MAY 20, 2017 Mirror-SpeTHE ARMENIAN ctator Volume LXXXVII, NO. 44, Issue 4488 $ 2.00 NEWS The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932 INBRIEF Catholicos of All Azeris Fire Missile into Artsakh Armenians Congratulates New STEPANAKERT (RFE/RL) — One unit of tem’s deployment “military defense equipment” of the near the line of con- President of France Karabakh defense army was partially dam- tact was a “provoca- ECHMIADZIN — On May 10, Karekin II, aged during a guided missile strike launched tion” and a threat to Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All by Azerbaijani armed forces on Monday, May Azerbaijani aircraft. Armenians; sent a congratulatory message to Mr. 15, according to Defense Ministry officials in Both Hovannisian Emanuel Macron, newly elected President of the Yerevan and Stepanakert. and his Karabakh Republic of France. In a Facebook post Artsrun Hovannisian, counterpart Senor “France has been and continues to be, one of a spokesman for the Armenian Defense Hasratian denied that the powerful and foremost countries of the Ministry, said the incident happened in the there had been casual- European family, that today makes important afternoon as Azerbaijani armed forces ties on the Armenian contributions in spreading universal values and opened fire at one of the Armenian defense side as a result of the establishment of peace in the world. For the facilities located in the eastern direction of Azerbaijani strike. coming years, the French people believing in The Shant TV car attacked on May 10. the heavily militarized line of contact. In an identical your abilities, avowed values and experience, The official did not specify what kind of message posted on have entrusted you with the responsible mission military hardware was hit by the their Facebook of leading the nation. The previous week, on Wednesday, May Azerbaijani fire. accounts both officials said: “We state that “We are confident that during your term, the 10, a cameraman for an Armenian televi- Earlier, Azerbaijan’s Trend news agency the provocation of the Azerbaijani armed relations between Armenia and France will con- sion station was wounded when a car car- quoted the country’s Defense Ministry as forces will not remain unanswered, while tinue to develop. The solid basis of which is the rying him came under fire near the saying that an Armenian Osa air defense the entire responsibility for the conse- centuries-old friendship of our peoples, and the Armenian-Azerbaijani “line of contact” in system, a supply vehicle and its crew were quences will lie with the military-political active involvement of the Armenian community Nagorno-Karabakh. destroyed. The Ministry added that the sys- leadership of Azerbaijan.” living and engaging in the social, political and Davit Atoyan was part of a Shant TV cultural life of France,” wrote the Catholicos. crew that was visiting Karabakh Defense army positions in the north of the territory on assignment. He was reportedly shot in the leg and underwent surgery in a military Turkey Bans German hospital in Stepanakert. Parliamentarians from “The car was shot at from a long-range sniper rifle,” Vitali Balasanian, a senior Visiting Incirlik Karabakh security official said. see ATTACK, page 2 ISTANBUL (Public Radio of Armenia) — Turkey has prohibited several German members of parliament from visiting German soldiers sta- tioned at Turkey’s Incirlik air base, people famil- Nercessian Presents iar with the matter told DPA on Monday, May 15. As a result, the German federal government is City of Orphans at considering removing its soldiers from the base, according to information given to members of Daughters of Vartan the Bundestag defense committee by the Defense Ministry. Event at Holy Last year a delegation of lawmakers, including members of a parliamentary defense committee, Trinity Church were initially denied access to Incirlik, but were later allowed to carry out the trip. Germany has about 260 soldiers stationed at Incirlik as part of the anti-Islamic State military By Aram Arkun coalition. The dispute first arose after the German par- CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Dr. Nora Nercessian liament voted to recognize the mass killing of gave a talk illustrated with slides about her the Armenians at the hands of the Ottomans as Lilit Sargsyan in Gyumri book, The City of Orphans, at an event orga- a genocide. nized by Arpie Lodge of the Daughters of The sources said the latest decision from Vartan on May 4. Cosponsors included the Turkish authorities had been taken in part as a Armenia’s Heart hosting Holy Trinity Armenian Church, the response to Germany’s decision to grant political Armenian International Women’s asylum to members of the Turkish army. Association (AIWA), National Association for The Defense Ministry has already vetted alter- Poems … and Nothing More Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), native military bases for its soldiers in Tekeyan Cultural Association, and the Jordan, Cyprus and Kuwait and a decision is GYUMRI — Anyone who knows anything about Armenians is aware of the spe- Armenian Mirror-Spectator. expected in the coming weeks. cial role their language plays in their history and culture, and nowhere is this Anahid Mardiros, Dirouhie of Arpie more obvious than in their rich poetical tradition. In Germany, this tradition is Lodge, welcomed guests and praised not unknown; in the 1970s and Nercessian’s efforts at making the voice of 1980s, through cooperation the orphan survivors of the Armenian By Muriel Mirak-Weissbach between literary associations in Genocide, silent for so many years, heard INSIDE Special to the Mirror-Spectator the then-Communist East once more, and shedding light on the Germany (GDR) and Soviet efforts of the Near East Relief organization Armenia, translations of works in aiding the orphans. She recognized and appeared by Hovhannes Tumanyan, Avetik Issahakyan and Paruyr Sevak as well see ORPHANS, page 12 Comedy as an anthology of medieval verse. At the same time, literary journals in West Germany featured some translations. Now, in the wake of the recognition of the genocide last June by the German Bundestag (Parliament), a wave of interest in Tour Armenian literature has swept across the intellectual landscape. In 2015, a new translation of 24 poems by Paruyr Sevak was issued by Schiller Page 10 Verlag in Berlin, the result of a joint effort by prize-winning German author Heide Rieck and Agapi Mkrtchian, an Armenian author honored in Yerevan by the Armenian Writers Union with the Vasdakovor order, as an author of outstanding merit. Now, an anthology has appeared in Grössenwahn Verlag, translated by INDEX Mkrtchian and Helmuth R. Malonek, a German translator and university profes- Arts and Living . 10 sor who studied in Yerevan and teaches in Portugal. The volume is entitled Armenia . 2 Armenia’s Heart: Poems … and Nothing More, and includes works by twenty-five Community News. 5 contemporary Armenian poets. Editorial . 14 Anahid Mardiros, Dirouhie of Arpie Lodge, see POETRY, page 4 International . 3,4 gives Dr. Nora Nercessian a gift of One by Hrair Church, One Nation Khatcherian. 2 S ATURDAY, M AY 2 0 , 2 0 1 7 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR ARMENIA News From Armenia PM Briefed on Educational Reforms, Programs YEREVAN — Prime Minister Karen noted that the existence of urban problems,” Karapetyan said. Karapetyan visited the Ministry of schools with less than 300 students The Prime Minister also stressed the Holy See Ambassador Education and Science to get acquaint- will be ruled out in the future. The min- need to clearly define the student- ed with the ongoing reform programs imum number of students in a single teacher ratio and other standards in Receives MFA Medal and discuss current problems with min- school will be 450. the school system. istry officials. Welcoming the digitization of the YEREVAN — On May 11, Foreign Minister Edward It is planned to create a network of He was told that a school staff work- school system, Karapetyan said it will Nalbandian received Archbishop Marek Solczynski, schools with an emphasis on physics load study had been carried out over facilitate the activities considerably. Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See to Armenia (resi- and mathematics starting 2018, which the past few months and an optimiza- “But if we consider that 450 is the dence in Tbilisi) upon the completion of his mission. will provide training in four main sub- tion program was submitted to the gov- optimal number of pupils, why are we Nalbandian noted that relations between Armenia jects. The schools will be included in ernment. During the meeting the offi- switching over gradually? In individual and Vatican, the Armenian Apostolic Church and the the network of labs and engineering cials said Armenia has 1385 schools cases, the number of pupils shall be Roman Catholic Church are at the highest level, and projects. The meeting was also and 36807 teachers, while pupils are reconsidered firstly in cities. We need the last year historic visit of Pope Francis to Armenia informed on the introduction of finan- 52,357 students. to solve the following problem: we are under the “Pilgrimage to the first Christian country” cial education and entrepreneurship- Studies have shown that urban spending money on education; we motto was a vivid evidence of that. related subjects in secondary schools. schools are either underused or know that it is not too much, but still Expressing gratitude for the comprehensive sup- Vocational and technical education overused: 33.7 percent is underused, we have instances of bad spending on port provided throughout his tenure, Solczynski programs are also envisaged, in par- 35.8 percent are filled to more than distribution, fixed costs etc. In this expressed confidence that the cooperation between ticular, the European Union will sup- capacity.