Toward a New Diasporan Order - February 1992 by Armenian International Magazine

FEBRUARY

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Brave Newworld

Dramatic changes in Armenia hnve created a new reality inthe Diaspora.Willthe latterhave the requiitsetf parattet to

''"'"' 12

';:3!itr#:#:;;f;#f*re lnterviedAnalysis

Gracks in the Gaucasus Internal political turmoil in the adj oining Republic of Georgia spills into Armenin and puts Tbilisi ArmePage 12

niansinjiopardy.

SpecialReport

Politics of a Port jointventure involving a New Jersey builder and a Turkish entrepreneur promises to pump sorely needed

currency

intoArmenia.

^^ 26

Science

Playing God Professor Alexander Abian wants to tamper with the universe. Is he the paragon of mad scientists or a

genius?

benevolent

Pase

^^ lrll

Profile

Parting the Red Sea-Almost You thought Moses was the only one who knew how to

part waters- Engineer Haro Bedelian is tunneling throughthe Page

Page 33

EnglishChnnnel.

Film

An Ordeal in Moscow Back in the U.S.S.R. is anewfilmby Deran Sarafian in the Russian capital. Not even the KGB can stop this young Americai director on his way to the top.

Page 35

Page

Pubrishers

Letters

6 7 lO 16

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People

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/NNI Published byAlM,lnc. The recent publication of A IM for Education was motivated by the same concerns that moved us to publish the newsmagazine, first in English and then also for the Armenian reader. Designed as a teacher's guide, AIM for Education brings issues covered in AIM and of interest to this community and the world into the classroom, where they can be studied, discussed, questioned and finally, understood. Prepared by Garine Z,etlian, an educator and a PhD candidate in Armenian and NearEastern history atUCLA, the guideenriches the social sciences curriculum of any school. Byprovidingavehicle thatfacilitates the studyofcurrentglobal events, ithelps

broaden the multicultural and global perspective of both Ar-

EDITOR-IN€HIEF: Vartan Oskanian EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Salpi Haroutinian Ghazarian MANAGING EDITOR: Raff Shoubookian (Enolish) MANAGING EDITOR: lshkhan Jinbashian'(ffienian) EDITORIAL CONSIJLTANT:M|naS Kojaian' EDITOR EMERmTS: Charles Nazarian DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS: Micfiael Nahabet CONTRIBUTING EDITORS:Kevork lmirzian; Ara

(alayd,ian; Haig Keropian ; O. Keshishian:

INTL SECTION EDITOB: Joseph Kechichian ARIS EDITOR: Neeru Melkonian (Santa Fe) MEITICAL EDIIOR: Vicken Babikian (Boston) CONSULT|NG EDIIOR: Levon Marashlian STAFF WRERS: Tonv Haloin. Viken Berberian ASSISTANT EDTTOB: Xatherine Chilian CONTRIBUTORS: Gerard Libaridian, Florence Avakian, Moorad Mooradian, Armen Aroyan, Gilda Kupelian, Linda Kirishiian, Chrislooher Atamian, Yvette HaiDootian,Genv S. Graber, Michael Mastarciyan, Lola KoUndakiian, Su-san Panie, Taline Voskeritchidn CORRESPONDENTS: Washinoton: Zanku Armenian. Chicaoo: Sonia Derman Hailan Detroit: Simon Pavaslian Boston: Arto Pavaslian San Francisco: Janet Sainuelian Montreal: Gulizar J. Mardirossian London: Ani Manoukian Paris: Amineh Johannes, Khatchik Kechian Brussels: Kevork Oskanian Vienna: Sebouh Baohdovan Amsterdam: Arsen Nazanan Tol(\,o: Sonia Kalchiah Amman: Ara Voskian Svdneir: Haio Lepediian Buenos Air€s: Sam Sarkis'sian ftloscow]

menian and non-Armenian students.

In its present form, we expect this guide will be particularly useful to teachers in the United States, and especially in Southern California, where Armenians now constitute the fastest growing minority in many public schools. This phenomenon and its many sociological

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and educational implications concern us at AIM, where the contemporary Armenian experience is a primary focus.

Kefelian Yerevan: Zaven Hachikian, Roupen

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finally, our homeland itself is presently in a

political-if

not military-luagmire, and its only hope beyond its own meagerresources lie in the help it has a right to expect from its children in afar-flung diaspora. I would advise everybody, including His Grace, the archbishop, to visit Armenia now and to see for himself the extreme gravity of the situation. "The picture is a grim one," as you write.

And

would advise

all

Armenian

philantropic organizations to follow the example oftheUAFandmakeannualreports to the Armenian people. That is the only way they can gain the confidence ofthe people.

,,,,:;iil/:#:;:l I was disturbed when I read in your December issue that millions of dollars donated

The article "Three Years On" in the December issue was very much to the point, especially in the last part referring to AIM's efforts to get information about the funds donated for the purpose ofearthquake relief, and apparently kept by the Westem Diocese, headed by Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian. A comparable incident happened here in Montreal last April during a question-and-

answer period

with Bishop

Hovnan

Derderian, the primate of the Canadian Diocese. It is inapprop,riate to recount the incident here, but it appears this arrogant attitude is endemic toournationas awhole. Itpermeates not only our clergy but especially ourfanatic political parties. I think this unfortunate trait is due to our Oriental despotic environment which we are supposed to have left behind; it is also due to ourtendency to igroreproblems by sweeping them under the carpet. And of course, there is the ineptitude of our "leaders," who obstinately refuse to see the world around them evolve, while they still cling to their archaic

principles.

Advertisino Director (Glendole officei Experienced, innovoiive professionol needed to monoge soles stoff of 25,000 circulo-

tion internotionol moqozine ond

implement long-term stroiegy for soles

growth in odvertising .spoce. Shong

business sense essentiol with soles motivotion ond leodership quol ificotions. Experience in odvertising/morketing o must. Send resum6 & solorv hishcrv ond requirements in confiden.6 r" nlM.

during the last three years to AmericanArmenian organizations are sitting in their coffers, ostensibly to be used in the future on

(Glendole offile) AIM seeks two

construction pdects. The people of Armenia desperately need food and medication

,rfe.sons to sell odvertising spoce.

rzow to

Solesoerson hly-molivoted, well-orgonized

pull through the harsh winter.

I ask the leaders of these organizations: What good is it to plan forfu rure construction projects when Armenian children are dying ofhunger, disease and cold now? Once again a campaign to collect relief money for Armenia has been in progress in Canada recently. The campaign is spearheaded by the Armenian political parties and

/\INI

Selo Kouzouiqn 109 E. Horvord St., Suirâ&#x201A;Ź 3O5

Glendole, Co.9l2O5

(8r81 s462246

other so-called sister organizations. Now,

UBRARY ()FARME]IIAI{

the membership of these organizations do not exceed 20-25 percentof the total Armenian population in Canada. The majority of the remaining 75-80 percent is not represented on the campaign committee.

Any fundraising campaign

the

Diaspora must be directed by local cenfialized committees on whichtheentirecommunity must equally be represented. This is the only way to win the trust of Armenians at large as well as other people, and to efficiently tap ttre vast human and economic resources available in the Diaspora.

POSISflMIYPE

[{AClllT0SH AllD

lBil

F()I{IS F()R SYSIEIi{S

UF$+bghQ rupq+bqbn UFq-+bgEC rupq+bqtn UF$+bgbC rupq+hqkn

Romon

thli(

Romon

Ul$.+bsbe *pqiail=,i.

rok

AntranigTatossian

It is high time that our so-called

leaders

introduced some glasnost into theirttrinking and opened up

To keep up with constont growth, Armen ion lnternotionol Mogozine hos need for the following positi-ons:

theirminds and hearts.

,,.*,,,,Wf1'ill)ffi The openness of the United Armenian Fund, which gives an annual report to the public of its income and expenditure, stands in starkcontrasttothe apparent secretiveness of Archbishop Hovsepian's attitude. This is totally unacceptable. Fint of all, the archbishop is a Prince of the Armenian Church and should be [acting

in a manner that is] above all

suspicions.

Secondly, the donors gave in good faith that their gifts would go to earthquake relief. Thirdly, the victims of that quake are still in dire need of any and all assistance. And

Mt. Royal, Quebec, C anada

Mr. Halpin's article, "Three Years On,"

hEllf$I-* ;FiiElI;L,'ilil

was most enlightening and beneficial. It's

about time that the public found out about the millions of dollars they d0nated to the earthquake victims. The archbishops were already guilty for theirtardiness inplanning and implementing viable projects, and now they try to circum-

vent relevant questions of accountability. This is tantamount to shutting the doorin the face oftheirparish. And then there is the other sin: using the money donated for people who are hungry, homeless and freezing, to build a university in Yerevan. What an abuse of trust. The best that these so-called leaders can do is to apologizetothepublicandassign the

AlM, February 1992

tle$'IbQtllt>+l-Ll.,OW.2 llP+'L

QLtk> d-hL|'O

\</)

Romon

rolir

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UEq.+bqhQrurq+hqtn

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trotic Botd

trutic

funds to more competent people to manage. Robert MoYsessian Lnguna B eac h, C alifor nia

out. The writer missed John Moses Analian, PFC.; U.S. Army; bom Feb.27,1946; died Sept. 30, 1969. For your information, the location of his nalne on the wall is on Panel l7w' Line

2o'

Gender-fender

walter Karabian

What is a "liberated nymphomaniac"? "Rebel with A Few Causes" by Viken

Los Ange

See

Berberian (Drama, December). Does a woman who has dates with more thanoneman in aweekautomaticallybecome a nymphomaniac? tn the play, Devils Children, the character of Karen is a promiscuous female having an affair with the character of Saro, a promiscuous male. Why isn't Saro also labeled a sexual deviant in the article? The logic ttrat labeled Karen should apply equally to Saro. Or, is the editorial staff's and

Mr. Berberian's male chauvinist mental to allow for the term

baggage too dense

"liberated woman," and why

not----â&#x201A;Źven

'liberated Armenian woman"? Apparently, a four-color format has not yet

fully brought AIM

uP to date.

GloriaKavafian Los Angeles,Califurnia

Vietnamvetetan In connection with the article you did on Armenian-Americans whose names appear

on the Vietnam Memorial (Military, No-

vember l99l), I recalled another name that was omitted from your article and checked

s, C alifornia

}{AASR The generous and favorable coverage

NAASR came into being; and

Dennis Papazian, in addition to being a long-time member, served on the Board of Directors

for

18 years

until 1990.

From a substantive viewpoint, I feel too much emphasis was placed on our financial concems, which are not uncommon to most all other organizations these days, and not enough on our pioneering efforts and future plans.

the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research and my role in its 36-

year history (Institutions, November) are very muchappreciated. It shouldbe stressed, however, that regardless of how much time and effort I have contributed to the organization without any compensation, NAASR's phenomenal success would not have been possible without the continued support of

many dedicated members throughout the country. Some other facts and corrections: The photo of the room with the books should have been identified as the bookstore, not the librarf the total number of volumes in the library has now reached 15,000; the year in which it was not possible to find five books on Armenian subjects in English to purchase should have been 1955, not 1935; the total number of titles culrently available through the bookstore exceeds 1,000; there were no other similar organizations around when

AlM, February 1992

hairrutn,

Manoog S.Young oard of D irectors, NAASR

Kevork Imirzian replies: I was happy to

learn that the total number of volumes in NAASR's library and the titles in its bookstore had enjoyed a healthy increase between the time that information was conv eyed to me by Mr. Young and mY story appeared inprint.

didn't think

NAASR was given short

shrift regarding its pioneering role in the past or its ambitious plansfor thefuture.The article' s emphasis onfinancial concerns was in direct proportion to the statements made about meeting these obligations in order to accelerate the organization'

plans.

Leukemia figures in Armenia In the article "Giving the Gift of Life: Bone Marrow Transplant among Armenians," Lola Koundakjian states that the

numhr of leukemia

lum. The

AGBU

cases in Armenia was per 100,000 annually, and that this was second only to the Baltic states.

According to another source, however,

the number

those affected

the

Chelyabinsk region of Russia was 487 per 100,000 (The Independent on Sunday,l-ondon, 15 December l99l). It would seem that yourcorrespondent should confirm or correct her findings. Edward Gulbenkian, MSc Mitcham, Surrey, England

1.7

million dollars allocated by ttre

alone would have done a great deal to improve the situation at both Yerevan Poly-

sity.

I believe that the path taken through the AUA will cost our people more, and that

Armenia's then-Minister of Health, Mr. Mihran Nazareryan, a hematologist and

graduate education in America would be a cheaper altemative. Stronger programs at YPI and YSU, followed by graduate education in America or Europe would have been wiser. Yet, the decision to estalish AUA was shared bythedemocraticallyelected govemment of Armenia. We must all help in any manner and support this decision to ensure

former director of the republic's Hematol-

its success.

Thefigures in questionwere attributed to

o gy

AMERICAN BISTBO

technic Institute and Yerevan State Univer-

and T ransfu s ions I nstitut e.

V/OPLD HIALTN CUI6INtr A vi'Ce variety oflinternational

health menuo from fiesh fish,

F6ta- to ve6etnrian dishes.

lor the health

cor6ciou6

generatjon of today -

Chef &rlcy Derghoudian

Deran Hanessian, Ph.D. New Jersey Institute ofTechnology

Still morc on foreign universities

offers:

I agree with Mr. Harout Bronozian (Letters, October) that the establishment of the American University of Armenia in Yerevan by American faculty, whileanoble idea, was not necessary. I believe that the funds could have been used to strenghten the existing institutions in Armenia more effectively. What I found lacking in Yerevan during my 14 visits there was not intelligence and knowledge of curriculum, but money to buy the necessary equipment for their laboratories and classrooms, and rigidity in curricu-

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PEOPLE By KATI{EBINE CI{ILJAN Elected Speaker

Garabed "Chuck" Haytaian,

unanimously elected as Speaker of the New Jersey General AssemblY, was swom in last month, becoming the second-ranking Republican in state government. His duties include setting the

legislative agenda for the Assembly,

making all committee appointments and presiding over sessions. "The era of the Lincoln town car has ended!...as long as I'm Speaker, there

will

be no more free lunches or unneces-

sary travel at the taxpayer's expense," said Haytaian, promising to ease taxpayer burdens. "We will lead by setting an example," he said, by reducing the size of the assembly's full-time staff, rolling back the state's sales tax, and reducing the number of cars and car phones available to legislative leaders.

Echoing populist themes, Hayaitan emphasized the right of initiative and referendum, recall and term limitations. "The needs of the people of New Jersey must always come first. Our primary loyalty is to them, nottopolitical parties, special interests or even ourselves." Now in his sixth term, Haytaian was first

elected to the Assembly in 1981 , and served as Majority Leader and Minority Leader.

Married with three children, Haytaian also serves on the Board of Directors of the

Armenian Assembly of Amenca.

NightmareOver

-Richard Tchilinguirian has just awoken from a four-year nightmare: what appeared at first to be a clear case of mistaken identity resulted in a l6-month imprisonment. It all started one night in Ocrober 1987, when Richard and friends were out in New York City hitting the nightciubs. At 3 a.m. that night, a woman was attacked and nearly raped nearherhome. At the police station, she chose Richard's mugshot as her attacker. But that photo should not have Leen in the mug book. Richard was arrested years earlier for threatening a neighborhood kid who had been harassing his brother. The charge was dropped and the photo should have been removed. Why was it there? "Because this is New York. Things don't happen the way they're to," said 26-year-old Richard, originally from Beirut, Lebanon. supposed Was Richard really the wrong man? The woman described her attacker as 5' 9" and 180 lbs.-Richard is6' 4" and240lbs. The obvious discrepancy in build was not detected in the police lineup because Richard and other suspects were sitting down instead of standing up. At the trial, thejury did not believe eight friends who were with Richard at the time of the attack, and convicted him with attempted rape. During his first day in jail, a fellow prisoner threw boiling water in his face. Then two reporters from a local television station tracked down two eyewitnesses and got more information from a previous witness. This new evidence and a third lawyer resulted in a reversal o[ the conviction and Richard's release, pending a new

trial. Devoted to freeing their son, the family spent$75,0(X)of borrowedmoney and daysoftireless campaigning. "Ihad a [used-car] businesi with my fathert we lost it because he couldn't do it himseli" said Richard. I Now free, Rithard says he intends to find out what really happened that night. 10

AlM, February 1992

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North First Street, Burbank, CA 91502, il81M3-7954 Fax 8181843-6469

Braue NewWorld Arme ni an s in Tran s itio n

By SALP! IIAFOUTINIAN GHAZARIAil itting around a lunch table at the

the participation loop.

California State University

unclear.

Northridge, several students

are

pondering the ironies of politics: Six years after the proclamation of glasnost

and perestroika, the configuration of the globe is radically altered. The world's largest nation has ceased to exist. Armenia is incredibly, fi nally, independent. All the while, the Armenian Diaspora seems to have changed not at all.

"It's a scary process, independence. All our lives we've been taught it's good. But if we don't approach it in a unified and cautious way, this might be the end," reflects Gabriel Aslanian, a recent graduate of the AGBU Marie Manoogian School, one of l2 Armenian day schools in Los Angeles. He and his friends are not alone. Louise Manoogian Simone, president of the Armenian General Benevolent Union, has apprehensions too. "My feeling isthat this country is in a critical stage. I have no assurance that we can not be run over one day.

I can't

imagine how this community can thrive again ifwe lose thiscountry. Forus in theDiaspora, it's gottobe a priority. Forat leastfive years, it's got to be." These concems are echoed in communities from Australia to Venezuela. Neither the

optimists nor the rational thinkers would have predicted so rapid an independence. Yet within five months of this startling change in its political status, this small, landlocked country, starved for many basic natural resources, faces immediate economic and military challenges. The situation is critical.

The implications are obvious. Armenia either can or cannot maintain its independence. The Ditrspora either will or will not come to the aid of the homeland. In l0 or 15 years, what will the history and geography books say? Louise Simone articulates the consensus. 'The greatest need we have right now is to find a greater constituency, to involve more

people. We must expand this community. The same 20 percent are the ones who are

involved year in and year out. We need quantity to get quality. As a community, we're not working up to par." At no othertime in the Diaspora's history has it been so apparent that three million Armenians around the world do not add up to a "community." First, there is the silent majority. It does not consider itself represented by the traditional institutions. Then, there are those who are somewhere within

How many howeveris

Hrair Maroukhian, chairman of the central goveming body of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation/Dashnaktsutiun, indicates that the statistical approximations differ from region to region, based on his pafty' s experience. "I would estimate the active element in the Middle East to be high-perhaps nearly 60 percent. On the other hand, it is quite low in Europe, a mere l0 percent. In the western United States, as in Canada, perhaps as high as 2O-25 percent, but in the eastem United States, the level ofparticipation is as low as it is in Europe. Australia's is a little higher, but that may be because they are a newly formed

not. The ANM tries to control the other political organizations while it is itself not one yet."

Maroukhian agrees: "A great deal dethepolitical policies adoptedby the Armenian govemment-their real national

pends on

politics. In other words, they must be able to view our diasporan reality 'from above,' without descending into it and taking sides. This will provide for an ideal opportunity to increase the numbers of those actively involved. "Just as was the case during the 60th commemorative year of the Genocide, we will see that massive participation is the result of the creation of a certain atmosphere. That atmosphere will be created if together with the Armenian govemment, the circle of those in responsible positions increases, and we cooper-

ate with each other. Although we may not be in total agreement on

community."

'There is a huge job to be done in mobi-

lizing the political, economic, social

and

diplomatic resources of the Diaspora and articulating and representing its interest," insists Jivan Tabibian, professor of Urban

Studies at the University

Southern

California."To do this, we need an institutional framework. Who are the possible candidates? There are the churches, the various cultural and philanthropic organizations, and the political parties." Whetherdiasporan organizations, as they are curently structured and as they relate to each other and to their members, are able to represent the best mechanisms tochannel the Diaspora's contributions to the political and economic development of Armenia is another matter. This uncertainty becomes particularly pronounced when considering the fact that these same political parties and the institutions which they control and govem have become involved in Armenia's politics and are no longer impartial. How can they then become the channels to unreserved assistance? The party leadership are themselves keenly aware that their access to all of the

community's resources is limited. Edmond Azadian is a member of central goveming body ofthe Armenian Democratic Liberal Organization/Ramgavar Party.'The differences (among the political groups in Armenia) have been narrowed sinceOctober 16. I

don'tconsiderit an impossibility that in

the future a cooperation, if not a coalition, can be formed in terms of diasporan participation in Armenia's politics. "And in this, the political parties have a

very important role to play in Armenia whether the Armenian National Movement [the party in power in Armenia] realizes it or

AlM, February 1992

vanous matters, on fundamental issues we can cooperate." While both leaders of the two rival parties pass the burden of initiating cooperation on to the Armenian government, many in the diasporan community put it squarely back on their shoulders. Gerard Chaliand, whose research on po-

litical movements has taken him from the mountains of Colombia to the deserts of the Middle East, pointedly diagnoses the situation. "The whole problem (with the parties) is to get out of their own ghettoes, which is alsothe problem of the entire Diaspora. Fora long time, they have been introverted, focused on survival, which is a normal first phase ofanything. But they haven't gotten beyond that. Now is a great time to open up to the world." Chaliand stresses that the younger gen-

eration and people who are more adaptable have changed. "These individuals will have their impact

on the collectivity," he says. "Individuals who are active in the political parties will have to think if they agree with what those parties are doing in Armenia and in the Diaspora." There are many who disagree. Chaliand could easily be referring to groups of young professionals in France and in the United States, withinthe ARFforexample, who are dismayed at the announcements of

their party's candidate in the recent presidential elections in Armenia. "When we heard that he had said 'this winter, Armenia will

have butter, flour and gas, if we are elected,' we wanted to scream our disagree-

ment. But who would

listen?" one

them

asked.

This is truly unfor-

Nobody would argue that it is difficult-

if not impossible-to affect

instion democratic founchange in

tutions that do not stand dations. The frustration which ensues is easily apparent as one scans the community newspapers. The Armenian Reporter, an in-

dependent newspaper published in New York, had in one recent issue five separate articles addressing the need for the Diaspora to get organized, including one which deplored the community's apparent "innate weakness to ignore the essentials."

"It is one of the paradoxes of diasporan development that, of all the adjustments our institutions made to host societies in their quest for survival and self-preservation, democratization was not one of them," observes Gerard Libaridian, an Armenian-

American historian who was invited to Armenia to become Advisorto the President on Policy and Analysis. The adjustments to which Libaridian refers have been many. Traditional diasporan institutions, such as churches and schools, eristed in communities which began as extensions of the Ottoman millet system. They continued to function exclusively and self-

sufficiently, firm in the belief that Armenians had no recourse but to rely on them for basic services which the institutions ofthe host countries could not provide; even if they could, Armenians would not utilize them. This was accepted for genera-

tunate, because, as Tabibian explains, the diasporan entity most qualifi ed for some kind of redesigning of its own mission to fit the new

reality is the ARF. "Instead,

considering itself a govemment in exile. As for all those many years, everything it did in the Diaspora was a temporary activity. Particularly since thepo-

litical changes in Armenia didn't

happen

through the ARF's efforts. The only thing for which the ARF should take credit is that it made sure that, for decades, the Diaspora maintained some semblance of peoplehood. It must renew its claim to its own legitimacy by redesigning its mission in the new context."

AlM, February 1992

tions in a diaspora consisting of Westem Armenian genocide survivors and their still psychologically victimized descendants, who accepted the leadership of traditional institutions, even when these created ideological and social polarization. They were also slow tomake changes and remained committed to an inward-looking, provincial philosophy of preservation at all costs. "Our generation is still being brought up

the old way: Dashnak, Ramgavar," says Aslanian, the Marie Manoogian School

"My generation doesn't know the difference. We should forget about what we've been taught and think instead about what's going on in Armenia," he insists. "Of course, to be fair to the political parties, we must remember that it was they who kept the torch burning during difficult times, under harsh conditions," comments graduate.

Hagop Hagopian, principal of the Manoogian school. "However, it is time to reform, re-

structure the institutions of the Diaspora in order to make its resources available to the

homeland." Azadian of the ADL believes it is possible, but for different reasons. "I think the parties must first undergo a basic transfor-

mation. They themselves

must become politicized-modernized, democratized, as participants in the political processes of their various host countries.

They must keep pace with the political movements in order to make serious work possible." Political scientistGerard Chaliand of Paris says Armenians are now in "a sort of dynamic history," after 70 years of "frozen history," the Genocide and Soviet Armenia. "That change will occur whether Armenian political parties want it or not, whether the organizations want it or not, provided that

Armenia survives," states Chaliand. "Now, the main problem is economic growth and the survival of democracy. That will force the outside to modify itself in relationship to

Armenia." Professor Richard G. Hovannisian of the

University of California at Los ,A.ngeles, a historian, writer and lecturer who has maintained an active involvement in community affairs, is somewhat dismayed. 'This is the golden moment. And with some notable ex-

way they handled the move toward independence. "They did not get steamrolled, nor

were they caught up in the emotion," he notes. "They did it in a mannerthat precluded

any challenge to their movement towards independence. Now we must show an equal amountof statesmanship in the Diaspora." Libaridian concurs that at this point in Armenian history, institutions and organizations have not, by and large, risen to the occasion.

"They have not been able to articulate the values ofan increasing number ofdiasporan

Armenians who are no longer concemed with antiquated arguments, with obsolete disputes, with petty quarrels, with intemalized aggression characteristic of the colonialized,

with the politics of rhetoric and fear, with the

of the

with them (in Armenia) yet; we're still kind of resisting," says Kavafian, acomputersys"Everyone seems to think they know better than everyone over there, and instead of taking a secondary consulting role, they want to do it all. We've got to take a supporting role. We don't like that and we

backgrounds."

don't know how. Now, we have a leader, we've got to act like we have a leader. At

simple. "By getting organized, we could

create a new umbrella that will serve to bring in the disenfranchised who until now did not want to work under the party, church, com-

homeland." He is for revitalizing the Diaspora, and believes that under the existing structures there are large numbers of people who will be left out, perhaps permanently, because all they see is "sectarian, partisan nationalism and narrow-minded patriotism." Among those in the margins is Levon Jemazyan, a psychologist who is just one of the tens of thousands of Armenians who immigrated from the former Soviet Union and changed the face of the Armenian Diaspora. He has a similar approach: "What would work would be a National Coordinating

response have not yet been created. We must create a structure that allows us to retain the interests and abilities ofpeople from various

ered as a single national unit, massive and radical change in one must necessarily cause a significant jolt and movement in the other. Kachadoor Kazarian of Rhode Island, a past Grand Commander of the Knights of Vartan, believes Armenians showed a remarkable amount of statesmanship in the

something. They're pretty good with directions aboutlittle stuff, like letterwriting. But at a more fundamental level of activity, there seems to be no mastermind, no planning." Principal Hagopian's prescription is

Kavafian may soundcynical, butshe

is really an optimist. "We have not united

tems analyst.

are consid-

National Committee or the Armenian Assembly to see what they're doing about

patriotic union, ladies guild structures, but are ready to do their part in helping the

victimized,"

Libaridian.

ceptions, the community at large has not responded adequately. The channels for its

If Armenia and the Diaspora

memoration to earthquake relief to helping refugee families from Baku. "We seem to be working all the time. But the things we're doing, are they the right things? What is the right thing for me to do from here to help?" asks Kavafian. "I check with the Armenian

says

psychology Sosi

various activities, from genocide com-

least he was elected. That's more than I can say about anybody else."

Kavafian is president of Armenians of Colorado, Inc., a non-profit community organization representing Colorado's 100 Armenian families. Like many small communities around the world, it is involved in

AIM , February 1992

Council, created democratically, which would include all the layers of the Diaspora

-the

Iranian-Armenian, the Lebanese-Ar-

nrenian. the lirrrtrcr Sovict Ar-nrenian. thc so ctLllcd Arnrcrriirn Arrlcrriiur." he adtls slrrtkrnically. rclcrrilr,, to tltc r lirious altltcl lulions liven to thrrsc t'ho Ie l'1 .\r'rlrnia. "'l'lrc ntain aucrrrlu sitoLtltl rrol hc itlcoloLlr,

ot sitttilltr. ilictot :.

bLrt siutltl), lo lrcl;t Arritc hr pnrvidirrg I'inirncial atrri nurlerial hcl1l. irtl(l (,'n(llt( lirtr: [t tlrl ir r r'].tl i, rl..' 'l'lrc old platitLrric llllrl th. \ oun!e r gcnelilion u ill |h hr'tte r clocs nol ils:ullgc .1.'r',:rrr.rrr. ] rl,rrr'r tIrirrk tlr.' it\.\ .-,1.il\.r:rti,)it till lutornplish tlisks.,vc iltrc ir{)l llt'L,i)ntnlisheri. \\'itltoLrl lltc pi opcl tritlr\l ( rlr I lilti()il ol'rlruelulc: in tht l)iii:ltora. iloii .rrit ua ntrr

cdtLCairr

lht

rr,:r,,

gLntlrliorr t itit

So Nea

AndYet So Distant

,.\r'nre rri;tn

r:rltics.)

''l

l.iirr

c()rric

io tltc ltci srrntil concl

Lr*ion

tltlrt whrilc','t"r'is to lic tlonc. i: lo bc rionr hr

I|r. Itl,,n I h'lr. J,i,\tr

lttt-r

\lr\.1.

1,1,,11

;,,,1,,

or!:lutizliliotr. I do ri hul I l lrn clr.^' lrLr:ir-lttion !oi:s hrrurl in hunrl u illr

-Ihc

thc euphoria" Irorvcvcr.

''lirr r-rs. lrcslt oirt ol .\r'ntcnierr his,h :t'hools. ilitlcpcnt['nce is thc bcst thing tlirrt coulLI lltrc hlplte necl: \\c cirn or]l\ look lo u .1,'rr,'rr. lLrlul\'. rlrr. ir Irol)t.lill A.llrnitril. I)slchologisl Agltop I)cr-Klrabctian ol thc [.]niversitt, ol' l-u Vcrnc is rrlso hopclirl.

"Fol so long. Arntcnian idcntitv in

thc

lli;1.1r,,1;1 \\.ls;111q111 11i',1 irt f lt. |lr.t. Nrru. il iras u clutnce of bcilrg unchorcd in thc lirtr-rrc." 'l'hc churtcc scctns t() clcpetrd ()n {ltc abil

ity to dclclop ll strirtcr\' lirr nlLr igrrting in u uorld in tilticlt thc oltl status (luo cirn no longcr scrr c as a grrirling star. lntcr-clcpcndencc is tr new corrccpt lirr a diasponr which has had onlr, supcrl iciul ties

to thc horlclund fur scrcn ciccatles. rct the rr'hulrrr'. :rn\i tlle poI il ir'lr I \ r.lcr.ltr\ it is esscnlirrl

lr.-

n'.. t ltat

Thc r\rrrcnian Dcrnocratic Lihcral Organization is one of' tlrr-cc rna.jor political parties ancl thc tliaspo|arr purty lxosl clOse ly lussociatecl rvith the Sovicl govemlltcnt ol'

:\rnrenia. In rctrospect, Ccntral Cornrniilcc nrcmber Azldiun says: "ln a way, thc l)iaspora was hanging in thc air all thcsc 70 ycars. We hacl sorlc pseudo support. mostly in thc tbnr ol'cultural tics. It ccrlainly wus

not a political support. It was a liability. Norv. a political rclationship should bc an assct to bolh Arrrrcnia and thc l)iaspora." I)cr- Karabe tian r,"'clcorne s thc inevitablc

convcrgcnce. "lnrlependencc ntcans ac knou lctluing ntutLurl interdcpcrrdcncc: interdcpcndcnce bctwcen honrclund anci diaspora. bctwecn ltontclancl anci other nations surrcunding it.'l'hc naturc ol thc global r'ull)l)Illrlil\ ilt)d II[' \\ ( )t lLl csUll( )tIli( \) \teilt drctatc that unless wc act interclcpcndcntlv" $c cAr)nol survive inclcpclrclently." With thc burdcn ol'the gcncrati()lt\ on his shoulclcrs. Hagopian. who has bccn u principal tirr orer l5 r,cars. holcls the prontisc. "'f rulr,. it \\ ill hc easicr to rcrnain Arrncnian in the Diaspont it'the link u,ith thc horrrclund is v ital, arrcl il'thcrc is a conscious intcrrlcpcnrlcnce."

A fence separates the two Armenian churches in Niagara Falls, New york: St. sarkis (left, affiliated wilh Etchmiadzin) and St. Hagop (affitiated with Antelias)

"" lixdl]:'iil];iiilr;jtI ' Gabriel Aslanian

about the chalienges {acing the Diaspora in this periocl of post-independence. But what can you say when there are two churches serving -s00 people'.' The case of Niaeara Falls. New York. lnay be extreme. bur it is neveftheiess telling. Both consecrated in the 1950's the two chur-ches, divided by a chain link fence, exist side-by-side on Ninth Street, jusr a few miles from the waterfalls forwhich the city is farnous. The generations of survivors who camt: to work in the cityls lagtories and the Displacerl-Persons of worlcl war II (the Arrnenian Pows captured by the Germans) who carnc r. live wirh their lricncls from the camps rnade this city a sizableArntenian comrnunity in its heyday. Today, the Armenian community of Niagara Falis, New York. has <Iwindlecl tc, an estimated 75 farnilies 'bn each side." The church propetties go largely unused, with the exception of the occasional community gathering and the mqlnihly services at one church. and the weekly services across the f'ence, at thc other. The Annenian church's assets have been the subject ofenvl,ancl contlict for generiitions. What are they worth? Who contr.ols them? How can rhey best be utilized for the benel'it of the community. beyonct their real estate value? And as the Cold War-itself a rnajor factor in the division in the Armenian Church-uppears t() hit\ c come toiin cnd. it u oLrltl scem thal thc lrdmini\trative Ir'ost in the tw o lrirlr es olthc Annenian Apostolic church in the Diaspora ma;, also thlw. These days, when consolidation of resouces is intperative it'-the: communities of the Diaspora are to meot their own neetls arrrl provide substantial ussistance to the newly inclepen<.lent homelarrd^ the consolidation ol rhe church's clividecl uchninistrative functions would meet a pragmatic mandate, even if one werc to ignore the seerr.ringly rationalcourse which spiritLrality and nationalism woLrlcl clictatelNiagr.a Falls seems a per{ect place to

start.

AIM , February 1992

Armenia's First Legation inWashington

I I

October 1919, the "Minister Plenipotentiarv of the Republic oi Armenia,"

13i"ffi'T*St#fl'ry at headquarters

In their effort to keep alive the frst Arme-

nian state since 1375, the Armenian people came so close and yet were kept so far. When Turkey forced newbom Armeniaback into the belly of the Russian Bear in December 1920, in accordance with the blossoming friendship between Nationalist Ankara and

initiate, through her generous contribution and that of the Allied P owers', the creation of an international fund to the amount of one hundred million dollars, to be expended un'

the Con-

Hall Hotel in Washington, D.C. After hemming and hawing, fte State gress

Deparfrnent recognized the de facto independence of

Plenipotentiary,

asm.

[e-

... Permitmetoassure you that this Government

gation" in Washington in the capacity of "Diplomatic Representative." Lrgation

is not

for

full

Ar-

the information which

you are kind enough to

furnish. In addition to hardling

was "withheld indefinitely;" the State Department addressed Pasdermadjian as the "Appointed Representative of ttre Armenian Re-

Although

to the

ment arrives, your letter will receive due consideration. In the meantime, I beg to express my thanks

recognition

public."

indffirent

menian question, and that when the opportune mo-

secretary A.D. Manuelian explained that the original credentials were submitted to the State Department in the FaIl of 1920 during the "invasion of Armenia by the Turks and just before the setting up in Armenia of the Soviet regime." Due to "subsequent events," de

jure

d i,i:,;Y,?w',j :#; Y;;; a -retwbilitation for the reconstuction and E of Armenia. p The expenditure ofthis surn, fi withinaperiod ffive years,

UnderSecretaryofState Henry P. Fletcher politely acknowledged the memorandum with Iittle enthusi-

will ennble the free state of Armenia to stand on her f, feet and become a factor j for peace in the Near East.

Pasdermadjian as Minister headed the "Armenian

.We look upon America to propose and

Armenia's de facto ndependence. The State De-

did not

Armenia on Aprilz3, 1920. This was three months after the Great Powers in Europe had recognized

partment

secure

White House and Congressional backing for aid to refugees in Armenia and the Middle East. Most unsuccessful were its efforts to secure meaningfrrl support for Armenian claims at intemational conferences in Europe. As the European Powers were debating Armenia's future, Pasdermadjian submitted a l2-page memorandum to the State Department. It ended with an ambitious desiderata:

Not Quite An Embassy, More Than A N ongovernmental Or ganization ByLEVON I|ARASI{LIAN

of its work centered on efforts to

matters of great import, the kgation conducted routine business as well-such as an order for outboard mo-

tors placed with Evinrude

Motor Co. of Milwaukee, and acomplaint hled

diplo-

with

& Co. of New York for the shipping

A.H. Bull

matic relations were notestablished and ambassadors were not exchanged, the

firm's unauthorized aucoff in Istanbul of

tioning

[.egation functioned as a diplomatic mission outof a brownstone building pur-

machinery destined for the govemment in Yerevan. Some tasks were espechased with funds collected The fagade ol the Embassy of Gabon in Washington. The brownstone building cially depressing, such as Armenianbelongedtothe Armenian Legatlon during the 191&1920 independence(inset). responding to the U.S. BuAmerican community by reau of lmmigration's deportation of "undeCommunist Moscow, the lrgation's growth the "Armenian kgation Fund Committee," sirable" massacre survivors back to where was stunted just as it was flexing its muscles headquartered in Philadelphia. Another sup came from. Althoughthe Bureau's policy they supand financial recognition full to secure Comportgroup, the "Million Ruble Central was consistent with the general intolerance New York, port. The record of the kgation's final mittee," headquartered to foreigners that prevailed in the 1920s' months evokes poignant melancholy. Much launched the "Million Ruble Campaign."

from the

AlM, February 1992

applying it so rigidly to disabled massacre

victims contradicted the special sympathy America held for the Armenian Question. Particularly heartbreaking was the case of l7-year-old Najik Halapian of Gesaria, who had ended up in the Southem Wisconsin Home forthe Feeble-Minded and Epileptic. The immigration bureau asked the Armenian lrgation for a passport to deport Najik, who had become a "public charge." Caroline C. Strand, presumably a case worker, testified on behalf of the poor girl. Ms. Strand pointed out that Najik's parents "were killed in the Armenian massacre" and she was brought to America "as one of the war orphans." The Superintendent of the Wisconsin Home described the teenage refugee girl

as having "Boord" behavior but suffering from certain disabilities.

Hittite variety, i.e., those having an enormously projecting nose, flat occiput, and very high head. They are among the most specializedforms of mankind, and of great scientific interest. We should be very grateful to you if you could put us in communication with American agents and missionarie s in Syria and Anatolia who might be able to secure Armenian skeletonsfor this mweum.

As it became clear that the Republic of Armenia was going to be buried in the tomb of the Soviet Empire, the work of the [,egation Fund Committee ground to a halt. "In this unsettled situation," trgation secretary Manuelian wrote to Fund secretary Garabed Shahinian in March 1921, "when everyone is in a wait-and-see mode, it looks like this work is being disregarded." Manuelian understood the "disappointrnent" Shahinian was experiencing in New York, and sug-

[II.

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also." A yearlater, there was still nohope in sight. "Compelledby the circumstances," the Legation informed the Fund Committee in July 1922, "we are obliged to

We offer a full line of 45 specialty cofiees roasted fresh daily.

put the trgation building up for sale immediately." It'is the only way" to settle the mortgage and other outstanding debts, it said. The Fund's attomey,

John N. Ouzounian, informed

lnquire about our giftpacks and

Pasdermadjian on August 8 that the Committee "unanimously decided" to place the title of the building and its contents "in trust as per your sugges-

our coffee of the month club Great ideas for Christmas.

tion."

The

Legation secretary sent Ouzounian an inventory of the office equipment and fumiture, and reported that they had not heard again from the person who was interested in renting the premises for $5,000 annually as a club. Najik Halapian had become a "public charge" The lrgation objected to the deportation ofNajik and other disabled survivors under

the existing circumstances. In Najik's case, the t egation pointed out that since herplace of birth was "under Turkish nrle, her Armenian nationality will not be considered valid by Turkish authorities."

The U.S. Immigration Bureau did not budge. As it deported physically and mentally ill survivors back to where their people had been slaughtered and deported from, the American Museum of Natural History was

picking at the very bones of the Armenian people. William Gregory, Curator of the Museum's Department of Comparative Anatomy, on the suggestion of Lawrence Martin at the State Deparffnent, wrote to the Legation that the museum's president and other anthropologists desired to secure for their collection... . . . Skeletons

Many people had looked at the property, "but no definite offer has been made," the secretaqr wrote. "Dr. Pasdermadjian thinks it advisable to have a provision added to the deed oftrust whereby the proceeds of the rental or the sale of the building will be tumed over to the Armenian Catholicos after a period of I O years, if within the said period the status of Armenia as an independent state is

notrealized." Incidently, the long inventory included a

l6.8xl2 Serapi carpet valued at $1,650,

P.0. Box 2218 LOS BANOS, CA 93635

Tel: (209)82G4961 or (800)43s3111

Fu: (209)826{b16

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oak chime clock worth $125 and a Japanese

bird cage worth $25. The Million Ruble Campaign, meanwhile, had raised a total of $7,760.09 from some 40 towns and cities. After expenses and disbursements, the remaining balance was $930.68. That was 1922. ln 1992, the work of the

Address

oldArmenianlrgationFundandthe Million

State

Ruble Campaign falls within the scope of the

Name

City

new Armenian Fund for Foreign Affain.

The Armenian people have

of typical Armenians of the

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AlM, February 1992

second

Telephone

zip

Tengiz Sigua, former prime minister under Gamsakhurdia and present leader of the oPPosition

Acrossthe Botder engiz Srgua has become the leading figure in the opposition group whirch ousted President Zviad Gamsakhurdia from power in Georgia. As head of the provisional council ruling Georgia, he faces the task of securing the revolution against attempts torestore Gamsakhurdiato'power. _ The former preiident's flight to northem Armenia and his subsequent escape back to Geo_rgia broughtthe new regime into immediate contact with Armenian authorities. Relations with Tbilisi are critical for Armenia, because supply lines through its norttrem neighbor help Armenia beat the blockadeimposed-by the neighbor to-the east, Rzdrtiaiian. AIM interviewed Tengiz Sigua in Tbilisi to gauge the state of relations after the Gamsakhurdia affair, andto find out whatcourse he willplot forGeorgia.

By TONY

llAl.Plll

Reporling trom Tblllsi

Allft What contacts did you have with the Arme. nian government when Gamsakhurdia was in Armenia? SIGUA: I had contacts with President [rvon Ter-Petrosyan several times a day and spoke 18

with his advisor on national defense,

Ashot Manucharian. On every level it was promised to me and the govemment that Gamsakhurdia would be kept within Armenia, and he would not be allowed to leave Armenia without the agreement of the Georgian govemment. Since it happened that he left witlrcut the agreement of the

AlM, February 1992

Georgian govemment, we are offended by this and regard it as a wrong step. If there was an agreementbetween the Georgian andthe Armenian govemments that Gamsakhurdiawouldnot be allowed to leave Armenia, and the agreement was broken,I regard this as wrong.

What kind of ag]â&#x201A;Źements did you make with nia overGamsakhurdia?

Ame-

As far as the first part of Gamsakhurdia's visit to Armenia is concemed, it was with the full agreement of the Georgian govemment. I had a telephone conversation with President Ter-Petrosyan and agreed that it was all rightforhim to be in Armenia. We agreed that all the steps taken by the Armenian govemment should be with the agreement of Georgia. We asked that the 6O or 70 people who accompanied him be disarmed and sent back to Georgia. Our agreement was broken for the first time when 60 armed people from Gamsakhurdia's pafty crossed the border without our consent. They smashed down amilitiapostand destroyed things aroundthem. The fact that this border crossing happened without our agreement was in itself troubling. Although we were assured that the armed people would be disarmed in Ijevan before they left Armenia, we werenotwamed. We were againnot informedwhen GamsakhurdialeftYerevanfor

Grozni (Chichenia). I didn'ttalktoPresidentTer-Petrosyan afterthat. On the very night of Gamsakhurdia's flight, we did not succeed in reaching President Ter-Petrosyan or his advisor-we could only speak with a deputy minister. I expressed my verbal protest. So as not to sharpen relations with Armenia, we agreed that Armenia would send a representative to Tbilisi to clarify the situation about whathad happened. But so far, no

ff Mr. Gamsakhurdia tums outto

mentally ill, then there will be

no question of him being extradited to Georgia.

How will you catry out this examination? Gamsakhurdia goes to the West, we will probably ask that

highly qualified physicans [in his host counfiy] check his mental state. Probably Georgian doctors will go, too.

Does that mean he will be put on trial? The question of whether or not Mr. Gamsakhurdia will be tried depends not solely on the provisional govemment but on the whole people of Georgia. Ipersonally thinkthat ifno verdictofmental illness is found, then no one has the right to relieve Gamsakhurdia from his enonnous responsibility. It is not just a thief we are talking about but the first president ofGeorgiawho has managed in a period of oneyearto lead us to

ethnic and civil war.

The prosecutor general's office has stated that the accumulated material conceming Mr. Gamsakurdia is enough to try l0 presidents.

There has been mueh speculation that you planto restole the Georgian monarchy ot to inyite former Soviet Forcign lliniste; Eduard Sheyardnadze (a Georgianf to become president. !s there any truth to this?

Tbilisi.

There are two political parties in Georgia that advocate a restoration of constitutional monarchy. If you are interested in my personal opinion, I don't belong to any party, but I am sympathetic to the idea of restoring a constitutional monarchy. There me two descendants of the royal family, one in Spain and

Have you had any contacts wilh Armenia since then?

theotherinltaly. Theonefrom ltalycametoTbilisionJanuary 16. We have had a meeting but there are still no talks about any restoration. It is my opinion that parliament must consider this most serious

representative has been sent to

The last information that came from Armenia concerned the retum of the govemmental property taken by Gamsakhurdia from Georgia. These were to be retumed to Georgia.

Of 2l

question.

As far as Mr. Shevardnadze

only four have been retumed. The others have disappeared and thb

is concemed, there has

Armenian govemment considers that the end of the matter.

beenno invitationto

How will this affafu aflect the Armenian communityliving inGeorgia?

Gmrgiaaspresident, and he has not ex-

cars taken,

In spite of the fact that we don't have any relationship with the Armenian govemment right now, the situation of the Armenian community inGeorgiawill remainthe same. TheArmenians will tive in Georgiaas they always have.

What isthe sftuation with Gamsakhurdia now?

His supporters in the Zugdidi region of westem Georgia have

addressed the provisional govemment to mediate his going abroad to

one of the European countries. We agreed, on the condition that Gamsakhurdia writes a letter to this effect himself and addresses it to the provisional govemment. We have not received any such letter so

far.

Irthim

address us with aletterand we are inclined to agree to his

him to retum

pressed anything thatcouldprompt us as to his intention of becoming president. What he has said is thal he is ready to promote to the fullestextent the democratic forces overto-

talitarianism. Mr. Shevardnadze has a

high

international

reputationandhecan

play his role in the democratization of

request.

Wlrere is Gamsakhurdia now? We don't exactly know but we assume he is somewhere in the regionof Gali.

therepublic. We can feel that support since, from

Will you try to extradite him later to stand tria! in Georyia?

ir;;;#";il."* il;;*I; f# f;;:

A number of political organizations and unions in Georgia have asked for an international medical symposium to be conducted to discuss the psychological state of Mr. Gamsakhurdia. There were some documents about his state of health, but at that time the psychologicalprofession was underthe Sovietauthorities,solamnot inclined to confirm documents issued by Soviet physicians.

already

January 12, therc

Ousted Presidenr Zviad Gamsakhurdia and bodvsuards durins their stav in Armenia

eigr embassies in Moscow conceming the establishment of embassies inGerogia. Another step taken by Mr. Shevardnadze is his donation of $ I 00,000 toward the restoration of the center of Tbilisi, damaged in the fighting. But there has been no invitation to him from the provisional govemment nor proposals from Shevardnadze's side. I

AlM, February 1992

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A Bitter Freedom Extremist Nationnlism Spoils Georgia's Taste of Long -S ought I ndep e nde nc e

which was waging war on the republic. Fear-

frrl of Communist designs on his republic, surroundedbyarmedmen,hishouse

guarded

by vicious dogs, Gamsakhwdia saw enemies

everywhere. A particular target of his wrath was the intemationally respected diplomat Eduard Shevardnadze, who had been falsely portrayed as a martyr to democracy, he said. After Gamsakhurdia sent a telegram to the United States regretting George Bush as its choice of president, both foreigt minister Giorgi Khoshtaria and prime minister Tengiz Sigua left the govemment. They were replaced by men many believe to be close to the Georgian "mafia," the complex network of entrepreneurs, politicians and criminals

that ran much of the "second economy" underthe Soviets. The rapid unraveling of Communist rule in Georgia and the ascent of the nationalists can be dated back to the events of April 9,

1989, when a massive demonsffation in Tbilisi favoring independence was brutally dispersed by Soviet soldiers. Twenty were killed, hundreds injured. The communists

ried to head off the growing nationalist antipathy to Moscow by making concessions, but in vain. [n October 1990, the nationalists, despite deep intemal divisions and rivalries, swept the elections, with the communists a distant second. A peculiar election law excluded non-Georgian parties from fielding candidates. Gamsakhurdia was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet and soon formed a nonCommunist government. On the second anniversary of the Tbilisi killings, Georgia declared itself independent, and on theT4th anniversary of the first declaration of Georgian independence-May 26, 199l-voters overwhelmingly (86.5 percent) chose Gamsakhurdia the hrst president of indepen-

dentGeorgia. But the euphoria of political renaissance was darkenedby ominous shadows, notonly

interethnic warfare but of growing authoritarianism and arbitrariness by the

of An opposition fighter takes position in lront of the burning government communications building in Tbilisi during the power struggle in the Georgian capital

president. Deep fissures

separated Gamsakhurdia's followers from critics within the nationalist movement, and his repeated response was to accuse them ofbeing agents

By ROI{ALD GRIGOB SUNY Special to Allt

table nationalists as invited guests and by the most intolerant as recent interlopers. After a

of Moscow.

skirmishes withthe Abkhazin 1989, the more violent clashes with the Ossetians have degenerated into an ongoing war. Armenians in Akhalsikhe and Akhalkalaki and Azerbaijanis in eastem Georgia wait expectantly for escalation of tensions with the republic's rulers. Now Georgians are killing each other in the streets of their capital, Tbilisi, and in the towns of westem Georgia. In multinational Georgia, the exclusionary nationalism of former dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia proved to be more divisive than integrating. In his words, non-Georgians were "foreigaers." Their protests were

by an undemocratic election law,

series of

he independent republic of Georgia is a nation possessed by its own history. Like other republics fl oat-

ing free aftel tfe demise of the Soviet empire, Georgia is reinventing its past, recovering what had been forgotten or distorted during the long years of Soviet rule, and reconstructing its story as a land belonging forall time to the Georgian people.

One-third of the republic's population

that is not ethnic Georgian-Armenians,

Russians, Azerbaijanis, Abkhazians, Ossetians and 22

others-is

depicted

by hospi-

seen

to be the handiwork of the Kremlin, AlM, February 1992

The presidential election itself was marred

smear

campaigns and violence. One popularcandidate, Jaba Ioseliani, was excluded by law from running. Others had their offices raided

beaten up. Tens of thousands of young Georgians organized into paramili-

or were

bands, some loyal to Gamsakhurdia, others to his rivals. lnstead of devolving local power to elected

tary

councils, Gamsakhurdia appointed regional prefects to carry out his policies. He took confiol of the media and arrested the leader of the Ossetian resistance as well as his

principal Georgian opponents--Giorgi

Channrria (taken forcibly from a plane as he

departed Tbilisi), documentary filmmaker Giorgia Khaindrava, and Ioseliani. With the president moving steadily toward a more dictatorial posture, the opposi tion, frustated both by the president's popularity and its own weakness in parliament, tookadvantage of Gamsakhurdia's failure to condemn resolutely the August 19 coup

had shown tyrannical tendencies.

peoples of Georgiaare experiencing the costs

against Gorbachev. Acquiescing to the demands of the Soviet

Gamsakhurdia had reappeard in the country, rallying his sup-

military commander, the president ordered the National Guard to disband. Its com-

porters in westem Georgia-his own home region. The new govemment in Tbilisi hurriedly sent armed men to confront the president's forces, and aseries of skirmishes took place in Zugdidi, Poti and Samtredia. Massive rallies were mounted in Tbilisi, and the shaky rebel govemment appeared isolated

of an intolerant nationalism that progressively excludes more and more of the

mander, Tengiz Kitovani, refused and pulled his men outof the capital to a secure retreat in theRkoni gorge. On September2,opposition party leaders met outside Tbilisi's House of Cinema and demanded an explanation of the president's behavior during the coup. Georgian secretpolice troops loyal to thepresident

broke up the rally. More demonsffations followed, andmanynational guardsmen went over to the opposition. The alliance of oppositionists that formed by September 21 was largely made up of former members of Gamsakhurdia's own "Round Table" coalition that had won the elections and nowjoined olderopponents of the president. Fighting broke out sporadi-

cally during last fall, after the opposition seized the television tower in late September.

The communists, still a minor force in the country, were forced out of parliament and sat out the ensuing struggle between the

and led the country into ethnic and civil war. In the fissiparous politics of Georgia, where about 130 parties compete for power, ordinary Georgians faced abrual dilemma: either

pushing for a militarily backed dictatorship, with the usual democratic trappings, or sup

porting a popularly elected president who

By January 16,

from largeparts of the Georgian population. With neither party able to establish a stable govemment and with both sides resorting to armed force, a negotiated solution leading to new elections seemed a distant possibility. Divided politically and ethnically, the

country's inhabitants from full participation in the fledgling democratic polity. Ronald Suny, the Alex Manoogian Prolessor of Modem Annenian History at the University ol Michigan, is the author ofThe

Making olthe Georgian Nation.

''IT RIPS IIIE IID OFF OF I.IIts IN IItr SOVIET []MON WITH AVH{GEAI{CE. AT IIIST, WE CAI{ SH WIIY MMMUNISMWAS IX)OMHX' -Jim

Whaley, PBS CINEMA SHOWCASE

"****. ttfi Most MHUoRABLE

AIUMICAN MOVtr OF IIIE YEARJ'

nationalists.

The battle lines formed essentially between two factions within the nationalist movement. As the SovietUniondissolved in early December, Gamsakhurdia refused to jointhe I I formerSovietrepublicsinthenew Commonwealth of Independent States, fur-

..IWO IIITII'(BS IJP."

Bob Gmpbell, NMHOUSE NE146PAPERS

ther isolating the republic from its neighbors. On December 22, the president's opponents launched armed attacks on the parlia-

ment building where Gamsakhurdia was holed up in a basement bunker. The most prominent leaders of the armed forces were Kitovani, commanderof the National Guard, and Chanturia, leader of the paramilitary called mk h e dr ioni (Horsemen).

unit

The "Soviet" army did not intervene as dozens of people werekilled and tanks roamed the central streets of the capital. The opposi-

tion gained the upper hand, freed potiticat prisoners, and on January 2 set up a military council to replace Gamsakhurida's govem-

ment. When pro-president demonstrators rallied the next day, gunmen fired into Ore crowd, killingtwo and wounding 25 people. On January 6, Gamsakhurdia escaped from the pmliament building to Azerbaijan, and then to ljevan in Armenia.

Dilemma of power On his side, the president could claim the

legitimacy of elections and his own enormous popularity. On their side, the opposition condemned Gamsakhurdia as a dictator who had sabotaged democracy in Georgia

NOW PLAYING IN SELECT CITIES AlM, February 1992

Juggling Loyalties

step," he said. "Gamsakhurdia's anti-Armenian moods were quite strong," he added. "Even before theelections, Gamsakhurdia was sfrongly anti-Armenian, anti-Kurd. He bulldozed ethnic minorities into quitting the

I s C aught in G e org ia' s I nt erne c i ne S trife

republic."

Armenian

C ommunity

ByTOllYllAtPlN Bapo;tlnC trom

Tbllbl

Baiburtian admitted that many Armenians had voted for Gamsakhurdia, who won 87 percent of the national vote, but he said ttrcy did so out of fear of reprisals if the Armenian quarter of the city was seen not to have supportedhim.

were among the 107 people killed in the

Gamsakhurdia came in May last year when

The community's leader, Van Baiburtian, editor of the Armenian-language newspaper

former president to address the Congress of the Armenian minority. At first Gamsakhurdia refused, but Baiburtian argued that the neady 500,0m Armenians in

lrcady lenuous, relations between

Vrastan, found himself accused of

the two neighboring Caucasus

"zviadism" by arival Armenian, who stormed into his office with two armed men and demanded he resign his post. Baiburtian, who insisted he only developed relations with Gamsakhurdia to persuade him not to persecute Armenians and to reopen an Armenian school, succeeded in gaining the

republics of Armenia and Geugia were further put to the test following the sudden departure of ousted President Zviad Gamsakhurdia from northem Armenia, wherehe had found refuge for l0 days in Janu ary. His supporters in west-

Baiburtian said his fust contacts with

first

twoweeksof fighting.

he asked the

Georgia could be politically important to him. "Gamsakhurdia came and made a brilliant speech, and ourrelationship was formed.

was a rather complicated psychological

process with hinr-Gamsakhurdiadid not believe he was good toward Armenians and nor did Armenians. "But the fact that he made a

to the congress and opened an Armenian school that

speech

had been closed by his prefect made him more sympathetic to. Armenians," said

ward

Baiburtian. "Gradually he would come to feel that Armenians were a minority he could feel some respect

for."

Nevertheless, he failed to persuade Gamsakhurdia to exempt Armenians from a ban he imposed on land purchases by ethnic minorities. His newspaper Vrastan, which had a circulation of 42,000 before paper shortages reduced it to 23,000, was careful to avoid articles in

Armenian churches in Tbilisi: St. Hagop (above) and earthquakedamaged St. Mary's church in the Havlabar district em Georgia took Armenians hostage, in the mistaken belief that Gamsakhurdia was being held prisoner in Armenia. Supplies through Georgia to Armenia were also disrupted, although it is unclear whether this was done by followers ofthe deposed president or his opponents. In Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, the large Armenian community was suddenly caught in the middle of a civil war. Four Armenians

support of the govemment. He also defended his efforts

to keep Armenians neutral in the struggle forpower in Georgia. "If there had not been the precedent of the Baku massacres, Armenians could probably protested against

have

but they felt afraid and couldn't take that

Gamsakhurdia,

AlM, February 1992

support of Gamsakhurdia or critical of him.

Gamsakhurdia's flight to Armenia" and the way the govemment handled the situation. "Armenia didn't have the right policy on Gamsakhurdia," he said. "They should not have allowed him to get away from Armenia. They should have had a plan for himand should have had him taken to some other

Baiburtian, 51, said his objective was to! avoid clashes between Armenians and i Georgians.

"The state of the Armenian community in Georgia very much depends on ArmeniaGeorgia relations. Also, if Armenians came into conflict with Georgians and our political relations were harmed, Armenia would havelost its only source offuel and supplies, since the Azerbaijani border is closed."

country.

"But I think he persuaded the Armenians that he would do everything for them. Armenia took on a great mission on its shoulders when it took Gamsakhurdiain, but it should not have allowed him back to Georgia." Instead, he argued, Armeniashould have

(Prrrâ&#x201A;Ź democtats" Baiburtian described the new leadership in Georgiaas "pure democrats" who held no

held the ousted president until allegations against him had been substantiated. Then it

prejudice against minorities. To reinforce the point, he asked Georgian leader Tengiz Sigua at a press conference to make a statement about theposition of ettmic minorities. Sigua affinned the new leadership's respect

for the Helsinki Final Act on human rights before an audience of intemational media, and stated that "there will be no difference between Georgians and ethnic minorities in the

republic." Added Barbutian: "UnderGamsakhurdia

toldArmenians,'let's waitforthis periodto

come to an end and not have conflicts with the Georgians'. Even if Gamsakhurdia had quit his post, the conflict would have remained like a buming wound. With the fanaticism of the people here, there were many

Van Balburtian, editor of Yrastan, president of theAssociation olArmenians in Georgia who really wanted to pull the Armenians into the conflict."

Baiburtian holds strong views on

should have handed Gamsakhurdia over to thenew Georgianauthorities. ButBaiburtian described the present mood of the Armenian community as "good," adding thatthere was much sympathy for the new regime. "Gamsakhurdia was an unpredictable person, while with the new regime I myself feel more comfortable. They seem to be normal and civilized people." He is less optimistic about the atmosphere between Armenia and Georgia. "For now, relations are getting worse, because Georgia doesn't understand how Armenia could have let Gamsakhurdia go. Sigu4 at least for now, does not want contacts with the

Armenian govemment."

COFFEE VENIZELOS The Aristocrat Of Creek Coffees

Product ol Collee Assoclates !nc. AlM, February 1992

Sof

Diplomacy

Americ an Offi c ial s in the State D epartment and Abroad S upp ort the P roj e ct. B ut can a Turkish P ort P rov ide Armenia with a N ew Trade O utlet ? ByVtKEt{ BERBERIAII he project involves millions of dollars worttr of foreign capital, a Turkish executive, an AmericanArmenian builder, quays, cranes and the State Deparrnent. Throw into all of this Armenia's fledgling govemment, and you have the makings of an Armeno-Turkic

'"The American Embassy in Ankara and Washington officials were influential and positive in getting Krikorian to meet me," Alaton said. "Officially, thepolicy inAnkara is very posifive for this project. So I'm carrying on as a businessman who believes in better relations between neighboring coun-

economic alliance-all with a

ries."

little

help

from the American govemment.

It all crystallized

last October when a State Department official provided the link

between New Jersey builder Hirair Hovnanian and Turkish businessman Ishak Alaton. The official contacted Hovnanian's attomey, Van Krikorian, reliable sources in thecapital and Ankarasaid. The official then informed Krikorian of Alaton's plan to develop a port off Turkey's Black Sea coast with the help of American-Armenian investors.

Tipped off by the State Departrnent, Krikorian reached Alaton at New York's Marriott Marquis Hotel, where the millionaire executive delivered a speech to the Turkish Council on Foreign Economic Relations in late October. On November l, Krikorian, who also works as kgal Affairs director of the Armenian Assembly in Washington, drove Alaton to Hovnanian's New Jersey seaside home. Preliminary talks on the port

followed.

Those countries have increased in number since the breakup of the Soviet Union,

clearing the way

for a headlong rush of

diplomacy and trade talks in the region. With Turkeyeager to establish ties withAzerbaijan and five nascent Central Asian states, events are

unfolding at a frantic pace.

Even Armenia and Turkey have moved to promote communication and trade links. The first flightbetween Trabzon and Yerevan began last month through the Russian city of Sochi. And it is hoped that an expanded port at Trabzon--one of the sites under studywill spur across-the-border trade and provide Armenia with access to the West. "It may have been a novelty a year ago," said Gerard

Libaridian, president lrvon Ter-

Petrosyan's advisor on Policy and Analysis.

"But it's part

the normal process of

developing Armenia's economic interest. It's not seen as something so weird.If there were no other trade initiatives with Iran or Georgia, it may have been more dramatic."

American officials agree. "It's the normal development of relations intheperiodaftertheb,reakup

of the Soviet Union," said a State Department official. "And that seems sensible, reasonable and de-

sirable." The United States "would like

to seâ&#x201A;Ź a trade agreement between Turkey and Armenia...and this port would seem to facilitate thataim." But pursuing that aim for landlocked Armenia requires careful navigation in a searife with political mines. Whether similar ventures will increase Armenia's political dependence on Turkey is a delicate question, analysts say.

"Anytime you use

another

country as an access route, you compromise on sovereignty," said Gratram Fuller, a former Middle

Hirair Hovnanian 26

East CLA analyst, now at Santa

AlM, February 1992

its northem coast

remains

commercially the least developed. The collapse of the union has changed that. Traders can now be

seen near the border. crossing it occasionally with suitcases, ready to hawk goods, buy and barter. As Armenia gazes west, Turkey looks north and east to tap new markets. Some view the Trabzon port, with

Monica's Rand Corporation. "Nearing the end of the 20th century, all sorts of countries are compromised in this way." "Iraq has a pipeline through Turkey that was actually cut during the Gulf war," Fuller said. "But interdependence is the route ofthe future, and Armenia frankly needs to take a gamble that it will work successfully with Turkey in the future." In the past, a restrictive trade agreement signed between the Soviet Union and Turkey provided for practically no commerce across the border. Turkey's ties to the east were minimal. With the Black Sea a Soviet lake,

its highway droping south, then stretching east into Yerevan, as the centerpiece of a trade revival, extending from Turkey's northem coast into Armenia and Central Asia.

"Given Armenia's location, Turkey has no optron but to pass through Armenia for surface trade with the newly formed Central Asian republics," said Nikola Schahgaldian, a Trans-Caucasus expert at Rand. "That's dictated by geography." "Any revitilization of surface trade between Turkey and Azerbaijan would benefit the Armenian economy. That doesn't mean

AlM, February 1992

dependency. It" may mean integration or inter-dependency." Interdependency is no stranger to Alaton, president of Alarko Holdings, an Istanbulbased construction and industrial company.

Together with partner Uzeyir Garih, they Alarko into a constellation of 22 firms that deal with a smorgasboard of nahave built

tions. In Moscow, where Alarko is involved in building projects, Alaton regularly runs into Armenian officials. Last September, nearly a month before his trip to New York, he met Vartkes Artsruni, builder and representative of the Trabzon project for the Armenian govemment. The two discussed mutual trade and ports.

"The original idea came from Armenian (officials) in Moscow," Alaton said. "They wanted to develop a port on a private basis as an outlet to the Armenian Republic."

Artsruni visited Turkey in October for trade talks as special envoy to president Ter-

Petrosyan. Soon after, Alaton flew to New York to attend the Council on Foreign Economic Relations conference. When the State Department clued in 27

Krikorian about the port project, he informed Hovnanian. Followhg consultations with high-rarking Armenian officials, Krikorian reached Alaton in New York, according to reliable sources. ln December, the investors met in Moscow, where they drew a joint-venture statement. "The Armenian govemmentdoes not

have a financial interest in the project," Krikorian said. "It's a four-way deal be-

Artsruni has still hung on to his Moscow position. "This is an enormous project," he said. "Nothing is clear. It's too soon, too early to write an article." Speaking for Hovnanian, who declined to be interviewed for this article, Krikorian said the investors will form a joint company soon and that they are preparing a feasibility study. Although Trabzon appears to be the leading site for the project, Hopa, Izmir and

With possible funding from the Intemational Finance Corporation, the world's largest private investrnent lender in developing countries, a partially expanded port could start operation within a year, Alaton said. That would require widening bottlenecks along the Trabzon-Yerevan highway.

"In the past, you had a great deal oftrade that went down to the Gulf in bonded trucks," said a State Department official. "The same could happen with a port. A ship could arrive in Trabzon, unload boxes for

Armenia, which would then be shipped by land through Turkey."

Once trade links are legitimized and Armenia's outlet secured, the current ofcommerce could alsomove

east

to west. Countries

such

Kazakhstan, the leading cotton producerin CentralAsia,couldbewooed to use Armenia's trade route for access to Europe. With Georgia mired in ethnic strife and Iran considered a trade rival, Armenia's position as a jumping board to Turkey would seem more attractive to the new republics, analysts say.

"The question is why should Turkey agreeto give away something for nothing," said Professor Alfred Rubin at the Fletcher School of Law and

Diplomacy. "The argument that

Detail of the exisiting Trabzon port

landlocked states have rights is simply rejected by coastal states who say 'we have rights too'." "If Turkey goes along with the project, some binding agreement could say that they concede a right of passage to Armenia. But in every

Source:Alarko

clash that has occurred so far between

landlocked state and its state-of-transit state, the state-of-ffansit state has won." The question of why Turkey should give away something for nothing has been bandied around plenty in the American-Armenian community. Some have lambasted Hovnanian and Krikorian for agreeing to

compromise advocacy on the Armenian Genocide as a precondition to launch the project. The two have staunchly denied making such comments during their negotia-

4 The Quay for Ores

tions. Source:Alarko

Source:Alarko

Armenia's Foreign Ministry alsoissued a

tween Artsruni, Hovnanian, Alaton and Mark

Giresun are also under consideration. Trabzon's total annual handling capacity

statement rejecting compromise on the genocide issue for the sake of promoting economic ties between the historically rival

Klabin." Klabin heads Rosh Credit lntemational, a Vienna-based holding company. Alaton employs an industrial army of more than 6,000 workers. Hovnanian presides over Hovsons

Inc., an American construction Iirm with 1989 gross sales worth $60 million, according to the 1991 Dun and Bradstreet Million Dollar Directory. Artsruni, former depury chairman of Mosstroykomilet, Moscow's intemational construction committee, has worked as an Armenian govemment trade envoy. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, 28

is 3.8 million tons,nearly two-and-halftimes more than Giresun. But since trade to the Gulf never really developed from Turkey's northern coast, disuse has increased Trabzon' s surplus potential. The existing state-owned free-trade zone at Trabzon measures 92,000 square meters. Once the privately owned free-trade zone nears completion, the port could measure 240,000 square meters at a cost of about $ 1 9

million, according to Alaton. The newly developed mea would account fortrade with Armenia and the Central Asian republics.

AlM, February 1992

countries.

"The Armenian govemment never has, never will encourage the Diaspora to play soft on an issue that is so cenEal to our collective identity, and that is the genocide," said Foreign Minister Raffi Hovannisian. "Parallel to our remembrance of history...we believe Armenia should normalize relations with all its neighbors, including Turkey. That process initially began with commercial and economic ties and I'm sure it would develop into diplomatic

relations." I

WarsouerWater P opulation I ncreas e and Dwindling Water Re source s Threaten the Stability of the Middle East By ilIOORAD ilOORADIAN Spoclal to

Altl

next war in the Near and Middle

East could be sparked by water rather than oil disputes. As populations in the region increase, waterresources continue to dwindle. The ancient rivers Tigris and Euphrates are the key water sources in the region. They rise in Turkey and feed the downstream water systems of Syria and Iraq. To the west, the Jordan and the Yarmuk flow from [,ebanon and Syria, merging south

the Israeli

Syrian border, will eventually hold back the water of the planned 3 l5-square-mile reservoir. When completed, the water will be used by 125 hamlets. Fifty-fivethousandvillagers have already been relocated and others will follow as more waterbecomes available. With their water supply drastically cut, Syria and Iraq asked Ankara to divert the flow of waters back for two weeks. Turkey refused and the cutoff caused darnage to farm areas in both countries. Syriacomplained that the Turkish project caused problems to its own Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates. Syria is more seriously effected thanlraq, which also has the Tigris flowing through its

borders. Euphrates water problems wilt increase. During the early months of construction, two Syrian jets downed a Turkish sur-

veying plane within Turkish borders. There continues to be incidents that occasionally strain neighborly relations, and in the past Ozal has said he would not hesitate to use water to discipline Turkey's neighbors.

Turkey has accused Syrian President Haffez Al-Assad of setting Kurdish Marxist guerrillas loose in Turkey to sabotage water damming operations. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein rationed watereven before the Penian Gulf war, and lookedtowardTurkey withthreateningeyes. King Hussein of Jordan believes that water is the only issue that could involve his nation in a war with Israel. Jordan's minister of water accused Israel of stealing 59 billion cubic feet a year by diverting water from the Jordan River. The late Anwar Sadat had stated that Egypt would not go to war again, except over a water

dispute.

1,700-mile-long

Israel, the West bank, the Gaza area and Jordan are already facing a water shortage. According the

Euphrates. The powerful

World Bank, the Middle

rivercontributes to the irrigation and hydroelectric power needs of both nations. Iraq depends upon the Euphrates for 40 per-

East has the highest median cost of water supply in the world: $300 per

cent of its electrical power.

Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey are the only countries

Seaof Galilee.

Syria and Iraq

are

heavily dependent on the

capita in I 985, about twice thatof the United States.

On January 13, 1990, former President Turgut Ozal of Turkey pushed a

in the region that

have instituted uriffs for water use. Most of the nations in the region are tied by common aquifers that are

button that diverted part of Syria's and Iraq's water supply for a month to the Ataturk Dam, the centerpiece of the Southeast

Anatolia Project. It. is

overdrawn

disposal practices.

multi-billion dollar project

One

to convert the poorest part of the country into a hoped-

for

agricultural

or contami-

nated due to terrible waste

of the

hidden

sfrategic problems Israel has in surrendering West Bank territory or any land to the Palestinians is the uncertainty of what any

haven.

Turkish officials expect to double the yield of many crops and produce a $5 billion food surplus to sell in Europe and the Middle

concessions would bring

to the future of

the

Eastforsorelyneeded hard

Yarkonllaninin moun-

curTency. The area approximates the combined sizes of Bel-

tain aquifer. It is situated between pre-1967 Israel

gium, Holland and Luxembourg. The plan includes 2l dams, l3 hydroelectric plants and thousands of miles of irrigation ditches and canals to be completed by 2005. At the current rate of funding, it will take 50 years to realize. The Ataturk Dam located 60 miles from the

The Tabqa llam on the Euphrates

rivel

AlM, February 1992

andtheWestBank. Depending on theexperts' bias, they maintain that befween 20 to 80 percent of the aquifer lies under the West Bank. They further claim that 70 to 80 percent of the water recharged by rain is also in the West Bank, whose waters provide Israel between 254A per29

Caspian 6ea

GYPRUSt

Mediterranean sea

LEBANON Damascus

ISRAEL

Jerusalem

KUWAIT

a I

;

cent ol-its watcrs. Palestinians aclmit that the Israeli govem-

same river to the sea of Galilee. The ripple elTect of this plan on Israel is obvious, since

ment provides enough water for domestic and industrial use. They do complain that Israel dcnies Palestinians enough water to cxpand their critical agricultural base. Israel is laying waler pipelines to the Gaza, where there is only one aquil-er. It is cstimated that within l0 years an additional two rnillion people in that arca and an overall

by the Yarmuk. Israel's large influx of East European and newly settled Soviet Jews also strains water resources. With its grorving population and limited resources, it is unlikely that Israel will sit passively too long if the Yarmuk's fiec flow is hindered. Turkey has plentiful waler. One plan to ease the water crisis in Israel is to transport water liom Turkey in flexible bargcs or floating bags. The cost fbr a water pipeline tiorn Turkey would run as high as $300

population of 10 million in Israel will causc severe watcr problems. Expcrts claim that Israel, the West Bank, Gaza and Jordan face an annual water cieficit of 500-600 million cubic meters. Thirsting for water, Syria and Jordan have threatened to dam the Yarmuk River to compensate for their lost water supply to the Ataturk Dam. The two countries have also accused Israel

of divcrting water frorn

the

the Jordan

River

is f'ed

million. So far. Israel

only in the searching stages lbr othcr sourccs of wattr. Ozal asked his Arab neighbors to join Turkey in investing in a "peace pipcline" that would send potable water from the Scyhan and Qeyhan rivers in southeast Turis

AlM, February 1992

key that empty into the Mediterranean, to urban centers in the Middle East. The pipe-

line could strech as far south as Saudi Arabia. Thc Turks initially advanced this idea in 1986. The project. cstimatedtocost $ l7 billion. reccivecl intensive feasibility studies lronr Arab states, but thcy dcclined. Unwilling to rely on Turkey lor drinking watcr, the Arabs officially argue that it is cheaper to desalinate.

Wars have been wagcd lbr a valuable commoclities than water. issue that may be crucial

lol

less an

an undcrstanding

is to dcvelop beiween thc Arab states

and

Israel. Moorad Mooradian, a former member

the U.S. Joint Chiefs ol Staff, is a retired Army colonel and a recognized expert in logistics based in Washington, D.C.

Hambutgets. HotDogs Cbicken Sanduticbes. Pizza. And morc. Customen canfill up

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UP AIARCO, we've always been known for innovation. If there's a better way to do it, we find it. \Thether it's our new emission conrol gasolines, our cznh saving PayPoint Netvrorkf gsattasting fast food, or a variety of grocery items at reasonable prices, we always have the same goal Giving people better quality, and more convenience, at a betterprice.

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Golden Fish Eggs The P etrossian Caviar Empire : Spawned inthe Caspian,It Spans the Atlantic the

By FLOREIICE AVAKIAN Spcclalto Altl

I f thev had a choice. mostchildren would but for I p."fo green peas or spinach, goes

ffi,"*';ffru:

caviar

back as

Well,almost. "From childhood, caviar was in my blood," says Petrossian, president of Petrossian company.

SA,

the world's largest caviar

"It definitely

is not food," he gushes.

"It's a unique product

representing many handwork, a specialty, a dream perhaps." From the moment you enter the art-deco

things-an experience,

restauranVdelicacies boutique through a massive wrought-iron door, New York's

luxuriously elegant dining

area,

featuring

a highly polished pink-and-black granite floor, tables adomed with handmade gray linen, Limoges china and silverware designed by Christofle of Paris. The Pefiossian kitchen is under the direction of masterchef Rick L,aakkonen, recently picked from 42 candidates after a rigorous search throughout Europe and the United States.

Like a modem-day emperor, Pefiossian tastes the food before everyone else. "This is a new policy," he says. "In delicacies, ifyou don't have a perfect raw material as good as your chef, you cannot succeed."

Beside the flagship New York eatery, American tongues have tasted Petrossian products at Bloomingdales and NeimanMarcus boutique/restaurants in Miami, Chicago and Texas.

Armen Petrossian, 42, heads

the worldwide

Saumon

Petrossian Corporation in Paris

and Petrossian Inc., its U.S.

subsidiary.

frequently

York and oversee the various branches of the company. shuttles between New

Paris

Up until two years ago, cousin Christian Petrossian headed the New York operation. Claiming that the com-

ile eggs. These are washed in clear spring water and sprinkled with salt.

the Petrossian product line to caviar, and offeredtobuy out the other shareholders. Instead,

tins with gold-lined interiors to prevent

Christian was fred as presi-

two-kilo tins are allowed for shipping to

Peffossian Caviar in dent New York.

protect the fragile eggs on the bottom from too much weight. Petrossian cargo planes transfer these supplies from the former Soviet Union to their Paris warehouses, where they are placed in even smaller tins.

predictions of .a long, costly and bitter legal battle.

Three types of caviarare sold atPetrossian.

The most prized is Beluga, since it takes 20 years for a beluga sturgeon to mature and produce eggs. The ossetra sturgeon, halfthe beluga's size, takes 12 years to mature, and themuch smallerandmoreabundant sevruga produces eggs at seven years of age. The rarity of the Caspian sturgeon explains the sky-high prices of the succulent commodity.

pur6es and canned fish, Christian reportedly wanted to limit

Christian, who lives in

caviar presenters. Prices range from $17.50 for a 30-gram pressed caviar jar to $2,300 for the 1,000-gram Beluga caviar tin. A few steps to the right of the boutique is

United States, Canada, China and many other countries have sturgeon, but it is only the landlocked Caspian Sea that has a special algaewhich gives sturgeoneggs theirunique flavor. This algae, the amount of salination, the temperature of the Caspian, and Russian expertise all come together to produce the world's best caviar.

products such as vegetable

Paris, still retains a 17.7-percent share ofthe business. The issue is now in the courts, with

Located in the landmark Alwyn Court Building, the Petrossian boutique highlights the best of caviar, smoked salmon, foie gras and truffles, in addition to silver and gold

The uniqueness of Petrossian caviar has to do with the product, place and processing. Caviar comes from the eggs of the sturgeon, a fish found mainly in the Caspian Sea. The

reputation by selling less pure

mayhem evaporates. Inside, a dazzlingarray of gastronomic, dreamy delights tease you.

Auniqueprocess

While still at sea, the eggs are sorted by hand through a sieve made of strong absorbent cotton, since wire mesh harms the frag-

pany was losing its unique

NewYork

monopoly on Russian caviar. The brothers cultivated demand by providing free samples-and spittoons-at restaurants and exhibitions. There is "no future in caviar," advised Cesar Ritz, owner of the famedRitzHotel. But there wasno giving up for the Petrossians. With the help of the exiled Russian aristocracy-among them composer Igor Stravinsky-the "black gold" soon became the talk of the town and the prized cachet was de rigeur at the "righf' dinners and parties. Today, the Pefrossian company grosses roughly $100 million a year and boasts 230 employees. Its shops and restaurants are frequented by hundreds of world leaders, Hollywood personalities and jet-setters.

The business started nearly 70 years ago

brothers Mouchegh and Melkoum Petrossian, Iranian-Armenians raised in Russia. They studied in Paris following the 1917 Revolution, and to their surprise discovered that caviar, which had been a mainstay of the Russian diet for centuries, was

virtually unknown in Paris. They instantly struck a deal with the new Soviet govemment, which gave them an almost complete AlM, February 1992

After processing, the caviar is placed in a

metallic taste. T hey are quickly sealed with a wide rubber band, making it airtight. Only

In addition to caviar, Petrossian also specializes in smoked salmon from Norwayas well as foie gras and truffles, delicacies of Perigord, France, where their second plant is located. Content with the record catch of beluga sturgeon in 1991, Petrossian plans to celebrateby "introducing caviartopeople around the world who have never tried it."

Florence Avakian is a New York-based frelance journalist and a treguent contrtbutorto AlM.

Moonbreaker M athemntician Alexnnder Abian H as A Na,vWay to Eliminnte Human SufferingAeshffie the Solar System By KATHERINE CHILJAil respected 68-year-old mathematician who came to the U.S. 42 years ago from kan, Alexander Abian has three theorems named after him and has published three textbooks and over 200papers, the latest proposing aradical altering of the solar system, including possible elimination of the moon or landing of the moon on Earttr. The axis of the Earth has a23-degree tilt; consequently, the sun's rays beat on the globe unevenly, causing scorching summers in one part of the world and stormy winters in another. "Judicious cosmic alterations," says Abian, could greatly improve the ecology of Earth and our solar system, as well as human life. A professor at Iowa State for 24 years, Abian's ideas have caughtthe imagination ofthe media. HehasappearedontheCBS program Nightwatch, and was interviewed rn The Wall S tre e t J ournal, O mni and People magazines, and in a supermarket tabloid with the headlines "Scientist's Plan to Blow up the Moon" and "Blow the Moon to Smithereens!" ABIAI{: I want to disassociate myself from that sensational phrase created by the media about "the scientist who wants to blow up the moon." It is sensational, which is a reason that my ideas have spread all over the world. But my ideas are very, very serious and are getting very positive responses and serious consideration. The fact of the matter is that our entire ecology, our entire life, our entire existence is inextricably related to the setup of the solar system and to the cosmic parameters of the planet Earth. There's a 23-degree tilt--+he solar rays are not distributed evenly on the globe and, therefore, we have such tremendous temperafure differences simultaneously on two different parts of the globe, which create devastating climatic disatrous situations-there's not a single year when cyclonei don't cause annihilation of whole villages or masses of people. Because ofthat tilt, one-fifth ofthe land is a scorching desert, and onefifth is an ice box. Copemicus, Galileo, Newton and Einstein have studied the movements of the celestial bodies and have ingeniously formulated them into mathematical language, but all of them, like slaves, have bowed their heads in some sort of apocalyptic awe in front of the celestial harmony. I say thatthis celestial harmony is fivebillion years old, it isrotten, it is decayed and it has to be completely, totally overhauled! Thatharmonyhas to bechallenged andchangedtonewharmonies, the same way that Beethoven's and Bach's harmonies were challenged by Stravinsky and Bartok. The same waythat the harmonies of Rembrandt and Rubens were challenged by those of Picasso and Van Gogh, and those of Virgil and Homer have been challenged by the

harmonies of Kafka and Joyce.

am probably the very first person who has even raised the

question andnot accepted the celestial status quo as an unchallengeable, divine or a sacrosanct item. I think that the majority of ourmiserieseven diseases such as AIDS, cancer, cholera and typhoid-are a

direct result of the solar system, and the system is so rotten, it's impossible to get rid of them.

Alt: Working in an academic enyironment must be frustrating because it's notorious for stifling new ideas...

university is a most enslaving institution. There is no escape. - _The If Sartrehas aplay No Exit,lsay "NoEscape."Noescape from being enlaved with an idea. [The scientific giants also] enslaved the subsequent generations ofphysicists, because they seldom raise their petulantfistofdefiance. They take thecelestial status quo for granted. And I said it is not. And I said the human race will not tolerate to be orbited like slaves, hostage to the same orbit for five billion yearswe will not! Human beings would like to have something to say about _

ofits planet. It would be the same thing if I put you blindfolded and speechless in a car and drove you all your life, and you had nothing to say about the trajectory of your vehicle. The day will come that we will have control of the tilt and control of the orbit of our planet in our hands. And I'm almost sure I won't see that day, it'll probably take a tremendous amount of years and experimentation and computerized simulations todothat. the orbit

AlM, February 1992

Now, as far as the moon is concemed, sometimes I get letters saying how dare you eliminate the moon, blow it up. I aln not advocating getting rid of the moon for the sake of getting rid of it. On

or we could take ourmoon and bring it at the south pole to untilt the tilt.

the contrary, another method is to bring a second moon for balance

How doyou know you can bring part of the moon to Earth? Well, asronomers have akea$i brought at least 4 pounds of moondust to the earth, maybe4O0pounds, sorepeatthat many billion times and you can bring the whole moon downstairs! Of course, nobody's willing to repeat [the process] many billion times, but the pointlim making is that it's quite, quite within technical possibilities. And about the romantic aspect of the moon-this is really a childhood syndrome. No poet has written or was inspired by the moon-I think those are all pre-orgasmic pressures. If they had areal orgasm, then they would never have written any romantic poety aboutthe moon. Prrecisely, themoonis inaccessible the same way the partner was inaccessible there.

Wrich ol the methods that you propose is the oasieat to ac. complbh?

climate. There's no question about it.

What about the melting of the poles' additional water... There' s so many desertous lands that the melting of the water

will

be a welcome phenomenon. I am totally convinced that the 23-degree tilt is not the best. I don't think the saints have decided in a committee

tilt to the Earth for the benefit of the human race, sure of that. Twenty-three degrees is not a magic number. A variation of this will be more beneficial to the ecology.

to assign a 23-degree

I'm

Where were you born? ln which citY? It is not important. I was bom on the planet earth.

If all the scienticts rcached a eonsensus in agree. ment with you, is this something the whole world would have to vote upon? How would it happen? It wouldhappen withdisaster afterdisasterafter disaster, catastrophe after catastrophe after catastrophe, drought after drought after drought, cyclone after cyclone after cyclone. When they realize that the whole of Siberia is an icebox-you can't heat but ifyou change the tilt ofthe Earth, you

it-

will have achieved moderate temperatures

To avoid any catastrophe, the easiest would be probably to change the position of Venus with respect to Earth's sun

everywhere.When they see that the methods [proposed by thel ecologicaf environmental agencies is like irrigating the Saharadesert with an eyedrop.

system or to change some of the moons of Mars, or to change the position of Mars, or to shoot some asteroids-gently attract them to the South Pole. In any case, the idea is not how, the

What would you say to peoPle who claim that God created the universe, that it's perfect, so don't tamper with God's cte. ation?

idea is to get rid of the enslaving brainwashing of the academicians-they have enslaved us and themselves about the excellence of the celestial machinery. I say the celestial machinery is rotten! Is decayed! And it has to be altered.

I'd say that I cannot possibly see arly perfection in the existing solar system, because there are so many tragic and unfortunate circumstances and situations.

lleaning, if people can get ovel

A hostile universe. It's not only hostile, it's

that mindset, we ean think of mofe cneative ways?

Absolutely. You put your finger on the heart of the matter. The idea is to change the mindset. And as soon as the mindset is changed, there are so many talented and ingenious technicians, they will do anything. The importantthing is to sow the seed of challenging the status quo and taking the present situation for granted as unchallengeable.

You'le a math professor, how did you come upon this idea? Because in mathematics we create ideas, non-Euclidean geometries which are not necessarily given by nature as models' So, probably my training as a mathematician has helped me to challenge the standard models to non-standard and more abstract models.

But why in astronomy?

uni-

You're not alraid of tocking the cosmic boat? No. My answer is probably the same to the question "if it's not don'tfix it."The samething was tolddwingthe l3thCentury feudal systems in Europe. Slaves were told that this system is beautiful-we are the masters, you are the slaves, this is designed by God, a perfect world, this is as it should be, this is written in the Bible and do not try to change it-and the slaves themselves were convinced. Of course, it wasn't convincing to all of them-the feudal broken,

system was overthrown.

Because it's grand. Because the idea attracted me that it would be

colossal, the boldest, probably the most innovative and the most radical idea which has been created Maybe I'm not modest. In 18 million years of human existence, this is the boldest idea thathas been created.

Does evetyone agnee that the 2il.degree tilt causes the diflerence in weatherPattern? Of course. That they agree, but ask if everyone agrees with my ideas of altering the solar system. The span of reaction is from total,

complete dismissal to nominating me for the Nobel Prize. Yes, everybody agrees in the sense that there will be the most temperate 34

a brutal

verse, it is a criminal universe, so I could not possibly see that the world is created perfectly by God, and I don't know who created the world and how. I only state the fact that it is a defective and decaying system. I think human genius can design abetter one.

Any human being generally finds that there is a serious content in my proposal. It is not just for sensationalism. They all agree now that thequestionmustberaised. We've finally brokenthe ice ofthe fanatic attachment to the status quo. Another chain of intellectual enslavementhas beenbroken-the same way thatoneof the links of thechain was broken when people went to the moon. Going to the moon had no other greater effect than the fact that it psychologically jolted human-

I am going much further, I am reshuffling, reorganizing and altering the solar system. To design acomposition ofthe solar system where we use ourreasoning to improve situations. I am not known for being very modest, but it i s one of the ultimate ity.

jolts.

AlM, February 1992

Chunnel Vision

two 'running' tunnels that will carry high-speed trains. By June 1993, passengers and vehicles boarding the trains will

Awarded for H is Work on U .K.'s Motorways, Engineer Haro Bedelian Now Supervises the Eurotunnel Project By SUSAil PATTIE

Spaclal to AIU

aro Bedelian is mid-way through a project which is not

only the highlight of his career but one of the major engineering feats of the century-the building of the Eurotunnel between England and France.

A civil engineerby training, Bedelian is Group Managing Director of Balfour Beatty Limited, one of 10 British and French frms which have formed a consortium called Trans Manche Link (TML) to build and finance the chunnel, the world's longest undersea tunnel. Responsible for Balfour Beatty's woddwide building and civil engineering activities, Bedelian serves on the Supervisory Board of

travel between terminals at Calais and Folkestone in 30 minutes, a time competitive to air travel. But the British are indulging in a bit of sabotage. They have resisted to start work on a high-speed rail track that would link london and Paris by Eurotunnei in 2 hours and 15 minutes. The British see a sense of cultural loss in integration. Even when Britain tries to fratemize with Europe, as it is now with schemes for common taxes, passports and cash, dreadful things happen. One of the problems in Britain has been public prejudice toward the project. "The tunnel in England has not gotten the support it deserves," Bedelian says. Some feel that fortress England is not part of the continent. Others fear the tunnel will open a gateway to venereal disease, rabies, freethinking, bad manners and enemy troops. The last time such foops overan England was by a Viking conqueror 925 years ago . But the French, who outnumber British tunnel investors by four to one, love big projects. They have also shown a willingness to finance them. "The cost keeps going up and up," says Bedelian. On the British side, not one penny of taxpayer money is spent on the project. "On the French side, you don't hear about that; it's much more about

TML.

The"chunnel,"as TMLis popularlyknown intheUnitedKingdom, is oneofmanyprojects Bedelian supervises. A native of Cyprus, Bedelian, 49, attended Cambridge University as an engineering student. He graduated with honors in 1964 and stayed in England, taking his frstjob with a motorway constnrction consulting firm. In 1986, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his work in

motorwaybuilding. Bedelian has ffaveled long from Cyprus to taking part in changing the future of Britain, helping build a physical and psychological link with its continental neighbors. "As I travel around England, I seejobs that I was involvedin,"he says. "SometimesIlook mistakes we made and the heartaches suffered in getting something built, like the Victoria subway line. Everytime I use that line, it takes me back to those twoand-one-half years when I was down there

at bridges and recall the

building it."

"I spent most of my time helping construct the new Oxford Circus station." hJcontinu"r Generalview of the Marine Running Tunnel insidethe ChannelTunnel's U.K. Crossover. tn wistrury. ..r's not too r* u.ro* and all the fraffic went across these

fflfiTlr:tfli,il iTfllf$y"lF,H$,,Xi,i:1ffi1i,Hl"",,:igifljigXtT?rilffiftHl? * ry:g ramps, eedelan. ii'a?o

literally inches above our heads. It was a most exciting sort of introduction." That introduction has since led to his involvement in the chunnel project,

coup d'6tat

of modem engineering

prowess and a concept

old as the guillotine. Dreamers on both sides of the channel have discussed the idea of a continental link for nearly 200 years, but real work began only in the 1980s. Today, a 3l-mile (49 km) tunnel extends from Folkestone to as

Calais. In fact, three tunnels are being bored through channel clayone for each direction and a third for servicing. More than 14,000 workers have removed several million metric tons of earth, rock and muck from the ground, and the company has excavated 70 percent of

theachievement. "And the achievement that has actually taken place is absolutely amazing. We'retalking about af5 billionprojectbeing completed in around seven years. That's design, execution, the lot." The first connecting hole between France and the U.K. was broken through irr 1990 amid much celebration. Bedelian missed thar watershed event. On the same day, Queen Elizabeth II cut the ribbon for another Balfour Beatty project under his supervision. It would not be the the first time that Bedelian would meet the Queen. Susan Pattie, a London-basd anthropolqlst and wrlter, is a lraquent conlr butot to AlN.

AlM, February 1992

AStreet

Film in Russia

Hollywood-BredDeran Sarafian F elt Like " A Fish out ofWater" in M osc ow, D irecting His SecondMajor Film By

IIARIAARIIOUDIAN

Spoclal lo AIM

he summer of 1990 found film di-

rector Deran Sarafian in Moscow, directing his second major motion p\ctwe,BackintheU.S.SR., a2C/ch

Century Fox release which debuts nation-

widethismonth. The first major American motion picture

to film entirely on location in the Soviet capital, the low-budget action romance was shot in l0-week lightening-speed in sites including the Kremlin, the lrnin Museum, the legendary Moscow subway, the huge shopping arcade GUM and the localPizza Hut. The film was produced in association

withMosfilm. A young American tourist (portrayed by Frank Whaley) visiting Russia ends up in great danger when accused of murder and stealing a priceless icon. Rebuffed by the U.S. Embassy and Soviet police, confronted by the Russian underworld on one side and the KGB on the other, the hapless tourist is trapped in the degenerating Soviet capital, during a time of change and political upheaval. With dl possible escape paths cut off, he finds no altemative but to rely on a street-wise prostitute, Little Vera sensation Natalya Negoda, who helps him retrieve the stolen icon.

Filming in the SovietUnion was an experience cast and crew will never forget. "I wouldn't do it again, not for the travel nor the money," said Roman Polanski, in his most important role since C hi nat own.

Director Sarafian was similarly disgruntled. From the moment he deplaned and walked into the hot Moscow sun, conditions appeared intolerable and grim. And they only got worse. But etched on his mind were the words of producer Louis Stroller, "We are going to make this movie whether we think we can or not," which drove him to carry on in the face ofadversity.

"It

was unbearably hot, smoggy,

and

smelled like rotten food," Sarafian said. "The looks on people's faces weredrawn. And the car in which we were driven to our hotel was 36

Director Deran Sarafian

old, dusty, reeked of gasoline, and looked like it could fall apart at any given moment. Although Sarafian was given an intemational production crew, the local Russian help was less than satisfactory. "The man who was to show us locations for the film had not even glanced at the script, and took us to ridiculous, obsolete, irelevantplaces. Lou

and I just looked at each other wondering what we have gotten ourselves into." Sarahan was previously wamed by an-

other American hlmmaker that the KGB conf,rscates walkie-talkies and equipment. "And sure enough, they appeared at the set, insisted that I stop filming, and confiscated

my equipment from the sound engineer. I AlM, February 1992

went into their cars with two of my big American grips to take my equipment back. They were pulling on them like little kids, suddenlyyelling,'Youcannotdothis. This is not your country. This is not America, and you're making abig mistake'."

The young director even received telephonecallstellinghimtoleavethecountryor it would be very bad for his health. "You're being seen, and ifyoucanbe seen, youcanbe touched," an anonymous caller wamed him. Afraid to leave his room, Sarafian slept with a knife underhis bed. The trooper that he is, fear for his life was no reason for not finishing the movie. It was completed just in time for him to spend

Christrnas in London with his parents. But the experience took its toll: he had lost 20 pounds.

Filming in Moscow also had its ironic moments. Sarafian recalled staging a fake demonstration in front of Pizza Hut com-

consequently welcomed me into her office, I sold the series," laughed Sarafian. A year-and-a-halfpassed, with no career advancement and no leads. The waiting lists were two years long for even the most insigand

plaining about not enough bread. Soon, people from the street joined in. Tenacity is nothing new to Sarafian. As far back as his high school days in Kansas, a

nificant jobs. But an anxious, determined Sarafiankept sneaking ontofilm sets, volunteered his time as a production assistant, bringing coffee to the actors. "I used to go to so much effort to make a perfect cup of

priesthad expressed the belief thathe wouldn't last even one semester. Sarafian proved him wrong, graduated at the top of his class, and was offered scholarships abroad.

coffee, hoping someone would notice and give me apromotion," he confessed. Nobody noticed Sarafian's perfect coffee, but his chance to direct finally came

He credits his mother for instilling forbearance in him. "My mother really gives energy and belief that the odds can b<j beat. She has been the woman behind both my uncle (RobertAltman, director of MA.S.H., McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Popeye), who is

when the director

considered one of the greatest filmmakers of our time, and my father (Richard Sarafian), who is also a well-known director," Sarafian said. "She gave me the best advice-to collect as many no's as possible, because they may become yes's next time."

Born

of a film walked

out. Sarafian, who was the assistantdirector, was asked to finish it. The director eventually retumed. "He told me to take the seeds out of his watermelon," sarafian said. "I complied, but when I brought the watermelon back to him, he introduced me to my replacement and lred me. I was devastated." Sarafian did not give up. He took two

small budget of $300,000, they had to make somecreativedeals. "Wefound seamsffesses

on comer streets and showed them photographs of NASA space suits for them to reproduce. We convinced a crop farmer to let us use his helicopter if we put him in the film. We convinced three American actors, who were fairly famous at the time, to perform in it. We even convinced mobile-home companies to let us use their mobile homes." The oftbeat vampire film, To Die For, received critical acclaim in 1988. As one thing led to another, the building

blocks of Sarafian's career grew stronger, and his reputation flourished. t ast year, he directed the highly successful action film, Death Warran, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Triad Agency pursued and signed him, bringing him into a new, bigger league. He no longer had to struggle with budgets of $300,m0. "These days, that might pay for the xerox machines," Saraf,ran said. With twomajormotion pictures underhis

in Santa Monica,

Califomia, Sarafi an started his film career working for legendary low-budget film producer Roger Corman. He soon moved to Italy, where he assisted some of the greats, in-

cluding Federico Fellini. Al-

though Sarafian's father is prominent in the film world (he directed The Vanishing Point, The Lolly-Madonna War, The Bear, and recently actedin B u g sy), he shielded his son from the movie industry,

leaving any direction in film to Deran alone.

*I think it must

have been easierto break into film during my father's time, because now the odds are monumental. It's

an accomplishment to be a production assistant or a second assistant director." With perseverance and stealth, Saraf ian paved his own way to a film-directing career in Hollywood. After fi ve years NatalyaNegodais making herAmericanfilmdebu$ FrankWhaleywaslastseen inOliverStone's TheDoorls. in Europe, which he felt gave texture to his filmmaking, he weeks, wrote a script, and delivered it to a retumed to Hollywood. He snuck into film belt, Sarafian is now aDirectors Guild memlow-budget film company, offering to direct classes atthe Universityof Southem Califorber, a distinction that raised him into the sixforfree if travel expenses forhimself and his nia and onto movie sets to study filrnmaking figure salary level. USC classmate were paid. "The happiest day in action. He buried himself in nade publica"I was sleeping on my friends' floors, in my life was when the airplane tickets living on nothing, on whatever I could, and tions which led to his first success in show arrived. We were jumping up and down, business. "I had written a television series suddenly I have crews and tons ofpeople to hugging each other." andcalled aname I found in the Daily Variety work with. It seems unbelievable!" Whentheirplane landed in Spain, the two to sell it. Surprisingly, someone picked up the young filmmakers were dumbfounded. They telephone and asked who recommended that Maria Armoudian is a Los Angeles-based did not even know where to get film. Neither I call her. I looked back down at the paper, writer on the entertainment industry and a did they know the language. And with a trquent co ntri butor to AlM. saw another name and recited it to her. She AlM, February 1992

A Portrait of Post-Stalin Armenia

poser Aram Khatchaturian and Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty. Heavily guarded at the American Legation at Budapest since 1956, the latterrevealed "vastknowledge of Armenian Church history" and asked him to de-

liver a THE SERPENT AND THE BEES:

Alexander served on the Board for Intema-

AKGBCHRONICLE

tional Broadcasting, State Department Free-

message

to an old friend, Gregory

recently, he was Public Affairs Advisor on the U.S. delegation to the Helsinki Human Rights Conference in Ottawa, Budapest and Berne. He was singularly honored in February 1989 by a State Department request to be its Escort-Ofhcer and Interpreter when the two Catholicoses, Vazgen I and Karekin II, visited President George Bush in the White

Cardinal Agajanian in Rome. Alexander also obtained firsthand views on such conffoversial topics as Anastas Mikoyan and repatriation. tn official disfavor during I 937- 1950, Martiros Saryan once complained to Mikoyan about "what was happening to ourpeople," only to be shouted at, prompting a decision never to talk to him again. Alexander's querying of an Armenian executive in the Soviet News Agency TASS about Mikoyan's "ffue role in Baku and the

eye-opening revelations about

House. He also accompanied Armenian

establishment

prominent Soviet Armenians by an eminently qualified expert, Edward Alexander, based on his real-life experi-

President Levon Ter-Petrosyan to the White HouseinOctober 1990.

ences.

evenffirl diplomatic excursions impelledhim to write this book entitled from an Armenian proverb: "The serpent draws poison and the bee honey from the same flower." The Serpenttypifies afutilecampaignby KGB agents to recruit him as a "mole" (source of secret U.S. information). Bees refer chiefly to Soviet Armenians of noteworthy achievements. His intimate encounters with Serpents and Bees occurred during colorful sojoums be-

Caucasus," particularly the "death ofthe 26 commissars, one of whom was the great Armenian Communist Stepan Shahumyan" at the hands of the British, received the explanation that Mikoyan's endeavors for their salvation had failed except forhimself. Art critic Khatchaturian's tempered viewpoint was that Mikoyan's interest in Armenians was confinedtoelection times, butthat he was regardedby them with pride as a great Soviet statesman. As for the 1946 repatriation of Armenians from the Middle East, Alexander adds little to scanty information available from direct sources. Khatcharurian, himself a repatriate, stated that 100,000 repatriates were immersed in living conditions far below expectations amid hostile natives. His inlaw added that 60,0fi) of them were exiled to Siberia until Khrushchev carne to power in

By EdwardAlexander University Press of America,lnc.

Hardcover,298 pases, 1990. $21 .95 Revlewed lor AIU

BY DR. FBED ASSADOUBIAN he Serpent and the Bees offers a fascinating intemational jaunt with

Launched from a background in musicology and joumalism at Columbia University,

dom of

Information Service, and VOA. More

Two dominant motifs in Alexander's

tween 1959 and 1979 irr West Berlin, Budapest, Yerevan, Washington, Moscow, Athens and East Berlin.

The arch-Serpent from Armenia

was

Aghayan, who served in the Soviet Embassy. During their frequent lunches in West or East Berlin encouraged by the USIA to feel the pulse of Soviet thinking, Aghayan condemned ealier VOA broadcasts: "So it was you who directed the hostile propaganda against Armenia and the Russians! ...Don't

you realize that it hadn't been for the Russians, there wouldbe no Armeniatoday?" With little understanding of Armenia's cultural stature, Aghayan tried desperately for 15 years-sometimes aided by embassy information-gathering officials-to convert Alexander's unbelievably checkered career started with recordings of authentic American Indian chants, training and service in

European Psychological warfare during World War Il, and traveling PR responsibilities for Laurence Olivier's Shakespearean films. Involvement in Armenian affairs began in 1950 through new language broadcasts totheU.S.S.R. by

theVoiceofAmbrica

radio service. Childhood knowledge of Armenian and working contacts with Caucasian Armenians helped him master Eastem Armenian language and history during eight years at VOA. Transferring to highJevel diplomatic service positions in the U.S. Information Agency (affiliated with the State Department) led to remarkable contacts with outstanding Armenians and non-Armenians. Leaving the Foreign Service in 1980, 38

Alexander to a mole, but to no avail. Rejecting their attempts but without condemning them entirely, Alexander's final compassionate judgment was: "Thanks to Aghayan, I had experienced both the serpent and the bees... Although certainly did not feel grateful tohim, neitherdid Ibearhim malice." As for the Bees, during a short trip to Armenia Alexander was introduced to many

prominent figures

of culture b!

Shahan

Khatchaturian, a charismatic art critic with whomhe established a warmrapportwhilein Budapest. They included legendary filmmaker Sergei Paradjanov, the imposing 86year-oldpainter Martiros Saryan ("agile mind and awinning sense of humor"), andGosdan

T,ariaq "perhaps the foremost Armenian writer in the western world, and one never associated with left-wing politics." Outside of Armenia, Alexandermet com-

AlM, February 1992

communism

the

1956.

Some readers might regret that Alexander's short stay in Armenia gave him little opportunity to meet distinguished Armenians outside the cultural domain. such as

renowned astronomer Viktor Hambardzumian or others in the computer and other scientific/engineering fields.

If there is a kemel of tnrth in recent spy thrillerbooks, including some excellent ones by hesident Truman's daughter, the CIA must have recruited "moles" in the U.S.S.R. with greater success than the KGB experienced with Alexander. With its mass of authentic information n<rt available elsewhere,The Serpent andThe Bees will undoubtedly exhilarate and enlighten. It reads excitingly like a rapid-fire novel rather than a diary, with the added convenience of a very complete index for speedy cross-referencing. Grounded on factual observations, Alexander's optimistic conclusion that the Armenian spirit can be constantly refueled and replenished is contagious. He hopes fervently that this is possible throughthe increasing numberof "bees" in a revived republic of Armenia.

Dr. Frd Assadourlan is chalrman of the Ararat Ouartetly editorial board.

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/\INI

A Definitive

Ganatchian Recording

pranos final ascent falls short, the conductor should have insisted on a retake. Since the choir has not been together long, one assumes that these problems will vanish in

time. Eight of the I I selections on this recording feature solo singing. First andforemost is tenor Henrik Mihranian who sings with all

the conhdence of a young Pavarofti. One G AN ATC H I AN C H O RAL WO R KS

Hamazkayin Choir Vatsche Barsoumian, conductor Produced by Hamazkayin, U.S.A. I 99 I, Hamazkayin/V. Barsoumian 54'56";$10 cassette, $15 CD Available from Hamazkayin Music Committee: 3579 E. Foothill Blvd., Suite 286, Pasadena, CA Reviewed lor

107

Alit

By MTCHAEL H. ARSHAGOUNI

Hayreni Garod, to the virtuosity of Hob

Guluzar, to the variety found in Nanor (at over 17 minutes, undoubtedly the centerpiece ofthis recording), his understanding of

nuance gives life to pieces that in less capable hands can prove to be elusive. On the whole, his singers produce arefined, full-bodiedand fresh tone, and they generally avoid the shrill

sound which plagues too many Armenian choral groups. The recording, made in the Herrick Memorial Chapel, Occidental College, Los Angeles, has an almost ideal

only needs to listen to Dalilo to enjoy his ringing tones. The soprano voices of Anahid Halabi and Alenoush Nazarian also deserve special mention for their sweetness of sound.

Considering the void this recording fills and the overall high quality of the performances, the criticisms above seem somewhat minor. No lover of Armenian music should miss this recording. We hope the Hamazkayin Music Committee will again sponsor a second recording of this choir,

ttwfru2hw0

ambience which adds

horal music has always held an important place in the culture of Armenia, and the lack of quality recordings of this music has been unexplainable. Fortunately, of late we have seen an increased awareness of this body of music, and Armenian musicians have acceptedthe call torecord the music of someof our most important choral composers. In late 1990, Albion released a fine performance of the Gomidas Divine Liturgy. Now, the

beauty to the choral sound without impair-

ing clarity of focus. Unfortunately, the balance, which favors the top voices, places the basses too far in the background.

these perfor-

mances

the

ful

moments. The

Lebanese-Armenian composer Parsegh Ganatchian. Having studied with Gomidas (arguably the greatest Armenian composer from whom we have compositions), Ganatchian owes much of his choral style and techniques to the works of his mentor. The items recorded here-Armenian madrigals, a ballad, lyrical

wonderful sounds and infectious rhythms of Dzengele, Mengele. They respond well to the sophisiticated dy-

scenes and patriotic

songs-show his masterful understanding and appreciation ofthe

anddecrescendoofthe

Armenian folk idiom.

Gorani.

works. Although the choir boasts a roster of 50 singers, only 30 of them participated in this recording. On the whole, this reduced number works well, but certain pieces would have benefitted from a largerchoir. Withthe exception of a lethargic and dull rendition of Mer Hayrenik, Barsoumian, a graduate of the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and founder ofthe Parsegh Ganatchian Conservatory of Music in lrbanon, has an excellent grasp for pacing these works. From the serene beauty of

ilt[ilfft f\Iflilffi

singers

choir, for instance, seems to relish the

Vatsche Barsoumian, obviously enjoys singing. That they performed much of this music in a pair of well-received concerts made them ideally suited to record these

Ganatcblan

provide many beauti-

Hamazkayin Music Committee has sponsored a welcomed issue of choral works of

The Los Angeles-based Hamazkayin Choir, under the accomplished direction of

hlIr[l'fil

VAIS(HT BARSOUfiIIA}I

(oniludor

namic demands of these compositions as seen in the crescendo

final

HA!NAZIAYIlI CHOIR

cadence of

However, as with any amateur choir,

perhaps in the music of Ganatchian's teacher,

certain techniques elude them. Throughout, one is acutely aware of the less than immaculate ensemble. The choir seems more comfortable with the virtuosic elements of these compositions than with the less demanding sections. In the simplest of passages, where thetexture is purelyhomophonic, why dothe basses lag behind the choir instead of moving at the same time? This is most obvious in Shousho (from2'42" through 2'52") . And there are numerous instances where the intonation of the choir is suspect. Perhaps the choir can be forgiven for this when singing the diff,rcult dissonant chords at the beginningofGorani, but inplaces such asthefinal chordof Hoy Nar, where the tenors sing under pitch, ard rn Naro D7an, where the so-

Gomidas. One cautionary note, however: the cassette tape (used for this review) does not provide the clarity of sound of the compact disc. In the highest ranges, there exists some hissing and peaking of the soprano voices while the clarity of the lower voices suffers from the cassette's limited range. If at all possible, opt forthe compact disc, which also has the lyrics ofthe songs both in the original Armenian and English, as well as liner notes on the composer and the conductor.

AlM, February 1992

Michael Arshagouni, a PhD candldate in historical musicology at UCLA, has studied at the Royal College of Music, London, and holds an MFA in conducting.

TheSearch A Guc ci Rev olution ary at War

WthHimself By VIKEN BERBERIAN e is 24, drives a convertible with comprehensive insurance. He lives in Los Angeles, London or Lisbon; it really doesn't matter. He knows his exotic fruits, his kiwis and litchees. He is educated-speaks functional French-and ev enreads The N ew YorkTimes, sometimes. He has an aunt in Caracas, two siblings in Sydney and a lover in Liverpool. He'll never marry her; she's notArmenian. He is cavalier when it comes to cost, puts it on plastic. He drinks Gnilsch beer, dines at capricious

the streets there, freezing cold.

He kills two cockroaches in his quarters. He sees ramshackle shanties, ready to fall. He witnesses meetings, and meetings to schedule meetings. He observes a queue of standing corpses waiting for bread in the numbing cold; that is their salvation. He walks through blighted neighborhoods; they are the norm. He digs in the snow looking fsr answers. He stares at their alien faces; some of them smile. He goes here, he goes there, breaking

caf6s because he knows these days restaurants are simply too pass6. He

barriers. He drinks heavily, hoping to drown his unsettled soul. He smokes unwillingly, tying to mesh with the scruffy boys. He adopts theirrubles and

smokes socially, reads books religiously, has sex selectively.

rules. He eats blintzes, shuns his suede-smooth boots.

He's one with God, not out of

He invokes religion, revolu-

belief but because everyone else is an agnostic. He believes in himself and others; his father taught him that. At night he wears black jeans, i$ bracelet and suede-smooth boots: ts tough to be cool. At dawn he puts a m on; it's part of his grand, cool, urban plan. At work he is dead serious. B pushes paper, files complaints. threatens ? lawsuits, at times crossing over ethical

tion, takes on their mores. He spends hours on basic chores, then soaks their sores into his conscience. He feels their pain per-

a it's tie * He

meating through corridors, still sliced in half.

He lights five candles in

tials, cultivates the soul, thinking

that he's pissing on the West's

He is healthy, swims twice a week. He has two pairs of tennis shoes, a polo shirt, an Armani suit made to look chic. He is a master at sporting good taste casually. He tries hard toexudemodesty; everyoneknows

pretensions. He shoots down a few vodka glasses, empties some under the table. He offers glib advice on how to make the region stable. He listens to long lectures, voices opposition to the new state measures. He reads a book on emancipation, focuses on participation. He rolls uphis sleeves; it's time to leave. He boards the plane, destination home. He lands in Los Angeles, darting through freeways, searching for signs. He exits at Sunset, drives down

it's just a game. He knows this predicament all too well. He malls himself for it pretentiously. Who gave him the luxury of the diaspora? Who

gavehimthis hell? He goes on and onpeeling pretense, litchee

kiwi. He

searches for signs along neon for symbols in seedy bars where paffons smile, pursing their lips, moving their and

streets, looks

toVine.

hips. He listens for answers in industrial music; don't ask him what that is, he doesn' t know. He asks his girlfriend; she doesn't know. She's hip, Armenian and educated-speaks functional Flemish-but she doesn't know. He goes here, he goes there, knocking on doors,

looking for answers. He scours continents, charges his debts. He walks along the Loire searching for something; it is not there. He follows the whistle of a Howitzer, aimlessly. Hesearchesin periodicals.HelooksinEl/e, checks outThirdWorld beauties under Ethnic Bombshell. All the magazines now say ethnic is slick. Look at the models, where have you been? He grows abeard, dies his hairpitchblack; hey, ethnic is back. He phones his girllriend to tell her the news; she puts him on hold. Buthe is detemrined tofindan answer, andhe is bold. Heboards a Liifthansajet, desrination home. He landsinArmenia, plows through 42

church, pressing on with his search. He strips down to the bare essen-

He turns left, turns right, ends up cottage by Dicran Y. Kassouny

in a cul-de-sac. He takes out a map,

headsback. He sits inastudio, spartan and small; minimalism is in. Heturns on the teli. Don'tbemisled; he is

well-bred. He calls home to speak with mom, orders dim sum. He phones his

girlfriend; call-waiting's a bitch. He totters on his feet, trying to understand this cryptic feeling. It's all inside him. He-jumps in his car, looks for a pretentious bar, up on a hill. He orders a bottle of Moretti beer. He is tough, soft-spoken and lean, a concoction he learned from a chi-chi magazine. He goes here, he goes there, looking for meaning. He follows reports, cites periodicals, searching for answers. Now that the homeland is free, has anything changed? What will he be? He watches CNN, follows lectures, looks everywhere. It is not

there.

AlM, February 1992

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