Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Ali Ertem

By Hambersom Aghbasian

Ali Ertem is a Turkish journalist (Turkish citizen living in Germany). He is the Chairman of the “Union Against Genocide”, an Anti- Genocide organization based in Frankfurt- Germany , established by Turks residing in Germany. He is one of the Turkish intellectuals who have recognized the Armenia Genocide and is an active advocate of the Genocide recognition.

Panarmenian.net wrote on April 20, 2007, “ On the initiative of “Union Against Genocide” an event will be organized in Frankfurt on April 24, dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. Organizers demand to proclaim April 24 as a universal mourning day for all nations of Turkey. According to Turkish journalist Ali Ertem, head of the organization, other organizations will participate in the event too. Particularly they are, Federation of Turkish workers of Germany, Federation of Democratic Nations of Germany, Federation of Worker Immigrants of Germany, Union of Workers – Brotherhood of Nations organization and Union for Struggle newspaper. In its statement “Union Against Genocide” mentioned that, “Immigrants from Turkey feel great sorrow concerning the fact, that genocides, which took place 92 years ago and were committed between 1915-23 towards Christian nations of the Ottoman Empire with the aim to exterminate them, are being denied. The cutting of Christian population down to 0.1%, which before 1915 approximately was 1/3 of the Ottoman society, as well as bragging of Turkish nationalist leaders as if 99.9 percent of Turkey’s population was turned to Islam, is nothing else than a peculiar recognition of committing genocide towards our Christian neighbors.“ (1)

Noyan Tapan, wrote on April 25, 2006 “It is already several years that journalist Ali Ertem, a citizen of Turkey living in Germany, Chairman of the “Union Against Genocide” org., comes to Armenia on April 24 to pay the tribute of his respect to the memory of 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Only some years ago the Turkish intellectual collected 11000 signatures from Turks of Germany and submitted them to the German and different European countries parliaments, and doing so, rendered assistance to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. According to Ali Ertem, the top priority task of the organization headed by him is the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey and Turkish society. They first submitted these signatures to the Turkish parliament, who checked and returned them giving no answer. “Hostility cannot last forever. One day Turkey should reconcile itself to the fact and should recognize the Armenian Genocide. I am convinced that the peoples living in Turkey will also condemn and admit this fact,” the Turkish journalist emphasized. In Ali Ertem’s opinion, in this respect the international organizations have much to do: they should be mediators in the dialogue between the Turkish and Armenian peoples in the issue of liquidation of the consequences of the Genocide.”(2)

According to Asbarez .com, April 17th, 2003, (Noyan Tapan) reported that, the Chairman of the Frankfurt-based Union Against Genocide–Turkish journalist Ali Ertem stressed during a roundtable in Yerevan on April 17–that “The Turkish Government must offer an apology to the victims of the Armenian Genocide and their descendants.” The roundtable was organized by the students of Yerevan State University’s history department. After such an apology to set the stage–Ertem said that “what was taken from the Armenian people should be returned.”(3)

Panarmenian.net wrote on April 17, 2003, “As reported by “Arka” agency, chairman of “Union Against Genocide” Ali Ertem, when giving a speech at Yerevan State University today said Turkey should be punished for the Armenian Genocide in 1915.” In his words,” it is Turkey’s duty to accept all consequences of the crime committed.” A. Ertem emphasized “the historical truth should be recognized in order to establish normal relations between the two peoples.” In his opinion, Turkey first of all has to apologize to the generation, which suffered the genocide. “The massacre of the Armenian people was perpetrated at the indifferent silence of “the civilized” European states, but the recent events in Iraq show the real degree of these countries’ being civilized,” A. Ertem said and added that sanctions against Iraq should have been applied to Turkey in their time. (4)

Under the title “Turkish Intelectuals say Turkey must recognize Armenian Genocide”, tallarmeniantale.com, an Anti-Genocide recognition source mentioned the following, “At commemoration ceremonies in Yerevan and Los Angeles, Turkish intellectuals called on Ankara to recognize Turkey’s responsibility for the Armenian Genocide. In Yerevan a delegation of Turkish intellectuals presented signatures from 10,000 Turks collected by a Frankfurt-based group called The Union Against Genocide. Ali Ertem, who headed the visiting delegation, read the letter accompanying the collected signatures. It said, “We have come to apologize to you and stretch out our hand of reconciliation.” The letter added, “Only recognition and confession can prevent the repetition of such tragedies in the future.” A similar gesture took place during commemoration ceremonies.(5)

According to www.newworldencyclopedia.org, Oct 16, 2006, Some Turkish intellectuals also support the genocide thesis despite opposition from Turkish nationalists; these include Ragip Zarakolu, Ali Ertem, Taner Akçam, Halil Berktay, Fatma Muge Gocek and Fikret Adanir. (6)

AIM, May 1999, stated that Ali Ertem, the president of the Association Against Genocide, declared in a letter addressed to the Armenian people “We are trying to correct the mistakes of our forefathers”, he added “As a Turk, I am ashamed. Today, the same Genocide continues against the Kurds.” Ertem headed a delegation of Turks, Kurds and Assyrians which participated in the Armenian Genocide commemoration ceremonies held at the Tsitsernakabert memorial in Yerevan. The members of the delegation were received by National Assembly Speaker Khosrov Harutunian and met with journalists and members of minority groups.” Ertem expressed his sorrow that “even after 85 years, his government has not sought the forgiveness of the Armenian people.” For Ertem, the Armenian Genocide is a crime against humanity.”(7)

Ali Ertem was criticized by www.tallarmeniantale.com an Anti-Genocide recognition source because of his recognition of the Armenian Genocide.(8)

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1-http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/21886/

2- http://www.armeniandiaspora.com/showthread.php?46623-Ali-Ertem-One-Day-Turkey-Should-Reconcile-Itself-To-The-Fact-AndRe

3- http://asbarez.com/48535/ali-ertem-says-turkey-owes-apology-to-armenian-genocide-victims/

4- http://panarmenian.net/eng/news/894

5- http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/TURKISH-SCHOLARS.htm-

6- http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Armenian_Genocide

7- http://www.network54.com/Forum/13181/message/929566670/Ali+Ertem,+President+of+the+

8-http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/TURKISH-SCHOLARS.htm

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Ali Ertem

A Daylong Seminar at Woodbury University Commemorating Armenian Genocide Centennial

LOS ANGELES — The Armenian Women’s Coalition of Los Angeles represents thirteen Armenian Women’s Committees from different organizations . The Coalition’s goal is to collectively prepare and commemorate the Centennial Anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, as a tribute to the memory of the courageous Women who perished or endured those terrible years.

A special daylong event will be held on January 17, 2015, at Woodbury University in Burbank California. It will include an exhibition, cultural programs, and two multigenerational discussion panels that will cover the topics concerning the road of our existence today and explore the challenges of cultural preservation that we face in our future.

The focus of the day’s events will be to recognize Armenian women’s spirit of determination and their unrelenting belief in the survival of the Armenian heritage, embedded in four thousand years of history.

As Armenian women, we collectively believe that we are the guardians of our heritage and that it is our duty to keep the memory of our martyrs alive. We are working on a Memorial Book as well, the details of which can be found on Facebook Save Our Past, Memorial Book.

We hope that you will appreciate and share the group’s efforts by your generous donations, which will be recognized in our event program. Please make your tax- deductible donations payable to AWC- LA, and mail it to AWC-LA c/o St. Gregory Armenian Church 1510 E. Mountain Ave, Glendale, CA 91207. Finally, don’t forget to visit us and like us on Facebook: Save Our Past Memorial Book.

Armenian Women’s Coalition of Los Angeles

A Daylong Seminar at Woodbury University Commemorating Armenian Genocide Centennial

Prof. Matthew Ari Jendian Receives Trailblazer Award

Dr. Matthew Jendian receives a Trailblazers for Prosperity Award from SEFCEDA CEO Jose Leon Barraza

 

FRESNO – Dr. Matthew Ari Jendian was honored along with eight other community leaders at the third Annual Trailblazers for Prosperity Awards Luncheon by the Southeast Fresno Community Economic Development Association (SEFCEDA) on November 12, 2014 at the Fresno Fairgrounds.

Each year the Board of Directors of SEFCEDA nominates and selects individuals that have opened the trails for the prosperity of future generations and for the benefit of others.

Recognized for their leadership in Education and Training, this year’s recipients were: in addition to Professor Jendian, Doctor of Medicine Katherine Flores, Retired Counselor Diana Rodriques, Sunnyside High School Principal Tim Liles, Roosevelt High School Principal Bryan Wells, Founder-Owner of The California Advocate Les Kimber, Community Advocate Chue April Vue, and posthumous recognition for Fresno Police Sergeant Salvador Mosqueda.

Each of the recipients was introduced by KFSN-ABC 30 News Anchor Graciela Moreno who served as Master of Ceremonies, and SEFCEDA Board President Dr. Nellie Neri and CEO Jose Leon Barraza presented the awards.

Several of Dr. Jendian’s former students were in attendance to honor and congratulate him, including Estela Acebedo-Gonzalez (Graduate Student in Social Work), Kelvin Alfaro (Program Officer at Fresno Regional Foundation), Bertha Dominguez (Education Director at UC San Francisco), Raymundo Gonzalez (Hospitality Manager at Fleming’s), Brenda Noriega (Hispanic Ministry Coordinator at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno), and Jose Ramirez (Urban Planner Associate at Sigala, Inc.).

Biography: Jendian is a tenured Full Professor and Chair of Sociology at California State University, Fresno and founding Director of Fresno State’s Humanics Program. Humanics@FresnoState transforms lives and perspectives on leadership and philanthropy and positively impacts individuals, organizations, and communities.

He was born and raised in Fresno and received his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and minor degrees in psychology and Armenian Studies from Fresno State (1991) and his Ph.D. from USC (2001). He authored “Becoming American, Remaining Ethnic” (LFB Scholarly Publishing, 2008) and was honored in Menk, an encyclopedia of biographies of prominent Armenian scholars.

Dr. Jendian is the recipient of several honors, including the 2012 “President’s Award of Excellence” presented by the University Advisory Board at Fresno State in recognition of integrity, leadership and commitment to the university and community; the 2008 “Provost’s Award for Faculty Service”; the 2007 “Social Action Award” from Temple Beth Israel; and the 2007 “Amigo Award,” presented by Vida en El Valle to a non-Latino individual or Organization that has worked tirelessly on behalf of the Latino community. He was nominated for the 2009 “California Campus Compact Cone Award” for Excellence & Leadership in cultivating Community Partnerships and has written and received national and federal grants to develop curricula that engage university students in capacity-building work with Community Benefit Organizations (CBOs) in Central California.

Dr. Jendian has served as a board member for several CBOs including Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (formerly American Humanics, Inc.), Buchanan Babe Ruth Baseball Association Inc., Fresno Nonprofit Advancement Council, Fresno Housing Alliance, and Relational Cultural Institute and as an external evaluator with local and multinational CBOs, including Porterville College and the Armenian General Benevolent Union.

Jendian is a lifetime member of Alpha Kappa Delta International and an ordained Deacon of the Armenian Church. He and his wife, Pam, reside in Clovis with their sons, Joshua and Nicholas.

 

Prof. Matthew Ari Jendian Receives Trailblazer Award

Armenian PM Welcomes SDHP Representatives

Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan welcomed Social Democratic Hunchakian Party (SDHP) Central Committee Board Chairman Hagob Dikranian, Central Committee Vice Chairman, member of the Lebanese Parliament Sebouh Kalpakian and SDHP Central Committee Board member Gevorg Perkuperkyan.

Welcoming the guests, the Prime Minister highlighted the role played by the SDHP as a traditional party in the processes of all-national concern and expressed readiness to continue cooperating with the SDHP on behalf of his government.

Appreciative of the reforms implemented by the Armenian government, the SDHP representatives reiterated their readiness to continue supporting the authorities in addressing the challenges faced by the State and the people of Armenia.

Views were exchanged on the government’s economic policy, the reforms aimed at improving the business environment and attracting investment, as well as on the country’s socioeconomic development prospects.

The parties took the opportunity to talk about the ongoing cooperation with the SDHP.

Armenian PM Welcomes SDHP Representatives

Azerbaijan Blacklists Ukrainian Journalists for "Distorting Reality about Karabakh Conflict"

Azerbaijan has blacklisted two Ukrainian journalists for allegedly “distorting the realities of the Karabakh conflict” after their film about the region was shown on Ukrainian television earlier this month.

The Azerbaijani Embassy in Ukraine has expressed protest to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry for screening the film on Ukraine’s 1+1 TV channel, the Azerbaijani Embassy told Trend.

Baku has slammed the Channel for “distorting” the reality about Azerbaijan’s socio-political situation and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and expressing sympathy for Armenia.

The Embassy has already sent a letter of protest to the TV channel’s management and said the authors of the TV program, reporters Konstantin Andryuk and Dmitry Volkov have been included in the list of “persona non grata” of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry for their “illegal” visit to Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia.

Azerbaijani embassy added that this TV program causes serious damage to the friendly and strategic relations between the two countries and urged Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to take corresponding measures against the TV channel and its reporters that have “insulted and committed slander against Azerbaijan and its citizens.”

The series of programs entitled “15 Republics” (of the former USSR) in which a pair of journalists visits post-Soviet countries to try to get first-hand experience of their current life. The first program aired as part of the series was dedicated (apparently alphabetically) to the two South Caucasus republics.

The authors of the program visited the two republics as well as Nagorno-Karabakh. In the part about Azerbaijan they do not conceal their irony about the cult of Azerbaijan’s late President Heydar Aliyev, while when presenting Armenia they mostly speak about its cultural and historical heritage, technological achievements, even though also showing some decrepit Soviet-era constructions in provincial towns and also the square in Spitak bearing the name of Ukraine’s deposed leader Viktor Yanukovych.

Regarding Karabakh, the authors of the program make a reference to the treaty that was signed at the beginning of the 20th century between the Soviet Union and Turkey as the reason for the inclusion of the region into Azerbaijan. “Because the territory of Azerbaijan had already been captured by the Bolsheviks and Armenia was still resisting, it was decided to incorporate Karabakh into Azerbaijan in order to declare it Soviet territory as soon as possible. But during the disintegration of the Soviet Union the issue of the disputed territory again came to surface,” the authors of the program say.

Azerbaijan Blacklists Ukrainian Journalists for "Distorting Reality about Karabakh Conflict"

First Armenian Peacekeeping Mission Arrives in Lebanon

BEIRUT — The first Armenian peacekeeping contingent of 32 soldiers has arrived in Lebanon as part of the UNIFIL mission along the southern region bordering Israel.

The Armenian peacekeepers would be deployed in three southern villages, rotated every six months. The contingent would be “ensuring respect for the safety of the U.N. staff”.

While Armenia has been part of several U.N. peacekeeping forces since 2004, the country has long opposed sending troops to Lebanon, over concerns for the large Armenian community in Lebanon.

Plans for the Armenian deployment in Lebanon were first announced by Yerevan in June last year. Armenia’s top army general visited Italy shortly afterwards to discuss its practical modalities. The UNIFIL mission is led by an Italian general and numbers around 11,000 troops from over 30 countries.

The deployment issue was broached during Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian’s visit to Lebanon in 2012, and Armenia has had an observer in UNIFIL in preparation for the contingent’s arrival.

The troops were flown to Lebanon on Wednesday night after a ceremony at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport that was attended by Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian and Italy’s ambassador to Armenia, Giovanni Ricciulli. Many of them have previously participated in Western-led multinational missions in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

“You are going to Lebanon primarily to make your contribution to international peace and security,” Ohanian told the departing troops in a speech. He emphasized the fact that Lebanon is home to a sizable and influential Armenian community.

“Lebanon is not Kosovo or Afghanistan,” the minister went on. “Lebanon is part of the zone of Armenia’s security interests in the Middle East. So be aware that with your service in the UNIFIL (UN Interim Force in Lebanon) you will be contributing to Armenia’s external security.”

Ohanian described the deployment as “historic” in ensuing comments to reporters. “Our compatriots have lived on the Mediterranean cost, in Lebanon, for many years side by side with peoples of various religious. It is extremely important to maintain peace there,” he said

First Armenian Peacekeeping Mission Arrives in Lebanon

Armenian Lavash Added to UN Heritage List

YEREVAN — The preparation of Lavash – a popular flatbread integral to Armenian cuisine – has been integrated on the UN Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Committee decided that this element satisfies the criteria for inscription on the list as follows:

-The knowledge and skills related to preparation, consumption and use of lavash have been transmitted within families as part of their everyday life; they constitute a fundamental component of identity and a symbol of friendship and reconciliation;

-Inscription of the element on the Representative List could increase visibility of intangible cultural heritage in general and promote awareness of the importance of foodways as part of the cultural identity of communities;

-The proposed safeguarding measures include formal and non-formal education, organization of festivals and exhibitions, eco-tours for children and the development of tourism initiatives, as well as research, production of documentaries and publications and establishment of a new museum;

-The nomination was prepared with wide and active participation of communities, associations, researchers, local government bodies and academic and scientific institutions; free, prior and informed consent of communities was provided;

-The element is included in the Intangible Heritage List of the Republic of Armenia, which is regularly updated and can be accessed via Internet.

Lavash is a traditional thin bread that forms an integral part of Armenian cuisine. Its preparation is typically undertaken by a small group of women, and requires great effort, coordination, experience and special skills. A simple dough made of wheat flour and water is kneaded and formed into balls, which are then rolled into thin layers and stretched over a special oval cushion that is then slapped against the wall of a traditional conical clay oven. After thirty seconds to a minute, the baked bread is pulled from the oven wall.

Lavash is commonly served rolled around local cheeses, greens or meats, and can be preserved for up to six months. It plays a ritual role in weddings, where it is placed on the shoulders of newlyweds to bring fertility and prosperity. The group work in baking lavash strengthens family, community and social ties. Young girls usually act as aides in the process, gradually becoming more involved as they gain experience. Men are also involved through the practices of making cushions and building ovens, and pass on their skills to students and apprentices as a necessary step in preserving the vitality and viability of lavash making.

The lavash puts Armenia ahead of much of the pack with a total of four entries on the Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

Other Armenian entries recognized by UNESCO include the reed wind instrument duduk, the performance of the medieval epic “David of Sassoon,” and the art of stone cross making.

Russia has only two items on the list: The culture of the Semeiskiye Old Believer sect, and the Yakut heroic epic “Olonkho,” which sees songs comprising up to 36,000 verses performed by singers over the course of several nights.

China is the runaway leader with 38 entries, followed by Japan (22) and Croatia (14). Neither the U.S. nor Britain have a single item of intangible heritage to contribute so far, according to UNESCO.

Armenian Lavash Added to UN Heritage List

3,000-Year-Old Settlement in Eastern Turkey Reveals Armenian Traces

The discovery of a large 3000 year old archaeological settlement in Eastern Turkey has been widely reported in Turkish media, last year, PeopleOfAr reports.

According to an article published in WorldBulletin.net the archaeological settlement was discovered in eastern Tunceli province.

Being the largest archaeological settlement of Tunceli, a citadel-like settlement containing overtones of early iron age, Urartian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantium period, Islamic middle age and Ottoman era was predicted to be one of the most important centres situated at an old transportation network.

Having encountered iron dross, ceramics, historical bridge and weight objects, researcher Serkan Erdogan, from Faculty of Science and Letters of Bitlis Eren University, and Culture and Tourism Director of Tunceli Ismet Hakan Ulasoglu, thought that the area in question was an important economic production center in different eras of the history.

Erdogan said that the discovered citadel was wider than three football stadiums.”

What the report doesn’t mention however, is that there are clearly visible old Armenian texts (as is seen in the picture above) inscribed on the ancient stones found at the sight. Whether the Turkish researchers are aware of this or not remains a mystery. Nevertheless the Armenian traces are undeniable. Tunceli province (formerly Dersim Province) was historically part of the Greater Armenian region of Sophene (Tsopk). Later it was annexed to the Byzantine empire and eventually occupied by the Seljuk Turks. Nonetheless the Armenian population remained thriving up until the first world war.

After the tragic events of the Armenian Genocide most of the Armenian population has vanished from Eastern Turkey including Dersim Province. Today it is largely populated by the majority Alevi Zaza Kurdish and Sunni Turkish people. Yet the Armenian traces are still found among the ruins of the ancient stones.

3,000-Year-Old Settlement in Eastern Turkey Reveals Armenian Traces

Armenia Fund Telethon 2014 Raises Over 12 Million Dollars!

LOS ANGELES — At the close of Telethon 2014, Armenia Fund raised a total of $12,399,550 worldwide. The funds collected will be used to complete the Vardenis-Martakert Highway, an integral road connecting northern Artsakh to the rest of Armenia, as well as many other important projects in the Armenian homeland.

The Vardenis-Martakert Highway construction project is of major economic and strategic significance. When completed, it will function as an additional lifeline between Armenia and Artsakh, helping boost the economies and specifically tourism industries of the twin republics.

Thousands of donations were received during the 12-hour telethon from every part of the United States and from throughout the world.

Armenia Fund Telethon 2014 Raises Over 12 Million Dollars!

Armenian Genocide Recognition Bill submitted to Turkish Parliament

MP Sebahat Tuncel

ANKARA — Istanbul MP Sebahat Tuncel of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has submitted a bill, urging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to publicly apologize for the Armenian Genocide on behalf of Turkey.

The parliamentarian also called Erdogan to apologize for the mid-20th century Kurdish massacres in Dersim, Marash, Sivas and Corum.

The proposed bill notes that the President of Turkey shall formally apologize in the parliament on behalf of the Turkish state, and go to one of the sites of the slaughter on the next day and read the text of the apology there.

The bill also proposes to declare April 24 a day of mourning and provide moral and material compensations.

“Within one year after the formal apology, a special committee shall be set up in the parliament and all state archives related to this subject shall be opened,” the bill states.

Armenian Genocide Recognition Bill submitted to Turkish Parliament

ACA Chair Receives Medal from Artsakh Republic President

On November 26, Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited the Consulate General of the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles where he participated in a solemn ceremony awarding Artsakh’s “Gratitude” medal to a group of public officials and community leaders from the Armenian Diaspora for supporting the adoption of the resolution on Artsakh’s Independence by the California State Assembly and Senate. Among the awardees was Armenian Council of America Chair Sevak Khatchadorian.

Other awardees included California State Senate Pro Tem Kevin de León members of the California State Assembly, Mike Gatto, Katcho Achajian, Sheryl Brown, Adrin Nazarian and Scott Wilk; former Speaker of the California State Assembly, John Perez; Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian; Armenia’s Ambassador to Mexico Grigor Hovhannisyan; Armenian Assembly of America’s Talin Yacoubian, Chair of the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region Nora Hovsepian, as well as Elen Asatryan; Tereza Yerimyan; Haig Baghdassarian; Deputy District Director for Sen. de León Baydsar Thomassian.

The Resolution, authored by Assemblymember Mike Gatto, which passed in the State Assembly in May and the State Senate in August, calls for the United States to recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as a sovereign state, invokes strong language from the United States’ own history regarding the rights of the people to “self-determination and democratic independence.”

President Sahakyan called the recognition of Nagorno Karabagh by California a unique political, legal and moral address supporting the process of realizing the right of peoples to self-determination and building a civilized democratic state. President Sahakyan noted that it was a substantial victory that had been reached by joint efforts due to the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora solid trinity, genuine and firm friendship of our American partners.

California is the strongest entity in the United States, with an economy among the seven leading economies in the world, as well as the most populous governmental entity to call for Nagorno-Karabakh’s recognition or to recognize it outright.

The night also included the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the United States of America, H.E. Mr. Tigran Sargsyan, awarding on behalf of the President of Armenia, the Mkhitar Gosh medal to Assemblymembers Achadjian, Gatto, and Nazarian. Similarly, Artsakh President Sahakyan awarded the Mkhitar Gosh medal to Armenia’s Consul General to Los Angeles Sergei Sarkisov and Chairman of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western US Central Committee Dr. Viken Hovsepian. The Mkhitar Gosh medal was awarded in Armenia, by Republic of Armenia President Serzh Sargsyan to Mr. Vasken Kaltakdjian, Chairman of the Louisiana chapter of the Armenian Council of America, and member of the Central Committee of Social Democrat Hunchakian Party.

Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, vice-premier Arthur Aghabekyan, and other officials and representatives of the local Armenian Diaspora partook in the event.

ACA Chair Receives Medal from Artsakh Republic President

Hrant Dink Foundation: Research on the Socio-Economic Impact of the Turkey-Armenia Border

ISTANBUL — The Turkey-Armenia border, sealed in 1993, completely disregards the interests and welfare of people on both sides, and negatively impacts social development, economy and environment of border cities and the region as such. The border remaining closed for two decades did not bring any desired settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh, which was the justification for the sealing of the border. Yet, it caused a significant level of isolation in the border cities, which remain to be the most underdeveloped cities in Turkey in economic and social indicators. Even though the air traffic is allowed between Istanbul and Yerevan, the land border remains sealed and the Kars-Gyumri trains operating before 1993 were stopped long time ago. This situation prevents the border cities to have direct trade with Armenia, which carries a significant potential for them and it curbs all forms of regional, cross-border cooperation initiatives and means of dialogue. The people in the region, who currently have very limited mobility, wants open borders for trade, tourism, health, education and other purposes and they voice their demands on various occasions. In 2005, 50,000 inhabitants of Kars signed petitions for open borders and submitted their common demand to the government. Despite this initiative and the protocols signed by the two governments in 2009, which was the most concrete step taken towards open borders since 1993 yet failed before ratification, the Turkey-Armenia borders remains sealed to this date.

This being the case, the Hrant Dink Foundation felt the need for a scientific study with a view to measure the socio-economic impacts of the sealed border on the local population, to make visible the missed opportunities in the region and to uncover the potential and prospects. As a result, the ‘Research on the Socio-Economic Impact of the Turkey-Armenia Border’ was commissioned to independent researchers and was carried out in the years 2012-2013 under the supervision of the research adviser Prof. Dr. Asaf Savas Akat and with the support of TÃœSIAD (Industry and Business Association of Turkey) and Istanbul Policy Center of Sabanci University. The research consisted of an econometric analysis that made comparisons with other border regions as well as a qualitative field study. Bahçesehir University Center for Economic and Social Research (BETAM) conducted the econometric study, which analysed the commercial and economic potential of open border for the region.

By means of in-depth interviews Social Research Center (SAM), took the current picture of the region and examined people’s demand about their future, about the potential of open borders as well as existing barriers to overcome.

For the qualitative field study, the researches organised joint site visits to the provinces of Kars, Igdir and Ardahan bordering Armenia, and held in-depth interviews with about seventy respondents from the chambers, local authorities, regional development agency representatives, academics and civil society and collected data in the fields of agriculture-husbandry, health, youth and education.

We hope that this report, which compiles the findings of both studies, will help voice the demands of the local people in the region and will contribute to future initiatives geared towards joint development of the two neighbouring countries.

Research on the Socio-Economic Impact of the Turkey-Armenia Border was conducted with the support of Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÃœSIAD) and Sabanci University Istanbul Policy Center.

The research findings are translated and printed with the support of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Dernegi Turkey Office.

Please click here to read the ‘Research on the Socio-Economic Impact of the Turkey-Armenia Border

Hrant Dink Foundation: Research on the Socio-Economic Impact of the Turkey-Armenia Border

Armenian Peacekeepers Leaving for Lebanon

YEREVAN — The Armenian peacekeeping subdivision will leave for Lebanon today to participate in the UN’s UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) mission. Armenian peacekeepers will be deployed under the command of the Italian party.

Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and Italy’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Giovanni Ricciulli are expected to attend the ceremony.

The technical agreement regulating the procedure of inclusion of the Armenian peacekeeping platoon in the UNIFIL contingent was signed between Armenian and Italian Defense Ministers in June, 2014.

“The Italian party suggested Armenian peacekeepers that it assumes the responsibility of ensuring the security of the military headquarters. As the time passes, countries with small military contingents but with active involvement in international operations become more tempered and specialized in various fields. Usually the headquarters prefer to utilize such national niche capabilities to fulfill relevant tasks. In this respect, we can claim that Armenian peacekeepers have been “specialized” in tasks related to force protection and security”. Stated First Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia Davit Tonoyan in an interview.

Answering the question whether sending Armenian peacekeepers to Lebanon may pose additional threat to the local Armenian communities or not, Davit Tonoyan said:

“The issue has been discussed from all possible angles before the launch of negotiations with the UN and the Italian party, and we have come to the conclusion that Armenian peacekeepers serving to the peace in unbiased and professional manner will only create a positive environment”.

Armenian Peacekeepers Leaving for Lebanon

Monte Melkonian

November 25 is the birthday of national hero of Armenia and Artsakh, legendary commander, philosopher and warrior, activist of national-liberation struggle of the Armenian people Monte Melkonian. He would have turned 57 today.

Monte Melkonian was born on November 25, 1957 at Visalia Municipal Hospital in Visalia, California to Charles and Zabel Melkonian. He was the third of four children born to a self-employed cabinetmaker and an elementary-school teacher. By all accounts, Melkonian was described as an all-American child who joined the Boy Scouts and was a pitcher in Little League baseball. Melkonian’s parents rarely talked about their Armenian heritage with their children, often referring to the place of their ancestors as the “Old Country.” His interest in his background only sparked at the age of eleven, when his family went on a year-long trip to Europe in 1969.

While taking Spanish language courses in Spain, his teacher had posed him the question of where he was from. Dissatisfied with Melkonian’s answer of “California”, the teacher rephrased the question by asking “where did your ancestors come from?” His brother Markar Melkonian remarked that “her image of us was not at all like our image of ourselves. She did not view us as the Americans we had always assumed we were.” From this moment on, for days and months to come, Markar continues, “Monte pondered [their teacher Señorita] Blanca’s question “Where are you from?”

In the spring of that year, the family also traveled across Turkey to visit the town of Merzifon, where Melkonian’s maternal grandparents were from. Merzifon’s population at the time was 23,475 but was almost completely devoid of its once 17,000-strong Armenian population that was wiped out during the Armenian Genocide in 1915. They did find one Armenian family of the three that was living in the town, however, Melkonian soon learned that the only reason this was so, was because the head of the family in 1915 had exchanged the safety of his family in return for identifying all the Armenians in the town to Turkish authorities during the genocide. Monte would later confide to his wife that “he was never the same after that visit….He saw the place that had been lost.”

Upon his return to California Monte returned to his education. In high school, he was exceeding all standards and having a hard time finding new academic challenges. Instead of graduating high school early, as was suggested by his principal, Monte found an alternative thanks to his father: a study abroad program in East Asia. At the age of 15 Monte traveled to Japan for a new chapter in his young life. While there he began making money teaching English which helped finance his travels through several Southeast Asian countries. This introduced him to several new cultures, new philosophies, new languages, and in several cases, like his travels through Vietnam, new skills that would become immensely valuable in his later life as a soldier. Returning to the United States, he graduated from high school and entered the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in ancient Asian history and Archeology. In 1978 he helped to organize an exhibition of Armenian cultural artifacts at one of the university’s libraries. The section of the exhibit dealing with the 1915-23 genocide was removed by university authorities, at the request of the Turkish consul general in San Francisco. The display that was removed was eventually reinstalled following a campus protest movement. Monte eventually completed his undergrad work in under three years. Upon graduating, he was accepted into the archeology graduate program at the University of Oxford. However, Monte chose to forgo this opportunity, and instead chose to begin his lifelong struggle for the Armenian Cause.

After graduating from U.C. Berkeley in the spring of 1978, Monte traveled to Iran, where he taught English and participated in the movement to overthrow the Shah. He helped organize a teachers’ strike at his school in Tehran, and was in the vicinity of the Meydān-e Zhāleh (Jaleh square) when the Shah’s troops opened fire on protesters, killing and injuring many. Later, he found his way to Iranian Kurdistan, where Kurdish partisans made a deep impression on him. Years later, in southern Lebanon, he occasionally wore the uniform of the Kurdish peshmerga which he was given in Iranian Kurdistan.

In the fall of 1978, Monte made his way to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, in time to participate in the defense of the Armenian quarter against by the right-wing Phalange forces. At this time, he met his long-time confidante and future wife, Seta Kebranian. Monte was affiliated with the Hunchakian socialist party and was a permanent member of the militia’s bases in Bourj Hamoud, Western Beirut, Antelias, Eastern Beirut and other regions for almost two years, during which time he participated in several street battles against rightist forces. He also began working behind the lines in Phalangist controlled territory, on behalf of the “Leftist and Arab” Lebanese National Movement. By this time, he was speaking Armenian – a language he had not learned until adulthood (Armenian was the fourth or fifth language Monte learned to speak fluently, after Spanish, French and Japanese. In addition, he spoke passable Arabic, Italian and Turkish, as well as some Persian and Kurdish).

In the spring of 1980, Monte was inducted into the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, ASALA, and secretly relocated to West Beirut. For the next three years he was an ASALA militant and contributor to the group’s journal, Hayastan. During this time several Palestinian militant organizations provided their Armenian comrade with extensive military training. Monte carried out armed operations in Rome, Athens and elsewhere, and he helped to plan and train commandos for the “Van Operation” of September 24, 1981, in which four ASALA militants took over the Turkish embassy in Paris and held it for several days. In November 1981, French police arrested and imprisoned a young, suspected criminal carrying a Cypriot passport bearing the name “Dimitri Georgiu.” Following the detonation of several bombs in Paris aimed at gaining his release, “Georgiu” was returned to Lebanon where he revealed his identity as Monte Melkonian.

In mid-July 1983, ASALA violently split into two factions, one opposed to the group’s despotic leader, whose nom de guerre was Hagop Hagopian, and another supporting him. Although the lines of fissure had been deepening over the course of several years, the shooting of Hagopian’s two closest aides at a military camp in Lebanon finally led to the open breach. This impetuous action was perpetrated by one individual who was not closely affiliated with Monte. As a result of this action, however, Hagopian took revenge by personally torturing and executing two of Monte’s dearest comrades, Garlen Ananian and Arum Vartanian.

In the aftermath of this split Monte spent over two years underground, in Lebanon and later in France. After testifying secretly for the defense in the trial of Armenian militant and accused bank robber Levon Minassian, he was arrested in Paris in November 1985, and sentenced to six years in prison for possession of falsified papers and carrying an illegal handgun.

Monte spent over three years in Fresnes and Poissy prisons. He was released in early 1989 and sent from France to South Yemen, where he was reunited with Seta. Together they spent year and a half living underground in various countries of eastern Europe in relative poverty, as one regime after another disintegrated.

On October 6, 1990 Monte arrived in what was then still Soviet Armenia. During the first 8 months in Armenia, Melkonian worked in the Armenian Academy of Sciences, where he prepared an archaeological research monograph on Urartian cave tombs, which was posthumously published. Seta and Monte were married at the monastery of Geghart in August 1991.

Finding himself on Armenian soil after many years, he wrote in a letter that he found a lot of confusion among his compatriots. Armenia faced enormous economic, political and environmental problems at every turn, problems that had festered for decades. New political forces bent on dismantling the Soviet Union were taking Armenia in a direction that Monte believed was bound to exacerbate the crisis and produce more problems.

Under these circumstances, it quickly became clear to Monte that, for better or for worse, the Soviet Union had no future and the coming years would be perilous ones for the Armenian people. He then focused his energy on Karabagh. “If we lose [Karabagh],” the bulletin of the Karabakh Defense Forces quoted him as saying, “we turn the final page of our people’s history.” He believed that, if Azeri forces succeeded in deporting Armenians from Karabagh, they would advance on Zangezur and other regions of Armenia. Thus, he saw the fate of Karabagh as crucial for the long-term security of the entire Armenian nation.

On September 12 (or 14) 1991 Monte travelled to Shahumian region (north of Karabagh), where he fought for three months in the fall of 1991. There he participated in the capture of Erkej, Manashid and Buzlukh villages.

On February 4, 1992 Melkonian arrived in Martuni as the regional commander. Upon his arrival the changes were immediately felt: civilians started feeling more secure and at peace as Azeri armies were pushed back and were finding it increasingly difficult to shell Martuni’s residential areas with GRAD missiles.

In April 1993, Melkonian was one of the chief military strategists who planned and led the operation to fight Azeri fighters and capture the region of Kalbajar of Azerbaijan which lies between the Republic of Armenia and former NKAO. Armenian forces captured the region in four days of heavy fighting, sustaining far fewer fatalities than the enemy.

Monte was killed in the abandoned Azerbaijani village of Merzili in the early afternoon of June 12, 1993 during the Battle of Aghdam. According to Markar Melkonian, Monte’s older brother and author of his biography, Monte died in the waning hours of the evening by enemy fire during an unexpected skirmish that broke out with several Azerbaijani soldiers who had gotten lost. Monte died in the arms of his closest and most trusted comrades.

Monte was buried with full military honors on June 19, 1993 at Yerablur military cemetery in Yerevan, Armenia. According to one estimate, some 25,000 people filed past his open casket as it lay in state at the Officer’s Hall in Yerevan. Among the dignitaries present were Levon Ter-Petrosyan, President of the Republic of Armenia, high-ranking Armenian and C.I.S. military leaders, and members of all the major political parties in the country.

Monte Melkonian

Foreign Missions Briefed On Karabakh Operation

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia’s First Deputy Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan met with Yerevan-based foreign diplomats and military attachés on Tuesday to brief them on thr commando raid that gave Nagorno-Karabakh’s army access to the crash site of its downed helicopter.

A statement by the Armenian Defense Ministry said Tonoyan presented details of the “special operation” and “irrefutable facts” proving that it resulted in the recovery of the remains of the helicopter’s three crew members.

According to the statement, he also denounced Azerbaijan’s allegations that the Armenian military handed the remains of other persons to the families of the three pilots. “The Azerbaijani campaign of disinformation amounts to a cover-up by Azerbaijan’s army of its inability to accomplish tasks set by the political leadership,” Tonoyan was quoted as telling the representatives of more than a dozen foreign embassies.

Earlier in the day, Tonoyan and Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian discussed the Karabakh Armenian operation with France’s ambassador to Armenia, Jean-Francois Charpentier.

On Friday, one day before the announcement of the operation, Charpentier issued a statement saying that the French government “will do everything” to help the Armenian side retrieve the bodies of the dead pilots.

The U.S., Russian and French diplomats co-heading the Minsk Group similarly urged Baku last Wednesday to “permit the recovery of the bodies of the victims.”

Foreign Missions Briefed On Karabakh Operation

100km Tribute Starts

GLENDALE — Thursday, Thanksgiving morning, some two dozen committed compatriots are meeting at Glendale’s Deukmejian Park to embark on a Genocide centennial 100 kilometer hike through the Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel Valley, arriving at Montebello’s Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument in Montebello’s Bicknell Park.

These walkers will be joined by others over the course of the four day journey and finally by over 30 bicyclists and a dozen motorcyclists at the foot of the hill on which the monument is built.

Months of organizing have led to this unprecedented cooperative effort and significant moneys being raised through sponsorships gathered by the participants to fund the publication of the first volume of a series covering Armenia’s architectural heritage, region by region. This volume is dedicated to Hayotz Tsor in Van.

Enabling the walkers are a group of dedicated “Trail Angels” who are tending to all sorts of support functions, from food to tents to transporting gear from one night’s campground to the next. The Forest’s district ranger, Mike Macintyre, has been extremely helpful in guiding organizers through the rules and necessities of the Forest, especially given the danger of fire.

“Our committee has been at work since April assembling the pieces of this solemn Tribute. Anyone who wants to participate in just the last day’s walk from Altadena’s Farnsworth Park to the monument can still register at, www.100kmtributemarch.com,” explained Garen Yegparian, one of the organizers. “We need a few more donations since we’re at 80% of the target needed to publish the book we’re funding. Please help out. You can use the ‘donation’ tab on our website.”

Fittingly, the mayors of the cities where the Tribute starts and ends are Armenians, Glendale’s Zareh Sinanyan and Montebello’s Jack Hadjinian. They are participating in the opening and closing ceremonies, respectively. Organizers invite everyone to join Tribute participants Thanksgiving morning for a brief, 6:30am, program in Deukmejian Park, sending the walkers off into the mountains. Similarly, at the end of the Tribute, approximately 1:00pm on Sunday November 20, the community is invited for the procession up the hill to the monument with the walkers and riders.

Park addresses are:

Deukmejian Wilderness Park: 3429 Markridge Rd, La Crescenta, CA 91214

Bicknell Park: 901 Via San Clemente, Montebello, CA 90640

Anyone interested in participating or following developments about the Tribute is encouraged to check on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/100kmtributemarch ). The organizers may be contacted as well: Armenian Hikers Association at armenianhikersassociationla@yahoo.com or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/521538567895715/); Armenian Hiking Society (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArmenianHikingSociety/?ref=br_tf); Armenian Cycling Association at Aca@armeniancycling.org; Hye Riders https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/hye.riders?fref=ts; or call 818/434-5952.

100km Tribute Starts

AMAA-Haigazian Celebratory Banquet in Honor of Dr. Mihran Agbabian and George R. Phillips Esq.

Over $400,000 For Outreach, Education

BEVERLY HILLS — For the very first time, the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA) and Haigazian University, co-sponsored a gala event to benefit both organizations. The Celebratory Banquet at the Beverly Hills Hotel on November 15, 2014 honored two highly esteemed members of the community, Dr. Mihran Agbabian and George R. Phillips, Esq., who have supported not only the two organizations, but have rendered their time, expertise, and resources to a multitude of worthy causes. Both honorees are former AMAA and Haigazian University Board Members.

A proficiently planned program designed by the Co-Chairs Joyce Abdulian and Ken Kevorkian and AMAA’s West Coast Executive Director Levon Filian, paid sincere tribute to the honorees and emphasized the missions of the two organizations. Mr. Filian proudly announced that “when you have a good cause and a good committee plus great honorees and God’s blessings, the results are a complete success.” The invocation was offered by Rev. Dr. John Khanjian, former President of Haigazian University.

The families of both honorees, who are life proponents of education and philanthropy, were present as Savey Tufenkian introduced Dr. Agbabian and Joyce Philibosian Stein, introduced George R. Phillips, Esq.

Mrs. Tufenkian underscored Dr. Agbabian’s efforts to help Armenia after the 1988 earthquake. Dr. Agbabian, a distinguished graduate of the American University of Beirut, Cal Tech, and UC Berkeley, is an eminent authority in seismic engineering and the founding President and President Emeritus of AUA. He is also a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. This former Dean of Engineering at USC, and past Vice President of the AMAA, recalled “working with George Phillips in support of various organizations, large and small,” and said he was “grateful to God and thankful for the challenge to serve.”

Mrs. Stein described George R. Phillips, as a trusted friend and advisor and anticipated that his work “will continue to bear fruit.” Mr. Phillips, a graduate of UCLA and UCLA Law School and founder of the oldest Armenian law firm in Los Angeles, is a firm believer in education. He was named the C & E Merdinian School “Man of the Year” in 2007 and was also recognized as “Man of the Year” by the AGBU for his service to the Armenian Community in So. Calif. He praised the AMAA, founded 96 years ago, and Haigazian University for their foundations of faith and affirmed the Christian values underscored at Haigazian University, stressing that “every person can make a difference through their actions.” A Korean War veteran, Mr. Phillips, in his response, remembered the attack on Pearl Harbor when he was 13 and also indicated that Armenian history seemed to be repeating itself from 100 years ago.

Biographical videos were shown of each of the honorees, as the guests waited with awe. The recipients responded generously and humbly. The audience was captivated by every word that the honorees offered in acceptance.

Zaven Khanjian, recently-installed Executive Director and CEO of the AMAA in Paramus, NJ, and Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian, President of Haigazian University addressed the audience of 400. On behalf of the AMAA, Mr. Khanjian saluted Dr. Agbabian and George R. Phillips, Esq. “who have spent a lifetime in the service of the Lord, our people, and humanity. We bow to the legacy of their service and place them on a pedestal of honor as role models for us all.” He clearly remembered his family’s journey to the U.S. from the Middle East as a direct result of war and unrest. He spoke compassionately about the AMAA and its “mission of rescue.” Dr. Haidostian reflected on the guests of honor and emphasized the importance of being positive examples to the world. He called Haigazian “constructively unique” and thanked Dr. Agbabian and Mr. Phillips and everyone in the room for supporting the University.

The printed program contained greetings from the co-chairs, biographies of the honorees, and congratulatory messages from Dr. Joe Zeronian, President of the AMAA who thanked “all those who are in attendance this evening,” Dr. Ani Darakjian, Chair of the Haigazian University Board of Trustees, and the Trustees of the Stephen Philibosian Foundation, plus the appreciation lists of sponsors, supporters, and committee members.

A beautiful musical program featured the classically trained voice of Soprano Julia Metzler, who selected arias from Purcell, Strauss, and Hovhaness, and was accompanied by Victoria Simonian. The American and Armenian anthems were presented by Raffi Kerbabian.

Rev. Ron Tovmassian, Moderator of the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America, on behalf of the AEUNA and its Acting Minister, Rev. Hendrik Shanazarian, praised the guests of honor for their dedication and commitment. Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, who had just arrived from Armenia, brought greetings from the Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and expressed his congratulations to the worthy honorees and organizations.

Certificates were presented to the recipients whose supportive wives, Elizabeth Agbabian and Suzie Phillips, are founding/continuing members of the Haigazian University Women’s Auxiliary of LA and the AMAA Child and Orphan Care Committee. The event raised more than $400,000 for important outreach and educational programs.

Founded in 1918, the AMAA is committed to excellence in all of its worldwide projects, including Haigazian University and the new state-of-the-art Avedisian School and Community Center in Yerevan.

Haigazian University, established in Beirut in 1955, offers over a dozen programs and bestows BA, BBA, BS, MA, and MBA degrees. Believing that education never stops, Haigazian University also offers classes through its Center of Continuing Education.

AMAA-Haigazian Celebratory Banquet in Honor of Dr. Mihran Agbabian and George R. Phillips Esq.

Armenia Bids Farewell to Helicopter Crew with Full Military Honors

YEREVAN — The three pilots of the downed helicopter were laid to rest at Yerablur Military Pantheon with full military honors attended by top military officials and hundreds of ordinary people.

Thousands of other Armenians filed past the remains of Major Sergey Sahakian, 38, Senior Lieutenant Sargis Nazarian, 25, and Lieutenant Azat Sahakian, 22, placed in closed coffins inside a Yerevan church on Monday. Catholicos Garegin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, led a requiem service there in the presence of President Serzh Sarkisian and other Armenian leaders.

“We are proud of having such soldiers,” Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian said in a speech delivered at Yerevan’s Yerablur military cemetery during the funeral. “Eternal glory to the heroes, to the Armenian army guaranteeing our security!” he added.

“We’re determined to return all those who fell on the path to Armenia’s freedom and November 22 became the proof of this resoluteness. Bowing before the memory of our fallen pilots, we at the same time express gratitude to the participants of the special operation to retrieve their bodies. The death of Major Sergey Sahakyan, Lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan and Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan was yet another demonstration of the illogical and irresponsible policy of the adversary,” Minister Ohanian stated.

The commander of Karabakh Defense army, General Movses Hakobian, also attended the funeral. Hakobian gave relatives of the three officers medals that were posthumously awarded to them by Bako Sahakian, the Karabakh president.

Armenia Bids Farewell to Helicopter Crew with Full Military Honors

Putin Proposes Building Railway linking Moscow to Yerevan through Sukhumi and Tbilisi

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia and Abkhazia will consider creation of transit railways between Moscow, Sukhumi, Tbilisi and Yerevan, TASS reports.

“If all the parties agree, we believe it is possible to jointly consider this project and then construct transit railways, connecting Georgian cities of Sukhumi and Tbilisi with Armenia on one side and Russia on the other”, Putin told the media.

“The implementation of such projects will contribute to the creation of conditions for the development of relations between all interested parties,” the Russian president added.

Armenia, which will become a member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union beginning next year, has no land connection with the rest of the Union members, also including Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Putin made the statement after Russia and Abkhazia signed the Treaty on Allied Relations and Strategic Partnership.

The new treaty is based on the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation of 2008 that fixed Russia’s recognition of Abkhazia.

Georgia does not recognize Abkhazia as an independent country and considers it to be still part of its territory.

Putin Proposes Building Railway linking Moscow to Yerevan through Sukhumi and Tbilisi

Armenian Fund’s Pan-European Phoneathon Raises Over 1.37 Million Euros

PARIS — The annual Pan-European Phoneathon of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, headed by the Fund’s French affiliate and held during November 19-23, raised over 1.37 million euros in donations and pledges.

The large-scale fundraising campaign mobilized the Armenian communities of France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium. The Greek community traditionally joined the Phoneathon with their fundraising held in Greece from November 22 to 23.

Throughout the four-day event, 750 volunteers stationed at Orange Telecom call centers in Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, and Lyon reached 60,000 households, businesses, and organizations in the participating countries to request their support.

The Phoneathon was held under the slogan “Talent, charm, and generosity.” The event’s godmother and godfather, fashion model and French Red Cross ambassador Adriana Karembeu and singer Patrick Fiori (Chouchayan), made impassioned appeals for financial contributions toward the realization of vital development projects in the Armenian homeland.

Proceeds form the Phoneathon will be used for the expansion of agricultural projects in Armenia’s Tavush Region, construction of community centers in Artsakh and assistance to the Armenian community of Syria.

The following is the breakdown of donations and pledges by country:

France: 1,246,344 euros

Germany: 71,345 euros

Switzerland: 31,726 euros

Greece 21,000 euros

Belgium 6,000 euros

Armenian Fund’s Pan-European Phoneathon Raises Over 1.37 Million Euros

“Considering Genocide Testimony: Three Case Studies from the Armenian, Pontic, and Assyrian Genocides”

MISSION HILLS — Ararat-Eskijian Museum present an illustrated talk “Considering Genocide Testimony: Three Case Studies from the Armenian, Pontic, and Assyrian Genocides” by Paul R. Bartrop, PhD Professor of History Director, Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies December 07th, 4 PM Ararat-Eskijian Museum/Sheen Chapel, 15105 Mission Hills Road, Mission Hills CA 91345

This presentation considers the values and limitations that can be derived from the use of survivor testimonies, as explored through the lens of three separate accounts: those of Sevly Krikorian, “Papayiannis,” and Father Joseph Naayem, respectively from the Armenian, Pontic, and Assyrian Genocides. Each of these is taken from the author’s new book, Encountering Genocide: Personal Accounts from Victims, Perpetrators, and Witnesses. It will be argued that survivor testimonies play the most crucial role in forming our understanding of what life is like in situations of genocide. Testimonial accounts, by virtue of their special status as first-hand narratives written by people who lived through barbaric treatment at the hands of their persecutors, are our primary link to the perpetrators as viewed from the victims’ perspective.

Dr. Paul Bartrop is recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars of the Holocaust and genocide. He is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, Florida. In 2011-2012 he was the Ida E. King Distinguished Visiting Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Richard Stockton College, New Jersey.

His latest works are entitled Experiencing Genocide: Personal Accounts from Victims, Perpetrators, and Witnesses (2014) and Genocide: The Basics (2014). His major current projects

are An Historical Dictionary of Genocide in Film, and Resisting the Holocaust: Upstanders, Partisans, and Survivors, and a 4-volume encyclopaedia of genocide, Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection, due for publication by the end of this year.

For more information call the Ararat-Eskijian Museum at 818- 838-4862 or e-mail ararat-eskijian-museum@netzero.net

“Considering Genocide Testimony: Three Case Studies from the Armenian, Pontic, and Assyrian Genocides”

Public Funeral Held for Pilots of the Downed Helicopter

YEREVAN — The civil funeral for the three pilots of the MI-24 helicopter downed by the Azerbaijani armed forces – Major Sergey Sahakyan, Senior Lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan and Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan – was held at the St. Sarkis Church in Yerevan’s Nor-Nor district.

The President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sarkisian, Prime Minister Armenia Hovik Abrahamian, Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan, MPs, members of the Government and

other high ranking officials were present at the requiem service.

“[Major] Sergey [Sahakyan] was an excellent person, with high intellect. Lieutenant Sargis Ghazaryan was a very clever young man as well. He graduated from the higher flying school with honors. And Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan dreamt of taking part in military exercises.” Stated Major Vachagan Stepanyan

On Tuesday, the Armenian pilots’ bodies will be transported to the Yerablur pantheon and buried with full military honors.

Public Funeral Held for Pilots of the Downed Helicopter

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Taner Akçam

By Hambersom Aghbashian

Altun Taner Akçam (born in Ardahan, Turkey, Oct. 23, 1953) is a Turkish historian and sociologist. He is a professor in Armenian genocide studies at Clark University in Massachusetts. Taner Akçam is regarded as one of the first Turkish academics to openly acknowledge and discuss the Armenian Genocide committed by the Turkish Ottoman government and he is recognized as a “leading international authority” on the subject.(1)

Taner Akçam studied economics at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, and graduated in 1976. In 1974 Akçam was arrested for participating in student protests against the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. In 1975 he was arrested for distributing leaflets and on March 9, 1976, he was arrested again for his political involvements. He received a nine-year sentence in early 1977, which resulted in Amnesty International adopting him as a prisoner of conscience. He served for a year before escaping from Ankara Central Prison on March 12, 1977. He received political asylum from Germany in 1978, where he obtained citizenship and resided until obtaining his doctorate degree in 1995. He received his PhD from the University of Hanover with a dissertation titled, “ Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide: On the Background of the Military Tribunals in Istanbul between 1919 and 1922.” Akçam is a former student of fellow genocide scholar, Vahakn Dadrian. In 2008 Akçam’s was appointed as the chairman of Armenian genocide studies at Clark University.

Taner Akçam is the author of” The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire”, “A Shameful Act : The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility”, “From Empire to Republic : Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide”, and many other books in English, German and Turkish(2).

Concerning his book “A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility”, http://us.macmillan.com/ashamefulact/tanerakcam wrote “ in a work of excavation, Turkish historian Taner Akçam has made extensive use of Ottoman and other sources to produce a scrupulous charge sheet against the Turkish authorities. The first scholar of any nationality to have mined the significant evidence in Turkish military and court records, parliamentary minutes, letters, and eyewitness account. Akçam follows the chain of events leading up to the killing and then reconstructs its systematic orchestration by coordinated departments of the Ottoman state, the ruling political parties, and the military. He also probes the crucial question of how Turkey succeeded in evading responsibility, pointing to competing international interests in the region, the priorities of Turkish nationalists, and the international community’s inadequate attempts to bring the perpetrators to justice.(3)

According to CSI (Jun 6, 2012), Dr. Taner Akcam of Clark University, based on his research into WWI-era documents contained in the Ottoman Archives, demonstrated in his book “ The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire”, that the Armenian Genocide, in which well over one million Armenian and Assyrian Christians were massacred, was the result of a specific policy decision by the Ottoman government to pursue “ethno-religious homogenization” in Turkey as early as 1913. Because the empire could not reconcile calls for freedom from its Christian subjects with its Islamic legal system and culture, it opted to eradicate its Christian population. Taner Akcam was the first Turkish historian to recognize the Armenian Genocide (4).

http://en.wikiquote.org quoted many Turkish Intellectuals who have expressed their convictions concerning the Armenian Genocide. Taner Akcam was quoted many times and the following is one of them. “A discussion of the Armenian Genocide could reveal that this Turkish state was not a result of a war fought against the imperial powers, but, on the contrary, a product of the war against the Greek and Armenian minorities. It could show that a significant part of the National Forces consisted either of murderers who directly participated in the Armenian Genocide or of thieves who had become rich by plundering Armenian possessions.”(5).

In his various statements, Taner Akcam calls on Turkey to face the historical reality and recognize the Armenian Genocide. On May 6 , 2014, “Armenpress” held a conversation with him on the improvement of Turkish-Armenian relations, the possible changes in the Turkish denial policy on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the factors contributing it. Taner Akcam said that he doesn’t expect major changes in Turkey’s policy.(6)

Today Zaman , wrote on April 19, 2013, “As the anniversary of the forced migration of Armenians in 1915 from Anatolia to other parts of the Ottoman Empire approaches, historian Taner Akçam suggests Turkey open its borders with Armenia as a step to normalize relations between the two countries. Akçam, who describes the 1915 events as “genocide,” says that Turkey should stop wasting its time with the argument that 1915 was not genocide by exploiting people’s ignorance about this matter and creating an unnecessary debate.”(7)

To write about Taner Akcam as a leading international authority on the Armenian Genocide subject is a long story which can’t be covered in few pages, that might need an entire book.

————————————

1- http://www.armenianlife.com/2014/10/10/armenian-genocide-scholar-cancels-lectures-at-university-of-illinois/

2- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taner_Ak%C3%A7am

3- http://us.macmillan.com/ashamefulact/tanerakcam

4- CSI (Christian Solidarity International). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf5igXFiRDA

5- http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Armenian_genocide

6- http://armenpress.am/eng/print/760717/taner-akcam-on-eve-of-100th-ann

7- http://www.todayszaman.com/interviews_historian-taner-akcam-says-armenian-border-should-be-opened-for-normalization-of-relations_313150.html

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Taner Akçam

Mi-24 Crew Posthumously Awarded NKR National “Courage” Medals

STEPANAKERT — On 22 November President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakian signed a decree, posthumously awarding “For Courage” medals to major Sergey Sahakyan, senior lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan, lieutenant Azat Sahakyan , crew members of the NKR Air Forces Mi-24 helicopter downed during a training flight as a result of ceasefire violation by Azerbaijani armed forces.

The remains of these three military servicemen plus some necessary parts of the chopper were removed from the helicopter’s crash site through a special operation by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) armed forces.

The civil funeral rites for the pilots will take place at Surb Sarkis church in Yerevan, on Monday.

According to the preliminary information by Armenia’s Ministry of Defense, the three pilots will be buried at the Yerablur pantheon.

Mi-24 Crew Posthumously Awarded NKR National “Courage” Medals

NKR Special Forces Recover Bodies of Downed Helicopter Crew

STEPANAKERT — Nagorno-Karabakh’s armed forces said on Saturday that they have recovered, in a commando raid, the bodies of the three Armenian pilots of a combat helicopter shot down by Azerbaijani forces last week.

In a statement, the Defense Army said its special forces approached the wreckage of the Mi-24 gunship in the no man’s land east of Karabakh despite the Azerbaijani military’s refusal to grant the Armenian side access to the site. It said they managed to evacuate “the corpse of one of the crew members, the remains of the two other pilots and some necessary parts of the helicopter.”

“Two enemy soldiers were taken out during the special operation,” added the statement. “The Defense Army suffered no casualties.”

“This action was unprecedented in its nature and complexity, taking into consideration the heavy resistance on the part of the adversary,” Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisian said, adding that the enemy incurred great losses.

The pilots Armenian military helicopter shot down near Nagorno-Karabakh on November 12, 2014: Major Sergey Sahakian (L), Lieutenant Azat Sahakian, Senior Lieutenant Sargis Nazarian.

The ministry spokesman said Karabakh Armenian commandos neutralized an “ambush” set up by Azerbaijani troops. “It was a world-class, brilliant operation,” Hovannisian wrote on Facebook. He gave no other details.

The army clarified later in the day that the operation took place on Thursday. The Karabakh Armenian military did not explain why it did not immediately announce the evacuation.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry was quick to deny the information, however, saying that Armenian soldiers did not access to the crash site reportedly located less than 200 meters from Azerbaijani army positions. It claimed that the Armenian military will “fool the Armenian people” by handing “other remains” to the families of the dead pilots.

The Karabakh army shrugged off those claims. It pointed to the Azerbaijani combat death reported on Thursday and released aerial photographs of the helicopter crash site which it said were taken before and after the operation. One of the images purportedly shows the body of one of the Armenian pilots lying amidst the debris.

NKR Special Forces Recover Bodies of Downed Helicopter Crew

Taner Akcam: Modern Turkey’s National Struggles Rooted in Genocide Denial

BOSTON – “Modern Turkey is constructed on top of the denial” of the 1914-1918 Ottoman Genocide, the renowned Turkish Scholar Taner Akcam argued at a recent CSI co-sponsored lecture at Boston College.

Christian Solidarity International (CSI) today released a video of Akcam’s October 22 lecture, entitled, “The Anatomy of Religious Cleansing: Non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire.” Akcam claimed that the genocide’s buried legacy helps explain “why Turkey has such so much difficulty today in its Middle East policy towards Christians, Alawites and Kurds.”

Working from a broad range of Ottoman and other contemporary sources, Akcam argued against the usual analysis of the Armenian Genocide, the Assyrian Genocide, and the expulsion of Greeks as “separate events,” when they should be seen as parts of a “comprehensive policy of ethnic homogenization, implemented by one government, carried out as part of a general plan.”

Akcam spoke instead of an “Ottoman Genocide against Christians” during World War I, which was part of a broader “genocide process” in Turkey lasting from 1878 to 1924. “By end of this period, at least one-third of the population of Anatolia had either been resettled, deported or annihilated,” Akcam said.

Responding to a question about the connection between the genocide in Turkey 100 years ago and similar acts today committed by contemporary Islamist terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Akcam noted that while the leaders of the Ottoman Empire were then progressive nationalists and not religious zealots, they nevertheless “declared a jihad” and “used religion extensively” to mobilize local support for the genocide. Akcam also observed that many Armenian girls and women were “forcibly converted and married to Muslims.”Akcam added that he is in the process of going through League of Nations records of 2,000 Armenian children recovered from “Arab, Kurdish and Turkish households” after the war. “There is a story of each child with a picture – horrendous stories. You can take the stories, change the date to 2014, and it looks like ISIS enslaving Christian women and children.”

Ultimately, Akcam concluded, the genocide was driven by the unwillingness of Turkey’s rulers “to share power with the Christians,” who then constituted as much as 25% of the population. Turkey today faces “exactly the same problem” in its struggles with the Kurds and its broader Middle East policy, Akcam said.

Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry, Departments of Slavic and Eastern Languages and Literatures and Political Science, and Islamic Civilization and Society Program, and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research joined CSI as co-sponsors of Akcam’s lecture as a part of a series on The Future of Religious Minorities in the Middle East.

Taner Akcam: Modern Turkey’s National Struggles Rooted in Genocide Denial

Helicopter Crash Site Under Supervision of NKR Army

STEPANAKERT — The Karabakh Armenian army says that intensive Azerbaijani gunfire prevents its troops from recovering the bodies of the three pilots of the downed helicopter. According to its latest statement, Azerbaijani troops stationed nearby opened fire from not only assault rifles but also heavy machine guns and grenade launchers on the night from Thursday to Friday.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Defense Army vanguard forces, however, have taken and are taking all necessary measures not to permit the adversary to approach the chopper’s crash site, the NKR MOD press service informed.

At present, the crash site and the entire frontline are under the constant supervision of the Armenian positions.

Meanwhile France pledged on Friday to “do everything” to help the Armenian military gain unfettered access to the wreckage of its helicopter shot down by Azerbaijani forces and recover the bodies of its three crew members.

“As a co-chair of the [OSCE’s] Minsk Group, France wants, from the humanitarian standpoint, the bodies of the three pilots of the downed helicopter to be handed over to Armenia. France will do everything to make that handover possible,” Jean-Francois Charpentier, the French ambassador in Yerevan, said in a written statement.

The U.S., Russian and French diplomats co-heading the Minsk Group similarly urged Baku on Wednesday to “permit the recovery of the bodies of the victims.” In a joint statement, they said they remain “deeply concerned that there has been no humanitarian access to the crash site.”

The Azerbaijani ministries of defense and foreign affairs dismissed the statement the following day, saying that its wordings favor the Armenian side. Aliyev’s chief foreign policy advisor, Novruz Mammadov, went further on Friday, saying that the mediators acted at the behest of the Armenian lobby in the West. “The Armenian Diaspora is trying to deal a blow to Azerbaijan’s international reputation by any means,” Mammadov charged in a Twitter post cited by the APA news agency.

Helicopter Crash Site Under Supervision of NKR Army

Russian Government Approves Agreement on Armenia’s Accession to EEU

MOSCOW — The Russian Government has approved the Agreement on Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The decision was made at the cabinet meeting on November 20. The document will now be forwarded to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. He will consider the agreement and submit it for ratification.

The Agreement will ensure Armenia’s participation in the Eurasian Economic Union from January 2, 2015 and will allow to start the process of curtailing or eliminating the restrictions and barriers to the mutual access to the markets of the member states.

It will serve as a basis for the further development of trade-economic relations and will raise the competitiveness of national producers and strengthen the positions of the EEU member states on the international market.

Russian Government Approves Agreement on Armenia’s Accession to EEU

Hrant Dink Foundation to Host Conference on the Prospects of Turkey-Armenia Border in Ankara

ISTANBUL — On November 22-23 the Hrant Dink Foundation will organize a conference on the “The Sealed Gate: Prospects of the Turkey-Armenia Border” in Ankara.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Turkey rediscovered its long neglected eastern neighbour, Armenia. Although Turkey was among the first countries to recognize Armenia’s independence, it was reluctant to establish diplomatic ties with it. Even during Soviet times, with the exception of a passenger train that ran between Leninakan/Gyumri and Kars, the border between Turkey and Armenia remained closed. In 1992 Turkey allowed food aid from Europe to be delivered via this line. But in 1993 Turkey unilaterally and formally sealed its land border with Armenia in response to the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict. The Kars-Gyumri rail connection was halted, and direct trade and cross-border activities between locals have been blocked ever since. To this date, the policy of closed borders remains in force.

The sealed border continues to have a significant impact on the lives of people on both sides of the border and on the wider region, including on war- torn Syria, which is home to a sizeable population of ethnic Armenians. The economic, political, social, and environmental effects of the blockade are considerable. If the goal of the sealed border was to help resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, it has arguably had the opposite effect.

This conference seeks to address the “policy of closed borders” with its political, economic, social, environmental, humanitarian andregional aspects along with the prospects forpeace-building in the Caucasus. It aims in particular to address the following questions and issues:

How do a sealed border and lack of direct contact impact mind-sets and the daily lives of people in the border areas and beyond? In turn, what would the impact of an open border be on them?

Would opening the border serve as a catalyst for economic development? What are the missed opportunities and prospects for regional cooperation and integration? What would be the outlook of the region in 30 years time assuming there are open borders and possibly even a common or free economic zone?

How can the border influence regional integration and cooperation in the Caucasus? What has been the impact of Turkey’s ‘‘open-door policy’’ with Georgia, Iraq, Syria and Nakhchivan? Can an open border act as a catalyst for consolidating democracy in the Caucasus and for its integration with Europe as a stable and secure energy and transportation hub?

What are we actually talking about when we talk about borders? What do open borders mean in terms of territoriality, citizenship, sovereignty, belonging, globalization, liberty, authority, ethnicity, nationality and identity?

How do sealed borders affect localities on both sides? What is the impact on architecture, transportation, urban and rural planning, municipalities, the environment, and migration?

What is the impact of security-oriented border management on the social texture? What about governance, military troops, and border guards?

What are the social policy options and initiatives for sealed borders? Can sports, art and cultural activities, and student exchanges play a role?

What are some examples of crossing borders in language, literature and art? How is the border reproduced as a cultural phenomenon? How else can one cross borders?

Addressing such questions, among others, the conference seeks to contribute to cross-border dialogue so as to overcome missed opportunities and to promote initiatives that will eliminate barriers and foster regional cooperation and integration.

The conference, which will host researchers and experts working on the history, politics, economy and sociology of region, is open to everyone who would like to join as an audience. The conference will be broadcasted live on www.hrantdink.org.

The conference proceedings will be published in a book in 2015 by the Hrant Dink Foundation Publications.

Hrant Dink Foundation to Host Conference on the Prospects of Turkey-Armenia Border in Ankara

Lecture by Dr. Ara Sanjian: “ Armenians in the Midst of Civil Wars: Lebanon and Syria Compared

FRESNO — Dr. Ara Sanjian, Director of the Armenian Research Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn will give a presentation on “ Armenians in the Midst of Civil Wars: Lebanon and Syria Compared ” at 7:30PM on Tuesday, December 2, in the University Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, Room 191, on the Fresno State campus.

The lecture is part of the Fall Lecture Series of the Armenian Studies Program, supported by the Leon S. Peters Foundation.

During the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1990, Armenians adopted the policy of positive neutrality. Most Armenians in Lebanon and Syria today think that this was a wise choice and that it helped to minimize somewhat the heavy toll of civil war for the Armenian community in Lebanon. Why has it not been possible to adopt a similar attitude during the Syrian crisis since 2011? In what ways are the Lebanese and Syrian civil wars different from one another? How do these differences affect the Armenians suffering in Syria today?

Dr. Ara Sanjian is Associate Professor of Armenian and Middle Eastern History and the Director of the Armenian Research Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. From 1991 to 1994 he did his PhD in modern history of the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London.

From 1996 to 2005 he was the Chairman of the Department of Armenian Studies, History and Political Science at Haigazian University in Beirut. In fall 2003, he was the Henry S. Khanzadian Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno. His research interests focus on the post-World War I history of Armenia, Turkey and the Arab states of Western Asia.

Dr. Sanjian is the author of Turkey and Her Arab Neighbors, 1953-1958: A Study in the Origins and Failure of the Baghdad Pact (2001), as well as a monograph and a number of scholarly articles. He is currently working on a book-length project on the Armenian quest for Mountainous Karabagh under Soviet rule in 1923-1987.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Free parking is available, with a parking code 273502, after 7:00PM at Fresno State Lots P5 and P6, near the University Business Center.

For more information about the lecture please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669, or visit our website at www.fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies.

Lecture by Dr. Ara Sanjian: “ Armenians in the Midst of Civil Wars: Lebanon and Syria Compared

Cyprus to Mark Centenary of Armenian Genocide by a Series of Events

YEREVAN (ARKA.am) — Cyprus will hold a series of events to mark the centenary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, the visiting chairman of the House of Representatives of Cyprus, Yiannakis Omirou, said today during a joint press conference with the speaker of the National Assembly Galust Sahakyan.

He said the events will be started when an Armenian parliament delegation, to be led by Galust Sahakyan, who was extended an invitation, visits Cyprus.

He said also his government considers unacceptable the behavior of Azerbaijani authorities who refuse to give the Armenian side access to the wreckage of an Armenian military helicopter shot down near Nagorno-Karabakh for recovering the bodies of its three crew members.

“Cyprus condemns any violence, and the helicopter incident was an act of violence and I think this attitude is unacceptable,” said Omirou.

He noted that even the laws of war, which operate for centuries, require respect for the killed soldiers.

He said Cyprus supports Armenia’s position on the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and stressed that Cyprus is governed by international law, UN resolutions and other international laws.

“We support the position of Armenia that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved by peaceful means within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. We are confident that a solution can be found only on the basis of norms and principles of international law, and then Nagorno-Karabakh will be recognized by all the other countries,” said Omirou.

Cyprus to Mark Centenary of Armenian Genocide by a Series of Events

New Album “We Sing Armenian Church Songs” Opens Hearts and Minds, Looks Toward Future Generations

Members of the HYEfamily Children’s Chorus, from left: Alexa Siran Farah, Sophia Ashbahian, Nickolas Ara Regas; Bottom l to r: Victoria Ashbahian, Liana Sarine Farah, Devan Vartan Regas

By Taleen Babayan

On an early fall afternoon in the lower level of the St. Leon’s Armenian Church in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, four lively young girls were tucked away in a Sunday School classroom, their ears positioned towards the stereo speakers, as they waited anxiously for a CD to play. After months of practicing and recording sessions, they were finally ready to hear the results of their efforts. Listening to the first line of the hymn, Hamenaynee (In All Things) that emanated their sweet, angelic voices, their brown eyes widened and they held each others’ hands in excitement as their bright smiles appeared. The biggest smiles, however, were on the faces of the inspirational duo of Co- Producers Nvair Kadian Beylerian and Andrea Arpiarian Carden, who were the visionaries behind the album, We Sing Armenian Church Songs with Nvair & Friends (Armenian Badarak Hymns for Children), which was officially released last month.

The foundation for the innovative project was laid ten years earlier, in that very same spot, when Nvair, then the music teacher of the St. Leon Sunday School and Andrea, who served as Superintendent, a position she holds to this day, were sharing conversation about the growth of their parish’s diversity and the many new students coming from blended families. When discussing how to approach teaching a new generation of Armenian-Americans the hymns of the Divine Liturgy and making it accessible to them, as if by divine intervention, they came across a series of Xeroxed pages of Yegmalian Badarak hymns, which included some English translations. They knew then what they could do to make Sunday School education for their students even more fruitful. Over the course of the next few years, they taught sing-a-longs every Sunday morning and their efforts ultimately led them to the creation of the We Sing Armenian Church Songs album, which contains seven Armenian hymns recorded in both English and Armenian by Nvair with the HYEfamily Children’s Chorus, with a guest appearance by Ara Dinkjian.

“This album is about bringing our Armenian Church life into our daily lives,” said Nvair, who has a master’s degree in education and has been involved in “edutainment,” combining both education and entertainment elements for children, since 2001. “It can serve as a daily a reminder of who we are. By recording these hymns and placing them directly in the hands of parents, we provide them the opportunity to immerse their children in these songs & meaning simply by popping in a CD while in the car or in the play room. Our aim is to eventually have the family singing along together, not even realizing that they’ve learned an essential part of their Armenian Christian heritage.”

“We want the kids to feel comfortable in church,” said Andrea, who holds a master of arts degree and is a special education specialist in the New Jersey Public School system. “Feeling that connection and experiencing that familiarity gives them a reason to want to be part of the Armenian Church experience.”

Nvair and Andrea both grew up in the Armenian Church, Nvair at the Sts. Vartanantz Church in Ridgefield, NJ where she put on a “shabig” at the age of five and began learning the Divine Liturgy as a participant in the church service and Andrea as a member of the Holy Cross Armenian Church parish in Union City. Even after entering adulthood and launching their careers, Nvair in television production and Andrea in the public education system, the Armenian Church remained their home. Joining their talents and forces, Nvair and Andrea came together to educate a new generation of Armenians about the richness of the Armenian Church.

The pair, who share a warm and genuine friendship, are visionaries who believe that by teaching children the church hymns in Sunday School, they offer a better understanding of the Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church. Their desire is to make the Badarak a sensory experience for children through music as well as to fully hear, see, smell and feel the service, resulting in the “total experience.”

“The connection you feel to the church when you finally realize what you’re saying gives a whole new feeling of worship in church and this is what we want for the children,” said Nvair. “We want them to feel at home.”

Soon after Nvair and Andrea started teaching their sing-a-longs to students on Sunday mornings, they saw the effects of their collective hard work. On a visit to the United States, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, paid a visit to St. Leon’s and the children confidently and enthusiastically performed for him, despite the fact that the majority of the students did not come from an Armenian-speaking background.

“When we heard the children sing in Armenian, that’s when we said to ourselves, these kids can do this,” said Andrea. “We saw how well the kids grasped the songs as long as we provided them with translations.”

And it wasn’t only the children who benefited from the Sunday morning sing-a-longs. Parents and grandparents started filing in during the first period of Sunday School, eager to learn as well.

“I firmly believe that developing one’s Christian faith is a process and there are steps,” said Andrea. “This may help people to start the process.”

“We want to provide children & their families with tools to empower “krapar” (classical Armenian) to support and maintain our centuries-old Divine Liturgy. After experimenting with different methods, we found that through sharing translations, the younger generation found a relevant and contemporary connection to the Badarak. It has led them to embrace and own the “krapar” as their gift from the generations before them,” said Nvair. “When they attend Badarak we find they not only sing along with the choir in krapar, but understand what they are singing.”

With this album, the first of its kind, Nvair and Andrea’s mission is to spread the word of God to the Armenian youth through song and worship, and create a bridge between the celebrated past, to face the reality of the present and to build the foundation of the future.

“From an educational perspective Nvair and Andrea have taken the right step in making an impact in an environment of Diasporan panic where there is much talk and little knowledgeable action about our concern for losing our identity and spirituality,” said Artoun Hamalian, the AGBU Director of Education, who noted the importance of the educational booklet that accompanies the CD. “Parents who will take the time to read and understand what it takes to cultivate children’s spirits may have a revelation and will appreciate how precious two products of the mutation of the right circumstances Nvair and Andrea are.”

Seven energetic youngsters who have a close connection to their faith and culture are featured on the album as members of the HYEfamily’s Children’s Chorus. The album, consisting of the hymns Hayr Mer/Our Father, Hamenaynee/In All Things, Soorp, Soorp/Holy, Holy, Marmeen Deroonagan/The Body Of The Lord, Kreesdos Ee Mech/Christ In Our Midst, Amen Yegheetsee/Blessed Be and Ohrnetseets Uz Der/I Will Praise The Lord, are sung in both English and Armenian and liner notes included in the album explain when and why each of the hymns are sung during the Divine Liturgy. The vibrant singers, most of whom are students of the St. Leon Armenian Sunday School, and whose ages range from four to ten years old, include Sophia Ashbahian, Victoria Ashbahian, Alexa Siran Farah, Liana Sarine Farah, Arpineh Halajian, Devan Vartan Regas, and Nickolas Ara Regas.

“The songs are beautifully sung and professionally accompanied and the translated versions are stupendous,” said Elise Antreassian, coordinator of Christian Education at the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern). “Every Armenian who loves God and loves the church and loves the younger generation, should own a copy and give a few as gifts.”

Nvair, who has recorded albums for Armenian children through her HYEfamily song series, which includes the award-winning CDs 2Mayrer, Donadzar and Ari Mer Doon, understood the significance of the children to partake in the recordings and to give them the chance to showcase what they learn in Sunday School on a weekly basis.

“What better way to convey the message than having kids teach kids,” said Nvair, who is the lead vocalist on the CD. “These children have found such joy and there is no way I myself can recreate that.”

The parents of the children involved in the We Sing Armenian Church Songs album, are equally delighted at their children’s participation in such a meaningful project.

“My daughters wanted to be involved because they love music and singing and enjoyed being able to tie that in with their heritage,” said Toleen Farah, mother of Alexa and Liana. “This will be the best gift for their grandparents.”

“It’s a great learning tool for the children,” said Daniella Ashbahian, whose daughters Sophia and Victoria participated in the recordings. “Especially to have the opportunity to learn from other children.”

We Sing Armenian Church Songs is an educational resource for families and teachers who can teach the Divine Liturgy to children seven days of the week. In particular, it serves those who live far away from an Armenian Church and are only able to attend a handful of times a year. The album allows them to feel familiar with the music of the Armenian Church and what to expect when they attend a service.

“Serving a parish which just celebrated its 100th anniversary with members into the 5th generation and faces the challenges of assimilation, I was overjoyed to see the release of We Sing Armenian Church Songs,” said Father Shnork Souin, pastor of the Sts. Sahag & Mesrob Armenian Church in Providence, Rhode Island. “The simple, clear and catchy music will be guaranteed to help Armenian churches throughout North America excite the children and help teach them the profound meaning of the Holy Badarak.”

“So many have sacrificed so much for these “krapar” words to continue to exist and we should honor the memory of our ancestors not only through survival but by supporting the next generation and teaching them to learn and understand these words so it stays alive,” said Nvair.

The album has already been met with great fanfare and praise, not only by Armenian clergy, educators and Armenian-American families, but also by professional musicians who appreciate the recordings and the foresight behind it.

“Once again Nvair has understood that the continuation of our culture and faith depends upon our youth’s involvement,” said Dinkjian, a renowned musician who arranged Kreesdos Ee Mech/Christ In Our Midst and played the guitar, lafta and oud on the track with a solo accompaniment from Nvair. “We Sing Armenian Church Songs presents our Armenian youth singing Armenian sacred music, for the first time in Armenian and English. For my ears, there is very little which is more pure, innocent, and sincere as a child’s voice.”

In addition to the We Sing Armenian Church Songs album, Nvair and Andrea are scheduled to make interactive educational presentations to Sunday Schools across the Eastern Diocese as well as to Armenian communities throughout the country. Their first presentation was held in their home parish during the St. Leon Food & Arts Festival in Fair Lawn, NJ last month. For upcoming appearances and to purchase a CD, please check the HYEfamily website www.hyefamily.com. The album can also be purchased through www.amazon.com, www.cdbaby.com, www.ArmenianVendor.com and can be downloaded on iTunes.

“The church hymns sound so much more beautiful with the angelic children’s voices,” said Dr. Vartan Abdo, Director of the Armenian Radio Hour of New Jersey. “After a century of recuperating, we are moving forward with new voices and discovering the beauty that has remained dormant.”

Reflecting on the achievements of their Sunday School students, Nvair and Andrea want other churches to have the same experience as theirs so they too can experience the joy of worship and love of church by digging more deeply into the lyrics and the meanings of the hymns.

“We want to impart and share with other communities what we have learned and experienced over the last ten years,” said Nvair. “We know that with great blessings come responsibility.”

Captions:

1- Joseph Halajian, recording engineer of the album with his daughter, Arpineh who is a member of the HYEfamily Children’s Chorus.

2- Joseph Halajian with Sophia Ashbahian in the recording studio

3 – Victoria Ashbahian singing the Hayr Mer (Our Father)

4 – Members of the HYEfamily Children’s Chorus, from left: Alexa Siran Farah, Sophia Ashbahian, Nickolas Ara Regas; Bottom l to r: Victoria Ashbahian, Liana Sarine Farah, Devan Vartan Regas

5 – Nvair rehearsing with the HYEfamily Children’s Chorus

6 – Nvair in the recording studio

7 – Taylor Carden in the recording studio

8 – Nickolas Ara Regas in the recording studio

9 – Devan Vartan Regas in the recording studio

10 – Lucine Beylerian in the recording studio

11 – Liana Sarine Farah in the recording studio

12 – Alexa Siran Farah in the recording studio

New Album “We Sing Armenian Church Songs” Opens Hearts and Minds, Looks Toward Future Generations