INSIDE

NEWS IN BRIEF

Bleak Yazidi Anniversary

Page 4

INDEXArmenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Arts and Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Community News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4

Mirror- SpectatorMirror- SpectatorTHE ARMENIAN

Volume LXXXXI, NO. 4, Issue 4646

A U G U S T 8 , 2 0 2 0

$ 2.00

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

Massive Explosion RipsThrough Beirut,Tekeyan School

BEIRUT (AP, Zartonk) — Massive explosionsrocked downtown Beirut on Tuesday, August 4, flat-tening much of the port, damaging buildings andblowing out windows and doors as a giant mush-room cloud rose above the capital. At least 60 peo-ple have been killed.

The Tekeyan School and Tekeyan Center weredamaged as well as Armenian institutions such asthe Prelacy in Bourj Hammoud and the AGBUDemirjian Center and other institutions in Antelias..

An Associated Press photographer near the portsaw people lying injured on the ground, and hospi-tals called for blood donations.

Miles from the scene of the blast, balconies wereknocked down, ceiling collapsed and windows wereshattered.

The cause of the blast was not immediately clear.It came at a time when Lebanon is passing throughits worst economic and financial crisis in decades.

It also comes amid rising tensions between Israeland the militant Hezbollah group along Lebanon’ssouthern border.

Online video showed a column of smoke risingfrom the port area from what appeared to be an ini-tial explosion, followed by a massive blast that sentup a mushroom cloud and a shock wave racing overthe city.

Some local TV stations reported the blast was atBeirut’s port inside an area where fireworks werestored. The Mirror-Spectator website has a briefvideo of the exterior of the Tekeyan School. Moreinformation will be posted when available.

Special Section NextWeek on Anniversary ofTreaty of Sévres and The Fate of CiliciaThe Armenian Mirror-Spectator will present a spe-

cial issue next week in tribute to the centennial of theTreaty of Sévres as well as the anniversary of theFrench war for Armenian Cilicia.In addition, the special section will pay tribute to

Mihran Damadian on the 75th anniversary of hisdeath. On August 5, 1920, Damadian declared theindependence of Cilicia as an Armenian autonomousrepublic under French protectorate.

By Garine Abrilian

HOUSTON – On August 1, the HoustonArmenian community held a protest againstAzeri aggression. The event was held in theGalleria district, a high-traffic area, to spreadawareness as effectively as possible.Organizers and supporters from differentbackgrounds worked together to ensure theHouston community was represented as awhole. The protest was a great success as theHouston Armenian community joined collec-tively to support the Tavush region, Artsakhand Armenian soldiers on the frontlines.

Even though the day started off rainy andgloomy, more than 40 attendees joined theprotest, holding signs, waving flags, passing

see DEMONSTRATIONS, page 16

Israel Urged Not to SellWeapons toAzerbaijan

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armeniahas called on Israel to put an end tolarge-scale supplies of Israeli-madeweapons to Azerbaijan used by thelatter in the Nagorno-Karabakh con-flict.

“Arms trade with Azerbaijan is fatalbecause Azerbaijan never hesitates touse those weapons against civilianinfrastructure and the civilian popu-lation,” Foreign Minister ZohrabMnatsakanyan told the JerusalemPost newspaper in an interview pub-lished on Wednesday, July 29.

“We will consistently pursue thisissue and it will always be an integralpart of our agenda both on bilateraland multilateral platforms,” saidMnatsakanyan. “Israel should stopthis deadly business with Azerbaijan.”

Over the past decade Israelidefense companies have sold, withthe Israeli government’s blessing, bil-lions of dollars worth of advancedmilitary hardware to Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani army used some ofthose weapons, notably sophisticatedanti-tank rockets and attack drones,during April 2016 hostilities inNagorno-Karabakh. It also deployedIsraeli-manufactured drones againstArmenian military and civilian targetsduring the recent deadly fighting onthe Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

The Armenian military claims tohave shot down or intercepted 13such unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs). It demonstrated some of theirpurported fragments last week.

The Defense Ministry in Yerevanwent on to publicize a photograph oftwo Armenian officers standing nextto a SkyStriker “suicide” drone man-ufactured by the Israeli companyElbit Systems. A ministry spokesmanclaimed that it was brought down byan electronic warfare system.

“Our military has neutralizedAzerbaijani weapons regardless oftheir perceived origins,”Mnatsakanyan said when askedabout the Israeli drones.

Armenia has long expressed con-cern over Israel’s arms deals withAzerbaijan. The Jewish state appears

see WEAPONS, page 2

(@LARALUCYPHOTOGRAPHY]

Houston/German Armenians ProtestAgainst Azerbaijani Aggression

Germany’s ArmeniansRespond to AggressionBy Muriel Mirak-Weissbach Special to the Mirror-Spectator

BERLIN — “Make dolma not war.”That is the message that HaykanushSechelyan transmitted on a poster dur-ing a demonstration in Hamburg,Germany on August 1.

A member of an Armenian youthgroup, she was one of many in severalcities, who had come together toprotest acts of violence againstArmenians over the past ten days.

see GERMANY, page 3

Young Artists Explore Identity To Understand History

BOSTON — A lot has happened in Armeniaover the last couple weeks — Azerbaijan haswaged a regional war during the COVID-19pandemic, firing on border villages, bombing aPPE mask factory and threatening to bombthe Armenian nuclear power plant. Events likethis are hard to process for Armenians aroundthe world; how could this happen? Where dowe go from here? What’s next?

see ARTISTS, page 12

Mask by Joanna Nanajian

Tekeyan School of Beirut building (photo courtesyZartonk of Beirut)

By Anaïs DerSimonian Special to the Mirror-Spectator

S A T U R D A Y A U G U S T 8 , 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 R2

ARMENIA

Several ActivistsDetained at Amulsar

YEREVAN (Panorama.am) — A group of activistsopposing the Amulsar gold mine operation weredetained on Tuesday, August 4, as clashes eruptedbetween them and police officers.The defenders of Amulsar blocked the only road

leading to the resort town of Jermuk after LydianArmenia removed their mobile cabins from the land,which the company claims is its own, at night.The situation remains tense. Police officers urge

the activists to open the road, while the latter con-tinue chanting, “Amulsar will remain a mountain.”

Peace-Keepers Sent toKosovo

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — A peace-keeping unit ofthe Armed Forces of Armenia comprising 40 ser-vicemen departed for Kosovo on August 1 to carryout peace-keeping mission as part of an Americanunit, Ministry of Defense Spokesperson ShushanStepanyan said.“The members of the unit passed the coronavirus

testing before leaving; all the results were negative,”she said.

Chief Architect ofYerevan to Retire

YEREVAN (ARKA) — The chief architect ofYerevan Artur Meschyan will quit his post when histerm in office ends, Hayk Marutyan, the mayor ofthe Armenian capital, told a press conference onTuesday, August 4.When appointed to the post in 2018, Meschyan

said that he would stay in office for two years. Meschyan was born in 1949 in Yerevan. He is an

architect, musician, composer, poet, singer andpainter. He was the founder and the lead singer ofApostles (1968 – 1979) rock band.He is the author of different architectural pro-

jects, including Guest House and the new building ofMatenadaran depository of old manuscripts inYerevan.In 1989, Meschyan and his family, moved to Boston.

In 2005, Meschyan and his wife returned to Armenia.

Armenia, ArtsakhForeign Ministers MeetYEREVAN (Armenpress) — On July 31, Minister of

Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh MasisMayilian met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of theRepublic of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan inYerevan.During the meeting, the two officials touched upon

the situation, created as a result of the armed aggres-sion launched by Azerbaijan on July 12 in theTavush region of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,when it directly targeted the civilian population andinfrastructure of the border settlements. The foreignministers emphasized that another attempt byAzerbaijan to deliberately escalate tensions in theconflict zone was a serious blow to the process ofpeaceful settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh con-flict, once again demonstrating the open contempt ofthe Azerbaijani authorities for their internationalobligations. In this context, the sides stressed theneed to take active steps to deter the aspirations ofAzerbaijan for unleashing a new aggression and tobring the authorities of that country to a construc-tive path. The foreign ministers emphasized theimperative of establishing international mechanismsfor the reduction of risks of tension in the conflictzone and for controlling the ceasefire regime.Masis Mayilian and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan reiterat-

ed the urgency of giving a new content to the secu-rity cooperation between the two Armenian states.In this context, they noted the need to develop thelegal basis for cooperation in this area, taking intoaccount the overall security challenges. In thisregard, the sides highlighted the inadmissibility of adestabilizing policy in the region and the necessity ofits resolute rejection.Newly appointed Permanent Representative of the

Republic of Artsakh to the Republic of ArmeniaSergey Ghazaryan also participated in the meeting.

News From Armenia

WEAPONS, from page 1to have ignored those concerns so far.This did not stop the current Armeniangovernment from deciding lastSeptember to open an embassy in TelAviv.

The move was hailed by Israeli lead-ers but criticized by some officials inIran, a key foreign partner of Armenia.The Armenian ambassador to Iran,Artashes Tumanyan, assured a seniorIranian Foreign Ministry official in Junethat Yerevan remains committed to its

“friendly” relationship with the IslamicRepublic despite its desire to improveArmenian-Israeli ties.

Incidentally, Defense Minister DavitTonoyan discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani border clashes onWednesday with Iran’s ambassador andmilitary attaché to Armenia. Accordingto Tonoyan’s press office, they specifi-cally spoke about Azerbaijan’s “use of alarge number of modern UAVs” and“the effectiveness of the fight againstthem.”

Another FugitiveArmenian ‘Given SafeHaven in Russia’

MOSCOW (RFE/RL) — A lawyer forRuben Hayrapetyan said on July 30,that Russian law-enforcement authori-ties have effectively refused to extraditethe wealthy businessman linked toArmenia’s former leadership and prose-cuted on a string of criminal charges.

Hayrapetyan left for Russia in March,more than a month before being firstindicted by Armenia’s InvestigativeCommittee.

The law-enforcement body claims he,his son Rafik, and four other personskidnapped and systematically beat up in2016 the chief manager of aHayrapetyan-owned resort who alleged-ly misused more than 52 million drams($108,000) borrowed from a commercialbank controlled by the feared tycoon.

In a separate criminal investigation,Hayrapetyan was also charged withabusing his former status as chairmanof the Football Federation of Armenia(FFA) in 2015 to privatize municipalland in Yerevan at a knockdown price.

Hayrapetyan denied the accusationsthrough his lawyers. He told investiga-tors he is unable to return to Armeniabecause of the coronavirus pandemic.The Investigative Committee dismissedthe claim, saying that it believes he sim-ply fled the prosecution.

In late May, a Yerevan court agreed toissue an arrest warrant for Hayrapetyanand four other suspects. The investiga-tors launched an international hunt forHayrapetyan shortly afterwards.

One of his lawyers, Amram Makinyan,said his client has told him that Russianlaw-enforcement bodies have formallydecided to stop searching for him.

Makinyan said he is not yet aware ofthe official reason for that decision. Heclaimed that he also does not knowwhether the fugitive tycoon holdsRussian citizenship and therefore can-not be extradited to Armenia.

A spokesman for Armenia’s Office ofthe Prosecutor-General said it is nowtrying to verify the lawyer’s claims. Theofficial, Gor Abrahamyan, saidArmenian prosecutors have contactedtheir Russian colleagues.

Hayrapetyan, 56, has long supportedformer President Serzh Sargsyan andremains affiliated with the latter’sRepublican Party. The once-influentialtycoon, notorious for violent conduct,accused the current authorities ofharassing him for political reasons afterbeing briefly detained by the Armenianpolice in February. The police claimedhe was taken in for questioning on sus-picion of illegal arms possession.

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Armenia counts on Russia’s sup-port in its ongoing efforts to counter a serious threat to itsnational security emanating from neighboring Turkey, asenior Armenian official said over the weekend.

Armen Grigoryan, the secretary of the Armenian govern-ment’s Security Council, reaffirmed Yerevan’s serious con-cerns over Turkey’s vehement support for Azerbaijan shownduring and after recent deadly clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

“Seeing that Azerbaijan is unable to keep the situationunder control on its own, Turkey is trying to intervene,”Grigoryan told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “I think that thisposes a serious threat to the region. It is also a challenge tothe regional security architecture. The regional security archi-tecture has long been unchanged. Turkey is now trying tochange it through its intervention.”

“We are fully prepared and will take steps to minimize this[threat.]” he said. “We also have a lot of work to do in thisdirection with our strategic ally Russia in order to preventsuch changes in the region.”

Asked about Moscow’s reaction to the Armenian concerns,Grigoryan said: “The July incidents [on the border] coincidedwith the coronavirus pandemic, and we have not yet been ableto discuss the issue at a higher level. But these issues are on

the agenda because they are about challenges facing theregion and we need a common response to these challenges.”

Ankara has blamed Yerevan for the fighting that broke outat a western section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border onJuly 12 and vowed to boost Turkish military support for Baku.In what appears to be a related development, Turkish andAzerbaijani troops began on July 29 joint military exercises invarious parts of Azerbaijan.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry expressed concern at theexercises before the Armenian military put some of its forceson high alert. Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said on July 28that Armenian army units as well as a Russian-Armenian mil-itary contingent are “continuing to constantly monitor andanalyze” Turkish-Azerbaijani military activities “with allreconnaissance means” at their disposal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counter-part Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani flare-up during a phone conversation on July 27.According to the Kremlin, Putin “stressed the importance ofpreventing any steps that could cause an escalation in ten-sions.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov similarly urgedthe Turks to exercise restraint.

Russia is allied to Armenia and has thousands of troops sta-tioned in the South Caucasus state.

Armenia Seeks to Offset ‘Turkish Threat’

Tsolak Gabrielyan with his family at their new apartment

16th Wounded VeteranReceives a Home in Artsakh

STEPANAKERT, Artsakh – On July 31, the Tufenkian Foundation deliv-ered the keys to a new home to the 16th beneficiary of the “Housing forWounded Soldiers” program. Tsolak Gabrielyan, a 47-year old veteran whowas wounded during the Artsakh Liberation War and again during variousmilitary operations on the frontlines, celebrated the delivery of his newhome in Shushi, Artsakh, that was originally purchased by the TufenkianFoundation and renovated with funds from his family.

Subsequent to the war, Tsolak underwent several surgeries as well as arare type of cancer due to which he had his vocal cords removed. He hastwo sons, both of whom are currently serving in the Artsakh Defense Army.

“This is one of our most important programs because it not only emo-tionally motivates our veterans, but expresses our appreciation to their ded-ication to our nation. We are extremely happy for Tsolak’s family, and wehope that this house will symbolize the start of a new beginning, a newchapter,” stated Husik Sargsyan, the Tufenkian Foundation’s ArtsakhCountry Director.

Once the Foundation purchased the house, Tsolak’s family sold its tinyapartment and invested the proceeds in renovating their new home.

Since 2016, the foundation has helped 16 families of wounded veteransall across Artsakh. The majority of the beneficiaries had severe housingissues and no proper employment. This program is our way to show ourdeep gratitude to our veterans and soldiers.

Israel Urged Not to Sell WeaponsTo Azerbaijan

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Citing“unprecedented” security threatsemanating from neighboring Turkey,Armenia on Wednesday, July 29,banned Turkish officers from inspect-ing Armenian military bases and veri-fying Yerevan’s compliance with aninternational arms control treaty.

It announced the decision asTurkey and Azerbaijan began jointmilitary exercises in the wake of thedeadly attack by Azerbaijan onArmenia starting July 12.

Signed in 1990 and revised in 1999,the Treaty on Conventional Forces inEurope (CFE) places specific limits onthe deployment of troops and heavyweapons from the Atlantic coast toRussia’s Ural mountains. Armenia,Georgia and Azerbaijan signed it aftergaining independence.

Signatories to the treaty areallowed to inspect each other’s com-pliance with the arms ceilingsthrough random visits to practicallyany military base. Military inspectorsfrom Turkey and other NATO memberstates have regularly visited Armeniasince the mid-1990s. The ArmenianDefense Ministry had first sent agroup of CFE inspectors to easternTurkey in March 2010.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry saidit informed the Organization forSecurity and Cooperation in Europeon Wednesday that Yerevan has decid-ed to “suspend” Turkish inspectionsof its armed forces.

In a statement, the ministry attrib-uted the move to Turkey’s “unilateralsupport to Azerbaijan” and “unprece-dented threats against Armenia”voiced following the border clashesthat broke out on July 12. It alsopointed to the Turkish-Azerbaijaniwar games, saying that they “furtheraggravate the situation” in theKarabakh conflict zone.

“Any [further] military inspectionconducted on the territory ofArmenia by Turkey … would adverselyimpact Armenia’s security interestsand may jeopardize the security of itspopulation,” read the statement. Itindicated that weapons inspectorsfrom other OSCE member states willbe allowed to continue to visitArmenia.

Turkey has blamed Armenia for theborder clashes and vowed to boost itsmilitary and diplomatic support forAzerbaijan. Yerevan has responded byaccusing Ankara of trying to destabi-lize the region.

The Armenian military said onTuesday that it will be closely moni-toring the Turkish-Azerbaijani drillswhich will be held in various parts ofAzerbaijan for nearly two weeks.Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan saidArmenian army units as well asRussian troops stationed in Armeniawill use “all reconnaissance means” attheir disposal for this purpose.

Armenia and Turkey have carriedout mutual on-site arms inspections

despite not having diplomatic rela-tions and an open border. Neithercountry has accused the other of vio-lating the CFE.

By contrast, the Armenian andAzerbaijani militaries have neverinspected each other in line with agentlemen’s agreement dating back tothe 1990s. Yerevan and Baku havelong traded accusations of exceedingarms quotas set by the Cold War-eratreaty.

S A T U R D A Y A U G U S T 8 , 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 3

ARMENIA

US State DepartmentCondemns Azeri Arrest

Of OppositionBAKU (Armenpress) — The US State Department

this week urged the government of Azerbaijan to notarrest members of the opposition.The State Department urged Azerbaijan to refrain

from violence and respect fundamental freedoms. Itcalled on Baku to properly investigate the reports onviolence and pressure by the police and hold theguilty ones accountable.Back on July 20, the US State Department com-

mented on the human rights violations inAzerbaijan. In a report the State Department alsotouched upon this issue, stating that the Azerbaijaniauthorities are arresting opposition figures. TheDepartment urged Azerbaijan to avoid using theCOVID-19 pandemic to silence civil society advocacy,opposition voices, or public discussion.

Femicide Still Rising inTurkey as 36 Women

Killed in JulyISTANBUL (Panorama.am) — At least 36 women

were killed by men in Turkey in July, Ahval said, cit-ing a report released on Saturday by the campaigngroup We Will Stop Femicide.There were also 11 deaths of women that were

deemed suspicious in July, the group said on Twitter.According to the group’s figures, the number of

femicides in Turkey rose compared to last month andyear-on-year. In June, 27 women were confirmedkilled by men in Turkey. In July 2019, 31 womenwere confirmed murdered by men in Turkey.The report found that 11 of the women murdered

in July 2020 were killed by their husbands, five – bymale partners, five – by men they knew, four – by ex-husbands, two – by former partners, two – by theirfathers, two – by their sons and two – by other rela-tives.Five of the women were killed because of financial

reasons, while thirteen others were murderedbecause they wanted to divorce or separate, rejectedmen or because they wanted to decide about theirown lives, ANF said.

Azerbaijanis Plan RallyIn front of ArmenianChurch in Tel Aviv

TEL AVIV, Israel (Public Radio of Israel)— Azerbaijanis are planning a provocation in front ofthe Armenian Church in Tel Aviv on August 9, blog-ger Alexander Lapshin warned this week.The blogger has shared the photo of an invitation

for a rally being distributed among the Azerbaijanicommunity in Israel.“Apparently, there has been an order from Baku to

try to spread riots and attacks on Armenian church-es, shops and simply ethnic Armenians like it hap-pened in Moscow,” Lapshin wrote in a Facebook posttitled “Aliyev, hands off the church.”“I believe that in a democratic country any com-

munity has the right to its opinion, to a peacefuldemonstration, to declaring its demands. But thefact that the Armenian church, not the city center orsome square, has been chosen as a venue for thedemonstration is a direct path to provocation,” hesays.Lapshin stresses that “you cannot touch religion,

you cannot make churches, mosques or synagogues aplace for sorting things out and provocations.”“In the place of the Armenian community in

Israel, I would appeal to the Israeli police with arequest to ban the rally in front of the Armenianchurch in order to avoid an outbreak of violencemotivated by religious intolerance. Christians andMuslims should not come face to face to sort thingsout, this is no longer democracy, but a direct path tochaos,” he adds.The blogger believes religious leaders in Israel

should denounce the choice of the place for the rally,especially considering that Tel Aviv has always beena symbol of peaceful co-existence of Jews, Muslimsand Christians.

International News

GERMANY, from page 1On July 23, an official car of the Armenian embassy was

set ablaze in front of the diplomatic mission. In the days fol-lowing, a taxi agency and an Armenian shisha bar in Colognewere attacked; according to eyewitness accounts, 30 menwearing black facemasks assaulted the site, throwing chairsand tables through the glass windows before fleeing. Allsigns indicated that Azerbaijanis were behind the acts of vio-lence, which came in parallel to Turkish-Azerbaijani militarymaneuvers on the Armenian border and escalated aggres-sion by Azerbaijan.

Germany’s ArmeniansRespond to Aggression

ISTANBUL — The Hrant DinkFoundation will hold an onlineconference titled “InternationalHate Speech and DiscriminationConference,” on December 11-12,2020 in collaboration withFriedrich Naumann Foundation.

This conference aims to create aspace where the problems causedby hate speech and discriminatorydiscourse can be revealed and ana-lyzed; moreover, country-specificexperiences, strategies, and acade-mic studies for countering theseproblems could be exchanged, andpotential collaborations devel-oped.

In Turkey, as all over the globe,discrimination against women, chil-dren, LGBTQI people, ethnic andreligious identities is too common.Political tendencies such as global-ly rising nationalism and populism,polarization, xenophobia, anti-refugee, and anti-migrant senti-ments nurture and popularize dis-crimination. This situation necessi-tates developing ways to counterhate speech and discriminatory dis-course and raise awareness bothlocally and globally.

The Covid-19 pandemic startedin the winter of 2019 and reacheda global scale in a couple ofmonths; it did not increase only dis-crimination against the localChinese or Asian communities butalso increased nationalism, xeno-phobia, racism, and anti-migrantsentiments and minorities againstrefugees and migrants. Thus, theywho are portrayed as the cause ofvarious unfavorable political devel-opments and as a threat againstsocial structures are associatedwith disease and stigmatized as

“usual suspects” once again.After anti-racist protests in the

US in the aftermath of the policemurder of George Floyd, they wereembraced in many countries suchas the UK, France, Brazil, andIndonesia, protests, and debatesrevolving around anti-racism, racialinequality and anti-discriminationbegan to drive the global agenda.Similarly, nation-states and theircitizens’ attitudes toward racismwere challenged and discussed allaround the world as were ques-tions of race, history, and theimportance of national symbols,like statues. These global outburstsand debates have the potential toguide many global anti-discrimina-tion efforts and discussions.

The need for creating a pluralist,inclusive, and rights-based dis-course in every field and sector isbecoming increasingly urgent.Thus, this conference aims to fea-ture the works that analyze with allkinds of exclusionary discoursesand actions under the influence ofthe current status quo, Turkey, andalso other countries, from a com-prehensive and critical perspectiveand to seek methods for counter-ing them.

Civil society representatives, aca-demics, legal experts, occupationalorganizations, media workers andjournalists will be brought togeth-er to create a common platform fordiscussion and inspire new acade-mic studies and other methods tocounter racism in the field at thisconference.

Those interest in participatingcan apply through September7. Only abstracts written inEnglish will be accepted.

Armenia Bars Turkish Weapons Inspectors

Dink Foundation to Hold Conference on Hate

T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R4 S A T U R D A Y A U G U S T 8 , 2 0 2 0

INTERNATIONAL

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (CombinedSources) — Iraq’s Yazidi community remainsoverlooked by the international community andErbil and Baghdad authorities six years onfrom the genocide, Yazidi survivor and NobelPeace Prize laureate Nadia Murad said in a con-ference with UN officials on Monday, August 3.

“We have repeatedly pleaded to the govern-ments in Erbil and Baghdad, as well as theinternational community to rebuild our home-town [Shingal],” Murad said. “But after so manyyears we feel that the international communityand governments in Erbil and Baghdad aban-doned us.”

In the summer of 2014, Islamic State (ISIS)extremists swept across swathes of Syria andIraq. In August that year, they attacked theYazidi homeland of Shingal in Ninevehprovince, committing genocide against theethno-religious minority. Hundreds of thou-sands of Yazidis fled from the militants, but noteveryone escaped. More than 1,000 were killedand 6,417 were captured by the militants, withwomen and children sold into sexual slavery.

Murad criticized the international communi-ty for ignoring the Yazidis, reminding them thatinternational community is helping ISIS toreach its “goal” in failing to help survivors.

“We know Iraq is facing economic chal-lenges,” Murad said. “But there are tangible

and sustainable actions that can be taken intoconsideration to help Yazidis.”

“I ask the governments in Erbil and Baghdadto solve the security issues in Sinjar [Shingal],and keep helping the missing Yazidis,” Muradadded. “Yazidis deserve support to rebuild, asthey cannot wait for another six years to recov-er.”

As of this month, 3,530 Yazidis have been res-cued or escaped ISIS, and 2,887 are still miss-ing, according to the Kurdistan RegionalGovernment’s office documenting the genocide.

Six years later, the vast majority of Yazidiscontinue to live in a protracted state of dis-placement. An array of armed forces, includingthe Iraqi army, Popular Mobilization Forces(PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi) and PKK-affiliatedgroups have vied for control of Shingal, andmany deem it too unsafe to return home.

"ISIS was responsible for this devastation butthe rest of us are responsible for what we did ordid not do since we knew about it" humanrights lawyer Amal Clooney added on Monday.

Clooney also explained that “no progress”has been made in seeking international justicefor the crimes committed against the communi-ty, with no state offering to host internationaltrials.

“Survivors tell me that they cannot under-stand how six years after the genocide, the vastmajority of ISIS fighters can simply go on withtheir lives,” Clooney added.

“Doing nothing is not only wrong, it danger-ous because these fighters are not going any-where and their toxic ideology continues tospread,” she added.

Although Baghdad announced the territorial

defeat of ISIS in Iraq in December 2017, rem-nants of the group have returned to their earli-er insurgency tactics, ambushing securityforces, kidnapping and executing suspectedinformants, and extorting money from vulnera-ble rural populations, particularly in the dis-puted territories.

Hearings on Yazidi Case

Advocacy organization Yazda kicked off atwo-day conference on August 2 to commemo-rate the anniversary by hearing from a range ofsenior officials, humanitarian workers,researchers, and survivors of the attack by ISISmilitants.

With security tenuous and swathes of the dis-trict’s infrastructure and housing still in ruinsand riddled with unexploded ordnance, manyYazidis are reluctant to return despite encour-agement from Baghdad, Erbil, UN agencies, andlocal groups.

While most of the keynote presenters spokein platitudes, other panelists pointed to theharder edge of the situation, expressing frus-tration about the lack of progress after so manyyears and sustained international attention.

The theme of the commemoration, which wasjointly organized by Yazda and the ZovighianPartnership, was “Bridging the Gap BetweenTerror and Humanity.”

“Daesh perpetrated the most horrendouscrimes against the Yazidi people to deprivethem of their religious rituals and they will bebrought to justice,” Iraqi President BarhamSalih said in his opening remarks, using theArabic acronym for ISIS.

“I call on all political forces to overcome theirdifferences,” he added, referring to the politicaldisputes between the federal government, theKurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and theNineveh provincial government, which severalspeakers blamed for the lack of progress.

Falah Mustafa, a senior foreign policy advisorto the President of the Kurdistan Region, calledfor increased international support for Yazidisin Sinjar and for the KRG, which hosts justunder 1 million refugees and IDPs, while USAmbassador to Iraq Matthew Tuellerannounced the allocation of an additional$500,000 in reconstruction funding.

Other speakers focused on the experienceand continued suffering of the survivors of thegenocide.

“As an Yazidi girl, I experienced this genocidein all of its details,” said Yazidi SurvivorNetwork member Farida Abbas Khalaf, beforeoutlining a number of specific steps that shouldbe taken by governments and humanitarianorganizations, including prosecuting the perpe-trators of the genocide, passing the draftwomen survivors’ law, increasing funding forpsychiatric treatment and infrastructure recon-struction, and ending political disputes toensure a stable security environment.

Karim Ahmad Khan, who is the SpecialAdviser and Head of the UN Investigative Teamfor the Promotion of Accountability for Crimes

Committed by Daesh in Iraq (UNITAD), saidthat no counties “can be spectators” in seekingaccountability for those who perpetrated thegenocide and that minority communities in Iraq“must have a right to protection and to justice.”

The bluntest remarks of the day were madeby Saib Khidir, a Yazidi member of the Councilof Representatives, who called out all sides forshirking their obligations.

“Every stakeholder is throwing responsibilityonto another stakeholder. Erbil says the prob-lem is with Baghdad. Baghdad says the problemis with Erbil,” he said.

“This is not serving the Yazidi community.This is not showing love to the Yazidi commu-nity. If I love the Yazidi community, I shouldprovide them with services,” he added.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Statefor Near Eastern Affairs Joey Hood said that hewas shocked to see Popular Mobilization Forces(PMF) flags in Sinjar during a visit last year andwas similarly saddened to hear about Turkishwarplanes targeting alleged Kurdistan Workers’Party (PKK) units in the district.

He called for locally-recruited police to be incharge of security, “not armed groups fromsome other location.”

In that vein, Director of the Assyrian PolicyInstitute Reine Hanna called for a local force tobe created along the model of the NinevehPlain Protection Units (NPU) and criticized theKurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) for med-dling in the district’s affairs.

Nevertheless, Khidir warned that even well-meaning solutions from outside could in factundermine the very Yazidi governance thatmost of the panelists argued is necessary forestablishing stability in Sinjar.

Armenian Leaders Offer Condolences

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyanaddressed the Yazidi community of Armenia onthe occasion of the Sinjar Genocide anniversaryon Sunday.

He issued the following message:‘’Dear sisters and brothers of the Yazidi com-

munity of Armenia, today we commemorate theanniversary of the genocide against the Yazidipeople in Sinjar perpetrated by some terroristicorganizations. Indeed, the tragedy that hap-pened with the Yazidi people is a heinous crimeagainst humanity and the civilized world. Weshare your grief and sincerely express solidaritywith you.

“I wish the Yazidi community of Armenia, allthe Yazidi families steadfastness and spiritualstrength. As a consolation, always realize thatin the homeland, in the Republic of Armenia,you have a safe and protected future and a widefield of progress.”

Speaker of Parliament of Armenia AraratMirzoyan also issued a statement on theanniversary of the Sinjar massacre.

“As a nation that survived genocide, we can-not stay indifferent upon witnessing the samecrime being committed against any other peo-ple,” he said.

“Today we join the Yazidi community ofArmenia to commemorate the memory oftheir brothers and sisters who died in Sinjarsix years ago, Speaker of the ArmenianNational Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan said in a

Facebook post.In January 2018, the Armenian Parliament

unanimously passed a resolution recognizingthe Yazidi Genocide.

The National Assembly also called on theinternational community to track down andprosecute those directly responsible for thekillings and “take measures to ensure the secu-rity of the Yazidi population.”

(Stories from Rudaw, NRT and Armenpresswere used to compiled this report.)

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad

Sixth Anniversary of Yazidi Genocide Marked

Forced deportation of Yazidis from Sinjar (Ahval photo)

Amal Clooney, left, with Nadia Murad (Bloomberg photo)

5

Community NewsS A T U R D A Y, A U G U S T 8 , 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

Rebuilding Begins inCommunities Attacked

By Azerbaijan Paros Foundation Increases Funding

SAN FRANCISCO/ CHINARI, Armenia — Azerbaijan launched a vicious attackon Armenia on July 12, in violation of the ceasefire agreement. Over the next twodays, Azerbaijan launched artillery of various calibers at the Armenian civilianpopulations of several communities within Berd Consolidated Communities ofArmenia’s Tavush Region. The Armenian Armed Forces not only successfullydefended these areas, but captured a very important military post and hasdestroyed tens of millions of dollars worth of Azeri artillery and drones. These military victories, however, have come with a huge price tag. Five valiant

soldiers were killed and others along with a dozen villagers have been wounded.In addition, families in these villages have experienced material losses on theirhomes and property. Several days ago, The Paros Foundation team joined TavushGovernor Hayk Chobanyan, Berd Consolidated Communities head HarutyunManucharyan, representatives of the Prime Minister's office, and local village rep-resentatives to visit theNerkin Karmir Aghbyur,Aygepar and Chinari com-munities to assess thedamage and to strategizeand coordinate the nextsteps forward. Due to theextent of the damage andneeds of the border vil-lages, Paros is increasingits fund goal to $200,000;contributions andpledges to date are inexcess of $120,000. TheParos Foundation’sEmergency Recon-struc-tion Fund will work tonot only make repairs tothese damaged homes,but, will make substantialimprovements on them.In addition, funds will beused to make other sub-stantial infrastructureimprovements within thecommunities. Through the support

received from donorsaround the world thusfar, the Paros team hasalready begun planning the reconstruction of damaged areas, while our localconstruction crews look forward to beginning the job of rebuilding their com-munities. Work on rebuilding the Aygepar Kindergarten has already begun.Rebuilding of the houses will begin early next week in order to complete workprior to winter. Let's work together to meet our new goal to rebuild the borderregion. To contribute, please visit http://parosfoundation.org/project/emergency-

reconstruction-fund/

Zabelle Chapter #12Daughters of Vartan 2020 Announces MeritScholarship RecipientsDETROIT — The Daughters of Vartan Zabelle

Chapter’s Merit Scholarship Program is in its19th year. The group has awarded 60 MeritScholarships totaling $56,700 and has beensuccessful due to the generosity of the Detroitmembers of the Knights and Daughters ofVartan and friends.The Merit Scholarship Program is open to

the children, grandchildren and great grand-children of Detroit, Michigan’s Knights andDaughters of Vartan Nareg-Shavarshan Lodge#6 and Zabelle Chapter #12 members. The Daughter of Vartan value the importance

of recognizing the academic accomplishmentsof Armenian college students. This year theyawarded the Merit Scholarship for an under-graduate student to Tigran Terterian and aMerit Scholarship for a graduate student toEmily Rose Torossian. The Daughters of Vartan were unable to

honor the recipients at their annual June din-ner, as it was cancelled due to Covid-19. Theywill honor them at a special dinner and intro-duce them to the membership when they canonce again assemble safely. Tigran Terterian is the

son of Commander Kazarand Marina Terterian andthe grandson of the lateKnight Kevork Terterian.He is a student at theUniversity of Michigan pur-suing a Bachelor of Sciencedegree in molecular, cellular and developmentalbiology. His goal is to further his educationwith a PhD and work in research.In addition to maintaining high academic stan-

dards, Tigran has an extensive work experience tohis credit. These include; his Eagle Scout Project(raising money for an orphanage in Gyumri,Armenia), Hye Camp Counselor, research assis-tant and shift leader at Little Caesar’s.Tigran’s parents taught him about being

Armenian through language, food, culture andreligion. He is proud to be Armenian but still heneeded to feel comfortable outside theArmenian community. He solved this issue in amature manner. Tigran simply educated hisfriends about Armenian life and they embracedhis heritage.Emily Rose Torossian is

the daughter of ElaineTorossian and granddaugh-ter of the late KnightEdward and late Daughterof Vartan Rosalie Torossian.She is pursuing a career insocial work and is a gradu-ate student at the University of Michigan. Shereceived her Bachelor of Arts in psychologyfrom Michigan State University.Putting her passion into action is evident in

her work experiences. These include volunteer-ing in assisting building huts in a remote villagein Thailand, facilitating English classes inVietnam, legal and client advocate intern at adomestic abuse shelter EVE (End ViolentEncounters), clinical resource specialist (NewOakland Family Centers) and medical socialwork intern (Michigan Medicine Hospital).It became apparent to her professor, Debra

Mattison, how Emily felt about her Armenianroots. “Emily developed her awareness androoted commitment to advocacy from the exam-ple of her grandmother who was herself astrong supporter of the preservation of theArmenian culture and Armenian charities inAmerica.” Torossian had a close relationshipwith her maternal grandparents who not onlycared for her after school, but also showed herwhat it is to “be an exemplary Armenian.” Emilystates, “I have heard the stories of trauma, lossand sacrifice that my great grandparents andgreat-great grandparents and many otherArmenians endured. I want to honor their lega-cy through how I live my life and contribute toand have a positive impact on society.”

Three GrantsFrom Society forArmenian StudiesAre Underway FRESNO — Despite the impact of the ongo-

ing pandemic, the Society for Armenian Studies(SAS) has worked hard to expand its efforts tofoster Armenian Studies through different ini-tiatives. Three existing and new competitivegrants have been announced, with deadlinesscheduled for September. The first two areopen to students who are current members ofthe SAS. The Fall 2020 edition of the SAS Graduate

Research and Conference Grants for M.A. andPh.D. students is underway. The amount ofgrants will be up to $1,000 per applicant andthe deadline is September 15, 2020.Applications can be made at https://society-forarmenianstudies.com/resources/.Due to the current restrictions on travel,

applicants should also specify an alternativeplan if they request funding for travel. Fundingwill also be available for research-related

expenses (archival andlibrary materials, etcetera).

These grantshave beenmade possibleby the institu-tional supportof twelveA r m e n i a nStudies chairs,

programs, centers,and libraries in the

United States and abroad. The Nina G. Garsoïan Graduate Research

Grant for Ancient and Early Medieval ArmenianHistory for M.A. and Ph.D. students has beenrecently launched. This grant of up to $1,000will be awarded on an annual basis to a gradu-ate student in the field. The deadline for thisyear grant is also on September 15, 2020. Garsoïan is a world renowned Byzantinist

and Armenologist who was the dean of thePrinceton University Graduate School andthe first holder of the Gevork M. AvedissianChair in Armenian History and Civilization atColumbia University. The grant is funded byDr. Levon Avdoyan, who recently retired asthe Area Specialist for Armenia and Georgiaat the African and Middle Eastern Division ofthe Library of Congress. Avdoyan receivedhis Ph.D. from Columbia University in NewYork in ancient and Armenian history underthe supervision of Garsoïan.The third grant addresses graduate stu-

dents and post-graduate scholars, both SASand non-SAS members. It is designed to sup-port scholarship in the field of ArmenianStudies that focuses on racial matters withthe intention to encourage filling the gap ofresearch on race. Two grants of up to $500per applicant will be awarded. The deadline isSeptember 30, 2020.The SAS welcomes proposals for any

research project that grapples with the rolerace has played in Armenian history acrosstime and space, and particularly examinesthe impact of racial policies and racism onArmenian communities in the United Statesand/or explores the relations and entangle-ments between Armenians and Black com-munities in the United States. Researchersare highly encouraged to engage with thework of Black, indigenous, and other schol-ars of color and with critical race theory. Applications can be made at: https://society-

forarmenianstudies.com/2020/07/28/society-for-armenian-studies-grant-on-race/.For further information about these

grants, write to Bedross Der Matossian, atbdermatossian2@unl.edu.

Paros Foundation work crew beginning the reconstruction of the kindergarten inAygepar.

Paros Foundation Staff join Tavush Governor HaykChobanyan, Berd Consolidated Communities headHarutyun Manucharyan, representatives of thePrime Minister's office, and local village representa-tives to visit the Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur, Aygeparand Chinari communities to assess the damage.

By Armen Der Kiureghian

YEREVAN — On August 2, 2020, Armenialost one of its most distinguished scholars. Dr.Gregory Areshian, Professor of History andArchaeology at the American University ofArmenia (AUA), succumbed to the COVID-19virus in spite of all efforts by his doctors to savehim. I had the privilege of knowing him and hir-ing him as a faculty member when I served asthe President of AUA. I feel a deep sense of lossand sorrow upon his passing.He was 71.My first encounter with Dr. Areshian was in

the summer of 1991, when Dr. MihranAgbabian and I were in Yerevan working tostart the AUA. The Government of Armenia hadoffered us rent-free use of a massive building,which previously served as the Congress Hall ofthe Communist Party. To formalize the transfer,we had to get the approval of the Deputy PrimeMinister, who happened to be Dr. GregoryAreshian. I remember being extremelyimpressed by his impeccable English and by hisenthusiasm for our project. He quickly signedall the necessary documents, but we stayed inhis office longer and talked about the impor-tance of bringing Western-style education toArmenia.I met Dr. Areshian for the second time

around 2004, when Prof. David Stronach of theUniversity of California, Berkeley, invited himfor a seminar. At the time, Dr. Areshian was avisiting professor and researcher at the CotsenInstitute of Archaeology at the University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles. A renowned archeolo-gist of ancient Iran and Iraq, Stronach hadextremely high opinion of Areshian’s scholar-ship. Areshian visited Berkeley again around2010 for another seminar, this time upon theinvitation of Prof. Stephan Astourian and as theguest of the Armenian Studies Program. Thepresence of archaeology scholars from Berkeleyat the seminar again was a testament of thehigh regard he enjoyed in that field.Areshian received his bachelor’s and master’s

degrees from the Yerevan State University and

his doctorate from the Saint Petersburg StateUniversity under Boris Piotrovsky, therenowned scholar of Urartian civilization andlong-time director of the Hermitage Museum.Professor Areshian was proficient in nine lan-guages, including Urartian cuneiform. A few years after our visit to his office in

1991, Dr. Areshian had a conflict with VanoSiradeghyan, who served as the minister ofinternal affairs in Levon Ter-Petrosian’s govern-ment and was later charged with criminal con-duct. Dr. Areshian was forced to resign andleave the country. He settled in the UnitedStates and soon started teaching, first at theUniversity of Chicago and later at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles. In 2015,he decided to return to Armenia. I was elated tohire him as a Professor in the College ofHumanities and Social Sciences, a major gainfor AUA. He completely devoted his attentionand time to teaching, research and service tothe University. One very important and highlyappreciated service he rendered the Universitywas organizing and leading tours to archaeo-logical sites for major donors to AUA.He taught some of the most popular and

largest classes at AUA on topics related to his-tory and archaeology. Students loved hisapproach to teaching and how he engagedthem in discussions. Every year he assignedseveral of his students as “guides” during thearchaeological tours. The excitement of thesestudents — many of whom majored in fieldsother than humanities or social sciences — andtheir dedication to Areshian were palpable. Iremember several students telling me that itwas through Areshian’s courses that they trulylearned and appreciated Armenian history.Areshian was concerned about the way histo-

ry was taught in schools and universities inArmenia. He believed that Armenian historyshould be taught as a part of world history andin the broader context of the history of othernations. He criticized the current approach as“teaching Armenian history for Armeniansalone.” His students, some of whom had cometo AUA from other universities and had experi-enced history courses elsewhere, attested to hisinnovative approach to the teaching of

Armenian history both in style and content.I had the privilege of many conversations

with Dr. Areshian about history, archaeology,and AUA programs, particularly the need forstrengthening Armenian studies courses. Mycolleagues and I also had the good fortune ofgoing on several tours of archaeological andhistorical sites with him. The first one was toAreni-1 cave in 2016, where the famous 6,000-year-old shoe and winery were discovered by ateam led by Professor Areshian and Prof. BorisGasparian of the Institute of Archaeology andEthnology of the National Academy of Sciencesof Armenia. The second one was to Carahungeor Zorats Karer (Armenia’s Stone Hinge) nearSisian, where his students were mapping thetombstones and he intended to conduct exca-vations to better understand the origins of themultiple graves. The last one was to the north-

west of Armenia,where we visited sev-eral sites, includingDashtadem Fortressin Aragatsotn, SaintGevorg church in thevillage of Garnahovit,and the Marmashenmonastery complexnear Gyumri. Hisknowledge of thesemonuments andarchaeological sites,and his enthusiasmin explaining theirbackgrounds to uswere so profoundthat it is difficult toimagine that he willnot be leading toursanymore.He taught in 14 US

universities and col-leges including theUniversity ofCalifornia, LosAngeles, theUniversity of

California, Irvine, the University of Chicago, theUniversity of Wisconsin, Platteville andAmherst College. He is the author of more than150 scholarly works published in five languagesin 12 countries. Armenia has lost one of its most important

scholars. His legacy will go on to live in the richbody of scholarly books and articles he leavesbehind and in the accomplishments of numer-ous students and research associates heinspired. May his light shine forever.

(Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian is the TaiseiProfessor of Civil Engineering [Emeritus]Department of Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering, University of California, and for-mer president of the American University ofArmenia.)

6 S A T U R D A Y, A U G U S T 8 , 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 / OBITUARIES

DonationThe Tekeyan Cultural Association of the United States and Canada gratefully acknowledges thedonation of $100 by Jerry and Annie Balikian in memory of Victor Varujan Ganjian for the ren-ovation of a classroom in the Berdzor Tekeyan School.

558 MOUNT AUBURN STREETWATERTOWN, MA 02472

Telephone (617) 924-7400

Aram BedrosianFuneral Home, Inc.

Continuous Service By The Bedrosian Family Since 1945MARION BEDROSIAN

PAUL BEDROSIANLARRY BEDROSIAN

GiragosianF UNERAL H OME

James “Jack” Giragosian, CPCMark J. Giragosian

Funeral Counselors576 Mt. Auburn Street, Watertown, MA 02472, TEL: 617-924—0606

www.giragosianfuneralhome.com

Nardolillo Funeral HomeEst. 1906

John K. Najarian, Jr.Rhode Island’s Only Licensed Armenian Funeral Director

1278 Park Ave. Cranston, RI 02910 (401) 942-12201111 Boston Neck Rd. Narragansett, RI 02882 (401) 789-6300

www.nardolillo.com

Pharmacist, Dedicated to Family and ChurchARLINGTON, Mass. — Harold Partamian of

Arlington, the son of the late Dickran andYeranig (Aghayan) Partamian, passed away onJuly 29, 2020 at the age of 84, surrounded byhis family.Harold is survived by his wife of 61 years,

Gladys (Nahigian) Partamian. He was the fatherof Mark Partamian of Arlington and DonnaPartamian Kutzer and her husband Ken ofWestwood; grandfather of Matthew, Ashley, andHaley Kutzer; brother of the late AnahidZerdelian. He is also survived by his nephewStephen Zerdelian and his cousin, ArthurAlexander. He was predeceased by his cousin Shakae

Shahinian of Wyckoff, NJ. In addition, he is survived by many cousins

and extended family from New Jersey, BuenosAires, and France. Harold was a graduate of Boston Latin

School and after his graduation fromMassachusetts College of Pharmacy in 1957, heserved in the Army National Guard beforebeginning his career as a pharmacist. He was the former proprietor of Rawson

Pharmacy in Arlington where he served hiscommunity and created many lasting friend-ships. Subsequently, Harold served as the executive

secretary of the Board of Pharmacy for theCommonwealth of Massachusetts. He was the founding president of the

Armenian-American Pharmacists’ Association,an organization very near and dear to his heart.In addition to his career, Harold was an active

member of the St. James Armenian Church inWatertown where he founded and chaired theannual golf tournament for many years and

where he and Gladys made their lifelong friendsthey consider as family. He was also a member of the former Amvets

Post 41 in Watertown and the Knights ofVartan.Among all his interests and achievements, he

was most happy surrounded by his family andgrandchildren, listening and dancing to music,watching sports, vacationing in Aruba, andcooking on the grill for his family. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and

current public safety measures, funeral serviceswill be private. A public celebration of life willbe held at a later date and will be announced.

Harold Partamian

Gregory AreshianThe Legacy of a True Scholar

By Armen K. Hovannisian, Esq.

LOS ANGELES — It is rare enough forArmenian-Americans to become judges in stateswith sizable and long-established Armenian com-munities stretching from California to Illinois toNew York. It is another to welcome the judicialappointment of a deserving Armenian-Americanin places where our tracks are more fresh and ourcommunities less dense.That is one way todescribe New Mexico.On July 2, New

Mexico Gov. MichelleLujan Grisham appoint-ed Lucy BoyadjianSolimon as Judge of theSecond Judicial DistrictCourt, serving BernalilloCounty. Judge BoyadjianSolimon, a recent mem-ber of the Armenian BarAssociation, was born and spent her early yearsin Lebanon, was raised and educated throughcollege in California, and graduated from lawschool and entered the legal profession in NewMexico nearly thirteen years ago. For the pasttwo years, Boyadjian Solimon had beenEnforcement Bureau Chief for the New MexicoWorkers Compensation Administration.Boasting a broad criminal law experience forboth the prosecution and the defense,Boyadjian Solimon has also held the posts ofSpecial Assistant U.S. Attorney for LagunaPueblo, assistant public defender in the Public

Defender’s Office, and a private practitioner indefense law firms, including her own firm. Sheis married to Justin Solimon who practicesFederal Indian Law in Albuquerque. In June 2020, the Armenian Bar’s Judicial

Evaluation Committee (JEC), which is com-prised of the organization’s most experiencedlawyers across the profession’s broad spec-trum, met and conferred with BoyadjianSolimon in a rigorous vetting process. TheJEC concluded that she embodied theunique, sought-after qualities that make herhighly qualified to serve as a judge withhonor and distinction. Following theArmenian Bar’s in-depth interview protocol,the JEC Co-Chairs, Lucy Varpetian and GaroGhazarian, addressed a letter of unqualifiedsupport for Boyadjian Solimon’s appoint-ment to Grisham.Varpetian and Ghazarian encapsulated the

findings of the evaluation committee, writing,“We believe that Ms. Boyadjian Solimon willmaintain an excellent judicial temperament aswe have found her to be an active listener, mea-sured in her responses, and even-keeled in herdemeanor. We also took note of and appreciateher engagement in community and civic affairs,ranging from her provision of pro bono legalservices to participation in New Mexico barassociations to her involvement with NativeAmerican and Armenian organizations, as wellas her support of various non-profit organiza-tions. These activities reflect Ms. BoyadjianSolimon’s deep roots in her community andcommitment to its well-being.”Summing up its support for Boyadjian

Solimon’s appointment, the Armenian Bar

impressed upon the Governor that, “Based onthe totality of our evaluation process, webelieve Ms. Boyadjian Solimon will continue, asshe has demonstrated during her career, to bea devoted public servant to the people of NewMexico. We are confident that if given thehonor of serving as a member of the NewMexico judiciary, Ms. Boyadjian Solimon’scourtroom will be a bastion where fair play, dueprocess, and the rule of law will prevail over allelse. She will exhibit compassion, empathy, andunderstanding to the litigants that appearbefore her, qualities which are so critical todayfor our judiciary.” In explaining her own reasons to Grisham for

wanting to become a judge, Boyadjian Solimonexplained, “For several generations, my familyhas constantly been forced to flee and relocatedue to threats of war, violence, and instability inthe rule of law. My grandfather lost most of hisfamily in the Armenian Genocide of 1915, andwas forced to start a new family in Syria andLebanon. When I was a six-year-old child, myfamily emigrated from Beirut, Lebanon to LosAngeles, California to escape the war. Thisdirect family history has instilled in me a deeprespect for the judicial system, both as a meansto prevent and deter crime and to promote fair-ness and protections offered under theConstitution.”The long and storied tradition of Armenian

judges in America has opened a fresh new chap-ter in a state whose nickname is The Land ofEnchantment. Lucy Boyadjian Solimon’sappointment as a District Court Judge makesclear that New Mexico is, indeed, worthy of thatendearing description.

7S A T U R D A Y, A U G U S T 8 , 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

Judge LucyBoyadjian Solimon

Armenian Bar Member Lucy Boyadjian Solimon RisesHigh in New Mexico with Judicial Appointment

WESTON, Mass. — Living Become, LLC isaddressing the lack social emotional basedlearning and fulfilling the need with itsBECOME Summer Leadership Program.BECOME, which stands for bold, energized,compassionate, open-hearted, mindful,empowered education is led by co-creatorsKristin Asadourian, is a social worker and aleadership coach, and Lindsay Quezada, afifth-grade teacher. It helps students gain agreater understanding of what is important tothem and what they value. This heightenedlevel of self-awareness results in an increase inself-confidence. BECOME was initially taughtas an afterschool workshop at the FieldSchool in Weston. The after-school versionfocused on helping students identify whatthey value in order to go out into their com-munities and create an impact based on whatis important to them. In the spring the pro-

gram moved to an online format and the self-discovery piece of the curriculum becameeven more relevant.“Leading the workshop online and focus-

ing on the students and their ability to knowthemselves and what they value made sense.We are coaching them on how to make deci-sions, effectively communicate and self-advo-cate. Participants learn how to be advocatesand change makers,” said QuezadaBECOME provides students with the tools

to self- manage and self-regulate within two-week sessions conducted over zoom daily.“Education is changing, there is a great need

for social emotional learning. Teaching studentshow to manage themselves, time and task man-age, and self-regulate is just as important asteaching them math and English. Right now,helping young people find their voices, use themand step out healthy, aware and confident is nec-essary,” said Asadourian said.The workshop uses journaling, mindful-

ness practices, exercises and online groupactivities to help increase self-awareness inthe participants. Along with BECOME,Living Become, LLC has year around work-shops and offers personal development andleadership coaching to young people andadults. The organization is committed toaddressing the social emotional needs of stu-dents to optimize overall mental health. Itcontinues to develop curriculum to addressthe increase in stress, anxiety and depressionin young people and believes BECOME isone way to ensure young people are receiv-ing the social emotional support they need.“Teaching young people to connect with

their thoughts, actions and emotions andproviding them with the tools to effectivelycommunicate how they feel and what theythink will increase their self-confidence andhelp to alleviate symptoms of stress and anx-iety as they pop up,” said AsadourianMore information on the BECOME

Summer Leadership Program is on theLiving Become, LLC website. Visit www.liv-ingbecome.com for more information.

Kristin Asadourian and Lindsay Quezada

Living Become,LLC Is TeachingLeadership SkillsTo Young People

8 S A T U R D A Y, A U G U S T 8 , 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

NEW YORK — The calendar of theArmenian Church singles out four membersof St. Gregory’s family — two sons and twograndsons — and assigns them a special dayof commemoration. This year it fell onAugust 1.The day of commemoration (according to

the present calendar in force since 1774-75)falls on the Saturday before the Third Sundayof Transfiguration. Excluded from this groupof saints are the rest of the members of theGregorid family, namely Sts. Nersés theGreat, Sahag the Parthian, Vartan and hisdaughter Shushanig. The latter are commem-orated on different days during the year.

St. Arisdagés

While still a layman in Caesarea (Kayseri),Gregory and his wife Mariam had with twosons, Vrtanés and Arisdagés. When Gregoryand Mariam parted, Arisdagés was still veryyoung and in need of motherly care. Mariamtook him with her to the convent she joined.Influenced by his early upbringing in the con-vent, Arisdagés entered the service of God atan early age and became a hermit in themountains. He became renowned for his aus-tere way of life, attracting young discipleswho sought his company for pious instruc-tion. He was particularly versed in Greek let-ters and philosophy.Years passed, and when King Drtad (by

now a Christian convert) learned that St.Gregory had sired two sons in his youngerdays, he sent certain nobles to Caesarea tobring the sons to Armenia. (St. Gregory him-self had withdrawn to the wilderness to leada solitary life.) At the time, Arisdagés was liv-ing in a hermitage; he initially refused toleave his austere way of life and go to thecourt of the king. Ultimately, he yielded tothe plea of Christians not to refuse the pas-toral work that lay before him.Upon the arrival of Arisdagés and Vrtanés,

King Drtad took them with him to look forSt. Gregory. Finding the saint in the wilder-ness, he begged Gregory to ordain his sonArisdagés a bishop and take him as his assis-tant. After his ordination, Arisdagés diligent-ly pursued his pastoral work, preaching andwiping out the vestiges of pagan customs andtraditions.Arisdagés represented the Armenian

Church at the Holy Council of Nicaea, whichmet in A.D. 325 at the order of the RomanEmperor Constantine. His name appears onthe list alongside those of the 318 bishopswho participated in that council. He returnedto Armenia, bringing with him the canons ofthe renowned council. These canons are stillvenerated in the Armenian Church and formthe foundation of discipline and order in ourtradition.After St. Gregory’s complete withdrawal

from pastoral life and his demise, St.Arisdagés succeeded him as the chief bishopof Greater Armenia. As a pastor he surpassedthe accomplishments of his father, as attest-ed by the historian of the conversion ofArmenia.Arisdagés himself died as a martyr, and

that is one of the reasons why he is consid-ered a saint of the Armenian Church. The cir-cumstances of his assassination are not veryclear. All we know is that, at some point inhis career as chief bishop of Armenia, he hadreprimanded a high dignitary namedArchilaeus, who had been appointed gover-nor of the province of Dzopk in westernArmenia. We are not told what Archilaeushad done to deserve Arisdagés’ reprimand,but he kept a grudge. When the bishop wason a pastoral visit in those parts, Archilaeusmet him on the road and slew him. In orderto avoid arrest and prosecution for his crime,

he fled to the Taurus Mountains in Cilicia.Arisdagés’ disciples took his body to the vil-lage of Til near Erzinjan and buried himthere. His grave was later shown within theconfines of the Chukhdag Hayrabedats Vank(“The Monastery of the Twin Patriarchs”),which was still extant until 1915.St. Arisdagés is said to have presided as the

chief bishop of Armenia for seven years. Thedate of his martyrdom is calculated to havetaken place at about A.D. 328.

St. Vrtanés

The elder son of St. Gregory theIlluminator chose to lead a secular life andgot married while still in Caesarea. At a latertime he was ordained a priest, either inCaesarea or Armenia. He and his wife’s desireto have children, and their prayers to Godtowards this end, were answered only in anadvanced age. They had twins, Krikoris andHusig, who were reared in the Armeniancourt and given a solid education. He pre-sumably lost his wife during the pontificateof his brother Arisdagés, and after the lat-ter’s death Vrtanés himself was raised to theepiscopal throne of Greater Armenia. Vrtanésprobably received episcopal ordination fromhis brother’s hand, since there is no referencein the historians to any ceremony of ordina-tion, either in Caesarea or elsewhere.St. Vrtanés’ activities as chief bishop of

Greater Armenia were closely linked withthose of the Christian kings of Armenia: firstDrtad, and later his son Khosrov Godag (330-337) and grandson Diran (337-344). Vrtanésstood by the side of the kings during variousPersian invasions into Armenia as well as dur-ing internal rebellions. As an active pastor hecontinued the work of his father and brother.Despite the declaration of Christianity as

the national religion of Armenia and theroyal support that the church therebyreceived, certain people of high position werenot pleased with the new religion. Their dis-pleasure led to serious repercussions. KingDrtad, who had been responsible for thekingdom’s conversion, died at a ripe old age— but not of natural causes. CertainArmenian princes in the service of the courthastened his demise by giving him a poisonedcup to drink. From another version of thestory about King Drtad’s death, we learn thatthe anti-Christian princes collaborated withthe King of Kings of Iran, and were instigat-ed by the latter to put him to death. While ona hunt, they shot Drtad with an arrow, and asthe wounded king was recuperating from hiswound, they gave him a poisoned cup todrink.Vrtanés himself almost fell victim to a

scheme of a different nature. At the annualcommemoration in Ashdishad of St. John theBaptist and Bishop Athenogenes, as institut-ed by St. Gregory, the chief bishop was cele-brating the Divine Liturgy, when two thou-sand mountaineers from Sasun converged onthe place, with the intent of assassinatingVrtanés. The assassins were unconverted idolworshippers, instigated by certain magnatesand particularly by the queen of Armenia,whom Vrtanés had formerly rebuked for com-mitting adultery. We are told that the hand ofGod made the conspirators motionless untilVrtanés released them. Overwhelmed bywhat had happened, the mountaineers heed-ed the admonitions of the bishop, and aftercompleting the period of penance set by himthey were baptized. Subsequently the bishopwithdrew to his paternal estate in Til, nearErzinjan.St. Vrtanés is said to have ordained a spe-

cial day of commemoration for the Armenianforces under General Vaché Mamigonian,who perished in a battle against the Persians

in 338. He consoled the king, his magnatesand soldiers for the devastating effect of thewar. According to this ordinance, the com-memoration was to be repeated annually. Healso instituted a special canon for all thosewho should die for Christian Armenia, thatthey be commemorated “before God’s holyaltar at that point in the liturgy when thenames of the saints are enumerated, andafter them.” This commemoration was laterreplaced with that of St. Vartan Mamigonianand his 1,036 companions, which has beencelebrated every year up to the present day.St. Vrtanés’ name is closely connected with

a contemporary non-Armenian churchman ofrenown, namely St. Macarius, bishop ofJerusalem (313-334). Macarius was one of thefathers of the Council of Nicaea (325),responsible (with a few others) for draftingthe Nicene Creed, which we recite in churchduring the Divine Liturgy. It was during histenure of office that the Church of the HolySepulcher was built in Jerusalem. St. Vrtanéshad the distinction of receiving a letter fromMacarius. The letter, originally written inGreek, is preserved only in Armenian andbears the title: “To the Christ-loving andpious Chief Bishop Vrtanés and all the bish-ops and priests of Armenia.” According tothis docu¬ment, Vrtanés had sent certainpriests to Jerusalem with specific ques¬tionsabout church traditions. In his answer,Macarius dwells on various traditions andpractices that must be observed in the rite ofbaptism.St. Vrtanés died in the third year of King

Diran —340 AD. He was buried near hisfather in Tortan, and his grave was showninside the village church.

St. Krikoris

The missionary work initiated by St.Gregory in the regions of northern Armenia,Georgia and Caucasian Albania was notneglected by his successors. To this end, St.Vrtanés’ son Krikoris was raised to the epis-copal rank and appointed bishop of Georgiaand Albania at a relatively young age. Theyoung bishop extended his missionary activi-ties over a vast expanse of territory reachingthe shores of the Caspian Sea. He establishedchurches and evangelized among the peoplesand tribes under his care. Among the differ-ent northern semi-barbaric nomadic tribes towhom he preached the gospel were theMazkuts, who were ruled by a line ofArshaguni kings related to the royal dynastyof Armenia. At first, the Mazkuts acceptedKrikoris’ instructions favorably and wereinclined to convert to Christianity.But when they learned that Christian

teachings forbade some practices of theirnomadic way of life — such as looting, pillag-ing, killing, coveting others possession — theybecame disgusted and greatly angered. Theysaw in Krikoris’ teachings a plot on the partof the Armenian king to stop their plunder-ing raids into Armenia. Krikoris was tied tothe tail of a wild horse and driven over aplain. The bishop died as a result. His bodywas claimed by his followers and taken toAmaras, which is located in present-dayKarabakh. He was buried in the church builtby St. Gregory. At the end of the fifth centu-ry, a crypt was built to house his grave. Thatstructure is now located under the main altarof the church of the Monastery of Amarasand is a place of pilgrimage.The martyrdom of Krikoris took place

shortly before the Mazkut invasion ofArmenia and the seizure of its capital city,Vagharshabad. That event took place ina.d.335. Krikoris’ relics were discovered inthe latter part of the fifth century and wereburied in a newly built crypt, which is stillextant, as stated above.

St. Husig

St. Husig, the second son of St. Vrtanés,followed his father’s example by embracingsecular life. Nourished by King Diran, he wasforced into marrying the king’s daughter,much against his will. He and his wife hadtwin sons, Bab and Athenogenes. His inclina-tion towards a celibate life, however, alienat-ed his wife and invited on him the hostility ofthe royal court. Their pressure was terminat-ed by his wife’s death, after which Husigdevoted himself to raising his children. In adream, the Lord appeared to him and toldhim that from his children there “will be bornother children, and they will be illuminatorsof knowledge and fonts of spiritual wisdomfor the realm of Armenia.”After his father’s demise, Husig was in line

for the succession of the episcopal throne ofGreater Armenia. King Diran immediately dis-patched a delegation of thirteen high-rankingprinces and dignitaries to accompany Husigto Caesarea. There, Husig was elevated to theepiscopal rank. On his return to Armenia hewas met by the king and taken to the city ofArdashad, where he was officially enthroned.Like his father and grandfather, he became awonderful pastor of his flock.Husig’s woes began when he, as the

upholder of the moral precepts of the church,began to castigate the king and his magnatesfor their unchristian behavior: they hadengaged in immoral acts and had shed inno-cent blood for political ends. Husig excom-municated them, forbidding their entry into

St. Gregory the Illuminator

History of GregoryThe Illuminator’sSons and Grandsons

the church. Predictably, this invited on himthe royal court’s animosity. On one occasion— a day of annual celebration when Husig, ona pastoral visit to the western province ofGreat Dzopk, was present at the palatinechurch in the royal fortress of Pnapegh —King Diran arrived with his retinue and triedto enter the church. Learning about theirarrival, Husig stepped out and cried aloud:“You are unworthy! Why have you come? Donot go inside!” Angered by this, the kingsattendants dragged him inside the sanctuaryand beat him with rods, shattering his bones.The servants of the church of Pnapegh car-ried the battered bishop, who was still alive,to his ancestral estate in Tortan. Unable torecover from his injuries, Husig died thereand was buried near the graves of his fatherand grandfather. His tomb was shown insidethe church of Tortan. The martyrdom of St.Husig is dated to A.D. 344.

St. Daniel the Syrian

The Feast of the Sons and Grandsons of St.Gregory the Illuminator includes the name ofSt. Daniel the Syrian, though he is not anactual member of the Gregorid house.Daniel had been one of St. Gregory’s pupils

and associates. St. Gregory himself had puthim in charge of the province of Daron (themodern Mush area), where he held the officeof “supreme justice” and looked after thechurch in Ashdishad, where the relics of St.John the Baptist and Bishop Athenogenesrested. His titles — “overseer, law-giver, super-visor and guardian of all the churches ofGreater Armenia” — and his ecclesiasticalrank as chorepiscopus (a bishop tending tothe flock in the countryside, as opposed to abishop of a city or a district), indicate that hewas a missionary who traveled from place toplace. He is said to have preached in Persia

and other foreign parts and to have convert-ed many people to the Christian faith. He wasalso in charge of the graves and the posses-sions of the Gregorid family, and was atten-tive to keeping the memories of the saints ofthat family as well as that of King Drtad aliveamong the faithful.Since St. Husig’s two sons led secular lives

and had no inclination to follow in the foot-steps of their ancestors, King Diran sent hismagnates to summon Bishop Daniel, now anelderly ascetic tending to church affairs inthe village of Til, to assume the spiritual lead-ership of the Armenian people. He met theking in southwestern Armenia and rebukedhim and his magnates for their crimes.Enraged at Daniel’s outspokenness, the kingordered his servants to strangle him, despitethe contrary advice of his nobles. His bodywas taken to the valley of Hatsyats Trakhdand buried in the cell where he had lived asa solitary. St. Daniel was martyred in a.d.344;the Monastery of Gopa Sourp Taniel stood atthat site until 1915.These five saints have been venerated as a

group at least since the end of the twelfthcentury. For it was at that time thatArchbishop Nersés of Lampron wrote a hymndedicated to them (“The Canon of the Sonsand Grandsons of St. Gregory theIlluminator”). In the hymn he mentions thesaints by name, and devotes five stanzas tobriefly describing the merits of each one.This hymn is still chanted on the day of com-memoration of these saints.

St. Nersés the Great

St. Nersés, the grandson of St. Husig, is notcommemorated with the Sons and Grandsonsof St. Gregory. As a major saint of theArmenian Church he has a special day dedi-cated to his memory, namely the Saturday

before the Third Sunday after Pentecost.That date, however, was arranged by the ordi-nance of Catholicos Simeon in the revisedcalendar he published in 1774-75. Originally,that feast fell on the Monday following theFourth Sunday after Pentecost.With the martyrdom of St. Husig and St.

Daniel, only Husig’s two sons, Bab andAthenogenes, remained in line for the suc-cession to the throne of St. Gregory. But theywere laymen and had no desire to becomepriests. With the universal consent of theArmenian bishops, they were forced againsttheir will to be ordained deacons. As profes-sional soldiers, they showed no inclination tospirituality, and their worldly conduct con-vinced everyone that neither was suitable forthe position of chief bishop. Consequently,the episcopal throne of Greater Armenia wasdelegated to bishops from another family.St. Nersés, the son of Athenogenes and

Pampish (presumably the daughter of KingDiran), was a courtier and the chamberlain ofKing Arshag II. He was married to a princessnamed Santukhd and the couple had a son,who later became the renowned CatholicosSahag the Parthian. St. Sahag in turnbecame the grandfather of St. VartanMamigonian. Despite his secular background,St. Nersés was a pious Christian. As a youngsoldier he had spent some time in Caesareaand had been “taught by spiritual teachers.”His connection with St. Gregory theIlluminator invited on him the attention of allthe magnates of Armenia, who held councilwith King Arshag and advised him to per-suade Nersés to become the spiritual leaderof Armenia. Nersés, who was standing amongthe magnates in the royal assembly hall, fullyadorned in ceremonial robe, refused to acceptthe proposal, not deeming himself worthy ofsuch a high dignity. The assembly laughed athis feigned arguments and the king literallystripped him of his royal ornaments. He wasimmediately ordained a deacon and sent toCaesarea to receive episcopal ordination.After being ordained a bishop by

Archbishop Eusebius of Caesarea, Nersésreturned to Armenia. His enthronement issaid to have taken place in 353. Upon hisreturn, Nersés immediately undertook thepastoral duties of chief bishop, renovatingold churches, founding new ones and tendingto the spiritual needs of his flock.Christianity was still a new religion inArmenia and many were still feeble in theirfaith. The newly ordained bishop workedtowards making the Armenians practicingChristians. To that end he held a churchcouncil of bishops in Ashdishad, introducinga number of reforms. Secular regulationswere set for the believers, and attention waspaid to make the beliefs of the church uni-form. Instructions were formulated so thatthroughout the land almshouses and shelterswould be built for the poor, hospitals for thesick and leprosaria for lepers. The faithfulwere urged to make the necessary provisionsfor the maintenance of these institutions.St. Nersés also became known for his other

charitable works and his concern for moralpurity as well as family life. He forbade exces-sive mourning over the dead, upheld thesanctity of marriage, and gave relief to wid-ows, orphans, captives and the poor. He shel-tered in his own residence the blind and thecrippled, and always shared his meals withthem. He also tended to the needs of thechurch as an institution by regulating theliturgical services and the rites, establishingmonasteries and schools, and educatingyoung people who were later ordainedpriests. In short, he may be described as thefounder of Christian charity in Armenia andas the churchman who laid down for posteri-ty the role of the Armenian Church as theguardian of the Armenian people, not only inspiritual but also in social and educationalrespects.St. Nersés also participated in the political

life of his country. From 353 until 359, hewas among King Arshag’s chief advisors. Ithas been shown that in A.D. 358 St. Nersésheaded a diplomatic delegation to Byzantiumthat brought Armenia under the Romansphere of influence and secured a period ofpeace and prosperity for the country. Thisact, however, cost St. Nersés his throne. It isnow quite certain that the saint’s exile was

actually due to King Arshag’s adherence tothe religious policy current in imperial Rome.We know from the Western historical sourcesthat all the orthodox bishops in the RomanEmpire were banished in 359, and Nersés wasobviously one of those bishops. King Arshag,as a Roman ally, could not have kept on thethrone an orthodox chief bishop, when theRoman emperor himself was an adherent tothe Arian heresy and had taken measures toexile the orthodox bishops within his realm.The Armenian historians of the fifth centuryspeak about St. Nersés’ with¬drawal fromoffice as a result of his objection to KingArshag’s moral deprava¬tions and about hisexile at the order of the Roman EmperorValens.St. Nersés’ exile lasted for about nine years.

He reluctantly returned to the throne of hisancestors during the reign of King Bab,Arshag’s son, and remained in office for fouryears. His return can also be explained by cir-cumstances outside of Armenia. His years inexile seem to concur with the duration of thebanishment of the orthodox bishops in theRoman Empire, and his return and reinstate-ment in office coincided with that of thesame bishops.St. Nersés’ relations with King Bab were

cordial at first, but gradually deteriorated.The Armenian historians charge Bab withmoral depravity and point to St. Nersés’ crit-icism of the king’s lifestyle as the cause of hisdownfall. Yet the alliance between theArmenian king and the Roman EmperorValens, an adherent to the Arian heresy, sug-gests a religious basis for the frictionbetween Bab and St. Nersés. The non-compli-ance of the orthodox Nersés to theArianizing tendencies of Bab would not havebeen tolerated for long. And so St. Nerséswas poisoned at the king’s order. He died in373 and was buried in Til, near the tomb ofhis great uncle St. Arisdagés. A cathedral,built over the site of the graves, wasdestroyed in the seventh century. As theregion changed hands over the centuries, theexact site of St. Nersés’ grave was forgotten.His relics were discovered at the end of thethirteenth century and distributed betweenthe church in Erzinjan and the nearby villageof Kee where the Monastery of Dirashénstood. Another monastery in or near Til,Chukhdag Hayra¬bedats, also claimed tohave relics of St. Nersés. These relics werediscov¬ered in the second half of the thir-teenth century, prompting a renowned poetof the time, Hovhannés Bluz Vartabed ofErzinjan, to write the hymn called “TheCanon of the Patriarch St. Nersés the Great.”

Bishop St. Khat

St. Nersés is always commemorated withhis associate Bishop Khat. Like Nersés, Khat,a native of the village of Marak near Karin(modern Erzurum) was a married man andhad two daughters. He had been St. Nersés’pupil and deacon. Ultimately he rose to therank of bishop and was placed in charge oftwo districts, Pakrevant and Arsharunik.Through the marriage of his daughters hewas associated with the noble Abahuni clan.During St. Nersés’ tenure, he was designatedas supervisor of the poor and the charitableinstitutions founded by his mentor. The lat-ter, in his absence, entrusted him with thecare of church affairs, naming him his vicar.Khat faithfully carried out his ministry.Like Nersés, Khat was also an adamant sup-

porter of orthodoxy against the royal court,which adhered to the heretical teachings ofArius. For this reason, he was in conflict withthe king, who tried to bribe him — to no avail,since Khat distributed the gifts bestowed onhim among the poor. King Arshag had himdriven from the royal camp and ordered hismen to stone the bishop. The ordeal of apainful death was spared to him thanks to hisAbahuni clansmen, related to him throughmarriage. One of his sons-in-law, Asurk, suc-ceeded to his episcopal rank and office, pre-sumably after his own wife’s demise.Khat is not a martyr, but his sufferings at

the hands of King Arshag make him a con-fessor.(By the Very Rev. Krikor Maksoudian, adapted

from his volume, The Holy Feasts of St.Gregory the Illuminator, St. Vartan Press,

2002).)

9S A T U R D A Y, A U G U S T 8 , 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

10

Los Angeles AIWAAffiliate AnnouncesRecipient ofScholarship AwardsLOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Affiliate

of the Armenian International Associationannounces the six recipients of the HasmikMgrdichian Scholarship Awards. Each yearawards of $5,000 each are presented to full-time California female students of Armeniandescent, both under graduates and graduates,enrolled in accredited colleges and universitiesin the United States and abroad. It is encour-aging and heartwarming each year to receivetheir applications and to learn of their scholas-tic achievements and goals for the future. The Hasmik Mgrdichian Scholarship Awards

was established in 2011 thanks to the contin-ued generosity of Hasmik Mgrdichian, one ofthe founders of the Los Angeles Affiliate. TheLos Angeles Affiliate of AIWA take great pridein her legacy to recognize and assist in the edu-cation of Armenian women.The 2020 Hasmik Mgrdichian Scholarships

were awarded to the following:•Ani Hakobyan, although born in Russia,

she has not lived there ever since and grew upin the United States. She received a BA fromUC Berkeley and will be entering her first yearat the University of Southern California to pur-sue a master’s degree in education. Her goal isto hold a position in the Ministry of Educationin Armenia.•Helena Nicole Kevorkian is a graduate of

the AGBU Manoogian School. She will beattending the University of SouthernCalifornia, Los Angeles, to pursue a degree incommunications/public relations.•Mariam Khorenyan was born in Yerevan,

and received her undergraduate degree fromthe American University of Armenia. Sheserved as a volunteer in the Peace Corp inTbilisi, Georgia. She will be attending NewYork University, pursuing a master’s degree inGlobal Affairs.•Tamar Nachian is a third-year student at

the University of California, Santa Barbara.Her career goal is to pursue a degree in statis-tics and data science with an emphasis inbiopsychology.•Lilit Oganessian will be attending the

University of California, Davis. She is a first-year student in a PhD program in veterinarymedicine. Her goal is to eventually work at agovernment agency whose focus is on issuesassociated with human relationship to animals.•Zhanna Ter-Zakaryan, born in Yerevan,

received a baccalaureate from Li Po ChunUnited World College of Hong Kong and abachelor’s degree in art history from the ArtInstitute of Chicago. She will be continuingher education at the Center of Socio-LegalStudies at the University of Oxford.Nicole Nishanian, President of AIWA-LA stat-

ed, “How inspiring it is to look at the dedica-tion of the Los Angeles Affiliate’s ScholarshipCommittee, specifically our Scholarship Chair,Lily Balian. These past months when so manyof us are concerned with the pandemic crisis,she has spent countless hours to communicatewith each of the applicants, collected theirtranscripts, personal statements and applica-tions. Lily, your leadership is an inspiration. Myspecial thanks also to committee membersDiane Cabraloff, Diana Hekimian, HermineJanoyan, Houry Aposhian, Cindy Norian, JeanKelegian and Lysa Gregorian. Lysa Gregorian, a member of the

Scholarship Committee and the granddaugh-ter of Hasmik Mgrdichian, stated, “Each year itis exciting to read about these exceptionalwomen. Their successes and dreams inspire us.We appreciate their contributions to ourArmenian culture and human race. This is justa glimpse of the future and it is going to beexciting.”For further information contact AIWA-LA (at

aiwalosangeles@gmail.com.

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, A U G U S T 8 , 2 0 2 0

Arts & Living

Armenian ProducerSergey Sarkisov's Film

Wins EmmyLOS ANGELES (Armenpress) — In a virtual ceremony Sunday, July 26, the

National Association of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) awarded DavidMcKenzie the Emmy for Outstanding Directing Special Class for the criticallyacclaimed documentary film “Hate Among Us.”“We are very thankful that the Academy has given attention to this important

subject that affects all of us,” said McKenzie. “I am honored that they recognizedthis work so that hopefully it will bring more attention to this subject matter andshine a light on the terrible situation that hate generates among people.”Distributed by Associated Television International (ATI) and premiering on

Popstar! TV, “Hate Among Us” from executive producers David McKenzie, DeanCain, Montel Williams and Sergey Sarkisov, tracks the origins of hate crimesagainst members of the Jewish faith as well as many others and the ultimate mur-der of an estimated 6 million European Jews by the Nazi regime and its collabo-rators that are still being exhibited by hate groups to this very day from Europeto the United States and throughout the world.The film follows the family members of Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old Holocaust

survivor who was murdered in her Paris apartment in 2018 in an anti-Semitic hatecrime. The film also depicts unique perspectives on anti-semitism from all culturesand all faiths, from within historic Jewish neighborhoods in Europe, to the streetsof Charlottesville and Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue massacre. McKenzie’s

direction told real stories of cur-rent survivors of violent anti-semitism to those of theHolocaust. Hate Among Us illus-trates how renewed intolerance istaking root in our communities,institutions and universities, withfar reaching consequencesaround the world.“It helps us to achieve our

goal,” said Dean Cain, “which isto shine a light on hate and helpeducate people about the historyand the current growth of hateand anti-Semitism. We are veryexcited about this recognitionand hope this brings more aware-ness to this serious humanitariancrisis.”Montel Williams agreed.

“When we set out to make HateAmong Us, we knew it was anurgent project. In these dividedtimes, we have to remember thathate and bigotry are never theanswer.”“The response of the commu-

nity from this inhumanity proves that this topic is very important to many peopleas well as being very relevant,” states Sergey Sarkisov. “I do believe that HateAmong Us contributes to the proper understanding and empathy that any kind ofnational, racial or religious hate continues to be an existing danger and everyhuman, including humanity itself, can be a target.”“Hate Among Us” is the second film from the producing quartet of McKenzie,

Cain, Williams and Sarkisov with their first being the also critically lauded docu-mentary Architects of Denial which shed light on the Armenian Genocide that isstill not fully recognized as of this day. That film was also produced and directedby McKenzie.

OvercomingHandicapsThe Story of Aimée

Rapin and Stepan Elmas

By Artsvi Bakhchinyan Special to Mirror-Spectator

The name of the Swiss artists Aimée Rapinis unfamiliar to the general public. Yet hername deserves to be known for a number ofreasons: first of all, as an artist in general andsecondly, and this is the most unusual and stu-pendous fact about her, as an artist, be theymale or female, who drew with her toes as shedid not have arms.Her works included portraits of children and

adults in, nude beauties and exquisite featuresthat disclose the inner worlds of those cap-tured on the canvas, as well as landscapes andstill-lifes, especially flowers, eye-catching color-ful images and masterly performed graphicworks. It is hard to perceive that those highlyartistic pieces and brilliant oil pastels were cre-ated not by hand.Aimée Rapin was born on February 14, 1868

in Payerne, Switzerland, one of 12 children.Only she had a physical handicap. Aimée’sfather, Jules Rapin was an employment agent,as well as an amateur artist and musician. In1872 the family moved to Lausanne where 6-year-old Aimée started taking painting classeswith local university professor, M. Meyenbourg.The next year the family moved back toPayerne. Aimée was 18 when her father passedaway in 1880. Her mother, Adelie Rapin-Quidort, who had happily married at 18 andbecame a widow at 38, had to bear the entireburden of supporting the large family on herown. She had to keep the house and bring upher children, one of whom needed specialattention. Aimée was far from conventional, however,

and she demonstrated a strong will power fromearly childhood and was a very easy-goingyoungster. She resigned herself to her physicalstate with a great deal of good-humor.Gradually, she learnt to do with her toes every-thing others do with their hands, from frompicking flowers to eating. She used to say thatthe only thing bothering her was the necessityto always wear a pelerine.At 14 Aimée was sent to study at a boarding

school in Lausanne. She continued with herdrawing classes with her teacher, Meyerbourg.In 1884, Aimée Rapin moved to Geneva to livewith her godmother Mrs. Kapt and to study atthe Art School. Mrs. Kapt was a well-educatedwoman, a widow without children, so sheaccompanied her beloved Aimée in all of hertours around the world. The young girl wasnever to be stopped by any difficulties: shewould travel with or without her godmother toItaly, Spain, Holland, even to Morocco andTunisia.At the Art School her teachers were Henri

Héber (drawing), Huges Bovy (sculpture), andElisée Mayor (ceramics). The greatest impres-sion though was made on the young artist byeminent Swiss painter and draughtsmanBarthélemy Menn, a friend of EugeneDelacroix, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot andGeorges Sand.

Aimée received from Menn a number ofincentive prizes and twice the first prize: onefor sculpture and the other for the best por-trait. “You are an innate portraitist,”Barthélemy Menn once told her.In 1888, Aimée Rapin had a great success at

the exhibition of Paris University. She startedreceiving orders from Paris and London.Despite the fact that she never organized asolo exhibition, Aimée gradually gained

see HANDICAPS, page 11

Poster for “Hate Among Us”

Producer Sergey sarkisov

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, A U G U S T 8 , 2 0 2 0 11

ARTS & LIVING

HANDICAPS, from page 10recognition and appreciation in Europe. Thewell-known French art critic Pierre Thee charac-terized Rapin’s style in painting as “Verlain-type.” The celebrated French actresses Réjaneand Sarah Bernhardt wanted their portraits tobe painted by Aimée. Incidentally, an American impresario in Paris

offered her $100,000 (at that time it was abouthalf a million francs) to demonstrate her art inthe major American theaters and draw paintingsin 15-minute sessions. Naturally, an artist’s dig-nity did not allow Rapin to make a display of herphysical imperfection and make a show out ofher art...In 1882, Rapin finally settled in Geneva. Her

fine-looking studio was on the sixth floor atNecker Street 1. In 1896, Aimée Rapin receivedan order from the Swiss Confederation to createone of her best portraits, “The Watchmaker,”presently in the Museum of Fine Arts Le Locle.Every day Aimée would sit in front of the easel

and work diligently with her right foot to createpaintings, one better than the one before.

Her attractive face, good nature and great tal-ent made many men fall in love with her, butAimée preferred not to start a family. There wasa man, however, that was present in her life withlove and affection.In the year 1911 she met Armenian composer

and pianist Stephan Elmas (Stepan Elmassian),her great love. Aimée was 43 at that time, andElmas was 49.A native of Smyrna, Stephan Elmas was born

into a wealthy family and had traveled to Europeat 15 to take lessons with Franz Liszt. From1888 to 1908, Elmas performed solo pianorecitals in nearly all the big cities of Europe. Hecomposed concertos, sonatas, romances, bal-lades, mazurkas and waltzes which were pub-lished in Paris and Leipzig. Many Europeanscalled him “the Armenian Chopin.”Unfortunately, Elmas caught typhoid in 1887and went partially deaf. His health deterioratedsubstantially in 1915 when he learnt about theArmenian Genocide. Perhaps it was the similarity in their destiny

that bonded them – the fate of armless artist andthat of a deaf musician. From 1914 they lived

together in Gustave-Adore littoral area in Geneva.Stephan Elmas greatly contributed to promotingAimée Rapin’s works, and the artist created sev-eral portraits of Armenian musician. In 1922,deeply impressed by the tragedy befallen on herbeau’s people, Aimée Rapin produced her“Armenia the Martyr” canvas, as well as two por-traits of Elmas’s mother, Yepraxi Elmas.Stephan Elmas died in Geneva in 1937. On

September 13 of the same year, Rapin wrote inher letter to Elmas’s biographer and friend,philologist Hagop-Krikor Djerdjerian: “A pair ofeyes was closed forever for this world, and theworld has been changed for me... Yet, wasn’t itthe God’s blessing for me to have such a won-derful friend by my side for more than 26 years?”Aimée Rapin was always a surprisingly strong,

optimistic, cheerful and generous person with anincredible sense of humor. She was once at aparty at the home of her brother, Ernst, who hadseven children. She looked around with an ador-ing and delighted smile and uttered joyfully:“The more arms and hands in this family, the bet-ter!” The fact of her unusual state induced many

tragic and in the same time, comical situations inAimée’s lifetime. Thus, for instance, she oncetraveled in a train bound for Lausanne fromGeneva and paying for her ticket, Aimée said theticket seller that he can leave the ticket with him,as she cannot take it. On another occasion, a firestartedin the building where Aimée used to live,and the firefighters started taking people out ofthe windows with the help of a ladder. “Hold onto my neck,” the fireman said. “I cannot,” Aiméesaid. “Don't be silly!” the fireman was got upset.“But I do not have arms,” Aimée said. And thenthe strong fireman put the woman on his shoul-ders and carried her down on his back.Rapin’s works were exhibited in Paris, London,

Berlin, Munich, Montreal and New York City. Shecontinued to work till the end of her life andpassed away on May 8, 1956 in Geneva at the ageof 88. She was buried in Geneva’s Plainpalaiscemetery, next to Stephan Elmas’s grave.Aimée Rapin worked diligently throughout her

entire life and left for generations more than3,000 unique pieces of art, kept nowadays at thePayerne Museum. In 1996, the museum pub-lished an illustrated book of her works, entitled

Aimée Rapin, Painting Without Hands. The textis written by the artist’s niece, Simone Rapin, apoet and playwright.The Yerevan public is gradually getting famil-

iar with Stephan Elmas; Yerevan Conservatoryhas been hosting pianists’ contest in Elmas’smemory, and through the efforts of the French-Armenian conductor Alexander Siranossian,

who is also the artistic director of the StephanElmas Foundation, the composer’s piano wastransported to Armenia and donated to theMuseum of Literature and Art in Yerevan. Elmas’companion in life, Aimée Rapin deserves to beknown among the Armenians too – a braveartist, whose life and art is truly a unique exem-plar of strong will and exceptional bravery...

The Story of Aimée Rapin and Stepan Elmas

Aimée Rapin and Stepan Elmas with their paintings

Aimée Rapin painting

“Armenia the Martyr” by Aimée Rapin

12 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, A U G U S T 8 , 2 0 2 0

ARTS & LIVING

ARTISTS, from page 1For young diasporan Armenians living in the

United States, the mental and emotional weightof this recent conflict is only exacerbated by cur-rent public health and social tensions nation-wide. Despite recent “re-openings” across thecountry, the U.S. has exponentially more

COVID-19 cases and deaths than any othernation and concurrently, the Black Lives Mattermovement continues to demand change at a sys-temic level. Armenia’s diaspora has an expansive history

of coping with trauma and tragedy through art.Take Genocide survivor and visual artist BerjKailian for example — she was exposed to theatrocities of war as a small child, and spent therest of her life creating breathtaking works of artthat not only provided her with a coping mech-anism, but also her art became an abstract por-tal into Armenian history for the younger gen-erations. With the social and political upheaval both in

Armenia and the States, let us take a look atwhat three young female Armenian artists –who are distinct in their identities as well astheir crafts – are doing to explore their identityand to cope with the times.

Joanna NanajianMeet Joanna Nanajian, the Armenian artist

from Beirut (now based in Boston) who wasrecently accepted to the FountainheadResidency in Miami. Nanajian cites her back-ground and her unique struggle with identity inthe States as formative in her journey as anartist.“I immigrated to Boston from Beirut around

the age of 12 and didn’t go back for about 10years. I felt so detached from my home and myheritage that I didn’t realize how confused I wasuntil I finally went back,” said Nanajian. “Self-understanding and acceptance is a lifelong jour-ney and your identity is just the beginning of it.Once I went back, it was as though everythingfinally made sense; I was greeted with the smellof soorj in the morning and the voices of myfamily yelling at each other in a mixture of

Armenian, Arabic and so many more languages.Being reconnected with my home, family andheritage brought back comfort I didn't realize Iwas missing.”A graduate of MICA (Maryland Institute

College of Art) and resident artist at theDorchester Art Project (DAP), Nanajian creates

massive abstract charcoal pieces that are simul-taneously anthropomorphic and abstract. Whilein the presence of one of her works, the viewerfeels small and eerily insignificant. “Recently, I've noticed a link between my

work and heritage, not through an aestheticinfluence but through my experiences as anArmenian immigrant from Lebanon and how Ihave moved through this world. My most recentwork undergoes a repetitive draw-and-erase pro-cess. These continuous gestures are a mirror forall the moments that I have gained and then lostcontrol of my life.”In addition to her charcoal pieces, Nanajian

also makes masks — the demand for which hasnaturally increased over the last five months. “I was selling masks prior to COVID-19 as a

hobby. I really enjoyed the aesthetics of masksand was selling them as fashion pieces withchains and designs attached. Once the pandem-ic hit, the orders began coming in at large quan-tities and became my main focus within my artpractice for the past four months. This reallypushed me to come out with more designs; Ibegan to incorporate more pearls, lace, and jew-els. My masks are very influenced by traditionalArmenian head pieces. We're in this for a while– might as well look cute and feel good when wewear our masks!” As a resident of the community-based DAP,

Nanajian takes social justice seriously. Therecent social unrest due to the murders ofunarmed Black individuals — such as BreonnaTaylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, AhmaudArbery, and so many more — has Nanajianusing her platform as an Armenian artist todraw attention to the systemic racism in theStates for her diaspora community. “Your words have value to the people around

you, so use them. Demand justice for these vic-tims and actively dismantle any racist behaviorsstarting with your loved ones. Armenians havehad the Genocide and should understand whatit’s like to have your own innocent people mur-dered and then be neglected.”

Talin AvakianTalin Avakian, a Worcester-born filmmaker,

now based in New York, explores her multi-faceted identity through mainly fictional rendi-tions for the screen. Each character she con-ceives is in itself a work of art; her films providea space to deconstruct minor social interactionsand complex relationships with a magnifyingglass, amplifying character affects that are typi-cally overlooked. Her work is nuanced, medita-tive and understated.“I came to realize my deep desire to intimate-

ly follow characters through their journeys andchallenges of life. Following them (or creatingthem) would bring me comfort as they were peo-ple I could identify with and be inspired by,” saidAvakian. “My work has always been very per-sonal, so naturally my identity seeps into mywork. While not every character may be ofArmenian heritage, the characters I write mayexperience similar struggles to that of anArmenian diaspora, because that is the story Iknow.”Avakian is Armenian on her father’s side and

is well-known in the Armenian filmmaking andarts communities. Besides hosting theWorcester Armenian Film Festival since 2013,Avakian also filmed and produced a series ofshort documentary films about historicArmenia.“I consider myself mostly a fictional narrative

filmmaker, but in 2014 I was asked to travel tohistoric Armenia with a group of researchers todocument the journey, our ancient churchesand the individuals we met (some of them, hid-den Armenians) along the way. I created a few-

short films as a result, some of which continueto have a screening life as they are screened inclassrooms and festivals, used to start conversa-tions surrounding themes of genocide and dis-possession, erasure and urban development.”On her mother’s side, Avakian is Black and

Indigenous. When asked how the recent eventssurrounding The Movement for Black Lives hasimpacted her identity-heavy work, Avakian stat-ed: “Honestly, I've felt hindered, as the recentevents of the world have left me feeling quiteexhausted. While I'm grateful for my health,safety, and job security, I've felt a sense of pres-sure to respond and be present for everything…It's been a challenge to balance my emotions,prioritize my mental health and dedicate the dili-gence and attention needed for my work - andwhen I feel I have a handle on one thing, theother thing pulls me. So all in all I've found thatit's been very challenging to prioritize my filmwork, as much as I wish to pause everything towork on it.”

Lilit DanielyanThe black-and-white photography of Lilit

Danielyan — an Armenian expat fromKazakhstan who now resides in Portland, Maine— is telling a story that demands to be heard. “I was born during the Nagorno-Karabakh

conflict in a town called Artsvashen. Two days

after my birth, Artsvashen was occupied by theAzerbaijan military, forcing my family to flee...My father always told me that I was the last childof Artsvashen — of his hometown that he stilldreams to see someday. Growing up, I oftendemanded the details that surrounded the day Iwas born. I wondered, what my mother felt, giv-ing birth to her first child in the basement of thelocal hospital, while hearing the shootings fromafar. I also wanted to imagine Artsvashen,because I have actually never seen it in photos.My father's and my grandmother's stories fedmy imagination.”Danielyan is entirely self-taught; she learned

how to capture images and narratives through adesire to uphold her family, their villages, andthe world around her.“My first camera was a Zenit, made in the

Soviet Union. It took me a while to learn how touse it properly, but as soon as I saw the first well-exposed images, I couldn’t stop...I traveled toArmenia to take interviews and to photographmy grandmother’s house.” When Danielyan’s grandmother passed, she

realized how truly priceless her photographswere.“I was left with a few video-interviews and

photographs I took of her, and of the surround-ing villages. Eventually, I put the videos togeth-er and created a short photo essay about mygrandmother. When I showed the work to myfamily, I witnessed the power that storytellingcould have on people. I will never forget thesilence after the video was over. I decided to con-tinue my photographic journey.” At just 19, Danielyan immigrated alone from

Kazakhstan to the East Coast. Inspired by herprevious work documenting Armenian villages,she hoped to pursue her dreams of becoming adocumentary photographer. While Danielyanholds a degree in international relations fromKaraganda State University (Karaganda City,

Kazakhstan), she wanted to bolster her artisticcredentials. Her first few years in the U.S. weredevoted to saving money so that she could studyphotography at Smith College and develop herunique style, which she attributes in part to herinspirations: Agnes Varda, Parajanov, Fellini,Bergman and David Lynch, to name a few. Danielyan’s transcendent black-and-white

images harken back to another era. ForDanielyan, her work is personal and nostalgicbut as the viewer, we feel that too, as if thecarefully constructed lens through which weview her work is as much a part of the art asthe art itself. It feels as if we are transportedback to the collective Armenian unconscious;we feel affection for her family members thatare not ours but could be. We cherish hermemories in the Motherland that we neverhad but as American diaspora, we always wishwe did. Now in Portland, Danielyan is involved in a

number of documentary projects, including doc-umenting the faces and stories of Portland’srefugee population, which is largely fromSomalia.

“Recently, I began interviewing and pho-tographing the immigrant and refugee commu-nity in Maine, and creating photo-essays. I was

continued on next page

Young Artists Explore Identity to Understand History

Local kids carrying spring water home. Chambarak, Armenia, 2015. From Lilit Danielyan’s“Villagers” Series

Joanna Nanajanian painting with charcoal

Still imagine from “Stained” by Talin Avakian

13T 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, A U G U S T 8 , 2 0 2 0

ARTS & LIVING

MASSACHUSETTS

Calendar

AUGUST 12 — Wednesday, 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. MexicanCuisine. Executive Chef Colton Coburn-Wood & Friends Cósmica Mexican Eatery inthe Revolution Hotel, South End. To registervia Zoom, emailhello@ArmenianHeritagePark.org

AUGUST 22 — Saturday, 9 am. LabyrinthWalking: Connection betweenMovement and Wisdom. Facilitator:Kristin Asadourian,founder, KA Coaching.The Labyrinth Walking Wellness Series is avirtual program of Armenian Heritage Parkin partnership with The GreenwayConservancy Fitness Program. For the link toregister via ZOOM, emailhello@ArmenianHeritagePark.org

AUGUST 12 — Wednesday, 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. NEW ENG-LAND CUISINE. Chef Annie CoppsCookbook author, The Little Local MaineCookbook and A Little Taste of Cape Cod.To register via Zoom, please emailhello@ArmenianHeritagePark.org

SEPTEMBER 9 — Wednesday, at 10am.Celebrating 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. ARMENIANCUISINE. Lena Tashjian, Cookbook author,recipe developer, writer, The VeganArmenian Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes andStories from Armenia and the ArmenianDiaspora (2020); founder, Vegan ArmenianKitchen.com. To register via Zoom, pleaseemail hello@ArmenianHeritagePark.org

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 via Zoom emailhello@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 - 2019James Beard Leadership Award. To registervia Zoom, emailhello@ArmenianHeritagePark.org

AUGUST 7 — Friday, Sts. Sahag & MesrobArmenian Church Cultural CommitteePresents Armenian Cultural Hour OnlineConcert, at 7:30 pm. Armenian PopularSinger Papin Poghosyan “My Songs for You”Whether or not you have a Facebookaccount, you can find the Livestream of theevent through the parish's Facebook pageat:https://www.facebook.com/armeni-anchurchprovidence/posts/3360139950674206

Walnut and Red Pepper Paste Spread (Mouhamara)*This Walnut and Red Pepper Paste Spread (Mouhamara) is

featured in Dikranouhi Kirazian’s essential Armenian Vegancookbook published in 2013. This definitive cookbook offersa world of new and rich vegan flavors, recipes and meals thatwill satisfy discriminating tastes and motivate readers to addtheir own culinary touches. Discover over 200 vegan recipesfor breakfast, soups, salads, main entrees, breads, desserts,

and more—offered fromthe great tradition ofmeatless Armenianmeals. Included arefavorites like StuffedGrape Leaves, Rice andBulgur Pilaf, VegetableMedleys, Paklava, and Hearty Breads that come with carefully chosen ingredients and easy-to-followinstructions. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Kirazian arrived in the United States in 1959, where she taught at Holy

Cross Armenian Church in Union City, New Jersey. Married in 1962, she and her husband George set-tled in San Diego, where they raised their three daughters. “My cookbook is a labor of love for mychildren, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and for future generations, so they will always remem-

ber their heritage. Armenian food is one of the most unique and traditional cuisines in the world. It is rich in flavor and uses cookingskills and techniques dating back thousands of years. Armenian food is basically healthy, and many recipes are already vegan -- these aresimple, delicious recipes everyone can make and enjoy.”

INGREDIENTS:2 cups walnuts, chopped1/2 cup red pepper paste (found in Middle Eastern markets)1/2 cup bread crumbs1/2 cup olive oil4 tablespoons fresh minced onions2-3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses2-3 tablespoons cumin1/2 teaspoon dried basil1-2 tablespoons pine nuts (for garnish)1/4 cup waterSalt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION: Chop walnuts in a blender or food processor. Add the bread crumbs, olive oil, minced onions, pomegranate molasses, red pepper paste,

all spices, and the water, and blend to combine all ingredients. Season with salt and pepper. Place in a serving dish and garnish withpine nuts. Serve as an appetizer with fresh vegetables, toasted pita bread, flat bread, or lavosh. Use as a spread in a sandwich or on lavosh with

grilled vegetables, roasted peppers, and cheese. Or as a condiment (or topping) for kebabs, grilled meats, and fish. Keep refrigerated inan airtight container. Makes about 2 to 2 1/2 cups. For this recipe, go to:https://armenianvegan.com/recipeshttps://www.facebook.com/pg/ArmenianVeganCookbook/posts/Armenian Vegan: A Pure Vegan Cookbook With 200+ Recipes Using No Animal Products by Dikranouhi Kirazian. To order, go to:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1494365189/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

*Muhammara ("reddened"), mouhamara or mhammara is a hot pepper dip originally from Aleppo, Syria, found in Levantine and Turkishcuisines. In western Turkey, muhammara is referred to as acuka. The principal ingredients are usually fresh or dried peppers, usuallyAleppo pepper, ground walnuts, breadcrumbs, and olive oil. It may contain garlic, salt, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, and spices,and garnished with mint leaves.

References:https://armenianvegan.com/https://twitter.com/armenianvegan?lang=enhttps://www.facebook.com/ArmenianVeganCookbook/https://georgekirazian.com/cook-book/ (under construction)

Recipe Corner by Christine Vartanian

Mouhamara

RHODE ISLAND

LIKE US ONFACEBOOK

Dikranouhi Kirazian and herhusband, George, at the SanDiego Festival of Books in 2018.

from previous pagesurprised how much this project helped me tounderstand my own feelings as someone whoimmigrated to the United States alone...InPortland, when [Black Lives Matter] protestsbegan, I was amongst the protesters. To me,there is nothing more beautiful than the feelingof connection with one another. It’s crucial tostand up for each other and embrace things thatunite us.”Danielyan’s community work in Portland has

proven cathartic for her, especially in recent

weeks. The village in which Danielyan was bornis located in the Gegharkunik region, which bor-ders Tavush — the region that has been underattack by Azeri forces since the 1994 ceasefirewas broken on July 12, 2020. “When I learned about the recent political

events between Armenia and Azerbaijan, I wasdevastated. I also realized how much I wouldhave wanted to be in Armenia right now, doingdocumentary photography work. We don't needmore useless wars that always result in enor-mous suffering. Instead, we need to concentrate

on peace-building relationships. I will be focus-ing on this in my next art projects.”Danielyan takes comfort in looking forward

to a time when her documentary footage willbe a mechanism for telling the story of thismoment. She hopes the images she has pro-duced – and continues to produce – will illu-minate this time in American and Armenianhistory for generations to come. ForDanielyan, who knows first-hand the powerfulrole that capturing images plays in preservinghistory, it is only natural.

14 S A T U R D A Y, A U G U S T 8 , 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

Telephone: 617-924-4420

FAX: 617-924-2887

www.mirrorspectator.com

E-Mail: editor@mirrorspectator.com

For advertising: mirrorads@aol.com

SUBSCRIPTION RATES:

U.S.A. $80 a year

Canada $125 a year

Other Countries $190 a year

© 2014 The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

Periodical Class Postage Paid at Boston, MA

and additional mailing offices.

ISSN 0004-234X

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.

MirrorSpectator

Established 1932

An ADL Publication

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

Baikar Association, Inc.755 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, MA

02472-1509

Russian Base Casts Long Shadow On Armenia, Turkey

EDITORIAL

By Edmond Y. Azadian

The threat of war continues to loom on Armenia’s border. Thebattle in the Tavush region of Armenia was only one episodewhich may very well be followed by others. The Armenian sideis cognizant of the fact that it should not yet rest on its laurels.Armenia proved the battle-readiness of its armed forces. But

to what extent? President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has character-ized Armenia’s victory against Azerbaijan as a “punch wellbeyond its capacity,” which in strategic terms may be interpret-ed as the victory by Armenia being the result of tactical assis-tance from its strategic ally, Russia.In today’s wars, drones have expanded the surveillance scope

of armies. In this particular battle, the Azerbaijani army, whichhad boasted of its state-of-the-art military hardware, failed todeploy them properly and thus the Armenian side downed 13 oftheir drones, in addition to inflicting other critical losses.Wars now rely more and more on advanced technology both

for weapons and surveillance systems, including satellite imag-ing, which is beyond Armenia’s reach. This is where an ally’sassistance can make the ultimate difference, and most probablythis is what Erdogan was talking about.From July 29 to August 10, the joint forces of Azerbaijan and

Turkey are participating in war games on Armenia’s borders, aswell as in Baku, Ganja, Erlakh and Nakhichevan, in a verydemonstrative way, using live ammunition. People in Armenia claim to have spotted Turkish warplanes

within striking distance of Yerevan. Although the news wasrefuted by government sources, the intent of the Turkish side toscare Armenia is plain to see.Political analyst Hagop Badalyan very stoically advises people

in Armenia to learn to live with the Turkish threat of war butnot to be intimidated.President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan is back to his bellicose

mood, after his defeat in Tavush. He has refused out of hand theseven points proposed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan andhas called on Yerevan to withdraw its armed forces fromKarabakh immediately, “before it’s too late.”Answering that threat, Armenia’s Defense Minister David

Tonoyan has asked the rhetorical question as to “when would itbe too late as our armed forces are ready and waiting for theorder.”While this heated rhetoric is being spouted by all parties,

tanks are pulling up on Armenia’s borders and warplanes are fly-ing over them, raising the question as to whether Turkey willattack Armenia. Russia has taken Turkey’s moves very seriously and it has

advanced the date of its own war games, which were planned forSeptember. It has been exercising currently on Azerbaijan’s bor-ders, with the participation of 150,000 soldiers and nuclear war-heads as a direct warning to Turkey’s moves.On July 28, Defense Minister Tonoyan announced that

Armenia’s armed forces have been put on high alert and that theRussian-Armenian military contingent is “continuing consistent-ly to monitor and analyze” Turkish-Azerbaijani military activities“with all reconnaissance means” at its disposal.On the sidelines, however, a diplomatic charade is taking

place. Despite its aggressive moves and stern threats, Ankara istrying to camouflage its intentions through diplomatic moves.First, Ibrahim Kalin, President Erdogan’s spokesman, indicatedthat Turkey is in Nakhichevan to support its ally Azerbaijan andassured the public that Ankara’s moves do not intend to harm

its relations with Moscow.In his turn, President Erdogan has taken the initiative to call

President Vladimir Putin. During their conversation Putin “hasstressed the importance of preventing any steps that couldcause an escalation in tensions.”Once again, the issue of the Russian military base in Gyumri

has become a topic of public discussion. Many anti-Russianpoliticians underestimate the significance of that base. Analystslike Levon Shirinyan and Armenian Parliament members likeArman Babajanyan and pundits like Varoujan Avetissyan (SasnaTserer) and Tigran Zmalyan (European Party) are adamantlyagainst the base. They try to suggest that Russia has set thatbase on Armenian territory “to enslave us.”However, they do not offer any alternative in case Armenia

faces an existential threat.Granted, the base may be self-serving for Russia to maintain

its influence in the Caucasus region. In the meantime, it is adeterrent against any Turkish threat. To defend its military baseMoscow has to defend Armenia’s territory.In politics, there has to be a confluence of interest so that a

major power is motivated to defend the weaker power. There isno free lunch.In a recent interview, the director of a political and military

analytical center in Russia, Alexander Khramchikhin, confirmedthe fact that the Russian base in Armenia is intended to contain

Turkey: “If a war breaks out betweenArmenia and Azerbaijan, I am notsure what position Russia may take,”the analyst stated. “But if the wartakes place in Karabakh, I know forsure that Russia will not intervene. Irepeat, the base is there to containTurkey. The base is part of Russia’sgeostrategic posture. Therefore, it ismeant to stop Turkey, the foreignintruder in the region.”Mr. Khramchikhin also believes that

Turkey has introduced its forces intoAzerbaijan to pressure Armenia psy-chologically. But he believes thatTurkey at this time “cannot invadeArmenia, because it will be stretchingits resources too far, as it is mired inmany other conflicts.”We wished that it were true.

Turkey’s involvement in many con-flicts defines its behavior pattern.Either it foments a crisis to intervene,

like it did in Syria, or it takes advantage of destabilized regions,like Iraq and Libya to expand its empire.Following that logic, we cannot rule out the possibility that

Ankara precipitated the recent crisis between Armenia andAzerbaijan to begin implementing one of its long held dreams.Strategically, Armenia is at the mercy of enemy forces;

Turkish armed forces are in mainland Azerbaijan andNakhichevan, which does not have a common border with themainland, but has a narrow border with Turkey, acquired aftera land swap with Iran in 1932.Armenian forces are no match for Turkey. Armenia must avoid

any direct confrontation with the Turkish army. But Yerevan hasother sources that it can use in diplomatic forums. Recently, Armenia’s representative Armen Babikyan raised

the issue in Energy Intelligence, a publication of theInternational Atomic Agency, of Azerbaijan’s threat to bomb itsnuclear power plant, Metsamor. On July 27, the issue was dis-cussed at a Vienna conference, which characterized the threatas an act of state terrorism against Armenia.Armenia has not weaponized its strongest argument, the fact

of genocide. Only after some timid references by ForeignMinister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan did Armenia’s Ambassador toLatvia Tigran Mkrtchyan issue a strongly-worded statement thatArmenians will not tolerate a second genocide.Jews and Israel shout from the rooftops about the holocaust

they have suffered. We can emulate them and try to score somepolitical points.What makes everything even worse is that during this current

situation, there is polarization in Armenia. Any responsible andrational leadership would seek internal stability, to withstandthe threats.The opposition and the government are equally responsible

for the ongoing divide in Armenia: the first for its irresponsibleand destabilizing rhetoric, and the latter for its witch hunt inrounding up perceived enemies.Armenia needs calm, de-escalation and unity. That will not

be offered by Russia nor any other outside force. It is in thehands of the leadership to steer the county toward calmerwaters.

S A T U R D A Y, A U G U S T 8 , 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

15

My TurnBy Harut Sassounian

Political Victory over Azerbaijan IsAs Important as the MilitaryVictoryWhile Armenians around the world have been justifiably

focusing on the successes of the Armenian military overAzerbaijan during the three-day attack last month, the politi-cal victory is just as important.If you win the war, but lose the peace, then you have not

accomplished much. The best solution is to win the war andthen draw a long-term benefit from that military success.Fortunately, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has pro-

vided the best opportunity for Armenians to benefit from therecent skirmish on the border between the two countries.Aliyev recently fired his long-term Foreign Minister Elmar

Mammadyarov for engaging in “meaningless” negotiationswith Armenia. This is the best thing that Aliyev could havesaid from the Armenian point of view. If Aliyev is unhappywith the negotiations, Armenians welcome his statement.We should remember that the on-going negotiations

between Armenia and Azerbaijan, under the guidance of theMinsk Group of mediators, are solely for the benefit ofAzerbaijan which expects to extract concessions fromArmenia on the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) conflict.Armenians should not expect to gain anything from thesenegotiations. They have already accomplished what they wantfrom the conflict with Azerbaijan by successfully liberatingthe occupied territories of Artsakh. It is unrealistic to expectthat Azerbaijan would someday acknowledge that Artsakh isan independent territory or a part of the Republic of

Armenia. Therefore, these negotiations are useless for theArmenian side. They are only carried out for the sake of giv-ing the appearance to the international public opinion thatArmenians are not opposed to finding a peaceful, negotiatedsolution to the conflict. These negotiations are carried outmore for propaganda purposes than for achieving concreteresults.However, Armenia continues to carry out these negotia-

tions while Azerbaijan persists on using sharpshooters orperiodic attacks on Artsakh and Armenia proper to kill andinjure Armenian soldiers and civilians or damage Armenianproperties.I have tried to bring this problem to the attention of

Armenia’s leaders in the past. I discussed this issue severalyears ago with Armenia’s Defense Minister, Seyran Ohanyan.I explained to him that Armenia should temporarily suspendthe negotiations with Azerbaijan while the Azeri side wasshooting on Armenian soldiers. Armenia should announce tothe world that it believes in peaceful negotiations, butAzerbaijan continues to fire across the border. One cannot sitat the negotiating table while the other side is shooting atyou. You either negotiate or fight. You cannot do both at thesame time. The Defense Minister told me that this is a politi-cal decision which should be taken up with President SerzhSargsyan. Ohanyan said that he was only involved in militarymatters.I then met with President Sargsyan and gave him the same

explanation that I had given to his Defense Minister. I empha-sized that I was not calling for the cancellation of the negoti-ations with Azerbaijan which would have left the wrongimpression on the international community. I urged thePresident to announce that even though Armenia believes inpeaceful negotiations, Azerbaijan continues its warmonger-ing actions. The world would understand that negotiationscannot be carried out under such circumstances. One caneither negotiate or fight, but not do both. Therefore, thePresident of Armenia should announce that if Azerbaijan,henceforth, shoots on the Armenian side, Armenia would sus-pend the negotiations for three months. If the Azeri shoot-ings persist, Armenia would prolong the suspension of nego-tiations. Without any negotiations taking place, Azerbaijan

would be the loser, as negotiations are Azerbaijan’s onlychance of getting some concessions from Armenia.Eventually, as the negotiations become frozen for a lengthyperiod, the Minsk Group of negotiators would pressureAzerbaijan to agree to observe a total ceasefire if it wanted tocontinue the negotiations.Regrettably, I could not convince President Sargsyan to

agree to this peaceful approach. As a result the Azeri shoot-ings continued during the negotiations while dozens ofyoung Armenian and Azeri soldiers were killed.Nevertheless, I was happy to read sometime after my meet-

ing with President Sargsyan that he had announced onOctober 24, 2017, during his lecture at the ArmenianNational Defense Research University, according toMediamax Armenian news agency, that “You either negotiateor shoot, and we are ready for both cases.” He was also quot-ed as saying that the negotiations should be held only in caseof mutual trust, built by adhering to ceasefire regime, whileany provocations may block the process.Unfortunately, President Sargsyan had announced only

partially what I had suggested. He had left out the warningto Azerbaijan that negotiations would be suspended the nexttime they shoot across the border.Nevertheless, I believe that this is the right time for

Armenia’s new leaders to consider my suggestion, especiallysince President Aliyev had stated that he does not believe in“meaningless” negotiations. I was dismayed that Armenia’sForeign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan just announced thatArmenia was ready to resume the negotiations withAzerbaijan, as if the attacks in early July had not taken place.The only time Azerbaijan would be deterred from carryingout new attacks on Armenia and Artsakh, if it pays a heavyprice both militarily and diplomatically. Just to carry on asusual, ignoring the attacks, would be counterproductive. Itwould simply encourage Azerbaijan to continue shooting andshelling.In the meantime, Armenians both in and out of Armenia

have to set aside their internal differences and make allefforts to strengthen the Armenian military. This is no timeto engage in internal dissensions at a time when our enemies,Azerbaijan and Turkey, are testing our resolve.

The US Must Rein In Erdogan’s War-MongeringBy David Phillips

ROCLAIMING “zero problems with neighbors,” former Prime Minister AhmetDavutoglu heralded a new era of Turkish foreign policy in 2013. However,Davutoglu and other stalwarts of the ruling Justice and Development Party(AKP) were eventually side-lined as Recep Tayyip Erdogan consolidated his dic-tatorship.With Turkey’s economy collapsing, Erdogan is fuelling regional conflicts in order

to distract Turks from his economic mismanagement.Instead of helping Turkey, the administration of USPresident Donald Trump has turned a blind eye toTurkey’s economic strife, democratic deficit, and

nefarious role in the region.Today, Turkey is engaged in multiple armed conflicts.Turkey invaded northern and eastern Syria, killing hundreds

in the Syrian Defense Forces, America’s ally against IslamicState (ISIS). Kurds, Armenians and Syriac Christians were tar-geted. Hundreds of thousands were driven from their homes inAfrin and communities east of the Euphrates River.In Iraqi Kurdistan, Yezidis in Sinjar and Christians in Zakho

were victimized by Turkey’s bombing and occupation. Yezidis,who barely survived a genocide by ISIS, now face persecutionfrom Turkey’s jihadist proxies. Forced conversion to Islam, rapeof women and girls, arbitrary arrest, torture, and ethnic cleans-ing are routine.Turkish warships are plying the eastern Mediterranean to disrupt an agreement between

Egypt and Greece on an exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which will produce natural gaswith Israel as a major beneficiary.Mock dogfights regularly occur between Greek and Turkish war planes, as Erdogan ques-

tions the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne that established Turkey’s current borders. Seizing isletsin Greek territorial waters would be a major provocation and causus belli between NATOallies.Turkey recently encouraged Azerbaijan to launch cross-border attacks against Armenia.

With drones and missiles from Turkey, Azerbaijan is threatening to renew the conflict overNagorno-Karabakh.Turkey has also intervened in Libya, where tribal and regional factions are in desperate

need of reconciliation. There is real risk of conflict escalation between Turkey and Egypt,who support different sides in Libya’s civil war. While all these front-line states are at-risk from Turkey’s aggression, Libya is a laborato-

ry for Turkey’s malign foreign policy. During the first months of 2020, Turkey deployed upto 3,800 Syrian mercenaries to Libya. These mercenaries from the National Syrian Army,some allegedly drawn from al-Qaeda and ISIS remnants, are notorious for war crimes. Theyhave beheaded opponents, raped women and girls, tortured and killed opponents. They arethe dregs – the worst of the worst.Their deployment to Libya swung the tide in favour of the Government of National

Accord (GNA), led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj. Turkey’s actions are fuelled by geo-strategic and economic interests. Libya is an oil-rich country with energy assets coveted byforeign powers. Backing Farraj gives Erdogan influence over Libya’s energy sector.Since 2011, when Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was ousted, Libya has been at war

with itself. Libya has been divided for years between Farraj’s GNA and the Libyan NationalArmy (LNA) led by Khalifa Haftar. Backed by Russia and the Gulf States, the LNA’s forceswere on the verge of seizing Tripoli when Turkey and its mercenaries intervened. Havingturned the tide, the GNA now vows to capture Sirte, the gateway to Libya’s oil fields, andthe al-Jufra air base.Egypt, which backs the LNA, has pledged to defend Sirte. To this end, the Egyptian par-

liament authorized the deployment of troops “to defend Egyptian national security againstcriminal armed militias and foreign terrorist elements”. Recent developments pit Turkeyagainst Russia and the United Arab Emirates. Tensions could boil over into a full-blown warwithout a ceasefire and international mediation.

These are times when countries look to the United States forleadership. However, the Trump administration does not have aLibya policy. Its ambivalence and lack of leadership has opened thespace for ill-intended and self-serving powers to intervene. It isunderstandable that the United States wants to avoid anotherentanglement in the Middle East. But America’s neglect of Libya isanother example of a situation gone awry when the United Statesabrogates its leadership roleIn each of the violent conflicts where Turkey is involved, the

Trump administration has failed to lead.Trump gave Erdogan a green light to invade and occupy north-

east Syria, betraying the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whichlost 11,000 fighters killed and 24, 000 wounded fighting ISIS.US officials barely said a word when Turkey invaded Iraqi

Kurdistan, threatening American troops and oil companies. And as Turkey provokes Greece and Cyprus, there is serious con-

cern whether the Trump administration would enforce Article 5 ofthe North Atlantic Charter in the event of a clash between treaty

allies.None of these problems are intractable if the United States uses diplomatic leverage to

address them. Regarding Libya, the US should call for a ceasefire and humanitarian accesswhile endorsing a United Nations-led mediation.US national interests are served by upholding sovereignty and international humanitar-

ian law. Trump’s fawning over Erdogan is inexplicable. Erdogan is a serial war-monger whowill continue his aggression until a punitive reprisal from the USMuch damage has been done. However, it is not too late to stabilize these conflicts. If

Trump is unable or unwilling to do, his successor must.

(This commentary originally appeared on Ahval.com on July 29.)

PUS OFFICIALS BARELY SAID A

WORD WHEN TURKEY INVADEDIRAQI KURDISTAN, THREATENING

AMERICAN TROOPS AND

OIL COMPANIES.

16 S A T U R D A Y, A U G U S T 8 , 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

DEMONSTRATIONS, from page 1out fliers, and dancing. Numerous cars joinedthe simultaneous car-rally, honking, wavingflags, and encouraging the protestors. Manyof the car rally attendees were eventuallyinspired to attend the demonstration. Theevent was peaceful and powerful, asArmenian music reverberated in the busyintersection of Post Oak Blvd andWestheimer, in the Galleria.The Houston Police Department was pre-

sent to ensure our safety, though no counter-protestors attended as in previous protests.No social media outlets were used, to mini-mize the possibility of additional aggressionfrom Azerbaijani and Turkish groups. Maskswere enforced throughout the entire durationof the protest as well for further safety pre-cautions from COVID-19.Several of the organizers were interviewed

by journalists, who will now be covering theconflict between Armenia, Artsakh and

Azerbaijan, as well as the role that we have,both individually and as a community, for thiscause. Though we may not see the immediateresults from protesting for peace with a smallcommunity like ours, when we as Armeniansjoin small movements like on August 1, weadd a link to the chain that has grownthroughout the years which has becomestronger, more resilient, and unbreakable.See the Mirror-Spectator’s website for clips

of the Houston demonstration.

Houston Armenian Protest Against Azerbaijani Aggression

(@LARALUCYPHOTOGRAPHY]

(@LARALUCYPHOTOGRAPHY]

(@LARALUCYPHOTOGRAPHY]