MARCH 17, 2018 Mirror-SpeTHE ARMENIAN ctator Volume LXXXVIII, NO. 34, Issue 4529 $ 2.00 NEWS The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932 INBRIEF USC Shoah Foundation Serbian Lawmakers Adds Large Collection of Reject Armenian Armenian Genocide Genocide Bill BELGRADE (news.am) — The Serbian parlia- Testimony to its Archive ment rejected the opposition’s proposal to recog- LOS ANGELES — University of Southern nize Armenian Genocide on March 9. California (USC) Shoah Foundation has Even though such motions have been submitted received one of the largest collections of tes- several times in the Serbian legislature over the timonies from survivors of the Armenian past decade, they have always been rejected, Genocide that were recorded over decades according to RFE/RL Balkan Service. by Dr. Richard Hovannisian, a leading schol- The resolution recognizing the genocide of 1.5 ar on the World War I-era genocide. million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire was sub- The Richard G. Hovannisian Armenian mitted by Serbia’s former Prime Minister Zoran Genocide Oral History Collection was offi- Zivkovic, who now heads the opposition New Party. cially announced as a part of the Visual Speaking to the RFE/RL Serbian Service, History Archive at a ceremony on Friday, Zivkovic underscored the need for Belgrade to clar- March 9. The more than ify its position on this matter, and he recalled that 1,000 interviews will both Russia and most of the US states have recog- constitute the largest nized this greatest tragedy of the 20th century. non-Holocaust-related According to various estimates, about 300 collection to be integrat- Armenians live in Serbia. ed into the institute’s Trio of Karen Hakobyan (piano), Levon Chilingirian (violin) and Suren Bagratuni (cello) Visual History Archive. Armenian Premier It will also be the archive’s first audio-only Meets Lebanese St. Vartan Cathedral Concert collection. Initially, a pilot of 10 testimonies — Prof. Richard President seven in English and Hovannisian BEIRUT (news.am) — Armenian Prime Minister three in Armenian — will Celebrates Armenian Music Karen Karapetyan met Lebanon’s President Michel be available to the pub- Aoun on Monday, March 12, at the residence of the NEW YORK — The joyous musical notes emanating in the sanctuary of the St. lic in the Institute’s Visual History Archive. Lebanese President, the press service of the Vartan Cathedral served as a welcome to the new season during the “Celebration The rest will be added as they are digitized Government of Armenia reported. of Spring Concert,” on and indexed to the high standards used by Karapetyan thanked for the warm reception and Wednesday, February 28, in an the Institute. In addition to the audiotapes added that he is glad to be in Lebanon. By Taleen Babayan event presented by the Armenian recorded in a variety of formats, the new “Just two weeks ago we had the opportunity to Mission to the United Nations, in collection includes documents and pho- Special to the Mirror-Spectator exchange ideas in Yerevan over the multilayered the spirit of friendship, dialogue tographs corresponding to each interview, relations between Armenia and Lebanon. We high- and cooperation among nations. transcripts and translations that light the regular high level interactions and dia- Performing to overflowing pews of United Nations diplomats and delegates, the Hovannisian and his students put together logue between Armenia and friendly Lebanon. As I internationally acclaimed and award-winning artists Levon Chilingirian (violin), over the years. The vast majority of the col- noted during our previous meeting, the economic Suren Bagratuni (cello) and Karen Hakobyan (piano) played works by Haydn, lection was recorded in Armenian, but up to potential of our bilateral relations is rather huge Beethoven, Khachaturian, Hovunts and Babadjanian as they kicked off their 20 percent of the testimonies are in English; and it should be maximally utilized,” Karen North American tour. there is a smaller portion of Turkish and Karapetyan said. see CONCERT, page 11 Spanish language interviews. The Lebanese president welcomed the visit of the The son of a Genocide survivor, Armenian premier to Lebanon, expressing convic- Hovannisian believes deeply in the power of tion that it will foster the further development of testimony as a tool to educate, combat the friendly relations between Armenia and denial, and communicate the magnitude of Lebanon. Armenian National Assembly a criminal scheme that claimed an estimat- Aoun expressed his readiness to support the ed 1.5 million Armenian lives. But numbers implementation of joint projects. alone don’t begin to tell the story. “The fig- Karapetyan during his visit discussed the oppor- Members Visit New York ure ‘a million and a half’ can roll right over tunities for establishing an Armenian-Lebanese our shoulders,” he said. “But it’s different fund. Washington, DC, where they met with when you take those individual interviews Karapetyan later met with Lebanese Prime Congressmen and other high-ranking and start listening to them one by one. And By Hagop Vartivarian Minister Saad Hariri. American government officials. then it becomes a million-and-a-half individ- Special to the Mirror-Spectator “We stated that in all respects the relations The representatives spoke about their uals and the loss of a civilization, of a way between our two countries are at a very high level. efforts at establishing state contacts during of life, a space where people lived for more We also noted that our economic relations lag NEW YORK — A delegation of Armenian new political developments in the West, as than 3,000 years, and everything that space behind the high level of political relations, and National Assembly representatives visited well as the electoral changes in Armenia. contained.” there is great potential to tap and develop,” New York on Saturday, March 10, and held They praised the participation of diasporan The institute also houses the Armenian Karapetyan said. a meeting with representatives of the Armenians in Armenia’s economic growth. Film Foundation’s collection of Armenian He added that he invited Hariri to visit Armenia. Armenian community at St. Vartan They talked about three important fields Survivor testimony, which was fully inte- Cathedral hosted by Archbishop Khajag of cooperation with the United States and grated into the Visual History Archive in Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the stressed the importance of the Armenian late 2016.“By adding more context to the Armenian Church of America (Eastern). lobbying organizations in this country Visual History Archive, we continue to The delegation had previously visited see VISIT, page 10 see SHOAH, page 20 INSIDE Good, Not-So-Clean Fun with Vahe Berberian Hablamos ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. — Armenio By Taleen Babayan Delivering his signature style of comedy all the way from Los Page 5 Special to the Mirror-Spectator Angeles, Vahe Berberian per- formed his new monologue, “Ooremn,” to great enthusiasm at sold-out weekend performances on March 3 and 4 at the Clinton Inn in an event hosted by the Tekeyan INDEX Cultural Association (TCA) of Greater New York. Tying together generations through contemporary and cultural refer- Arts and Living . 12 Armenia . 2,3 ences, Berberian elaborated, through humor, on the themes of marriage, Community News. 6 religion, current events and social media during his one-hour-and-forty- Editorial . 17 five minute set in the Armenian language. International . .. 4,5 see COMEDY, page 15 2 S ATURDAY, M ARCH 1 7 , 2 0 1 8 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR ARMENIA News From Armenia Nalbandian Presents Foreign Policy Priorities In Sweden STOCKHOLM (Armenpress) — While on an official visit in Stockholm on March 13, Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian met with leadership of leading analytical centers of Sweden, such as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, the Center for Peace and Conflict Research at the Uppsala University, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation, as well as with high-ranking diplomats, the Foreign Ministry reported. During the meeting Nalbandian presented Armenia’s foreign policy priorities and the steps aimed at developing the Armenian-Swedish relations. He appreciated the cooperation with Sweden both at bilateral and multilateral formats attaching impor- tance to the mutual partnership within the frames of the Armenia-EU relations, and the Eastern Partnership in particular. In this context Nalbandian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on the new train touched upon the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, as well as the cooperation prospects. He introduced the meeting participants on the Prime Minister Travels to Gyumri joint efforts of Armenia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chair countries aimed at peacefully set- By New Electric Train Line tling the Karabakh conflict, as well as Armenia’s stances on a number of urgent regional and interna- tional issues. GYUMRI — Prime Minister Karen The foreign minister also answered the questions Karapetyan visited Gyumri on March 3, of the meeting participants. riding on the new electric train, which has started running between Yerevan and Gyumri. Sargsyan Attends World After getting acquainted with the Chess Tournament train, he welcomed the decision made by the South Caucasus Railway CJSC BERLIN (Public Radio of Armenia) — President to operate it in Armenia. Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia, who is also president of Karapetyan was told that starting the Armenian Chess Federation, attended the open- March 4, the new train will run twice a ing ceremony of the World Chess Candidates day, Fridays-Sundays at express regime Tournament in Berlin on March 9. Sargsyan partici- without making stops. The trip’s dura- pated in the ceremony as an honorary guest in tion is two hours. The other Yerevan- acknowledgement of Armenia’s contribution to the Gyumri-Yerevan railway services are development and popularization of chess.