Archbishop Baliozian Laid to Rest ALMA Settle BIRMINGHAM, Mich
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
OCTOBER 13, 2012 THE ARMENIAN Mirror -Spe ctaItn Ouor Mirror -Spe ctatror 80th Year Volume LXXXIII, NO. 13, Issue 4258 $ 2.00 NEWS IN BRIEF The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932 Kevorkian Estate, Archbishop Baliozian Laid to Rest ALMA Settle BIRMINGHAM, Mich. (AP) — A lawyer says a dis - pute has been settled between Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s estate and a Watertown museum over the owner - By Arthur Hagopian ship of 17 of the assisted-suicide advocate’s paint - ings. The executor of Kevorkian’s estate, Michigan- SYDNEY — In death, as in life, based attorney Mayer Morganroth, told the Detroit Archbishop Aghan Baliozian, the News last week that the Armenian Library and late Primate of the Diocese of the Museum of America (ALMA) in Watertown, Mass., Armenian Church of Australia and will keep four paintings. Thirteen others will be New Zealand, garnered an endless returned to Kevorkian’s estate. row of tributes from all with whom The museum sued in federal court in he came into contact. Massachusetts last year ahead of a New York auc - And they were legion, for he was tion. It claimed Kevorkian donated the art in 1999. a man of and for all people. His estate said he loaned it to the museum for an They were all there, laymen and exhibit and subsequent storage. clergymen alike, standing in silent Kevorkian died in 2011 at age 83. and solemn vigil at his graveside as The Boston Globe reported in 2008 that his casket was lowered in the for - Kevorkian, who was the child of two Armenian eign soil of Sydney, a shore too dis - Burial ceremony, with Archbishop Nourhan Manougian in center and Archbishop Natan Genocide survivors, planned to attend the unveil - tant from his native Aleppo, Syria. Hovhannessian to his right ing of the paintings when they came to the muse - In a ceremony embellished with um. all the pomp and grandeur due a In a phone interview at the time, Kevorkian said prince of the church, Baliozian was buried burial ceremony stretched to nearly four entered Sydney’s Royal North Shore hos - he did not consider himself an artist, just someone in the Armenian section of the North Ryde hours and was presided over by visiting pital for treatment. He passed away on who “puts in paint the condition of the world that cemetery on October 4. Archbishop Natan Hovhannessian, the per - September 22. we live in.” Eulogized and lionized by a panoply of sonal envoy of the Catholicos of All There were no bells to ring to spread the He said he began to paint as a hobby when he dignitaries representing not only the estab - Armenians Karekin II, assisted by the news of his passing, the rust-encrusted bel - was a young man. But he kept delving into the top - lished Christian churches and state and fed - Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem, Archbishop fry perching forlorn atop the Armenian ics of life and death he dealt with as a medical eral officialdom, but the local community Nourhan Manougian. church in Sydney’s high-end Chatswood examiner. “Everyone was painting landscapes and and ethnic groupings as well, Baliozian was Baliozian had been in poor health over suburb, muffled by city ordinance. clowns and I couldn’t see the value in that. I guess sent along to his final journey. The elaborate the past few years, and had recently see FUNERAL, page 3 the rebel in me was thinking I’ll shock them,” he recalled. Oskanian Defiant Renowned Composer Caltech Biologist Sarkis Mazmanian After Being Mirzoyan Dies at 92 YEREVAN (PanARMENIAN.Net) — Renowned com - Named MacArthur Fellow Charged with poser Edvard Mirzoyan died on October 5, after a long illness. He was 92. PASADENA, Calif. — Sarkis Mazmanian, a microbiology expert at the California Money Laundering Mirzoyan was born on May 12, 1921 in Gori, Institute of Technology (Caltech) whose studies of human gut bacteria have revealed Georgia. He graduated from the Komitas State new insights into how these Conservatory. He left for Moscow to further refine microbes can be beneficial, was By Gayane Abrahamyan his art. In 1956, he was elected president of the named a MacArthur Fellow and Armenian Composers’ Union, a position he held awarded a five-year, $500,000 until 1991. grant. Each year, the John D. YEREVAN (ArmeniaNow) — Former Mirzoyan’s compositional output was relatively and Catherine T. MacArthur Minister of Foreign Affairs and current MP small but distinguished, combining lyricism with Foundation awards the unre - Vartan Oskanian, who was formally drama. With its formal structure and tonal design, stricted fellowships — also charged with money laundering on his style has been described as neoclassical, with known as “genius” grants — to Monday, said he was ready to run for presi - elements of Armenian folksong always present. individuals who have shown dent in next year’s presidential election if Mirzoyan’s String Quartet, Cello Sonata, “extraordinary originality and his Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) decid - Symphony for Strings and Timpani , and Epitaph dedication in their creative pur - ed so. for String Orchestra have become notable addi - suits and a marked capacity for The 57-year-old politician faces up to 12 tions to the international music repertoire. self-direction,” according to the years in prison under two charges — misap - President Serge Sargisian’s office released a foundation’s website. propriation of funds (Article 179 of the statement mourning his death. “I was so deeply “I was in a state of shock Criminal Code) and “legalization of saddened to hear of the passing of renowned com - when I heard the news,” said incomes in a criminal way” (Article 190). poser, USSR and Armenian National Artist Edvard Mazmanian, a professor of biol - Oskanian refused to testify when sum - Mirzoyan. [His music] is filled with optimism and ogy at Caltech, who was tricked moned by the National Security Service on bright philanthropy, is the best manifestation of cre - into taking the award Monday. He and the PAP have described ative spirit of the Armenian people.” announcement call; he thought the current case as an instance of political he was simply being added to a persecution. Many analysts link it with the prescheduled conference call. upcoming presidential election in which “It’s not the kind of thing you Prof. Sarkis Mazmanian Oskanian has been widely tipped as a pos - INSI DE ever expect — I do what I do sible challenger to current President Serge because I love science and it Sargisian. makes me happy, so this is terrific and a nice reward. At the same time, I never Meanwhile, many ask: “Why Oskanian?” think of awards as goals of mine because they seem so unattainable. My goals are The Syria-born and US-educated former to make discoveries, so I was just in absolute disbelief.” minister of foreign affairs was considered to Sponsor A Long before he was named a 2012 MacArthur Fellow, Mazmanian was showing be a rare non-corrupt official in Armenia. the attributes that the foundation seeks to reward, particularly a capacity for self- Former President Robert Kocharian did not fail to emphasize these qualities in his state Teacher direction. As a graduate student in the early 2000s, he decided to stray from the see OSKANIAN, page 2 normal path of study and try something new. Pages 8-9 “I had been studying microbial pathogenesis — or bacteria that make us sick — which is what 99.9 percent of the field of microbiology does to this day,” said Mazmanian. “Toward the end of my PhD, I decided that I wanted to study organ - isms that didn’t necessarily cause disease, but were associated with our bodies. Ten years ago, this was completely on the fringe of science — we knew that the INDEX organisms existed in our intestines and all over our bodies, but had no idea what Arts and Living . 11 they were doing.” Armenia . 2 Community News. 4 Today, Mazmanian’s work examines some of the trillions of bacteria living in Editorial . 14 human bodies that make up complex communities of microbes and regulate International . 3 see BIOLOGIST, page 10 Former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian 2 S ATURDAY , O CTOBER 13, 2012 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR ARMENIA News From Armenia Married to Tradition Russian-Armenian Joint Armenia’s Yezidi at Odds over Government Amendment on Matrimony Campaign Bolsters which the minimum marriage age would cheeks are flushed. The bandana tightly By Gayane Mkrtchyan be 18 versus the former 17. The amend - around her head, little golden globes dec - Armenian Tourism ment, approved in July, is to be debated orating her ears and a long black dress in the autumn session of the National complete the image of a Yezidi woman. YEREVAN (Armenpress) — During a recent press con- YEREVAN (ArmenianNow) — A Assembly. She spoke with confidence and respect ference, Russia’s Ambassador to Armenia Vyacheslav young woman with black velvety hair The chairman of the World Yezidi for their customs and traditions. Kovalenko stated that the Russian-Armenian coopera- and with equally black shiny eyes is Union Aziz Tamoyan has spoken against “A Yezidi woman is predestined to get tive tourism venture will aid tourism and strengthen pouring hot, aromatic coffee into the amendment, saying that the 60,000 married, become a good wife, a good relations between the two countries. flower-patterned cups. The grayish Yezidi community objects to the bill mother, take care of her family, milk Kovalenko stated, “I am hopeful that more and steam going up and disappearing in the since they view an unmarried 18-year-old cows… and respect men.