Summer is officially over and I know this not because the weather has turned, or the leaves are changing colors (who are we kidding here? I live in California we don't have seasons) I can tell because I can easily find parking again in my neighborhood on any given day at any given time. During the day, there are less beach goers hogging spots and at night there are less loud inebriated people walking back to their cars from the bars.

As things settle down and people fall back into their daily routine things are stirring here for the Armenian community. E-mails are being sent out to friends, family, neighbors and co-workers asking them to contact their Congressional representatives to urge them to vote for House Res. 106. Sometimes I wonder if everyone I know is taking the two minutes to look up their rep and call, email or send a webfax. It only takes a few minutes if you haven't already taken the time to do so please do it now! http://capwiz.com/anca/callalert/index.tt?alertid=10340906&type=TA

It's even more important for those of us who don't live in districts where there are a lot of active Armenians. In 1999 while I was in Washington DC participating in the ANCA Leo Sarkissian Internship a meeting was set up for Aram Hamparian and I to go meet with my Congressman. Needless to say the meeting ended up being with one of his staffers instead. This staffer was a young man barely out of college (if that) yet, it was his job to advise the congressman on issues relating to the Caucuses region. I remember vividly how this young lad sat across from us, crossed his legs, leaned back in his seat and asked me to remind him where Armenia was, what countries it borders and what ocean it is located near! I couldn't believe his ignorance on the issue, nor that he hadn't even taken two minutes to prepare for the meeting so he would at least know that Armenia is a landlocked country!

My most recent call to my Congressional representative's office was no different. A staffer answered the phone, didn't know what H. Res. 106 was about so I had to tell him, he put me on hold for a minute or so, probably twiddled his thumbs for a bit then came back on the line and gave me some vague response about how the Congressman was still "looking into it" because he's been receiving a lot of calls about this one BINGO!!!!! That my friends is the power of GRASSROOTS EFFORTS!!! So stop reading this and GO CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REP!

Historic Performance: HaShiSh at the Roxy, 29th Sept. 2007

Believe it or not, HaShiSh, a punk rock band from the suburbs of Buenos Aires Argentina, will be performing in the Roxy Theater next Saturday 29th September. The show will be at 10 p.m.

Thanks to Hire Ground Creations we are going to perform in that mythical place with Mr. Jibilian and Chameleon Conductor.


We hope that all our friends and fans in the Los Angeles area come to see us and enjoy what will be for sure a memorable show.

For us it is an honor and we are proud for it.

Check out our tour at www.myspace.com/hashishpunk

Los quiero mucho,

Bachigner

Juancito

Crystal shines

Hello there !
As I read the CollectifVan news last days, still astonished of what I see day after day; thought it really deserved a little sum up, so here it is !

Fisk’s article suites…
Yes it had some: bad and good ones, but it had suites, at least in press !
An expected counter-attack from a Turkish journalist of the Turkish Daily News http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=82592
Where the journalist talks about distortion of truth… But as it is Fisk he’s criticizing, he just politely regrets to see that Fisk is a “sympathetic researcher”, who would be kindly inventing a reality he sympathizes with… Of course, Turks are very well placed to know what this invented reality is all about.

The good suite now : simply another UK’s big article that again reminded the Armenian genocide, in the Daily Mail this time. It “just” reminds precisely about the horrors committed, and probably won’t learn you much if you’re Armenian. But this had surely shocked more persons about it, and how it is now outrageously denied by turkey’s officials.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=479143&in_page
Simply repeating : definitely no longer forgotten !

And just to push again open doors, a historic document has been released by the French “history department of Defense” recently. I’ll let you judge if the translation is correct : that’s simply a historical information article, based on one precious document of the French Army’s archives/files : the letter of Dikran Antreassian asking for the rescue of the Armenians of Mussa Dagh’s famous episode, letter dated august 8th 1915.
http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/07autredossiers/armenie/central_armenie.htm

It makes thrill to read those peculiar lines… Originally wrote in English, but I didn’t find the English version, there’s only a photo of the letter, and its French translation, sorry !
Anyway, more than the letter itself, the Defense department shows and explain quite exhaustively the military situation of those times. That’s crystal clear, totally official… and for once it’s true !

About Turkey’s September birthdays now, I’m warning you : there’s nothing Turkey can be proud of !

September 6th and 7th 1955 is another brutal event in Turkey’s big history, pogroms that could be called “Turkey’s crystal night”.
I never knew about these facts before 2005, when I first heard about it, and only because it was the 50th anniversary of the date (never underestimate the power of perfect numbers!). http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=121530
This article of the Today’s Zaman (in English) will explain you what it’s all about if you’re not aware, and it also shows present echoes of that event.
In quick : it was another coup for “purifying” Turkish nation.
At first sight it was a spontaneous movement of suddenly enraged people, after the fake news that Atatürk’s house had been bombed. And guess who it was directed against ? Non-Muslims populations and all their goods, mostly the Greeks of that time, but as usual other Christians community, amongst who, the Armenians.
In fact, it appeared later that all had been consciously planned (the fake new, the “spontaneous rage of the breakers”, and how only Christians have been targeted).
I wondered what happened to my family at that time, cause it’s not so long ago and they were living there too. Apparently, the rescue of the people was mostly due to Turkish neighbours or friends, that simply said to the enraged ones “No you’re wrong, it’s not an Armenian family, or shop, there’s no Armenians living here” or “No Greek here”... Human qualities also rule the world ! Except that for churches and Greeks it has been less efficient…

Still in September, 12th 1980 this time, the black coup d’état of Turkish Army, that instituted today’s pseudo “laic-democratic-modern” Turkish Constitution, which is in fact, the official supreme rule mostly devoted to muslim-nationalist & military visions of Turkey. http://istanbuldakitom.blogspot.com/2007/09/prcieuses-archives_11.html
http://istanbuldakitom.blogspot.com/2007/09/lagenda-secret-de-lakp-bis.html
Here again i’m linking to a french blog about Turkey i mentioned before. But it’s really interesting : it simply shows, again based on public archives (of the Info-Türk Belgium magazine), how nationalism, religious fanatism, and only-one-way-of-politically-thinking is been hammered in this country since decades, in Army of course, all schools, and even in prisons, for political prisoners !
The funny thing pointed by the blog, is that it’s now the moderate-Islamist party who recently gained Turkish elections, that is talking about changing this constitution. Them, who (because of their religious aspects) are vigourously pointed as a big threaten for “laïcity, democracy” … made in –MILITARIAN-Turkey of course !
The world is upside down, and it’s not Diana Ross’s love that is in action there, or maybe I missed something ?

Ok, now you’ll say I’m obsessed by Turkey, and maybe you’ll be right, but it’s all because I learnt these important “details” only recently. Things that my family experienced before arriving here but never judged useful to talk about (it was like that, that’s all). But these are still important things because it’s basically explaining much more concretely why I’m today in France – since 1980 (oh coincidence!?!) - , and not where I’m from.
Those events suddenly explained lots of little things, so that’s my curiosity; hope it also had enlightened some of your lanterns ! ;o)

Apart from that : big sun those days, cold but clear weather (crystal clear again!), and no big news about Armenians here.
The Official Year of Armenia slowly finishes with the last expositions taking place here and there in France's armenian agenda (but not in Paris :o(( ), and normal rhythm will come back soon… but probably things would have been boosted after this crazy year.
Lori, about Armenian hospitality, I agree with you : in its unique pure and absolute meaning, well it’s definitely not what you’ll mostly find in Erevan, but it also exists there (si si si! I promise, and more often when you’re patient !!!). In Erevan I liked to think more about it as “Armenian intensity”, sounds much more deep & serious suddenly, huh ?! Anyway, the hidden hospitality can also be a part of our charm ;o)

Enough, ciao !

Boston Armenians Bringing the Heat Against the ADL

I knew there would be a second act in the ADL/Boston Armenian battle. And, it came in the form of another Abraham Foxman gem. The delusional ADL leader has basically retreated again on the Armenian Genocide issue in the form of accusing the Watertown/Boston area Armenians of targeting the ADL. Playing the victim card again, the ADL has sunk so low in the eyes of Jewish groups, cities and towns who currently sponsor the "No Place for Hate", and Armenian-Americans that he could not resist taking another shot at the issue.

Here is the article in the Jerusalem Post that Foxman penned, and take a look at the response in the comments section. He is getting his ass kicked.

Friends of mine close to the action in Watertown have called for weekly meetings asking volunteers to become active and persistent in keeping the heat on the ADL. This comes in the form of having workshops and informational sessions, then attending all meetings where the "No Place for Hate" programs are being debated for exclusion. Instead, activists are lobbying for a replacement ethnic diversity program that is not sponsored by a self-proclaimed human rights organization in the ADL citing their universally ballyhooed Armenian Genocide position.

Many Armenian themed blogs have covered this event and new development. The best place for up to date information is www.noplacefordenial.com

Kudos again to the Boston area Armenians who have pushed this issue into play forcing the ADL to backtrack on their position, and in creating a national dialog about the Armenian Genocide.

Serj Tankian Interviews Serj Tankian

In anticipation of his new solo album, 'Elect the Dead' Serj Tankian graciously gives himself an interview.

In this parodic promo video (above), Serj plays each role--interviewer, interviewee, basist, producer, engineer, executive…and in doing so sheds a humorous light on what it means to produce and release a record while working with quirky musicians and dollar-focused record labels. Apparently, it's a risky process even when each member of the music business is a version of yourself. I really admire Serj. He's a musical genius and I'm really looking forward to “Elect the Dead” this fall along with reading "Raffi's Headphone Diaries" :-)

Announcing My New Blog- "Raffi's Headphone Diaries"

Well, after 7 years of contributing to Cilicia.com, I have decided to open my own blog dedicated to all things not Armenian. I will still be contributing to Cilicia on Armenian themed issues, but, will also start writing on my new blogs on issues/topics that involve my general interests. The style will be very informal, personal, and mostly fun. I will have the opportunity to explore areas of travel, food, music, and whatnot that I would ordinarily not explore on this blog.

For now, the title of the blog is called "Raffi's Headphone Diaries" and is a nod to my upcoming book titled "Headphone Diaries" that will be published sometime at the end of 2008/early 2009. In a way, many of the themes on the blog will be offshoots of my book themes, only a lot less focused and more carefree.

Here is the link, and I hope to see you soon.

Raffi's Headphone Diaries

Armenian Hospitality

A reader of the Repat blogs commented that service and hospitality in Yerevan are lacking and sadly, he’s right. Yerevan is NOT an accurate representation of Armenia and Armenian hospitality. If you’re looking to meet some friendly Armenians and experience true Armenian hospitality you need to get out of Yerevan.

I had one goal for this trip and that was to get out of Yerevan! I wanted to set out and see as much of the country side as I could. In the months leading up to my arrival multiple e-mails went back and forth between my cousin and I where I would list various places outside of Yerevan that I wanted to venture to and she would group them together into road trips or day trips based on location and feasibility. When I got there we tried to sit down and plan actual trips, but we had trouble getting organized.

My dad took me to see Saghmosavank and I think to date it’s probably the most beautiful of all the churches I’ve seen in Armenia. We stopped at Mughni where the groundskeeper walked around the grounds with us and told us a bit about Archbishop Ashjian’s projects. We went to Ohanavank where the locals were approaching us, engaging us in conversations, asking where we were from, if we had come for the Pan-Armenian games. We popped in to take pictures of a tonir and a young man ran up to us, apologetically explaining that the women were done making lavash for the day, he rummaged through a pile of lavash to find the best pieces put them in a bag and refused to let us pay him for the bread. He asked if we would accept his invitation to come over for coffee. These are the Armenians with the HUGE hearts that are so friendly and welcoming of visitors that they open their homes to you. (I wish you had experienced things like that George instead of the indifference of Yerevantsis)

On another occasion my father took me all the way to the Lori Region where I saw the lush green mountains that I thought only existed in Kharapagh. He took me to Noravank where I saw breathtaking rocky mountains jutting out of the earth. He stopped off in the Areni region where he knew a lady that made wine and we got to do some wine tasting. I thoroughly enjoyed my short visit to Armenia. I spent quality time with my father at his house, saw his place of business, meet his fiancé and her kids, attended a baptism, met chalo the dog, enjoyed a handful of home cooked meals, ate my weight in tomatoes and scored by going to Khor Virab on a day where I could stare at Ararat without even a single cloud in sight.

While in Yerevan I was surrounded by tourists who would constantly complain about slow service, indifference and rude people. I couldn’t help but wonder if these people have traveled anywhere else. This is how it is in most major cities around the world. Locals are sick of tourists! Tourist needs to go with the flow, drop their western standards and expectations and adapt to the way things are in the country they are visiting and just make the best of it. While living in Florence I found the locals arrogant and rude, but towards the end of my trip I understood why. Do you know what it’s like to be running late and trying to dodge heards of tourist following an umbrella held up in the air by a tour guide and then to have them all of a sudden come to a full stop in front of you so they could admire the Duomo? After a while it’s not cute to be stuck behind a honeymooning couple in a café while they take their time flipping through their language book to try and figure out how to order in Italian. Maybe that’s how the people of Yerevan feel about us too.

What I don’t find acceptable in Yerevan is the local people’s attitude of entitlement. On more than one occasion I have felt unwelcome and made to feel like I’m intruding in THEIR country. I find that unacceptable! Unlike their relatives who voluntarily fled and moved away my family didn’t choose to leave! My Grandfather was a genocide survivor who tried to move back in the 40’s and was denied. His dream was to return to Armenia and see it independent again. Although my medzhayrig didn’t get to live his dream, I think his soul is probably at peace with it because his son moved back and lived his dream for him and his grandchildren have been to Armenia numerous times. I don’t think Hayastanci’s realize what a BIG deal it is for some Diasporan’s to be able to come to Armenia. I don’t think they realize what it means to be the descendant of a Genocide survivor who lost their home, their family and was pushed out and I find it utterly sad that they don’t see it.

I think the most valuable part of my trip came out of traveling through Russia, where I had to stand in line for over 2 hours for NO REASON and deal with the unpleasantness that is the Russian system and the Russian people. I’m going to go ahead and assume that the flawed system and cold and unfriendly nature of the people are all remnants of the Soviet era. My layovers granted me enough time to realize that the qualities I see in my people that I dislike so much are merely negative characteristics picked up during Soviet times. I started thinking about what Armenia would have been like now had it maintained its independence sine 1918! How would she have prospered? I realized how much the Soviet Union held us back and impeded our Diaspora from returning or helping. During a discussion about our beautiful new airport someone mentioned how the USSR put Armenia on the map by giving us our first international airport but who are we kidding the Soviet built airport was dreary and dark and ugly and after seeing how far Armenia has come since the fall of the Soviet Union and how far it has come in the last 15 years do people really think we wouldn’t have had an international airport had it not been for the Soviets? Come on…..I just don’t buy it!

YerazArt Concert in Yerevan on September 13, 2007 at 7PM

On September 13, 2007, the YerazArt Young Musicians from Armenia will be performing a free concert at 7PM at the Aram Khachaturian House Museum. The address is 3 Zaroubyan Street in Yerevan, Armenia. For more info, please visit www.yerazart.org. Donations are welcome online, or at the concert. All proceeds will go toward our core programs as stated on the website.

After a very successful US spring tour that spanned 8 cities, and 13 total concerts, seven of the eight original members of the tour will be performing in a concert in their home country to kick off our 2007/2008. It's free, great music, in a beautiful venue. Our YerazArt country director lives and works in Yerevan and is putting the show together. We anticipate a packed house of 200, so get there early if you want to grab a seat.

As some readers may be aware, I accepted the Executive Director position for YerazArt in February 2006. To date, YerazArt is my biggest Pomegranate client. I've also had the opportunity to produce a CD entitled "Fortress City: Armenian Songs from Nagorno Karabagh" for the Tufenkian Foundation which was nominated ( didn't make the final nomination cut, however) for a Grammy in the first ballot in the "Best Choral Recording" category. I have done most of this work from my home base in Boston, MA, while keeping in touch with my Armenia counterparts by email, phone, or occasional visits.

I currently outsource all of my Pomegranate design work and photography to Deem Communications, which is located in Yerevan, Armenia. The current YerazArt website was created by a local Armenian, with the same person chosen as our webmaster as well. In general, the prices of doing business with local Armenians is more cost effective and of decent quality. In the case of DEEM, Arsineh has been collaborating with me since 2001 when she lived in Boston. Now, she has opened a booming business in Yerevan with another Diasporan Raffi Niziblian who are employing more local Armenians as their business grows.

Despite the occasional negative coverage/stories readers may see on similar Armenian-themed blogs on Hayastansi-Diasporan relations, (relations are not always perfect) there are plenty of examples of cooperation that are often overlooked.

Sofi, Dogs, Mullets and the Color Orange!

Has anyone else noticed that every time they visit Armenia there are one or two dominant fashion trends that are present among both males and females? I have, and I’ve also observed that at any given time there is that one song that is “hot” and I end up hearing it everywhere I go throughout my entire trip!

Case in point…. In 1997 I was almost blinded by the displays of piercing lime green shirts, pants, skirts and accessories. As if my eyes weren’t offended enough my ears were also suffering because there was no escape from hearing "Ya,ya,ya, coco jumbo ya,ya,ye" day in and day out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOrc37wNUqU

In 2004 the major fashion trend was in the format of an accessory that was sported by men and women of all ages and that accessory of choice was "Baby" everyone was prancing around town with a baby in tow. Of course I didn’t mind that at all because it just meant people were in good spirits and there were beautiful Armenian babies all around town. That same year, in the musical realm I couldn’t get away from Mariah Carey & Busta Rhyme's "Baby if you give it to me".

These are only a couple examples to give you an idea. I would now like to draw your attention to my findings about 2007. The accessory of choice for 2007 is *drum roll* "DOG"! Yes, ladies and gentlemen….dog! It seems having a dog is the new “it” thing to do in Armenia. I saw so many people with their dogs on leashes walking around Yerevan, Standing around in the Opera Hrabarag and they even bring them along to cafés.

The song for 2007 that I heard a bazillion times was Sofi Mkheyan's "Ore Yev Nerkan" which I can't say I minded to much, because it is a pretty catchy tune, (good job Der Hova) but don't get me started on some of the raunchy dance sequences in the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S5ZlsH0L_8

The most popular color of 2007 was a toss up. Shooshig claimed the "in" color was red and I was insistent upon it being orange. Just like other years we really got into it and everywhere we went we were on the lookout for red and orange. Every time we would see our color we would call it out. I like to think Orange won, but I have to admit it was probably a draw!

This brings me to the surprising wildcard of 2007 and that would be the MULLET! I would really appreciate any feedback, theories or explanations anyone might have about this phenomena. Babies, kids, teens, adults, both male and female were sporting the Mullet! When did this happen and WHO said this was ok? People must have jumped on the mullet bandwagon months ago because some of the mullets were pretty serious. Whatever is causing this ridiculous trend to spread like wildfire needs to be understood! Business in the front/Party in the back simply does not have a place in Armenia!

Here is shot of a mother and child in matching orange/red outfits and if you look closely you can see the mini mullet action he's got going on!

No longer forgotten Robert !

Salut les zouzous !

Holidays are gone, work is back again, but at least not the same at all ! Anyway, not yet in speed though... i'm on my "diesel mode" :op

Héhé... the news of a rather surprising article in The Independant UK just came, and it's enormous to read this in that. Looks like history and truth will still keep on emerging, and there are still things to learn about us, letting you reading it here if not already seen.
Bravo Robert Fisk - great journalist to know about !

On the frenchy side, here's the big news : after the big Jacques (Chirac) last year.... François Hollande is in Armenia today until the 7th, with the dashnags !
And as usual, a french link for those who want to see another photo.
He's the main responsible of the Parti Socialiste, the failer party of the last Presidential election (candidate Ségolène Royal). Ségolène is getting more discrete "to work better", but F. Hollande is still in place and he had promised that the party would do everything during the next parlementary session for passing the penalising law against the armenian genocide denial.
Let's bet the dashnags will refresh his memory those days very actively !

Bon courage à tous pour cette rentrée !

Why the removal of Hoagland's nomination doesn't impress me

Before I begin I'll admit my views may prove controversial and isn't representative to how most Armenians view this situation, but I'm going to write it here because I feel the urge to say it. All I'm providing is my views and analysis on the situation, feel free to disagree.

It's old news but Bush removed the nomination of Hoagland as the new Ambassador of Armenia. For those who don't know, Democrats in Congress acted with the discretion of Armenian voices (namely but certainly not limited to the ANCA) and blocked the nomination and Hoagland was named a genocide denier.


Well, does it seem like a victory for us? Perhaps on the surface, democrats worked in conjunction with the Armenian community in a move against genocide denial. Several democratic and republican senators grilled Hoagland at his hearing just over one year ago. Does this send a message to the Bush administration that Armenian Genocide Recognition should be taken seriously? Is this a victory for us? I don't think so.

The reason why Hoagland's nomination was removed was because Bush declined to use a recess appointment. A recess appointment is a tool that the President can use where an ambassador gets appointed to a position during a congressional recess. It pretty much bypasses congressional opposition. Why didn't Bush use a recess appointment for Hoagland? Enter Sam Fox and John Bolton. John Bolton was the Permanent US representative to the UN and Sam Fox is the current ambassador to Belgium, both were appointed via recess appointments with Fox's appointment happening recently on April 7, right in the middle of the Hoagland crisis. Looks like Bush has a history of nominating ambassadors that congress doesn't like, looks like Bush has a history of using recess appointments to get these guys through, and it looks like congress finally got fed up with it. So what happened to that recess appointment for Hoagland? Sorry buddy, you're collateral damage, congress is griping at me because of these recess appointments and I don't want to deal with it anymore. Bush needs his guys at the UN and the EU a lot more than he needs them in Armenia (EU headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium). Armenia is expendable to Bush, seeing that he doesn't really need an ambassador in Yerevan he took the easy way out and withdrew. Now, does it really matter to Bush why congress didn't want Hoagland? My guess is no. Does it matter to congressional democrats? Or are they just using this as a tool to score points off of Bush? Does it matter to anybody? Ok ok now I'm being too cynical. This was a huge act of defiance against Genocide Denial by the Armenian community, but is this move what the Armenian community is making it out to be, i.e. is this a success for the Genocide Recognition? Or did it get jungled up together with Washington politics?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for advocacy, and the Armenian community did stand up for something they believe in, but I think there's a tangible difference between what we want this to be and what actually happened. Maybe I'm thinking too much through the DC perspective, but this perspective is the way we are going to get Genocide recognized.

About the merits of urging congress to block Hoagland's nomination, I was against this move from the start. It doesn't make sense to me to have Armenia without an ambassador during a critical time in US Armenian relations highlighted by the MCC deal.

Does it seem prudent to go against the wishes of the Armenian government in its dealings with the US? (yes the Armenian governments stance was in favor of Hoagland being appointed, but you won't find this stated everywhere). The Armenian government generally isn't much prudent either I'll admit, but in this case I think it's a legitimate question to ask.

I welcome debate.