The center's group activities help the children learn how to have
fun together. In addition, "when we see that different students have
reached more or less the same level of achievement in one-on-one
sessions, we bring them together in combined classes as well," Nelly
says.
Art therapy has an important place in the curriculum. "We want to
open these children to the world through musical rhythms and tunes,"
says the school's music therapist. The music hour stimulates the
children, who enjoy the active and rapid rhythms of the music. "Both
with its positive (making the children excited) and negative (boring
them or making them tired) effects, music helps the children," she
says. "That's because music takes them away from their inner static
state. The songs we choose make references to the words and themes
they are studying."
Can some of the children eventually be integrated into the public
school system? "We have students who have the potential of one day
returning to public schools," Ms. Koshtoyan says. But she does not see
much cooperation on the part of the public schools.
The educational experience of an autistic child cannot be complete
without school-home cooperation. "Parents participate in our training
sessions and they get a good idea of what we do here," Ms. Koshtoyan
says. But the center cannot reach all its targets in parental
integration because of financial limitations. "We reach a point where
we realize we have to focus on more fundamental needs, although we do
consider parent-school cooperation and parental trainings essential,
too."
The center is expensive, considering local wages. Parents are
expected to pay 200,000 drams (approx. $550) a month in tuition,
though not everyone pays the full amount. The fee does not cover all
the school's expenses, Ms. Koshtoyan says.
The founder and general director of the center, Dr. Ira Heiveil, who
is based in Glendale, Calif., covers a significant part of the
deficit. The US Autism International Foundation also extends a helping
hand. "Assisted by the foundation, we plan to work with more autistic
children," Ms. Koshtoyan says.
Ms. Sardarian, Mher's mother, is grateful for the center. But she
attributes much of Mher's progress to his extracurricular activities:
painting with Ms. Arakelian, pottery, swimming, and even skiing.
And at the exhibit on International Children's Day, it was obvious
that this 11-year-old boy was the pride and joy of his loving family
and community.
connect:
www.aicdc.am
www.pacificchild .com
******************************************** *******************************
11. Deadly hate crimes on the rise in Russia
WASHINGTON - Throughout Russia, 31 individuals were murdered in crimes
apparently motivated by ethnic hatred since the beginning of this year
according to a Russian human rights group, PanArmenian.net reported on
June 5.
ArmeniaNow.com reported on June 1 that among them were five ethnic
Armenians, including 30-year-old Aharon Tigranyan murdered in late
May.
Pointing to the rise in hate crimes, Alexandr Brod of the Moscow
Bureau on Human Rights said there were seven such murders in the first
half of 2004, and 10 and 17 murders over the same periods of 2005 and
2006, respectively. Most of the victims were reportedly Azerbaijanis,
Uzbeks, Armenians, or Africans and most murders, 21, occurred in the
capital, Moscow.
On June 1, a Moscow jury acquitted a teenage suspect in the murder
of 19-year-old Artur Sardarian, Russian news agencies reported.
Sardarian was stabbed to death on a commuter train in May 2006 in what
appeared to be a hate crime; the second suspect has not been
identified.
But an Armenian Embassy official in Moscow told ArmeniaNow that so
far "this year, suspects in all murders of Armenians were detained [by
police] very quickly."
Russia's RIA Novosti reported on May 28 that 18-year-old Artur Ryno,
a student at an icon-painting school, was detained in mid-April as a
suspect in a brutal stabbing murder of 46-year-old businessperson
Karen Abramyan.
Ryno has since claimed that since August 2006 he and a friend have
hunted down and murdered 37 other individuals who looked like natives
of the Caucasus throughout Moscow. A police source, cited by the news
agency, appeared to confirm Ryno's mass-murder claim, but an
investigation is ongoing.
Further south, in Russia's Stavropol Kray, on May 22 police charged
four teenagers for vandalizing forty Armenian gravestones in a
cemetery in Krasnokumsky, the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former
Soviet Union reported in its "Bigotry Monitor."
- E.S.
******************************************** *******************************
12. Commentary: Not a hopeless cause
by Nubar Dorian
Predictably, we commemorated our Genocide again this year with flags,
marches, and speeches. Our future as a community may be obscured by
bewilderment and doubt. Our present institutions may be ungovernable,
lacking cohesion, and leaving many vital community questions
unaddressed. But we do have one, clear certainty: That the April 24th
commemoration of next year, and all the years yet to come, will
thrive.
Not surprisingly, our annual Genocide commemoration not only unites
us, but also reminds us of who we are: the totality of us, our roots,
our heritage, our traditions and values; those Armenian qualities that
coalesce wherever we live on this earth, whatever language we speak,
and however we worship.
As citizens of a great country where we enjoy every freedom, it has
been our choice to commemorate our Genocide, even though most of us
have not experienced it ourselves. However familiar we may get with
the routine of April 24th, the magnitude of the Genocide itself is
still hard to conceive. You can see it in the many details that escape
us. Most of us cannot imagine, for example, how mothers fed their
newborn babies in those times; what allowed some to escape and how
they others simply survived; what they told their God, and whether
they assumed He had failed them; and whether they taught their
children how to pray. The totality of horrors suffered still escapes
us.
But when details fail us, we turn to numbers. These, too, simply
overwhelm the human mind. One million? One and a-half million? Two
million - or more? The actual number of martyrs is unknowable. They
were our parents, grandparents, uncles, neighbors, friends. They were
all God's innocent children, who died along with their dreams,
expectations, visions and hopes. Old age, pestilence, or sickness did
not kill them. Human cruelty, anger, passion, and madness ordered them
killed, or left helpless to serve as prey for vultures and wolves.
"When numbers fail us, we turns to words," a Holocaust survivor said
some years back. Those deeply sad words and stories are the only means
we have to build a bridge between those who were killed during the
Genocide and our children, and even those yet to be born. Words help
us create images of those lost thousands who would have been our
leaders, scientists, editors, visionaries and poets, but whose
bleached bones are instead spread across deserts.
Finally, when words fail us we turn to facts. Today, a mountain of
facts higher than Mount Ararat - documents, letters, telegrams,
testimonials, eye-witness accounts - all fight for prominence.
Libraries throughout the world hold factual accounts of our Genocide
in many languages, waiting to be read. On the other hand, the storm of
Turkish distortions, denials, and protestations of innocence continues
to rain on absolute fact.
Facts reveal truth. Each April 24th sees more facts coming out, and
more people convinced to join in advocacy for our rights and claims.
Contrary to Charles Dickens, "The frequency of exposure" has not
proved to be "the wet-nurse of indifference." Each April 24th
commemoration builds fact upon fact into a circle of truth. And if
denial is like a hammer that drives the "crucifixion nails" deeper
into our wounded palms and feet, then every truth-revealing fact helps
to draw those nails out - in preparation for an even greater victory.
Our pilgrimage to Death is over! We are no longer helpless and weak;
we are no longer adrift in a sinking boat, waiting to be thrown as
dead weight into the sea. Someday soon an April 24th will dawn when
the salt water of our tears will be replaced by song and dance, in
Homeland Armenia and here in America, and wherever anyone proudly
carries the sweet burden of Armenian nationhood.
Beyond this life, an implacable and universal Judge will surely hand
us the equitable decision that has escaped us now for more than nine
decades. But in the meantime, details, numbers, words, and facts are
all coming together to help us prevail. As never before, the world is
watching our actions, and listening to our story. And the Armenian
world needs us - needs our honor and our love. So hold fast. Stand
tall. And soldier on!
* * *
Mr. Dorian, a longtime contributor to the Armenian Reporter, resides
in Cliffside Park, N.J.
******************************************** *******************************
13. Living in Armenia: School's out, university entrance exams are in
by Maria Titizian
A few days ago I was sitting at an outdoor café with some friends,
enjoying the cool evening breeze after a blisteringly hot day. We were
discussing the election results and the rumors flying about whether
there would be a coalition government, which political parties would
get which ministerial portfolios, and which ones would choose to go
into opposition.
Those of us sitting around the table all came from different
political and social beliefs. The one thing that united us was our
commitment to this country. Underlying our conversation, however, was
a deep-rooted suspicion that these elections which, on the surface
appeared fair, transparent, and clean were in reality tainted with
bribes and not-so-subtle coercion. Every election I endure in Armenia
strikes a fear deep in my heart that the country is going to unravel.
Of course I have the propensity to overdramatize. The country did
not come apart; there were no massive demonstrations or protests; the
voice of the radical opposition withered; and the powers that be
marched on.
Exhausted from philosophizing and contemplating what the future
held, we were sitting silently, each of us lost in thought, when we
heard voices getting louder as they approached. We turned to see
groups of young girls and boys, all dressed in similar clothes, with
corsages carefully pinned to their chests, balloons in hand, walking
in tight groups, squealing with joy.
Smiles began to appear on our faces as we realized that it was
Verchin Zank - the final bell, the last day of school, when tenth
graders from all over the city celebrate their graduation from high
school and gather in Republic Square for an evening of collective, I
daresay national celebration.
This year 50,000 students celebrated their Verchin Zank and are now
taking their state exams, which will be followed for many by
university entrance exams. State exams - which are identical across
the country - have always been conducted in the schools the students
have attended. So school administrations organize and mark exams at
their own discretion. This practice meant that the marking procedures
weren't always fair. For the first time the Ministry of Education has
set up a pilot project to conduct two of the required state exams,
Armenian language and Armenian literature, for students outside their
own schools to avoid favoritism and rigging. This is a positive and
welcome step forward. However, once the pressure of state exams is
over, the students must face the daunting task of taking the dreaded
university entrance exams.
Every university faculty offers a few scholarships for students
based on the outcome of their entrance exams. Every family with a
child preparing to enter the halls of higher education is caught up in
a maelstrom of finding tutors a year in advance, fretting and wringing
their hands, pushing their children to the limits of exhaustion to
guarantee that they are able to secure one of these coveted
scholarships. For most families sending a child to university is a
luxury that is unattainable, and if their child's performance on the
exams is not up to par then all hopes for higher education are wiped
out. Then the connections and bribes come into play.
Yerevan is a big village, where everyone knows everyone else, and if
they don't, then they invariably have a cousin, uncle, aunt, or
godfather who does know someone who can pull strings who can make sure
that their child gets in. It's an impossible situation for everyone. I
know, we went through it last year.
By the time our daughter celebrated her Verchin Zank, we had already
ensured that she was tutored for Armenian history, Armenian language,
and English, the three exams she had to take to get into the faculty
of her choice. An entire year in advance of the exams, she was running
from one tutor to another, studying, reading, and writing until
blisters formed on her fingers. They have yet to recede.
Her first scheduled exam was English, a subject you would think she
would breeze by, but as I have written before things are not so simple
here. Having a native speaker of English for a mother, having been
born and educated in Canada for the first 11 years of her life, she
would, you would think, consider this exam the least of her worries.
Think again. I will not bore you with the details except to say that
while she scored a perfect 20 out of 20 on her Armenian-language exam,
she scored a 19.6 on her English exam. A year later and I still have
not come to terms with that outcome.
Nevertheless Verchin Zank for our family was an important milestone.
After so many years of adjusting and having to learn Eastern Armenian
and acclimatizing to a social and educational culture that was so
different from what we knew, our daughter had graduated with honors
and is now completing her first year in university. These bittersweet
memories came flooding back as I sat in the café with my friends and
watched groups of young people celebrating their own personal
milestones. For me the worrying, the fretting, and the wringing of
hands coincided with the sheer joy of realizing that we had overcome
one of the biggest hurdles in this journey of living in Armenia.
I am thankful for every moment no matter how difficult or
heartbreaking, because I have been blessed with experiences which I
will carry with me always. Like the day we went to the university to
find out the results of her Armenian language exam. The scores were
posted on the entrance doors of the university and when we arrived
there was a mob of people clamoring to see the scores. We joined the
melee and were struggling to move in to find our daughter's name. My
husband was the first one to see it and when he called out, "20 out of
20," I nearly collapsed, and on one of the busiest street corners of
Yerevan I wept until I was breathless. That moment in time will
forever be etched in my memory.
It not only reminds us but is a reaffirmation of why we chose to
come here in the first place. So while elections cloud some of my days
and the future is still as ambiguous as it was when I first stepped
foot here, we are on the greatest rollercoaster ride of our lives.
****************************************** *********************************
14. Letters
* Money laundering charge sounds strange
Sir:
The news of former Armenian foreign minister Alexander Arzoumanian's
arrest on suspicion of money laundering strikes me as strange. I
worked at Armenia's UN Mission in New York City back when he was
Armenia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. It may not
be easy to like Arzoumanian on a "warm and fuzzy" level; but money
laundering? It's not his style. And based on the assumption that a
person's character stays relatively consistent over his lifetime, I'm
guessing he continues to be honest and precise in matters of money.
I can imagine, however, that he will extract maximum mileage from
this imprisonment. There is at least one precedent in Armenian
political culture of gaining legitimacy by going to jail. Arzoumanian
himself has been there, done that, before.
I can also imagine Arzoumanian - in the interval between the house
search and the arrest - chain smoking, nervously pacing, mumbling
under his breath, poring over the dog-eared papers in his hand,
obsessively considering and reconsidering each word and phrase of a
statement such as the one released by him, or rather his family,
shortly after his arrest. Anyone who's worked with him knows just what
I mean. That's his style.
What most concerned me in this whole situation was the news that
Armenia's secret police arrived to find Arzoumanian's 10-year-old son
home alone. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but why was a 10-year-old
home alone?
Very truly yours,
Patricia Constantinian-Voskeridjian
Bryn Mawr, Pa.
* Consider helping a student in Armenia
Sir:
This is the time of year when many of us are thinking about where we
will be going on vacation. Those of us who have children are waiting
for school to finish, and off we will go. Thankfully, most of us are
not thinking of how we will buy our children the necessary materials
they will need to return to school next fall.
But many parents in Armenia are thinking of how they can afford to
get their children any of the necessities they need. And they're
hoping and praying that someone, somewhere, will give them a helping
hand.
In response to that need, the Eastern Diocese's Women's Guild
Central Council (WGCC) started its "School Bag Project" in January
1992, in the aftermath of the 1988 earthquake in Armenia. It's been an
ongoing project ever since.
Today, with a small donation of only $20, people can help us fill a
lovely canvas bag with 14 basic materials needed by all students,
including a three-ring notebook, 200 sheets of lined notebook paper,
pencils, ballpoint pens, erasers, scissors, a pencil sharpener, a
12-inch ruler, a composition book, a 16-color box of Crayolas, a box
of colored pencils, a 9" x 12"-inch blackboard, a box of chalk, and a
package of 48 sheets of varied-color construction paper.
Because the WGCC exists under the auspices of the Eastern Diocese of
the Armenian Church of America, we also include a book of Bible
stories, written in the Eastern Armenian dialect, for each student.
To date, seven shipments of filled school bags have been sent to
Armenia (roughly once every two years) for distribution in Yerevan,
Gyumri, Stepanavan, Karabakh, and the Davoosh region of Armenia. More
than 9,000 students have happily received these much-needed materials
to do their schoolwork.
Please, before your readers go on vacation this year, I hope they
will consider supporting the School Bag Project. Checks payable to the
WGCC can be mailed to the project's chair, Yn. Violet Kasparian, at
263 Ridge Street, New Milford, NJ 07646.
Let me thank our donors past and present for helping us put big
smiles on the faces of so many Armenian students. It's a great feeling
to help them, and to help build the future of Armenia, too.
Very truly yours,
Yeretzgin Violet Kasparian
New Milford, New Jersey
* Profile of Richard Kloian "got it right"
Sir:
Congratulations on the profile of Richard Kloian ("A Man's Work, a
Nation's Heritage," May 26). To have his work made more public within
and outside the Armenian community is a richly deserved honor. I have
forwarded the story to many people as a way of honoring Richard's
efforts.
All of my colleagues at Facing History and Ourselves offices
throughout the country and around the world know that our ongoing work
toward the goal helping teachers develop and deliver in-depth units or
courses on the Armenian Genocide has been made much more possible by
the work of this amazing man.
Facing History's successes related to teaching the Armenian Genocide
would not be possible without Kloian's support, encouragement, and
guidance. I appreciate his commitment to truth-telling, his rigorous
scholarship, and his prodigious "networking" abilities. Hundreds of
teachers have benefited from his willingness to introduce us to
scholars. He is legendary among educators in our region because of his
willingness to share resources such as readings, videos, DVDs, and
archival materials that inform and shape curricular journeys. His
"cosmic patience" in dealing with so many people, and his "wise
counsel" around how to approach particular historical and pedagogical
issues, informs much of the work I am privileged to do in relation to
this important history.
It is not enough to simply say "thank you" to Richard. I am pleased
that the Armenian Reporter "got it right" by publishing this very good
article.
Very truly yours,
Jack Weinstein
Hayward, Calif.
Mr. Weinstein is the director of Facing History and Ourselves
(www.facinghistory.org)
*************** ************************************************** **********
15. Clarification
Last week's Letter from Moscow, "Observing Armenia on the elections'
eve," was researched and prepared by Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan and Anna
Rulevskaya. We regret that Ms. Rulevskaya's name was omitted from the
byline.
************************************* **************************************
16. Editorial: Armenia beckons this summer and beyond
In the early days of Armenia's independence, Armenian-American
individuals and organizations asked themselves what would happen to
their Armenianness and their community life now that there was an
Armenian state again.
Recalling that they traced their roots to Western Armenia, some
Armenian-Americans played down the significance of the
Eastern-Armenian republic to their identity. Others took the position
that what goes on in distant Armenia is not really their concern.
They, among others, worried that the needs of Armenia would drain
Armenian-American communities of resources they needed to invest in
the communities' own preservation and development.
Of course, the overwhelming sentiment was one of joy, celebration,
and hope. Here was a long-held dream coming true. Here was a promise
of living in freedom - and not only in Armenia, but also throughout
the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc. Here was a promise that Armenia
could now choose its own path in the world.
Alongside the joy and the hope was the knowledge that the path ahead
would be full of difficult challenges and obstacles. It was, and
continues to be.
But Armenians have persevered and have overcome some of the most
difficult challenges. Armenians defeated Azerbaijan, which sought to
crush Artsakh; Armenians overcame the energy crisis; and Armenia went
from economic devastation to years of double-digit economic growth.
Of course, important challenges remain: creating economic
opportunities for a greater proportion of the population, especially
in strategically important area; developing greater respect for the
rule of law - in elections, in governance, in the economic sphere; and
maintaining security in a difficult environment, to name some.
And what has become of our Armenianness and our community life?
For one thing, the composition of the Armenian-American community
has changed: Armenians from Armenia form a large part of the community
now. In significant part, the new diasporans are well-educated
polyglots - including scholars, artists, artisans, and entrepreneurs -
with a strong sense of Armenian identity and a lively connection with
Armenia. They have given an enormous boost to Armenian artistic and
cultural life in America.
But it is not only recent immigrants. Armenian-Americans whose
families have been in the United States for generations, or have
immigrated from places other than Armenia have been inspired by their
pride in Armenia to become more active in their communities.
Beyond community life, Armenian-Americans with no prior connection
to the Republic of Armenia or Artsakh have developed a dynamic
relationship with Armenia. Indeed, some Armenian-Americans have moved
there. Others have bought property and spend part of the year there.
Others have invested in businesses there, in some cases serving as
models of law-abiding good corporate citizenship. Yet others share
regularly of their expertise, traveling back and forth.
A significant segment of the Armenian-American population continues
to donate to charities that support Armenia in dozens of ways -
building schools where they're needed, planting trees, educating young
people, providing health care, and more.
Armenian-Americans are also active in promoting a strong
U.S.-Armenia relationship through political advocacy and lobbying
organizations.
Armenia, in turn, has reached out to Armenian-Americans. The Special
Residency Status, which allows people of Armenian ancestry to visit
without a visa, to work without a special work permit, and to own land
has helped make Armenian-Americans feel at home in Armenia.
A wide variety of programs in Armenia attracts people of varied
interests. There's the Golden Apricot Film Festival in July, for
example, which is a perfect opportunity for film-lovers to visit
Armenia, and while they're at it, to munch on the most delicious fruit
they've ever tasted - in its natural habitat. The Pan-Armenian Games
brings athletes and their families. Conferences on various subjects,
including the Second International Medical Congress of Armenia later
this month, are another important attraction.
In addition to these occasions - there are many others, and besides,
who needs a special occasion to visit Armenia? - there is a growing
infrastructure to receive visitors. You arrive by airplane in an
ultramodern air terminal that has become a model of comfort, service,
and efficiency - in other words, nothing like its former self.
Accommodations in the capital and beyond are comfortable and cater to
every budget. Language is no problem, as English-speakers abound and
signage is in English as well as Armenian. The free tourist
information center in the center of the capital is staffed with
helpful, knowledgeable people who go out of their way to be helpful.
Internet, telephone, cell phone, and PDA connectivity are so
advanced that you need not worry about being cut off from relatives or
your business. And you can stay abreast of world news in real time:
Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, CNN broadcasts on antenna TV and in
English.
And people have responded. The Republics of Armenia Nagorno-Karabakh
together received 381,000 visitors last year - up 20 percent from
318,000 last year and up 450 percent from 84,500 in 2000.
The distance from the United States to Armenia is not that great.
Sometimes the mist of outdated information, poor information, past
misunderstandings, and language barriers makes the distance seem
greater. Your newspaper can help bridge the gap.
But there is no substitute for experiencing today's Armenia
yourself. See you there!
****************************************** *********************************
Please send your news to [email protected] and your letters to
[email protected]
(c) 2007 CS Media Enterprises LLC. All Rights Reserved