INSIDE

NEWS IN BRIEF

Dinkjian at Princeton

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INDEXArmenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-3Arts and Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Community News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-5

Mirror- SpectatorMirror- SpectatorTHE ARMENIAN

Volume LXXXXI, NO. 9, Issue 4651

SEPTEMBER 12 , 2 020

$ 2.00

The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932

New COVID Cases inArmenia

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — A total of 108 newcases of COVID-19 were registered in Armenialast week, bringing the cumulative total numberof confirmed cases to 44953 , the ArmenianCenter For Disease Control reported. 471patients recovered, raising the number of totalrecoveries to 40592.Three people died from COVID-19, increasing

the death toll to 903. This number doesn’tinclude the deaths of 276 (1 in the last 24 hours)other people infected with the virus who diedfrom other pre-existing conditions, according tohealth authorities.As of, September 8 the number of active cases

stood at 3182.

Memorial to March 1Victims Will Be

Installed in YerevanYEREVAN (Armenpress) — The Yerevan City

Council this week approved the installation of amemorial in honor of the 2008 March 1 victims.The memorial will be installed at the Children’s

Park near the St. Gregory the Illuminator andZakiyan intersection.During the City Council session the councilors

held a moment of silence in memory of the vic-tims of the unrest. Earlier the government had allocated 2 million

drams to the Yerevan City Hall for the designingworks.The design of artist Albert Vardanyan was

awarded the project in an open tender.March 1 colloquially refers to the 2008 post-

election unrest in Yerevan, when 10 people —including two police officers — died in clashesbetween protesters and security forces.

Gyumri Gifts 1 MillionDrams to Lebanon

GYUMRI (Armenpress) — Gyumri, Armenia’ssecond largest city, will provide 1 million drams($2,000) in aid to Lebanon’s Armenian communi-ty affected from the recent explosion in Beirut.The respective decision was made by the City

Council.The money will be provided to the Hayastan All

Armenian Fund as a donation which in its turnwill direct these funds for that purpose.“This is the case when we all unanimously sup-

port providing that assistance. Even 1 millionAMD is not enough, but our budget now has thiscapacity, if we manage, we will further increasethat money,” Gyumri Mayor Samvel Balasanyansaid.

Istanbul Pogroms of 1955 Not Forgotten:Sirapian Publishes French-Language Book

PARIS – Among other notable historicalanniversaries with significance for Armenians,this year brings the 65th anniversary of the

pogroms in Istanbul on September 6-7, 1955. They had an important impact onthe ethnic makeup of Istanbuland served to stiffen the resolveof many Greeks, Armenians andJews to emigrate from Turkey.Varoujan Sirapian’s new book,Les pogroms de 6-7 septembre1955, Istanbul-Izmir (Paris:Sigest, 2020) provides the basicinformation on these events forFrench-language readers, asthere have been few works inFrench on this topic.

see POGROMS, page 11

By Aram ArkunMirror-Spectator Staff

The destruction of a café/restaurant on IstiklalCaddesi (Street) (photo copyright Fahri Çöker)

NEW YORK — Bishop Daniel Findikyan,Primate of the Eastern Diocese of theArmenian Church of America, was electedby unanimous vote to the board of direc-tors of the Appeal of ConscienceFoundation, the New York-based humani-tarian organization that has advocatedthroughout the world on behalf of humanrights and religious freedom.Findikyan received the welcome news

in August, during a personal phone callfrom Rabbi Arthur Schneier, who leadsthe foundation as its president sinceestablishing it in 1965.The Eastern Diocese has long played an

active leadership role in the organizationunder the tenures of Bishop Daniel’s pre-decessors as Diocesan Primate,Archbishop Torkom Manoogian andArchbishop Khajag Barsamian. Later this month, Findikyan will be tak-

ing part in the 55th Appeal of Conscience

Foundation Annual Awards Dinner,scheduled to go forward as a virtual eventon the evening of Thursday, September24. The hour-long program will involve

see AWARD, page 9

Dr. Noubar Afeyan and Bishop DanielFindikyan in 2019

Russian, Armenian ArmyChiefs Meet Amid DrillsMOSCOW (RFE/RL) — Russia’s and

Armenia’s top army generals met in Moscowover the weekend as troops from the twocountries began a joint military exercise nearthe Armenian-Turkish border.Lieutenant-General Onik Gasparyan, the

chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff,held talks with his Russian opposite num-ber, General Valery Gerasimov, after attend-ing the closing ceremony of the annualInternational Army Games organized by theRussian Defense Ministry.Official Armenian and Russian sources

said the two men discussed close militaryties between their nations but gave veryfew details.In a statement, the Russian Defense

Ministry cited Gerasimov as calling ArmeniaRussia’s “ally and key partner in theTranscaucasus.” For his part, Gasparyandescribed Russia as his country’s “strategic

see DRILLS, page 2

Bishop Daniel Findikyan Elected to Appeal ofConscience Foundation Board of Directors

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, accessi-ble online models of Armenian culturalsites can transport Armenians to theMotherland from the safety of their homes.These 3-D models are available online viaCyArk, a nonprofit organization committedto "digitally record, archive and share theworld's most significant cultural heritageand ensure that these places continue toinspire wonder and curiosity for decades tocome." The global breadth of their digitaldatabase has been used to educate on amultitude of histories and cultures, docu-ment the existence of threatened monu-ments, inform on-the-ground preservationwork of ancient sites, and tell the stories ofthe people who still use them today.CyArk has worked with the My Armenia

Program at the Smithsonian Institution fortheir “Armenia: Creating Home FolklifeFestival” in 2018, the United States Agencyfor International Development, theMinistry of Culture for the Armenian gov-ernment, and trained many Armenian stu-dents from the TUMO Center for CreativeTechnologies in Armenia to document sites

such as the Geghard Monastery, churchesin Ani, the Areni-1 cave complex, and theNoravank Monastery.

I had the opportunity to sit down withKacey Hadick, CyArk’s Director of Project

see TECHNOLOGY, page 5

CyArk Uses 21st Century Technology toPreserve Ancient Armenian MonumentsBy Isabelle KapoianSpecial to the Mirror-Spectator

Using a light scanner in Geghard Monastery

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ARMENIA

Ambulances Given toRural Regions

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — The Armenian govern-ment adopted a decision on September 3 accordingto which hospitals operating in the provinces will beprovided with modern ambulances within the framesof the 2020 state budget.During the Cabinet meeting first deputy minister

of healthcare Anahit Avanesyan said five ambulanceswould be provided to Tavush province, three toSyunik and two to Aragatsotn provinces.The deputy minister said that a total of 21 ambu-

lances have been purchased.

National ArchivesDirector Dismissed

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Director of theNational Archive of Armenia SNCO AmatuniVirabyan has been relieved from the position by thedecree of Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan, theminister’s spokesperson Lusine Martirosyan said onFacebook.“As I receive inquiries from media outlets about

the grounds for Mr. Virabyan’s dismissal, I would liketo inform that based on a number of appeals theJustice Ministry has started an examination aimed atchecking the legal activity of the SNCO and submit-ted an inquiry to the State Revenue Committee forgetting information about the tax inspections car-ried out in the National Archive. According to theinformation received, Director of the NationalArchive of Armenia SNCO Amatuni Virabyan con-ducting the accounting with such violations whichcaused tax decline as a result of which the tax liabil-ities were not made on time”, the spokesperson said.Virabyan had been serving as director since 2003.

Tainted Vodka Kills 11YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Lab tests of the bootleg

vodka which left 14 people dead from poisoning inthe town of Armavir confirmed that the drink con-tained methanol.The Food Safety Inspection Agency said the

methanol levels in the samples taken from the con-fiscated bottles were “multiple times” higher thanthe maximum admissible.A total of 38 alcohol poisoning cases were regis-

tered in Armenia from August 31 to September 3.A total of 25 poisoning cases were registered in

Armavir, 12 in Yerevan and 1 in Kotayk Province.A man from Armavir is under arrest on suspicion

of running the bootleg business. Two other suspectsare also under arrest.

Asset Recovery in HighGear

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — The GeneralProsecution this week announced new key appoint-ments of prosecutors responsible for stolen assetrecovery functions.Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan appointed Siro

Amirkhanyan as the Head of Department of theConfiscation of Illicit Assets. Tigran Yenokyan willbe Amirkhanyan’s deputy, while Ani Sargsyan andGevorg Kocharyan will serve as Senior Prosecutors,and Tigran Davtyan will serve as prosecutor.Earlier on September 1, former Deputy Minister of

Justice Srbuhi Galyan was appointed as DeputyProsecutor General in charge of the stolen assetrecovery functions.As the required number of prosecutors of the

department are officially appointed, the departmentis formally considered launched and the stolen assetrecovery law is fully initiated.Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan commented

that the department will implement functions ofunprecedented nature and volumes for the country,and noted that the mission requires greater respon-sibility, high professionalism, integrity, team workand devotion. He said he expects “absolute impar-tiality, principled work and resoluteness to be guidedexclusively by the letter of the law” from the team.The law, officially known as the Law on

Confiscation of Assets of Illicit Origin, was adoptedby parliament earlier in 2020.

News From Armenia

DRILLS, from page 1ally” and stressed the “special signifi-cance” of Russian-Armenian relationsfor Yerevan.According to the statement, he also

thanked the Russian military for help-ing to contain the spread of the coron-avirus among Armenian and Russianmilitary personnel serving in Armenia.Moscow sent a team of Russian armymedics and special equipment to theSouth Caucasus state for that purposein April.Later on Saturday, September 5,

Russia’s Southern Military Districtannounced the start of a fresh Russian-Armenian exercise held at two traininggrounds in northwestern Armenia. Itsaid the drill will involve about a thou-sand soldiers of the Russian militarybase headquartered in Gyumri, 200tanks, artillery systems and other mili-tary hardware as well as two dozenRussian and Armenian warplanes.A statement released by Russia’s

Southern Military District on Mondaysaid Russian MiG-29 fighter jetsengaged in imaginary dogfights withenemy aircraft and struck ground tar-gets as part of defensive and offensiveoperations simulated by the two mili-

taries. It said the jets, which are nor-mally stationed in Yerevan, then landedat an airfield in Gyumri, Armenia’s sec-ond largest city located just 10 kilome-ters from the Turkish border.The Armenian Defense Ministry did

not issue any statements on the drill asof Monday afternoon.Armenia hosts up to 5,000 Russian

soldiers as part of its military alliancewith Russia. Successive Armenian gov-ernments have regarded the Russianmilitary presence as a crucial deterrentagainst Turkey’s possible military inter-vention in the Nagorno-Karabakh con-flict.The likelihood of such intervention

appears to have increased after deadlyhostilities that broke out on theArmenian-Azerbaijani border in July.Turkey blamed Armenia for the escala-tion and pledged to boost Turkish mili-tary aid to Azerbaijan.Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar

said on July 16 that the Armenians “willcertainly pay for what they have done”to his country’s main regional ally. Inwhat appears to be a related develop-ment, Turkish and Azerbaijani troopsheld last month joint two-week exercis-es in various parts of Azerbaijan.

The Armenian government respondedby accusing Ankara of undercuttinginternational efforts to resolve theKarabakh conflict and posing a serioussecurity threat to Armenia. ArmenGrigoryan, the secretary of Armenia’sSecurity Council, said on August 2 thatYerevan counts on Moscow’s support inits efforts to counter that threat.Armenian Defense Minister Davit

Tonoyan clearly alluded to Turkey whenhe denounced the “expansion of somecountries’ ambitions” in the SouthCaucasus in a speech delivered inMoscow last Friday.“The Russian presence in the region

as well as the deepening of military-political cooperation between Armeniaand Russia are a very important deter-ring factor that helps to maintainregional stability and security,” Tonoyansaid at a meeting of the defense minis-ters of several former ex-Soviet states,China, India and other countries.Tonoyan addressed the meeting dur-

ing what was his second visit to Moscowin less than two weeks. He met withRussian Defense Minister Sergei Shoiguand attended the opening ceremony ofthe International Army Games onAugust 23.

Top Russian and Armenian military officials meet in Moscow, September 5, 2020.

Russian, Armenian ArmyChiefs Meet Amid Drills

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — A law-enforce-ment agency brought on September 1corruption charges against a notoriousformer lawmaker and influential mem-ber of former President SerzhSargsyan’s Republican Party ofArmenia (HHK).The Investigative Committee said

Mher Sedrakyan abused his powers tosell a large part of a public park to hisson and brother when he ran Yerevan’ssouthern Erebuni district from 1999 to2008. It claimed that Sedrakyan helpedhis relatives privatize the 12,000-square-meter plot of land in 2004 after they ille-gally built on it.It was not immediately clear if

Sedrakyan will plead guilty to the accu-sations. The 69-year-old was not arrestedpending investigation. The InvestigativeCommittee had him sign instead a pledgenot to leave the country.Sedrakyan, who is better known as

“Tokhmakhi Mher,” held sway inErebuni for many years, controllingmany local businesses and stronglyinfluencing election results there. Press

reports repeatedly implicated his clan inviolent attacks on opposition activistsand journalists as well as vote rigging.Sedrakyan was also dogged by scan-

dals when he represented the formerruling HHK in the Armenian parliamentfrom 2012-2017. He reportedly insultedand threatened journalists on at leasttwo occasions, drawing strong condem-

nations from the country’s leadingmedia associations.Also facing criminal charges are sev-

eral other controversial HHK figuresand former officials. Some of them havefled to Russia to avoid imprisonment.Only one of them, former parliamentdeputy Levon Sargsyan, has been extra-dited to Armenia so far.

Mher Sedrakyan

Another Former Armenian Official Indicted

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ARMENIA

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — More than a thou-sand ethnic Armenian citizens of Lebanonhave immigrated to Armenia since lastmonth’s devastating explosion at Beirut portwarehouses, according to a governmentagency in Yerevan.The office of Zareh Sinanyan, the

Armenian government’s high commissionerfor Diaspora affairs, says that the vast major-ity of them have expressed a desire to stay intheir ancestral homeland for good.According to various estimates, there are

between 80,000 and 120,000 Armenians liv-ing in Lebanon at present. The once thrivingcommunity struggled to cope with Lebanon’songoing economic crisis even before theAugust 4 explosion which killed 181 peopleand left tens of thousands of other Beirutresidents homeless.Following the blast the Armenian govern-

ment faced growing calls to facilitate the“repatriation” of Lebanese Armenians.Government officials stressed that they arefree to immigrate to Armenia, pointing totwice-a-week Beirut-Yerevan flights carriedout despite coronavirus-related restrictionsimposed in both countries.Aline Galemkerian, an Armenian woman

from Beirut, arrived in Yerevan with her twoyoung sons two weeks ago. One of the boysis already taking piano lessons there.Galemkerian said she and her husband had

decided to relocate to Armenia and try to

start a new life there even before the Beirutblast that seriously damaged their apartment.“I wish we had not seen [the blast] and

come here much earlier because it affectedus a lot in many ways,” she told RFE/RL’sArmenian service.“I kept crying,” she said. “Tears in my eyes

would not dry up for days. We lost manyArmenian and Arab friends.”Galemkerian’s husband will join the family

soon. “If my husband finds a job here we willstay here [for good,]” said the young woman.“I feel good here. But I don’t know if we canhave the same [living] standards if we liveand work here.”Another Beirut Armenian, Elias Kalajian,

owned and ran a small company manufactur-ing furniture in the Lebanese capital untilmoving to Armenia last week.“I arrived alone. My son and his wife are

coming here on Monday,” he said, addingthat his other son plans to join them later on.Kalajian said that he would like to set up a

similar furniture firm in Yerevan and hasalready asked the Armenian Ministry ofEconomy to help him find and rent premisesfor his small factory. The ministry haspromised to explore the possibility of suchassistance.

While being mindful of Armenia’s owneconomic problems aggravated by the pan-demic, Kalajian seemed upbeat about doingbusiness in the country. “I must definitely try

to work and succeed here,” he said.Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service

late last month, Sinanyan said that his officeis now working on a “social, economic, edu-cational and healthcare package” aimed atfacilitating the immigration of LebaneseArmenians. “We want to bring them toArmenia,” said the official. “We do not wantthem to move to another country.”Kalajian confirmed that more Lebanese

Armenians are now thinking about settling inArmenia. “Many friends told me: ‘You gothere and we’ll follow you,’” he said. “Theywant to see what I can achieve here beforethey decide to come here. If they are encour-aged they too will come.”“Just like me, they have families, children

and grandchildren,” added the businessman.“Everyone wants to come. But they need abit of encouragement.”

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — The Armenian Ministryof Health said on Thursday, September 3, that ithas spent almost 11.5 billion drams ($23.6 million)since March on treatment of people infected withthe novel coronavirus and preventive measuresagainst the spread of the disease.The figure is equivalent to more than 10 per-

cent of overall public spending on healthcareprojected by Armenia’s 2020 state budget. Thebudget was drafted by the government andapproved by the parliament late last year beforethe onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.A report released by the ministry says that

more than a quarter of the sum has financedthe current expenditures of Armenian hospitalstreating COVID-10 patients. Another 2.9 billiondrams has been spent on the purchase of med-ical equipment for those hospitals and medicallabs.According to the report, the ministry has also

bought 1.8 billion drams worth of medicationas well as protective gear for medical personnelworth 876 million drams. Bonuses paid to

Armenian healthcare workers at the frontline ofthe fight against the pandemic have cost thestate an additional 826 million drams.The Ministry of Health stressed that its coro-

navirus-related expenditures do not cover mea-sures against the pandemic that have beenfinanced by other Armenian government agen-cies.The ministry has recorded 44,271 coron-

avirus cases and at least 887 deaths caused bythem so far.In addition to the extra healthcare expendi-

tures, the government has allocated about 150billion drams ($310 million) for wide-rangingfinancial assistance to people and businessesseverely affected by the pandemic. The stimuluspackage has included cash handouts to variouscategories of the vulnerable population as wellas loan subsidies and grants to businesses andfarmers.The state budget for this year calls for a total

of 1.88 trillion drams ($3.9 billion) in govern-ment spending.

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — The seventh Byurakan International Summer School(7BISS) for Young Astronomers in the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO) inArmenia began September 7 and will last until September 12. The theme this year is“Astronomy and Data Science.” Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the summerschool is taking place online as a safety precaution.This will be the 7th school of the series of Byurakan International Summer Schools

(BISS) founded in 2006 and being held once every 2 years, one of the most importantand regular astronomical summer/winter schools in the world. According to the analysisof the IAU Division C (Education, Outreach and Heritage), BISS is among the top-3 astro-nomical schools in the world (together with IAU ISYAs and Vatican schools, VOSS), aswell as the NEON/OPTICON schools are among the best ones.This time BISS focuses on Data Science and it is entitled “Astronomy and Data

Science”, as it will be followed by a Symposium “Astronomical Surveys and Big Data2” (ASBD-2, 14-18 Sep 2020). During the school the students will have lectures and prac-tical tutorial sessions on Astronomical Surveys, Digitization of astronomical data,Astronomical Catalogues, Databases and Archives, Astrostatistics and Astroinformatics,Big Data in Astronomy and Virtual Observatory tools. The first ASBD in 2015 was verysuccessful with participation of representatives of large surveys, VO projects and com-puter scientists and we will continue with its update in 2020. Active students that willpropose talks for ASBD-2 meeting, will be also invited to participate in it and stay inByurakan for the second week as well.In addition, on 18 Sep 2020, the Byurakan Observatory will hold the Official Award

Ceremony of Viktor Ambartsumian International Science Prize 2020.Running such a school was astrophysicist Viktor Ambartsumian’s brainchild, and he

attempted to organize the first international youth school in 1987 in Byurakan, but theproject was never continued because of the Soviet Union’s collapse.Byurakan International Summer Schools was revived by the incumbent director of the

Byurakan Observatory Areg Michaelyan and Armenian Astronomical Society in 2006.

The Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory

Armenian Health Ministry Details COVID-19 Spending

Lebanese Armenian Aline Galemkerian and her children, Yerevan, September 4, 2020.

More than 1,000 Emigrate to Armenia

Byurakan Observatory to Hold SummerSession for Young Astronomers Online

STEPANAKERT — Prime Minister NikolPashinyan and his wife Anna Hakobyanrecently attended a solemn ceremony ofawarding the highest awards of the ArtsakhRepublic in Stepanakert. The event wasattended by the President of the ArtsakhRepublic Arayik Harutyunyan with his wife,the Primate of the Artsakh DioceseArchbishop Parg Martirosyan, the represen-tatives of Armenia, the governments and par-liaments of Artsakh and others.During the event, the President of the

Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan awardedthe first chairman of the Supreme Council ofthe Nagorno Karabakh Republic ArthurMkrtchyan with the posthumous awards of the4th Rifle Battalion of the Artsakh RepublicDefense Army N C Unit, Captain ArmenakUrfanyan with the Golden Eagle Medal..On the occasion of the 29th anniversary of

the proclamation of the Artsakh Republic,Vahram Tamrazyan, a reserve non-commis-sioned officer, was awarded the Combat CrossOrder of the First Degree Order on the occa-sion of the 29th anniversary of the proclama-tion of the Artsakh Republic.Hovsep Hovsepyan was awarded the Order of

the Battle Cross of the First Degree Order onthe occasion of the 29th anniversary of the

proclamation of the Artsakh Republic for hisexceptional courage and bravery in the battlesfor the defense of the Motherland.In his speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan, in

particular, noted, “It is very symbolic that todaythe title of Hero of Artsakh is awarded to therepresentative of the first generation of our lib-eration war, the representative of the moderngeneration of our liberation war. They areawarded on the same day, in the same place, atthe same time many prominent participants ofour liberation war are rewarded for their ser-vices, past and present.”He added, “The formation of the Third

Republic, the formation of a free Artsakh, anindependent Artsakh, this is the whole, thissymbol, which is extremely important.In general, thought, mentality, perception are

very important. We have recently adopted anational security strategy, and it is very impor-tant to base this strategy on a reference to ourroots and values.”And he concluded, “I am convinced that our

heroic boys, our soldiers, our officers, generalswho are going to march today have the heroesof the past before their eyes. Our martyrs arenot indifferent to this work, because with thisevent today we emphasize their presence today,here, now, next to us. ”

Prime Minister Attends Medal Ceremony in Stepanakert

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New Dutch AmbassadorPresents Credentials

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — The new Ambassadorof the Netherlands to Armenia Nico Schermers pre-sented his credentials to Foreign Minister ZohrabMnatsakanyan on September 4.Mnatsakanyan congratulated the ambassador on

assuming office and expressed hope that Schermers’activities will contribute to further strengthenArmenian-Dutch relations and boost dialogue on dif-ferent levels, the foreign ministry said in a newsrelease. In this context both sides attached impor-tance to the establishment of the Dutch diplomaticrepresentation in Yerevan.Mnatsakanyan and Schermers exchanges ideas

regarding a bilateral agenda, the multi-sector coop-eration and partnership in international arenas.

Artsakh Official SaysTurkey’s ProvocationsMake it Unsuitable asMinsk Group Member

YEREVAN (Arka) — A statement by the Turkishgovernment in support of the provocations and vio-lations of the ceasefire regime by Azerbaijan is unac-ceptable, Artsakh Foreign Minister Masis Mayilyansaid in an interview with Barcelona-based Nationalianews agency. “We emphasize once again that such a position of

Turkey makes its membership in the OSCE[Organization for Security and Cooperation inEurope] Minsk Group senseless,” the minister said. Turkey, he said, has never been neutral in its

stance on the conflict despite its membership in theOSCE Minsk Group that through its tripartite co-chairmanship mediates the peaceful settlement ofthe conflict. “This is the only country in the region that has not

only publicly voiced its support for the brotherlyAzerbaijan but also has backed the Azerbaijaniblockade of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh. Itis not a secret that Turkey also helps Azerbaijan inarmy-building, considering that many Azerbaijaniofficers are trained in Turkey and Turkish militaryconsultants advise the Azeri military leadership,”Mayilyan said. He said that the South Caucasus is a region with a

very complex geopolitics and multiple players; bothregional and outside with varying levels of interests.And it is not by chance that the Minsk Group co-chair countries dealing with the conflict are Russia,France and the United States.The Group’s permanent members are Belarus,

Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and Turkey, as wellas Armenia and Azerbaijan. On a rotating basis, alsothe OSCE Troika is a permanent member.

Macron Awards AstridPanosyan France’s

National Order of MeritPARIS (PanARMENIAN.Net) — French-Armenian

politician Astrid Panosyan has received France’sNational Order of Merit – the second highest nation-al order after the Legion of Honor in the country –from President Emmanuel Macron, Armenian ambas-sador to Paris Hasmik Tolmajian said in a Facebookpost on Tuesday, September 8.“A well-deserved honor for this woman of convic-

tion and heart!” Tolmajian wrote in a tweet aboutthe event in .Panosyan, who is also an entrepreneur, is the co-

founder and member of the executive board of thepolitical party En Marche!, founded by Macron in2016.She is also the Chief Resources Officer at Unibail-

Rodamco-Westfield SE, a European commercial realestate company headquartered in Paris.The order is usually awarded for “distinguished

services, acts of dedication, bravery, generosity, realmerits or a measurable commitment to the service toothers or to France.”

International News

ISANBUL (PanARMENIAN.Net) —The remains of an ancient Armenianfortress have emerged due to declin-ing water level in Lake Van,Ermenihaber.am reported onSeptember 7.The fortress used to be part of the

city of Old Archesh, which was grad-ually abandoned and went underwa-ter due to the rising water level ofLake Van.Years ago, when the water level

dropped due to the drought, the“sunken city” emerged once again,but many of its buildings were seri-ously damaged in the 2011 earth-quake of Van.The building is now visible again,

and according to researcherSelahattin Kosar, a section of thefortress will be restored to become atourist center.

RecedingWaters ofLake VanYieldArmenianFortress

MINSK, Belarus (DW) — On Tuesday,September 8, President AlexanderLukashenko acknowledged that he mayhave “overstayed” his time in office, butsaid he was the only person capable ofprotecting Belarus for now.The 66-year-old, who has been in

power since 1994, said a rerun of a dis-puted presidential vote could only beheld after constitutional changes, with-out giving further details.“We are ready to carry out the reform

of the constitution,” Lukashenko wasquoted as saying by the Interfax newsagency. “After that I do not excludeearly presidential elections.”Read more: Under threat from author-

ities, Belarusians go into exileLukashenko said he would refuse to

hold talks with opposition politicians afterEU governments called for “dialogue.”Interfax reported that Lukashenko

told a Moscow radio station that hewould not negotiate with the oppositionCoordination Council “because I do notknow who these people are.”Lukashenko also suggested that

Russia would be next if his regime fallsin the face of a wave of mass protests.“You know what we concluded with

the Russian establishment and leader-ship? If Belarus falls, Russia will benext,” state news agency RIA Novostiquoted Lukashenko as saying after hespoke to reporters from numerousRussian media outlets.Lukashenko's rival from the disputed

August 9 election, the exiled oppositionleader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, hascalled for sanctions against the presi-dent and his aides.“My country, my nation, my people

now need help,” Tsikhanouskaya said ina speech via videolink on Tuesday to the

Council of Europe, a European humanrights watchdog based in Strasbourg,France, separate from the EU.“We need international pressure on this

regime, on this one individual desperatelyclinging onto power,” she said. “We needsanctions on individuals who issue andexecute criminal orders that violate inter-national norms and human rights.”Tsikhanouskaya, 37, fled Belarus for

Lithuania after the contested election inAugust, fearing for her safety.Last month, the European Union said

the election was neither free or fair.”Foreign ministers from the 27 countriesagreed to introduce sanctions againstthose responsible for the violence andalleged electoral fraud.The bloc's foreign policy chief, Josep

Borrell, has called for the “immediaterelease” of protesters and political pris-oners.

Belarus Protests: Lukashenko RaisesProspect of Fresh Elections

The fortress, seen underwater, previously. Now it is fully visible above the waterline

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INTERNATIONAL

TECHNOLOGY, from page 1Development over Zoom to discuss the increas-ing salience of cultural heritage sites whichhave been digitally documented and are pub-licly accessible online during this time.He emphasized that it was the passionate and

hard-working TUMO students — the brightfruits of Armenia — who documented the dif-ferent sites, problem-solved to technologicallyaccommodate their varied environments, andacted as dedicated translators and mediatorsbetween the CyArk team and the localArmenian priests and archaeologists.The young group of students completed the

modeling with the assistance of the CyArk teamthrough laser scanning in combination withphotogrammetric documentation. The laserscanning contributes the base of these digitalconstructions by emitting countless pulses oflight which travel through space until they hita wall or object. When a pulse is reflected off ofthe surface back to the scanner, the scannerregisters the location of the surface it hit, gen-erating “this really dense cloud of points,” in a3-D blueprint of the space. Then, photogram-metry is used, taking large amounts of photosof the space and overlapping them at commonpoints while contributing color and texture tothe model. Through using these two technolo-gies in tandem, “in the same way that a table-cloth is draped over a table,” the quilt of pho-togrammetry photos are bent and draped overthe shape of a space, generating a realistic 3-Dmodel of a monument or structure.These digital models are not only a window

into the physical realities ofthe sites, but the living sto-

ries, traditions, and oral histories of those whofrequent and upkeep them. Hadick explains,“These 3-D visualizations provide a medium forstorytelling, just like the way a photo or a videocan be used, like how a documentary film canprovide a really powerful view and give a voiceto the people who have a connection to thatplace… who populate it. I think virtual recon-structions of places can also serve that samepurpose of providing a medium or a canvas,”through which one can tell the stories of thepeople who have formed relationships with thesites “who remember that place and can put itin context in the long history of times,” breath-ing life into them.The power in these digital reconstructions is

their ability to connect people during this timeof such disconnection to the art historians,archaeologists, and priests who upkeep and usethe structures, to the timeless culture and con-tested history the sites speak of, and to thelandscape of Armenia. They have the capacityto connect us to a piece of our heritage when

rich cultural experiences are so desired. Though“Virtual reality or 3-D models will never replacethe feeling that you get when you go to theseplaces,” due to their presence, smell, size, spiri-tual invocation, and place amidst Armenia’sgeography, they are glimpses of Armenian beau-ty and wonder.These cultural heritage sites are waiting in

CyArk’s digital database to welcome us withopen arms. Especially now when travel is lessaccessible, they exist at our fingertips to beseen, enjoyed and celebrated wherever we maybe – a taste of Armenia from the safety of ourhomes.The digital models of Ani, the Geghard

Monastery, the Areni-1 cave complex, and theNoravank Monastery can be accessed on theCyArk website athttps://www.cyark.org/explore/, and virtualtours of the Areni-1 cave complex and theNoravank Monastery with information fromlocal archaeologists and priests can be accessedthrough the My Virtual Armenia applicationwhich can be found on Google Play or the App

CyArk Uses 21st Century Technology toPreserve Ancient Armenian Monuments

Laser scanning Geghard

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (AFP) — Tuckedaway in the rolling hills of Iraqi Kurdistan is ahidden treasure: tens of thousands of olivetrees, thriving in a new homeland after beingsmuggled from neighboring Syria.Their branches are heaving with bright pur-

ple-black olives ready to be picked.Their caretaker, Syrian Kurdish businessman

Suleiman Sheikho, is proud to have broughtthe olive oil business to Iraq's autonomousnorth."This year was a good year," said 58-year-old

Sheikho, who has been transporting trees fromhis native Afrin in northwest Syria into theKurdistan Region since 2007."On this farm I have 42,000 olive trees, all of

which I brought from Afrin when they werethree years old," he told AFP, gesturing to neatrows reaching the horizon.In early 2018, his mission took on a new

urgency.Turkey, which saw the semi-autonomous

Kurdish zone of Afrin on its border as a threat,

backed an offensive by Syrian rebel groups totake control of the canton.The operation, dubbed "Olive Branch," dis-

placed tens of thousands, many of whom hadmade their living for decades by producing oliveoil in the area's mild climate.Sheikho himself is a fourth-generation olive

farmer and had 4,000 trees in Afrin that areolder than a century.The slender businessman, who once served

as the head of Afrin Union for Olive Production,sprung into action.He transported some of his trees legally, but

smuggled others across the border, managed onboth sides by autonomous Kurdish authorities.Some of the new transplants joined his

orchard, located among luxurious summervillas near the regional capital Erbil. He soldothers to farmers across the KurdistanRegion. Raw olives are a staple on Levantine lunch

tables, while their oil is both used in cookingand drizzled on top of favorite appetizers like

hummus. The oil can also be used to make soap, while

the dark, sawdust-like residue from olivespressed in the autumn is often burned to heathouses in winter.Fertile ground ahead Olive trees struggle in the blistering heat and

desert landscapes of Iraq, so the yellowish-green oil was long imported at great expensefrom Lebanon, Syria or Turkey.A domestic oil industry could change all that. Sheikho was relieved to find the soil near

Erbil as rich as in his hometown, but thewarmer temperatures meant his trees requiredmore robust irrigation networks.There are two harvests a year, in February

and November. He built a press, where the olives are sepa-

rated from twigs and leaves, pitted, thensqueezed to produce thick, aromatic oil.Dressed in a charcoal grey blazer during

AFP's visit, Sheikho tested the quality by drink-ing it raw from the press, before the viscous

fluid was poured into plastic jugs."For every 100 kilos of olives, I produced 23

kilos of olive oil," he told AFP. Olive oil production had not taken root when

Sheikho began working there, but has thrivedsince Syrians displaced by their country's near-ly decade-long war began moving there.According to the Kurdistan Regional

Government's (KRG) agriculture ministry, therewere just over 169,000 olive trees in theKurdistan Region in 2008.Since then, the ministry invested some $23

million in planting and importing the trees,which now number around four million, it esti-mates.There are around a half-dozen olive presses,

employing many Syrian Kurds from Afrin. Sheikho sees more fertile ground ahead. "The farmers here have great ideas and they

are extremely ambitious," he told AFP."With the hard work and experience of

Afrin's farmers, they are going to create a verybright future for olive business.

Syrian Olive Trees Put Down Roots in Kurdistan Region

Photogrammetry by a TUMO student at Geghard

6

Community NewsS A T U R D A Y, S E P T E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 2 0 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

Ginifest Armenian Wine Festival GoingOnline Before the Wine Is

Poured GLENDALE, Calif. – For

the first time in my life I wona raffle: two tickets to

GiniFest, the Armenian wine and spirits festival on May 31 held annually in LosAngeles, California! However, the tickets stayed in their envelope and the festi-val was postponed until August 16, then October 18….The novel coronaviruspandemic didn’t allow public gatherings. Last year the festival hosted 700 visi-tors, more than 15 wineries, brandy, vodka, wine, and cheese producers fromArmenia, Artsakh, Argentina, Paso Robles and Chile. The festival was held atthe Chevy Chase Country Club in Glendale. This year the third annual GiniFestanticipated around 1000 guests and was scheduled to be held at the Castawayrestaurant in Burbank, Calif.

see WINE, page 7

USA GymnasticsPlaces Restrictions onAzarian Coaches amidAbuse Allegations

By Scott M. Reid

ALISO VIEJO, Calif. (Orange County Register)— USA Gymnastics has placed interim basisrestrictions on three coaches at AzarianGymnastics, an Orange County club owned andoperated by former Olympic champion EduardAzarian, after the national governing bodyreceived multiple allegations of physical, verbaland emotional abuse against the coaches,according to a USA Gymnastics letter obtainedby the Southern California News Group.USA Gymnastics was scheduled to announce

the measures Tuesday, September 8, accordingto the letter written by Mark Busby, the organi-zation’s general counsel.One of the coaches, Perry Davies, said USA

Gymnastics informed him he was suspendedFriday, September 4.According to seven confidential formal com-

plaints filed with USA Gymnastics, emails, lettersobtained by SCNG and interviews with 12Azarian gymnasts and parents, USA Gymnasticshas received multiple formal complaints against:• Vanessa Gonzalez, Azarian’s excel program

director and a girls team coach, alleging physical,verbal, and emotional abuse, bullying and pres-suring athletes to train and compete whileinjured.• Davies, a former Azarian head girls coach,

alleging physical and verbal abuse and pressur-ing gymnasts to train and compete while injured.• Amanda Hensley, an Azarian girls coach,

alleging verbal and emotional abuse.“USA Gymnastics is issuing interim measures

related to reports received regarding coachesDavies, Gonzalez and Hensley,” Busby wrote in aFriday letter to potential witnesses against thecoaches. “These measures will be published onTuesday, September 8 in accordance with ourpublication protocol.”Davies said he is unaware of the allegations

against him.“They told me I was suspended,” Davies said.

“That’s all I’ve received. I don’t know what I’vebeen accused of. (USA Gymnastics) didn’t eventalk to me.”“Really right now I’m in complete shock,”

Davies added. “I’ve always tried my very best totake care of the kids, to make sure they were ina safe environment.“I would never do anything to hurt a kid. So

I’m flabbergasted. I categorically deny doing any-thing harmful to a kid.”Davies said he retired from coaching 3 ½

months ago. He coached nearly 200 state cham-pions during a 20-year career.Gonzalez and Hensley did not respond to

requests for comment. Azarian management alsodid not respond to a request for comment.“We anticipate at least one of the restricted

coaches will file a request for a hearing panel,and are scheduling a panel for Tuesday,September 15,” Busby wrote in the letter.“Please email me directly … if you wish to remainanonymous and/or do not want to speak to thehearing panel regarding your experiences.“We will be reaching out to all witnesses in

this matter to gauge willingness to participate inthe safe sport hearing panel process. This panelwill be used exclusively for the interim measureassessment, if requested, but we will need tobegin sharing the information we have gatheredprior to any requested hearing.“Any person who has filed a report in this mat-

ter will be given an opportunity to address thepanel, if they so choose. We will honor our com-mitment to protect your anonymity should youwish to withdraw from the process, or ask thatwe withhold your information.”Davies said he was also unaware of the

September. 15 hearing.Busby added in the letter: “In addition to the

see ABUSE, page 9

Anush Gharibyan O’Connor at GiniFest

New Advisory BoardCreated by ANSEFNEW YORK — Twenty years ago, a group of

luminaries in the Armenian diaspora led by Prof.Yervant Terzian joined forces to create theArmenian National Science and Education Fund(ANSEF). Its mission was to help Armenian sci-entists and scholars who were struggling to con-tinue their work in the newly independentRepublic.ANSEF was modeled on Western science fund-

ing agencies, such as the National ScienceFoundation, and adapted to Armenia’s circum-stances. Under the auspices of the Fund forArmenian Relief (FAR) and thanks to the gen-erosity of many individuals, ANSEF has providedmore than $3 million in research grants to morethan 2,500 scientists and scholars in Armenia.The grants enabled cutting-edge research in thephysical sciences, engineering, the natural sci-ences, the humanities, and the social sciencesthat resulted in thousands of publications inWestern journals.In the 20 years of ANSEF’s existence we saw

our young Republic transform from a strugglingstate to an emerging modern, knowledge-basedeconomy. The needs of scholars and educatorshave evolved accordingly, and ANSEF is commit-ted to meet these new challenges.In this vein, and in order to preserve the lega-

cy of ANSEF founders including Terzian, a pow-erful driving force behind ANSEF for the last 20years who passed away last year, the organizationhas established an Advisory Board. It will be com-posed of prominent individuals, scholars andbenefactors who will serve as advisors toANSEF’s Executive Board. This will allow ANSEFto be more agile and able to dynamically incor-porate input from scholars and leading figuresfrom Armenia proper and the Armenian diaspora.The new Advisory Board consists of FAR

Board members Armen Avanessians and LynnDadourian Barsamian, Esq, and ANSEF foundersAram Chobanian, MD; Vartan Gregorian, PhD;Garabed Eknoyan, MD; Tavit Najarian, ScD; andYervant Zorian, PhD. Further, at the unanimousdecision of the ANSEF founders, this organiza-tion will from now on carry its foundingChairman’s name: The Yervant Terzian ArmenianNational Science and Education Fund.ANSEF is one of the most prestigious fund-

ing programs in Armenian academia, especiallyamongst young scientists. According to AregMickaelian, PhD, director of the ByurakanAstrophysical Observatory, “ANSEF has beenaround for Armenian science, especiallyArmenian young scientists for already 20 yearsand, today, we can hardly find a group, R&Dinstitution or university in Armenia that did notbenefit from it. I can say with confidence thatANSEF has developed a unique scientific cul-ture in Armenia, which gave hope to manyresearchers and created an opportunity for thedevelopment of scientific teamwork. We werereally concerned about ANSEF's future whenour beloved Yervant Terzian passed away, sinceANSEF has been much more for Armenia thanjust a monetary grant. Now, seeing these greatfounders of ANSEF, outstanding luminariesand leaders on its Advisory Board, we areassured that its future is secured. Together withits extraordinary Research Council, theAdvisory Board will make ANSEF, I am sure,even stronger and more efficient.”Members of the new Advisory Board work to

ensure its long-term success. Their knowledge,expertise and social visibility are invaluable insupport of ANSEF’s mission and in promotingANSEF throughout academic and R&D commu-nities in the US and globally. The Advisory Boardwill grow, and new members will be announced asthey join. The ANSEF Executive Board (formerlythe Research Council) will continue to handle theday-to-day operations and chart new program-matic directions to meet the evolving needs ofArmenian science.Currently, the new ANSEF Executive Board

consists of co-chairs Ashot Papoyan, PhD andProf. Vatche Sahakian; Prof. Lerna Ekmekcioglu,Prof. Ruben Minasian, Prof. Anna Ohanyan, Prof.Lilit Yeghiazarian, and Eduard Karapetyan,ANSEF Coordinator at FAR Armenia.

By Ani Duzdabanyan-Manoukian Special to the Mirror-Spectator

Anush Gharibyan O’Connor and Stepan Partamian

WINE, from page 6“If the [California state] government allows usto do 3 sets of time with 300 people in each,then we can do it, but if they allow us to haveonly 50 people at a time, then it’s not possible.Since we are doing it in the restaurant, we haveto comply with all the rules and regulationsduring the public gatherings,” AnushGharibyan O’Connor, the director of GiniFestshares the inconvenience of making the festivalhappen during this pandemic. During all threeGiniFests, she and Stepan Partamian, thefounder of the festival, helped bring the spot-light to Armenian winemakers inthe USA. They could notjust let the

current circumstances hinder all the hard work.So they came up with the unprecedented ideaof holding the festival virtually, with the slogan“Before the actual enjoy the virtual.” OnAugust 23, Ginifest went online on Horizon TVand social media platforms with 14 wineriesjoining live, representing 20 wines and engag-ing more than 20,000 viewers/guests. Three years ago Anush was preparing her

podcast for “ArmeniaProud—A Toast toArmenia Show,” looking for Armenian produc-tions and businesses to interview and sharetheir stories. She learned that Stepan was orga-nizing an Armenian wine festival. Anushreached out to Stepan to interview him for herpodcast. But Stepan had a better idea. Eventhough he told her that it was just an idea, twoweeks later Stepan called Anush and they start-ed to work in realizing the first-ever Armenianwine festival. “I was reaching the winemakers

in Armenia, since I already knew almost allof them through my podcasts. Stepanwas working on logistics, talking to thelocal distributors,” remembers Anush.The first GiniFest took place in 2018at the Chevy Chase Country Club inGlendale, California. The festival

hosted 10 wineries fromArmenia and South America.With 350 guests, cognac(brandy) educational classes,and a dinner with a pairing wineat the end, the festival became asignificant event not only for theArmenian community, but alsointroduced the rapidly developingwine business to local wine enthu-siasts and professionals. During our interview Anush was

sipping Apris, a wine from Artsakh, and givingme a real masterclass about the specifics ofArmenian wine. “There are several reasonswhich make Armenian wine special. First, themajority of it is being produced from theindigenous varietals. Those are the the vari-etals that originated in Armenia. For redwine, the most popular variety is Areni,

which grows in Yeghegnadzor. From thewhites, it’s Voskehat. The second reason isthe terroir: the climate, the soil and thetopography. Armenia is at such a high eleva-tion, and grapes that are grown at such ele-vations are different: the grapes ripen slowlyand preserve their fruit quality, their acidityand [they] mature elegantly. The third reasonis the usage of an ancient vessel or karas.Clay gives different qualities characteristic tothe wine. It gives a little microoxygenation

that helps with the very slowly maturing ofthe wine. It’s a very tricky and a risky thingto do. Not everybody can work with karas’s.After the wine maker makes the wine in theconcrete or stainless-steel tank, he puts it inthe karas to age. Zorah was the first wine-maker who reintroduced the technique to theother Armenian winemakers and soon, otherwineries, like Voskevaz and Kars, started touse karas’s in their production.” Next is the usage of the Caucasian oak.

“Almost all the expensive wines in the worldhave been aged in oak at some point, or fer-mented in it. Oak is very important for bothred and white wine. In Artsakh we have ourown species of oak that adds its native quali-ties to the native varieties in the wine.”Anush is sharing all her knowledge as a som-melier. “The volcanic soil is another advan-tage of the Armenian wine. And let’s not for-get the history of being the oldest wine pro-ducers in the world.” Anush concludes themasterclass. The newly developing wine industry in

Armenian is heavily influenced by theDiasporan Armenian expatriates from theDiaspora who return to the motherland withtheir education, knowledge, and experience.However, wine making is mostly a passion,not a profitable business. “If you’re deciding to establish a winery

with the prospect of earning money, you arelosing something in between. Even the smallwineries are making profits, but they are notbillionaires. If you are going there to make afortune, you should find some other way.”Anush is giving her realistic assessment ofthe Armenian wine industry. Anush thinks that the success of all the

Armenian winemakers lies in being united.She remembers the rather recent unpleasantevents when the Karas company trade-marked the name Karas and later sued Zorah(whose 2010 Karasi Areni Noir made it toBloomberg Businessweek’s top ten of theworld’s best wines) for using the word on itslabels. “Basically, they trademarked the national

heritage. It is not at all within [the bounds of]healthy competition. Armenian wineries arenot producing too much to be suffocating bythe competition. They don’t have that muchcapacity. Each of them will eventually sell outif we promote Armenian wine the way it’ssupposed to be promoted,” Anush states withmuch certainty. Armenian wine is a littlepricey than the average wine in the market.“Most of the time it’s an experience ratherthan just a wine.” Anush herself owns a small vineyard (about

100 vines) with her friend in Santa Ana,California, growing mostly Cabarnet andMerlot. “It’s our seventh year already.Actually this weekend I need to go there forthe harvest,” says Anush. For now, they are producing wine only for

home consumption, “just for fun.” But it’stime to consider the labeling: AnushGharibyan-O’Connor means business.

7S A T U R D A Y, S E P T E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 2 0 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMUNITY NEWS

Armenian Wine Festival Going Online Before the Wine Is Poured

Scenes from Ginifest online

NEW YORK — Charles F. Debono, lifelong cit-izen of New York City, born on July 17, 1940,passed away, unexpectedly, on March 14, 2020. He was the son the late Charles Debono,

whose father and mother had immigrated toNew York, from Valletta, Malta, and Cadiz,Spain, respectively, and the late Arax(Assadourian) Debono, both of whose parentswere of Armenian origin, and had immigratedto New York from Bandirma, Turkey.Charles was born and raised in Murray Hill, Mid-

Town Manhattan. He attended Manhattan's public

schools, and, throughout his childhood, was anactive member of the Boy Scouts of America. During his youth, he also enjoyed the experi-

ence of the Fresh Air Fund's summers in thecountryside of New York State. Charles graduated from Stuyvesant High

School, then, went on to graduate from NewYork University, with a BS in engineeringphysics, and an MS in operations research. He began his professional career as an engi-

neer for AT&T, later, worked for Blue Cross

Blue Shield, and completed his professional tra-jectory after 25 years as a manager of IT sys-tems, for the Advertising Checking Bureau. Itwas at this point that Charles decided tobecome a small business owner, so, he and hisbusiness partner opened Image Makers, on38th Street, in Manhattan, which proved to bea successful business, printing specialized T-shirts for both New York based and interna-tional clients, until its close, in 2018. Charles met the love of his life, wife to be, and

cherished friend until the end, Nili, while visit-ing his college friend (Nili's brother), overseas.Charles and Nili enjoyed married life inManhattan, and, later, a continued friendship,through the years, along with Nili's beloveddaughter, Lara, in Northport, NY. Charles was a highly intelligent, well read,

seeker of knowledge, a man who retained infor-mation on a limitless number of topics, a manwho was always up for a mental challenge —soduko, crossword puzzles, conversational ban-ter, etc. Charles was also a social creature,appreciative of and connected to his clients,local friends, neighbors, doormen, and newsstand owner. The New York Times and educa-tional television were his steadfast sources ofnews and information. His cousins referred toCharles as "Dave, the answer man" due to hisparticular gift for knowledge on any randomtopic. Later, deciding that a more cosmopoli-tan, fun pet name would be fitting for Charles,they dubbed him "Carlos," a name that stuckand that Charles was amused by.Charles loved the city, his daily routine, his

neighborhood, and his life as a New Yorker. Healso particularly felt grateful for NYU MedicalCenter, located a block from his home, as fiveyears prior, he had become critically ill and wasblessed to receive excellent ongoing care fromNYU doctors and nurses. In the end, it just sohappened that it was two lovely NYU nurseswho found Charles on the corner of 34th street,near his home, and with heart and humanitysaw to it that he was brought to NYU MedicalCenter, and even checked up on him while he

remained in the intensive care unit, in the after-math of his having suffered what was to be afatal medical event. Charles' family will foreverbe grateful for the love and care that these twonurses extended to their Charles. Charles leaves behind his cousins Brian

Assadourian, wife Lisa Kashish, and their son,Aram Assadourian, of Hoboken, NJ, GaryAssadourian and his wife, Ana Von Hoffman, of

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Charles' ex -wifeand cherished friend, Nili Seren, and her daugh-ter, Lara Seren, of Northport, NY, and his busi-ness partner and dear friend for over 50 years,Ed Abrevaya, as well and many valued neigh-borhood friends and business associates. Due to the Pandemic and the related lock-

down regulations, in place during this time, nofuneral service could be held.

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By Joe Carlson

MINNEAPOLIS (Star Tribune) — Dr. John S.Najarian, a pioneering transplant surgeon whoserved for decades as head of surgery at theUniversity of Minnesota and whose career wasmarked by achievement and controversy, hasdied.Najarian died of natural causes on August 31

at a memory care center where he lived inStillwater, his sons Dave and Pete said onSeptember 1. He was 92.Najarian leaves a complex legacy. He spear-

headed experimental lifesaving transplants foradults and children, and he used his immersiveknowledge of immunology and surgery to cre-ate a drug called ALG that prevented organrejection in many people.Yet the Food and Drug Administration shut

down the ALG program at the U in 1992, citingdozens of violations of federal drug-testingrules. For two decades, the university receivedmillions of dollars from improper sales of thedrug, according to Star Tribune reportingusing public records.Najarian was later indicted on charges of ille-

gally distributing ALG, costing him his job aschairman of the U’s surgery department. Ajudge dismissed six of the 21 charges againsthim and jurors acquitted him of the remainingcharges in 1996.After the courtroom ordeal, Najarian chose

to keep operating on patients.“I think any one of us, going through some-

thing like that, would have been extremely bitter,”said Pete Najarian, an options trader who appearsfrequently on CNBC. “He didn’t ever think aboutit. Even though he was approached to sue backthe university, and others, he just said, ‘Look, Iwant to get back and start transplanting again. It’s

what I do; it’s what I’m good at.’ ”John Najarian was born in Oakland, Calif., in

1927, the son of Armenian immigrants. Aftergrowing up in the Bay Area, he played collegefootball as an offensive tackle for the Universityof California, Berkeley, joining the team in its1949 Rose Bowl loss to Northwestern.“The two weeks leading up to the Rose Bowl

were when my med school classmates spenttheir time studying for finals, which were veryimportant and very difficult in the first year,”Najarian was quoted as saying in Cal SportsQuarterly. “So I went to the Rose Bowl with asuitcase full of books, which I never opened,needless to say.”He quickly became a successful organ-trans-

plant surgeon and was recruited by many col-leges, ultimately choosing the University ofMinnesota Department of Surgery, where then-chief of surgery Dr. Owen Wangensteen wasbuilding an academic medicine program knowninternationally for surgical innovation and a tol-erance for unconventional approaches.Najarian took over as head of surgery there

in 1967, after Wangensteen retired. He was 39at the time.“Already widely known as the founder of one

of the nation’s first kidney transplantation ser-vices (at the University of California, SanFrancisco), Najarian had been attracted by thebasic science research base at Minnesota,”reported a 2005 article in the Archives ofSurgery.He was known for his dual rigor in both

immunological science and surgery, which iswhat allowed him to innovate.“John — Dr. Najarian — was equally proficient

as a surgeon and as an immunologist. And thatwas incredibly important. Because he was theone who pushed the boundaries in what youcould do with transplant,” said Dr. Jakub Tolar,a bone-marrow transplant doctor who is dean

of the U’s Medical School today.Dr. Sayeed Ikramuddin, the current chair of

surgery at the U, said Najarian was known forpioneering islet cell transplants and kidneytransplants for diabetes, and pediatric trans-

plants, among many other things.In 1995, following a series of investigative

reports in the Star Tribune, Najarian was indict-ed on charges of fraud, theft and tax evasionrelated to allegations that under his watch, theMedical School had taken in millions in illegalprofits from sales of ALG, which was unli-censed.After Najarian was acquitted, the university

eventually paid a $32-million settlement to the

federal government.Though no longer head of surgery, Najarian

went back to work doing transplants. DaveNajarian said the experience didn’t seem tochange his father’s personality.

“He knew he was right,” Dave Najarian said.“He was never yelling about it or making a fussabout it. He was just happy that the drug hedeveloped saved so many lives.”John Najarian was preceded in death by his

wife of 67 years, Mignette, who died last year,and his son Paul, who died in 2014. He’s sur-vived by sons Jon, Dave and Pete, and manygrandchildren and great-grandchildren. No ser-vices have yet been announced.

Charles F. DebonoEngineer, Businessman, Lifelong Learner

University of Minnesota transplant surgeon Dr. John Najarian, shown in 1993.

Pioneering University of Minnesota Transplant Surgeon Dr. John S. Najarian Dies at 92

FRESNO — Dr. Tamar M. Boyadjian will givea virtual presentation on “The City Lament:Jerusalem Across the Medieval Mediterranean”on Thursday, September 24, at 7 p.m. The pre-sentation is part of the Fall 2020 Lecture Seriesof the Armenian Studies Program and is sup-ported by the Clarie Bousian Bedrosian Fund.All Lecture Series events will take place online,and not face-to-face, through the Fall 2020semester.In “The City Lament: Jerusalem Across the

Medieval Mediterranean,” Boyadjian examineshow various ethno-religious cultures across themedieval Mediterranean world lamented theloss of the city of Jerusalem, and in what waysthese lamentations are informed by reinscribingmodels from the ancient world. The critical objective of Boyadjian’s work is

to expose cross-cultural exchange and interac-tion across the medieval Mediterraneanthrough an examination of the lament traditionacross Arabo-Islamic, Cilician Armenian, andWestern European literary sources. She demon-strates how each of these cultures share similarmodes of lamenting cities, all of which also com-ing from ancient prototypes. By understandingthe loss of the city, each tradition further itspolitical objectives of reconquering Jerusalemby simultaneously envisaging their ownJerusalem through a textually surrogate geog-raphy of the city, also informed by the theolog-

ical and spiritual tradition of the significance ofthe city for that particular faith. It is throughthese city laments that these cultures allow fortheir own Jerusalems to live anew, through thisvery paradoxical mourning of its loss anddestruction.Boyadjian is an associate professor of

medieval literature and teaches creative writing(poetry) and translation courses in theDepartment of English at Michigan StateUniversity. Her academic research and publica-tions primarily focus on the intersectionsbetween Europe and the Middle East across theMedieval Mediterranean, with a focus also onthe Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Furtherresearch interests include: representation ofwomen across medieval Mediterranean litera-ture; women and lamentation; Jerusalem andrepresentations of space in literature; and queerstudies and the medieval Mediterranean. She isthe author of the award-winning book, The CityLament: Jerusalem Across the MedievalMediterranean (Cornell UP, 2018), and her cur-rent book project is Eastern Princesses:Compleynt, Conquest, & Conversion in LateMedieval English Literature.The lecture will be on Zoom Conference, and

registration is required. Use this link to register:bit.ly/armenianstudiesboyadjian. The lecturewill also be streamed on the Armenian StudiesProgram YouTube channel.For more information about the lecture visit

www.fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies.

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O2ANNIVERSARY

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Bishop Daniel FindikyanElected to Appeal ofConscience FoundationBoard of DirectorsAWARD, from page 1and be viewed by leaders in the religious, civic,business, and diplomatic fields. That event will be the occasion to present the

2020 “Appeal of Conscience Award” to Dr.Noubar Afeyan and Robert F. Smith. Both arebeing honored for their leadership “in helpingto heal our wounded world at the time of thepandemic,” according to the award citation.Afeyan — a longtime friend and supporter of

the Eastern Diocese, and chair of 2015’sNational Commemoration of the ArmenianGenocide Centennial — is co-founder and chairof the biotech research company Moderna,which has been a leading innovator in researchinto a COVID-19 vaccine.

USA Gymnastics PlacesRestrictions on AzarianCoaches amid AbuseAllegationsABUSE, from page 6measures addressing the conduct of the specificcoaches, we will be working with AzarianGymnastics to fortify their current policies tobring them into alignment with the updated USAGymnastics Safe Sport Policy – this includesopen viewing sessions for parents of all athletes,educational requirements and gathering addi-tional information from families currentlyenrolled at the club. As Azarian Gymnastics isnot presently a member, member club status willbe contingent on meeting these standards.”Eduard Azarian, 62, is not named in the for-

mal complaints. The Armenia-born Azarian haslong been considered gymnastics royalty. Hisfather, Albert, won a gold medal for the SovietUnion in the team competition at the 1956Olympic Games and also claimed the 1956 and1960 Olympic rings titles.Azarian followed his father’s footsteps, help-

ing the Soviet Union win the team gold medalat the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Aftercoaching the Soviet boys and girls nationalteams for more than a decade, Azarian immi-grated to the U.S. in 1992.

2021 Creative Armenia-AGBU Fellowships for Cutting-Edge Artists to Forefront of Armenia’s Cultural futureNEW YORK — Creative Armenia and the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU)

are now accepting applications for the 2021 Creative Armenia-AGBU Fellowships. Opento filmmakers, musicians, writers, and artists across all creative fields, the Fellowshipsare a package of funding, mentorship, promotion, and strategic support. Applicationswill be accepted until October 31.

“In times of crisis, visionary thinking becomes impossible to ignore,“ said AlecMouhibian, Vice President of Creative Armenia. “The next class of Creative Armenia-AGBU Fellows will have a singular opportunity to shape Armenia’s artistic landscape foryears to come." The current 2020 Fellows are: composer and musician Armen Bazarian; visual artist

and curator Nvard Yerkanian; theatre director and dancer Tsolak Mlke-Galstyan; com-poser and conductor Alexandr Iradyan; composer and pianist Zela Margossian, and film-maker Vahagn Khachatryan. “Our Fellows have shown diversity in their creativity and expression over the past few

years putting Armenian culture on the map in their unique ways,” said AGBU CentralBoard Member Ani Manoukian. “We are proud of the achievements of this partnershipand of the talents supported. We look forward to the third cohorts setting the bar evenhigher.”For more information on the Fellowships and to submit your application by October

31, please visit creativearmenia.org/fellowships and agbu.org/creativearmenia.Now in its third term, the Fellowships are a collaboration of Creative Armenia and

AGBU, which entered into a strategic partnership in May 2018.Creative Armenia, a global arts foundation for the Armenian people, pursues a man-

date to discover, develop, produce, and promote innovative talent. AGBU, a trusted nameacross the diaspora for over a century, has opened many doors for talented Armeniansthrough such offerings as university-level performing arts scholarships, summer intern-ships, and professional programs such as Musical Armenia and Sayat Nova InternationalComposition Competition—all under the aegis of the AGBU Performing ArtsDepartment, established in the United States in 2012 and in Europe in 2016.

Dr. Tamar M. Boyadjian to Speak on ‘The City Lament:Jerusalem Across the Medieval Mediterranean’

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COMMUNITY NEWS

By Charles N . Mazadoorian Special to the Mirror-Spectator

The photograph above of a scriptural message formationwhich was taken in the Greek City of Corinth in 1923 has alwaysfascinated me. The words “Second Corinthians” and the numer-ical reference “1:8:11” were formed by the Armenian childrenwho were being cared for by the Near East Relief Foundation atan orphanage site in Corinth. My mother remembers being inthe formation for the photograph although she does not remem-ber of which letter or numeral she was a part. It appears that thechildren were arranged at the foot of a steep hill or mountain sothat the photographer was able to look down upon them and getfar enough away to take in the whole formation. Perhaps heeven had a wide-angle lens.This photograph of course was not the only such photo

taken at Near East Relief orphanages throughout the region.These photographs were likely used for many purposes, includ-ing fundraising, brochures and acknowledgement and letters ofthanks to those in America who so generously contributed andraised money for the orphans and Genocide survivors. Onesuch photograph simply displayed a very straightforward mes-sage from the orphans spelling out the words “America WeThank You.”The picture shown here was also likely intended to express

the appreciation of everyone who worked on behalf of the NearEast Foundation in the Middle East, as well as and especiallyof the children to themselves, to their benefactors in the west-ern world. Significantly, it also sought to express a spirit ofgratitude and hope and to seek further prayers for the orphansand thanks to God. It was believed, perhaps somewhat naively,that those receiving the message on the card were mostlyChristian and familiar with the New Testament. Hence the useof a scriptural reference as a message from the Armenianorphans to those people in the western world, and in particu-lar America, who had contributed to the financial and spiritu-al support of the Near East Relief.It was a unique and appropriate — indeed brilliant — idea for

the Near East Relief Foundation leaders to have these orphansand survivors form the letters and numerals of this particularscriptural reference. It was a photograph intended to send amessage in code, so to speak; a code not in the sense of beinga secret but, in the sense of using that scriptural reference asa shorthand method of saying something as powerful and asmoving as only the great Apostle Paul himself could say it.What follows is my favorite version of Paul’s words. It is basedfor the most part upon a translation found in the NewTestament in Modern English by J.B. Phillips. However, I havealso added some words here and there to paraphrase the trans-lation. Although this particular combination of paraphrase andtranslation was not available in 1923 ( The King James versionwas and still is the most universally read English translation),it does nonetheless accurately and powerfully convey the spir-

it of the message in the photograph.“We should like you our brothers and sisters to know some-

thing of what happened to us in Asia, something of what wewent through. At that time we were completely overwhelmedby the terrible course of events which befell us. The burden ofour hopelessness was more than we could bear. We evendespaired of life itself. We told ourselves that this was surely

the end for us. Yet, in looking back now, we believe that we hadthis experience of coming to the end of our rope that we mightlearn to trust not in ourselves but in God who can raise thedead. For indeed we were as good as dead. It was God whodelivered us from imminent death and it is he who still protectsus. Further we trust him to keep us safe in the future. Andhere, you can join in and help by praying for us so that thegood that is done to us in answer to many prayers will meanultimately that many will thank God for our preservation.”These words from Paul’s second letter to the young church

in Corinth give a remarkably accurate account of what thewhole Armenian nation went through in 1915. I don’t believe

it could have been expressed in any better way. And what moreappropriate place from which to send this message than fromthe Greek port city of Corinth itself. Could it have been morethan a touching coincidence that Corinth was one of the stopson the evacuation route of Armenian orphans from Turkey toEurope and Armenia?In a larger sense, it was a message from all Armenians who

survived the Genocide. By all the laws of man and nature, noArmenian should have survived that brutal slaughter. If theywere not directly killed by Turkish guns or knives or beaten todeath or drowned or perished from starvation or disease, they

should surely have died ofdespair and hopelessness. Onecould almost say that theArmenians had no business sur-viving at all: that they had no pos-sibility of surviving. The oddsagainst the Armenians surviving ,including European politicalrivalry, expediency and moralacquiescence in the actions ofthe Ottoman government and thepowerful forces against themwere simply too overwhelming.First the government rounded upall the adult males in a villageand disposed of them and thenreturned to finish off the defense-less women and children. TheTurks were too determined, tooefficient, and too ruthless in theirmass annihilation for anyArmenian to have survived byaccident or chance. The govern-ment did what it was good at —destruction.If the unspeakable brutality of

the Turks left any vestige of phys-ical life in the body of the

Armenian nation, it should surely have completely destroyedwhatever spirit remained in the Armenian soul. Against suchvicious malevolence, the spirit of the Armenian soul shouldhave given up any will to survive. Why struggle or even wantto survive when the powers intent upon your destruction wereso overwhelming and no government in England, France or

even the United States was willing to make a serious effort tostop them? Even the dedication and courage of those gallantmen and women who served the Near East Relief should nothave been enough to save as many orphans as were saved if ithad not been for the grace of God. It was indeed by the sheergrace of God that any Armenians at all survived.It was in 1925 that my mother was officially discharged from

the care of the Near East Relief and entrusted to the care ofher father’s sister, Yester Aharonian in Beirut. It was the lastof several orphanages in which she had stayed after experi-encing the horrific depravities of the Genocide. My mother described her years in the orphanages of the

Near East Relief Foundation as among the happiest of her life.She and her companions were sheltered from the events fol-lowing the end of the War; they led a regimented life and wereprovided a keen sense of purpose and direction. The educationthey received laid down a solid spiritual and moral foundation.The children developed a strong sense of belonging, self-suffi-ciency and a deep commitment and loyalty to each other andto their teachers and caregivers, who were incredibly loving,thoughtful, dedicated and skilled — all representative of theheroic humanitarian efforts of the Near East Relief effort itself.My mother’s miraculous return to what was left of her fami-

ly in the village of Yegheki in Kharpert after years of completeloss of identity ( none of relatives even knew that she was stillalive) was representative of the miracle of the survival of theArmenian identity despite the enormous scope and scale of thedestructions and killings.It was miraculous that the Turkish plan to completely

destroy and eliminate every vestige of Armenian identity didnot succeed. Despite the widespread scale of the atrocitiesplanned and executed by the Ottoman government, the com-plete defenselessness of the Armenian population and the fail-ure of the international community to intervene when the gov-ernment’s plan were laid bare (even after urgent pleas, warn-ings and graphic description of the brutality and destructionof the Armenian people from respected and credible eye wit-nesses such as US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau), theArmenian identity not only survived the attempted eradicationbut grew stronger and flourished.The spirit of the young orphans pictured in the photograph

and the message they subtly but powerfully conveyed to theworld says all that needs to be said about the courage andresilience and strength of the Armenian identity.(Charles N. Mazadoorian ( 1934-1996) was born in Whitinsville,

MA to Yegsa Aharonian Mazadoorian ( 1912-2007) and NigoghosMazadoorian ( 1904-1997), both Genocide survivors who lived invarious Near East Relief and other orphanages before coming toAmerica. Charles lived most of his life in New Britain CT, wherehe attended local schools before earning a BA in English litera-ture from Yale University. He was an ordained deacon in theArmenian Church and served at The Armenian Church of theHoly Resurrection in New Britain. He was a committed studentof the Bible and of the Armenian Genocide and used his knowl-edge of both to write this article. Minor edits and some minoradditions of materials have been made to this article by Charles’younger brother Attorney Harry Mazadoorian.)

The Coded Message from the OrphansIn Second Corinthians, 1:8-11

The photo of the formation spelling out Second Corinthians 1:8-11

Near East Relief card for Yeghsapet Aharonian, the author’s mother

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POGROMS, from page 1The book relies on three major sources, the

massive academic study by Speros Vryonis, Jr.,The Mechanism of Catastrophe (New York:Greekworks.com, 2005), Güven Dilek’s analysisin 6-7 Eylül Olayları (Tarih Vakfı, 2005), and thecollection of photographs and documents of theFahri Çöker archive (6-7 Eylül Olayları:Fotograflar-Belgeler, Tarih Vakfı, 2005), as wellas a variety of articles and authors. More thanhalf of the 176-page book consists of pho-tographs of the violence and its aftermath, alongwith reproductions of articles in newspapers andsome of the documents from Çöker’s archives. Sirapian said he had been planning his publi-

cation for some 10 years. Among the causes forthis long delay was the need to obtain permis-sion from Turkish publisher Tarih Vakfı toreproduce materials from the two aforemen-tioned key books. This is a work of outline and summation, not

of original research, intended for a broad audi-ence, but it does add several personal anecdotesas new source material. One such example con-cerns the author himself, who as an almost-10-year-old boy was jolted into realizing that the sto-

ries about what happened in 1915 and earlier tothe Armenians were not just ancient history, butevents that could recur. It made him realize thathe had to leave his native country, but it tookhim 10 more years to become an adult and findthe means to do so, and settle in France. This story is similar to that of many other

Armenians of varying ages. I can attest that myown father, already an adult at the time, afterwitnessing the destruction of the pogroms andpillaging, like the author, decided that Turkeywas not a country in which one could form afamily and raise a new generation of childrensafely. Sirapian, based on his sources, reports that

the events of September 6-7 were organizedand deliberate. A manufactured incident, a falseflag attack on the revered Mustafa KemalAtaturk’s home in Thessaloniki, Greece, servedas a spark for protests in non-Muslim neighbor-hoods of Istanbul which then turned into loot-ing, rioting and violence. There were similarincidents in Izmir, and smaller events in a fewother parts of Turkey. Sirapian enumeratesfacts establishing that the riots were plannedbeforehand. Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and his

Democratic Party were complicit, and tried tocounter the declining popularity of his govern-ment by recourse to extreme nationalism. Italso allowed Turkey to play a stronger role inthe London Tripartite Conference on Cypruswhich was taking place at this same time.Internationally, Great Britain benefited fromthis Turkish nationalism, which weakened theGreek hold on Cyprus, prevented the unifica-tion of Cyprus with Greece, and allowed theBritish to keep military bases in Cyprus. Sirapian places the pogroms in the context of

the long history of ethno-religious homogeniza-tion in Turkey and cites several incidents whichoccurred decades after them to indicate thatthis is still an ongoing process. These includethe massacre of Alevis in Sivas in 1993 and theassassination of Hrant Dink in Istanbul inJanuary 2007. In addition to being motivated to commemo-

rate an event which in a few decades will nolonger have any living witnesses, Sirapianwrites that he wishes this book to be a call tovigilance against the racism and xenophobiathat are inculcated in children from a young agein Turkey and exported from Turkey to Europe.He cites Turkish writers and intellectuals likeHasan Cemal, Taner Akçam and Baskin Oranwho point to the inability to confront skeletonsin Turkey’s closet like the Armenian andKurdish questions as a factor in allowing thecontinuance of ultranationalist behavior. On the fiftieth anniversary of the 1955

pogroms, an exhibition of photographs of theviolence was protested and egged by ultrana-tionalists yelling slogans like “Traitors to thecountry!” A similar mentality, Sirapian pointsout, is seen in the recent conversion of Hagia

Sophia to a mosque. Now, Sirapian fears, the

same mentality is beingpromulgated in Europeamong people of Turkishdescent with support bythe Turkish government. Itcertainly poses a threat toEuropean Armenians.Sirapian cites the exampleof the declarations of anultranationalist Turk inDécines, France, whichwere disseminated thissummer on YouTube, call-ing for Turkey’s leaders toprovide Turks in Francearms and monthly moneyto “do what is necessarythroughout France” andcounter the actions of theArmenians. TheCommittee for theDefense of the Armenian

Cause (CDCA) has initiated a lawsuit againstthe latter. Ultimately, Sirapian concludes, this Turkish

ultranationalism in alliance with Islamism is notjust dangerous for Armenians, but threatensthe foundations of the French republic andEuropean values.

The Author

Author Sirapian has had an interesting andvariegated career. He studied at the MekhitaristSchool in Istanbul as a youth and graduatedRobert College, an American institution. Hestudied Byzantine history at Istanbul EdebiyatUniversitesi [Literature University] from 1966to 1970. Sirapian also performed as a guitaristin a band and recorded several records. Emigrating to Paris in 1970, for the first five

years he worked as a translator in an automo-

bile factory (Simca). He then opened a photog-raphy store in 1975 or 1976 which lasted tillthe mid-1990s. He took an interest in personalcomputers early in their development, in the1980s, and began selling both software andhardware. When the photography businessstarted to decline, he switched his businessfocus to the latter, and also did accountingwork. Eventually he sold his store and began towork from home. He also taught political com-munication and geopolitics at the École inter-national d’audiovisuel (EICAR) in Paris. He has been involved in French and

Armenian politics. He was elected municipalcouncil member of Alfortville, a suburb of Paris,from 1995 to 2001. He was president of the

Armenian DemocraticLiberal Party in Francefrom 1999 to 2001 andvice president of theConseil de Coordinationdes organisationsArméniennes à France(CCAF) from November2001 to November 2002.He founded and serves

as president of the InstitutTchobanian in 2004,which is an independentcenter for geopoliticalresearch on Turkey, theSouth Caucasus and theMiddle East. It helpsArmenia through variousprojects. He establishedthe publishing house

Sigest too, and edits the periodical Europe andOrient, which appears twice a year. Lespogroms de 6-7 septembre 1955 is a specialissue of this book-size series (seehttps://edsigest.blogspot.com/).

Further Work on the 1955 Events andTurkish Ultranationalism

In an interview, Sirapian considered his bookonly a first step to call attention to the 1955events, and hoped that other younger writersmight prepare more detailed works in French. As far as the dangers of Turkish ultranation-

alism spreading its influence, Sirapianexclaimed that France is the soft underbelly ofEurope where extremist Turks can strike moreeasily than elsewhere. Armenians only recentlyhave started treating this situation seriously,according to Sirapian. Most recently, at the end of August, a monu-

ment to the composer Gomidas in Paris whichcommemorates the Armenian Genocide wasdefaced with the words “It is false.” Sirapiansaid, “Armenians have woken up finally. Wehave to follow events closely.” He pointed outthat it is a positive development that ArmenianGenocide denier Maxime Gauin for the ninthtime lost a lawsuit for defamation against thedirector of the French-Armenian publicationLes Nouvelles d’Arménie and one of his writers,Sam Tilbian. Sirapian concluded, “Other incidents are going

to take place, and we must give an answer toevery step they take.” At the same time, heemphasized that what is most important is toattempt to keep Armenia and Artsakh safe.

Istanbul Pogroms of 1955 Not Forgotten:Sirapian Publishes French-Language Book

The Illustrated London News coverage of the pogrom reproduced by Sirapian

A group of assailants, probably guides for the mob, celebrating at arestaurant in Beyoglu, Parmakkapı, while the rioters continue theirwork outside (photo copyright Fahri Çöker)

Istiklal Caddesi (Street): Even the second floors of stores were notspared. Here baby carriages are being thrown down

(PHOTO COPYRIGHT FAHRI ÇÖKER)

12

LesMarsden

‘Veracity and Passion Are Strong In Most Armenians'

By Artsvi Bakhchinyan Special to the Mirror-Spectator

YEREVAN/MARIPOSA, Calif. — Actor,director, playwright and musician LesMarsden was born on February 26, 1957, inFresno. He began piano lessons at age 4 andwas an accredited piano teacher by age 11and composed his first symphony at 13. As ateen, he played principal trumpet in severalensembles including the California HonorOrchestra and the Fresno JuniorPhilharmonic (FJP) and under Maestro GuyTaylor’s tutelage, he conducted the FJP inperformances of his own works. As a teen heacted in local theatre; upon entering college(CSU Fresno) Marsden settled on a theatrecareer.

As a college student he wrote, producedand starred in his one-man show, “A Night atHarpo’s,” with the cooperation of HarpoMarx’s, widow, Susan, and their children. Wellacquainted with the elderly Groucho Marx, heperformed as that Marx Brother for years invarious theatrical presentations. Groucho’sson Arthur Marx wrote the play “Groucho: ALife in Revue” and in it created the dual roleof Harpo and Chico Marx specifically forMarsden who in addition to playing bothbrothers in and out of their well-known filmpersonae also stunned audiences by actuallyplaying lengthy piano and harp solos in eachbrother’s distinctive style.

The show had successful runs in New Yorkand London; Marsden was nominated in theU.K. for London’s prestigious LaurenceOlivier Award for “Comedy Performance ofthe Year” — the equivalent of Broadway’s TonyAwards. He also received the London Critics

Award and many others for his work on theLondon stage.

Marsden was seen nationally and interna-tionally in innumerable dramas, comedies andmusicals, with countless appearances on film,TV and in commercials. While starring in aplay at the famed Arena Stage in Washington,DC in 1999, Marsden had an onstage accidentwhich resulted in a career-ending permanentinjury to his left leg. Disabled, he retired atage 42. With no further need to maintain anEast Coast professional base, Marsden, hiswife Diane and son Maxfield moved back totheir native California to live near theirbeloved Yosemite National Park.

In 2001 he established the MariposaSymphony Orchestra, offering his Acting inMariposa (AIM) program.

see MARSDEN, page 14

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Arts & Living

Ara Dinkjian OutdoesHimself With ‘Live

At Princeton University’When I was living in Chicago I went to a restaurant one evening where a local

Armenian band was playing. It was a typical kef lineup: oud, guitar, dumbeg, andclarinet. As the boys started to tune up, they were asked what number they would

begin with. One of the musicianssuggested something, and the oud-ist played the first few notes of themelody to confirm the tune theywere speaking about. They noddedat each other and then, instead of

going into one of the typical Armenian or Turkish songs one would hear in sucha venue…they launched into a heartfelt rendition of Ara Dinkjian’s composition,Picture.

At what point does an artist become a phenomenon? At what point, a legend?At what point do we stop discussing who influenced that artist, and start to dis-cuss whom he himself has influenced? Although I am certainly not the first to real-ize or write about this fact, I want to note that in the case of composer and oud-ist Ara Dinkjian, it is certainly a fait accompli: Ara Dinkjian is a legend in Armenianmusic and has been for many years now.

His compositions, almost all instrumentals when done by him, have becomeinternational hits. (We might also ask, at what point does a song become a “clas-sic”?) They have then been given lyrics in Turkish and Greek, and the resultingsongs have also become international hits. Why in Turkish and Greek? In his earlycareer (1980s) it seemed Ara’s music was gaining the most popularity in thosecountries, though he himself was born and raised in New Jersey, where he stilllives. Perhaps the Armenian community was not ready for him in those days. Hewas ahead of his time. When it came to listening music, concert music, our com-munity still could not think past Gomidas Vartabed and the classical school. Theoud was proper in dance music where it had to battle for dinner-dance and wed-ding reception supremacy with the keyboards and modern pop styles that becamepopular in the 1970s and 1980s. The primary artist who did play the oud in a con-cert setting, George Mgrdichian, essentially made his fame by using that instru-ment to play the works of Komitas Vartabed.

I will not attempt to explain here the somewhat circuitous route by which AraDinkjian eventually became acclaimed by the Armenian public, but acclaimed heis, and in addition to the Turkish, Greek and Hebrew lyrics, his songs are nowbeing given Armenian lyrics by the likes of Istanbul-Armenian singer Maral Ayvaz.

What is it that speaks to the hearts of all three peoples? Very simply, Ara grewup in the atmosphere of Armenian-American kef music, based as it is on theAnatolian folk music of Western Armenian regions like Sepastia, Kharpert,Dikranagerd and Cilicia, where Armenian, Assyrian, Kurdish and Turkish tradi-tions came together and on the other hand, the urban café music of Istanbul andIzmir, a style that was composed, performed, and propagated by generations ofGreek, Armenian, Sephardic Jewish, Bulgarian, Gypsy and Turkish artists, in themostly Greek-owned tavernas and gazinos (cabarets) of the city.

The same music was transported to these shores and performed at New EnglandArmenian picnics and Manhattan’s Greektown nightclubs alike, and engenderedgenerations of Armenian-American performers in what came to be known as thekef style. In the atmosphere of giants of the music like his father, vocalist OnnikDinkjian, and Onnik’s often-time bandmates, oud master Johnny Berberian andclarinet virtuoso Hachig Kazarian, Ara grew up and absorbed sounds that

see DINKJIAN, page 13

The Artifa[ctuals] New Online Publication Examines

Contemporary Culture andPolitics in America

By Christopher Atamian Special to the Mirror-Spectator

NEW YORK — In early August, the Fresno-based writer and thinker Aris Janigian foundedThe Artifa[ctuals].com, a new and welcomeaddition to the sometimes paralyzingly simplis-tic discussions on culture in contemporaryAmerica. Race, class, politics and free speechare some of the topics that have already gracedits pages and which promise to challenge,encourage debate and often provoke. Janigianis best-known as the author of five novels,including Riverbig (2009), This Angelic Land(2012) and most recently, Waiting for Sophia atShutters on the Beach (2019). The latter maybe seen as a prelude to his current undertaking,as it wittily deconstructs the world of political-ly correct academia.

Janigian’s most recent essay in the LosAngeles Review of Books, A History of MyWhite Privilege, looks at the term “white privi-lege” through the lens of his own Armenianimmigrant family history. The piece garneredkudos in many circles and also angered somewho see it as a concession to the right. Also tobe found currently at The Artifa[ctuals].com: awonderful drawing titled Policing Free Speechby cartoonist Lucine Kasbarian, some fun, rawpoetry by California Beat Poet Laureate RichFerguson and a Jenny Zhang recap fromeater.com that looks at some of the remarkablereasons behind the cancellation of this year’sJames Beard Awards. I sat down with Janigianrecently to discuss his new publication, theaforementioned essay and his desire to movethe conversation in America past the presentstatus quo.Atamian: Your mission statement partly

reads “The Artifa[ctuals] is a group of writersand artists who believe that illiberality andhive mentality menace our democracy andWestern Civilization itself. In the spirit of theLarge Hadron Collider our aim is to create a“collision space” (as opposed to a “safespace”) for critical thought and artisticexpression.” Can you comment on this?

Janigian: I think the mission statement ispretty self-explanatory, but I would encouragepeople to read our Manifesto in order to get aricher sense of our project. Atamian: Artifactuals — artifacts — are

defined as “denoting or relating to an objectmade by a human being, typically one of cul-tural or historical interest,” as in items found

see JANIGIAN, page 15

By Harry Kezelian III Special to the Mirror-Spectator

Aris Janigian

Les Marsden

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DINKJIAN, from page 12he would recreate in his own compositions —compositions that spoke to hearts of Greeks,Turks, Kurds, Israelis, Arabs, and Armeniansalike. In that sense, Ara has followed in thefootsteps of the famed Armenian composers ofMiddle Eastern music in the Ottoman era, likeTateos Ekserjian, known as Kemani TateosEffendi (1858-1913) and who was interestinglyborn exactly one hundred years before AraDinkjian and who also composed essentiallylistening music. When someone like RichardHagopian, or even a Turkish or Arab oud play-er, opens a concert of Middle Eastern music,he often begins by playing Tateos Effendi’sfamous Rast Peshrev. The younger Armenianmusicians in Chicago chose Ara Dinkjian’sPicture.

To hear the oud as concert instrument isalso not new to Ara or even his predecessorGeorge Mgrdichian. To find a famousArmenian composer who wrote his own piecesand performed them on the oud, we need goback only as far as Oudi Hrant Kenkulian(1901-1978), who gained great fame in theUnited States during his many trips here inthe 1950s and 1960s. In fact, we can take thethread back even farther to the Armenianashughs like Sayat Nova who both composedand performed — though, to their credit, theyalso wrote lyrics in a highly complex poeticform and sang them. Ara is not a singer, buthis performances are complex in another way,as well as ground-breaking — they representthe fusion of Middle Eastern music with jazzand avant garde musical concepts. AlthoughSouren Baronian and to an extent ChickGanimian were the first to venture into thatterritory years ago, Ara (and his bandmates)break entirely new ground. But to see whythat is so, let’s review his most recent release,“Live at Princeton University.”

The set opens with the now-classic Picture.Like all the songs on this album, it is aDinkjian composition. Ara, playing oud,peforms the first half of this live 2017 concertwith his group, The Secret Trio. The othermembers of the trio are Tamer Pinarbasi, aTurkish kanun player, and Ismail Lumanovski,a Macedonian Roma (Gypsy) clarinetist. Thetrio are based out of the New York area. Allthree musicians comport themselves well onthis moving piece, which includes solos byLumanovski.

Slide Dance opens with Pinarbasi’s innova-tive kanun playing imitating (to this critic’sear) waterfalls or waves in the ocean.Amazingly, the effect is not just an auditorygimmick but harmonizes with the overallpiece and is somehow at the same time exe-cuted in the 10/8 meter. (The song is a com-position by Dinkjian in the style of anAnatolian Armenian line dance). Lumanovksiexecutes a number of glides and gypsy-liketechniques, however his technique is used tocreate more of a jazz “sound” than a gypsyone. Both instrumentalists take solo turns,play off each other; Lumanovski plays a jazz-inflected variation on the melody whilePinarbasi harmonizes (or rather, createscounter-melodies) to amazing effect, and theyattempt a unison riff at one point. Dinkjianplays the melody at times and participates insome unison runs, but spends much of thepiece seemingly sitting back and letting theother two musicians take the spotlight, but inreality he is playing the equivalent of rhythmguitar — something rather difficult to do onthe oud, which does not lend itself to playingchords (it is traditionally a melodic instrumentonly). And then, all of sudden, he will punctu-ate the piece with a totally untraditional rapidattack on a few strings, between playing rhyth-mic chords on the oud. It is hard to put intowords what Ara does here, but it is certainlyfar outside the box when it comes to oud play-ing.

Ara’s playing also recalls the fact that he hasbeen a guitar player for many years as well,often playing rhythm guitar for his fatherOnnik’s or John Berberian’s albums in the1970s. It is also obvious that none of this iswritten down, so the amount of virtuosity, aswell as the amount of time they must spendplaying together, is evident.

The Last Sultan is a new composition by

Dinkjian. This impressionistic piece seems topaint a picture of the last days of the OttomanEmpire just after WWI. The melancholy toneof the song seems to recall Mehmet VI whowas facing the end of his once powerfulempire, while he himself was merely a pawn ofthe Young Turks, until the Damat Ferit Pashagovernment took over after the war and hebecame a pawn of the British. The piece,which is reminiscent of the compositions ofTateos Effendi, is played masterfully and deli-cately by the three musicians together.

The Invisible Lover, a well known Dinkjiancomposition, begins with Ara playing anexquisite, dark, introductory taksim in the

Hijaz mode on the oud. The mostly straight-forward interpretation of the pieces is howev-er played by the three musicians with incredi-ble unity and some interesting kanun effectsfrom Pinarbasi. Lumanovski’s clarinet reallyshines in this piece, especially when he gets totake a solo. The interplay of the musicianshere to create a piece that is more than thesum of its parts is incredible.

Sinanay, better known as the Greek popularsong Hoppa Nina Nina Nai (Siko KhorepseKoukli Mou), is given its Turkish name here.This folk song, which is native to the PonticGreek community of Niksar (just north of theonce-heavily Armenian Tokat) was made popu-lar in a Greek translation in the 1950s byStelios Kazantzidis, whose father was PonticGreek born in the nearby port city of Ordu.The musicians approach this song lightly, firstled by Dinkjian on the oud, and then byLumanovski on the clarinet with Dinkjian andPinarbasi playing harmony, again, not typicalfor their instruments. After about a minuteand a half of a slow, non-traditional, yet pleas-ant interpretation of the melody, the musi-cians break into a dance-like recreation of thepopular Greek song, complete with imitationof bouzouki by Pinarbasi and jazz-type tech-niques from Dinkjian. Many of the pieces onthis album could be described as MiddleEastern Balkan music that uses jazz style tech-niques rather than strictly a Middle East/jazzfusion, as the blues-inflected tonalities ofAmerican jazz are not usually heard here. But,midway through Sinanay, the band completelytakes us by surprise, as Dinkjian and Pinarbasistart to create an aural effect of whirling ontheir instruments and Lumanovski goes into asolo on the clarinet with a mixture of klezmer,New Orleans jazz, Gypsy-influence, whichsounds like it came out of one of the more trip-py albums by the Beatles. Returning to the

main theme of the song and closing out, thisnumber gets an audible huge round ofapplause from the live audience, captured onthe recording.

The second half of the half features Dinkjiantogether with a group known as the New YorkGypsy All Stars. Pablo Vergara (keyboard),Panagiotis Andreou (bass) and Engin KaanGunaydin (percussion) play in this band alongwith Pinarbasi and Lumanovski.

The first song in this part of the album, anew composition entitled American Gypsy, isdedicated to Ara’s good friend, the late HaigHagopian. Hagopian was a clarinet player inArmenian-American kef music for many years

and was indeed known for a “Turkish gypsy”influenced style. The heartfelt melody andinterpretation creates a nostalgic impressionto memorialize days gone by in theArmenian-American kef scene where HaigHagopian was a major figure. The playing onthis song is more kef inflected than others,and yet also more American-influenced, show-ing who Haig was. Even when Dinkjian takesan oud solo, it is reminiscent of the oud styleof Charles “Chick” Ganimian, with whomHagopian played for many years. Throughoutthis whole album of his own compositions,Dinkjian rarely takes a straight oud solo. Thisone is played with deep feeling and soul,attributes that Hagopian highly valued, andwhich stand as a testament to Dinkjian’sfriendship with the late clarinetist. Anyonewho knew Haig Hagopian musically and per-sonally would recognize the elements of thissong that make it stand out as a tribute tohim.

Pilaf is another new Dinkjian composition.The American inflection is strong here (withbluegrass or country-western influences), andthe overall impression is that of Armenian-American life, exemplified by things likeshared meals of pilaf. There is humor of coursein that idea as well as in the musical ideas ofthe song. The “popping” of the the drums, theplucking of the oud and kanun strings and theway the clarinet is played, themselves give animpression of the bubbling of the boilingwater for the preparation of pilaf. Listening tothis, I could literally see family members danc-ing out the back door of their house, handsfull of plates of delicious Armenian food and abowl of steaming hot pilaf, for an outdoor fam-ily meal. Dinkjian, Pinarbasi and Lumanovksiall get to take nice jazz- or bluegrass-likebreaks.

Common Spirit is a Dinkjian composition

dedicated to the togetherness and peacebetween the world’s ethnicities and religions.The heartfelt melody gets the message acrossin something that sounds like it could be apop ballad, a patriotic song, or a hymn.Dinkjian takes several great, brief oud solos inthis one that have all the marks of his style butquickly return to a unified “common” expres-sion with the other musicians. The melodyseems to cry out for lyrics, but it would take atruly great lyricist to do it justice.

For Alexis, written for one of Dinkjian’s stu-dents, is an instrumental workout in a fast ver-sion of the 9/8 meter common in Anatolia andthe Balkans. Lumanovski takes a clarinet solo

which is backed by strange, echoing, moody,perhaps rock-influenced background soundsfrom the rhythm section, ending with a basssolo. While the melody is relatively not com-plex, it is difficult to perform because of themeter and the mode (Karjighar) in which it iswritten.

The final cut, Anna Tol’ Ya / Homecomingis a medley of two great Dinkjian composi-tions. The first is obviously a play on words forAnatolia, while the second is a popular tuneknown often by its Greek title Dinata, Dinata.The band goes into full kef mode for this track.I would be surprised if people weren’t dancingin the aisles. Ara takes a nice oud solo, but asalways gives a lot of room to his bandmates.Pinarbasi’s kanun taksim is excellent on thistrack, with some unorthodox melodic progres-sions and jazz influences. Following that, theband goes into Homecoming, causing the audi-ence to clap along. The contrast between loudand boisterous dance music alternating with asoft, almost chamber music interpretation isagain seen with this tune. Lumanovski is givena solo where he shows off his Gypsy-style clar-inet chops. The dance beat returns, again theaudience claps along, and bursts into applauseat the finish.

Ara Dinkjian, who has played these compo-sitions of his countless times, manages to cre-ate something new with this album. His inter-pretations, along with those of his bandmates– especially Pinarbasi and Lumanovski – showan impeccable musicianship, and a driving,passionate, ingenious gift for improvisation.These songs have become such classics thateven their composer now approaches them ina different light. This album could have beentitled “Dinkjian Plays Dinkjian” – and thistime, Dinkjian has outdone himself.

(For more information visitwww.aradinkjian.com.)

Ara Dinkjian Outdoes Himself With ‘Live at Princeton University’

Ara Dinkjian and The Secret Trio

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MARSDEN, from page 12Dear Les, I have read about you in the 4th

volume of Contemporary Television and FilmActors anthology at Yerevan Public Librarywhen I was a student. I was impressed by yourtheater and TV roles and comical face. At thatpre-Internet epoch it was unimaginable thatone day I could see your videos and make aninterview with you, so I am very glad to intro-duce you to Armenian readers.

I’m humbled that I’m known — even slightlyat all — in Armenia. And I’m honored to beexposed to our people through your interview.I’ve always had a sense of ethnic pride in myArmenian heritage and was fortunate to beraised in Fresno, with its large Armenian popu-lation.You have acted in plays of eminent play-

wrights — Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen,Hellman, Durrenmatt, Neil Simon. Who areyour favorite authors and what were your pre-ferred roles?

That’s a great question! Now, as the musicdirector/conductor of a symphony orchestraI’m asked a similar question: who are yourfavorite composers? And the answer is easy:whose ever music I’m performing or rehearsingat the moment, and the same answer applies toplaywrights and roles: you always have to becaptivated by whatever role you’re playing, evenif the character isn’t necessarily a likable one.Even the greatest villain doesn’t see himself asa villain: he’s only doing what he thinks is thebest thing.

But I do think Chekhov is among my favoriteauthors. He had that remarkable ability to jux-tapose the often-bitter condition of human exis-tence with comedy simultaneously. Thatdichotomy has always appealed to me: the darkwith the light, the tragic with the ironic. AndChekhov’s characters are all so richly drawn.Even the smallest role has great dimension. Oneof my favorite Chekhov roles is Lopakhin in“The Cherry Orchard.” Nouveau riche — withmany rough edges, but Chekhov gives himhumanity so he doesn’t come off as a coarse,insulting antagonist, and that was great to play.I would have loved to have portrayed Trigorinin “The Seagull” and Astrov or the title role in“Uncle Vanya.”

I love Shakespeare. He wrote with extraordi-nary facility across the spectrum of comedy,tragedy, drama, history — utilizing the magnifi-cent poetry of the English language brilliantly.But he also demonstrated profound knowledgeof that huge world beyond his ElizabethanEngland: his Italy of “Two Gentlemen ofVerona,” “Romeo and Juliet,” of “Othello”depict those worlds with veracity though henever visited them to our knowledge. Thoughhe lived more than 400 years ago he capturedthe human spirit, mind and emotions in a waywhich speaks to us universally today, acrosstime, across international borders, across socio-economic boundaries. He lives and breatheswithin us as though he wrote his plays only yes-terday. I had a great time in whateverShakespearean roles I performed, but had toturn down playing Falstaff in a production of“Merry Wives of Windsor,” as I was offeredanother show at the same time. And I’ve alwaysregretted that choice.

Another of my great favorites is the AmericanGeorge S. Kaufman. His works are nearly allcomedies and his 95-year-old daughter Annehas been a dear friend of mine for 40 years.Among his great comedies are “You Can’t TakeIt With You,” “Of Thee I Sing,” “Dinner atEight,” “Once in a Lifetime” and of course, theMarx Brothers’ great 1920s stage hits “TheCocoanuts” and “Animal Crackers,” as well astheir 1935 film “A Night At The Opera.” I firstcame to know Anne through the many revivalsof the Marx shows in which I starred. The oneterrific role I would have LOVED to have done:is that of the caustic Sheridan Whiteside inKaufman’s greatest play: “The Man Who Cameto Dinner.”Can we say that your Marx brothers’ per-

formance is the most unique work that willremain in the history of American theater?

I think so. Though I played all the brothers invarious shows, it was that unique role of bothHarpo and Chico written specifically for me byArthur (son of Groucho) Marx and RobertFisher in “Groucho: A Life in Revue,” which

became the standout in my career. Arthur andBob saw me in Los Angeles in another of theirshows, written about Arthur’s grandmotherand his father and uncles: the musical comedyMinnie’s Boys. I starred in that show asArthur’s father Groucho, and was flatteredwhen he said I was the best Groucho they hadever seen! At that point, I was already known toGroucho and Chico’s offspring and knewGroucho himself due to my one-man show “ANight At Harpo’s.” I wrote that show with thetrust of Harpo’s widow Susan and four childrenwhile I was still a college student in Fresno, andperformed it extensively from the age of 22everywhere from Fresno to Las Vegas to theEdinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.Knowing I played the harp and piano in my own

show, Arthur wanted me to play Chico in“Groucho: A Life in Revue” but also wantedHarpo in it. But – Harpo’s widow Susan onlygave her consent if I’d write Harpo into thatshow AND play him as well! That’s how thatdual role came about. A tremendously enjoyablething for me — with remarkably quick changes.Some people refused to believe it was the sameactor playing both brothers! And it was difficultfor them to believe an actor could play bothbrothers from the ages of 15 to 70 AND playsolos in both brothers’ styles on harp andpiano. But after some 2000 or so performancesin theatres across North America and England,enough was enough! I also did play the titlerole, too.They say it is easier to make spectators cry

or get angry than make them laugh. How didyou manage make the audience laugh?

The secret is — or at least it was for me thesame whether an audience cries or laughs. Theaudience must become emotionally invested ina character. They must suspend disbelief andreally care – you can’t play just the surface.What’s happening must be real and believable,and character-driven. And the same is true ofgetting them to laugh. With few exceptions —specifically farce or presentational comedy: it’sfar easier for an audience to laugh if theybelieve in the humanity of your character. It’sabsolutely true: “tragedy is when something ter-rible happens to you; comedy is when some-thing terrible happens to someone else” — butin either case, it must be believable. And if theaudience laughs or cries? Well – it’s nice toknow they care.You worked with Albert Finney, Robert

Redford, Vanessa Redgrave, Burt Reynolds,Jeremy Irons, etc. Was there something par-ticular with such celebrities?

It’s indefinable — a spark or magic; a qualitywhich means you cannot take your eyes offthem. One of the most electric moments I’veever experienced on stage was with VanessaRedgrave: I was standing next to her onstageduring a fundraising performance in Londonfor the Royal Leukemia Fund honoring theactor Colin Blakely, who had recently died. Justafter I finished, Vanessa performed Rosalind’sclosing speech from Shakespeare’s “As YouLike It” — the role which had launched hercareer 25 years earlier, making her an overnightstar. She was in a diaphanous costume; she

floated ethereally and you couldn’t take youreyes off her. And those magical words camefrom that magical mouth, suspending time, mat-ter, everything. She concluded and the audi-ence erupted in stunned applause. I was hold-ing her hand as the curtain slowly fell. And assoon as it hit the ground, she immediatelybegan to excitedly tell me a story about havinglunch with Groucho in Beverly Hills yearsbefore! In a split-second, from that extraordi-narily super-human, captivating performanceduring which you could have heard a pin dropin the massive Lyceum Theatre on London’sWest End – to become the earthy real personVanessa Redgrave is: well, that’s the best exam-ple I can think of to define that special “some-thing.”

Music is another art form that you were ineven before entering the acting world. Yourbiography says that you were already a pianoteacher at the age 11.

There was always a piano in our home andmy parents later told me that when I was only3 or so, I’d go over to the piano and plunk outa tune I had just heard on the TV, even thoughI could barely reach the keyboard! I first start-ed piano lessons at the age of 4, and by age 11,I received a teaching credential from theCalifornia Music Teachers’ Association. I thentook on a few beginning piano students whowere even younger than me. By then I had alsoplayed the trumpet for a few years, and had myown trumpet students.So after suffering an onstage accident,

because of which you forced to retire at age42, you went back to your starting point -music...

Yes. My wife and I realized that if we managedour money carefully, we could retire at thattime. I had had a very hectic, physically-drainingcareer by then — with about 3,000-4,000 stageperformances alone. And people who aren’t inthe theatre may not realize that acting, per-forming eight shows a week with only one dayoff, with perhaps television commercials andeven film and TV work juggled into that work-week is a highly demanding thing. And an actorworks on holidays: if Christmas falls on a mati-nee day, well: you perform one or two showsthat day, too because many people go to thetheatre on Christmas. Or on New Years Eve, orNew Years Day or on your own birthday oranniversary. Theatre requires great mental con-centration as well as physical work. And thoughit may sound like a very easy decision to retireas I was physically exhausted and permanentlydisabled, it really wasn’t easy. After all, I haddecided at the age of four that I wanted to growup to be an actor, and I had focused my entirelife and education on attaining that goal. It’sone of the most difficult fields in which to attainsuccess, and that success isn’t based solely ontalent, but also upon a great deal of hard work.And most of all: upon luck. And I had been verylucky. I had made it. I was Les Marsden, theActor.

But now, suddenly while in the middle of asuccessful career, it all ended. It was a toughchoice, but it was the only one. After beingbased in Manhattan for many years, in 2001 we

sold our home on the East Coast and movedhome to California, to the West Coast to be nearour families. My father had died in 1980 whenI was 23 but my mother, my wife’s parents andmany other family members were still in Fresno.Diane, our son Max and I settled in the moun-tains just outside Yosemite National Park,where we were married in the 1980s. Closeenough to Fresno, but in an environment wepreferred, just like Yosemite Valley, in a deepforest at the 4,000 foot elevation.In 2002, you established the Mariposa

Symphony Orchestra. Is it common for smallAmerican towns to have their own symphonicorchestra?

No! As a matter of fact, Mariposa is now rec-ognized as the smallest town in all of Americawith its own symphony orchestra! Orchestralmusic has always been my passion and evenduring all those years as an actor, my musicaltraining frequently turned up. Besides my per-formances as the Marx Brothers, I would sur-prise audiences by playing other instrumentsonstage when some roles presented that possi-bility. I also composed incidental music for playsin which I starred at times, or made instrumen-tal or vocal arrangements which were neededfor stage shows in which I was acting – andalways enjoyed discussing music with the pro-fessional Broadway musicians who played themusicals in which I also starred. Who alwaysaccepted me as a peer in the field of music. Ifeel that education should never end; I’m always– every day – trying to learn more, more abouteverything that interests me. And so it’s beenwith classical music – from the age of five or sountil now — 58 years later — I HAVE to learneverything I can, every day about things I neverknew. And my thirst for orchestral symphonicmusic is just that: compulsive. I have a massivecollection of recordings — probably over 8,000CDs including rare musical works. The mostobscure compositions by every known compos-er, plus as much music as I can find of theworks of obscure composers, too. During mymany years in the theatre, I’d try to attend sym-phonic concerts wherever I was performing —New York, London, Los Angeles, Boston,Atlanta, Dallas, all over — when an orchestra’sconcert didn’t conflict with my own perfor-mance time. And I’d try to meet an orchestra’sconductor who was usually pretty easy becausethere’d be a little press about me in that city’spaper due to my performances. And I got tospend casual time with many conductors andmusicians due to mutual friends and the like.

And so it was an easy thing to decide to cre-ate an orchestra here, in retirement. After all, Ialready had the training and experience as aconductor, and could compose and arrange toboot. And though I didn’t know many peoplehere, I picked up the phone and called my firstmusician and he was gung-ho to give it a try.And I asked if he knew any other local classi-cally-trained musicians, and would get anothername. And so it went, and by our first rehearsalI had lined up 17 musicians, far exceeding myoriginal goal of a small salon orchestra. But bythe time we were ready for our first perfor-mance in December of 2002, word had spreadand I had 31 musicians and we were on our wayto becoming not a salon or chamber orchestra,but a full-fledged symphony orchestra! By oursecond performance we had 45 musicians andwere already too large for our tiny High Schoolstage so I had a large stage extension built toextend the stage into the audience. And nowwith 55 to 60 musicians in the MSO, I have awaiting list but can’t add any more musicians aswe’re now too big even for that expanded stage. What percentage of Mariposa’s inhabitants

is part of the orchestra?About one-third. The town of Mariposa has

only about 1,500 residents and from the begin-ning, I’ve had dedicated musicians from aboutfive or six counties who drive great distances torehearse and perform in the MSO. It’s becomea real pride of the entire area. We’re now knownas Yosemite’s symphony orchestra too – we per-form in Yosemite National Park three times ayear, the only symphony orchestra ever allowedto perform there in that park’s 130 year histo-ry. Unfortunately, the entire orchestra is now onhiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and I’vecancelled all performances indefinitely.

continued on next page

Les Marsden: ‘Veracity and Passion Are Strong in Most Armenians'

Les Marsden conducting the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra

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JANJIGIAN, from page 12perhaps in a time capsule by our descendantsfar down the road in time or conversely cul-tural artifacts that may have belonged to ourancestors, such as the famous 5,500 year-oldshoe found in an Armenian cave a few yearsback. The term has an anthropological andeveryday meaning to it, am I right?

Janigian: “Artifa[ctuals]. The first part of thatword is supposed to an ironic twist on the word“Antifa.” Aside from that, an artifact has multi-ple meanings, it can move in several directionsat once. In our Manifesto, it alludes to the“trace” left behind after the collision of parti-cles in the Large Hadron Collider. That artifactof the collision, physicists hope, will provide awindow onto the fundamental nature of thephysical universe; we hope to get a glimpse intothe fundamental nature of the human universe. Atamian: Aris, aren’t there other publica-

tions that have similar concern to yours? Didyou see a vacuum to be filled?

Janigian: There is nothing that I know of likeThe Artifa[ctuals] today. Every literary/artsmagazine in America must pass some ideologi-cally-correct litmus test to survive the twitterterrorists. I’ve discovered that there is more ide-ological conformity among poets, novelists andvisual artists than there is even among, say,engineers, to show how monotone and herd-like the artistic community has become. Such ashame. Of course, many of them are part of thesame academic club or begging to get into it,where one risks getting fired or not hired forsuggesting, for example, that a white novelisthas every right to create a black protagonist fora story. There are excellent places like Quilletteor Areo, and increasingly The Atlantic, whereyou can find essays that push back against iden-tity politics and political correctness, but theyare mostly written in an academic tone and youwon’t find any poets in their pages. We write asartists, and so our tone is more ironic, playful,willing to confront. To give you a sense, wehave a regular post that we call “Auto-Da-Fe ofthe Day,” where we feature the most obsceneinstance of self-humiliation and public penancein the name of so-called “Social Justice” that wecan find in the news that day.

Atamian: For the record, does TheArtifa[ctuals] lean left, right or center?

Janigian: The only things the founders havein common is our commitment to building avenue where artists can do their thing withoutfear. The five founding members are hardly inunanimity politically. The Trump-Biden dividedoes not divide us, because we all believe thatthe longer term threat to our country is thewillingness of many intellectuals and artists toside with identity politics activists in limitingfreedom of expression and thought. We all livein Fresno and one of us, Mark Arax, would befamiliar to readers of this newspaper. Atamian: Who is on your roster of contrib-

utors and do you welcome outside contribu-tions? Who would you like to see contributingand whom would you like to reach out to inthis sense?

Janigian: We welcome everyone to our com-munity, and we believe that many people shareour values and our cause, though they areafraid to say so in public. I’ve had a handful ofwriters already tell me that they would love towrite for us except they believe they’d jeopar-dize their jobs. One of our regular contributorsis using a pseudonym. With that said, if youhave something provocative to say in an artisti-cally compelling way, we are here to take a look. Atamian: One of the sections on your site is

called “Hostis Publicus,” which of course isLatin for “public enemy.” In it you list a sur-prising number of prominent professors andexecutives of all stripes who have been can-celled or fired for making supposedly racist orsexist comments and the like. Every right-thinking person agrees that rape, harassmentand racism are terrible things. How did we getfrom the very fine intentions of BLM and peo-ple who justifiably want to see a diverse work-force to what looks like an outright witch huntat times?

Janigian: These things don’t happenovernight. The foundation was laid in academia,but there are many factors that accelerated thiscatastrophically anti-American state of affairs.Some naïve observers believe that life will mag-ically go back to normal when, for instance,Trump gets booted out of office, but I don’t

think so. The movement that we are watchingunfold today has little to do with liberal valuesjust because it ostensibly sides with theoppressed.

Here is one factor that might help answeryour question: censoriousness and cruelty iswhat happens when you cede power to chil-dren. Up until the present, children were in thebackground, nearly voiceless. In the publicrealm debate and exchange, within the boundsof certain rules, occurred among adults. Todaychildren — both literally and figuratively — theimpulsive, impatient, punitive, insecure andstrangely imperious, those needing affirmationday and night, in a word, the neurotic--areincreasingly running the show; what I like tocall, Lord of the Fleas. When you are neurotic,feelings take on the gravity of truth, evenreceived wisdom. There are predatory econom-ic reasons for this novel reality, as well: merechildren are now “taste makers” and “influ-encers,” on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and allthe rest. They make other people, and some-times themselves, lots of money. Atamian: In your essay A History of My

White Privilege, reprinted on The Artifa[ctu-als].com from the liberal Los Angeles Reviewof Books, you take issue with the blanketterm “white privilege.” This can be miscon-strued I think, as not empathizing with thecause of other groups who, like Armenians,have been discriminated against and continueto face difficult times. Would you like toaddress this?

Janigian: How empathy has become a politi-cal concept is an interesting discussion, but,let’s take it in the simplest terms for the timebeing: in that essay, I’m asking people toempathize with me, or rather my history. To notassume things about me just because I amwhite, if there is such a thing as “white” at all.Dig deep enough into anyone’s personal histo-ry, especially in America, a country of immi-grants, and you will find some agonizing familystory right below the surface.

I am trained as a social scientist, and I cantell you for certain that “white privilege,” is nota scientific concept; it is completely unavailableto empirical testing. Rather, “white privilege”

evokes a reality, a reality that is an assemblageof religion, history, politics, geography, and eco-nomics. In this way it is less a concept than astory, or a scene that has been produced andthat we’ve been compelled, even educated tosee: a scene where the white person is locatedsomewhere special, doing something special,owning something more, and the POC is locat-ed elsewhere, barred from doing things, owningless, deserving more. All I’m doing in that essayis complicating the scene. Ideology exploits thescene, art complicates it. The fact that the essaywas mainly condemned by fellow “artists” goesa long way in telling how infantile and anti-artthe art world has become, another reason forfounding The Artifa[ctuals]. Atamian: Voltaire once wrote — and here I

may be slightly paraphrasing a famous quote:"I may disapprove of what you say, but I willdefend to the death your right to say it."Shouldn’t that be the spirit that reigns inAmerica — or any democracy? I think that bychallenging people on contemporary com-monplaces you are doing American society agood turn. So Aris, thank you for your ser-vice.

Janigian: Thank you, and I might add oneother thing. Armenians are in a special posi-tion to see life from multiple points of view.That is the aim of The Artifa[ctuals] and whatart’s ultimate aim should be. Armenians arean in-between people, neither white nor col-ored, neither Catholic nor Protestant, neitherEuropean nor Middle Eastern; we hold on toour culture and yet are assimilated whereverwe land; we have a deep cultural memory yetpossess an intense drive to transcend thepast. As we’ve weaved our way forward we’veadded our own extraordinary patterns ontothe fabric of history. This is a long way of say-ing: it’s no accident that The Artifa[ctuals]has two Armenian founding members andthat it’s located in William Saroyan’s hometown of Fresno, in between San Franciscoand Los Angeles.

Visit www.theartifactuals.com to readJanigian’s essay as well as those by other lead-ing writers.

New Online Publication Examines Contemporary Culture and Politics in America

‘Veracity and PassionAre Strong in MostArmenians'from previous pageYou are native of Fresno. Among the

Armenians this city’s name associates with that of William Saroyan’s. Have you ever met Uncle Bill?

No, and I so wish I had! My aunt knew him, and apparently he knew about me. He had a modest home not far from my family’s home but he died about the time I began performing my one-man show. I was told he wasn’t in very good health in his later years, and always trying to be a polite young man, I didn’t want to disturb him.Your both parents are Armenians. Do you

know where their families are from?A bit. I tried many times to have my mother,

Helen Boornazian, write down the family his-tory, but she’d start to tell me fractured details instead of writing it down, then she’d forget who came from where and give up. One of Boornazian family members created a family tree which goes back many generations. All four of my grandparents came to the US around 1900. My mother’s father was a post-master in Pawtucket, RI but decided he wanted to farm and so in the early 1900s he moved the young family across the country to California and eventually bought 160 acres in the tiny town of Fowler, which is just south of Fresno, where my mother was born. By the way, I reg-istered her parents’ emigration officially at Ellis Island for her birthday, and received an official document proving it. Their names are now on a wall at Ellis Island, in the shadow of Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty stands in New York Harbor. That meant a great deal to my mother. My father’s name was Karnig Marderosian, his parents first settled in Detroit, but later moved to Fresno. My father’s father

also wanted to farm, but became disillusionedwith it quickly and traded his farm for a beau-tiful (then-new) Craftsman-style house inFresno. He eventually opened the LibertyMarket in downtown Fresno, near the FresnoCounty Courthouse. My father and unclesworked with my grandfather in his market untilthe boys all went off to serve in the militaryduring World War II and my grandfather soldthe store and retired about that time. My moth-er’s father died a few years before I was born,and her mother died when I was about eight.My grandmother lived in America for about 65years, but never learned to speak English; itjust wasn’t important to her! And I onlylearned a very few words of Armenian, most ofwhich I’ve forgotten so we really couldn’t com-municate well. My father’s mother died when Iwas about 5, and his father died when I wasabout 10. I only wish they had lived a littlelonger so I could have appreciated them moreand learned more about their early lives. Who changed your family name

Marderosian into Marsden?Me! “Marderosian” was always misspelled by

critics, and even just by the press in feature arti-cles. It’s also difficult for odars to remember orpronounce and I found that if you had anArmenian name, casting directors only consid-ered you for Armenian roles only and therearen’t many! And so I changed my name, butonly after making sure my mother wouldn’t beupset! And it worked. Casting people consid-ered me for any sort of role, and “Marsden” wasnearly never misspelled in the newspapers. What was typical Armenian in your family

and in your personality?When I think of “typically Armenian” things,

my mind immediately goes to family gatheringswhen I was young. And the greatest thing aboutbeing Armenian? The food! Spending holidayswith all the Armenian family gathered – that’swhat I think of as “typically Armenian” and it’ssomewhat sad now because with only one excep-tion, the older generations are all gone. My

father’s sister Victoria is still with us, in her late90s, but that’s all. My mother was next-to-youngest of eight children, and she was 38 andmy father 40 when I was born. By the time I wasborn, much of the family was already elderly orgone. My generation is mostly scattered. And sothat sense of extended family, of multiple genera-tions coming together particularly at holidays andeating wonderful foods that always containedsome terrific Armenian dishes — and my motherwas a very good cook — that’s what I most thinkof as being Armenian. And that sense of familythat’s probably one of the most “Armenian”aspects of my own personality. Being raised on somany great Armenian foods, well, I love to cookthose things myself. My son, who’s 22 and onlyhalf-Hye, is proud of his Armenian heritage andloves my Armenian cooking.

And my parents were very proud of this:you’ll remember I wrote my one-man show onHarpo Marx while still in college in Fresno?Well, I persuaded Harpo’s widow Susan to fly toFresno from her home in Palm Springs toattend my opening night; now THAT’S theaudacity of youth! Writing this show and thenperforming as her husband with her sitting inthe front row is something only a 20-year-oldwould do! But – Susan stayed with us at ourmodest family home and my parents cooked upa delicious Armenian feast for her. This lovelyworldly woman who had been a Ziegfeld star inthe 1920s, and a movie starlet in her own rightin the 1930s, in movies as the daughter of W.C.Fields and the love interest of John Wayne, thiswell-traveled woman: loved that specialArmenian meal and evening!And is there something typical in your art?Perhaps strangely enough, I’ve only played an

Armenian once in a play called “NineArmenians” by Leslie Ayvazian in New Yorkdecades ago. But the aspects of my personal artthat I think are most typical of being Armenianare honesty. Veracity. And passion. Those arequalities I think are redolent in mostArmenians: directness, total pride in being hon-

est and truthful – and being passionate aboutwhat they do. And I feel that’s because they’reconfident they’re doing what they do for thebest and highest of reasons.Are you acquainted with Armenian music

and have you ever performed it?I’m familiar with quite a bit of Armenian folk

music, but only as a listener. I do have a greatlove of Armenian concert composers, chiefamong them being the great AramKhachaturian, of course. I’ve loved his music,his modal writing, his very soul in every note heever wrote since hearing the Sabre Dance fromthe “Gayaneh” ballet as a very small child andhave come to know (and collect) everything I’veever been able to find of his music, of course. Iidentify with his music, with his sound thoughmy own compositional style rarely hints at thatsense of “Armenianism” or ethnic sound.Mansurian, Hovhaness, Arutiunian, too. I don’tthink there’s an Armenian composer whosemusic hasn’t resonated with me. It’s in my soul.

Our MSO audiences prefer to hear music theyalready know, though I usually give them a veryhealthy dose of great unfamiliar music whichthey should know, too. I’ve wanted to performsome of the more-familiar Khachaturian withthe MSO, but – in the States, his music is enor-mously expensive to rent. That’s the case withmost composers from the (former) SovietUnion, whose music isn’t yet in the publicdomain.It will be great to welcome you in Armenia

– if not with all your orchestra, but with yourfamily...

And if, some day this pandemic ever makes itsafe to travel, I’d certainly love to come for avisit. It would be wonderful to walk in the landof my ancestors, to feel that Armenian earth, tobreathe the Armenian air it’s already a part ofme. And it’s an honor and pleasure to have metyou, Artsvi and to be able to call you my friend.Thank you for all you’ve done for Armenia andwill continue to do to help bring her peopletogether....

SEPTEMBER 19 — Armenian Open 2020,Saturday, 11 a.m. Tallwood Country Club isthe home of the Armenian Open which pro-vides a unique, traditional experience forthis golf tournament. The three churches ofSt. George, St. Mark and Holy Resurrectionhave combined their efforts to continue onthe tradition, at the original site of where itall started. The committee is working dili-gently to ensure a memorable experiencewhile adhering to COVID-19 guidelines.Register to play and become a sponsor athttps://www.armenianopen.com/register.To learn more visit our Facebook page :https://facebook.com/events/s/armenian-open-2020/326043275095372/?ti=icl orhttps://www.armenianopen.com/.

SEPTEMBER 13 — Trinity’s On-The-GoPicnic, Sunday, Noon – 3 p.m., Holy TrinityArmenian Church of Greater Boston145Brattle Street, Cambridge. Pre-Orders Only!Place your orders online or download themail-in order form to place your order byWednesday, September 9.SEPTEMBER 20 — St. James Fall Kick-OffTo-Go! Hosted by the St. James Men’sClub and Hye Café groups, in lieu of in-person September events. 12:30 - 2:30pm.Meals will be available for pre-order curb-side pickup only. Online ordering will beavailable starting on September 1st athttp://stjameswatertown.square.site. St.James Armenian Church - 465 Mt. AuburnStreet, Watertown. Please contactinfo@sthagop.com with any questions.

SEPTEMBER 22 — Holy Trinity ArmenianChurch of Greater Boston 2020 GregoryHintlian Memorial Golf Tournament.Tuesday, Marlborough Country Club,Marlborough. Please submit completed regis-tration information directly to the Church officevia mail or e-mail. Questions? 617 354-0632

SEPTEMBER 23 — Wednesday, at 10amCelebrating What Unites Us! A virtualcooking series, a collaboration of City ofBoston Age-Friendly Boston, OLDWAYS andFriends of Armenian Heritage Park to keepus connected, coming together. BREADS!Andrew Janjigian. America's Test KitchenBread Expert. Editor, Cooks Illustrated. Toregister email hello@ArmenianHeritagePark.org

OCTOBER 7 — 10am Celebrating WhatUnites Us! A virtual cooking series, a col-laboration of City of Boston Age-FriendlyBoston, OLDWAYS and Friends of ArmenianHeritage Park to keep us connected, comingtogether. NATIVE AMERICAN CUISINE ChefSean Sherman member of the OglalaLakota tribe Cookbook author, The SiouxChef Indigenous Kitchen - 2018 JamesBeard Award for Best American Cookbook;co-founder, The Sioux Chef.com - 2019 JamesBeard Leadership Award. To register via Zoom,email hello@ArmenianHeritagePark.org

SEPTEMBER 11 — Friday, September 11 at7:30 pm an exceptional, as we must bringto your attention the "Berlin Liturgy" ofKomitas․ For some it may come as a surprise,but I must say that many people do not knowthat the great Komitas wrote many Badaraks.Yes, those liturgies were written on differentoccasions, for example, on the occasion of thedeath of Catholicos of All ArmeniansKhrimlian Hayrik, and other. On upcomingFriday we have a premier presentation to theArmenians of the world, the Komitas BerlinLiturgy, which he wrote in the 1899 year as adiploma thesis of the Berlin Conservatory. Thepiece is written in German; the material pre-sented in Friday’s evening contains hymns thatshould be performed during various church’sholidays. At my request the Artistic Directorand Conductor of the Yerevan State ChamberChoir Harutyun Topikyan, will tell you about itbeginning of program. Livestream on the face-book page of the Sts. Sahag and MesrobChurch of Providence.

16 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O RS A T U R D A Y, S E P T E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 2 0

CONNECTICUT

ARTS & LIVING

MASSACHUSETTS

Calendar

“This hummus is velvety-smooth and creamy, with a satisfyinglyrich, balanced flavor,” says senior editor Andrew Janjigian. “Toachieve a perfectly smooth texture, we simmered canned chickpeaswith water and baking soda for 20 minutes, and then quicklyremoved their grainy skins by gently swishing them under a fewchanges of water. Baharat is a warm, savory Middle Eastern spiceblend. Our favorite tahini, Ziyad Tahini Sesame Paste, is madewith gently roasted sesame seeds, which give it a light color and amild flavor. If Ziyad is unavailable, please look for a similarly lighttahini such as Roland Tahini Pure Sesame Paste or Kevala OrganicSesame Tahini. This hummus will thicken slightly over time; addwarm water, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed to restore its creamyconsistency. Serve with crudités and pita bread or crackers.”

INGREDIENTS:2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed1/2 teaspoon baking soda4 garlic cloves, peeled1/3 cup lemon juice (2 lemons), plus extra for seasoning1 teaspoon table salt1/4 teaspoon ground cumin1/2 cup tahini, stirred well2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

BAHARAT-SPICED BEEF TOPPING INGREDIENTS:2 teaspoons water1/2 teaspoon table salt1/4 teaspoon baking soda8 ounces 85-percent lean ground beef1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil1/4 cup finely chopped onion2 garlic cloves, minced1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika1 teaspoon ground cumin1/4 teaspoon pepper1/4 teaspoon ground coriander1/8 teaspoon ground cloves1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted, divided2 teaspoons lemon juice1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

PREPARATION FOR HUMMUS: Combine chickpeas, baking soda, and 6 cups water in medium saucepan and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, stir-

ring occasionally, until chickpea skins begin to float to surface and chickpeas are creamy and very soft, 20 to 25 minutes.While chickpeas cook, mince garlic using garlic press or rasp-style grater. Measure out 1 tablespoon garlic and set aside; discard remain-

ing garlic. Whisk lemon juice, salt, and reserved garlic together in small bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. Strain garlic-lemon mixturethrough fine-mesh strainer set over bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids.

Drain chickpeas in colander and return to saucepan. Fill saucepan with cold water and gently swish chickpeas with your fingers torelease skins. Pour off most of water into colander to collect skins, leaving chickpeas behind in saucepan. Repeat filling, swishing, anddraining 3 or 4 times until most skins have been removed (this should yield about 3/4 cup skins); discard skins. Transfer chickpeas tocolander to drain.

Process chickpeas, garlic-lemon mixture, 1/4 cup water, and cumin in food processor until smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down sidesof bowl as needed. Add tahini and oil and process until hummus is smooth, creamy, and light, about 1 minute, scraping down sides ofbowl as needed. (Hummus should have pourable consistency similar to yogurt. If too thick, loosen with water, adding 1 teaspoon at atime.) Season with salt and extra lemon juice to taste. (Hummus can be refrigerated for up to 5 days. Let sit, covered, at room tempera-ture for 30 minutes before serving.) Transfer to wide, shallow serving bowl. Using back of spoon, make a 1-inch-deep well in center of hum-mus, leaving 1-inch border.

PREPARATION FOR THE TOPPING: Combine water, salt, and baking soda in large bowl. Add beef and toss to combine ingredients. Let sit for 5 minutes.Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion

is softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add paprika, cumin, pepper, coriander, cloves, and cinnamon and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about30 seconds. Add beef and cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon, until beef is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup pinenuts and lemon juice and toss to combine. Spoon topping into well in hummus. Sprinkle with parsley and remaining pine nuts, and serve.

Serves 12 to 14.Total Time: 45 minutes.

For these recipes, go to:https://www.cooksillustrated.com/articles/1958-hummus-elevatedhttps://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/12230-ultracreamy-hummus-with-baharat-spiced-beef-topping?incode=MCSCD00L0&ref=new_search_experience_20

Recipe Corner by Christine Vartanian

Ultracreamy Hummuswith Baharat-SpicedBeef Topping

RHODE ISLAND

17S A T U R D A Y, A U G U S T 2 9 , 2 0 2 0 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMENTARY

Established 1932

An ADL Publication

EDITOR

Alin K. Gregorian

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Aram ArkunART DIRECTOR

Marc Mgrditchian

SENIOR EDITORIAL COLUMNIST:Edmond Y. Azadian

CONTRIBUTORS:Florence Avakian, Dr. HaroutiunArzoumanian, Philippe Raffi Kalfayan,Philip Ketchian, Kevork Keushkerian,Harut Sassounian, Hagop Vartivarian,Naomi Zeytoonian

CORRESPONDENTS:

Armenia - Hagop AvedikianBoston - Nancy KalajianLos Angeles - Taleen BabayanBerlin - Muriel Mirak-Weissbach

Contributing Photographers:Jirair Hovsepian

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator is published weekly, except two weeks in July and the first

week of the year, by:

Baikar Association, Inc.755 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, MA 02472-1509

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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to TheArmenian Mirror-Spectator, 755 Mount AuburnSt., Watertown, MA 02472

Other than the editorial, views and opinionsexpressed in this newspaper do not necessarilyreflect the policies of the publisher.

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Established 1932

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Copying for other than personal use orinternal reference is prohibited withoutexpress permission of the copyrightowner. Address requests for reprints orback issues to:

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02472-1509

Living with an Ottomanist ErdoganEDITORIAL

By Edmond Y. Azadian

In a recent outburst in Ankara, President Recep TayyipErdogan said: “They’re either going to understand the languageof politics and diplomacy, or [learn] in the field with painfulexperiences.”

He continued, “Turkey possesses sufficient political, eco-nomic and military power to tear up the immoral maps and doc-uments imposed” on it.This was a threat to fellow NATO member Greece, whose inter-

national territorial waters are being overrun by Turkey.Indeed, Turkey has sent gas exploration ships within the con-

tinental shelf of Greece, escorted by its warships. Efforts tomediate the escalating crisis have failed because Greece is refus-ing to sit at the negotiation table before Turkey ceases its illegaldrilling operations in the former’s territorial waters. Turkey has also claimed the Cypriot exclusive economic zone,

citing the “legal rights” of the illegally-occupied northernCyprus, which Turkey calls the Republic of Northern Cyprusand whose sovereignty it alone recognizes.NATO and its European members are divided over this stand-

off, creating a perfect confusing scenario for Mr. Erdogan toexploit.President Emmanuel Macron of France is pushing for sanc-

tions against Turkey because he believes Turkey will not heed acommand but only respond to actions. Earlier, he had describedNATO as “brain dead,” which is being proven now with the cur-rent dithering by the pact’s leadership.Some quarters argue that NATO was founded to defend its

member states from foreign threats and does not have the prop-er mechanism in place to mediate internal disputes. Although aEuropean Council meeting is planned totake place in Berlin on September 24-25,with this dispute serving as its mainagenda, a definitive outcome may be indoubt, given the division among themember states.The United States has assumed a

hands-off position, having delegated themediation to Germany. France is almostalone in its steadfast support for Greece.Italy and Spain have been leaningtowards Turkey while Germany is keep-ing a neutral position to enhance its roleas mediator. International law is definitely on the

side of Greece, counterbalanced byTurkey’s aggressive bullying, leadingmediators to seek a position betweenlaw and intransigence. In the adjudica-tion, Greece is the underdog.The politicians in Armenia who are

cheerleaders for joining the NATO struc-ture must draw their own conclusionsfrom Greece’s predicament.Judy Dempsey of Carnegie Europe

states: “What we are witnessing is a regional example of whathappens in a multipolar world in the absence of firm U.S. lead-ership. Nor is this merely a passing moment linked to the capriceof U.S. President Donald Trump: former U.S. president BarackObama’s refusal to abide by his own red lines in Syria in August2013 was arguably the defining moment.”President Erdogan is taking advantage of the stalemate by

imposing a fait accompli on the group, which will be impossibleto undo. One of those initiatives is an agreement signed withHafiz El-Sarraj, the head of the National Accord government inLibya, while the international community is trying to achieve apeace agreement between that faction (which has internationalrecognition) and that of General Haftar. That agreement hasangered Egypt, which was ready to resort to military action.To its credit, the Trump administration has also refused to rec-

ognize the agreement, which gives unilateral rights to Turkeyand to the Libyan side.As Libya was part of the Ottoman Empire, there are some

groups there who claim Turkish heritage; Turkey has been offer-ing citizenship to those Libyans. Mr. Sarraj is among them andhe is grateful to his patron, who helped him militarily to con-solidate his rule.Turkey has been transplanting its communities in different

countries, like it did recently in Lebanon. Those communitiesare time bombs and will be deployed against any country thatencounters a problem with Turkey. We have to remember thatTurkey once threatened to use its huge communities inGermany and Holland against those countries.Some in Armenia are suggesting that since Armenians are

scattered in countries all over the world, they can emulate thisaction. However, that policy can be implemented and activatedto mobilize and politicize satellite communities only when the

home base in strong.To intimidate Greece and Cyprus, Turkey has been holding

war games in the Eastern Mediterranean with the joint forces ofTurkey and Northern Cyprus. Simultaneously, Turkey is orga-nizing military drills in Nakhichevan, which for all practical pur-poses has become a Turkish military base. Ankara just complet-ed war games in August with the joint forces of Turkey andAzerbaijan in the latter country.To counter Turkey’s move, Armenian and Russian forces are

currently engaged in military drills.As Erdogan’s administration is using a heavy-handed policy in

Azerbaijan, the ruling Aliyev clan is confused whether it is los-ing its sovereignty and has become handicapped in its balancingact between Ankara and Moscow.Even in Karabakh negotiations, Baku has lost top billing to

Turkey. Armenia has also recognized that fact and enunciatedits position that our adversary in the Karabakh conflict hasbecome Turkey, rather than Azerbaijan.That shift in the Caucasus has created a new configuration of

powers. The Armenian armed forces had inflicted a devastatingblow to Azerbaijan during the last border war in Tavush.Turkey’s new role, however, rules out that kind of victory again.Should another round of fighting erupt. Armenia would be nomatch for Turkey.That is why Armenia is sobering up and in that process, it has

reevaluated its military partnership with Russia.Thus, speaking on September 4 in Moscow at a joint session

of defense ministers of the Commonwealth of IndependentStates (CIS), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) andthe Collective Treaty Organization, Armenia’s Defense MinisterDavid Tonoyan made some significant political statements.First, by a direct allusion to Turkey, he said, “Instabilities

emerge when a country tries to impose its regional geopolitical

ambitions by using a full range of destructive approach fueledby an expansionist ideology.”To counter Turkey’s dangerous moves in the region, Tonoyan

added, “The Russian presence in the region, as well as the deep-ening of military-political cooperation between Armenia andRussia are the most important deterrents contributing to thepreservation of regional stability and security.”It was politically expedient in that forum for Armenia’s minis-

ter of defense to say that. However, back home, this policy doesnot enjoy much support in the pro-government press, which hasbecome vociferously anti-Russian, and many analysts gleefullyforetell the collapse of the Russian Federation.Hopefully, Mr. Tonoyan will return home with a more realistic

message for that segment of the press to ponder.Turkey is on Armenia’s border, threatening its very existence

through its Ottomanist designs, which entail the occupation ofneighboring territories.Prof. Alan Mikhail of Yale University, describing Erdogan’s

ambitions, states that the Turkish president has been trying toemulate Sultan Selim, who after conquering the Mamluks ofEgypt, doubled the territories of the Ottoman Empire, also tak-ing over Mecca and Medina to assume the title of Caliph in1520.This professor also warns: “We should be wary of Erdogan’s

embrace of Selim’s exclusionary vision of Turkish politicalpower. It represents a historical example of a strongman politicsthat led to regional wars, he attempted annihilation of religiousminorities and the monopolization of global economicresources.”The Ottoman Empire was built on the blood of conquered

nations. Erdogan cannot rebuild it without resorting to blood-baths. Will the world community be alarmed or stand by as neu-tral observers?

18 S A T U R D A Y, S E P T E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 2 0 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMENTARY

RememberingGaro

By Doug Swift

“You want the greatest immigrant story? For my money, it’sthe little Armenian guy in my locker room. If you love

America, you gotta love Garo Yepremian.”

---- Don Shula, Head Coach, Miami Dolphins

He looked good. His bald bean glowed, his little hands werefolded neatly over his chest, a snappy tie was attached to hisneck. Making snappy ties was among the many Yepremian fam-ily businesses, and leave it to Garo to give the tie business onelast plug. Garo was at peace with the angels, but right away Icould see something was missing. Why wasn’t he wearing hisSuper Bowl VII and VIII rings? Could he have sold them? Garowas always looking for ways to make a buck.Garo was my best pal among the Dolphin family. We met at

the first Dolphin training camp under the new head coach,Don Shula. As a rookie prospect, I’d already been in camp fortwo weeks of practices when the Players’ Association strikeagainst the NFL collapsed and the veterans reported. Garocame in with the veterans. I knew nothing of Garo Yepremianand it seemed nobody else did either. We thought maybe Garowas a neighbor of one of the coaching staff and had been invit-ed to join in the first day activities for a lark. When the veter-ans reported, the rookies, as was expected, were all moved tothe bottom tier of the depth chart while the coaches startedworking with the veterans. Garo, as a place kicker, had little todo so he too hung around on the periphery of the practice ses-sions. That hanging around gave us a chance to becomeacquainted. Garo was entertaining. He spoke a hybrid language of

accented English, Armenian, Greek and French. He did a cred-ible imitation of Ray Charles. After his brief stint with theDetroit Lions in’66 and’67, Garo enlisted in the NationalGuard to improve his chances for citizenship. During his train-ing with the Guard, Garo picked up an interesting speech man-nerism from his drill instructor. Before bellowing any orders tohis recruits, the D.I. would announce, “I want to thank you!”then order fifty pushups; or, “I want to thank you - what’s thepopulation of Michigan? Wrong! Give me fifty more pushups!”Subsequently, Garo made use of the expression before andafter many of his comments. For example, he might say- “Iwant to thank you! - Miami is a very hot place to hold a train-ing camp;” or when a linebacker from Ole Miss named Jimmy‘Cadillac’ Keyes asked in a southern drawl,” Say, Gayro, you’reArmenian, right? “Garo answered, “No, I’m from Transylvania- I want to thank you!”There are a lot of stories about Garo. An early one tells of

his debut with the Detroit Lions. Harry Gilmer, the coach ofthe Lions who chanced to hire Garo as the place-kicker, firsthad to steer Garo on to the field for the opening kick-off. “Welost the coin-toss!” Gilmer exclaimed, “Yepremian, get out

there!!” Whereupon, Garo went onto the field and proceededto scan in the midfield turf for a ‘lost coin’. When the refereeasked Garo, “Why the hold-up?” Garo replied, “lost coin?” Thereferee sighed, “No-no…no lost coin,” and did a pantomime ofa kick and a football lofting in an arc toward the other team,

“Just kick the ball!” Farfetched? Maybe not.I had some sympathy for Garo. When it was announced that

Garo was becoming a Lion, Alex Karras reluctantly allowedthat it was okay for Garo to be on the team as long as he did-n’t have to shower next to him. So much for a warm welcomefrom his new teammates. Garo had been signed on a Thursdayafternoon just before the Lions third game of the season andafter kicking that ball around without pads for a couple of daysat practice, he was issued his first football uniform ever justbefore the game on Sunday. Garo must have been strugglingjust to get into his uniform with no teammates willing to helphim. I can remember my introduction to organized footballwhen I was ten and trying to figure out the equipment: shoul-der pads, hip pads, thigh and knee pads that had to be shovedinto floppy pants that made my arms and legs seem discon-nected from my head. However, once suited-up, all I had to dowas take the field in front of an idle crowd of parents andneighborhood well-wishers. Garo, took the field accompaniedby his skeptical teammates in front of a lusty, big league crowdof 60,000. As he said, “I was a stranger in a strange land - Iwant to thank you!” Wanting a clear view of the ball and being just a kicker, Garo

decided there was no need for him to wear a facemask. Thatwas a big mistake. At 5’7” and 165 lbs., Garo had no idea thatonce he walked onto the field he was fair game for anyone whowanted to take a shot at him. Ray Nitschke, the notoriouslinebacker for the Green Bay Packers, was the first to oblige.Nitschke nearly took Garo’s head off, and he was just one ofmany players who felt foreigners had no place on a profes-sional football field and went out of their way to let Garo knowit. After watching Garo on TV, even President Lyndon Johnsonchimed in. He told the press, “I don’t like the fact that a littleforeigner who’d never made a block or a tackle in his life coulddecide the outcome of a game hard fought by American boysin the trenches.”Realizing he’d become a marked man, Garo made some

adjustments. After the Nitschke hit, he had a single-bar mount-ed onto his helmet, and Harry Gilmer, not wanting to lose hisnew kicker, told him that after every kick he should run as fastas he could to the sidelines. Unfortunately, this strategy on sev-eral occasions put Garo on the wrong side of the field in themidst of a gleefully jeering opponent’s bench. Despite being aconstant target, during that year Garo became one of theLeague’s most reliable kickers and set two NFL records. Thefirst was in the Lions last game of the season when he hit sixconsecutive field goals against the Minnesota Vikings, but thatwasn’t the record Garo was most proud of. The one he reallyliked was that he was the last player in the NFL ever to play agame without a facemask.When Garo died in the spring of 2015, I was the only

Dolphin at his funeral. It was my honor to be there, and agreater honor to have been his friend of 40 years and a part ofhis extended family. Still, from a statistical point of view, Garodeserved a bigger, more portentous send-off. He was after all,one of the greatest Dolphins ever. Not only was he the leadingscorer for the Dolphins in 1971, but that year he also was theleading scorer for the entire NFL. One of those scoresoccurred on a cold, muddy Christmas day in Kansas City whenGaro hit a 37-yard field goal in double overtime to end whatstill counts as the longest game in the history of the NFL. Plus,it was that kick that sent the Dolphins to the AFCChampionship game, and subsequently to its first Super Bowl.Then in ‘72, Garo once again the leading scorer for theDolphins and there is no question that without his right foot,‘The Perfect Season’ never would have happened.Since Garo and I definitely didn’t reach the appearance-

threshold of what a professional football player should be,many of our teammates good-naturedly had cast us as a pair ofoddballs. I represented a longhaired hippy from a Division IIIcollege somewhere up north and Garo was the diminutive for-eigner who didn’t know much about football. Unlike tradition-al American place kickers such as Pat Summerall, Lou ‘TheToe’ Groza, George Blanda, Don Chandler, Paul Hornung,even Tom Dempsy with a bad foot was occasionally stuck inthe defensive line, Garo had never played a down of footballbefore he signed with the Lions. He’d never served in thetrenches. He’d never been part of the fight. In fact, the teamnever had to wash his uniform. Why bother, there was never aspeck of dirt on it.As I pondered Garo at rest, I couldn’t help think if that were

me posed in the casket, I also wouldn’t be looking up at any

of my old teammates, but for the viewing I would hope to havemy rings on. So where were Garo’s? When I asked Maritza, hiswife, what happened to them, I learned that the resourcefulYepremian had done a brilliant thing. He had repurposed bothrings into a necklace for Maritza that she could wear as anamulet during her battle with breast cancer, a fight that sheeventually won. We cherish the rings; they have mojo. To earnthem we had done what we were supposed to do, and we’ddone it as well as anybody who has ever played the game. Wemight have been a pair of oddballs, but we were Dolphins,World Champion Dolphins.

From 1970-75, DougSwift was thestartingstrong sidelinebackerfor the MiamiDolphins.During thattime, theDolphins

went to three Super Bowls, won two rings, and in '72 pro-duced the only undefeated season in the history of the NFL,a record that remains intact until this day. This article isexcerpted from a book that Doug is writing about thoseteams and the growth of the NFL.

Garo Yepremian in later years with President Barack Obama

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COMMENTARY

19

My TurnBy Harut Sassounian

President of European CourtReceives Honorary Doctoratefrom Istanbul UniversityRobert Spano, president of the European Court of

Human Rights (ECHR), visited Turkey last week at theinvitation of the Turkish Justice Minister. Spano also metwith President Erdogan and give a lecture at the TurkishJustice Academy.While the President of ECHR has the right to visit any

country he wishes, it is highly inappropriate that he acceptsan Honorary Doctorate in law from Istanbul University.Several prominent Turkish human rights activists wrotelengthy columns criticizing Spano for his visit and his accep-tance of the Honorary Doctorate.Former Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen stated that Spano

“is not fit to preside [over] the ECHR.” Cenkiz Aktar, a polit-ical scientist and academic, called Spano’s visit “scandalous”and urged him to resign. Exiled Turkish journalist CanDundar wrote that Spano “destroyed the 30-year reputationof the ECHR in three days.” Ahval News quoted several othercritical comments from prominent Turks regarding the unfor-tunate Spano’s visit to Turkey.Mehmet Altan, one of those critics, is among the 192 pro-

fessors of Istanbul University who was fired at the instigationof Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Altan, jailed forhis non-existent membership in the banned Gulen religiousgroup, filed a lawsuit against Istanbul University to reversehis firing. Erdogan also dismissed over 150,000 civil servantsfrom state jobs and investigated close to 600,000 Turkish cit-izens, arresting 100,000 of them under the false pretext ofbelonging to the Islamist Gulen movement which was

accused of orchestrating the coup attempt against Erdoganin 2016.The Turkish Ahval News website posted on August 31,

2020, an article titled, “ECHR chief may receive controversialhonorary doctorate from Istanbul University.”Ahval reported that Altan, in an open letter addressed to

Spano and published on the website of Turkish journalismplatform P24, urged him not to accept the Turkish invitation.“I do not know how much pride there is to be an honorarymember of a university that condemns hundreds of lecturersto unemployment and poverty by unjustly expelling themfrom school,” Altan wrote.Altan told Spano: “The University from which you will

receive a doctorate is included as the ‘defendant institution’in the lawsuit of academics, like me, who were dismissed bydecree…. These cases are still ongoing and it is likely that theywill come before the ECHR, which you preside over.”Altan continued: “On March 2018, the second section of

ECHR, presided over by you, set a precedent in universal lawand ruled that my right to personal liberty and security andmy freedom of expression had been violated. Turkey was con-victed…. Ergin Ergul, who was appointed on behalf of Turkeyto that case and was the only judge dissenting, put forwardsuch arguments that you wrote ‘a dissenting vote’ against adissenting vote, for the first time in the history of ECHR, if Iam not mistaken. And the other members followed you.”Ahval reported that there were over 60,000 individual com-

plaints at the ECHR for violations of rights and freedoms inTurkey.Yavuz Aydin, who was also dismissed from his profession

along with 4,500 judges and prosecutors, wrote an articletitled, “ECHR president faces a test of honor in Turkey,”which was published in Ahval on Sept. 2, 2020. Aydin wrote:“President Spano is certainly aware of the deterioration ofrule of law in Turkey. As a man of honor who has been adju-dicating on Turkey-related files at the ECHR for years, thepurpose of his visit cannot be thought of as anything otherthan openly and courageously shouting out facts in the facesof government authorities.”Aydin continued: “The ECHR president knows very well

that the government in Turkey translated to one-man rule byPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan since the constitutionalamendment of 2017. As openly criticized by the Venice

Commission, Spano knows that the separation of powers andjudicial independence no longer exist in Turkey. Besides this,he cannot be unaware of Resolution 2156(2017) of theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, whichdowngraded Turkey to the league of countries under moni-toring status for the first time in European history. This deci-sion implies that Turkey no longer meets the famousCopenhagen Criteria, and thus cannot be regarded as eligiblefor accession negotiations with the EU [European Union].”Aydin then made a series of suggestions that he hoped

Spano would follow during his visit to Turkey:— Call on Erdogan to return to democracy and restore the

rule of law in the country.— Remind the Turkish leaders of the decision to remove

from the Turkish Council of Judges and Prosecutors theirobserver status in the European Network of Councils for theJudiciary. He should also remind the candidate judges at theTurkish Judiciary Academy [TJA] why the European JudicialTraining Network expelled the TJA from observer member-ship status in 2016.— Tell them that the existing judges as well as the 10,000

new judges appointed after the coup attempt are often polit-ically biased in applying the law, and call on them to ignorepolitical pressure from the Palace, Constitutional Court andother high courts.— Remind them that for the first time in history Turkey was

found in breach of Article 18 of the European Convention onHuman Rights.— Tell the leaders in Turkey that they should immediately

release the hundreds of judges still in solitary confinementand reinstate all 4,000 of their purged colleagues.Aydin urged Spano “to decline the honorary doctorate

even before stepping onto Turkish soil, conveying a verystrong message to all parties before meeting with them in per-son. Otherwise, the good will exerted through Spano’s visitwould not only be wasted, but serve as a trump card for thegovernment and Erdogan, who will use the gesture as a signof appraisal and legitimization of the illegalities taking placein the country under his rule.”Regrettably, Spano ignored all the good advice provided by

Turkish human rights activists and thus undermined his ownreputation as well as that of the European Court of HumanRights.

Nuclear Option May Scare offArmenia’s Neighborhood BullyTo the editor:I read with great interest the recent article by Edmond Y. Azadian

about Armenia developing Nuclear Weapons (“The Nuclear Option,”July 30, 2020) that you now favor this.I wanted to respond to you about your article, so I did an internet

search and voila, here I am.You are absolutely correct. Until Armenia has nuclear muscle, it

will remain the puny kid in the neighborhood. Armenia will receivenice lip service from the International community, but the decisionsof the International's will always be at Armenia's expense.In the event of heavy, or annihilating, attacks by

Azerbaijan/Turkey, Armenia is on it's own, except maybe for 50/50Russia. Not the US, not Europe, not NATO, not any country willcome to the aid of Armenia. They will only urge both sides to “playnice.”As you stated, Armenia had and has the brains to produce its own

Nuclear weapons. Inter-Continental delivery is not needed. Armeniaeither has or can easily acquire, the local delivery means to its terri-torial enemies, to equalize their overwhelming military power. Evenif they then acquire the same, Mutually Assured Destruction willcause Armenia's enemies to think a thousand times. MAD hasworked with the USSR/Russia, from the early 1950's when theydeveloped deliverable weapons systems. The question is whether or not the leadership has the gumption

to proceed with this production. Sure, the International communitywill be in an uproar, as they have for the others outside of the US,UK, France. Nothing has been done about the “others.” Notably, forIsrael, all have remained silent. When I was 7 years old my dad taught me how to deal with a

neighbor bully, a bigger and 2-3 year older kid, from what he learnedin Sepastia during and after 1915/WW-1. My dad would not step in.My dad said: “He's a bully, he is more afraid of you, than you are ofhim. Never look for a fight. But always defend yourself.” The nexttime that kid bullied me, I tore into him. Terrified, he ran off, neverto bully or bother me again! My dad's teaching has served me wellsince 7 years on!Have any in Armenia's leadership ever experienced a similar forg-

ing? I seriously wonder. There are good people, no doubt. But, itrequires more than “good.”There is much more I could say. You being an experienced jour-

nalist of decades I am confident that you get my point.Richard M. VartanianRetired, US Air Force

Altadena, CA

LETTERS

By Alan Mikhail

At the end of August, Turkey’s president Recep TayyipErdogan celebrated the Islamic New Year with aplomb.Fresh off his conversion of the monumental Hagia Sophiato a mosque, he converted another former Byzantinechurch, the fourth-century Chora church, one of Istanbul’soldest Byzantine structures. The day after that heannounced the largest ever natural gas depository in theBlack Sea. This followed another recent discovery of natu-ral gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean. Both of theseareas are hotly contested zones of international competi-tion between the powers around these seas. Later thatweek he welcomed a delegation of Hamas to Ankara, wherehe expressed support for Palestinians in the wake of therecent announcement of an agreement between Israel andthe UAE.All of these moves project Erdogan’s vision of Islamist

strength into the world. Standing up for Islam at homegoes hand in hand with securing natural resources andimposing Turkey’s power abroad. It also goes hand in handwith domestic repression. The Islamic New Year sawErdogan further tighten his grip on social media freedomand consider pulling Turkey out of what is known, now far-cically, as the 2011 Istanbul Convention, a treaty of theCouncil of Europe that commits countries to protectingwomen from domestic violence. Democratic peoples inTurkey, the Middle East, and around the world shouldworry.Much has been written about Erdogan’s attempts to “res-

urrect” the Ottoman Empire or to style himself a sultan.There is truth here. But to understand Erdogan’s politicalagenda and horizon we must be specific about whichOttoman sultan Erdogan strives to be. It is the empire’sninth sultan, Selim I.Selim died 500 years ago in 1520. It was during his life-

time that the Ottoman Empire grew from a strong region-al power to a gargantuan global empire. For Erdogan, thissultan from half a millennium ago serves his contemporaryneeds. Selim in many ways functions as Erdogan’s AndrewJackson, a figure from the past of symbolic use in the pre-sent. Selim offers a template for Turkey to become a glob-al political and economic power, with influence fromWashington to Beijing, crushing foreign and domestic chal-lengers alike. He helps Erdogan too to make his case for

Islam as a cultural and political reservoir of strength, a vitalcomponent of the glories of the Ottoman past, which heseeks to emulate in contemporary Turkey against the dom-inant elite secularism that has reigned since its founding.We should be wary of Erdogan’s embrace of Selim’s

exclusionary vision of Turkish political power. It representsa historical example of strongman politics that led toregional wars, the attempted annihilation of religiousminorities, and the monopolization of global economicresources. In addition to his attempts to monopolize natu-ral gas reserves around Turkey, today this takes the formof Erdogan’s foreign military ventures in Libya, Syria, andYemen. At home, he has gone after Turkey’s Shiite com-munity, Kurds, intellectuals, Christians, journalists, women,and leftists. Erdogan cultivates his own Sunni religiosity toposition Islam at the center of Turkey’s domestic agenda,with the church conversions the most potent recent sym-bols of this. Erdogan’s represents a political logic of zero-sum competition that pits Turkey against Saudi Arabia andIran for control of the region and over claims of globalIslamic leadership.Erdogan likes Selim because he made Turkish global

political power possible. From 1517 through the end ofWorld War I, the Ottoman Empire maintained the geo-graphic shape Selim won for it, dominating the Middle Eastand the eastern Mediterranean. In 1517, the Ottomansdefeated their major rival in the region, the MamlukEmpire based in Cairo, capturing all of its territory in theMiddle East and North Africa. This more than doubled theempire’s size. This explosion of the Ottoman Empire intothe Middle East turned it into the region’s foremost mili-tary and political power and one of the world’s largeststates. The Ottomans now controlled the entire easternhalf of the Mediterranean and thus dominated the globe’smost important trade routes overland between Europe andAsia and by sea through the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. TheTurkish Republic inherited much of that power after theempire’s demise and the republic’s rise in 1923.While every modern Turkish ruler has distanced himself

from the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, and Islam, toattempt to project a more “western,” “secular,” and “mod-ern” face for the republic, Erdogan is the first who hasactively embraced the Ottoman past and the empire’sIslamic heritage. Here too Selim proves key to Erdogan’simage of his rule. Selim’s defeat of the Mamluks made theOttoman Empire a majority Muslim state for the first time

see ERDOGAN, page 20

Why Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Love Affair with theOttoman Empire Should Worry The World

20 S A T U R D A Y, S E P T E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 2 0 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

Erdogan’s Love Affair withThe Ottoman Empire ShouldWorry the WorldERDOGAN, from page 19in its history, after over two hundred years of being a state whose pop-ulation was mostly Greek Orthodox. With this victory, Selim becamethe first Ottoman sultan to rule Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiestcities, thus earning the title of caliph and cementing the empire’s glob-al Islamic credentials. If Selim was the first Ottoman to be both sultanand caliph, Erdogan is the first republican leader to profess to pos-sessing both titles.Like President Donald Trump’s purposeful deployment of the sym-

bols of Andrew Jackson — prominently displaying his portrait in theOval Office and defending his statues — Erdogan has trafficked publiclyand specifically in the symbolic politics of Selim in Turkey. His moststriking act was to name the recently constructed third bridge over thefamous Bosphorus Strait after Selim. Erdogan has also lavished enor-mous resources on Selim’s tomb and other memorials to his rule. Afterwinning a 2017 constitutional referendum that greatly expanded hispowers — a process marred by irregularities — Erdogan made his firstpublic appearance at Selim’s tomb. Staged as a kind of pilgrimage,there Erdogan returned to the long-dead sovereign his kaftan and tur-ban that had been stolen years before. This far-from-subtle first act afterwinning a referendum that gave him near-limitless power made clearwho Erdogan’s role model is.Erdogan and his Islamist party colleagues regularly describe them-

selves as the “grandchildren” of the Ottomans. In this very pointedgenealogy, Erdogan purposefully skips a generation — that of Turkey’srepublican fathers since 1923 — to leapfrog back in time to when theOttomans ruled the globe with their particular brand of Turkish Sunnipolitics, to Selim’s day when wars and domestic repression led towealth and territorial power. Recreating a political program akin toSelim’s is a dangerous prospect for Turkey and the Middle East andindeed the world. To make Turkey Ottoman again requires the kind ofviolence, censorship, and vitriol that Erdogan has indeed shown him-self ready to use. The universal lesson here is that calls for returns toperceived greatness, whether in Turkey or in United States, selectivelyembrace controversial historical figures, mangle their history, and ele-vate hatred and division.(Mikhail is Professor of History and Chair of the Department of

History at Yale University. His new book is GOD’S SHADOW: SultanSelim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World(Liveright/W.W. Norton & Co.) This commentary originally appearedin Time magazine online on September 3.)

HELP Us Rebuild The Tekeyan School of Beirut

The Tekeyan Cultural Association of the US and Canada is sending aid and asks your assistance too. Make your donations by credit card at

https://givebutter.com/bXn8Lm or as checks mailed to the Tekeyan Cultural Association (memo: Beirut Tekeyan School), at its headquarters (755 Mount Auburn Street, Watertown MA 02472). All administrative costs for this campaign will be borne by the Tekeyan Cultural Association of the US and Canada.

For more information, email tcadirector@aol.com or call 617 924-4455.

The Vahan Tekeyan School, founded in 1951, was damaged by the August 4 explosion in Beirut. It primarily serves a low-income segment of the Armenian community and al-

the Covid-19 pandemic. Now it is trying to reopen for the fall semester.

FRESNO — Dr. Ohannes Kıliçdagı, Kazan VisitingProfessor in Armenian Studies at Fresno State, will givea Zoom presentation on “‘Living Together RequiresDying Together”’: Conscription of Armenians into theOttoman Army after the 1908 Revolution” at 7 p.m. onFriday, September 18. The presentation is part of theFall 2020 Lecture Series of the Armenian StudiesProgram and is supported by the Leon S. PetersFoundation. All Lecture Series events will take placeonline, and not face-to-face, through the Fall 2020semester.After three decades of Hamidian despotism, the July

1908 revolution that restored the constitution and par-liament was greeted with joy and hope as people, espe-cially Armenians, regarded it as the end of oppressionand the beginning of a new era where different ethno-religious groups would live freely as equal citizens. Oneof the most essential indicators and necessities of theequal citizenship was the conscription of Christians andJews who had been exempted from military service inexchange for paying a special tax until that date. As amatter of fact, after the revolution conscription ofChristians and Jews became one of the hot debates inthe newly formed parliament as well as in the press.Eventually, in July 1909 the Ottoman parliament abol-

ished all exemptions and military service became com-pulsory for all males. This talk focuses on these debatesand how different Armenian circles, including ArmenianMPs, reacted to this idea, what they said and did beforeand after the promulgation of the conscription law.Armenian opinion leaders, both civil and clergy, werequite enthusiastic about the conscription of Armenianyouth. They were encouraging the youth to performtheir military duties wholeheartedly as Ottomans.However, there were also some worries, apprehensions,and reservations among Armenians. The talk will elabo-rate on these issues. The main sources for the talk arethe articles, news pieces in the Armenian press, speech-

es of Armenian deputies in the parliament as well as offi-cial Ottoman documents.Dr. Kıliçdagı was the Nikit and Eleanora Ordjanian

Visiting Professor at Middle Eastern South Asian andAfrican Studies (MESAAS) at the Columbia Universityfor Spring 2020. He was accepted between 2017 and2019 as a post-doctoral fellow by the Center for MiddleEastern Studies at Harvard University and completed apre-doctoral fellowship (2011-2012) at the ArmeniansStudies Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Zoom Registration Link: bit.ly/armenianstudieskil-

icdagiFor information about Dr. Kıliçdagı’s lectures please

follow Armenian Studies on its Facebook page,@ArmenianStudiesFresnoState or at the Program web-site, www. fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies.

Dr. Ohannes Kıliçdagı

Dr. Ohannes Kıliçdagı to speak on ConscriptionOf Armenians into Ottoman Army