The Armenian Mirror-Spectator February 2, 2013

Mirror-Spectator
THE ARMENIAN
Volume LXXXIII, NO. 29, Issue 4274
ISTANBUL (Hetq) — Aris Nalci, a former
editor of the Turkish-Armenian weekly,
Agos, has called on Turkish authorities to
launch a large-scale investigation into the
F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3
The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932
Archbishop Nourhan Manougian
recent spate of attacks against Armenian
women in Istanbul.
An article in Today’s Zaman this week
states that Nalci does not think these successive
assaults in the Samatya neighborhood
are isolated incidents, but rather that
they are connected.
“The Police Department states these
incidents are unrelated, but they generally
say such things in similar incidents in order
not to unsettle people. I think a climate of
fear is being created in the neighborhood,”
Nalci noted.
Four attacks against elderly Armenian
women in the Samatya neighborhood of
Istanbul’s Fatih district have occurred within
the past two months. One of the woman,
85-year-old Maritsa Küçük, was attacked in
her apartment on December 28, 2012. She
was brutally killed after being stabbed
seven times.
$ 2.00
Archbishop Nourhan
Manougian Elected 97th
Patriarch of Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — On Thursday, January 24, the
members of the St. James Brotherhood elected
Archbishop Nourhan Manougian as the new
Patriarch of Jerusalem after a two-day conclave.
Out of 33 members of the Brotherhood,
Manougian was elected with 17 votes.
Archbishop Aris Shirvanian, who has been serving
as locum tenens, received 15 votes, with one
blank vote cast.
Now, Manougian’s election must be approved
by the governments of Israel and Jordan.
Manougian was born in Aleppo, Syria, and in
1948, graduated from the local Haigazian
School. He studied at the seminary of the
see PATRIARCH, page 4
Former Agos Editor Calls for
Investigation of Istanbul Attacks
Young Turk’s
Grandson Speaks
In Germany
By Muriel Mirak-Weissbach
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
BERLIN — In Germany, where the largest
Turkish community outside of Turkey lives,
there were two special events commemorating
the life and work of Hrant Dink on
the sixth anniversary of his death. Along
with cultural events, like the performance
of the play “Anne’s Silence,” there were presentations
of a new book by a Turkish intellectual.
This was not any intellectual, but
Hasan Çemal, grandson of Çemal Pasha,
one of the Young Turk triumvirs responsible
for the Armenian Genocide, who spoke
in front of standing-room-only crowds on
January 18 in Berlin and January 21 in
Cologne. The book he presented is titled
1915 — Ermeni Soykirimi (1915 —
Genocide against the Armenians).
More than a book presentation, his
appearance in Germany was a courageous
see ÇEMAL, page 4
Hasan Çemal in Berlin
Today’s Zaman reports that it spoke with
Antranik Yontan, an Armenian living in the
Samatya. Yontan told the newspaper that
Armenians have stopped speaking
Armenian and that elderly Armenian
women are now afraid of going to the local
Armenian church.
“A climate of fear is prevalent around the
neighborhood among the Armenian communities,”
Yontan said.
The Turkish press reports that police
have released a sketch of the assailant of
80-year-old Sultan Aykar, the latest
Armenian woman to be attacked in
Samatya on January 22.
The sketch is based on camera footage
showing a man smoking outside the building
where Aykar was attacked.
On Friday, the Istanbul branch of
Turkey’s Human Rights Association (HRA)
see INVESTIGATION, page 4
From Home to ‘Homeland’ Actor Hrach
Titizian Stays True to His Roots
By Gabriella Gage
Mirror-Spectator Staff
LOS ANGELES — What
do “Homeland,” “24,”
“Mad Men,” all have in
common? Each has won a
Golden Globe for Best
Drama Series and each
has featured actor Hrach
Titizian.
In addition to appearing
in some of the most
popular television series
of the past decade,
Titizian has appeared on
Broadway and several
films such as “Float” and “The Men
Who Stare at Goats.” Titizian takes his
new-found popularity in stride and
instead dedicates himself to his work.
Raised in Glendale’s thriving
Armenian community, Titizian says that
Hrach Tatizian of “Homeland”
his Armenian heritage helped shape
him as an individual. “My parents are
both full-blooded Armenian. My father
was born in Lebanon and my mother in
Jordan. Although I was born and raised
see TITIZIAN, page 8
NEWS INBRIEF
Armenia Participates
In Swiss Astronomy
Conference
GENEVA (Armenpress) — Armenia participated in
the conference of the European Astronomical
Society (EAS), which was held recently in
Switzerland. The EAS leaders, heads of the astronomical
societies of European countries and representatives
of other European scientific organizations
attended the conference. Such conferences
also were held in 2008 in Holland and in 2012 in
Switzerland. The goal of this meeting was to sum
up the results of the last year, discuss future plans,
continue active cooperation with national organizations,
as well as to reinforce the leading role of
the European astronomy.
The co-founder of Armenian Astronomical
Society, Areg Mirakyan, took part in the conference
and delivered a report on his group’s activities in
the past year and possible ways for cooperating
with the EAS .
Leaders of astronomical societies from Austria,
Spain, Italy, Greece, Great Britain, Switzerland, the
Czech Republic, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine
and France delivered reports on the current state
of astronomy in different countries.
OSCE Minsk Group
Meets with Armenian,
Azerbaijani Officials
PARIS (ArmeniaNow) — Co-Chairs of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor
Popov of the Russia, Jacques Faure of France and
Ian Kelly of the US, met jointly with the Foreign
Minister of Armenia Eduard Nalbandian and
Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar
Mammadyarov, on January 28.
The personal representative of the OSCE
Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej
Kasprzyk, also attended the meeting.
“The co-chairs continued discussions with the
ministers on the working proposal to advance
the peace process, which they submitted to the
sides in October 2012. They also exchanged
views on possible confidence building measures,”
according to a statement posted on the
OSCE’s website.
The co-chairs referred to their statements of April
14, 2011, and July 13, 2012, and discussed with the
ministers issues pertaining to civilian flights to and
from the airport in Nagorno-Karabagh.
“The foreign ministers and the co-chairs stressed
the importance of the OSCE Minsk Group as the
framework for negotiating a settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabagh conflict. The foreign ministers
reiterated their support for a peaceful settlement
and their determination to continue negotiations.
The ministers and the co-chairs agreed to a further
discussion of the peace process in the coming
weeks,” the statement added.
INSIDE
Sotheby’s
Auction Page 11
INDEX
Arts and Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Armenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Community News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 4

2
News From Armenia
Minasian Remembered
At National Library
YEREVAN (Hetq) — A day of remembranccee for the
late Levon Minasian, the noted Iranian-Armenian
teacher, academic and national activist, was held on
January 22 at the National Library of Armenia.
For more than seven decades, Minasian headed
vaariious educcaattiionaall iinsttiittuttiioonns in Nor Jughaa aand
published works on Armenian history and literature,
including AA HHiissttoorryy ooff tthhee AArrmmeenniiaannss ooff PPeerraa
and TThhee AArrmmeenniiaann BBaarrddss ooff PPeerraa.
Gor Sujyan to Represent
Armenia at Eurovision
YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Singer Gor Sujyan will
represent Armenia in the Eurovision 2013 song
contest taking place in Malmö, Sweden, on May 14.
SSuujyann is allso a member ooff Doriianns,, the rock
band that had planned on representing Armenia in
“Eurovision 2012,” until Armenia withdrew from
the competition due to security concerns.
Sujiyan was born in July 25, 1987, in Yerevan. He
is the son of guitarist, jazzman Mkrtich Sujiyan.
On March 2, Armenia will hold its national finals
tto sellect tthe winning song. SSujyan wiill peerfform all
of the songs and television viewers and a panel of
experts will vote on the winning entry.
CSTO Academy to Open
In Armenia in 2013
YEREVAN (PanARMENIAN.Net) — Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary
General Nikolai Bordyuzha and National Security
Council (NSC) Secretary Artur Baghdasaryan
signed a meemorandum of unndersttannddiing oonn creation
of a CSTO Academy in Armenia.
According to Bordyuzha, the academy, as a scientific,
educational and analytical center, will train
experts to be further involved in CSTO activities.
Baghdasaryan stressed the importance of the
proposed academy, expressing hope for the latter to
be launched during the current year.
Feast of St. Sarkis
Restored as Tradition
YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Exhibitions dedicated to
the feast of St. Sarkis have opened in the Yerevan
National Centre of Aesthetics and Artists’ Union.
Prime Minister Tigran Sargisian attended the exhibitions.
The Press Service of the premier’s office reported
that in the Yerevan National Centre of
Aesthetics hosted an exhibition of works by the students
at the center’s drawing studio.
Sargisian congratulated the attendees on the
occasion of the Feast of St. Sarkis and stated:
“Each year this feast is being celebrated in a bigger
fashion in the Republic of Armenia and more people
are being involved in the celebrations. I am glad
that the Feast of St. Sarkis is being restored as a
national tradition and spreading among the
Armenians.”
Armenian Chess
Federation Hosts FIDE
TSAKHKADZOR, Armenia (Radiolur) — President
of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov last month held a conference in
Tsakhkadzor, featuring 23 members of FIDE and
representatives from the chess federations of 20
countries.
During the conference, Ilyumzhinov said that the
Armenian Chess Federation serves an example for
the 177 FIDE member states. As such, Armenia was
unanimously chosen as the host country for the
conference.
The assembled discussed the Chess in Schools
Program first implemented in Armenia.
Also in attendance was President Serge Sargisian
who said, “Chess is one of the best means of dialogue
between cultures and civilizations. It’s our duty to
cherish and disseminate the tradition of chess.”
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ARMENIA
Tekeyan Centre Fund Renovates Yerevan School
YEREVAN — Tekeyan Centre Fund
had a busy 2012 and welcomed the
New Year with a few new projects.
Among them was a photographic art
exhibition named “Today I am a pure
soul,” by Zherar Agavelyan, an
Armenian film director born in Armenia
and now living in the US. The exhibition
included photographs mixed with
collages.
The fund sponsored the two-week
exhibition by holding it at Tekeyan
Centre. The official opening with many
art critics and guests present started
with the Fund Chairman Vartan
Ouzounian’s welcoming speech.
Ouzounian emphasized the importance
of such events in the national and spiritual
life of Armenians.
The fund’s last scholastic project of
2012 involved Yerevan Tekeyan School
#92. Thanks to Hrad Darian of London,
a benefactor who donated 9,000
pounds sterling to the fund, Tekeyan
Centre was able to renovate all the windows
of the school building (Block A) to
keep it warm in cold weather. The fund
had also fixed the gas supply to the
school, which had previously caused
interruptions to the heat there. The
Yerevan Municipality took up the fund’s
Women’s Football (Soccer) Lags in Armenia
By Vahe Sarukhanyan
YEREVAN (Hetq) — Armenia’s
Football Federation (AFF) has decided
against sending women’s football
teams to the European championships.
In the past, the girls’ 17- and 19-yearold
teams participated in the world
championships. The women’s national
squad used to play in the European
and World Championships.
The national team has played 20
qualifying games in the European
Championship, only winning two. They
lost 15 and three were draws.
In the world championship, the team
played eight and lost them all.
Armenia’s national women’s football
team first played in 2003 and lost 11-0
against Austria. Armenian women footballers
have played eight games in the
UEFA 2013 European Championship
and have lost all by large margins.
They have only scored two goals and
have let in 44. The same numbers also
apply to the teen teams.
The reasons are clear. Women’s football
in Armenia has never been placed
on a firm footing. During the last years
of the Soviet Union and after independence,
when women’s football had just
been introduced, the teams “Nairi,”
“Nork” and Aparan’s “Nig” were
famous. These, however, never registered
any great success and couldn’t
have, given that women’s football was
Students at the Yerevan School during contest
initiative and sponsored the project for
Block B.
Thanks to Darian’s donation,
Tekeyan Centre was also able to repair
the school library which was named
Stephan Darakjian Library in memory
From Left, TCA President Vartan Ouzounian, Principal Tsovinar Mardanyan, UK
Ambassador in Armenia Kathy Leach and Archbishop Vahan Hovhannesian
of the benefactor’s grandfather. Present
at the official opening of the library
were Bishop Vahan Hovhanessian,
a new feature in the Soviet Union in
the late 1980s. Things got worse in the
1990s. It is of note that only the teams
“Banants” and “Koledj” have been
playing in recent years.
The reason that the national teams
have been so weak is the near absence
of club teams and because there is no
women’s championship in Armenia. At
the core of the problem, however, is
the national mentality. As a result, few
girls try out for football. In addition,
there are no finances invested. During
an event held at the end of last year
Primate of the Armenian Church in the
UK and Ireland, the UK Ambassador to
Armenia Katherine Leach, fund chair
Ouzounian, fund director Armen
Tsulikyan, and many other guests.
After the official ceremony and the
speeches followed by a cultural program
performed by the schoolchildren
and a reception, the principal of the
school, Tsovinar Mardanyan, showed
the visiting dignitaries round the
school and detailed and thanked the
fund.
On January 21, Tekeyan Centre Fund
launched its first interscholastic project
of 2013 to celebrate the 135th anniversary
of the Armenian poet, pedagogue
and political leader, Vahan Tekeyan, for
whom the school is named. The project
titled “Poetry Reading Festival” conducted
by journalist Marieta Makaryan,
includes three levels of competition
which will be finalized on April 4, to
commemorate the poet’s death.
Schoolchildren ages 10-18 from all
Vahan Tekeyan Schools in Armenia and
Artsakh as well as literature teachers are
going to take part in the competition.
The aim of the project is to immortalize
and to introduce the great poet’s
life and his rich literary heritage to the
young generation.
where UEFA representatives were present,
Marina Tashchyan, the head of
the National Teams, noted that the
AFF had been right in placing an
emphasis on the younger girls. She
said that Armenia now has five girls’
teams.
Sadly, in September 2011, AFF
President Ruben Hayrapetyan said
the following in response to a question
about women’s football:
“Women’s football in Armenia hasn’t
developed nor will it. I have no desire
to promote it.”
Heifer Armenia Provides Equipment,
Training to Small Dairy Producers
YEREVAN — Heifer International’s Armenia program, working in collaboration
with other international institutions, has provided more than
104 pieces of agricultural equipment to 33 farm cooperatives through the
Community Agricultural Resource Management and Competitiveness
(CARMAC) project. Distributions of the agricultural equipment followed
pasture management trainings in several regions of Armenia. These training
programs enable the farmers to make the best use of their land and
provide better fodder for livestock. “Now everything is easier; we are able
to do all the work on schedule,” said Gevorg Galstyan, president of the
Nerqin Tsaghkavan Community Cooperative. “Before we got the equipment,
we might have harvested only 30 percent of our optimal yield. Now
we don’t face such problems any longer.”
The objective of the CARMAC project is to reverse environmental damage
caused by unsustainable grazing, increase the economic viability of
small farms through infrastructure improvements and increase productivity
to reach more markets.

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INTERNATIONAL
Religious Leaders Join in Call for
Two-State Solution in Middle East
By Arthur Hagopian
JERUSALEM — Leading figures
among the Armenian and Greek
Orthodox ecumenical movement in
the US have joined a pride of other
leaders of Christian, Moslem and
Jewish religious and lay organizations
and institutions, pledging to mobilize
support for peace in the Middle East.
Armenian Archbishop Vicken
Aykazian, the director of ecumenical
affairs for Armenian Orthodox
Church in America Father Mark Arey,
the director of the Office of
Ecumenical Affairs for the Greek
Orthodox Archdiocese of America,
believe time is running out for both
Israelis and Palestinians.
The loose umbrella of the US
National Interreligious Leadership
Initiative (NILI) for Peace in the
Middle East , which includes
Theodore Cardinal McCarrick,
Archbishop Emeritus of Washington,
Imam Mohammed Magid, President,
Islamic Society of North America, and
Rabbi Peter Knobel, past president,
Central Conference of American
Rabbis, warns that the possibility of a
two-state solution to the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict was waning, and
urged immediate, sustained US leadership
before darkness falls on the
hopes for a peaceful resolution.”
Among the other leaders are
Kathryn Mary Lohre, president,
National Council of Churches of
Christ (US) and Richard Stearns,
president, World Vision US.
Aykazian was in Jerusalem last
week to participate in the elections
for a new Armenian patriarch and
had been one of the contenders for
the position.
The group believes the most viable
solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict is
a two-state agreement that provides
for a secure and recognized Israel living
in peace alongside a viable and
independent Palestinian state.
“With the support of the international
community, Israelis and
Palestinians can achieve a lasting
peace. A new dawn is
possible,” they said in a
statement they released.
Mourning the lives
lost and shattered during
the recent violence
that gripped the region,
the group warned that
what had been seen,
over the past years, “will
keep happening if movement
towards a viable
two state-solution continues
to stagnate.”
As things stand now,
“the status quo is unsustainable
and dangerous to both
Israelis and Palestinians,” they conceded,
but stressed now is not the
time for “another cycle of recriminations.
It is time to break the cycle of
violence with bold initiatives for
peace.”
“The current dangerous stalemate,
including the legacy of past failed
peacemaking efforts, undermines our
security and that of others, destabilizes
the region, fuels terrorism and
extremism, allows continuing Israeli
settlement expansion and prolongs
Palestinian disunity. These realities
and the absence of negotiations
threaten to kill the prospect of a
viable two-state peace agreement, the
only realistic solution to the conflict,”
they said.
They urged strong and determined
action, proposing a peace of the
brave, because as people of faith, “we
proclaim that we should never underestimate
what is possible.”
“We know the challenges are
daunting, but we believe a bold new
initiative for an Israeli-Palestinian
peace settlement should be an immediate
priority of the new
[US] Administration in
2013. We fear the
opportunity for a peaceful
resolution is rapidly
waning and the current
stagnation encourages
the rejectionists on
both sides,” the statement
said.
They noted that the
US “has unique lever-
age and credibility in
the region” and that no
past progress towards
peace has occurred in
the Arab-Israeli conflict without US
leadership, facilitation or staunch
support.
“Once again, we need active, fair
and firm US leadership to help break
the current deadlock and to achieve a
two-state peace agreement now
before it is too late,” they added.
They pledged to mobilize the
strong support that exists in churches,
synagogues and mosques across
the US, in the push for peace.
“Twilight is upon us; but the
hope for a new dawn remains. Let
us together bring the new light of
hope and work for negotiations
leading to a final status agreement,”
they added.
Tinderbox Next Door: Growing Ethnic
Protests in Azerbaijan may ‘Detonate’ War
By Naira Hayrumyan
ISMAYILLI, Azerbaijan
(ArmeniaNow) — The wave of protests
that struck Azerbaijan last week may
act as a detonator for military conflict in
the South Caucasus.
The incident is reminiscent of the
beginning of the Arab Spring, says head
of the Analytical Center on
Globalization and Regional
Cooperation, political analyst Stepan
Grigoryan.
“It is possible that the Azerbaijani
side will try to escalate the situation
along the line of contact of the armed
forces of Nagorno-Karabagh and
Azerbaijan,” Grigoryan said.
Andrei Areshev of the Center for
Central Asia Studies and Caucasus
Institute of Oriental Studies of the
Russian Academy of Sciences agreed
that Azerbaijani authorities will attempt
to redirect the anger of the society
towards Karabagh.
“The authorities will agitate patriotic
feelings among people to shift their
attention from internal problems to the
‘enemies’, and in Azerbaijan, Armenians
and Karabagh are considered to be
these enemies,” he said.
Protesters in Ismayilli burned a car
and a hotel owned by representatives of
the leading party’s clan. This caused a
wave of protests across the country,
eventually reaching the capital, Baku.
It is worth noting that this occurred on
the same day that Mexico City authorities
dismantled the monument to former
President Heydar Aliyev. This served as a
major blow to the credibility of the Aliyev
regime and also as a sign that the West
may seek to dismantle the regime.
It seems likely that the West and the
local opposition will be make moves to
change the regime in the upcoming
elections, given several conflicts
between oil companies and the regime.
Last year saw a conflict between Aliyev
and British Petroleum, which is the
main investor in the oil sector of
Azerbaijan. Rumors that oil reserves in
the region were dwindling cast further
doubts about the Aliyev regime’s ability
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Armenian Archbishop
Vicken Aykazian
to manage its natural resources.
On January 27, the police forbid Isa
Gambar, the leader of the main opposition
party Musavat, to enter the city of
Lankaran in the south of Azerbaijan.
Two weeks prior, a Gambar motorcade
was also attacked at the entrance to
Lankaran by assailants allegedly trained
by the Aliyev authorities.
Lankaran, like Guba and Ismayilli, is a
Lezghian-populated region of
Azerbaijan. Experts say the reactivation
of the Lezghian national movement in
Azerbaijan poses a serious threat to the
Aliyev regime. If the national movements
of the Lezghians and Talyshes,
Iranian peoples who have lived in
Turkic Azerbaijan since 1918, gain
momentum, it could lead to the collapse
of the Azerbaijani state. It is this very
threat that is causing Aliyev to embark
on a military gamble in Karabagh by
unleashing a war against the de-facto
independent republic.
South Caucasus geopolitics expert,
Anzhela Elibegova, said that the
Kurdish component should not be forgotten
when assessing the overall conflict.
“The Azerbaijani opposition media
write regularly that Kurds in Azerbaijan
enjoy ‘special’ rights. In Nakhichevan,
the conventional homeland of Heydar
Aliyev, the majority of the population
today are Kurds, but during the years of
the Aliyev rule they have settled on
lands historically inhabited by the
Talyshes and Lezgins,” said Elibegova.
International News
Aronian Takes Second
Place at Tata Steel
WIJK AAN ZEE, Netherlands (ArmeniaNow) —
Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian said his second-place
performance at the Tata Steel
Tournament in the Netherlands last week was a
“good result.”
The GGrouup A Touurnaament bbrouught together 14
grandmasters and ended in a victory by the topranked
player in the world, Magnus Carlsen, of
Norway. Finishing second, Aronian, currently the
world’s number three player, outdid Viswanathan
Anand from India.
“Remembering the positions I would have [duringg
some of the ggames] at the tournament, I can’’t
say that I am very satisfied with my performance.
Though I really missed several important [opportunities,]
second place is quite a good result,” said
Aronian.
Ukrainian Museum of
National History Hosts
Armenian Exhibit
KIEV, Ukraine (PanArmenian.net) — The Ukrainian
Museum of National History is showcasing an
exhibit documenting the history of UUkraine’s
Armenian community.
The exposition includes rare photographs, documents,
awards, printed editions, national costumes,
household items and other artifacts reflecting the
Ukrainian-Armenians’ long history.
The leader of the Union of Armenians of Ukraine,
Vilen Shatvoryan, said of the exhibit, “Kiev attaches
special importance to Armenian cultural and historic
heritage.”
The number of Armenians in Ukraine totals
99,894 according to the 2001 Ukrainian census.
Armenians first appeared in Ukraine during the
Kievan Rus period. During the 10th century, individual
Armenian merchants, mercenaries and
craftsmen served in the courts of various
Ruthenian rulers.
he Donetsk Oblast (province) holds the greatest
number of Armenians in Ukraine.
Azeri Forces Hold Drills
On Karabagh Border,
Violate Ceasefire
BAKU (PanARMENIAN.Net) — Nearly 200 instances
of ceasefire violation by Azeri armed forces were
reported at the line of contact between Nagorno
Karabagh and Azerbaijan from January 20 to 26.
Azerbaijan fired over 700 shots from various caliber
weapons in the direction of Karabagh positions,
NKR defense army’s press service reports.
Also, all through the last week, Azeri air forces
conducted drills along the line of contact.
Former President
Aliyev’s Statue Removed
From Mexico City Park
MEXICO CITY (PanARMENIAN.Net) — A life-size
bronze statue of Azerbaijan’s former president,
Heydar Aliyev ,was removed from Mexico City’s
main avenue, on Saturday, January 26 morning. It
was instead relocated to a site in the suburbs.
In November, an advisory commission issued a
recommendation to remove the statue. The rights
groups said they were offended by a monument of
a “dictator” erected in one of the busiest areas in
the city.
Azerbaijan has paid around $5 million for the
renovation of part of Chapultepec Park, where the
statue is was installed, and other public works.
The protesters have objected to Aliyev’s statue
saying that he was an authoritarian figure, who led
Azerbaijan first as Communist Party boss during
Soviet times and then as president from 1993 until
his death in 2003.
Baku warned earlier of damage to Azerbaijan’s
relations with Mexico if the statue is removed,
including the potential cuts to Azerbaijani investments
in Mexico.

4
By Hrant Gadarigian
ISTANBUL (Hetq) — To get a better insight
into the recent attacks against elderly Armenian
women in Istanbul, Hetq contacted Fethiye
Çetin, a prominent lawyer and human rights
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advocate working in Turkey.
Çetin has served as an attorney for the family
of Hrant Dink and is the author of My
Grandmother, a book describing how and when
she found out about her Armenian roots.
Hrant Gadarigian (HG): Recently, former
Agos Editor Aris Nalci told Today’s Zaman that
he believed these attacks were organized and
called on Turkish officials to launch a comprehensive
investigation. Would you agree with his
assessment?
Fethiye Çetin (FÇ): I would also agree that
these actions are organized and planned. At
first, the police promoted the line that they
were violent robberies, however no such evidence
was to be found in the homes of the victims.
In addition, witnesses claim that the
attackers always had an accomplice or two nearby.
We have been focusing our attention on
Samatya of late, but it must be said that attacks
directed against Christians have been occurring
all over the country as well. The latest was the
exposure of an organized gang that attempted
to murder a Christian priest in Kocaeli. All this
attests to the fact that the events are systematic
in nature and not random.
HG: Being close to certain segments of the
Istanbul-Armenian community, how would you
describe the emotional state within the community
in light of these incidents?
INTERNATIONAL
Young Turk’s Grandson in Germany
ÇEMAL, from page 1
intervention into the dialogue process
among Turks, Germans, Armenians and
Kurds about the Genocide, aimed at working
through the common past in the search for
truth and, thereby, for understanding and
reconciliation. Ilyas Kevork Uyar, chairman
of the Diocese Board of the Armenian
Church and also defense lawyer for the
Turkish-German author Dogan Akhanli,
introduced him at Cologne university, saying
he hoped that Çemal’s experience, as someone
who has worked through the past and
acknowledged the genocide of 1.5 million
Armenians, would serve as an example for
others to follow. Not only in Turkey, he said,
did denial persist but also in Germany, where
certain nationalistic Turkish associations
have organized protests against the
“Armenian lies,” etc.
Hasan Çemal, speaking in German, introduced
himself to the audience of about 400
Germans mainly of Turkish and Armenian
descent, then read a speech in Turkish which
was simultaneously translated by Osman
Okkam, journalist, film maker and
spokesman for the KulturForum
TürkeiDeutschland, which had sponsored the
event. The subject was how to liberate oneself
from falsified history, a process that is intimately
tied to one’s sense of personal identity.
Çemal cited cases of two of his associates,
who did not dare admit that their mothers
were Armenian and Kurdish, respectively.
That two of the best writers in Turkey had to
lie about their mothers’ ethnic background,
he said, was very sad; the Kurds “had to fight
to prove that they existed, whereas the
Armenians had to fight to prove that they
had been eliminated.” In the case of the
Armenians it was not only the physical elimi-
Archbishop Nourhan
Manougian Elected 97th
Patriarch of Jerusalem
PATRIARCH, from page 1
Catholicosate of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon. In
1966, he was accepted to the theological seminary
of the Armenian Patriarchate of
Jerusalem. His days as a student at the
Patriarchate culminated in his ordination to the
priesthood and his membership in the St. James
Brotherhood in 1971.
A year later, he was appointed the pastor of
the Armenians of Switzerland. Subsequently, he
returned to the Middle East and served as the
pastor to the Armenian communities of Jaffa
and Haifa. In 1980, he was assigned the position
of pastor of the Armenian community of
Holland.
Manougian visited the US and pursued his
graduate studies at New York’s General
Theological Seminary. He subsequently served
the Eastern Diocese as the pastor of St. Mark
Church of Springfield, Mass., and then St.
Kevork Church of Houston, Texas.
Upon returning to Jerusalem, Manougian was
elected Grand Sacristan of the Holy See in
1998. A year later, Catholicos of All Armenians
Karekin II elevated him to the rank of bishop.
(Editor’s note: We congratulate Archbishop
Manougian on being elected the 97th Patriarch
of the Holy See of Jerusalem and wish him
every success in his challenging mission.)
nation of the people but also the “cultural
assassination,” whereby official Turkish history
makes no reference to the existence of
their civilization.
Falsified history began with the birth of
the modern Turkish republic, which was no
state founded on the rule of law, but a place
where everyone was forced to lie. Though he
was a 1965 graduate in political science, he
had been totally ignorant of the facts of 1915-
1916. He did not know that the Armenians
had populated the territory earlier, nor that
there had been Kurdish rebellions. It was
only in 2005, when a conference on the
Kurdish issue was convened, that one could
talk about it. Then and thereafter, it was forbidden
however to utter the name Dersim,
where an uprising had been brutally suppressed.
The situation he described was characterized
by “fear, fear of history, fear of phantoms;”
no one dared to challenge official historiography
for fear of being labeled a “traitor.”
One friend who had done so and been
labeled a traitor was Taner Akçam, the leading
Turkish scholar of the Genocide. Akçam
had insisted on questioning the taboos, prejudices
and clichés, and overcoming them.
Çemal then gave a personal account of his
struggle to deal with the taboos. At the end
of March 2011, he was at UCLA, preparing a
speech for a conference. While sitting at his
computer, he asked himself, “Should I use
the word ‘genocide’ or not?” He wanted to
speak of Armenians’ fears and pain and to
express his empathy. “But what pain? From
‘genocide’ or in general?” he asked himself.
“Why was it so difficult to use this word?” He
knew, he said, that the Committee of Unity
and Progress, the Young Turks, had
embraced a policy to remove all non-Turks
INVESTIGATION, from page 1
claimed that the recent attacks on Turkish
Armenian women in Samatya weren’t motivated
by robbery.
In its report on the attacks, the HRA said
they could be part of an “ethnic cleansing” campaign
and called for the immediate apprehension
of the culprits.
The organization has sent its report to the
Turkish Ministry of the Interior.
Meanwhile, Agos editor Rober Koptas told
from the Ottoman Empire. “I knew it. Why
didn’t I want to use ‘genocide’ if I knew this?”
he asked. He put in the word “genocide,” but
then erased it.
His confrontation with this loaded term
had a history. Earlier, in 2008, he had travelled
to Yerevan and visited the Genocide
monument to pay his respects to the memory
of Hrant Dink. He had contemplated the
profound emotions felt at sundown, when
reflecting on the pain of the Armenian victims,
and, at sunrise, had realized “how
absurd it was to deny genocide.” In March
2011, in Los Angeles, the process went further.
“I had mentioned the Young Turks and
their crimes against humanity. I was convinced
of the need to stop denial, but I still
hesitated to use the term.” He asked himself
if it was fear. Then he reflected on his age.
“How old am I and how long do I have left to
fight for democracy?” he asked. “How long
do I have not to use this word?” Then, he
related, “I put in the word. I wrote: ‘I know
your pain from the Genocide.’”
He characterized the phenomenon as “selfviolence,”
a well-known psychological phenomenon.
“We need to deal with prejudices,”
he said and referenced the historical precedents
in Germany, the “best example to
understand taboos and also liberation from
them.” He concluded his speech with an
appeal, “that the truth may come to light.”
During the question-and-answer session, he
elaborated on the German precedent, recalling
the decisive role played by the so-called
‘68er generation of youth who confronted
their parents about their roles under Nazism.
He also highlighted the gesture of Willy
Brandt, who in 1970, fell to his knees before
the Warsaw Ghetto monument, to express
acknowledgement and regret for the crimes
FÇ: These attacks have created fear and anxiety
for Armenians and Christians living in
Turkey. An Armenian woman living in the
Samatya neighborhood responded to a Milliyet
reporter by stating, “Let us die in our beds.”
These few words clearly describe the emotional
state of Armenians.
HG: If the attacks are indeed premeditated
Today’s Zaman that the ministry should establish
a commission to conduct a comprehensive
investigation of the matter.
“None of the politicians and state officials has
released any statement on the issue yet, which
also increases the concerns of the Armenians
living in Samatya. The interior minister, the
Istanbul governor or the Istanbul police chief
should give detailed information to the public
regarding these incidents,” Koptas said.
Garo Paylan, an Armenian community
of Nazi Germany. When asked about his own
family and how they dealt with his grandfather’s
role, he said his family was very apolitical.
His father, Çemal Pasha’s son, was born
in 1900, and the only thing discussed at
home about 1915 was the official version:
there was war, there had been deportations,
there were massacres — nothing more.
It was only in the 1970s, after the first
Turkish diplomats had been killed by ASALA,
that he, then a journalist at Çumhuriyet, and
his colleagues raised questions: why are they
killing these diplomats? What do they want?
What did our forefathers do to the
Armenians? Thereafter came his first investigations
and articles on the issue. Initially, he
too “defended the raison d’état” and then,
after meeting Taner Akçam and Dink, delved
into more serious research and arrived at the
truth. It was his contact with Dink, and then
his murder, that was decisive. Dink “had to
sacrifice his life for this,” he said, his murder
turned the tide. Since then there have been
initiatives, solidarity petitions, open discussions,
debates and demonstrations. Asked by
moderator Raffi Kantian what he expected by
2015, he said, “I cannot foresee or predict
what will happen. What is important is to
continue to fight for democracy and for dialogue.”
This man’s appearance in Germany was a
bombshell. And the attempts on the part of
nationalist Kemalist groups to disturb the
commemorations through provocations were
only further proof of this fact. His personal
courage deserves respect and support. Not
only has he faced hostility in the Kemalist
camp, but has laid bare his personal, internal
confrontation with the official denialist propaganda
in a fashion that helps others —
including Armenians in the diaspora — understand
better what kinds of
psychological/political problems serious
Turkish intellectuals have to work through in
their search for the truth.
Fethiye Çetin Discusses Climate of Fear in Turkey
Fethiye Çetin
and organized, by whom and for what aim?
FÇ: To date, not one of the criminals has
been discovered. I believe that these incidents
must be connected to the words uttered by the
Minister of Internal Affairs at last year’s Khojaly
Meeting. For this reason, I fear that similar incidents
will only increase and worsen in the lead
up to 2015.
HG: All the victims have been elderly
Armenian women who live alone. Does this factor
have any particular significance?
FÇ: I think they have chosen elderly women
who live alone because they don’t want any eyewitnesses.
Also, they want to create an even
larger climate of fear in the Armenian community.
HG: What must Turkish authorities do,
which they aren’t now, to prevent the reoccurrence
of such attacks in the future and to prove
that they are truly concerned with the safety of
Armenian citizens of Turkey?
FÇ: It is vital to expose the culprits as soon
as possible and the forces pulling the strings.
The authorities must publicly address the community
and state that those responsible will be
severely punished. The authorities must keep
this issue on their agenda. Through various
events and pronouncements, the public at large
must be made aware that mentality causing
these attacks is bankrupt.
Former Agos Editor Calls for Investigation of Istanbul Attacks
activist, told Today’s Zaman that he found it surprising
that Turkish police have yet to track
down the attackers despite the numerous security
cameras in the neighborhood and the
increased police presence.
“We are deeply concerned that these incidents
are an organized crime targeting Armenians. This is
why the police should be more attentive to these
assaults. The fact that no concrete development has
taken place regarding the assaults gives us doubt
about the sincerity of the police,” Paylan noted.

TCA Arshag Dickranian
School Student Wins
AP Scholar Award
LOS ANGELES — Aram Ekimyan, a
senior at the Tekeyan Cultural
Association’s (TCA) Arshag Dickranian
School, has received the Advanced
Placement (AP) Scholar Award in recognition
of his commendable college-level
achievement on Advanced Placement
Program Examinations in 2012. Ekimyan
has also received the AP Scholar with
Distinction Award, which is granted to
students who receive an average score of
at least 3.5 on all AP exams
taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or
more of these exams.
With this accomplishment, Ekimyan
has set the bar
high and has
become an
example for students
at TCA
A r s h a g
D i c k r a n i a n
School and all to
follow. Students
at the school are
inspired to work
Aram Ekimyan
harder to
achieve the same
or even excel,
especially with the new courses which
have been added to the school’s educational
program since the beginning of the
2012-2013 scholastic year.
Students at TCA Arshag Dickranian
School are eligible to receive AP courses
in US history, calculus, art history, government,
psychology and English literature,
based on their overall performance.
The school also plans to add AP courses
in world history, statistics, physics, studio,
government, European history and environmental
science to its program by the
beginning of the next academic year.
Attaining high scores in the AP tests
increases the chance for students to
receive scholarships.
For more information visit
www.dickranianschool.org.
Fresno State Presents
‘Armenian Jerusalem: Past
And Present’ Symposium
FRESNO — A symposium, “Armenian
Jerusalem: Past and Present,” organized by the
Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State, in
cooperation with Save the ArQ, will be held at
7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 8.
The symposium will be held in the University
Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium,
Room 191, on the Fresno State campus and is
part of the Armenian Studies Program Spring
2013 Lecture Series. A hors d’oeuvres reception
will be held 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the gallery
next to the auditorium. The lecture is funded in
part by the Leon S. Peters Foundation.
Save the ArQ is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated
to preserving the Armenian Quarter of
Jerusalem. The non-profit organization aims to
create awareness of the significant religious,
cultural, and historical presence of Armenians
in Jerusalem and to encourage the revitalization
of the Armenian Quarter in the Old City.
The Armenian Quarter encompasses one-sixth
of the Old City which the Armenians have
inhabited since the fourth century.
Four papers will present various facets on the
Holy City of Jerusalem, a place of great significance
in Armenian history. Each of the papers
focuses on an interesting aspect of the city, and
the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Tamar Boyadjian (UCLA) will present a paper
on “Lament for the City: Jerusalem and the
see LECTURE, page 6
S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
Community News
Memorial for Khachadour P. Garabedian is unveiled in Philadelphia as a tribute to
the only known Armenian to have served in combat during the American Civil War
with Gary Koltookian, left, and Paul Sookiasian.
Chance Discovery Leads to
Rare Armenian Hero
CHELMSFORD, Mass. — Like a model ship wedged inside a bottle, Gary
Koltookian feels that’s where he belongs.
It would be quite natural for the antique bottle-collector. One look at his collection
and you’ll see why. His business
card reads “Bottle Gary” and that is how
By Tom Vartabedian
people around the Merrimack Valley
know this community activist.
One day in 1991, Koltookian was
meandering through a flea market in Hollis, NH, searching for bottles, when he
crossed paths with a document that caught his attention.
There, in some remote part of the country, Koltookian’s eyes were drawn to an
1855 Lowell Courier on a dealer’s table, containing an advertisement placed in
that paper by a chap named “Menas Garabed,” cabinet-maker, who once lived in
his very own community — next city over.
“Wow. 1855. An Armenian in Lowell,” he thought to himself.
Eventually he found out that his full name was given name was Khachadour P.
Garabedian and he worked in the Lowell mills and became the only known
Armenian to have fought during the American Civil War.
Koltookian gathered information from mid-century Lowell newspapers, old
Lowell city directories, a record book of Union Navy officers and from National
Archives, namely the military pensions division.
From the documents, he learned that Garabedian was discharged as a sailor in
Philadelphia, worked, married, died and was buried there upon his death in 1881.
He called his nephew’s father-in-law in Philadelphia to investigate the gravesite
and was stunned by the news. There was no surviving marker or stone commemorating
Garabedian’s death.
Based upon the information he had received, Koltookian wrote an article for the
Armenian Mirror-Spectator in 2004 telling Garabedian’s story which caught the
attention of Paul Sookiasian.
The Philadelphia college student read his article and was inspired to raise funds
for a fitting memorial. With the aid of the Philadelphia Armenian-American
Veterans, enough money was collected for the project.
Last October — eight years after that article was published — a dedication ceremony
and requiem was conducted at Garabedian’s final resting place in
Lansdowne, Penn., where a traditional Armenian khatchkar was erected in his
honor.
“There were not many Armenians in America during the 1860s,” said
Koltookian, whose ancestors arrived here after the turn of the century. “Those like
Khachadour were among the few making America their home.”
The 78-year-old Koltookian is a retired social studies teacher, historian,
researcher, collector and member of the Lowell Historical Society. He has served
on local Armenian Genocide commemoration committees and belongs to the
Merrimack Valley Knights of Vartan.
He will present a talk on the subject Thursday, February 7, at noon, during an
Avak luncheon at St. Gregory Armenian Church, 158 Main St., North Andover. The
public is invited to attend.
Razmik Panossian
Appointed Director of
Armenian Communities
Department of
Gulbenkian Foundation
5
LISBON — The Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation announced this week the appointment
of Dr. Razmik Panossian as the new director
of the Armenian Communities Department
in Lisbon.
Panossian holds a doctorate from the
London School of Economics and Political
Science, where he also taught. He has published
widely on Armenian-related issues,
including a critically-acclaimed book on
Armenian national identity. He has extensive
experience in senior management, including the
administration of multi-million dollar programs,
as well as the allocation and distribution of
international development grants. For many
years he served as the director of Policy,
Programmes and Planning at a Canadian governmental
organization based in Montreal. He
has worked for the United Nations
Development Programme. He is fluent in
English, French and Armenian.
“I am both thrilled and humbled by this
appointment,” said Panossian. “This is one of
the most important positions in the Armenian
Diaspora. I am looking forward to continuing
the work of my predecessors and further
strengthening and expanding the activities of
the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in a
focused and systematic manner within
Armenian communities around the world.”
Martin Essayan, the trustee responsible for
the Armenian Communities Department, and
great-grandson of Calouste Gulbenkian, said: “I
am delighted that Dr. Panossian will be the new
director of the Armenian Communities
Department. He comes with outstanding credentials
for this role and brings the international,
integrative perspective we need. The
appointment followed a global search during
which we were able to consider many excellent
candidates.”
Panossian was born in Lebanon and immigrated
to Canada at the age of 12.
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is one
of the top-10 foundations in Europe and one of
the largest in the world with assets of 3 billion
euros and annual spending of around 100 million
euros. It operates in four areas defined in
its statutes: Arts, Education, Science, and
Social Welfare. It was founded by Calouste
Sarkis Gulbenkian, an Armenian businessman
and art collector who became a British citizen,
conducted much of his work in Britain and
France, and finally settled in Portugal. The
foundation was established in Portugal in 1956,
a year after his death.
The Armenian Communities Department
dates back to the creation of the foundation
and was set up by the founder’s son-in-law
Kevork Essayan. Since then the trustee in
charge has always been a member of the
founder’s family. The mission of the department
is “to create a viable future for the Armenian
people in which their culture and language are
preserved and valued.”
Razmik Panossian

6 S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3
T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
BOSTON — The Armenian International
Women’s Association (AIWA) is now accepting
applications for scholarship awards for the
2013-2014 academic year.
In addition to awards in the humanities and
social sciences, grants are available to students
in the sciences through the Lucy Kasparian
Aharonian scholarships, granted by AIWA in
conjunction with the Society for Women
Engineers — Boston Chapter.
Students in the fields of science, mathematics,
engineering, technology, computer sciences
and architecture are eligible for
Aharonian awards of $2,000 to $6,000 (juniors
and seniors) or up to $10,000 (master’s and
PhD students).
In addition, AIWA offers a number of scholarships
for female students in all academic
fields, ranging in value from $2,000 to $500.
The program was initiated with the Agnes K.
Missirian Scholarship, which was established
in memory of the professor of management at
Bentley College (Waltham, Mass.), a strong
advocate for women’s rights.
Also available for students in all academic
fields are the Dr. Carolann S. Najarian, Ethel
Jafferian Duffett, Rose A. Hovannesian and
Zarouhi Y. Getsoyan scholarships.
AIWA scholarships are awarded annually to
full-time female students of Armenian descent
attending accredited colleges or universities.
Students entering their junior or senior year
in college, as well as graduate students, are eligible
to apply for the awards, which are based
on financial need and merit.
The awards in the sciences were initiated in
2007 in memory of the late Lucy Kasparian
Aharonian, an active member of the Society of
Women Engineers, who enjoyed a long career
in software engineering even while raising a
family. With degrees in Mathematics and
Business Administration, she worked for several
major firms in the Boston area and also
taught on various levels. Later she successfully
embarked on a second career as a basket
artist.
Applications for all AIWA scholarships for
the 2013-2014 academic year are available on-
ADVERTISE IN THE MIRROR
COMMUNITY NEWS
AIWA Scholarship Applications Now Available, Including Special Awards in the Sciences
WASHINGTON — Dr. Carolann Najarian attended the celebrations following
the Congressional Swearing-in Ceremony of the 113th Congress
on January 3, Inauguration Day. Above, from left, are, from left,
House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Najarian, Jessica
Nahagian and Linda Kaboolian.
Fresno State Presents ‘Armenian Jerusalem:
Past and Present’ Symposium
LECTURE, from page 5
Armenians in the Medieval Period.” Her talk
will discuss the relationship between the
Armenians and the city of Jerusalem in the
Middle Ages, focusing primarily on the period
most commonly referred to as the early crusades,
1095-1191 AD. Some of the questions
she will explore are: What was the Armenian
presence in crusader Jerusalem, and what were
the attitudes of the Armenians towards the
European crusaders? What role did the
Armenians of Jerusalem and surrounding principalities
play in the crusades?
Barlow Der Mugrdechian (California State
University, Fresno) will present a paper on
“Armenian Jerusalem Through the Eyes of a
Pilgrim.” His paper will be based on his personal
experiences as a traveler to Jerusalem,
since 1985. Why has Jerusalem occupied such
an important space in the consciousness of
Armenians? What has continued to attract
Armenian pilgrims to visit Jerusalem?
Sergio La Porta (California State University,
Fresno) will present “Negotiating the Sacred
and the Secular: The Armenian Heritage in
Jerusalem.” The Armenian presence in
Jerusalem stretches back over hundreds of
years. While much of the connection between
Armenians and Jerusalem has been and contin-
ues to be religious in nature, and more specifically
related to pilgrimage, there has also been
a strong and significant secular dimension to
Armenians in Jerusalem. His talk will highlight
how the sacred and secular coexist in this
unique environment.
Bedross Der Matossian (University of
Nebraska-Lincoln) will present “Jerusalem in a
Critical Period: Challenges Facing the New
Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem.” The
Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem is one of
the most important spiritual, cultural, and
national centers for the Armenians around the
globe and has faced enormous challenges in
the course of its more than 1700 year history
and has been able to overcome many types of
adversities. However, the challenges in the
21st century have taken a new shape. The talk
will identify the challenges facing the
Patriarchate, the newly elected Armenian
patriarch, and the community, and will suggest
pragmatic remedies to political, religious,
social, and economic challenges and discuss
the ways in which the Diaspora can bring its
share in assisting the Patriarchate and the
community.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
For more information on the lecture contact
the Armenian Studies Program.
line (www.aiwainternational.org) or can be
requested by mail (65 Main St., #3A,
Watertown, MA 02472). The deadline for applications
is April 16. Winners will be announced
at the association’s annual meeting in May.
In addition, students residing in California
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By Douglas Rooks
WATERVILLE, Maine (Bangor Daily News) —
When Paul Boghossian launched the partnership
that restored the historic Hathaway Mill in
Waterville five years ago, he had no idea he would
have to wait until 2013 to start renovations on
the other two buildings in the mammoth
Lockwood Mills complex.
Back in 2007, there had been no Wall Street
collapse, nor tighter lending standards adopted in
its wake. He also had a North Carolina business
partner who had been hailed as a master of mill
restorations and headed his own capital investment
firm.
Almost simultaneously, development money
vanished, as did his business partner, leaving
Boghossian the sole developer to finish restoration
of the former Hathaway Shirt factory. Today,
the complex houses 67 apartments and 130,000
square feet of office and retail space and
Boghossian is ready to turn his full attention to
the Lockwood Mill complex.
At just shy of 500,000 square feet, it’s one of
the largest remaining 19th-century industrial
sites in Maine, and is immediately adjacent to
Waterville’s downtown. The Main Street shopping
district lies just across a six-lane approach
road to the bridge to Winslow.
Reconfiguring traffic so that Waterville has a
pedestrian-friendly downtown is just one of the
issues Boghossian is tackling in his most recent
project, which includes refurbishing the two
buildings in Lockwood Mills complex previously
occupied by Central Maine Power Co (CMP) and
Marden’s, and putting them before the planning
board and city council, so far to generally favorable
receptions.
He envisions a hotel, restaurants, retail and
office space, and many new apartments — one of
the most successful features of the Hathaway renovation.
“When I was trying to show an apartment
there recently, I had to show my own unit,” he
said. “None of the others were vacant.”
Boghossian, a Colby College graduate who
began his career restoring mills in his native
Rhode Island, also wants the city to commit to $1
million in road and intersection improvements
that include restoring two-way traffic to Main
Street and replacing the six-lane arterial — which
he called “hopelessly inefficient” — with a roundabout
similar to the one that originally marked
S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
the site.
Waterville Mayor Karen Heck said the traffic
plan is doable, and necessary to re-create the
downtown ambience that once brought shoppers
from around the region.
“Paul has invested years of his life and millions
of dollars in our city,” Heck said. “It’s about time
we reciprocated.”
Boghossian said redeveloping the two buildings,
collectively about the same size as the
Hathaway Creative Center that he renovated and
reopened in 2008, will cost as much as $25 million.
The overhaul of the National Historic
Register properties will use both federal and state
historic tax credits.
“That’s what makes projects like this viable,”
he said. “It’s like having 55-cent dollars when you
go to the bank.”
He’s learned some valuable lessons in financing,
he says, following the almost four years it took to
partially extricate himself from an original partnership
with Tom Niemann, a North Carolina developer
who owns the Kennebec Arsenal in Augusta.
That long-stalled project has resulted in the state
exploring litigation to reclaim the property.
Problems, Boghossian says, began almost
immediately after the finishing touches were put
on the Hathaway project in the winter of 2008-09.
Niemann was supposed to manage the two largely
vacant Marden’s and CMP buildings and bring
in financing to replace the $500,000 Boghossian
had invested in them, supposedly for the shortterm
only.
“He never brought in a dime,” Boghossian said
of Niemann. “And he didn’t even pay the electric
bill or fill the oil tanks. The tenants were repeatedly
given shutoff notices.”
Boghossian started foreclosure proceedings
that dragged on for years that ultimately resulted
in default judgments in September, making him
sole owner of the Marden’s and CMP buildings.
Niemann remains the largest single owner of the
Hathaway building, though with a minority share.
Boghossian concedes some of the delays would
have happened anyway, even without the wrinkle
of the failed partnership.
“There was no financing for this kind of project
after the financial crash, and it isn’t likely that
we’d have been able to sign up anchor tenants,”
he said.
Now that the economic forecast has brightened
a bit, he thinks it is time to go forward with the
Lockwood project.
The middle CMP building, at 53,000 square
feet and two stories, and the Marden’s building
COMMUNITY NEWS
Mill Redevelopment Could Spur Waterville Renaissance
that overlooks downtown — four-and-a-half stories
and 168,000 square feet — lend themselves more
to housing than commercial development, more
so even than the Hathaway project, said
Boghossian, who contrasts Hathaway’s fully occupied
apartments with the about 80 percent occupancy
rate of its office space and a lower proportion
of the first-floor retail.
“These two buildings are narrower, and we’ll be
able to get away from the longer, deeper spaces
that makes the Hathaway units relatively large for
downtown living,” he said.
Many of the Hathaway apartments are 1,000
square feet or larger, and carry market-based
rents of $1,000 a month. The units offered in the
other buildings will run from 500-800 square feet,
and average 650 square feet, which will make
rents about $750.
“In this market, that’s much more affordable
and increases their appeal,” he said.
The Marden’s building has drawn considerable
interest from hoteliers, says Boghossian, and
could support an 80-room inn with a large restaurant,
along with retail units and some housing.
“That’s one of the things downtown needs to put
it back on the map,” he said. Existing hotels and
motels are all clustered around Waterville’s two
interstate exits, the closest well over a mile away.
Boghossian is thinking even further down the
road, to a possible cooperative program with
Thomas College, which offers a popular program
in hotel management.
“They’re always looking for places to intern,
while hotel chains are also looking for good
employees,” he said. “It could be an excellent
match.”
If a hotel is constructed in the mill buildings, a
parking structure across the street on a cityowned
lot would be needed. Boghossian envisions
a series of walkways connecting the three
buildings and the garage, so that — as in other
northern cities — tenants could access the entire
complex, and reach their cars, without ever having
to step outside.
When he is having a difficult moment, as
Boghossian said he does, now and then, he takes
inspiration from the original story of the
Lockwood Mills. When a group of wealthy
Waterville citizens decided the time was ripe for
a major industrial expansion in the 1870s, they
chose Amos D. Lockwood, who had built mills in
Boston and Providence, RI, as their designer and
engineer.
Not only was Lockwood a skilled building
designer, but he was “a practical genius” when it
came to waterpower, Boghossian said, and in
charting the intricate channels of penstocks,
sluiceways and millwheels that went into making
an efficient 19th century plant. By 1876, 33,000
textile spindles were in operation and the
Lockwood Co. employed 1,300 people at its peak,
with production continuing until 1955; Hathaway
Shirt lasted another 40 years.
“The owners were so impressed that they
named their company not after themselves, but
their builder,” Boghossian said.
In bringing these mill buildings back to life, he
says he hopes to replicate a similar brand of persistence
and ingenuity.
Businesses Lose $650
Billion Turning
Businesses anti-Social
By Wilson Dizard
NEW YORK (New York Post) — How can US
businesses recoup $650 billion in lost productivity
a year due to social media in the workplace?
A Miami-based e-commerce company, 1saleaday.com,
got so fed up with its workers wasting
away precious minutes on social media that in
2011 it banned and blocked sites like Facebook
and Twitter.
After worker morale plummeted, management
decided in November to introduce a social
network just for employees, a Twitter clone
called Yammer, and found that productivity and
mood improved.
“Instead of trying to suppress their addiction,
we tried to channel it,” said Eli Federman, a
spokesman for 1saleaday. “It actually increased
productivity by creating an environment where
people collaborate on various projects using
the site.”
The company’s story highlights how businesses
with lots of young, computer-bound
employees are trying to figure out how to keep
the attention of people who are paid $14 an
hour for mind-numbing data-entry jobs. It also
shows a growing divide among American workers,
between social media haves and have-nots.
The split breaks along the level of competition
for skilled, creative hires. Companies
searching for the best and brightest won’t be so
uncool as to ban social media, but businesses
that just need nimble, youthful fingers for keyboards
have the upper hand and can wring out
more labor by banning social media.
Huge, a DUMBO-based online advertising
company where workers can bring their dogs,
bikes and skateboards to the office, doesn’t
impose restrictions on its employees’ use of
Facebook.
“In general, the only rule is, ‘Think about
what you’re doing, don’t share confidential
information, etc.,’” said Sam Weston, a
spokesman for Huge. “But the question isn’t so
much the medium, it’s the people. Do you have
people who are responsible and smart and who
care enough about what they’re doing to be
engaged in the workplace, or not?”
At one Wall Street firm, however, management
doesn’t have the same outlook. One
employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said the firewall at the office, which prohibits
social media and even Gmail, is reminiscent of
“Stalinist Russia.”
“I think a reasonable, little five-minute break
to check in with the world is fine,” the employee
said.
Alexis Ohanian, a founder of startups including
the popular link site Reddit, said competition
for skilled workers discourages tech companies
from doing anything draconian.
“Employers hiring tech talent already have to
intensely compete for talent, so something like
a ‘no social media’ policy is a deal-breaker for
most of those folks,” Ohanian said.
“I’m a very pro-social media employer: If you
get your work done, go ahead and look at some
cat photos (then share them because your
increased clout will pay dividends for me later,
when you promote projects we’re working on),”
he added.
7

8 S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
TITIZIAN, from page 1
in the States, I went to Armenian school all the
way up to high school. I’m so glad they did that
for me. I speak, read and write fluently in
Armenian and that’s a blessing. I hope to do the
same for my children.”
Titizian first fell in love with acting in college.
“I didn’t get involved in acting until my second
year of college... I was 20. I wish I had gotten
started much younger, but I guess everything
happens for a reason.”
After taking a college acting class, Titizian
decided to make a go of it. “I did background
work for a TV show and watched the actors and
told myself ‘I can do that.’ So that was it. I
dropped out of college and took professional acting
classes, got my first set of headshots and hustled
to get an agent. I can’t believe it has already
been 13 years.”
Titizian has played the role of CIA agent
Danny Galvez for the past two seasons of the hit
Showtime drama, “Homeland,” which chronicles
a US-marine-turned-terrorist and features an allstar
cast including Claire Danes, Damian Lewis
and Mandy Patinkin. How did Tatizian land the
role? “The casting process for ‘Homeland’ was
interesting. I was in New York finishing up the
last two weeks of a play on Broadway and I got
a call to audition for ‘Homeland.’ It was just a
pilot that had gotten picked up for series, so
nobody had heard of it, let alone watched it,” said
Tatizian.
Timing and a positive attitude always help. “I
didn’t get it. But the people liked me and I had
worked with them before on ‘24’ […] so there was
this role they were having trouble casting. The
character was Hispanic, but they wanted me to
do it, so they changed it and made him half
Lebanese and half Hispanic. I still had to audition
for it, because I had to get approved by the
network.”
With one phone call, Titizian was on the next
flight to North Carolina to start filming. “I’m
glad it worked out the way it did because the role
I initially auditioned for was much smaller. You
never know how things work out in this business.
And no one including myself expected the
show to be as big of a hit as it turned out to be.
You just can’t tell those things until they start
airing. And it was a hit right out of the gates and
got bigger and bigger each week. It’s very cool to
be a part of it.”
After a successful finish to season two and various
awards, fans will have to wait to see more
from Agent Galvez. “As for season three, I don’t
even know if I’ll be back or not, so I don’t have
the slightest clue what’s in store for the show or
for Danny Galvez. But the writers are very smart
and I trust whatever they do will be great,” said
Titizian.
Titizian has appeared in numerous television
series and films, but says his favorite role actually
was in a play. “Playing the ghost of Uday
Hussein would top the list,” said Tatizian. He is
referring to his 2011 stint on Broadway in
“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” starring
Robin Williams. According to Titizian, his character
“was sadistic, evil, funny, charming, juicy
and believe it or not, likable. ... At least the way
I played it. I would be very pleasantly surprised
to get a role like that on TV.”
Acclimating to the grueling scheduling and
repetition of theater is no easy task. “It’s very
challenging for me, but the payoff is not like any
other,” he said. “[The] feeling you get when
you’re performing in front of so many people is
incomparable.”
“Being on Broadway is probably every performer’s
dream, especially working with Robin
Williams, [who is] someone I always admired
growing up.”
Titizian looks forward to future stints on
Broadway. “As for returning, yes, I would love to
do that sometime in the future, when I’m ready
again,” he said.
In a business that often rewards style over substance,
one thing that makes Titizian stand out
is his grounding in tradition. “I feel it’s very
important to recognize your heritage and your
ancestry and keep the culture alive. I’m very
proud to be Armenian and although every agent
and manager I met told me to change my name,
I could never get myself to do it,” he said. “If it
takes longer for people to see me a certain way,
consider me for certain roles or get in certain
doors, so be it. At least I can go to bed every
night with my dignity.”
It seems that Titizian’s hard work and positive
attitude has paid off. Titizian was honored as this
year’s ARPA international breakthrough performer
of the year in Los Angeles. “It’s always a
good feeling to be honored for anything. The
ARPA award was special because I had a film in
that festival a few years back and the people
involved are really great. That night was loads of
fun and I’m fortunate to have been a recipient.
Being recognized in that way gives you some
sense of ‘I guess I’m doing something right.’”
In the midst of his success, Titizian is also making
time for his personal life. “Well, I’m getting
married in April, so the wedding planning is definitely
taking some work.” In between wedding
planning and auditioning, he will be producing a
film that shoots in March and also teaching classes
on Tuesday nights. “Otherwise, my main focus
is acting and auditions are back to normal now
that the holidays are over, so hopefully the next
gig is not too far away,” he said.
“That’s the scary thing about this business,
but also the beautiful thing about this business.
You’ll get a call today and you’re on a flight
tomorrow. So you just have to stay sane and
trust that the work will come,” he said.
COMMUNITY NEWS
From Home to ‘Homeland’ Hrach Titizian Stays True to His Roots
Hrach Titizian

NEW YORK — Camp Nubar is not yet in session,
but AGBU families in the greater New
York-New Jersey area are showing their camp
spirit more than ever through a series of celebratory
events dedicated to its 50th anniversary.
The milestone year started this fall with
the Parents’ Night Out, and continued this past
weekend during the first-ever Camp Nubar
Alumni Basketball Tournament and Annual
S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
Winter Reunion.
On Saturday, January 12, 2012, dozens of former
counselors — some of whom joined Camp
Nubar a decade ago — went head to head on the
basketball courts of St. Leon Armenian Church
in Fair Lawn, NJ. They were cheered on by
campers both past and present who turned out
in large numbers for the Annual Winter
Reunion and were clad in 50th anniversary
gear, including t-shirts, bags and wristbands,
designed especially for the occasion. Before filling
the stands, the attendees gathered for the
unveiling of the Special Edition Color War
Poster, featuring Blue and Gold team banners
from across camp history, as well as for a photo
slideshow of the past summer.
Parents’ Night Out, which was held on
Thursday, November 15, 2012, also showcased
a special collection of photographs: those that
brought to life Camp Nubar’s spring-fed lake,
acres of pristine forests and Catskill Mountain
ranges — the natural beauty that has drawn
back generation after generation. An intimate
evening for families and friends, Parents’ Night
Out gathered longtime camp alumni, as well as
those who recently joined the Camp Nubar
Check us out at
www.mirrorspectator.com
New York
M E T R O
Camp Nubar Ushers in 50th Anniversary Year with a Series of Celebratory Events
Camp Nubar supporters and alumni celebrate
Camp’s 50th anniversary at Parent’s Night Out.
community, to the Harvest Bistro & Bar in
Closter, NJ. There, the guests reminisced about
summers past, discussed plans for the upcoming
year and took in the striking photographs.
The exhibit featured the work of two AGBU
members: AGBU Young Professionals of
Greater New York (YPGNY) longtime core committee
member Vadim Krisyan, who adds the
Camp Nubar photos to his growing portfolio
and YP supporter Shant Madjarian, who has
honed his eye as the founder of a local design
firm. Though neither has been a camper, both
participated in this summer’s annual YPGNY
City Escape retreat to Camp Nubar and were
immediately inspired by their surroundings.
Their talent and enthusiasm, and that of the
Camp Nubar 50th Anniversary Committee
members, is making the celebratory year an
unforgettable one. As committee member and
camp alumna Nancy Zoraian commented, “It
was so nice to be part of such a warm and festive
evening. But Parents’ Night Out was only
the beginning. Our committee represents a mix
of generations, from older alumni, to parents of
campers, to AGBU’s innovative young professionals,
who are bringing so many fresh ideas to
the table. Their energy is amazing and inspiring
— and together we are making each event dedicated
to the 50th anniversary more spectacular
By Kevin McGarry
NEW YORK (New York Times) — Located in
a Maya Lin-rehabbed former trolley repair shop
around the corner from MoMA PS1 in Long
Island City, Queens, SculptureCenter is one of
New York City’s oldest artist-founded institutions
at 85 years of age. The main gallery is a
towering, slightly dilapidated room, and taking
residence there this winter is “Retainer,” a
sculpture by the Iranian-born, Berlin-based
artist Nairy Baghramian. This commission is
her first exhibition in the United States, though
in Europe she’s well known for her manually
and mechanically manipulated forms that are
by turns delicate and inscrutable.
“Retainer” is more a system of sculptures
than a uniform object. In Baghramian’s words,
“it’s a collection of single, individual,
autonomous pieces that occupy the space —
the gaps between them are part of it. Some are
connected, some alone, some in networks, but
in the end it is all one installation.” The piece’s
protagonist is a ring of large, fleshy shapes
held at eye height by a lattice of spindly
chrome supports that evoke a design showroom
as readily as the dentist’s chair. Bonded
together, these elements resemble pieces of
huge alien jewelry.
The work’s strong material presence is no
accident, and its fabrication is quite involved.
The process began with a prototype
Baghramian engineered herself; then she produced
the structural elements of the piece and
than the last.”
Parents’ Night Out launched not only a year
of festivities, but a year of fundraising, as well.
Throughout the evening, bids on the photographs,
as well as substantial contributions
from Barry and Andrea Halejian, Jack and Carol
Margossian and Armen and Brenda Shahinian,
and other AGBU supporters brought the total
Camp Nubar donations to date to more than
$40,000. Camp Nubar has also received a
pledge from an anonymous benefactor, who has
agreed to match the first $100,000 raised.
Together, the funds will help Camp Nubar construct
a brand new a pavilion, a common space
in the heart of the camp where youth will cre-
Some of Camp Nubar’s youngest members catch up at the Annual Winter Reunion in New Jersey.
ate and learn together.
Camp Nubar families have even more to look
forward to in the coming months: on Friday,
July 26, the 50th anniversary celebration will
take place at Guastavino’s restaurant in New
York City. Tickets are on sale now. On Sunday,
July 28, Camp Nubar will hold its annual Open
House and honor the five-decade anniversary.
To learn about Camp Nubar’s upcoming 50th
anniversary events, make a donation to Camp
Nubar or purchase 50th anniversary gear and
tickets, visit: www.campnubar.org/50.
Photography prints from Parents’ Night Out will
be sold in limited quantities throughout the year.
Nairy Baghramian at SculptureCenter
their chromium plating with a metal workshop.
The shapes are poured polycarbonate in the
hue of what she calls a “noncolor,” then coated
in another layer of silicon that is wiped, blurred
and troweled to achieve its nuanced, industrialorganic
texture.
Responding to the history of
SculptureCenter’s use — not as a former repair
shop but as a well-trafficked art venue —
Baghramian has moved the wall labels that typically
indicate an exhibition’s beginning to the
gallery’s back door. The intent, she says, was “to
force people to bump into the installation from
the back, so that they’re immediately placed in
the space when they enter.” Just as viewers
encounter her mélange of materials and production
methods as unified art objects, “this
way the building, the space, the institution and
the work coalesce as a conglomerate that causes
a multilayered reaction.”
There are other components of “Retainer” in
an annex behind the main room: a photograph
of a horse’s leg in yellow casts at the joints,
metal shapes attached to the walls, a small table
with a base echoing a horse’s hoof. “Every part
of the show correlates to an idea of supporting
the body, but also to the word ‘snag’” — the title
of the photograph — “or ‘catch,’ in reference to
the German expression ‘Pferdefuss,’ meaning
the foot of the horse.” Full of these well-formed
hitches, Baghramian’s show is a microcosmic
reminder of just how productive problems can
be in evoking a thing’s essence.
“Retainer” is on view through March 25 at
SculptureCenter, 44-19 Purves St., in Long
Island City, NY.
9

10 S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3
T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
New Guide to
Armenia And Artsakh
Highlights Ecology
And Conservation
LOS ANGELES — An all-new edition
of Armenia’s best-selling travel guide,
The Stone Garden Travel Guide:
Armenia and Karabakh, will be published
in February.
The new 320-page book contains
updated and expanded information for
the 2013-14 tourist seasons and features
27 color maps and more than 140
color photographs.
A never-before-published map of historic
Armenia, which was created shortly
after the Genocide, is also featured in
the book.
The Stone Garden Travel Guide is
the first comprehensive guidebook to
Armenia and Karabagh (Artsakh), and
is also the only guidebook for the
region that emphasizes conservation
and ecology. The book is Award Finalist
for Best Travel Guide by the
Independent Publishers Association.
CNN Traveller magazine calls the
book “an excellent guide, written with
real passion for the subject.” The book
features maps from The American
University of Armenia’s “Birds of
Armenia Project” and highlights con-
Cover of The Stone Garden Travel
Guide: Armenia and Karabakh
servation issues that confront Armenia,
in addition to covering all the information
about cultural sites and getting
around that every traveler expects in a
guidebook.
Author-photographer Matthew
Karanian and photographer Robert
Kurkjian have each spent more than a
decade living and working in Armenia
while researching and writing this and
previous editions of the book. Each of
them first traveled to Armenia in 1995
to work as professors at the American
University of Armenia. Karanian is an
attorney. Kurkjian is an environmental
scientist.
Their writing and photography about
Armenia has also been featured in magazines
and newspapers of wide distribution
in the US, Europe, and Canada,
including in CNN Traveller magazine,
Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel,
Geographical, Global Adventure, Photo
Life and Photo District News.
The new book will be available from
Amazon.com and from select bookstores
in mid-February. To pre-order directly
from the publisher before February 28,
send check or money order for $25 post
paid to: Stone Garden Productions; PO
Box 7758; Northridge, CA 91327.
Arts & Living
A ceramic Khatchkar by Dr. Jack Hachigian
Armenian Cross Serves
As Inspiration for
Ceramic Art
YEREVAN (Clay/Technical magazine) — As I drove through the countryside, on
a visit to the nation of Armenia, I was struck by the numerous crosses carved into
stone. These large monoliths,
called khatchkars, or “cross-
By Jack Hachigian, PhD
stones,” often made from
Armenia’s native tufa stone,
dotted the landscape. They are
magnificent works of art, at once formidable and delicate. The Armenian tradition
of carving crosses into stone is an ancient one, going at least as far back as 600 AD.
During this visit to the land of my ancestors, I stopped by the main historical
library in the capital city of Yerevan. I viewed a collection of antique manuscripts
encased in UV protective
glass cases. These
very old works of handscribed
books were
beautifully illustrated in
color and represented
another strain of
Armenian art: the illumination.
I was overwhelmed
by the beauty
of these tiny works. The
little paintings glowed
with gold and jewel
toned paints. It was awe
inspiring to imagine
monks in the distant
past toiling over these
manuscripts and in the
present day to observe
monks conducting
research using these
same ancient works.
My interest in Biblical
illuminations began to
take the form of
research. I visited other
important collections of
these old manuscripts,
one in a monastery in
Ceramic Khatchkars by Dr. Jack Hachigian
Vienna, Austria, and another in a monastery on the island of San Lazzaro, just off
the coast of Venice, Italy. I began to examine various texts and original Greek and
Armenian sources.
My research eventually took me to the illuminations from the Trebezond region
of ancient Armenia, now in present day Turkey. A number of ruins of monasteries
and churches still remain in this region, which is located in the eastern part of the
Anatolian peninsula, bordering on the Black Sea. From the ninth to the 14th centuries,
monks and scribes in this region toiled to copy Biblical writings, using the
unique Armenian script and alphabet, illuminating their work as they went. Rooms
of scribes worked for years to produce these books. The illuminations come in different
styles and art historians have traced them to different monks from
see KHATCHKAR, page 12
Chamber Music
Concert at ALMA
Rescheduled for
February 10
WATERTOWN — The Chamber Music
Concert at the Armenian Library and Museum
of America (ALMA) initially planned for January
27 will take place on Sunday, February 10, at 4
p.m., due to illness. Pieces by composers
Babajanian, Schulhoff and Zemlinsky will be
performed by students of the Walnut Hill
School for the Arts.
This collaboration between ALMA and the
school includes the performance of a very special
piece of Armenian chamber music,
Babajanian’s Piano Trio, which combines traditional
Armenian melodies with richly Romantic
textures, and serves as a musical testament to
the feelings of nationalist identity of the
Armenian people under Soviet domination. The
chamber groups will also present Erwin
Schulhoff’s Concertino for flute, viola and double
bass, and Alexander Zemlinsky's Trio for
clarinet, cello and piano.
Tickets will be available at the door only. It is
free for students.
Refreshments will be served following program.
Arno Babajanian (1921-1983)
Hasmik Harutyunyan to
Present Workshop on
Armenian Song and Dance
FRESNO — Hasmik Harutyunyan will present
a workshop on Armenian song and dance, from
2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, February 2, in the
South Gym, room 133, of Fresno State campus.
The workshop is co-sponsored by the
Armenian Students Organization and
Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State and
is partially funded by the Associated Students,
Inc. of Fresno State.
Participation in the workshop is free, but participants
are asked to bring only soft-soled
shoes.
Harutyunyan was born in Yerevan and has
extensive experience studying Armenian dance
and music in Armenia. She will be demonstrating
folk dances from the various provinces of
historic Armenia, in their original form. Dances
will include the Gyovend, Kochari, Tamzara,
Ververi, Mayroke, Pampouri and others, such as
Hamshen dances and dances especially for
women.
Harutyunyan will also teach Armenian folk
songs, including lullabies, from historic
Armenian provinces. In Armenia, she is known
for her work with the Shoghaken Folk
Ensemble and for her renditions of Armenian
lullabies. Her performances are often broadcast
on Armenian National Radio and presented at
traditional music festivals around the world.
For more information about the workshop,
contact the Armenian Studies Program at
Fresno State.

LONDON — Sotheby’s will hold “At The Crossroads,”
the first-ever selling exhibition of Contemporary Art
from Central Asia and the Caucasus. This pioneering
exhibition, which encompasses art from the mountains
of Caucasus to Kazakhstan’s steppe and the Chinese
borders, will take place at Sotheby’s New Bond Street
premises from Monday, March 4 until Tuesday, March
12.
“At The Crossroads” will include around 50 contemporary
artworks in various media by artists from across
Central Asia and the Caucasus, including Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan. The exhibition will showcase non-conformist
as well as socialist-realist art from the 1960s,
right the way through to emerging contemporary practices.
Commenting on this pioneering initiative, Jo
Vickery, senior director and head of Sotheby’s
Russian Art Department in London, said: “Countries
throughout the Caucasus and Central Asia have experienced
rapid growth in recent years and this is also
true of the art scene there. New collectors, art institutions
and galleries are emerging every day, and it is
an exciting new geography for Sotheby’s to explore.
We are therefore delighted to present this landmark
selling exhibition, which encompasses the diverse
artistic practices of the region that combine ancient
historical roots with techniques at the forefront of
contemporary art.”
Three Armenian artists are represented in the exhibit.
They are Armen Gevorgyan,Vruyr Galstyan and Ruben
Grigorian.
For Gevorgyan, the role of agriculture in Armenian
society is one he wants to stress. In this work that was
made after his eponymous 1988 sculpture, Armen
Gevorgyan, a prominent Armenian sculptor, addresses
the philosophical concept of the cycle of life. The broken
wheel carries special meaning for the Armenian people,
whose national consciousness has been formed by long
history of resettlement. Gevorgyan invites the viewer to
contemplate on the broken life cycles of those whose
memories are filled with long journeys and a lost motherland.
Throughout his career Galstyan has used color in a
variety of ways to explore, in depth, the complex concepts
of man’s position in space and time. His stylistic
approach in the 1960s can be seen to be distinct from
that in his later period of the 1970s and 1980s.
Both Galstyan’s early and late periods are characterized
by the dominance of whites and blacks. However,
while his 1960s compositions have a muted harmony of
pastel hues, he increasingly preferred contrasting and
almost violent colors in his later career. “Memory,”
1973, is a cornerstone piece of Galstyan’s later period. It
is in essence a self-portrait and is central to the development
of his mature oeuvre. In this work the artist
explores the painting medium itself, through the dense
S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3
ARTS & LIVING
application of paint and an intense and contrasting
color palette. The thick black contours remain from his
earlier works but these now serve to separate the contrasting
color shapes that construct the pictorial plane.
In “Memory,” he develops a complex approach to the linearity
of form and the
interplay of color planes
by striking an improbable
fusion between
Modernist discourse and
that of deeply traditional
Armenian medieval illuminated
manuscripts and
carpet patterns.
Grigorian studied at
the Panos Terlemezian
Art College in Yerevan
from 1971 to 1977 and at
the Yerevan State
Institute of Fine Arts
between 1978 and 1984.
The following year he
was became a member of
the Artists’ Union of
Armenia. He first exhibited
with the 3rd Floor
group and since then has
exhibited regularly in various
international locations
including Buenos
Aires, Chicago, Moscow,
London, Germany and
Yerevan. Since 2000 he
has worked at the
National Cinema Centre
in Yerevan. His oeuvre
consists largely of precise,
naturalistic paintings
depicting surrealistic
imagery, but he has
also illustrated a number
of children’s books.
He said that in his
T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
Armenian Artists Part of First Sotheby’s Sale and Exhibition
Of Contemporary Art from Caucasus and Central Asia
“Memory” by Vruyr Galstyan
SOTHEBY’S PHOTO
“Enigma” by Ruben Grigorian
“Disintegration” by Armen Gevorgyan
SOTHEBY’S PHOTO
works, he tries to “unite the surrounding world with the
parallel mystic reality. Imagination is the most important
element in art and the passages opened by it transport
us into the Past and into the Future.”
For more information, visit Sotheby’s website.
SOTHEBY’S PHOTO
11

12
Love and
Whiskey at the
Blind Donkey
By Jessica Gelt
ASEDENA, Calif. (LA Times) — The
new Blind Donkey bar is the work of the
beer-minded men behind Verdugo Bar,
the Surly Goat and the Little Bear, and as
such it exudes a pleasing masculinity. The
decor is stripped down to a few framed
photographs of donkeys; a large, slightly
crooked bar; a massive gilded mirror
(good for casting wayward glances at
other lonely drinkers) and a smattering of
communal wooden tables.
Ryan Sweeney, the tattooed maestro
and mouthpiece for the group’s bars (his
partners include John Bower, Brandon
Bradford and Alen Aivazian) says the
Donkey currently carries nearly 115 different
kinds of whiskey. That’s a lot of
love, perusing the menu of American,
Scottish, Irish and Canadian offerings
and resolving to have a second glass of
something peaty.
Manager Penny Wilhelm is behind the
bar. Blond and gregarious, Wilhelm is
developing an encyclopedic knowledge of
whiskey so she can help patrons with the
understandably taxing decision-making
process.
“I spend my days reading books,” says
Wilhelm, producing a large volume titled,
World Whiskey: A Nation-by-Nation
Guide to the Best.
What’s Wilhelm’s favorite whiskey at
the moment?
Wilhelm picks up a bottle of Templeton
rye and points out that it was “Al
Capone’s drink of choice.”
The Templeton rye, which is well-aged
and spicy with strong notes of wood and
caramel, is used in the Donkey’s version
of the Old Fashioned. Called Butler’s Old
Fashioned, the drink features seasonal
jam, in this case cinnamon plum.
Visitors may also order a basket of deep
fried pickle chips with barbecue sauce
and jalapeño ranch. Sweeney is quick to
point out that the Donkey is a bar that
serves food. Not a restaurant.
S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
TORONTO — The Asia Minor Catastrophe
and the Ottoman Greek Genocide: Essays on
Asia Minor, Pontos, and Eastern Thrace,
1913–1923, edited by George N. Shirinian,
executive director of the Zoryan Institute, is a
compilation of innovative papers given by distinguished
scholars at two academic conferences
organized by the Asia Minor and Pontos
Hellenic Research Center in Chicago.
“Our knowledge of the catastrophic events
affecting millions of people caught up in the
huge political and social transformation connected
with the dissolution of the Ottoman
Empire and the rise of the Turkish Republic has
not received the scholarly attention it deserves.
Even the best studied of these tragic events, the
Armenian Genocide, has been deprived of a certain
panoramic contextualization of a tragedy
which touched profoundly the lives of several
other religious and ethnic groups, such as the
Greeks and Assyrians,” observed Theofanis G.
Stavrou, professor of history at the University
of Minnesota.
LONDON — In her new book, Transnational
Culture, Transnational Identity (I.B. Tauris,
2011), Maria Koundoura, associate professor of
literature at Emerson College, breaks new
ground in her comparative analysis of Peter
Balakian’s Black Dog of Fate, Orhan Pamuk’s
Istanbul, and Elif Shafak’s novel, The Bastard
Armenian Cross Serves as Inspiration for Ceramic Art
KHATCHKAR, from page 10
different regions and at different times. The
movable type printing press had not yet been
invented. This would only happen in 1439, and
it is known to have reached Constantinople 100
years later. It is unclear when it reached these
monks some distance from Constantinople.
It is interesting to note that Armenian crosses
are not crucifixes. The illuminated crosses
were not heavy or strongly religious but rather
light and uplifting, engendering a feeling of
spirituality. I was fascinated by their variety,
beauty and the scope of the crosses.
The influence of these two traditions:
Khatchkars, in Armenia, and the crosses drawn
in illuminations, evoked a strong desire in me to
fuse and extend these two art forms of the
Armenian cross.
Keeping with what I saw in the ancient
manuscripts, I wanted to create the intricate
crosses in various colors. I decided to continue
the tradition of carving crosses in relief like the
“cross-stones,” but using a modern approach
and thus I began to examine the possible use of
ceramics.
Within a short time I had created a number
of ceramic crosses. Ultimately I created many
designs, which were inspired by those I saw in
the Illuminations. Others were abstractions of
them, or sprang from my imagination.
The works are now found in a number of private
collections. I was also honored when an
artist from Zimbabwe purchased one of my
ARTS & LIVING
New Book on Greek, Armenian Genocides
A Khatchkar in Armenia
works.
(Dr. Hachigian’s work will be available at the
Knights of Vartan Armenian Art Night on
March 2, at the Newport Beach Country Club,
1600 E. Coast Highway, Newport Beach. Or,
make a donation to the “Friends of the
Centennial Monument” on the website
www.monument100.org and obtain his work in
gratitude for a donation.)
This book and its careful treatment of the
Greek experience within the broader genocide of
the Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire
aims to fill a gap in the scholarly literature on the
Greek Genocide and is one of the first to treat
the genocidal experiences of the Armenians,
Assyrians and Greeks in a comparative manner
and as an integrated history. As Prof. Roger W.
Smith, chair of Zoryan’s Academic Board, has
written, “Only the comparative approach can
yield carefully delimited generalizations about
the nature and mechanics of genocide as a general
problem of humanity.”
The studies presented in this groundbreaking
book are thoroughly documented and include
revealing and previously unpublished American
diplomatic reports on the destruction of
Smyrna. In addition to the historical chapters,
essays explore such subjects as the multigenerational
effects of the Greek Genocide and the
difficulties of Asia Minor refugee identity in
Greece, Turkey’s present day obligations under
the Treaty of Lausanne, and the challenges of
Book on Transnational Literature Compares
Balakian, Pamuk and Shafak
of Istanbul, in what appears to be the first
scholarly work comparing modern Armenian
and Turkish writers.
In her chapter titled “The Spaces of Memory
in Transnational Culture,” Koundoura explores
and theorizes, using theorists Walter Benjamin,
Paul de Man and Frederic Jamieson among others,
the ways Pamuk and Balakian’s memoirs
and Shafak’s novel engage history, memory and
loss and how transnational visions of language
and culture inform literature in the new global
age of literature. As the book jacket notes, “this
book will be invaluable for readers of cultural
and post colonial studies, diaspora and globalization
studies, and world literature.”
Koundoura is also the editor the journal
Modern Greek Studies and the author of The
Greek Idea: The Formation of National and
Transnational Identities.
obtaining recognition for the Ottoman genocides.
A list of the contents is given below.
Prof. Vahakn N. Dadrian, Zoryan’s director of
genocide research, writes, “This book makes a
valuable contribution to our understanding of
the Greek experience of genocide during the
early part of the 20th century and its aftermath.
It shows how interrelated were the experiences
of the Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks
during the end of the Ottoman Empire and the
establishment of the Turkish Republic.”
The contributors to the book are Shirinian;
Tessa Hofmann: “The Genocide against the
Christians in the Late Ottoman Period,
1912–1922;” Taner Akçam: “The Greek
Deportations and Massacres of 1913–1914: A
Trial Run for the Armenian Genocide;”
Matthias Bjørnlund: “The Persecution of
Greeks and Armenians in Smyrna, 1914–1916:
A Special Case in the Course of the Late
Ottoman Genocides;” Harry J. Psomiades:
“Greece in Asia Minor: The Greek Naval
Bombardment of Samsun [Amisos], June 7,
1922;” Constantine G. Hatzidimitriou: “The
Destruction of Smyrna in 1922: American
Sources and Turkish Responsibility;” Alexander
Kitroeff: “Asia Minor Refugees in Greece: A
History of Identity and Memory, 1920s–1980s;”
Van Coufoudakis: “From Lausanne (1923) to
Cyprus (2009): Turkey’s Violations of
International Law and the Destruction of
Historic Hellenic Communities” and Robert J.
Pranger: “US Policy Obstacles in Recognizing
the Genocides of Christian Minorities in the
Late Ottoman Empire: Challenges and
Opportunities.”
Shirinian said, “The contributors to this volume
and the Asia Minor and Pontos Hellenic
Research Center hope that this wide-ranging
collection of studies helps bring a measure of
understanding and openness to the discussion
of the Greek Genocide. This is a story of great
human tragedy and suffering, of great power
politics and miscalculation. By promoting
awareness of this history, we hope to prevent
the recurrence of another, ‘Great Catastrophe.’”
To order a copy contact Zoryan at
zoryan@zoryaninstitute.org.
SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE
for
Students of Armenian Descent
Having Completed One Year of College by June 2013
Application and other information may be obtained
from
Tibrevank Alumni, Inc.
Vahan Adjemian Scholarship Fund
P.O. Box 14
Palisades Park, NJ 07650
or
www.vahanadjemianscholarship.org
Deadline for returning completed applications: April 30, 2013

WASHINGTON — As part of its ongoing program
to promote teaching of genocide and
human rights and the lessons of the Armenian
Genocide, the Armenian National Institute
(ANI) announced the release by Routledge publishers
of the fourth edition of Centuries of
Genocide: Essays and Eyewitness Accounts, by
Samuel Totten and William S. Parsons, the
genocide and human rights studies textbook
widely used in college and high school courses.
The fourth edition of Centuries of Genocide:
Essays and Eyewitness Accounts addresses
examples of genocides perpetrated in the nineteenth,
twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.
Each chapter of the book is written by a recognized
expert in the field.
The chapter on the Armenian Genocide,
which has appeared since the first edition of the
publication, previously issued under the title
Century of Genocide, is authored by ANI
Director Dr. Rouben Adalian. For this new and
expanded edition, the chapter was updated to
reflect the growing scholarship on the subject.
The book is framed by an introductory essay
that spells out definitional issues. To help readers
learn about the similarities and differences
among the various cases, each case is structured
around specific leading questions. In
every chapter authors address: Who committed
the genocide? How was the genocide committed?
Why was the genocide committed? Who
were the victims? What were the outstanding
S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R 13
historical forces? What was the long-range
impact? What were the responses? How do
scholars interpret this genocide? How does
learning about this genocide contribute to the
field of study?
Dr. Maureen Hiebert from the University of
Calgary, who specializes in genocide, government,
politics, and international law, described
ARTS & LIVING
Fourth Edition of Centuries of Genocide Textbook Issued
C A L E N D A R
MASSACHUSETTS
FEBRUARY 9 — Sisters’ Academy Annual Valentine’s Party, presenting
Elie Berberian and Band, Oakley Country Club, 410 Belmont
St., Watertown; information: Nageeb Diarbakerly at (617) 480-3700.
FEBRUARY 23 — “Armenia Unseen — Among the Mountains,
Valleys and Villages,” a visual representation by Joe Dagdigian,
sponsored by the Lowell “Aharonian” Gomideh, 6 p.m., St. Gregory
Church, 158 Main St., North Andover; dinner and program; update
on events in Syria by Rev. Karekin Bedourian, pastor; all proceeds
benefiting the Syrian-Armenian Relief Fund; $20 adults; $10 students.
the publication as: “A welcome new edition to
an already influential series, Centuries of
Genocide adds new cases spanning the 19th to
the 21st centuries and the four corners of the
globe. Each chapter offers up-to-date research
and analysis by some of the leading scholars in
the field on the causes, processes, and aftermath
of genocide, along with searing first-person
eyewitness accounts that starkly illustrate
the human experience, and tragic cost, of genocidal
violence.”
Dr. Ervin Staub of the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst and author of
Overcoming Evil: Genocide, Violent Conflict
and Terrorism and The Roots of Evil: The
Origins of Genocide and Other Group
Violence, comments: “In this deeply humane
book, fired by the passion of the editors and
authors to understand the roots of genocides so
that we can prevent this scourge of humanity,
eminent experts give up-to-date accounts of 15
genocides. The scholarship of the authors is
outstanding, the chapters in the book highly
readable and compelling. While most of the
chapters are about genocides in the 20th century,
the book now contains chapters about
genocides in the 19th century and the first
genocide in the 21st Century. The personal
accounts included truly reach the heart.”
Co-editor of Centuries of Genocide William S.
Parsons, who is chief of staff for the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum in
Sponsor a Teacher in Armenia and Karabagh 2013
Since its inception in 2001, TCA’s ‘Sponsor
a Teacher’ program has raised over $563,000
and reached out to 4,440 teachers and
school workers in Armenia and Karabagh.
✄
On February 23, St. Gregory
Church of North Andover, 158
Main St., will host “Armenia
Unseen — Among the Mountains,
Valleys and Villages,” a visual
representation by Joe Dagdigian.
The event will take place at 6
p.m., and will feature dinner and
the program; all proceeds benefiting
the Syrian-Armenian Relief
fund; $20 adults; $10 students.
❑ Yes, I want to sponsor teachers in Armenia and Karabagh to continue
helping them to educate the children, our future leaders. I would like to have
the teacher’s name and address.
❑ $160
Name
Address
❑ $ 320 ❑ $ 480 ❑ other $—————————
City
Tel:
State Zip code
Make check payable to: Tekeyan Cultural Association – Memo: Sponsor a Teacher 2010
Mail your check with this form to:
TCA Sponsor a Teacher
5326 Valverde, Houston, TX 77056
Your donation is Tax Deductible.
Washington, DC, has devoted 30 years of his
career to Holocaust education. In 1991,
Parsons was invited to join the Museum’s
Education Committee to share his innovative
ideas for teaching about prejudice and racism.
He is also the co-author of the teachers’ guide
Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and
Human Behavior.
Dr. Samuel Totten, University of Arkansas,
Fayetteville, professor of Curriculum and
Instruction, has written extensively on teaching,
preventing, intervening and documenting
genocide. He is the author of Teaching About
Genocide, Dictionary of Genocide, co-editor
with Steven Jacobs of Pioneers of Genocide
Studies, which included a contribution by
Adalian, and was an associate editor with
Adalian, Jacobs, and Eric Markusen of the
Encyclopedia of Genocide under the chief editorship
of Israel W. Charny, executive director
of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide
in Jerusalem. Totten is also the co-founding editor
of Genocide Studies and Prevention: An
International Journal published by the
University of Toronto Press and the Zoryan
Institute. During the summer of 2004, Totten
served as one of the 24 investigators with the
US State Department’s Atrocities
Documentation Project, interviewing black
African refugees along the Chad/Sudan border
in order to collect data for the express purpose
of ascertaining whether genocide had been perpetrated
in Darfur.
As part of its continuing service to educators
and to coincide with the release of Centuries of
Genocide, ANI has expanded its Resource
Guide and other sections of the Education component
of the ANI website. Dozens of resources
selected for their instructional value are listed
for the benefit of students and teachers.
Educators interested in teaching about the role
of American humanitarianism and involvement
in responding to the Armenian crisis can also
benefit from the recently issued fact sheet summarizing
“The United States Record on the
Armenian Genocide: A Proud Chapter in
American History,” prepared by the Armenian
Assembly of America.
Author Margaret Ajemian
Ahnert Speaks at
Pepperdine University
MALIBU, Calif. — On Wednesday November
14, Margaret Ajemian Ahnert, presented her
book, The Knock at the Door, a mother-daughter
survival story, at Pepperdine University.
Ahnert, a member of the National League of
American Pen Women and an award-winning
author, spoke to a crowd of more than 200 hundred
students.
The event opened with a brief screening of an
interview with Ahnert conducted by Chuck
Margaret Ajemian Ahnert
Scarborough of NBC television in September
2012, in which Ahnert discusses her own mother’s
Genocide survival story.
The event was followed by a question and
answer period, during which, Ahnert discussed
her relationship with her mother and her own
experiences confronting Genocide deniers during
her five-year book tour.

14 S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
Mirror-
T H E A R M E N I A N
Spectator
Established 1932
An ADL Publication
EDITOR
Alin K. Gregorian
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Gabriella Gage
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Aram Arkun
ART DIRECTOR
Marc Mgrditchian
SENIOR EDITORIAL COLUMNIST:
Edmond Azadian
CONTRIBUTORS:
Florence Avakian, Elizabeth Aprahamian,
Daphne Abeel, Dr. Haroutiune
Arzoumanian, Taleen Babayan, Prof.
Vahakn N. Dadrian, Diana Der
Hovanessian, Philip Ketchian, Kevork
Keushkerian, Sonia Kailian-Placido,
Harut Sassounian, Mary Terzian, Hagop
Vartivarian, Naomi Zeytoonian
CORRESPONDENTS:
Armenia - Hagop Avedikian
Boston - Nancy Kalajian
Philadelphia - Lisa Manookian
Contributing Photographers:
Jacob Demirdjian, Harry Koundakjian, Jirair
Hovsepian
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Other than the editorial, views and opinions
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eflect the policies of the publisher.
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internal reference is prohibited without
express permission of the copyright
owner. Address requests for reprints or
back issues to:
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COMMENTARY
A Thaw in Armenian-Georgian Relations
By Edmond Y. Azadian
During the Soviet era, Armenian-Georgian relations could not be
anything except what Kremlin rulers prescribed for the region. But
the undercurrent resentments continued to run deep down for a
variety of reasons. For centuries Armenians represented the business
elite in Georgia. They also built the capital city of Tbilisi,
which, before the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 was called the
“Paris of Caucasus.” When the revolution swept the region,
Georgia was in a very unique situation, because, under the guise
of the proletariat taking over the wealth of the bourgeoisie, the
Georgians usurped the properties of the Armenians.
Throughout the Soviet period, the Tbilisi government implemented
an almost identical policy towards Javakhk which Azeris
were implementing in Karabagh, leaving the two ancient Armenian
regions under the authority of Georgia and Azerbaijan, respectively,
underdeveloped. The poverty of Javakhk Armenians today is the
legacy of that discriminatory policy.
After the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the undercurrent of
mutual resentment floated to the surface.
Successive leaders like Shevardnadze, Gamsakhurdia and
Saakashvili pursued a policy of depopulating the Armenian
regions. They further threatened to bring the exiled Meskhetian
Turks from Central Asia and settle them in Javakhk. That was a
two-throng policy to please the Turks in Ankara and Baku as well
as scare the indigenous Armenians. Almost 200,000 Armenians
emigrated from Georgia after its independence. To be fair, the emigration
cannot be attributed solely to the policies of the government,
since a larger ratio has also left the Republic of Armenia as
well.
Although there are five Armenian members in the Georgian
Parliament, their clout is minimal. They are insensitive to the needs
and the problems of the Armenian community, very much like the
Amiras in the Ottoman era, who tended to preserve their own turf.
Although Georgia and Armenia are the only two Christian
nations in the Caucasus region, their relations have been cool, to
say the least. Georgia has not yet recognized the Armenian
Genocide and has persistently voted along with Azerbaijan at the
UN.
The continuing cold war also has its impact in the region. As
much as Armenia is considered a vanguard post for Russia in the
Caucasus, Georgia similarly is considered a vanguard post of
NATO, albeit a virtual one. Through the direct aid and investments,
the European Union and the US have tried to make Georgia a
showcase for the West. And the US-trained Saakashvili tried to
uproot the corruption endemic throughout the former Soviet
republics, but recent scandals have revealed that the reforms have
been achieved at a heavy cost and brutal and repressive measures.
Those scandals cost President Saakashvili the recent parliamentary
elections, and led to the emergence of the billionaire Bidzina
Ivanishvili as the new prime minister. Cohabitation has seen some
tensions between the two leaders, especially when the new prime
minister began a purge of the adherents of the president’s party.
During these developments, Patriarch Ilya II switched his allegiance
to the winning side, Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party.
Ivanishvili began his foreign policy with regards to the Armenian
Republic on the wrong foot, through an untoward remark, but he
has taken corrective action since.
Preserving the Armenian
Language at Home and
Abroad
To The Editor:
I was just reading in the January 26 edition
of the Armenian Mirror-Spectator about a
family that came from Syria to live in Armenia
and found it easier to learn and speak Russian
in Armenia to get around.
They found a lot of words were in Russian
Notice to Contributors
The Armenian Mirror-Spectator welcomes articles, commentaries and community
news from our readers. In order to assure the accurate and timely publication of articles
submitted, please note the following policies:
— All articles submitted should be typed, double (or triple) spaced and printed in a type size
large enough to be clearly legible (10 point or larger). Submissions that do not conform to
these specifications will be assigned lowest priority.
— Articles sent by fax are acceptable, and e-mail submissions are encouraged.
— All submissions should include the name of a contact person and a daytime
COMMENTARY
LETTERS
rather than Armenian.
I am sick to read that Armenians in Armenia
know less of their native Armenian language
than they do Russian.
When I visited Armenia in August 2009, I
thought my speaking Western Armenian was
the reason they could not understand me. As
it turned out, they could not speak their own
native language, which I thought was
Armenian.
I know that Armenians that come here from
Armenia to get their driver’s licenses take
their driving test in Russian instead of
His recent visit to Armenia marked a definite thaw in the relations
between the two neighbors. A symbolic gesture was the
release of Javakhk political prisoner Vahakn Chakhalian, who had
been jailed on trumped-up charges at a kangaroo court and sentenced
to a 10-year term.
Going beyond symbolism, Ivanishvili discussed the possibility of
reactivating the Abkhazian rail system, which will benefit Armenia
economically and help Russia to transport goods to the region.
The idea is, of course, an anathema to the previous administration,
which refuses to do any business with Abkhazia, as long as
its remains outside of Tbilisi’s jurisdiction. Therefore, it was not a
surprise to hear Saakashvili’s public rebuke of the idea. He also
raised hell for Chakhalian’s release.
The prime minister also praised Georgian Armenians for their
loyalty and their contributions to the country. He said that there
are 300,000 Armenians living in Georgia, although that figure may
be much more, but Ivanishvili was relying on their votes during the
next election.
Besides President Saakashvili, Georgia’s foreign minister also
made a hostile remark, while his superior was still in Yerevan. He
stated that Georgia would see the Karabagh problem resolved with
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan intact.
Georgia has developed complex relations with Azerbaijan and
Turkey. The former provides cheap gas and the latter has made
substantive investments in Georgia. It will not be easy to wean
Tbilisi from those two nations, as much as the new Georgian leader
is seeking to improve the relations with Moscow.
Georgian-Armenian relations have not always been warm, but
since the August 2008 war with Russia, they have even been more
inflamed, as the Tbilisi administration considers Yerevan as the
base for Russian influence in the region. And for that very same
reason, Ivanishvili’s visit to Armenia was interpreted as testing the
waters to find out the potential of an eventual rapprochement with
Moscow.
Georgia is a vital link for Armenia’s foreign trade as 70 percent
of overland transportation of goods transit through the Georgian
territory. Yet the road system still remains precarious, since several
months in the year, the roads are snow-covered, especially in the
region of Upper Larse. The project of digging an expensive tunnel
through those mountains still remains on the drawing board. Once
the Georgian authorities realize the dividends of the project, they
may act on it and the corollary beneficiary will become Armenia.
At this time, there is a cautious movement towards normalizing
relations between the two neighbors. No matter how willing or sincere
Ivanishvili may be, he has yet to consolidate his power in the
country. He may launch an adventurous political course when he
fully holds the reigns of the power in his country.
Another debate which is raging simultaneously in the region is
the opening of the Stepanakert Airport for civil aviation, a project
which the Azeris oppose violently. Armenia cannot risk a retaliation
by beginning to operate the airport, especially since some
members of the European Union may consider that move as a
“provocation.” But once Russia decides that a strategic asset right
next to the Iranian border is being threatened, they may join forces
with Karabagh to thwart the Azeri threat, especially after the abandonment
of the Kabala Station in the Azeri territory.
After facing so much economic and military pressure, Armenia
would welcome a respite. If the Georgians move in a positive direction
toward Armenia, that move will certainly be guided by their
self-interest, yet Armenia will benefit from the thaw.
Armenian because it is easier for them. This I
know for a fact.
We Armenians should learn to stand on our
own two feet and not lean on Russia’s shoulder.
I am a proud Armenian, but when I read
stories like this, I am saddened that we have
become this low.
I remember why my grandparents, uncles,
aunts and cousins died. They died to keep
their Armenian language and their Christian
faith.
–Mel Menasian
Methuen, Mass
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Turkey Should Be Kept in the
Dark on Armenian Genocide
Centennial Plans
It is no secret that Armenian communities around the
world are busy planning scores of projects for the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, 2015.
It is also no secret that the Turkish government and its
agents are closely monitoring all announced Armenian
plans, so Ankara can prepare its counter-moves to the anticipated
Armenian “tsunami.”
By publicizing their plans more than two years before
the centennial, Armenians would be providing Turkish
denialists valuable intelligence and sufficient lead-time to
figure out how best to disrupt Armenian commemorative
activities.
Armenians must realize that succeeding Turkish governments
have had a long history of genocide denial. In fact,
the crime of genocide and its cover up were designed simultaneously
almost a century ago by the Young Turk regime.
Furthermore, as a powerful state, Turkey is eager and willing
to use its considerable resources to counter Armenian
political initiatives around the globe. Ankara routinely pressures,
threatens, and even blackmails all individuals, orga-
By Raffi Bedrosyan
S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R 15
My Turn
By Harut Sassounian
On the sixth anniversary of his assassination
and more significantly, on the sixth
anniversary of the Turkish state’s inability or
unwillingness to find his real killers, Hrant
Dink was remembered by tens of thousands
of people in many countries and in Turkey,
including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Diyarbakir,
Malatya and Bodrum. International, Turkish
and Armenian speakers reiterated his vision
and message of direct dialogue between
Turks and Armenians. Year by year, instead
of gradually diminishing in numbers toward
oblivion as is the case for other assassinated
journalists in Turkey, there is a snowballing
increase in number and intensity of people
attending the Dink commemorations,
protesting and demanding justice, as well as
adopting Dink’s messages with more determination.
It is not the tiny Armenian community
in Turkey, but Turks (and Kurds)
from all walks of life who have embraced
Dink as a tragic hero.
The momentum is building to declare Dink
a martyr, in fact, the first shared martyr by
historically opposing nations Armenia and
Turkey.
But what exactly was Dink’s message? He
would define Armenians and Turks as two
sick people, clinical cases, Armenians suffering
from trauma (obsessed with 1915), Turks suffering
from paranoia (fear of consequences of
acknowledging 1915). He would advocate
Armenians and Turks to be each other’s doctors,
with dialogue as the only prescription.
And he would clap his large hands vigorously,
exclaiming that “there is no other medicine,
no other doctor, no, no, no.”
He knew dialogue would be useless if one
couldn’t discuss the painful 1915, but only
pleasant subjects such as Turks and
Armenians’ shared values, shared culture,
shared foods like dolma and kebab. He knew
that dialogue would also be useless if one is
unable to really ‘listen and hear,’ in addition
to talking. And most importantly, he knew
that dialogue would be useless if one didn’t
know the real historical facts of 1915. After
being systematically brainwashed by the
COMMENTARY
nizations, and states that acknowledge the facts of the
Armenian Genocide.
A small example of such ominous developments
occurred recently when a production team announced
plans to make a major movie on the Armenian Genocide,
based on Micheline Aharonian Marcom’s novel, Three
Apples Fell from Heaven. Sona Tatoyan, the film’s producer,
gave an interview to a Turkish newspaper while visiting
Istanbul last month, probably unaware that the
Turkish media is notorious for distorting Armenian
Genocide related topics. Ms. Tatoyan was fortunate that she
was interviewed by Radikal, one of Turkey’s more reputable
newspapers, known for its liberal views on the
Armenian Genocide. Even then, there were some minor distortions
in Radikal’s report. What made matters worse was
the translation of the Tatoyan interview into English by a
little-known website called Al-Monitor, seriously distorting
her views.
For example, Ms. Tatoyan’s statement to Radikal, that
the bones of Genocide victims were protruding from the
sands of the Syrian desert in Der Zor and Ras al-Ayn, was
misrepresented by Al-Monitor as: “We were crushing skulls
and tossing bones.” Worse yet, Al-Monitor falsely quoted
Ms. Tatoyan stating: “They [Armenians] should forget the
Genocide.” In reality, she had said: “Making peace with
Anatolia, with Turks, does not mean forgetting the genocide
or condoning the politics of denial in Turkey.”
Ms. Tatoyan was naturally upset by the distortions of her
deeply held convictions on the Armenian Genocide. In a
subsequent interview with Asbarez newspaper, she categorically
denied having ever told Armenians to forget the
genocide. “I have not made such a statement. How could I
have? How could I have said anything like that in an interview
about a film on the Armenian Genocide I am helping
create?”
state with ever changing official versions of
1915 history, people in Turkey have now
finally started to learn the true historic facts,
reasons and consequences of 1915, not a socalled
Turkish version versus Armenian version.
So, if and when there is willingness to
talk and listen, both sides can and should
engage in direct dialogue, without the need
to convince third parties to pressure the
other side.
Dink studied zoology and he would explain
that if you remove any living organism from
its natural environment, you would cause its
extinction. He would then say: “If you
remove an entire people from its land where
it has lived continuously for 3000 years, even
if you transport them with great care in ‘golden
airplanes,’ this would still be similar to
taking an axe to the roots of an ancient tree.”
He didn’t need to explain 1915 with long
words; in a corner of Agos, every week, he
would place some facts about a village or
town in Anatolia, could be in the west, east,
north, south or central Anatolia, giving the
Armenian and total population numbers, the
names and numbers of churches and schools
there before 1915. He would have photos of
these active Armenian churches and schools
in that village or town before 1915, and photos
of these non-existent churches or schools
today, totaling more than 4000 buildings.
That would be enough for anyone to understand
the reality of 1915.
But he wouldn’t only talk about the
Armenians gone or dead in 1915. He would
be much more interested in talking about the
Armenians who remained, who stayed in
Anatolia, those people who stayed and survived,
but no longer as Armenians. These
were the Armenians who stayed and survived,
by converting to Islam, by assimilating
into Turkish, Kurdish or Alawi identities.
These were the Armenian girls and boys captured
or sold, kept hidden, protected or married
to Turks and Kurds. These were some
entire Armenian villages that converted to
Islam, or stayed protected by friendly
Kurdish and Alawi leaders.
Dink was obsessed with this subject. What
happened to these people? Did they secretly
keep their Armenian identity? Did they pass
it on to the next generations? Where are they
now? How many are there? If there are hidden
Armenians, what would be the trigger
for them to come out of hiding?
Genocide is not a single event but a continuous
process. It is not only denial of a
genocide that continues it, but assimilation
and conversion also continue it. Scholars
have recently started defining genocide not
only as destruction of the oppressed nation,
but also construction of the oppressor nation
— using assimilation and conversion processes.
For Armenians, these processes continued
on all fronts.
Dink didn’t or couldn’t write much about
this sensitive subject, but he was preoccupied
by it, gathering stories, anecdotal evidence,
always encouraging others to find out more.
Obviously, this was not a subject that could
be researched openly and scientifically, but
whenever a new revelation came out about
hidden Armenians in Anatolia, he would get
excited. His lawyer, Fethiye Cetin’s My
Grandmother was only an example of the
fate of the hidden Armenians. In an interview
with London filmmaker Nouritsa Matossian
for the documentary “Hrant Dink: A Heart
Of Two Nations,” Nouritsa asked him: “Do
you see Armenian faces in Anatolia?” Dink:
“Yes, often.” Nouritsa: “Apparitions.” Dink:
“Apparitions and real ones.”
The answer to the question that kept him wondering
— what would be the trigger for the hidden
Armenians to come out, came four years too
late for Dink to witness unfortunately.
The trigger was the reconstruction of the
Diyarbakir Surp Giragos Church in 2011.
Thousands of Anatolian people, young and
old, Turkish and Kurdish in appearance and
identity, returned to their Armenian roots
with the reopening of this church. Some
were baptized in the church, some changed
their Turkish names to Armenian originals,
some changed their identity to Armenian but
remained Moslem (a new phenomenon of
Moslem Armenians,) some started learning
the Armenian language.
Dink would have danced with joy to see an
eleven year old Kurdish girl, not only learning
Armenian but also singing Armenian
songs at the first Armenian concert in the
Diyarbakir Surp Giragos Church in 2012.
Dink would have danced on the table, as he
Since Al-Monitor’s article was in English, most non-
Turkish speakers read the distorted version of Ms.
Tatoyan’s interview, which was widely disseminated on the
internet. Many readers were terribly disappointed by what
they thought were her views on the Armenian Genocide.
This is a serious blow to her efforts because making a
major movie is a costly undertaking that requires a huge
investment. When potential financial supporters are turned
off, it could have a devastating impact on the future of her
project.
However, Ms. Tatoyan remains deeply committed to her
film. She realizes that “during the production of the film,
there will be constant attempts to distract us, to take our
attention away from our goal of producing a great historical
epic film on the Armenian Genocide. The best way to
counter such attempts is to stay focused on the film and
produce it for the world to see. The film speaks for itself,”
she told Asbarez.
It is unclear if the distortions of Ms. Tatoyan’s interview
resulted from poor translation or intentionally done to
undermine a major movie on the Armenian Genocide.
Nevertheless, between now and April 24, 2015, Armenians
could encounter a multitude of sinister Turkish schemes to
quash Armenian initiatives aiming to demand justice from
Turkey.
Armenians should be alert and circumspect in publicizing
their plans for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. Very few details should be disclosed to the public
during the planning stages of special events and projects.
The Turkish government should be prevented from
learning about planned Armenian activities as much as possible
in order to deny Ankara advance knowledge and time
to counter and undermine Armenian righteous demands
on the centennial of one of the 20th century’s most
heinous crimes against humanity.
About Hrant, the Anatolian Armenian
was photographed on a happy occasion, to
see a thousand people from Adiyaman,
Amasya, Arapkir, Dersim, Diyarbakir, Elazig,
Harput, Hemshin, Istanbul, Kastamonu,
Kayseri, Malatya, Musadagh, Sason, Sinop,
Sivas, Tokat, Van and Yozgat organize activities
together to celebrate the Surp Hagop
Day, singing Armenian songs, even though
none knew how to speak Armenian.
Dink was an Anatolian Armenian and
wished to have the same democratic rights as
all other citizens of the state, without being
excluded, without being discriminated, without
being pressured to lose his identity.
Armenians wished to have exactly the same
things 100 years ago — no more, no less. The
state felt threatened and when fear was combined
with opportunity, it wiped out the
Armenian identity in Anatolia to build a
Turkish identity to the exclusion of all others,
including Greeks, Assyrians and Kurds.
The enormous transfer of wealth and
assets from the Armenians to the Turks has
added to the fear and paranoia of the state in
facing its past. A new Turkish identity, which
does not fear threatened from the diversity of
minority identities, needs to be created in
Turkey in order to face both the past and the
future. The state has finally started this
process with the Kurds, but not the
Armenians. The Kurds have started this
process with the Armenians, openly acknowledging
their role in 1915, and starting to
make amends. It is hoped that Turks will see
the light and follow them.
(Raffi Bedrosyan is a civil engineer as
well as a concert pianist, living in Toronto.
For the past several years, he has donated
proceeds from his concerts and CDs to the
construction of school, highway, water and
gas projects in Armenia and Karabagh —
projects in which he also participated as a
voluntary engineer. He helped organize
the Diyarbakir/ Dikranagerd Surp Giragos
Church reconstruction project, and with
his articles, he promoted the significance
of this historic project as the first
Armenian reclaim of church properties in
Anatolia after 1915. In September 2012, he
gave the first Armenian piano concert in
the Surp Giragos Church since 1915.)

16
By Gayane Mkrtchyan
Armenia’s government appears to be dragging
its feet over changing the rules for military
conscription, a year after a pan-European
court ruled that Jehovah’s Witnesses had been
mistreated as conscientious objectors.
In November 2011, the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Armenia
should pay compensation to 17 men who were
detained and wrongly accused of desertion.
In 2005, the men withdrew from a civilian
service scheme intended to give committed
pacifists like Jehovah’s Witnesses an alternative
to mandatory conscription. Civilian service
had been launched the previous year as
part of Armenia’s obligations as a Council of
Europe member.
The men were assigned civilian work in
schools, hospitals and elsewhere, but left six
months later when they realized they were
actually under military command, something
that went against their absolute commitment
to pacifism.
“We were told this was civilian service, but
it turned out to be military after all,” said Hayk
Khachatryan, one of the 17 men who were
arrested, held in detention for months and
charged with desertion.
The ECHR found that since Armenia had no
legislation that made it a crime to withdraw
from alternative service, detaining and charging
the men was unlawful.
In response to the ruling, the Armenian government
acknowledged that military control of
civilian service was a problem, and began
drafting changes to the law in March 2012.
The amendments now being proposed
would differentiate between “alternative mili-
S A T U R D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 , 2 0 1 3 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R
Armenia Slow to Pass Conscientious Objection
Law for Jehovah’s Witnesses
tary service” and “alternative labor service” —
the latter structured to rule out any military
involvement, so that the most committed of
conscientious objectors could take part.
Alternative military service would last 30
months and alternative labor service 36
months, as opposed to the standard two years
served by conscript soldiers.
Ten months on, it is unclear when the draft
amendments will be completed by the Justice
Ministry committee tasked with producing
them.
Artur Ispiryan, who works for the legal
department of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, said,
“The first version of the bill said that regional
governors would oversee alternative service…
but that point was removed. At the moment, it
isn’t clear what this will be replaced with, but
it’s essential that supervision is exclusively
civilian in nature. That isn’t just what we want;
it’s an international standard.”
According to the Jehovah’s Witnesses,
around 30 of their members are currently in
jail for refusing to perform military service.
Courts in Armenia are currently reviewing 25
cases, so further convictions are possible.
Several dozen Jehovah’s Witnesses still have
complaints pending at the ECHR, and the government
has asked them to withdraw their
cases while the law is changed.
Stepan Danielyan, head of the Cooperation
for Democracy Centre, believes the government
remains wary of changing the law, even
though the ECHR ruling made it clear this
was essential.
“The delay stems from the fact that the
Defense Ministry and the government have no
clear idea about what to do with the law,”
Danielyan said. “They don’t want a conflict
with the OSCE or with other international
organizations. But on the other hand, passing
the legal amendments could be risky because
there are also other people who don’t want to
do military service out of conviction.”
Alexander Amaryan heads the Centre for
Assistance and Rehabilitation for Victims of
Destructive Sects, which is hostile to the
Jehovah’s Witnesses, and he claims that conscription-age
men join the group simply to get
out of joining the army.
“For young people who don’t want to serve
in the army, the easiest way of avoiding it is to
join the Jehovah’s Witnesses,” he said.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses say they are happy
to provide membership lists to show that this
is not the case.
“It isn’t that easy to become a Jehovah’s
Witness,” Ispiryan said in response to the allegation
of fraudulent members. “There have
been no cases of this.”
Trainee priests of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, the country’s main faith group, are
able to avoid conscription. But church
spokesman Vahram Melikyan insisted that
Apostolic Church clergy should not be compared
with others who decided not to join the
military.
In addition, he said, “There are cases where
our students don’t take up their exemption
and go off to serve in the army for two years,
and then return to continue their [seminary]
education.”
Avetik Ishkhanyan, head of the Armenian
Helsinki Group, said the government should
focus on real draft-dodgers. Official figures
show that since 2002, about 10,000 people
have avoided conscription, and only 444 of
them were Jehovah’s Witnesses.
(Gayane Mkrtchyan is a journalist with
ArmeniaNow.com. This column was written
for the Institute for War and Peadce Reporting
[IWPR.])
Dubai Firm to Invest in
Armenian Rail Project
DUBAI (ConstructionWeekOnline) — A
Dubai-based investment firm is to play a
key role in establishing a new $3-billion
high speed rail and road projects in the
Republic of Armenia.
Rasia, which has offices in Emirates
Towers, is leading a consortium of companies
which will work on the Southern
Armenia Railway and Southern Armenia
High Speed Road Projects, Gagik
Beglaryan, minister of transport and communication,
announced.
He said in a statement that a tripartite
memorandum of understanding has been
signed between Rasia, South Caucasus
Railway, and the Ministry of Transport
and Communication of the Republic of
Armenia.
The Southern Armenia Railway is set to
be a 316-kilometer-long electrified single
track railway, which will connect Gavar,
near Lake Sevan, to the southern border
of Armenia by Meghri and will be integrated
with the existing central railway
system of Armenia.
It will be operated by South Caucasus
Railway and the operating railway system
of Iran, the statement said.
The Southern Armenia High Speed
Road is to be constructed in the southern
province of Syunik, and will be a 110-kilometer-long
expressway connecting Sisian
to Meghri.
Both projects will play a role in improving
regional connectivity, driving economic
growth and creating the shortest transportation
route from the ports of the
Black Sea to the ports of the Gulf.
“When the projects are completed,
transport costs and times for the region
are expected to improve substantially, fostering
greater regional trade and economic
growth while dramatically strengthening
the Armenian economy,” the statement
said.