An Appeal to Support Syrian Armenians

GLENDALE — For the past two years, Syria and our Armenian community in Syria have been going through a crisis; our once self-sufficient and prosperous community has been thrust into such a disastrous situation, that our people have become in need of basic necessities.

From the early days of the crisis, the Armenian community in the Western U.S.A. united efforts to collectively provide moral and financial support to meet the needs of our young and old bothers and sisters in Syria. The greater community united under the auspices of the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund (SARF) and the accomplishments of the past year attest to the extent of our community members’ care and compassion.

Despite calls for peaceful resolution of the crisis, the situation in Syria is not improving, on the contrary, it is under risk of further deterioration. The Syrian people, including Armenians, are subjected to further threats and innocent civilians and their neighborhoods are being victimized with violence, which trample over every law and principle, that guides humanity.

Just as during the beginning of the crisis, also today, the people of the Western U.S.A., along with the rest of the Armenian people worldwide, stand in solidarity of the suffering people of Syria, including the Armenian residents.

We appeal to our compatriots to make tangible expressions of their solidarity by contributing to SARF and raising funds to help alleviate the suffering of our brothers and sisters and heal their wounds.

We also invite our community to participate in prayers for their safety on Prayer Day, Sunday, September 15, 2013, at all of our churches.

We are still hopeful and we believe that this crisis will be over and the people of Syria will find peace.

Syrian Armenian Relief Fund

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The following churches, charities and organizations came together to form the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund in August 2012: Armenian Catholic Eparchy in North America; Armenian Evangelical Union of North America; Western Diocese of the Armenian Church; Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America; Armenian General Benevolent Union; Armenian Missionary Association of America; Armenian Relief Society of Western U.S.A.; Armenian Democratic Liberal Party; Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Western U.S.A.; and Social Democrat Hunchakian Party-Western U.S.A. The web site address follows: www.SyrianArmenianReliefFund.org. Mailing address: Syrian Armenian Relief Fund, P.O. Box 1948, Glendale, CA 91209-1948.

An Appeal to Support Syrian Armenians

President Sarkisian: Karabakh Will Not Return to the Prison Cell of a Medieval Khanate

YEREVAN — President Serzh Sarkisian branded Azerbaijan a “medieval khanate” ruled by dictators on Monday as he celebrated the 22nd anniversary of Nagorno-Karabakh’s declaration of independence from Baku.

Sarkisian also accused the Azerbaijani leadership of pursuing a policy of “anti-Armenian fascism” in a written statement issued on the occasion.

In the address president Sarkisian stated: “The indigenous people of Artsakh made their historic choice. The right to make a choice is sacred and the fact of self-determination is indisputable. The people of Republic of Nagorno Karabakh defended their freedom and secured it through the heaviest losses in the brutal war. The people of Artsakh voted for their freedom not only at the national referendum but through the national self-defense. The Artsakhians said “Yes” to freedom and independence, and they said “No” to violence and carnage.”

“Today, on this great day the Armenians all over the world together with you say “Yes.” “Yes” to democracy and universal human values, “No” to anti-Armenian fascism and whims of dictators. Today, on this great day we state that the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh as a mature state continues to develop comprehensively. Peaceful toil and creative work of the people of Nagorno Karabakh have already cardinally and positively changed its image. There are some countries in this world which are officially recognized by the international community but would dream of having internal orderliness and stability of Artsakh, its level of democracy and political freedoms. And all this despite the fact that the people of Artsakh are compelled to use only one hand for work, because the other still has to hold weapon.”

“Certainly, there is still much to be done, serious problems still exist ranging from everyday life problems to political and military issues. However one thing is clear for us all: there is no return to the prison cell of a medieval khanate.

“Long Live Free Artsakh – the Armenian bulwark and the symbol of victorious justice!”

Azerbaijan was quick to condemn Serzh Sarkisian’s statement. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman, Elman Abdullayev, called it a “vivid example of attempts to justify Armenia’s militarist policy.” “As a result of that so-called ‘defense of freedom’ more than a million Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons were subjected to bloody ethnic cleansing and expelled from their historical lands,” Abdullayev told the Trend news agency.

Sarkisian made the scathing reference to Azerbaijan and “whims of dictators” in Baku just two weeks after declaring that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s victory in an upcoming presidential election would be good for the Armenian side. He said it could also bode well for a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh dispute. A top aide to Aliyev denounced this purported endorsement as “absurd” and “false.”

Karabakh marks Republic Day

September 2 is marked in Nagorno-Karabakh as Republic Day. On that day in 1991 Nagorno-Karabakh’s elected legislative body declared about the establishment of the Artsakh Republic.

In his congratulatory address to the people today Karabakh President Bako Sahakyan described the day as a “magnificent state holiday, which we traditionally celebrate with deep pride and responsibility.”

“We take pride in the heroic people who gained freedom and independence through the blood of their brave sons and nowadays keep carving their own future. We feel responsibility for strengthening the statehood created through great sacrifices, developing the native land, and leaving a strong and prosperous homeland for the generations to come,” said Sahakyan, according to his press service.

“We are full of determination and perseverance to solve together all these issues successfully, to settle them with daily painstaking work, with the active support of our sisters and brothers from Armenia and the Diaspora,” he added.

The anniversary ceremonies were attended by Armenia’s Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian. Karen Mirzoyan, the foreign minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, said the international community will eventually recognize territory’s de facto independence. “I have no doubts about that,” Mirzoyan told reporters in Stepanakert.

President Sarkisian: Karabakh Will Not Return to the Prison Cell of a Medieval Khanate

Yerevan Expects Further Exodus from Syria as Ethnic Armenians Brace For Missile Strikes

YEREVAN — More Armenians will likely flee Syria in the coming weeks and Armenia must be prepared for accommodating many of them, Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian said over the weekend.

As the United States and its allies lay plans for what many believe will be a sustained missile strike inside Syria, the sizable ethnic Armenian community in that country is bracing for the worst.

“We can see that a big out-migration from Aleppo will take place. Obviously we have to be prepared for a turn of events that will force us to be able to receive Syrian Armenians,” the Prime Minister said at a meeting with university students in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Sarkisian made the comment in response to a question about repercussions of widely anticipated of U.S. military strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

According to immigration authorities in Yerevan, around 10,000 Syrian Armenians have already taken refuge in their ancestral homeland since the start of the civil war in Syria more than two years ago. Thousands of others have fled to neighboring Lebanon.

There were an estimated 80,000 ethnic Armenians in Syria before the outbreak of the bloody conflict. Most of them lived in Aleppo, the country’s largest city that has become one of the epicenters of fierce fighting between Syrian government troops and rebels.

Sarkisian told students in Stepanakert that he has discussed the matter with Karabakh Armenian leaders. He did not elaborate.

The Karabakh government has repeatedly expressed readiness to take in Syrian Armenians. Several dozen Syrian Armenian families have already settled in Karabakh and other Armenian-controlled territories surrounding it.

While facilitating Syrian Armenian immigration with a range of mostly administrative measures, the Armenian government has so far refrained from urging the embattled community to leave Syria. Nor has it announced any contingency plans for the evacuation of Armenians remaining there.

Nikolay Grigorian, the deputy director of the Armenian Rescue Service, said on August 28 that his agency will try to evacuate them in case of a “political decision” by the government.

Several Armenians in Aleppo interviewed RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) by phone last week said that fleeing the city is now extremely difficult and dangerous because all the roads are blocked by the warring sides. Regular flights between Syria and Armenia were halted in January as fighting in and around Aleppo intensified.

Yerevan Expects Further Exodus from Syria as Ethnic Armenians Brace For Missile Strikes

Armenia Claims Upsurge In Arms Acquisitions

STEPANAKERT — Armenia reported on Monday a dramatic increase in its arms acquisitions in the last few years, saying that they have offset Azerbaijan’s continuing massive military buildup.

“In the last three years we have acquired as much weaponry as we did in the previous 20 years,” Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian said during a visit to an army unit in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“In that sense, rest assured that we will never allow the military balance to be disrupted. We will maintain that balance,” he told soldiers serving there, in remarks posted on the Armenian government’s website.

Sarkisian gave few details of those acquisitions. He said only, in an apparent reference to Russia, that “strategic partners” are helping Armenia to stay in the arms race with oil-rich Azerbaijan within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

There have been other indications of late that Russian arms supplies to Armenia, mostly carried out free of charge, have intensified in recent. An Armenian pro-government parliamentarian claimed in May that as many as 120 planeloads of Russian weapons have been transported to Armenia over the past year alone.

The commander of Karabakh’s armed forces, General Movses Hakobian, likewise spoke of large-scale arms acquisitions in late July. Hakobian said the arms deliveries have been so extensive that the Karabakh military has difficulty storing the new weapons and plans to build a new arms depot for that purpose.

In particular, the Karabakh Armenians are known to have created a new tank brigade last year. Some defense analysts in Yerevan believe that it is armed with around 100 tanks.

Azerbaijan reportedly began receiving in June a similar number of tanks as well as many other Russian-made offensive weapons worth an estimated $1 billion. President Ilham Aliyev said last month that “the volume of military-technical cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan is measured at $4 billion and it tends to grow further.” According to the Moscow daily “Vedomosti,” the figure cited by Aliyev is “the sum of all contracts concluded and partly executed since 2010.”a

Armenia Claims Upsurge In Arms Acquisitions

Green Armenia Walkathon

GLENDALE — An awareness-building and fundraising walkathon, Green Armenia’s first, will take place on September 22 at 1:00 pm.

Participants will gather at Glendale’s City Hall, then proceed to Verdugo Park (in Glendale) to join the celebration of Armenia’s 22nd Independence Day.

This event is intended to raise awareness in our community of the dire environmental issues that confront the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh. Information will be available at Green Armenia’s booth at the celebration.

Mining has been chosen by the government of the Republic of Armenia as a path to economic development. Yet, it is being practiced in a very destructive, exploitative fashion. We hope to remedy this problem by supporting projects that promote wise stewardship and sustainable use of the country’s natural resources. The objective is not simply to stop all mining, but to provide alternatives and make sure any mining is done in a safe and economically beneficial way.

In addition to focusing attention on the mining problems at hand, our walkathon will serve as a fundraising vehicle to provide the resources needed to make improvements in our homeland. As with all walkathons, participants will seek the sponsorship of their friends and relatives. Anyone interested can join the effort. Simply go to the website, write the organizers at info@greenarmenia.net, or just show up at the event.

“Our efforts are starting to get traction already. Green Armenia is receiving requests for support from our compatriots in the homeland for alternative economic development projects—such as beekeeping, activist efforts to build awareness in the affected areas, and even for doing the nitty-gritty legal work that can help prevent the worst abuses,” observed Alfred Eisaian, one of the organizations founders. “People’s support and participation in Los Angeles translates into greater success in Armenia.

Green Armenia is committed to raising awareness and providing scientific expertise related to environmental issues in the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh. Green Armenia is part of the Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America (AESA), which is a nonprofit 501(c)(3). AESA was established in 1983 and it is based in Glendale, CA with chapters in other major cities. AESA is a non-partisan and non-sectarian philanthropic organization focused primarily on addressing the professional, technical, and scientific issues.

Green Armenia Walkathon

Magical Mkhitaryan Scores Two Golas in Dortmund Victory

FRANKFURT — Borussia Dortmund knocked Bayern Munich off top spot in the Bundesliga on Sunday as new signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored both goals in their 2-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.

The 24-year-old attacking midfielder proved why Dortmund paid Shakhtar Donetsk 27.5 million euros ($36.3m) for him with his first two league goals on only his third Bundesliga appearance.

The Armenian international opened the scoring when Poland winger Jakub Blaszczykowski slipped the ball in behind the Frankfurt defence and Mkhitaryan calmly slid home the through ball past goalkeeper Trapp.

Frankfurt equalised when Stefan Aigner’s bullet-header slammed off the post and Czech striker Vaclav Kadlec rifled home the rebound on 36 minutes for his first Bundesliga goal.

Mkhitaryan fired Dortmund ahead with his second goal of the match 10 minutes into the second half with an excellent finish.

The attacking midfielder cut in from the right before dribbling along the edge of the penalty area and striking powerfully past Trapp.

The victory sent Dortmund to the top of the Bundesliga as they maintained their 100 per cent record.

Magical Mkhitaryan Scores Two Golas in Dortmund Victory

August 31st: William Saroyan’s 105th Birth Anniversary

Saturday was the 105th birth anniversary of great American Armenian writer William Saroyan.

William Saroyan was born on August 31, 1908 in Fresno, California to Armenak and Takoohi Saroyan, Armenian immigrants from Bitlis, Ottoman Empire. His father came to New York in 1905 and started preaching in Armenian Apostolic Churches.

At the age of three, after his father’s death, Saroyan, along with his brother and sister, was placed in an orphanage in Oakland, California. Five years later, the family reunited in Fresno.

The statue of William Saroyan in Yerevan

Saroyan decided to become a writer after his mother showed him some of his father’s writings. A few of his early short articles were published in Overland Monthly. His first stories appeared in the 1930s.

Among these was “The Broken Wheel”, written under the name Sirak Goryan and published in the Armenian journal Hairenik in 1933. Many of Saroyan’s stories were based on his childhood experiences among the Armenian-American fruit growers of the San Joaquin Valley or dealt with the rootlessness of the immigrant. The short story collection My Name is Aram (1940), an international bestseller, was about a young boy and the colorful characters of his immigrant family. It has been translated into many languages.

As a writer, Saroyan made his breakthrough in Story magazine with The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), the title taken from the nineteenth century song of the same title. The protagonist is a young, starving writer who tries to survive in a Depression-ridden societ

Saroyan published essays and memoirs, in which he depicted the people he had met on travels in the Soviet Union and Europe, such as the playwright George Bernard Shaw, the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, and Charlie Chaplin. In 1952, Saroyan published The Bicycle Rider in Beverly Hills, the first of several volumes of memoirs.

Saroyan died in Fresno, of cancer at age 71. Half of his ashes were buried in California and the remainder in Armenia at Komitas Pantheon near film director Sergei Parajanov.

William Saroyan never forgot his national roots and as once stated: “he wrote in English, lived in the USA but always was Armenian in his heart”. He visited Bitlis, found and saw the house where his father was born and where his grandfathers lived.

William Saroyan visited Moscow 1935, where he met Charents. Wrote his portrait and in 1976-1978 visited Armenia.

Saroyan died in Fresno, of prostate cancer at age 71. His heart is buried with other Armenian artists and intellectuals at the Pantheon park in Yerevan near film director Sergei Parajanov.

August 31st: William Saroyan’s 105th Birth Anniversary