Growing Independent - August/September 2001 by Armenian International Magazine

6-d'0Ct''^o C IR.O\)UN IE LAZA IP

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An invitation for you to relax, unwind and join the action. And do it all over again tomorrow.

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Cover Story

Departments

22 A Oecade of lndependence

10 11 14

A look atthe only decade in which Armenia has been independent in modern history.

From the Editor Letlers AIM View

Notebook

16 17 18

Ouote Unquote Did You Know? Where Are They Now?

Biilhdays & Anniversaries

19 Postscript I Bytes

on File

Cover Story

lndependence lor the Man on the Street Ten Armenians answer ten questions about

ten years ol independence

Nation

Distant Sisters Montreal and Yerevan are Sister Cities

Region

46 Arts

Away lrom the Source Life without water in southern Georgia

La Scala, Archak ll and Manuscripts ln Yerevan, La Scala performed in July ln San Francisco, the opera Arshak ll will hail in September.

Boston, Symphony Hall will ring in November. And in Los Angeles, an exhibition of an entire Armenian

Connections

50 Living

manuscrrpt atthe J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is as importantlor its venue as for its content.

on Armenian Time

The story oI the clock in Yerevans Republic Square

Destinations

Yerevan's Best 2001 ln what has become a tradition, AIM presents the best things to do, see and experience in and around Yerevan

Arts

64 Angel of the Century 65 Saddness Redeemed 67 lntersections and lcons Books

73 0n the Shell Reading, Viewing and Listening Suggestions

Underexposed

Essay

78 Pointing Fingers Armenian lnlernational Magazine Volume

.l2,

Cover design by Patrick Azadian photo by Garo Lachinian

lssue Seven

ForciSn: $65. Postmilsrers: Scnd address changcs to AIM. PO. Box 10793. Glendale. CA 91209. IISA.

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More than Symbols

Salpl Hamulinlan Ghazarian Senior Editor

John Hughrt Art Director

P.tdrl ladlrn,

PAoA

Assistant Editor

Lachinian shot the cover photo during one of his recent trips to Armenia. At one of ll^q,rme.ria Tree Project's nurseries, Lachinian asked one of the staff to cup the seedling in his palm. "The symbolism was obvious," Garo explained, when we were having coffee at

Hl!lr 8rillr 8.d(ltrlrn

Aram's Coffee Shop in Watertown, Massachusetts, last week. The symbolism sure is obvious. Let's hope the message is clear, too. Independence has got to be nurtured, cuddled, fostered, sustained, fed, believed, embraced. We could have used the same symbolism for other messages, too. Growing a magazine, for example. You will have noticed that the number of names on the masthead has increased. That's because AIM's Armenia operation has grown over the last year, thanks in part to the Cafesjian Family Foundation, and in part to Hirair and Anna Hovnanian, and Vahakn and Hasmig Hovnanian, who have given speciflcally for this segment of the publication.

A. H. Alanndilan, Llunnc! Rlttlr, Y!ruran

flaro

Editor at Large

P.rlI

lllurl.n

Associate Editors

Tony

Hrlpln, London

contributing Editors

Iilrtthcw farrnl.n, Ronrld G1l0or suny, T!llno voillrllchlsn Associate Publisher

Tonl Malldonlrn Subscriptions l\,lanager

Sals l(hodanian Advertising Manager

Fimi lrelhilarian Marketino Manager

llne wall of our storage room in the AIM lloffice in Glendale, Caf,fornia, holds boxes of each of AIM's past 96 issues. (December 2001. will be our 100th issue -but that's the subject of a whole other write-up.) There is a full row of

Aoahid Dol Vailrnlsl Administrative Assistant

E{sr f8thlshyen lntern

Chilsllnr thlrhyrn

YorlYlI Buoln

boxes between the first AIM, which appeared in July 1990, and the September 1991 issue,

67 Koohbatsi Street, No, AlMam@arminco.com

which coincided with Armenia's declaration of

Coordinator

Anrhll

independence.

AIM

Amlnr GrlCodln Pholo Administrator

ll.llno Aruahailan Editorial Assistant

Sone

0.niollan

Advertising Manager

Gohar Sahakian

tumlnla - Geylns ADEhrml.[, HEIIlI4, ztE Chalinirn, &r0n Dlharlrn, Ada3h$ Emln, &lmt Gtnolrlrl, L.m Gmonian. il.ilannr GilCorlel, Julla Hrlotyar, Panndrm Hoytanri8ian, Udnc Zoytunlani Calllomla . Ara Aflumenitn, Paul Chad8rlltr, Eltr Grlhyin, [rlslrn Xldd, Jansl Samuslian; ljrddl - Fclir Codry, SlEan Patir; ilay Yod( - Chrlrl0ph6r Alrmiar, Grolgc B0umoulial; Rhodr lslrfil - ilril lraltasian; Paris - Ilydam Gaumc; Urulury DilCo (rnmilorllan; lvashinghn, 0C - l[oolad ilo06dlar. Coniilbuio6:

bilities and obligations have changed. As we require more and better information about Armenia, AIM has stepped in, trying to provide context. Now, even as the Armenia part of our operation grows, the Diaspora part will grow, too. The AIM office in Glendale will continue to provide the administrative support this intemational publication requires. And editorially, AIM's Diaspora coverage will have to expand. Future issues will deal with Armenians in cinema, Diasporans who have repatriated to Armenia, Philanthropy in the Diaspora and how it's evolved, Diaspora business networks in certain industries, and early nert yeal a look at the great Armenian high schools of the Diaspora and the memories of their alumni. We will stretch our wings as far as we are able. We are grateful for the faith of thousands of readers and of the major donors who have helped sustain this publication - Kirk Kerkorian's Lincy Foundation, Louise Manoogian Simone Foundation, Albert and Tove Boyajian, Sarkis and Bobbye Acopian, Heros and Kate Dilanchian, Razmig Hakimian, Kourken Sarkissian, Jack Maxian, Armand and Nancy Arabian, I(hachig Babayan, George and Flora Dunaians, Armen H*par, Araxie Haroutinian, George and Grace Kay, Joe and Joyce Stein, James Thfenkian, Papken Janjigian, and another 1,000 or so readers and supporters. The next 10 years are going to be even more fascinating. We are fortunate, as a people, and as a publication that wants to both lead and reflect. This is an opportunity to make and watch history - a chance few have. Let's make it worthwhile.

Photogmphers: Ammlr - Itllillar l0Echafiia[, Zeysn l(llacilthl, Rout n ilrngrsdan, Vahnm Mikltsiirn, lcrun lrlnasltn; Fnnca -

lnhln. tmudlian, Amlnlh Johanns; Grlllomla - Socal lli&0ml.n, Erlc [azrdrtr,ln Ghr0rn; iiffichusrtb - Grm t|chldan: latr Yo* - Harq (ounde{ler; Blmd! lrl.nd - BBt!. An Translators:

lrmillr

Zoblan.

lrlclEcl Harulyunlrn, thuthan fiurlohlnn. Editor Emeritus

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llaarllr

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AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

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Web & Promotions

began before Armenia's independence. AIM's mission changed significantly with independence. There is symbolism there, too. The Diaspora has, did, will, change with independence. That doesn't mean the Diaspora is disappearing. Not likely. Not desirable, either. But the Diaspora's - and AIM's - responsi-

Phone 53 36 99

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from our media. When I visited Armenia a few years ago for the first time, I was overwhelmed by seeing the state of neglect academic institutions were in.

It is important to remember that one of the very few benefits of the Soviet era for

Good News Just received the latest AIM - really great to focus on sustainable aid in Armenia (Cover Story June 2001) - and it's always humbling to hear about what people are actually doing. Fantastic stuff. Name withheld upon request

London, England

Focus on Helping Congratulations on the very important and informative article on Science in Armenia (Cover Story July 2001). Any way you measure it, knowledge will be the most important asset for prosperity this century. Attracting young men and women to scientific careers,

Armenia was the establishment of a tradition of excellence in the sciences, in research and in academia. Looking around, it is not hard to see that those nations, large or small, that have excelled in recent centuries, have been those who have appreciated the importance of education and the pure sciences. In current times, this is a measure of a society's prospects for survival and future prosperity, as well as its political maturity. Yet, one of the most catastrophic results of Armenia's reestablished independence has been an alarming decline of what took our people 80 years of hardship to establish, at a crucial time in our history. It is difficult to describe the sadness and shame one feels when one sees in our current homeland brilliant scientists and teachers literally on the streets, jobless; grand lecture halls of academic institutions deserted, with the chain and blackboards rotting; and the state of the educational system that is teaching the next generation in shambles, although once they could produce a world class, educated workforce. The worst part of all this has been that this aspect of our nation's development could

have, and can still be, relatively easily nurtured. Comparatively little resources of the Diaspora are needed to secure a continuity in our country's science development. It is with these thoughts in mind that urge all

tant economic advantages. In this regard ANSEE, the Armenian National Science and Education Fund, aspires to achieve these goals

ations deserve.

and fostering international scientiflc collabo-

ration will surely be of enormous beneflt to Armenia. Science not only generates new ideas, but applications of new findings have impor-

Vatche Sahakian

grants, not only to one or two major projects, but to dozens of researchers in various scientific fields. Sharing is a happy feeling. Profes s o r Yerv ant Tbr zian Cornell University Ithaca, New York

Laboratory of Nuclear Srudies Cornell University

had not enjoyed the publicity

deserves

been brought

up in a

highly+pirited

Armenian household. The irony however being that, having retumed home, both my I have not stopped playing our Ara Gevorkian CDs, nor stopped feeling that sense of Armenian identity we felt was somehusband and

how inadequate in Yerevan.

I am glad to say we have resolved our short-term 'identity crisis.' We figure we can have the best ofboth worlds and are at peace with our dual identity. We are wholly Armenian and wholly Australian. To all Diaspora Armenians, the journey to our land of heritage and exploring our roots is certainly worth itl On a personal note, like so many of your readers, we, too, are grateful for the fabulous work of the AIM team. Be rewarded and in the knowledge that you are striking a chord in our hearts as you are

comforted

undoubtedly, among many others around the world. We appreciate your efforts!

LauraArtinian Sydney, Australia

invest

encouraging peer reviewed research

I was very pleased to see the focus Armenia's science received in AIM. This area of the country's social development unfortunately

the Diaspora, Armenia is "a foreigr country a familiar language." Whilst in Armenia, I realized how Australian I am despite having

with

in the endeavor to stop and reverse the decline of Armenia's educational and research facilities. In this respect, ANSEF provides an excellent organizational venue to support those who are still struggling in Armenia as teachers and scientists, and to help reestablish the educational system our future gener-

providing scientific education to the public

Diasporan Armenians

countryside and cultural delights, absorbing places of history which we grew up learning about, cajoled by beggars on the streets who knew how to pull at our heart strings, and swindled by taxi drivers expecting us to pay exorbitant fares. Our Armenia experience was colorful and unforgettable and we look forward to the day when we may return. I agree wholeheartedly with Flrair's sentiment that as an Armenian, born and raised in

Destinotions and Destinies I, too, was a thirty-something first-timer in Yerevan in July this year, but I suspect at the other end of the 30 spectrum. Unlike your writer, (Destinations, July 2001) my husband and I were typical Diaspora tourists staylng in a hotel with all our creature comforts, experiencing the emotional joumey of our roots and faith, exploring the beautiful

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

More Applause and Encouragement I just read the review of Three Apples Fell from Heattenby Micheline Aharonian Marcom (Books, July 2001). I am eager to purchase my mpy. I am writing this to applaud Marcom and to encourage others to collect by hook or crook the story of their relatives' experiences during the Genocide. For more than 10 years, I have been pursuing the stories of both my father and mother who were uprooted from Constantinople and Adana during the Genocide. Would yow magazine serve as a clearing house for these stories, to collect them and set up a library? These facts are too precious to lose. I was able to learn about my mother and father's passage from T[rrkey on the web site www. ellisislandrecords.com.

I love your magazine, the format, the qual-

ity of the writing, everghing. Sister

Elizabeth Demirgian, O.P Clermont, Florida 11

There are already several collections of

Ihe Fourh Millennium Society is an independently funded and administered public charity committed to he dissemination of inlomation lor fie purpose of developing an informed public. Underpinning all our work is the firm conviction that ttE vihlity of an indegendent press is fundafiEnhl to a democratic society in Armenia and democratic institutions in the Diaspora. The F0urth Millennium Society publishes Armenian lnternational Magazine in its ellort to conlribute to he national dialogue. Ihe direclon are grateful to the Benehctors, Trustees, Patrons aM Friends ol he Fourfi Millennium Society rvho are committd to ttp welFbeing, growth and dwelopment of Armenians and Arrnenia through the promotion ol open discussion and the free flow ol inlormation among individuals and organiations. Their linancial contributions suDDort the rvork of the Fourth Millennium Society and ensure the independence of AIM

Gmocidc

mernoirs The hryan Insfiture in Carnbridge, Mass. andToronto, Canada has the largut collcctbn of swh manoin in vidco and print form Tlure are collcctiotrs al the Armmian Library and Museum of America, os well, and at various univercities, including tlw Univercity of California at Los Angeles, where Professor Richard Hovmnisian has bem guhering oral

Vahe Aghabegians, Salpi Haroutinian Ghazarian, Shahen Hairapetian, Michael Nahabet, Raffi

Zinalian, Directors

Diroctors 2001

history materiols for several dccades

Shahen Hairapetian, Armen Hampar, Zaven Khanjian, Michael Nahabet, Alex Sarkissian, Bob Shamlian, Raffi Zinzalian

Benelacton Sarkis Acopian, Albert & Tove Boyajian, The Cafesjian Family Foundation, lnc.

Take John Along Touche John Hughes! I roaredwith laugh-

ter while reading "Johnb Tip for Thavelers" (Essay, July 2001). I love your hilarious side. You know our psyche and our desire to laugh, to coverourpathos. Youreally are quite a good writer, I'll grve you that! Your article will accompany me on my upcoming trip to Armenia in September. Again, thank you! Carl Zeynonian D eerfield B each, Flori.da

Hirair Hovnanian, The Lincy Foundation, Louise Manoogian Simone

Ssnior Trustees AUSTRALIA Heros & Kate Dilanchian CANADA Bazmig Hakimian, Kourken Sarkissian H0NG K0NG Jack Maxian USA CA Armand & Nancy Arabian, Khachig Babayan, George & Flora Dunaians, Armen & Gloriat Hampar,

Aruie M. Haroutinian,

George & Grace Kay, Joe & Joyce Stein NY James Tulenkian Rl Papken Janjigian

Foundlng Trustees AUSTRALIA Varooian lskenderian USA CA Garen Avedikian, Mardo Kaprielian, Edward Missedian, Bob Movelt Varoujan Nahabet, Norair Oskanian, Emmy Papazian, Zareh Sarkissian, Bafli Zin?alian FL Hagop Koushakjian PA Zarouhi Mardikian

Tsnth Anniyersary Corporals $ponson Aesthetic & Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, Garo Kasubian; Armenian Jewelers'Associati0n; Commerce Casino, Hasmik Mgrdichian; George Tumanjan; Grand Tobacco, Hrand & Mikayel Vardanian; ISB Group, Armen

& Ketty Kazandjian; Law 0ffice of Aris Artounians, Aris & Karine Artounians;

Law 0llices ol Ourfalian & Ourfalian, Rafi & Sarkis 0urfalian; NASA Services lnc., Sam & Elizabeth Sarkisian;

Nick & Kamelia Sarkisian; Arsen Sarkisian; Pacific Sales, Jeny Turpanliau Remu ol Glendale, Vahe & Aida Yeghiazarian; Yerevan Hotel

Assoclale Truslees AUSTRALIA Arman & Nairi Derderyan

Or Maybe Not!

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Reading John Hughes's essays in the back of the magazine for the last several issues I get the distinct impression that he is developing a deep hatred and resentment of every-

thing Armenian;he is becoming openly contemptuous of Armenians. Now, you know, sir, what it means to be an Armenian. The thing is, you can pack up and leave tomorrow and start working for another magazine reporting on matters relating to Madagascar or East Timor as your next career move, but we Armenians are stuck

with

our Armenian-ness forever. Sevak Khodaverdian Glendale, Califurnia

Nuar & Artemis Nazarian, Ralph &

Khachatur & Rou?anna Souliassian

of former Karabal<Jt Babaian states that the picGeneral Samvel ture used in AIM, fiitu z@4 page j7,was incorrectly ilentified as Babaian by the photographer The phon is tlut of KarabaWt Army Vice Commander Movses Hakobian. gizes

for

the

AIM apolo-

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& Lucille EsteptEnian

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IYALY

Krikor & Harout lstanbulian LE8 XoX

Kirk & Ann Kesapyan John & Ros Ketchoyan Zaven & Sona Khanjian

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us iuclllctx Edgar & Sarah Hagopian Alex Manoogiant Kirakos Vapurciyan

us Lary &

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Julie Kulhanjian & Roger Strauch

UsI IEUJERSEY

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usr mu YoRl M. Michael Ansour Harry & Aida Koundakjian Nancy Kicorian

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Mihran & Elizabeth Agbabian Garabâ&#x201A;Źd Akpolal

The Commilteein Defense

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For the Record

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Filends ol AIM Ihe Fourth Millennium Society is gnlelul to lhe following lor contributing during the last month to ensure UsA CA Haig Kmhejian

error AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

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The Armenian Bone Marrow Registry Charitable Tlustwas founded in 1999 to serve patients in Armenia and in the Diaspora who suffer from blood-related diseases. The Registry established its first tissue-typing laboratory in Yerevan, Armeni4 in December 2000. A satellite recruitment center and typing laboratory was established this year at the Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center, Los Angeles and the Foundation laboratory Glendora. The Registry has secured the cooperation of several intemational medical centers, such as the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow TYust in England, Glendale Memorial Hospital and St Jude Hospital in US. Plaris include the establishment of recruitment centers in Europe and in the Middle East.

$450,000 is needod to operate the tissue-typing laboratories with medical staffand testing equipment and to maintain a computer database for searching and matching leukemia patients tttith suitable bone marr,sw donors. Generous grants already have been received from the Lincy Foundation, Glendale Memorial Hospital and private donations. USA Frieda Jordan, Ph.D., Chairperson 347 West Stocker Street Suite 208 Glendale, CA 91202

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Far (3?{1) 53 98 90 375002 Yerevan,

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E-mail abmdr@arminco.com pnone

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Growing Independence Armenia and Diaspora need a vision for the future Armenia is 10 years old and has much to leam. Armenians, on the other hand, are 4,000 years old and know

been compounded by a deflciency of vision and faith. In Armenia,

although the population is actually living the incremental changes

everything.

and improvements, it is also faced with widespread uncertainty.

The combination makes things tough. But the existence of an independent republic is reason enough to try to make sense of this confused condition.

More than any,thing else, the collapse of the Soviet Union meant is

Armenians have every reason to use the wisdom of the ages to

of each life. Armenia misses the security of Big Brother, and at the

nurture imagination and audacity in an independent and free

same time senses the Diaspora's hopelessness. It's no surprise,

the disappearance of a centralized, pre-determined order. There no longer an authoritarian govemment that plans out the details

then, that it, too, loses hope. And the downward spiral unravels.

young republic that is far from perfect. This miraculously-created, sovereign state continues to grow.

Against much odds, despite many myths and assumptions, Armenia is growing independence. And it's just been 10 years. Fortunately and unfortunately, Armenia has a strong, watch-

ful Diaspora. Fortunately, because the clout of that Diaspora can (and has) resulted in substantive and perceived assistance that far outweighs Armenia's own resources. Unfortunately, because a Diaspora that lives in, enjoys, and takes for granted

Emigration is shining evidence.

Part of the cause of this disheartenment inside and outside

Armenia is the realization that the road ahead is long. Very long. Armenia has made huge progress politically and - bad press and cynical spin notwithstanding

economically. Still, so

much more has to be done, and so much more could have been done, that the prospects are daunting.

the rights and opportunities of some of the wealthiest countries

But Armenia's 1O-year track record shows that the future can

of the world, wants the same for its compatriots in Armenia. And the Diaspora wants those opportunities and conditions as soon as tomorrow - or better yet, yesterday. When those changes don't happen ovemight, the Diaspora loses patience

be bright. Over this decade, whenever the Armenian leadership

and hope.

was of great help in setting up embassies, securing international

While most don't want a return to communism, the privations of a transition to an imperfect democracy and free market have

recognition, and offering public relations counsel.)

lessened the Armenian people's ardor for the new order, and gen-

can only be solved over time. It decided early on to become inte-

erated nostalgia for the old. In the Diaspora, this lack of ardor has

grated in all international structures, and it is doing so actively.

adopted long-term policies, it succeeded. It learned to play on a

world stage with no lessons, no rehearsal, no line of credit and no big uncle in the wings (unlike Azerbaijan, whose "uncle" Ttrkey

It chose

see the Karabakh conflict as one which has no quick fixes, but

for your product and company. AIM 207 South Brand Boulevard, Suite 203 Glendale, California 91204 USA . 1.888.SEi{D.A|M

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Armenia built its credibility slowly, and effectively.

to be socially involved.

On the other hand, at home, on the domestic front, Armenia's politicians are no different from those in any Armenia's policies have often been for the short-term and other country in that they are a reflection not only of themoften, short-sighted. The inexperience and lack of confidence of

selves, but

the electorate has fed the inexperience and lack of confidence

case, there is cause for pride and cause

of the elected which has, in turn, further alienated the public. Although stellar when compared with 10 years ago, elected officials by and large fall short in terms of honesty, efficiency, politeness, trust, flexibility and openness. The elected leaders

Armenians are no different from any other nation. They will do what they must to survive. They will do the short-term before needed now. Planning for the 10-year-old's future, distributing

have not learned that filling potholes is fundamental and fulfill-

responsibilities to the extended (Diasporan) family, and forging

of their nation and people as well. That being the

thinking and planning the long-term.

for shame.

is the planning that

ing expectations is crucial.

ahead. Armenians have the answers. They must begin to ask the

As a result, although it's been a decade since Armenians replaced a government over them with a government under them, they distrust these powers more vociferously and passionately than they distrusted the imperial authority of the

questions.

Soviet Union. The people have not learned - and the Diaspora which should know better has not demonstrated - that the effi-

Perhaps for the first time in centuries, Armenians are a peo-

ple without

vision. There is despair in the land. Armenians are

in mourning for the passing of messianic delusions and dreams,

and have not had time to look up and see that the reality is equally noble.

ciency of a democracy depends on the readiness of its citizens

$IJB$IRIPIIM$

And the future is theirs.

IfflIllIRY rRilltt|ufit

[[11 [HI|IIHII

lt|[UI]IE

illil

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Phone 818.246.7979

Fax: 818.246.0088

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2OOI

NOTEBOOK

rIWhen we send a project to lndia, we get clean, complete results. When we send a project to Armenia, we not only get clean complete results, but also 10 innovative suggestions.ll -Tony Moroyan, Chairman of Viasphere lnternational, Silicon Valley At the launching of the Viasphere Technopark in Yerevan, July 2001

((lndeed, in a land where everything can be bought, many here are wondering what, exactly, is the price lor peace and freedom? I

Europe. 0n the contrary, were things to go wrong in Ukraine, were Belarus' authoritarian regime to lose

control, 0r were any ol the unresolved conflicts, ranging Margaret Woodbury

on tuerbaijan: Newly lndependent But Mired in Conuption, in World Press Review, August 2001

lrom the Armenian-populated enclave ol NagornoKarabakh to Transdniestr, lo re-ignite and escalale, an

alienated Russia would likely be part ol the problem.

llTry to imagine what lile would

-Robert Legvold

be like had the United

in Foreign Affairs, Fall 2001

States government declared in 1991 that democracy and

capitalism were bankrupt experiments. That, in the space ol three years, the dollar became worthless, lactories and

((That the populations of the Gaucasus and Genlral Asia have not sutlered even worse lrom the etlects ol economic

larms closed, Socia! Security dissolved and most people lost their life savings. lmagine reliving the Great

decline has been due chielly not to any action by the state,

Depression, where physicians grow their own lood to

not indeed to any modern leature at all, but to the power

survive, schoolteachers are paid with cases ol bourbon

and strength ol the extended lamily, particularly when it

lor use as barter and parents become so desperately helpless they entrust two million children to orphanages. As this societal chaos unfolds in your mind, try to imagine America's disintegration

as a dozen states secede lrom

Gomes to supporting old people and children. The way in

which these lamily links work economically is otten

patronizingly dubbed a "survival mechanism" by Western economists, as il it were a temporary response lo

the Union, the nation loses its supelpower slatus and

conlingent circumslances. This is in lact an institution

delaults on loreign debts. And abroad, our European allies

which predates nol merely modernity but Ghristianity or

switch allegiance, turning their backs on us and

lslam, and is supported by a tremendously ancient and deep ethic ol Ioyalty and solidarity.

embracing our Gold War enemy. If you could imagine

-Anatol Lieven

this nightmare then you haue a sense ol what the Russian people have been living through.

!! on eurasianet.org

The Russia lnitiative The Carnegie Corporation of New York

t ( Azerbaiiani parliamentary speaker Muiluz Aleskerov, who was in Ankara [in July] told the Turtish Daily Newsin

European integration may be only post nation-state

an exclusive interview that they are also unhappy with the

solution to the lundamental problem ol contemporary

cooperation between Russia and lran regarding the eflorts

nationalism, which seeks to maintain a unique national

ol armament. When asked about the lsraeli offers, the

identity and at the same time, consolidate

visiting ollicial gave warm messages regarding their luture

democracy in a multiethnic society.

Zsuzsa Csergo and James Goldgeier Foreign Policy, July-August 2001

I(An anchorless, insecure Russia, divorced lrom the West, will not be much help in stabilizing the edges of

cooperation with lsmel. As Armenia, the arch-rival ol Azerbaijan, is an important pail ol the cooperation between Russia, lran and Greece with regards to delense issues, it will be illogical to assume that Baku will stay alone.

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

-Saadet Oruc in Turkish Probe

2OO1

NOTEBOOK

lle-$ouietired $tneets

lndependence has had various effects on the life of Armenia's resi-

today the Prime Minister's Building, at the head of the street, on Republic

dents. Initial efforts to shake offcommunist influences resulted in down-

Square. This street, too, has undergone a name change and is named for assassinated Prime Minister YazgenSargsian (above). The most famous name change of all, and the one that was easiest to swallow, was of the street which runs from the city's entrance, at the Closed Market all the way to the Matenadaran. It used to be called lrnin Boulevard (knini Prospekt, above left) and then, right with independence, became Mashtots Boulevard. No one has trouble remembering

ling

of certain statues and changing street names. Red Army Street

(top) is now Grigor Lusavorich Street. Old, revered communist Stepan Shahumian's statue still stands on this street, just doors down from the French embassy. The Mayor of Yerevan has his office on Lusavorich Street, too. Thxi drivers, who are most confused by the changes to street names, solve their problem by calling this the city hall street. The street just off Hraparak, with 2750 fountains, used to be called Khorhrdaranakan It was named for the Parliament which met in what is

this change.

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

-Photos by Mkhitar Khachatrian 2OO1

t'7

NOTEBOOK

Lt$ltt

flufinil

wor&

Funny and Bneathless 'mon Morq jump!

person show without the loneliness," she adds. The audience likes it and the energy is intense. Ayraziaq 53,livesin NewJerseywith her hw banq arclfted SamAndenoq and son Ivan, norr

tlreater career and cunenily has the

lzw md Order: Spqial Viaims Unrt. ltklw,tdtrnt every orre of Ayvazianb worls indudes hâ&#x201A;Źr bemC ermenlaq in her laryer body of work, there is alwap a stanp sqrprilherc.

her 11-yearold son, with her family watchinglrslie Ayvazian finds henelf on adiving boar{ breathless and unable to jump, 15 feet above a hotel pool in Athens, Greece, where she is vacationingweelsbefore she tums 50. This is the premise of Ayvazian's one-woman shoW I/rg& Dive, which enjoyed an extended run in various cities, including Manhattan, over the last two years. High Dive, written and per-

formed by Leslie Ayvazian, and directed by David Waren, received great reviews in the N ery York Tima,W oll SteE I owtal, Villnge Voice, and other New York mainstays. 'I have ahrap wanted to do a one-person show with a very large cast," says Ayvazian, which is why she is out in the theater lobby 30 pages

marked, casting audiene members for some 35 parts. "I like to investigate different relationship with the audience. I wanted to present both the process and the finished product," she says.

Judge Valdera in televisionb

"Itbpartofwtro I ar&"

kmvn (see

ow eze iz it for u

reed the

The parts Ayvazian casB vary from her son mmt entral to tlre story- to her hu$and, her sister-

in-law, and a Greek man. Ayv"azian gives her new cast memben, wtro are already sitting in the audience, somepointers.

"There isno needto spend amomenttoseate an elaborate psychological p,rofile," she sa1c. "Be

loud and loud Sustain

it If you feel the urge to

improvise, sryp,res it Say only the words that are highlighted on your page, even if you think your

and I

ryerd more tirne talking to them afterthe

slradds "Iwant thewodd to eryedene Annenians as bmyant, good, open-hearted peqlg and not jrst show,"

sentimenal peopb," *le @ndtdes Her next wor! Opoting Sot,1obe presented in January at tlrc long Wharf Theate in New Yortq is a fourclaragerplay in whid a writer, unable to oomerywitha sfiongbeginningforhulatestworlg uses people fr un nu nast

to_ffi

,ffiirrirn

of of

discord between Soviet Armenia and the Diaspora. Purists in the Diaspora refused to

Armmim elativ-

phy would be much easier and more efficient ttran the classical Armenian spelling. The task was

linguist and academician Manuk

AbeghiarL who died this month in 1953, and with whose name these conftovenial linguistic modifrcations are intinsically associated.

forthe last seven plus decades, the Armenian language consists of two different dialects - eastern and westem Armenian, and within Eastem Armenian, there are also two spelling sJ6tems: the classical or Mesrobian sysa result,

and auniformapplication of rules onthe use certain vowels. The result was another layer

Armenia-qpuned onby ttre Soviet authorthought a simplified Armenian orthogra-

AIIvl, lvtarcf-April 197).

the secondary or tertiary uses ofcertain letters,

of this sentms? The leadership of

Ayirazianisbest

tion of certain diphthongs, the elimination of

itia -

handed

she sap.

by her aumrd wtming play, Nne Armmim,s

"ItmeansalottonBwhentlm areArrrenians in the roun They often laugh at different things others dmt catdr I feel at home when I see Armenian

Manilr [teUhian elant

srcoesftl rmrning rcle of

14. Ayvazian continues to eqjoy a higfrly

the enoouragement

minutes before curtain, with script

are better," she insEuc'b.

"Having new cast memben every night makes the show a treat for me, and full of surprises," she sa1n. "It allows me to work in a one-

tem which has evolved over the centuries (and still actively used predominanfly in kan) and what is called either the 'modem' or'state' qnterq which was the result of Abeghian's work. This 'state' spelling, although Soviet inspired, outlasted the Sovietregime and is stillthe system taught in the Republic of Armenia and the CIS. What was billed as an enhancement of the Armenian language consisted of the elimina-

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

read text in the new qpelling. Some still continue to do so. As a result, material produced in the Diaspora is not easily usable in Armenia. And, even worse, publications from Soviet Armenia, or now, the Republic of Armenia, are fficult to utilize inthe Diaspora Most of the great pieces of Armenian literature created duringthe last75 yeanwere written - and read - in the new Armenian. In contrast, that same period witnessed a downward spiral in writing and publishing in the Diaspora,

in classical or Mesrobian Armenian. Still, the debate goes on, long after Abeghian lived and died, as to the feasibility and desirability of reverting to the classical system. The arguments, which raged soon after independence, have since -Asbed Pogharian

mellowed.

NOTEBOOK

Eiue a

littlc

Rank ol Azerbaijan in Transparency lnternational's

raling 0l corruption in 90 countries

Rank ol Nigeria, alomer oil-rich state

60 Percentage ol Azerbaijan's economy that is inlormal 7

Number of Armenian Apostolic churches in Yerevan in 1828

4,000 Armenian population 0l Yerevan in1827 B

Number 0l mosques in Yerevan in 1827 10 Number ol public baths in Yerevan in1827 5

UUffi*5i',+i"#lt1"firuH#ri:lJi"".'"'-",i#l was Bella Kocharian. Armenias First Lady and a physician. Since then, over 1500 have registered. The bone marrow project (see AIM, August-September 1999) which is registered as a non-profit charitable organization in Caifornia, and in Armenia. has come a long way from the years when people were unwilling or even afraid to donate blood and

become registered. By 2004. Frieda Jordan. chairperson of ABMDR. hopes to have a donor base of 10.000. "This number, though it mav seem high. will only help create a ratio of one poten-

According to Armenian law, percentage ol one's income that can be donated to charitable organizalions and Glaimed as a tax-deduction 10 According to Armenian law, percentage rale 0l taxalion 0n annual income 0l up t0 960,000 Drams (about US $1,750)

't3

tial donor to every 200 typed. We've still got a long wav to go." says Jordan. a biochemist who has also set up a satellite recruitment center in Glendale. California. at Glendale Memorial Hospital. Receiving a bone marrow transplant is the last hope for a patient

Number ol loreign resident banks in Armenia

suffering from leukemia or other fatal blood-related diseases. Only 30 percent of all leukemia patients find suitable donors within their own families. leaving the rest to rely on potential donors in the international communitv. Matches are more likely within a similar genetic group. and so Armenians are more likely to hnd matches among other Armenians. But a dispersccl communitl,means such matches are difficult to find. that is whv a network of other

Number of countries with which Armenia has bilateral treaties 0n investment and investment protection (including the US, Germany, Argentina, Lebanon, Canada).

Armenian donors is crucial. The benefits are clear and simple. says Jordan. "The success of this great undertaking depends on the rvillingness of individuals to give a little blood. have that blood typed and resistered. and sit back. Someday, someoue n'ray need their tissue type. The chanccs of helping Armenians survive blood-related diseases depends dircctly on the large number of registered donors."

213 Amount ol Armenia's diamond production that is loreign owned World Press Ret'iew,World Bank, Rediscovering Amenia by Kiesling/Koiian

-Eliza Galfayan

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OOI

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tmy

t * be said that the 1ff&90 expkroions on yerevan f streets, calk for rnore righs and greater participation, II led to thetheimplosion in Moecow in 1991, which in tum led to Arrnenia's independence.

When indeBendq$q$ carne in September 1991, it came as an afterttrorrylt FeryenL loud cries for more local confrol and local iput into Ivlsewb deci$kn-making bad

ahrmt

been sounded for more ean tlro y,earu Butin tlre clamor for greater individual or national rightg no qre realired orwanted tobelieve that local governance would be arhieved only as a result of the

meltdorm of the oenhal govemment hdependenoe did come to Armenia ia, 199,X, qnd'11,,. brought with it unexpected, unatticipated, ,usilfask'ed.,, corsequences. The short-temL visible benefits were,all ida . ological, psychological, emotional. The uncertaiaties, on the other hand, were quite real, substantive and concrete. Ten years into the life of independent Armenia, it i9 &0t *ur.: .lpisiqg that the rsidents of dlarrepublicspeak futt ebouj a[ the things that independence has not bror4gfot. A short decade is not even a category in history. But when mmpard with Armeniat tw+year experience wim modern statehood - two desperate yeare alnrost u oenturJr :

ago

these 10 years do seem

i very long time indeed.

They were two tough years, those years between 1918 and tyW * e*er ,GenCIcide, during a world war, before industrialization. The yean 1991 to 2001 have been difficrlt, as vrell yet, they have also been unforgettable Mmtimportantty, thb huge

amrplisbmentis irre*ersible. The history of modem nation*tates *roc6 that once a nation-state b forme4 rmless it inplodes, it will remain on ,

themap.Thereisnogoingback

',,,

There are no guarantees about poor or rhh, sovereigr

or quasi-sovereigrr, progressive or stagnant,,leader: or.follower - those choices are more or less interaal:o,Fes. But , whateyer social, economic and political direcfians a +otu" ury - chooses, it remains independent and sovereign Sinply rtut d, Irm.nA'is here to *fr mJt*g.y of this first decade will detennine the tone and,,pasE ofltfuq-

Itb

had

to see tbe bgary of these 10 years dearly.

ermeniat

thinkqs have not smeded in finding lra)ts of afoesing thh

rreators @de

oUlexlrUy, nq,egt! ;i-.#rdil;tsb, TheDi.aryqr-a:lidryluxlr Byaddlqrye,itdoe$

not

utud

McDiaryoraru

Se,,hriEiqg u, staWrrurhb m ebhood" live in tlre wuldb

mrnt*x,o**"t6,

rffitdeveloped andd6est

$afgsv.erunlefitmfuremord

frorr evaryday [fe, d,rry{iGe me mrrnot fufuims, bowthffe.&cisqlq arcma&,

see v,tro rcally mal<es

trolvmfreher

troroughly, irryrtially thet're actually ir@emsfid. The medmnisns of gqlp_q&gr.rt, ftre dgqre[Eaoâ&#x201A;Ź are so well hmed and gono*d, th* thetnE* of wtro ie in sively,

sii

rqg

power.Thus,Daryorarehaneno tcreei@fu

in tre making in the WesL Theytake fu grluEd frat tUions mustexist andmusfirngfum@*E tools with which to ases Armeniab eeom at ge

sd instiU*tte

hi@,, ferent thau r-unning the loca! school; churfh,oliiMi. Some Dasporaas

tliok that running asunryi*S,df.i

This, because they live in countier u,hi*, Ottornan slruiem and relegated minority oor

AI\{

.4.UGUST ] SEPTEMBER

2OOI

Gouen Stony

Armenians, to their own intemal governance mechanisms. And the govemments of Armenia are then judged, inappropriately, according to those scales and those sets of (limited) experiences.

Armenia, too, is handicapped. For its citiUnion a monstrous, well-equipped (although poorly

zens, the frame of reference is the Soviet

managed) resotrce-ladeq nuclear power. Thus, comparisons are made between unequal powers and it is no surprise that, in the end,

Armenia consistently comes up short. The complaints are many and familiar: "C.ommunist Party Fint Secretaries muld get roads built, and the President can't. Textboola were free then, they're costly now."

Finally, the absence of solid, dependable, consistent news sour@s in Armenia has meant that each interested penon acquires, processes and interprets information about events and trends individually. There is no public, multifuceted assessrnent, no on-going dialog, no record of penpectives, opinions, trends.

As a result, there is still no history of the first decade of Armenian independence.

f,lo,

are there answers to these questions:

lufi :H"Jff .:f fl r.*"fl *,x"[:T; the world stage?

How stable is Armenia? How succesful has

Armenia been at institutional development? How effective

Armenia's govemment?

How mature is Armenia's civil society? Are Armenia's people and Armenian society adapting and changing?

How critical has the Diaspora been to Armenia's maturation?

How secure

is Amrenia? In 191, the seerls of Armenia's foreigr poliry

principles were laid by

lrvon

Ter Pefiossianwho

Ihe Beginning Lenin (and his $atues) fell (1) atl over the Soviet Union and Soviet Armenia. The Armenian Democralic illouement took on a lile ol its own, and rcgular demonstralions (5) called lor everytting lrom environmental rights to local political Gontrcl. Levon Ter Petrossian (2) was elected the lirst prcsident, and Armenia entered the world stage (4). Tw Petrossian's administration, challenged by the presence ol hundreds ol thousands 0l Kambalfi rclugees and earlhquake survivors, saw the llow ol international aid (3) into Armenia. Besides the economic and political challenges lacing the new slale, there was lhe isue ol church unity. Ihe proces 0l rapprochement began during the reign ol Vasker I, who met olten with Karekin ll ol Cilicia (6) who later became Karekin I ol Ejmiahin.

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

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Gouen $tony

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

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Gouon $tony

believed that Armenia is a worthy player on the world stage, an equal paftrel willing to carry its own weight, aware of iB resour@s and capabilities, and ready to maximallyutilize ib new-found status to develop beneficial allianoes.

In an AIM interview in March lW4,Ter Petrossian said that the availability of bullets and wheat sometimes determined his adminis-

tration's decisions during the early days of independence. The specifics in this example may vary, but the general approach still holds. It is the reality on the ground in Armenia that decides how

Armenia's foreign policy is developed and implemented. And although, in the end, this maybe true of all states, in a small, developing country like Armenia, the distance between the two spheres - domestic and intemational is quite short. That was apparent during the two mct

explosive

perids in Armeniab domestic history

this decade: In 197, popular frustrations meant a weakened Ter Petrossian could not punue peaoe

inKarabakh.In L9D, as aresult assasinations, Armeniab domestic political

and compromise

situation was mmpletely

limbo,

and

Armenia\ serond president, Robert KochariarL too, could notpunue peace and compromise for his native Karabakh.

Throughout the decade, the premise has been to maintain Armenia's security and to work towards Armenia's prosperity. To this end, Armenia has succeeded against great odds, to maintain a peaceful relationship with allis neighbon-except one. Evenwith this one - Azerbaijan, Armenia has managed to keep the violence from escalating. Despite Tirkeyb

Unnesolued Gonllict Throughout Armenia's lirst decade, lhe resolution ol l(arabakh's status has remained top on the counlry's agenda. Gommined to a secure and lasting peace, Ter Pelrossian and his adviserc (7) Kara[akh's P]esident Robeil Kocharian and Foreign Minister Arkady Ghukasian (6) negotiated within the frame. work ol lhe Organization lor Secudty and Gooperation (2) to arrive at a lust peace lor the people ol Karabakh who inslst on thoir rlght to soll-dotermlnatlon (1). The mllltary (4) conlllcl ln Karabakh gav6 way to a coaso. llre, bul only anor produclng hundredr ol lhourands ol rolugoos (3). The 0SGE's Mlnrk Grcup (5) has shuttlod back and lorth lor more than hall a docado, ln search ol peace. Moct recenlly, the presldonlr ol Franco (8), lhe US and Ru$la, too, became actlvoly 0ngaood, dlrectly, and through tholr rcpreronlailuos. Flnally, lhore have leon moro than a dozon moollng! belweon Armonlan Prerldont Kocharlan and Azerballan's Prosld0nt Allyov,

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

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AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

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Gouen $tony

intransigence, Iran's'bad boy'status in the West,

Georgia's continuing instability, and even despite Russia's ongoing meddling in the Caucasus to promote its own interests,

Armenia

has managed to keep the peace.

Armenia's willingness - and even insistence

on being visible in international forums, in

undertaking responsibilities within the international communiry in forming regional bodies in which it will by definition be prevented from exclusion - all serve to secure its place on the world stage. The more Armenia is seen as a player with international interests and commitments, the less likely it is to be abandoned to Russia's sphere of influence. Still. Russia\ continuing presence on Armenia's borden, albeit officially on Armenia's invitation, raises a couple of questions. How dependent is Armenia on Rusi4 and how secure, then, is Armenia? As legitimate as these two questions are, linking them is a problem. Of course, Armenia, is dependent on Russia. Tirday, there is no state not dependent on another for some signiflcant need. But such dependence does not encroach on sovereignty. Does Japan's almost total enerry dependence mean it is not a sovereign state? Such reliance would limit Armenia's sovereignty if Armenia allowed it to do so, or if Russia tried to leverage that dependence. Since the beginning of Armenia's independence, Armenia has not allowed such leveraging. It has, to the discomfort of many, managed to find wap to balance its relations with all the major playen, and thus kept its (sovereign) head above water. Howstable is Armenia and howmature is its civil society? Armenia's intemal stability depends on two major factors: the economy and the public's undentanding of its role in a democracy. Even the pace of economic development is

$tateh00d Armenia has established the basic institulions ol statehoorl: a court system (1) that is searching lor objectivity in the midst 0f low pay and low morale and a large and well-trained (2) army,. Various lriendly heads ol state (includng Central Asia's Akayev) have visited Armenia, and participated in the ritual placing ol a wreath (7) at the Martyrs Memorial Monument. Armenia is represenled in vailous international arenas, including the olympic Games (8). Most recently, Armenia and Azerbaiian together joined the Gouncil ol Europe (9). All this despite threab to Armenia's statehood: the multiple assassinalions in 0ctobs 1999 shook lhe country (5) but the state held together. tumenia's lint president took the oath in 1992 (6), the second presidenl swore in 1998 (4). Even ihe celebration ol 1700 years ol ollicial Ghristianity in Armenia became a state function (3).

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

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Gouen

Story

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

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Gouen $tony

affected by the people's understanding of its role in that process. In both cases, it can be said that this domestic process - the maturation of a civil society - has been unfortunately slow. And one of the enigmas of Armenia's political evolution in this decade is the disappearancâ&#x201A;Ź of the political sophistication and maturation that was in evidence during the heady days of the democratic movement which preceded independence. What happened to the patience with which the public followed the most nuanced political developments? Where did the understanding of individual and civic responsibility go? Why didnt the movement's successes breed the confidence necessary to continue? When did the complex but understandable speeches of the leaden turn into empty rhetoric? This is one of tlre thomiest isues of ttre last decade: ttrat *re political leadership has been unable or unwilling to ontinue in ib role of teacher, and to educate the public in the ways of politics.

1i:

Unlike inthe movementyears when theywere on the steets ofYerevan and Stepanake4 after election, Armeniab leaden have not taken the time necesary to speak to the publig to explain developmenb, options and ramifications, to provide the illusion (if not the oppornrnity) for inclusion and participation.

On the other hand, there is of course the reality of 'offie.' The demands (and limitations) on an officeholder are quite ffierent from the flexibility and leeway available to a populist leader. Inthe Wesg it isthe mediathat stepin to offer civic education In Armenia the media have failed Due to a oombined lack of resources, skills and will, the media have not mntibuted to the development of Armeniab civil society.

0n the tllonld 8ta0e Foreign Mlnlster Ralll Hovannisian (1) saw Armenia's ontry into lhe Ull in 1992. The UN is only ono ol sovoral dozen lntomalional organlzatlons to which Armenia belongs. Blannual 0SGE summlh aro attendod by Armenian plssld0nts (6), occaslonal specia! galhorln0s such as the Gonventiona! Forces in Europe (7) conlerence is evidence ol Armenia's growing inlegration into Westem struclures, while maintaining active participalion in the GIS (5). Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan 0skanian recenlly signed Armenia's entry into lhe Council ol Europe (3). Armenia's bilateral rela. tions with neighboring countries began with Ter Petrossian's early days (meeting with lranian (4) ollicials) and continues with Kocharian's administration (meeting with Lebanese (8) Pilme Minister.)Armenia, lhe state, conlinues l0 remind other nations aboul the need lor genocide recognition (2).

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

Gouen $tony

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

Gouen Stony

As it rcsLtll ol this lirck ol crlLrcation. thc public has take n the crpcricnces ol l9li8 to 1991. ancl appliccl thcnr in 1991 to 2()()l rvith no sr.rcccss. and a gre at clcitl ol'l]'Lrstralion. ID l()NX.1lt.'rrltrrle c()Llnlr'\ 11;1. i11 lryrI)rrsi tion to a So\,ict rcgilnc u hich rr'us not lncctil)g thcir nccr-ls. -fhc lcadcrship lncl thc pcoplc. togcthcr. joincd lirrccs 1o clurngc clcntcnts o1'a hugc svstcnr.'l hcr clicl this usinrl thc onlv tools at their clisposal - thcir nuntbcrs ancl thcir

lr'ords. Thc puhlic clcmonstrattons

ancl

protcsls macle a diftcrcnce. Aftcl indepenclcncc. those santc mcchanisms quit uorkinq. Largc nuntbers o1'pcople outside. callins tbr chiinge. isnl eftectir,e in a democract,. unless thcrc are perltlc on the insidc u,ith plans for hori to bring about such change. Anncnians among them such leaclcrs as Vazgcn Nlanukian stavecl on thc slrecl. ancl clicln't comc insidc 1o ckr thc rrork. Tltosc u. ho clicl ntot c into the hlrlls ol l'rou cr becamc the ollicials u,ho gorern tltc land. For beltcr or lilr rvorsc. Ancl thc scconcl rlis-application ol thc lcssons ol l9Eli. is thc attcnrpt to chargc thosc inclividuuls riith lailurc cach tirne thcir policics tkrn't u ork. 'l hc ltcrsonalizirtion ol'

idcits. porrcr

lnrl r ision sorkcrl irr

lglili.

bccausc thc pcoplc ncedccl lcatlcrs. Robcrt

Kocharian. [-cvon

[)ctnrssian. Vrzgcn

* ?.,'.1'.

Manukian. \'uzgcn Sargsian. uncl thc rcst ol the

Iop clozcn nalncs popped up nrorc than

clecaclc ago. on thc samc tcant. Ovcr-a lorrg ancl

turbulcnt clccaclc. thcv havc nalurallr diviclccl

into various

carnps. Houevcr. thcir natural politicat clillcrcnces havc bcen erprcsscd and pcrccived neithcr naturallv nor politicallri The

6i-t -,..,'i

ir,illi,i?1iii:f:1i;liii

i r

-."

to be (and olten actuallv are) contcntious and hostile. The pcrccption of resultant instabilitv is as dangerous as the aclual instabilitr,that tirlltxvccl sevcral riolcnt acts this

clisagrccments scem

clccaclc.

Thc arqurncnts ri hich can - ancl rnust

take place in public can clo so. but the p<rplc mLrst not havc reason to lcar that thc clisagrccmcnts uill bc scttlccl iiolcnllr: Onc ntust hur,,e the confitlencc to go to slecp at niqht lirlkru,ing l putrlic dctratc. ri'ithout *ot-tling thut in thc

state Building Engaging lhe economic and p0lilical power ol the Diaspora has been unevenly atlempted and accomplished. Still, Kirk Kerkorian's (6) commilment, the success ol the first Armenia Diaspora Conlerence (5) were signs 0, hope and potential. As Armenians live their newly independent lives, they c0nlinue with the old ways cleaning Opera Square (1)in the early morning hours, as well as learning new tradilions: a lree and lair vole monitored by European (3) 0bservers, packaging and distributing Armenia's (2 lruils and vegetables. And, lor those with n0 hope, asking for a hand out (4).

AIM AUGUST SEPTEit{l}llR

l(}01

._,

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

Gouen $tony

moming the victor will have tanks on the street. honically, in cases where such ffierences have been resolved behind closed doors, through political machinations and deal making, the victor has been blamed for manipulating the situation, rather than applauded for doingwhat politicians do -amass a power base through some sort of give and take. Thus, the accepted means of acquiring power - such as Kocharian used following the asassinations of ID,orYugen Sarpian rsed prior to the elections of 1998 - are criticized publicly as unacceptable, thus making it sound as if (the tuly unacceptable) violent solutions are indeed options. Even the hint of such instability does nothing to further involvement in the political proces, or invesment in the economic proces. There is still another ffierence that might explain the changes in political mindset from the fint days of independence. Revolutions have traditionally been mounted by the comfortable elements of society. The hungry man does not take to the sfreets to organize his neighbon. The population in 1988 was living the Soviet Union's most cushy years. There was no shortage of food. There were schools (of some kind or other) and jobs for those who wanted them. People could afford to protest. TMay's uncertain, confused and insecure population can't, and doesn't. (Although they have recorded small victories over the years - most recently, convincing Armentel to hold back on price hikes; a few yean ago, preventingmassive changes at the elementary school level - these victories have not received the necesary play in order to be understood and repeated.) Things are easier on the intemational front.

few well-placed, thoughtful, knowledgeable smart individuals (a president, a minister, a few ambassadon) can define the game and the strat-

ery, and play. Armenia has done so several times. From a ceasefire that is holding in Karabakh, to a seat on various important UN committees, Armenia has registered important

international su@esses.

It stood its gound in

Lisbon in 196, even as the intemational community berated it for iB role in the IGrabakh mnflic. It worked hard to revenie ttrat setback and in 1998 and again :ri.199D came away wittr beneflcial OSCE statements regarding the stillunresolved conflict. Finally, in different wals under each of the two presidents, Genocide recogrrition has been unflinchingly pursued. In retrospect, Armenia has come out clean and respectable over this last decade. The disastrous 1999 assassinations, the presidential resignation of 1.998, and even the contentious 1996 elections were handled such that longterm stabilitywas maintained. In the short term (andthis decade is only short term)it appean thatcalamitous consequences have been averted.

The Constitution, and Armenia's

legal

framework, as faulty as they are, have proven themselves solid. Intemational observen point to Armenia's legislation as evidence of the development of demooacy in Armenia. But, the political will and courage to apply the laws equally to all is still missing. That kind of courage at the top will do more to provide political sup,port from the bottom than all the protests on the street. It will do more to sow the seeds of mnfidence in the general populace and

move them toward belief in the future of this democracy, Andin a healthy economy,

Reports on Armenia's economy are inconsistent. Not just because media reports are uneven and unreliable, but also because perceptions and reality are mixed up. As a result, problems - such as a perhaps outdated belief

- are not correctly or completely understood. And successes - such as a simple taxation system for retail outlets do not serve as stimulants and confidence-

in re-industrialization

builders,

Andthe

absence of suchmnfidenceisone

the facors that feedswhat is perhap Armeniab

greatest unaverted disaster: emigration. It is a disaster not because of the unsubstantiated numben that are easily, cheaply and ineqponsibly bandied about. Nor because ofthe ineqponsible use of the label of Genocide placed on

what

is a complex economic and socialphenomenon.

It is obviously tue that Armenians are leaving Armenia- They are doing so for a couple of major reasons. They are either leaving because they have no sour@ of income and are going in search of jobs. Or, more tagically, they are leaving despite the fact that they do have jobs and some money. This lastgroup is leavingbecause it lacks faith in Armeniab (and therefore their own) future. This perception is the aocumulated result of an environment created by not just those in offioe, butespeciallybythose out of office, The combined cries of the opposition, *re media, and even the Diaspora, have created an air of

futility

and hopelessnes that feerls emigration. Some will retum, some won't. Others, too, may leave.

Those decisions will be based on the Armenia that is imagined for the future. Statehood is here to stay. The quality of life in ttntstate istobe decided inthe decades to ome. r

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF TIGRAN CHUKHADJIAN'S ARSHAK II.THE WORK IS TOLD ON A HEROIC I.ANDSCAPE FEATURING THE SAN FRANCISCO OPERA ORCHESTHA

AND CHORUS, CONDUCTED BY LORIS TJEKNAVORIAN.*

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Ten years. Ten Armenians. Ten questions. A RANDOM SURVEY BY AIM'S YEREVAI{ STAFF MEASURES THE PULSE OF INDEPEilDEI{CE Name: Gnel Ghlechian Age:24

Al'ISWER

(l0l

cource I do. I was a student during the Soviet years and I always sat silent because I knew that il I expressed any dailng opinion they could have done something to my par-

il ;

Occupation:

H, &i

Histofian

0uEsTr0il Do you leel independenP

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

enb. Now I am free and independent. I can say whateuer I want to say.

Name: Hrantuhi Harutiunian Age:50

Gouen $tony

AilSWER

ANSWER

0ccupation: AGGountant

((The social security ol people, provided by the government. lt is tenibly dillicult to

OUESTION

Did independence change you personally; your atti-

see that a talented child doesn't get a proper education because ol the lack ol money, or that a scientist has been depriYed ol electricity because he couldn't pay the money lor it because he, himself, didn't get a salary lor months.ll

tudes toward the outside world? A}ISWER

lI My lamily took advantage ol independence a lot. My son is a singet and he has lound success in Europe. lf he lived during the Soviet era he would not have the possi' bility to study at the conservatory in Ftance. He also would not be allowed to go outside the USSR borders. Today we ate the ones to decide what to do, where to go and even what to weal and eat.

Name:

Henrik Solahakian

Age: 52 0ccupation:

Architect

Name:

Rima Yeritsian

Age: 63

0ccupation: Chel (15

years) at the Galeteria ol

rrT0 tell the truth, it happened so last we didn't have time to realize what we urere doing. tt was all based on emotions rathet than common sense. I guess we did not realize what we wanted to gain and how ter' ribly diflicult this is going t0 be.

the ilationalAssembly 0uEsTl0t{

Name:Zohrab Melikian

Whatwere you doing 10 years ago, professionally,

Age: 61

and noW?

Occupation: Professor, Yerevan State

ATISWER

(a l led Gommunish 10 years ago. Now I leed representatives ol diflerent parties, including Communists.

Name:

University ol Architecture and Gonstruction 0uEsil0il

0uEsTl0i{

What would you like to keep from the Soviet era?

Armenia?

What would you do to improve living conditions in

Gevort Karakhanian

Age: 39

0ccupation:

Scriptwriter

OUESTION

What do you do, daily, that you did not do belore independence? ANSWER

( I I didn't think of earning money lor daily bread at that time. Now these are my very thoughts. This is my main occupation today. r, Name: Samuel Chatinian Age:48 0ccupation: Dilver and mechanic

0uEsr!01{ What expectation did you have ol independence? Were they Iulfilled?

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

Gouen $tony

ANSWER

( r I think the primary goal has to be the set-

independence, lile was diflicult, but there was still hope that things would get better.

tlement ol relations with neighboring countries. Unless industry is restored, the situation

Name Vigen Stepanian

in the country can't improve. People should sell their work, and not their propefiy.

Age 62 Occupation Engineer

Name Stella Ghukasova Age; 55 0ccupation. Psycholog ist

What

OUESTION

will Armenia be like 10 years from now?

ANSWEB

r( lf things

continue as they are, nol many

changes will take place. We will have more ice cream, more beer. Some people will come back to Armenia; more will leave. Now is a crucial time. 0ur authorilies still have time to loresee the consequences and significantly change policy. lf they do so, Armenia will be a strong country, which will win the war, make Turkey recognize the Genocide and create conditions lor Armenian emigrants to return. r

OUESTION

Have your attitudes toward the Diaspora changed

since independence? ANSWEB

rrThe Diaspora lives under incomparably better conditions. Their help, in the lorm of clothes and food, humiliated people and caused them t0 live without work, hoping tor some aid. This kind ol help leads people to poverty and degradation. ll the Diaspora really wants to help, it may direct its resources toward industrial development and solve the problem of employment.

Name Karen Harutiunian Age: 32

The Magazine Subscriplion inquiries can be made by phone, fax or email, lnclude your complete address, phone/fax and email information. Letters lo lhe Editor must include writer's name, address and daytime phone number, and should be sent via mail, fax or email. Letters may be edited for space and

clarity. Other people's Mail Have you written or received mail, traditional or otheMise, that is interesting, captivating and relevant to Armenia and its Diaspora? Send it to AlM. All mail will be edited t0 assure anonymity. Special lssues AIM Oestinalions are unique

and informatives quarterly guides to help you navigate your trip t0 Armenia. Our extensive coverage and information on hotels, restaurants, nightlife and tourist destinations will assist in making your trip memorable. (g4.50 plus S&H) Back lssues may be ordered by phone, fax or email. Remember to indicate the month and year of the issue. 0r if a specific article is what you're looking for, AIM will fax/mail you a copy. All back issue orders must be prepaid. (g4.50 plus S&H) Services AlMarkstplacs is the place to go for political, economic, art and cultural publications, orioinal

Medical representative 0l a foreign pharmaceutical company

0ccupation,

0uEsTr0N r I What will you tell your children about the lasl decade ol Communism and the lirst

decade ol lndependence? ANSWER

During Communism lile was easy, but

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lllation

l|lstanl $lstens Yerevan and Montreal Become Sister Cities BY AIM STAFF

ontreal has one of the most active Armenian communities in North America. With three Armenian day schools, six churches, and several dozen organizations, it has maintained a visible presence in the Canadian political scene. As a result of that community's efforts, Montreal,s Mayor pierre

Bourque led an official delegation

of government officials and Canadian business representatives to Armenia in early July upon the invitation of Yerevan Mayor, Robert Nazarian. This was a follo*-op visit to a Yerevan Mayoral visit to Montreal in 1998, Mayor Bourque was accompanied by Noushing Eloyan, Vice President of the Montreal City Executive Committee, and one of

three Montreal city council members of Armenian origin (see

AIM

May 2000). The delegation also included Montreal's International Affairs Director, as well as a representative of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Intemational Tiade of Canada. Representatives of five Montreal companies also joined Mayor Bourque in Yerevan with the aim of establishing long-term business relations with Armenia. On this occasion, both mayors signed a historical agreement pledging mutual cooperation and establishing Montreal and yerevan as siiter cities. Formal discussions were held between the visiting delegation and the Yerevan City Council, including all twelve district repre-

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

lllation

sentatives, to help achieve a better understanding of Yerevan's needs'

While in Armenia, Mayor Bourque met with President Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Andranik Margarian, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and Karekin II, Catholicos of AII Armenians.

During a visit to Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial

and

Museum, Mayor Borque planted a tree in a special area reserved for international dignitaries. The delegation also visited the monasteries at Khor Virap, Geghard, Sevan, the Matenadaran Manuscripts

Library the Botanical Garden, and the French Univer-sity of Armenia, where the mayor promised to build bridges with universities in Montreal. Mayor Borque also addressed a group of Yerevan businessmen, visited the Grand Holding Companies (a Canadian-Armenian joint venture), and attended a Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony between Harry Varjabedian of AECON BFC (one of Canada's largest construction companies) and Valery Medzlumian of Manes Yev Vallex (a leading Armenian mining company) for the development of the Armenian Copper Program and the Tekhut Polymetalic Mine. The business agreement has a potential worth of US$175 million. a representative of SNC-Lavalins, a Canadian Armenian officials over the development held talks engineering firm,

Adom Malkhasian,

.,, ,:*,lr',ii:', ,n.. i,'t;,,'

of water treatment, distribution networks and waste management issues. Mayors Nazarian, Bourque, and Councilwoman Eloyan appeared on a nationally broadcast live talk show discussing the significance of developing economic ties between the two capitols. To date, there are more Canadian-Armenian joint ventures than US-Armenian ones. The Montreal-Yerevan sister city comes as an

addition to that

roster.

"Jr 1i

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

Region

Away lnom the $ounce I

Water Shortage in Southern Georgia TEXT & PHOTOS BY ARMIIIEH JOHAI{}IES

unched back under the weight of trro full buckets of water hung on each end of a rod placed across her shoulders, Karkur walks up the rugged path to her house. ,,I am 64 yean old and this is how I have to go and fetch water every day," she says, already out of breath. Karkur lives in Khospia, a small village in Southern Georgia, seven miles from Akhalkalak. Not far from Khospia, there is a small lake, with murky waters, where one young grl is washing dishes, and pouring the soapy water right back in. Others are washing clothes in the same water.

Like many other villages in the region, there is no indoor plumbing. Women and children carry heavy buckets of water on their shoulders, in their hands, on their heads sometimes they have to walk half a mile or more in order to reach the source of water. In Poka, a village located 100 miles away from Akhalkalak, and ironically on the banks of Parvana River, the situation is not any better. Half a dozen women are gathered around a single spurting fountain, chatting as they wait their tum to fill their buckets with water. "We are the only family in Khulguma, who

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

has tap water, that is because I put in my own plumbing and paid for it out of my savings. Seeing that the authorities were reluctant to provide our homes with water, I proposed to all the inhabitants of Khulguma that we collect money, and install our own plumbing. I even offered to personally buy and bring the pipes to the village, But they refused, mainly because they couldnt afford it. Now, they're all envious of my house, as I have running water and I was able to build a shower in the bathroom, something that is considered a luxury here," remarked Stepan Manukian. r

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AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

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[me

The Thankless Job of the Republic Square Clock Keeper BY

JUIIA HAK0BIAN

I YEREVAN;

PHOTOS BY MKHTTAR KHACHATRTAN

schoolgirl is desperately trying to cross the street. She is running between cars as if it is her last chance to find herself on the opposite side. A man in a shop is becoming nervous while waiting for his change. He yells at the vendor that he has no time to wait. Tivo

welldresed girls squeeze into an overcrowded minibus, although they know well that, in five minutes, another minibus will come, almost empty.

Most Armenians usually are in a hurry. Not because they have many things to do. They are in a hurry because ttrey are late. They are late for

work, school, lunch, meetings and dates. They are not late on purpose, because they don't like to be late, and they do their best to be on time.

But in most cases, they fail. It is the way of Iife in a place where time has its own meaning punctuality is not a national characteristic of

Armenians.

Armenians are used to it. They are used to being late and used to waiting when others are late. To be late by 10 or 15 minutes is considered normal. Perhaps some of those who are always late don't have a watch. And if they do, they probably never look at them. GeghamMkrrchian is not a tpical Armenian in this sense. He is never late forwork. When he arrives at his offioe, people around him know

itis9AM. He looks fike a watchmaker in his old fash-

ioned gown, an antique watch on his wrist, instruments in his jacket pockets and glasses that cannot hide his attentive look. Mkrtchian has a very direct connection to time. He is the keeper of the clock that keepa Armenians informed of time, even if they choose to ignore

it.

Mkrtchian's

job is to maintain one of

Armenia's most popular landmarks the giant clock in Yerevanb Republic Square. "Maybe people in Armenia are regularly late because there aren't many clocks in our

city," Mkrtchian says. But if citizens and guests of Yerevan are unaware of time, it is not Mkrtchian's fault. In Republic Square, it is difficult to igrore time. The clock, which is on a tower high above

the Ministers'Building, can be seen from all points. And even if someone does not look at 50

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

Gonnectlons

it, the bells striking every 15 minutes will undoubtedly catch their attention. Mkrtchian has been in charge of this clock since 1980, and has collected various documents

related to this landmark. "The tower clock appeued in Yerevan at the beginning of 1940," Mkrtchian sa1n. "At the time, Armenians kept time by factories' whistles hooting for lunch,

)

dinner and the end of workday." It was a time when the churches had been destroyed by the order of the Bolsheviks, and the bellswere tluown away. The clock was made by Mangushevski, a Moscow engineer, who found five bells of different sizes from a pile of scrap metal and delivered them to Armenia. In 1944, Armenian engineer, Artsrun Yawoian, restored the bells and made the clock, and ever since, the tower clock has decorated the Ministen'Building' The tower entrance is off of the fifth floor

of this structure which today

houses the

Prime Minister and several cabinet members, Inside, in Mkrtchian's office, there is an

abundance of devices, spare parts of clock mechanisms, old clocks from different periods, and a faded photo of Mangushevski on

the office wall. On a panel, a digital clock looks out of place. "Our tower clock is old," Mkrtchian says. "That is why I have to check time, several times a day, according to an exact watch."

The tower clock runs on 56 generators, which direct electronic impulses to produce the striking of the bells. Mkrtchian, unlike everyone else in Yerevan, looks at the clock from the reverse side. Ironically, the man who is charged with keeping Armeniab time, sees time backwards. Maybe that says something. Although the bells play the fint bar of the national anthem, the hymn is not so easi' ly recognized because the bells are old. Sometimes people complain that the clock strikes time incorrectly. Such complaints make Mkrtchian defensive about his old mechanical friend. "The clock performs the anthem first," he says. "One should not count that. Only after that, does the clock strike time. One beat is equal to one hour." The largest bell makes the "la" note. Tlvo years ago, one of the bells was exchanged with the bell of the Zoravar Astvatsatsin Church. The bell, which made the "re" note, was replaced by one that makes the "fa"

note, in order to make the anthem sound more accurate. When construction of the square began in 1926, Alexander Tamanian, the architect who designed the city of Yerevan, planned several clocks for each side of the Ministers'

'i;

:ir lill 'ffi

+ W

i Building. But the project was not completed because clocks were considered a luxury.

To this day, the tower clock remains the only clock on the square and is captured in tour guides and television commercials. It has become an integral part of Yerevan and Republic Square, even if the anthem does sound a bit off key, and time is

ignored. r

Photos: Gegham Mkilchlan Is the maslsr tlmekeeper in Y0r6van's Republlc Squate.

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

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Destinations

ffiBB$I In what has become an A M trad tion, the best things to do, see and experience in and around Yerevan are presented by LAURA G0N0NIAN of the Armenian Iree Proiect

tflstns City View Victory Park and the Mayr Hayastan statue (left)

Views ol Mt. Ararat St Sarkis Church or from the

I\4ayr Hayastan statue

and see the whole city tool

f;rrsmnn*es Church for liturgy in the city St. Katoghike

Liturgy outside ol the cily d.j

?#.:r

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tll AIM AUCUST SEPTEMBER

2I)01

Gayane in Ejmiatsin (below)

- f

llostlnaflons

Evening Servlces

0utdoor Activity

Bookstore

Ejmiatsin Cathedral (opposite page, bottom right),

Horsebackriding at the Airudzi Riding Club in Ashtarak

Artbridge Books and Cafd on Abovian St.

Place to See a Wedding Any Saturday afternoon at St. Sarkis in Yerevan.

Fanciest Hotel Hotel Yerevan (below) on Abovian St.

Hmes to SE ard Be $ffir Place on a Hot Day ll you're on a budget, Yerevan's Metro is cool, clean

Day Trip Toward the newly renovated jewel of a monastery:

and a good place to people watch. lf you have money to spare, the new Aqua Park (below) has food

Noravank (below)

- Komitas Pantheon 2nd stop - Khor Virab 3rd stop - a market for bread, 1st stop

5th stop -

4th stop

services, pools and private rooms cheese, tomatoes etc

lunch along the way Paruir Sevak's Home Museum

6th stop

-Areni Winery

7th Stop

Noravank; it's a great dayl

Wlnery Areni and Kimley in Areni.

Museum 3rd Year running

PIace to Hide

still like the Parajanov

Museum (below)- but try to get to the Martiros Sarian as well; you wont be sony

There are people everyrvhere, but you may have

some luck hiding at Haghbat Monastery (below)

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

Ilestinations

Film Processing

Gandy Shop

Lunch on the Run

Photo 0pera (across from the 0pera House at the

Grand Candy (below) near the Matenadaran

Khachaburi (Georgian cheese beoreg) & Jengelov Hats

base of Bagramian St.)

(Karabakhi bread with herbs) at Dona on Mashtots St.

Accessory

Produce Market

Cell Phone

rent them for $100 per week (local

Main closed market (below) on Mashtots Blvd.

only and incoming international calls)from Menua

French Fries

Travel and Levon Travel

At the French-Lebanese restaurant Monte Cristo, of

FOd

course. Ask for them well done - yummy!

Ad IIFftil(

Take-0ut Meal Restaurant lor Tourists

Sandwiches from Mr. Pig on Abovian St.

Old Yerevan on Toumanian St, - Armenian food, singing, poetry and dancing kitschy lun, lun, fun!

Beer

Shawarma

our favorite is Erebouni

Kotayk and Kilikia are still very good, but this yeal Yerevan Shawarma on Abovian St.

Water lced Tea

Haik (without gas) in small plastic bottles is easy to

Meeting Point (below) the cafe atArmenia Hotel

carry around

Place lor Friday night music Wheel Club Restaurant on Papertsi St. near 0pera. They deliver, too.

Place lor exotic lood Armenia Hotel's Don Pepe restaurant has amazing lndian and Thai chels!

Place to Work lt all Ofl Tea Shop in the Gity

Bakery

Nutra Gold on Abovian St

Le Petit Paris on Amirian St.

The gym at the Yerevan Hotel where they also have

great baguettes and

daily rates!

pain au chocolat

Tea Shop outside the City Tea House on the Road to Sevan

Armenian Gotlee Marco Polo Cafe on Abovian St. cooks it in sand!

Pirza California Piza on Abovian St. They deliver!

Steak

Fountain

Steak au Poivre at Monte Cristo on Vazgen Sargsian

Republic Square is the obvious choice

Best Fish Ashtaraki Dsor Restaurant (below) just 20 minutes outside Yerevan in Ashtarak. You catch the fish, they wrap it in lavash and bake it

Phccs m

- to die for!

Meal Dolmama on Pushkin near Abovian. Dolma is a must, but we like the arugula, mushroom, tomato and walnut salad, too. Nothing is cheap, everything is delicious!

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

Ile$tinations

Drive South to Yeghegnadzor, then on to Meghri (above). Breathtaking!

Jewelry Shop

$hopping

Art in Gold on Toumanian St.

ATM Lobby of Armenia Hotel

Place to buy ground collee

Most 0vedooked

Le Cafe de Paris on Abovian St.

Place to Ghange Money

Pantheon Cemetery in Komitas Park. Stop there on your way to Khor Virab and pay homage to Komitas,

Tigran Mets Street (between the post otfice and the

William Saroyan, and now, Hovannes Badalian, too

ministry building off Republic Square)

Glothing Shop Younger tastes will like Pappagallo on Abovian St.

Place to Feel Like a Local Hrudanbuaar (below) at the Sports Stadium

Children's Shop

For more mature tastes, Maxfield (there are several

Petit bateau on Abovian St.

on Abovian St.)

Leather goods Manul, on Mashtots St. near Amirian. Locally designed belts, purses, ol ltalian leather: unbeliarably cool

Eyeglass Shop Hye Optik on Abovian St. (another on Sayat Nova)

Toy Shop Meshok Babig

Place to Get Really Good Gifts Sharan Craft Center (9 Aigestan No. 4) next to the Armenia Tree Project local office!

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

Destinations

l0I[ilS

thfi

-l

ilT$s--

h l0nius llI[b LcauclmUffill

Uernissage

(Saturdays and Sundays only

10 to 6) Hand made crafts, great souvenirs and presents (top, right)

Swiss Army Knile

Metro Ride

Sunscreen

- You'll be pleasantly surprised

Cash

- Especially kids and taxi you never know what they'll say!

Talking with Locals

credit cards are only accepted at a few establishments

4 Gomlortahle Shoes

- go 0n a Sunday {or Liturgy and you may catch the Catholicos in the processional entry to the Sanctuary

Ejmialsin

You'll be happy you brought them

5 Hat

Amenia Tree Project Nurseries

better to look silly than get a sunburn

Pocket Flasftlight

40,000 seedlings growing (third from top, right)with Ararat looming in the background

lmmodium/Peplo Bismol you'll thank us more!

Personal Medication

Poster Tube

- but there are many more: National We like the Parajanov, and

Main Mafiet on Mashtob-The display of fruits is lovely - take your camera and wallet- its the mostexpensive market in town, butworth it.

Stroll-

Locals don't walk, they stroll

ill

it with socks on your way into

Art Gallery (center, bottom) Museums of Ejmiatsin (below) Children's Museum, Modern Art Museum...

Evening

Zip-Loc Bags

Madiros Sarian

- you never know

Armenia to save r00m, and with art on the way out

There are tons around so just order a caf6 glacd (coffee with ice cream) and enjoyl

Museum Uisit

Unbelievably

beautiful churches in an amazing setting

Sitting in a Gal6 in the Euening

- you'll thank us

green oasis iust outside Yereran

Noravank

even i{ you don't lay out at Sevan,

remember, Armenias closer to the sun

(second from top, righl)

drivers

- always be prepared 2

along the Green Belt on Khanjian and lsahakian streets or on Abovian Street, and at Victory Park,

AIM AUGUST ISEPTEMBER

2OO1

- freezer size is best

Destinations

10 Best lhings ahout Anmenia 1

The Mountain (top riqht) never ceases to be beautiful that is, when it's not htdin0l 2

Ejmiatsin 3

Weather 4

Fruits and Vegetables (tomatoes peaches apples etc.) lt's true what our grandparents said about them belng better herel 5 Monasteries (like Datev) in the most unbelievabie places (center right) 6

$4 haircut with a $2 blow dry! 7

Everyone sort of looks like you 8

Hearing Armenian spoken everywhere

Lavash (bottom right) 10

Falling asleep to lhe sweet lullaby of your neighbor's backgammon dice hittinq the board.

Top

l0Itnus

Itihvd at in Anmfa 1

Great restaurants 2

17 gas stalions between Yerevan

and Ejmiatsin (opposite page center right) 3

.".." ,.

Local driving rules (or lack lhereof)

n..,1.

Fancy shops

,/ . ,, ''q

.Z?,

/*,,-*

'_ {r'

rJfi.* * Fq\lat-.^#*,*

Policemen 6

The National Chamber 0rchestra 7

Lots ol chi-chi cars

I Fashion (especially platform shoes)

I Ping-pong and pool tahles in city parks! 10

Enormous llower arrangements lor very little money

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Italy's [a $cala Wins 0uen Yeneuan ll

n July 23, more than 7.500 concert-goers

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and Choir in Yerevan. Sitting in over 9Gdegree temperatures, President Robert Kocharian and dozens of top officials, artists, musicians

and many tourists listened as world-famous conductor Riccardo Muti led an hour-and-ahalf long program. The event was held under

the auspices of the Italian and Armenian presidents, Catholicos Karekin II, as well as the Presidency the Italian Senate,

of Ministers,

the

Italian ministries of Foreign Affairs

and

Parliament and Council Cultural Heritage.

The program was dedicated to Verdi (UNESCO is commemorating the 100th anniversary of his death this year) and featured several spiritual and religious pieces in keeping with Armenia's 1700th celebrations. Soprano Barbara Frittoli and bass Fem.rccio Furlanetto performed from Verdi's Nabucco and Dalla forza del destino. In addition, Haroutiun Topikian's Yerevan Chamber Choir, which had performed in the Ravenna Festival in Ravenna several years ago, sang with La Scala's choir. Minas Lourian, executive director of the

Venice, Italy-based Armenian Cultural Studies and Documentation Center and OEMME Edizioni Publications, had worked closely with the Ravenna Festival for years. Cristina Mazzavillani Muti, wife of maesfro Muti and president of the Ravenna Festival, saw through the concert project despite reservations about the complexity of the logistics. And, so, "A Bridge of Brotherhood Through Art and Culture," a joint project of La Scala and RAI Italian Radio Television (and sponsored by

Pirelli, the intemational tire corporation) came to include Road to Friendship, Ravenna-

Yerevan-Istanbul. When this project first began with a program in Sarajevo n lgW, Lourian had suggested that Armenia be added to the itinerary. However, the final, official Yes came just 10 months prior to the July concert. "Armenian officials welcomed the idea and participated in every way possible," says Lourian, who accompanied the large Italian team of musicians, technicians, television personnel and journalists to Yerevan. RAI television captured both concerts in a twohour documentary for Italian television shownjust a week after the concert. The doc-

umentary included not just selections from the concerts, but also rarely-seen aerial shots of Armenia's special destinations. AII expenses related to theproductionwere bome by the Italian side. The Armenian side was responsible for the renovation of the stage at the Demirchian Sports-Concert Complex Hamalir which, as a result, was ouffittedwith beautiful red drapery. Armenia succeeded in providing all the

for the concert's

broadcast journalists.

This large 1700th related

performance

seemed to go without a hitch. Even the special

invitationonly sitdown dinner reception which followed in the Ashtaraki Dsor restaurant just outside Yerevan, appeared flawles andmnclud-

success,

ed with all guests, including the Armenian presi.

Lourian. This concert in Yerevan was not

dent and the Italian maestro dancing Armenian dances. Earlier, Muti had received the Mesrop Mashtots award from the president.

necessary assistance says

to ensure the inclusion of Armenian music in the repertoires of Italian music companies. The concâ&#x201A;Źrt was the subject of reports by all of Italy's print and continuously

Ravenna's

Italy's flrst exposure to

Armenian music, since Lourian had worked AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

M UEREUI

4,Eut

50 mEIER 10I I4E,Eut 5Q rrl

Located in the center of Yerevan between Deghatun

(former Engels) and Khorenatsi (former Marx) streets Never-completed building, proiected for a Youth Center. IsUz Ltd. bought the prop erty and summoned experts from the

Hotel Le Meridien chain (France & UK) to propose a design for a hotel, which IsUz Ltd. intended to build. The purchaser of the lot

will also receive the Hotel Le Meridien study-analysis. For information contact

ISUZ

[td.

Garegin Njdeh Avenue 115,377515 Gyumri, Armenia

Fax +37 4-41139993

. Email isuz@shirak.am

Ints

Yeneflian's flnUel $oans Community of Angels is a public art project for the County of Los Angeles, organized by the Volunteen of America and the

Catholic Big Brothen. Its mission:

raise

much-needed funds in support of programs for the youth ofthe city. Artist Seermn YereEia& owner of the Roslin Gallery in Glendale, C:lifornia, was commissioned by ABC (American Broadcasting C-orporation) Entertainment Center in Century City, through its marketing director, Candace Kentorpian, to submit her contribution to the Community of Angels. Yeretzianb Angel of the Crntury was selected by the public, through an on-line vote, as one oftlrc top 12 angels out of over4fl) angels on dlplay throughoutthe cityby both e.stablished and emerging regional artists. Each angel is sponsored with funding from corporations, organizations, schools and individuals. The angels, which are made of reinforced fiberglass, are nearly six feet in height. The artists used a variety of materials including paint, glazes, ceramics - anything that wil withstand the weather and the results are displayed throughout the city and sunounding mmmunities. The donors pay anywhere from $1,500 to $50,000 in support of the project. Each artist received a $1,000 honorarium. YereEian,whowas given a total of 12 days to complete and submit her angel, saw this as an

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

Ints

oppornrnity to represent the Armenian community. She also decided to encompass the many

fucesofthelmAngeles

inhersub

mission. Armenian Miniature Art being one of YereEianb areas of specialty, was the style she uti'lized for this project. As a resulg Angel of the

Crnturyb seraphims each represents the face of a partictrlar t os Angeles ethnic group. "I was going to paint an Armenian angel, but since I live in l,m Angeles andwe have lived all overtheworld and given and taken from so many art forms, I wanted to put the faces of different nationalities on each angel," sap Yeretzian. The inspiration for A C.ommunity of Angels came from the hugely popular art project in Ztlr:rch, SwiDerland in 1998, where 800 fiberglass mwswere painted by local artists and scattered throughout the country. It was so successful that some US cities also joined in, New York decided to honor the cow (and Cincinnati the pig) and did similar projects. In Chicago where worldwide media attention was focused on the cows, over $200 million was collected for public projects. The fint angelsappeared onthe lnsAngeles landscape in February 2001 and most were on

display until April. The Catholic Big Brothen and Volunteers of America,who ownthe angels, auctioned most of them at a charity gala in May. The remaining angels, including Yeretzian's Angel of the Crntury, are auctioned and purchased on www.eBay.com, with all proceeds, (from sales and from merchandising) to benefit the organizations and local youth projects.

{lia Galfayan

$ailness Redeclnoil f, grandparent is a community's greatest Il asset, not to mention its strongest link Jl,o rne corec,ve ,no"rst*orrrg o, ,,, past. Zaroohe Najarian is a primO example of

such a link. In a new documentary film by Karina Epperlein, the story of Najarian's life is retold. I Will Not Be Sad in This World chronicles the loss of Najarian's parents and family, her memories of the Tirrkish massacres at the age of 10, and her life, now, as a 96-year-old survivor, living in the suburbs of Fresno, California. In the course of the years since the Genocide, Najarian ma:ried, divorced, re-married and became a widow. For 40 years,

she worked in the garment factories of New Jersey and was one of the first to join a union. Epperlein unfolds the pages of her life in the

span of four years with the help of her minidigitl video camera. I Will Not Be Sad in this World is a 56minute documentary presented as an Armenian folk tale. "A long, long time ago, there was and there was not a young girl named Zaroohe... It was World War I and the world did not pay attention to the Armenians...

They were ceaselessly being driven barefoot

into the desert. They died all the deaths on earth... A million and a half killed," reads Epperlein, the unseen narrator. Throughout,

Najarian carries on with her everyday life and speaks in a raspy voice and broken English. Epperlein,53,

a resident of Berkeley, Califomia was bom and raised in pct-war Germany. She came to the US in 1981 and has been a director, producer and independent filmmaker for the last 26 years.

"Since my childhood, I've been haunted by my country's past," says Epperlein. "I see this film as poetry and art, but also as an educational tool to raise people's awareness. I have always believed that commemorating the past is very important for the healing process," she adds.

For this f,lmmaker, the words Genocide and Holocaust are a part of her vocabulary, just as memory and remembrance, both collective and individual are continual themes. A perfect example of this is her one-woman show, Deutschland (1988-93) in which she deals with the aftermath of the Holocaust. Najarian and Epperlein met through Najarian's son Peter, a writer, and one of the

fint who tried to re-tell his memory of his mother's experiences in such books as AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

Voyages, Daughters of Memory, arrd The G r eat Ame rican Lo neline s s. Epperlein recalls how she immediately fell in love with the Najarian story and spent the next four years with Zaroohe in order to capture the essence of her experiences. "I spent a lot of time with her just doing everyday things Iike shopping, cooking dolma and pulling weeds out of her garden," says Epperlein "The unusual thing about my mother is that she is so ordinary," says Peter Najarian. The title I Will Not Be Sad in This World, taken from a Sayat Nova song, qpeaks clearly of Najarian's incessant belief in all things good and how she lives every day of her life

without

remorse and free of despair. It is currently being previewed in various

It will be shown at the fourth Annual AFFMA (Arpa Foundation for Film, Music and Art) International Film locations.

Festival at Raleigh Studios, in Los Angeles on

September

2l-23, the Hot

Springs

Fitn Festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas in October 2001 and the San

Documentary

Francisco Film Festival later this year. -Eliza Galfayan

l{ajailan, top right, subiecl ol the video I Will Not be Sad in This World, and Seeroon Yeretzian, left, working on her Ange! Photos: Zaroohe

of the Gentury.

[rt$

Ansfiafi

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tradition of Verdi, of whom, Chukhadjian was a contemporary and great admirer," says

[,offi Mansouri, General Director of the

San

Francisco Opera.

Due to political tensions in Ttrkey, the

original opera was not produced in Chukhadjian's lifetime, but instead was revived in 1945 in Armenia as a new opera reflecting the political viewpoint of the day. The revised version was popular in Armenia in the post-war period and remains an important part of the repertoire of the Annenian

State Opera and the Moscow Bolshoi Theaters.

The cast includes baritones Christopher Robertson and Anooshah Golesorkhi sharing the title role of King Anhak. Soprano Hasmik Papian makes her Company debut as Olympia, while mezzo-sopranos Nora Gubisch and Mzia Nioradze share the role of Parantsem. Tenor Gordon Gietz is Valinace,

joining Tigran Martirossian and Haik Martirossian who share the role of Nerses.

Arshak 11 directed by Francesca Zambello, with elaborate costumes by Anitam Yavich and original sets by John Coyne. Anhak's Gala Opening night is on September 8, 2001 at the San Francisco War Memorial OperaHouse, with six performances scheduled through September30. As with most opera performances, the production ofArshak [I required the support

an Francisco Opera presents the world remiere of the complete original version of Tigran Chukhadjian's Arshak II (www.sfopera.com.) The opera will be per-

formed for the first time in the composer's original version, sung in Armenian, with English super-titles and conducted by the former artistic director of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, l,oris Tjeknavorian. Composed in 1858 in Constantinople to an Italian libretto by Armenian poet Tovmas R.

philanthropists and individuals. The

Terzian, Arshnk 11 tells the tale of Armenia's fourth-century king. True to opera form, it is filled with court

Armenian-American community raised US$1 million - the production is estimated to

intrigues, betrayals, tragedy and reconciliation. The opera is loosely based on historical events surrounding the violent struggle waged by King Arshak for national unification, a period of bitter internal revolts, as well as hostilities with Persia and Byzantium. "This opera is full of spectacle, pageantry and political intrigue in the grand operatic

This opera is finally being staged after a tumultuous process, which included arguments over the version and language of the opera to be staged, as well as cast and performers. In the end, however, not only is the opera being staged by a prominent opera company, but it will also become part of

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

cost over US$4 million.

opera repertoires around the

world. !

Ints

lntenscotions and lcons Ithough all of the artists in Los Angeles Intersections come from the Armenian Diaspora, they speak many visual lan-

guages. Indeed, most of these artists are multiple creinventive polyglots, fluent in ni ative modes. Their work weaves together the skeins of several artistic traditions." Caroline speaking about the Lais Tufenkian 'Intenections' exhibition at Califomia State

scnlpture, Seta Manoukian's frxion of Arab and

Hindu texts, Eileen Shahbazian's blending of bronze casting with personal thought, and Mahara Sinclaire's interpretation of trwis Carroll\ Al;rce in Wonderland. "It is tuly a privilege to be part of such a stong exhibition of Lm Angeles artisa of

Armenian descent," saln Sinclaire. It is also an unusual grouping in an important site. Nearly minciding with the closing of

and Modern Icons is evidence of the mntinuing veracity of that statement. From September 15 through October 20,

Modem Ioons will showcase five l-os Angeles-

of various backgrounds and influE;nltrKazaz and Saak Pogossian from

based artists

ences

Armenia, Vachag Ter-Sarkissian from kan and Vahe Berberian and Seroon Yere0ian from Iebanon, at the Glendale Brand Library and

runs through

the Intersections exhibition, across town,

Gallery (www.library.ciglendale.ca.us). The exhi-

September 22 and combines the work of seven female artists presenting issues of culture and divergence through painting, drawing and sculpture mediums (www.csun.edu/artgalleries/). C\rated by taisTirfenkian, herself a graduate

Tufenkian will open Modem Icons, an exhibition showcasing flve contemporary artists, "desigred to unite contemporary popular culture with medieval illuminated manuscripts and illustrates the relevance of historicdocuments to contemporary cultwe and Armenian identity." "The history of Armenian painting is the

bition is parfly sponsored by the Brand Ubrary and Art Center, Associates of the Brand Library and Glendale Parks and Recreation Deparrnent As part of the [.m Angeles Open House, an Armenian Family O:ltural Rlucation Day on October 6, will feature a calligraphy booth manuscript illumination demqrtatisu dane and mlsic

University, Northridge.

of CSUN"s Art t*s-tory OepattneA lntersections brings together Tina Bastajian's Jagadakeer ideo,

manuscript illumination,"

Seta lnjeyan"s mix of traditional painting and

history

new technology, Joanne Julian's abstract expres-

Dickran Kouymjian, director of the Armenian Studies Program at California State Univenity,

sionism paintinS, Ani Kupelian"s multi-media

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OO1

says

performane, an arts and craft taHe, storyteling, poety worlshop and khachkarscuhture demon-

station,tocomplementtheexhibition

rAG$ e Friends of the Armenian Culhre Society (FACS) jwt elebrated the 50th annivenary of Armenian Night at the Boston Pops, in June. Keran Chobanian,80,was the physician for the Boston Symphony Orctresfta when the legendary oonductor Arthur Fiedler approached him and asked if he would take over the newly-

bom Armenian Night tradition at the

Pops.

FACS agreed. Sinoe then, Armenian Night has tumed into an institution. So has FACS. This year, FACS win take over Symphony Hall in Boston on November 4 to premiere Rouben Gregorian's arrangement of Komitas's Dvine Linurywith firll orchestr4 chons and solo voie aaompaninrent Condudor I-eon Gregorian will lead the orchestra (which will consist of musicians from the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pop$ and Jeftey Rink will lead the Chorus Pro Musica. Aposfle Hagopos, Archbishop of Jerusalenr, is said to have compiled the first Armenian

Divine Liturgy in the 13th century. But the Divine Liturgy wasnt published until 1513 by the Mekhitarians of Venice, and it included new hymns arranged by Nerses Shnorhali. It by a few

has since been modified and added to

masten, including Komitas. Still, pre-Christian as

well as otherMddle Eastern influences remain. "This is one of the most importantpieces that can be staged," explains Chobanian, who heads the FACS board, "and not just because of the

1700th annivenary

of the acceptance

Chdstianity as Armenia's state religion. We've been working on this for the past 30 years. We had talked about it with Rouben Gregorian (who had mnducted Armenian Night at the Pop for

ftst 27 years) and he was enmuraged to go ahead with working on the Divine Liturgy. Eventually, we got some ftrnding fromwithin our own group and managed to have it copyrighted the

and printed.

"Ioday, we have a grant from the Tavitian Foundationwhich allowed us to enlistthe participation of outstanding musicians -the best available-as well as the bestvenue." Among the outstanding musicians are the soloists - intemational opera stars Kallen Esperian, Stella Grigorian, Gegham Grigorian and Trgran Martirossian. "We expect a firll house," says Chobanian. FACS has been working hard to sell out all of Symphony Hall's nearly 3000 seats. The halfa-century year old organization has several other international premieres to its credit, as well as'a radio program that ran 38 years in the Boston

area.

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elements, birds and plants.

he J. Paul Getty Museum (wwwgetty.edu) high on a hill in Los Angeles, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, will exhibit, for the first time in its entirety, a rare manuscript from the destroyed Armenian monastery

Coinciding with the Getty exhibition is

the publication of The Armenian Gospels of

Gladzor: The Life of Christ Illuminated by Thomas F, Mathews and Alice Taylor, featur-

ing full-color reproductions of all the miniatures displayed in the exhibition and an essay on the manuscript and its illuminations. The Getty Museum has also published Tieasures

of Gladzor. The exhibition, scheduled from September 11 to December 2,2NI, will feature more than 60 pages of the Gladzor Gospels, one of the masterpieces of 14th century Armenian illumination. "At the Getty, we like to exhibit unbound books. These show the public the full dimension of the genre of art. This exhibition will enable the public to walk though the entire book, not just select pages," says Thomas Kren, the Getty Museum's curator of manuscripts. "We are excited that our visitors will be able to experience the book's illumination much as the 14th century monks of Gladzor did," continues Kren. Regarded as one of the great contributions of Armenian art, illuminated manuscripts have influenced Armenian artists

throughout the centuries. The Getty

from the Ark 1700 Yean of Armenian Christian Art and The Bible in the Armenian Tiadition, both by Vrej Nersessian, of the British Library.

has

scheduled a gallery talk with artist and writer, Vahe Berberian on the influence of manuscripts on his work. "I think the project is intriguing because any artist looking for Armenian tradition in painting has to go back to the man-

uscripts," says Berberian. Due to Armenia's strategic location, manuscripts have incorporated artistic traditions found in Westem European, Byzantine and Islamic cultures. At the same time, Armenian manuscripts have often served as the only extant records ofregional events. However, it is illuminations of Biblical stories which make up the bulk of Armenian manuscripts. The Getty exhibition highlights the Armenian view of Christ's life as expressed in the book's miniatures. Begun in 1300, a millenni-

um after the acceptance of Christianity

A series of public programs have been scheduled at the museum, in conjunction with the exhibition. They include lectures Helen C. Evans, Curator of the department of medieval art and the Cloisten for Metropolitan Museum of Art, will speak on Royal Manuscripts of Armenian Cilicia: A Source for the Gladzor Goqpels. Vahe Berberiarl

Armenia's state religion, the Gladzor Gospels have, over the centuries, traveled across Asia. Exclusively on loan from the Charles E. Young Research Library at UCLA, "the Gladzor exhibit will introduce a lesser known form of art to Los Angeles," says Kren. That is the value of this exhibition. The name and reputation of the Getty Museum, which attracts over one million visitors each year, will mean the Gladzor Gospels will be seen by a huge, new audience. Visitors to the museum will not only see illustrations of biblical stories, but also depic-

a Los Angeles artist and writer, will discuss the influence of Armenian Manusoipts on his work.

tions of Armenian rituals. On the Marriage at Cana page, for example, illuminator T'oros of Taron presents the moment after Jesus has tumed water into wine at a wedding feast, where the bridal

couple wear crowns reflecting Armenian wedding tradition. The Gladzor Gospels are rich in hues of blues, greens, purples, golds, reds, and oranges, and feature architectural

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OOI

Vahe Berberian, a Los Angeles artist and writer, will discuss the influence of Armenian Manuscripts on his work, There will be two con@rts, one featuring Gagik Patalian and Sako with the Gami Folk

Ensemble and Winds

Passion Duduk

Quintet, the otherwillpresent saoed hymns and arias of the Armenian renaisance. Duduk mas ter Djivan Gasparian will headline an ensemble of mrsicians and a 2Gmember female ctroir. r

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This Month's Feature

R.MGan

The ttllonld Has to l(now llver an exquisitely orchestrated beat, the voice of a talented young lyrillcist proclai.r. "ih.y say forgive and forget. But we never will. Tt ruy "y that you should never hate. But we forever will." R-mean's 5 track HipHop CD single, dealing with the Armenian Genocide, expresses a healthy anger and disgust at Armenia's recent history. As Armenians have done throughout history R-Mean transplants the story of his people skillfully and stylistically into a genre which, for the most part, has been foreign to Armenians. The single has two songs, "April 24th" and "The 5 Wounds," along with a remix and two instrumental tracks.

Lc$ Petits Ghanteuns lle [ecole

Iebnotrassene, Garroun Yegau. Association des dames Armeniennes Amies Des Ecoles Tebrotzassere CD TEB oo1

AH::i.1ffi'.., tal sound would have better suited certain tracks of this album, this CD does not fail to keep the head bobbing throughout. With surprisingly lively and soulful compositions of classic Armenian pieces, the children's choir "Les Petites Chanteurs De L ecole Tebrotzassere" and their director, Haig Sarkissian, produce a rich recording of exuberant youth and ancient culture. The collective choral energy of the group and the distinctively Armenian voices of the still-maturing vocalists combine for a sound of world-class simplicity. This young choir and its equally young soloists produce that classically earthy Armenian sound over synthesized and traditional instruments along with accelerated beats that give the entire album an upbeat feel.

easily identified. The real danger of such a text is that it misleads casual readers who are unfamiliar with the subject. The credible fagade of this professionally crafted package houses the words of writers who take as much liberty with history as any f,ction writer would with his own created plots. Authors featured in this journal include the famous denialist Justin McCarthy use such favorite weapons as the characteriza-

tion of the Armenian-Turkish conflict as an Armenian-Muslim conflict (if one can even characterize it as a conflict, much rather a one-sided slaughter). This often-used tool is a subtle but important falsity in creating a nonexistent characteristic central to the official. Turkish. denialist position. This first issue of what promises to be a quarterly journal on "Armenian Studies," from an organization calling itself Institute for Armenian Research, may garner some attention and should be watched closely.

Perch Zeytuntsyan,Itruo Plays

plays by one of Armenia's most pro-

throuih *hictr

one can study the method and depth of Genocide-denialist, historic-revisionist practice and theory. The factual distortions and unfounded assumptions

within this work are

$tepan lousikian, Non Hayastan S.L. Records, SLD-19802

small sift of two

lnstitute for Armenian Research

n excellent oiece of

and enjoyed.

Abril Publishing Company 0-9704131-1-4

llquickiyet

exhibit the "not yet dead" author's flare for the absurd and the ordinary. Though the outward appearance of the small volume leaves much to be desired, the text contained within provides much to be digested

Pench Zeytuntsyan: BoFn anil Dicil and Ihe $addest ol $ad Men

tsmeni lrastinmalani, lnmenian $ildies: [ 0uantenly Jounnalol Histony Poli[cs and htennational Relation$

H*ort

where the translation allows one to forget that the work is not being read in its original language. Both Born and Died and The Saddest of Sad Men, the two plays featured in this work, deal with the sense of self within society and cases such as this,

fl ll

heavy reads, this English

translation of two

lific contemporary writers reads, at the same time, as a translation and as an original work. As with many translations it is interesting to recognize the word play and interrelation of one language to another; however only in

AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

2OOI

ne of the few contributions to the sparsely populated genre of contemporary patriotic music, this recording by Komitas Conservatory Professoq Stepan Lousikian has substance and weight. The l0-track disc has star power behind it as well-Lousikian's piano and arrangements by various artists are accompanied by the voices of such wellknown performers as Nune Yesayan, Georgi Minassian and Michael Poghosian. While a couple of the tracks on the album may seem a bit melodramatic, it is a solid recording filled with intense emotion. -By Ara Azoumanian

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Abkhazian and Georgian campers who had galhered in Tsakhkadsor mounled a pholo exhibition on the onl\y space available: the outside walls ol lhe Armenian Union ol Writers building. ln July, Tsakhkadsor, aboul an hour outside Yerevan, is a popular deslinati0n lor youth groups and others looking for a way l0 escape the hol sun. The exhibition was in lhe right place at the right time. The campers were convened by the US Civil Research and Developmenl Fund.

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The President of Armenia has appeared in several business lorums over the lasl 12 m0nths, extolling Armenia s virlues as a place to do business, and as a special deslination lor lourists. Sevan, in particular, he and others in his adminislralion have been touting as an ideal vacation spot. This year, the president lollowed his own counsel and vacationed at Sevan, with his wile and lhree children. Although lor some, testing at Sevan means lying under lhe sun, and ealing khorovats, lhal wasn't the case lor this spori-loving president. Jel skis, water skis, boals and calamarans -Pholos by Marlin Shahbazian kept him busy lor more lhan a week

Gool ffinmr liflte rt lt'c:r] [t.'.t l,] \,rlttril\\ll 1,,,,k , '11 .r l. tr UU,. ,. ,rll! r ll)rl( l)\'t)rtr'llr'r . t)l,rl1\ ..rlrl bccl rrotilcl na\Lr clllLll on. sinc. ,\nleniltns \\u|L' ilccLlst()lrtcrl 1o r rrilklr rirrnking. Ilrc sLtcccss of Iiotlttk hct'r (urtrl Kilikirr rrntl [:rctroirni) tc]l ri rlillcrenl \1()r\. ltotlrtk Irirs lon lrtlrnt inter.nrrlionltl lrulrtti:. lrnrl ltrir lrclttn 1o l)enctritte sotne inlernltliitnltl ntltrkcts nollrhlr (ile ntlllc. ('llilirrrtiir. ri lrctc llrc Iltrge ,.\tnre nlur Iro[rullitiott hrt: .ttcccctl ctl in having it scrr c.l in loclil :ttrhr hrrlr. ,:r e n. K()tii\ k eclel-rrlte tl at the ,,\ntulisi utlc in .lLrlr.rrrth iin o1)en hlir. Ourte r (iir!,ri lsrtlLirian. ! knou n lrs l)ocii ( ilrgo. holtls tlrc nrrrilrl.

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The Friends Of Armenian Culture Society

@E Komidas' lPresents

Afffioffl6n

&rory

An Operatic Oratorio Celebrating 17A0 Years of Armenia's Conversion to Christianity performed by:

Musicians affiliated with the Boston Symphony Orchesffd, Boston Pops, The Esplanade Orchestr; and Chorus Pro Musica Leon Gregorian, conducror Rouben Gregoriary composer ]effery Rink, Direcor of Chorus pro Musica fearuring international opera stars:

Kallen Esperialt, soprano Stella Grigoriary Mezzo Soprano Gegham Gregorian, Tenor Tigran Martirosian, Bartone The Friends of Armenian Culture Society celebrates its 50th anniversary and the 1700th anniversary of Armenia's conversion to Christianity with the world premier performance of Rouben Gregorian's

realization of Komidas' Divine Liturgy.

November 4,2001 Sy*phony Hall For tickets, call Symphony Charge: (617) 265-1200 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts Funding for this proiect has been provided by a grant from the Thvitian Foundation.

lly tt" time you read this, the issue of trlJi',":'.f

li$,ii:fJIi:itl"x"fi

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the joy of blood-sport enthusiasts or have been banned and victory claimed by animalrights activists. One group of shameless charlatans, mix-

ing sacrilege and opportunism will have pushed bad taste on an audience hungry for entertainment, and Armenia will be shamed world wide for its tolerance of barbarism. Or: Against outcry stirred by mis-placed pathos, Armenian authorities will have succumbed to political correctness and will have cancelled the bullfight for the sake of image

building. Here's what all the noise is about In early August the local Spaniards announced that they were bringing bullfighting (mnida) to Armenia to celebrate "Spanish Days" and to coincide with the 1700th anniversary of Christianity. Apparently the Spanish have a different Bible than the rest of us. I'm still searching the New Testament for the passage that links the crucifixion of Christ with the death by stabbing of an angry bull. Jab a pair of horns through the palms of a sin-less matador and the picture might become clearer. Anyway: The Spaniards themselves have achieved minor Messiah status here, having saved Armenians from hellish summers by ueating Waterworld, an aqua playground just outside Yerevan, where anyone with enough money (about $6) to spend on water pouring down a giant slide can be mucho resfria. So: Posters were glued to Yerevan kiosks and banners hung over Yerevan streets invit-

ing one and all (for about $30 each) to witness the Hemingway-esque glory of men in tights and Mickey Mouse hats waving colorful aprons at animals too dumb to do anything but chase guys in tights.

Well. The fallout wasn't quick, but it was forceful.

Protest came from Echmiadzin: "The Armenian Church does not support bloody spectacles which attack the spiritual base of young people and the principles of Christian morals," said a statement from the Catholicos. Protest came from Germany: "Animals are sentient beings just like us. A bullfight is a horrific show, where bulls and horses are tortured only for the entertainment of people without any compassion for animals," said a statement from the AnimalRights Committee. Protest came from France, via Brigitte Bardot: "This fighting is archaic and brutal, and symbolizes the pettiness and contemptible nature of human beings," said the actress who, after two suicide attempts and three divorces, devoted her life to the well being of animals. In late August Bardot et. al. were encouraged by news that authorities in Moscow had

taken their advice and cancelled a similar event scheduled forjust a few days before the one in Yerevan. Now the pressure was on, and organizers in Yerevan were being bullied into doing the

But A week before the

scheduled event, President Roberto "El Toro" Kocharian summoned the media to announce his unquffied

for

And life in Armenia won't have changed much, saved or not from the ignominy of Spanish tradition disrepute. So tell me this, Ms. Bardot: Do you have any idea what life in Armenia is like? If you do, then you might know that the sanctity of life here has little to do with animal weHare and a lot to do with survival

and sometimes,

escape.

And tell me this, German do-gooders: Are you equally concemed for people

- not animals are being tortured by the sharp stabs of economic oppression? When you encourage your website visitors to write to your ambassador, do your letters also include suggestions of how yoru gov-

- who every day in this country

ernment might mntribute

to the industrial

recovery of this once-productive country?

And tell me this, pious pontiffs of

right thing.

support

their names alive through well-meaning causes will have found new audiences. And even the Church of Armenia will be busy putting flnal touches on its latest edifice - St. Gregory's Church, a monument that is either a testament to Faith or an indictment of Diaspora excess, depending on how you look at it.

bullfighting

Armenia. El

Echmiadzin: Where is your objection to attacks on "the principles of Christian morals" when, every day in your country citizens who have done no wrong are forced to pay bribes atpolice

Presidente said that by bringing bullfighting to

checkpoints; when your govemment turns a

Armenia, the Spaniards were helping to

btind eye to big-business comrption while your old people beg in the shadows of your $20 million cathedral? For the record: Bullflghting is disgraceful. But no more disgraceful than letting popular sentiment steal energy from efforts that might be spent on actual good. The problems are too great and the opportunities too few, for Armenia to survive misdirected passion no matter how well intended.

advance cultural awareness among Armenians.

Maybe the Spaniards could also teach Armenians a lesson in how to get the President to suppo( frivolous schemes. Anyway. By the time the bull refirse has been

removed from Vazgen Sarksian Stadium, Germans wishing to make the world a better place for animals will have moved on to the

next outrage. Old actresses trying to keep AIM AUGUST I SEPTEMBER

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