Another ArmenianChurch in TurkeyVandalized withHate Graffiti

ISTANBUL (Combined Sources) —Another Armenian church in Istanbul,Turkey, has been vandalized with anti-Armenian graffiti, the ArmenianPatriarchate of Constantinople announcedon Facebook.

Vandals spray painted hate messages inEnglish and Arabic on the exterior wall ofthe Surp Hreshdagabed Armenian Churchin the neighborhood of Balat on Saturday,February 23.

The local council members reported thematter to Archbishop Aram Ateshian aswell as the local police.

This is not the first incident in whichArmenian institutions have been the targetof graffiti and vandalism in Istanbul inrecent years.

Only last week, the walls of the ArmenianSurb Astvadsadsin Church in Istanbul’sZeinlink district were covered with hategraffiti. (See related editorial, page 18.)

In April 2018 photos of graffiti reading“This homeland is ours” spray-painted onthe exterior wall of the Armenian SurpTakavor Church and a pile of trash wasdumped in front of the church’s door began.

In 2016, the exterior walls of theBomonti Mkhitarian Armenian School ofIstanbul were vandalized with anti-

Armenian graffiti reading “One night, wesuddenly will be in Karabakh.”

The messages included the Turkish for“You are finish” (sic).

The Armenian patriarchate conveyedvideo footage of the incident to the police.

A recent report by a Protestant associa-tion had suggested that Christians living inTurkey were worried about the increasinghate speech against their communities.

Many Christian families reportedly had toleave the country due to intensified cam-paigns on traditional and social media por-traying Christians as spies .

Minority Foundations RepresentativeMoris Levi condemned the attack, accord-ing to the Turkish news site Sendika.org.

“These acts are a clear hate crime andour communities are still being subjectedto such attacks,” Levi said.

Armenian opposition lawmaker GaroPaylan posted pictures of the graffiti onTwitter and said authorities should shedlight on the people behind the attack.

“A hate crime has been committedagainst Balat Surp HreshdagabedArmenian Church. Hate crimes againstchurches and

see VANDALISM, page 4

Genocide Survivor DiesIn Argentina at

Age 106BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Prensa Armenia) —

Lusine Beredjiklian, one of the last survivors of theArmenian Genocide, died on February 21, at age106.

She was born on January 7, 1913 in Aintab.“When I remember, I cannot sleep,” Beredjiklian

said in 2015, when the 100th anniversary of theArmenian Genocide was commemorated.

Beredjiklian said her father, Abraham, was a jew-eler. He sent his elder sons to Aleppo when WorldWar I had just started and later the entire familydecided to go to Syria. On the way to Aleppo theywere looted. Her mother, pregnant at that time,died on the way, while Abraham died in Damascus.After that her brothers moved to Argentina, butLusine remained in Syria with her sister until 1929,after which they also moved to South America.

All her life Beredjiklian lived in Buenos Aires andwas one of the active members of the localArmenian community.

Swiss High CourtTosses out OppositionTo Geneva Genocide

MonumentGENEVA (Swissinfo.ch) — Switzerland’s highest

court has rejected the opposition raised by severalGenevans to a recently-unveiled monument com-memorating the Armenian Genocide in the city.

The decision published by the Federal Court onMonday, February 18, rejected claims by residentsthat the monument would lead to the area becom-ing a site of demonstrations, or even conflictbetween members of the Armenian and Turkishcommunities.

“Residents can appeal when they are definitelyor at least with sufficient probability, affected bythe repercussions of such a decision,” the courtwrote. This was not the case for the monument inParc Tremblay, Geneva.

The decision should bring to an end the longsaga of the monument, which was unveiled in April2018 after a decade of debates and delay.

Not only was it tricky to find an appropriate loca-tion for the genocide memorial – initially approvedin 2008 – but opposition from Turkey also madethe monument a diplomatic headache into whichthe federal government was forced to wade.

“Les Réverbères de la Mémoire” [Streetlights ofmemory], designed by French artist Melik Ohanian,is a collection of nine street lamps, each ten meterstall and featuring lamps in the form of teardrops,commemorating the Armenian Genocide.

The genocide was recognized by the parliamentof Geneva in 2001 and by the Swiss federal parlia-ment in 2003.

INSIDE

NEWS IN BRIEF

VEM 2019Tour

Page 13

INDEXArts and Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Armenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,3Community News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,5

Mirror- SpectatorMirror- SpectatorTHE ARMENIAN

Volume LXXXIX, NO. 32, Issue 4576

MARCH 2 , 2 019

$ 2.00

The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932

Roupen HerianRescuer of Orphans RememberedBy the TCA Metro LA Chapter

ALTADENA, Calif. — The Tekeyan CulturalAssociation Metro Los Angeles Chapter hosted abilingual program titled “Roupen Herian: Rescuer ofArmenian Orphans,” on February 17 at the TekeyanCenter in Altadena. Boston-based scholar AramArkun, executive director of the Tekeyan CulturalAssociation of the United States and Canada andassistant editor of the Armenian Mirror-Spectator,served as the keynote speaker and presented thefascinating life of Herian, who dedicated himself tothe herculean task of locating kidnapped Armenianwomen and children during and immediately afterthe Armenian Genocide.

see HERIAN, page 12Aram Arkun

LOS ANGELES — The celebration of the80th birthday of composer TigranMansourian is an occasion both for reflec-tion on the musical path he has traversedas well as to revisit select works from hishauntingly diverse repertoire in perfor-mance at a day-long event at UCLA’sSchoenberg Hall on March 6.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Mansurianresettled in Armenia with his family afterWorld War II, where he began to studymusic, soon distinguishing himself as a rep-resentative of the avant-garde constellationof Soviet composers that included ArvoPärt, Alfred Schnittke and ValentinSilvestrov. That generation boldly experi-mented with styles emanating fromWestern Europe, before branching out to

see MANSURIAN, page 20

Symposium and Concert CelebratingTigran Mansurian at 80

Tigran Mansourian

“You are finish” on one of the doors

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — EducationMinister Arayik Harutiunyan onThursday, February 21, called for theresignation of the long-serving rector ofArmenia’s largest university who is fac-ing corruption allegations denied byhim as politically motivated.

Aram Simonyan, who has runYerevan State University since 2006,came under pressure to resign followinglast spring’s Velvet Revolution that top-pled the country’s previous governmentheaded by Serzh Sargsyan. A member ofSargsyan’s Republican Party (HHK)

since 1997, Simonyan had long beenaccused by his detractors of suppressingstudent activism and placing YSU undera strong HHK influence.

The pressure on Simonyan grew inDecember after the State OversightService subordinate to Prime MinisterNikol Pashinyan implicated the YSUadministration in financial irregularitieswhich it said had cost the state at least800 million drams ($1.65 million). The63-year-old rector angrily denied theallegations, linking them to his continu-

ing membership in the former rulingparty.

On Wednesday, February 20,Armenian police claimed that anunnamed “managing official of the uni-versity” has embezzled YSU funds andengaged in other corrupt practices overthe past decade. In particular, a policestatement said that in 2015 a privatefirm remodeled the official’s apartmentand separate house in return for beinggranted a 400 million-dram construc-tion contract by the YSU administra-tion.

The police did not formally chargeanyone. Instead, they sent the case toanother law-enforcement body for fur-ther investigation.

Speaking to journalists, Simonyanacknowledged that the police statementmost probably referred to him. “I seepolitical motives behind that,” he said.

Accordingly, Simonyan rejected the“ridiculous” allegations, saying thatthey are part of the current govern-ment’s efforts to force him out of YSU.He said he will not step down before

serving out his current term in office in2020.

Meanwhile, Harutiunyan made a casefor Simonyan’s resignation after a week-ly cabinet meeting in Yerevan. The edu-cation minister said that the YSU headshould go because he is widely “associ-ated with many negative practices thathave existed in YSU and the sphere ofhigher education in general.”

Harutiunyan, who taught at YSUbefore being appointed to Pashinyan’sgovernment in May, went on to accuseSimonyan of trying to “politicize” thecorruption inquiries and “using manydeans and scholars as a shield.”

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ARMENIA

Hrazdan Mayor ArrestedOn Corruption ChargesYEREVAN (Armenpress) — Former Mayor of

Hrazdan Aram Danielyan was arrested on Tuesday,February 26, on suspicion of embezzlement and mis-use of state funds, the Investigative Committee said.Danielyan is suspected of embezzling land and

property taxes during his years in office as mayor ofthe Armenian town.The Investigative Committee said the criminal

investigation is still ongoing.Danielyan hasn’t yet made any public statement on

the matter.

Proceeds from PapianConcert to Go to April

War Hero FundYEREVAN (Panorama.am) — Armenian opera

singer, world-famous soprano Hasmik Papian sang atthe 10th jubilee festival of the Armenian Musicwhich is dedicated to the 90th anniversary ofArmenian composer Avet Terteryan. The concerttook place at Aram Khachaturyan concert hall onFebruary 20.As Papian had informed earlier, all proceeds of the

charity concert will be donated to ArmenakUrfanyan Fund, who died in the Four-Day ArtsakhWar in April 2016, destroying a tank and morethan10 enemy soldiers.“I want to inform that 3.346.200 drams ($6,800)

were collected from the sale of the tickets thanks toyour dedicated efforts. The proceeds will be trans-ferred to Armenak Urfanyan Fund. I am extremelygrateful to all those who contributed to this initia-tive,” Papian wrote on her Facebook page.“I had incredible feelings. My performance on

February 20 was perhaps the most exciting and mem-orable concert in my career,” she wrote.The fund was launched by his mother in memory

of all fallen heroes of the April war.

Tonoyan Gives Details ofRussian-ArmenianFighter Jet Deal

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia wants to buy atotal of 12 multirole fighter jets from Russia and willlikely receive four of them within a year, DefenseMinister Davit Tonoyan said on Monday.The Armenian Defense Ministry confirmed earlier

this month the signing of a Russian-Armenian con-tract on the delivery of four Sukhoi Su-30SM jets tothe South Caucasus country’s Armed Forces.Tonoyan said last week that Yerevan will seek toacquire more such aircraft.“We are continuing to negotiate on the delivery of

the next batch of Su-30SMs,” Tonoyan told the RIANovosti news agency during a visit to the UnitedArab Emirates. “Everything will depend on howquickly these products will be manufactured. Thereare some issues with import substitution [by Russia]and so on.”“We are planning to get the first batch this year or

the beginning of next year at the latest,” he said,adding that the Armenian military’s objective is tohave a full squadron consisting of 12 of Russian-made warplanes.Su-30SM is a modernized version of a heavy fight-

er jet developed by the Sukhoi company in the late1980s. The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on

February 1 that the Armenian government will use aRussian loan to buy the sophisticated jets at a dis-counted price. It did not specify their total price.Russia lent Armenia $200 million for arms acqui-

sitions in 2015. The weapons delivered to theArmenian military under that deal include, amongother things, multiple-launch rocket systems, anti-tank rockets, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles,and army radios.Yerevan secured another Russian loan, worth

$100 million, for further arms acquisitions in 2017.It is still not clear what types of Russian militaryhardware will be purchased with that loan.Tonoyan did not rule out the possibility of a third

Russian government loan to Yerevan.

News From Armenia

Pashinyan’s Party inNo Rush to AdmitNew Members

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — PrimeMinister Nikol Pashinyan’s CivilContract party is careful not to admit alarge number of new members eventhough thousands of Armenians areseeking to join it, a senior party membersaid on Tuesday, February 26.

Lena Nazaryan said Civil Contracthas received 9,000 membership applica-tions since Pashinyan swept to power inMay on a wave of mass protests thatbrought down Armenia’s former gov-ernment. “We have still not acceptedthose applications,” she said.

Nazaryan, who is also a deputy speak-er of the Armenian parliament, suggest-ed that many of the applicants haveulterior motives. “They think that itwould give them some advantages interms of getting government jobs orsome other privileges,” she said. “Thatis not possible. I don’t think that we willadmit all of those people who have sub-mitted membership applications.”

Nazaryan stressed that Civil Contractwill thus not follow the example of for-mer President Serzh Sargsyan’sRepublican Party of Armenia (HHK),which had accumulated vast financialand administrative resources during itslong presence in government.

The HHK heavily relied on thoseresources to win just about every majorArmenian election held beforeSargsyan’s dramatic resignation in April2018. It had hundreds of thousands ofnominal members, many of them publicsector employees, government-linkedentrepreneurs and people working forthem. Few of them showed support forSarkisian during the Pashinyan-led “vel-vet revolution.”

The HHK failed to clear the 5 percentvote threshold to enter the parliamentin snap general elections held inDecember.

“We don’t want to go down thatpath,” said Nazaryan, who actively par-ticipated in the revolution. “We don’twant to admit people who are accus-tomed to being in a ruling party.”

“We want to recruit only ideologicalpeople for the party,” she added.“People who understand what the partystands for and want to join the state sys-tem because they have skills, knowledgeand experience and are willing to be ofuse or just want to be in the party,finance it and oversee it.”

Pashinyan set up Civil Contract in2013 after splitting from formerPresident Levon Ter-Petrosian’sArmenian National Congress. It operat-ed as a non-governmental organizationmostly uniting young civic activistsbefore becoming a full-fledged politicalparty in 2015.

Aram Simonyan, the Yerevan State University rector, holds a news conference in hisoffice, 29 May 2018.

Yerevan University Head UnderMounting Pressure to Resign

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — RussianPresident Vladimir Putin discussed withArmenian Prime Minister NikolPashinyan bilateral relations and region-al security during a telephone conversa-tion on Monday, February 25.

The Kremlin reported that the twoleaders spoke about the “developmentof Russian-Armenian cooperation aswell as regional problems.” It did notelaborate.

Pashinyan’s press office also gave nodetails in a virtually identical statementon the phone call. “The interlocutorsdiscussed various issues on the agendaof Russian-Armenian allied relations,” itsaid.

Putin and Pashinyan most recentlymet in Moscow on December 27. Thetalks focused, among other things, on anew price of Russian natural gas deliv-ered to Armenia.

The two men held further discussionson the issue by phone in the followingdays. Russia’s Gazprom giantannounced a 10-percent rise in its gasprice for Armenia on December 31.

Immediately after those talks, Putinsent New Year greetings to RobertKocharyan, a former Armenian presi-dent arrested on coup charges onDecember 7. In August, he phonedKocharyan to congratulate him on his64th birthday. A spokeswoman forPutin said the two men “have been

maintaining warm relations that are notinfluenced by any events taking place inArmenia.”

Russian Foreign Minister SergeyLavrov had earlier denounced the pros-ecutions of Kocharyan, as well as tworetired Armenian generals facing thesame charges. The authorities inYerevan deny any political motivesbehind the high-profile criminal cases.

Pashinyan did not meet with Putinwhen he again visited Moscow in lateJanuary. He was received instead byRussian Prime Minister DmitryMedvedev. The Armenian leader alsogave a speech at the Moscow headquar-ters of the Russian-led EurasianEconomic Union (EEU).

In its five-year policy programapproved by the parliament on February14, Pashinyan’s government’s reaf-firmed its commitment to Armenia’scontinued membership in the EEU and“strategic alliance” with Russia. The pro-gram describes close military ties withMoscow an “important component” ofArmenia’s national security doctrine.

On February 8, Armenia deployed 83medics, demining experts and othernoncombat military personnel to Syria.Russian Defense Minister SergeyShoygu thanked Yerevan for the deploy-ment when het with his Armenia coun-terpart Davit Tonoyan in Moscow on thesame day.

Putin, Pashinyan Discuss‘Regional Problems’

By Ani Mejlumyan

YEREVAN (Eurasianet) — Armenia’s govern-ment has said it plans to implement a new cus-toms duty on cement in order to keep cheaperforeign imports — especially from Iran — fromflooding the market. The measure would direct-ly benefit Gagik Tsarukyan, the head of the sec-ond biggest party in parliament and owner ofone of Armenia’s two cement companies.

During a government session on February21, Minister of Economic Development andInvestment Tigran Khachatryan introduced thenew, $45-per-ton duty as a means of “equalizingthe pricing of imported and locally producedcement.” Khachatyran said that imports of

cement had tripled over the past year because“neighboring countries” had increased subsi-dies to their domestic cement manufacturers,allowing them to undercut their Armenian com-petition.

One of those competitors is Tsarukyan’sArarat Cement. In May, Tsarukyan visited a fac-tory in the Ararat region to meet with employ-ees. He complained that cheap cement fromIran was threatening the business and that itwas struggling to keep all 1,200 of its workersemployed. “Before we were able to exportcement to Georgia and Iran and then itreversed. Iran is importing 500 tons of cheapcement every day,” he said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who cameinto office on promises to tackle corruption butsubsequently reached a sort of accommodationwith Tsarukyan, the country’s biggest oligarch,questioned the policy. “Are we sure that ourmanufacturers of cement are doing everythingin their power to advance their technology or tobring prices down?” he asked Khachatyran atthe government session.

Khachatryan replied that local manufacturersare acting in good faith: “I talked to one of themanufacturers – the biggest – in detail.” Themanufacturer said that the price had gonedown about 13 percent as the result of adopt-ing energy-saving technology. Khachatryan didnot specify which manufacturer he was refer-ring to; Tsarukyan’s name was not mentionedat the meeting.

Pashinyan ultimately approved the duty,which will next be sent to the parliament for a

vote. While duties like this would normallyenter into force six months after beingannounced, Khachatryan said that “taking intoconsideration the urgency of the situation itshould enter into force in 10 days.”

Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia party is thesecond largest in parliament after winning justover eight percent of the vote in December’selections.

“Tsarukyan got his way; the imports ofcement will be limited,” read one headline onthe news website panarmenian.net. “Did thegovernment make a decision on cement forTsarukyan?” noted another headline, on

news.am.One member of parliament from Prosperous

Armenia defended the new tariff against accu-sations of favoritism. Sergey Bagratyan notedthat Ararat will not be the only beneficiary ofthe duty, but the country’s other cementmaker, Hrazdan, will benefit as well. “When wehave factories that employ thousands of peopleand we can’t profit under the current prices,the government has to take action to defendlocal manufacturers,” he told journalists onFebruary 23.

(Ani Mejlumyan is a reporter based inYerevan.)

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ARMENIA

Parliament MajorityRejects ‘Threats’From Radical Group

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Representatives ofthe pro-government majority in the Armenianparliament denounced on February 26 whatthey called threats to the authorities made bya leader of a party whose members stormed apolice station in Yerevan in 2016.

Zhirayr Sefilyan of the Sasna Tsrer partydemanded on Monday, February 25, the imme-diate release of his two loyalists accused ofmurdering three police officers during theattack. Sefilyan threatened to “force” theauthorities to free them.

His strongly-worded statement fueled mediaspeculation about extreme actions against theArmenian government planned by Sasna Tsrer.

Sefilyan dismissed such speculation onTuesday, accusing unnamed media outlets of“distorting” his statement. He insisted that hisparty is not planning an armed struggle againstthe country’s current leadership.

This did not stop senior lawmakers repre-senting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s MyStep alliance from condemning Sefilyan.

“They had better finally stop talking in thelanguage of threats,” said Lena Nazaryan, adeputy parliament speaker. “That is unaccept-able. That will not produce any results.”

“[Sefilyan] said, ‘If you don’t free them, wewill take some actions,’” NikolayBaghdasaryan, another My Step deputy, said.“He then said, ‘No, we won’t take thoseactions.’”

“He must realize that he cannot adopt sucha tone to publicly talk to the governmentbecause the government is now doing its bestto get the country on its feet, develop its econ-omy and live up to people’s hopes,” saidBaghdasaryan. “With such actions, he wants todrive a wedge between various representativesof the society, which means playing into thehands of the [former ruling] HHK.”

Vahagn Hovakimyan, another Pashinyan ally,argued that the government cannot interfere inthe ongoing trial of 31 members of the armedgroup that seized the police station in July2016. That would be illegal, he said.

All of those defendants, except Armen Bilyanand Smbat Barseghyan, were set free pendingthe outcome of the trials shortly after lastspring’s Velvet Revolution led by Pashinyan.The two stand accused of killing the threepolicemen during the gunmen’s two-weekstandoff with security forces.

The armed group stormed the police facilityin Yerevan’s southern Erebuni district todemand that then President Serzh Sargsyanfree Sefilyan and resign. Sefilyan was arresteda month before the deadly attack.

Pashinyan lambasted Sasna Tsrer in the run-up to the December 2018 parliamentary elec-tions. He said its members and supporters will“feel the taste of asphalt” if they attempt todestabilize the political situation in Armenia.

The warning was prompted by Sasna Tsrerleaders’ claims that the new Armenian parlia-ment will have to be dissolved within two yearsbecause the country is now in a post-revolu-tionary “transitional period.”

Gagik Tsarukyan

Armenian Oligarch Stands to Benefit from New Cement Duty

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia’s currentgovernment has made “serious progress” incombatting corruption in the country butshould not “rest on its laurels,” a seniorEuropean Union diplomat said on Tuesday,

February 26.Piotr Switalski, the head of the EU

Delegation in Yerevan, admitted that thereform-minded government is serious about itsrepeated pledges to eliminate corrupt practices.

“But political will, being the sine qua non ele-

ment, is not enough,” Switalski cautioned at anews conference. “You also need other ele-ments such as institutions, laws and a social cul-ture or environment.”

“Regarding the institutions, we can see thatthe government wants to create a new, inde-pendent anti-corruption agency that will havewide-ranging powers,” he said. He also praisedthe government’s plans to enact anti-graft laws.

Switalski added that the EU stands ready to“help” the authorities in what he hopes will bea sustained and “long” campaign against cor-ruption. “Don’t rest on your laurels because theway [forward] is long,” he said, appealing tothem.

The number of high-profile corruption inves-tigations launched by Armenian law-enforce-ment authorities has risen significantly sincelast spring’s “velvet revolution.” They have tar-geted former senior officials as well as formerPresident Serzh Sargsyan’s relatives.

Speaking in the parliament on February 12,Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared thathis administration has already “broken thespine of systemic corruption in Armenia.”

Pashinyan said it will now focus on putting inplace “institutional” safeguards against theproblem. In particular, he said, it will makeinformation about the personal assets of indi-viduals holding or aspiring to state posts easilyaccessible to the public.

Switalski made clear that the EU is alsoencouraged by other reforms initiated byPashinyan’s government and will reward themwith greater financial assistance already thisyear. He cited statements to that effect made byJohannes Hahn, the EU commissioner forEuropean neighborhood and enlargementnegotiations.

Hahn hailed democratic change in Armeniawhen he visited Yerevan and met withPashinyan late last month. He singled out theconduct of the December 9 parliamentary elec-tions, saying that they are regarded as free andfair by the international community.

Hahn did not specify the likely amount of theextra EU aid. He said only that it will be allo-cated from an EU fund designed to reward part-ner states’ “special achievements” in the areasof democratization and rule of law.

Piotr Switalski

EU Envoy Sees ‘Serious Progress’ in Armenian Anti-Graft Fight

Delegation Led byParliament SpeakerVisits Russia

MOSCOW (Armenpress) — A delegation fromArmenia, led by Speaker of Parliament AraratMirzoyan, arrived in Russia on February 25 at theinvitation of Speaker of the Federation Council ofthe Federal Assembly Valentina Matviyenko. OnFebruary 26 visited the Memorial of the UnknownSoldier and paid tribute to the memory of the GreatPatriotic War victims.

The Armenian delegation members wereaccompanied by acting deputy Co-Chair of theInter-Parliamentary Committee IgorChernishenko, the Armenian Parliament toldArmenpress.

Within the framework of the working visitthe Speaker of the Armenian Parliament alsovisited the Holy Transfiguration Church ofRussia and Nor Nakhichevan Diocese Seat ofthe Armenian Apostolic Church, took a tour inthe Armenian educational center and had ameeting with the representatives of theArmenian community.

During the meeting Mirzoyan introduced theagenda of the Moscow visit, the position of theauthorities on a number of issues. In the con-text of strengthening the friendship betweenthe Armenian and Russian peoples, he under-lined the special role of the Armenian commu-

nity in Russia.The Armenian delegation members and the

community representatives had an open andsincere discussion on a series of important pub-lic, educational and cultural issues concerningArmenia and Diaspora.

Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan and other Armenian members of his delegation in Moscow.

T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R4

INTERNATIONAL

S A T U R D A Y, M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 9

Prime Minister ReceivesIMF Armenia Rep

YEREVAN — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan onTuesday, February 26, received RichardDoornbosch, International Monetary Fund (IMF)executive director, who represents Armenia at theIMF.Pashinyan noted that the government of Armenia

attaches importance to continued cooperation withthe IMF and is interested in further deepening ofconstructive partnership.Doornbosch praised Armenia as a reliable partner

for the International Monetary Fund.The two discussed prospects for expanding and

developing cooperation.Pashinyan spoke about the promotion of the field

of high technology in the structure of the economy,reform of the Tax Code, creation of micro business-es, regulation of business environment, reform ofpublic administration and education systems, andactivities under the anti-corruption policy. He addedthat with the change in the structure of the economyand promoting the use of high technologies in vari-ous sectors, the government aims to positionArmenia as a technological hub. According to theprime minister, the government’s task is to createopportunities in Armenia and to stimulate entrepre-neurship so that everyone can realize their potentialand contribute to the country’s development.Emphasizing the need for institutional and expert

capacities for the success of reforms, the head of thegovernment highlighted the relevant assistance ofinternational business structures, including the IMFin that context.Doornbosch noted that the IMF is ready to discuss

the possibilities of assisting the implementation ofreforms in the areas mentioned by the PrimeMinister of the Republic of Armenia.

World Bank to AssistArmenian GovernmentIn Reforming Health

SystemYEREVAN (Arka) — Armenia’s Deputy Prime

Minister Tigran Avinyan and World Bank CountryManager for Armenia Sylvie Bossoutrot met lastweek to look into a string of issues related to devel-opment and implementation of the health insurancesystem in Armenia. Health Minister Arsen Torosyanwas also in attendance, the press service of theArmenian government reported on February 25. Avinyan was quoted as saying that the government

has sufficient opportunities and the will to imple-ment such reforms, which will significantly raise thelevel of well-being of the country’s citizens. One ofthese projects is the introduction of health insur-ance, he said.Torosyan said in turn that he held discussions on

this issue with international partners to identify theadvantages and disadvantages of health insurancesystems, run by various countries. He said the dis-cussions will continue at the level of a working groupbeing created.According to Bossoutrot, the World Bank is ready

to assist the government in implementing reformshealtcare in Armenia.Earlier, Torosyan had said the country would

switch to a comprehensive health insurance systemby 2021. According to him, the key principles of theongoing reform of the sector are to guarantee socialjustice in the health sector and combine the pack-ages of health services provided to citizens.Aerospace 3-2

Iran, Armenia TradeReach New Highs

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Trade betweenArmenia-Iran trade turnover reached $364 millionin 2018, which is an unprecedented number since1991, the government announced on February 25.The Iranian IRNA agency reported that last year

Iranian exports to Armenia amounted to $296 mil-lion.Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan was scheduled to

visit Iran on February 27.

International News

Another Armenian Church Vandalized VANDALISM, from page 1synagogues take place several times every year. Not only the perpetrators but the powers behind (the attacks) shouldbe addressed. Above all, hate-generating policies should be ended,” said Paylan.

Armenian writer Murad Mıhçı also commented on the attack on Twitter. Sharing the images of the church, Mıhçı said:“The walls and the door of the Balat Surp Armenian Church. ... Its entrance was built with the rocks from the histori-cal church in �znik (Nicaea), where the council met. The church opens one day a year. It is believed to heal people. Justass they say, “ARE YOU FINISH?”, there are no local people left. It is a New Turkey.”

(Reports from Panorama.am, Turkish Minute, and Ahval were used to compile this report.)

Some graffiti has been covered up

LONDON — A two-meter-all, half-tonstone cross, hewn out of volcanic stonefrom Armenia, has been given on longterm loan to the Cathedral to commem-orate the Armenian Genocide of 1914-1923.

The cross is the work of BrigadierJohn Meardon, who retired from his roleas Receiver General at the Cathedral in

2016, and Vartan Moskofian, an elec-tronics engineer.

Meardon said, “The idea behind thestone was two-fold. It’s to mark the cen-tenary of the genocide of 1.5 millionArmenians and to act as a symbol forreconciliation between peoples.

“Vartan and I are members of ‘PureForm,’ an amateur stone sculpturegroup here in Canterbury. Vartan want-ed to commemorate the genocide whichhad affected so many Armenians and

thought it was a project we could bothwork on using stone as the medium.

“Vartan drew up the design and Iapproached the Dean and Chapter tosee if they would be happy to accept thecross as a loan item of religious sculp-ture. It seemed a good fit forCanterbury as Archbishop RandallDavidson was very public in fighting the

Armenian cause at the end of the FirstWorld War and not only is he buried inthe Cloister but he also has a memorialinside the Cathedral. The Dean andChapter have agreed to accept it afterseeing the drawings and hearing thestory. Vartan sounded out the Armeniancommunity in UK and elsewhere andsecured financial donations to purchasea block of stone in Armenia and ship itto Canterbury.

Davidson was appointed Archbishop

of Canterbury in 1903, succeedingFrederick Temple and remained inoffice until his resignation in 1928.

Meardon added: “ It’s a reddish stonemade from compressed volcanic ash andit took about three weeks for the half-ton block to be transported from thequarry in Armenia to Dover.

“We started carving the stone in July2018 and it was com-pleted earlier this year.The design incorpo-rates traditionalArmenian liturgicalsymbology: there is awheel of infinity, twopeacocks and steps rep-resenting the ascent toheaven. There is aninscription inArmenian which reads‘And I go towards thesource of the light’.

The freestandingcross, called a“Khachkar” inArmenian, will beplaced in theCathedral’s MemorialGarden and will be ded-icated in a short ser-vice followingEvensong on Saturday2 March.

The ArmeniaOrthodox church isperhaps the oldest inthe world. KingTiridates of Armeniaestablished Christianity

as the state religion almost 300 yearsbefore St Augustine arrived inCanterbury and the ArmenianOrthodox Church remains one of threeChristian presences still active inJerusalem, along with the GreekOrthodox and the Catholic Churches.

(Originally published in theCanterbury Cathedral newsletter on

February 4.)

The stone cross with Brigadier John Meardon, left, and Vartan Moskofian

Stone Cross at Canterbury CathedralTo Commemorate Armenian Genocide

S A T U R D A Y, M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 9 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R 5

INTERNATIONAL

By Artsvi Bakhchinyan Special to the Mirror-Spectator

YEREVAN/LONDON — Vaughan (Vahan) Pilikian wasborn in London to an American mother and Armenian father.After studies in classical languages, fine art and filmmakingat the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard, he hasproduced work in several different fields. His career to datehas seen him chasing burning barrels in a village in Devon,filming the lives of shipbreakers in northern India, translat-ing the Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata and broadcastingrecordings from ancient Babylon on Resonance FM. In 2012his play “Leper Colony” ran for three weeks at the YardTheatre in London to controversy and acclaim. In 2016, hewas the first and, it turned out, the last British CouncilResident Artist in Transcarpathia, Ukraine, where he made aperformance about werewolves. Last year he published histhird book of poems and he is presently completing work ona feature film about migrants in peril and adrift in the hinter-lands of Europe.

Dear Vaughan, I want to start our conversationremembering your father, Hovhanness Pilikian, who diedlast December. In 1980s he was quite known in the art cir-cles of Soviet Armenia, particularly due to his extraordi-nary interpretations of Shakespeare. He was a polymath,and I see that you took after him.My father was a difficult man, as anyone who spent any

time with him will attest. But he was a true individual.Nothing held him back. He was a force of nature, a person inwhom the destructive and creative impulses were closelyimbricated. I certainly inherited a great number of his inter-ests and passions. One thing he did instill in me is a sense thatconventions and boundaries are not really a concern. I don’thave a plan or a career: like him, I have only my obsessionsand my interests. These things lead me: I do not decide them.The notion of a polymath only makes sense in a divided anddamaged society in which the Geist, to use of necessity aGerman word for a concept we do not have in English, hasbecome fissured and broken. Surely we must aspire to cutacross the domains that are mostly very recent creations. Ifwe cannot aspire to hold different kinds of knowledge andtechnique simultaneously within ourselves then as a societyI feel we are doomed to servitude and ignorance.

You translate ancient Indian poetry from Sanskritinto English. One can think that all Sanskrit literaturehas been already translated into English. Do you make

first-time translations or new translations of works thathave been previously done and now are outdated?Unfortunately only a tiny fraction of Sanskrit literature

has been translated into English. The only text with any realcurrency in the West is the Bhagavad Gita, but that is oftentaken out of context and is misinterpreted. This isn’t just apopular matter: Western scholarship is mostly and proudlyignorant of Indian civilization. Perhaps there is a kind of neu-rotic repression at work. Ancient India strongly influencedpre-Socratic Greek philosophy and its early metaphysics farsurpass in subtlety parallel developments in the West. Thevast and multifarious religious systems of Hinduism and ofBuddhism can all be traced back to ancient Sanskrit sources.The Mahabharata, for instance, a text I have worked onextensively, is one of the most extraordinary and dazzlingcreations in world literature. The Vedas too are an entire cos-mological imaginary, spellbinding in their beauty and power.Why are these not better known in the West? Sadly the ambi-tious translation project of which I was a part collapsed igno-miniously some years ago. I am working independently atthe moment on some translations from Prakrit, which is avernacular language related to Sanskrit and which contains Ithink some of the most astonishingly lovely miniatures inany poetic tradition. Who knows if anyone will want to pub-lish them? Probably not!

What are the best influences and inspirations of yourlife and your oeuvre?I suppose I would say my ongoing astonishment merely

at being alive. This seems unsurprising and unworthy ofcomment to many, but it strikes me as an unfathomable mys-tery. That is perhaps the existential question. It sits somewhatabsurdly within the ruination of everyday life. I was bornnear the time Margaret Thatcher came to power: it has beendownhill ever since, an unbroken sequence of hideous stu-pidity and almost incomprehensible cruelty and vandalism.People complain about Trump but he is a boy scout com-pared to Blair and Bush and what they did to the world. Ourculture and cities are in decline: they have become tourist-trap money-mills, playgrounds for plutocrats and oligarchswhere poor people get corralled into towering infernos. Iwould describe England today as Germany during theWeimar years, except without any sense of fun: A joyless car-toon-fascist interregnum in which the people kicked in theteeth for decades have decided to ally themselves with adecayed aristocracy while the people in-between gloat in dis-belief. It is a mess. You have to travel far down forgottenroads to find anything of value now. I love the anarchists andthe misfits who abhor everything, who fit in nowhere. It isthe broken, the singular, the howlingly desperate whom Iseek out. They inspire me. They interest me. Shared culture,global culture: it is all a kind of death, a kind of unbearablebanality and pointlessness fashioned in the image of neolib-eral economics.

In 2006 you came to Armenia with your films, a doc-umentary and one animation. Your short documentary,“Hammer and Flame,” won an award at the secondGolden Apricot International Film Festival. Are you apart of the British filmmaking community or you workindependently?No one in Britain is even vaguely interested in my work.

If I make films, which only happens rarely, I do so totallyoutside of any community or industry. This is not by choice.It’s just necessity. I suppose it’s fair enough, because I am notreally interested in contemporary British cinema. The num-ber of films being made about royalty, about queens andprinces, is ridiculous - there seems to be one new film on thistopic every week. Who cares about this material? It’s actual-ly obscene given what is going on in the world. And aesthet-ically it is just embarrassing. I suppose all of this junk sellswell to Americans. The only real filmmaker of genius fromthese islands is Peter Greenaway, and he was essentially dri-ven out like a heretic, forced to go and live in Holland. Thattells you all you need to know about the British film indus-try. Does anyone even go to the cinema anymore? What isthis obsession anyway with looking in one direction, likeprisoners in Plato’s cave? I think people have understoodhow fascistic the medium has become. It’s a shame, becauseit can also be and at times has been such a deep and beauti-

ful and powerful medium. Perhaps it was too powerful.Lenin understood what it might achieve, but Hollywood wonits Pyrrhic victory over his vision. The problem with filmtoday is that it gets smeared everywhere. I cannot bearmechanical reproduction — it is so obviously the death ofart, as Warhol realized decades ago! What filmmaker, afterslaving for years on a project, wants to see their filmstreamed across the internet alongside all the rest of the non-sense that swills around the planet? I am in fact spending lesstime making films. I am working more in the visual arts andperformance, which seem to me much more exciting andmuch livelier in terms of the kind of work being made.

The second time you came to Armenia in 2014 it wasto take part in the symposium of writers of Armenian ori-gin writing in various languages. You are an author ofthree poetry volumes. What concerns Vaughan Pilikianas a poet?For me poetry is the possibility of another kind of speech.

What is most important in poetry is its secrecy and its mys-tery. The fact that it is not prose. Poetry is as mysterious aslife itself and as simple, to paraphrase Celan, as a handshake.I don’t understand poetry and I hope I never will.

Are there any Armenian touches in your poetry?Given my poor grasp of the Armenian language I am not

qualified to judge this but I might quietly hope that it wouldsomehow be the case. The Armenian language is embeddedin my earliest memories. It forms a kind of penumbra aroundthem. I suppose in some sense Armenian must be called my“father” tongue. For example, there was the way in whichmy father would sink into conversations of a totally differentorder whenever he saw my uncle, conversations that wouldsend them striding obliviously into oncoming traffic, suchwas the intensity of their dialogue. Then there was the waymy grandfather would sing to us when we sat down to eat.The songs he sung were terrifying and immense, like stoneshung in the air. Though I understood almost none of it,Armenian was part of the echolalia of my childhood. It isinscribed on my nervous system in a way that English is not.More recently I have made fragmentary efforts to get a holdon the language. The feeling is strange, not unlike sensingsome inner pulse or heartbeat that must always have beenthere but to which you had never previously given attention.I feel like I am unearthing myself the more I learn. Armenianhas an ancient force in its diction quite unlike most Europeanlanguages. I was interested to discover that, like Sanskrit infact, it still has an instrumental case - in most modernEuropean languages this case has disappeared or beenabsorbed into the ablative. At my father’s funeral I read a sec-tion in grabar from St. Gregory of Narek which fastenedupon me with irresistible force. His prayer poems are extra-ordinary creations, spectacular journeys above impossibledepths. I feel I could somehow spend the rest of my life div-ing into them and never find their limits.

What does the Armenian heritage mean to you?Things are written deep into our being, cyphers that can

take a lifetime even to discern, let alone begin to interpret orunderstand. You don’t choose what you inherit, and there is noquestion that being Armenian carries a special and peculiarforce with it. I feel I am Armenian: I also feel I am American,the nationality of my mother. Am I British? I was born hereand I have lived my whole life here. Now that both my par-ents are gone, I feel more keenly than ever how history turnsthrough us all, how immense forces that far outreach any oneof us move through us all and drive our individual destinies.There is a curious sense in being Armenian that somethingvery precious and very fragile is at any moment about to belost forever. I am only speaking in part here of the genocideand its reverberations. Look into Armenian history, and yousee how from the earliest times the culture was under threat.Certainly I cannot really conceive of what my grandparentswent through, its biblical scale. But I see now with increasingclarity how all that has come before has set me on certainirrefutable assignations and sent me down paths from which Iwill not return. There is a feeling of enormous and irrevoca-ble dispossession which feels cosmological, but which ofcourse has very particular and explicable roots. I yearn for aland, like we all do. Yet I suppose I can be certain that in thiscase, it really did exist, and it really was lost.

Vaughan Pilikian“Armenian Must Be Called My

Father Tongue’

By Elena Cavallone

THE HAGUE (euronews.com) — A small mir-acle happened in a residential neighborhood ofthe Hague. A church protected a family ofArmenians from being deported. Priests andneighbors set up a non-stop mass for threemonths, as Dutch law prevents police fromentering during a religious service.

It was an incredible experience of human sol-idarity, Isolde Verburgt, a close neighborremembers.

“A lot of people that came were not believers,other yes. I think it was about heartwarmingand charity, love for each other, like the churchused to say. I felt like joining this initiativebecause I wanted to stand for all the childrenthat should receive protection. That was thereason that led also other people to join.”

The Tamrazyan family had fled nine years agofrom Armenia because the father was consideredan opponent of the government. Once theyarrived in the Netherlands, they had sought asy-lum but after five years the authorities havedenied the refugee status to the whole family.

The Tamrazyan had then requested the so-

called “Kinderpardon,” which guarantees asy-lum to families whose children have been livingin the country for at least five years.

The situation was quite difficult for the chil-dren of the family (the youngest is 12 years old),who had started their studies in theNetherlands.

Faced with a deportation executive order, thefamily had no other option but to ask theChurch for help.

Under pressure, the government granted asy-lum to the family and to another 700 cases. Itwas a necessary step Theo Hettema, chairmanof the Hague council of protestant church

explains.“We always have said to the government that

we don’t want to take your seat: you have yourown responsibility we want to cooperate, we wantto think with you. But we also have our ownnorms and we should care about these people andwe love our neighbor. We want to be serious aboutthat and we will never stop doing that.”

But with regional and European electionscoming up, the Dutch government led by the lib-eral Mark Rutte has since tightened asylum reg-ulations. The so-called “Kinderpardon” will nolonger apply and the country’s intake of refugeesfrom UN camps will be cut from 750 to 500.

Netherlands Tougher on Migration after Granting Asylum to Armenian Family

Community NewsS A T U R D A Y, M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 9 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

GALAS Relaunches CollegeScholarships For LGBTQStudents and Advocates

WEST HOLLYWOOD — The Gay and LesbianArmenian Society (GALAS) will once againoffer scholarships to students of Armeniandescent who have demonstrated LGBTQactivism. GALAS scholarships have been anintegral part of the organization’s communityoutreach programs.

As part of its 20th year expanded outreachand education initiatives, GALAS will awardone $2,000 scholarship and two $1,000 schol-arships for the Spring 2019 semester. Thescholarship program aims at supportingArmenian students who contribute to cultivat-ing visibility and acceptance for LGBTQ narra-tives and experiences.

“Supporting inspirational LGBTQ and alliedstudent leaders on their educational journeyswith crucial financial and community support isa priority for GALAS,” states GALAS PresidentHaig Boyadjian. “Too often, we see many youngmembers of the Armenian LGBTQ communityostracized by their families and in need of anextra push in their educational pursuits.”

The deadline for submitting applications isFebruary 28, 2019. The GALAS Spring 2019Scholarships application can be found ongalasla.org/galas-annual-scholarship.

In its 20th year, GALAS is committed toexpanding and further developing robust out-reach and education programming to bring vis-ibility to LGBTQ Armenian voices and createresources and safe spaces for LGBTQ Armenianyouth, as well as their families and allies.GALAS Scholarships are one of the many ini-tiatives that GALAS has planned for its 20thyear. Other programs include outreach and pre-sentations on LGBTQ topics to schools withlarge Armenian populations, as well as SoorjSessions: roundtable conversations that arehosted regularly between LGBTQ Armenians,their parents, families and friends to exploreunderstanding and acceptance of LGBTQ iden-tities and individuals.

For additional information on the GALAS Spring2019 Scholarships e-mail info@galasla.org.

Akçam to Speak onDenial of ArmenianGenocide and TalatPasha

FRESNO — Dr. Taner Akçam, the Kaloosdianand Mugar Professor of Armenian GenocideStudies at Clark University, will speak on “TheDenial of Armenian Genocide and the KillingOrder of Talat Pasha” on Friday, March 15, at7:30 p.m., in the Satellite Student Union (2485 E.San Ramon, enter at Barstow and Maple Aves.),at Fresno State.

The presentation is part of the ArmenianStudies Program Spring 2019 Lecture Seriesand is co-sponsored by the Knights of Vartan,Yeprad Lodge.

A unique feature of the Armenian Genocidehas been the long-standing efforts of successiveTurkish governments to deny its historicity andto hide the documentary evidence surroundingit. Denialists claimed that there was no centraldecision taken by Ottoman authorities to exter-minate the Armenians and all available docu-ments that indicate otherwise are either fake orwere doctored by Armenians.

Akçam, with his latest book, brings to lightdocuments either hidden or destroyed by theTurkish government that contain the killingorders, as well as demonstrates the authenticityof these orders, which had been sign by OttomanInterior Minister Talat Pasha.

As such, this work removes a cornerstone from

the denialist edifice and represent an earthquakein the field of Armenian Genocide and will con-tribute enormously to the fight for recognition.

Historian and sociologist Akçam, one of thefirst Turkish intellectuals to acknowledge andopenly discuss the Armenian Genocide, holds theonly endowed chair dedicated to research andteaching on this subject. As Robert Aram andMarianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and MarianMugar Professor of Armenian Genocide Studiesat the Strassler Center for Holocaust andGenocide Studies at Clark University, he is com-mitted to research, teaching, and training futurescholars. An outspoken advocate of democracyand free expression since his student days atMiddle East Technical University in Ankara, he isan internationally recognized human rightsactivist.

Akçam received his PhD in 1995 from theUniversity of Hanover with a dissertation titled,“Turkish Nationalism and the ArmenianGenocide: On the Background of the MilitaryTribunals in Istanbul between 1919 and 1922.”

He is the author of The Young Turks’ CrimeAgainst Humanity: The Armenian Genocide andEthnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire (2012);Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian GenocideTrials, with Vahakn Dadrian (2011); and AShameful Act: Armenian Genocide and theQuestion of Turkish Responsibility, (2006).

The lecture is free and open to the public.

A Success Story of a JNFScholarship Recipient from

Gavar UniversityGAITHERSBURG, Md. — Varazdat Avetisyan is a good example of a deter-

mined and hardworking person, who can efficiently put his skills into practice,who never gives up and stays in control of his forward motion. His story caninspire many people and help them believe that they should look for new oppor-tunities, and strive for more.

Apart from working, 28-year-old Varazdat, a computer programmer by spe-cialty, has dived into science, which has helped him to become a Candidate ofScience, Head of the Chair. In 2007, he entered the Gavar State University(GSU), Department of Informatics and Computing Engineering and earned aBachelor’s Degree with a Diploma of Honor in 2011. Soon after, he successful-ly finished a two-year MA course in the same Department. During his four-yeareducation at the Bachelor’s Degree, he was involved in the Fund for ArmenianRelief’s (FAR) Jerar Nishanian Foundation (JNF) Scholarship Program, whichfully compensated his tuition and eased the burden of Varazdat’s family. Thescholarship has enabled Varazdat to fully focus on his study and not worry aboutthe payment thus pursuing his dream.

“A few years ago, my friends and I managed to meet with Mr. Jerar Nishanianand Mrs. Anahit Nishanian at Gavar State University. Through our warm andcandid talk, I realized that he is a very industrious, business-oriented, persistentperson, and a big patriot. He seemed very outgoing and outspoken to us. Hischaracteristic features guided my behavior in my adult life. I will do my best toprove that I received Jerar Nishanian Scholarship for a reason,” recollectsAvetisyan.

For his excellent performance at the university, he twice received the Fund forArmenian Relief (FAR) certificate; in 2011 he became the best student of theGSU, and two years later - the best student of Armenia. In 2014, the ArmenianStudent Association made him the Best Students of the Year.

Since 2002, FAR has been providing Jerar Nishanian Scholarship to students.In the course of 16 years, hundreds GSU students have been provided with anopportunity to pursue higher education thanks to the scholarship. Since 2011,Nishanian Scholarship is also provided to the students of the Armenian NationalPolytechnic University and the National University of Architecture andConstruction in Yerevan.

“I continued my education in postgraduate studies thus laying a foundationfor my academic career. Between 2013 and 2016, I studied at the Institute forInformatics and Automation Problems of NAS RA, and did my thesis of theCandidate of Technical Science on “Mathematical and Software Support forComputing Machines, Complexes, Systems, and Networks,” remarked Avetisyan,the only PhD holder of the Nishanian Scholarship.

Upon completing bachelor’s studies and since 2011, Avetisyan has been work-ing at the Department of Information Technologies in GSU first as a program-mer then, five years later, - the chair.

After earning the master’s degree, Avetisyan started teaching at the chair ofInformatics and Physics and Mathematics of the GSU, and since May 2017, hehas been giving lectures at the Microsoft Imagine Academy of the National

see JNF, page 7

6

Dr. Varazdat Avedisyan is the head of the IT department.

Prof. Taner Akçam

NH State Sen. D’AllesandroTo Speak at Holy Trinity

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Holy Trinity ArmenianChurch and the Trinity Men’s Union will wel-come state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro of NewHampshire for a luncheon and book talk onSunday, March 24, at 12:30 p.m.

D’Allesandro will discuss the book writtenabout his extraordinary career in politics, Lion ofthe New Hampshire Senate and Thoughts forPresidential Hopefuls. The program will take placeat the Charles and Nevart Talanian Cultural Hallof Holy Trinity Church, 145 Brattle St.

For more than a generation, D’Allesandro hasbeen a force in New Hampshire politics and on thenational stage. His brand of grassroots politics,relatability and the genuine relationships he hasforged with votershave madeD’Allesandro the go-to source for presi-dential hopefuls seek-ing to understand thepolitical landscape forthe New Hampshireprimary. He has beensought for his advice,counsel and friend-ship by Bill Clinton,Joe Biden andElizabeth Edwards,to name a few. Yet, this is a story about more thanpolitics. The exchange promises to touch on themesof trust, leadership, humble service and Americanopportunity.

Donation for the luncheon is $8 and a Lentenoption will be available. Tickets will be sold at thedoor. For further information, contact the HolyTrinity Church Office, office@htaac.org.

7S A T U R D A Y, M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 9 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMUNITY NEWS

A Success Story of a JNFScholarship RecipientFrom Gavar UniversityJNF, from page 6Polytechnic University of Armenia. In 2015, heco-founded Luseen Technologies Informationtechnology Center (www.luseen.am). So far, hehas been working as a trainer in the center.

Last September, he was selected as the chairof the GSU Department of Informatics andPhysics and Mathematical Sciences.

“I prepared for the meeting, but I was rest-less, although I managed to draw the attentionof the members of the Scientific Council to myfive-year concept on development and reformsof the chair of Informatics and Physics andMathematics. I think the mission of the Chair isto prepare a competitive workforce who canmeet the up-to-date requirements of the labormarket. So, I represented my approaches on

how I see it happening,” said Avetisyan, high-lighting the importance of a continuous coop-eration with the Information TechnologiesInstitutions of the province, as well as with theArmenian and international established IT com-panies.

“I made a very responsible decision to applyfor the job; however, I will strengthen myefforts to implement this program,” notedAvetisyan. He is a member of the GSU ScientificCouncil and an author of 10 scientific articles.He has participated in 15 international work-shops and trainings in Italy, Germany, Austria,Sweden, England, Spain, and Bulgaria.

Avetisyan is also active in public sector; as amember of the Gavar Council, he tries to bringhis expertise and knowledge to his hometown.

At the end of 2018, Avetisyan made anotherimportant decision and got married.

I wish Varazdat Avetisyan new achievementsin his personal life and career. Way to goVarazdat!

Yeretsgin AnahidGaithersburg, MD

Meeting with Anahid and Jerar Nishanian

GLENDALE — A delegation of representa-tives of the Tekeyan Cultural Association of theUnited States and Canada (TCA) visited theConsulate of the Republic of Armenia inGlendale on February 18 to meet with Consul-General Dr. Armen Baibourtian and CounselorVarazdat Pahlavuni. The Tekeyan representa-tives included TCA Executive Director AramArkun, TCA Los Angeles Chapter ChairmanParsegh Kartalian, TCA Pasadena-GlendaleChapter Vice-Chairman Kevork Keushkerian,who is also a member of the TCA Central Boardof Trustees, and TCA Metro Los AngelesChapter Chairman Carl Bardakian.

During the meeting, issues concerning bothArmenia and the diaspora were discussed.Baibourtian remarked that this year was the25th anniversary of the founding of the con-sulate, otherwise known as “Mer Doon,” so thatseveral events were being planned in its cele-bration. He expressed his readiness to collabo-rate with TCA in the cultural realm andstressed in this respect the key goals of preser-vation of Armenian identity, the strengtheningof bonds with Armenia and the familiarizationof Americans with Armenian culture.

Baibourtian noted that he has visited Californiacapital of Sacramento and invited the president ofthe Senate to visit Armenia in 2020. He addedthat on the same day, State Sen. AnthonyPortantino, known as a staunch supporter of theArmenian community, proposed the reestablish-ment of the California-Armenia Trade Officewhich had ceased operations in 2008.

Baibourtian observed that he has begun aprogram in conjunction with local publicschools. He has invited two students fromHoover High School to work in the consulateas interns. He also declared that he is strivingto establish good ties with other ethnic groupsliving in the Los Angeles metropolitan region,including Mexicans, Thais and Lithuanians. Forexample, he organized a conference for theMexican and Armenian communities which willtake place May 21-23.

The Tekeyan delegation in turn spoke aboutTCA’s lectures, concerts and various culturalactivities in the Los Angeles region. Arkun andthe local TCA chapter leadership expressed thedesire to support the activities of the consulateas well as to collaborate in a practical fashionwherever possible.

From left, Kevork Keushkerian, Parsegh Kartalian, Armen Baibourtian, Carl Bardakian, Aram Arkun

Tekeyan Cultural Association DelegationVisits Glendale Armenian Consulate

DETROIT — George Manoogian, the husbandof the late Margaret Manoogian, died inFebruary. He was 93.

He leaves his children Linda (Jeffrey) Heathand Douglas Manoogian; grandchildren Jason(Jennifer) Heath, Gregory (Lindsey) Heath, andChristine (Ryan) DePietro and great-grandchil-dren Charles and William Heath and MatthewDePietro.

George Manoogian was born in 1925 inAthens, Greece to Tacvor and TachoohiManoogian, where his family lived after fleeingfrom Izmir, Turkey.

The youngest of five children, he immigratedto America with his brother Charles at the ageof 12.

He began his American education on the eastside of Detroit where he became a strong stu-dent and enjoyed sports particularly speed skat-ing.

He played basketball and baseball for theArmenian Church league and became an activemember of the Armenian Church and theArmenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU).

Upon high school graduation, he enrolled atWayne State with medicine in mind, but thefamily business pulled him in a different direc-tion.

He excelled as a screw machine setup man atMasco while attending engineering classes inthe evening.

During this time, he met his future wife,Marge Vartabedian, at an AGBU meeting at theage of 23 and became engaged to her within sixmonths. They celebrated their wedding with500 guests at the newly built cultural hall on

Oakman Boulevard.Four years later, they were blessed to begin

their family with the birth of Linda and thenDouglas.

It was during this period that his career con-tinued to advance when he joined the engi-neering department at Masco Screw Productson Ford Road.

He soon began his management career. Hewas quickly respected for his engineeringprowess and his ability to work efficiently withothers. Over the years, George advanced toupper management and was the divisional oper-ating executive of two manufacturing compa-nies.

He was dedicated to his family.His was passionate about his garden where

he would lose himself for hours in the sanctu-ary of nature. He learned to grow dahlias fromhis brother Alex, and his skill in raising beauti-ful specimens was admired by many. He nevertired of his love for gardening and it was a pas-sion that he enjoyed even this past summer.

For years, George enjoyed playing golf atOakland Hills with his close Armenian friends,together they shared many great memories.

Following his retirement, when not on thegolf course, George could be found playing ginrummy.

The funeral service was held at St. JohnArmenian Church, Southfield, on Friday,February 15. Interment followed at WhiteChapel Cemetery, Troy.

Arrangements entrusted to Edward KorkoianFuneral Home.

8 S A T U R D A Y, M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 9 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMUNITY NEWS

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GarbisKazandjian

WAYNE, N.J. — Garbis Kazandjian, an activemember of the Armenian community inNewJersey, died on February 21. He was 89.

He was married to Arshalouis Kazandjian. Heleaves his children Hasmig, Lia, Nigol and HrairKazandjian, and one sister, Alice Kazandjian.

He was a longtime member of the Sts.Vartanantz Church and a well-known journalist,publisher, Armenian Radio Hour of New Jerseynewscaster and a very active member of theArmenian community.

Funeral services were held at Sts. VartanatzArmenian Apostolic Church in Ridgefield, NJ onFebruary 25. A graveside service followed atEast Ridgelawn Cemetery, Clifton, NJ.

George ManoogianEngineer, Dedicated to Family

Manhattanville College Hosts ProgramOn ‘Living in Post-Truth World’

PURCHASE, N.Y. — Truth – What is it? Why is it important? Can we live well without it?With the rise of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” these questions are central concerns

for our world today. Some scholars conclude that we now live in a “post-truth world,” wherefacts have become irrelevant in our own lives and in the choices and actions of our leaders.What does it mean to live in a “post-truth world?” And, more importantly, how are we todefend and promote truth in such a world?

The Manhattanville Philosophy Department, in association with the World Religions andPolitical Science Departments, invites all students, educators, community members, andlovers of truth to this year’s Mary T. Clark Event. Thisyear, the event will span two days, from April 1 to 2,and welcome various speakers to discuss the centraltheme, “Living in a Post-Truth World.”

Speakers will include Mary Ellen Bork, Americanhuman rights activist, Armen Morian, AssistantAttorney General for the State of New York, AntoniaArslan, author and professor at the University ofPadua; Marco Liviero, professor of literature at EtonCollege, and more. When available, the full schedule ofevents and speakers will be released on theManhattanville Philosophy Department webpage.

The event will conclude with the annual Mary T. Clark Lecture at 6 p.m. on the 2nd,to be delivered this year by Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian, Prelate of the Eastern Prelacyof the Armenian Apostolic Church. An ensemble of Armenian dancers will performbefore the lecture.

At Reid Castle, Manhattanville College, 2900 Purchase Street, Purchase, NY 10577. Speakers begin at 1 p.m. on both days. Refreshments will be served throughout.

Attendance is free of charge.

Antonia Arslan

ARMONK, N.Y. — St. Nersess ArmenianSeminary is announcing that it will add a newconference for adults to its lineup of popularsummer and winter conferences for high schooland college students.

The inaugural Adult Conference is open to alladults, whether a summer conference alumnusor first-time participant. This new session, titled“Be Still and Know That I Am God,” will takeplace June 6-9, and will be directed by EliseAntreassian and Nancy Basmajian, with Fr.Mardiros Chevian serving as the chap-lain.

The conference will give attendees theopportunity to get away from the“noise” of everyday.

In particular, the adult conference willfocus on all the ways to draw closer toGod.

Each day will feature worship usingtraditional Armenian prayer with activeparticipation, candlelit prayer walks, artas spiritual expression, a brief period —and a single meal — shared in silence(the hardest for modern people to han-dle but oh so important), and journalingexercises. Class sessions such as“Pilgrim’s Purpose,” “What is Prayer?” “St.Gregory of Narek as Mentor,” “EncounteringGod in Scripture,” “Sacramental Living” and“The Church as Nourishing Mother.”

Interested adults can register online atwww.stnersess.edu. Space is limited.

The Adult Conference was developed from aone-day adult faith formation retreat held at St.Nersess Seminary by the Adult ChristianEducation (ACE) ministry team of Holy TrinityChurch in Cheltenham, PA, last June.

In addition to the adults’ conference, therewill be a Deacons’ Training Program, June 28-July 7, a High School Summer Conference July26-August 4 and a College Winter ConferenceJanuary 2-6, 2020.

At the Deacons’ Training Program, youngmen gain a deeper understanding of thechurch’s worship services through practicalworkshops and interactive classes. Students areplaced in classes according to experience. InLevel I, students are introduced to the duties ofan acolyte. In Levels II and III, students areintroduced to liturgical practicum. All students

take Armenian classes and voice lessons. Uponcompletion of the program, students return totheir home parishes with polished liturgicalskills and a stronger faith.

The popular High School SummerConference has attracted teenagers to exploretheir faith and the heritage of the ArmenianChurch with friends in a safe environment.Clergy and lay leaders instruct the participantsin the fundamentals of the Armenian Church’sfaith and traditions, and they encourage frank

discussion about issues important to youngpeople. We also address topics of interest toyouth and parents today.

Finally, the seminary is bringing back theCollege Winter Conference in January 2020, afavorite among college students! Students canplan to spend five days of their winter break onthe tranquil seminary campus over theArmenian Christmas weekend. This conferencewill include sessions on the Armenian Church’sfaith and traditions and topics of interest forcollege students. The application will be forth-coming.

Since its inception in 1963, the St. Nersessyouth conferences have made daily worship, thestudy of our faith and traditions, bible study,and Armenian language instruction appealingand inspiring for students. In addition, sportsand recreation, day-trips, and other activitiesare offered to add to a well-rounded experiencewhere students make deep, lasting friendshipsand discover their place in the ArmenianChurch. For more information or to register, goto www.stnersess.edu.

High School Summer Conference, 2018

New Adult Conference Added toSt. Nersess Summer Conferences

WASHINGTON — With the new Congressunderway, Armenian Assembly of America Co-Chair Anthony Barsamian, Executive DirectorBryan Ardouny, and Grassroots and

Development Associate Mariam Khaloyan heldnumerous meetings on the Hill discussingissues of concern from robust assistance to sup-port Armenia’s democratic reforms to prioritiz-ing passage of a congressional resolution reaf-firming the Armenian Genocide. In addition,the Assembly urged Members to join theCongressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, of

which the Assembly is pleased to welcome Rep.Anthony Brindisi (D-NY), Rep. TJ Cox (D-CA),Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI), and Rep. Juan

Vargas (D-CA), bringing theArmenian Caucus to 108Members.

“As a proud ArmenianAmerican, I am excited to jointhe Congressional ArmenianCaucus. We must remember thelessons of the ArmenianGenocide and ensure theseatrocities never happen again. Ilook forward to working withmy colleagues on both sides ofthe aisle to represent ourArmenian American communi-ties and strengthen US-Armenian relations,” statedBrindisi, a freshman congress-man of Armenian descent.

“I am proud to join my col-leagues on the CongressionalCaucus on Armenian Issues,”Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH)expressed to the ArmenianAssembly. “I look forward tocontinuing the Caucus’ efforts

to ensure Armenian-American communitiesacross the country, especially those in Ohio, areproperly represented in Washington.”

“I’m thrilled to join the CongressionalArmenian Caucus this Congress! I look forwardto working on US policy matters of interest toour Armenian American community inCalifornia’s 51st Congressional District and

around our country,” Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA)said to the Armenian Assembly.

“Many Armenian Americans call the CentralValley home, and I’m proud to represent themhere in Congress. I’m honored to join theCongressional Armenian Caucus and look for-ward to strengthening the bonds that unite ourtwo countries,” Rep. TJ Cox (D-CA) told theArmenian Assembly.

“The Armenian community is a vital part ofColorado sixth’s district and as a member of theArmenian Caucus, I look forward to working

with our local Armenian leaders and helpingserve as the community’s advocate inCongress,” Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) stated.

“We appreciate the enthusiastic responsefrom the Members in joining the ArmenianCaucus. During these first few months of thenew Congress, it is important forRepresentatives to hear from their constituents.We urge our nationwide network of state chairsand activists to continue to reach out to theirelected officials,” stated Khaloyan.

Ardouny and Khaloyan held meetings withvarious congressional offices, such asRepresentatives Katherine Clark (D-MA) andRaja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), and congratulatedArmenian Caucus Leaders on their re-election,including Caucus Co-Chairs CongressmenFrank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL). During the meeting with Bilirakis, they dis-cussed several key issues as well as theCongressman’s leadership role in the ArmenianCaucus. They also attended swearing-in cere-monies for Commission on Security andCooperation in Europe (US HelsinkiCommission) Senate Ranking Member BenCardin (D-MD), in addition to Senator Chris VanHollen (D-MD), House Majority LeaderCongressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and fresh-man Congressman David Trone (D-MD), amongothers.

Since its inception, the Armenian Caucus hasplayed a critical leadership role in the House ofRepresentatives on a wide range of issues,including assistance programs for Armenia,humanitarian aid to Artsakh, trade initiatives,addressing the ongoing Azerbaijani andTurkish blockades against Armenia, theNagorno Karabakh peace process, and US reaf-firmation of the Armenian Genocide. Sinceindependence, Armenia has not wavered fromits commitment to the most important valuesshared with the United States: a commitment todemocracy and a free market economy.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

Armenian Assembly Grassroots & Development Associate Mariam Khaloyan, Rep. Katherine Clark(D-MA), Assembly Co-Chair Anthony Barsamian, and Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny

Assembly Leaders Meet with Armenian Caucus Members

Armenian Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny andHouse Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Armenian Assembly Grassroots & Development Associate Mariam Khaloyan, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), and Armenian Assembly Public Affairs Associate Danielle Saroyan Ashbahian

Armenian Assembly Grassroots & Development Associate Mariam Khaloyan, Rep. RajaKrishnamoorthi (D-IL), and Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny

10 S A T U R D A Y, M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 9 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMUNITY NEWS

By Monique Svazlian Special to the Mirror-Spectator

GLENDALE, Calif. – After a months-longdebate on the future of rent stabilization inthe city of Glendale, City Council memberspassed a “right-to-lease” ordinance in a 3-0vote during the February 12 City Council

meeting. The chambers were filled with land-lords and tenants who for months have beenpleading their case. A clear divide could beheard with landlords arguing that a rent con-trol measure would be an attack on their

livelihoods and tenants, represented by pre-dominately Armenian and immigrant commu-nity members, saying they are being forceful-ly relocated out of the community.

In a surprise last minute twist, MayorZareh Sinanyan, a lone voice of support forrent control on the City Council, was forcedto recuse himself upon the recommendationof City Attorney Mike Garcia, who deter-mined that comments he had made on

Armenian television a few weeks prior were“biased” and constituted grounds for recusal.

The only remaining council members whovoted in favor of “right-to-lease” were PaulaDevine, Vrej Agajanian and Vartan

Gharpetian. Ara Najarian was also forced torecuse himself because of prior interest inrental properties owned in Glendale.

Although “right-to-lease” has been sold bycouncil members as rent control, this mea-sure is in fact not rent control and does noth-ing to address curbing runaway rent increas-es that are forcing long-time residents out ofthe city of Glendale. It calls for a mandatoryone-year lease offered to tenants during

which period rents cannot be raised, as wellas relocation fees if the tenant refuses anyincreases above 7 percent, based on thelength of time the tenant has resided in theunit.

But Armenians in the community are out-raged, both at the Armenian City Councilmembers who did not live up to promises ofprotecting their rights, as well as the factthat they are having to make tough decisionson whether to leave their beloved communityor be forced to pay exorbitant rents.

“I’ve lived in the same building in Glendalefor 24 years with my sister and my 90-year-old mother. My rent has increased from$1,500 to $2,050 in the last year and a half.The building was built in 1960 and is not ingood condition. Landlords are always chang-ing hands and now they’ve sold the buildingto a property management company whodoesn’t take good care of the building. Themajority of Armenians who lived in this build-ing have left as they can no longer affordthese rising rents. Unfortunately, I can’t leaveas I am the sole care-taker of my mother,”says Sofia Azarian, who helped collect over500 signatures during a unsuccessful attemptlast year by local tenants to gather 11,500signatures to put rent control on the city bal-lot.

Members of the Armenian community andother minority groups have been activated injoining the push for rent control through theGlendale Tenants Union(http://www.GlendaleTenants.org orwww.facebook.com/GlendaleTenants), agrassroots community-led organizationwhose efforts have resulted in rent controlbecoming the number one issue for the city.They have been holding rallies in front ofCity Hall since July and encouraging commu-nity members to make their voices heard.

“Right-to-lease” does nothing but offer aconciliatory pat on the head for tenantsforced out of their homes and communities,and we therefore condemn both the futilityof “right-to-lease” and the mockery ourcouncil made of democracy in order to forceit through. If council thinks this will some-how silence the tenants movement in ourcity, they are sorely mistaken,” saidGlendale Tenants Union member, Mike VanGorder.

Protesters in Glendale at the City Council hearing (photo: Raul Roa/Los Angeles Times)

Protesters in Glendale at the City Council hearing (photo: Raul Roa/Los Angeles Times)

Glendale Passes New ‘Right to Lease Ordinance,’Attempting to Curb Rising Rental Prices

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COMMUNITY NEWS

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LOS ANGELES — The AmericanArmenian Rose Float Association(AARFA) has announced that it hasbeen invited by the PasadenaTournament of Roses Association topresent a new Armenian rose float atthe next Pasadena Tournament ofRoses, on January 1, 2020. This will bethe sixth consecutive year that anArmenian rose float will participate inthe world-renowned event.

The most recent Armenian RoseFloat, which carried the theme“Chanting Stones: Karahunj,” celebrat-ed the greatness of Armenian culture,echoing the general theme of the 130thPasadena Tournament of Roses, “TheMelody of Life.” On New Year’s Day,2019, the Pasadena Tournament ofRoses was seen by close to 700,000spectators in Pasadena, as well as aglobal audience in 140 countries andterritories.

Last month, the PasadenaTournament of Roses Associationannounced the 2020 tournament’s gen-eral theme, which is “The Power ofHope.” Accordingly, the AARFA isalready at work, seeking to conceive thedesign of the next Armenian Rose Floatand mobilize the Armenian communityfor ensuring the float’s success. As inthe past, the AARFA elected a newBoard this month, and is initiating anew campaign for rallying grassrootssupport.

The Armenian Rose Float waslaunched in 2014. One of its major pro-ponents was Stepan Partamian, a found-ing member of the AARFA who has served on its Board eversince its establishment that year. Partamian stepped downfrom the AARFA Board this month, as he plans to move toArmenia in June and focus on developing his Genolive project.

“Today, as our vision of participating in the PasadenaTournament of Roses has become a wonderful reality, I am

turning to my next major project, the Genolive initiative, con-fident that the newly-elected Board of the AARFA will do amarvelous job,” Partamian said.

“To date, we have successfully showcased five Armenianfloats, with the help of all our benefactors and volunteers.Let’s keep it going,” said Arthur Kokozian, a member of

the AARFA Board.Toward the implementation of the 2020 Armenian rose

float, tax-deductible contributions can be made online atwww.aarfa.org or sent to the following address: AmericanArmenian Rose Float Association, P.O. Box 60005, Pasadena,CA 91116.

The 2019 Armenian Rose Float Entry, titled “Chanting Stones: Karahunj”

Armenian Rose Float to Participate in 2020 Pasadena Tournament of Roses

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COMMUNITY NEWS

HERIAN, from page 1The master of ceremonies, Carl Bardakian,

chairman of the TCA Metro LA chapter, offeredbrief welcoming remarks. He introduced KanaHovhannisyan, second secretary of theRepublic of Armenia’s Consulate General inLos Angeles, who spoke poignantly aboutHerian and the importance of his great sacri-fices.

Bardakian then introduced Arkun, who pre-sented a detailed overview of the incredible lifeHerian lived. In particular, he noted thatHerian was not driven by narrow political ide-ology. He started out as a member of theHnchag Party, became a Reformed Hnchag,and then a member of the ArmenianDemocratic Party, the predecessor of theArmenian Democratic Liberal Party. Though adedicated member of his party, he worked withmany other organizations for the betterment ofthe Armenian people and nation.

Arkun noted that Herian was born in Tokatsometime between 1868 and 1872, and laterworked in Constantinople, before immigratingto Boston and afterwards moving to New YorkCity. He became a successful businessman inthe tobacco industry, while continuing to bedeeply involved in Armenian political activities.

In 1916 he carried out a secret war missionfor the British government.

Herian helped arrange the transportation ofmany of the 1,200 Armenian-Americans whojoined the Armenian Legion, which successful-ly defeated the Turkish and German forces atthe Battle of Arara in Palestine in September1918, and himself later enrolled as a legion-naire though he was older than most of theother volunteers. In fact, he was often calledthe “grey-haired youth” due to his enthusiasmand energy.

Herian served as the director of an infirmaryin Egypt for the legionnaires, and participatedin an abortive expedition to help the besiegedcity of Hadjin in Cilicia. He also played a role inthe defense of the Cilician city of Dört Yol(Chork-Marzban).

As representative of the Armenian GeneralBenevolent Union (AGBU), Egyptian ArmenianRelief and [Armenian] United Orphan Care,with additional financial support from theArmenian Church, the Armenian DemocraticParty (predecessor of the ArmenianDemocratic Liberal Party), various otherArmenian relief organizations, and, most strik-ingly, many individual Armenians who them-selves barely had enough money to live afterthe Genocide, Herian tried to rescue kidnappedArmenian women and children from theBedouins, Turks, Kurds and their harems.Using his adept linguistic skills, Herian dis-

guised himself as needed as anAmerican missionary, British offi-cial or Bedouin, primarily in theAleppo, Der Zor and Mosulregions, to carry out his mission.Despite threats of death and rob-bery and facing great resistancefrom those who did not want toeasily relinquish Armenianwomen and children from theirhold, Herian remained valiant. Heused persuasion, money andsometimes threats to rescueArmenian women and childrenfrom their captors.

Arkun noted that Herian was amoving and effective speaker whoparticipated in fundraising activi-ties in the United States, France,the Ottoman Empire and Egyptwith the intent to rescue morewomen and orphans. His untime-ly death in Cairo, Egypt on July 7,1921, prevented him from fulfill-ing those plans. He was to havegotten married only a few dayslater.

Recognized at the program wasHratch Manoukian, whose father,Nazaret Manoukian, was a mem-ber of the Armenian Legion andfought at the Battle of Arara. Healso was a military policeman in

Adana. Two others recognized were HagopMardirossian, whose father was saved byRoupen Herian and taken to an orphanage inJerusalem, and Irena Varjabedian, whosegrandmother was born in the town of Aksehirin the province of Konya, and saved by Herian.

Participating in the program were thedancers of the Patille Dance Studio ofPasadena, under the direction of Patille and

Cynthia Albarian.Roupen Herian made many personal sacri-

fices to serve the Armenian people, in part bymeans of the Armenian Legion, ArmenianDemocratic Party, Armenian National Unionand AGBU. He remains a great patriot and heroof the Armenian nation, whose bravery, deter-mination and selflessness led to the rescue ofcountless Armenian orphans and women.

Roupen HerianRescuer of Orphans Remembered by the TCA Metro LA Chapter

Kana Hovhannisyan

Carl Bardakian

Aram Arkun, left, accepts a book from Carl Bardakian.

Alique Bardakian (center) of the Patille Dance Studio of Pasadena

13

Scholars inVenice ConductA JourneyThroughArmenian Art

By Muriel Mirak-WeissbachSpecial to the Mirror-Spectator

VENICE — Venice has a long history of rela-tions with Armenia, which most people associ-ate with the Mekhitarist monastery on theisland of San Lazzaro, with its imposingchurch and magnificent library. But Venicealso hosts an important center of Armenianstudies, at the Ca’ Foscari university, which hasa Chair for Medieval Art History and forArmenian Language and Literature. OnFebruary 21-22, the university, in collaborationwith the Center for Studies andDocumentation of Armenian Art and theAssociation Internationales des ÉtudesArméniennes, hosted an international confer-ence called “Armenian Art: Critical History andNew Perspectives.” Gathering specialists from Armenia, France,

Germany, the Czech Republic and Italy, theconference aimed at providing new impetus forArmenian studies, in a venue associated withthe names of such renowned past experts asPaolo Cuneo, Adriano Alpago Novello andGianclaudio Macchiarella. The Ca’ Foscari uni-versity, continuing its mission as a center forcultural encounter, seeks to place new empha-sis on the study of Armenian art in theVenetian context.

“The relationship between Venice and theArmenians in intense and fruitful,” AldoFerrari, professor of Armenian Language andLiterature explained. “In the course of cen-turies Armenians have lived in the city as mer-chants, pilgrims, monks, printers and artists. Itis no coincidence,” he went on, “that the firstbook printed in Armenian was published inVenice, back in 1512. In 1717, the VenetianRepublic, known as La Serenissima, gave per-mission to the monastic congregation of AbbotMeKhitar to settle on the island of Lazzaro andthus to begin an extraordinary experiencewhich provided the impetus for the culturalrenaissance of the Armenian people.” And, headded, “also in Venice, the Moorat Raphael col-lege was established, where a significant part ofthe Armenian cultural elite studied to the endof the 20th century.”Ca’ Foscari inaugurated its chair for

Armenian Language and Literature in 1976.The study of Armenian art, which is locatedhere, represents an extraordinary patrimonythat has ignited the enthusiasm of all thosewho have come into contact with it. “Alreadyback in 1988,” Medieval Art historian Prof.Stefano Riccioni recalled, “Prof. Levon Zekiyanorganized an important international confer-ence on Armenian art. The following year, Prof.Adriano Alpago Novello began his course inArmenian Art and Architecture at Ca’ Foscari.In 1991, Novello transferred the Center forStudy and Documentation of ArmenianCulture, from Milan to Venice. And still today,this Center, under the direction of MinasLourian, organizes several events on Armenianart, often in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari andthe Biennale of Venice. Among the activities ofthe center are the Manukian Lectures, orga-nized in collaboration of another importantscholar who passed away recently, Prof.Gianclaudio Macchiarella.”For the past five years, the seminars of

Armenian art at Ca’ Foscari have been orga-nized by Stefano Riccioni, Aldo Ferrari andMarco Ruffilli, in the Department of Studies on

see VENICE, page 15

TCA PresentsLiterary andMusicalProgram inGlendale GLENDALE — The Tekeyan Cultural

Association Los Angeles Chapter, in collabora-tion with the Tekeyan Cultural AssociationMetro Los Angeles Chapter, present a programon the rich literary legacy of the poet VahanTekeyan and the activity of the TekeyanCultural Association (TCA) to take placeSunday, March 10 at the Glendale PublicLibrary.Parsegh Kartalian, chairman of the TCA Los

Angeles Chapter, will serve as the master of cer-emonies. The main speakers will be DoctorsKrikor Adanalian and Tamara Hovhannisyan.Adanalian, a cardiologist originally from

Aleppo, will lecture about the more than 70years of productive cultural activity of TCA.Hovhannisyan, a poet, gallery owner and liter-ary critic, as well as a former staff member ofthe Monterey Institute of International Studies,will lecture about Vahan Tekeyan as a poet andman of letters. The program will be in theArmenian language. Kartalian said, “I believe this program will be

entertaining and informative. The poet VahanTekeyan has played an important role in ourmodern culture and deserves to be betterknown, while the efforts of the TekeyanCultural Association over the decades to pro-mote and advance Armenian culture in manyparts of the world is a story of dedication andsacrifice that has allowed several generations ofArmenians a deep connection to their roots.Our March event includes very talented musi-cians as well as renowned speakers.”Melo Ekizian, a graduate of the Melkonian

Educational Institute, is an expressive and tal-ented reciter who will present some pieces ofpoetry, while the musical portion of the evening

see GLENDALE, page 15

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Arts & Living

Tekeyan Sponsors VEMEnsemble 2019 Tour to Detroit,

Montreal, Boston and LAWESTWOOD, Calif. — The VEM Ensemble is making a North American tour with

performances in Detroit (March 27), Montreal (March 29), Boston (March 31), andGlendale (April 27) and Altadena, California (May 19), organized with the TekeyanCultural Association of the United States and Canada. A new musical piece basedon the poetry of Vahan Tekeyan will receive its premiere during this tour and musi-cal masterpieces by Gomidas, Khachaturian, and Western classical composers willcomprise the rest of the program. The concerts are sponsored by the TekeyanCultural Association of the United States and Canada, with support from the UCLAArmenian Music program at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. The VEM Ensemble consists of the VEM Graduate String Quartet, in residence

at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, and a singer, currently mezzo-sopranoDanielle Segen. VEM means “rock” in Armenian, symbolizing the strength andpower of this ensemble to bring to live music written by prominent and emergingArmenian composers. The ensemble is the cornerstone of the newly created Armenian Music Program

at UCLA, which, thanks to generous donor support as well as artistic guidance ofthe Lark Musical Society,endeavors to raise aware-ness and celebrate therichness and diversity ofArmenian musical tradi-tion. As part of their stud-ies, members of the quar-tet strive to cultivate anappreciation and passionfor Armenian musicthroughout the commu-nity through musical per-formances, music educa-tion, outreach services,and a series of collabora-tions with composers to

create new works dedicated to and enriching the Armenian cultural heritage.The VEM Quartet, coached by its artistic director, Movses Pogossian, has worked

with such musicians as Kim Kashkashian, Seth Knopp, David Starobin, NickolasKitchen and Tigran Mansurian. In his review of their performance at the Incontriin Terra di Sierra Festival in Tuscany, Italy, critic Laurence Vittes writes: “Theevening’s most memorable music was made by the VEM Quartet...who laid outEduard Mirzoyan’s String Quartet with a feline, subtle grace that touched heartswith its gentle melodic content and long-lined eloquence.”

Artashes Kartalyan: Tekeyan TriptychAn exciting world premiere to be presented during this 2019 tour is of the recent-

ly completed Tekeyan Triptych by Artashes Kartalyan, commissioned by theTekeyan Cultural Association in 2018. This is a remarkable composition structuredaround three poems by Vahan Tekeyan (1875-1945), widely regarded as the “Princeof Armenian Poetry.” Its poetic choices, focusing on two love poems followed by ameditation on what one leaves behind, combined with intricate musicality, promis-es to make the Tekeyan Triptych one of the composer’s masterpieces.The first song opens with a poem describing with utmost subtlety the depth of

the poet’s love (surprising for one who was known as a recluse). In it, he lamentshow not one of his loves realizes the extent of his affection, leaving his love unre-quited. Over five stanzas, Tekeyan expounds on the intensity of his love and the sad

see VEM, page 14

The VEM Ensemble

VEM Artistic Director Movses Pogossian

Dr. Krikor Adanalian

Dr. Tamara Hovhannisyan

VEM, from page 13fate of its remaining hidden within him.Kartalyan gives the viola here an insistentpitch (D) to establish the steadfast nature ofthe feeling that permeates the entire poem.The pitch further ushers in the ritornello,which time and again repeats itself, first in theintroduction and then between verses, toreveal the poet’s ambient and intense torment.Finally, Kartalyan allows himself a liberalapproach to the fourth and final lines of eachverse. There he employs free and ornamentalpolyphonic elements to capture Tekeyan’s con-cluding thoughts for each stanza.The second poem pines. Tekeyan masterful-

ly describes, in four stanzas of three lines each,the calm but ardent wish to love another soulas it were one’s own private sky. The text elic-its from Kartalyan a beautiful melody, verymuch in the tradition of Armenian folkloricmusic. And yet it is audaciously brave in itsmodulations and tonal inflections, imbuedwith qualities not readily imaginable in thetypical monodic traditions germane to theArmenian Melos. In that way he captures theintensity of the poets wish emanating from therecesses of his soul.The final poem in the Triptych is a personal

accounting of the gains and losses in the poetsown life. Here Tekeyan employs the sonnetform, which in Armenian traditions is a poemwith two quatrains followed by two tercets.Tekeyan asks himself what has remained of bal-ance in his life and answers immediately forhimself: “only that which I have given away toothers.” Revisiting the loves and sympathies hehas spread to others, in his final assessment hefinds himself in the profound solace of having“imbibed the sun.” Kartalyan’s music adds apensive privacy to the words, in which he imag-ines the poet reflecting alone at his balance-sheet. Each verse is treated distinctly, forgedwith individual musical style. Kartalyan rangesfrom fragmental polyphony (verse 2), to rhyth-mic importuning (verse 3), and finally to a con-fident resolution, employing a Bach-like walk-ing bass. The opening musical idea is repeatedin summary to bring this unique textual-musi-cal arithmetic to a kind of final balance. In addition to the Triptych, recognized mas-

terworks by Gomidas upon his 150th anniver-sary of birth, Khachaturian, Mirzoyan,Hovhannes, and Schubert will be performed.The VEM Ensemble during its March trip willprovide outreach performances at the AGBUAlex and Marie Manoogian School (Detroit),St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School(Watertown, MA), and in Montreal.

Members of the VEM Ensemble

VEM was established in 2013 by artisticdirector Prof. Movses Pogossian. Pogossianmade his American debut as a violinist withthe Boston Pops in 1990, about which RichardDyer of the Boston Globe wrote: “There is free-dom in his playing, but also taste and disci-pline. It was a fiery, centered, and highly musi-cal performance…” Prizewinner of severalimportant competitions, including the 1986Tchaikovsky International Competition, heextensively performed as soloist and recitalistin Europe, Northern America, and Asia. Hewas one of the 2016/17 Artists in Residenceof the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He isArtistic Director of the acclaimed DilijanChamber Music Series, currently in its 14thseason.Champion of new music, Pogossian has pre-

miered over 70 works. In Los Angeles, MovsesPogossian frequently performs on MondayEvening Concerts, and is a recipient of the2011 Forte Award, given for outstanding con-tributions to the promotion of new music.Pogossian’s discography includes the recentlyreleased “Complete Sonatas and Partitas by J.S. Bach” (New Focus Recordings), as well assolo violin CDs “Blooming Sounds” and “InNomine,” and Kurtág’s “Kafka Fragments,”with soprano Tony Arnold. Since earning his advanced degrees from

the Komitas Conservatory in Armenia and theTchaikovsky Conservatory of Music inMoscow, Pogossian has held teaching posi-tions at Duquesne, Bowling Green, WayneState, and SUNY Buffalo Universities. Deeplycommitted to musical education, Pogossian iscurrently professor of violin at the UCLA Herb

Alpert School of Music. He proudly partici-pates in the Music for Food project, which rais-es awareness of the hunger problem faced bya large percent of the populations and givesthe opportunity to experience the powerfulrole music can play as a catalyst for change.VEM violinist Ji Eun Hwang was born in

Korea and has performed as a soloist andchamber musician across United States andSouth Korea. She began her music studies atan early age and studied in the Preparatoryschool of Korea National University of Art andin Seoul National University with a Bachelor’sdegree in violin performance. After then, shestudied with an Artist Diploma in violin per-formance at the Jacobs School of Music,Indiana University with Prof. Mark Kaplan andIk-Hwan Bae with a full scholarship. Sheattended Tanglewood Music Festival, SarasotaMusic Festival, Heifetz International MusicInstitute, Texas Music Festival with full schol-arships and Pontlevoy music festival in France.Her musical development has been furtheredin masterclasses with Mihaela Martin, PatinkaKopec, Samuel Rhodes, Yael Weiss, AniKavafian, Pamela Frank, Mauricio Fuks, andLucie Robert. In the past year, she has beenthe featured performer with many solo andchamber recitals and won several violin com-petitions. She played at the Yurim promisingartist recital and the Young San young artistrecital, and performed with the GwangjuSymphony Orchestra and City of MokpoSymphony Orchestra. Since 2012, she hasjoined Sejong Soloists as a guest artist andshe is a principal violinist of the Sejong CityPhilharmonic Orchestra. She is currently pur-suing a Master of Music in violin performanceat Herb Alpert School of Music, UCLA withPogossian.

Aiko Jimena Richter is originally fromBaltimore, Md. and joined VEM in 2018. Shehas been a fellow at major festivals includingthe National Orchestral Institute, DomaineForget Academy, Festival Napa Valley, andKent/Blossom Music Festival, during whichshe performed with the Cleveland Orchestra.She is also featured on the 2015 Naxos labelrecording of Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 as amember of the NOI festival orchestra. As asoloist and chamber musician, she has per-formed in masterclasses for Gil Shaham, NoahBendix-Balgley, Ani Kavafian, Brooklyn Rider,and the Kronos Quartet among others. Sheearned her B.M. at the University of NorthCarolina Chapel Hill as a student of NicholasDiEugenio and is currently pursuing her M.M.at UCLA with Pogossian and VartyManouelian. Violist Morgan O’Shaughnessey has per-

formed live on RAI Radio 3 at PalazzoQuirinale for the President of the Italian

Republic. He has presented several recitals ofmodern Italian works at Teatro la Fenice inVenice as a part of the festival Lo Spirito DellaMusica di Venezia, as well as recorded analbum of the complete chamber music of GinoGornini in collaboration with the Giorgio CiniFoundation, which was released on the Tactuslabel. He performs on a fine viola by VincenzoCavani di Spilamberto, and a bow by DarrellHanks of Ashland, Ore. His extensive discography with legendary

producer Sylvia Massy includes string arrange-ments for Johnny Depp, Rihanna, andSoilwork. He holds a BM from San FranciscoConservatory, where he studied with JodiLevitz and members of the Kronos Quartet.His other musical interests include theScottish highland bagpipes, Swedish nyckel-harpa and Quebecois fiddle music. A passion-ate advocate for community involvment inmusic and art, O’Shaughnessey is the artisticdirector for Springsart Series: a non-profitcommunity concert series that producesaccomplished regional artists in interactiveartistic community events in a yurt deep in theforest near Ashland, Ore. Visit www.moshalto.com for more informa-

tion on upcoming concert engagements andalbum releases.

Jason Pegis, named “a true talent” byMontreal’s Le Devoir, started cello lessons atage 16 and holds a Bachelor’s of Music fromWillamette University where he studied withJason Duckles and Valdine Mishkin, and aMaster’s of Music from McGill Universitywhere he studied with Matt Haimovitz. Whileworking on his Bachelor’s, he joined theschool’s Waller Piano Trio, which made newsas the first chamber group from Oregon tobecome national finalists of the 2014 MTNAYoung Artist Chamber Music Competition. Hehas seen much success in solo competitions aswell; in 2013 and 2016 he won the WillametteUniversity Concerto Competitions, and in2015 winning the Eugene Symphony YoungArtist Competition and Outstanding CellistAward, after which he appeared as a soloistwith the orchestra for two outdoor concertsfor audiences of thousands. He also receivedthe 2016 Zodiac Music Festival Young ArtistAward, numerous instrumental scholarshipsfrom Mu Phi Epsilon, grants from theWilliamson Foundation for Music, and an1880 Neuner-Hornsteiner cello loan from theCarlsen Cello Foundation. In 2017, he becamea finalist of the McGill Concerto Competition,and held a principal cello position of theMcGill Symphony Orchestra. Pegis has per-formed chamber music with artists likeJohannes Moser, Axel Strauss, VictorFournelle-Blain, Neal Stulberg, and DenisBouriakov. He currently studies with Antonio

Lysy in Los Angeles where he has started hisDoctorate of Musical Arts and string teachingassistantship at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School ofMusic.Praised for possessing “extraordinary

expressivity, and a beautiful voice” (LongBeach Gazette), Danielle Segen is an emerg-ing talent in the Los Angeles music scene.Danielle earned her Master of Music degree atUniversity of California Los Angeles, whereshe studied with Juliana Gondek. At UCLA shewas seen regularly on the opera stage withpast appearances including Prince Charmingin “Cendrillon,” Dorabella in “Cosí fan tutte,”and the titular role in both “Tragedy ofCarmen” and the West Coast premiere ofWilliam Bolcom’s “Lucrezia.”Equally at home singing new compositions

as she is performing from the standard reper-toire of opera and art song, Segen has beensought after to workshop, record and performnew works. Most recently she collaboratedwith composer Jeff Kryka to record the thememusic for “Traces of the Brush,” a criticallyacclaimed documentary on world-renownedChinese art historian and calligrapher FuShen, directed by Eros Zhao. With the VEMString Quartet Segen has enjoyed internation-al success, performing at the KomitasChamber Music Hall in Yerevan, Armenia aswell as in the Dilijan Chamber Music Series atZipper Hall. This upcoming year will seeDanielle on concert stages across the U.S. andinternationally with VEM performingArmenian art song arrangements, as well asworld premieres of a new song cycle formezzo-soprano and string quartet by ArtashesKartalyan and a new string quartet arrange-ment of Tigran Mansurian’s Four Hayrens.VEM will perform at 8 p.m. on Wednesday,

March 27 cosponsored with St. John ArmenianChurch at its Recreational Center (22001Northwestern Hwy., Southfield MI), with freeadmission and reception; 8:30 p.m. Friday,March 29 at the Tekeyan Centre, 825Manoogian St., Saint-Laurent, Canada withreception (for tickets call 514 747-6680); 1p.m., Sunday, March 29 cosponsored with HolyTrinity Armenian Church at 145 BrattleStreet, Cambridge, Mass.; 7:30 p.m. Saturday,April 27 cosponsored by the Los Angeles chap-ter of the Tekeyan Cultural Association andAbril Bookstore, at the latter’s site, 415 E.Broadway, Glendale, Calif. (for tickets, call 818243-4112 or go to itsmyseat.com/abrilbooks;and 6 p.m. Sunday, May 19 hosted by the TCAPasadena-Glendale Chapter at the TCABeshgeturian Center (1901 N. Allen Ave.,Altadena, Calif.). For a sample performance, see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdGXmv8YIyc .

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Tekeyan Sponsors VEM Ensemble 2019 Tour to Detroit, Montreal, Boston and LA

GLENDALE, from page 13will include songs by Mariam Aghajanian withShushana Hakobyan performing on the piano,

and a perfor-mance byYe r g n a y e e nD a g h e r( H e a v e n l yChants Fluteand Harp Duo),composed ofSalpy and SossyKerkonian.M a r i a m

Aghajanyan wasborn and raisedin Yerevan,where at the ageof 16 she beganher music educa-

tion at Arno Babajanyan Music College. Afterfour years there,she pursued hermaster’s in vocalperformance atthe KomitasConservatory.Shortly aftershe graduated,she immigratedto the UnitedStates whereshe continuedher musicalcareer and per-formed inrecitals, commu-nity gatherings,churches, and

for US veterans. In June 2018, she had her bigdebut performance with pianist ShushanaHakobyan. Hakobyan received her master’s and doctor-

ate degrees in music from the Komitas StateConservatory. She was one of the leadingsoloists of the Armenian State Philharmonicand a founding member of the SHELL ArmeniaState Philharmonic Trio. She has given recitalsin USA, Canada, Austria, France, Italy,Lebanon, Russia, and Ukraine. Since 2014 shehas collaborated with violinist and composer,Ruben Aghiyan, forming the group, UnisonDuet with whom she has played numerous con-certs in USA and abroad. Since 2016 the duohave done charitable concert tours in Armeniato help families in need. In 2018 they opened aviolin class in the village Achajur for their pro-gram, “Keep Armenian Borders SpirituallyStrong,” helping talented kids in the borders ofArmenia to get musical education. The proceedsfrom their CD, Fantasy, all go to this cause.Shushana is also a successful and inspiringpiano instructor with more than 13 years ofteaching experience. Yergnayin Dagher Heavenly Chants Flute and

Harp Duo performed La Boheme for CharlesAznavour at his Hollywood Walk of Fame starceremony, just months before his passing.Flautist Salpy Kerkonian and harpist/pianistSossy Kerkonian are first-place winners of 22solo competitions, including for the LAPhilharmonic, Glendale Symphony and theLucille McKinstrey Foundation, which featuredSalpy Kerkonian as soloist in Chaminade’s“Concertino” on PBS television. In 2018,Heavenly Chants won the Glendale CentralLibrary Concert Series Competition. Salpy Kerkonian graduated from the USC

School of Music, and has performed as FirstFlute of the Glendale Symphony, AmericanYouth Symphony, Debut Orchestra, BurbankPhilharmonic and, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, forworld renowned Conductors Mehli Mehta, LaloSchifrin, and Michael Tilson Thomas at theHollywood Bowl. Harpist/Pianist Sossy Kerkonian studied

with LA Philharmonic harpist Amy Wilkins.Before arriving in Los Angeles, Sossy

Kerkonian was a broadcaster at the ArmenianEchoes Radio Station in NY, and performed cul-tural events at Town Hall and Weill CarnegieRecital Hall, accompanying Armenian vocalsoloists from the Metropolitan Opera. In that

capacity, she had the unique opportunity to per-form live for composer Aram Khatchaturian. The program will begin at 5 p.m. at the hall

of the Glendale Public Library at 222 E.Harvard Street (validated parking at theMarketplace parking structure at Harvard andMaryland), with complimentary admission. Itwill conclude with a reception.

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INGREDIENTS5 cups fresh spinach, washed, drained, torn into pieces4 tablespoons olive oil (or unsalted butter)2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced1/2 pound spiral, bow tie, or small shell pasta (or carrot, squash or zucchininoodles)1 medium onion, halved, sliced thinly1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlicJuice and zest from one lemon1/2 cup minced fresh parsley1/4 cup black or Kalamata olives, slicedSea or Kosher salt, pepper, dried mint, basil, or oreganoChoice of crumbled feta or halloumi cheese, toasted pine nuts or walnuts,dried cranberries, fresh lemon wedges as garnish

PREPARATIONCook the pasta in lightly salted water according to package directions. Drain and setaside.In a large skillet or pan, sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes, toss-ing, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are tender but not mushy. Add the spinach and toss, cook-ing in batches until the spinach wilts. Add the balsamic vinegar, and cook a few minutes longer, stirring. (Add 1-2 tablespoons of dry white wine or chick-en broth if the spinach is too dry.) Add the pasta to the cooked spinach mixture, and toss; season with lemon juice, lemon zest, parsley, olives, salt, pepper, and choice of spices.Top with cheese, toasted pine nuts or walnuts, or dried cranberries, and serve with fresh lemon wedges.Serves 4.

*Christine's recipes have been published in the Fresno Bee newspaper, Sunset magazine, Cooking Light magazine, and at https://www.thearmeni-ankitchen.com/

Recipe Corner by Christine Vartanian DatianSautéed Spinach, Pasta andMushrooms

Scholars in VeniceConduct A JourneyThrough Armenian ArtVENICE, from page 13Asia and Mediterranean Africa (which hosts theChair for Armenian Language and Literature).The same three scholars organized this year’sconference, which presented advanced researchprojects in various aspects of Armenian art,from architecture to miniatures, fromkhachkars to painting. Following a lecture by Levon Chookaszian on

“New Paths for the Exploration of ArmenianArt,” Riccioni spoke about “Armenian Art inVenice – Tradition and Research Perspectives.”Attention was dedicated also to the “vishap,”the famous prehistoric stones characteristic ofArmenia, which have been the subject of studyin the Ca’ Foscari’s Dragon StonesArchaeological Project. Alessandra Gilibertintroduced the origins and long history of thevisaps and Hamlet Petrosyan spoke on “TheRepatriation Movement of Jougha/Julfa annihi-lated khachkars.” The conference addressed several heated

issues, like the fate of the Armenian artistic her-itage in hostile political environments;Francesca Penoni discussed the current state ofresearch related to the Armenian architectonicpatrimony in Turkey. And with regard to liter-ary works, Dikran Kouymjian spoke on “TheCanon Tables of the Zeitun Gospels of 1256 byT’oros Roslin at the J.P. Getty Museum; AHistory of Theft, Profiteering and PublicIndifference.” Gohar Grigoryan presented a paper on

“Method and Manuscript,” followed by RacheleZanone, who presented a historiographical andiconographc study of the miniature art ofVaspurakan. Patrick Donabedian delivered a lecture on

“Armenia-Georgia-Islam: A need to break taboosin the study of Medieval art and architecture.”Marco Ruffilli discussed spoke on “The art ofthe Yovnat’anean – current status and researchproposals.” Ivan Foletti and Pavel Rakitin con-cluded with a discussion of Armenian art in theSoviet perception.The new book, Discovering the Art of

Medieval Caucasus (1801-1945), was the sub-ject of a roundtable discussion that completedthe conference proceedings. Published inVenezia Arti, volume 27 (2018), the study wasedited by conference participants Ivan Folettiand Stefano Riccioni. As Riccioni pointed out, this conference is to

be seen as the first in a series of internationalmeetings on the theme of Caucasian art, whichis part of an international research project,“Seminarium Caucasicum. Studies in Art onMedieval Caucasus (And Beyond),” directed byMichele Bacci (University of Fribourg), IvanFoletti (Masaryk University) and StefanoRiccioni (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice). Theproject promotes regional discussions dedicat-ed to the arts of the region and the conserva-tion and care of their artistic heritage.

Melo Ekizian

TCA Presents Literary and Musical Program in Glendale

Mariam Aghajanyan

Sossy, left, and Salpy Kerkonian (photo: AramArkun)

Shushana Hakobyan (photo: Aram Arkun)

MARCH 23 – Book presentation by Adrienne G.Alexanian, editor of her father’s memoir, ForcedGenocide: Memoirs of an Armenian Soldier in theOttoman Turkish Army. Saturday, 2 p.m. CalabasasLibrary Multipurpose Room. 200 Civic Center Way,Calabasas. Special Guest – Councilman James BozajianRSVP blockwood@calabasaslibrary.org. Reception andbook sale/signing will follow presentation – proceedsdonated to the library.MARCH 24 – Book presentation by Adrienne G.Alexanian, editor of her father’s memoir, Forced intoGenocide: Memoirs of an Armenian Soldier in theOttoman Turkish Army, Sunday, 2:30 p.m. Museum ofTolerance. Co-sponsored by the Armenian GeneralBenevolent Union, the Armenian International Women’sAssociation, National Association for Armenian Studiesand Research and the Armenian Assembly of America.9786 Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. RSVP (310) 772-2505. Booksale/signing will follow presentation – proceeds will bedonatedMARCH 28 – Book presentation by Adrienne G.Alexanian, editor of her father’s memoir, Forced intoGenocide: Memoirs of an Armenian Soldier in theOttoman Turkish Army, Thursday, 7 p.m., GlendaleDowntown Central Library, With support from theArmenian National Committee of America. 222 EastHarvard Street, Glendale. RSVP (818) 548- 2021. Booksale/signing before and after the presentation – pro-ceeds will be donated

APRIL 4 and 7 — One of the opera world’s hotteststars, Alessandro Safina, will bring in his pop-operato the US during his upcoming concert tour in April. Healso performed for the Pope, sang duets with AndreaBocelli, Sarah Brightman, and Rod Stewart. Safina whenhe performed Elton John’s “Your Song” with actor EwanMcGregor for the Oscar-nominated soundtrack of“Moulin Rouge.” Safina will be accompanied by VictorEspinola and the Forbidden Saints. The tour will also fea-ture Armenian Duduk Soloist and Classical ClarinetistMher Mnatsakanyan and Bassist Hova Burian will takepart. Official FaceBook Page:https://www.facebook.com/ AlessandroSafinaUSA/Official Promo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHHKpxTCSSY The performance will be heldat City National Civic in San Jose on Thursday, April 4.(Times 8:00-9:30pm)https://www1.ticketmaster.com/event/1C005554CB5A7778 Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on April 7. (Times8:00-9:30pm) https://dolbytheatre.com/events/details/alessandro_safina https://www1.ticketmaster.com/alessandro-safina-with-v i c to r - e s p i n o l a - t h e - fo r b i d d en - s a i n t s / e ven t /3B005546FA735928

APRIL 27 — The Tekeyan Cultural Association of theUnited States and Canada Presents the 2019 NorthAmerican tour of the VEM Ensemble of the UCLA HerbAlbert School of Music, Danielle Segen, mezzo-soprano,Ji Eun Hwang, violin 1, Aiko Richter, violin 2, MorganO’Shaughnessey, viola, Jason Pegis, cello. 7:30 p.m.Tekeyan Cultural Association Los Angeles ChapterCosponsored with Abril Bookstore, 415 E. Broadway,Glendale. For tickets, call Abril 818 243-4112.Introductory remarks by Artistic Director ProfessorMovses Pogossian. Performing a world premiere ofTekeyan songs by the Los Angeles-based composerArtashes Kartalyan, commissioned by the TekeyanCultural Association, and masterworks by Komitas,Khachaturian, Mirzoyan, Hovhannes, and Schubert. Formore information, email tcadirector@aol.com.

MAY 19 — The Tekeyan Cultural Association of theUnited States and Canada Presents the 2019 NorthAmerican tour of the VEM Ensemble of the UCLAHerb Albert School of Music, Danielle Segen, mezzo-soprano, Ji Eun Hwang, violin 1, Aiko Richter, violin 2,Morgan O’Shaughnessey, viola, Jason Pegis, cello. 7:30p.m. Tekeyan Cultural Association Los Angeles ChapterCosponsored with Abril Bookstore, 415 E. Broadway,Glendale. Introductory remarks by Artistic DirectorProfessor Movses Pogossian. Performing a world pre-miere of Tekeyan songs by the Los Angeles-based com-poser Artashes Kartalyan, commissioned by the TekeyanCultural Association, and masterworks by Komitas,Khachaturian, Mirzoyan, Hovhannes, and Schubert.Tekeyan Cultural Association, Pasadena-GlendaleChapter, TCA Beshgeturian Center, 1901 North Allen

Ave., Altadena. For more information, email tcadirec-tor@aol.com.

APRIL 11 — One of the opera world’s hottest stars,Alessandro Safina, will bring in his pop-operarhythms to USA during his upcoming concert tour inApril. Safina appeared with Elton John, Cher and JenniferLopez for Queen Elizabeth’s 73rd Royal VarietyPerformance. He also performed for the Pope, sangduets with Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, and RodStewart. Americans first became familiar with Safinawhen he performed Elton John’s “Your Song” with actorEwan McGregor for the Oscar-nominated soundtrack of“Moulin Rouge.” Safina will be accompanied by VictorEspinola and the Forbidden Saints. The tour will featureArmenian Duduk Soloist and Classical Clarinetist MherMnatsakanyan and Bassist Hova Burian. Official FaceBookPage: https://www.facebook.com/AlessandroSafinaUSA/ The performance will be held atFillmore Miami Beach in Miami (Times 8:00-9:30pm)

FEBRUARY 20 – MARCH 30 — The Armenian Museumis offering a six-week art program for children of allbackgrounds ages 7-14. The program’s classes areDrawing and Painting, Collage, and Pottery Decoration.Students will find inspiration among the objects on dis-play in the galleries, and study global influences onArmenian art and culture. Full information can be foundat https://www.armenianmuseum.org/events/winter-studio-classes. Session 1, Wednesdays, 3:30–5:30 pm,February 20–March 27; Session 2, Saturdays, 1–3 pm,February 23–March 30

MARCH 2 — Sts. Vartanantz Mardi Gras Family KefNight. What a better way to anticipate Great Lentthan to dance up a storm at Sts. Vartanantz’s fabulousMardi Gras Family Kef Night Dinner-Dance, 6 p.m., 180Old Westford Rd., Chelmsford. Saturday. Following asumptuous chicken-pilaf dinner, Armenian and MiddleEast dance music will be provided by the dynamic JasonNaroian Ensemble featuring Jason Naroian-dumbeg/vocals; Ara Jeknavorian – clarinet; BrianAnisbigian – oud; and Dave Anisbigian – guitar/vocals.Prior to the dinner-dance at 5 p.m., there will be anArmenian and Middle East line dancing workshop led bythe fabulous “Hye Stepper” Diane Juknavorian where allcan learn all the favorite Armenian and Greek dancesteps. Paid in advance tickets must be received byFebruary 26: Adults $25, Students $10, and 5 & underFree. At the door: Adults $35 and Students $15. Forreservations, contact Maria Kazanjian (617) 240-3686 orRia.tk@verizon.net. Tables of 8 can be reserved inadvance with full payment Checks made payable to: StsVartanantz Armenian Church.

MARCH 2 — St. Stephen’s Armenian ElementarySchool (SSAES) PTO annual fundraiser Soiree. 7 p.m.at the Historic Sanborn House in Winchester. Event willfeature food by anoush’ella saj kitchen, sweets by SSAESalumnus Arthur Davtian, executive pastry chef at FrenchPress Bakery and Cafe. Open bar, Scotch andChampagne tasting stations, and a DJ to top it off. Theevent will feature live artist painting by AlikArzoumanian, which will be auctioned off later in theevening. Alik is an illustrator, author, and SSAESKindergarten Armenian teacher. Her illustrations can beviewed online www.studioalique.com. For tickets andsponsorship information e-mail: event@ssaes.org

MARCH 2 — Poon Paregentan Family Kef Night, Sts.Vartanantz Armenian Church, 180 Old Westford Rd.,Chelmsford, MA. Featuring the Fabulous Jason NaroianEnsemble: Jason Naroian – Vocals and Dumbeg, AraJeknavorian – Clarinet, Dave Anisbigian - Guitar andBrian Anisbigian – Oud. Armenian Dance Class - 5 p.m.Dinner and Dancing at 6:00 pm. Paid in advance ticketsmust be received by February 26: Adults $25, Students$10, and 5 & under Free. At the door: Adults $35 andStudents $15. For reservations, contact Maria Kazanjian(617) 240-3686 or Ria.tk@verizon.net. Tables of 8 can bereserved in advance with full payment Checks madepayable to: Sts Vartanantz Armenian Church.

MARCH 3 — Sunday, Amaras Art Alliance presentsDolma Fest and Contest, Celebrating PoonParekentan. Also serving traditional harissa and featur-ing Armenian music for dancing. Holy Cross Armenian

Catholic Church, 200 Lexington St., Belmont, 2 pm.Come and taste a variety of dolmas and vote for yourfavorite recipe. Two of the competing chefs will win cashprizes: $200 first place and $100 second place. Votingopen to valid ticket holders and while supplies are avail-able. Tickets $25 at Amarasonline.com or by calling 617-331-0426. To register for the contest call Arax at 617-733-7162.

MARCH 4 — St. James Men’s Club DinnerMeeting - social hour and mezza at 6:15 PM and dinnerat 7:00 PM, St James Armenian Church Charles MosesianCultural and Youth Center - Keljik Hall, 465 Mt. AuburnStreet, Watertown, MA. The speaker will be Dick Flavin,poet laureate of the Boston Red Sox. He is the seniorambassador of the Boston Red Sox and voice of FenwayPark, serving as public address announcer for Red Soxday games. His television commentaries won seven NewEngland Emmy Awards. He is a nationally known speak-er and is a member of the Massachusetts BroadcastersHall of Fame. Mezza and a Losh Kebab & Kheyma Dinner$17/person. Ladies invited. For additional informationcall the St James Church office at 617-923-8860 or callHapet Berberian at 781-367-6598

MARCH 9 – Commemoration of the February 18thAgainst Soviet Rule and Commemoration of theBaku/Sumgait Pogroms. Buffet Dinner and Program.Narrated Slide Presentation by Joe Dagdigian on “UnseenArmenia – Two Sides of the Border.” Rare images ofArmenian Homeland on both sides of Armenia’s andArtsakh’s borders, as well as the patriotic Armenians whoinhabit these lands. Jaffarian Hall, St. Gregory ArmenianChurch, 158 Main St., No. Andover, MA. 6:00 pm. Adults- $15; Students - $5. For information and reservations,please contact armenj@comcast.net or call 978-256-2538. Sponsored by the Lowell Aharonian Gomideh ofthe Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

MARCH 24 — Luncheon and Book Talk featuringSenator Lou D’Allesandro of New Hampshire, spon-sored by Holy Trinity Armenian Church of Greater Bostonand the Trinity Men’s Union, 12:30 p.m., Charles andNevart Talanian Cultural Hall, Holy Trinity ArmenianChurch, 145 Brattle St., Cambridge. Senator D’Allesandrowill be discussing the book written about his extraordi-nary career in politics – Lion of the New HampshireSenate and Thoughts for Presidential Hopefuls. Donationfor lunch: $8. Tickets on sale at the door. Books availablefor purchase. For further information, contact the ChurchOffice, 617.354.0632, or log onto www.htaac.org/cal-endar/event/652/.

MARCH 31 — The Tekeyan Cultural Association of theUnited States and Canada Presents the 2019 NorthAmerican tour of the VEM Ensemble of the UCLA HerbAlbert School of Music, Danielle Segen, mezzo-soprano,Ji Eun Hwang, violin 1, Aiko Richter, violin 2, MorganO’Shaughnessey, viola, Jason Pegis, cello. BOSTONSunday, March 31, 1 p.m.cosponsored with Holy TrinityArmenian Church, 145 Brattle St., Cambridge. Freeadmission. Introductory remarks by Artistic DirectorProfessor Movses Pogossian. Performing a world pre-miere of Tekeyan songs by the Los Angeles-based com-poser Artashes Kartalyan, commissioned by the TekeyanCultural Association, and masterworks by Komitas,Khachaturian, Mirzoyan, Hovhannes, and Schubert. Formore information, email tcadirector@aol.com.

APRIL 5 — Friday, City of Smile Boston Friends will hostan evening to benefit children with cancer inArmenia. Special guest Anna Hakobyan, the City of SmileCharitable Foundation’s Honorary Chair, wife of Armenia’sPrime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, at the Westin WalthamHotel for her inaugural visit to Boston. The City of SmileCharitable Foundation is based in Armenia providing finan-cial support to children with cancer. In addition, the foun-dation is dedicated to training doctors to provide the bestcancer care in treating oncological and hematological dis-eases. To learn more about the City of Smile CharitableFoundation, visit www.cityofsmile.org. Tickets-$150 each.For reservations, contact Postaljian@hotmail.com617/921-8962 or Manuk0102@gmail.com 781/883-4470.Deadline to RSVP is March 22. Tickets will not be sold atthe door. Cocktail Reception/Cash Bar - 6:30pm, Dinnerand Program - 7:30 p.m.

APRIL 25 — Holy Trinity Armenian Church of GreaterBoston Presents The Dr. Michael and Joyce KolligianDistinguished Speaker Series: Anthony Ray Hinton,Author of The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life andFreedom on Death Row, “Surviving Criminal Justice inAmerica.” Charles and Nevart Talanian Cultural Hall, 145

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ARTS & LIVING

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17T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O RS A T U R D A Y, M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 9

ARTS & LIVING

Brattle Street, Cambridge MA 02138. Reception andbook signing to follow talk. Open and free to the public.For further information, contact the Holy Trinity Churchoffice, 617.354.0632, email office@htaac.org, or logonto www.htaac.org/calendar/event/622/.

APRIL 27 – SAVE THE DATE! Hai Guin ScholarshipAssociation 2019 Spring Benefit Luncheon. BelmontCountry Club. Saturday, 11:30 a.m. Sip, Shop andSupport! Featuring Fashions and Pop-Up Shop by St.John. Please contact Christine Berberian 978-500-1116or Andrea Garabedian 978-618-3030 to reserve yourtickets ($65 each).

MAY 3 – 117th Diocesan Assembly Gala Banquet – V.Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan, Primate, presiding. BostonMarriott Burlington. Hosted by St. James ArmenianChurch in Watertown. Save the Date – Details to Follow.

JUNE 28 – July 10 – St. James Armenian Church 7thPilgrimage to Armenia. Led by Fr. Arakel Aljalian. Joinus and Discover the Land of our Ancestors. All are wel-come. Registration deposits due March 1; Full Paymentdue April 1. For full details visit www.stjameswater-town.org/ armenia.

SEPTEMBER 18 – SAVE THE DATE! InterContinentalHotel, Boston. Extraordinary Benefit for ArmenianHeritage Park’s Endowed Fund for Care.

OCTOBER 19 — The Vosbikians are coming to theMerrimack Valley. The Armenian Friends of Americaproudly present their Annual HYE KEF 5 Dance, featuringThe Vosbikians. The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel,Andover, MA. Tickets Purchased before 9/13/19 willinclude the Great Venue, Outstanding Buffet, TheVosbikian Band and 5 Free Raffle Tickets Adults $75.00& Students 21 & under $65 Specially priced AFA Roomsavailable through 9/17/19. For Tickets and more infor-mation, Contact: Lu Sirmaian 978-683-9121 or Sharke’Der Apkarian at 978-808-0598Visit www.ArmeniaFriendsofAmerica.org

NOVEMBER 16 — St. Stephen’s Armenian ElementarySchool 35th Anniversary Celebration. 6:30 PMCocktail Reception, 7:30 PM Dinner and Program. TheWestin Waltham - Boston, MA $150 per person.

MARCH 27 — The Tekeyan Cultural Association of the

United States and Canada Presents the 2019 NorthAmerican tour of the VEM Ensemble of the UCLA HerbAlbert School of Music, Danielle Segen, mezzo-soprano,Ji Eun Hwang, violin 1, Aiko Richter, violin 2, MorganO’Shaughnessey, viola, Jason Pegis, cello. Wednesday,March 27, 8 p.m. Cosponsored with Music Guild of St.John Armenian Church Recreation Center, 22001Northwestern Hwy, Southfield. Free admission.Introductory remarks by Artistic Director ProfessorMovses Pogossian. Performing a world premiere ofTekeyan songs by the Los Angeles-based composerArtashes Kartalyan, commissioned by the TekeyanCultural Association, and masterworks by Komitas,Khachaturian, Mirzoyan, Hovhannes, and Schubert. Formore information, email tcadirector@aol.com.

MAY 18 — St. Nersess Armenian Seminary invites youto Hope & Gratitude, a celebration honoringArchbishop Khajag Barsamian and Bishop-elect Very Rev.Daniel Findikyan. 6:30 p.m. Old Tappan Manor, OldTappan, NJ. For more info on reservations and bookletsponsorships, please go to www.stnersess.edu.

OCTOBER 25 — Honoring Dr. Taner Akçam. AbajianHall St. Leon Armenian Complex, Fair Lawn.Sponsored by Knights and Daughters of Vartan, Underthe Auspices of Primate Very Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan.

APRIL 9 — One of the opera world’s hottest stars,Alessandro Safina, will bring in his pop-operarhythms to the US. Safina will be accompanied by VictorEspinola and the Forbidden Saints. The tour will also fea-ture Armenian Duduk Soloist and Classical ClarinetistMher Mnatsakanyan and Bassist Hova Burian will takepart. Official FaceBook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AlessandroSafinaUSA/ OfficialPromo Video: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=DHHKpxTCSSY The performance will be held at BeaconTheater in New York. (Times 8:00-9:30pm)https://www1.ticketmaster.com/alessandro-safina-with-v i c to r - e s p i no l a - t h e - fo r b i dden - s a i n t s / even t /3B005546FA735928

APRIL 28- Sunday at 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Armenian

Genocide Commemoration at Times Square, NYCSponsored by : Knight & Daughters of Vartan, AGBU,ADL-Ramgavars. Armenian Assembly of America, ANCAand Armenian National Council

APRIL 28 — Book presentation by Adrienne G.Alexanian, editor of her father’s memoir, Forced intoGenocide: Memoirs of an Armenian Soldier in theOttoman Turkish Army, Sunday 2 p.m. Maltz Museum ofJewish Heritage. In co-sponsorship with St. Gregory ofNarek Church and Armenian Cultural Group, 2929Richmond Road Beachwood, Ohio 74122RSVP info@mmjh.org or (216) 593-0575. Book sale/sign-ing during reception following the presentation – pro-ceeds will be donated

APRIL 4 — Book presentation by Adrienne G.Alexanian, editor of her father’s memoir Forced intoGenocide: Memoirs of an Armenian Soldier in theOttoman Turkish Army. Thursday, 6:30 p.m. HolocaustMuseum Houston. Co-sponsored by Armenian Church ofSt. Kevork, 9220 Kirby Drive (Suite 100), Houston, Texas.RSVP (713) 527-1604. Book sale/signing will follow pre-sentation – proceeds will be donated

MARCH 29 — Tekeyan Cultural Association of the USand Canada Presents the 2019 North American tour ofthe VEM Ensemble of the UCLA Herb Albert School ofMusic, Danielle Segen, mezzo-soprano, Ji Eun Hwang,violin 1, Aiko Richter, violin 2, Morgan O’Shaughnessey,viola, Jason Pegis, cello. Wednesday, March 27, 8 p.m.Cosponsored with Music Guild of St. John ArmenianChurch Recreation Center, 22001 Northwestern Hwy,Southfield. Free admission. Introductory remarks byArtistic Director Professor Movses Pogossian. Performinga world premiere of Tekeyan songs by the Los Angeles-based composer Artashes Kartalyan. Friday, TekeyanCenter, 825 Manoogian St., St. Laurent, Canada. Fortickets call 514-747-6680. For more information, emailtcadirector@aol.com.

NEW YORK

OHIO

TEXASNEW JERSEY

MICHIGAN

BetweenTwoEmpires

By Peter Brown

NEW YORK (New York Book) — Over thepast two decades, Helen Evans, as curator ofByzantine art, has organized a series of stun-ning exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museumof Art. They have revealed rich worlds unlikeour own, yet bound to us by a family resem-blance, as a result of a com-mon origin in theMediterranean societies ofLate Antiquity. In these exhibi-tions Evans has presented thegreat alternative to the Catholic West: theChristian Orthodox world of Byzantium, theBalkans, and Russia. She has also reinterpret-ed the emergence of Islam, for the first time ina major exhibition, not as a brutal break in theflow of Middle Eastern history but as amoment of transition. In her latest exhibition,“Armenia!,” she has outdone herself. Here isthe story of an Eastern Christian society thatwas creative, enduring, and, at many times,gloriously idiosyncratic.The exhibition is based on a hitherto

undreamed-of gathering of Armenian objectsof high quality. The exquisitely illuminatedpages of complete books — each volume heavywith a distinctive past — line well-lit walls. Butless expected are the enormous decorativecrosses carved in stone, known in Armenianas khachkars, that once sprouted like so manyranks of giants in the cemeteries and shrinesof the Armenian uplands. Here the cross hasbecome, in an Eastern Christian traditionwhose roots lay deep in the imaginative worldof the ancient Near East, a tree of life.The khachkar would have shimmered as lightand shadow played on its lace-like surface,making the deep-carved stone appear as opu-lent as the woodwork and stucco of greatpalaces. Each one spoke of a person or agroup whose memory, it was hoped, would lastas long as the stone stood in its native earth.The vibrant khachkars hit the eye in the

exhibition’s rooms as the manuscripts do not.But they were both produced for the same rea-son. Behind each lies a heroic determinationnot to forget. Each manuscript volume carries

a colophon — a final commentadded by the scribe — that begsthe reader to remember him(or her, for we know of at leastone woman scribe) as well as

the patron and family who had commissionedthe book — usually a gospel or a hymnal. Likethe khachkars, the manuscripts come from asociety in which memory was not simply (as itoften is with us) an attic of the mind — a neu-tral storage space of past events. Memory wasloyalty, and forgetfulness was treason.As we walk through the exhibition, some-

what bemused by the sheer beauty of brightcolor set on radiant gold leaf, we shouldremember the world revealed to us…NEW York Books.com

Armenia!, an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, September 22, 2018–January 13, 2019

Armenia: Art, Religion, and Trade in the Middle AgesCatalog of the exhibition edited by Helen C. Evans

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 351 pp., $65.00 (distributed by Yale University Press)

BOOKS

MASSACHUSETTSCANADA

18 S A T U R D A Y, M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 9 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMENTARY

Turkey’s Hate Crimes Are only the Tipof the Iceberg

COMMENTARY

By Edmond Y. Azadian

Recently two outrageous events took place almost simultane-ously but the reactions of the international community stood instark contrast. In the first instance, a Jewish cemetery in France was desecrat-

ed with Nazi graffiti. President Emmanuel Macron of Francerushed to the site to deplore the vandalism and the next day thestreets of Paris and other cities were filled with huge numbers ofcrowds demonstrating against anti-Semitism. Indeed, anti-Semitism is rising in France and in certain Eastern

European countries, fueling fears of intolerance which hadplagued Europe for so many years and especially after the comingto power of the Nazi party in Germany.The next incident is the continued acts of vandalism against

Armenians in Turkey, which does not grab headlines internation-ally.The alarm raised during the French incident was justified, while

the indifference toward the plight of other minorities is very hardto explain or justify. Incidentally, germane to this issue is a lawpassed by the French legislature called Loi Gaysot, which makesthe denial of the Jewish Holocaust punishable by law, while a sim-ilar law that would have extended the same punitive measure tothe denial of the Armenian Genocide, was struck down by France’sConstitutional Court in 2012, arguing that it curbs freedom ofspeech.This kind of double standard will play into the hands of dema-

gogues and racists who can insult and persecute certain minori-ties, including Armenians.Vandals in Turkey have targeted not only Armenian cemeteries

but operating Armenian Churches in Istanbul to express theirhatred towards them. Just this week, the Surp HreshdagabedArmenian Church in Istanbul’s Balat District was painted by graf-fiti, warning “You are finish” (sic).Only the previous week, Surp Astvadzadzin Church in Istanbul’s

Zeinlink district had been van-dalized while in 2018, anotherArmenian Church, SurpTakavor, was also sprayedwith words of hate graffitithat “This homeland is ours.”In 2016, the BomontiMkhitarian Armenian Schoolsuffered the same fate. And afew years ago, the ArmenianPatriarchate at Kumkapi wasthe target of a bomb threat.The Armenian community

has to suffer from all theseindignities and traumabecause of the state policytowards minorities. That state-sponsored policy of hate alsoled to the assassination of journalist Hrant Dink in 2007.When the Turks proclaim that “this homeland is ours,” they

intrinsically let on that they have doubts about this homelandbeing theirs. It is not racist to characterize many Turkish orOttoman leaders as usurpers and destroyers of civilizations; it isonly a social postulation based on evidence. They have occupiedAsia Minor, destroyed Greek and Armenian civilizations, com-mitted genocides and now believe it is time to dictate “You arefinish.”If President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey was a person, we

would characterize “this homeland is ours” as a Freudian slip.When a member of the Turkish Parliament, Garo Paylan, raises

his voice in protest against hate messages, rather than praising orsupporting him, the administration threatens to strip him of hisparliamentary immunity and put him behind bars. Indeed, Paylanhas courageously stated: “A hate crime has been committedagainst the Balat Surp Hreshdagabed Armenian Church. Hatecrimes against Armenian churches and synagogues take place sev-eral times every year. Not only the perpetrators by the powersbehind [the attacks] should be addressed, but above all, hate-gen-erating policies should be ended.”These crimes could not be regarded as the unintended conse-

quences of a policy since that policy is inciting hatred towardsTurkey’s minorities. Right at this moment, Erdogan’s administra-tion is waging a war against a quarter of the country’s population,the Kurds. And Hrant Dink was also a victim of that policy, afterbeing harassed in trials on trumped up charges for years.It is the manifestation of the same policy when government offi-

cials turn their ire against Armenian migrant workers. This timearound, it is a right-wing party aligned with Erdogan’s AK Party,which is advocating the expulsion of migrant workers, who arethought to number between 10,000 and 30,000. But Mustafa

Destici, the head of the Great Union Party, has asked the govern-ment to take action against those immigrants, stating, “There are100,000 Armenians here who came from Armenia and are illegal-ly filling their stomachs. I am saying that we should expel them.Why are we letting them stay?”First of all, the number is exaggerated and second, for a very

practical reason — the language barrier — they are mostlyemployed by local Armenians. Never mind that the Turks havedestroyed an entire historic Armenia and have filled their stomachswith the looting of what millions of Armenians left behind.This threat does not only come from the extreme right-wing.

Before him, Prime Ministers Turgut Ozal and Tansu Çiller alsomade similar threats while Mr. Erdogan has made oblique refer-ences to them by stating that the Turkish state is such a charita-ble institution that it does not take punitive actions against the“transgressions” of the Armenians.Mustafa Destici has been trying to take his revenge on those

migrant workers, because he cannot stand up to French PresidentMacron, who recently announced that April 24 will officially markArmenian Martyrs’ Day in France. The Turkish government hasbeen exercising a policy of cat-and-mouse with its minorities todupe the European Union. A case in point is the recent return ofSanasarian Han, a huge piece of real estate, which had been con-fiscated from the Armenian community and after a show trial, wasreturned it to the Armenians, only to be confiscated again.The Turkish leaders view Europeans as naïve statesmen who

cannot detect their chicanery. But lo and behold, the EuropeanUnion suspended the negotiating process with Turkey.The Turks and Azeris have deep-seated anxieties with regard to

the harsh judgement of history since they have occupied the ter-ritories of indigenous people and one day may face a reckoning.Hence, the Sevres Syndrome remains alive.That is why they are in a race against time to destroy all the ves-

tiges of Armenian presence and civilization on those lands, mean-time fabricating a historic narrative that for centuries Seljuk Turkswere inhabiting the Anatolian plateau and that ChristianAlbanians have inhabited Karabakh and Nakhichevan, all ances-

tors of Turks and Azeris.Before World War I, there

were 2,538 churches and451 monasteries within theborders of modern Turkey.They have all been eitherdestroyed or repurposed asstables, museums, storageareas or movie theaters.Laure Marchange andGuillaume Perrier explain intheir book, Turkey and theArmenian Ghost, “Since theArmenians’ religious her-itage was the strongestexpression of their ancestralroots, it became a prime tar-get of their oppressors. In

absolute numbers, Turkey’s wipeout of Armenian cultural heritagedwarfs Azerbaijan’s’ recent vandalism in Nakhijevan.”One Armenian scholar, Argam Ayvazyan, singlehandedly has

documented almost all the architectural monuments in Karabakhand Nakhichevan and has published 200 articles and 40 books onthe subject.To this day, none of the successive administrations in Armenia

have given proper recognition and support to him and his cause.It is time to divulge a little secret here. Way before the collapseof the Soviet Union, Ayvazyan reached out to me at theManoogian Cultural Fund, declaring that momentous events arepredicted in the Caucasus. Therefore, he said, it is time to docu-ment monuments in Karabakh and Nakhichevan. After obtaininginitial funding, he hired a foreign photographer to capture all themonuments. Even during the Soviet period, Armenians werebanned from traveling to Nakhichevan and the Azeris had man-aged to expel the remnants of the Armenian population fromthat exclave.In Nakhichevan, Ayvazyan was able to document 89 Armenian

churches, 5,840 ornate khachkars and 22,000 horizontal tomb-stones. All the khachkars were destroyed by the Azerbaijani gov-ernment in 2005. All protests to UNESCO proved futile. Later on,it was discovered that when the US cut its support to UNESCO,the Azerbaijani government donated a grant of $5 million and wassoon after recognized by UNESCO as a “country of tolerance.”What a farce.The ghost of martyred Armenians will haunt the Turks and

Azeris forever and their only protection from history’s judgementwill force the race toward the destruction of Armenian monu-ments.Today’s hate crimes in Turkey are only the tip of the iceberg.

The rest lies below the surface, under the ocean of history.

Established 1932

An ADL Publication

EDITOR

Alin K. Gregorian

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Aram ArkunART DIRECTOR

Marc Mgrditchian

SENIOR EDITORIAL COLUMNIST:Edmond Y. Azadian

CONTRIBUTORS:Florence Avakian, Dr. HaroutiunArzoumanian, Philippe Raffi Kalfayan,Philip Ketchian, Kevork Keushkerian,Harut Sassounian, Hagop Vartivarian,Naomi Zeytoonian

CORRESPONDENTS:

Armenia - Hagop AvedikianBoston - Nancy KalajianLos Angeles - Taleen BabayanBerlin - Muriel Mirak-Weissbach

Contributing Photographers:Jirair Hovsepian

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S A T U R D A Y, M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 9 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMENTARY

19

My TurnBy Harut Sassounian

Azerbaijan’s Destruction ofArmenian Monuments ExceedsISIS Crimes“A groundbreaking forensic report tracks Azerbaijan’s

destruction of 89 medieval churches, 5,480 intricate cross-stones, and 22,700 tombstones,” is the subtitle of an incredi-ble article by Simon Maghakyan and Sarah Pickman, pub-lished in the Hyperallergic Newsletter last week. The article istitled: “A Regime Conceals its Erasure of IndigenousArmenian Culture.”In April 2011, when the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan

wanted to visit Nakhichevan, an Armenian territory classifiedby the Soviets as an “autonomous republic” of Azerbaijan, toverify the destruction of thousands of historical medievalArmenian khachkars (cross-stones), he was blocked by Azeriofficials who told him that reports of their destruction wasfake news.Under Azeri oppression, the longstanding Armenian com-

munity of Nakhichevan had dwindled to zero! Not contentwith ethnic-cleansing, the Azeris proceeded to eliminate alltraces of Armenian monuments, claiming that no Armenianshad ever lived in Nakhichevan.“In December 2005, an Iranian border patrol alerted the

Prelate of Northern Iran’s Armenian Church that the vastDjulfa cemetery, visible across the border in Azerbaijan, wasunder military attack. Bishop Nshan Topouzian and his driv-er rushed to videotape over 100 Azerbaijani soldiers, armedwith sledgehammers, dump trucks and cranes destroying thecemetery’s remaining 2,000 khachkars; over 1,000 had

already been purged in 1998 and 2002,” reported Maghakyanand Pickman.The flattened land, where the khachkars stood for cen-

turies, is now a military rifle range. The “demolition was the‘grand finale’ of Azerbaijan’s eradication of Nakhichevan’sArmenian past,” wrote the two authors.Maghakyan and Pickman reported that “the American

Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) employedremote sensing technologies in its pioneer investigation intocultural destruction. Their 2010 geospatial study concludedthat ‘satellite evidence is consistent with reports by observerson the ground who have reported the destruction ofArmenian artifacts in the Djulfa cemetery.’”“Absolutely false and slanderous information … [fabricated

by] the Armenian lobby,” proclaimed Azerbaijan’s PresidentIlham Aliyev, who makes frequent threats against Armeniaand distorts its history.The authors also quote from public decree No.5-03/S on

December 6, 2005, by Nakhichevan’s “local autocrat” VasifTalibov, a relative of President Aliyev, “ordering a detailedinventory of Nakhichevan’s monuments. Three years later, theinvestigation was summed up in the bilingual English andAzerbaijani ‘Encyclopedia of Nakhchivan Monuments,’ co-edit-ed by Talibov himself. Missing from the 522-page‘Encyclopedia’ are the 89 medieval churches, 5,840 intricatekhachkars, and 22,000 tombstones that [Armenian researcherArgam] Ayvazyan had meticulously documented. There is notso much as a footnote on the now-defunct Christian Armeniancommunities in the area — Apostolic and Catholic alike.Nevertheless, the official Azerbaijani publication’s forewordexplicitly reveals ‘Armenians’ as the reason for No. 5-03/S:‘Thereafter the decision issued on 6 December 2005 … a pass-port was issued for each monument … Armenians demon-strating hostility against us not only have an injustice [sic]land claim from Nakhchivan, but also our historical monu-ments by giving biassed [sic] information to the internationalcommunity. The held investigations once again prove that theland of Nakhchivan belonged to the Azerbaijan turks [sic]….’” Any Azerbaijani who dares to speak out in defense of

Armenians is also attacked as an enemy of Azerbaijan. Acourageous Azerbaijani writer, Akram Aylisli, paid a hefty

price for telling the truth about the destruction of Armenianmonuments in his hometown of Agulis (known today as Aylis).The well-known novelist was furious that the Azeri govern-ment was destroying Armenian churches. In his novel, “StoneDreams,” the protagonist, an intellectual from Agulis, refers tomemories of the town’s eight of the 12 medieval churches thathad survived until the 1990’s, and protects a victim of anti-Armenian pogroms in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku. PresidentAliyev revoked Aylisli’s pension and title of “People’s Writer.”His writings were removed from school curricula, his bookswere publicly burned, and his family members were fired fromtheir jobs. He has been under de facto house arrest since therelease of his novel. Aylisli protested the destruction of theArmenian churches in Agulis and resigned from his positionas Member of Azerbaijan’s Parliament. He fearlessly sent atelegram to President Heydar Aliyev in 1997, calling thedestruction of the Armenian churches in Aylis an “act of van-dalism being perpetrated through the involvement of armedforces and employment of anti-tank mines.”The two authors spoke with Russian journalist Shura

Burtin who after interviewing Aylisli in 2013 traveled toNakhichevan and reported that he didn’t see “a trace of thearea’s glorious past.” Burtin concluded: “Not even ISIS couldcommit such an epic crime against humanity.” The authors reported that Aylisli’s 2018 non-fiction essay in

Farewell, claimed “that a mosque built five years ago on thesite of one of the destroyed churches has been boycotted bylocals because ‘everyone in Aylis knows that prayers offered ina mosque built in the place of a church don’t reach the earsof Allah.’” Argam Ayvazyan, a native of Nakhichevan who spent

decades photographing the local Armenian monumentsbefore their destruction, was quoted by Maghakyan andPickman as decrying the world’s silence: “Oil-richAzerbaijan’s annihilation of Nakhichevan’s Armenian pastmake it worse than ISIS, yet UNESCO and most Westernershave looked away.” ISIS-demolished sites like Palmyra can berenovated, Ayvazyan argued, but “all that remain ofNakhichevan’s Armenian churches and cross-stones that sur-vived earthquakes, caliphs, Tamerlane, and Stalin are myphotographs.”

Israeli historian Benny Morris doesn’t do things by half. Thefootnotes of his new book on the 30-year genocide of Christiansby their Turkish rulers, cowritten with his colleague Dror Zeevi,take up more than a fifth of the 640-page work. “It was nineyears, a long haul,” he admitted to me this week, with an audi-ble sigh over the phone. And he talks about the involvement ofAtaturk in the later stages of the genocide of around 2.5 millionChristians of the Ottoman empire; how “religions do drive peo-ple to excessive violence” – he has in mind the Turks, Isis, theCrusades – and even condemns the Arabs for their inability tocriticise themselves.The mere title of the Morris-Zeevi book, The Thirty-Year

Genocide: Turkey’s Destruction of Its Christian Minorities1894-1924 (to be published by Harvard University Press in

April) is going to have theTurks enraged, fromErdogan down. TheArmenians and otherChristians will dispute hisapparent claim that he has

only just discovered that their slaughter lasted for 30 years –others have talked of the Armenian genocide of 1915 book-ended by the late 19th-century massacres in Turkey and thepost-1915 killing of surviving Armenians and Greeks, Assyriansand others. And the Arab world will challenge his view that theholocaust (my word) of Christians was more motivated by Islamthan Turkish nationalism.Having written about the genocide of the Armenians for 35

years, I have doubts that the actual call for “jihad” in theTurkish Ottoman empire unleashed at the start of the FirstWorld War was as ferocious as Morris makes it out to be. Muftiswere indeed told they were in a holy war against Christians –but not against German Christians, Austro-HungarianChristians, neutral Christians or allies of the Central Powers(Bulgaria, for example). Many Muslim worshippers, sitting onthe carpets of mosque floors, must have shaken their heads inpuzzlement at these caveats. Well, one way was to notice theGerman officers training the Ottoman army, the German diplo-mats and businessmen who witnessed the genocide of theArmenians with their own eyes, and wrote home about it. Hitlerasked his generals who now remembered the Armenians justbefore invading Poland in 1939.But again and again, I was brought up short by the sheer, ter-

rible, shocking accounts of violence in Morris’s and Zeevi’swork. “Strident religiosity” moved through the Muslim lands,write the authors.The date: 1895. The place: Severek. The witness: Armenian

survivor Abraham Hartunian. “The first attack was on our pas-tor [Mardiros Bozyakalian]. The blow of an axe decapitated him.His blood, spurting in all directions, spattered the walls and ceil-ing with red. Then I was in the midst of the butchers. One ofthem drew his dagger … Three blows fell on my head. My blood

began to flow like a fountain … The attackers [were] sure thatI was dead … Then they slaughtered the other men in the room,took the prettier women with them for rape …”Now it is July 1915. The place: Merzifon. The witness: mis-

sionary JK Marsden. “They were in groups of four with theirarms tied behind them and their deportation began with per-haps 100 … in a batch … they were taken about 12 miles acrossthe plains, stripped of their clothing and, in front of a ditch pre-viously prepared, were compelled to kneel down while a groupof villagers with knives and axes quickly disposed of them. Fora week, this was repeated until 1,230 of the leading Armenianmen had been disposed of.”In January 1920, YMCA secretary CFH Crathern was in

Marash. The wife of an Armenian pastor had reached his hos-pital. “She was bleeding … from three bullet and three daggeror knife wounds while a child of 18 months had been takenfrom her breast and slain with a knife, and an older girl killedwith an axe. To add to the sorrow of it, this woman was preg-nant and had a miscarriage as soon as she reached the hospi-tal.” The woman died the following day. I have repeated above only a few of the less bloody episodes

from the 30 years. I will spare readers the chopped off fingers,the thousands of raped girls, the priests beheaded or burned oncrucifixes.In the final annihilation of the Armenians, an American mis-

sionary spoke of “minds obsessed with Muslim fanaticism seventimes heated.” Turks, he wrote, had “become drunk with bloodand rapine, and plunder and power, and he will be a differentman from what he was before the atrocities.” Benny Morristhinks it was more to do with a mixture of modern nationalismand the decline of “Islamic polity.”I discussed all this with him. Is it possible for a people to be

so inured to cruelty that they changed, that their acts of sadismcould alter their humanity? Religions drive people to excessiveviolence, he said again, and then repeated this as “excessivesadism.” Morris agreed that the Romans were cruel, but theywere pagans. “In terms of religion, the Romans were amateurs.Abrahamic religions drive people to excess.” Jews had avoidedthis. Palestinians will disagree.There is certainly a frightening geographical scope to the

killings. Many thousands of horrors were perpetrated in Mosul,Raqqa, Manbij and Deir ez-Zor, names grimly familiar from theIsis torments of 2014 onwards.Why, one keeps asking, didn’t the Christians leave after

1924? But of course, they had been urged to return to settle inCilicia and in Mesopotamia and Syria by the French and British– who left; and thus the Christian descendants waited for thenext generational bloodletting.The Turks were not the only killers, and Kurds also killed the

Christians for the Turks, as Ukrainians killed the Jews for theNazi Germans. At one point in Morris’s text, a group ofCircassians plait a rope 25 yards long from the hair of young

women they have killed, and send it as a present to their com-mander.Mustafa Kemal Ataturk gets pretty well trashed in this vol-

ume. “There are accounts of him saying in 1922 that, ‘Our aimis to get rid of the Christians’ – he said this in a number of con-versations,” Morris contends. “He gave orders, and men in hislater government were responsible.” But if this 30-year historyof blood was fueled by “Muslim fanaticism”, there are “goodTurks” in the book. In the first massacres, government officialsarrested Essad Bey, an “honest, impartial and tolerant” judgewho tried to help the Christians. There is a heroic Turkish doc-tor who throws out his sick Turkish soldiers from a hospital andreplaces them with Armenian refugees. Missionary TacyAtkinson hoped to meet the doctor one day “in the Kingdom ofHeaven.” There are others. It’s true that the Greek Christianshave fewer historians than the Armenians. Tens of thousands ofGreeks were transported to Greece in return for an equal num-ber of Muslims – official agreements kept the massacres a triflesmaller – but Morris and Zeevi give too little attention to theawe in which the Nazis held Ataturk’s people.Ataturk himself cared little for Islam: he smoked and wom-

anised, and was a nationalist before he was a Muslim. The Nazisadmired his “Turkified” non-minority republic. When he died,the front page of Volkischer Beobachter was fringed in black.Watch moreThe authors briefly compare the Jewish Holocaust and the

Armenian genocide – I prefer the terms Jewish Holocaust andArmenian Holocaust – and there are some already publishedparallels. Armenians might be spared if they would convert toIslam or marry Muslim men. Jews could not save their lives byconverting. The Turkish massacres were more sadistic. I ratherthink the German-inspired slaughter could be just as bad in theSecond World War: witness the head-chopping at the Jasenovaccamp on the Croatian-Bosnian border. Persecution of the Jewsunder the Nazis lasted at most 12 years, but persecution ofChristians in Ottoman territories 30 years.German civilians played little role in the Jewish Holocaust.

Turkish civilians played a far greater role. If 2.5 millionChristians is the correct figure for those murdered in the 30years – Morris warned me that it cannot be accurately tallied,and I’m sure he’s right – at least six million Jews were killed inthe 1939-1945 period, and so it took the Nazis five times as fewyears to slaughter more than twice as many human beings. TheTurks simply didn’t have the industrial tools to kill moreChristians more quickly, because these mechanics were unavail-able at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. But working onthis basis, how many people will be killed in the future – andhow quickly – with new technology?

(Robert Fisk is the Middle East correspondent for theIndependent newspaper. This column appeared in the

February 21 edition of the publication.)

New History of Christian Genocide during Ottoman Empire Sounds Dark Warning for Future

By Robert Fisk

20 S A T U R D A Y, M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 9 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

Symposium andConcert CelebratingTigran Mansurian MANSURIAN, from page 1develop the individual approaches that character-ize their mature work. Mansurian’s complex evolu-tionary path thus becomes the subject of tworound table discussions by musicologists, exploringfirst the vertical dimension of his affinities with themusical trajectory of his homeland, while at thesame time situating his compositions horizontallywithin the broad spectrum of musical exchangebetween East and West in the modern and con-temporary world. Presenters comprise ArturAvanesov (American University of Armenia,Yerevan), Elena Dubinets (artistic administrator ofthe Seattle Symphony), Lisa Cooper Vest(University of Southern California), VatcheBarsoumian (director of the Lark Musical Society,Glendale), together with A. J. Racy (UCLA) and IanKrouse (UCLA) in a conversation moderated by S.Peter Cowe (UCLA).The gala concert to follow opens with a pretaped

message of congratulations by the president of theArmenian Republic and welcoming remarks by theArmenian consul general in Los Angeles. The pro-gram embraces several of Mansurian’s master-pieces, including the US premiere of his acclaimedString Quintet, intercalated with compositions byhis close friends Pärt, Schnittke and Silvestrov.Featured guest artists include principal clarinetistof the Los Angeles Philharmonic and UCLA facul-ty Boris Allakhverdyan, Artur Avanesov (piano),the VEM String Quartet, Danielle Segen (mezzo-soprano), Antonio Lysy (cello), Varty Manouelian(violin), Movses Pogossian (violin), MiroslavaKhomik (violin), Tiffany Wee (violin), James Lent(piano), Michael Kaufman (cello), James Bass, andthe Seraphic Fire/UCLA Ensemble Artists.The symposium will take place in the Popper

Theater, 2-5:30 p.m., while the concert will be held inthe adjacent Schoenberg Concert Hall, beginning at8 p.m. The program is free and open to the public.Refreshments will be served. Self-service parking isavailable at UCLA’s Parking Structure #2.

TBILISI (Panorama.am) — A bronze stat-ue of Armenian poet and publicistHovhannes Tumanyan was installed onTuesday, February 19, on the balcony ofTumanyan scientific and cultural center inTbilisi. The gift was made by a Georgian MP

Dato Chichinadze on the occasion of the150th birthday anniversary of the greatArmenian poet.The cultural center named after

Hovhanness Tumanyan is located onAmagleba street, 18 (former DavitashviliSt.) in Tbilisi.

Tumanyan lived in the house from 1904to 1923. In 1952 the writer’s personalbelongings were taken to Yerevan and fourrooms out of six were turned into a library.The rest belonged to his heirs. AfterGeorgia’s independence, the City Hall ofTbilisi has transferred the ownership of thepart of the library to a Georgian citizen.In a critical condition, that part later had

was acquired again at the initiative ofLevon Ananyan, the former chairman ofthe Writers’ Union of Armenia thanks tothe financial support provided by thenMayor of Gyumri, Vardan Ghukasyan. After

sthe acquisition of the building by theDiocese, Jinishian Memorial and IDeAFoundation along with the ArmenianChurch initiated the full renovation andfurnishing of the building.Tumanyan is usually regarded in

Armenian circles as “All-Armenian poet”.Tumanyan wrote poems, quatrains, ballads,novels, fables, critical and journalistic arti-cles. His work is simple, natural and poeti-cally inspired at the same time. It is not bymere chance that dozens of phrases andexpressions from Tumanyan’s works havebecome a natural part of people’s everydaylanguage, their sayings, adages, and max-ims.

The new statue of Hovhanness Tumanyan

Tumanyan’s Bronze StatueUnveiled in His Tbilisi House

At the ceremony unveiling the statue