DECEMBER 7, 2019 Mirror-SpeTHE ARMENIAN ctator Volume LXXXX, NO. 21, Issue 4614 $ 2.00 NEWS The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932 INBRIEF A Word about This Issue $10 Million Raised By The Armenian Mirror-Spectator is 16 pages this week instead of its usual 20 due to inclement weather. The Hayastan All-Armenian one-two punch of the first storm of the season December 2-3 cost us much valuable time. Fund We will be back to our usual number of pages next week. LOS ANGELES (RFE/RL) — In an annual Stay safe! telethon broadcast from Yerevan and Los Angeles on Thanksgiving, the Hayastan All- Armenian Fund raised about $10 million that Lavrov Says NKR will be spent on fresh infrastructure projects in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. Compromise Possible They are designed to improve water sup- BAKU (Armenpress) — Russia and Azerbaijan plies and expand the use of solar power in believe that an opportunity for finding compromise Karabakh and Armenia’s northern Shirak, exists in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement A screenshot of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund telethon see TELETHON, page 16 issue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on December 3 in Baku during a joint press con- ference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, according to TASS. Dr. Yervant Terzian, Acclaimed Astronomer at Cornell University, Dies “We have an understanding that there are oppor- tunities for reaching a compromise. This isn’t easy ITHACA, N.Y. — Yervant Terzian, the Tish work. This conflict is one of the most protracted Distinguished University Professor ones in the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent Emeritus in the Department of Astronomy States] territory,” Lavrov said. “The talks of today at Cornell University, died on November 25, and yesterday allowed us to better understand how after a long illness. to try to move forward. I hope there will be He made major contributions to the field results,” he said. of astronomy as a researcher, an inspired On December 2, Azerbaijani President Ilham teacher and a gifted administrator. He had Aliyev said during a meeting with Lavrov that a tremendous capability to infect both stu- Azerbaijan doesn’t see progress in the Karabakh dents and everyone he knew or met with conflict settlement issue. the excitement for astronomy that he per- sonally felt. Terzian was born on Thursday, February Armenia Is Top Travel 9, 1939 in Alexandria, Egypt. It was a cool early spring day, with rain transitioning Destination from rain to drizzle and cumulus clouds YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Armenia is once against the Mediterranean sky. He was the one of the smallest and most remote Greek an ethnic minority in an occupied former again among the top 2020 tourism destinations, son of a small merchant, Bedros Terzian, islands. By dint of his intelligence, determi- colony of a declining empire, he channeled this time in Condé Nast Traveler luxury maga- who as a child had fled the Armenian nation, skillfulness and a formidable sense his intense passion for knowledge and edu- zine’s “20 Best Places to Go in 2020” article. Genocide, and his wife, Maria (Kyriakaki) of duty and purpose, he lived an improba- cation to become a leader in the field of According to Condé Nast Traveler, “Armenia is Terzian, the daughter of a fisherman from ble life. Born into a family of modest means, radio astronomy and the broader field of on its way to being one of next year’s most talked- astrophysics, and to build up Cornell about destinations, and there’s more to the tiny ARAM ARKUN PHOTO University’s strong but small Astronomy Caucasus nation than what makes the nightly news Department into one of the most highly (or Kim Kardashian’s semi-regular visits). Ryanair regarded in the world. will begin flying to Armenia in 2020, marking the Terzian spent his youth in Alexandria first time a low-cost airline has serviced the coun- and Cairo. At a young age he determined to try and ringing in a new era for travel there,” the become an astronomer and walked from his article suggests. home on Ibrahim Pasha Road to the Cairo The writer suggests many sights in Yerevan and see TERZIAN, page 16 outside the capital, adding, “The country’s natural wonders are perhaps even more arresting than its man-made ones. Lake Sevan, which engulfs 16 per- Bishop Sahak Mashalian cent of the country, is a magnificent sight against the rugged foothills of the Caucasus Mountains Discusses Upcoming and makes for refreshing dips during the scorching summer months. Off its northern tip is Dilijan Patriarchal Election in National Park, a lush wooded reserve home to lynx, Istanbul, Opens New bears, and wolves.” Among the other top destinations are Bahia, Brazil; York Aghtamar Exhibit Botswana’s Salt Pans; the Canadian Arctic; Canary Islands, Spain; Copenhagen; Dominica; Dubai; El Chaltén, Argentina; Guyana and others. Kyaw Hla Aung watering the tree he planted at the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide memorial By Florence Avakian Special to the Mirror-Spectator Rohingya Human Rights Activist and INSIDE NEW YORK —It was a unique and unusu- 2018 Aurora Prize Laureate Kyaw al event at a top gallery in New York’s art Hla Aung Honored in Yerevan district. Bishop Sahak Mashalian, Locum Tenens of the Armenian Patriarchate of Armenian YEREVAN — Despite the tragic nature of its focus, this year’s Aurora Forum Istanbul, and one of two candidates for the had many uplifting and even joyful moments. One took place on October 16 at position of patriarch, was in New York with the bright and modern-looking Kamar Business a delegation of Armenian church and com- Studies in Poland Center, where a new postage stamp by Armenia’s offi- munity leaders from Istanbul to open the By Aram Arkun cial postal operator HayPost featuring Kyaw Hla Aung, photographic exhibition of the iconic Page 3 Mirror-Spectator Staff the 2018 Aurora Prize Laureate, was cancelled with Aghtamar (Holy Cross) Church on the pic- the participation of Aung, Minister of High Tech turesque shores of Lake Van. Industry Hakob Arshakyan, 2017 Aurora Prize The trip was organized and hosted by the Laureate and chair of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative Dr. Tom Catena, Turkish Presidency which has embarked on HayPost Executive Board member Arayik Abrahamyan, and President of the a program to exhibit worldwide some of the INDEX Union of Philatelists of Armenia Hovik Musayelyan. ancient Christian churches in Anatolia. Arts and Living . 10 Armenia . 2 This was the third year that cooperation among the Aurora Humanitarian Aghtamar was chosen as the first. There Community News. 4 Initiative, Haypost, and the Ministry of High-Tech Industry of the Republic of is no doubt that Turkey is sharing these treasures in order to present a more posi- Editorial . 14 Armenia has led to the issuance of a commemorative stamp. Attached to it is a International . 3 see AURORA, page 8 tive view of itself internationally, and to boost its tourism industry. see MASHALIAN, page 11 2 S ATURDAY, D ECEMBER 7 , 2 0 1 9 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR ARMENIA News From Armenia Physicists from Armenia Participate in Discovery of Highest-Energy Photons from Gamma-Ray Burst HayPost’s New Souvenir YEREVAN — Gamma-ray bursts extensive campaign of multi-wavelength laborations. Initially, the technique of (GRBs) are the most violent explosions (MWL) follow-up observations of GRB arrays of Imaging Atmospheric Sheet Honors Komitas in the universe, suddenly appearing in 190114C ensued by over two dozen Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) had been YEREVAN (PanARMENIAN.Net) — A souvenir the sky, about once per day. They are observatories and instruments, provid- pioneered at Mt. Aragats in the 1980s. sheet with one stamp dedicated to the theme thought to result from the collapse of ing a full observational picture of this A setup was planned around a large cos- “Prominent Armenians. 150th anniversary of massive stars or the merging of neutron GRB from the radio band to TeV ener- mic ray array, named ANI. However, Komitas” was cancelled and put into circulation by stars in distant galaxies. The first GRB gies. In particular, optical observations due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, HayPost CJSC on Sunday, December 1. detected by the MAGIC telescopes, made a measurement of the distance to construction of the array stopped and With the nominal value of 1100 drams, the sheet known as GRB 190114C, reveals for the GRB 190114C. It was found that this two leading physicists, Felix Aharonyan was authored by designer Gevorg Poghosyan and is first time the highest-energy photons GRB is located in a galaxy from which and Razmik Mirzoyan, moved from the printed in France’s Cartor printing house with a measured from these objects. This it took 4.5 billion years for the light to Yerevan Physics Institute to Germany. print-run of 20,000. ground-breaking achievement by reach the Earth. With colleagues from the Max Planck The postage stamp itself depicts Komitas MAGIC provides critical new insight for “After more than 50 years since Institutes in Munich and Heidelberg, (Soghomon Soghomonyan, 1869-1935), the logo of understanding the physical processes at UNESCO as the 150th birthday of Komitas was work in GRBs, which are still mysteri- included in the 2018-2019 UNESCO calendar of ous. On January 14, 2019, a GRB was renowned people and important events. discovered independently by two space The souvenir sheet depicts the Holy Echmiadzin satellites: the Neil Gehrels Swift Cathedral as well as the signature of Komitas. Observatory and the Fermi Gamma-ray The sheet was cancelled by the Minister of High- Space Telescope.