JANUARY 11, 2020 Mirror-SpeTHE ARMENIAN ctator Volume LXXXX, NO. 25, Issue 4618 $ 2.00 NEWS The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932 INBRIEF Armenia Expresses Armenia Urges US, Iran to De-Escalate Tensions Condolences to PRIMEMINISTER.AM PHOTO YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia has Australia called on neighboring Iran and the United States to de-escalate their tensions follow- YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Armenian Minister of ing the assassination of Iranian General Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan has Qassem Soleimani. expressed “full solidarity” with Australia amid the Official Yerevan also pledged over the raging bushfires in the country. weekend to maintain neutrality in the con- “Most disturbed by the catastrophe of flict while offering condolences to Tehran #AustralianBushfire. The victims and millions over the death of the powerful commander affected bear very powerful message and call for of Iran’s elite Quds Force. action globally, this concerns every nation on Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad earth. Condolences to bereaved families. In full sol- Zarif and his Armenian counterpart Zohrab idarity with people and government of #Australia”, Mnatsakanyan discussed the crisis in a Mnatsakanyan tweeted. phone call which the Armenian Foreign Earlier on Sunday, Australian Prime Minister Ministry said was initiated by the Iranian Scott Morrison warned that the devastating bush- side. fires raging in the country might go on for months. “On behalf of the Government of At least 24 people have died since the fires began Armenia, Foreign Minister Mnatsakanyan in September, according to the BBC. expressed condolences to the Government Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan meets Iranian President Hasan Rouhani in Tehran and people of Iran on the demise of the in February 2019. Scores of German high-ranking Iranian official,” the ministry said in a statement. Songs by Komitas It added that Mnatsakanyan also tion through peaceful means.” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said later “stressed the importance of preventing fur- “Iran is a friendly country for us and the on Sunday. “In this situation we certainly Published ther tensions and de-escalating the situa- United States is a friendly country for us,” cannot be drawn into anti-Iranian actions. VIENNA (Panorama) — The scores of nine songs We cannot be drawn into anti-American written in German by Armenian composer Komitas actions either.” ,as well as a piano composition, have been pub- “So our message is that our partners in lished, soprano Hasmik Papian wrote on her Iran and the United States should refrain Virabyan Expanding and Making Armenia’s Facebook page on January 7. The publication of from steps that would aggravate the the scores, she said, was one of her long-cherished already tense situation in our region and National Archives More Accessible dreams. international relations,” Pashinyan stressed Komitas created the songs during his years 1923. By 2006, after various stages of orga- in a live video address which he aired on studying in Germany, using texts of poets Ludwig nization, the central archives came to have Facebook during a hiking tour in north- By Aram Arkun Uhland, Wolfgang von Goethe and Nikolaus Lenau. 11 provincial branches (including also a eastern Armenia. Mirror-Spectator Staff Papian next thanks all people who contributed film, photo and audiovisual archive in Yerevan was quick to express serious and coordinated the publication of the scores, Yerevan; http://www.armarchives.am/ concern after the US strike in Iraq on among them the former director of the Yeghishe YEREVAN — Anyone who has had occa- en/content/69/) and 29 regional offices Friday, January 3, which killed Soleimani as Charents Museum of Literature and Art Henrikh sion to use the National Archives of (http://www.armarchives.am/en/con- well as other Iranian military officials and Bakhchinyan for providing the copies of Komitas Armenia (http://www.armarchives.am/) tent/73/). They contained at that date, their Iraqi allies. But unlike Russia, manuscripts, expert in literature Albert has come into contact with its hearty and according to the official website of the archives, Armenia’s main ally, it stopped short of Musheghyan for translating the texts into Armenia, energetic director Amatuni Virabyan. He 5,759 fonds (record or archival groups) pre- explicitly condemning the assassination. Director at Komitas Museum Nikolay Kostandyan has worked for many decades at the serving 3,419,353 documentary units. Soleimani’s killing raised fresh fears in for the photos of the Berlin period of the compos- archives and has left a strong imprint on The oldest document in the archives is a Yerevan of a direct military conflict er’s life. the institution. 1607 deed signed by Shah Abbas I of Persia between the US and Iran which could fur- The scores are available electronically. Papian The decision to establish the state central on land benefits to the Armenian meliks or ther complicate Armenia’s transport and also promised to gift copies to libraries. archives in the Soviet period took place in see ARCHIVES, page 3 see IRAN, page 3 Armenia Projected Ryanair Launches New Armenia-Greece Flights To Have Highest DUBLIN (Breaking Travel News) — Ryanair announced this week Greece as its newest direct GDP per Capita in link with Armenia. Two new, twice weekly routes from Gyumri to South Caucasus Athens and from Yerevan to Thessaloniki will start in May, as part of the low-cost carrier’s extended YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia’s GDP Armenia summer schedule. per capita is on course to exceed neighbor- Armenian consumers and visitors can now book ing Azerbaijan’s and Georgia’s this year, their summer holidays to Greece as far out as October. according to the International Monetary Fund. In its most recent World Economic Outlook, the IMF forecast a GDP per capita of $4,760 for Armenia in 2020, compared INSIDE with $4,720 for oil-rich Azerbaijan and $4,630 for Georgia. Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II celebrating Christmas. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made the same prediction when he spoke in the Albanian Star, Armenian parliament in December. Christmas, New Year’s Pashinyan seized upon the IMF projec- tions in a Facebook comment posted on French Doctor Monday, January 6. “Based on the results of Celebrations in Armenia 2019, we have surpassed Georgia [in terms Page 13 of GDP per capita,]” he wrote. “In 2020, we YEREVAN — Armenia celebrated New Year and later Christmas with pomp and will also surpass Azerbaijan and become ceremony on January 6. the leading country of the South Special services were held in all churches; Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, his Caucasus.” wife Anna Hakobyan, and government officials attended the services at the Gregory The Armenian economy has expanded INDEX the Enlightener Cathedral in Yerevan. Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II robustly since 2017 after years of sluggish Arts and Living ...... 13 presided over the services. growth that followed the 2008-2009 global Armenia ...... 2,3 Community News...... 6 Pashinyan issued an address on New Year’s Eve at Republic Square, referring financial crisis. According to government data, economic growth reached 7.5 percent Editorial ...... 18 back to the site being instrumental in his Velvet Revolution. International ...... 4,5 see CHRISTMAS, page 2 in 2017 but slowed to 5.2 percent in 2018, which saw a dramatic regime change in the see GDP, page 2 2 S ATURDAY, JANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR ARMENIA News From Armenia Karabakh Economy Continues Robust Growth STEPANAKERT (RFE/RL) Speaking at a year-end news confer- “energy self-sufficiency” in 2017. That — Nagorno-Karabakh’s economy grew ence in Stepanakert, the Karabakh state was made possible by the construc- Defense Minister Visits by an estimated 9 percent in 2019, con- minister, Grigory Martirosyan, said tion of 31 small hydroelectric plants tinuing a more than decade-long rapid growth was primarily driven by trade on the mountainous region’s fast-flow- Military Pantheon expansion, according to officials in and services in January-September ing rivers. A dozen more such plants Stepanakert. 2019. are reportedly under construction YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Minister of Defense The Karabakh government’s latest Martirosyan also reported significant now. Davit Tonoyan visited the Yerablur Pantheon mili- growth projections released last week increases in manufacturing and electric- Speaking at a December 23 meeting tary cemetery in Yerevan to pay homage to those show that the Armenian-populated ter- ity production. Karabakh’s overall in Yerevan of Armenia’s and Karabakh’s who died in service to Armenia. Tonoyan visited the ritory’s Gross Domestic Product was on industrial output accounted for around leaders, Sahakyan also said that cemetery today, on January 7, the day following course to total 341 billion drams ($713 30 percent of GDP, the Artsakhpress Karabakh has become a major wheat Christmas which is marked as Merelots – the day of million). The resulting GDP per capita news agency quoted him as saying. A exporter. “In 2019, we produced commemorating the departed. of more than $4,800 would be slightly large part of that output is generated by 112,000 tons of wheat, which is twice as Yerablur is the final resting place of many higher than in Armenia. a copper and molybdenum mine located much as our internal demand,” he said. renowned Armenian statesmen and military figures The Karabakh economy was worth in the northern Martakert district. Despite its robust economic growth, such as military commander Andranik Ozanian, just 70 billion drams in 2008. Official Government data cited by Karabakh remains very dependent on Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, military comman- figures indicate that it has since grown Martirosyan shows that nearly one-fifth annual subsidies from Armenia’s gov- der Monte Melkonyan and others. by around 10 percent annually in real of electricity produced in Karabakh was ernment. They will finance just over Defense Ministry Spokesperson Artsrun terms, despite the lingering risk of a exported to Armenia in 2019. half of the Karabakh government’s Hovhannisyan posted photos from the cemetery renewed Armenian-Azerbaijani war for In the words of Bako Sahakyan, the 2020 budgetary expenditures project- showing Tonoyan laying flowers at the graves and the disputed territory. Karabakh president, Karabakh gained ed at 120 billion drams ($250 million). praying in a church. Armenian MP: Amulsar May Torpedo Tourism Christmas, New Year’s Celebrations in Armenia YEREVAN (news.am) — The activities of the CHRISTMAS, from page 1 Amulsar gold mine may torpedo tourism in Jermuk, He spoke about the post-revolution path, the deputy of the Prosperous Armenia faction of the expressing his pride at the gains made. National Assembly Naira Zohrabyan told Armenian “[The year] 2019 was the first full year of News-NEWS.am on January 7. the post-revolutionary year, and in my According to her, during a recent talk with resi- December 31, 2018 message I promised you dents of Jermuk, she became convinced once again that by 2019 we would reach new heights, that they aren’t preparing to retreat and won’t let record new successes and, above all, the social Lydian Armenia exploit Amulsar gold mine again. and economic life of our country. I am pleased She stated that the parliament’s ad hoc investiga- to report that we have seen many visible, tan- tive committee will soon invite the company’s repre- gible and measurable results over the past sentatives and environmentalists to clarify a number year,” he said. of issues that are related to mining and particularly He praised the economic gains of the coun- the issues of Amulsar. try but also basic changes, including highway Zohrabyan added that the Prosperous Armenia fac- repairs and higher salaries for members of the tion goes against any action that may pose a threat military, rescuers, teachers, foresters, and to nature protection in Armenia and cause severe health workers. harm to nature. She recalled that Nikol Pashinyan In addition, he said, 300 children in orphan- has declared several times that if there are environ- ages were transferred to homes and housing mental risks, no international tribunal can intimi- for 121 refugee families was created. date the Armenian authorities. “I am pleased to note that now Armenia has Since mid-2018, environmentalists have been been at the lowest level of poverty since the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II blesses Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. blocking Lydian Armenia’s access to the mine and start of such accounting. The international declare that exploitation of the mine will have a dev- reserves of our country have reached unprece- astating impact on tourism in Jermuk and incite an dented volumes, exceeding $ 2.8 billion, and the tax revenues of the state budget for 2019 have been exceeded by over 100 bil- ecological disaster. The Armenian authorities still lion drams,” he added. haven’t dared to apply force against the environmen- talists and the residents of Jermuk. Filmmaker Avetisyan Selected for Berlinale YEREVAN (PanARMENIAN.Net) — Armenian film- maker Jivan Avetisyan has been selected from over 3,400 applicants from 134 countries to attend the Berlinale Talents in Berlin, Germany. Berlinale Talents is an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival. Avetisyan’s new feature film project “Revival,” slated for production in Spring 2021, was the premise of his selection. The six-day summit will be held from February 22 to 27. The selection committee shared with Avetisyan: “We appreciate your ambitious approach to filmmak- ing and to the content of your stories. In 2020, Berlinale Talents is going collective: the six-day sum- mit looks at proven and experimental community models in four creative fields: “Cinema,” “Film Set,” “Company,” and “Society.” Collectives from the film, art, and theater worlds will come to Berlin for the nearly 100 talks, workshops, and networking events.” Avetisyan thrives to tell Artsakhian stories through film. His latest project, “Gate to Heaven,” is set to premiere in Los Angeles on Saturday, March Religious and civic leaders at the Christmas celebrations. 21, at the Alex Theatre. The drama film was co-pro- duced with Armenia, Lithuania, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Czech, Italy, and the U.S.. “Gate to Heaven” is presented in four different languages: Armenia Projected to Have Highest GDP Per Capita in South Caucasus English, Armenian, German, and French, but is pri- marily in English. Richard Sammel (Germany) and GDP, from page 1 and Georgia, the Armenian dram has poverty rate in the country fell from Tatiana Spivakova (France) play the lead roles, while country. It was projected to accelerate avoided a major devaluation since the 29.4 percent in 2016 to 23.5 percent in Sos Janibekyan (Armenia), Naira Zakaryan (US), to at least 7 percent in 2019, translating collapse of international oil prices 2018. Leonardas Pobedonoscevas (Lithuania), Nina into a GDP per capita of $4,530. which began in late 2014. Armenia’s GDP per capita is project- Kronjager (Germany), Benedict Freitag Vahagn Khachatryan, a Yerevan- Azerbaijan’s GDP per capita shrank ed to exceed that of not only the two (Switzerland), play the supporting roles. The pre- based economist, said this growth is from almost $8,000 in 2014 to just other South Caucasus states but also miere was held in Armenia on October 17 with over one of the reasons why Armenia’s GDP under $4,000 in 2016 for this reason. six other, poorer former Soviet 600 attendees. now roughly matches that of Azerbaijan In early 2018, the World Bank republics, including Ukraine. But it will and Georgia on a per capita basis. upgraded Armenia’s status from a still be well below the income levels of Khachatryan also argued that unlike “lower middle income” to an “upper the three Baltic states, Russia and the national currencies of Azerbaijan middle income” nation. The official Kazakhstan. S ATURDAY, JANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR 3 ARMENIA Armenia Urges US, Iran to De-Escalate Tensions

IRAN, from page 1 closer Armenian-Iranian political and eco- curtail those ties. security interests. trade links to the outside world. Armenia’s nomic ties despite the US sanctions against The Armenian leader went on to invite Iran’s The claim was made on a Facebook page top diplomats and military officials discussed the Islamic Republic. He insisted in August President Hassan Rouhani to a summit of the set up by a man who used the false identity potential consequences of the crisis at sepa- that Washington is not pressuring Yerevan to Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union held in of Diana Arutyunian, the SNB said. rate emergency meetings held on Friday. curtail those ties. Yerevan in October. Rouhani accepted the invi- The SNB said the claim was “aimed at incit- Pashinyan said that he has instructed rele- With Armenia’s borders with Azerbaijan tation. ing national, racial and religious hostility.” It vant state bodies to “closely monitor the situ- and Turkey closed due to the Nagorno- also said that the claim had been quoted by ation” and make contingency plans. He Karabakh conflict, Iran as well as Georgia are Arrest of Imposter media in Azerbaijan and Iran. declined to go into details. the landlocked country’s sole conduits to the In related news, Armenian authorities The SNB said a criminal case had been With Armenia’s borders with Azerbaijan outside world. Successive Armenian govern- arrested a man over a Facebook post that launched. But the identity of the man arrest- and Turkey closed due to the Nagorno- ments have therefore maintained cordial rela- claimed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan con- ed and held responsible for hosting the page Karabakh conflict, Iran as well as Georgia are tions with Tehran. gratulated US President Donald Trump for was not revealed. the landlocked country’s sole conduits to the Pashinyan has repeatedly made clear that assassinating Iran’s top military commander. In the video released by the SNB, the man outside world. Successive Armenian govern- that his administration will seek closer The National Security Service (SNB) on being detained admits that he created the ments have therefore maintained cordial rela- Armenian-Iranian political and economic January 5 posted a video of the man being page in 2018 and was responsible for the false tions with Tehran. ties despite the US sanctions against detained, saying the authorities had identi- claim about Pashinyan. Pashinyan has repeatedly made clear over Tehran. He insisted in August that fied social-media users who had spread false Pashinyan denied the claim in his own the past year that his administration will seek Washington is not pressuring Yerevan to information and harmed Armenia’s national- Facebook post, calling it “fake news.” Virabyan Making Armenia’s National Archives More Accessible

ARCHIVES, from page 1 fire or flood from damaging the archive hold- lic. The legal basis for this has to be established dents became candidates of science, the first princes of Kashatagh. The archives contain doc- ings. Virabyan said, “We have special systems in so that problems will not be created. There are doctoral level, and in 2019, one more was uments from Tsarist Russian times, but the place for this. There is no electric current if peo- issues pertaining to individuals mentioned in expected to reach this level. main materials originate from the Soviet period ple are not present and there is no water. We documents. Virabyan said that usually he assembles the to the present. heat the storage area in winter with hot air and archive’s staff during the winter to work with The National Archives, in addition to its own in the summer cool it with cold air.” A Historian’s Career in the Archives them further. A new direction that he wants to materials, was expanded in recent times to Furthermore, there is a laboratory or restora- Born in Geghanist, a village of Shirak stress for the archives, he said, is to show how include the Department of Sociopolitical tion center, where 25 people work daily to Province, Virabyan studied 20th century histo- ordinary people lived in the past and look at Documents, which used to be the archive of the repair damaged documents. ry at Kirovakan State Pedagogical Institute’s individuals. Central Committee of the Communist Party, and the Central National Archive of Films, Exhibitions Photographs and Sound-Recording Documents, The National Archives frequently publishes which itself was created in 1943. It therefore collections of documents in its own periodical contains thousands of movies. and as separate volumes, when financing per- According to a 2004 law of the Armenian mits. Virabyan has edited a number of these vol- National Assembly, the National Archives umes himself. It also prepares various exhibi- became a part of the Ministry of Culture, Youth tions, often working together with other Issues and Sports, which today is now the Armenian institutions and museums. Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and In November, the exhibition “The Rescue of Sport. the Armenians in the Middle East, 1915-1923: Virabyan stated last October that there were From National Unity to Revival” was inaugu- 325 employees at the archives. In addition, rated at the Armenian Genocide Museum- there were some 70 additional archivists at the Institute. The National Archives contributed Armenian presidential archive, the government many materials. It continues to April 2020. and the ministries, so that the total staff comes In spring 2019, the archives worked with to approximately 400. Of this total, only rough- the Hovhannes Tumanyan Museum to create ly 30 are researchers. He said, “I always joke an exhibition dedicated to the 150th anniver- that there are more employees in China’s sary of Tumanyan’s birth. Tumanyan was not archives than inhabitants of Armenia. There are only a writer and poet but also was an activist over 3 million archival personnel in China.” interested in all developments in the life of Collection and Preservation the Armenian people. Virabyan said that he There are always new materials being sorted had a hobby of collecting maps, which through, Virabyan said. “Not everything is allowed studying what was taking place in kept,” he continued. “We take out the ones Western Armenia, including during World which have historical and scholarly value.” They Amatuni Virabyan (photo Aram Arkun) War I. These were rare maps sometimes not come from the presidential staff archive up to otherwise preserved, which now are in the April 9, 2018, the date when Serzh Sargsyan’s National Archives. They were displayed at presidency ended. Material continues to be Digitization Faculty of History. His first doctoral thesis (can- this exhibition. brought to the archives from the government, Virabyan stated that one of the most impor- didate’s) was on “Social-Political Life in A parallel exhibit was being prepared with the ministries, from individuals and intellectu- tant aspects of the work of the archives at pre- Armenia Up to the War,” and his second, full the new Komitas Institute-Museum dedicated to als. sent is the digitization of documents. It began doctoral thesis was on post-World War II the 150th anniversary of Komitas’ birth. The What is decided as significant is transferred in earnest in 2010, but, Virabyan said, “as there Armenia, “Armenia from Stalin to Khrushchev.” National Archives, Virabyan explained, contain to storage. Virabyan said, “Whatever is open, all are around 400 million documents, and rough- When asked how he entered the field of documents about Komitas’s studies at the are free to study. Whatever is categorized as ly 200,000 pages are scanned per year, you can archives, he replied, “Completely by chance.” Gevorgian Seminary of Echmiadzin, and his secret might remain as such for 10 or 30 years. imagine how much time is necessary to do He said he did not even know what archives later studies in Europe (he was continually in One day, after sufficient time passes, these everything.” were when he was at the university. touch with the See of Holy Echmiadzin in order items will also be accessible. It appears that Digitization solves two issues, he said. First, However, the Communist Party at that time to receive money for his education and to pre- Armenia is the only country where the docu- you can find information quickly, and secondly, was looking for a historian, who had to be a sent an accounting of how he spent that ments of the president until 2018 are found in you do not touch the original documents any Communist and had to be young, for its own money). The archives of Echmiadzin until 1955 the archives and researchers can study them.” longer. The document will not get damaged by archive. Virabyan said, “They kept looking and are preserved at the National Archives. They As far as the Armenian Genocide is con- users. The archive is different from libraries eventually found me. They called me, and I was also contain further correspondence by cerned, Virabyan said that the archives already because each document is unique and an origi- amazed and asked what this was. They Komitas as a vartabed and a teacher until 1911, possess whatever is possible on it, including nal, whereas books might have hundreds, or explained it to me and I found it interesting.” when he went to Constantinople. copies of materials in other major archives hundreds of thousands, of copies. It has been 40 years that he has worked in Finally, Virabyan said that a new exhibition except from Turkey, due to obvious difficulties In the past, the Armenian archives would film the archives. He began working in 1990 as was being prepared for 2020 on the World War of access. He noted that even Turkish citizens certain documents and then the microfilm senior researcher and gradually rose through II victory against Fascism by the Allies (the do not have full access to the Turkish General could be accessed through special machines the ranks. In 2001, he became head of the Soviet Union, United States, Great Britain and Staff’s military archives. He also stated that the but this has been replaced by digitization. archives agency department and in 2003 direc- France), which Virabyan considers a victory for Iranian archives remain to be explored by The policy has been adopted of first digitizing tor of the National Archives. Basically, he said mankind. He said that the predecessor of the Iranian language specialists, of whom there are items that are the most in demand. At present, with a chuckle, he has directed the archives of Armenian news agency Armenpress, which was not enough at present in Armenia. these are documents for people conducting Armenia for the entire 21st century. called the Telegraphic Agency, would post cari- He said that there may still be a certain genealogical research. They seek documents Among other things, Virabyan prepares new catures of Germany and its allies, weekly on a amount of material in people’s homes, but this about births, marriages, deaths and censuses in generations of archivists. He is the director of wall. People would view Hitler with the visage is not that much. In 2004-5, for the 90th order to prepare their family trees. Whatever is Museum Studies, Library Sciences and Archival of a pig or caricatures of Mussolini, Admiral anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the connected to the Armenian Genocide is also in Studies at the Khachatur Abovyan Armenian Miklos Horthy of Hungary and other Fascist or archives carried out an oral history campaign in demand and will be digitized. State Pedagogical University. He works with Nazi leaders. the Talin region among families from Moush The digitized materials at present can be students over the four years of the baccalaure- In all there were 103 images through 1943, and Sassoun, and recorded 50 hours of testi- used only in the internal network at the ate and the two years of master’s degree stud- and many were by noted artists. They will be mony. archives, but, Virabyan said, in time everything ies, and often accepts graduates to positions at exhibited along with satirical poems that were Special measures have been taken to prevent will also be posted on the internet for the pub- the archives. In 2018, he said, two of his stu- also printed and posted during that period. 4 S ATURDAY, JANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR INTERNATIONAL International News Erdogan’s Turkey Has a Serious Productivity Issue, MIT’s Daron Acemoglu Says Russia, Syria Launch ISTANBUL (Ahval) — Turkey has a announced a series of economic mea- state, Acemoglu said. Joint Military Exercises serious productivity problem because sures, including cheap lending by “This reality is seen most in areas its government has compromised the state-run banks and incentives to such as the courts and universities. YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Russia and Syria have independence of key institutions and invest in production and property, to More independence for judges and launched joint naval military exercises in the failed to encourage the development boost economic growth to 5 percent more autonomy for universities will Mediterranean Sea, the Russian Navy said. of new thought and technologies, in 2020 from an estimated 0.5 percent mean their capacity increases,” he Russian ships, aircraft from the Hmeimim airbase, said Daron Acemoglu, professor of frigates and Syrian minesweepers will be engaged in economics at the Massachusetts the drills. Institute of Technology (MIT). Rear Admiral Alexander Yuldashev, the comman- Rather than focus on measures to der of the military exercises, said the exercises are improve productivity, the governing aimed at expanding partnership between Russian Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Syrian militaries. has sought to grow the economy through investments in construction MFA Issues Statement on and real estate, Acemoglu, who is among the ten most-cited economists Occasion of Centennial in the world, said in an interview with Karar newspaper published on Of Massacres in Agulis Tuesday, January 7. “Turkey’s economy has grown over YEREVAN (News.am) — The Ministry of Foreign the past 13 years but increases in pro- Affairs of Armenia issued a statement on the occa- ductivity have been zero or negative,” sion of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian mas- Acemogu said. “This is all about insti- sacres in Agulis, on December 24. tutions. With better institutions, there “Today we commemorate the 100th anniversary will be a bigger space for the develop- of the Armenian genocide in Agulis. On December ment of new and better ideas.” Dr. Daron Acemoglu 24-25, 1919, peaceful Armenian civilians were mas- Turkey’s government is seeking to sacred, and the ancient Armenian settlement of boost economic activity following a Nakhichevan was left in ruins. currency crisis that erupted in August last year. said. “It is worth remembering that, in response to 2018, shortly after President Recep Instead of increasing its supervision Acemoglu will take part in these massacres, the government of the First Tayyip Erdogan assumed enhanced of society, the Turkish state needs to Babacan’s new political initiative, Republic of Armenia addressed the international executive powers at nationwide elec- step back and allow the media, the Islam Özkan, a journalist for Duvar community and particularly the Entente with the tions. His administration has judiciary and universities to operate news website, said last month citing a call to prevent assaults in its territory and ensure without political interference, meeting with the former minister. safety of the Armenians in the region. Acemoglu said. Turkey, under the new Babacan did not mention whether “Unfortunately, the crimes committed against the presidential system, is tightening the Acemoglu would join the party as a Armenians of Nakhichevan were not limited by the Turkish Court Rules state’s hold on society, he said. member or as an adviser, Özkan said. history of the 20th century. Azerbaijani authorities “With better institutions there will Erdogan’s government says it is emptied Nakhichevan of the Armenians once and for To Keep Osman also be more investment in technolo- focused on encouraging new tech- all and perpetrated the massive and systematic erad- gy,” he said. “We saw these kinds of nologies and has invested heavily in ication of Armenian cultural heritage. This led to the Kavala in jail institutional reforms at the start of education. Last month, Erdogan complete destruction of thousands of Christian mon- the 2000s, right after the economic revealed the first prototypes of a ISTANBUL (AFP) — A Turkish court uments, including churches, monasteries and crisis of 2000-2001. In this short peri- series of locally-made passenger cars on Tuesday, December 24 ignored calls khachkars (cross-stones) in Julfa, Agulis and else- od, Turkey showed great potential for that will start entering production in to release a businessman charged with where. The eradication of thousands of khachkars of better quality economic growth.” 2022. The Turkish president has criti- seeking to overthrow President Recep Julfa (considered masterpieces of medieval Christian Acemoglu may join a new political cized Babacan’s record on the econo- Tayyip Erdogan’s government, despite a art) by soldiers of the Azerbaijani army, documented movement led by former Deputy my, saying he took instructions from ruling by Europe’s top rights body. in a video, will go down in world history as an unsur- Prime Minister Ali Babacan, accord- the International Monetary Fund, Osman Kavala, a leading figure in passed manifestation of cultural atrocities.” ing to some Turkish pundits. Babacan which sponsored Turkey’s economic Turkey’s civil society who has funded ran Turkey’s economy after the AKP reforms after the 2001 crisis, and is a projects across the country, has been in assumed power in 2002 and is a close fan of high interest rates. Mkhitaryan to Undergo pre-trial detention since November political ally of ex-President Abdullah Turkey-born Acemoglu is both a 2017. Gül, also a former Erdogan loyalist. Turkish and U.S. citizen and is the Medical Exam A respected figure in intellectual cir- The new presidential system creates Elizabeth and James Killian Professor cles, Kavala is chairman of the ROME (PanARMENIAN.Net) — Arsenal midfielder a political system with fewer checks of Economics at M.I.T. He was born in Anatolian Culture Foundation, which Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who is on loan with Roma has and balances and is detrimental to 1967 and earned his Ph.D. at the promotes human rights through art, been feeling discomfort in his left thigh after an strengthening the capacity of the London School of Economics in 1992. injury he suffered in the match against Torino on including with neighboring Armenia, Sunday, December 5. with which Turkey has no diplomatic The attacking midfielder will have to undergo a ties. medical examination in the next 48 hours to avoid Turkish prosecutors accuse him and serious problems, Corriere dello Sport reported on 15 other leading figures in civil society Tuesday, January 7. of involvement in anti-Erdogan protests Russian Gas Price for Armenia in 2013 and the failed coup in 2016. Kavala, who appeared in the dock To Remain Unchanged in 2020 Armenian Journalist wearing a dark jacket and a white shirt, Among Leaders of New dismissed the charges as “completely MOSCOW (RFE/RL) — Russia’s Gazprom giant has decided not to groundless”, according to an AFP cor- raise, at least before the end of 2020, the wholesale price of its natur- Turkish Party respondent in court. al gas supplied to Armenia. “The 657-page indictment... proves I In a statement issued on New Year’s Eve, Gazprom announced that ISTANBUL (PanARMENIAN.Net) — Journalist, am innocent rather than guilty,” he told the unchanged price is set in a new supply contract which it has signed writer and columnist of Armenian descent Etyen the court. with Armenia’s national gas distribution network owned by it. Mahçupyan has been named among the leaders of “I demand this unlawful and discrim- “The contract between Gazprom Export and Gazprom Armenia for Turkey’s Future Party (“Gelecek Partisi” in inatory practice that placed me in the supplies of up to 2.5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year Turkish), Ermenihaber.am reported in December. prison for two years come to an end,” will be in effect until the end of 2020,” said the statement. The party was created recently by former Prime he added. The announcement came after months of negotiations between Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu, with The Turkish court in Silivri in the Armenian and Russian government officials and Gazprom executives. Mahçupyan cited among its 154 co-founders and outskirts of Istanbul set the next hear- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President later elected a member of the Executive Board. ing for January 28. Vladimir Putin discussed the issue when they met in Yerevan in Now, Mahçupyan will head the party’s research, The crowd applauded Kavala as he October. development and information activity. was led from the courtroom, saluting “We talked about a gas price for Armenia that will not break In October 2014, Mahçupyan was appointed as his supporters. Armenia’s economic dynamics,” Pashinyan said afterwards. senior advisor to then-Prime Minister Davutoglu. It Two weeks ago, the Strasbourg-based Gazprom raised the gas price by 10 percent, to $165 per thousand was the first time in modern Turkish history that a European Court of Human Rights cubic meters, following Russian-Armenian talks concluded in person of Armenian descent was appointed to such a (ECHR) urged Turkey to “take every December 2017. Despite that price rise, the retail cost of gas supplied position. He retired from this position in March measure to put an end” to Kavala’s to Armenian households and corporate consumers has remained 2015. The announcement came a day after he open- detention and “to secure his immediate unchanged so far. ly acknowledged the Armenian Genocide. However release.” Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian said in late November that he stated that his departure had nothing to do with In a damning ruling, the ECHR said the domestic gas tariffs will not rise before April 2020. the row. He said he retired in March due to the Kavala was being held “not only on acts Gazprom accounts for at least 80 percent of natural gas imported by mandatory retirement age for civil servants, and has that could not be reasonably considered Armenia. kept advising Davutoglu afterwards informally. as behavior criminalized under domes- The Russian gas price for Europe fell considerably, to around $200 tic law” but which were also protected per thousand cubic meters, in the course of 2018. by the European Convention on Human Rights. S ATURDAY, JANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR 5 Canadian Armenian Becomes UWC Dilijan’s First Aznavour Scholar

DILIJAN, Armenia — Just over a year ago, ties to compose or perform music, write, act in selor visited their class and shortly mentioned person for all Armenians and French-speak- Aurora Humanitarian Initiative announced the theatre, paint, etc. Nicolas Aznavour, Charles UWC – where people from all over the world ers and indeed globally. Someone whose establishment of the Charles Aznavour Aznavour’s son and co-founder of the Aznavour come, live, and study together for two years. music I had listened to my whole childhood, Scholarship. Aznavour lent his name and his Foundation, personally participated in review- The story about the movement fascinated the as in probably most Armenian homes. I can- energy to Aurora from the beginning – he was ing the applications and choosing the nominee. boy and he told himself that one day he would not thank enough the Aurora and Aznavour an important part of the first two Aurora Prize Armen Erzingatzian was chosen as the first love to study at the UWC Dilijan College in Foundations for awarding me with this schol- ceremonies in 2016 and 2017. It was decided Charles Aznavour scholar. Armenia. “I am very proud of my origins and arship and for giving me the chance to come that the new scholarship launched in his mem- Armen Erzingatzian, a 17-year-old first-year the idea of coming back to my roots sounded to UWC Dilijan, to live and learn in such a ory would be awarded annually to students student at UWC Dilijan, is a Canadian-Armenian fascinating,” said Armen. In the fall of 2018, diversified and rich environment. It is truly a from France and Francophone countries who born in Montreal, Canada. Erzingatzian is a Armen applied through his national committee delight to be at UWC Dilijan and a huge will have the opportunity to study at UWC very curious, motivated person, fascinated by and became the candidate for the Charles opportunity for me to be in Armenia, my Dilijan – an international boarding school in science and biology, and passionate about Aznavour Scholarship. place of origin,” said Armen. Armenia, part of the UWC movement. This music – he has been playing the piano since a “It was surreal. I couldn’t imagine that I “We are very excited to have the first Charles scholarship was envisaged to bring together very young age. Also, for the past two years, was being considered for this prestigious Aznavour Scholar. The Aznavour Foundation’s Aznavour’s two worlds – France and Armenia – Armen has been involved in many activities and scholarship, it was a dream. I sent a video to mission is to support the field of education and as a small way to memorialize those links and volunteering opportunities related to his inter- the International Committee telling them young people in fulfilling their dreams and to continue to thank Charles Aznavour through ests, such as working at hospitals, leading a who I was, what I did, why I wanted to go to potential. This annual scholarship will open the generations. green cooperative at his school, and tutoring UWC and why I should be the one getting new opportunities for those who believe in the UWC Dilijan together with the Aznavour young kids in French and Math at local kinder- the scholarship. After a while, they sent an power of education and wish to become a mem- Foundation established specific criteria for the gartens. email saying I would be going to UWC. I can- ber of the UWC family,” remarked Nicolas scholarship. The successful candidate was Erzingatzian first heard about UWC in the not describe what it felt like to be awarded a Aznavour, co-founder of the Aznavour expected to demonstrate artistic skills – abili- ninth grade, when the school’s student coun- scholarship in the name of such a prominent Foundation. AUA and PicsArt Announce Turkey May Send Allied Syrian The Launch of the AI Lab Fighters to Libya: Sources

YEREVAN, Armenia — The American University dents and is excited to provide engineering stu- ANKARA (Reuters) — Turkey is considering sending allied Syrian fighters to Libya as of Armenia (AUA) and PicsArt in December dents with the opportunity for continuous learning part of planned military support for the besieged government in Tripoli, senior Turkish announced the collaborative launch of an Artificial in an academic environment, while also solving real- sources said on Monday, December 30, potentially bringing more foreign influence into Intelligence (AI) Lab that will employ faculty and world challenges, based on real data and collabora- the complex conflict. students to conduct cutting-edge research in tion with industry experts. President Tayyip Erdogan said last week Turkey would deploy troops to Libya after machine learning and computer vision. This offers As AI is a fast-growing domain, it is extremely Fayez al-Serraj’s internationally-recognized government requested support to fend off an AUA students the unique opportunity to gain important that undergraduates studying in this or offensive by General Khalifa Haftar’s eastern forces. research experience in addition to applied software other related fields get a high-quality education and The move is meant to protect Turkish private engineering skills greatly valued by companies in gain advanced research skills that will make them By Orhan Coskun investment in Libya and bolster its energy claims in the IT field. competitive in the job market. the Mediterranean, but could also put Ankara at odds AUA and PicsArt have been working together to The new AI Lab will allow students to explore with other foreign players in the war. create a new model that will promote science and immense opportunities in research; learn how to Two senior Turkish government officials and two security officials, who spoke to Reuters on research while growing academic and professional experiment with cutting-edge tools and technolo- condition of anonymity, said Ankara had not yet deployed any Syrian fighters to Libya. capacity in the domain of AI. gies; receive advanced tailored training and men- “But evaluations are being made and meetings are being held on this issue, and there is a ten- “Artificial Intelligence is quickly evolving all over torship from local and international faculty and dency to go in this direction,” said one official, adding no decision had been made on numbers. the world and I think it is the right time to set the industry experts. They will be able to apply their Turkey-backed Syrian fighters spearheaded a Turkish military incursion into northeast scene here, in Armenia. We are very happy to knowledge to real big data sets; and offer solutions Syria in October targeting a Kurdish militia. Ankara, which opposes President Bashar al- launch the AI Lab in collaboration with PicsArt to for a globally leading application. The students will Assad, also backs Syrian rebels in the northwest province of Idlib in Syria’s nearly nine- enhance research in the field of AI. I am anticipat- also get competitive compensation for work that year civil war. ing to see how this new initiative will take us a step enriches, deepens, and accelerates their learning It was unclear whether Ankara was mulling sending Syrian fighters as part of a first forward into a center of excellence and surprise experience at AUA. deployment into Libya. other countries,” noted AUA President Dr. Karin Both PicsArt and AUA believe there is immense Haftar’s forces — supported by Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Markides. untapped potential for collaboration between acad- Jordan — have failed to reach the center of Tripoli. But they have made small gains in The AI Lab will employ two members of the AUA emia and industry. The AI Lab is one example of recent weeks with the help of Russian and Sudanese fighters, as well as drones shipped by the UAE, diplomats say. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitor, cited sources saying 300 Turkey- backed Syrian fighters had been sent to Libya while others were training in Turkish camps. However, a spokesman for the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) on Monday denied that Ankara had made a request to send FSA fighters to Libya. A military source within the FSA said the FSA was not being deployed to Libya, but that Syrian fighters in Syria and Turkey had signed up on an individual basis, for a salary, to work as “bodyguards” for a Turkish security company to protect bases and headquarters which Turkish forces will use in Libya. Business Interests Turkey’s military has been involved in Syria since 2016. “The military’s experience abroad will be very useful in Libya. However, there is the pos- sibility of using the experience of Syrian fighters as well,” said one of the security officials. “After parliament accepts the mandate, a step may be taken in this direction,” the per- son added. Ankara signed two accords with Libya’s government last month: one on security and mil- itary cooperation and another on boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean. The maritime deal ends Turkey’s isolation at sea as it ramps up offshore energy explo- ration that has alarmed Greece, Cyprus and others. The military deal would preserve its The audience at AUA listens to the panel. lone ally in the region, Tripoli, and protect investments by construction firms and other Turkish companies. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said Turkey aims to prevent Libya sliding into faculty, lead researchers, and about 15 undergradu- innovative models and processes that will increase chaos. Erdogan, who discussed the Libyan conflict with his Tunisian counterpart last ate students from AUA’s Akian College of Science mutual trust and greatly contribute to the value week, has said a ceasefire in Libya must be set as soon as possible. and Engineering (CSE) majoring in computer and generation and human talent capacity develop- The deployment bill was sent to parliament on Monday, prompting the main opposition data science. The students will be trained to con- ment. party to reject it on grounds it would exacerbate conflict. duct both applied and fundamental research in PicsArt is a creative platform and social editing The bill’s text warned that Haftar’s army has threatened Turkish companies in Libya and machine learning and computer vision. AUA pro- app that’s leading the visual storytelling revolution Turkish ships in the Mediterranean. fessors and machine learning professionals from and is the16th most downloaded app worldwide. “Turkey’s interests ... will be negatively impacted if attacks by the so-called Libyan PicsArt will begin trainings in January 2020. After With more than 130 million monthly active cre- National Army are not stopped and clashes become a severe civil war,” it said. a six-week training course, the best performing stu- ators, the PicsArt community creates, remixes and Turkey exported $1.5 billion in jewelry, furniture, poultry and other goods to Libya last dents will be hired by the AI Lab. shares nearly 1 billion images every month. The year, more than quadruple the imports of mostly metals from the North African country. “I am really excited about this project for three company has amassed one of the largest open- Slideshow (2 Images) main reasons: my background in AI, deep connec- source collections of content in the world, including Construction firms including Ustay Yapi, Tekfen (TKFEN.IS) and Guris Insaat dominate tion to AUA, and prospects for Armenia. PicsArt is free-to-edit photos, stickers and more. PicsArt is the Turkish-Libya Business Council’s board, highlighting the sector’s interests there. all about making awesome and I hope that togeth- available in 30 languages for free and as a sub- Mega-infrastructure projects have driven the Turkish economy’s mostly booming 17 er with AUA we can make AI awesome in Armenia. scription on iOS, Android and Windows devices. years under Erdogan. I believe this is just the first step of our collabora- Headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Additional reporting by Ceyda Caglayan and Ali Kucukgocmen in Istanbul, Tuvan tion and we can do much more together,” noted Yerevan, Armenia; Moscow; Beijing; Tokyo; and Los Gumrukcu in Ankara, Eric Knecht in Beirut and Khalil Ashawi in Syria; Writing and addi- Hovhannes Avoyan (M PSIA ’95), Founder of Angeles, PicsArt is backed by Sequoia Capital, DCM tional reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Ed Osmond PicsArt Inc. and AUA Corporation Trustee. Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, and Siguler PicsArt believes in the potential of the AUA stu- Guff and Company. 6 S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR Community News

Mom Whose Baby Was Elen Asatryan Announces Born to Queens Woman Candidacy for Democratic In Shocking IVF Flub County Central Reaches Settlement Committee in Calif. LOS ANGELES — In December, community activist, and advocate for human and civil By Nancy Dillon rights, Elen Asatryan announced her candidacy for the Democratic County Central Committee representing the 43rd State Assembly district — LOS ANGELES (New York Daily News) — the official governing body of the Democratic The California couple whose baby was mistak- Party in the County of Los Angeles and the enly born to a Queens woman in a stunning IVF largest local entity in the United States, repre- fiasco has settled a lawsuit against the fertility senting nearly 2.7 million registered clinic. Democrats. Anni and Ashot Manukyan sued the clinic in In formally announcing her candidacy, July after their son was born March 31 to the Asatryan stated: “My purpose has always been Flushing woman alongside yet another baby clear — to leave a positive footprint for future from yet another couple. generations, fight for social justice, human No one comprehended the monumental mis- rights and equity, empower and protect the take until the Queens woman saw the infant rights of women, minorities, the working class boys and realized they didn’t match either her and small businesses — values that we share.” Korean-American background or the two “In these alarming times, when a woman’s female embryos she created with her husband right to choose is in jeopardy, families are being and agreed to have implanted. torn apart, our children no longer feel safe in A stretch of Artsakh Avenue in Glendale (Los Angeles Times photo) The Manukyans previously said they had to school, homelessness is at an all-time high, and wage an agonizing court battle in New York to people with full-time jobs can’t afford to get get custody of their newborn son because the sick, we need leaders who will roll up their Queens mom who carried and delivered him sleeves and fight vigorously to uphold our through no fault of her own wanted to keep Plans to Transform Glendale’s democratic values. I want to be that person to him. lead this fight and represent you.” The couple then sued CHA Fertility over the Art and Entertainment District Spanning over two decades, Asatryan’s harrowing ordeal, entered mediation and activism dates back to her middle school days reached a settlement with a “strict confiden- Move Forward when she took to her Board of Education and tiality provision,” paperwork obtained by the City Council to address discrimination issues at News states. GLENDALE (Los Angeles Times) — In a little over two years, visitors to her school and in her city. In a filing this week, the Manukyans asked Committed to community education and the judge to approve the settlement’s “minor’s Glendale’s art and entertainment district might find a bustling pedestrian haven with outdoor dining, an interactive empowerment, Asatryan has served and con- compromise,” where an adult signs on behalf of tinues to serve on various committees and a child so the child can receive money. play zone for kids, planned and spontaneous By Lila Seidman performances, and art everywhere from over- boards of local and regional organizations, A hearing on the matter took place on including the City of Glendale Parks, January 3. head to eye level to underfoot. At least that’s the intention of Glendale Recreation, and Community Services Speaking in July, Anni Manukyan said she felt Commission, where she served as Chair, the nothing but gratitude and sympathy for the officials who are forging ahead with a redesign of Artsakh Avenue, which makes up the heart of the district and is sometimes overlooked in the city’s Glendale Youth Alliance, the Glendale Queens mom – a woman she was forced to bat- Community Police Partnership Advisory tle in court because of CHA’s negligence. downtown area. It runs from Wilson Avenue to Harvard Street. Last month, the project moved one step closer to realization when Glendale Committee, the Census Complete Count “We had to fight for him, and she was fight- Committee, and the Los Angeles County Voter ing for him on the other end,” she said, speak- City Council members approved the design and technical development of the two-block area into a one-way street with an extended sidewalk and ample Outreach Committee. She is currently a dele- ing alongside her California lawyer Adam Wolf. gate for the California Democratic Party, where “She fought hard for him,” she said of the pedestrian space, with several conditions. “What we’re trying to do is make this an attractive place, and, specifically, I she continues to be involved in shaping the Flushing woman. “They were saying anything party platform and advocates for the issues to keep him.” think we’re trying to make it an attractive place for younger people,” Councilman Frank Quintero said during a special council meeting December closest to her heart. Anni praised her New York lawyer Eric An advocate for women’s rights, Asatryan Wrubel for helping them win the landmark cus- 17, adding that he would like to see digital art incorporated. Slated to be completed by spring or summer of 2022, the overhaul — which founded the Glendale Domestic Violence Task tody case in a matter of weeks. Force — bringing together Glendale based non- Speaking at a press conference in July, Anni includes a year of cultural programming and public art — is pegged at a price said it was “tense and heartbreaking” meeting of nearly $8.3 million. the Flushing woman for the first time. It’s a rough estimate that could change, Glendale spokeswoman Eliza “She raised my baby inside of her womb, you Papazian said. know, and she took care of him even after he When the project came before the council in late August, it was projected to was born, and I’m eternally grateful to her. be completed a year earlier and cost about $1 million less. She’s a lovely woman, and we were just all vic- Maryland Avenue, which was developed about 30 years ago and renamed tims together, we’re not against each other, Artsakh in 2018, was envisioned as a vibrant area adjacent to Brand Boulevard, none of us,” she said. “but it never lived up to those expectations,” Mayor Ara Najarian has said. Anni blasted CHA for its lax oversight, saying The hope is that this project will finally breathe life into what the city desig- the clinic “robbed me of my ability to carry my nated as its art and entertainment district in 2012. own child, my baby boy, to be with him in the Both the north and south stretches of Artsakh, as well as a public alley, will first couple moments of his life, to nurse him.” see significant renovations, according to the latest plans conceived by city staff The Manukyans said the nightmare began and consultant Studio One Eleven. soon after CHA told them a semi-successful On the north portion, an outdoor plaza is expected to include games and “thaw” of their three frozen embryos left them seating, and an overhead shade element. with two. The plaza could be temporarily cordoned off for events and is designed to She was implanted with what she thought accommodate pop-up booths, a food truck, communal tables and a deejay booth. were her two viable embryos on August 20, It could also be used to host classes and events such as outdoor yoga, said 2018, the same day she believes the Flushing Bradley Calvert, Glendale’s assistant director of community development. woman visited CHA for implantation. A plaza planned for the south portion would include a modular stage made One of Anni’s embryos obviously went to the from movable furniture, rotating wall art, a large sculptural piece and overhead New York couple, and she’s not sure if the art, as well as a play area for children. other one was among the two she received. A large gateway sign is planned near the intersection of Broadway and Elen Asatryan “We live with the uncertainty that another Artsakh to brand and identify the district, Calvert said. embryo of ours may be born to someone else. I Concentration of the most visually stimulating aspects of the plan in the don’t understand (how) CHA could have done southern stretch is by design. profits to help identify areas of mutual cooper- this to us. This is the most important thing in Besides providing more space than the northern area, “the southern portion ation and assistance in matters relating to our life, our family,” she said. is also absent of things to really activate it right now,” Calvert said. domestic violence. Ashot, a soft-spoken man who called his kids Meanwhile, the north section already has activity tied to restaurants, stores Dedicated to empowering youth, Asatryan “the love of my life,” said the experience left and a nearby theater, he said. founded and led internship and public policy them feeling like “zombies.” “We felt it would be important and necessary to really put a lot of emphasis fellowship programs for high school and college This case is believed to be the first time in on the southern block and use these three kind of large art moves to really students as well as recent college graduates. U.S. history that a family had to go to court to gravitate people to the area,” Calvert said. She also spearheaded the Path to College recover their offspring from a mother who see GLENDALE, page 11 Program to help non-English speaking parents unwittingly bore a child as a result of a fertility navigate the school system and provide a center error, Wolf said. see ASATARYAN, page 9 S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR 7 COMMUNITY NEWS Making the Frozen Foods Section Ground Zero For Retail Reinvention

CHICAGO — As most people who found them- tomer is doing, plus a host of other contextual brand’s starting point, he noted, the goals are noted. When one looks at consumer behavior selves in a grocery store during the chaotic pre- factors, all kinds of things could appear on that much bigger. Because all kinds of retail areas studies, one of the more consistent findings is Thanksgiving period will probably recall: some display. It might be a relevant offer from one of could use cooler screens — even the screens that over two-thirds of consumer purchases are days shopping in a store, even for relatively sim- Cooler Screens brand partners, or it might even aren’t literally going onto a cooling case. spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment choices. That ple things, can be a pretty atrocious experience. be nutritional information or dietary data. The idea to change the face of in-store retail means the challenge for brands and retailers Nothing seems to be in the right place, the with IoT enabled smart looking to make conversions, he noted, is in signs advertise all kinds of sales — even ones screen capable of scan- properly being in and capturing that moment. that appear to have expired a day or two ago — ning consumer intention He gave the example of a customer in the and figuring out even basic product informa- and context to push the frozen foods aisle around 7 or 8 a.m. looking at tion seems to be a major uphill climb. right purchase at them at frozen breakfast items is not an ideal person to It was a situation that Arsen Avakian became the right moment, whom to show a beer promotion. But that same intimately aware of in his previous job as CEO Avakian said, is a big job. customer picking up a frozen pizza around of Argo Tea, as he found himself spending Too big a job, in fact, for a game time on a Sunday afternoon? The beer much time in grocery store aisles trying to fig- start-up like Cooler promotion is much more useful to the cus- ure out how to sell more product. He found his Screens to take on com- tomer. mind was quickly drawn to a different set of pletely solo. And, he noted, it’s much more informative questions: why was the experience in the aisles “We are looking to promotion for the brand. One of the main chal- so chaotic and confusing most of the time and build an ecosystem lenges he faced at Argo Tea, and the endemic what could he do to fix it? around this, and we know problem for brands is how to know if the pro- The solution became Avakian’s next entre- that is a very large vision motion is yielding conversions. Because of the preneurial effort: Cooler Screens — a firm that that bringing this experi- placement of the Cooler Screens, that answer has aims to replace the glass doors in the Arsen Avakian ence to life is going to be a has become much more apparent because one frozen foods aisle with large digital doors that cooperative project. It’s can see whether the information pushed actu- are, in Avakian’s description, “big giant iPads” why we’ve formed relation- ally led to a conversion shortly after that at the programmed to display relevant information “The foundational core of the idea was to ships with global retail leaders like Walgreens, point of sale (POS). and offers to consumers when they stop to look bring the consumer experience in-store into line and among the top 20 CPG brands in the world And yet, he noted, it is a transaction that also at them. with something better and more akin to the — the Cokes, Pepsi’s, Nestles and the like. What preserves the consumer’s privacy while it is What kind of relevant information, he noted, online shopping experience by making it easy we offer them, in a right point, to tell con- happening. will depend on a host of factors. The digital for them to make better buying decisions, bet- sumers their brand stories [and] reach out with Privacy isn’t just an afterthought for Cooler doors, he said, are the consumer touchpoint of ter budgeting decisions or just have a better relevant offers.” Screens Avakian told PYMNTS — the idea that the digital merchandising platform that Cooler path to the relevant information they want.” And the relevance to the moment at hand in its service should protect individual shoppers Screens have built. Depending on what the cus- And while the frozen foods aisle is the retail is an often-underestimated thing, he was baked in from day one of design with stan- dards developed by consumer privacy advo- cates. As far as they know, Avakian noted, they are one of the first retail firms to implement these standards. And they do this, he notes for two reasons. The first is that it is the right thing to do. “Consumers in a traditional retail context want privacy in the store, they don’t want to TH feel spied on, and they shouldn’t have to get strong digital services.” Because the old school method of data scrap- ing every demographic detail about a consumer to show them fully relevant offers that has become common among digital retailers is, he said, unnecessarily invasive without producing a really good result. More than a retailer needing to know every detail about a customer to make good recom- mendations, show good information or push 1 the right promotion, he said, they are better served knowing where the customer is, what 9 they seem to be doing and looking at in the moment, and other contextual details like what the weather is in their ZIP code that day. “We use a combination of IoT tech and digi- tal sensors we have in front of the doors we are SPONSOR A TEACHER able to analyze consumer behavior in the moment — dwell time, what they are interested in, etc. We think that actually provides far more IN ARMENIA AND ARTSAKH relevant signals when it comes to providing con- sumers a contextually relevant message or pro- motion. Who they are, where they came from Since its inception in 2001, and their favorite movie? We don’t need to know any of that.” the TCA Sponsor A Teacher Consumers like getting relevant offers, he Program has raised $709,500 noted, but no one likes them so much they want to be spied on. So, he said, the solution is and reached out to 6,427 obvious: look at where they are and what they teachers and school staff are doing, instead of trying to figure out per- sonal details. in Armenia and Artsakh. What’s Next Cooler Screens started in the frozen foods section for two reasons — it was the section most in need of improvement and it is the fastest-growing part of the grocery store. But, he noted, the bigger goal will leave the frozen food section behind someday — because with adaptation, it could be an appropriate tool for all kinds of retail experience: in the pharmacy, R R R R buying fresh foods and the like. It could even find applications outside of the retail vertical entirely in healthcare applications for patients. This is why he noted, expansion will be the $200 $400 $600 $Other______big goal in 2020 — and though they couldn’t quite spill any of their big partnership announcements yet, Avakian said to pay atten- tion in January 2020, because big news is on the horizon. Because what is clear to the team at Cooler Screens, he noted, is that physical retail is not dying, nor is it likely to anytime soon given that 90 percent of commerce happens in physical stores today. It just needs improvement — and a digital upgrade to make the experience pleas- ant, instead of onerous. 8 S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR OBITUARY Rubik Kocharian Prolific Artist

CLOVIS, Calif. — The Armenian Museum of Fresno announced that Artist Rubik Kocharian died on Friday, November 29, 2019. He was 79. Born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1940, like many Armenian families during the Soviet years, Kocharian was exiled with his parents to Siberia (1946-1953). They landed in Bashkiria, where under very difficult living conditions, young Rubik decided to become a painter. Here, an exiled Russian painter Ivan Pavlov became his art teacher. The family was allowed to return to Armenia in 1953. An avid student of history and ancient civi- lizations, Kocharian, has merged several styles of the Masters while preparing his own paints and colors to express his artistry. According to critics, while in New York he was known as major exponent of a new art move- ment called “Magic Realism.” Upon his move to Los Angeles from New York, Kocharian’s subject matters has changed from depicting urban Rubik Kocharian with the artist Rubik Kocharian, “Mona-Lisa” and Rubik Kocharian Self Portrait, 12”x16” (2011) - “La Giaconda Print with Broken Glass, squalor to nature studies and still lifes, preserv- 54”x45” (1989) - Self Portrait, 9”x11” (2003) ing the spirit, joy and bright colors. In 1987, the Los Angeles Times wrote, “His meticulously rendered nature studies and still Kocharian migrated to the United States in of ancient Armenia. Armenian Museum of Fresno. The opening night lifes reflects his interest in Italian Renaissance 1974. He came here with no money, having to In his words: “I was working on a composi- reception of his world premier exhibition titled art. Technically advanced almost Pre-Raphaelite leave behind all of his paintings in the Soviet tion “King Argishti visiting the temple of God Armenia: From BC to Christianity was on Friday, in their obsessive attention to detail, Union. During the early years in the United Teishebaini” That temple was in Yerevan region September 2, 2016 on the 25th anniversary cele- Kocharian’s repetitious array of flowers, fruit States the artist’s life was very challenging to and Boris Borisovich was conducting archaeo- bration of Independence of Artsakh. The following and gnarled tree trunks exalt representational say the least. He established his studio called logical work there too. His answers to all my year his exhibited was opened on September realism as if the 20th-Century Modernist exper- Rabutwo Gallery on 126 Madison Avenue questions stood in my mind since then and my 21,2017 titled All Things Pomegranate – a symbol iment had never existed.” (between 30th and 31st St) in NY, NY. In a first historical composition “King Argishti visit- of fertility and rebirth dedicated to the indepen- In another story in 1989, the publication short time he came up with a completely new ing the temple of God Teishebaini” was accept- dence of Armenia from then Soviet system. In wrote, “Ruben Kocharian’s paintings are dense, series of artwork that were exhibited in well- ed to the juried exhibition at Artist Union of 2018 his series on Conceptual Still Lifes depicting detail-packed still lifes and pictures of everyday known galleries in New York and Washington, Armenia and was bought by Ministry of Culture ever changing traditions and values of our lifestyle of Arm SSR. Since then I dedicated to painting dominated the show. compositions presenting Armenian history.” Kocharian’s art are based on his lifetime The year 1984 was the second crucial point devotion in studying the history, traditions and in his profession and life. He married Anahit culture of the Armenian people and other Yesayan, who was once his art student in ancient civilizations. During the past few years Yerevan, Armenia. Rubik found the support, he had created several new paintings that the comfort and motivation to flourish. Anahit Armenian Museum of Fresno was in the brought stability to his life, providing him the process of compiling in an upcoming 122 pages opportunity to further develop himself and his 12x12 monograph, composed of some 40 origi- creative, artistic talent. In 1986, he moved to nal oil-on-linen paintings, which will be accom- Los Angeles where he exhibited his work at the panied with bilingual captions providing their Heritage Gallery and other exhibition halls. In historic significance in the Armenian heritage 1996, the artist and his family moved to Fresno and culture. Kocharian was working on a new /Clovis, California where he was active in art composition when he unexpectedly passed, on circles and had held numerous exhibitions over November 29. the years. In addition to his wife, he also leaves a son, His last three solo exhibitions were held at the Mourad.

Telephone (617) 924-7400

Once exiled with his parents to Siberia (1946-1953) Rubik Kocharian, pictured lower right at Aram Bedrosian renowned artist Ivan Pavlov’s art class, became a prolific artist creating more than 1,000 artworks in different genres that are part of private collections worldwide. Funeral Home, Inc. Continuous Service By The Bedrosian Family Since 1945 life. Rich with the descriptive texture of blis- D.C. In 1980, he was invited to Greece where he tered paint, papery onion skins and crisply fold- created a series of paintings and drawings of MARION BEDROSIAN ed cloth, these genre scenes have a closely “Armenian Village” on Greek island Crete. 558 MOUNT AUBURN STREET PAUL BEDROSIAN observed intensity.” Two significant events in his life provided WATERTOWN, MA 02472 LARRY BEDROSIAN Kocharian is one of the few Armenian artists direction to Kocharian’s artistry and talent. The who have taken on the challenge of creating first was in 1967 when he was introduced to some of the significant traditional historical Boris Borisovich Piotrovskiy (director of events of Armenian history through his paint- Hermitage museum of Leningrad at the time) ings. An avid student of history and ancient civ- who was conducting archaeological work in ilizations, Kocharian, may be considered a clas- Armenia. Piotrovkiy visited his studio in sical-naturalist in his style of painting and has Yerevan, Armenia and was very pleased to see merged several styles of the masters to express his paintings. He posed for his portrait, during F UNERAL H OME his artistry. which Kocharian asked questions about history Giragosian James “Jack” Giragosian, CPC Mark J. Giragosian Funeral Counselors 576 Mt. Auburn Street, Watertown, MA 02472, TEL: 617-924—0606 www.giragosianfuneralhome.com

Nardolillo Funeral Home Est. 1906 John K. Najarian, Jr. Rhode Island’s Only Licensed Armenian Funeral Director 1278 Park Ave. Cranston, RI 02910 (401) 942-1220 1111 Boston Neck Rd. Narragansett, RI 02882 (401) 789-6300 www.nardolillo.com S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR 9 COMMUNITY NEWS AGBU/NAASR Panel Wrestles with Genocide, Free Speech and Social Media

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Hate speech is pro- al democracies is usually considered protected European Convention on Human Rights words and deeds even though speech is of crit- tected in the US but there are in fact limits to speech, based on the “Harm Principle.” This (ECHR) and his freedom of expression had ical causal importance in the cascading into free speech. Hate speech that incites violence is principle holds that speech can only be pun- been breached by Swiss authorities. genocide or xenophobic violence. “One cannot considered a crime. The tremendous growth in ished if it directly causes material damage and Kılıçdagı explained that the ECHR in its deci- separate what is said from what happens pri- social media has complicated the situation. can only be prevented if it will be directly sion expressed the view that there was no tense marily because genocidal violence is not spon- Social media multiplies the effects of hate responsible for violence. However, he observed, political environment about the Armenian taneous combustion and those speaking are speech, and because social media is an anarchic those using hate speech but not doing direct Genocide and no serious possibility of a clash not lone wolves with no listeners,” noted space, it is almost impossible to police. violence are still part of the process resulting in between Turks and Armenians in Switzerland, McCalpin, and when thought leaders and dem- On December 8, 2019, at Harvard University, genocidal violence and should be held account- and therefore that Perinçek’s statements were agogues speak people listen and in listening, the Armenian General Benevolent Union New able. Furthermore, even after genocidal vio- not incitement to violence. Additionally, since they act. England District and the National Association lence ends, denial as a form of hate speech still Perinçek had made his speeches “only” in three McCalpin emphasized that those who are for Armenian Studies and Research does material harm. public events, their impact was limited — a influencers and inciters cannot be absolved by (NAASR)/Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Instead of recommending criminalization of remarkable view in the age of the internet and declarations that they didn’t kill anyone or Contemporary Armenian Issues Lecture Series ordered killings. Words have consequences; jointly sponsored a panel discussion titled hate speech proceeds from hateful persons, and “Incitement to Genocide, Freedom of while freedoms of speech and expression are Expression, and Social Media.” protected rights, they are not limitless rights. The panel featured Dr. Henry Theriault, asso- Following the three speakers’ prepared com- ciate vice president for Academic Affairs, ments they engaged in a lengthy discussion Worcester State University, who also serves as with audience members, rounding out an the president of the International Association impressive and substantive evening. There was of Genocide Scholars; Dr. Jermaine McCalpin, general agreement among the speakers and assistant professor and chair of the African and event organizers that the discussion served as African-American Studies Program at New an important starting point and that the topic Jersey City University, an internationally recog- will be taken up in future programs. Video from nized expert and consultant on transitional jus- the evening has been posted on NAASR’s tice, genocides and reparations; and Dr. youtube page. Ohannes Kılıçdagı, who recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University and cur- rently serves as the coordinator of the Krikor Elen Asatryan Announces Guerguerian Online Archive Project at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Candidacy for Democratic Studies at Clark University. The panel was intro- duced and moderated by Marc Mamigonian, County Central director of Academic Affairs at NAASR. From left, Henry Theriault, Jermaine McCalpin and Ohannes Kilicdagi Committee in Calif. Ara Balikian, chairman of the AGBU New England District, opened the evening by ASATARYAN, from page 6 explaining that the program was an initiative of hate speech, Theriault believes that punishment social media. pipeline of support for students to successfully the AGBU to mark the International Day of should concentrate on repairing the damage However, in Kılıçdagı’s assessment, the graduate high school and complete the college Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of caused by hate speech such as correcting the ECHR, which claims to protect universal norms admissions process. the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of historical record. Legal sanctions are not only and values pertaining to human rights, adopted In her mission to ensure that all voters have this Crime on December 9. He turned things justified for hate speech that incites violence a parochial approach in this case. In the era of equal access to the democratic process, over to Mamigonian who introduced the speak- but are also justified for genocide denial which global social media and communication tech- Asatryan developed and implemented voter reg- ers and outlined the parameters of the discus- is a growing form of hate speech on the inter- nology, the effects of Perinçek’s speeches could istration and ‘Get Out the Vote’ initiatives sion. net. not remain limited to Switzerland. Social media resulting in over 50,000 newly registered voters The first speaker, Theriault, focused on the Kılıçdagı focused his remarks on the case of multiplies the impact of genocide denialism, and record-breaking voter turnout in some of direct connection between hate speech and Dogu Perinçek, the president of the Fatherland hate speech, and racism. Kılıçdaı advocated the most competitive and heated local, state, genocide. Noting that genocide denial is itself a Party in Turkey, who made three public speech- that international political and judicial bodies and national elections. form of hate speech, Theriault invoked Israel es in Switzerland in 2005 and said that the adopt a global outlook against the global rise of A firm believer in the power of grassroots, the Charny who has written that denial mocks vic- Armenian Genocide is an “imperialist lie.” The discriminatory populism if they want to prevent greater portion of Asatryan’s professional tenure tims and celebrates their destruction. Switzerland-Armenian Association lodged a the repetition of mass atrocities anywhere in before starting her consulting firm, the Stark Incitement is an action through hate speech. criminal complaint against him, at the end of the world. Group, included serving as Executive Director of Often incitement is subtle and seen as protect- which he was convicted on the Swiss Criminal The final speaker, McCalpin, observed that the Armenian National Committee of America - ed speech. Hate speech changes the ethical Code’s prohibition of hate speech and justifica- we often create a false dichotomy between Glendale, then the Western Region (ANCA-WR) standards by which decisions to act are made, tion of genocide. Following various appeals, the speech and action, perhaps in part due to the — a grassroots public affairs organization devot- making violence more likely. European Court of Human Rights decided that aphorism facta non verba: action not words. ed to advancing issues of concern to the Theriault explained that hate speech in liber- Perinçek was protected by Article 10 of the That is, people create a separation between Armenian-American community in 19 western U.S. States. Some of her proudest accomplish- ments include leading the struggle to achieve equal representation in government entities, Armenian Genocide recognition in every state in the region, mandating Genocide education in the CA high school curriculum, mobilizing 166,000 participants in the historic March for Justice for the 100th anniversary commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, and championing to gain recognition for Artsakh’s right to self-determina- tion for which she was presented the Artsakh “Gratitude” Award by the President of the Republic of Artsakh. A first-generation immigrant, Asatryan, with her family, moved from Armenia to Glendale at the age of 10, where she attended Columbus Elementary School, Toll Middle School, and The Aranosian Family, Concord, NH $5000 Hoover High School. She is a graduate of the University of California Los Angeles, where she Armand and Marilyn Norehad, Norehad Charitable, Northfield, IL, $500 studied Political Science with concentrations in Raffi A. Hagopian Dorian, Fresno, CA $120 American Politics and International Relations. The 43rd State Assembly district encompass- Dorothy D. Martiesian, Providence, RI, $100 es the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Cañada Gayane K. Merguerian, Woburn, MA $40 Flintridge, La Crescenta-Montrose, and parts of Los Angeles including Hollywood Hills, East Hollywood, Little Armenia, Franklin Hills, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and Atwater Village. The election for the Democratic County Central Committee will take place on Tuesday, March 3. Registered Democrats — and those who have declined to state a political party, but have requested a Democratic ballot — residing in Assembly District 43 will see Asatryan’s name on their ballot. To register to vote or update voter information visit lavote.net. To learn more about, get involved in, and con- tribute to Asatryan’s campaign visit www.electelen.com. 10 S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR COMMUNITY NEWS

brownstone, on the site of a college dorm, was remodeled showcase its literary and artistic treasures. Thus, he hired as a library and opened in 1947, where it remained for 14 noted local architect Jerome Bailey Foster to design what years. Then the state took over the address via eminent has become a Great Hall at the rear of the building. Ordinary domain. Measuring 33 feet wide, 62 feet long and 12 feet high, the Enter the “other orphan,” John Mirak. His name is voluminous room encompasses original elements: 22 known to generations in town for selling cars and devel- stained-glass windows and 50 oak barrister bookcases. oping real estate. The family name likely should be equally Portraits of famous literary figures peer from the walls. known for works of generosity. Across the floor spreads a massive Khorassan Persian rug. Origins A child survivor of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, Tour of Wonder Mirak settled in Arlington and began building his busi- On a recent tour, led by curator Ara Gharazaians, the nesses in the mid-1930s. By 1961, Topalian and his viewer’s eye explored the hall with wonder, falling at last trustees, “babes in the woods” in business matters, on Mystic Lake beyond. From Immigrants, approached him for help. Affixed to the foyer wall, a marble plaque rededicates the “My father,” Bob Mirak, John’s eldest son, said in an library to one of Topalian’s heroes — Eghia Demirjibashian. interview, “was no babe in the woods and was willing to lis- Like that late-19th-century Armenian mystic, writer, editor A Foundation Grew ten to Topalian. However, when the elder gentleman asked and poet, Topalian mixed scholarship and eccentricity. A my father to become president of the foundation and help freethinker, he held radical ideas — he knew socialists ARLINGTON, Mass. (Arlington Advocate) — What’s the with the lawsuit, my father resisted,” pleading family and Emma Goldman and Alexander Beekman — and he wore a story behind the magnificent building with the stately, business demands. cross in his lapel upside-down, to proclaim that God was white columns overlooking Mystic Lake near the town’s An Election Surprise dead. border with Winchester? Resolved not to take the post, John Mirak was told a few Apart from his foundation benefactors, Bob Mirak The magisterial aura that the Armenian Cultural days later by Topalian’s lawyer that he had been elected reported, he gave short shrift to wealthy Armenians. Once, Foundation projects has its origins among two people with unanimously as president of the Armenian Cultural when two Armenians of means questioned why he spent ordinary beginnings — Vahan Topalian and John Mirak. Foundation and needed to appear in court against the his time with books and the classics, Topalian retorted: “I Let’s take a look inside one of Arlington’s best-kept Commonwealth. Thus began nearly 40 years of devotion to would rather ride in a chariot with Aristotle and Plato than secrets. in a Cadillac with jackasses like you.” Common Beginnings That salty language was not directed at Based on foundation records and inter- his chief donor, John Mirak. Concerned views, the story began with two immi- about the safety of its treasures, the two grants. The first one, Topalian, emigrated former orphans shielded the foundation here from western (Turkish) Armenia in from the general public throughout their 1905 at age 18. He assisted an Armenian lives. tailor while receiving his education and Expanding the mission later moved to Boston, where he worked In 1997, John Mirak, then 90, turned at the Copley Plaza Hotel as a tailor and the foundation over to his son, Bob, and a valet. highly qualified board. The new board Daily, his hands worked with cloth, but adhered to the foundation’s original mis- his mind was on books and art — and not sion — fostering advancement of culture in just any that passed his fancy, but trea- general and Armenian culture in particu- sures, including volumes by authors who lar. But it soon branched out in two direc- shaped Western civilization from the mid- tions — the promotion of Armenian music 18th century on. and the advancement of Armenian Over his quarter century in downtown women’s issues, especially in the Boston, Topalian appears to have haunted Armenian diaspora. every area book shop and auction in pur- In keeping with the new initiatives, the suit of rare finds. His collector’s trove board dedicated a sumptuous second-floor amounted to an estimated 25,000 volumes room to Armenian music. Named for the before he died in 1983 at age 97. great 20th-century musicologist and Those works are part of a collection esti- priest, Gomidas Vartabed (1869-1935). It mated at twice that size housed at the cul- featured a photo of the Persian-born com- tural foundation, at 441 Mystic St. poser and conductor Ruben Gregorian Make an appointment, and there you The exterior of the Armenian Cultural Foundation on Mystic Avenue in Arlington (1915-1991) shaking hands with the Shah see 52 volumes by French philosopher of Iran. Armenian women’s issues were Voltaire and the complete works of also recognized by collaborating with American poet Edgar Allen Poe. In concert with the foun- the foundation and to Topalian. the Armenian International Women’s Association. dation’s mission — to preserve and venerate Armenian cul- John Mirak helped Topalian put the foundation’s con- The board also continued the foundation’s original mis- ture — you will also find the world’s broadest collection of tents into storage and search for a new location. In a few sion by sponsoring lectures and exhibits on Armenian his- Armenian newspapers as well as the largest collection of years he settled on 441 Mystic, a family residence. tory. Among these were a 2004 exhibit devoted to the musical scores and other materials of the renown According to local historian Richard Duffy, the building career of Diana Agabeg Apcar (1859-1927), Armenia’s first Armenian composer Alan Hovhaness, a 1927 Arlington was constructed in 1895 as a Queen Anne Revival. It female diplomat, and a 2018 celebration of the life of illus- High graduate, and displays focusing on women’s issues. remained as such until the mid-1920s, when its new owner, trious Armenian-American poet Diana Der Hovannesian. From Tailor to Curator a prominent real estate developer, transformed it by remov- Notable books numbering an even dozen were also edit- How did an ordinary tailor with an extraordinary pas- ing its Queen Anne turret and adding four massive ed and published, including most recently, President Calvin sion for the life of the mind become a cultural curator? columns to its facade. The building remained that way until Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug (2013) by Dr. Some history: The foundation’s first home was 18 the 1960s, when the foundation moved in. Martin Deranian. Scholarly receptions for dignitaries from Somerset St., on Beacon Hill. The handsome five-story For John Mirak, the building needed a grand way to Armenia and elsewhere were also held in the Great Hall.

Tutunjian Interim CEO at Fresno EOC until Arrival of New CEO Reyes

FRESNO (Business Journal) — The Fresno sible for the oversight of six diverse programs A Mendota native, Reyes earned a Bachelor Economic Opportunities Commission (Fresno with a combined annual budget of over $27 mil- of Arts degree from the University of California, EOC) board of commissioners has announced lion. Enterprise programs under her leadership Santa Cruz, and a Master of Business Emilia Reyes as the organization’s new CEO. include: Energy Services, Employment and Administration degree from California State Beginning January 20, Reyes will helm the Training, Food Services, Local Conservation University, Dominguez Hills. Central Valley’s largest nonprofit organization. Corps, Transit Systems, and Valley Reyes is the first woman to lead Fresno EOC She was previously director of First 5 Fresno Apprenticeship Connections. She is an active and is the 5th leader in its 54 years of opera- County. contributor to regional and national organiza- tion. “I am delighted to welcome Emilia Reyes as tions, currently serving on the board of direc- “What we have accomplished over the last our new CEO. She is a proven leader, has a tors for the National Safe Place Network, several years in Fresno County has fundamen- heart for those less fortunate, and strong con- Fresno Madera Continuum of Care, and the tally improved the way young children and fam- nection to our community, which were all fac- Cultural Arts Rotary Club Foundation where ilies are served,” Reyes said. “Not only has it tors considered by our Board’s search commit- she is the immediate Past President of the Club. been gratifying and enjoyable, most important- tee.” said Linda Hayes, Fresno EOC board chair. Additionally, she is a member of the Fresno ly it has resulted in better services for our fam- “We are confident that we have identified the Regional Workforce Development Board Youth ilies. Now it is my goal to build on these rich best leader to take Fresno EOC forward.” Council. Ms. Tutunjian was named experiences while serving as the CEO of Fresno Reyes will be replacing Brian Angus, who is “Administrator of the Year” from National Safe EOC.” retiring after serving as CEO for nine years. Place Network in 2012 and was awarded the Fresno EOC is the largest nonprofit organi- Michelle L. Tutunjian The board has appointed Fresno EOC’s Fresno EOC “CEO’s Excellence Award” in zation in the Central Valley, according to The Enterprise Officer Michelle L. Tutunjian as 2019. Business Journal’s research. In 2019, Fresno interim CEO until Reyes joins. Reyes first joined First 5 Fresno County in EOC had an operational budget of $132 million and senior services. For the past 22 years at Fresno EOC, she has 2003. As executive director she was highly and nearly 1,000 full-time employees. It admin- Its funding sources including the U.S. developed a record of innovative projects and involved in community efforts to combat the isters more than 35 community programs in Departments of Health and Human Services, strategic partnerships. In 2018, Tutunjian region’s preterm birth and black infant mortal- areas including education, health, food, energy, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, launched the Enterprise Division and is respon- ity rates. transportation, employment training and youth as well as the Central Valley Regional C S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR 11 COMMUNITY NEWS Home Automation Is Taking Control On The Upper Cape

them, we can provide the knowledge and edu- Longfellow Design Build, said his company “is Homeowners often ask the partners why they By Steven Withrow cation,” he said. seeing an absolute increase in demand for should install a certain technology when it will A customer testimonial on the company’s home automation, everything from a smart likely become obsolete in a matter of years, and website says, “They installed a complete thermostat to a total integrated home system. this is where future-proofing makes the most FALMOUTH, Mass. (Falmouth Enterprise) — audio/video system, security, including cam- Vineyard Home and New England Home difference, Avakian said. Technology over the past decade has become eras, alarm and remote, keyless door access, Automation have taken care of everything we “A lot of the cabling we use is a universal more easily controllable and automatic, lighting control, HVAC monitoring and swim- need, and the partnership has been fantastic. cable. In 10 years, most likely that cable can still responding to the touch of a finger or the ming pool electronics and provide monthly They can coordinate directly with our clients.” be used for whatever they’re trying to accom- sound of a voice. equipment monitoring.” “In the Cape Cod market, we have clients, plish. You might ask, ‘Why would I put a touch- This extends from our smartphones and builders mostly, who are screen on my wall if in five years there’s going tablets to our cars and homes. Some technolo- approaching us, and for to be a new touchscreen?’ But it’s the same wire gy for control and automation is relatively sim- some reason we find that that runs to the touchscreen,” he said. ple to install and use; some of it is so complex builders are somewhat Adler added that, while the end-user experi- it requires the expertise of a professional elec- afraid of technology,” ence is often WiFi-based, “what gives you that tronics integrator. Crabtree said. “What we like connectivity is that solid wire.” Homeowners on the Upper Cape who are to do is be that bridge to “We’re working with a relatively large looking for an integrated system to control bring the mysterious world Falmouth company, and we have done the lighting, thermostat, entertainment, security of technology to their structured wiring in their corporate office. and other technologies have many options, clients, the homeowners. We’re now in the design phase of a restaurant whether they are building a new house or ren- There’s an information gap.” and store they’re opening off-Cape,” Mr. ovating an existing one. Providing dependable Avakian said. Two Upper Cape-based home automation inte- customer service is a huge The company mainly uses social media to grators are New England Home Automation in priority for the company, market its services. Once the showroom is Falmouth and Technical Operations And Alder said. open, it will offer consultations and education Development, or TOAD, in Bourne. “A lot of big Boston com- sessions for homeowners, builders, architects New England Home Automation, formed in Jacob Avakian, owner of Vineyard Home (left) is opening a panies have satellite offices and real estate agents, Mr. Avakian said. Hyannis in 2016, will open a showroom with its Falmouth showroom with Addison Alder and Thomas Crabtree of on the Cape. They’ll come At TOAD, which is headquartered in Buzzards partner, Vineyard Home, at 587 Main Street in New England Home Automation. in and sell the system, but if Bay, Mark Hooper, a Bourne resident and former Falmouth next month. something needs to get US Navy SEAL, formed his company in 2000 and “We’re planning to open our showroom fixed, you might need to now has clients across the Cape and Islands as February 1,” said Jacob D. Avakian, a Bourne A decade ago, there was great demand for a make an appointment weeks out, but that’s not well as along the Route 3 and Route 128 corri- resident and owner of Vineyard Home since universal remote to control multiple devices in what these clients deserve or need. We’re that dors. His business is 80 percent residential and 2018. “We focus on gas fireplaces, audio and one device, Crabtree said. local, full-service company that can meet their 20 percent commercial, he said. video, custom closets, outdoor living and home “It’s the same with home automation. You expectation quickly,” he said. “We began only with audiovisual technology, automation.” can take a few devices and integrate them The company primarily works with the but as home control and automation technolo- His partners are Addison Alder and Thomas together, like individual musical instruments, to Control4 home automation platform and also gy evolved, I came to offer a full suite of ser- Crabtree, both Barnstable residents, of New create a symphony orchestra,” he said. uses individual products such as the Google vices,” he said. “This trade mirrors a little bit of England Home Automation. “Rather than having multiple apps on your Nest hub, Crabtree said. the complexities of being a SEAL. There are a “Home automation is definitely the way phone, you have a single interface to learn, and Control4 “has the best third-party integra- lot of elements to master, and you have to be a things are going and the customer have gotten that’s where the convenience comes in,” Alder tion” and is modular and expandable in design, hybrid electrician and switch specialist.” accustomed to smart technology and are com- added. Alder said. Recent Upper Cape projects have involved ing to these in their homes,” Mr. Avakian said, The company has recently worked on new “A basic system is between $1,000 and working with Jill Neubauer Architects, Hutker noting that builders, architects and homeown- and existing construction projects with $2,000 and can expand to hundreds of thou- Architects and C.H. Newton Builders in ers sometimes shy away from “smart home Longfellow Design Build and Pinsonneault sands of dollars,” he said. Falmouth, as well as Archia Homes in Duxbury. tech” because they do not understand it. Builders in Falmouth, along with builders and In addition to whole-house systems, the com- “Not everybody gets a full-scale smart home. “A smart home is really just a connected architects throughout the Cape, Crabtree said. pany installs one-room systems, such as dedi- Some only do an aspect of it,” Mr. Hooper said. home, and though it sounds complicated to Developer Mark Bogosian, owner of cated home theaters and media rooms with pro- “The demand is growing because a lot of com- jectors and surround sound. panies—Apple, for instance—are advancing, When working on new construction or major teaching people how to use their devices, with renovation projects, the partners recommend the idea of how to streamline that process.” “future-proofing” a home by installing struc- In the past TOAD installed systems from tured wiring before the interior walls are com- Crestron, RTI and Control4, but its go-to system pleted, Crabtree said. is now from Savant, based in Hyannis. “Everyone seems to think that WiFi or wire- “Savant is the first Apple-based system, and it less is the way everything’s moving, but a hard is simple to program,” Mr. Hooper said. “Being line is always better for reliability,” he said. part of that hometown team helps with clients, “Even in today’s world, we still want to run a and having Savant here on the Cape has been wire to everything. When you’re building a new a great resource.” home or renovating, a prewire is relatively inex- To future-proof a home, Mr. Hooper recom- pensive, and it gives you options, even for mends installing a system of interlocking cop- resale. It gets much more expensive later on, per tubes as an in-wall infrastructure for struc- when you’re ripping out walls.” tured wiring, with access points to allow for Builders sometimes overlook prewiring upgrades and expansion. because they do not understand the benefits, “If you do nothing else, let us put in the Alder said. tubes. It allows customers to take advantage of “You might not want to install something new technologies and will save them hundreds now, but in the future, when you do want those of thousands of dollars over the years,” he said, components, the wire is there, and that is a cost noting that TOAD installs state-of-the-art Cat8 saver in the future,” he said. wiring and fiber optic cable in certain projects.

Plans to Transform Glendale’s Art and Entertainment District Move Forward GLENDALE, from page 6 Vrej Agajanian said, echoing several other coun- A call for will be issued for local artists inter- cil members. ested in designing public artwork, as well as A traffic consultant assured council members several monument signs that will be located that the changes would not cause a major issue. along the street. A majority of council members also request- An alley abutting the Exchange parking ed that the final design incorporate references garage will also be tentatively rebranded as “the to the region the street was named after. The Artery” and will have new signage, landscaping Republic of Artsakh is a contested region in the and adjacent rooftop amenities, according to South Caucasus, internationally recognized as the plan. part of Azerbaijan but home to a large Council members overall were enthused by Armenian population. the vision, but they expressed concerns that the Construction documents for the project will single-direction street design could cause a be prepared beginning next month, based on an problem for traffic flow out of a parking garage estimated timeline. located on the southern portion of the street. In March, the council will tentatively deter- “If it’s one lane — I assume there will be some mine how to move forward with eight city- times when people, they go to movies and other owned retail units located in the area, Papazian places, and they get out together — there will be said. [so much] traffic here that causes the [traffic] to Construction is scheduled to begin in March stop and create some problems,” Councilman 2021. 12 S ATURDAY, JANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR COMMUNITY NEWS Armenian Flatbreads Stuffed With Greens Are The Perfect Snack

By Tejal Rao

LOS ANGELES (New York Times) — Rusana Sayadyan threw down a ball of dough the size of a tangerine and rolled it out into a big, floppy disc, lifting the edges to spin it around. Thirteen years ago, she was an apprentice at a bakery in Armenia, learning to make jingalov hats — the football-shaped flatbreads stuffed with a dozen varieties of herbs and green leaves. Now she was here, in Los Angeles — an expert — teach- ing someone else. She pushed back her puffy white bonnet with the back of her arm and mixed a handful of greens with salt, oil and paprika. After she scooped the mixture onto the dough, she used her fingers to pinch it shut, sealing the greens inside, then flipped the disc onto a hot griddle. Zhengyalov Hatz, where Sayadyan works, opened in November. It has a few locations in Armenia, but this is its first in America. The bakery doesn’t bother with a food menu. What would be the point, when it sells only one thing? Everyone who walks in is there for hot jingalov hats the size of a newborn, and they’re likely to be greeted with the only question that matters: “How many?” Sayadyan makes more than 100 each day, chopping sorrel and spinach, beet leaves and dill, cilantro and scallions, with a sharp knife that makes clean cuts, so the greens stay green. The key to a good jingalov isn’t just the dough, she told me, which is nothing but flour, water and a little salt, kneaded until it’s smooth. The key is the

sions, wherever they 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice are in the world, sub- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika bing in what greens 2 teaspoons kosher salt are available at gro- 2 handfuls pomegranate seeds (optional) cery stores, window boxes and backyards. Preparation: “Food isn’t a static Prepare the dough: In a medium bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups thing,” Aghajanian flour and the salt. Pour the lukewarm water into a large bowl, told me. “We take it then gradually add the flour mixture, using your hands to and we change and incorporate. The dough will be sticky. that’s one way diaspo- Dust the counter with flour, turn dough onto it and knead rans have connected gently until the surface becomes smooth and the dough stops with that region.” sticking to your hands and counter, about 5 minutes. Roll the If you can bring dough into a ball, place it in a lightly oiled bowl, turn it to coat, yourself to wash, dry then cover it with a kitchen towel. Let it rest at room temper- greens — washed, thoroughly dried and mixed together in the and finely chop a few pounds of greens — whatever’s available ature for 20 minutes to 1 hour. right kind of ratio, so that sour leaves creep up on the sweet where you are — the work of making jingalov hats is mostly Prepare the filling: Wash the greens, and use a salad spin- ones, and so that the final bread is tangy and juicy. done. Prepping the greens is a small project, but the dough ner to dry them well. Chop the greens finely. Mix with spring In Lavash, an Armenian cookbook written by Kate Leahy, itself comes together in a few minutes. Pinch it shut — messily onions, oil, lemon juice, paprika, salt and pomegranate seeds John Lee and Ara Zada, the jingalov recipe suggests pome- is fine — and the flatbread cooks with no oil, on a hot griddle, (if using), and set aside. Divide the rested dough into 4 por- granate seeds to add more tang, and some home cooks add until it’s lightly speckled with brown char. Then eat the bread tions, about 3 ounces each, and form each into a ball. finely chopped fruit leather made from sour plums to cre- plain, before it’s cooled all the way down, and the insides are On a lightly floured work surface, roll a ball into a very thin ate the same effect. When the authors were in Armenia, still steamy. It doesn’t need anything on the side. circle, about 8 inches wide, adding more flour as needed to pre- researching the book, they learned that some resourceful Sayadyan forms the bread into perfect almond shapes, huge vent the dough from sticking. Place about 2 cups of filling in jingalov vendors will even add citric acid to mimic sour and precisely symmetrical, with no holes, evenly thin all the the center, then use your hands to pat it down into a round, greens, when wild sorrel and other key leaves are out of way across. Each one is indistinguishable from the next. It’s leaving about a 1-inch border of dough. Pick up two opposite season. very unlikely you’ll do the same on your first try, but as long sides of the dough, and pinch them together over the center When she was growing up in Los Angeles, the journalist as it’s stuffed full of generously seasoned greens, even a of the filling, from top to bottom, so the middle is wide and the Liana Aghajanian ate her grandmother’s version of jingalov, in wonky, lopsided jingalov is a joy to eat. ends form points. which the greens were dressed with melted butter instead of Firmly pinch the seam to make sure it’s sealed, then turn the oil. And later, she went to Nagorno-Karabakh, in the moun- Jingalov Hats: dough over, and gently flatten it out with the palm of your tains of the South Caucasus, a region famous for its jingalov, Ingredients (for the dough) hand so it resembles a deflated football, sealing any holes in and where women set up stalls to make it fresh on the streets. 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the dough. It should be about 1/4- to-1/2-inch thick. If it’s They work so fast, they make it look it easy — pinching the 1 teaspoon kosher salt thicker, use a rolling pin to smooth it out a little. Pinch shut dough together in just a few seconds and flipping it confi- cup lukewarm water any holes in the dough, then place on parchment or a lightly dently. The bread is filled with a number of herbs and wild Sunflower oil or other neutral oil, for greasing floured surface. Repeat with the remaining balls of dough. greens, Aghajanian explained, as many as 10 to 20 kinds. Heat a large cast-iron pan over medium-high. Working with Earthy, tender greens like chard, spinach and purslane might (For the filling) one dough portion at a time, place the dough seam-side down be the bulk of the mix, but tarter leaves like sorrel, radish and 2 pounds chard, tough stems discarded in the center of the pan. Lower the heat to medium, and cook dandelion mess with the flavor, adding dimension and acidity. 4 packed cups fresh cilantro, chervil and dill leaves and for about 3 minutes, until cooked and lightly browned in Herbs like dill, chervil, cilantro and tarragon can change its tender stems places. Flip, and cook the other side for 2 minutes. If the direction, too. Many of the greens used in Nagorno-Karabakh 4 packed cups radish greens and sorrel dough seems raw in places, flip and cook evenly. Repeat for are indigenous to the area and impossible to find in Los 6 spring onions (or 10 scallions), thinly sliced the rest of the jingalov hats, and serve warm or at room tem- Angeles. But Armenians from the diaspora make their own ver- 3 tablespoons sunflower oil or other neutral oil perature. S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR 13 Arts & Living

Anissa Markarian, BOOKS Former Albanian Film Star What Is Fiction? How Did It Start? By Artsvi Bakhchinyan Special to the Mirror-Spectator Why Is It Useful?

PARIS/YEREVAN — The name of Anissa A review article and conversation Markarian was one familiar to me; I have men- by James R. Russell tioned her as an actress and screenwriter of Albanian cinema in my book Armenians in Let me begin with a myth. Myths are stories World Cinema (2004) and in a small study on that convey truths too powerful and deep for history of Albania’s Armenian community. At mere facts. If you like, they are truthful lies. But that time I knew very little about her, but we’ll come to that, too, shortly. So, beyond the now, due to social networks, barriers are bro- nonexistent river Sambatyon — which is impass- ken. So Anissa Markarian accepted to give an able for every day but the Sabbath since it interview to the Armenian press, noting that throws rocks in the air! — in a deep cave in the she deeply appreciates the honor of this invi- “Untitled” aquarelle and aquatint on paper by Roberto Sebastian Matta (Chilean, Mountains of Darkness — not on any map, and tation. “It means a lot to me as the daughter 1911-2002), 18 inches by 22 inches (sheet), signed in pencil, with publisher’s ink at the edge of the world! — live the two fallen of a survivor of the Armenian Genocide,” she stamp (est. $2,000-$3,000). angels Harut and Marut. In the Zoroastrian faith wrote. the rhyming pair are the divinities who preside Anissa Markarian was born on July 4, 1962, over the plants and the waters; and in Armenian in Albania’s capital, Tirana, to an Armenian folklore they give their name to a flower used in father and Albanian mother. Despite her artis- a rite on the eve of Ascension day. But in this tic tendencies, especially for acting and litera- Collection of Gerard story they are teachers of magic, and anyone ture, she decided to study medicine. After interested in learning the black arts for fifty graduation, she practiced as anesthesiologist days free, no money down, need only agitate a Cafesjian to Be Auctioned chain at the mouth of their bottomless pit to summon their secretary, who is a sort of talking cat. Since God’s rules control the world, even in By Andrew Jones Auctions myth, they are required to offer this disclaimer at the beginning of every course of study: LOS ANGELES — Andrew Jones Auctions will kick off the new year and the “Everything we are about to tell you is a lie. new decade on Saturday, January 11, with a very special sale dedicated to fine Now listen carefully…” There is no record of any art from the collection of Gerard Leon Cafesjian (1925-2013), the legal pub- lishing legend, art connoisseur and philanthropist who collected with a dis- cerning eye and an adventurous spirit. The auction will be held online and in the Andrew Jones Auctions gallery located at 2221 South Main Street, Los Angeles, starting promptly at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time. Internet bidding will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com and Invaluable.com. In all, 140 lots will come up for bid, to include contemporary paintings, sculptures, prints and mixed media works. “In six decades of collecting, Gerard Cafesjian broadened his vision and honed his eye to bring together international avant-garde works that make Anissa Markarian statements, reveal beauty, display whimsy and challenge the viewer,” said com- pany president and CEO Andrew Jones. We’re honored to offer this segment of at Tirana University Hospital. At the end of his collection, which features international artists in a variety of media.” 1990 she emigrated to France where she lives Two works by Vesna Kittelson (Croatian/American, b. 1947), from the artist’s and works as an emergency doctor and lec- War Painting Series (est. $2,000-$3,000) reveal Cafesjian’s concern with crimes turer in physiopathology and dietetics-nutri- against humanity and social injustice. His eye for color and playfulness are evi- tion. dent in pieces like Yvonne Canu‘s (French, 1921-2008) “Fleur sous les fleurs” Anissa Markarian landed her first movie (est. $2,000-$3,000) and Roberto Sebastian Matta’s (Chilean, 1911–2002) role at the age of 16. Two years later, at the “Untitled,” 1970 (est. $2,000-$3,000) as well as irreverent works like Igor age of 18, she won the best actress award in Gusev’s (Ukrainian, born 1970) large-scale oil on canvas titled “Elvis Returns,” a leading role. In her last two Albanian films 2010 (est. $6,000-$8,000). (1988 and 1990) she was not only the leading An admiration for the intimacies that can be found in world localities is actress, but also the screenwriter. After mov- revealed in Margaret Leahy’s (American, 20th century) acrylic “Brooklyn Aris Janigian, Waiting for Sophia ing to France, she participated in two other Backyard,” 1981, which depicts a window’s view of his childhood neighborhood at Shutters on the Beach, films playing episodic roles: “Far from the (est. $600-$800). Further afield locations are seen in the Virgilio Raposo Barbarians” (1993, a French-Belgian-Italian (Portuguese, born 1955) painting titled “Lisbon,” 2003 (est. $800-$1,200) and Berkeley, CA: Regent Press, production) and “Lie Down with Lions” Jyothi Basu’s (Indian, born 1960) pastel work titled “The Chosen One,” 2004 2019, 197 pp., $24.95 (1994, an English production). (est. $3,000-$5,000). In 2017, Markarian received from the Gerard Cafesjian was born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn to Armenian refugees President of the Republic of Albania, Bujar fleeing genocide in 1915. Raised in New York City, Cafesjian immersed himself Nishani, the title of Grand Master with the fol- in the art culture that surrounded him, spending time at museums and art gal- pupil, in the nearly six thousand years of the his- lowing citation: “In recognition and apprecia- leries. After serving in the Pacific during World War II, he returned to New tory of the world, who has made it to the tion of the peculiar and talented artist who, York to pursue studies in economics and law at St. John’s University Law demonic tutorial, ever getting up and leaving through her memorable cinematographic School, Cornell University and earned a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from after that warning. And as we shall see, a boil- roles and interpretations, as well as her liter- Columbia Law School. erplate form of Harut and Marut’s small print ary stories written in accurate Albanian, Cafesjian also made time to study painting and sculpture at the Art Student’s still survives and thrives, on the verso side of became one of the most prominent figures of League. After graduation, Cafesjian became an editor with the innovative the title page of books throughout the English- the Albanian artistic and intellectual elite.” Minnesota-based legal publishing firm of West Publishing and ascended the speaking world. ranks to executive vice president. He developed the West Legal Directory and Kurt Vonnegut, the great American writer, Dear Anissa, please tell us about your the groundbreaking exhibition program titled Art and the Law in 1975. wrote the novel Cat’s Cradle, in which there is a Armenian roots. Cafesjian retired in 1996 and focused his resources and time on philanthrop- religion — a kind of vehicle for his own convic- My father, Agop Markarian, was born in ic pursuits, mostly in his ancestral home of Armenia. He founded the Scottsdale tions — invented by a Black castaway in the 1898 in Afyonkarahisar, an Armenian-popu- Museum of Contemporary Art in 1999 and in 2001 he created the Cafesjian Caribbean named Bokonon. Most of its scripture lated town in Ottoman Empire. In August Family Foundation, which developed infrastructure for cultural enrichment, is presented in a series of Calypsos, which 1915, at the age of just 17, the Ottoman gov- financial services, media and renewable energy in Armenia. Bokonon affably invites us to sing along with ernment forced him and his family (as well as One of his proudest achievements was the establishment of the Cafesjian him. (Songs as religious teaching? Have you millions of Armenians) out of their home and Museum Foundation and the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, which opened in ever read the Psalms?) But at the beginning of head for the Syrian desert of Deir ez-Zor. His Yerevan in 2009. The museum holdings boast over 5,000 works derived pri- the Book of Bokonon, which doesn’t exist, is a parents and paternal grandmother died dur- marily from his own vast and varied collection. Cafesjian wanted the center to disclaimer: “All of the true things I am about to ing that infamous death march. Thank God, promote and support historic and contemporary Armenian artists and to bring tell you are shameless lies.” Shocking? But isn’t Agop, his two sisters and the brother survived the best of international contemporary art to Armenia. it just what we read a few lines ago? And see MARKARIAN, page 16 see FICTION, page 14 14 S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR ARTS & LIVING What Is Fiction? How Did It Start? Why Is It Useful?

FICTION, from page 13 the facets of a brilliantly cut diamond do. It is Janigian’s grim satire. She is dazzlingly multi- sciousness, how they become a second nature, Vonnegut’s narrator adds, “Anyone unable to the best satirical writing, a professor of English cultural in her artistic taste, but immune to the and this must be resisted. The arrogant, understand how a useful religion can be found- back east has said, since Swift or Pope, and I grim, homogenizing strictures, the solemn fool- demeaning categories of “white” or “male” priv- ed on lies will not understand this book either.” agree. The subject itself is deadly serious, to the ery of what is called “diversity.” She and the ilege, I suggest, retroactively negate the dignity That is the Aha! moment. The novel under point of tragedy — the perversion of the gifts of narrator are pupil and teacher, and also of our ancestors, much in the way the Soviet review, which we’ll call Sophia for short, is fic- the intellect in the brave new world of America younger and older friend — that has been the regime sought to eradicate both the surviving tion and begins, thus, with the standard dis- in the 21st century, and the persecution and foundation of paideia, of true education, since aristocracy and the long record of their past claimer (and I’ll bet you my bottom dollar that destruction of an innocent man by a left-fascist the time of Socrates. But now, in a country that contributions to Russian culture by labeling no lawyer alive knows it was first crafted by the establishment that stands fair to destroy what is has commodified every aspect of human sexu- them as “former people”. Master of the Universe, the Holy One, Blessed left of liberty in this country. But as satire must ality, and is now in the process of prohibiting How did you come up with Sophia? Is she a be He, for two of His fallen angels): “This is a be, even as it delivers its death blows to a social love and sex themselves as the ultimate means former girlfriend? No, says Aris, she’s modeled work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and evil, Sophia is also extremely funny. A book of repression and control (what happened to in part on my wife, Insun. (Thinking about incidents are the product of the author’s imag- should be a pleasure. When Aris was writing the California of our youth, where is the venge- Insun, I can see this.) But the book is a satire, ination or are used fictitiously. Any resem- the book, several of his friends gathered at the ful, playful ghost of Herbert Marcuse?), here so Sophia is exaggerated. She draws on archety- blance to actual persons, living or dead, or to home of John Hirschmann in the Tower district and now, the narrator’s relationship with pal energies. Women I know who have read the actual events are unintended and entirely coin- here to read aloud the final drafts. We ate and Sophia is itself fraught with danger, an action- book, Aris adds, find her enjoyable; her image, cidental.” Some fictions are clearly pure inven- drank and laughed ourselves silly. Sophia is the able thought crime. Sophia understands and progressive. I think he’s being defensive here, tion: spaceships fly to other planets, heroes bat- second volume in a trilogy about the culture, by appreciates that a good part of what makes because in my view the book is a ferocious tle dragons. Such fictions take particular the way, and the hero of the first novel of the seduction and sex interesting is activity and attack on radical feminism and the pillorying of aspects of reality and infuse them with extra series, Waiting for Lipchitz at Chateau passivity, the inherent power relationship of men by making the definition of sexual harass- imaginative energy, to entertain, to spark new Marmont, is a completely fictional character man and woman, yin and yang. Frenchmen in ment so vague as to implicate anyone who has creativity and endeavor. Sophia is a novel that who happens to be named John Hirschmann, praise of women say Vive la différence! She cel- ever looked lustfully, or admiringly, or even does not stretch the boundaries of reality, of and who dies in the course of the book. The ebrates the difference of maleness, the impera- wistfully, at somebody else. I think this is a possibility, in any way. Everything in it has hap- real John is alive and well, and joined in the tives of strength, courage, and individualism provocative and dangerous book. Satires have pened, does happen, to people working on col- laughter. Ridicule is a weapon against tyranny, that go with being a man — and in this, too, she helped start revolutions. lege campuses all over this country. Those of us against its fundamental, irreducible, idiotic is an avatar of Alien Wisdom in the dark morass Identity politics is a big component of a cal- who work in academia have very likely either absurdity. of #MeToo and of “(white) male privilege.” The culated assault on American liberty that has witnessed or experienced one or another aspect The present novel, an extended reverie com- narrator and Sophia, male and female, each many other moving parts. Let’s talk about of the fictional tale Aris Janigian has con- plete with long dialogues, terrifying hilarious character with his and her full and separate authentic identity. Why do Armenian artists get structed. He has heightened, intensified a whol- classroom scenes and meetings with deans, integrity, join to bring the novel to life. sidelined in this country? Aris answers: You ly plausible story that requires no suspension of exquisite holiday feasts possible only in know that one better than I do and the expla- disbelief. Quite to the contrary, this fictional California, and lubricious musings on sexuality Meet the Author nations you’ve offered in the past answer the tale cries out in its very exaggeration and inten- and seduction, unfurls in the mind of the nar- I interviewed Aris at my home here on North question. (I won’t go into my explanation here sity for credibility: this is how bad, how ridicu- rator as he waits for his grad student, Sophia, Palm Ave. in Fresno in mid-December 2019 in detail. Briefly, it’s that Armenian writers are lous, reality really is, ladies and gentlemen. It’s to join him for a drink. The venue is the luxuri- about the novel. What follows is a rough syn- not pessimistic cynics, so they seem naïve to thus a call to arms, a wake-up call, a plea to con- ous, beautiful bar of an iconic seaside hotel in opsis of our conversation. I do not mean this those who can’t or won’t trouble to enter into front reality and change it. This hyper-realism LA, which, unlike the characters, is real. If you conversation to impede your direct experience the different world of their art. And the world about the mores of society, this reality-beyond- would like to stay there to soak up atmosphere of the novel, or even to influence it. The expe- has shoved the Armenian Genocide under the fiction, is satire. as you read the novel, be prepared to fork over rience of reading, rather like love-making, rug, under a blanket of silence.) So I move on: Here’s the basic plot: An aging, old-fashioned $700 a night. I’ve given you the armature, the involves two people, not one, or three. There is How do you see yourself as a West Coast writ- scholar at a posh American university engages skeleton, of the plot involving the narrator — the author, with his work, his intentionality. er who is, in my view, under-appreciated by the in lively discourse with his students, some of the brutalized professor — but the beautiful And the reader, with his reception, his under- East Coast establishment? That one, Aris says, I whom he often entertains at his home, prepar- woman he’s waiting for on a gorgeous after- standing of the book. The work of the critic or can answer. Our architecture here employs seri- ing food and drink and continuing the conver- noon at Shutters on the Beach is Sophia her- literary scholar can enhance the experience of ous materials and design to admit light, in affir- sation about literature, thought, and life late self, the novel’s flesh and blood, its living ener- reading, perhaps, or help one to reflect more mation of what we see outside our windows. into the evening. He’s been doing that all his gy. She is much larger than life, a sort of god- richly on the memory of it. But it does not One has to be cynical not to step outside on any life: it’s how he was taught, nurtured, by his dess; and just as the gods must dwell elsewhere, replace the direct encounter with the printed given day in California and not feel awe. The own teachers. Plenty of colleagues have had on mount Olympus, the goddess of this novel page. And yet, and yet, wouldn’t one like to mountains, the ocean, the desert, the high affairs with their students but he has not. He has to come from a place that is far from interview Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky, to talk with desert, the high mountains. Even as a child, he publishes voluminously — in readable English, America and culturally different from it. Sophia them about questions that came to mind when adds, I felt the enormity and muscularity of focusing on the evidence and eschewing the comes from Poland. She looks down disdainful- one was reading The Death of Ivan Ilyich or California. There is a California mythos of this more-and-more fashionable theory and impene- ly from her Parnassian aerie of European cul- Crime and Punishment? That’s what’s good perception, well expressed by the poet William trable academese. His colleagues, better ture at the degeneracy of American academia: about living authors. You can talk with them. Everson, for example; but the East Coast estab- attuned to new political realities and academic Sophia is not cowed by political correctness and So I seized the chance. lishment doesn’t get it and thinks it’s a dreamy fashions than he is — or just more conformist — refuses to allow her sexuality or her feelings I first asked him to describe the overall concoction. They look to Europe still for vali- avoid both his antiquated scholarship and him. about men to be warped by feminist fanatics or themes and concerns of his trilogy. He is now dation. They are — I add — perhaps afraid not to American academia, long known for malevolent controlled by censorious officials. After all, she writing the third volume, bits of which I’ve be cynical, afraid of being dismissed as naïve. intrigue, has now embraced the ideology of grew up in a country that earned its moniker, seen. The theme, says Aris, is “hypocrisy and Several of your novels feature older men, political correctness, identity and gender poli- the Christ of Europe. Poland has never willing- decadence, the disintegration of American cul- sometimes gay and sometimes heterosexual, tics, safe spaces, intersectionality, and so on. ly succumbed to invaders from east or west, ture under the weight of its own lies.” (I’ll use often with Jewish names, who are mentor fig- The hero is called to sit on a panel adjudicating invaders that professed much the same ideolo- quotation marks when citing Aris directly; the ures to young men or women. You had such a a charge of rape by a female student against a gies as the left-fascists do here today, but had rest of the time I’m paraphrasing him.) The gay, Jewish mentor. The present mentor figure, male student. He thinks the boy is innocent, much more powerful and far deadlier cadres “soft fascism of the left,” he adds, came upon us the narrator in Sophia, has been an Angeleno and a lively discussion of the case ensues in one and weapons to enforce them. Think the unexpectedly and poses a greater threat than for decades, maybe a Jew (he has that edge of of his graduate seminars. A few disgruntled stu- Gestapo and Auschwitz-Birkenau; the KGB and the fascism of the right, since the ethos of the sarcasm to his voice), maybe a transplant origi- dents file formal complaints against him the Stalinist Gulag. Poland, alone among the left is supposed to be enlightenment and self- nally from back east (his inflections below the because of his refusal to condemn the accused countries the Germans conquered, had no col- reflection. Why, I wondered, do the first two surface). He’s older, on the cusp of old age but out of hand: his attitude makes them feel laborationist government. novels end with a meditation on the ocean? It’s not fully there yet, still a sexual being but hav- unsafe, microaggressed against, etc. Nothing Sophia is a goddess, but also a kind of icon, as though the situation on land is so hopeless ing to come to terms with both his age and the illegal or immoral, but enough to stigmatize an image surrounded by a golden sky and one may as well turn one’s gaze westward into new world he’s stumbled into: neo-Puritan, ide- him as an outsider. He is summoned to the wreathed in incense. Her name means “wis- the infinite. Oceans are where mystic voyages ologized, humorless and unkind. You’re push- office of a dean for an ostensibly friendly dis- dom” in Greek, and the pagan goddess was the start, says Aris. The ocean is both order and ing 60 yourself. How do you see your work and cussion, but its deadly purpose soon becomes only pre-Christian divinity re-christened as a chaos, sheer power and the nurturer of a its focus evolving as you become an old man in clear. They want him out. Our hero responds saint of the Orthodox church with original plethora of life forms beneath the surface. But a world that has changed? I’m like other writ- articulately, with reason, humor, passion — but name intact. Janigian’s character is indeed a for us Americans, I object, the ocean is an end- ers, Aris replies: by twelve or thirteen I formed to no avail. The powers that be have decided his purling fount of wisdom, discoursing upon the ing, not a beginning. We (well, Jews and a view of the world that is romantic both sexu- fate already. In plain English, it’s a set up. He wonders and mysteries of nature, science, Areni Armenians, at least) crossed the Atlantic to get ally and spiritually. I can’t leave it behind, and I had hoped to continue teaching, but confront- wine purchased in Glendale, the Armenian land- here, and the Pacific is as far as you can go. won’t embrace cynicism and skepticism. When ed with an attractive offer he cannot refuse, he scape, the archetypes of the duality of the (And as far as I went.) Yes, he says, the ocean I was a child I felt that there was something retires. Now he’s at a bar in Santa Monica think- sexes, the arcana of astronomy and the beauty can kill you and it doesn’t take you into beautiful and redemptive just around the bend. ing back on it all, waiting for a friend. of the honesty of hard science. Hers is mental account, and that’s exciting, alluring— to be in That’s why there is levity in my writing. Walt clarity in the midst of the muddied thought and proximity to something that can destroy us. Whitman saw multiplicity in human nature. Reading Sophia shoddy mendacity that have ruined the You published recently an angry, sarcastic Throttling every voice into one homogeneous That’s the story, and aspects of it will be Humanities. blog on so-called “white privilege” in the Los yell, which is happening now, terrifies me. wearily familiar to anybody who labors in the Sophia is very beautiful and wealthy (specify- Angeles Review of Books. It got a lot of hits; Living here in Fresno, I’ve recognized the mul- academy. But what makes the book a master- ing her profession would be a spoiler, but it when it was reprinted by an Armenian paper on tiplicity of my own person, a surprise it’s taken piece is its literary style, which is as sharp, bril- works, in both narrative and Gnostic terms), as line, it received a thousand hits there, too. It years to come to terms with. My way of coming liant, and limpid as a cut diamond. It satirizes goddesses should be, both pagan in her enjoy- was autobiographical, and described the suffer- to terms: to work as a writer. the state of the academy in America — you have ment of sensual, earthly delights and Christian ings and struggles of your parents, the rough- Do you consider yourself an Armenian writ- just read a rough synopsis of the plight of its in her steadfast adherence to the traditions and ness and violence of your impoverished youth. er? Yes, Aris replies, an Armenian-American narrator — and the satire is as hard and sharp values of Catholicism and the authentic civi- How does it relate to the academic ideological writer. I would like to go back to Yerevan and as the edge of a diamond. The various registers lization of the West. That helps to frame the war in Sophia? One can’t compromise what one get into the middle of the most interesting con- and nuances of speech, of conversation, even of expensive, tasteful meals and sophisticated, feels, but the energy is there and can burst versation going on and just listen. I’m interest- bureaucratic cliché, are conveyed with a lively, courteous conversations that afford the reader forth, Aris replies. He cites Lukács on how ide- ed, not in some Fresno State professor’s imaginative precision, and they connect even as pleasurable breaks from the rapier cuts of ologies are written into law, bred into con- see JANIGIAN, page 15 S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR 15 ARTS & LIVING AGBU Young Professionals, Northern California (AGBU-YPNC) to Hold 20th Annual San Francisco Winter Gala

SAN FRANCISCO — AGBU Young and dancing to Armenian, international, and Professionals of Northern California (AGBU- popular music courtesy of weekend favorite YPNC) will host the 20th annual AGBU San DJ Raffy. Francisco Winter Gala, celebrating the week- Sunday, February 16 starts off with a week- end’s 20th anniversary, on February 14-16. end favorite: the Wine Tour. This year’s trip YPNC will donate a portion of the weekend’s returns to Sonoma Valley, featuring an all- proceeds to the AGBU Women’s Empowerment inclusive experience at Jacuzzi Family Program in Armenia. Winery, including tours, tastings, and a pri- “Twenty years of Winter Gala is a milestone vate lunch on the winery’s Tuscan style prop- that we are truly proud of, and we’re grateful to erty. Sunday night features the return of last our founding members for starting this incredi- year’s hit new event, Salsa Night at the Cigar ble event,” said David Ojakian, AGBU-YPNC Bar and Grill. Attendees will once again Chairman and Gala Co-Chair. “The weekend enjoy all-inclusive salsa lessons and dancing has really grown, and is becoming a global YP with a full menu, craft cocktails, a Winter event supporting important AGBU projects Gala specialty cocktail, and cigars available each year,” he continued. for purchase. Salsa Night will provide a final Gala’s 20th anniversary weekend kicks off opportunity to celebrate Winter Gala’s 20th Friday, February 14 with a welcome reception Anniversary and a reason for locals and at the Clock Bar inside Union Square’s Westin guests alike to take Monday off. St. Francis hotel, where attendees will mingle to For more information, visit www.agbusfwin- Salsa night start the weekend. Following the reception, tergala.org. guests will head to lounge night at Executive Order Bar & Lounge with DJ Mikey Tan play- ing dance music at this upscale lounge, and new venue for Winter Gala. Saturday, February 15 brings Connect @ Gala 20/20, an all-new event where profes- sional discussion and networking meet Winter Gala for the first time, as profession- als from around the world collaborate for Recipe panel discussions, team breakouts, and hear from special guests. Saturday night features the weekend’s signature event: the 20th Anniversary Gala dinner/dance aboard the Guest Recipe Hornblower San Francisco Sprit luxury Corner yacht. The evening will feature an elegant three course dinner, three decks of open bar, by Christine Vartanian Datian What Is Fiction? Wild Nettle Imam Bayaldi JANIGIAN, from page 14 Launched in 2016, The 1000 Leaf Project conversation, but in asking the postman about (https://1000leaf.aua.am/) is a citizen-driven website that allows any- what he does. Does he have a dog? When he one in Armenia to register a wild plant, providing details on where they gets up in the morning, does he drink coffee, or found it, how to harvest it and what recipes to try. It focuses on empow- what? I then suggest to Aris that happy affir- ering people for an end result that promotes and protects the rich bio- mation of the simple realia of life— one’s dog’s diversity found in Armenia. greeting, a cup of coffee— seems to me a mark- Contributed by Serda Ozbenian, the Executive Director of the Earth er of Armenian culture that maybe the larger Island Institute’s Armenian Environmental Network (AEN), www.arme- culture dismisses as unfashionably optimistic nia-environment.org, this recipe calls for using wild stinging nettle. (cf. its attitude to the West Coast, supra). Stinging nettle is on the list of Armenia's more than 3,600 wild plant Finally I ask Aris whether he has any advice species—a list that includes hundreds of edible varieties ranging from for budding writers out there. I had a pupil at wild asparagus, mint and oregano to tart sea buckthorn and sweet mal- Harvard with real talent who now works in low, an herb that formed the original basis for marshmallows. Silicon Valley, hates it, and wants to go back Ozbenian, Armine Sargsyan, AEN’s former In-Country Director, and east for an MFA. Please dissuade him. Aris Lena Tachdjian, an environmental writer, collaborated with colleagues answers at once: Avoid academia, it is (or was) at the American University of Armenia's Acopian Center for the fine for a scholar but it’s the death of any writ- Environment (AUA), a group that promotes environmental conservation through research, to catalogue these edible species with help er. Hold down a job. “Scour the streets looking from the community. Ozbenian incorporates stinging nettle in her imam bayildi recipe. “Typically, you fill eggplant with onions and toma- for scabrous material!” Above all, write. And toes, but I made this version with nettle,” she said. “Sharing this recipe is another way The 1000 Leaf Project hopes to encourage users find a mentor, and good friends. to interact with Armenia's varied environment,” she added. * * * This recipe calls for Armenia’s wild stinging nettle, but Ozbenian says substituting American wild nettle will work as well in a pinch. A pupil of mine got a job out here teaching Armenology some years ago and invited me a INGREDIENTS: few times to lecture. I liked the place: California, 2 large eggplants, long and skinny kind but without the traffic jams of LA or the self- 4 cups stinging nettle, stems removed, chopped righteous, wacko pretense of the Bay Area. It’s 2 medium tomatoes, chopped and sliced more affordable than the Coast; and when the 2 small onions, chopped big one hits, my pupil observed sardonically, 3 cloves garlic, pressed we’ll be beachfront property. But what really 2 tablespoons lemon juice sold me on Fresno was that it has a living writ- 1/2 teaspoon sugar er, one of the very few great writers in America Salt, to taste and the only true heir to William Saroyan. His 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil, to taste name is Aris Janigian. I like constructing chains 2 tablespoons olive oil of tradition and fertilization: so I also see Whitman and Melville in Aris’ writing. I hope he PREPARATION and I both survive, with our families, into old First, cut off the ends of the eggplant, peel them in strips (one white strip, one purple). Cut them in half lengthwise and then in half age so he keeps on writing books for me to read again. Scoop out some of the insides to make a boat (set aside). Soak eggplant pieces in a bowl of salted water (this softens them and and I keep on producing insightful scholarship reduces bitterness), and set them aside while you prepare the other ingredients. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. about the Caucasus and Persia for him to enjoy, Chop onions and one tomato and press the garlic. Heat a 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil in a pot and add ingredients to the pot. Sauté over many a bottle of California wine. for 2 minutes on medium heat. Chop the nettle roughly and add it to the pot along with the sugar, salt and the eggplant insides you set Buy the book. Where they begin by burning aside. Stir well, cover, and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. books, they will end by burning people, While the nettle mixture is cooking, remove the eggplant pieces from the water, squeeze out any excess water and place them on an Heinrich Heine warned. Buy the book before oven safe pan. Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil. Add 1/4 cup water to bottom of the pan. Cover the pan with foil and place it in the the latter-day Hitler Youth of political correct- oven for 20 minutes (the eggplant should be soft but not cooked thoroughly). ness consign it to the bonfire with the classics Fill each eggplant with nettle mixture, cover again, and put back in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove the foil, add thin slices of toma- of other dead (and living) “white” men and it to to each eggplant boat, and sprinkle with a touch of salt and sugar. Place back in the oven uncovered until the water has evaporated becomes a rarity. Better still, buy two copies and the eggplant is cooked thoroughly, about 10 minutes. and give one to a college-age child or relative, so that the book burners can be stopped before *This recipe appeared in Smithsonian on September 27, 2018, go to: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/armenias-edible-land- they can kindle the fires. scape-1000-leaf-project-180970426/#xhpksCq7Gx7zbGzV.99. For information and recipes: http://1000leaf.aua.am/. To contribute: https://www.armenia-environment.org/blog/thousand-leaf-announcement. The AEN is a project of Earth Island Institute, based in (James Robert Russell is a scholar and pro- Berkeley, California. AEN’s mission is to facilitate tangible contributions to Armenia's sustainable development by increasing awareness fessor in Ancient Near Eastern, Iranian and of and supporting solutions to environmental issues in Armenia. Armenian Studies. He has published extensive- ly in journals, and has written several books.) 16 S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR ARTS & LIVING Anissa Markarian, Former Albanian Film Star

MARKARIAN, from page 13 The small Armenian community in Albania the maternal side. The Mimas, of which Prokop My participation in Albanian cinema as an the horrors of genocide. In 1921, my father was mainly composed of craftsmen, merchants, was the eldest son, formed a family of artists in actress and screenwriter is now well behind escaped from Aleppo and returned to and doctors. After Communist regime most of the true sense of the word. In her youth, my me, but I continue to write. After acting, lit- Constantinople (present day Istanbul) where he Armenians left Albania. What do you remember mother was part of the Albanian State Folk erature is my other great passion. I started was hired as an apprentice in the clinic of an from Tirana’s Armenian community life? Ensemble as a singer and dancer. Her older sis- publishing poetry at the age of 20. After writ- Armenian dentist. Five years later, he moved to I especially remember the endless visits to ter was one of the alto voices of the Opera choir ing my first screenplay, I definitely aban- Marseille, France, to study odontology. Because each other, the picnics at the beach or in the vil- and later a voice teacher. Of course, the most doned poetry while favoring prose. My of a strange coincidence, in March 1931, the lages around Tirana with Armenian family famous member of the family was my great- favorite literary genre is the short story. My barely graduated student who was traveling to friends, the very discreet celebration of uncle, Prokop Mima (1920-1986). A huge the- first stories have been published in Albanian Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), where he planned to Armenian Christmas and Saint Vartan’s Day ater actor and acting teacher posthumously literary journals. Some of them appear and settle down as a dentist, changed his destina- are published in two anthologies, one dedi- tion and took the ferry boat to Albania. Initially cated to young Albanian talents, the other to he worked in Korça, a city in south-east Albania, Albanian physician writers. In 1999, I pub- hired by the Red Cross. In February 1932 he lished my first book, The Coffer of Memories, opened his own dental clinic in Tirana, where a collection of short stories in Albanian. The he worked until 1948 - the year of the nation- book takes the title of an autobiographical alization of private enterprises by the Albanian narrative, a brief recite on my father’s sad Communist government. From that year until experience. his retirement at the age of 75, he practiced My second book, the novel 15 days in April, dentistry at the Tirana Public Central Dental has just been published in Albania. It is a liter- Clinic. ary chronicle of the last 15 days of a totalitari- My father married twice, the first time in an regime told in the style of magical realism. 1934 to an Armenian, Evgenia Goganian. After The book is largely inspired by facts that I real- his wife passed away in 1961, he married my ly experienced under the dictatorship of the mother, Evdhoqia Mima, an Albanian, who gave proletariat in Albania. him two children: me and my younger brother. I would say that my writing explores and Both of us bear the names of our paternal reflects my own memories. The preservation grandparents: Anissa and Markar. and transmission of family and collective mem- My father passed away in Tirana, on August ory from generation to generation is very 15, 1980, at the age of 82. important to me. We must never forget our ori- While studying the history of Armenians in gins, our language and our tradition. Our past Albania, I found out that in 1938 dentist represents the foundation on which we build Agop Markarian and the physician/colonel our present and future. Mokin Potourlian in the service of Albanian Have you any connection with French- court received the Iskender Beg medal from Armenian community? the King of Albania Zog I on the occasion of When I arrived in France, I naturally got the tenth anniversary of the monarchy. How close to the local Armenian community, which would you describe your father’s role in the helped me a lot in my administrative proce- history of Albanian medicine? dures for obtaining a residence permit. I will be This is the very first time I hear about this eternally grateful to them. My marriage wit- medal and I thank you for letting me know. My nesses are two Armenian friends who have father never mentioned it. Perhaps for fear of become like real family to me. I participate as reprisals from the regime or because the high much as I can in the cultural and religious distinctions granted by former King Zog I were events of the local Armenian community and declared void by the communist government. especially in the commemorations of the geno- Regarding his role in the history of Albanian Anissa Markarian on the cover of a magazine cide every April 24. medicine, my father is considered the founder The current cover photo of your Facebook of Albanian orthodontics. In 1952, he opened profile shows a group of Armenian children in the first orthodontic treatment laboratory in and the commemoration of April 24. There has decorated with the high distinction “Honor of the courtyard of an orphanage in Aleppo. Do Albania, where thousands of patients were never been an official ceremony in memory of the Nation.” you use social media to make people aware of cared for and generations of young Albanian the Armenian martyrs of the genocide. Albania was an isolated country for decades the Armenian Genocide? orthodontists were trained too. Although the Albanian government had an and the same we can say about the Albanian My Facebook profile is a reflection of two Did your father teach you and your brother empathic attitude toward the Armenian com- cinema. Unfortunately, I have not seen any causes dear to me: remembering and honoring some Armenian? munity, it never acknowledged or condemned Albanian film – the only exception is the the sacrifice of my ancestors and all Armenian I feel very lucky that my mother learned the Turkish genocide of 1915. The only geno- Soviet-Albanian production of 1954, Luftëtari victims of the 1915-1920 genocide and the Armenian before I was born, out of love for my cide we were talking about in Albania was that i madh i Shqipërisë Skënderbeu (Skanderbeg, respect, safeguarding and development of my father. So I learned to speak and write of the Jews by the Nazis during the Second the Great Albanian Warrior), by the way, with mother language, Albanian. Armenian by both my parents. It was the same World War. That’s why I was often believed to eminent Armenian stage actor Vahram Every year, at the beginning of April, I renew for my brother. be of Jewish origin. Papazian in the role of Ottoman sultan. Could the cover photo of my Facebook profile in order Among the most precious memories I have You started your acting career early. How you, please, tell us about your roles in films? to draw the attention of my friends to the with my dad are our long conversations in did it happen? My first film, “Girls with Red Ribbons,” tells Ottoman massacres against the Armenian pop- Armenian, one-on-one. The last years of his life, That’s right; I played my first movie role the story of a group of Albanian schoolgirls dur- ulation, and every 24th of April I made it a for him the time had stopped. The past and the when I was only 16 years old. But I have been ing World War II who refused to sing the fascist habit to publish a story about my father’s life as present had merged into one. He used to tell me on stage since the age of 8-9 with the school’s anthem at school and rebelled against the a survivor of that genocide. theater troupe. I also invader for the liberation of the country. Could you tell us about your current artistic participated in liter- In 1980, I was chosen by Viktor Gjika, one of projects? ary contests reciting the two greatest Albanian directors, a graduate Actually, I am working on three projects. I poems and presented of the Higher Institute of Cinematography of am preparing a book with autobiographical artistic spectacles. Moscow, to play the lead role, that of Zana, in stories that tell the daily life of an Armenian- I was spotted and his movie “In Any Season.” The film’s plot takes Albanian family in Tirana during the years of discovered by the place in a university campus and tells the love the Cold War. I have already started writing well-known Albanian story of two students, a volleyball player and a my second novel, still in the style of magical film director Gëzim cellist. realism and finally, I keep writing the screen- Erebara in March The film “Spring Did Not Come Alone,” play for “In Any Season 2,” in which we will 1978. He was touring which I co-wrote, was directed in 1988 by Piro meet the former students of the university Tirana’s high schools Milkani, another great Albanian director, a campus, in their 60s. accompanied by his graduate from the Academy of Fine Arts in I would like to point out and emphasize once cinematographer, Prague. My character, Irena, is a young physi- again my mixed origin: Armenian and Albanian. looking for actresses cist who discovers that she is stricken by an Usually a hybrid takes on and represents in a for his next film, incurable disease. The film develops the spiritu- better version, if it is possible, the best virtues “The Girls with Red al, philosophical and human aspects of the con- and attributes of his or her parents. Ribbons.” One day, frontation with impending death. The movie I have relentlessly and incessantly tried all my they came to my won the Best Feature Award at the 8th life to make both my parents proud, and to Young Anissa with her parents classroom. The film Albanian Film Festival. reflect as best as I could, their unique humani- director asked me to In 1990, Piro Milkani directed me in the film ty, immense wisdom, uncovered talents, unful- read a text, and the “Youth’s Colors.” I was also the screenwriter. It filled dreams, and what is most important: their about his happy childhood. But strangely, while cinematographer took some pictures of me. A is the story of a group of schoolmates who meet immortal memory engraved in my heart and his brothers and sisters had stayed at the age week later, I was invited to Kinostudio for my after 20 years. In the same hotel where their soul, while hoping and praying to pass this pre- they had before leaving home forced by the first filmed casting which I succeeded. In the meeting is held, another party is in full swing: cious parental heritage onto my children Turkish soldiers, Agop had grown up and start- second filmed casting, three days later, I was a group of young graduates are celebrating the Noémie and Garbis Junior. ed his family in Albania. All this was very painful tested for the second most important role of the end of high school. The film tells the concerns As 2016 Literature Nobel Laureate, Bob to me. In a sense, it was as if he had brought me movie, that of Dhurata, and I won it. and aspirations of two different generations in Dylan once wrote: “Life is an ocean, but it ends back to Afyonkarahisar and I was playing with I assume you inherited your acting skills the context of the end of the totalitarian regime at the shore,” that is how I would like to ride my aunts and my uncle in the backyard of the from your maternal uncle, famous stage actor in Albania. the never ending waves of my artistic perfor- house where, if I remember correctly, there was Prokop Mima. You are also a writer, author of poetry and mances and creativity, enjoying them as long as an apricot and a pomegranate tree. Yes, I think I inherited my artistic skills from prose. they last… S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR 17 ARTS & LIVING CC AA LL EE NN DD AA RR

Worcester, www.enamelgallery.org Free entry, coffee, CALIFORNIA hot cocoa, and cookies JANUARY 17 — Literary evening, Friday, Levon FEBRUARY 9 — A cappella concert by Boston Jazz Barseghian, president of the Asbarez Club, Gyumri, Voices to Benefit the Armenia Tree Project. 5 pm at and Lilit Keheyan, will speak on two volumes by Edmond the Jenks Center, 109 Skillings Road, Winchester, MA. Yervant Azadian, will speak on his two collections of The venue has plenty of free parking. Event will feature essays, book on With My Time and an a cappella performance, refreshments, raffle, and Contemporaries [Zhamanagi yev zhamanagagitsneru silent auction. Tickets are $30 each and a family four- hed] Echer goruseal yev angorusd [Lost and Unlost pack of tickets is available for $100. Tickets available via Pages] 7.30 p.m., Glendale, Central Library Hall, Eventbrite at www.armeniatree.org/acappella Reception to follow. Free. Musical interlude by tenor NEW JERSEY Suren Mkerdichyan and pianist Armine Ghazaryan. Sponsored by the three Tekeyan Chapters in California, JANUARY 11 — Tekeyan Cultural Association of Tekeyan Los Angeles, Glendale and Metro LA Chapters, Greater New York presents “A Children’s Song and and Abril Bookstore. Dance Show,” starring Joelle. 2-4 p.m., Saturday, the Hovnanian School, 817 River Road, New Milford. Tickets FLORIDA $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Children 2 and under On January 11, the Tekeyan Cultural free. Joelle of Montreal will perform her first children’s FEBRUARY 2 — Banquet Celebration welcoming our Association of Greater New York will pre- sent a children’s concert, “A Children’s show in New Jersey. Light reception to follow. For tickets newly consecrated Primate Bishop Daniel Findikyan text or email Talia, 917-238-3970, [email protected] for his first pastoral visit, in conjunction with the 32nd Song and Dance Show,” featuring Canadian-Armenian singer Joelle. The pro- or Salpie 516-413-4178, Salpimegerian @gmail.com. Anniversary of consecration of St. David Armenian gram will be at the Hovnanian School, 817 Apostolic Church on Sunday following the Holy Badarak River Road, Milford, NJ, 2-4 p.m. A light RHODE ISLAND at the Mardigian Hall – 12:30pm. For further informa- reception will follow. For tickets see calen- tion, please call St. David Church office – Christine 561- dar entry at right. JANUARY 26 — The Armenian Historical Association of 994-2335 Or Sonig Kradjian 607-727-8786“ Rhode Island presents “Not in Our Backyard,” The amazing clean-up and restoration project at Oakland MASSACHUSETTS Cemetery, a roundtable discussion by the Sts. Vartanantz the old country. Members FREE. Non-members Men’s Club, Sunday, 1 p.m. Learn why the Men’s Club JANUARY 12 — Sunday Cultural Series, 2-4 p.m., $12. NOTE: The Museum’s elevator is in the process of took on the task of cleaning up an abandoned cemetery. Armenian Museum of America, 65 Main Street, being upgraded and is currently out of service. Register 245 Waterman St., fifth floor conference room, Watertown, Adele & Haig Der Manuelian galleries, 3rd online (https://www.armenianmuseum.org/classes) or Providence. Refreshments at 12.30 p.m. floor. On the second Sunday of every month, join experts call Education Coordinator, Garin Habeshian at Gary and Susan Lind-Sinanian for a workshop on 617.926.2562 ext. 103. Armenian dance! Gary and Susan have collected more JANUARY 18 — (Birds)squared Enamel Birds/Origami Calendar items are free. Entries should not be longer than 100 village dances and shared these with the com- Birds. Mary Aroian enamel birds/ origami bird than 5 lines. Listings should include contact informa- munity for the last 42 years. Learn Armenian dances per- demonstration (plus make your own!) 12 pm – 2 pm, tion. Items will be edited to fit the space, if need be. formed at American picnics and traditional dances from Gallery of Enamel Art, 340 Main Street, Suite 505,

In This Corner, an Armenian Pro Wrestler. In That Corner, Genocidal History.

scope of his political activities. “We’re better than hurting a es in his gentler cousin, who daydreams about returning to By John Williams girl, yes,” Ruben tells Avo while they conspire against Mina, Armenia and Mina. “but we’re also better than spending our lives in a drunken vil- Instead, Avo is recruited to become a wrestler (named The lage in the corner of a dying empire, aren’t we?” Brow Beater, for his prominent unibrow) by Terry “Angel Hair” Chris McCormick’s new novel, The Gimmicks, contains what From afar, Ruben convinces Avo, then 19, to move to Los Krill, a washed-up manager who narrates sections of the novel might seem like a few gimmicks of its own, including forays Angeles and join members of the Armenian Secret Army for the set in the late 1980s. into the worlds of competitive backgammon and professional Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), a group intent on securing A thumbnail sketch inevitably makes this novel sound over- wrestling. But those subcultures, emphasized in the book’s eye- crowded and jumbled, but McCormick keeps things admirably catching cover design and promo- nimble, moving the stories forward while shuttling back and tional copy, are not what fuel it. forth through time and across perspectives. Raised in BOOKS It’s really about history — personal California and Armenian on his mother’s side, he leans on real and collective — and it’s rooted in history, like Asala and its tactics, for his novel’s bones. horrors from more than a century ago that are still making At a time when plot and contrivance in literary fiction are news today. not the most fashionable things, McCormick, in his early 30s, McCormick’s novel begins in the early 1970s, nearly 60 years proves adept at old-fashioned skills that one hopes will never after the Armenian Genocide conducted by the Ottoman go entirely unpracticed. With a minimum amount of soapiness, Empire, during which one and a half million Armenians were he keeps the pages turning on his love triangles and nostalgic killed. Ruben Petrosian is a teenager living in Soviet Armenia wrestlers and brothers at peace and war. And he allows his larg- who is obsessed with the fact that Turkey has not yet acknowl- er themes to resonate without pushing them on us too hard. edged or apologized for the crimes. One of those themes is the tides of history, and whether one “Alliances with Turkey were growing around the world, not can ever really decide to avoid them. “I want no trouble. I only shrinking,” McCormick writes, “and even sympathetic govern- want to be provincial,” Mina writes at one point in a journal, ments were willing to ignore its denial for the right price.” willing herself to believe that “the past is the past is the past.” (Earlier this month, the United States Senate voted unani- Others include the line between justice and petty vengeance, in mously to officially acknowledge the genocide as such. The matters both large and small; the power (or lack thereof) in Trump administration balked, calling the crimes “mass atroci- apologies; and the appeals and hazards of “pretending so well ties” as opposed to orchestrated genocide.) that we forgot we were pretending.” Ruben is a promising backgammon player — but not as McCormick only loses his footing on occasion. Avo speaks promising as his friend and rival Mina. She finds Ruben dour, some jarringly (for him) profound and “written” observations, and his fixation on the Turks and history boring. (“I was going like this one about America: “Everything that makes sense in to say male,” she declares, “but boring works, too.”) She com- that country is terrible, and everything that’s nonsense has a pares constant focus on the past to lemon trees: “Imagine if kind of grace to it.” And Ruben is not quite as vivid on the page they never dropped the dead lemons from last year, or the year as his cousin — his fundamentalism is believable up to a point, before that. Just went on carrying all their old shriveled lemons but not conveyed with quite enough psychological detail to sell until the branches sagged so low that no new fruit could grow.” The Gimmicks his most brutal decisions. After an orphan named Avo Gregoryan arrives to live with By Chris McCormick The novel draws to a close around one last devastating event Ruben and his family, the two boys come to think of them- 354 pages. Harper/HarperCollins Publishers. from history, the 1988 earthquake in Armenia that killed tens selves as brothers, though they are really cousins of cousins. of thousands. “We lost everything,” Mina says of relocating to Ruben is scowling and bespectacled, with “the look of an old $27.99. America after the disaster. “We’re being careful not to lose any- man cursed to live in a child’s body.” Avo, 6-foot-6, is “an enor- thing else in the moving, you understand?” mous but entirely sweet-hearted boy.” “global acknowledgment, apologies and reparations” for the When Mina is chosen to compete at a backgammon tourna- Genocide. The operatives in California make plans for an air- ment in Paris, Ruben schemes to be sent in her place, seeing port bombing and the assassination of a genocide-denying pro- (This review originally appeared in the New York Times on the trip as a chance to escape his country and expand the fessor. But Avo’s heart is not in it. Ruben’s fervor never catch- December 31, 2019.) 18 S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR COMMENTARY

COMMENTARY Mirror While Middle East Is Embroiled in Crisis, Spectator Turkey Seeks Mischief sion to Russia’s containment. By Edmond Y. Azadian In light of these moves, the Kremlin’s assurances that it will double the forces of its military base in Gyumri cannot be cause for jubilation because the significance of that base goes beyond EstablishedEstablished 1932 1932 Pundits and politicians this week have been holding their the parameters of Armenia’s defense to become a pawn in breaths and trying to guess what will happen next, after the regional power play and as such it becomes a prime target in a AnAn ADL ADL Publication Publication assassination of Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the conflagration. Iranian elite Quds forces and a national icon. While world attention is focused on the standoff between Questions abound in the world media: how could Iraq’s Washington and Tehran, Turkey’s next mischievous move is in sovereignty be compromised by a strike on its territory? Will the Cyprus. EDITOR tensions escalate further or is there a diplomatic solution? How It is not enough that Turkey has trampled the sovereignty of Alin K. Gregorian and when will the revenge strikes from Iran come? There are another country by occupying 38 percent of Cyprus; it claims many other questions circulating in the diplomatic circles and legal rights for illegally occupied portion of Cyprus in the littoral ASSISTANT EDITOR the media. reserves of oil and gas in the Eastern Mediterranean. As well, Aram Arkun As the three-day mourning period ends, the Iranian leadership Turkey is contemplating constructing a military base in Cyprus. ART DIRECTOR is exploiting the funeral procession of their national icon. Since NATO destroyed Libya’s stable government, the country Marc Mgrditchian There are no easy — or accurate — answers to any of those has become a victim of warlords and the Islamist forces have questions as the situation remains fluid. taken refuge in that war-torn country. To begin with, the US and in particular, in Washington, Libya was part of the Ottoman Empire and it was lost to Italy Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has taken over the White House. in 1912. Now, within the scope of Ottomanist revival and the Crossing the Rubicon is not in President Trump’s style and strat- lure of oil and gas deposits, Ankara has decided to send troops SENIOR EDITORIAL COLUMNIST: egy. Thus far, he has kept politicians and the media guessing while to support one of the rival factions in Libya, namely to Tripoli. Edmond Y. Azadian he teases his enemies with the illusion of brinksmanship. Ankara has been fishing in murky waters by signing treaties It was not a Freudian slip when Pompeo answered in public with one of the factions in Libya before that country recovers CONTRIBUTORS: Florence Avakian, Dr. Haroutiun that the president was in it [the decision] “reluctantly.” Today, from its current fragmentation. Arzoumanian, Philippe Raffi Kalfayan, Pompeo is replicating the role of Vice President Dick Cheney in Seth J. Franzman, writing in the January 1 issue of the Philip Ketchian, Kevork Keushkerian, the George W. Bush administration, who thirsted for the inva- Jerusalem Post, states, “The play by Turkey has muscle behind Harut Sassounian, Hagop Vartivarian, sion of Iraq. it. Ankara has been sending its navy out to conduct drills around Naomi Zeytoonian The US Congress, predictably, reacted along partisan lines. Cyprus, showing the flag and its power. Turkey has new sea- There was no questions in the minds of legislators that based missiles. It is buying new drilling ships. Cyprus thought it CORRESPONDENTS: Soleimani was “evil incarnate,” but taking him out required a was ahead of the curve, signing deals with Egypt in 2003, Armenia - Hagop Avedikian congressional resolution. This argument was, of course, cited by Lebanon In 2007 and Israel in 2010. But Turkey has thrown Boston - Nancy Kalajian Democrats, even invoking the War Powers Los Angeles - Taleen Babayan Berlin - Muriel Mirak-Weissbach Act, while Republicans were lock step with the president. Contributing Photographers: The most ardent supporter of Mr. Trump’s Jirair Hovsepian action was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; scant attention has been paid to the fact that Washington’s move was a pre- The Armenian Mirror-Spectator is published ventative one to divert the potential for weekly, except two weeks in July and the first another Middle East war. Indeed, Netanyahu week of the year, by: has been caught up in scandals. There is an Baikar Association, Inc. indictment against him, while his election campaign is in a dead heat with his adversary, 755 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, MA 02472-1509 Benny Gantz. It is very plausible that Telephone: 617-924-4420 Netanyahu was ready to attack Iran’s nuclear FAX: 617-924-2887 facilities, igniting a regional war, because for www.mirrorspectator.com Tehran, Israel is a relatively easier target than E-Mail: [email protected] Washington. Therefore, the war planners in For advertising: [email protected] the US took the onus on themselves for dam- age control. Of course, this view does not enjoy much popularity in the media. The reaction of the international communi- ty was mixed. Even the US’s closest ally, Britain, while trying to maintain the appear- SUBSCRIPTION RATES : ance of solidarity with Washington, expressed concerns about the consequences. Spokesperson of Russia’s down the gauntlet.” Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova characterized the act as a Turkey has also been intimidating Greece by claiming that its U.S.A. $80 a year cynical ploy, while advising restraint. littoral rights to drill supercede those of the Greek islands. Canada $125 a year The UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres issued a state- President Trump has warned Turkey against sending troops ment advising the parties to avoid an escalation. to Libya. But his warnings are not worth any more than his ear- Other Countries $190 a year China’s reaction was muted. Its Foreign Ministry echoed most- lier warnings to Ankara not to slaughter Kurds. Egypt has put ly the UN’s cautious approach. its naval forces on alert, but the Egyptian army is no match for Similar voices were also heard in Yerevan, and Prime Minister Turkey. The US arms its allies, like Egypt, to the extent of scar- © 2014 The Armenian Mirror-Spectator Nikol Pashinyan stated that Armenia has friendly relations with ing away their regional enemies but falling short of undermin- Periodical Class Postage Paid at Boston, MA the US and Iran. Armenia’s top brass held a special meeting and ing Israeli military supremacy in the Middle East. and additional mailing offices. placed the armed forces on alert. Mr. Erdogan is on another gamble with international implica- Angela Merkel of Germany decided to take a trip to Moscow, tions. While trying to revive the Ottoman dream, he seems to be ISSN 0004-234X most probably seeking President Vladimir Putin’s mediation as striving to best Ataturk’s legacy, to endow Turkey with world- Russia enjoys relatively good relations with Iran and its enemies class achievements. After the impressive international airport in POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The in the Middle East, i.e. the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia Istanbul and a new bridge, he is planning to dig a parallel canal Armenian Mirror-Spectator, 755 Mount Auburn and Israel. to the Strait of Bosphorus reportedly to relieve traffic. The St., Watertown, MA 02472 It is under the cover of such troubled times that unexpected “Istanbul Canal” is estimated to cost anywhere from $20 to $75 Other than the editorial, views and opinions mischievous acts are often committed. And indeed, Turkey is out billion and is strongly criticized by the opposition. Besides that expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily seeking international adventures, trying to add building blocks domestic hurdle, the project has also international implications. reflect the policies of the publisher. to its Ottomanist schemes. The shipping lanes of the Bosphorus are regulated by the Treaty As much as Turkey and Russia are cooperating in Syria and of Montreux of 1936. Should a parallel canal be built, it will call Ankara has dared to buy Russian S-400 missile defense systems for the revision of that treaty, which in turn will affect all of it to Washington’s chagrin, the two have been historical competi- signatories. Some observers also believe that the move will exac- tors for Iran in the region and that trend continues to date, erbate Russian-Turkish relations and push the parties towards a Copying for other than personal use or albeit latently, when Turkey builds up its forces in Azerbaijan confrontation. internal reference is prohibited without express permission of the copyright and in particular in Nakhichevan, that has a number of ramifi- The former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Ahmet owner. Address requests for reprints or cations in different directions. Davutoglu believes that the subject nations of the Ottoman back issues to: Any observer can see that Turkey’s move is primarily a self- Empire were in idyllic relations with their tormentors. Mr. serving one. But from the Russian perspective, Ankara’s action Erdogan shares that view, too. That bloody rule has been any- Baikar Association, Inc. is viewed through a historic context. For NATO planners, it thing but idyllic. It has been a dirty curse for the peoples in the remains a double game, since Turkish military presence brings Middle East and Eastern Europe. 755 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, MA 02472- NATO assets to Iran’s doorsteps while adding another dimen- Its resurgence cannot promise anything better. 1509 S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR 19 COMMENTARY

After giving interviews to two Turkish newspapers — the Diaspora. We have always been here and stayed in this Milliyet and Sabah — Patriarch Mashalyan continued to be country. After the bitter events of 1915, we chose to stay the center of attention of the Turkish media. He told the here. We lived for 105 years differently from the Diaspora Aksham newspaper on January 2, 2020, that Diaspora Armenians. They existed with the 1915 trauma with bitter Armenians and Istanbul Armenians have no connection with memories which they passed from generation to generation. My Turn each other and that the Diaspora has remained 100 years We survived that trauma. We did not forget it, but we sur- behind. vived it. The magic of living together has taken place.” By Harut Sassounian Patriarch Mashalyan added: “All minorities in Turkey agree Patriarch Sahak II has had a controversial past with vari- that we live in our most comfortable period under the reign ous odd incidents. But I prefer not to dwell on those issues of President Erdogan.” The Patriarch seems to have forgotten right now. It is not pleasant to attack a high-ranking Senate’s Adoption of Genocide that for the last 12 years the Armenian community was not Armenian clergyman. I just want to quote briefly from the Resolution Upsets Newly-Elected allowed to elect a replacement Patriarch after the comatose Patriarch’s 2017 writing: “I gave the church my life, my youth state of the previous Patriarch. Erdogan’s government was and my masculinity. I do not have a family. For six years, I Patriarch of Turkey Patriarch also the one that banned the participation of several Turkish lived in a 20 meter square room in the Patriarchate.” Armenian clergymen in the patriarchal election simply The statements made by Patriarch Sahak II to the Turkish Sahak II, Armenian Patriarch of because they were serving in parishes outside of Turkey. media, at the very beginning of his term in office, even prior Patriarch Mashalyan most probably would not have been cho- to his ordination, are not a good sign. Many Armenians, both Constantinople sen if the other candidates were allowed to participate in the inside and outside Turkey, were complaining that his rival, I responded last month to the interview given by the newly- election. Archbishop Aram Ateshyan, was too subservient to the elected Patriarch of Turkey, Bishop Sahak II Mashalyan, to a “Ever since the period of the Ottoman Empire, the prob- Turkish authorities. While that kind of behavior is somewhat Turkish newspaper in which he had criticized the adoption of lems of minorities have been exploited to interfere in the understandable, given the oppressive nature of the Turkish the Armenian Genocide Resolution by the U.S. Senate. internal affairs of Turkey. We do not want this issue to be the authorities, the newly-elected Patriarch has far exceeded his Since then, the Armenian world was disturbed that the reason why Turkey suffers losses in international politics. We rival’s submissive conduct. Patriarch has continued giving interviews to the Turkish are the citizens of this country. Any word against this coun- Patriarch Sahak II’s self-demeaning words to the Turkish media, making pro-Turkish and anti-Armenian comments. As try hurts us too,” the Patriarch told Aksham newspaper. media are simply the repetition of the Turkish denials of the I have written before, it is understandable that the remnants Furthermore, the Patriarch of Turkey stated that “the Armenian Genocide and rejection of the recent recognition of the Armenian community in Istanbul are hostages in the Armenian Diaspora has no connection with us. 1915 and its by the US Senate. Furthermore, by aligning himself with the brutal hands of the Turkish regime. Consequently, we should subsequent memories have been transmitted through gener- Turkish government, the Patriarch is distancing himself and express some understanding for their questionable pro- ations. They have seen that this issue at least preserves their the Turkish Armenian community from the Diaspora just as nouncements. Nevertheless, not every statement is made unity and creates a negative collective consciousness. A col- Turkish officials have banned Turkish Armenian clergymen under duress. Some of their negative statements are made of lective consciousness has been created based on a tragedy. serving in the Diaspora from participating in the patriarchal their own free will, without any pressure from the Turkish They do not wish to lose it. But we remained on these lands election. government. Sometimes, certain Armenians in Turkey make after those events. We chose to live together with the other Patriarch Sahak II is living in the honeymoon stage of his anti-Armenian statements either to protect their own busi- elements. The Diaspora has remained 100 years behind…. new position. However, as we have seen in the past, the ness arrangements with Turkish officials or to preserve their There is a difference between the way we understand Islam Turkish government can at any moment tighten the screws seats by endearing themselves to the Turkish authorities. and the way the Diaspora understands it. In reality, the peo- on the local Armenian community. When that happens, it is Therefore, one should not automatically jump to the conclu- ple are much softer. They remember on April 24, and forget the Armenian Diaspora that will come to the rescue of the sion that we should refrain from criticizing their pro-Turkish it until the next April 24. Turkish Armenian community, ignoring the Patriarch’s statements just because they live in Turkey. It all depends on Continuing his anti-Armenian crusade, Patriarch Sahak II unwelcome words against the Diaspora. the circumstances of the statement and the extent to which told the Turkish NTV on January 2, 2020 that the decision of Furthermore, I am mindful that the Patriarch will use the an Istanbul Armenian attacks Armenians and their political the U.S. Senate approving the Armenian Genocide Diaspora’s critical statements to score points with the demands. Resolution “hurt me.” The Patriarch also stated: “We are not Turkish authorities.

Geopolitics, or just business? in 2016, Armenian investigators also found irregularities Since the new government came to power, the railway in tenders conducted by the company.) Armenia and and other Russian companies in Armenia have been sub- Armenia dismissed the report. “There is no question of jected to a series of investigations and controversies. early termination of the agreement,” Deputy Prime These are often interpreted in geopolitical terms, as mani- Minister Mher Grigoryan told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. festations of a West-Russia clash. In spite of the occasion- But he added that Yerevan was not entirely happy with the Russia Keep al tensions, however, both sides appear committed to mak- company’s work. “We have only two trains that meet ing their economic relationship work. European standards of transportation,” he said, referring In 2008, Russian Railways won an Armenian govern- to a recently introduced electric train between Gyumri and ment tender, for which it was the only bidder, to operate Yerevan. “Yes, that issue has also been discussed, and Ties on Track Armenia’s railways. The contract was granted for 30 years, some of our positions have become demands,” he said, with the possibility of a 10-year extension on top of that. without further elaborating. Under Armenia’s previous leadership, the railway and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also said that there was no other Russian economic assets were plainly acknowledged reason for Russia to terminate its contract. “Armenia does By Ani Mejlumyan as having as much strategic significance as business logic. not want it, and Russia does not want it. Why should it hap- At a 2016 meeting with Russian Railways director Oleg pen?” Pashinyan said in an interview with Russian newspaper NE DAY in November, railway employ- Belozorov, then-president Serzh Sargsyan said that Kommersant. He also denied that there was any political sub- ees in Gyumri, Armenia’s second city, “Armenia considers cooperation in the field of transporta- text to the investigations, calling the railroad “a purely eco- went to work and found they had tion to be an important component of Armenian-Russian nomic issue” that the media was politicizing. been replaced by Russians. Russian strategic relations.” Accordingly, Russian businesses were “The logic has changed from before the revolution, conductors were already at the rail given a relatively free hand to operate. when the state acknowledged the political side of this yard operating the trains, and the Following the new government’s rise to power, that has deal,” Danial Ioannisyan, a member of Armenia’s Public Armenian employees were told they changed, and South Caucasus Railways has been subject- Council, a body intended to coordinate between the gov- O ernment and civil society, told Eurasianet. were put on leave. ed to a number of investigations. In August 2018, the The Armenian employees believed their replacement was Armenian State Revenue Service conducted raids on the To some in Armenia, the tussling over the railroad is evi- the result of a strike a month earlier where they had company’s offices as part of an investigation into allega- dence that Yerevan needs to make greater efforts to demanded higher wages. “We put them in a difficult posi- tions it had evaded $19,000 in taxes. As yet, there have reduce its ties with Moscow. “We can state as a fact that tion and this is how they answer us,” one conductor, Gor been no charges filed. the revolution hasn’t affected Russian-Armenian relations. Ghazaryan, told a local TV station. “Instead of me there is In December of that year, another Armenian law enforce- This isn’t acceptable,” said Artur Sakunts, the chairman of a Russian operating the train and ruining our equipment.” ment body, the Investigative Committee, announced that it the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly in Vanadzor, a human The news quickly spread through Armenia, prompting was looking into “alleged abuses” at the railway company, rights organization that recently prepared a report on discussions in parliament and meetings between senior in particular that it had not carried out investments in the Russia’s military presence in Armenia. government officials and the railway management. country’s rail system that were stipulated in the original Sakunts said the railway contract should be terminated. But it turned out that it was only a misunderstanding: tender. The company responded that the committee was “If we stay like this, we will never have our own resources, the Russians were just on a work exchange, which also “biased.” the contract we have now isn’t aimed at developing sent Armenian railway employees to work in Russia. The railway investigations have been paralleled by simi- Armenia,” he told Eurasianet. “Colonization by Russia Vahagn Hareyan, a conductor based in Yerevan, went to lar inquiries into the books of the Armenian affiliate of the isn’t just about creating dependency, but also sucking out the Urals city of Ufa. “We learned a lot,” he told Russian state gas company, Gazprom. our resources.” Eurasianet. “Of course Russian trains are more advanced, A September report on the international Russian-lan- On December 8, Belozorov, the director of Russian the procedures are more complex and precise.” Ruben guage TV network RTVI cited an unnamed source as say- Railways, met with Armenian Minister of Territorial Grdzelyan, a spokesman for the Russian-operated ing that Russia was considering suspending its operation Administration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan in Armenian rail company, South Caucasus Railways, told of the railway because of the investigations. The report Moscow and agreed to establish a joint working group on Eurasianet that workers were notified ahead of time that was widely spread across Armenian and Russian media. “improving the activity of South Caucasus Railways, the Russian workers would be coming and said he doesn’t “Armenia created a situation in which South Caucasus including the possibility of modernizing the concession,” know why the controversy erupted. Railways is unable to function properly,” Russian Deputy the ministry announced. The ministry did not respond to The misunderstanding, however, highlighted the ten- Minister of Transportation Vladimir Tokarev told RTVI. Eurasianet’s queries under the Freedom of Information sions that have emerged between Yerevan and Moscow as “All documents for 10 years have been confiscated, uncon- Act about what new investments might be under consid- a result of Armenia’s 2018 “Velvet Revolution.” The new firmed charges have been filed, and no guarantees have eration. regime is filled with pro-Western figures, raising questions been given. Our arguments are that inspections previous- (Ani Mejlumyan is a reporter based in Yerevan. about how durable the longstanding strategic partnership ly have not revealed any violations, and that terms of the This column originally appared on the Eurasianet between Armenia and Russia can be. concession are being ignored.” (That was not entirely true: website on January 7.) 20 S ATURDAY, J ANUARY 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR

Manhattan Property Decline Worsened as Wall Street Boomed

buyers waited for prices to fall further. New developments ments, many buyers are waiting for prices to fall further. By Lindsay Fortado fared the worst, spending an average of 377 days up for sale, The property market at the lower end was less affected 102 percent more than the rest of the market, according to in 2019, with buyers flooding into the outer boroughs of Garrett Derderian, the managing director for market analy- Brooklyn and Queens, or seeking out studios and one-bed- NEW YORK (Financial Times) — Manhattan’s property sis at Core, a New York real estate brokerage. rooms in Manhattan. decline deepened in the last three months of 2019, with Developers have responded by offering more concessions That split was evident in the differing fortunes of condo sales falling for the eighth time in nine quarters and the recently. average price dropping 7.5 percent from a year earlier. Derderian said a pull- Average prices of Manhattan co-ops and condos fell to back by foreign investors $1.8 million in the fourth quarter, according to Douglas and the growing supply of Elliman, the largest real estate brokerage in the New York luxury inventory, which City area. has flooded the market in The price per square foot — a key metric — declined 6.1 recent years, have also hit percent to $1,581, and the number of sales dropped 1.2 per apartment prices. Sellers cent, the brokerage said. The Manhattan property drop is in sold for an average dis- sharp contrast to the rally on Wall Street, where stock mar- count from the asking kets have hit new records. price of 9 per cent, accord- Steven James, chief executive of Douglas Elliman, likened ing to Core data. “It is a 2019 to “a tale of two cities”, with the newly introduced positive sign sellers are New York mansion tax and President Donald Trump’s fed- adjusting their prices to eral tax law changes putting a damper on the luxury mar- meet the market, and buy- ket while apartments marketed for less than $5 million were ers are re-engaging,” quicker to sell. The mansion tax, which took effect halfway Derderian said. “Still, the through the year, levied a sliding scale of charges on apart- upcoming presidential ments selling for more than $1 million. election puts a cloud of Trump’s tax law limited the amount of state and local uncertainty over the mar- taxes households could deduct from their federal taxes. The ket, which will probably Garrett Derderian latter has been blamed for spurring a flight by wealthy New result in a sales slowdown Yorkers to Florida, which has no personal income tax. as we near the election.” The new taxes, coupled with historically low interest rates, As building costs have risen, real estate developers in recent sales and those of co-ops, which tend to be lower-priced. The have also scared off cash buyers. Douglas Elliman reported years have focused almost entirely on the luxury end in number of condo sales in Manhattan in the fourth quarter the lowest overall share of cash buyers in the quarter since hopes of making the biggest profit. Instead, a glut of prop- was down 3 percent from the previous year, while co-op they started recording that data five years ago. erties has flooded the market and many of the high-end buy- sales were up 18 percent, according to Core data. Ninety-five Properties also sat on the market for the longest time ers they hope to attract have pulled back. Brokers say that percent of all co-op sales in Manhattan in the fourth quar- since 2011, according to the real estate broker Compass, as while the market is still competitive for lower-priced apart- ter were priced under $3 million.

AAF Shipped $71 Million of Aid to Armenia and Artsakh During 2019

GLENDALE — The Armenia Artsakh Fund Gynecology Center, Metsn Nerces Charitable (AAF) delivered $6.4 million in humanitarian Organization, Muratsan Children’s assistance to Armenia and Artsakh during the Endocrinology Center, National Hematology fourth quarter of 2019. Of this amount, the Center, St. Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center, AAF collected $5.9 million of medicines and and the health ministries of Armenia and other supplies donated by Americares ($4 mil- Artsakh. lion); Direct Relief ($1.6 million); Catholic During the twelve months of 2019 AAF Medical Mission Board ($199,000); Health shipped to Armenia and Artsakh the phenome- Partners International of Canada ($81,000) and nal amount of $71 million of medicines, medical MAP International ($9,000). supplies and other relief products. In the past Other organizations which contributed valu- 30 years, including the shipments under its pre- able goods during this period were Armenian decessor, the United Armenian Fund, the AAF Missionary Association of America ($282,000) has delivered to Armenia and Artsakh a grand and Project Agape ($223,000). total of $891 million worth of relief supplies on The medicines, medical supplies and hygiene board 158 airlifts and 2,456 sea containers. products donated during this period were sent “The Armenia Artsakh Fund is regularly to the AGBU Claudia Nazarian Medical Center offered free of charge millions of dollars of life- for Syrian Armenian Refugees in Yerevan, saving medicines and medical supplies. All we Aleppo Compatriotic Charity Organization, have to do is pay for the shipping expenses. Arabkir United Children’s Foundation, We welcome your generous donations to be Armenian Eyecare Project, Armenian able to continue delivering this valuable assis- Missionary Association of America, City of tance to all medical centers in Armenia and Smile Foundation, Fund for Armenian Relief, Artsakh,” stated Harut Sassounian, the Institute of Perinatology, Obstetrics and President of AAF. Georgian Doctor Tried by South Ossetia after Crossing Border TSKHINVALI, Georgia (RFE/RL) — A Georgian defense request to release Gaprindashvili on his physician who was arrested by Russian border own recognizance. guards in Georgia’s breakaway region of South The doctor insists that he did not break any laws, Ossetia in November has gone on trial for “illegally as South Ossetia is Georgian territory. According to crossing the border” to treat a patient. the separatist government-imposed regulations, A court in the separatist-controlled region start- Gaprindashvili faces up to two years in prison. ed a preliminary hearing into the case against Moscow has recognized South Ossetia and Vazha Gaprindashvili, on December 12. Georgia’s other separatist region, Abkhazia, as inde- Gaprindashvili was detained on November 9 pendent states after the five-day Georgian-Russian when he crossed the administrative boundary with War in August 2008. the breakaway region to provide a patient with med- Russian troops are now stationed in the two Donations ical assistance. regions, while Georgia and most of the internation- His lawyer, Vladimir Fidarov, said that the court al community consider both regions to be occupied Michael and Shelly Norehad of Ohio donated $1,000 to the Tekeyan Cultural Association of in the town of Alkhagori, which the separatist gov- territories. the US and Canada. ernment calls Leninogorsk, has refused to satisfy a Z. Ken Darian of Huntington Station, NY, donated $200 to the Tekeyan Cultural Association of the US and Canada. LIKE US ON FACEBOOK