JANUARY 4, 2020 Mirror-SpeTHE ARMENIAN ctator Volume LXXXX, NO. 24, Issue 4617 $ 2.00 NEWS The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932 INBRIEF Sen. Dole Receives Governor General Appoints Gundjian, Medal from Armenian Government Sarkissian Members of Order of Canada Yerevan (Mediamax) — On December 17 Ambassador of Armenia to the US Varuzhan OTTAWA — The Office of the Governor active member of the Canadian-Armenian Nersesyan presented the Order of Honor to Sen. General of Canada announced on December community and Armenian Diaspora, Bob Dole, bestowed on the former senator for 28 that Governor General of Canada Julie founder of the first Canadian Armenian his considerable contribution to the develop- Payette this past week made a number of school and several community infrastruc- ment the friendly relations between Armenian new appointments to the Order of Canada, tures, and Greg Sarkissian, a businessman, and the US. upon the recommendation of the Advisory and founding member and current presi- The Armenian Embassy in the U.S. said that Council of the Order, chaired by the Richard dent of the Zoryan Institute, which has Nersesyan expressed profound gratitude to Dole for Wagner, Chief Justice of Canada. established the Toronto University his tireless efforts in 1980-90s for the recognition Among these appointees are scientist Genocide and Human Rights program. of the Armenian Genocide, which in their turn con- and Canadian community leader Dr. This honor is granted by the governor tributed to the recent adoption of resolutions 296 Arshavir Gundjian, a well-known senior general of Canada to individuals as a testa- by the House of Representatives and 150 by the Senate. Dole noted that he was satisfied with such an impressive outcome of the long fight for justice. He Armenia’s Constitutional Court Head Indicted reminisced about his friend, Dr. Hampar Kelikian, who saved his life during the World War II. YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Law-enforcement justice minister from 2010-2014. It said authorities on Friday, December 27, brought that in 2012 he also forced state notaries criminal charges against the chairman of subordinate to the Justice Ministry to rent St. Minas Church in Armenia’s Constitutional Court, Hrayr other offices de facto belonging to him at Georgia on Verge of Tovmasyan, in what he denounced as a “polit- inflated prices. Dr. Arshavir Gundjian ical process” aimed at forcing him to resign. Tovmasyan grinned and struck a defiant Destruction Prosecutor-General Artur Davtyan note as he talked to journalists shortly after charged Tovmasyan with two counts of the interrogation. ment to their outstanding achievements TBILISI (Panorama.am) — The difficult state of abuse of power immediately after the latter “I was warned six months ago that one and service to the nation. According to the St. Minas Church Armenian Chruch in Georgia was briefly questioned by the Special day I will be indicted for not taking X, Y Canadian Encyclopedia “The Order of has become even sadder, the Armenian Diocese Investigative Service (SIS) at his office. and Z steps,” he said. “The X, Y and Z steps Canada is the highest level of distinction in in Georgia reported. On December 20, the fire In a statement, Davtyan’s office claimed are my resignation. So this accusation … the Canadian Honours System. It was service received an emergency call from the that Tovmasyan used his position to priva- has changed nothing in my life.” established on 1 July 1967, the 100th church and firefighters it from being completely tize an office in Yerevan when he served as see INDICTMENT, page 2 anniversary of Confederation.” destroyed. The church remains in a critical con- Biannually, following a meticulous and dition; the people living around are now using the church and its surrounding area into an aux- (SOURCE: PAUL ROHRBACH, ARMENIA , STUTTGART, 1919; PHOTO COURTESY OF HOUSHAMADYAN) confidential review, the Advisory Council of the Order of Canada, based on established iliary building and leaving the unused spaces to criteria, makes a selected number of rec- homeless peoples’ usage. ommendations to the governor general of As Susanna Khachatryan the coordinator of Canada, who makes the final decision of media relations at the Armenian Diocese wrote on appointments. Facebook, following the fire, no actions have been see GUNDJIAN, page 20 taken by Georgian state bodies to preserve the ruins and prevent further destruction. Yerevantsots St. Minas Armenian church is locat- ed in Avlabari district. In accordance with the pre- Prosecutors to served data, the church was built in 1790. Initially the church was not large building and in 1870 there was a necessity to enlarge the church build- Reopen Probe of ing. On January 2, 1883, St. Minas Church was built at the place of the old church. During the 1999 Armenian Soviet era, the church dome was eliminated and it was used as a workshop. After the collapse of the Parliament Killings USSR, Yerevantsots St. Minas Church was deter- mined as one of the ‘’disputed’’ churches. YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Law-enforcement The Armenian Diocese in Georgia and the authorities have decided to resume a crimi- Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin had repeatedly nal investigation into the 1999 armed appealed to the Georgian Orthodox Church to Armenian workers in Urfa attack on the Armenian parliament which return Armenian churches to the Armenian left its speaker Karen Demirchyan, Prime Diocese to take care for them. Numerous letters Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and six other offi- were sent to the Georgian authorities, relevant Armenian Architecture cials dead. state institutions, and the condition of the They were killed by five gunmen who church was represented, but no changes. burst into the National Assembly and And Genocide sprayed it with bullets on October 27, 1999. The gunmen led by an obscure former jour- nalist, Nairi Hunanyan, accused the govern- OSNABRÜCK, Germany — The aim of the Young Turk leaders in organizing the ment of corruption and misrule and INSIDE genocide was to rid the country of the Armenians, as a population and a culture. demanded regime change. They determined to “Turkify” the land, cleanse it ethnically of the Christian They surrendered to police after minorities, and erase, to the overnight negotiations with then President extent possible, all traces of Robert Kocharyan. They were subsequently COAF Gala By Muriel Mirak-Weissbach their existence. Among the tried and sentenced to life imprisonment. Special to the Mirror-Spectator myths created at the time of the Some relatives and supporters of the founding of the Turkish Raises Funds assassinated officials still suspect Republic in 1923, was the tale Kocharyan and his successor President that the Armenians had not inhabited those lands; they had “always been Turkish.” Serzh Sarkisian (no relation to Vazgen), Pages 10-11 In 2011, I had the opportunity to travel with my brother and my husband to who was Armenia’s national security minis- Turkey, as part of a group of Armenians from America. Our guide was the inde- ter in October 1999, of masterminding the fatigable Armen Aroyan of California, who has accompanied groups of “pilgrims” killings to eliminate powerful rivals. Both to the lands of historic Western Armenia for over a quarter century. We were hop- men repeatedly dismissed such suggestions ing to rediscover the villages where our parents had lived, in the Arapkir province, INDEX during and after a serious political crisis and were fortunate enough to find them. But signs of Armenian life were nowhere Arts and Living . 12 caused by the killings. Armenia . 2,3 to be found. In other cities and towns we visited, like Kars, we found the remains Throughout his and his henchmen’s Community News. 4 of Armenian churches turned into mosques; in other localities they had become marathon trial Hunanyan insisted that he Editorial . 17 museums, still others, stables where animals lived. himself had decided to seize the parliament International . 4 see ARCHITECTURE, page 16 without anybody’s orders. see PROBE, page 3 2 S ATURDAY, JANUARY 4 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR ARMENIA News From Armenia Russian Warplanes Armenian Ex-Deputy Detained on Bribery Charges Delivered to Armenia YEREVAN (News.am) — Upon the decision of Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, Gevorg YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia air-to-ground missions. Russian military first commissioned Loretsyan was dismissed from the office of Deputy demonstrated on Friday, December 27, for Su-30SM can perform a much broad- such jets in 2012. Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, the first time four Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter er range of military tasks with more The four warplanes arrived in Gyumri as reported the website of the Government of jets which it has purchased from Russia. long-range and precision-guided just days after the Armenian military Armenia. demonstrated new and On December 5, Gevorg Loretsyan, his driver and sophisticated air the president of a football club were arrested after defense systems also being suspected of receiving bribes. acquired from Russia. According to the preliminary information obtained With a firing range of by the National Security Service, the minister was at least 15 kilometers, promised a bribe in particularly large amounts, if a the Tor-M2MK systems specific economic entity won bids. are designed to shoot down aircraft, cruise More than 3 Million missiles, other rockets and drones. The Passengers Arrive in Defense Ministry in Yerevan said on Armenia in 2019 Monday that they will YEREVAN (Armenpress) — With the arrival of a “considerably” Moscow-Yerevan flight, the Zvartnots International strengthen Armenia’s Airport’s yearly passenger flow exceeded 3,000,000 air defenses. for the first time in its history, on December 30. Russia has always On this occasion, the airport’s administration sur- been the principal prised the passengers of the flight with holiday gifts.