My Name is Bill - May 1991 by Armenian International Magazine

MAY1991

Law offices of

Rafi Ourfalian

,/NNI COVER STORY

SPECIAL REPORT

Souvenins of Saroyan

Starting over

The life and times of the dariligyoung manfrom Fresno,who went on to becomc the preotest Arme' nian-Anuridanman of I etters. F riends remeinber William Sarovan ten Years ofter his death

Armenian refugee s from Azerbaiian struggle to build new liies,while the government wrestles with the problems of absorbing them into an already turbulent sociery

14" INTERVIEW

FILMS

The True Madonna

New Thinking

An Armenian-Ameri-

An exclusive interview with Dr.Gerard Libaridian. the.first Diasoora Arrnenian to be aboointed to a govbinment ffice in the homeland

canfilmmaker caDtures the "real life of thi Material Giil in"a revealing new docutnentory. Armenian talent meets Blonde

Ambition-

Truthor

Publishers'Note

Lefters

5 7

Armenian World Armenian lntercsts

Dare?

Gommunities Postscript Education lnternational

wrrrW--* tF-_-*"mmre,*m.1tr,reK$lfr; faw,-

ffiraw etmt!w-* E5I3 e**.ffi*L__d lrew*...*..**

o PRODUCTS LIABILITY o MALPRACTIGE o WRONGFULDEATH o TOXIC & CHEMICAL INJURIES o GENERAL, CIVIL & BUSINESS

22 25 27 30

Books Art

6 I

Essay

Media

Music

COVER ART: Vahe Fattal

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Offering Perwnal hte, @imtion Extr;nslrr- Licigation & Trial Eryqiene

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AIM, MAY 1991

/UNI

A Note fiom the Publishers

Published by

EDITOFI]Iâ&#x201A;ŹHIEF!

Alt,lnc. Vanan Oskanian

EXEGNTTIVE EDITOR: Charles Nazarian Raffi Shoubookian D|REGrOB OF OPERATTOI|S Michaet Nahabet SEf,IOR EDITOBS: O. Keshishian. H. Sassounian A$SOCIATE EDEOB: Minas Kc{aian (Nicosia) OOilfRlBUTlllc EDITORS: Kbvork tmizian rBosronr: Ara Kalaydjian (Boston); Haig Keropian (1.A.) INTL. SECTIOII EDITOR: Joseph Kechichian ARIS EDITOB: Neery Melkonian (Santa Fe) STAFF WRTTEBS: Tony Hatprn, tshkhan Jinbashian,

ilAIIIAOI]{G E|DITOR:

Viken Berbedan

ASSISTAIIT EDITOR:

Karherine Chitian

OOiITRIBUTORS:Gerard Ubaridian, Moorad tvlooradian, Armen Aroyan, Janet Samuelian, Gilda Kupelian, Linda

l{rish.iian, ChrislopherAEmian, Lisettepoole, yvete Haryocnian, Vicken Babikian, Gerry S. Graber GOBRESFIOiIDEIITS: Waslrington: Zanxu Armenran Detrcit Simon Payaslian Boston: Arto payaslian l_ondoru Ani Manoukian Paris: Khatchik Kechian Virxrna: Seboun Baghdoyan Amcterdan|! Arsen Nazarian Tokyo! Sonia Katchian Arnman: Ara Voskian Sydney: Haig Lepedjian Buenos Airâ&#x201A;Źs: Sam Sarkissian YEREYAII BUBEAU: Papken cadaciik (Chief); Souren Keghamian, Kourken Khajagian, Dikran Khzmalian, Hratch Yerknabedian, Hrair Zorian PHOfOGBAPIIY: Los Angef*! Micfiaet Agyan, Jacob Demirjian New Yort: Tony Savino Boston: Le-ni sanents,

Ari Stamatiou Fovidonce: BergeAazotian ki$Armineh Johannes, Aline Manoukian Amman: Karekin Kefelian Yersvan: Zaven Hachikian, Roupen Mankasarian PBODlrCTlOll DIBECTOR: Vartan Karaoghtanian ClBGUl,lTlOlt DIRECTOR Thomas yetErian AFT DIREGTOR: Vahe Fattat PUBLIC BELATIOIS DIBEGTOB: Sona Hamatian

Advertising dircctor Maher Abouzeid with staff members Tsoghig Elmastian, AniStepanian and Vicky Maniikian As Armenian lntemational Magazine heads rapidly towards its f,*st birthday advertisers. They had ttre foresight to reggeruze-{IM'g poten{al as the mosr outstanding periooical in the Armenian media, and had the confidence to place their advErtisements in the yngazne.since the inaugural issue. our advertising deparfinent now has a staffof five experienced repre^sentatives-to be increased Io seven by the end of the year. Theprofessional staff is headed by Maher Abouzeid, an executive wtro i6ineo AIM from one of the leading intemational advertising agencies-BBDO. "Going beyond the personal and courteous service, our repiseiarives offer advertisers

T July, we would like to say a word of thanks to our

fARf

ADVERI f SIT|G tEllD l\ihherAbouzeiJ (Drcchr), qEpeqqn, Victoria Manjikian, Tsoghig Etmastian 4l ADVERTIS! ilc OeStGli: Ditrran (hz-matian

Aill}llsTRATIVE ASSISTAI{?S: Seta

Suite 305, Glendafe, CA91205; Phone: (B1|A\ 5x}6iz2a6.Fax (818) 546-2283. Application to mail at second-class postage rates is pending at Glendale, CA, and addilional mailiig

notonly srarcgic marketingconsultationbutalsocreativeproductionrecommendations geared toward a more effective communication with fbcused markets. In addition to our staffat-the Glendale headquarten, AIM is also in the process of establishing advertising offrces in major U. S. and foreign cities. Th9 recognition won by the magazine since its inception has opened the door for national and intemational corporations to seriousiy considei the potential market of Armenian consumers worldwide and to try to rcach them ttrou!,h enU. Pe$apg the most important ingredient in the iragazine's success s,i far t as .i$ ability to apply the same principles of integrity and reliabiliry to its advertising policy thu it pursues in its news section. These factors have led to a change in the objectives of our advertisers, from supporting a newly established Armenian iragazine to specifrcally selecting AIM.as a well-targeted and cost-effective medium-for gening ttreir message to both local and intemational readers.

otfices. Canada Post lntemational publications Mail Sales Agreernent #54&1.61. Copyright @ 1991 by AlM, lnc. Allrights reserved. AIM may not be reproduced in any manner, eilher in whole or in pari, withoul written permission from the publisher. The editors are not responsible frcr unsolicited manuscripts or an unbss a

stamped, self-addressed envelope is enclosed. Odnions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily repredent the views of the publishers.

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U. S.

Whot you should know obout morble hfore ond ofter instolloftrn It is very imporlont to proted your morblg during ond

ofhr in$ollofon, from

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sfiokhes, ethes ond $oim. We ot

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oll kinds of noturol ond mon-mode $ones. we con olso supply you with Do lr Yourself kits

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Ioking proper core of your For more

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OOLOB SEPIRATIOil: A & AGraphics, Canada; Alt (lssl,l 1 OIXI3471 ), MAY 1 991 , Voi.2, No. 5, is pubtished rnonthly, $45.00 per year, by AtM, lnc., 109 E. Hdrvad St.,

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td: (71 4)569-8424 or (8001660-tlRBL fox : (71 4173 I -8855

couldn't

On page 33 of the March issue, in the article titled "In Search of a Standard

Disaster money I waited three months to see

Armenian Keyboard," there was

the character "S" missing in the 3S-letter Armenian alphabet. Khat c hat o ur Y e r i az ar ian

Houston,Texas

Your March issue contained a glorious reproduction of the Armenian alphabet illustrated by Seeroon Yeretzian. In the very same issue, there is a blatant error in the otherwise informative article on Armenian fonts by Lola Koun-

Churches in Turkey

I enjoy AIM, esPeciallY Your March issue which shows Armenian churches in Aintab and Eastern Turkey. I was born in Agin, near Elazig, Turkey, in 1913. What clear photos! They must have been taken secretly. KeeP uP the good work! Minnetian Flushing, New York George

As the number of Armenians in the Diaspora who recognize themselves as "Cilicians" dwindles to something close to zero and the memory of our cultural and ecclesiastical achievements in Anatolia gradually fades away, it was gratifying to read in AIM's March issue Armen Aioyan's excellent story of what remains of the Armenian past in that part of Asia Minor.

We can, somewhat ironically, be grateone thing: while Christians demol-

ful for

ished the non-Christian houses

wor-

ship they wanted to replace, Muslims were satisfied with remodeling many of the existing churches according to the requirements of their faith. The Armenian church

Aintab (Gaziantep) has been kept

almost intact. In that church, prior to our

deportation, my father celebrated Divine

Liturgy and in its surroundings, my older sisters and brothers, including the late Archbishop Tiran, spent their childhood. Hagop Nersoyan

Dayton, Ohio Nersoyan, a professor at the Universiry of Dayton, visited Turkey in 1989 and wrote the book, "From Istanbul to Agh-

tamar: An Armenian Pilgrimage." Alphabetical sliP

forgive me for noticing the letter " S" missing in the column of Armenian PostScript fonts by George Keverian on page 33 of AIM's March issue. Is it an oversight or some subtle point that I am Please

see: the contrast between an old, tired Armenia and the beginning of a new, hopeful Armenia. Seta Basmadjian Montreal, Canada

missing in my late years? I'm nearly 80. I look forward every month to read your excellent magazine. James Lulejian Melcon Hawthorne, New JerseY

dakjian. The aypupen chart by George Keverian (page 33) is missing a letter, "5," ai important one-the fust letter in the name of our illustrious King Tigran. Armenian patties

We are bitterly disappointed in AIM Magazine! You advertized that you were not a political outfit and yet, since you started publishing, all you have written

about are the Ramgavars,

Dashnags,

anyone

would come forward and write to You about the fallout from your cover story "Where Did Your Money Go?" in AIM's

January issue. But finally I decided to write, for two major reasons:

First of all, it is outrageous to see all the so-called "intellectuals" hide and stay silent for so long. How come? Did they really lose their courage to speak out? It really raises lots of unanswered questions. When will the Armenian media raise its voice? Is this a cover-up? Secondly, the will of the peoPle who entrusted their money and donations to their churches should not be hampered by keeping the money in a bank. The need was very immediate at the time and it shouldn't be up to a group of people to decide the fate of those donations. As a young Armenian, I am extremelY disappointed with the leadership of our church and its irresponsible stand. DiranZeYtounian NewYork, N.Y.

Hunchaks, etc.

We will be thinking twice before renewing our subscription! Rosemary APrizian Watertown, Mass.

Voices on the Hill As a long-time subscriber to yow splendid, authoritative, pictorial and excellent joumalistic magazine, and as a GreekAmerican who supports and has written

to political leaders in Washington

and Sacramento condemning the genocide by Turkey in Armenia and in Greece (I lost

A picture is worth... I want to comPliment you on Your outstanding maga-

several relatives and many Armenian friends of our family), I would like to applaud and thank you for your April cover story, "The View from the Hill,"

tell you something

zine and

about

that happened school.

and publicly thank the Hon. Senator

I was read-

Robert Dote and the many citizens who attended the Armenian Assembly dinner

ing the January issue of AIM when a

honoring him last September in New York which I was proud to attend. I wish all the best and success to AIM and your beautiful Armenian community.

girl approached me.

She said she was attracted by the

cover photo of the January issue of AIM. She grlbbed it from my hand and started reading it. Then she asked me if I had other copies of AIM that she could borrow. I was very pleased, to say the least, that a young French Canadian who usually is so wrapped up in herself, would

be interested in reading about Armenians. But what really impressed me was how she interpreted the photo on the

cover. She said the photographer was able

to capture the contrast between the old rugged hand and the new, clean Young face. After she left, I stared at the picture and thought about what she had said. She

was right. But

saw something she

AlM, May 1991

George Bill Vanikiotis San Pedro, Califurnia

Your article on the Armenian lobby (April, Cover Story) was very informative and realistic. It is unfortunate that despite our tremendous individual efforts, mediocrity is still the level of our collective accomplishment. The Armenian lobby also needs to establish contact with the Armenian public at large, and not just the big donors or the people on Capitol Hill. Education is about the most effective way to mobilize our limited resources. In this resPect, on the next APril 24, instead of giving our students a day off,

or boring them with unending

speeches,

the schools can take the frst step organizing workshops to teach our future electoral power on how to be politically alert and how to better serve as the future backbone of our lobbying strength. But the problem is that at the communtiy level the church, as well as the parties, are aiming only at maintaining

the status quo that pre-existed in the Middle East. The old-country approach will only take us to an American deadend.

Nelly Der Kiureghian sco, C alifurnia

S an F r anci

Ozal Visit

In the April issue of AIM an article under the Armenian World column discussed Armenians protesting the visit by Turkish President Turgut Ozal to

the

University of Pennsylvania. The article mentioned the participation of various groups in this protest, yet neglected to state that the Armenian Youth Federation -Youth Organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Eastern U.S., was one of the participating organizations. To clarify your reporting oversight, I would like to say that not only was the AYF-YOARF a participant in that event but it was also one of the key organizers working side-by-side with the university's Armenian Club. The organization sponsored an information table, as well as distributed flyers to passersby during the protest. In addition, all press contacts were also made by the Central Executive.

Furthermore, the accompanying photograph pictured members of the AYFYOARF who came form as far as Boston to partake in this protest. Ara Khachatourian C hairman, C entral Exec utive AYF-YOARF, Eastern U.S.A.

I would like to

add the

following clari-

fication to your report on the demonstration at the University of Pennsylvania. The

Armenian Club itself cannot be involved in political activities; so it is important to mention that

was its members acting as

individuals who were involved. Garabed Sarkessian Member, Steering Committee Armenian Human Rights Committee

of America LETIERS aro welcome and should be addressed to:

Alf, Armerjan lntqnetlonal llagrzhe

P.O.

Box3236

tanhiltan

Far

Lrtbrssfiouldbe

tlephore number,

and

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AlM, May 1991

ln temofiam.., For the first time in seven decades, Armenia's democratically elected government joined its people in a national solidarity to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the Arm6nian Genocide throughout the repuband in Mountainous Artsakh. On April 24, hundreds of thousands of people marched to the monument of Tsitsemakaberd and paid tribute to the martyrs of the

lic

1915 massacres. President lrvon Ter-Petrosyan, along with Catholicos Vazgen I, representatives of various

political parties and government officials, placed wreaths at the foot of the monument. Commemorations were held in all parts of the Diaspora as well. In Washington, 48 members of Congress commemorated the Genocide anniversary with speeches on the floors of the Senate and House of Representa- (Left to [ght) Prime Mlnister tire*. enottrer theme raised by Seven House members Vazgen Manouklan, Presldent *o t*o senators during their statements was the t*"1i !;63,,k5ir?tl3:'r"i."Jli"t removal by the National Park Service of a photograpn ttre lpiii ia iiite commemodepicting ihe victims of the Armenian Genocide from ration at Tsitsernakaberd ttre gttiJlstand Centennial Photo Exhibit in New York. Rep. Richard Lehman (D-CA) called the Part Service's action "an outrage," and said that many members of'Congress "are working very hard to see that it is undone."

Out

sight

Young and tatented

The statue of Lenin on APril 13 was removed from Yerevan's main square and placed in the Armenian National Museum, next to the statue of Czarina

Catherine II. The nine-meter statue has dominated the center of the Armenian capital since 1948.

Armenia's 70-member National Youth Symphony performed to great acclaim in Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in New York on Sunday, APril 28. The

following Tuesday, they played segments of their repertoire in the lobby of the United Nations to a lunchtime crowd of

U.N.

employees and tourists.

The National Youth SymphonY, which has been in existence only since January 1990, with its members ranging in age from ll to 18, was under the leadership of principal conductor and musical direc-

tor Hagop Gokyan. Accompanying the young musicians on the Piano was

Armenia's famed composer Alexander Harutunian.

In a visit to New York sponsored bY the Diocese of the Armenian Church, the

concert at Lincoln Center featured classic

masterpieces

Barber, Beethoven,

Haydn and Johann Strauss. Armenian favorites included a medley of works composed by Harutunian, including his Elegy dedicated to the victims of the 1988 earthquake. Armenia's foremost musical treasure, Aram Khachaturian, was repre-

sented

by his "Girls'

Dance"

and

"Lezginka" from the Gayane ballet, both

of which were repeated as

encores.

Attending the extraordinary event-and sitting side by side-were Bishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastem Diocese, and Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian' Prelate of the Eastem Prelacy. Also among the capacity crowd filling the 3,000-seat concert hall were many diplomatic, artis-

tic and local media personalities. AlM, May 1991

ll at lirst... In local elections held during April in Aleppo, Syria, four Armenians were elecled to the county and city councils that administer the historic city of Aleppo. Representing a community of 60,000 Armenians, Nazar Nazarian, an Arab-Armenian cultural relations specialist, and Hrant Attarian were elected to the Regional Cotrncil (Mouhafazah), each having obtained more than 20,000 votes. Nishan Oghikian and Sarkis Cherchian were elected to the City Council. In last year's elections, the Aleppo Armenian community had failed to consolidate its pool of candidates and ensure the election of Armenians to the legislative body.

-PEOPLE, Gates retum to work as L.A. Police Chief

in ltoccow

Appointment

or keep him from retuming. The battle

was the direct result of the videotaped March 3 beating of Rodney King by L.A. police officers which made headline news around the world. After the Police Commission on April 4 placed Gates on a forced 60-day paid leave of absence, L.A. Superior Court Judge Sohigian temporarily reinstated the chief to active duty, pending the outcome of his lawsuit. He will now have to decide in the next three months the fate of Police Chief Gates and the issue of who controls the [,os Ange-

les Police Department. Interestingly, another Armenian, attomey Harry is

Melkonian,

The courtroom of Judge Ronald Sohigian has become an arena for one of the

fiercest political fights in Los Angeles history: the legal battle to let Daryl F.

defending Gates'

completely unsystematic way, the way you would sneak a bite of candy." I

Banking on teaitience "A rigorous, demanding process for all participants" was how Bank of Boston Chairman Ira Stepanian

At the top of U.S. Secretary of State James Baker's list of candidates to replace retir-

ing U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Jack Matlock is an Armenian career foreignservice officer. Presently ambassador to Damascus, Edward Djerejian, 52, has held numerous senior positions both in Washington and in the U.S. embassies in Beirut, Casablanca, Amman and a threeyear appointment in Moscow. Rumors of Djerejian's nomination have caused con-

described his bank's bid to purchase the failed Bank of New England. On April 22, the combined forces of Fleet Norstar Financial of Rhode Island and Kohlberg, Kraus, Roberts of New York were named as the Bank's new owners, beating out both the Bank of Boston and BankAmerica Corp. Far from being discouraged, Stepanian said in a statement that he will "continue to go head-to-head" with his com-

cern to Soviet Azerbaijanis because of his

Armenian descent. But State Department officials say Azerbaijani protests would

not affect the

appointment. Despite

Baker's strong backing, some State officials speculate that President George Bush would prefer a political appointee. Amb. Djerejian has been instrumental in plumbing Syria's motives and rying to find how Syria and the U.S. can pursue joint ob-

petitors, look for additional opportunities and remain a major player in the regional consolidation process. Tte Bank of Boston has been a leader in every one of New England's economic recoveries for 207 years. I

GAROONG

case.

Fresno-bom Sohigian was appointed to the bench in 1988 by Gov. George Deukmejian, and is reputed for holding a courtroom of very high standards. Sohigian arises at 3:30 a.m. to read for an hour, usually poetry. He makes time each day to reread two or three short poems "in a

jectives in the Middle

East.

by peter Khonbesion

OHE cRANE)

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POWERFUL

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'' ...

Mary Fitzgeiald., EagTe Tribune

''KHANBEG]ANIS BOOK CAPTURES ARMENIAN STRUGGLEN..

Diane Râ&#x201A;Źitma'r, Tefegraph, New Hampshire "INTENSELY INTERESTING...A MUST READ BY ALL WHO LIKE OUICK.PACED ACTION, COUBAGEOUS. MEN, AND BOLD-SPIRITED WOMEN" . .

E.lracLeod, Courler,

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AlM, May 1991

Zio

ry_ _ _ I

ences," said Ter-Petrosyan. May 4 was a national day of mouming in Yerevan. At noon, an estimated 50,000 people filled Independence Square to witness the public funeral of five youths who were killed in Getashen. As the

coffins were carried away, nearly every-

one in the crowd raised clenched fistsa demonstration of support for those fighting in defense of Armenian villages in Azerbaijan. At that moment, about a dozen Soviet military helicopters passed overhead,

carrying hundreds

paratroopers.

Moscow said they were sent to Armenia

to defend Soviet military bases. In the northeastern region of Noyemberian, a bus carrying 24 Armenians in Soviet military uniforms was stopped on May 6 at 3 a.m. According to Commisar Vahak Sarhatyan, I I of the passengers were executed. Five were taken hostage

SHURNIXH, Armenia, May 9

Armenian dePortees an-the mountain

- rounded up most of the men. village where Soviet forces have I

II I

l#T'Jff ,i1","#iI.TTi',: :i

how Interior Ministry spokeswoman Bella Harutunian characterized the most recent attacks on Armenian villages by Soviet

and Azerbaijani trooPs.

In a May 6 appeal to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations, the Armenian Parliament said the operations "have now evolved into massive operations

of state-sponsored

repression

against Armenians living across Azerbaijan... and Soviet armed forces are

committing acts of aggression on the territory of the Republic of Armenia...." The legislature also appealed to U.N. Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar for the intervention of the world body by send-

ing its own observers to Two

the area.

days later, the Parliament issued

a demand for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Armenian soil.

National Security Advisor Ashot Manoocharian said that at least 48 Armenians had been killed, 2l injured and 9l taken hostage as of May 10. Manoocharian, who is also acting Interior Minister, said Soviet tanks, artillery units and heli-

copters have attacked more than l0 Armenian villages in Azerbaijan, and several Armenian border towns have come

under heavy artillery and helicopter fire. Fighting began in earnest on April 23, when Soviet forces, acting on orders from U.S.S.R. Interior Minister Boris Pugo and Karabagh Security Forces commander Stanislav Shatalin, launched a widespread assault against the Armenian villages in Azerbaijan, joined by Azeri special mili-

tia detachments. CNN reported 60 deaths and 300 injured in the attack on the subdistricts of Getashen and Martunashencommunities within the borders of Azerbaijan, just north of the Armenian-populated enclave of Karabagh. Under Azerbaijani administrative rule as subdistricts,

several villages. The Soviets were also reported to have deployed new troop units and tanks in the Karabagh capital of Stepanakert. The nearby district of Shahumian and the enclave of Voskebar were next. After a week of military operations and forcing the Armenian population out, villages in the area were reportedly razed to the

each consists

ground.

At the

same time, military operations

extended to border regions and towns in-

side Armenia-Shumukh,

Vardenis,

Martuni, Artzvashen, Noyemberian, Goris, Ijevan, Kornidzor, Tegh. Armenian govemment sources reported that Soviet armed forces had taken control of the Medzamor nuclear power station near Yerevan.

On May 3, the presidents of both Armenia and Azerbaijan went to Moscow for separate meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. However, there were

no fruitful results. Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan has accused the Soviets of waging an undeclared war against Armenia. He said Moscow is engaged in acts of state terrorism against his democratic country. "The present aggression is a political move on the part of Moscow arrd Azerbaijan, catering to their domestic audiAlM, May 1991

and eight were unaccounted for. In the town of Yeraskh, near the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, artillerymen lobbed shells at each other. No casualties were reported that day, but serious damage was caused to a number of buildings, including a school house, a winery and about l0 homes. In a May 1 telegram, His Holiness Yazgen I appealed to Diaspora Armenians: "We ask you to bring this to the

attention of the world and all men of goodwill, urging them to stand up against the attempt to annihilate the Armenian people in the area." By May 9, 30 congressmen in Washington had responded to the efforts of the Armenian National Committee of America in signing on the congressional letters to U.S. President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, con-

demning the Soviet attacks. The White House finally moved on

May 8. At

a press briefing, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the White House and the State Department conveyed their concem to the Soviet govemment through the U.S. embassy in

Moscow, condemning the violence and urging quick action to stop the fighting. The same day, senators in Buenos Aires submitted to the Argentine Senate a resolution condemning the violation of human rights by Soviet and Azerbaijani troops.

In Strasbourg, the European Parliament sent an appeal to Gorbachev, denouncing the "collusion of the Soviet Army and Azeri forces against the Armenian population of Karabagh." On May 10, the U.S. Helsinki Watch Committee issued an appeal calling for "an end to the violence." reports bY AIM sqecial

-From correspondent Terry Phillips in Yerevan

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Monument to Survival ince 1915, the Syrian desert of Der Zor has permanently crept into the Armenian psyche as one of its most striking symbols of collective loss. In the year of the Genocide, Der Zor became the grim terminus of a long procession of atrocities-masses of deported Armenians, after weeks of forced marches, perished in the Syrian wasteland, often due to starvation or sheer exhaustion. Years later, some of their scattered bones would be collected and enshrined in Antelias, Lebanon, and elsewhere. Many of the survivors went on to rebuild their shattered lives in the nascent Armenian immigrant communities throughout the

Middle

East. And thousands of orphans, rescued by sympathetic Syrian families, were adopted and raised as Arabs. Thus, Der Zor came also to represent a panoplY ofhis+

torical

consequence: it marked the beginning of yet

another chapter in the annals of that most Armenian expe-

rience-the Diaspora; and it inaugurated, once again, a vemacular of exile, an ongoing struggle for cultural legitimacy in alien environments. In 1931, Syrian-Armenians had built a chapel in Der Zor as a memorial to the victims. By the 1980s, however, the structure had fallen into such a miserable state of dis-

repair that many in the Armenian community had started

voicing an urgent need

for a new monument.

The tradition of sacrificing a lamb at the May 5 consecration

"It was some sight," recalls architect Sarkis Balma-

noogian. "People from around the world would visit the chapel and then wonder as to the level of our cultural prowess. Was this the best we could do?" Within a few years, the Armenian Catholicosate of Antelias, along with the Prelacy of Aleppo, had set about formulating a

tentative project for a new monument. A design competition was announced in 1984, and soon, Balmanoogian's had emerged

o E o-

:i. !l

the winner from among a host of architectural presentations.

The cornerstone

the

chapel was set and blessed by

His Holiness Karekin II on May 9, 1985. Exactly six years later, Catholicos Karekin was joined by a representative

of His Holiness Vazgen I this May 5 to consecrate the monument, which was completed lapt November. A large num-

ber of Armenians from all

comers of the Diaspora and the

homeland witnessed the mo-

Architect Balmanoogian

mentous occasion. Balmanoogian's design for the Der Zor monument encompasses a two-story, octagonal central dome fashioned in the manner of the Abughamrents church in medieval Ani, and windows with bold references to sculpted khatchkars. It is complemented by a two-level structure that forms a fusion of various Armenian architectural orientations. "The eight flying columns are symbols of resurrection and the journey toward freedom," noted the architect.

Divine lighting Enlirely built of yellow limestone, the complex houses

Roupen Mankasarian.

of the martyrs. In the courtyard, two fountains, one in the Armenian and the other in the Arabic style, along with an inscription, are dedicated to the friendship of the Arab and Armenian peoples. On the other wall, bas relief sculptures honor the heroes of the cities that valiantly resisted the Turks. Seven decades after the great massacres, the Der Zor monument now stands to symbolize triumph over tragedy.

Zor for two or three days, then

were driven away, with about 10 families. dead for some time, his

My father had been

Iips swollen. We left him behind

and

walked on. During the march, the men were

removed from the group. My sister and I

"From Afion-Karahisar, we were brought to Aleppo, where we were given permission to stay as a result of my mother's illness. Soon, however, my mother died and our permission was rendered useless. We moved on to Raqqa and then to Der Zor on foot. I was with my father and sister. My father was called Serop; I can't remember my mother's name; and my sister's name was either Marineh or Mariam. We stayed in Der reached the

town of

Souad.

There we were told that we would be massacred before long. Nevertheless, we spent the night in town. My father hid cloth-

history museum and a sanctuary devoted to the victims of the Genocide. From the two side altars, visitors may descend to the subterranean hall illuminated by candlelight. The main source of light comes from above, symbolically from God, through the glass-paned dome, 20 meters high with a 10m diameter. A memorial stele in the center of the hall rises 5 meters high toward the dome, crowned with a cross; reminiscent of the Datev monastery, at the bottom it holds a glass case protecting the bones

Remnants in the Desert Hagop Jijekian was among the thousands of children who had lost their parents during the deportations of l9l5 and, left in the desert of Der Zor, had been adopted by Syrian families and raised as Arabs. Recently, Jijekian recalled his memories of that fateful year to NM's Yerevan Bureau photocorrespondent

W,,

continued walking with the women until we reached Shatdaddeh. Here we were stripped

of all our clothes and money by the Arab locals. In return, they promised to give us shelter and keep us as their own children.

The Arabs put us on mules and took us to the grandfather of my future wife, in the village of Ajaja. The next day, my sister and I were separated by the Arabs. We were in tears. I haven't seen her since."

AlM, May 1991

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"After the

Harvest Liftof Woes

in Armenia Less Than Baku Refugees Find Rural Fruitful as Hardships, Resentments Persist the capital city with her husband and their

By NORA DUDWICK & SOUREN GEGHAIIIAN

six-year-old daughter. On arrival in

he massive wave of refugees which has flooded Armenia in the wake of the conflict with

neighboring Azerbaijan

has

become one of the most critical challenges facing the new republic. About 300,000 Armenians have either fled or been driven out ofAzerbaijan since

to Alexan Hakobian, head of Armenia's Commission on Refugee Affairs. The catalyst was

February 1988, according

the demand by Karabagh Armenians, who

constitute 80 percent of the autonomous enclave's population, to join Armenia. Thousands settled in other Soviet republics, but at least 208,000 sought refuge in Armenia-70,fi)0 in Yerevan alone. At the same time, the heightened tension sparked an exodus of 200,000 Azeris

living largely in Armenia's rural areas. As a result, the predominantly urban population of skilled workers and professionals fleeing Azerbaijan has been forced

to settle in the villages vacated by the Azerbaijanis, often far from towns or cities, where there are few opportunities

for employment. The new occupants of these villages face the task of rebuilding houses which often lack basic sanitation. But improve-

ments are frequently thwarted by the priority given to reconstruction of the

quake-damaged areas of Armenia, despite promises from the authorities to build new urban complexes for refugees, initially in the Zangezur region in the south.

Armenia they moved without authorization into an unoccupied room of a dormitory in a factory situated in a small town near Yerevan. They have been without t work for a year but Gohar f

hopes to get a

The dormitory, a decrepit

four-story building with

cooking facilities on the first

floor, is also home to Anna and Tigran and their two small children. The family escaped from Baku in January last year, when dozens

of Armenians were bumed, raped and killed and hundreds injured during three days of attacks by Azeri

mobs armed with

axes,

knives and guns. They arrived in Armenia with nothing more than the gold earrings in their

daughter's ears. Anna,

mathematician, is grateful to have obtained work as a la-

borer in the factory, but Tigran, formerly a local Communist Party official, remains unemployed. Despite the unaccustomed hardships of physical labor

and of life with barely

any

amenities, Anna retains an

Armenian refuoees from Azerbaiian setting up tents near Moscow's ceni-ral Red Square. They are part ot around 60,(Xl refugees in Moscow who-have fled-violeice in the Caucasus

lages, whole families are crowded into a single dormitory or hotel room; others squat in buildings unsuitable for habita-

Calling a labor camp home The village of Kasakh used to be re-

the govemment, including hesident Levon Ter-Petrosyan, believe that the only long-term solution lies in

bringing industry to the villages. But the Commission on Refugee Affairs has so far failed to relocate even a fraction of the newcomers to Armenia's underpopulated districts. About half the refugees fleeing the violence came from Baku, which once had an Armenian population

of 220,000. Gohar, a thin weary-faced woman, left

Sumgait I

factory's nursery, thereby allowing her family to remain in their room legally.

optimism that within a few years her family will be back on its feet.

Many

job at the <

In Yerevan, where a third of all refugees came in preference to isolated vil-

tion.

massacres

decided to move to Armenia because I wasn't sure the same tragedy would not happen in Baku," he said. "My family had been here for only a month when the events in Baku took place." Israelyan, 65, left all his belongings behind in the dash from the Caspian coast but is happy that the lives of his grandchildren are safe. Without a job, he survives on a modest pension and financial help from his son. His neighbor is Vladimir Balayan, a former Baku taxi driver whose bare concrete cell is furnished with

nowned throughout Armenia as the home of a juvenile labor camp, where young criminals were sent to be punished and

reformed. Now, and for the last 12 months, it is home to dozens of Armenian refugee families. Asri Israelyan worked in Baku's oil industry for 46 years until August 1989, when the growing unrest prompted him to come to Armenia for the first time in his life. Now he lives in an isolated cell and two adjoining rooms, which he repaired himself. AlM, May 1991

two iron sofas and a wardrobe inherited from the prison. The local authorities show little interest in Kasakh's new residents. The village has its own problems, and those living behind the high walls of the former jail must care for themselves. Many refugees work either in cooperatives or in the construction industry, where wages are relatively high and the red tape connected with their lack of residence per-

mits is easier to overcome. Thirty-nine Armenian refugee families in January 1990 occupied the village of Kjarki, close to the border with Nakhitchevan, which was abandoned by Azeris fearful of Armenian "revengers."

Fighting was

still

raging

along

the

mountainous border, as the community's young Armenian leader Roza Galstyan recalled.

"They were very hard days. All of us, men and women, went to the mountains; it was the first time in my life I had held a gun," she said. "Everything is quiet now but many people accustomed to city life could not stand it here and went down to Yerevan. Only 15 families have stayed." They renamed the village Tigranashen, reopened the school, which so far has only

eight pupils, and have plans to plant

undergoing a sharp revival. The refugees have responded with resentment, blaming Armenians in Kara-

bagh and the republic for the political upheaval which shattered their lives.

However, those who fled the smaller towns and villages in Azerbaijan were less integrated and consequently less am-

bivalent about finding themselves in Armenia, which they viewed as a safe haven.

Refugees recounted numerous ex-

amples of collusion between the Azerbaijani Communist Party and extreme nationalist groups in Azerbaijan, suggesting that the Communist Party deliberately encouraged anti-Armenian violence to subvert an emerging democratic movement which threatened its own power. "It's not the Azeris who are responsible for all of this," said one woman whose children were protected by Azer-

baijani neighbors during the January pogroms. "This is all Moscow's work."

The silver lining Despite the strain on the republic's overburdened resources, some Armenians consider the influx of refugees to be a positive development. Armenia lost its

fast-growing rural Azerbaijani population and gained in its place an urbanized,

highly-educated workforce. It also reclaimed the Baku Armenians who were fast Iosing their Armenian identity. Talks in Moscow between representatives of the two republics have resulted in agreement on reparations for the losses suffered by the refugees, and both sides have been exchanging documents to try to define the amount of compensation. But for now the problems loom larger than the benefits. The unstable political situation in Georgia has produced a fresh wave of Armenians seeking safety in Armenia, only adding to the difficulties. Whether Armenia can effectively assimilate the newcomers and accommodate their needs and expectations will depend on the republic's economic development

and on the local population's ability to meet them halfway. Nora Dudwick, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, was in Armenia last lall to reseaich lor her dissertation on the Armenian national movement. Souren Geohamian is a member of AIM's Yerevan'bureau.

From Baku to San Francisco Bay Refugees Begin New

Life in

By TERRY PHILLIPS

Special to AII{

hey abandoned their homes to escape persecution and travelled thousands of miles to start a new

life in America. "It was very

orchards to provide work. The isolated community has no bus service nor even a telephone line to connect it with the rest of Armenia.

Language barriers Many of the Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan speak little or no Armenian, and this has caused friction with the local population. In areas where large numbers of refugees live, for example, attempts to open Russian-language schools have

created problems for the authorities. In addition, Baku Armenians-largely Russian-speaking-lack a strong sense of ethnic identify and find many Armenian habits and customs alien to them. They are regarded in tum as "russified' or even "turkified" by some native Armenians,

whose own culture and language are

difficult to leave Baku," said Stanislav Mirzoyan, a mechanical engineer. "I was bom there, lived there for 40 years." Stanislav, his wife Karine, a pediatrician, and their daughters-1O-year-old Yuliya and l2-year-old Diana-left Azerbaijan as a matter of survival. They are among several dozen Armenian families

moving to Northem California from the Soviet Union. "In Baku we had a very comfortable home and a good life," noted Karine. "We made a lot of money there. Here we have nothing; we must start from the begin-

ning." Their new home is a modest, one-bed-

room apartment in a low-rent neighborhood of San Francisco. The walls of the living room are decorated with their daughters' drawings and a few keepsakes

AlM, May 1991

U.S.

from the old country. It's a far cry from the good life they enjoyed in Baku before

the bloodshed began, but it's also a decided improvement over their plight dur, ing the past year. The couple quietly described the events

leading up

to their forced departure in

August 1989. "There was a town meeting

in Baku where it was decided that

the

Armenians should leave," avered Karine. "Some men from the Azerbaijani National Front came to my work place and said I should quit my job," added Stanislav. "Otherwise, we'd be killed. We were afraid for ourselves and for our children," said Karine. Stanislav sent his family to Russia while he stayed in Baku and tried unsuccessfully to exchange their home in order to relocate. He went to four other Soviet republics, including Armenia, to find work but had no luck. "One day, I came back to the family house in Baku. Some people were chopping it with axes. The police were there but wouldn't let me go in," recalled Stanislav. "They said I had no business there." Stanislav was visiting a friend the day

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the massacres started in Baku.'I saw with my own eyes how the 'Turks' raped and

killed Armenian girls," he said referring to Azerbaijanis. "A friend of mine, Akradi Kargramayan, an

oil field engineer,

was

killed. A few Russians buried that young man but we couldn't go to his funeral out

of fear." Long wait to leave home It was difficult for Armenians to leave the Soviet Union, and it took the Mirzoyans about one year to get the proper exit visas. They finally got out in December 1990 after Stanislav and Karine borrowed

$3,000 to buy the airline tickets. About all they were allowed to bring with them were their clothes and some official documents. They say they'll never go back. "We lived in a hotel in Moscow. My

Stanlslav and Karine Mirzoyan with theh lO-year-old daughter Yuliya at their new home in San Francisco

wife's parents are still there," explained

cepting employment

Stanislav. "We are preparing their paperwork so they can come and join us here." According to the U.S. State Department, the vast majority of those who fled Azerbaijan were approved for refugee status. The govemment granted visas to thousands of Armenians based on what are called "strong persecution claims." But a large number of escapees are still waiting to leave the U.S.S.R., while Soviet officials say the relocation of Baku Armenians in Moscow was only intended as

22" situation. They were banned from acor sending their children to schools. They could not leave without invitations from abroad and they did not dare retum to their legal residences in Baku. To overcome this dilemma, Soviet and American authorities are making special arrangements for Armenians from Azer-

All

applications are being reviewed, and it is expected that a second wave of refugees will eventually arrive in the United States. According to Bishop Aris Shirvanian,

baijan.

They're more or less settled but are anxious to get jobs." The Mirzoyans said they were very well received by the local Armenian community. "The very first day, the bishop met us at the airport, brought us to the apartment here. Whatever you see here was provided to us by them and by our spon-

sor," said Stanislav. That sponsor is the Intemational Rescue Committee (IRC), a non-profit organization which helps refugees to resettle in the United States. The New York-based agency also operates medical and educational programs in refugee camps. "We rent initial housing and provide a basic stipend for living," explained IRC caseworker Leslie Peterson. "That (assistance) lasts for a month." The Lutheran Refugee Services is another organization which is helping Baku refugees resettle in the U.S. The agency's Moscow office has already processed the papers for a 5-member family to resettle in Denver, Colorado. The local Armenian

community

will be providing assistance

to the family when it arrives in late April. Another four families are due to arrive later in the year.

From oppresslon to recession Peterson said the IRC also tries to arrange for some form of income, access to health care, English classes for adults, and school for children. "We're trying to get

people oriented, Baku families in San Francisco (L to R): Satenlg Khazarian, Chrlstina Voskanian, 12, Khazdrian, Svetlana Doumanian''vltatv Khazarian, 14, and

P3t.??f;piffiirl,Sor*n

a temporary remedy. The Red Cross estimated that some 60,000 refugees were living in different hotels, rest-houses, children's camps and relative's apartments. For nearly six months, 3fi) Armenian refugees lived in the corridors and lobbies of the Arme-

nian Representation in Moscow. Soviet law put these people in a "Catch-

13 families have already settled

San

Francisco. The pastor of St. John Church said the response by local Armenians has been quite positive. "People have been donating money, furniture and other household items," said the bishop. He added that the immigrants all have a place to live, "not to their utter satisfaction, but they have a roof over their heads.

AlM, May 1991

to make

sure they're

secure, and get them into a position where

they can regain control of their lives," she said. She described the Armenian

newcomers as "well-educated and very sophisticated." But they still have difficulty finding jobs, particularly as most of

them speak little or no English. "The recession is the worst aspect," she observed. "It's not unusual for refugees to start out without English or to do work

that is not directly related (to their professions). It's just more difficult when the

job market is tight."

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EDIC

Making History An American.Armenian scientisl is the first person lrom the Diaspora to be named to a governmental office in the Republic of Armenia. On Jan. 22, the Presidium of the Armenian Parliament appointed Dr. Gerard J. Libaridian ol Cambridge, Massachusetts, director of the Department of Besearch & Analysis. The department is part of the

Parliament's Presidium. Hrair Zorian ol AIM's Yerevan Bureau

conducted this exclusive interview with Dr. Libaridian four months after the scientisf's arrival in Yerevan.

AIM: Dr. Libaridian, the department you have been asked to direct is a novelty in the structure of the Armenian Parliament. What are the obiectives of the Department of Research and Analysis?

LIBARIDIAN: The idea of

a Parliament

that actually acts as the supreme legislative authority of the Armenian Republic, is of course, the most important novelty. If Armenia were to be a democracy, then the Parliament had to affirm itself as such. And a republic aiming at independence could not develop the necessary research

and analysis capabilities. The main func-

tion of our Parliament is to adopt laws. In the absence of a constitution, which is being drafted now, the legislative function of the Parliament is all the more important.

The first objective of this new department, therefore, is to ensure that members, standing committees and the Presidium of the Parliament have access to all necessary information, research and analysis to produce the best legislation possible.

This applies to domestic as well as foreign policy issues. The Parliament needs

a system that will provide reliable

and accurate information and analysis rapidly.

Our department will be able to do just that for the different levels of parliamentary structure. During this phase of the history of the second republic, the Parliament also perl

forms an executive role, as the govemmental body elected directly by the people. Here, too, the Presidium and standing

*6sS ,J; " .-5e ty' ,.

Dr. Libaridian in his

erevan

committees of the Parliament will be provided with the necessary information and analysis as the need arises.

The department also will act as an intemediary between experts abroad and the Parliament fbr purposes of specific legislative consultations and for the general goal of exposing members of the Parliament to the experience of Westem democracres.

You have now been in Armenia for four months, enough time to become acquainted with the situation and define the objectives of this new department. But what did you actually begin with? We are in the early stages of forming a state and there is much that the republic needs. There was much lacking in the area of information and analysis. The expectations also were high and varied. I approached the project in three stages: First, I made an effort to get acquainted with the stage of development

of parliamentary institutions. I studied specific and concrete needs and discussed them with members of Parliament. chairmen of standing committees and independent observers. Second, I took a look at the available resources: systemic, technological, financial and, above all, human resources. Third, I studied all the concepts and plans previously submitted for such a department from the beginning of the popular democratic movement in the past two AlM, May 1991

Smde,,

$ Armenia Dr. Libaridian is an American-Armenian historian and political scientist. He received his doctsral degree fromlha:$niversity of Califomia,a Los Angele$: Df-itibaridian's doeiqni|:th$is; "The ldeology of Armenian Liberation: A study in the Developmont df $mdnian Political Thought, 1 6391885" has much relevance to the current debate on Armenia's strategy of statehood and independence. Until his newappointment,. Dr., l.ibCrldian, ,,.,!he,, cambridge,based Zoryan lnstitute for Contemporary Arme.nian Resear$.:and Documentation. He s taught European and Armenian his: {6ry and political Seience in a number oi

was directqr,.

universities in California, Washington and, to 1988, h0 also served as editor.d the Arrnenian rBeview, a scholarlyr:i0ufd of Armenian' studies. Dr. Libaridian is the author of numerous scientific publications. His most

.Massachusetls. From-1983

,.f:g!drRt..:WOrk,'Armenia

afi he, CrOSSroadS - Demooacy and Nationhood in the PoslSoviet Era" is being released this month by',B.lue Crane Press of Boslon.r

years.

was very important that no ex-

ternal structure be abstractly imposed

upon circumstances here. The Parliament's center should respond to this nation's needs and its current predicament. An initial plan was developed with colleagues and assistants here on the basis of these preliminary consultations. Then we made a comparison with similar structures abroad, such as the United States Congressional Research Office. That allowed us to benefit from the experience of other systems and democracies. Our next step was to move from a general definition of aims to specific goals. Then we began designing concrete programs to achieve those goals. Dr. Libaridian, what were your feelings when you were first offered a position in the Government of Armenia?

you in the designing of the Department of Research and Analysis of the Parliament? Yes, of course. The Zoryan Institute is not, nor was it designed to be, an academic institution removed from reality. It focused on contemporary issues which tend to have controversial dimensions. It created a forum where the scholar could

move beyond footnotes to speculate and

consider different perspectives and options. In addition, the Zoryan Institute functioned in an intemational context and developed relations with a large number of non-Armenian institutions and individual scientists throughout the world. Of course, the Institute developed documentation and research projects, such

as may be needed

that

in Armenia.

doubt would have had the courage to

ting ready to complete two new volumes in my study of Armenian political thought, although working in Armenian studies and with Diaspora institutions was not quite the ivory tower one imagines. It seems, however, that my original motivation in going into academia was to seek answers to questions arising from our own past, from speculation on our existence as a Diaspora, our tortuous relations with Turkey, from our difficulty in acting as a nation and imagining a future. How was the Diaspora produced and organized? What was the role of the absence of statehood and independence? My dissertation and most of my writings can be seen as an ongoing search for possible answers. That intellectual process always has been enriched, tested and

balanced by active involvement in community affairs on many levels. Accepting this position is not

such an

At first I think I preferred to look at it as another offer for a position and did not al-

It is a natural progression.

me.

However, in

low myself to fully realize the signifi-

this case I

President Levon TerPetrosyan. Armenia during the past three years has been of tre-

is not so much the new geography or lifestyle that matters as the kind of

mendous interest to all of us. For most historians these have been,

people I am work-

ing with and the sort of undertaking in which I am

of course, very exciting times. The demo-

involved.

has

Long before I consid-

been of special significance to me as an Ar-

they or

ered my involvement on the state level, I had stud-

menian critical of some of our Diaspora institutions and value

ied carefully the writings and actions of the lead-

systems.

primary con-

cern remains professional. I have taken on a task and I have to

ers of the national

democratic movement. I discovered they had a vision

set up a new depart-

ment. Yet, it should not be too difficult to

which was based on concrete reali-

imagine what it means

ties and needs and

for a historian to be part of a process, rather than merely describe it - all the more so for a historian of the Diaspora. The chances for a Diaspora Armenian becoming a part of the state formation process were rather small. The opportunity to do so for a democratic

and independent Armenia must have required astronomical odds.

You once helped create a scientific center from scratch, which, in addition

to research and documentaries, began to study policy issues. Will the experience gained at the Zoryan Institute help

working at a very different level. It

cance of the call from

cratic movement

anoma-

lous situation for

accept the kind of responsibility the Presidium has asked me without the experi-

ence and, may I add, the support of Zoryan Institute's staff and members. You know, of course, in order to accept a position at the govemmental level, I had to resign as director of Zoryan Institute, although I remain president of the corporation.

Is it dillicult to leave academia and the relatively safe world of research? In some respects it is, since I was getAlM, May 1991

a political intelligence to match that of any leadership Armenians have had in a long time. The democratic govemment of Armenia represents at this time the best that Armenian political thinking can offer: a coherent body of thought, free of ideological chains and burdens of the past; free to imagine a future within the bounds of normalcy as a nation. I can tell you plainly that, despite many shortages and shortcomings, this is intellectually the most inspiring and personally the most rewarding task have

undertaken.

"Portrait of the art collector Zambaccian." 32"x26", oil. 1990

"45th Street and Greenpoint Aue.", Version 3, i4"x40", oil

'Under the Flushing line," V7, 24'x30", oil, 1990

Paintings by

Simon Donikian Queens, New York Telephone (718) 937-9L87

"Loutery Street Station," Version

3, 30"x35", oil

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"Spring in Central Park," V4, 22"x28", oil

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Church of the Martyrs, named in memory of those lost during the massacres of 1895, was dedicated on December I,1901.

"At the tum of the century this is where you'd want to be, because this is where the action was," says Dr. Martin Dera-

ffiedans

memorlillzeOlor thelr servlces to Worcester and thelr new homeland

Trading Places As the First Bastion of Armenian Immigration, Worcester Struggles to Keep the Memory Alive By KEVORK lllIRZlAll orcester is a city built around

nostalgia.

The city's old mills, me-

morial squares, its

once-

grand railway station, its museums, its antiquarian society-in a way, all things seem to harken back to a glorious, distant past. A time that used to be.

This nostalgic city in central Massachusetts has also been very close to the hearts of many immigrant groups, irmong them the Irish, the Poles, the Lithuanians, the French Canadians and, of course, the Armenians.

Especially the Armenians, for whom this used to be the first and often the last stop in America: Worcester, whose many hills reminded them of the home they left behind.

This was the New World; their "New Kharpert." Worcester seemed to have held a special destiny for the Armenians in Amer-

It was in this city that the two dominant institutions of Armenian religious life would take root. It was in ica.

Worcester where the old political battles

would be fought out by new immigrants. And it was this very communitY, after

living through much blood, sweat

and tears, that would become the "Plymouth" for a generation of Armenians in the New

World. As tum-of-the-century milltowns went, Worcester once embodied the American Dream as a quietly prospering city that offered ample employment for unskilled labor, particularly immigrants. Those who

were able to make the trek from the old country were assured of a job here and of a place to stay in an Armenian setting. And the Armenians came, beginning in the 1870s by the hundreds and, after the massacres of 1895, by the thousands. They found employment in the city's wire mills and tanneries and settled primarily around Laurel and Belmont Hill area. In

nian, who practices dentistry in his native Worcester, and who has recently completed a book on the history of the early Armenian community of the city. "There was a lot of intellectual activity in Worcester at the time. This is where the Diocese was located and papers were being edited." In addition to holding worship services, the Church-specifically the Church of Our Savior-served other functions such as offering language classes and lectures through which the immigrant workers were indoctrinated as to honesty, value of reading, adjustment to American society and other civic proprieties. The Church of Our Savior had a 4,000-book library' which was the best Armenian library of

its time.

However, the library, and in fact the church itself, would be the center of intense controversy due to the role of emerging political parties and the raging debate over the secular versus religious use of a house of worship. At the center of the controversy was Father Joseph Sarajian, who became the first pastor and, after being elevated to

the rank of bishop, the first himate of the Diocese in Worcester. The decade following the consecration of the Church of Our Savior was a time of turmoil, squabbles, and incessant in-fighting due

the beginning, Worcester did not take kindly to this tight-knit enclave of industrious immigrants who stuck stubbornly

in no small part to Bishop Sarajian's high-

to their traditions and kept to themselves. Until they gained a foothold in the city, the Armenians were harassed and were

derisively called "Turks."

It was not long

before the intellectuals

began arriving in the city, however, bringing with them the seeds of fomentation as well as much-needed elevation to the community. The most notable and the first to arrive on the scene was Mgerdich Portukalian, described as an intellectual firebrand. He aroused people's passions but was also instrumental in having the com-

munity organize

c6 o

establish its own

church.

First step: churches

The community, which uP until 1889 worshipped in the Mission Chapel (they shared

it with Christians of various other

nationalities and had it every Sunday from

I to 3:30 p.m.) finally decided to build its own edifice and consecrated the Church

of Our Savior on JanuarY 18, 1891.

Shortly thereafter, the hotestant Armenian community, which held prayer meetings as early as I 88 I , organized itself into a church body with the assistance of the Missionary Association of Worcester' The AlM, May 1991

Armenians on Easter Sunday, 1909, in

front of the Church ol Our Savior

handed conduct and arbitrary policies which, according to the Worcester Daily

Telegram, incensed the "majority of [the Church] members, who withdrew and who were the most enlightened members of his own church." The papers of the day, which did an excellent job of covering the vicissitudes of the growing Armenian communitY, depict rather colorfully the sometimes

violenl clashes liom this pcriod which led to the tiacturing o1the comrnunrty liom carly on. The llready extant polarization rcuched its clintax with lhc iissassination in 1933 ol' Alr'hhish,,p Lr'ofl lourirrn. which plungecl the enlirc con'r munity into turntoil. Thc repercussrons ol'this incidcnt, al though f'clt throu-rhour thc

Diaspora. were particularly

palpable in Worccstcr-

n ,td 'r6 t@ ,6

,td .N

Harry Soghigian flanked by Deacon Norman Odabashian (left) and father Aved Terzian on the steps of the old Church dt OLr Savior where he was baptized

not just the wire-rnills. thc pricsts ancl lhe lights. .'The sc peoplc liad good traits, trxr."

78-vear old

is a few minutes betbre 9 p.m.

WICN.

Worcester's public radio station. are throb-

i i I

C'ourt Jutluc 'l

Sarkis

tcclinic In\titLttc

Prttvost

ltshoilttt. Won c.le r P,'lr

loric music fiom Arntenia. Charchaflian. who initiatecl rhc proSrilm u\ u stu(['nt ul lhC Univerrity ol'

bing wirh activiry. Michael Charchallian Lowcll in I984 x proFrilm which conrinand his crcw ol six dilsh ahout purposeues to this day-lookecl around firr close lully to put the linishing roue hes on this 1 to a year following his gradr.ration befbre week's Armenian Heritage Program. going to WICN. "l wanred rhe program ttre conf'erence table in the ioorn adto bc cornmercial-frec so {hat I coulcl jacent to the main stuclio is strewn with I main{ain thc same stntctllre I hatl started the week's Armenian papers. reference with." he says. "'l'he lormat also miikcs a books, cassettes, two crates lilled with I big dif ierence in the kirrd of listeners you records, the day's schedule and a bowl of attract to the program." popcorn.

Thc Arnrcniun Heritage

Bundling the

Armenian-language papers. Tlrouhi Pogosian disappcars into a spare studio to work on her dclivery of the news which is not duc until l0 p.m. Over ar thc conl'erencc tablr'. Herntan Purutian and his wile. Laurie. pore over thc English-languuge wecklie: to make surc nothing ol'signilicancc has cscaped their attention. Ara Bilian. who walkctl jaun" tily into the stutlio just momcnt, ago. now works quietly ar the table, looking over this week's reatling ot' an cpisode lrom the annals of Armenian historv. Not far from him, Datevig Mardirossian potishes the cultural notes she will be presenting to her listencrs tonight. Prcciscly at 9 p.m.. Charchallian opens the program in his lighrll ac(.cnted English and welcomes his audience to another

I ,

vclop rrrrd improve lhc proelamnring.

I I ,

news, cultural facts, and histo-ry interspersed with classical, popular, and folk-

Michael Charchaflian: Preserving his

Proqrrrn.

heritage

which ul'ter lbur:cil\ons \tils on lhe icrge of losing its zest, did ncx realize its full potential until the lbrmation o1' a sevenntembcr cornrniitee last Januarv to de-

the rccords to come up with a suitable selection for the upcoming se-ument. He trades .jokes witli his colleagues belbre

l lris

tlucking back into rhe srudro.

highlv cnerectic gr()up rrrrr.r tlor's

the planning, the rcsearch and even thc broadcasting together. Charchaflian says l{erirage is now lhc richest ethnic prograrn in thc area. thanks to the work the committee has done, ancl

Charchal'lian manages to stay gregari-

errjoys a vilst numh(,r of non-Arrneniun listeners on this ti.20O-watt slation thar reaches about 100,000 listeners. Bcsidc ils wt'cklr, trr.tir iry in rhc stutJio. the commtltcc also plarrs l0 orgtrnize

outside evcnts

incrt'ltse t.omnrrrrtilv

awareness o1'the Herita_se Program in

thl

Crealcr Wurceslcr uretr. On tlrc agcrrda I edition of the two-hour program. 1 are the sponsoring of lecturcs, coi]n.,rSandwiched between the Lithuanian i nity events and the prcparation ol' an Hour and Aliopop Worldwide, the Heri1 rclcphonc dirr:ctory lbr centrul I tage Program has been airing on WICN Armcniln Massachuscils. since July l9l{6. otlering lirtencrs living Prcscntly. tlmost hallr.rlly thr()ugh lhe ' in central Ma\\achusetts a bilingual lirre program. thc voicc ol' Dikran Jlrnrgoclriln

lrccarrrc

Worcester-lt,s the Heritage Program

Sunday and the srudios

I i

entuull\'

[)illrn APcliirrt. lrrrtl trlthi Worccster nativc *'ho ltas a passionalc tect liav Ilovsepian arc soltic ol thc l'igintercst in thc history ol his contntunitv. urcs that pcclplc point tu as comtnunitt' "Thcy thoLrght ol schools. litrrrries. lce- lcarlcrs. tures. They participated in thc Salvalion The conrrrunitl has. over the ycurs, Arnly. they contribr-rtecl to the Bols C'lub ronc throllgh a ntussivc translirrmation. and thc citr hospital." The orisinal church of our Sar rrr is rror.r' Thc Arntcnians bccattic an inscparable a Russian C)rthockrx Church and the build-

hil by lhc Dcpression. hacl starte(l on its lonr: dor.r,nrvard spiral. But the history of this contnrunity is

I Live from i Armenian

rrodcl citizcns. Pcople like pionccr surgcon Vltrattitd Kazanrl-j ian. pl-riltorraphcr Ciurro. linancicr K.B. ThoIn thc 1'rcsent dar,. [)istrict

cst

Ilarry Soghigian. a

ancl

nrrjrrrri:rn rrll hrr,i their' nrots in this conrrnrrnitr,.

somcwhat insular lown that had stoppcd -erow'in! and, as one ol the hard-

says

part ol Worcestcr throuch lcttltt ity lrrrtl hirnl u or k.

lills the stalion a\ Clrurcltatlian emcrrcs

I liom the main stuclio and rifles AlM, May 1991

throu'ch

ous at all tinrcs, but he will not totallv relax until aftcr the shorv. "Where the program goes liom hcrc depends on us," he says, rellecting on the future and gesturinc to his collcagues scated around the corference tablc. "lt was very hard to find the peoplc rvho had the comrlitment necessilry to make this program a success. Bul now. witlr this group. I think thc possibilities arc lintitlcs.." One ol those possibilities, which Charchal'lian would like lhe group to pursue, is the cstablishment of professional ties with Radio Yerevan. "Wc have already taken the initial steps," he says with cnthusiasm. "and we hope to accomplish this in the vcry near future." There arc approving smiles all around the table' -Kevork rmirzian t3

,T,{8,

LAW OTFICI,S oF ii

Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamanl watches as Sarkis Teslolan is sworn in by Governor Dukakis as associate iustice of Uxbridge District Court

ing that housed the original diocese from 1898 to 1923 is now a ramshackle house sitting amid a rather dilapidated quarter.

The fabled Chandler Street (early Armenian immigrants dubbed it Changal Stree$ which once pulsed with Armenian shops and residences now resembles an ordinary thoroughfare in Anytown, U.S.A. The Armenian grocers have given way to 24-hour convenience stores and travel agencies.

"It's not happy for me to say this, but I was growing up we had in the Armenian school almost four hundred when

students," remarks Soghigian as he drives toward Laurel Street, the original site of the Church of Our Savior. "The last couple of years we cannot even get one student. We cannot even get a school going." Inside the old church, where the

visiting Russian archbishop is posing for

JOINT

post-service photos, some of the old pews left behind by the Armenians are still in use. "This place is full of memories. I get very emotional just thinking about the old days," says Soghigian, looking away and getting lost in distant thoughts. David Dikranian, a 65-year-old Worc-

with Amtenia The facade ot the old Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Co., "the wire-mill" where many Armenians lound employment uponlheir arrival in Worcester The old Washburn & Moen Manufac-

With Offices in Yerevan and Los Angeles

turing Co., "the wire-mill" where many

of the early immigrants toiled (in

1889,

265 out of its 4,000-man workforce were Armenians) is now a shopping gallery. And the agoumps and the social clubs have all closed their doors. By the best estimate, there are about 4,500 Armenians living in Greater Worc-

ester today, down from approximately 9,000 at the height of the Armenian

population just before the Great Depression. "The reason for this decline has been as much economics as anything else," explains Dr. Robert Mirak, author of Torn BetweenTwo Lands: Armenians in America 1890 to World War L "Marry PeoPle just left after the Depression, and the city

did not enjoy an influx of immigration like some larger cities did over the last two decades."

A faithful during prayer service at the

Church of Our Savior ester native, says it was quite difficult to grow up as a success in Worcester and the situation has changed very little' "Everything is so sedate and settled here'

You've got old Yankee money still sitting here and you can't make any inroads into it."

Perhaps sensing this, the children of Dikranian's generation have moved away to look for their fortune elsewhere. What they have left behind is an aging generation that clings to the old city, its traditions and, above all. the sweet memories: very much like their forefathers who came to the city more than a century ago' I

AlM, May 1991

1007 S. Central Ave Suite 208

Glendale California 91204

(818) 242-74OO Fax (818) 242-0114

with relatives and friends in Baghdad as the January 15 deadline for war loomed. "There were many jokes in Iraq about it, such as 'this year's calendar has only 15 days.' People tried to take it in a good spirit. But they knew that, if war started, Baghdad was going to be heavily bombed. They were worried as if they were in the

One Man'sWar From the lraqi Military in Kuwait to POW Camp in Arabia to Family Life in America I had to go within three days. "It was very disappointing. I needed

that

By TONY llALPlN anet Harris was delighted the day she heard her son had been captured

as a prisoner

front line.

of war in the

Persian

another month or two for my papers, but that ruined my plans," he said calmly, without a trace of anger or bitter-

Gulf. Now she had a chance to bring

ness.

him home.

By September he was serv- # ing as a mechanic on a landing craft in the southernmost port of Kuwait, close to the

Out of the nightmare of war her dream

came true. An Iraqi-Armenian who moved with her children to the United

and two wars after he went to Iraq.

Saudi border. It was "a taxi service" ferrying supplies to troops dug in on islands off

Angeles ended eight months of fear and uncertainty, first with the Iraqi military

the coast. Though an engineer, Shant was denied officer status because his mother was an

States in 1978, Janet finally has her son, Shant Kenderian, back with her years

For Shant, 27, the journey to Los

in Kuwait then as a

prisoner

the

Americans in Saudi Arabia. What started as a long holiday to see his father and grandparents in 1980 became an odyssey through the turbulent modern history of kaq. One week after arriving in Baghdad from Chicago, Iraq declared war on Iran. Its borders were

closed and Shant was unable

leave,

despite having a U.S. Green Card.

He enrolled in college and stud-

ied

American citizen.

"I didn't like being in Kuwait, that's for sure, but the

Shant Kenderian at home in Glendate, Catifornia :::'.,::'-_:-:"'_-::i"'-Y::_'l: sfluallon was mucn exaggerated by propaganda in the States. That's and too sudden." the impression I got from talking to He and his friends tried to shut out

American soldiers. They were talking

about rapes and everything. I never heard about rapes; there might have been some cases but it was not as bad as the Amerisoldiers

can

thought.

"I guess that got them moti-

engineering,

during

which

time both his fa-

ther and grand-

vated. They had to create some

parents died. On

hatred to spur the

graduation

After

ing, he was to serve in Iraq's naval

they

the

invasion, I

didn't like

among

headquarters in

being people

who hate me. I

Basra. "We were

went

for two

continu-

ously," he recalls now.

all,

are only human. "l didn't like

drafted

years

to kill.

soldiers

1985, and with the war still rag-

bombed

A snapshot ln a POW camp

through

Kuwait once or twice but I didn't like it because I

felt

in 1989, and with Iraq's borders reopened in 1990, Shant began applying

like those people hated me. Why should I be there?" All the time Shant and his shipmates

to renew his Green Card, which had expired, so that he could join his mother,

tion forming in Saudi Arabia to

Released from

service

brother Arad, and stepfather Robert Harris in America. August 2, and the sudden invasion of Kuwait, arrived before his application was completed.

"I didn't believe it; I thought it was an April Fool's joke but it was August. I heard on television that I was drafted and

"Kuwait historically belonged to haq; they knew that, but they didn't feel that this was the right way. It was too quick

were aware of the growing Allied coalioppose

Iraq.

"Mostly we didn't like to talk about it because we would be depressed if we thought about war and death. We just

lived our lives and did the job we had to do." New Year's Eve was spent on leave AlM, May 1991

thoughts that they might not see each other again, said Shant, adding that "I knew it better than my friends because I knew where my boat was." Back at base, fears of an American assault from the sea ran high as the deadline approached. "This was one of the things that most scared us; we were always scared of a landing. When I would be on watch on the boat in the middle of the night I was very scared. I didn't even have a weapon." kaqi commanders deliberately heighr ened the tension by issuing false alarms at night that American marines were invading.

"One night everybody went out and began shooting in the air and there was nothing there," said Shant. "Theyjust did it to keep you alert, they scare you to death. You can't sleep." War put him in the ambivalent position of fighting for the country of his birth against the country where his mother and brother now lived. His attitude was shaped

by a deep distrust of politics. "That's why I didn't care what Iraq and America did. I'm certain that in every country the real politics are not shown to people. All I had to do was do my job to Iraq and I did it. I wasn't one of the soldiers who sunendered; I was captured. "I didn't hate the other side, I didn't like to kill people and I never did. The way I had to think about it was to do my

job, that's it." An Iraqi sea mine and American air-

"The first thing that happened was that an American asked me if I knew mY

craft attack ended Shant's war one week into the conflict. The mine blew a hole in his ship, starting a fire which killed five of the crew during a mission to one of the islands in the early hours of Janu-

mom's telephone number so that he could call her. And he did. People were doing

ary 24. As the survivors were retuming to base on another craft next day, they were attacked by an American jet and three helicopters. The jet dropped a warning bomb, then, when the ship kept going, one of the helicopters machine-gunned the fiber-glass vessel. "The bullets just came straight through the ship; there was no place to hide. I was crouched in a comer with legs and knees against my chest and my helmet against my face; I thought I was going to die. A guy next to me was hit in the stomach; he told me 'I am shot'." The ship's commander sunendered and

Shant was taken aboard an American frigate. His captors refused to believe him when he told them he had been in Chicago. The fact that he spoke good English and had a degree but was not an officer led them to suspect him as a spy, said Shant. He was transferred to a prisoner-of-war

camp in Saudi Arabia, run by the Marines, and interrogated. For a week be-

their best, they were greati' he said. He was even given a copy of the New Testament, with a desert camouflage cover. Shant now renewed his efforts to get to the United States. "I had to impose myself and bother them, that I did not want to go back to Iraq. People in this camp were very cooperative, some of them began to bug the commanders on my behalf." Camp staff contacted Janet and the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia and work began on Shant's status. In early April, he travelled to Riyadh to meet embassy staff and was told they would try to get him to the States on parole. But it could take up to two months, they wamed. Two nights later Shant was awakened in his tent by a camp official and told to be ready to leave in the morning. At 4 a.m. on April 15 he left Riyadh on a jet

OUI 0F DARKNESS Ramela

is the story

Pilibosian Martin who was a tddlu in

the 1915 Genocide.

Ramda Martin and

join the

death marclres.

hu motlu were forcd to Hu mothu dM and Ramela

was miraculously rescued by the Near East Relief She was placrd rn an orphanage in Malatia Later the orphanage was

carrying American troops home.

movd to Alepp, Beirut.

Istanbul

and finally to Corinth, Greece,

A happy mother Janet still cannot believe her son is home. When war broke out she was convinced he was in Basra, which was being heavily bombarded by the Allies. Shant

Ramela Martin tells

story of dislocation,

and courage. In the end, there emerges the

prtrait 0f

a woman wounded by hlstory but capable of

had told her before Christmas that he was there. thinkine it would make her feel

i b"tt". than if she knew he was in ] Kuwait. 'f felt that he was in trouble. I i 6 OiOn't know what was happening to E hi- brrt I felt inside that-he wai in

immigration, sfiuggle and suruival wit]r passion

endurance and wholeness.

0U m

DARKNESS by RAMILA MARTIN Publishd by

ZORYAN INSIITI]IE, INC.

3 ,"ry

welcomes

home after 11 years

his brother

tween questioning he was left outside, handcuffed, blindfolded most of the time, and with only two blankets for protection

against the cold. "Whatever I told them they didn't believe, they thought I was a spy and was acting like one. I told them if I was a spy I would act stupid like the other Iraqis, I would pretend not to understand English." He was sent to a second interrogation camp for a month, held in isolation in a tent for long periods and denied even the chance to wash for the first three weeks. Then suddenly he was moved to a third camp where the attitudes of his captors changed completely. Unknown

Shant,

' * t

bad shape," she said. "She was screaming and hollering in the house: 'they've killed my son, they've killed my son, how could they do that,"' recalls her husband Robert, who was in the U.S. Navy for 22 years, serving in the

Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam War.

telephone call from the Red Cross in Geneva on February 4 answered her prayers. "I was crying when the man was talking to me and he kept saying 'it's OK, it's OK, he's alive.' I thought Shant was gone." For now, Shant is reflecting on his experiences and catching up on lost time with the family he has not seen since 1980. He said it felt good to be in America.

His brother Arad, 25, who watches Shant with obvious pride, summed up the

family's feelings: "It was hard, after not seeing him for such a long time, to think that we were not going to see him. We lost hope basically because it was so difficult for anybody to get out of Iraq. Now it feels just like old times, only we're both

bigger."

the war had ended the previous day. AlM, May 1991

@ @

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OI-N OF DARKNESS

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Paths to Tluth Teaching and Learning about tfre Armenian Genocide By

WlLLlAil

PARSONS

Special to AIM

ince the 1970s,

education

about the capability of govemments to commit genocide has gained momentum in this country. Today, an increasing number of state departments of educa-

tion such as California,

Connecticut,

Florida, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia recommend the teaching of genocide and have developed curricular resources and/or teacher guides. Curricu-

lum

ies topics that should be covered; and many believe they are not knowledgeable enough to teach this history. Even when teachers leam about genocide at conferences and teacher-training sessions, many do not develop substantial units of study. It is impossible to teach all history, so each community and every educator makes a decision as to what historical events and deeds will help students understand their past and the world they live in today. This means that rationale statements need to clearly identify why a particular period of history should be incorporated into a school curriculum. Before asking "why study the Arme-

programs have also been developed by numerous local boards

provoke students to think about what is at stake if bigotry and violence go unchecked. As one curriculum, Facing

History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior, suggests, "when students are denied access to information about these events, so that reflection on the meaning of these events is impossible, prevention is never given a real chance." Once teachers are committed to incorpo-

rating a study

genocide

into their

curriculum, they are faced with deciding which genocides to cover. This decision is often based on the availability of appropriate resource materials for students, and on whether or not a particular case study adds a dimension or a perspective to an overall understanding of genocide. Educators from throughout the United States offer a variety of reasons for in-

cluding a study of the Armenian Genocide in the school curriculum. For example, this history demonstrates how a ruling group targeted an unprotected minority for elimination because it perceived

of education, and two non-profit organizations. The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai

B'rith and the Facing History and Ourselves National Foundationassist educators throughout the country in cur-

riculum and staff

de-

velopment.

There is currently

wealth of resource ma-

terials available for teachers who want to introduce students to a study of genocide. The genocides carried out by the Ottoman Em-

pire, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union under Stalin, and the Pol Pot Regime in Cambodia provide teachers with welldocumented case studies which include first-person accounts, primary sources, photographs and film footage. Despite the availability of resource

materials and staff development programs, better progress needs to be made in encouraging educators to implement courses of study on genocide. There are many factors that determine whether or not a study of genocide reaches the classroom. For example, even when state departments of education and school committees recommend that students learn about the topic of genocide, many teachers do not include it in their courses. Some teachers consider the topic inappropriate for their students; others feel there are more important social stud-

nian Genocide?" educators need to think about the question "why should the topic of genocide be included in school pro-

grams?" Part of the answer lies in the fact that well over 50 million people have

perished in genocidal acts since 1900, and

that scholars like Israel W. Chamy and Roger Smith refer to the 20th century as the "century of genocide." Since genocide (the intention to destroy the continu-

ity of an ethnic, racial, political or religious group, in whole or in part) is considered by many such as Ben Whitaker, a senior United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, to be "the ultimate crime:

the gravest of all violations of human rights," education of students to be responsible citizens would seem to be incomplete without knowledge of this topic. Furthermore, presenting clear examples of civil and human rights violations can

AlM, May 1991

the minority group as "causing"

the

counffy's problems. The Armenian Geno-

cide shows how a country involved in a war finds it easier to label a group of people as the "enemy." A decision to include the Armenian Genocide in the curriculum is sometimes

complicated by the efforts of the Republic of Turkey to distort this history. This does not present a problem for educators who are familiar with the history, but for those who do not know it, the denial campaign creates enough doubt to inhibit

teachers from choosing the Armenian Genocide to study. There are various interpretations of this era but to deny that there was ever a genocide against the Armenians is to go beyond the arena of accepted historical scholarship.

Most educators are quick to recognize materials that are clearly propagandistic 27

Ir and inflammatory. The difficulty comes when individuals and groups deny and distort the historical record by appearing to be "balanced" in their approach. An example of this approach is the resource written by Justin and Carolyn McCarthy entitled Turks and Armenians: a Manual on the Armenian Question, which is published by the Assembly of Turkish Ameri-

can Associations and distributed to communities throughout the United States.

This manual encourages students to interpret information, analyze maps and charts, and to discuss controversial issues.

At first glance, the creative pedagogy of the manual disguises the goal, which is

persuade students and teachers to accept the idea that there was no genocide perpetrated against the Armenians. The authors' appeal to educators to teach students that "there are two or more sides"

to whether or not a genocide took place, but the overwhelming scholarship which demonstrates that a genocide did occur is avoided throughout the manual. The essence of the McCarthys' manual is that all groups of people in Eastem

Anatolia went through "sad" and "hor-

rific" events in the l9th and early 20th

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centuries, and that although the Ottoman

government tried to protect Armenian lives during the deportations, their control in the region was weak. According to the authors, the Ottoman govemment was simply trying to deal with an "internal revolution" spearheaded by Armenian revolutionary groups. Civil and intemational wars were responsible for Armenian deaths, not a policy of genocide. Regardless of these denial efforts, the history of the Armenian Genocide is recognized by seven out of nine state department of education cuniculum guides and two of the largest textbook companies-Houghton-Mifflin and Prentice Hall. Most teacher-training workshops and conferences on teaching about human rights and genocide discuss the Ar-

menian Genocide, and every major scholar in the field of Genocide Studies acknowledges the genocide. When the historian Richard Hovannisian was asked about the efforts of the Turkish government to deny the history of the Armenian Genocide, he commented that "historically, govemments do not confront genocidal acts. The response of German courts after World War II has not been typical." Although distortion of past

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events is a powerful weapon which can be used by individuals, groups and nations for political or personal gain, edu-

cation can be an even greater force.

William Parsons is a consultant to the U.S. Holocaust Educational Outreach Program in Washington AlM, May 1991

SilClrJiI.FlE

AII

NIIDDLE EAST

The lmpact of the Gulf War on the Environment By GLENYS A. BABCOCK

Special to AIM

n the weeks following Iraq's dumping of oil into the Persian Gulf and again after Kuwait's oil wells were set ablaze, reports on how much oil

was released into the Gulf and what kind of environmental damage that

caused, varied wildly. The facts have slowly emerged from rhetoric, and it is now possible to give a fairly clear account both of the events and of the extent

damage.

Oil spills In late January, Iraq began to pump millions of gallons of crude oil from

Cleaning up the oil slick The Gulf is particu-

larly vulnerable to oil pollution as it is very shallow (averaging only lfi) feet deep) and it almost landlocked, ex-

prescription fo,

changing water with the Indian Ocean only through the narrow Straits of Hormuz. Fortunately, southerly winds and currents have kept most of the oil in the deeper part of the Gulf where the rougher waves can eventually break down the oil globules through microbial action. The warm water in the Gulf will facilitate the breakdown of petroleum and much of the surface oil will evaporate under the Middle Eastem sun. But it is not all good news: Intense sunlight can photodegrade

onshore Kuwaiti storage tanks at the Mina al-Ahmadi oilfield in southem Kuwait and from five oil tankers anchored in the Persian Gulf at an initial rate of about 100,000 to 200,000 barrels of oil per day. The oil slick quickly spread along the

take at least several years, possibly dec-

Kuwaiti and Saudi coastlines and, by

ades.

February

ll,

the slick was estimated to

be more than 70 miles long and 80 miles

wide.

Due to favorable weather conditions, the slick has only slowly expanded since then. The original estimates of 6 to l l million barrels of dumped oil were greatly exaggerated.

It now appears that only l/

2 to 3 million barrels of oil were actually

spilled into the shallow Gulf waters.

Environmental impact Quantity aside, the spill is threatening the existence of a number of endangered bird species. In particular, the large populations of cornorants and grebes in the Gulf are dying as they become soaked in oil and are unable to fly or are suffocated by the thick goo. It is not known how the upcoming migration of about one million other birds from southem wintering spots to locations farther north will be affected as they pass through the Gulf region this spring and summer. When the birds encounter the smoke from the burning oil wells, will they land elsewhere in the region, or will

they land into the oil-laden waters and onto the oil-soaked shores? With no past experience to rely on, we cannot know the answer to such questions.

floating oil into more toxic compounds whose effects are ill-understood. At the preseilt time, it is estimated that the whole cyclelof oil dissipation in the Gulf will

Burning oil wells More than 500 free-flowing (and

"nriroffii

Some experts suggest that it

inevitable

that toxins will eventually enter the food chain, probably with carcinogenic and mutagenic consequences as rain washes

the soot out of the sky ("black rain"), polluting water sources and contaminatlng

crops.

Given this background , and because little is known about the chain-reaction

effects

of oil pollution over time,

the

people, Iand and animals in the Persian Gulf region will be a living laboratory for environmental scientists for years to come. A final appraisal of the Gulf War's enviromental impact will, consequently,

be years away. Glenys A. Babcock, a Canadian, is a treelane writer on environmental and

energy lbsues

maybe as many as 700) of Kuwait's 1,200 oil wells are ablaze. To put this number into perspective, the world experiences no

more than 20 oil well fres a year. The consequent lack of fuefighting equipment and experts to use it, along with the time it takes to control each fire (which varies from several days to several years) means

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as 2.7 million tones

sulphur and

700,000 tones of nitrogen could be emit-

ted into the atmosphere because of the Kuwait fires. These are the two chemicals which combine to create acid rain. AlM, May 1991

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tion under GATT's direction. In addition, many LDCs called for GATT to revise the Multifiber Arrangement, a textile quota established in the 1960s that bars many LDCs from competing in world

The GATT Maze goods are taxed to discourage their consumption. Other forms include subsidizing domestic manufacturers or exports,

By KEVIN JACK RILEY

Speclal to AIM

hen Japanese exporters sell

hand power tools

the

United States, the U.S. Government slaps on a lfi) percent retaliatory tariff, or tax. As a result, a Japanese-made power hand tool costs more than it should. Not only do consumers pay more for Japanese Power tools, they might pay more for Ameri-

can-made tools as well, since the tariff allows U.S. manufacturers to raise prices without losing sales to Japanese competitors. In the short run, the govemment's

action protects the jobs of American

workers w.ho might otherwise be displaced by Japanese competi-

"buy domestic" campaigns, imposing quotas on trade activity, entering into bilateral or multilateral trading arrangements, and selling goods in foreign countries for less than they are sold domestically. These latter forms of trade impediments are often refened to as non-tariff barriers, or NTBs. Since its inception, GATT has proven

very successful at reducing tariffs. For many goods, tariffs have been reduced by 75 percent and more. But the charac-

flow of world trade have changed dramatically since GATT was formed.

ter and

GATT membership has quadrupled, advances

communications and transpor-

production price guarantees have simultaneously held consumer prices above market levels and encouraged farmers to increase production to the point where the

government then pays more money to have farmers take acreage or animals out of production. European nations,

conjunction

property such as copyrights and patents, and foreign investment un-

der GATT provisions. Currently, services are primarily governed at the state and provincial level in most countries, patents and copyrights

ability to purchase American imports.

Preventing such trade restrictions has been at

of international trade policy for the past half-century. Prior to World War

the heart

on products such as software and books are

II, tens of thousands of products faced import tariffs. The General Agreement on Tariffs

often not honored beyond national bounda-

a result of international 19fl1

to $4 trillion

1947 as part of a series of steps designed to prevent a repeat of the economic

of the Great Depression. With over 100 nation members in 1991, GATT focuses exclusively on world trade and how to improve its contribution to economic growth. Progressive rounds of talks, most recently the Uruguay Round, have steadily reduced post-war tariffs. The Uruguay Round, which began in 1986, has sought not only to expand the list of goods hardship

provisions

but

to address new forms of trade impediments that have arisen in the last two decades. As described above, trade barriers take

subsidies and higher food

states were commifted

prices,

to bringing service industries, intellectual

further reducing their

many forms.

annually

prices. In some cases, for example milk,

cifically, industrialized

Japanese power tool makers lose sales and income due

by GATT

producers in developed countries argue that European barriers cost consumers, including poor LDC nations, $250 billion

are not without con-

because

covered

exports for income, while agricultural

cems of their own. Spe-

against American products but

and Trade (GATT)

because

with the United States,

retaliation

was cobbled together

liberalized agricultural trade,

Europe's small farmers, a powerful lobby in most European capitals, rely on subsidies and price supports to survive. LDCs, however, count on agriculture and textile

again

tion. But in the longer run, the retaliatory policy proves more destructive, not only because it invites similar

to the higher

textile markets. European nations, particularly Germany and France, strongly resist

simple cases, imported

today

tation have facilitated world trade, more nations and trading blocs now export, and

new products have become significant components

of intemational

commerce.

Currently, products not covered by the original GATT regulations continue to be subjected to import tariffs, while goods whose tariffs have been successfully lowered are increasingly subjected to NTBs because of loopholes in the GATT framework. The Uruguay Round convened in 1986 to resolve these issues. kss Developed Counffies (LDCs), along with key agricultural producers such as the United States, want to bring agricultural produc-

AlM, May'1991

ries, and foreign investment is heavily regulated by many govemments. To take one example, manufacturers of computer software can now ship their products across the globe, virtually overnight. But because U.S. software copyrights are not enforced in parts of Asia, the word-processing software that might sell for $300 in Boston can be found in pirated form for under $20 in Bangkok, with none of the revenue being returned to the manufacturer. The December 1990 deadline for the conclusion of the Uruguay Round passed without agreement, in large part because of continued opposition from France and Germany to reductions in farm subsidies. Without an agreement that gave LDCs greater access to world agricultural and

textile export markets, developing states had little incentive to accept costly patent

and copyright regulations,

or to allow

competition in services by the industrialized nations. Perhaps more importantly, the March deadline for U.S. Congressional fast-track approval has also passed. The fast-track process would have prevented

from considering individual of the GATT package, instead giving it the authority to vote on the package only in its entirety. Without an extension of fast-track provisions, future Congress elements

GATT proposals are likely to be amended by Congress, and thus have to be returned to GATT for membership consideration.

Whether or not the talks are ever revived, the failure to reach an agreement does not mean that world trade

is in

danger of collapsing, at least in the short run. But in the longer run, trade wars and

the use of NTBs will probably intensify, weakening GATT's relevance as a forum for trade matters. And once GATT loses its position as the authority on trade, the consequences for a free flow of international commerce may be unpredictable.

SOVIET UNION

Muslims of Soviet Gentral Asia Step forward By THEODORE KARASIK

Special to AIM

Protests against Moscow's rule first be-

gan in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, in 1986. Since then, nationalists, motivated by

centuries-old Muslim traditions, have

1991, approximately 58 million Muslims (20 percent of the entire Soviet population) lived in Soviet

Central Asia

in the

republics of

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The 1989 census revealed that Central Asian populations grew by 22 to

in Dushanbe, the Fergana ValIey, Novy Uzen and other Central Asia cities. Significantly, these "independence" protests against Moscow featured demonstrators who carried portraits of the late Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini and Iraqi protested

leader Saddam Hussein during the Persian Gulf War. In addition, local officials,

Kevin Jack Riley is a fellow in the RAND Graduate School, where he is pursuing a Ph.D in policy analysis

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34 percent while the rest of the Soviet Union's slavic republics grew by only 4 to 6 percent. Because of the immense size of the Soviet Muslim population, coupled with the decline of the Communist empire, Central Asia has stepped forward and today stands on its own right as an economic and political entity.

AlM, May 1991

including military and KGB officers thought to have been coopted by Moscow, defected to support Islamic-based independence movements.

Moscow, recognizing that Muslims could force Soviet Central Asia to set out on its own, has changed its outlook on Islam by lifting decades-old policies on

limiting Muslim worship. Islamic scholars and religious officials were allowed to supervise the reopening of old mosques. Festivals such as Kurban Bayram were once again reinstated. For their part, Islamic religious leaders who sit in the U.S.S.R. Congress of People's Deputies, increasingly articulate the views of their constituency, which clearly differs from

Moscow's. For example, the Mufti of Central Asia, Mukhamadsadyk Mamayusupov, who won a seat to this body in

baijan

January 1990. Interestingly,

Birlik has faced both intemal and

exter-

nal discord over its policy and direction. In February 1990, Birlik split to form a

new splinter group called "Erk". Erk,

political party originally formed in the 1920's seeking independence for Turkestan, felt that Birlik did not go far enough to promote its interests. These views were

shared by the Tadzhik popular front, Rastokhez, which felt that Birlik only

1989, has become a vocal critic especially

represented Uzbeks, and not Central Asians as a whole. However, today's

on political and economic issues. In June 1990, the leaders of several of the . Central Asian republics- Uzbek President I. Karimov, Kazakh President N. Nazarbayev, Chairman of the Kirghiz

tomorrow's common complaints and can serve to reunite these groups. Economic links between Soviet Central Asian republics and their neighbors grew

Supreme Soviet A. Masaliyev, Chairman

of the Tadzhik

Supreme Soviet K.

Makhkamov, and the Chairman of the Turkmen Supreme Soviet S. Niyazovall signed an agreement to coordinate ecological, economic, and cultural cooperation. Regional political parties, based

both on nationalism and Islam, have formed to break free from Soviet influence as well. In November 1988, for example, Uzbeki citizens formed "Birlik" and sought to make Uzbek the republic's state language. In addition, the organiza-

tion has protested the immigration of Russians into Uzbekistan and even condemned Soviet military actions in Azer-

intemal disputes can easily turn into

quickly in the past two years. For example, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an accord recently to increase transportation ties. On March 31, 1991, Turkish airlines began

flights between Istanbul, Trabzon, and Baku. In addition, a sixty-line international communication system will be established by the end of the year to enable Azerbaijan to communicate with other countries through Turkey. More often than not, and because of such recent gains, contacts between Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan, Iran, and Afghanistan have also increased. Iranian and Afghani goods and raw materials travel with ease across the Soviet border and

vice-versa. Moreover,

Kazakhstan,

Kirghizistan, and the People's Republic of China have signed agreements promoting transportation ties and consumer trade as rail and highway networks continue to

grew at a phenomenal rate. The only negative side-effect

to this

economic

boom was an increase in criminal activity. Video recorders, drugs, and other forms of contraband now make their way

into Soviet territory with impunity. Soviet Central Asia may further grow in prominence in the coming years. As Soviet authorities relax their controls over

the Central Asian republics, Muslim populations will continue to articulate

their own distinct views on domestic and foreign policy matters. A clear example of this phenomenon was evident during

the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War

where

Soviet Muslims actively goaded Moscow to support Saddam Hussein. Such interferences possibly influenced Soviet pol-

icy as well as Iranian and Iraqi poli-

cymakers even if its results were less than apparent. If the Soviet Union implodes because of increasing internal strains, the emergence of a new cultural and political power capable of uniting vast numbers of people and natural resources is ensured.

Theodore Karasik is an Adjunct Professor at the Monterev lnstitute of lnternational Studies

MIDDLE EAST

Why is Saddam Hussein still in powet?

was only surpassed by its post-Gulf War assessments. Syria favored the coalition not because it accepted or even agreed to

its terms but because coming on a win-

ning side was preferrable. There

was

tomorrow, after all, and Hafez Al-Assad wanted to remain a key player in the game of nations. A dictator overthrown, whether

Mosul, Kirkuk and

in Baghdad or Bangui, set a bad precedent for all concemed. Surely, Al-Assad could not condone the overthrow of his

Sulaymaniyyah. Teheran reasoned that a

arch-enemy, especially when the altema-

as palatable sources of authority. Iran, for one, was concemed with the

By JOSEPH KECHICHIAil

Kurdish uprising everal weeks after the end of

devastating

wff,

Saddam

Hussein continued to enjoy, albeit in a devastated Iraq, the prerogatives

of a

head-of-state.

Few anticipated that he would last this long. Rather, it was posited by seasoned analysts, the 54-year-old dictator would surely face imminent disaster largely from within the ruling Baath Party. Against this consensus assessment, what were some of

the reasons for the dramatic change in Hussein's fortunes?

separatist Kurdish movement in Iraq would, in time, spill over into Bakhtaran, Khorramabad and Sanandaj, all in Iranian Kurdistan. A successful nationalist Kurdish movement in Iraq would surely set a precedent for Iran's own heterogeneous population. Would the Azeris in northem Iran follow in the Kurdish footsteps and would they then be followed by the Bakhtiaris or even the Baluchis? Moreover, the Islamic Revolutionary Government further reasoned, Saddam Hussein remained a useful enemy to keep around, especially now that his wings

were clipped. De-

spite

President

Rafsanjani's state-

ment calling on to resign,

Hussein

Teheran appreciated his unifying influence on the Revolution when-

able. Similarily, Iraq's

heterogeneous

composition presented stark choices for

Iran, Turkey, Syria and Israel, as

the

rebellious Shiite and Kurdish populations in the beleaguered state rose in opposition. In short, no one in the region perceived the alternatives to Saddam Hussein

For Israel, the choices were crystal clear as well. The precedent of an irredentist claim being settled in the Middle East was not something to encourage lest the Jewish State be obliged to concede that the possibility

of an independent

Palestinian State was there. Of course, Israel's complicated foreign policy interests were not only related to the IsraeliPalestinian dispute over territory. There was also a strategic dimension which required that Israel position itself against a balanced Arab world vis-a-vis Iran. Finally, for the conservative monarchies in the Persian Gulf, the fear of a Shiite government coming to power in Baghdad was problematic, at best. Saudi Arabia reasoned that a Sunni dictator was surely better than a pro-Iranian ruler who would tip the balance of power in the region against the interests of the Gulf

decade-long political experience drawn from the

even

The

tional security interests. For Iran, Turkey, Syria, Israel and Saudi Arabia, the unity of Iraq, whether under Baathi rule or otherwise, proved to be vital. The dizzying pace at which the allies fought the war left many, even in the victorious camp, worried about the consequences of a full collapse of authority in Baghdad. In as much as Riyadh, for example, and Washington lobbed personal insults to Saddam Hussein (going as far as comparing him to Adolf Hitler), the alternatives to the Sunni dictator were far less palat-

and, consequently, Damascus' interest was

not to become one.

internal threats loomed over the horizon.

ever

At least five regional powers acknowledged that Iraq's unity was in their na-

tives were separatist, even religiously inclined, regimes. Syria's Alawi regime would naturally become an opportune target for whatever regime (other than a Sunni dictatorship) emerged in Baghdad

Iran-Iraq War was too valuable to waste, particularly as Westerners stood to gain more from his overthrow. In the end, Rafsanjani and his associates tipped the scales on the side of a known quantity. For its part Turkey was also concerned with the potential dismemberment of the "Anatolian" heartland, especially if the large Kurdish population in Turkey were to join forces with their brethren across

the Nahr al-Khabir

estuaries, which formed the majestic Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Ankara factored the important Sunni dimension in its calculations as well

for, secularist tendencies aside, the Turkish body-politic continued to worry about Shiite fundamentalist aspirations in the Middle East. Like Iran, Turkey further reasoned that a weakened Iraq would be at its mercy, particularly with respect to the vulnerable oil pipeline. Damascus' bewilderement at actions taken by Saddam Hussein since August 2

AlM, May 1991

Cooperation Council states. Saddam Hussein was, after all, a known quantity

if fundamentally alien to everything

for which they stood. Moreover, Riyadh was literally shocked that Westem coalition members failed to root Hussein from office, leaving him around to haunt every one for several years. Therefore, if the West was willing to live with Hussein, so were the GCC states. For a variety of reasons, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Israel, the Gulf states, as well as the non-Arab members of the coalition against Saddam Hussein, found it remarkably useful to agree that a Sunni dictator in Baghdad was the optimum option in the wake of the Gulf War. Perhaps the ele-

ment

of uncertainty presented an un-

breachable challenge. StiU, little of the moral outrage expressed between 2 August 1990 and27 February l99l was now

by pragmatic leaders. Saddam Hussein, therefore, maintained his skewed legitimacy in the eyes of his regional and uttered

international interlocutors who challenged

him only when he posed a specific threat

to Kuwait's oil wealth-but -access leamed to live with his other excesses.r 33

il!ilmber Saroyan Genius? Prolifi c? Eccentri c? Friends Say He Was All of Them lease on N.{'ay 22 in Yerevan and Fresno of a William Saroyan postage stamp. He is the first American of Armenian ancestry to be honored with a stamp.

By SHIBLEY ilELIKIAN ARIIBRUSTER Special to AIM

Other festival events include a historical walk through

lish Shekoyan remembers his boyhood pal, William Saroyan, as energetic, boisterous and one who "believed in a good time." Their antics growing up in Fresno, Califomia, in the 1920s provided the fodder for Saroyan's life work-writing. "I remember when the Security Bank was being built," says Shekoyan, a retired farmer living in Fresno. "One Saturday Willie, my brother Vaughn, Ralph, Frank "Yeppie" Moradian and I went to the roof and we dared each other to run around the rim of the building. Willie did-he was very daring. If he slipped, it would have been a sheer drop of 150 feet or more to the ground." The same daring young Willie became William Saroyan, internationally known author and playwright. Saroyan, who died in Fresno on May 18, 1981, at the age of 72, was the first American playwright to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the Drama Critics Award in the same year-1940, for his play, TheTime of Your Lift. His critical acclaim also included an Oscar in 1943 for the screenplay of his bestseller,The Human Comedy.

A prolific writer-he said he wrote 500 stories in his first five years-Saroyan dazzled the American public in the 1930s and '40s with stories, plays and novels that continue to touch readers today. Many of his works were autobiographical and his major themes were aspiration, hope and honesty. He portrayed a basic goodness in all people. Saroyan lived and travelled around the world. But he never forgot his hometown of Fresno. And since his death, Fresno has not forgotten him. Each May, a Saroyan Festival commemorates the Armenian-American author. [n this decennary year of his death, the events are accented by the premiere of a documentary on Saroyan's life and work and by the joint re-

AlM, May

Saroyan's boyhood neighborhood, production of one ofhis early works, Beautiful People, readings of his stories on public radio,

an annual writing contest the-Park band concert.

for young people and a Saroyan-in-

Ben Amirkhanian, a retired postal employee and Army reof the Saroyan neighborhood in 1985 as part of the city of Fresnons Centennial serve major, suggested a historical walk observance.

From that beginning, the festival has grown under Amirkhanian's diligent care. He has turned an upstairs bedroom in his Fresno home into a Saroyan room of sorts, with files, photos and a Saroyan Festival telephone answering machine.

The festival's $5,000 annual budget is funded entirely by donations. Amirkhanian, who estimates he spends 30 hours a week on the activities, draws no salary. "This is just a labor of love for me," said Amirkhanian, who didn't even meet Saroyan until a few years before his death and saw him only occasionally after that first meeting, As an outgrowth of the festival, Amirkhanian has teamed up with the cify's cultural arts department to offer half-day and two-day William Saroyan Tours in Fresno and around the surrounding area. Saroyan was bom in Fresno to Armenian immigrant parents and maintained a lifelong interest and attachment to their birth-

place-Bitlis, Armenia. In the new documentary film on Saroyan, he says, "My birthplace is California, but I can't forget Armenia... I have always been an Armenian writer, only my writing is in English." He decided to become a writer as a young boy, after reading Guy de Maupassant's short story, "The Bell." Moradian, his boyhood friend who is now a retired Fresno County Superior 1991

Court judge, said the ambition was apparent early in Saroyan's remember him setting up his little typewriter in his kitchen. When he was 14, he didn't play with the rest of us; he

life: "I

just sat in there writing." But Saroyan's widowed mother, Takoohi, had her doubts about Willie, recalls Roger Tatarian, retired Califomia State Uni-

versity, Fresno, professor and former editor-in-chief of United Press Intemational who grew up in the same neighborhood. Tatarian recalls the time his mother and Mrs. Saroyan were in her home, and he heard Takoohi say how proud she was of her older son, Henry. But she was in despair over Willie. "He had no steady job. He had this wild fantasy of becoming a writer and he was pounding on that typewriter all the time. He also gambled a lot," Tatarian recalled.

A few years later, when Saroyan began to achieve fame after the publication of "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze and Other Stories," Tatarian and his mother visited with Mrs. Saroyan, then living in San Francisco. By this time, her version of her earlier concerns about Willie had somewhat changed. Said Tatarian: "I was suddenly stunned to hear Mrs. Saroyan say, of course, she as a mother always knew ofher son's inherent talent." Saroyan dropped out of school before finishing the eighth grade, saying he had everything he needed from school once he had

recounted. "He didn't know anybody there, really. He thought it would be cheaper." Hagopian found an ad in a French newspaper for a fourroom apartment near the Armenian and Jewish quarters of Paris. The two men visited the building at 74 Rue Taitbout off Saint Lazare, and Saroyan fell in love with it. The price was 920,000. "He didn't know how to dicker," says Hagopian. o'For a Bitlistzi, he was an infant. He looked it over and said 'I'll take it.' Fortunately, the real estate agents didn't understand English and I said he had to dicker on the price. We got l0 percent off, which was enough to pay the taxes and fees." Hagopian, who now lives in Fresno and is working on a play entitled "Homecoming," remained friends with Saroyan until his death. He watched over Saroyan's Paris apartment when Saroyan travelled. In Fresno itself, Saroyan in the early 1960s bought two sideby-side homes in a modest middle-class tract. He lived in one and stored his manuscripts in the other. Neighbors remember Saroyan for his love of bicycling, his generosity with children and his preoccupation with the outdoors and things natural. "He was a very naturalistic kind of

guy," said Tom Burks, a longtime Saroyan neighbor. For example, he said, the writer's yard usually was kept in a "very natural" state with the weeds growing two feet high. Burks lives three houses east of the Saroyan home. He knew the writer for about 15 years. "He remembered the names of every kid in the area, but we kids had no idea he was someone famous," Burks said. "He was just a nice guy who rode a bicycle a lot." Mary Miller, also a neighbor, said she didn't know the author well, but

learned to read and write. After selling newspapers on the street comer and delivering telegrams by bicycle in Fresno, he became an

overnight literary sensation in 1934 with the

publication of "The

Daring Young Man..." He was

26 years old. When he visited New York would chat with him while he watered City in 1936, Saroyan shared a mon0ment in Fresno's his fruit trees. "He would come back Courthouse Park furnished room with Charles Nazfrom riding his bicycle with his pockarian, executive editor of AIM who was attending New york ets stuffed full of the weeds he had collected," Miller said. University at the time. "He'd take the weeds home and sprinkle them all over his yard." "We got along pretty well for about a week," recalled NazThe natural state of Saroyan's yard attracted an invasion of arian. "Then I borrowed one of his silk necklies to wear to an frogs one year, remembers Varaz Samuelian, an Armenian-bom Armenian dance one Saturday night. When I got back, Saroyan artist who settled in Fresno and became a friend of Saroyan's. was waiting up for me. He flew into a rage, shouting 'How dare "He asked me, 'Varaz, you want some frogs?' He brought you borrow my tie without permission!' out a shoe box with holes on the top. We caught 12 of them; "I[ was 2 a.m. ud people in adjoining rooms began pound- it was hard to do. I took them home," Varaz recounts. Years ing on the walls. I was so embarrassed that I stuffed my clothes later, when the two men were travelling together in Armeni4 into a suitcase and moved into the YMCA," said Nazarian. Saroyan asked about the frogs. The artist told him, "I made His first successfirl Broadway play, My Heart's in the Highshish kebab and I ate it." lands,was staged in 1939 and won the Drama Critics Award for The response, says Varaz, prompted Saroyan to leave in the Best Play. The next year, his collection of short stories, "My middle of dinner and make him pay the bill. Name is Aram," about his boyhood in Fresno, was chosen as a Saroyan's Fresno residence was approved as an historic site Book-of-the-Month-Club selection. He won the Drama Critics 1988 placed in the Fresno City and Counry Register of itHistoric and Award and the Pulitzer Prize for best play in 1940 for The Time Places. Ruben Saroyan of Fresno, the author's cousin of Your Life b:ut refused to accept the Pulitzer, saying "com- and confidant in his late years, said the two yards had 57 fruit merce had no business patronizing art." trees, among them olive, cherry, peach, pecan, persimmon, apple, Ed Hagopian, who lived in E[rope off and on from l95lloquat and pomegranate. 1987, credits a newspaper advertisement for his friendship with Ruben recalls the time that the power company cleaned debris Saroyan. In April 1960, in Paris, Hagopian "stumbled across" from around the lines in the yard, and Saroyan wouldn't allow a classified ad that went something like this: "William Saroyan, the workers to shred the tree limbs. "He said, 'Just stack them Armenian-American author, seeks an apartment overlooking up. It will be a good place for the birds.' " Ruben said.

Seine in exchange for three original manuscripts by author." Hagopian contacted Saroyan and a friendship ensued. While Saroyan had written the ad "as a lark," Hagopian says, he did help the author later to find an apartrnent. "He was living at a hotel and paying $45 a day. At the end of May he told me he wanted to move to Lisbon," Hagopian

neighbors would complain about the homes being

-"Sometimes a fre hazard. The Fire Department would come out, but just say "Hi" to him. Everybody was afraid to say, 'Bill, you've got to clean your house up.' "

Ruben and Saroyan friends say the writer had wanted the two Fresno homes and the Paris apartment to be maintained after his

AlM, May 1991

THE AUINTESSENTIAL

SAROYAN

1.{[i

1l,lxitri (ix ]'lit

fljllilx rlli]lI r'iri$Ti

llt:.rrlrlJrr: irj

lYlttl,{l{ Si\Ril}lI

ABRIT Bookstore presents a collection of William Saroyan's most important writings. These works burst and glitter with Saroyan's wit, vision and humanity, and form a definitive introduction to his literature, representing the QUINTESSENTIAT SAROYAN.

ABRILBOOKSTOREili:,LH,T,,t"iu?thE'i":T*,:??}fi ):t':333;

death for use by Armenian students and struggling wrircrs. But the William Saroyan Foun-

Lucy. Ruben Saroyan said that dur-

ing one period of time, Aram,

dation. headed by San Franciseo attomey Robert Setrakian, sold them after his death. That action and the linal rest-

who lives in Marin County, Califomia, would call monthly

to ask his father lor money "so

that your grandchildren won't

ing place of Saroyan's ashes remain a sore subject with

starve."

Ruben and another old liiend. Gail Sarkissian o1'Fresno. They maintain that Saroyan clearly specified that his ashes should be inumed in Fresno and Bitlis. The half taken to Armenia is in Ycrevan. But.Saroyan wrote several wills and the last one preparcrl a month before he died was ramrodded through by an attorney, says Ruben, who handled his cousin's legal and personal af-

lairs in his la:t lU years. "Everything in it was not what Bill wanted," Sarkissian said. She also thinks Saroyan's ashes in Fresno should bc moved

from the mausoleum, where they rest, to Ararat cemetcry, to

with fellow Armenians.

Sarkissian said Saroyan loved the Armenian cernetery in "He'd call me and say, 'Gail, Ict's go to Ararat.' He,cl Fresno. take some paper napkins and write while we were there. I think [moving his ashes] would be a lasting tribute." Saroyan often is remembered by lriends ancl associates as a blustery man with a boorning voice. His personal relationships were stormy. He twice married and divorced Carol N,larcus, a New York debutante, and they had two children, Aram and

Saroyan sent help,

but not happily, Ruben said. "Bill cnded up buying a home in Bolinas for Aram

scr

he couldn't call every month,"

Ruben

said. "Then Aram

called and said. 'Why didn'r you put it in my name?' Saroyan replied, 'lf I did, you,d sell

ir'."

On another occasion, Ruben said, Aram asked his lather to in rhe yarcl. Ruben said Saroyan bellowed, "Why didn't you get a pair ol pruning shears?'. Saroyan's relationship with his adult children remained a distant. strained one until his death. The bulk of his $3.1 million estate went to the William Saroyan Foundation, which he hacl

pay $500 for sculpturing the rrees

set up some 15 years earlier. For his family, Ararn and his three

children, Lucy and sister Cosefie, who has since passed away, Saroyan leti $150,000 to be disbursed only if one of them ls

dcemed to be "in need of care, support or mairtenance." Saroyan's penchant for gambling was legendary. Hagopian. the fiiend in Paris, remembers that in a period of two months in 1960, Saroyan lost "mosr of $60,000" gambling. He was a fixture at the track during the yearly Fresno Fair. But Saroyan also was a penny-pincher and a collector. He __l

Documentary Spans Eight Decades of Saroyan's Life iiiA

(fer

losrl"

The lirst words rhat William Saroyan spoke to Paul Kalinian did not seem to bode'well for the photographer's tlesire to make pictures of the famous writer. But Kalinian persisted. He eventually won Saroyan's trust and in 1976 capturcd a series of color photographs thar have been displayed worldwide. After Saroyan's death in 1981 and the renewed intcrest in his work, Kalinian embarked on a proiect that evolved into the onehour documentary film "William Saroyan: The Man, The Writer,' that premiered in April in Fresno. Kalinian is a native of Beirut, Lebanon, who works primarily as a portrait photographer in Fresno. He said he started exterisive research in 1984 on Saroyan's life with a documentary in mind. In the last lhree years. he said. hc spent four hours a day on the project. * The film spans eight decades-from rhe early 190()s until Saroyan's death. Ir opens with film lootage ol the author reminiscing about his past and then moves on to describe his career, based .on biographies, interviews, recordings, newspaper and magazine articles, personal recollections and Saroyan'i e*tensive works. The production includes home movies, i-il- footage in this country and during Saroyan's travels to Soviet Armen]a and recreated scenes of his boyhood in Fresno. The score containing period songs and original music is by paul Mazlikian, a Los Angeles composer. Armenian-American actor Mike Connors. another native Fres-

Photographer and filmmaker Paul Kalinian

nan, narrates the film. "People lwho view the film) wilt learn about Sarovan's life and Fresno," said Kalinian. "They will understand what"he wrote and his philosophy. I think people will see rhe rrue William Saroyan after viewing this film." Premieres in other U.S. cities and around the world are being scheduled, said Kalinian's daughrer, Susie, the film project coordinator. In addition, it will be made available on videotape for libraries, universities, schools and individuals. Fresno Educational. Cultural and Historic Projects-a new non-profit entity-is handling the film. Information about the docurnentary ij availatrle by writing FECH Projects. 839 E. Elizabeth, Fresno, California 93728. or by calling Paul Kalinian at (209) 442-17fi. t

AlM, May 1991

]

,,;-1,94&r:rr:.,, -,..,.. i

H6:r1&s apa@nt

on:,,East S&h Street in

Manhattan. t..lQ49:t,t,,:.

t.,,.::,,,.,

:-.

Saroyan divorces Carol Marcus in Reno. Visits Europe.

,slpyan'diiring a vislt to'Armonia

Sorayan

AlM, May 1991

The Final Gurtain For a man whose

was in two

heart

places-

Fresno and Armenia-it

was only fitting

want his ashes buried in

both.

fl'*,

..*

Half his ashes remain

Fresno, though his will specified that they be transferred to his parents' home of Bitlis should Turk-

,,bl

ish Armenia ever be regained. The other halt lies in the Komitas Panrheon in Yerevan, reserved for the country's greatest artists and intellectuals. Osheen Keshishian, editor and publisher of the Armenian Obseryer newspaper in Los Angeles, was one of a threeman party which carried the ashes from

Saroyan y[th hjs son Aram and daughter 'Lucy, walking in a Venice street 1963 Not Dying is publisneo. 1966

He forms the William Saroyan Foundation. 1

that

William Saroyan should

Califomia to their final resting place in Yerevan in May 1982, a year after

979

Saroyan learns he has cancer of the prostate but decides.againSt treatment. Publishes his final memoir, Obituaries. Makes will leaving virtualry his entire estate to the William Saroyan Foundation.

Saroyan's death.

They left Montreal on May 24 for Moscow with the ashes sealed and locked

in a metal urn. A group of

lievable scene." Hundreds more people were gathered outside the airport to watch as the ashes were driven in a motorcade to the writers' union building. On Saturday, May 29, an estimated 50,000 Armenians gathered to witness the burial at the Pantheon. A giant picture of the writer stood behind a platform as, for 90 minutes, speaker after speaker paid tribute. The Communist Party First Secretary Karen Demirchyan even flew back from a Moscow meeting specially to attend before retuming two hours later. Then the um was carried to Saroyan's

grave with the prime minister, the first secretary, the president of the Writers' Union, and the president of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Armenians Abroad as pall-bearers. After the burial, until midnight, hundreds of ordintry people lined up to place flowers on the grave or just to pay their respects. By morning the grave was a

writers led by dramatists Berj Zey lountzian, now Armenia' s Minister of Culture, and Aramashot Babayan came from Armenia to meet the ashes at Moscow airport.

"I felt this was a really heavy responsibility, ro take this man's ashes to Armenia,"

said Keshishian. "We were worried l.hat the um was going to be lost or stolen. We staved

ovemight in Moscow at I slept with the um in my bed.

"All the rime we were

thinking what happens

lose Saroyan's ashes."

Nothing could have

Saroyan points out directions to purdue University students playing roles in his play, High Time atoig ThdWabash

pre-

ers' Union president

Chronology trom Aram Saroyan's book "William Saroyan," p,!b- , lished, 1 983., by' Harcoiirt Brace Jovanovich

i I ]

to Writ-

"We got there right after midnight and I thought nobody would still be there. Bur

globe. Saroyan's writings popularized the Armenian name in literature and pop

He presented the ashes to the writers' union president Vartkes Petrosyan, then watched as writers who had gathered to pay homage passed the um around between them. "They just wanted to handle it for a second. Some people started to cry, some were in shock, it was an unbe-

culture, he said. "He was a flamboyant character who received many accolades. and a small people take pride in their big guys, their winners. His non-conformist attitude was probably another reason Armenians liked him, particularly in Armenia." Then flnally he sums it up: "They loved him because he was down-toearth." Halpin

AlM, May

1991

Yerevan air

of wreaths and bouquets. Keshishian attributed this outpouring to a people's respect for one of their own

there were at least 2,000 people still waiting under a canopy to see what this thing was," said Keshishian. .

presents Petrosyan

pared them for the reception awaiting the ashes in Yerevan. More than 10,000 people had gathered at the airport, but heavy rain and hail delayed the arri-

val of their aircraft for six hours.

1981

ln April, Saroyan is admilted to the Veterans Administration Hospital In Fresno. Dies on the morningj olirMay

sea

becoming so well-known around the

-Tony

\ilZtt-t-IAM

SenoYex

OMCIAL COUVIEMORATIVE STNUP CACHET f)esigned for the officialWilliam Saroyan U'S' Posal Sg*pthe U.S.S.ii. \ililliam Saroyan sramp. Both stamps have their First Day oflssue on lnc|,uies -\il.J".rday, May ZZ,lggl in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia and in Fresno, Califcrmia.

irem will be a family rreasure ancl makes a fine gift. it is on a #10 size light grey, acid free This - ^^* collecrors --;""|op., prinred withtrilliant embossed gold foil surroun.ling the pictures and enclosed in a special transparent archival sleeve to preserve it. Use rhe coupon below to order your

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Please make checks payable t<l William Saroyan Festival, 920 E. Yale Ave., Fresno. California 93704

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K6@ @eaaa6. Taken on December 7,19N) Photographed by Suzanne M. Dunaians

Available now in limited edition (250 orints)

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AlM, May 1991

I I

I I ! I

State YI ", - - -t -r - - - - -- -3L; ,

MEI(HITARIAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION IItut,PUfbUL trt'PUqUL +ULUltt,

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LOS AI{GELES EXTENSTVE AND AUTHENTIC COURSES OF ARMENOLOGY ORGANIZED AND SUBSIDIZED

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August 1-30. United Armenian Congreg. Church Center 3480 Cahuenga Bl., Los Angeles' Armenian language (Krabar and Ashkharabar), History of the Armenian People, Literature, History of Armenian Art, Communities, Commerce, Philosophy, Theater, Church, Monachism, Spirituality, Liturgy, Canon Law, Medicine etc. This authentic and intensive program in Armenolory is geared to assist Armenian schools, academically preparIng knowledgeable educators, skilled personnel, culti,rutit g leadeis and intellectuals for the educational, cultuial and national life of the Armenian Communities'

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* For further information and Application Form tional Foundation's Office: 702F.. Glenoaks Bl.-Glendale, CA. 9t207, Telephone: (818) 546-1967 - Fax: (818) 548-1166

please contact the Mekhitarian Educa-

fllched items here and there-a hook used in reconstruction ol' a Paris cathedral. fbr example-and picked up all sorts of discards hc lbund on the streets while bicycling. His homes were filled with pebblcs, pennies, bags ol'rose pctals, memcntoes ol' his travels. stacks of newspapers ancl magazines, thousands of' books. envclopes, receipts, basebalt citrds and other trivia. His nephew Hank Saroyan, the writer and music producer of

TV's "Muppet Babies" cartoons, found out aboui Sarovan,s thritiiness in 1914. He visitccl his unclc in paris and got a personal tour of the city. The pair visitecl sites liom Notre Dirne

Cathedral to a worlcl-limous rcstauranl. Maxint,s. But thcv did not dine there. Unclc Bill went .just long enough to get a riewspaper from a rnaitre d' who saved thcnr for hirn. "When I said he didn't need to go to Maxim'sjusr ro gr,r an American newspaper. he said,'yes, but I comc irere to got a

It saves me a quarter."' Sarkissian recalls anolher side ol'Sar<lyan. perhaps unknown

free ncwspaper.

to many, in this touchine vignette: "One day he came to visit

He Garved His Friendship For Saroyan ln Granite L

a towfl loved its native son, Fresno

"u.,William Saroyan. loves Thanks

to the efforts of the author-

playwright's frien<Is and the William Saroyan

Festival Committee, his memory is enshrined in several locations throughout the city, with

at least onc more lo come.

Armenian-born sculptor Varaz Samuclian

of Fresno, a longtime crony of Saroyan,

responsible lbr creating two of the monuments in place. i1e has completed a third and is seeking a location for ii. Samuelian created the bronze bust outside the William Saroyan Theatre, a 2,350-seat hall that is part of the city,s downtown Convention Center. The theater was named foi Saroyan

in 198 l. In Fresno's Courthouse Park, a 7-foot-tall stone monument created by Samuelian was dedicaied o" Muv i, iqgs. rt. *onu:nTt f^eapre_s-a.bronze relief of Saroyan's face adoming the top half of the 30-inch-wide slabIt is made of the darkest granite, imporred from India, and is the same material used in tie Vieinam Veterans M";;;*l i; shortly after he died

Washington, D.C._Etched in the stone are the dates of Su.o!un;, birth and death. It also records his Armenian heritage unO ti, distincrion as rhe lirst American playwright to win boih rhe pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics' Circie Aivard in the same vear. Inscribed on the bottom of the monument is the Sarovan quote, 'I .came to see from rhe perspective of far-away ciiies some of the charm and some of the depth of dimension ind po_ tential of Fresno.' Saroyan's monument jr:ins those of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Dr, Chester-Rowell, a former Fresno mavor and physician. It is located on the southwest comer of the park, overlooking the spot where Saroyan sold newspapers as a'boy, and not far from the downtown theater. Samuelian said at rhe rime the statue was dedicated rhat having

the opportunity to preserve his friend's memoly was an honorl "lt makes me feel wonderlul. He was a good man." said Samuelian. But he acknowtedged that Saroyari Ou.ing fri, .u.cessful life was very shy aboit public attention. Had he still been alive, said Samuelian, Saroyan probably would have wamed his friends against making such i fuss. " "He protrably wouldn't have winted it,,,saii the artist. ..But we want it. He gave us something very important. What he cre-

me at work. I was busy and nrcntionecl that I couldn,t leave at noon, as I usually did, to go feed my rnother. who was in a nursing home. So he went to the nursinc homc and fed hcr.,' Sarkissian, retired claims processor at Fresno's Vetcrans Administration Medical Center where Saroyan clied liom pros_ trate cancer, said his illness dicl not have to be lirtal. ',His cancer was easily treatable," she said. ',1 sct hinr up tbr radiol_ ogy treatment. but he rejected thcm and went to E,urope fbr a

final trip."

Hagopian had a similar expericnce ycars earlicr in paris. Saroyan, who suffbred litr many ycars from blecding ulcers, refused treatmenr that Hagopian had ar-ranged. .,Basically he was terrif icd of doctors and hospitals," Hagopian said. Rubcn Saroyan said his cousin seemed resigned to death. "He tolcl me that none o1-the worlcl's grcat wrlters fraa eue, lived past 70," saicl Ruben. "He livcd all the way he wanted to live. He hacl a good lil-e...

ated and gave to Fresno

'we have to remember." Samuelian, whose works have been shown in New York, Paris, and around the world, hopes to place his third monu-

ment

Saroyan in

front of the

Fresno

County Free Library, a

lavorite haunt

of the

late author.

The

32-foot-tall

statue, two years in the

making, is a brightly

colored abstraction that includes a bust of the

writer, an armtul of

books and his beloved bicycle. The Saroyan Fesrival Committee sponsored a

fund drive to finance

:s Sculptor Varaz Samuelian with Sarovan head belore mounting atop statue

the

monument. One

frory

a teacher of English at a university near Tokyo. Ben

$SO donation

came

Amirk-

hanian, chairman of the committee, wis the woman,s host when she made a trip to Fresno to leam more about the author. She told Arnirkhanian that Japanese universities use several Saroyan

books in English classes. On May 22. the Fresno Metropolitan Museum will dedicate a permanent Saroyan exhibit featuring pictures and anifacts from his life. Included will be the gold Oicar statuette that Saroyan won from the Academy of Motion picture Arts and Sciencei in 1943- for Best Screenpl ay tor The Httman Comer\.. The Oscar, which had been in the possession of Saroyan,s sister Cosette, disappeared for a while and earlierthis vea, t,lm"d

up in a

S_an

pawn shop. Owner Darryl Kaplan is

-Francisco donating the Oscar to l.he William Saroyan Foundation,'which will present it to the Fresno Museum. Other tributes to Saroyan by his hometown are a commemorative plaque near the site_of his birthplace and the designarion of his'last residence as a local historical site. A large sign with his caricature welcoming visitors to ..Sa_ royan Country" is placed in. the neighborhood where he grew up. Anolher sign calls attention to the site of Emerson Scfrool. where Saroyan arrended classes as a young boy and which he mentioned in his stories. I

AlM, May 1991

-,, 43

]

get B's, and then come home from boarding school with

armload of awards. It was at Harvard that his theatrical and directorial talents converged. He resumed acting in student productions, directed at the university's Experimental Theater and produced the annual "Hasty Pudding" awards show. He made Harvard history twice-first for being allowed to major in filmmaking and literature, and secondly *hen a theater piece was approved for his senior thesis: a musical adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering

Heights, using music from Kate Bush, Billy Idol and Madonna. A videotape

of this unique project viewed two years before stood out in Madonna's mind while searching for a last-minute replacement to film performance and backstage footage of the Blond Ambition had moved to Los Angeles from the East Coast, and was producing music videos for

Tour. At this time, Alek

Bobby Brown, Elton John, and Vanessa Williams-but working with Madonna was his dream. So in Perfect Hollywood tradition, one day he received a phone call from her, asking

him to come watch a Blond Ambition rehearsal.

Three days later he was in TokYo, and what was originallY to be a TV special turned into a full-length feature

film.

By KATHERINE CHILJAN Assistant Edltor magine a l0-year-old boy on the rehearsal stage for a production of Menotti's "Amal and the Night Visitors"'complaining that the tempo is off, and having the conductor igree! And have seasoned players claim they leamed correct bieathing techniques from the kid. Now imagine the child a bit older, a young film director, making demands to and

disobeying the world's most popular pri-Madonna, and also getting away with it. You have just melAlek Keshishian, wtrosi doc-umeniary on Madonna, entitled "Truth or Dare: On the Road, Behind the Scenes and In Bed with Madonna," had its Hollywood premiere on MaY 5. The controv-ersial documentary follows Madonna-as well as her colorful entourage of dancers, managers, assistants, family' and then-boyfriend Warren Beatty-through her -4-month Blond

Ambition TLur, which began in Japan, March 1990. the documentary is Keshishian's first feature to make him as well known as his subject.

age

26,

film, and promises

Originally from Lebanon, Alek and his family settled in Boston, where his father set up a radiology practice. When Alek's artistic talents manifested, his classical training began. He studied violin at the Boston Conservatory of Music and Dance from a scholarship at New York City's School of American Ballet. As an actor, he toured nationally with the American Children's Theater and sang lead roles with the Boston

Lyric

Opera. Raised in a family big on education, Alek graduated summa

cum laude from the prestigious St. Paul's School in New Hamsphire, then took a year at the Universit6 de Paris, Sorbonne, before he started at Harvard, where he also graduated

summa cum laude. He tended to downplay his obvious academic brilliance. It would always confuse his parents when he told them he would

Throughout the tour, Keshishian had amassed 250 hours of l6mm blackand-white "home movies" with voyeuristic appeal. Madonna had granted Keshishian's camera and crew (mute and dressed in black) carte blanche to film every waking moment with her, a "marathon we had both committed to

run."

He was also granted final cut rights to the film, which was pared down to two hours of choice moments interspersed with color footage from the concerts.

"To me color symbolizes the world of light, artifice and theatricality that Madonna lives in part of the time," says the director. "The black-and-white conveys the grittier reality of her private life." Alek has been quoted as feeling "miserably underachieved" at age 26, which is no exaggeration when one meets the Keshishian family. Besides being a doctor, dad Kervork Keshishian has authored four books and is board member of the International AGBU (Alek was named after the AGBU's founder, Alex Manoogian). Mom Cecile has been actively involved in hospital administration, most recently serving on the nominating committee of the National American Medical Association. Alek's younger sister Aleen also graduated summa cum laude from St. Paul's School and magna cum laude from Harvard. A casting agent in New York, Aleen believes that it was Alek and Madonna's shared love of film classics and literature that contributed to mutual respect and trust, which was ultimately reflected on film. She's proud to show

off her brother in the numerous

magazine articles, but she thinks that Alek is even moie creative and talented than he comes across in

AlM, May 1991

Courtesy ol Miramax Films

them.

L 6

Aleen claims no sibling rivalry, only a "special happiness for hi1." She also gives a lot of credit to their mother, who put

considerable time and energy and devotion into what they wanied

she

to do. "Besides teaching Armenian language and hist6ry,

spent hours driving us to violin lessons, singing and dance E o lessons, and art lessons. She ingrained us with the philosophy: o 'if you do something, do your best'." For a superstar to grant complete artistic freedom-as well as financial backing-to an unknown in the film business is no small feat. Alek attributes his success "to hard work, luck, perseverance, training-but most of all perserverance. you should never stop knocking on doors, getting footholds

and never giving up." "Once upon a time I had a script when I was still in college. I showed it to a few Armenian organizations but nobody showed interest. Each group had a different idea of how it should be made. I ended up throwing up my hands, and I resolved that I'm not going to rely on Arme-

nians to help me thought

in my personal career. I I'd get there faster on my own, and I

did... I had Madonna-the world's biggest superstar-take a chance on me over many others."

Alek has strong views about film presentation of the Armenian Genocide. Because enough

SUPERSTAR & NEWBORN STAR: Madonna with director Atek

Keshishian

and responsibility to do this." If the success of Madonna's tours and extreme popularity is any indication, then "Truth or Dare" may be one of the most successful concert documentaries ever made. Its racy and provocative scenes may be interpreted as smart sensationalist devices, but Alek would not agree. "The biggest misconception about her is that people think that the business comes beforb the art-it doesn't. She really believes and lives in her life offstage the way she does on." Alek interprets Madonna's message as "one of love, and her goal is to get rid of any kind of prejudices-wherher religious,

material of misery and commiseration has already it's time for a change in genre. "It would have to be a personal story, shot against the backdrop of the massacres; in other words, nobody wants to see a historical documentary, but if you make it like The Year of Living Dangerously or The Killtng Fields, tng rrcMs, the rne information lnrorrnatlon comes through but the film tilm also indulges the eyes and touches the heart. You do it like Dr. racial or sexual-and erase hypocricy and dogmatism (for Zhivago, set against the Russian Revolution, or Lawrence of example, organized religion). Arabia. "There is an affinity between her philosophy and mine and "The biggest irony that I see is that we have so many very, I support her stand for truth and what is right.', very wealthy Armenians around the world-in Beverly Hills, Now a close friend and member of her family circle, Mathe East Coast, in Paris, Lisbon-and yet we haven't been able donna sees Alek as "another me," and views the whole docuto get the financing to make one really beautiful, prestigious Te$ary experience as "better than five years of psychoanalyand dramatic film about the Armenian massacres. What we sis." She has visited at his parent's home and likes Armeniin need is leadership and I'm afraid that there is so much intemal food, especially baklava. After the Los Angeles and New york politics (between Armenian organizations) that ultimately the opening_s of "Truth or Dare," Alek will take the movie directly factional rivalries will stand in the way of realizing such a to the Cannes Film Festival; and as soon as "Truth" is behinil project." him, Alek will be working on two feature films. I Alek suggests making the movie independently and then selling it to film distributors. "you'll never get Hol- E lywood insiders to make such a movie, because they iE won't buy the idea. We have a lot of resources and Ed 6 with a few wealthy people putting in half a million (dollars) each, a seed money of $10-15 milion could =o be brought together to make a very beautiful feature. Once the money is put together, there are dozens of name actors and actresses who would be willing to star in it." A film with an Armenian/American angle, for example, could be very successful. "I had done a lot of research on this for my own script: there were many American missionaries in Turkey during the time of the massacres. So there you find an American angle-the massacres witnessed through the eyes of Americans romantically involved with local Christian Armenians. And American audiences would relate to that perspective. been produced, Alek feels

"So we have the intrinsic resources and yet nobody seems to be stepping up to take the initiative A scene from the moyle

Crones omong Eogles The Armenian Struggle

for ldentity in America and realistic manner that the reader suspects some autobiographical background elements, and there are some hints in a newspaper interview with Khanbegian about his book. "I struggled with the na-

Garoong (The Crane)

By Peter Khanbegian Wright Publishing House, NH 1988, pp 462, $18.95

Alii By Dr. FBED ASSADOURIAN

Revlewed lor

he struggle to maintain

some

form of ethnic identity during the inevitable process of Americani-

zation has been faced by manY immigrants and their offspring. Garoong (crane, a bird symbolizing the Armenian yearning for a homeland, often written as "groong") offers an excellent fictional portrayal of one version of this process. A professional quality-control engineer with a flair for storytelling, Peter Khanbegian spreads his narrative chain across three generations. The

first generation consists of a married Armenian couple, both

immigrants. The second focuses on a son and his non-Armenian

wife, leading to the third generation of a half-Armenian son. Instead of the generation chain pointing un-

brokenly toward

as-

similation, it closes on itself with the grand-

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bondage with his intensely Armenian grandfather.

This type of linkage undoubtedly sur-

prise many ArmenianAmericans. The more common trend, as reported by Ms. Mary

Ann Aposhian in her fact-filled "Clinging to Ethnic Heritage in America," (AIM,

Feb. 1991) is aptly described by "Armenians of the first generation seem to have inherent cultural strengths that are lost by the third generation." But Park Diroch (the Lord be praised!), Garoong illustrates a powerful exception. The story unfolds in such a personable

Dr. Fred Assadourlan, a consultant on

satellite communicatlon systems, ls chalr' man of the Arant literary quarterly edito' rld board

AlM, May 1991

of the Old World and life in America," he stated. "A lot of my life is in this book.... As a child, the world inside my home was Armenian. At times I never knew where I belonged. It was difficult being torn between two worlds." Incidentally, the author was encouraged

ditions

and supported in the writing of the book by his non-Armenian wife. Flowing along smoothly and enjoyably, Garoong is full of suspenseful twists and tums. Near the beginning, immigrants Sahag and Raisscia marry in Massachubuy a farm in New Hampshire with a fellow immigrant, Avedis, and are close to Nevart (who becomes an expert lawsetts,

yer) and her family.

Their son Antranig becomes almost com-

pletely Americanized in college, where he

enjoys the company

of Jim and

his yacht-club

wealthy friends.

Badly wounded in World War II and miraculously revived by young nurse Kate from Cape Breton, he

marries her despite

Sahag's

condemna-

tion. Lance is bom and serves as a clever

agent

reconcili-

ation. Sahag later greatly approves of Kate:

must admit,

for an odar, she has been a wonderful and

understanding woman. I doubt if there would have been for my son a better bond with an Armenian." While growing up, Lance is encouraged by Kate (but not Antranig!) to leam about his dual ethnic background. Kate once tells Sahag: "I guess he's got the Scots' temper and the Armenian stubbornness'..

My mother says he's either going to be brilliant and make a mark in this world or he'll end up in jail." At 18, handsome Lance emerges six feet tall and all "A" student in college, hoping to direct his studies toward the Armenian Question, to the chagrin of Antranig. He forms a fast

friendship with slightly built Karamine, and contact with her obnoxious brother leads to shocking developments. Jailed after nearly committing a terrible crime, his release is arranged by Nevart with a dismissal of charges because he had not been read the Miranda provisions before arrest. He heads for the farm to find mortified and sorrowing Sahag. Both realizing that his criminal intent was improperly traceable to an attitude inherited from Sahag, they pray "Der Voghorm-

yah" ("Lord Have Mercy, for

have

sinned").

At the finish,

an Armenian reader faces

a challenging question: "Where do you stand in this matter?" This well-balanced and informative book could profit from a table of contents, chapter headings and dates

of im-

portant events. Also, the implication expressed by Ingrid to Lance that the conductor Herbert von Karajan and General Heinz Guderian are Armenian is incorrect, and the association by other

Noreinontogo anffiere else foraHome Equrff ["oan orLineof Credit.

characters of the Biblical Garden of Eden

with Armenia may represent wishful thinking. In any event, Garoong offers an

excellent addition to the not widely known but frequently covered subject of Armenian ethnicity in modern American litera-

/ef

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ture. The interested reader can observe at least one recent treatment in the novel Mamigon (1982) by the widely read Jack Hashian. Another is found in James Clavell's Noble House (1981) in which Casey (a main character, Kamalian Ciranoush Tcholokian), whose grandparents went to New York after 1918, renders a marvelously succinct review of Armenian history and massacres while representing a U.S. firm in Chirw. Anyone desiring a non-jictional account of the earlier Armenian-Americans will be amply rewarded in Robert Mirak's Tom between Two Lands: Armenians in America, 1890 to World Wx l, (1983). A good representative portrayal of the survival of the Armenian identity in other countries is available in the literary quarterly Ararat's Autwnn 1990 issue

on "Armenians in Poland."

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AlM, May

1991

Memories of Mesopotamia Ancient, Modern Cultures Collide in Ardash's Art It is the dialectic or the "murBy NEERY UELKOIIIAN mur" between such differing schools that Ardash seeks to capture in his

art. His recent body The tree did not see it. The storm did not feel it. But, when the two met... there was a murmur. Ardarlh

work en-

titled "Memory," which oPened April 26 at Shidoni Contemporary Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, clearly indicates the artist's mastery of European traditions in painting.

or the haqi-Armenian painter Ardash, creativity lies within that "murmur." Like Zen poetry, the thoughts expressed above reveal the quintessence of a philosophy which, over a span of 40 years, has defined the paintings, poetry and socio-political views of this prolific man. Ardash's education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (first in architecture,

At the same time, these Paintings embody the narvet6 of a deprived

then

in fine

arts) combined with his exposure to life in Iraq, France, Egypt, India, Africa and, more recently, the United States, has led the artist to formulate a unique perspective on the history of 20th-Century art.

child who grew up absorbing the wealth and mysticism of ancient Mesopotamian civilizations. For Ardash, who was bom to survivors of the Genocide in Mosul and was raised by his grandmother (whose image frequently appears in

his

Memory #15, 40"x52"

has become a

fragile yet fertile site, where the artist's diverse and often opposing cultural heritages merge, not just to preserve but to create new cultural identities.

The significance of this piece lies in Ardash's skillful manipulation of techniques, which incorporate elements from

The eight works exhibited at Shidoni were done during the past two years of Ardash's resi-

the artist's ability to integrate a colre-

compositions) since he was orphaned at the age of two, "Memory"

dency in Southern California and

represent a mature culmination of his formal and

contextual concems in painting.

"Memory #14," for example, is a diptych that portrays a family on

a boat. The first half of this predominantly black-

and-grey compo-

sition depicts woman and

child Memory #14, 88"x60", two panels "There have been two dominant ten-

dencies in contemporary painting," the artist explains. "Take Cubism in comparison to Surrealism, for example; one is based on the rational-it is dependent on technology or various beliefs in progress and is obliged by society, while the other springs from an individual's imagination, which relies on probing the subconscious or wrestling with emotions."

a a

barely

standing, with

questioning expressions and hand gestures. They point to an outline of a reclining male figure on the second panel. In comparison to the latter, the frst half is executed in a mgre realistic genre where tighter brush strokes are applied. The complementary panel, however, which depicts the male figure with a distorted arm caught in a violent tide, utilizes a looser expressionist approach and is barely recognizable. AlM, May 1991

classical

contemporary styles, and in

sponding, even though fragmented, nar-

ration. With its dark background, this painting ultimately stands as a powerful commentary on the present disfranchise-

ment

of the family institution and its

relation

to an overall socio-political

in-

stability.

Upon first contact, almost all of

Ardash's paintings have a magnetic quality. They induce in us feelings similar to reading romantic novels by authors such as Stendhal, Dostoyevsky or Raffi who are known to seduce a reader by their unpretentious yet lengthy introductions before they unleash a hidden punch line. "Memory #15," for instance, appears to be a casual, almost decorative, portrayal of a woman in an austere landscape. The small boat at a distance, however, (like the figure of a bird which Ardash often interjects in his works to symbolize migration or displacement) alters or resists simplistic readings of the composition.

Obsewing sexuality In the past, critics have addressed the voyeuristic aspect of Ardash's paintings. Occasionally represented by an adolescent male figure (a self-portrait of the artist) surrounded by sensual yet unattainable images of women, this characteristic, as

seen in "Memory #, ' h;;*, * ,o unravel issues relaled to human scxuality.

But Ardash's explorations

lranscend of the

the realm of the subjective. He is

opinion that traditional communities in general lack a constructive communion with their sexuality. The source of this

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centuries-old dilemma, according to

Ardash. is "the absence of tolerance for change on behalf ol'conservative Christian-in many cases synonymous with pol

itical-doctrines. "

To support his conviction,

Ardash points out the changing role of women in society since the advent of Christianity.

"Women had many attributes in pagan times; they were deified because of their bontribution to the welfare of a community." Women were gradually excluded from such processes due to "extremist religious and political strategies that were adopted for survival." To overcome these ruptures, Ardash believes that the rewriting of history from a more critical perspective is a nccessary firsl step. "To continue brainwashing our children by teaching them that the battle of Avarayr was a victory is like rrying to convince the world that Saddam Hussein led a moral victory in the recent Gulf crisis," he comments. "That is suicidal." With the collaboration of a Belgian

botanist/entrepreneur

and

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Ardash in his Malibu, Calif., studio

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AlM, May 1991

The Gulf War & its Aftermath:

Did the Media Tell the

Truth?

By FLORENCE AVAKTAN Special to AIM

ight after night, the medium of television has brought us heart-

of suffering Kurdish refugees. Pictures of dying babies, shivering, mudstreaked children, grief-stricken mothers wailing over open graves sear into our consciousness. Newspapers and news magazines add detailed descriptions of the horror, all of which give rise to strong emotions. This is the power of the eyewitness picture and story. Unlike the Kurds of today, Armenians rending images

in l9l5 did not have television and teams of reporters following them as they were forcibly deported under the cover of war,

tortured, starved, kidnapped, raped, slain by Turkish gendarmes (and Kurdish villagers), on the road to the sun-scorched deserts of Syria. References to the Armenian Genocide and a picture of Armenian refugees waiting to receive their daily rations in Marash, 1929, have ap-

peared in the April 14 issue of The New York Times to obviously strengthen its stories on the Kurdish refugees. In the current crisis unleashed as a result of the ferocious Gulf War, the graphic footage by the national media, especially television, humanized a faraway-and for many, unheard of-people, causing the American public to demand an alleviation of their suffering. However, during

the six-week U.S.-led war, when a far greater number of Iraqis were killed, there

was little media coverage, and thus sympathy, for them, or for the Iraqi refugees fleeing to Jordan (some bombed

while they escaped). They weren't

newsworthy as the Kurds are now. Even today, twb-and-a-half months after the war's end, there are still no figures about the number of Iraqi war dead which AlM, May 1991

some estimates put as high as 300,000, including 100,000 civilians (called "col-

lateral damage" by the military). When asked about this, Gen. Colin Powell reportedly responded: "It is not a figure I'm very much interested in." A New York Times news analysis on March 31 ran the headline, " 'Clean Win' in the War with

Iraq Drifts into a Bloody Aftermath,"

'Clean Win' being the quote of Colin Powell. And in aWashington Post chart

listing U.S. casualties, Iraqi losses included a detailed breakdown of tanks, armored vehicles, artillery pieces and aircraft, but no mention of human life.

Likewise, this selective coverage

has

extended to the postwar period, with the media chiefly focusing on the Kurds who

fled to the borders of Turkey, virtually

ignoring twice as many in Iran, the Shiites

in the south and the thousands of

Iraqis

currently in danger of dying from famine and epidemics. Very little coverage has also been extended to the many Palestinian, Sudanese and Philippine residents in Kuwait who have been-and still are being -raped, tortured and killed by Kuwaiti soldiers.

Again, while reporting of Iraqi atrocities has been frequent and graphic, the cruelty committed by U.S. ally Turkey against the current Kurdish refugees has scarcely been covered. Besides closing its border, Turkey which received much Western aid, abused the refugees, even preventing supplies from reaching them. Virtually the only help these victims received were from Turkish Kurds. For decades, Turkey's

l0 million Kurds

have

Florene Avakian is a New York'basecl free-lance iournalist and accredited United Nations corresqondent

been subjected to harassment, detention, torture and killings, as documented by

Amnesty International and Helsinki Watch. All these facts were infrequently reported and in an obtuse way by the media. On the other hand, Iran, which received

almost no intemational aid, organized a massive effort not only to supply tents, water tanks, vaccines, latrines, showers and daily food distribution, but also to try to absorb the huge numbers into its towns and villages. Coverage in this case was downplayed. This postwar news selectivity almost exactly following the U.S. government's position was at its height during the war period. It was only at the conclusion of this most micro-managed war in history (reaping what a United Nations study called "near apocalyptic results" in lraq), that the U.S. military finally admiued that 70 percent of the more than 90,0fi) tons of bombs thrown on Iraq and Kuwait did not hit their intended targers. This refuted the daily pasteurized military brief-

ings, with hand-selected video clips, emphasizing the precision targeting by bombs.

senseless annihilation of defenseless

people, a firestorm of incredible magnitude way out of proportion to the strength of the other side" is the way Professor Stephen Isaacs, associate dean of the Columbia University School of Journal-

ism, called the Gulf War. "All the media participated in the cheerleading," withThe New York Times and CBS as the worst offenders, he said. (A cartoon accompanying a Feb, I Times op-ed piece showed a filthy, flea-infested Saddam Hussein at the bottom of an evolutionary scale, below snakes and apes, reminiscent of racist Nazi propaganda intended to demonize and sub-humarize.) Rules of attribution, a cardinal rule in journalism, were not followed, said Isaacs who has been a CBS producer, newspaper editor and news director. "Jingoism led to the media's ignoring of dissent." (Faimess and Accuracy in Reporting, a media watch group, has reported that only l%o of all the national media covered opposition voices. On the eve of the war, 42Vo of Americans favored negotiation

over war. These views were virtually

ignored on national television.) Barry Zorthian, chief U.S. government spokesman in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968,

system with military escorts and the pretransmission review gave the military the ways to achieve its goal of a "distilled,

controlled version of events." These restrictions were "not necessary" for the "protection of military security and accurate coverage... Commented Zorthian: "I think the Pentagon has set the precedent for press coverage

for future

wars."

ROGER K. DERDERIAN FINANCIAL CONSULTAIYT

SHEARSON }J

MHMAN

coverage by the press. Zorthiar, who has served with the U.S.

foreign service, and is a former Vice President of Time, Inc. and program manager with the Voice of America, said that the military's restrictions of the pool

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Love's Labors Lost Technology Dims Polymodol Composer Yordumion's Musicol Sporkle in "Suite" Alll By HIGHAEL H. ARSHAGOUNI

Reviewed for

RICHARD YARDUMIAN : "Armenian Suite;" Symphony No.2, "Psalms." Lili Chookasian (contralto); Utah SYmphony Orchestra, Varuian Koiian. Phoenix CD l12 (39 minutes: DDD)

or the average Armenian listener, "Armenian Suite" certainly provides the highlight in this record-

ing of music by Richard Yar-

dumian. From the opening trumpet call to the final crash of the cymbals, the composer's love for his

Armenian heritage

of "Antsrevn yegav." But all too often the folk idiom eludes them. The playing of the solo trumpet theme of "Introduction," based on the folk-song "The Harvest," sounds too stark and militaristic, showing little of the joy found in reaping the fruit of the farmer's labor. One wishes for more tendemess and lilt in "Lullaby" and "Interlude." And too often, the orchestra plays out of tune (for example, from 22"-30" in "Finale").

Undoubtedly, some of this lack of involvement stems from the quality of the recording itself. Nowhere do the strings blossom into full-bodied sound; rather, they sound muddled and thin, a direct result of the shallow and unrealistic re-

YOUR SPECTACULAR TRIP/VOYAGE IS JUST A PHOilE CALL AWAV!

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melodies.

Originally a six-movement work written in 1937, the

great American conductor Eugene Ormandy suggested that the composer add a seventh movement as a finale. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra premiered the suite with this additional movement on March 5, 1954. One year

later they recorded a livelY and, at times, probing account of the work. As such, any new

of "Armenian Suite" rests in its shadow.

recording

Phoenix has enterprisinglY remastered the 1982 Varese Sarabande recording by the

Utah Symphony under its then music director Varujan Kojian. Unfortunately, this latest version cannot compare to the magnificent earlier Philadelphia recording. Throughout, one notices a lack of involvement on the part of the orchestra. Kojian coaxes some beautiful passages out of his players; the variety of orchestral colors sparkle in "Song," and enthusiasm abounds in "Dance I." In "Finale," one senses that both conductor and orchestra have found the tempo giusto for the quodlibet (not quodibet as the liner notes say), which combines the mblodies of the earlier movements while adding the tune

3500 W. Olive Ave. Suite 102 Burbank, CA 91505 cording. For example, the embarrassing lack of clarity in the final crescendo of "Dance I" destroys the effect of a poten-

tially powerful and exhilarating moment. And the final buildup from 2'21" of "Finale," very much in the style of "The Great Gate of Kiev" from Mussorgsky's Pictures from an Exhibition, needs the spacious sound of a truly modem recording but gets no help from the engineers. Symphony for the mind

But while "Armenian Suite" will cap-

ture the heart and soul of the Armenian listener, Symphony No.2 will challenge AlM, May 1991

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his intellectual side. This symphony proves that Yardumian is capable of far more than being a "pops" or "greatest

hits" composer. Using his own "quadradic" system, Yardumian creates a piece with true symphonic aspirations. Though the work is not long, only 23 minutes, it incorporates a variety of musical inventions. As with "Armenian Suite," Yardumian parodies existing melodies in this work, quoting portions of Martin Luther's hymn "Aus tiefer Noth" and the Armenian folk-song "Haperpan" (which he also uses in "Armenian Suite"). The Philadelphia Orchestra, again with Ormandy, premiered the first movement under the title "Psalm 130" in 1955. Nine years later, Ormandy suggested that Yardumian compose a second movement for contralto Lili Chookasian. For continuity, Yardumian reworked the original tenor part in "Psalm 130" for contralto. The choice of text used in the symphony (from Psalms 130,95,22,24, and 121) allows

the composer to create a reflective and meditative work. In 1981, the composer revised the work again, and Kojian chose this version for his recording. The symphony, all in all, fares much better than does "Armenian Suite." The orchestra plays with a greater degree of fire and brilliance, especially in the clos-

ing fugal passage. But, as in the suite, a rather shallow and muddy recording mars the performance. The choice of soloist is fitting. Miss Chookasian, who has had a long and successful career, sang in the premiere

the complete symphony in 1964 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ormandy, and she recorded it with them that same year. Although she brings an undeniable air of authority to her reading, her voice no longer has the freshness it did in 1964, and at this stage of her career her intonation is suspect. At times, the microphones pick up a beat in her voice. But there are some wonderful moments. The beauty of "This is the generation that seek Him,... the King of glory shall come in" is sheer magic. As well, the closing passage makes the listener wish for more. These two works show two sides of an important Armenian composer. The balance of the recording and the recessed sound make for rather uncomfortable and disappointing listening. Nevertheless, it is

good to have both works back in the catalogue. One can only hope that a truly first-rate orchestra will record these pieces in state-of-the-art sound. In the meantime, these will have to do. r

a Ph.D. candidate, studies historical musicology-Roval at UCLA, has studied conductino at the Colleoe of Music in Londoln, and hotdd an MFA-in Michael Arshagouni,

conducting

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Fuming for Freedom A Yerevan Denizen

Toasts the Capital City

through Haze of Smoke By VIKEN BERBERIAN

t is early moming and Yerevan is yawning- But some-

where in this sprawling city Torkom Beleyan is awake and coughing. He smokes nearly two packs a day, preferably Winstons. Lighting cigarette after cigarette, Soviet Armenians have turned their lungs into black, foreboding mines. Dig a little further into Beleyan's past and you will find layir after layer of broken values and beliefs. Once brighter than a deep red ruby, Communism has lost its color, Beleyan

will tell you. It is late morning and Yerevan is stretching. Beleyan squats in his runty Volga and heads out to work' Pulling lever after

lever, Soviet Armenians have tumed their hands into hard, fighting fists. Once in thrall to Soviet power, freedom is breaking loose here, Beleyan will inform you. It is high noon and Yerevan is awake. Factories let off smoke into the sky, and with each Puff

Custom requires that arms rise high above heads, swaying back and forth. Beleyan lowers his arm. Everyone listens intently. The longer the toast-the more florid and intricate his oratory-the higher his approval rating. Beleyan finally ends with a poetic flourish, paying homage to the horses who have gone into battle for Armenia. "If Armenia is a bow you are its pointed arrows," he says' "Go arrows, go." Crystal glasses are emptied. - Faced with hardship, Soviet Armenians have tumed a casual toast into a triumph of the soul. And so, unlike any other part of the day, a special evening in Yerevan is worth an entire

month's pay' Beleyan will shock

you'

It is midnight and is asleep. The

Yerevan

city is left naked in elemental peace. You can almost breathe freedom in the air, feel the Hraztan

flowing through

your veins, until a flame illuminates the sky and an armored vehicle rolls dis-

of poison, the economy Plows ahead. Beleyan sweats

and coughs to earn a living. But with

all his

creetly by. Beleyan gets

tion are seldom applied here. For every action do not exPect a

window is a war machine. Shouting battle cry after battle cry, Soviet Armenians have grown weary of Moscow's heavy hand. Caught in a paradox of

sweating and all his coughing, somehow. there is very little movement to be found. Newtonian laws of mo-

out of bed. Below

reaction, Beleyan will warn you. It is early aftemoon and Yerevan is idling. Officials navigate citizens through bureaucratic mazes. Outside, hours fly by like doves in the sky. Hailing a cab takes fifteen minutes. Making a phone call takes nine minutes.

his

dependency and secession, quick change can

fall victim to Moscow's aggression, Beleyan will taunt you.

It is three in the mom-

Buying bread takes seventeen minutes. Standing in queue after queue, Soviet Armenians live

ing and Yerevan rolls

Beleyan will

coughing.

over. But somewhere in this strange city Torkom

Beleyan

their lives waiting for Godot, show you.

and Yerevan is on break. But on Prospect, the bustling market is a financial magnet commanding respect. From chickpeas to cheese, marmalade and meat, if your tastes are modest there is plenty to be found. Locked in fiscal battles,

It is late afternoon

Soviet Armenians have tumed into financial Houdinis, breaking free of the rigid system as if by magic. Of course, it all costs rubles, plenty of rubles, Beleyan will advise you. It ia late in the evening and Yerevan is celebrating. Dinner tables overflow with vodka, cognac and wine. An archipelago of dishes extends across Beleyan's table. There are mounds of grape leaf rolls, cheese blintzes, smoked salmon and poultry. Bel-eyan does not eat much. Being the 'tamadan,' or master of ceremonies, he has a higher calling tonight. He prefaces each toast with a five-minute sermon evoking Armeniars history, its byzantine kings, tragedies and triumphs. 54

awake and

smokes

nearly two packs a day, preferably Winstons. Smoking cigarette after cigarette, Soviet Armenians have tumed their lungs into dark, gloomy pits. Dig a little further into Beleyan's future and you witt find layer after layer of unanswered questions'

'What will come? What will the future bring? I do not know. have no presentiment. When a spider plunges from a fixed

point to its consequences,

always sees before

an empty

ipace... It is that way with me," said Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. For the first time in a long while, it is that way with him too, Beleyan will tell you.

Staff writer Viken Berberian was on assignment in Yerevtfi in February

AlM, May 1991

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