In the culinary world, there is a fine line between the preparation of pasta dough used for savory recipes and pastry dough used for sweets. Both require flour, water and the skill of fine dough-handling and rolling techniques.

When considering Armenian dough one generally thinks of thinly rolled layers of delicate sheets, stacked layer upon layer to create our favorite sweets — paklava and boorma.

Pasta preparation sheds a different light in the Armenian kitchen. Here we’ll see fine noodles (sheireh) used in making pilaf and Armenian chicken soup, and small squares of dough to make manti (tiny canoe-shapes stuffed with a meat mixture).

But there is more.

As part of our blogging at The Armenian Kitchen, Doug and I attempt to find lost recipes for our readers. One such request was for a dish called Surum. This recipe has never been part our family’s cooking repertoire, so a search ensued.

A reference for surum came from an essay written by Dr. Carolann Najarian after she toured parts of Turkey with her husband and aunt in 2005. Among the places they visited were the towns their families came from — Kharpert (Harput), Sheykh-haji, and Arapgir.

Their tour was led by organizer and guide, Armen Aroyan.

Dr. Najarian wrote:

“Armen had already told us two local specialties would be served — Kharpert kufteh and surum! Surum! My aunt Hasmieg and I couldn’t wait! For years we have enjoyed surum (or serim) in our family, but today, few people are familiar with this dish — it is not in any recipe book or on any menu. It is a forgotten food! Hasmieg and I simply could not believe that surum was here, in this desolate town. During the summer, on the days our grandmother baked the flat round bread on the sheet of zinc — the sahje — over the outdoor fire, she would make surum for lunch. Some of the flat rounds of bread would be cooked until thoroughly dried and hard making it possible to store the breads for weeks while others were taken off the sahje while still soft. These she rolled and placed in a large baking pan layered with garlic, butter, and with her own madzoon (yogurt), and then baked. This is surum!”

Dr. Najarian contacted us hoping we could provide a recipe for surum – and we did. It came from the 1949 cookbook Treasured Armenian Recipes, published by the Detroit Women’s Chapter of the AGBU.

Like so many Armenian recipes, this one is labor intensive.

Surrum

• Yield: 6 servings

Dough Ingredients:

• 5 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 1 ½ cups lukewarm water
• 4 Tbsp. melted butter
• 1 tsp. sugar

Dough Directions:

1. Make a dough of the above ingredients.
2. Divide dough into 15 equal pieces. Place on a baking sheet and cover with a damp cloth. Let stand for ½ hour.
3. Roll out each piece with a long type rolling stick to same size as the inside space of your oven. Sprinkle flour when rolling.
4. While dough is rolled on the stick, take it to the oven and spread it directly on the flat surface directly over the heating unit at 375ºF.
5. Bake ½ minute on one side; turn over and bake another ½ minute on the other side. Leave door open while baking to keep dough soft and not browned too much.
6. Take the baked dough to the table. Fold twice the same way. Sprinkle a few drops of water and fold again 4 times until you have a 1 inch wide long strip. Put aside and cover with a dry towel.
7. Continue the same process with the remaining pieces of dough.
8. Pile all the strips on top of each other. Cut the pile into 2 inch long pieces.
9. Arrange these pieces in a pan close to each other with the cut sides up to let sauce run down.

Sauce Ingredients:

• 2 quarts madzoon [yogurt]
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ lb. Butter, melted
• garlic (optional)

Sauce Directions:

1. Prepare sauce by heating the madzoon mixed with salt. If madzoon is too thick, dilute with a little water.
2. Then blend the melted butter with madzoon. (If using garlic, it can be thinly sliced and sauteed in the butter.) While hot, pour sauce over the dough on the pan and serve immediately.

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Robyn’s Note:

Pasta, yogurt, garlic, and a bit of butter create a winning combination. Just ask my aunt Arpie Vartanesian. She regularly combined these ingredients, calling it her “comfort food.” My aunt never called this recipe by a specific name, so I never thought of it as particularly Armenian — just one of her quick, creative, weekday dinners. After reading through the surum recipe, I knew immediately that Aunt Arpie’s recipe was a short-cut version of the original.

Aunt Arpie’s recollection:

“I remember watching my mother make surum when I was a child. She would roll out the homemade dough into very thin sheets, then bake them in the oven. Afterwards she would break the baked dough into pieces slightly larger than bite-size, perhaps 2 inch squares. She would top the dough with her delicious yogurt-garlic sauce, and in minutes, the surum would disappear! When commercially prepared pasta was introduced in the markets, my mother quickly decided to use that for surum instead of making her own dough.”

Aunt Arpie’s Easy Pasta with Garlic-Yogurt Sauce

1. Sauté 2 to 3 cloves of thinly sliced garlic in 2 Tbsp. butter and 2 Tbsp. olive oil until garlic is soft. Do not let garlic burn. Cool slightly.
2. Gently stir in 1 to 1 ½ cups plain yogurt being careful not to curdle the yogurt.
3. Boil ½ lb. shell-shaped pasta according to package directions. Drain.
4. Place cooked pasta in serving bowl; toss with garlic-yogurt sauce.
5. Serve immediately. Top with chopped parsley, if desired.

NOTE: You can use any shape pasta you like, but Aunt Arpie recommends the shell-shaped pasta because the sauce collects inside the pocket of each shell for a juicy bite. Eating this with a spoon is highly recommended!

 — The Olympics have dominated the news this week with the London 2012 Games kicking off on July 27. In the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, Armenia won six bronze medals with a delegation of twenty five athletes. Armenia Now has reported that this year, the Armenian delegation also consists of twenty five athletes participating in ten different sports. Special efforts have also been undertaken to add an Armenian flavor to the accommodation according to Hrachya Rostomyan, the Armenian Sports and Youth Affairs minister:

“Of course the Olympic town provides equal conditions to all athletes, but we have shown a little bit of an Armenian approach and have conveyed an Armenian breath to our athletes’ housing. For example, the windows and corners have Armenian flags, hallways have posters and pictures to remind of Armenia. We have created an Armenian environment and atmosphere, so that every moment our athletes fell like they are in Armenia,” he said.”

 — Any Armenian athletes to win a medal will be well rewarded by the Armenian government with significant cash prizes being promised. This is in addition to $700,000 being pledged from Armenian businessman, Gagik Tsarukyan, which will be awarded to any Armenian athlete who wins gold according to reports:

“By RA government decree Olympic gold winners will be awarded with 20 million drams ($50,000), and silver and bronze medalists will get 15 million ($37,500) and 10 million ($25,000) drams respectively. In the history of independent Armenia only Greco-Roman wrestler Armen Nazaryan has won a gold medal (in 1996 in Atlanta). Additionally, National Olympic Committee [member] Gagik Tsarukyan has said he will pay $700,000 to any athlete who scores gold for Armenia.”

 — However an Armenian athlete has already won a gold medal. Arsen Galstyan, representing Russia in the 60 kilogram Judo event, has won Russia’s first gold medal for these games according to The Armenian Weekly. Tert.am has reported that Arsen will be handsomely rewarded for his victory:

“Russian gold winner in the 2012 London Olympics Arsen Galstyan, of Armenian descent, will be gifted a Mercedes car and a fully furnished apartment by one of construction companies of Russian Krasnodar.”

 — Azatutyun is reporting that a senior diplomat from the Syrian embassy in Armenia has defected. Reports indicate that Mohammed Hosam has left Armenia for Dubai:

“According to the Syrian Embassy, Hosam did not report for work and embassy officials could not contact him on Monday. The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tigran Balayan, said later in the day that official Yerevan has so far received no requests from the Syrian side to terminate the diplomat’s accreditation.”

According to the same report, Armenia has received thousands of citizenship requests since the beginning of the uprising:

“According to the Foreign Ministry, the Armenian missions in Damascus and Aleppo have issued some 3,000 visas to mainly ethnic Armenian Syrian nationals this year. The missions will be allowed soon to give passports to those Syrian Armenians who have applied for and been granted Armenian citizenship. The authorities in Yerevan have received more than 6,000 citizenship applications since the start of the Syrian crisis early last year.”

 — Bloomberg has reported that the Turkish government has eased restrictions on foreign nationals purchasing property in Turkey. Unfortunately, it appears that Armenian nationals are still being restricted according to the report.

“Citizens from Syria, Armenia, North Korea, Nigeria, Cuba and Yemen won’t be allowed to buy property in Turkey even after the government eased restrictions on foreigners’ property ownership, Sabah said.”

 — This past summer, News and Views has included links to a fascinating travel series on Armenia Now by Chicago based Italian-American journalist Sigrid Lupieri. This week, we link the final post in the series titled Postcard from Armenia: Just let me tell my story.

“When I leave Armenia in a couple of days, what I will miss most will not only be the spontaneous open-hearted hospitality of the strangers and friends I have met along the way, but also the visceral enjoyment that comes from sharing words and laughter over a cup of dark, gritty Armenian coffee.”

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News & Views is published every week. It is a summary of the week’s most interesting, provocatiove and thought-provoking links to articles, videos, photos and commentary of interest to the readers of Ararat.

However there have been allegations that Armavia, the largest Armenian airline company, has significantly raised ticket prices to travel from Aleppo to the Armenian capital of Yerevan making it more difficult, or even impossible, for some Syrian Armenians to flee the conflict. It is also being said that most tickets are sold out until September.

The issue has been wildly speculative amongst Armenia’s sometimes highly excitable news agencies with differing reports about what has actually occurred.

Armavia has conceded that a small price hike had taken place. In an interview earlier his month with Armenia Now, Armavia’s press secretary, Nana Avetisova, said that the price had been increased to 128,000 drams or US$306 and that the increase was due to “safety issues and Syria’s refusal to provide insurance.”

This was also officially confirmed by Armavia to Ararat Magazine in a statement provided to us over Facebook. In it, the company seemed to suggest that the price hike was due to a lack of government support. The statement — which has been edited for clarity — read as follows:

“Armavia” Air Company confirms that we have increased the prices since the flight resumed, but everything has its explanation. First of all, during such situations as it is in Aleppo now (war etc.) the government must cover some part of expences to help Armenians get home easily. But, “Armavia” doesn’t have any help from any side and is operating the flight alone. Beside the prime cost of the flight became more expensive [and this is] what provoked high prices.

Follow up questions were sent to Armavia as to what help they were referring to in terms of the manner of help they required but a response was not received at time of publication.

It must also be noted that some mainstream Armenian press outlets like Public Radio of Armenia have reported that Armavia is now willing to operate two flights and that tickets will be “almost free” according to one story. However at time of writing, this could not be independently verified, and the news reports do not cite any source for their claim.

Again, Ararat Magazine did contact Armavia for an official confirmation of this but there has been no response.

As Ararat Magazine discovered, as of July 24, economy class tickets could not be purchased from the Armavia website until September 3 and the total price with taxes came to USD$456.20. There were some business class tickets available throughout August, however with taxes the price went as high as USD$557.20. To put this into context, the average monthly salary in Syria in 2010 was $USD242 and the official unemployment rate in 2011 was 12.3%

Also, as of July 27, tickets were still available for purchase from some travel agencies. Levon Travel Agency in Los Angeles was still selling tickets for Armavia flights with prices ranging from USD$295.77 to $501.73 but stressed that the rates are subject to change. However they also said that tickets from Aleppo to Yerevan were unavailable on Syrian Air until the end of September according to their information from their Yerevan office.

Ararat Magazine has also made contact with a Syrian Armenian currently living in Aleppo who preferred to remain anonymous. This source stated that tickets to Armenia could only be purchased for 32,000 Syrian pounds or around USD$500 and that the tickets were non-refundable and more expensive than a flight with Syrian Air.

Criticism has also been widespread on social media site Facebook. One particular Facebook group called the “Syrian-Armenian support group,” which currently has 333 members, has even launched an event titled “Shame Campaign, a demand to review Yerevan-Aleppo-Yerevan flight ticket value” which involved a protest on July 25 outside of Armavia’s central office in Yerevan.

One person on Facebook went so far as to boycott Armavia stating:

“SHAME on Armavia for doubling the price of Halep [Aleppo]-Yerevan flights in this time of crisis … I for one am not going to use Armavia … Better take Turkish Airlines, for example, who is cheaper and doesn’t change or cancel flights on a whim.”

Another person alleged that a return ticket to Aleppo was selling for $800 and that they were non-refundable meaning that passengers would lose their money if flights were cancelled due to the fighting.

Services only resumed earlier this month after they were suspended in March of this year due to the increased fighting in Syria. This was after His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, appealed to the company to resume the flights.

The BBC has reported that not only has there been an influx of Syrian Armenians fleeing to Armenia but that some have staged protests outside the Armenian Parliament complaining of a lack of support from the government, especially with housing and employment. Many other Syrian Armenians are fleeing to neighboring Lebanon.

Syria has a significant Armenian community with population estimates ranging from 80,000 to 150,000 with many living in Aleppo. The country’s Armenian population have also suffered some casualties with four deaths in the community as well as significant damage to an Armenian Church and school in the city of Homs which was sacked by the Syrian opposition forces in May.

The latest Tekali event was held in the home of a local ethnic Azerbaijani family. The surrounding region is home to the largest concentration of ethnic Azerbaijanis in Georgia and most of the traffic from Yerevan to Tbilisi passes through it daily. © Onnik Krikorian 2012

Coming as it did as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the South Caucasus at the beginning of June, some analysts and observers contend that it was a deliberate attempt to remind the international community that the Karabakh conflict most definitely was not ‘frozen.’ Alarm that a new war might break out also rattled neighboring Georgia as the number of Russian air sorties increased and Moscow announced it would double its military presence in Armenia even if others such as Richard Giragosian said they were not expecting a new premeditated offensive.

Georgi Vanyan showing the Armenian and Azerbaijani borders to participants from both countries in Tekali, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian 2011

Indeed, Giragosian, who is the director of the Yerevan-based Regional Studies Center (RSC), told journalists that Azerbaijan had formulated a new military strategy to reach operational combat readiness by 2014, the 20th anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire, and not before. Nevertheless, the International Crisis Group (ICG) remains concerned that the possibility of incidents on the LOC spiraling out of control could lead to an ‘accidental war’ breaking out instead. RFE/RL puts the number of dead since June as at least 11, while the Economist reported last year that over 3,000 have died since the 1994 ceasefire.

Foreign civil society and diplomatic workers attended the meeting as well as the group dinner afterwards. In such gatherings of Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Georgians, the toasts are nearly always to peace and a united Caucasus.© Onnik Krikorian 2012

“An arms race, escalating front-line clashes, vitriolic war rhetoric and a virtual breakdown in peace talks are increasing the chance Armenia and Azerbaijan will go back to war over Nagorno Karabakh,” noted the ICG in its report, Preventing War, published in February last year. “Increased military capabilities on both sides would make a new armed conflict in the South Caucasus far more deadly than the 1992-1994 one that ended with a shaky truce. Regional Alliances could pull in Russia, Turkey and Iran..”

The Armenian military also discounted the possibility of a new war breaking out by design, or at least in the immediate future. “As a result of evaluating the situation, we have arrived at the conclusion that the likelihood of the resumption of hostilities is low today,” Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told reporters as quoted by RFE/RL and other sources. “Having said that,” he added, and as the military vowed to respond to each incident by killing a larger number of Azerbaijani soldiers, “the armed forces and their leadership exist just for that and are prepared for that.”

The ‘Tekali Process’

The location of Tekali, Georgia, close the borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan / via Google Maps

Despite the bleak prospects for peace, however, some Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society organizations and activists reacted to the latest border violence differently than in previous years by convening a public hearing held less than two weeks later in Tekali, a small ethnic Azeri village in Georgia situated close to the border with Armenia and Azerbaijan. Planned as a regional peace keeping center in the South Caucasus, the public hearings are the brainchild of actor and director turned peace activist Georgi Vanyan.

No stranger to controversy, Vanyan is often branded a traitor, either privately by some NGOs or publicly by nationalist forces in Armenia. This was most evident in April this year when plans to screen non-politicized films from Azerbaijan were disrupted in Vanadzor and Gyumri by small groups of nationalists. Those organizing the protests were the same that have also disrupted International Women’s Day events in Yerevan as well as a recent diversity march. The group is also believed to be linked to the recent firebombing of a gay-friendly alternative bar in Yerevan.

Natiq Cavadli and Maharram Goyusoglu, two of the Azerbaijani speakers at the latest event in Tekali, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian 2012

International human rights groups decried the actions against Vanyan, which included physical assault and an attack on the Vanadzor Helsinki Citizens Assembly, as well as the involvement in Gyumri of its notorious mayor, Vartan Ghukasyan. “The history of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan means that a film from Azerbaijan is controversial for some, but that doesn’t justify not screening the films, far less any threat or use of violence,” said Giorgi Gogia, senior South Caucasus researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“I think that real art serves the kindness, humanity and reconciliation of people, and an idea came to my mind. Why not repeat the initiative of Vanyan in Azerbaijan?” said Zardusht Alizadeh, an Azerbaijani analyst and political commentator, as well as a speaker at events held by his Armenian counterpart, in response to the reaction. Ironically, a film by Azerbaijani film director Murad Ibragimbekov was scheduled to be shown as part of the Golden Apricot Film Festival in Yerevan on July 9, raising further and more complicated questions about the coordinated campaign against Vanyan.

Peace-building Center

Yuri Manvelyan, co-founder and editor of Epress.am was one of the speakers in the latest public discussion held in Tekali, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian 2012

In Tekali, Vanyan also operates outside of the narrow boundaries set on most NGOs either by themselves or by official structures, and has to date held four public hearings in the village which have been well attended by Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Georgians. In the first event after the June clashes, and quite unlike other peace building activities which target participants almost solely from the capitals of the three countries, this also included residents of regions in Armenia and Azerbaijan directly affected by the ongoing conflict over Karabakh.

“Armenians and Azerbaijanis are human beings first of all and have a basic desire for peace. What we need to do is to initiate some kind of open discussion. Instead of organizing seminars, we talk to people in the markets, or in cultural centers,” Vanyan told this journalist in an interview in 2009. “Communication is not betrayal. It is a natural human need,” he was quoted as saying by one newspaper the same year in response to those questioning and obstructing his activities in Armenia. International organizations also stress the urgent need for more people-to-people contacts.

An ethnic Azeri member of the audience at the latest Tekali meeting © Onnik Krikorian 2012

In Tekali, dozens of people, including Armenians from Noyemberyan, a regional center close to the location of the recent clashes, as well as Azerbaijanis from Gazakh and Ganja participated in the discussion led by three speakers each from both countries. The event was organized by the recently founded Tekali Association of Georgia, Azerbaijan’s Center of Regional Cooperation and Community Development, and Vanyan’s Caucasus Center for Peacekeeping Initiatives of Armenia. The question posed was should civil society intervene on the matter of cross-border clashes?

“Let’s try to clarify what’s going on,” said Luiza Poghosyan who considered the front line skirmishes to be tantamount to an act of ‘terrorism’ against the populations of both countries. “Personally, I see no logical sense in the fire exchanges on the front. Human losses do not bring any tactical success to any of the parties.”

Malkhas Chemia shows the preliminary sketch of a peace building center to be built in Tekali © Onnik Krikorian 2012

“Has civil society done anything effective yet?” asked Azerbaijan Academy of Science Department head Ali Abbasov rhetorically. “The answer is no. They are distanced from the negotiations, but civil society can and must say its piece,” he said.

“We have been living [with] the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict for 24 years already. That conflict has inflicted many wounds on our peoples and erected many barriers and psychological obstacles between them. Who benefits from ceasefire violations?” added Mahram Toyaşoğlu from a regional Azerbaijani NGO in Gazakh.

Speaking to Ararat Magazine following the public discussion, Vanyan was pleased with the results of the meeting. “The speakers touched on the problem of a mechanism through which each could participate in the prevention of incidents on the Line of Contact,” he said. “It was also noted that the Tekali format is suitable to make the first steps such as establishing contact on both sides of the conflict as well as to consider further actions. It was decided that a Monitoring and Rapid Reaction Group on the Line of Contact should be established.”

Georgi Vanyan speaking at a previous cross-border event in Tekali, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian

“In the opinion of the participants,” wrote Azerbaijani journalist and analyst Ilgar Velizade in a blog post days later, “society has, to this day, taken no steps to end hostilities, and remains far removed from what goes on at the border. […] Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society organizations now need to cooperate with one another in order to resolve the situation. […] the meeting in Tekali demonstrated once more the Armenian and Azerbaijani public desire for peace to be established in the conflict zone as quickly as possible [...]. As we say, hope never dies. ”

Ethnic Azeris from the village of Tekali. With around 220,000 Azeris inhabiting the region bordering Armenia, many speak Armenian. Small pockets of Armenians as well as co-inhabited Armenian-Azeri villages can also be found. Many of the Armenians speak Azerbaijani. © Onnik Krikorian 2012

Whether that intent is as widespread, as Velizade says or as much as Vanyan hopes, remains to be seen, but the first meeting to establish the Monitoring and Rapid Reaction Group was held in Tekali on July 21. Present were representatives from the NGOs and the International Crisis Group. So too were Bernard O’Sullivan and Stephen Young from the Brussels-based Nonviolent Peaceforce, an organization already working in Georgia, Mindanao/Philippines, South Sudan, and elsewhere. O’Sullivan spoke to Ararat Magazine following the public discussion.

“The Tekali Process first of all attracts our interest because clearly people have a need for civil society to act amongst and protect themselves,” he said. “However, we work on the principle of acceptance. We only go to conflict zones where we’re accepted and obviously this includes civil society, but critically it also means the political leadership, i.e. the governments, of all sides. What will come out of the Tekali Process? I see there is very good will here. The Tekali group said it’s not in their interest to get involved in military or political outcomes, but it is for civilians across ethnic groups to protect themselves in a non-violent way. That’s why we’re very interested.”

 — On July 19, Karabakh’s presidential election took place. The election was condemned by Azerbaijan and much of the international community as illegitimate and counter-productive to the peace process. In the run-up to the election, the BBC highlighted the danger still facing the region:

“Both sides are engaged in an arms race, investing in more sophisticated weaponry, the BBC’s Damien McGuinness reports from the region. Any return to a full-blown conflict would therefore have even more devastating consequences this time round, particularly if regional allies such as Russia or Turkey were dragged into the dispute, our correspondent adds.”

 — According to Armenia Now, the incumbent Karabakh President, Bako Sahakyan, retained his post taking 66.6% of the vote. He ran against two opponents, General Vitali Balasanyan and Arkadi Soghomyan. Although the election was not recognized internationally, delegates from all around the world observed the election according to Armenia Now:

“A total of around 80 international observers were watching the voting, from the USA, Russia, Canada, France, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland, Cyprus, Hungary, Bulgaria, Argentine, Uruguay and others, as well a delegation of officials from Armenia. A few dozen foreign reporters was covering the elections”.

 — Outspoken Turkish historian Taner Akçam has written an opinion piece in The New York Times highlighting Turkey’s hypocrisy in criticizing Syria, especially considering its own history and human rights record:

“Turkey’s attempt to cultivate an image as the global protector of Muslim rights is compromised by a legacy of ethnic cleansing and genocide against Christians and terror against Arabs and Kurds. Memories of these crimes are very much alive throughout former Ottoman territories. And Turkey cannot serve as a democratic model until it acknowledges that brutal violence, population transfers and genocide underlie the modern Turkish state.”

 — With the London Olympic Games only a few days away, Armenia’s National Olympic Committee has announced significant cash incentives for Armenian athletes that win a medal at the games according to Ninemsn:

“Armenia’s NOC will pay any Olympic gold medal winner $100,000 (82,000 euros, £64,000) while silver medalists will pocket $75,000. Bronze medalists will receive $50,000. Rostomyan said the country’s government will also give the Games medalists an additional cash bonus of $50,000, $37,000 and $25,000 for gold, silver and bronze respectively”.

 — In May of this year, video footage of gas balloons exploding at an Armenian political rally was widely covered by the international press. 154 people were hospitalized due to the explosion. However, according to Armenia Now, a man has been charged in relation to the incident:

“A short statement issued by Armenian police said that Serob Bozoyan, a 54-year-old resident of Yerevan, is facing heavy fines and up to five years in prison under a Criminal Code article dealing with the production and sale of goods not meeting safety standards…A senior police official, Arsen Ayvazian, said on Friday that the investigators have established that that the balloons were filled with inflammable natural gas by several individuals at a single Yerevan apartment. Bozoyan is presumably one of them”.

 — Katie Aun, a Minnesota native who is traveling around the former Soviet Union and documenting her travels on her site, Katie Going Global, has written extensively about her travels in Armenia. In a recent article, Katie has compared travel experiences between the three countries in the Caucasus. While every country had its own issues and with Georgia being the overall winner, Katie had some very interesting things to say about Armenia:

“Armenia arguably lags behind on the tourism front, with the Visitor Information Center in the capital of Yerevan closing due to lack of funding a few years ago. I know firsthand from my experience volunteering with the de facto national tourism board that they are trying to make improvements, such as developing a new tourism website and a new information center, but it may take a while. To Armenia’s advantage, most of the major sites are easy day trips from Yerevan and local tour company Hyurservice runs multiple tours every day costing as little as $15. I took two of their day trips and thought they provided great value”.

 — We have another piece from Sigrid Lupieri, a Chicago based Italian-American journalist who is spending two months in Armenia and working for Armenia Now. In this post, Sigrid writes about a day trip she took to the Tatev region in Armenia:

“The monastery, surrounded by imposing walls of gray stone, was perched precariously over a breathtaking gorge dropping hundreds of feet below us. A dusty winding road snaked its way across the craggy mountain peaks, overgrown with low shrubs and coarse dark grass. Within the shadowy main church, the cool and musty air smelled faintly of candle wax. The thick, irregular stone walls were cold and damp as if, over the centuries, they had slowly absorbed the foggy breath of thousands of whispered prayers.”

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News & Views is published every week. It is a summary of the week’s most interesting, provocatiove and thought-provoking links to articles, videos, photos and commentary of interest to the readers of Ararat.

One can name other Armenian-American authors that have dealt with the Armenian Genocide, Peter Balakian and Nancy Kricorian to name a few. But how about Carol Edgarian? Edgarian’s bestselling book Rise the Euphrates, first published in 1994 and recently re-released as an e-book, was one of the first mainstream books from the 1990s to deal with the Armenian Genocide from an American perspective.

Rise the Euphrates details three generations of an Armenian family in the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide. It begins with the story of Casard, a young girl at the time of the killings, who carries a shameful secret that underpins the entire narrative and follows the story of her daughter and granddaughter as they live their lives in the shadow of the Genocide.

Carol Edgarian

This book is truly significant. It was, at the time, one of the most highly anticipated books of the year. This was unique considering that Edgarian was a young, untested author at the time of publication and that this was her first book — she was 32 at the time of publication.

And the book itself was well received by critics. It was endlessly praised by a diverse range of publications. It must be said that some of the praise was needlessly sentimental. The New York Times took it to a whole new level when it wrote “Where is Armenia today? … One could almost say that Armenia exists in Carol Edgarian’s prose.”

However as you would expect, not all the reviews were glowing. New York Magazine savaged the book criticizing everything from its prose to the characters. The reviewer, Walter Kirn, wrote that he resented being “morally railroaded” and ended the review proclaiming that “Tragic events still have to be earned; they can’t just be imported from the history books. The Armenians deserve a better monument and the therapy epic deserves an unmarked grave.”

This is, of course, the most extreme critical review and, in my opinion, grossly unfair. The book itself is solid and well developed but of course, not without its flaws. It opens with a quote from Ecclesiastes which sets the tone for entire story:

All the rivers flow into the sea
Yet the sea is not full.
To the place where the rivers flow
There they flow again.
— Ecclesiastes 1:7

It is a decidedly Old Testament story, grim, and unforgiving. The characters are interesting and well developed. The central themes of morality and character are beautifully conveyed. The sheer amount of historical research is evident. Edgarian describes each era is such convincing detail from dates and places to the actual mannerisms of people in each time period. However the style of writing used, at times, lacks depth and the horrible violence, which is described in great detail, feels almost voyeuristic.

That being said, there are moments where the prose is hauntingly beautiful. When we begin to hear the story of Casard, the reader is told “Upon the ancient soil of Armenia, a girl called Garod lost her name and became Casard.” The idea of reclaiming Casard’s name becomes central to the story, almost as if Casard has lost her name as her people have lost their land. However there are times when the story feels almost tedious, where some conversations drag on endlessly.

Armenian readers of the book will easily identify with the traits and experiences of some of the characters. Of particular mention is the role of the odar or “foreigner” in the story. In Rise the Euphrates, Casard has constant battles with her daughter Araxie over her relationship with an odar man whom she marries to Casard’s disappointment. Casard’s message is one that many Armenian parents try to, sometimes infuriatingly, impart on their children which is the importance of being connected with other Armenians. It’s nuggets of familiarity like this that make Rise the Euphrates such an interesting read.

But does the book have much significance now, eighteen years on? Other than the distinctly Armenian traits which also include overbearing yet loving families, rigid communities and the weight of history, the significance is self-evident. Politically speaking, little has changed since the book the was published. The Armenian Genocide is still unrecognized in many countries, most significantly in the US and Turkey, and remains a continual thorn in the side of the Armenian psyche. However the book does appear to have paved the way for other Armenian-American books. Balakian’s Black Dog of Fate (1997) and Kricorian’s Zabelle (1999) were all published after Euphrates and the three of those books mark a small burst of highly valued literary works by Armenian Americans grappling with the topic of Genocide.

What Carol Edgarian achieved in 1994 was truly remarkable. She managed to do what most aspiring writers never accomplish and at such a young age created a best-seller. I won’t lie, as I said the book is not without its flaws. But find me a book that isn’t. It is a truly good read and the greatest praise I can give though is that “Rise the Euphrates” is as important today as it was eighteen years ago.

Carol Edgarian’s Rise the Euphrates is available on Amazon and other online booksellers.

At the beginning of March therefore, an international conference held in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, brought together analysts, diplomats and decision makers from Turkey, the South Caucasus, and international bodies to discuss Ankara’s perceived and potential agenda in the region. Organized by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) and the Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF), the question posed was what role could Turkey play in stabilizing the South Caucasus and how could civil society contribute to peace building despite low levels of civic engagement?

Despite an initiative to launch a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform in 2008 and attempts the following year to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and open the border closed in 1993, participants considered that Turkey is punching well below its weight. TESEV Foreign Policy Program’s Aybars Görgülü explained why.

“The South Caucasus is little discussed or known in Turkey while successive governments neglected the region for too long,” he said. “When the Soviet Union collapsed, Armenia and Georgia were not in Turkey’s list of priorities. Instead, an opportunity was seen in the Turkic world, and financial and political resources were used to create a sphere of influence there. Relations with Azerbaijan also became the backbone of Turkey’s foreign policy towards the region, largely driven by identity and kinship type factors, which some argue limited its success.”

Indeed, noted Görgülü, Turkey’s good relations with Azerbaijan and the solidarity between the two countries complicated Turkey’s relationship with Armenia. “Both already had serious disagreements such as border recognition and the [1915] Genocide, but Turkey’s unconditional support for Azerbaijan [in the conflict with Armenia over Karabakh] became another source of conflict,” he noted. “Turkey’s policy in the early 1990s was based on a romantic and idealized notion more defined by a gap between expectation and actual capability.”

On the other hand, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Turkey made a distinction in its foreign policy between the Caucasus and Central Asia. “It started to adopt a more constructive and comprehensive foreign policy strategy,” Görgülü argued. “So, in that sense, Turkey can be considered a latecomer to the region. The energy card was highly important for Turkey as a hub for the transportation of Caspian oil and gas to the West, and so, like Azerbaijan, Georgia also became an important country, especially after the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.”

Nevertheless, he continued, Armenia was always the missing piece in the puzzle. “Relations with Azerbaijan are still the backbone of Turkey’s policy towards the region and even though the ‘One Nation-Two States’ motto does not really reflect the political reality,” he stressed, “it is still reflected in official rhetoric and solidarity between Turkish and Azerbaijan state elites remains strong while there is domestic support as well.”

As for Armenia, after the much publicized “football diplomacy” initiative, expectations were raised for normalization, but the situation is now deadlocked with no breakthrough likely in the near future. And while civil society in Turkey is developing, there still remains little interest in the South Caucasus on both the state and NGO level. Even so, there has been significant progress in terms of dialogue between Armenian and Turkish NGOs, and in the absence of official relations, Görgülü argued, it is the responsibility of civil society to continue with this process.

The Official View from Turkey

A Georgian priest comforts a resident of Gori during the Russian military occupation of the town in August 2008. The conflict between Russia and Georgia is seen as the main stimulus behind Turkey’s initiative to engage with the South Caucasus © Onnik Krikorian

Not surprisingly, the official line from Levent Murat Burhan, the Turkish Ambassador to Georgia, focused mainly on the problems in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Karabakh. “Situated at the crossroads of East and West as well as North and South, and home to a multitude of different ethnicities, languages and religions, the South Caucasus is one of the most challenging in the global political landscape,” he said. “Its huge potential has not been fully realized because of conflict and shortcomings in terms of political, economic, and social development.”

The August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia demonstrated the danger posed by persisting protracted conflicts and why the present status quo is neither desirable nor sustainable in the long term, Burhan argued. As such, he concluded, the region is a priority in Turkish foreign policy.

Burhan provided examples of this Turkish approach in terms of supporting security and stability and creating a climate of regional cooperation. Initially supported officially in Yerevan as well as by the international community, even if controversial for many in the Diaspora, Turkey in particular remains committed to the normalization process with Armenia, he stated, believing that the two protocols signed in Zurich at the end of October 2009 represented a unique historical opportunity to establish peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

Nevertheless, he added, Turkey considers that the normalization process with Armenia and resolution of the Karabakh conflict are connected and that they therefore affect each other. “With the stalemate [over the disputed territory] also negatively affecting regional dynamics, and even though the Turkey-Armenia and the Armenia-Azerbaijan tracks are to be negotiated separately, there is a relation between the two,” he said. “A positive move in one will help facilitate progress in the other.”

“A more general example, related to this, is that we believe the unsolved conflicts in the South Caucasus are the main obstacles to peace and stability in the region,” he continued. “Therefore, immediately following the Georgian-Russian conflict in August 2008 we introduced an initiative to bring together regional Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) members. The Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform initiative was launched after the outbreak of hostilities and we believe it is the right mechanism to address all regional problems.”

The Armenian Perspective

Naturally, the Armenian position presented by former Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC) member and Yerevan State University Professor David Hovannisyan was more critical. “Bilateral relations should simply be that,” he countered. “They aren’t multilateral, so when the Turkish government decided to make linkages between the Armenia-Turkish normalization process and the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh it wasn’t fair or helpful in creating a more positive environment for further dialogue.”

Hovannisyan also said that he considered the proposal of a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation platform was naive. “Considered seriously, the initiative was a good one but it was also completely idealistic and unrealistic,” he explained. ”Even if the Turkish initiative did reduce tensions in the region during and after the August 2008 war, it couldn’t become a new process. There is instead the need for trust, new open-minded elites, new governments, and a real process of democratization in all the countries in the region.”

In combination with involvement in the European Union’s Eastern Partnership, Turkey’s role could be more active, but ultimately it is limited in terms of Armenian-Turkish relations, Hovannisyan continued. “There are normal diplomatic procedures for the establishment of diplomatic relations so why did Armenia and Turkey begin to discuss the text of the protocols? It was from our point of view genocide so if we really want to create a real process of reconciliation between two nations there also needs to be an apology.”

Flanked by an Armenian security detail, the car carrying Turkish President Abdullah Gul drives from Zvartnots Airport to Downtown Yerevan less than one month after the August 2008 war between Georgia and Russia © Onnik Krikorian

Challenging the Status Quo in the South Caucasus

Chaired by Guenther Baechler, the Swiss Ambassador to Georgia, the first of three panels examined the current role of Turkey in the South Caucasus and how that should develop in the future. The panel addressed whether Turkey is living up to its potential and whether there is a systematic approach in terms of any strategy for the future. Was the absence of reference to Russia and Iran in the Turkish Ambassador’s address diplomatic courtesy in order not to address competitors in the region?

Temel Iskit, a retired Turkish Ambassador, considered these important questions that had to be answered. Iskit also thought that while the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform was a positive initiative on the part of Turkey, its timing was not helpful. “Turkey was not seen as an objective player in the region,” he said. “It was, and still is, considered to be closer to Azerbaijan than Armenia. Even so, the initiative was welcomed by Armenia and not Azerbaijan and Georgia because it was the first time Ankara initially approached Yerevan without preconditions.”

Armenia was eager to participate in the initiative, he explained, and even if this didn’t happen, one by-product was the resulting approach towards Armenia in the form of a road map, enhanced by “football diplomacy,” before the ill-fated signing of two protocols to normalize relations. “Even if Turkey hoped normalization might also contribute to resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict it was not perceived as such by Azerbaijan. Perceptions therefore need to be changed in all three countries,” Iskit said.

“There are two tracks, Armenia-Turkey and Armenia-Azerbaijan, but unfortunately at some point they start to converge. In Turkey, people’s sympathies are with Azerbaijan so this creates political pressure on the government even if there is has been a change in terms of the country’s attitude to Armenia and even the Genocide. Of course, it is slow to change, but over time both Armenia and Turkey will fully understand they share a common history. This is a long-term transformation and civil society is already playing a role in this.”

The View from Azerbaijan

Avaz Hasanov, Director of Society for Humanitarian Research in Baku says the Azerbaijani government as well as domestic society fully supports Turkey’s desire to resolve the Karabakh conflict while rapprochement is also in the interest of the US, EU, and partly Russia too. “Since the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey will build peace and stability in the South Caucasus, integration into Europe will naturally increase as well,” Hasanov opined. “Georgia is more active here, but Euro-integration will promote democratization and realization of peace in the region.”

Nevertheless, he added, energy and communication projects involving Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey but excluding Armenia do not help realize this goal.

“Azerbaijan considers the economic blockade [of Armenia] as the main tool to push for a favorable resolution of the Karabakh conflict,” Hasanov argued. “So, the support of Turkey in terms of normalizing relations can also help overcome the myths and stereotypes prevalent in Armenian and Azerbaijani societies. […] Unfortunately, however, much of civil society instead helps maintains the status quo by mirroring public opinion in its resistance to compromise for the sake of peace as well as the region’s future. There is also no political will.”

The International Community’s Perspective

“Turkey could potentially become a key actor in the South Caucasus, but why does Turkey not occupy that role in reality?” asked moderator Dieter Boden, a German diplomat and former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict and previously head of the OSCE Special Mission to Georgia. “Turkey has articulated itself as a central country in quite a few places, but relatively speaking this has been felt less strongly in the Caucasus,” Nigar Goksel responded. “One reason for this could be that Turkey is cautious about stepping on Russia’s toes.”

Goksel, a Senior Analyst and Caucasus Coordinator with the European Stability Initiative (ESI), also believed that unrealistic expectations were set in attempts to improve relations with Armenia. “Many in the West believed that with so many stalemates in the region the one positive dynamic that could be introduced would be opening Turkey’s border with Armenia so that relations would normalize in order to break Russia’s domination,” she said. “It might also break stereotypes and introduce a positive dynamic into Armenia-Azerbaijan relations.”

Theoretically many analysts agree, but Goksel also noted that the opposite could be argued as well. “Azerbaijan’s perspective that it is in its interest for the Armenia-Turkey border to remain closed and there is the view in Baku that Armenia will harden its position on the Karabakh issue if the border is opened,” she explained. “A theoretical argument can also be made that a rift between Baku and Ankara can only give more power to Russia in the neighborhood while others argue that even if Turkey does open the border, Russia’s leverage in Armenia is not going to decrease.”

Another big challenge for Turkey will be 2015, stated Goksel, noting that it would be the 100th anniversary of the Genocide, a term that nearly all participants except for the active Turkish Ambassador in Tbilisi used. “Here the question is what will Turkey do?” she said. “There will be significant pressure to do something, but it’s very important that Turkey starts thinking about this now if it wants to play an important role in the region. It’s also important that it doesn’t react emotionally, but in a rational way that looks forward to the next 100 years of regional stability and cooperation.”

The International Crisis Group’s Sabine Freizer agreed. “If the Armenian-Turkish process was undertaken half-heartedly and only for international reasons then Turkey is going to have a problem in 2015,” she said before turning her attention to Karabakh. “The main miscalculation [with the protocols] was that there were two processes going on in parallel, and that while there was progress on Armenia-Turkey there was the sense that this was also true in the Nagorno Karabakh talks. Unfortunately that was not the case.”’

Graphic via Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) Caucasus Barometer 2011

Graphic via Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) Caucasus Barometer 2011

Graphic via Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) Caucasus Barometer 2011

Nevertheless, she noted, there is still some engagement between Armenia and Turkey which should continue regardless of the conflict with Azerbaijan. “There has been discussion about energy deals between Armenia and Eastern Turkey and that should go forward, and there are already some small steps. For example, Turkey is allowing Armenian trucks into its territory, it provides visas to Armenian citizens, and there are direct flights to and from Yerevan. Turkey hasn’t shut off completely, but there’s also the need to look to the future.”

Others such as Pascal Heyman from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Conflict Prevention Center suggested that Turkey could promote more Track II diplomacy initiatives, including those for Georgians, Abkhazians, and Ossetians. “Confidence building measures in the case of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict have been difficult to achieve agreement on, however, and when they are accepted they largely remain unimplemented. People-to-People contacts, such as those between journalists, have also been difficult to arrange, “he said.

All the speakers, however, noted the urgency of the matter. “Ankara prefers to stabilize the situation hoping it won’t get out of hand while waiting for a better time,” said Peter Semneby, Former EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus. “This position is a dangerous one, if understandable, because it could mean tensions will build up under the surface and be more difficult to address in the future before becoming as uncontrollable as in 2008. There is an arms race which rapidly lowers the threshold for the use of violence and force if nothing is done.”

Graphic via Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) Caucasus Barometer 2011

The Role of Civil Society

Moderator Kenneth Yalowitz, a retired U.S. Ambassador to Georgia and Belarus, introduced the third and final panel, noting that the involvement of NGOs and other non-State actors will be crucial. “There are no such things as frozen conflicts and the situation is not stable as shown in August 2008 with the war between Russia and Georgia,” he said. “The situation in terms of Nagorno Karabakh is unstable and could again turn into hostilities so there is much work to do in terms of ongoing negotiations and state-to-state relations.”

Unfortunately, Yalowitz noted, data from the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) shows that the level of trust in NGOs, as well as an understanding of what civil society actually does, is at a very low level across the entire region. In the context of Karabakh, EPF’s Vazgen Karapetyan offered an insight as to why. “There are some justifiable reasons why NGOs remain low key, but there are also some less than justifiable ones such as competition for resources on the local level so as not to lose ‘business’ and also because donors do not demand a serious impact,” he explained.

Negative stereotypes and hate speech, mainly from governments as well as the media, are therefore not challenged and the impact of civil society in mainstream society is limited as a result. Another reason is that a lack of coordination domestically, as well as cross-border, combined with the heightened official policy of constructing the “image of the enemy” raises suspicion among citizens towards confidence building and peace building initiatives. “That’s a more than less legitimate reason for low awareness,” he concluded.

Craig Oliphant, formerly with the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and now with the NGO Saferworld added some other reasons. “Frustrations and grievances in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict not only remain, but have actually worsened and increased,” he said. “Baku looks at Track II diplomacy and the involvement of NGOs with skepticism, considering that confidence building measures should not be seen as some kind of ‘reward’ for Armenia in the absence of any actual resolution. As a psychological problem, that’s a particular challenge for NGOs.”

Even so, noted Oliphant, Turkey has shown itself to be an ideal host country for numerous cross-border civil society initiatives for participants from the South Caucasus. But, with many believing that Turkey is hesitant in encroaching upon Russia’s perceived sphere of influence even if it does show an interest in engaging Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and with Armenia-Turkey relations and the Karabakh peace process in deadlock, it seems unlikely that Ankara will be able to assume a more pro-active role in the region any time soon.

Nevertheless, with many considering that Ankara’s priorities and interests in the region are almost identical to those of the European Union’s, the debate and discussion will no doubt continue, and especially in the context of its approach to Armenia. “However,” remarked George Khutsishvili, director of the Tbilisi-based International Center on Conflict and Negotiation (ICCN), in the remarks from the floor that followed, “there are more questions than answers about what its role should be.”

One of two closed border gates separating Armenia and Turkey. One is close to Gyumri while this one is situated in Margara, Armenia © Onnik Krikorian

— The Independent has published a touching obituary about the death of the last Armenian Genocide survivor in Britain. Astrid Aghajanian, who passed away in May of this year, led a truly remarkable and difficult life. After surviving the Genocide, she was forced to flee fighting in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1948 and after settling in Cyprus was again forced to flee in 1974 due to the Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus:

“Astrid was fond of comparing her turbulent life to that of spiders: ‘You may destroy the spider’s home, but he will always build it again.’ Astrid will be remembered for her generous hospitality, her creativity, her indomitable spirit and above all for her incredible resilience in the face of adversity”.

— It was also reported by Asbarez that Yelena Abrahamyan, an artist and Genocide survivor, also passed away this week. She was born in Kars, in Eastern Turkey, and fled to what is now the Armenian city of Gyumri. She was believed to be 102 or 103 years old and was the oldest member of the Armenia’s Artists’ Union.

— As we have already reported in recent weeks, the fatal beating of Armenian military doctor Vahe Avetyan has provoked a large response in Armenia with several protests and demonstrations. Asbarez has reported that these protests have spread to Los Angeles with a small demonstration outside the Armenian Consulate. The protesters, including Vahe Avetyan’s cousin, presented a list of demands including an impartial investigation into the murder.

— The 9th annual Golden Apricot film festival kicked off this week in Armenia. The festival was first established in 2004. According to Armenia Now, this years festival boasts hundreds of films:

“Golden Apricot, launched last Sunday, is one of the most important cultural events in Yerevan, a week long annual festival that gathers filmmakers, film masters and simply film fans throughout the world for the ninth year … The film festival is presenting a total of 170 feature, short feature films and documentaries, with 65 of them included in the competition program”.

— However the festival was not without complaint. In a strongly worded piece published on Hetq, Liana Sayadyan savaged this years festival citing issues with subtitles and the accurate timing of sessions:

“Such faults were pardonable in the early days of the festival when financing was tight and the organizers were a group of enthusiastic film buffs with little experience in putting on such an event. But this was the 9th festival which is sponsored by the Armenian government and companies like VivaCell. It’s high time to expect some professionalism and accountability.”

— The New York Times has published a review this week of Almayass, Manhattan’s first and only Armenian restaurant in over a decade. The reviewer, Pete Wells, ponders the lack of Armenian restaurants in New York today:

“Another question: Where have Armenian restaurants gone? A fixture of the city’s dining scene 50 years ago, they had all but vanished by the end of the last century. Ever since, certain New Yorkers have nursed longings for subereg, a labor-intensive lasagna variant, and basterma, considered by some cured-meat connoisseurs the highest form to which pastrami can aspire.”

Although the review is not without its criticisms, it does suggest that Almayass provides the quintessential Armenian dining experience:

“Yet sooner or later the table would be spread with food, and sometimes that is enough, especially when the flavors are ones you don’t taste every day. That’s definitely the case at Almayass, where the Alexandrians punch up Lebanese dishes with Armenian accents like lemony grains of crushed red sumac berries and flecks of Aleppo pepper that offer more robust flavor than fiery heat. The restaurant even stages a Manhattan comeback for some Armenian classics.”

— And as I said on June 25, everyone loves a story out of Glendale, particularly when there’s an Armenian twist. ABC news reported this week that an infamous black bear roaming Glendale has been tranquilized and relocated back to the forest. Why is this significant? The bear has been named “Glen Berian” in light of the large local Armenian American population. “Glen Berian” even has his own Twitter account which posed a challenge to another well known Armenian American celebrity:

“Kim Kardashian announced on Khloe & Lamar in April that she wants to run for mayor of Glendale. The half-Armenian plans to work her heritage to her advantage. But now, Kim might have some competition that is also playing the minority card. Glen Bearian announced on Twitter that he may run for Glendale mayor as well.”

*   *   *

News & Views is published every week. It is a summary of the week’s most interesting, provocatiove and thought-provoking links to articles, videos, photos and commentary of interest to the readers of Ararat.

here in this void the Aegean intersects with the Araxes

In the silence the Sender of this missive
no longer responds

I’ve missed Charlize Theron’s appearance on t.v.

but the red blue and white of this PRIORITY MAILER
means more to me with its message

Before the Abyss Mayakovsky’s Voice

This April’s bereft
the taste of the martini bitter
to the palate

thought wanders again in the Sculpture Gardens
in tenebrae Rodin’s “Burghers of Calais”
turned to their point-of-no-return stare

my hand falters on the page an erasure smudges “Let each
become all that he was created
capable of being” in my hands Charent’s book.

fa tu quel ch’io non posso; –

like this envelope sings O my Friend beyond death.

*   *   *

Note: from fa tu quel ch’io non posso; — …. medieval Italian for “do that which I cannot” – from G. Boccaccio (1315-1375), Canzoni del decameron.

Though a traumatic high dose epidural during her first labor experience left her unable to move her legs for two days, no amount of physical pain compared to the emotional distress she experienced in that room, away from her child.

“We never recovered from the recovery room,” she says.

To suggest that Vardanyan, a medical anthropologist and mother of three, feels cheated by the American hospital system when it comes to labor, with its interventions in the form of drugs, restriction of mobility, hi-tech machinery, and ultimately, surgery, is an understatement. But as the story goes, adversity has a tendency to lead to opportunity, and her bout with hospital protocol ultimately did just that.

HaikProject's seminars attract graduate students, parents to be as well as those who have already raised their children but are interested in learning more about options beyond the mainstream childbirth models.

These days, at a humble day care center in Glendale, among Cheburashka dolls, crayons and posters of English and Armenian alphabets, she and her husband Dr. Arthur Poghosyan, a psychiatrist specializing in children and adolescents, hold research-based seminars encouraging natural childbirth, breastfeeding and co-sleeping while discussing the down sides of infant male circumcision and immediate umbilical cord clamping. Too much medical intervention, they say, often leads to a domino effect, causing problems in labor and childcare to multiply.

Founded in 2004 and named after their youngest son, the “haikProject” also seeks to shift some of the diasporan focus from the homeland to the large Armenian-American community in L.A in an attempt to talk openly about issues often left unaddressed and ignored when it comes to childbirth and care, imparting knowledge as a preventative measure.

They hope the knowledge they provide can act as a preventative measure so that no other parents go through what they did.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to have natural childbirth myself,” Vardanyan says. “I said to myself, I wish I had known. That has become the organization’s motto, that ‘no parent should ever have to say, I wish I had known.’”

Medical anthropologist Astrik Vardanyan and psychologist Dr. Lisa Manuelian lead a discussion group at Artek Day Care after a seminar on the benefits of natural childbirth.

The focus on the Angeleno-Armenian community, still swelling with emigres, most recently from the Republic of Armenia, is much needed, says Shakeh Haroutiounian, a haikProject advisory committee member and owner of Axia Learning, an educational services company.

“I feel we have so many children that we can help here,” she says. “We have this responsibility to address our community’s needs.”

The project began after Vardanyan was pressured by hospital staff to circumcise her sons, leading her to research the age-old practice in the Armenian-American community for her master’s thesis.

What she uncovered, including how forced circumcision in males was used during the Armenian Genocide as a means of conversion to Islam and how in turn, many Western Armenian families have now adopted the procedure on the basis of hygiene, eventually led to the haikProject, umbrellaed under the Armenian Child Wellness foundation. The nonprofit advocated against male circumcision, contending that the removal of the foreskin disrupts its protective, immunological and sexual functions and, as a procedure performed without anesthesia, carries with it harmful side effects and risks.

The organization eventually transitioned from its single-issue advocacy into something more.

Recognizing that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outline that U.S. maternal and infant mortality rates rank as one of the highest in the industrialized world, despite the country leading in highest per capita spending on healthcare, the focus of haikProject broadened, advocating “the natural, timeless way of birthing, children and child rearing,” Vardanyan says.

Vardanyan and her husband set out to reach the Armenian-American community and whoever else was willing to listen about the negative effects of using formulas as a substitute for breast milk and hospital protocol that they say leaves women powerless over the birthing process — a process their bodies are programmed to handle naturally in most cases.

Astrik Vardanyan and her husband, psychiatrist Dr. Arthur Poghosyan co-founded haikProject after their own traumatic experiences with the U.S. hospital system during the birth of each of their three children in an effort to prevent other parents going through what they did.

Over the past year, their seminars and lectures have been attended by graduate students, grandparents and those hoping to start a family.

After the birth of their son, composer Allen DerMarderosian and his wife began attending Vardanyan’s seminars to learn more about alternatives to the mainstream medical model.

After a year of attendance, he says he’s picked up valuable information and found the dialogue useful.

“It’s interesting to get other people’s experiences and information about dealing with circumcision and breast feeding,” he says, adding praise for Vardanyan and Poghosyan. “They’re both very passionate and they come from a genuine place of caring about this very deeply.”

It shows. In a recent telephone conversation, Vardanyan sounded distraught, having just found out about the death of a newborn from massive head trauma due to alleged obstetrical negligence. Parents Seda Kaplanyan and Tigran Gadyan filed a wrongful death lawsuit last October against Dr. Kevin Galstyan, alleging his “misuse of a pressurized vacuum device used to deliver the infant,” according to press release from their attorney, Dr. Bruce G. Fagel.

Vacuum extraction, where a metal or plastic suction cup is attached to the baby’s head and used to assist in the vaginal delivery when labor is prolonged, can cause scalp swelling as well as hemorrhage. Vardanyan says the supine position, in which women are lying down during birth, increases the need for extraction as well as the use of forceps.

These standard procedures leave women with less autonomy in making choices about how they would like to give birth. Giving birth in an upright position, according to WHO, appears to be associated with benefits, including reduction in the duration of the second stage of labor — precisely when extraction is used.

“This is a typical scenario when you don’t let the mother be in a position that is convenient for her,” she says. “It is being universally ignored in the American hospital system.”

Seminar attendees discuss the differences between the U.S. hospital model and the practices in the Republic of Armenia when it comes to childbirth. Increasing participation in the Armenian community for haikProject's seminars have been challenging, due to cultural attitudes towards topics like circumcision and breastfeeding.

While attendance has remained steady, conjuring up interest from the Armenian community — where discussion on issues like circumcision, sexuality and childbirth is taboo and akin to airing out dirty family laundry — has remained a challenge.

At one of haikProject’s seminar’s last month, a discussion group assembled after Vardanyan’s talk, “Childbirth can be Ecstatic,” where she recounted the sometimes sordid history of childbirth and the rising trend of midwifery in the U.S.

The group was small — only half stayed behind to participate — and getting the all-Armenian crowd to open up about the topic of childbirth proved difficult.

Dr. Lisa Manuelian, a psychologist specializing in women’s health issues who collaborates with the haikProject and hosts the after-seminar discussions says keeping quiet about sensitive issues is common in Armenian culture.

“We are taught to keep things within the family and taught non-verbally not to talk about these personal things, especially out loud and especially to strangers,” she says. “We’re hoping we can change this through the project. There is a lack of education when it comes to these topics.”

Manuelian, whose client load is 70 percent Armenian, says many in the community also place a huge amount of emphasis and trust in medical doctors without questioning the information given.

“We don’t ask for evidence, we just trust and I think that part needs to change, within our community,” she says. “I think that if we do we will feel empowered.”

DerMarderosian, a third generation Armenian American, agrees. “My impression is that in the Armenian community, people tend to be very rigid about certain things and ways of thinking,” he says.

Newer generations are helping shift attitudes, however, with many that are seeking help for medical issues more openly these days.

“I feel that that’s changing with the newer generation of expectant mothers and fathers,” says Manuelian. “We’re becoming more open.”

As Vardanyan and her husband, who have both traveled back to their native Armenia, presenting and lecturing on circumcision at Yerevan State Medical University and  Armenian Urological Association, continue their seminar work, the aim remains the same: providing a service to their community and advocating for the right to have a choice when it comes to child birth and care.

“It shouldn’t be a competition between two professions,” Vardanyan says while stressing we should be grateful for obstetricians and the advancement of technology in medicine. “It should be a complimentary model.”

They might face public push back on at least one issue in the U.S., as several medical organizations tout benefits of neonatal circumcision.

The American Urological Association, although acknowledging risks such as bleeding, infection and penile injury, says that when circumcision is “performed on healthy newborn infants as an elective procedure, the incidence of serious complications is extremely low,” with minor complications reported to be three percent. The AUA also cites a connection between decreased incidence of penile cancer among U.S. males and neonatal circumcision as well as the urinary tract infections being at least 10 times higher in uncircumcised boys.

The Centers for Disease Control, who has not yet determined if male circumcision should be recommended for any population, according to their website, cites several studies that have documented male circumcision as reducing the risk of acquiring HIV.

The practice also varies greatly in Armenian communities depending on background.

While Vardanyan has found the incidence of neonatal circumcision in Western Armenian families, in Armenia, the practice is done in less than one percent of the male population, according to an original article published on Circumcision Independent Reference and Commentary Service, an online comprehensive reference library on circumcision.

Armenian cultural taboos surrounding circumcision also hinders open discussion,which makes researching the topic and getting parents to attend haikProject seminars, that much more difficult. This might extend to the medical community as well, as several doctors with Armenian backgrounds in the Los Angeles area declined to comment on the subject of circumcision for this article.

Despite the challenges, DerMarderosian says haikProject’s determination will pay off. “Even if only one mother listens, it’s worth it because that’s one more child that gains the benefit from it.”