JULY 1, 2017 Mirror-SpeTHE ARMENIAN ctator Volume LXXXVII, NO. 50, Issue 4494 $ 2.00 NEWS The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932 INBRIEF Annual Mirror- World Refugee Day Spectator Summer Vacation Chris Cornell’s Official mance in Brooklyn, NY shortly WATERTOWN — The Armenian Mirror-Spectator before his passing, he wanted will be closed for two weeks for its annual summer Music Video for The his video to be released on vacation. World Refugee Day, and he was This current issue is going to be the last before Promise Released on passionate about helping peo- the vacation. The first issue after the break will ple through this project. True be that of July 22. World Refugee Day to Chris’s charitable spirit, he made a commitment to donate LOS ANGELES — Multi-Grammy Award- all of his proceeds from The Germany Warns winning, Golden Globe nominee Chris Promise to support refugees Cornell’s official music video for his song and children, and to further the Erdogan Bodyguards The Promise was released on June 20 by conversation about the refugee Not to Attend G20 Survival Pictures. The Promise was crisis the world continues to Cornell’s last release prior to his passing. A shot from video endure.” BERLIN (BBC) — Germany says it does not The Promise The song was on the soundtrack of the The video was directed by expect Turkish security agents who were charged film of the same name, starring Christian Grammy Award winning direc- for violent scuffles in Washington last month to Bale and Oscar Isaac, which was released in provide hope for years to come.” tor Meiert Avis and Stefan Smith. The join President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a G20 sum- April. Esrailian added, “Although it is bitter- Promise is Cornell’s last music video mit next week. Per Cornell’s request, the video’s release sweet because Chris filmed his perfor- see CORNELL, page 20 A spokesman said leaders can bring their own date had special meaning. June 20 bodyguards to the summit in Hamburg, but the law marked World Refugee Day, an annual com- must be respected. memoration by the United Nations Refugee A list of Turkish officials expected to travel to the Agency to spotlight “the strength, courage event reportedly included several people involved and perseverance of millions of refugees.” in the brawl. Cornell pledged to donate all proceeds US prosecutors charged 12 agents with assault from the song and video to the humanitar- last week for the incident. ian aid charity International Rescue Police called it a “brutal attack” on protesters by Committee. Turkish security personnel, but Turkey blamed the “Chris Cornell was not only a dear fami- violence on pro-Kurdish demonstrators who were ly friend for many years, but he was also a outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in once-in-a generation talent who is missed Washington. more than words can convey. It was such The case strained US-Turkey relations and could an honor to collaborate and partner on inflict more damage on already soured relations ‘The Promise’ over the years,” said Eric Edmond Azadian, senior columnist for the Armenian Mirror- between Ankara and Berlin, correspondents say. Esrailian, producer of the movie “The Spectator, pays tribute to the World Refugee Day, marked on Germany’s foreign ministry spokesman Martin Promise” and co-manager for Survival June 20, with his editorial, on page 18. Above, he can be seen in Schaefer said: “I have reason to expect that these Pictures. “His music and lyrics will not only Raqqa, Syria, about 15 years ago. He paid tribute to his mother’s people, who have been incriminated by the shine a light on the Armenian Genocide path during the Armenian Genocide by stopping at the sites she American criminal justice (system) will not step and the human rights crises of modern had almost a century before that. Also above Raqqa can be seen onto German soil in the foreseeable future, includ- times, but they will also inspire people and as it appears now, battered and bombed beyond recognition. ing during the G20 summit.” German media reported that a list of 50 people who were expected to accompany Erdogan includ- ed agents that had participated in the incident. Zangakner Gives Officials say they expect violent protests during Knights of Vartan Awards Scholarships at the summit, to be held on July 7 and 8. Annual Event for Armenian Students Voice to Boston- Foreign Minister CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — On Tuesday, June Area Children Attends Inauguration By Anelga Hajjar 13, the Knights of Vartan Ararat Lodge held its fifth annual event honoring Special to the Mirror-Spectator Of Serbian President Armenian high school graduates and col- By Mark Antranig Arkun lege students from the local community, at BELGRADE, Serbia (Panorama.am) — Foreign Special to the Mirror-Spectator Holy Trinity Armenian Church of Greater Boston. Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian on June Vartan Soukiassian, event chair, awarded College Scholarships in the amount 23 attended the inauguration ceremony of Serbian of $1,500 each to two students, Haig Aboyan, a rising senior studying biomedical LYNNFIELD, Mass. — At the Zangakner President-elect Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade. engineering at Boston University, and Hannah Harootian, a rising junior study- Performing Arts Ensemble, not everyone is Nalbandian conveyed congratulations from ing nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. fluent in Armenian. Some cannot read, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan to Vucic. He see SCHOLARSHIPS, page 20 some cannot speak, and some do not know also noted the centuries-old friendship between the the language at all. Fortunately, Hasmik Armenian and Serb peoples Konjoyan, the director, provides lyrics transliterated into English as well as spo- ken translations for the ease of the mem- bers who have a better knowledge of INSIDE English than Armenian. When I joined two years ago, I did not know anyone and I could not read Armenian quickly enough to sing in this Aramean in language. However, Mrs. Konjoyan felt I was a good singer and did her best to make sure I always knew the lyrics. Germany We first met at the Erebuni School, held in a Protestant American church in Page 5 Belmont, and intended for children to learn Armenian on Saturdays. Due to my level of Armenian, I was placed in the first grade. All In photo: Front Row, from left, Eva Marie Medzorian, Shant Arakelian, Tina Kotikian, the children I learnt Armenian with were Katarina Nalbandian, Elizabeth Santourian, Natalie Ourfalian, Alexis Cormier, many years younger than me. I knew no one INDEX Anoush Gigarjian, Taline Guzelian, and Hannah Harootian (Scholarship Recipient) at first, but soon I got to know my class- Arts and Living . 14 Back row left to right: Vartan Soukiasian (Event Chair), Alec Maserejian, Joseph mates. Mrs. Konjoyan was the singing direc- Armenia . 2,3 Hajjar, Daron Hamparian, Vasken Kebabjian, Andre Kotian, Garen Soukiasian, tor for Erebuni and had each class for Community News. 6 Nareg Kalaydjian, Haig Aboyan (Scholarship Recipient) and Peter Yapoudjian Editorial . 18 around thirty minutes. For a few class peri- (Commander) International . .. 4,5 ods, Mrs. Konjoyan acted as a substitute for my teacher and got to know me a bit better. see ZANGAKNER, page 16 2 S ATURDAY, J ULY 1 , 2 0 1 7 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR ARMENIA News From Armenia Syria’s Armenians Are Fleeing There Is No Water in To Their Ancestral Homeland Some Armenian Villages YEREVAN (The Economist) — When erland. (Some have since moved on to that they do not have to do military ser- YEREVAN (news.am) — The State Committee for war broke out in Syria in 2011, some of other countries.) The wealthy, who vice. Water Management of Armenia will hold talks with the wealthier families from the coun- found it easy to move, came first. Vasken Yacoubian, who once ran a foreign donors on water supply systems for small vil- try’s Christian Armenian minority Others tried to wait out the war in construction company in Damascus, lages, said the chairman of the Committee, Arsen decamped to Yerevan, the Armenian Syria, fleeing only once their means now heads the Armenian branch of the Harutyunyan, at the National Assmebly (NA) of capital, where they rented luxury flats were exhausted. They arrived in Armenian General Benevolent Union Armenia on Tuesday, June 27. on the city’s Northern Avenue. It felt, Armenia with nothing. (AGBU), a global charity. He says Since 2017, a single water supply operator, French some would later say, as though they Vartan Oskanian, a former foreign refugees are still arriving from Syria, if Veolia, has been rendering services to the entire were on holiday. The government allot- minister of Armenia who was born in no longer in large numbers. A few have republic. Nevertheless, 560 settlements (mainly vil- ted them space in a local school, where Aleppo, says many of the refugees have even gone back, especially those with lages) — where none of the previous water supply Syrian teachers who had fled operators operated — are still not included in the con- as refugees continued to cessionary agreement. instruct their children using According to the estimates of an international com- the Syrian curriculum. It took pany, nearly 270 million euros are required for con- some time for it to dawn on structing water supply networks and regulating them that they might never go reservoirs there. home. The first stage can cover relatively large villages Syria’s six-year-old civil war with populations of 2,500 and more. There are 67 of has forced more than 5m of its such villages but they cover more than half of the citizens to seek refuge outside population of the mentioned 560 villages.