Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) joins Reps. Schiff and Sherman in Condemning Latest Azerbaijani Murder of Armenian Soldier Hrant Poghosyan

WASHINGTON—Members of Congress continue to express alarm at Azerbaijan’s most recent military attack across the Armenian border, which have made Armenian soldier Hrant Poghosyan Azerbaijan’s latest casualty, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev coincided with the Azerbaijani killing of soldier Hrant Poghosyan near the village of Berd in Armenia’s Davoush region.

The response, to date, from the Obama Administration and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, currently travelling in the Caucasus region, has been delayed, muted and off-target, limited only to generic references to border violence “undermin[ing] prospects for peace.”

“Our Administration, which is represented as a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, should be clear in condemning the murder of Hrant Poghosyan, breaking, as it must, from its pattern of pretend parity in response to each and every new Azerbaijani attack,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “The OSCE Minsk Group’s artificial even-handedness is inexcusable, and only emboldens Baku, which has made a cruel and dangerous habit of cross-border killings during visits by international mediators.”

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Central Valley Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA) noted that he was “appalled to learn of yet another murder of an Armenian soldier in an unprovoked attack by Azerbaijani troops against Armenian forces. This tragic bloodshed follows the Azerbaijani government’s heroic treatment of Ramil Safarov – the Azerbaijani military officer who savagely killed an Armenian solider. Azerbaijan, its military, and the perpetrator of this heinous crime must be held accountable for their actions and brought to justice.”

Costa’s comments follow statements issued earlier this week by the Congressmen Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) condemning the attack.

“Azerbaijan has yet again shown that it is not serious about establishing peaceful relations with Armenia and Artsakh. Despite the request for a ceasefire during the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Azeri forces have killed an Armenian solider, Hrant Poghosyan. The shooting was unprovoked and Armenian forces have respected the request for a ceasefire,” explained Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA)

Rep. Schiff echoed those concerns and called attention to Azerbaijan’s ongoing use of violence to resolve the Karbakah conflict. “One need only look at the sick display of adulation that greeted Ramil Safarov—the Azerbaijani military officer who beheaded an Armenian colleague during a NATO Partnership for Peace exercise—to see how the Azeri government has glorified this violence. Rather than prison, Safarov was paraded through the streets and given a new house and a promotion. Baku’s newest murderer will not be brought to justice until the international community insists on an end to these atrocities.”

On December 19th, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs issued a press release referencing, in general terms, the border violence that led to Poghosyan’s murder. According to the release, “the Co-Chairs noted that recent violence on the border undermines prospects for peace. They encouraged the sides to refrain from further actions that could increase tensions, and to work to maintain an atmosphere conducive to progress at the negotiating table.” The complete press release is available at: http://www.osce.org/mg/109865

On December 15th, Armenian soldier Hrant Poghosyan was shot by Azerbaijani snipers while serving at defensive positions near his home town of Berd, located in the Tavoush region. The killing coincided with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs visit with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

As we approach 2015, the 100th anniversary of the annihilation of the Armenian presence from their homeland of 4,000 years, we see major activities being planned by both Turkey and Armenians.

When Turkish acquaintances ask me what Armenians, especially the “evil diaspora,” are planning to do in 2015, I say they are planning programs to assert the historical facts about the vanishing of Armenians from Anatolia in 1915. Then I turn around with a question of my own: “What are the Turks doing?” Their short answer is that the Turks will continue to dismiss the “misinformation’’ that the Armenians are disseminating.

Thus, the Armenians in Armenia and the diaspora are redoubling their efforts to have the genocide recognized worldwide, while the Turks are continuing to pour more money and resources into their official denialist policy both within and outside Turkey. In an attempt to divert global attention from the genocide commemoration, Turkey has decided to promote the 100th anniversary of the World War I Gallipoli campaign, to be showcased as an historic event through government-supported activities worldwide and hailed as the “heroic resistance of the Turkish forces against the onslaught of the imperialistic powers at the Dardanelles Strait.”

One can easily deduce from these opposing strategies and efforts that the main stumbling block for Turkey and Armenia, as neighbors, in normalizing their relationship and the reconciliation of their respective civil societies is the divergence of both the interpretation and understanding of their shared history. The result is an impasse. By this time next year, I doubt there will be much change and the impasse will go on. The issue will continue to be treated as a political match, with points scored for Turkey if Obama continues saying “Medz Yeghern,” and points for Armenia if he says “Genocide.”

There are geopolitical, military, and economic reasons for the status quo to continue. Armenia may not be influential enough to overcome any of these reasons at present. Be that as it may, I believe Armenians can be more effective if they re-channel their resources, which are extremely limited in comparison to Turkey, in this struggle.

I see two main areas when Armenians can make some headway on this issue. In my humble opinion, neither one is addressed properly by Armenia and Armenians.

The first target in dealing with the genocide issue is the academic field, which is supposed to arrive at indisputable historic facts after thorough and objective research of a multitude of state archives, documents, communication records, and oral history findings. The struggle in this field regarding the Armenian Genocide can best be summarized as forces of truth versus money and power. On one side there is truth, defended by almost all of the international academia; on the other side, there is the falsification of truth by a handful of scholars generously rewarded with funds provided by the Turkish state.

The second target in dealing with the genocide issue is the general population of Turkey, with the objective of conveying to them the historical truth of 1915 and its consequences, which are still felt today. This truth is best served when delivered to the people of Turkey in Turkish, based on archival material and historic facts—from the 1880′s to 1922—directly from Turkish sources and their allies, including the factual consequences of the ongoing cover-up and denial by the state.

Academically, the only organization that spearheads and organizes objective research by independent scholars on this topic is the Zoryan Institute with its subsidiary, the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. For the past 30-plus years, it has provided the highest standards of scholarship and objectivity in undertaking multi-disciplinary research and analysis. This includes documentation, lectures, conferences, and publications in seven languages related to human rights and genocide studies. The publications include more than 40 books, some of which are in several languages, and 2 major periodicals, with one dealing with genocide studies and the other the diaspora.

In addition, the Zoryan Institute provides research assistance to scholars, writers, journalists, filmmakers, government agencies, and other organizations. When Zoryan published Wolfgang Gust’s The Armenian Genocide 1915/16: Documents from the Diplomatic Archives of the German Office in German, English, and Turkish, prominent Turkish journalist Mehmet Ali Birand could only reflect: “When you read and study these documents, even if this is your first venture into this subject, there is no way you will deny the genocide and disagree with the Armenians.”

Even though the Turkish state defines Zoryan as a “propaganda center,” several scholars from Turkey have attended the Genocide and Human Rights University Program run by the Zoryan Institute at the University of Toronto, and many of them have become outspoken advocates of historic truth within Turkey and the rest of the world.

To best describe Zoryan’s contribution to scholarship is to quote from the “plea” made by the International Scholars of Genocide and Human Rights Studies last year in support of Zoryan’s fundraising activities: “For the past 30 years, the Institute has maintained an ambitious program to collect archival documentation, conduct original research, and publish books and periodicals. It also conducts university-level educational programs in the field of genocide and human rights studies, taking a comparative and interdisciplinary approach in its examination of the Jewish Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, and the Rwandan Genocide, among others, using the Armenian Genocide as a point of reference. In the process, using the highest academic standards, the Institute has strived to understand the phenomenon of genocide, establish the incontestable, historical truth of the Armenian Genocide, and raise awareness of it among academics and opinion-makers. In the face of the continuing problem of genocide in the 21^st century, the Institute is to be commended for its service to the academic community and is recognized by scholars for providing leadership and a support structure in promoting the cause of universal human rights and the prevention of genocide.”

Despite its herculean efforts and outstanding results, the Zoryan Institute receives no appreciable financial support or acknowledgment from major Armenian organizations or the state. The institute is supported entirely by private donations. Against it, there exists the full power and unlimited funds of the Turkish state, and more recently the Azerbaijan state, which attempts to lure scholars to rewrite history. As a result, the Turkish State Historic Society reduces the number of 1915 Armenian victims with every new publication; at last count, a few thousand Armenians died of illness and hunger, while the number of Turkish victims of “genocide” perpetrated by the Armenians increases every year and is now more than two million. By the same strategy, the number of Azeri dead in the Khojalu “genocide” keeps increasing with every publication.

Dialogue between two conflicting parties can be meaningful only after both are aware of the truth and the facts. Even though the Turkish state has not allowed the truth to come out until recently, there are now clear signs that the taboos about 1915 are finally being broken and that there is an emerging “common body of knowledge” among Turkish citizens and, more importantly, among the opinion makers. Zoryan contributed immensely to the development of this “common body of knowledge” through conferences, seminars, and the books it helped publish by such authors as Yair Auron, Taner Akcam, Wolfgang Gust, Roger Smith, Vahakn Dadrian, and Rifat Bali.

Given all this, I strongly urge Armenians to support the Zoryan Institute so that it can continue to develop the common body of knowledge to be shared by Armenians and Turks. Hopefully, shared history will help these neighboring peoples reconcile with their pasts, and such reconciliation will help secure a future for generations to come.

I will elaborate on the second target—the population of Turkey—and its challenges in a separate article.

Special to the Armenian Weekly

Crossing over the Kievyan Bridge in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, you take a right turn onto Halabyan Street where once the expansive Tumanyan Park spread out on the right side of the road—and now is a manicured, professionally landscaped park sporting modern, colorful playgrounds, sports fields and courts and benches that cater to the surrounding populace. And beyond the park, set on a hill, sits a massive structure. Engraved across the front of the building in both Armenian and English letters it reads: Tumo Center for Creative Technologies.

TUMO News team working on their assignments during the workshop.

I was arriving here to give a three-week long workshop on PR, Marketing and Social Media and news writing—with a vision to create the foundation for Tumo News, a multi-media, student-designed, written, edited, published and promoted publication. I hoped to train a group of ambassadors who via social media, the Internet, writing and multi-media talents could reach their peers in Armenia and beyond to spread the word about the offerings and events at the oasis upon the hill. But I had no idea if my vision would be realized or fall flat.

Having been a witness and part of Armenia’s evolving history and political systems since the mid-1980s as cross-cultural organizer (for Cambridge and Yerevan sister city program), my multiple visits to Armenia have given me front seat views of the epochs of Communism, Glasnost and Perestroika, democratic developments, the Karabakh war, the tragic earthquake, and the rise to independence. I’ve experienced the perfect mix of simultaneous political and economic chaos and progress—especially after having lived in Armenia in 1992 at the height of the Karabakh war and the Azeri blockade, remembering too well the dark period when frost bitten extremities were the norm, food was a luxury to hunger for, and hope fulfilled our appetites for life.

Now I was to spend three weeks with a group of young men and women born into an independent Republic of Armenia with no experience or memory of those cold days of 1992.

TUMO News reporter, Lusineh Torossyan and photographer Gor Mkhitaryan interviewing Serouj Aprahamian before his breakdancing workshop.

Tumo, where teenagers study video game design, animation, web development and filmmaking, is unlike anything else in Armenia today. The Tumo staff of 120 is a core group of young, IT savvy professionals—bright, enthusiastic, multi-lingual and well versed in the latest technologies. Armed with a swipe card that allows you access to elevators, doors, offices, and basically in and out of the Center, I was escorted for a complete tour of the Center by Tania Sahakian (workshop coordinator) and assigned a workshop class on the first floor. My two workshop assistants (and much needed translators when lost for Armenian translations) Nare Ter-Gabrielyan and Nayiry Ghazarian are part of a group of 25 full and part-time coaches working with and assisting students.

As I watched from the tall windows onto the sprawling, geometrically designed Tumo Park and the front entrance of the Center, the first session (3:30-5:30pm) students began to arrive: spilling out of taxi vans, private cars, public transport and streaming toward the Center’s front entrance. Then, at exactly 3:30, hundreds of ID cards swiped through the slots as a sea of children, like flood gates lifted, rushed to take possession of Tumobiles, the individualized, mobile computer stations, connected to the data and network via modern spiraling wires that reach high to the ceilings. New students are introduced to Tumo World a special learning interface that prepares them for hands-on experience. By earning points on their activities, the students can then move up to other activities and workshops, as well as gain free-play and access to unstructured playrooms and equipment. Tumobiles, exclusively designed for Tumo by the well-known architect Bernard Khoury, whose designs also adorn the modern interior architecture, are unique.

Now on its third year of operations, Tumo is a phenomenon of an unyielding reality amidst much uncertainty that has plagued this ancient land. Tumo seals the drainage of serious brain-drain in today’s Armenia by offering high-quality education, professional training and apprenticeship opportunities to help reverse the catastrophic levels of emigration. Tumo’s offerings empower Armenia’s youth with the best technology and multi-media training from local and world-renowned experts for an unprecedented apprenticeship to engage with, absorb and learn. Where else would Armenia’s youth have an opportunity to personally interview a Google executive? Learn from animation master, Pixar’s Katherine Sarafian, or bring to life one-act plays as the culmination of a workshop led by stage professional Ani Nina Oganyan? And choose from countless other workshops (up to 20 per month offered to over 5,000 students)?

TUMO News team group photo

Tumo is much more than an “after-school experience.” It’s an opportunity for Armenia’s new generation to seize knowledge from field experts with hands-on, active involvement and to pave their own path to success. Spread over 65,000 square foot on the first two floors of the modern building, Tumo offers nearly 500 computers, 100 iPads, numerous multi-media equipped labs for workshop classes and other equipment available to the students and the staff—along with an affordably priced, modern cafeteria offering freshly baked goods and refreshments, all for a one-time charge of 10,000 Drams ($25), returned to the families when the student completes or exits the program. Tumo is an equalizer of opportunities for success for Armenia’s “haves and the have nots.” With a branch site already operational in Dilijan through funding from the Central Bank, Tumo is set to open a similar center in Stepanakert with the support of AGBU, and hopes to open smaller scale centers in cities like Goris and Gyumri.

The brainchild of Sam and Sylva Simonian, Tumo is funded by the Simonian Educational Foundation, which also funds the geometrically designed and landscaped adjoining plaza and 40 acre Tumanyan Park. While the Simonians are actively involved in the infrastructure of the center, Marie Lou Papazian directs the day-to-day activities of the center while her husband, Pegor Papazian, a board member, is actively involved in planning and coordinating the center’s activities. Tumo’s impressive board of advisors includes such top professionals as Twitter’s VP of Engineering Raffi Krikorian, Pixar’s award-winning animator Katherine Sarafian, System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, academy award winning digital effects pro Roger Kupelian, and artist and social commentator Vahe Berberian.

Tumo News Workshop

As some 20 students filed into Tumo News workshop, I met their eager eyes and heard for the first time their names that I was to memorize for the coming weeks. I was putting names and faces together as the group had already created a Tumo News Facebook page prior to my arrival. There was an obvious eagerness to learn and put into action all that had been talked about to this point. So during our first session on social media I asked each student to create their own Twitter site and as I prepared to provide step-by-step instructions, a flood of new followers began following me on my Twitter. “What’s next,” they wanted to know. We then selected editors, reporters, design and layout and social media teams, videographers and photographers. Then the students offered a list of assignments: from select workshops, presentations, lectures and individuals to interview at Tumo. By the end of the week, the design team had already designed variations of the Tumo News logo which they presented to the whole team. The critique session and commentaries on the logo was nothing short of a group of professionals offering opinions. By the end of the first week I was astonished at the extent of achievement and work that had already taken place in five days.

As I reviewed interview techniques with the Tumo News Team, showed sample TV interviews, discussed article parts, writing styles and differences between PR, Marketing and Advertising, the levels of questions, discussions and grasp of new information was nothing short of that of a mature audience. With assistance from Tumo’s communications department, the Tumo News team set up social media sites, while the design team worked with Hayk Galstyan of the Tumo software development group to realize their logo and publication layout and design. And so by the third week the Tumo News team saw their work come to life—and thus set up the foundation for the future of a multi-media student eNewsletter and print publication where teens communicate with teens about Tumo events and offerings from their point of view.

As I left the Tumo News team, with whom I hope to be working long-distance in the coming months, I have no doubt that in the near future I will once again meet them either in person or virtually. But this time not as Tumo News workshop participants, but as Armenia’s thought leaders, professionals and trail blazers in their respective chosen fields. And while many may leave the borders to seek advanced training, they attest they endeavor to return to offer and pay back to their ancestral land which defines the context of their own identity. As army-bound Davit Balayan so proudly pronounced during an afternoon chat at the student cafeteria at Tumo:

“What’s been given and bestowed upon me by my forefathers—my cultural identity and traditions—is now my responsibility to preserve. If I leave Armenia for higher training, I will return to help elevate the professional levels of my people and my country. This is where I will always be.”

When in 1992 I boarded the plane to return to my comfortable home in the US, leaving behind an Armenia in darkness with half stump trees standing as silhouettes of ghosts in the stark streets of Yerevan, I wasn’t sure there would be an Armenia to return to.

This December 2013, leaving Armenia after having had the honor of spending three weeks with Tumo professionals and workshop participants, I have tears of elation knowing that the future of Armenia will be in the hands of the young professionals whose intellectual empowerment was made possible by that phenomenon upon the hill on 16 Halabyan Street where one student at a time a team of visionaries are building the future of an Armenia we will all be proud to be part of and live in.

In the words of singer/songwriter Arthur Meschian’s lyrics: “I believe that still the roots of our tree haven’t dried, and will give new shoots….and no matter how we lose ourselves in this world…. the melody of a familiar note, will always lead us back home.”

By Haig Der Manuelian

As of Christmas Eve, Santa Claus bestowed upon the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) its new name, “Armenian Museum of America, Inc.,” in recognition of its meteoric rise as a major museum. The important words “Armenian” and “America” remain in the title because our museum is for all and belongs to all. With this change, this institution will be known for its uniquely distinct role as the largest Armenian museum outside of Armenia. We will continue to enhance the holdings of our adjunct research library named for the late Mesrop Boyajian.

The Armenian Museum of America

In 1971, the Armenian Library and Museum of America, Inc. was formed with nothing but a dream. We were amazed at the spectacular 3,000-year Armenian culture, forged on an anvil of tragedy which, against all odds, our ancestors developed, nurtured, and protected despite countless invasions, ravages, and destruction by barbaric forces from all sides, and even despite the Armenian Genocide. Those of us involved then saw our mission to honor our ancestors and the victims of the genocide by creating a permanent, living memorial library and museum. At that time, we expected significant acquisitions mostly for our intended library, while hoping against hope for a modest number of artifacts. For that reason, when we decided on a name for our organization, the word “Library” preceded the word “Museum.”

Because we wanted our institution to belong to all, our fledgling organization was called the Armenian Library and Museum of America, instead of bearing the name of one or more major contributors. Eventually, we incorporated it as a non-profit organization qualified by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a public charity. First, however, we had the presence of mind to detour, partly from our ultimate mission, during our first few years, to focus on recording the oral histories of hundreds of survivors of the Armenian Genocide before they all left us.

In 1996, Dr. James Russell, the Mashdots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University, and a scholar of very high note, described ALMA’s collections: “Over all, it is perhaps the most important Armenian museum collection after the Armenian State Historical Museum in Yerevan and the collections of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem in Israel.” By then, our museum was a shining beacon and its holdings had multiplied beyond our wildest expectations: It included the major eclectic collections from the Bedoukian Families, numerous inscribed Armenian rugs from the late Arthur T. Gregorian, and Kutahya tiles from the Karabians, among so many other gifts generously donated to build our collections.

That was 17 years ago. Since 1996, our holdings have multiplied dramatically. Just in the past four years alone, we have acquired the Yousuf Karsh Collection of photographic portraiture, post-Soviet Armenian paintings from the famed Norton Dodge Collection, the Berj Garabedian Metal Arts Collection, the Almasian Family Map Collection, and numerous other accessions. Our holdings now exceed 20,000 objects and are buttressed and enhanced by our ever-growing Mesrop Boyajian Research Library, now with over 27,000 titles.

In addition, the museum has created various travel exhibits for display anywhere in the U.S. Our three major travel exhibits are “Who Are the Armenians,” the “Gamavor Exhibit,” and the “The Ongoing Armenian Genocide: Death, Denial & Desecration.” The Gamavor Exhibit is currently being translated and will be shown in France. We are proud that our travel Genocide Exhibit was shown primarily in various non-Armenian sites including an eight-month showing at the Virginia Holocaust Museum, the third largest such museum in the United States. The Holocaust Museum is now seeking to develop its own permanent Armenian Genocide exhibit.

Our Armenian Museum belongs to all of us, Armenian or not, because its realization is attributable to the tremendous support from so many in so many various ways.

We urge everyone to continue their support, whether financial or in the form of donations of artifacts or books, or volunteering, or in any other way.

Santa Claus will never forget us. Will you?

Haig Der Manuelian is chairman of the Board at the Armenian Library and Museum of America.

LONDON (A.W.)–On Sun., Dec. 8, Armenians in West London gathered at the Akhtamar dance studio for a Christmas Fair that showcased the talents of the troupe and raised funds for its future programs.

Photo by Raffi Youredjian

Photo by Raffi Youredjian

Photo by Raffi Youredjian

Photo by Raffi Youredjian

Photo by Raffi Youredjian

Photo by Raffi Youredjian

Photo by Raffi Youredjian

Akhtamar is the only Armenian dance group in London and was recently re-launched in April by one of its former dancers, Maral Baghdjian. Open to all age groups, it is now comprised of 30 dancers who practice for 2 hours every Sunday.

With more than 100 people in attendance, the dancers took centre stage and performed various dances before asking the audience to join in. Leading the group were passionate teachers Arsen and Garine Zakarian, formerly dancers with Yerevan’s leading dance troupe Pari Petakan.

The dance workshop, cake sale, and raffle made for an enjoyable evening celebrating Armenian culture and doing what Armenians enjoy most: Dancing and stuffing ourselves with pastries.

War. With the Republics of Mountainous Karabagh and Armenia. That’s what!

Azerbaijan Runs Out of Oil, Then What?

Here’s how and why.

By all accounts, Azerbaijan’s oil will run out, practically speaking, in a little more than a decade (most comprehensively explained in Alec Rasizadeh’s “Azerbaijan’s Chances in the Karabakh Conflict,” http://hir.harvard.edu/azerbaijans-chances-in-the-karabakh-conflict?page=0,1). This doesn’t mean there won’t be any oil left underground. It means that given how much oil remains, where it is, the equipment installed to extract it, and the expense of upgrading that equipment to be able to retrieve it, it will not be cost effective to get what remains.

Of course, new finds might be made, possibly some that are retrievable through fracking. Newer, better technology might come on line. The price of oil could go up, making it economical to invest more and go for hard-to-reach deposits. Regardless, the end of Azerbaijani oil is near. And the decline in production (which peaked in 2010) has begun. Take a look at the accompanying graph and table, which is not comprehensive, but shows various indicators of reduced oil production.

Azerbaijan also has natural gas reserves. Baku is now negotiating with the big, international companies to determine which one(s) will get the contracts. As part of these upcoming deals, the Azeris will also try to wangle improvements to the oil infrastructure they now have in place so that more of the remaining oil can be extracted. In all this Aliyev might overplay his hand (explained in an Oct. 12, 2012 Forbes article titled, “Is BP On Borrowed Time In Azerbaijan? Yes, But So Is Baku,” www.forbes.com/sites/matthewhulbert/2012/10/12/is-bp-on-borrowed-time-in-azerbaijan-yes-but-so-is-baku/). This will buy the thieving leaders of the country a few more years.

Eventually, though, the fossil fuels will run out. The billions of dollars pouring into the country will stop. So will the crooked leadership’s ability to pacify the populace through money. Then what will they do?

Of course, like all petty tyrants, forceful repression will ensue. Riots, beatings, civilian deaths will ratchet up the tension. What do leaders anywhere do in such cases? They will find or create a distraction. War with an external enemy tends to mute internal dissent. So Aliyev will attack Armenian positions, or try to provoke an Armenian assault so he has an excuse to “retaliate” and start the war he desperately needs.

There’s another reason that Azerbaijan would start a war at such a point in its oil/gas history. Already, the country’s budget deficit is set to increase from $880 million in 2012 to $2140 million in 2013. With the flood of money drying up, its ability to continue its weaponry-purchasing binge will end. Arms and munitions get old, replaced by better technology. So, Azerbaijan would have an incentive to use what it already has before obsolescence takes its toll.

The trick for Armenians will be to prevent that war from starting for a decade beyond when Aliyev would want to start it. By then, Azerbaijan will be in shambles and Aliyev booted out, or in such dire straits that he cannot afford to use his military resources against Armenians, because they’ll be tied up protecting the crooks in Baku and repressing the population at large.

How this can be achieved, through what diplomatic tricks or military muscle flexing, what carrot-and-stick inducements from the international community, I know not. But I do know that it behooves the appropriate government ministries in Yerevan, and Armenian advocacy groups in the diaspora, to start figuring it out. Otherwise, we’ll be paying in blood for our lack of foresight in preparation and planning.

Special to the Armenian Weekly

At the delicate age of 13, my grandfather started his first day of school at the local technical school in Sivas, Turkey. He and his friend Nishan, the only other Armenian in the school, sat side by side in the front row of the classroom. It was on the third or fourth day that the vice principal of the school abruptly showed up in the classroom and said, “Melkon and Nishan, please report to the principal’s office. Bring your backpacks and all of your belongings as well.”

Empty seats on a sidewalk in Mush. (Photo by Khatchig Mouradian)

They walked towards the principal’s door confused and frightened. Once they entered the office, the principal put out his cigarette and, without any hesitation, told them to sit down.

Then he began, “Unfortunately boys, there’s no more room in the school for you both. I’m afraid you need to find a new school.”

Not knowing what to say and with tears in their eyes, they both held their backpacks tight, refusing to let go, and begged, “Please, we will do anything to stay. We want to go to school. We want to learn.”

Their pleas were ignored and they were sent home.

My grandfather said the walk home that day was the longest walk of his life. They cried and cursed and cried some more. From that day on, after being refused from every other school they applied to, they never stepped foot inside a classroom again.

This was my grandfather’s story, but what about the others?

It turns out that all of his Armenian friends were also expelled from school. This was the case not only for the Armenians of Sivas, but of all the Armenians living in Anatolia. I have yet to meet an Anatolian Armenian, especially an elderly man, who received a full education. Almost all of them were forced out of school with the flimsiest of excuses.

My grandmother, who received exceptionally well grades, was expelled from school after students complained that she received better grades than them. Others, like my uncle, were expelled because they chose to be called by their Armenian names rather than their Turkish renditions. The excuses were always creative and ever so effective. It became obvious that their only fault was their Christian Armenian identity.

After the Armenian Genocide and in the first half of the 20th century, just a couple of dwindling Armenian communities remained in an ocean of a growing Islamic Turkish population. They were products of a destructive storm that had wrecked everything and abandoned what remained like scattered debris In Sivas alone, there were 46 schools prior to 1915; a couple of years later, they were all destroyed. Nevertheless, those who remained continued their struggle. They learned Armenian on their own and held their own church services secretly in their homes. The biggest hurdle for them, however, was systematic neglect.

As Armenians in Istanbul were becoming doctors and architects, their kinsmen in Anatolia weren’t even given the opportunity to learn to read and write. This disparity is something that has always intrigued me. Why were Armenians in Anatolia subject to scrutiny while those in Constantinople lived in relative comfort? Who set these boundaries? Which local governmental edict, if any, prevented Armenians from going to school in Anatolia? Better yet, who told the principal that my grandfather shouldn’t be going to school?

Answers to such questions are almost impossible to find. Nothing is written on paper and there were no formal declarations or documents that openly proclaimed that the education of the Anatolian Armenians should be circumvented. However, history can give us some clues.

We know that during the Ottoman era, the only national autonomous movements to have succeeded were those in the periphery of the Ottoman Empire. For example, Greece, Serbia, and Albania were located in the far-reaching parts of the Ottoman Empire, where life was already semi-autonomous in many ways. Armenia, on the other hand, did not enjoy that luxury. It was deeply embedded in the heartland of the empire. These geo-political circumstances forced the Ottoman government to adopt even harsher measures against the Armenians in order to protect the “heart” of the empire and restore the dignity of the Turkish people.

Even though the Ottoman Empire subsequently collapsed, the sociological consensus remained. Turks throughout Anatolia vehemently held the traditional values and customs that were instilled by their ancestors for centuries. Even with most Armenians gone, those who remained were still under the crossfire. An educated Anatolian Armenian could spell a recipe for disaster. Therefore, they not only had to remain uneducated, but become law-abiding Turks as well. It is no surprise that campaigns of Turkification were most prevalent and effective in Anatolia, where Turkifying the educational system was given a primary role.

There are thousands of cases of Armenian children being deprived of basic education and other basic rights. Although there are many studies on the effects and aftermath of the Armenian Genocide, I have yet to see a study concerning this matter, which I believe will shed more light on Armenian-Turkish relations.

I recently read an article about the village of Govdun in Sivas. After a brief summary of what happened in 1915 was provided, the article ended with this sentence: The “Armenian village life in Sebastia had come to a most tragic end.” Upon reading this, I thought that perhaps the problem also lies with Armenian researchers themselves. Many Armenians are consumed by the idea that everything ended in 1915. But, this type of reasoning greatly reduces the quality of research in the field and creates a moral and intellectual void. I posit that post-genocide Armenians lived harder lives than their ancestors in the Ottoman Empire, who enjoyed full access to schools, benefited from an independent Armenian press, and had numerous churches to attend. The ones after the genocide did not. They received nothing but neglect, including by Armenians throughout the world, who didn’t even know they existed.

This time period was and still is particularly devastating for my family and many other Anatolian Armenians. At a personal level, as the only person in my family to have graduated from a high school, I’ve always felt that the more educated I became, the more of a rift I created between myself and members of my family. The family dynamics in my family took a very serious blow and have entirely shifted. Their understanding of life was far different than mine. They are deeply entrenched in the idea that survival is of critical importance, whereas education can always come later.

Yet, as I learned, this was not their fault. They were the sons and daughters of people who suffered from severe neglect and systematic oppression. And the oppression of those days is still very much a part of my life today. As a family, our education, priorities, careers, and even our last names are all a remnant of this tainted past. Therefore, I always treated school as a place where I could recover what my family had lost over the past century. I felt as though, by stepping into a classroom, I could break this chain of oppression that kept my family hostage for so many years.

But what has been lost for some can never be fully recovered. Which makes me wonder what would have happened if these children were allowed to go to school. Just imagine how much more they could have contributed to the betterment of not only themselves and those around them, but the entire country as well. Armenians have always been instrumental in developing nations throughout the world. Following the genocide, Turkey was going through a massive restructuring project. The Armenians could, would, and should have been an instrumental tool in this process. Armenians, such as Agop Dilacar and Vahram Cerciyan, proved that they too could become helpful in building a new republic, even if it meant a nationalist one.

As for my grandfather, he laments those days daily. After being expelled, he began his long career as a carpenter at the age of 13. He, along with his family, moved to Istanbul so that his children won’t suffer the same fate he did. He continues his profession to this day, which involves making and repairing small wooden objects such as doors and tables. Although he has been working for decades, he nonetheless enjoys his job and is very content. In fact, at his current age of 86, he still wakes up every morning to go to his workshop. Yet, whenever I see him, he always repeats the same somber lines, “Oh, my son, if they only let me go to school, I wouldn’t be repairing these tables and doors, I would’ve studied and become an architect or an engineer!”

“It’s ok, Dede,” my response has always been. “I’m going to school for us both.”

Born in Paris to Armenians from Turkey, Garen Kazanc moved to Los Angeles at a young age, where he attended and graduated from the Armenian Mesrobian School in 2006. He received a B.S. degree in sociology from Cal State Los Angeles. He has been an active member of Hamazkayin and the Armenian Poetry Project.

YEREVAN (Asbarez)—The pro-government majority in the Armenian parliament ratified on Dec. 23 a highly controversial gas agreement with Russia in a vote which was denounced as invalid by Armenia’s leading opposition forces and sparked fresh street protests.

The deal, which critics consider a serious blow to Armenia’s sovereignty, was backed by 77 members of the 131-seat National Assembly mainly representing President Serge Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). Just before the vote, deputies from the three opposition parties represented in the assembly as well as the opposition-leaning Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) walked out of the main parliament auditorium in protest.

The pro-government lawmakers decided to vote by hand, instead of using the customary electronic voting system, after it emerged that some of them had their plastic magnetic cards taken away by one of their outspoken opposition colleagues, Zaruhi Postanjian of the Zharangutyun (Heritage) party.

The parliament minority leaders seized upon this fact to declare the vote null and void. In a joint statement, they cited the National Assembly’s statutes stipulating that if the electronic system is not used votes should be counted by a special parliamentary commission. They argued that the vote count was done instead by parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamian and his two deputies.

“The treaty has not been ratified,” read the statement signed by Postanjian, BHK’s Naira Zohrabian, Levon Zurabian, the parliamentary leader of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), and Armen Rustamian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

“The Russian Federation, the outside world must be aware that the agreement has not been ratified,” Nikol Pashinian, another opposition deputy not affiliated with any of these four parties, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

“If anybody transfers any assets of the Republic of Armenia to somebody else on the basis of this non-ratified agreement, we will deal with that somebody in a proper manner,” warned Pashinian.

The deal in question, which was signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to Armenia, formalizes the sale of the Armenian government’s 20 percent share in the domestic gas distribution network to Russia’s Gazprom monopoly. In return, Gazprom will write off a $300 million debt, which the government has incurred as a result of secretly subsidizing the price of Russian natural gas supplied to Armenia since 2011.

More important, the deal stipulates that the current and future Armenian governments cannot raise taxes or make any other changes in the regulatory environment for the Gazprom-owned network until January 2044. The Armenian side is also obliged to ensure that domestic gas tariffs in the country are high enough for Gazprom to recoup 9 percent of its capital investments in the network annually.

These unprecedented privileges have prompted vehement objections from opposition members and anti-government activists opposed to Armenia’s planned accession to a Russian-led customs union. Hundreds of them demonstrated outside the parliament building in Yerevan on Dec. 23.

By Anahid M. Ugurlayan

On Dec. 8, a sold-out crowd gathered at Almayass Restaurant in New York City for a fundraiser luncheon hosted by the Armenian Relief Society (ARS) New York “Mayr” Chapter. More than $5,000 was raised in support of the ARS’s “Warm Home” Program, which provides fuel to help Syrian-Armenian families heat their homes during the winter months.

A scene from the luncheon

Anais Tcholakian, the chapter chairperson, welcomed the guests and thanked them for supporting the Society’s ongoing relief efforts to Syria’s Armenians. She also thanked chapter members for organizing the luncheon; Voice of Armenians TV for their coverage of the luncheon; and Almayass’s owner, Varak Alexanian, its manager, Mario Arakelian, and the entire staff for their gracious hospitality and support of the ARS.

Guests observed a moment of silence in remembrance of the 25^th anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Armenia that claimed more than 25,000 victims, as well as in memory of His Eminence Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian, former Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America (Eastern), on the 10^th anniversary of his passing.

Vicken Tarpinian performs

Houri Geudelekian, a member of the “Mayr” Chapter and ARS UN Coordinator, talked about the ARS’s mission—since 1910—to serve the humanitarian, educational, and cultural needs of the Armenian people throughout the world and its work as a non-governmental organization (NGO) at the UN. She lauded members’ immediate response to relief efforts for the civil war in Syria, as well as victims for natural disasters worldwide, most recently the Typhoon Haiyan. She also noted that 10 percent of the luncheon proceeds would be donated to Typhoon Haiyan relief.

Following Geudelekian’s remarks, Rev. Fr. Mesrob Lakissian, pastor of St. Illuminator’s Armenian Apostolic Cathedral, delivered the invocation. He said he admired the work of the ARS and thanked attendees for their support of Syria’s Armenians.

More than $5,000 was raised in support of the ARS’s “Warm Home” Program.

Guests were regaled by a surprise performance by renowned singer Vicken Tarpinian, and danced to the latest Armenian music courtesy of DJ Khajag. No luncheon could be complete without a raffle, and this year’s raffle included many novelty items.

For more information about the ARS, visit www.ars1910.org.

GYUMRI, Armenia—Just prior to Christmas in 2012, the Poghosyan family’s makeshift home—commonly known as a “domik”—caught fire and burned down. Homeless and struggling from their loss, the parents and their six children moved into yet another domik. The Paros Foundation, through its “Purchase a Home” project—part of its 100 for 100 Projects for Prosperity—launched an effort to solve the Poghosyan family’s housing needs. In early December 2013, the family was presented with keys to their new apartment thanks to the generous sponsorship of California donors, who simply want to be referred to as Nejde and Lilit.

The Poghosyan family

“We first met the Poghosyan family during the implementation of our Gyumri Winter Rescue project in January 2013,” said Peter Abajian, the executive director of the Paros Foundation. “It was hard to imagine what this family had gone through, and we quickly committed to figuring out what we could do to help.”

Learning of the plight of the Poghosyan family and wanting to help, Nejde and Lilit committed to the necessary funds, and the search for a new apartment for the Poghosyan family began. Within several weeks, the transaction was complete and the family moved into their new apartment.

Throughout the process, the Paros Foundation’s Gyumri partner, Vahan Tumasyan, the executive director of the Shirak Center, worked closely with Paros’s Armenia-based staff and spearheaded the effort to identify and help relocate the family.

The Paros Foundation underwrote all administrative expenses to allow 100 percent of sponsor contributions to be allocated towards the purchase of the Poghosyan family’s home.

Today, almost 4,000 families in Gyumri—Armenia’s second largest city—still live in unsafe and extreme conditions, often taking shelter in dilapidated buildings and in the rusted remains of overseas shipping containers. Some, left homeless following the 1988 Spitak earthquake, and others, simple victims of extreme poverty, are left with little alternative than to live in these inhuman conditions.

The Paros Foundation and the Poghosyan family express their deepest appreciation to Nejde and Lilit for making this miracle happen. The Paros Foundation remains committed to helping alleviate this human suffering through its “Purchase a Home” project. To sponsor this or another Paros 100 for 100 project, visit www.parosfoundation.org. To view a short video of the Poghosyan family’s story, visit www.parosfoundation.org/purchaseahomeII.

Translated by Jennifer Manoukian

The following is a translation of an article by Srpouhi Dussap, published in August 1882.

Srpouhi Dussap (née Vahanian) was the first Armenian woman novelist and the first Armenian writer—male or female—to address the social struggles particular to Armenian women. Born in 1842 in Constantinople, Dussap came of age during a period of cultural reawakening for Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, during which women began to carve out a place for themselves in the public sphere. One of these pioneering women was Dussap’s mother, Nazli Vahan, a staunch advocate for women’s education and the founder of charitable and educational organizations to help Armenian girls.

Srpouhi Dussap

Nazli’s great concern for girls’ education drove her to give her own daughter an excellent education: Srpouhi was educated first at a local French school until the age of 10, and then at home with her older brother, who tutored her in French, Greek, Italian, classical literature, science, and history. In mid-19^th-century Constantinople, girls’ schools did not exist beyond the primary level, and it was common for girls from wealthy families to be taught by tutors. It was through her brother that young Srpouhi was introduced to contemporary European writers, namely to Romantic writers like Victor Hugo, Lord Byron, and George Sand, whose works would come to influence her own.

In her youth, Dussap was an ardent Francophile who scorned all things Armenian. But at the age of 22, she became the student of celebrated Armenian Romantic poet Meguerditch Beshigtashlian, who cultivated in her a lasting appreciation for Armenian language and literature. He was the first to recognize her literary talent and the first to encourage her to write.

In 1870, the aspiring writer married a French musician named Paul Dussap. He fully supported her literary pursuits, and together they ran a salon where French and Armenian intellectuals met to discuss literature and the social issues of the day. Dussap was also involved in Armenian community life in Constantinople; in 1879, she became the head of the Philomathic Armenian Women’s Association, which trained Armenian women to teach in Armenian girls’ schools in Anatolia. Her experiences in this organization led her to write a series of articles on women’s rights, specifically on rights to education, employment, and social autonomy. Three novels—Mayda, Siranoush and Araxi—followed these articles and explored in greater depth the revolutionary themes that Srpouhi Dussap’s articles had introduced.

It was through these novels that Dussap left her distinctive mark on Armenian literature and inspired a younger generation of Armenian women to become writers and social activists. But, because Dussap’s novels called for a restructuring of Armenian society in which women would have full equality in all realms, they were considered exceptionally controversial. The Armenian literary elite largely condemned her novels and saw her work as a nefarious attempt to destroy the Armenian family.

After the death of her daughter in 1891, Srpouhi Dussap stopped writing altogether. By the time she died in 1901, she had already been forgotten in mainstream Armenian literary circles, alive only in the minds and works of young women writers like Zabel Yessayan and Zabel Assadour whose ideas she had helped to shape.

* * *

I would like to discuss an issue that may seem insignificant to many, but whose consequences are very serious. That is, the prejudice that causes wealthy women to consider work degrading, leading them to idleness in search of status and dignity and serving as a bad example for the lower classes. Upper-class women have often been infected by this pernicious tendency and have ignored the powerful voices in their hearts. Through their idleness, they have denied their sweet children milk; they have denied their children a proper education; and they have denied their children economic security. They have, at least partly, brought these material and moral misfortunes upon themselves. They are the natural consequences of illegitimate means, not fate, as those who fail to examine and investigate the root causes of these misfortunes want to believe.

Does rising in society really prevent women from being daughters, wives, and mothers? Wouldn’t work elevate, rather than degrade, the position of each woman in these beautiful roles? There are certainly wonderful exceptions of women who bring honor to our nation, but we cannot describe the spirit of our nation based on a minority.

The upper class has become a terrible example for the lower class in many ways. This is particularly true among the women of the middle class in Constantinople, who fall into the depths of despair by scorning work like affluent women. How many families have been caught in the claws of poverty and suffered intolerable hardship and illness, all because of women’s refusal to work?

When the father of the family dies, leaving little money and many children, if his widow gradually spends the money, rather than keeping it at least partially intact and providing a new source of income through her own work, she is creating a sad future for her innocent children. When the last bit of money—the last bit of hope—runs out, she will see her pasty children, their bodies emaciated by hardship and blue from the cold, and hear the sighs in their voices as they beg for bread and warmth, and yet she cannot offer them anything. I am calling on all mothers to ask themselves if the situation of a miserable mother who is forced to see such hopelessness in the children she brought into this world isn’t perhaps more unbearable than death itself? She cannot relieve their hunger with drops of her blood, nor can she warm them with her heart. And yet in her infinite motherly love, she has created this tragic situation by falling victim to prejudice.

Why is poverty considered humiliating and shameful? Aren’t the poor the noble martyrs of life? They know its illusions, its pleasures, and its delights. Are their days not defined by the struggle against hunger, dreams, and desires? Do the joys of others not deepen their hardship? Is life not playing a bitter joke on the pasty-faced children of poor families when they are forced to see the rosy-cheeked, cheerful children of rich families?

To the rich, life promises sunshine, wide-open meadows with exotic flowers, enjoyment and hope, while to the poor, it promises bitter cold nights, hardship, and hopelessness. In life, the poor must walk uphill, while the rich slide down it effortlessly. It is thus an act of heroism whenever a poor mother, forgetting the gravity of her situation, fights undauntedly against life’s obstacles. During this fight, she shows her bravery, perseveres, and ultimately stands victorious, reaping the fruits of her bravery when one day her children repay her maternal sacrifices with their own efforts and love, allowing joy to replace grief, and abundance to replace hardship. This mother is great and noble, and she has more of a right to boast about her struggle through the thorny fields of life, into which she has introduced respectable people, than the narcissistic, ostentatious women sitting in their opulent carriages.

It is not my intention to denigrate the wealthy, because among them there are generous, righteous women who protect the poor and flood them with compassion. They are the kind souls of humanity.

No, Armenian women, poverty is not disgraceful. Armenian girls, your luster will not fade, but rather will shine even brighter, once, with your dainty feet, you bravely walk down the thorny path of life, leaving in those thorns the trace of your heroic footsteps. Imagine the glory you will feel when you devote your youth to brightening the gloomy home of your frail parents with glimmers of hope and filial love; when you ensure the future of your younger brother; or when you create a new, joyous world for tortured souls, where their days can pass peacefully. This is your responsibility; this is the product of your tireless efforts; this is a monument to your young soul.

Girls, this admirable sacrifice of yours makes you even more beautiful than any magnificent dresses could. In it, you will even find solace and reward, because work ennobles the soul to such an extent that the notion of sacrifice disappears in the presence of the lofty feeling of familial love. I ask you, Armenian women, why do you scorn the safe, honorable means that provide a use for both your mind and your hands? You abhor poverty, and yet you do not want to arm yourselves against it. You yearn for a good life, and yet you do not want to do anything to achieve it. Let’s consider European women: They became a source of wealth through their own admirable skills and created a good life for their families, while at the same time contributing to the health and strength of their nations, because what are nations if not larger families of humanity? Oh noble work, Armenien woman only scorn the immense good you do.

Come on sisters, it is time we stop allowing ourselves to be the puppets of these wicked customs. Consider your gains, your hardship, and your sorrow. Mothers, look at the tears of your beloved children and imagine their sad futures. Think, mothers, remember that your example will either help your children or hurt them, that you will offer your nation either a productive, redeeming generation or a useless, destructive one. It is up to you to do good; it is up to you to save yourself and your family and to serve your nation. Yes, the means to save your family are in your hands, and yet you are still wavering. Oh, what an intolerable, lethal prejudice it is that hardens the sensitive hearts of women to such an extent that they can remain indifferent to the heartbreaking, anxious voices of a father, mother, or child.

Work, women. Allow yourselves to crush prejudice under your feet. Ennoble yourselves; do not shy away from work, for it is the calling of humanity. Workers are independent, because they rely on their own means to live, not on benefactors who often make slaves out of people. Every single handout that the poor accepts from others is a symbol of servitude, because they are obliged to suppress their own ideas, tastes, and ambitions and submit to the whims of their benefactors. For this self-serving reason, people learn to love the bondage of slavery, which is born of the refusal to work and is the root cause of numerous evils. This phenomenon, which is considered trivial, opens up the possibility for major disasters to occur.

Prejudice and laws have already put significant burdens on the position of women in society. We also add to these burdens by increasing poverty and the number of benefactors. Poverty pushes people from hardship to hardship and weakens the moral force of the poor by turning them into amorphous beings; benefactors hinder this moral force and offer slaves to society. Rational beings reach their true selves through the use of their moral and intellectual capacities. For example, when a woman works, provides for herself, and does not owe anything to others, she is perfectly free to think freely, work freely, and speak freely without succumbing to self-serving, outside influences. This woman, of course, feels that she is conforming to the purpose of nature, enjoying the freedom she created for herself, and elevating her social position. Only then can she prove to society that a woman is not a morally and intellectually weak creature; only then can she prove that this presumption is wrong, and that it is in fact the sad result of the hindered existence of women, their idleness and incomplete education as well as laws, customs, and prejudices. Today, prominent figures are protesting against this offensive notion on behalf of women. Even nature is protesting by entrusting women with the finest and most noble role of all: the creation of humanity.

Armenian women, do not fall victim to prejudices that will drag you into an abyss. Do not scorn poverty, and do not try to hide it. Glorify your hardship, as the rich glorify their possessions. Doesn’t the brave, wounded soldier who returns from the battlefield display his glorious wounds with pride? The poor are also brave soldiers of life. Once you are not ashamed of your poverty, you will relieve the bitterness of life with work, improve your position in society, and enter the workforce of vast freedoms where the human condition is ennobled and elevated without social distinction.

From time to time, people will ask what story has brought me the greatest joy and fulfillment.

Armenian child in Yerevan anxiously awaits the arrival of Gaghant Baba (Santa Claus). We at The Armenian Weekly and Hairenik Weekly wish our readers a happy and prosperous Christmas and New Year.
(Tom Vartabedian photo)

After 50 years, it’s a lot like picking which grandchild you love most.

There are favorites, but after giving it some thought, nothing could ever measure up to the time I went homeless one Christmas season.

No, my parents didn’t kick me out of the house. If anything, they would have opened their door to a vagrant or a derelict.

And, no, my wife didn’t point her finger to the outside and ask me to vacate the premises.

Oh, we’ve had our share of arguments over the Christmas tree and what gifts to buy for whom. But in such cases, I have gamely deferred to the mistress of this house and let harmony take its place.

Instead, I took to the streets during the Christmas season in the best interests of journalism to get the story that wasn’t coming to me.

I kissed my wife goodbye, gave my children a hug, and lived inside a shelter for three days and two nights. I went homeless at a time when I enjoyed all the comforts of my world: a loving family, a good home, a reliable job that led to some shenanigans like these, and plenty of food on my table.

The only people who knew were the editor who suggested the assignment, my family, and the director of the shelter. Even my co-workers were kept in the dark and assumed I had just taken some vacation time.

I had a theatrical make-up artist change my appearance, and didn’t recognize myself in the mirror. I was incognito from the moment I stepped out of my home to when I returned—all the better for my experience.

I slept in their bed, ate their food, talked their talk, and walked their streets during the day. It was the experience of a lifetime—all the more accentuated by the Christmas season—including the time I spent behind bars in an undercover mission or frequenting AA meetings as a concealed alcoholic.

As a reporter, I often got to choose my assignments, even if some of them were meant to incriminate me. Most often, you have to live the experience to write about it effectively.

The first day I walked into that shelter, I’ll admit it: I felt like a mouse at an owl convention. My body was shaking until one of the regulars came over and gave me the welcome sign.

“I’m Ronald,” he said, “but people around here call me Buddy. Welcome to our home. We ask no questions, give no answers, mind our own business, and get along just fine together.”

They took me under their wing, possibly struck by the haggard wardrobe I was wearing and the shoes with the tattered laces. I was suddenly a part of a very indigent community, many of whom were one paycheck away from becoming wayward.

Buddy said it best that evening during an after-dinner chitchat, words that left me with an indelible impact.

“We’re not homeless, son,” he pointed out. “Just down on our luck.”

They wanted to know who this “new kid on their block” was and how I happened to wind up there. Without blowing my cover, I told them I was just passing through town with nowhere to go and needed a place to stay. Somebody recommended the mission house up this street.

No reporter pad for this story, not even a napkin note. No communication with anyone from the outside. My bed was a communal cot, much like an army barracks, where the snoring and stench of complete strangers kept you sleepless.

By the third day, I had gotten to know some of the most compassionate people you’d ever want to meet—people like me and you who deserved a better fate. My stomach turned when a young man brought his father to the door in a blatant gesture of neglect.

A pregnant woman was getting close to her due date, worried about her fate as well as her newborn’s. Those spending the night in that mission acted like the town of Bethlehem at Christmas and offered the woman their support.

On the third day, I ate a cold breakfast, bid farewell to my newly adopted family of castoffs, and walked out the door to a nearby CVS parking lot where I had left my car. I felt exonerated.

The story I had intended to write turned into a three-part series on homelessness in my community, straight from the source. It was a good Christmas after all, maybe my best, as people in my city rallied together in donating both money and resources to the shelter.

I felt truly blessed.

NEW YORK—On Sun., Dec. 15, Haig Kherlopian was ordained as the minister of the Armenian Evangelical Church of New York in an impressive and elegant service before more than 200 people in attendance, including family, friends, supporters, and clergy from sister churches.

On Sun., Dec. 15, Haig Kherlopian was ordained as the minister of the Armenian Evangelical Church of New York. (Photo by Harry Koundakjian)

Among the special guests in attendance were Rev. L. Nishan Bakalian, moderator of the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America, and pastor of the Armenian Martyrs’ Congregational Church in Havertown, Pa.; Rev. Dr. Peter Doghramji, former pastor (now retired) of the Armenian Evangelical Church, N.Y.; Rev. Berj Gulleyan, pastor of the Armenian Presbyterian Church, Paramus, N.J.; Rev. Mgrdich Melconian, interim executive director/CEO of the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA); and. Rev. Kevin M. Fiedler, guest minister of the Armenian Evangelical Church, N.Y.

Clergy from neighboring churches included the Very Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan, executive director of the Armenian Diocese’s Zohrab Information Center, and professor of liturgical studies at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary; Rev. Fr. Mesrob Lakissian, pastor of the St. Illuminator’s Armenian Cathedral, N.Y.; Rev. Fr. Bedros Kadehjian, visiting pastor of the Holy Cross Armenian Church, N.Y.; and Deacon Shant Kazanjian, director of the Armenian Religious Education Council (AREC), Armenian Prelacy (Eastern Region).

Also present was Tigran Samvelian, deputy permanent representative of Armenia’s Mission to the United Nations.

The deeply spiritual service began with Rev. Nishan Bakalian’s call to worship, and with prayers, anthems, and scripture readings recited in Armenian by Deacon Shant Kazanjian, and in English by Catherine Momjian, the granddaughter of Rev. Dr. Soghomon Nuyujukian. Beautiful Armenian (“Soorp, Soorp,” “Hayr Mer”) and English hymns were sung by the church choir, led by Choir Director Ivanka Petkovic, who accompanied on the organ, and Shaant Shishmanian on guitar.

‘Don’t be afraid, I will be with you’

In his sermon, delivered in Armenian and directed to the new pastor, Rev. Mgrdich Melconian related the story that began 627 years before the coming of Christ, when God said to Jeremiah, who was lacking in self-confidence, that he had been chosen to lead his people. When the unsure Jeremiah protested, God replied, “Don’t be afraid. I will help you. No one will harm you. I will be with you all the way. May God bless you Haig,” he said in conclusion.

The message of Dr. Ara Jizmejian, the Eastern Region youth minister of AEUNA, who was not present due to illness, was read by Sevag Bakalian, current youth leader of the AMCC in Havertown, Pa. “We should constantly learn as pastors,” the message said, and outlined three steps towards this goal: the first, “taking care, with actions, of your flock, because love is at the center of a pastor’s heart”; secondly, “pastors are soldiers in the army of the Lord, and should not get caught in civilian affairs”; and thirdly, “love your people and obey your God. On difficult days, your people and your ministry will help you. You are not alone!”

In his exhortation to the congregation, Rev. Dr. Peter Doghramji, who has been the pastor of the church for 10 years, related that three covenants were being made today between the pastor, the people, and the mother church. Using the example of Moses, who, as his people fought, raised his arms in victory, Rev. Doghramji said, “You are the congregation which will raise Haig’s arms. You have the duty to help him and raise his hands.”

Lessons from the past

Listening intently to the advice of his elder mentors throughout the service, Haig Kherlopian stood at the pulpit, and explained why he had decided to enter the ministry. He related the 2000-year-old story of the martyrdom of Princess Sandookht. “She was the first martyr of the Armenian people, and from one generation to the next, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been passed down throughout several oppressive empires, among the Armenians,” said Rev. Kherlopian.

He noted that his family, hailing from Aintab, has had four generations of Armenian Evangelical Christians. “I learned to read by learning the Bible,” he said with emotion, and revealed that at one point he had doubted his faith while in high school. “But then the Holy Spirit came and I felt peace. I believed in Jesus Christ. In college, during a worship service, I received a call to preach. I changed my major, went to seminary, and graduated. Today is the confirmation to keep me preaching for years to come.” He concluded with an emotional, “I love you all.”

Inspiring ceremony

The deeply inspiring ordination ceremony began with the church moderator, Mossig Makhoulian, presenting the new minister to Rev. Bakalian, who asked him the formal questions. Following Rev. Kherlopian’s responses, the attending six ministers ascended the pulpit and placed their hands on the kneeling ordained, as Rev. Bakalian declared, “Rev. Haig Kherlopian, you are the ordained minister of this church.” As clergy from other churches embraced him, the large crowd broke into loud cheering and clapping for several minutes.

In presenting his personal robe and red stole to the new minister, Rev. Doghramji said, “This is your mantle of authority. Teach, exhort.” He also gave Rev. Kherlopian a communion box, a book of worship of the United Church of Christ, and a book of his own sermons.

The formal service concluded after Rev. Bakalian read letters from the AMAA and the Armenian Evangelical Union of America, the congregation sang of the “Hayr Mer,” and Rev. Kherlopian gave the benediction.

During the sumptuous reception that followed in the church hall, the cutting of the congratulatory cake took place, and the congregation lined up to congratulate the new minister.

The son of Avedis and Ruby Kherlopian, and the younger brother of Dr. Armen Kherlopian, Rev. Haig Kherlopian, at age 27, has an impressive resume that includes a master’s degree in divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s in government from American University, as well as studies in philosophy and religion at London’s King’s College. He has served two years at both the Armenian Martyrs Congregational Church and the Armenian Presbyterian Church in Paramus, N.J., with a short period at the Armenian Evangelical Church in Hollywood. He was also a Sunday School teacher at St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church for more than two years.

His volunteer service to several organizations includes Bellevue Hospital, the U.S. Congress, the Armenian Assembly, Syria Relief, Habitat for Humanity, Our Lady of Armenia Camp, Urban Outreach, and Hurricane Katrina Relief.

Meets St. Louis and Illinois Area Armenian-American Community

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The Genocide Education Project (GenEd) presented a training workshop for high school history teachers at the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) conference, held in St. Louis from Nov. 22-24.community-gened (1Y)

GenEd representatives Sara Cohan (left of banner) and Roxanne Makasdjian (right) with St. Louis area community members

GenEd’s education director, Sara Cohan, led a conference workshop titled, “The Psychology of Genocide,” which explored the social forces and personal psychology that can lead to extreme acts of cruelty, as well as to heroic acts of compassion, during a genocide.

Approximately 50 social studies teachers participated in the workshop. They learned about the key psychological concepts that apply to the actions of individuals leading to and during genocide. Examples from the Armenian Genocide and other genocides were examined, and participants received instructional materials to use in their classrooms.

“It was gratifying to have such a strong turnout and positive response from all the teachers we met,” said Cohan.

She was joined by GenEd Board member Roxanne Makasdjian, and together distributed Armenian Genocide teaching materials to hundreds of educators visiting GenEd’s information booth. They also displayed the resources found at the organization’s “cyber” teaching library, www.TeachGenocide.com.

“I think the teaching materials will really help me give my students a better understanding of the Armenian Genocide,” said teacher Leah Jardine of Kansas. “I can use the videos and lessons based on personal stories, instead of just lecturing to them.”

While in St. Louis, Makasdjian and Cohan also attended the St. Louis Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) “Antranig” Chapter dance, where they introduced GenEd’s work to community members. Members of the local AYF and ANC chapters, and their supporters, also generously contributed to GenEd’s efforts.

The Genocide Education Project is a non-partisan, non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) educational organization that assists educators in teaching about human rights and genocide, particularly the Armenian Genocide, by developing and distributing instructional materials, providing access to

teaching resources, and organizing educational workshops. For more information about the Genocide Education Project, go to www.GenocideEducation.org.

Special to the Armenian Weekly

As we approach the 100^th memorial year of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, there is increasing global interest and attention to what happened to so many Armenians. There is also a desire to discover how much the world knew at that time. Armenians and non-Armenians alike are seeking to better understand the complex events of a century ago. The daily accounts from the leading foreign press at the time—such as the New York Times, the London Times, the Manchester Guardian, the Toronto Globe, and the Sydney Morning Herald—can give insight into how the phases of the genocide unfolded and how the world tried to describe the horrific sequence of events. This was a substantial challenge, as it was before the term “genocide” had been created to define the indescribable.

Kloian’s ‘The Armenian Genocide: News Accounts From the American Press (1915-1922)’

In teaching my university courses on comparative studies of genocide, I have often asked students to study the headlines from 1915. In so doing, they can better learn how the world began to know about such events, struggled to comprehend such horrific deeds, and searched for the words to describe such nightmarish scenes.

Of course, such original archival research of old newspapers can be daunting in terms of travel, time, access, and even technology. I know this first-hand. As a young professor in the 1980’s, I spent many hours reading the old Toronto Globe for the year 1915. I studied column after column and page after page of the daily newspaper coverage for the entire year of 1915. I peered at the articles on a microfilm reader. Systematically, I was searching for articles relating to the plight of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire for that fateful year. I took careful notes and made photocopies of the most important articles. It was an important learning experience for me as an Armenian-Canadian. It also turned out to be a pivotal moment. From that point on, I would start to write about the Armenian Genocide—even more so when confronted by the troubling, ongoing denials by the Turkish government.

Fortunately for my students and I, the pioneering work has been done by others. This means that our task today of scanning the headlines and reading full newspaper accounts are easier, the sources more accessible.

The most innovative and path-breaking work on newspaper coverage of the genocide was conducted by Richard Kloian in his 1980 monumental book, The Armenian Genocide: News Accounts From the American Press (1915-1922). Working for many years to gather diverse material and employing far less advanced technology, Kloian surveyed the American press for the key seven-year period. He focused on coverage in the New York Times, Current History, Saturday Evening Post, and the Missionary Review of the World. The volume he delivered at nearly 400 pages was epic and pioneering. It not only included a vast comprehensive account, but also a very useful five-page chronological table listing the main headlines.

The New York Times alone accounted for over 120 articles in 1915 on the terrible plight of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. This extensive coverage underlined the considerable interest by both the press and the public, and helped ensure that substantial information was available. It also revealed that there had been key and unprecedented extensive access to important and timely information, often from confidential U.S. government sources and missionary accounts. Kloian’s book has undergone a number of editions and printings and is still available. It is an essential reference work for anyone doing sustained research on the Armenian Genocide. I continue to use different editions of the book both for research and teaching.

A few years after Kloian’s influential book appeared, the Armenian National Committee (ANC) in both Australia and Canada sought to produce similar edited volumes for their respective countries. In 1983, the Australian ANC printed The Armenian Genocide as Reported in the Australian Press, a volume of just over 100 pages. It included newspaper articles from the Age, the Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald, and World’s News. The text was supplemented with a number of powerful photographs. A revised edition is in progress.

In that same decade, the Canadian ANC printed the bilingual two-volume set Le Genocide Armenien Dans La Presse Canadienne/The Armenian Genocide in the Canadian Press, providing about 280 pages of documents. Accounts were taken from various newspapers such as the French-language Le Droit, La Presse, Le Devoir, L’Action Catholique, and Le Canada, and the English-language Vancouver Daily Province, Toronto Daily Star, Montreal Daily Star, the Gazette, the Toronto Globe, Manitoba Free Press, Ottawa Evening Journal, London Free Press, and the Halifax Herald.

A decade and half later in 2000, Katia Peltekian in Halifax, Nova Scotia, edited the 350-page book Heralding of the Armenian Genocide: Reports in the Halifax Herald, 1894-1922. This volume covered the Hamidian massacres of the 1890’s, the Adana massacres in 1909, and the Armenian Genocide during World War I and after.

With great determination and skill, Peltekian has now followed up her earlier Canadian volume with a new 1,000 page two-volume set titled, The Times of the Armenian Genocide: Reports in the British Press. This collection covers the period 1914-23 and includes hundreds of entries from both the Times and the Manchester Guardian. As with earlier volumes, it contains an exceedingly useful multi-page chronological summary of the headlines. This overview table, along with selected excerpts, proves quite useful in the classroom setting.

For those wishing to have a scholarly annotated account of the press coverage, Anne Elbrecht published Telling the Story: The Armenian Genocide in the New York Times and Missionary Herald: 1914-1918. Her book, a former MA thesis, was printed by Gomidas Press and offers a chronological comparison of the press coverage in the New York Times and the Missionary Herald. It is a highly readable volume.

Vahe Kateb’s MA thesis, “Australian Press Coverage of the Armenian Genocide: 1915-1923,” analyzes the press coverage in Australia and explores a number of key genocide-related themes in the Victoria-based the Age and the Argus, Queensland’s the Mercury, and in New South Wales’ the Sydney Morning Herald. Kateb’s thesis is a valuable analytical study that should be more widely distributed and published as a book.

As we approach 2015, at least one major new project is underway to comprehensively collate international press coverage on the Armenian Genocide. Rev. Vahan Ohanian, vicar general of the Mekhitarist Order at San Lazzaro in Venice, is coordinating a multi-volume project that will cover the Hamidian and Adana massacres and the 1915 genocide. Several prominent genocide scholars will pen the introductions to the different volumes. This project, along with the earlier volumes, are essential in assisting the world to be more informed about the Armenian Genocide. Accordingly, it would be helpful if university libraries and Armenian community centers and schools acquired these volumes. They will help us to remember 1915 and prepare for the historic memorial year of 2015.

List of publications mention in article

Richard Kloian, The Armenian Genocide: News Accounts From the American Press (1915-1922) (Anto Printing, Berkeley, 1980 [1^st], 1980 [2^nd], 3^rd [1985]), 388 pages for 3^rd edition; also Heritage Publishing, Richmond, n.d.; with 392 pages).

Armenian National Committee, The Armenian Genocide as Reported in the Australian Press (ANC, Willoughby/Sydney, 1983; 119 pages)

Armenian National Committee of Canada, Le Genocide Armenien Dans La Presse Canadienne/The Armenian Genocide in the Canadian Press, Vol. 1, 1915-1916 (ANCC, Montreal, 1985; 159 pages).

Armenian National Committee of Canada, Le Genocide Armenien Dans La Presse Canadienne/The Armenian Genocide in the Canadian Press, Vol. I1, 1916-1923 (ANCC, Montreal, n.d. c1985; 121 pages).

Katia Peltekian, Heralding of the Armenian Genocide: Reports in the Halifax Herald, 1894-1922 (Armenian Cultural Association of the Atlantic Provinces, Halifax, 2000; 352 pages).

Katia Peltekian, The Times of the Armenian Genocide: Reports in the British Press, Vol. 1: 1914-1919 (Four Roads, Beirut, 2013; 450 pages/976 pages total for two volumes).

Katia Peltekian, The Times of the Armenian Genocide: Reports in the British Press, Vol. 2: 1920-1923 (Four Roads, Beirut, 2013; 426 pages/976 pages total for two volumes).

Anne Elbrecht, Telling the Story: The Armenian Genocide in the New York Times and Missionary Herald: 1914-1918 (London, Gomidas, 2012; 235 pages).

Vahe Kateb, “Australian Press Coverage of the Armenian Genocide: 1915-1923” (MA thesis, University of Wollongong, 2003).

With its rich history and diverse involvements, the ARF has played a unique and often vital role in the life of our nation. Indeed, if we look at the party’s resumé broadly, we find a remarkable versatility that is unusual for any one organization. Think, for a moment, of the different roles the party has played—across time and space—in pursuit of our national ideals:

-          It has been a party of resistance, rebellion, even revolution. Think of the role it played in enlightening, organizing, and arming the Armenian masses of Eastern Anatolia, during the repressive final decades of Ottoman rule. More recently, think of the role it played as catalyst for the national self-determination movement in Mountainous Karabagh.

-          It has been a party of state. The most prominent example, of course, is the formative role it played in the first Independent Republic of Armenia (1918-1920).

-          It has been a community-builder. Think of the enormous role it played in organizing, orienting, and sustaining our diaspora—essentially communities in exile—following the successive upheavals of Genocide and Sovietization.

-          It has been a protector and promoter of national ideology and culture. Whether battling against cultural assimilation or keeping alive the ideals of national sovereignty, the ARF has led the effort to uphold Armenian nationalism, most prominently in Diaspora during the long years of Soviet rule.

-          It has been a lobbyist toward foreign powers. Whether as government-in-exile, or more recently, as an advocate operating in its host countries, the ARF has led the drive to influence decision-makers and opinion-makers who wield power vis-a-vis the Armenian Cause.

-          It has been at the forefront of social movements, within and beyond Armenia’s borders. Think of the various roles it has played, e.g. as an integral part of the Iranian Revolution and Ottoman reform movements of the early 20^th century, as a leader within the multi-ethnic Baku Commune of 1918, and as a dissident force in Armenia at various points during Soviet rule.

-          It has been a party of justice. Whether punishing czarist officials for pitting Armenians against Muslims, avenging the atrocities of Talaat and his comrades, or more recently pressing claims for reparations, ARF activists have sought—through all possible means—to gain justice for the lives, lands, and rights of which Armenians have been dispossessed.

An ARF campaign billboard from the 2012 parliamentary elections in Armenia (Photo by Nanore Barsoumian)

Taken together, such roles tell the story of a party that has remained resilient, adaptable, open to change, and ready to meet the challenges of the day. And yet, such diversity is not always celebrated; indeed, sometimes it is cause for confusion, criticism, or both. How so?

First, such a dazzling array of positions has led some to assert a lack of coherence, an ARF tendency to “be all things to all people.” Indeed, critics have asked how any party can maintain integrity of vision and belief when it has housed under one roof anglophiles and russophiles; socialists and Cold Warriors, pragmatists and revolutionaries, those who wear suits and those who wear khakis, and so forth. This is a valid concern, and deserves separate treatment.

Second, some critics assert that the abovementioned variety no longer exists; that it was a hallmark of the ARF during its early and middle decades of activity, whereas today the party has settled into more predictable and routine functions. This, too, cannot be dismissed and must be treated under separate cover.

Here, however, I wish to deal with a third set of concerns; concerns that are perhaps more immediate and worrisome. It is the tendency among many supporters—even party members themselves—to mistake the part for the whole, to take a piece of the ARF’s resume, magnify it, and assert its primacy at the expense of other pieces that are equally vital and necessary.

On numerous occasions, we have heard comments about what the ARF’s real mission is or should be. I’m not talking about hypothetical straw-men, but actual comments made in the ebb-and-flow of our community life. For some, today’s ARF should stick to lobbying—especially in the West—instead of involving itself in community affairs which presumably fall in the domain of the church and other organizations. For others, the dividing line is found elsewhere: Some assert that the ARF’s primary focus is naturally Hai Tahd (Armenian Cause), and that social issues, especially in Armenia, are really a secondary concern. Others argue exactly the reverse. Still others say that the ARF’s focus should be on the Diaspora because, well, Armenia may be our homeland but it has its own government and society while we sit thousands of miles away with more immediate preoccupations.

How does one respond to such assertions? With great difficulty, I suppose, because all of the proposed foci are important. And perhaps that is the point, i.e. that there are no shortcuts, no easy solutions, because the ARF ultimately is not about this instead of that, but rather about this and that simultaneously. True, there should remain a sense of priority about what matters most at a given time or place, but we must remember that the ARF is distinctive among organizations precisely because of its commitment to the totality of our national ideals. If I had to boil these ideals down to their essence, I’d cite three fundamental pillars that have been present throughout the history of the party:

a)     A commitment to Armenia’s sovereignty: This includes a wide range of goals, from autonomy for Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and Transcaucasia, to the drive to attain and maintain Armenia’s independence, to a pro-independence position during the long years of Soviet rule, to a more recent commitment to bolster Armenia’s newfound independence. (The latter would include, by the way, not only foreign policy and national security issues, but matters of social justice and the rule of law, which are equally part of the fabric of a sovereign Armenia.)

b)     Pursuit of the Armenian Cause: This includes all of those efforts, over so many years, to gain justice/redress for historical grievances, including but not limited to the Armenian Genocide. Obviously, the methods have varied – governmental lobbying, publicity, international legal claims, armed struggle, as well as efforts on the ground – but the overarching goal has been the same.

c)     Armenopreservation (Hayabahbanum): This covers all of the various efforts to keep Armenians Armenian. This ranges from the reawakening of Western Armenia in the late 19^th century, to keeping language, culture, and history alive in Diaspora, to current efforts to forge new and vital links between homeland and diaspora.

Many organizations embrace one, even two, of these programmatic foci. But the ARF alone has been the one to embrace all three, which accounts for much of its drawing power among the masses. Imagine, for a moment, an ARF that pursued Hai Tahd alone, without regard for Armenia’s current polity, society, and economy; such an ARF would risk becoming dry and devoid of all social relevance – a narrow, single-interest lobby. Conversely, imagine an ARF that solely embraced the Armenia we have today, without regard for the Armenia that we’ve lost; such an ARF would risk falling out of touch with our roots, with the Western Armenian history and culture that have nourished us through Genocide and into our current predicament in Diaspora.

In sum, the ARF by its nature embraces a diverse whole. It is the totality of its vision, above all else, that has inspired legions to join its ranks or follow its path. True, this path may seem cluttered or overburdened at times, but that is a small price to pay for a legacy of this kind. Such a legacy should not be ignored, nor should it be simply upheld; rather, the ARF’s legacy must be understood, built upon, and ultimately guided with care and intelligence.

This article is adapted from an ARF Day speech delivered in Detroit, Mich. on December 7, 2013.

Sometimes a photo can speak volumes. Other times, it tells you just what you might not want to hear.

This St. Bernard delivers a tipsy message on New Year’s Eve. (Tom Vartabedian photo)

It’s the week of New Year’s, when we’re well into the post-holiday blahs. Gifts have been received and returned. Many trees have been dismantled. The house is getting back into decent shape. That Christmas bonus you were hoping to receive—and didn’t—is now a foregone conclusion.

Perhaps next year.

All that’s left before some sanity is getting through New Year’s Eve and the never-ending drone of football games blaring from the TV. It’s been a marathon, hasn’t it?

If I survived the pandemonium of Dec. 31, then New Year’s Day was always one of my favorite holidays. At least the most peaceful.

For years when the children were small, we would head out to Salisbury Beach, walk the sand, smell the salty air, and bask in our thoughts. Then we’d head over to the arcade, cash in a zillion tickets for trinkets, and head to a restaurant for our dining pleasure.

One day after putting the paper to bed, I headed toward my favorite watering hole for a beer. I wasn’t one to inebriate. A beer now and then was fortifying. And the best stories of all are derived from the local taverns and coffee shops of our community. You sit, you listen, you write.

I was enjoying my brew before heading home when a guy seated next to me interrupted my solitude.

“Hey, aren’t you the Gazette photographer?” he asked.

“Among other things. Been known to write a few stories as well.”

“Man, have I got a tip for you.”

I’ve gotten a ton of these. Sometimes, they explode. Other times, they’re duds. I was all ears.

“I’ve got this St. Bernard that acts human. He’ll do anything you command. The dog’s a natural. Maybe you can drop by the house and snap a photo.”

The guy was no misfit. He was an off-duty cop with plenty of veracity. If he tells me he’s got a talking dog, I might be inclined to believe him. St. Bernards usually have that pathetic look about them, a sad face with deep forlorn eyes.

I needed a New Year’s Eve photo for the paper and thought of an idea. Something rather original.

“Does your St. Bernard drink?”

“Drink? You should see him drink. He’s a two-fisted drinker.”

The dog sold me. I went out and purchased a jug of whiskey and grabbed a beer glass while I was at it. Then I headed for the guy’s home with delirium on my mind.

“Where’s that mutt?” I chuckled to its owner. “I’m here for the photo.”

For the next half hour, I kept setting up this pose to resemble a hung-over canine with an ice pack on his noggin’. Finally, I got the photo, showing Bernard with one paw on the glass, another by the whiskey, looking like he had just been through the mill.

The caption said it all: “Drinking and driving do not mix. Stay sober this New Year’s Eve.”

The black and white photo appeared on the front page and certainly made an impact, judging by the response it generated. As to how many lives it might have saved, I could not suspect. No doubt, the ramifications of alcohol were being very well portrayed.

The image went on to do well in photojournalism competitions and was a favorite among exhibit fanciers.

One day during a “show and tell” at one of the community centers, I was showing this photo and a viewer came forth with an idea.

“Why don’t you pitch it to Seagrams?” he suggested. “If they buy it, they’ll cover their billboards with the photo and you’ll be a rich man.”

No harm in trying a little entrepreneurship. Off went the photo with another caption, “Even dogs enjoy Seagram’s.”

The response I got was “Thanks, but no thanks. The MSPCA would get down on us for exposing animal cruelty, even though it appears quite harmless. We have to be very careful in our business.”

Some years later, I was sitting at my desk when news of Bernard’s demise crossed my path. The owner called and relayed the bad news, sobbing on the phone. He was this man’s greatest friend.

If there’s a place in Dog Heaven like the 1989 animated movie that stole our hearts, no doubt Bernard lived his name and died a true “saint.”

(Special to the Armenian Weekly)

‘Yes, I am Armenian. Fourth-generation Dikranagerdtsi…’

Things seemed to come full-circle when I heard these words come out of his mouth, albeit translated from the language I was brought up to hate.

Janbazian and Sarkis Degirmenjian delivering their speech.

Navaf came rushing to the stage as we were coming off, ready to greet us with this piece of amazing news he had wanted to share for a long time now. My friend and I had just finished addressing the first youth conference of the Peace and Democracy of Turkey (BDP) in Diyarbakir (Dikranagerd). The mostly Kurdish crowd of supporters, upwards of 30,000, had watched in astonishment as two representatives of the ARF Youth and Student Organizations addressed the crowd first in Armenian and later in Turkish. (Read the report on the conference here.)

Although I had briefly studied the Turkish language during my university days, something within me, instinct perhaps, had never allowed me to become fluent; and so, I had the honor of addressing the crowd in Armenian. In a brief meeting with the conference organizers a day earlier, we had described why we’d be sharing our message in our native tongue. Our Kurdish counterparts said that the city of “Amed” hadn’t heard Armenian being spoken from a stage in almost a century, and agreed that it was time.

The participants in the BDP Youth Conference

One would assume that a stadium full of Kurds who don’t understand Armenian would be bored, uninterested, and ultimately indifferent—especially since we were speaking as representatives of a people who once called these lands “home.” Yet, we witnessed the exact opposite that day. As I read out loud what we had written in the Western Armenian dialect of my forefathers, the audience watched and listened attentively. It almost seemed like they understood everything I said. As if the words that had so eloquently been spoken in the streets of that city nearly a hundred years ago still had meaning for these people who were gathered there for a common, unifying purpose.

Growing up in Toronto, I was lucky to have attended Armenian school from kindergarten through high school. After graduating, I made an extra effort to immerse myself in everything Armenian, in an attempt to not become a victim of what some call the jermag chart (“white genocide”). I read as much as possible about our history, and I did my best to keep up with the latest in Armenian news in Armenia and the diaspora. But when I learned that I’d be traveling to historic Armenia to meet with Kurdish youth, I realized I knew very little about Armenian-Kurdish relations. All I could recall from my 15 years of Armenian education was that a Kurdish representative had been elected to the Armenian Parliament during the first republic.

Navaf, the Dikrangerdtsi!

When speaking about the Kurdish people, Armenians generally recall the darkest pages of our common history—they remember the days of the Armenian Genocide and brush off the Kurds as the “ones who really killed our ancestors.” It is true that local Kurdish tribes were armed to attack the Armenians in many towns and villages across the Ottoman Empire during the genocide.

What is interesting, however, was that nearly a century after the genocide began, the descendants of those Kurds not only accepted our delegation in Dikranagerd with open arms, but actually apologized, time and time again, for the part some of their ancestors had in the genocide—something Armenians across the world wish to hear from the government of Turkey.

I couldn’t allow myself to be jaded by the negative narrative, so before making the trek to Dikranagerd I began reading up on the history of the Kurdish struggle in Turkey. What I quickly discovered was a story of a common history between our two peoples. I also learned about the good relations between Armenians and Kurds immediately after the genocide. From collaborations between the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and the Kurdish organization Khoyboun during the Kurdish rebellions in Dersim and Ararat, to the establishment of Kurdish radio broadcasts and newspapers in Soviet Armenia, it was amazing how intertwined the modern histories of our two people actually were.

But what was truly eye opening and humbling was the way we were welcomed to the now mostly Kurdish-populated city that many of our ancestors inhabited. From the moment we were greeted at the airport, our hosts made it a point to make us feel at home. To make us feel like we had never left.

Hospitality is a trait Armenians have been known to value for millennia, but what we experienced in our six days in Dikranagerd was something I had, quite unfortunately, never felt in Armenia nor in the Armenian Disapora, not to that extent, anyway. These people, who I had heard only negative things about from so many of my compatriots, were not only taking us to all the sites of Armenian civilization and culture in the city, but were giving us the factual, unadulterated history behind these places.

They were ready to find common ground.

Falling in the narrative trap can go both ways. It’s always important to remember the past, to be cautious, and not take everything presented at face value. However, our time in Dikranagerd proved that there is a group of people there (who happen to constitute an overwhelming majority of the city) ready to build a common understanding between Armenian and Kurds. Moreover, they accept the validity of the Armenian Genocide and are brave enough to openly criticize the Turkish government’s policy of denial—in Turkey.

The Middle East is at a very significant juncture today. There is pressure for change, and the Kurdish people are central to these potential changes; this is a fact that all must accept. It is our duty as Armenians, regardless of where we may live, to have a vested interest in, for lack of a better term, the Kurdish Cause. Yes, for some it may seem too early or premature to develop a new Armenian-Kurdish global alliance, but it would be wrong not to begin the process of mutual understanding, of finding ways for our two people to cooperate rationally. We must at least speak to each other, face to face, based on mutual respect and consideration of the interests of both peoples.

Navaf was only one of the dozens who approached us that day after our talk, so eager to tell us about his Armenian roots and embrace us as if we were family. These people were proud of their origins. And they were proud to still be on the lands we’ve been taught to one day reclaim.

We should never forget the dark pages of our shared history with these people, but we should also not allow years of negative rhetoric to prevent the possibility of the realization of our people’s rightful cause. Let’s not let the “bad blood” stand in the way of something bigger.

Rupen Janbazian was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where he completed a double major in history and Near and Middle Eastern civilizations. He has served on the local and national executives of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) Canada and Hamazkayin Toronto, and served as the administrator of the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Toronto. Janbazian also taught Armenian history and creative writing at the Armenian Relief Society (ARS) Armenian School of Toronto. He recently relocated to Yerevan, where he works on a number of organizational and personal projects.

ALEPPO, Syria—The 123^rd anniversary of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) was celebrated in Aleppo last week. The event, which brought together hundreds of Aleppo-Armenians during one of the bloodiest weeks in the city, stood as a symbol of the community’s resilience, organizers said.

Among the dignitaries who attended the event were religious leaders, representatives of Syrian-Armenian organizations, and members of Armenia’s Consul in Aleppo.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Hamazkayin Zvartnots Choir performed patriotic songs and a group of youth recited poems by Aleppo-Armenian writers, with musical accompaniment by graduates of the Hamazkayin Aleppo Parsegh Ganachian Music School.

The keynote speaker, Nerses Sarkisian, provided an overview of the ARF’s history and discussed the role that the Syrian-Armenian community continues to play as an integral part of Syrian society. He spoke in favor of democracy and dialogue, and against harmful external interventions and attempts to tear the country apart.

In Armenian history, said Prelate Shahan Sarkisian, the community’s recent experience will be referred to as “the red, bloody path of Syrian Armenians.” He noted that the ARF had stood for unity, dedication, and inspired optimism during the Syrian crisis.

“It’s the little things, like when you reach for something to read and you realize your books aren’t there,” my friend said as she tried to describe what it’s like to live in limbo.

I met the Armenian-Syrian family again while I was in Lebanon and a new family member was with them this time.

She’s an Armenian Syrian living in Beirut with her parents for the indefinite future.

In Damascus, they had a home and a factory that they’d built over the past 30 years. The girls went to school and danced to Armenian and Arabic music. When I stayed with them several years ago, they had ice cream delivered for dinner because we were too tired from a day of fun to eat another big meal. Their lives were different then.

I had visited Syria just a week before the presidential election, when Assad’s portrait dominated the landscape. There were so many posters of his face plastered in every window and on every wall that it was hard for me to keep a straight face, but I knew that I should. Someone I met whispered a joke to me: “We have many candidates for president. They just all look alike.”

I didn’t know anyone in Damascus on my first day, so I went to see a movie in the evening. It was a U.S.-made movie with Arabic subtitles. They assigned seats in the theater and the side sections remained empty, while everyone was packed into the center rows, and me into the center of the center.

During the movie I went to use the restroom or get a snack, I can’t remember which, and when I returned I decided to just sit in a side section instead of walking in front of a whole row of people watching the movie. The usher waved his flashlight, trying to insist that I return to my assigned seat.

Maybe it was hospitality on his part, maybe he didn’t want me to be alone, maybe it’s just the way things are done. But I resist most attempts to put me in some arbitrary place, theater seat or otherwise, no matter the good intentions. As a foreigner you sometimes can get away with little things, so I waved off his offer saying that the side section would be just fine.

This past summer I was in the region for work to visit our partner organization in Tripoli, Lebanon. A torture rehabilitation center, many of the people they serve are highly traumatized Syrians who have crossed the border to find safety. These days one can’t talk about Syria without talking about Lebanon and Jordan and Turkey.

I’d watched my dad swallow his anxiety whole, a visible lump in his throat, when I said I was going. In his mind, I was returning to a land of nearly endless violence. In my mind, I was returning to a land of nearly endless eating.

Of course, he had a point. There had been a car bomb a few days before I arrived and there was an assassination a few days into my stay.

“What happens in Beirut, stays in Beirut,” the locals said of incidents that happen in other parts of the country. Until it doesn’t, I thought to myself.

It was Ramadan then, so I spent several nights eating my way through grand Iftaar meals, wondering if they would ever stop bringing courses. Children were out until midnight playing games and lighting small firecrackers. Couples walked along the seaside and drank freshly squeezed juice and ate cotton candy. Others relaxed and smoked nargile. A taxi driver gave me and a colleague a free ride.

There were explosions during the day and at night. To the untrained ear, celebratory fireworks and gunfire sound much the same. But natives of the region know the difference.

I met the Armenian-Syrian family again while I was in Lebanon and a new family member was with them this time: a little boy with outrageously curly dark hair, blissfully unaware of why he and his extended family live in a different country now.

My friend Kim does an exercise with students and adults in the U.S. to teach them about the challenges of refugees. She tells them to imagine they’re forced to flee their homes overnight and can only take three things with them. “What would those three things be?” she asks.

This is a painful exercise for someone as nostalgic as me, someone who loves her conveniences, someone who believes that family, friends, and health are the most important things, but for whom both sentimentality and materialism still reign in weak moments.

A new life—which is not actually a new life at all but a suspended one—demands important paperwork if you can find it, cash if the bank will let you take it out, and clothes if you can carry them. You’ll go back for more, maybe, but you’ll never be able to pack up your life as it once was. And you wouldn’t do so even if you could, because every day you’ll wonder how or whether you will return, desperate to know how the story ends, desperate for some ink to write your own ending.