Requested Service Address CA FRESNO, FRESNO, Fresno, CA 93740-8001 CA Fresno, 262 No. No. Permit 5245 N. Backer Ave. M/S PB 4 PB M/S Ave. Backer N. 5245 PAID Program Studies Armenian Postage U.S. & Organization Students Armenian Armenian Non-Profit The Newspaper of the CSU, Fresno CSU, the of Newspaper The HYE SHARZHOOM th Armenian Action 25 FA| <ARVOUM Year March 2004 Vol. 25, No. 3 (85) Supplement to The Collegian Armenian Insurance Claims Yerevan State University President Dr. Radik Settled in Landmark Case Martirosyan Pays Official Visit to Fresno State Opinion Although the official details of NYRIE KARKAZIAN the settlement have not been final- AND SEVAG TATEOSIAN ized, what is known is that New BARLOW DER MUGRDECHIAN Editor York Life will pay $20 million to be distributed as follows: up to $11 Dr. Radik Martirosyan, Presi- On January 27, 2004, the New million will be distributed to the dent of Yerevan State University, York Life Insurance Company heirs of the twenty-four hundred paid an official visit to Fresno State signed a “Settlement Agreement” policy holders and $4 million will on February 2-3. This was the sec- with the descendants of policyhold- be paid to the four law firms which ond visit of the President to Fresno; ers who were killed in the Arme- brought the class action suit to court. his first visit was in 2000. nian Genocide. The agreement, $3 million will be shared among Dr. Martirosyan’s visit was part Mugrdechian which still has to be approved by the following Armenian charitable of the NIS College and University Der United States District Court Judge organizations: the Eastern Diocese Partnership Program grant, which Christina Snyder, ensures payment of the Armenian Church of North has partnered Yerevan State Uni- Barlow for twenty-four hundred open life America, Prelacy of the Armenian versity and Fresno State in the field insurance policies. Apostolic Church Eastern United of business and economics for the Photo: Armenians living in the Otto- States and Canada, Western Dio- past five years. Accompanying Dr. L to R: Mr. Edmond Azadian, Dr. Dickran Kouymjian, Fresno man Empire up to 1915 had pur- cese of the Armenian Church of Martirosyan was Mr. Edmond State President Dr. John Welty, YSU President Dr. Radik chased between eight and nine thou- North America, Western Prelacy Azadian, a board member of the Martirosyan. sand life insurance policies and of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Friends of Yerevan State Univer- twenty-four hundred of them re- Armenian Apostolic Catholic sity. Barlow Der Mugrdechian of continuing ties between the two Mugrdechian of the Armenian mained unsettled until this year. Exarchate for Armenian Catholics the Armenian Studies Program universities. Dr. Welty and Dr. Studies Program, joined Dr. Welty After New York Life heard about in the United States and Canada, hosted the visitors and arranged Martirosyan signed a preliminary for the luncheon meeting. the tragic events that took place in Armenian Missionary Association their schedule. agreement for continued coopera- Later in the afternoon, Dr. the former Ottoman Empire in 1915, of America Inc., the Armenian Dr. Martirosyan had a luncheon tion between the two universities. Martirosyan met with Fresno State they hired an Armenian attorney to Relief Society, the Armenian Gen- meeting with Fresno State Presi- Dr. Dickran Kouymjian, Haig and faculty who have visited Armenia locate policyholders and found a eral Benevolent Union and the Ar- dent Dr. John Welty on Tuesday, Isabel Berberian Professor of Ar- as part of the program. The faculty majority of them. SEE INSURANCE PAGE 6 Feb. 3, where they discussed the menian Studies, and Barlow Der SEE YSU PAGE 5 National Geographic Features nent dialogue with Little Ararat, its Hye Sharzhoom at 25 12,782-foot (3,896-meter) neigh- bor. Armenia in March 2004 Issue The vast snowy brow of Ararat CHRIS TOZLIAN and the soccer program wasn’t in glowers, pronounces, with halluci- STAFF WRITER danger of being “cut.” I have seen natory power. Its name is derived six different Associated Student from that of a Bronze Age god, Though it’s difficult to admit, I governments on campus, and have Ara, whose talismanic cult of death am currently enrolled in my twelfth joyfully watched the multiple en- and rebirth mirrored the seasonal consecutive semester at Fresno largements to the Q parking lot. transitions of Ararat from lifeless State. I know what you’re think- Simply stated, there have been a winter to fertile spring. Little Ararat, ing… “Boy, he has really taken his great number of changes at Fresno by contrast, is an exercise in calm, time, hasn’t he?” Well, it’s true; I State since I began my academic rational idealism, a volcanic cone have been taking my time. career. so perfectly shaped that it suggests When I began attending Fresno While it may seem as if every- not so much what a mountain is as State in the fall of 1998, there was thing is changing on campus, there what a mountain ought to be. no SaveMart Center, nor was there are a few elements of the university You can’t ponder the two Ararats a Smittcamp Alumni House. Jerry that have remained throughout the for long without drifting into philo- Tarkanian was coaching basketball SEE YSU PAGE 6 sophical reflection, and the Arme- nians have been pondering them Shoghaken Armenian Ensemble to since the birth of civilization.” Photo: Alexandra Avakian, National Geographic A “Related Links” section gives Perform in Campus Concert April 12 STAFF REPORT “You are looking at the great readers pointers on where to go to Armenian paradox,” Jivan Tabibian find out more on Armenia and the “For 3,000 years Armenians said. We stood at the second-floor Armenians. survived conquerors, calamities, window of the Foreign Ministry and diaspora. Defiance and a long building in Yerevan, watching Armenia Diaspora memory continue to sustain them clouds scuttle across Mount www.armeniadiaspora.com/home/ as they rebuild their Caucasus Ararat’s ice-capped 16,854-foot index.html Get the latest news on homeland.” (5,137-meter) crown. Tabibian, a Armenia. The March 2004 issue of Na- diplomat whose portfolio includes The Armenian Church tional Geographic, now on ambassadorships to four countries www.armenianchurch.org/church/ newstands, is featuring a special 22 and two international organizations, etchmiadzin.html page story and photo essay on Ar- was discussing a policy initiative Learn more about the founding of menia, entitled “The Rebirth of when he abruptly fell silent, gazing the Armenian Church. Armenia.” The story is by Frank at Ararat. It’s impossible not to be Armenian History Viviano with photographs by distracted by Ararat in Yerevan. www.armenianhistory.info/ Alexandra Avakian. Despite its enormous mass, the great origins.htm Photo: Courtesy of Traditional Crossroads Excerpts from the story by Frank peak seems to float weightlessly Discover more about Armenia’s SEE SHOGHAKEN PAGE 8 Viviano: over the city, engaged in perma- history. 2 Hye Sharzhoom March 2004 Armenian Studies Program Book/Video/CD/Archival Gifts California State University, Fresno Dr. Dickran Kouymjian and the Armenian Studies Program would Armenian Studies Program like to thank the donors, authors, and publishers for the following books, periodicals, videos, and archival gifts either offered personally or to the Program. Fall 2004 Schedule of Courses Aram I Catholicos Keshishian, Havadk Arakelutiwn, (The Apostleship of Faith), Antelias, Lebanon, 2003. Gift of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia. Course Units Time Day Instructor Armenian Assembly of America, Washington, DC, for the copy of the book General Education by Peter Balakian, The Burning Tigris. Social Sciences, Area D3, for students using 1999/2000 catalog and after Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian, compiler, The Etchmiadzin Chronicles, Re- Division 9-Other Cultures, for students using 1998/1999 catalog and before corded by Missionaries and Merchants, Diplomats and Scholars, [Erevan]: • ArmS 10 Intro to Arm Studies 3 10:00-10:50A MWF B Der Mugrdechian Moughni Press, 2003, 872 pages, 96 color and 176 black and white illustrations. Text offered in English, Russian, Italian, French, German, and Armenian. The final scholarly work of the late Archbishop. Available through the Armenian • Arm 1A Elementary Armenian 4 11:00-11:50A MTWF B Der Mugrdechian Prelacy of New York: [email protected]. Mr. Carl Bardakian, Pasadena, for the books Karekin I Theological and Arts & Humanities, Arts, Area C1 for students using 1999/2000 catalog and after Armenological Studies Series and Children’s Badarak Book. • ArmS 20 Arts of Armenia 3 9:30-10:45 A TTh B. Der Mugrdechian Dr. Antranig K. Chalabian, Southfield, MI, for the copies of his two books, General Andranik and The Armenian Revolutionary Movement and Armenia After the Coming of Islam. Upper Division Courses Vahakn N. Dadrian, “Children as Victims of Genocide: The Armenian • ArmS 108A Arm History I 3 9:00-9:50A MWF B. Der Mugrdechian Case,” offprint from Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 5, no.3 (September 2003), pp. 421-437, courtesy of the Zoryan Institute of Canada. • ArmS 120T 3 3:30-4:45 P TTh Kazan Visiting Professor Rev. Demosthenis Demosthenous, The Occupied Churches of Cyprus, Nicosia: Byzantine Academy of Cyprus, 2000, xiv, 337 pages, illustrated with hundreds of photos. This impressive book lists and illustrates many of the 520 For more information call the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669 Christian monuments occupied, desecrated, or simply destroyed by the Turkish occupying forces of northern Cyprus. No similar work exists in the form of a or visit our offices in the Peters Business Building, Room 384. complete illustrated list of “occupied” or destroyed Armenian churches in Turkey.