Rev. Vazken Movsesian from California “will leave for Rwanda on Friday [March 4, 2006] to chronicle the African country's 1994 genocide and to bring attention to the ongoing mass killings in the Darfur region of Sudan.”

Father Vazken has been very active in collecting donations for Sudanese survivors. On April 24, the day when Armenians commemorate the Genocide, he organizes “Blood for Blood” campaign, where Armenians are asked to donate blood in honor of their killed ancestors.

When Fr. Vazken visited Colorado in 2004, I assisted him during a Solemn Divine Liturgy, since there was no deacon. I will never forget his face during “Ter Voghormea,” when he was singing, “Give my people love and union.” He almost cried while uttering these words.

Fr. Vazken suggested me to have “Simon’s Corner” at his church’s website and send articles once a while.

Pastor hopes to spotlight genocide

By Alex Dobuzinskis, Staff Writer
LA Daily News

GLENDALE – The Rev. Vazken Movsesian sees grim similarities between recent genocides around the world and the stories he heard from his grandmothers about their escapes from death more than 90 years ago in the Ottoman Empire.

Movsesian, senior pastor at St. Peter Armenian Church Youth Ministry Center in Glendale, will leave for Rwanda on Friday to chronicle the African country's 1994 genocide and to bring attention to the ongoing mass killings in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Movsesian, 49, said survivors' accounts from Rwanda and Darfur resemble what Movsesian's grandmothers told him about escaping the Ottoman Empire around 1915: the men being separated from the women, the women being raped and the children growing up as orphans, with acts of barbarism along the way, he said.

In 1915, it marked the start of eight years of mass killings that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians.

"It's exactly, exactly the story of 1915," Movsesian said. "It's basically (that) we haven't evolved as a species. It's an incredible story, and … as a religious leader, that's what I want to point out."

Movsesian will join the Rev. Cecil L. "Chip" Murray, the retired pastor from First AME Church, on the Rwandan trip.

Also in the 10-person delegation are Rabbi Susan Laemmle, USC's dean of religious life, USC professor Donald Miller and his wife, Lorna Touryan Miller.

The Millers have previously visited Rwanda, which lost nearly 1 million people in a 1994 genocide that grew out of conflict between two ethnic groups. The Millers have written two books about Armenia, including "Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide."

When Movsesian attended the graduate studies program in religion at USC, Donald Miller was one of his professors.

"He was deeply affected, personally, by his grandmothers," Donald Miller said of Movsesian. "Both his grandmothers are survivors of the genocide and he himself in his own ministry has really attempted to communicate, particularly to young people, the tragedy of genocide."

Movsesian said all members of the delegation to Rwanda have varying reasons for going, and there is no single group mission.

But Movsesian and the Millers plan to talk to orphan survivors who raised their siblings, and they both plan to observe how charities in Africa operate.

Movsesian will describe his 10-day trip to Rwanda – as it happens – with either a Podcast or a blog on his church Web site, at www.inhisshoes.org.

He also wants to bring back photos and video of the experience.

"Whatever we can get our hands on, just anything to make people aware of the tragedy," he said.

Last weekend, young people at Movsesian's church fasted for 30 hours and raised money for famine relief in the developing world.

Alex Dobuzinskis, (818) 546-3304

Two world-known Armenian boxers recorded two victories today. Unfortunately, none of them represent the Republic of Armenia (though they were both born and raised there), since the latter does not pay its sportsmen as good as other countries. And then some people wonder why Armenia does not get medals in the Olympics lately.

Do these colors run?

Sunday, March 05, 2006
One punch ends fight

Vic Darchinyan’s brute power prevailed over Diosdado Gabi’s boxing skills to retain his world boxing titles in their title fight yesterday in California, USA.

With his power punches taking a heavy toll on the Filipino challenger in the middle rounds, Darchinyan, an Australian of Armenian descent, embarked on a torrid offensive late in the eighth, setting up Gabi for the coup de grace at the 2:42 mark of the round.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/…ends.fight.html

Abrahams beats Taylor with ease

By Ben Cohen: Unbeaten IBF Middleweight Champion Arthur Abraham put on a dominating performnace over veteran Australian Shannan Taylor.

The fight lasted the whole twelve rounds, but the power punching Abraham controlled the action decisively. Clearly overwhelmed by the Armenians power, Taylor looked mostly to survive, and managed to stay on his feet till the end. Abrahams took every round on the judges score cards at the EWE-Arena in Oldenburg, Germany.

The undefeated Abraham improves to 20-0, (17 KOs) while Taylor falls to 42-5-2.

http://www.secondsout.com/World/news.cfm?ccs=225&cs=18847

As I have mentioned before, one of the denialist arguments against the Armenian genocide is that Ottoman Turkey saved Jews from Spain in the 15th century and that Turkey has always been a haven for Jews and saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Mentioning this information, some nationalist Turks say that the Armenian genocide did not happen. Moreover, some deniers even go to the point to say that Armenians killed Jews during the Armenian genocide!!!

Yale Professor Seyla Benhabib: “My maternal Grandfather – Yehoshua Benhabib – suffered a stroke in the Bazaar when the Sultan’s soldiers chopped off the heads of his [Armenian] colleagues and friends.”

On 4 March 2006, I received a group e-mail from Yale University Professor Seyla Benhabib, who happens to be a Sephardic Jew from Istanbul, whose roots go back to Zamorra, Spain in the 15th century.

Let us see what Professor Benhabib has to say:

Throughout my childhood and youth in Istanbul (1950-1970), I experienced and was taught a deep
solidarity with the Armenian people. Not only did I attend schools
with many Sevans, Sandras and Masises, but also, the story of the Armenian
genocide, about which our Armenian friends chose not to talk, was more
or less openly discussed in my family.

My Mother often recounted that my maternal Grandfather – Yehoshua
Benhabib- suffered a stroke in the Bazaar when the Sultan's soldiers
chopped off the heads of his [Armenian] colleagues and friends and "for days blood
flowed in the streets." My Mother is gone now and I still cannot
figure out what year exactly she was referring to (my Grandfather died around
1932).

Furthermore, there were other stories of Jewish helplessness, to
parallel Armenian victimization: yes, as Stephen Feinstein noted, not
only did the Sultan not give Theodor Herzl land in Palestine but also
humiliated him; so too, did the Turkish state refuse to help Jewish
refugees of the Holocaust escaping Europe in the ship EXODUS on their
way to Palestine. My family was quite sick after seeing the movie
version of Leon Uris's novel.

"The civil war began when Azerbaijan shut down the Armenian-language television station" – David Hoffman (2 March 2006, San Francisco Chronicle)

(from http://free.of.pl/k/karabach/Karabach)

Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was given a 14th-century gift in 2005, an Armenian bible.

As Armenian language Canadian weekly Horizon informs on 1 March 2006, copies of “The Destruction of Armenian Monuments in Nakhichevan” were sent to the Canadian parliamentarians.

“The Destruction of Armenian Monuments in Nakhichevan” is a special supplement of Horizon Weekly and was published in Armenian, English and French on 27 February 2006.

The publication includes a report by Scottish architect Steven Sim, who visited Nakhichevan (now under Azerbaijani control) in 2005. Sim’s report is available in PDF format at http://www.nakhichevan.cjb.net. European Parliament’s resolution, condemning the recent destruction of Armenian monuments in Nakhichevan, is also included.

Included photos are by Zaven Sargisyan, Hrair Baze and Steven Sim.

On Wednesday evening, 1 March 2006, Armenians of Toronto marched in a peaceful candlelight procession to protest the Dec-2005 Azerbaijani destruction of the beautiful Armenian cemetery of Old Julfa (Hin Jugha), founded in the 8th century.

from an earlier protest

As Inter- Denominational Armenian churches of Toronto had informed in a 28 February 26 press release, forwarded in a letter by Artin Bogossian, "The procession will start at 6:30 p.m. at St. Gregory Church at 100 Northdale Rd. (410 and Bayview), and will end at St. Mary Church on 45 Hallcrown Place (410 and Victoria Park)."

An earlier demonstration was organized in Ottawa a few days ago.

I was walking down the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver Wednesday afternoon, when a professionally dressed teenager handed me an out-of-date copy of “The Watchtower.”

Having read some literature on totalitarian sects, I knew he was a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“What is the best thing about your organization?” I asked with a nice smile and looking directly into his eyes.

“Well, hm…truth!” answered the kid looking at the ground.

“Truth!” I replied. “Is there something about the organization that you do not like?”

I knew exactly what he was going to answer: “no.” The members of “Jehovah’s Witnesses ” are not allowed to be critical toward what they belong to.

This is the scan of page 7 [bottom part] of the 15 December 2005 copy of “The Watchtower” that the 14-year-old kid gave me (on 1 March 2006!) in downtown Denver. The “official publication” of Jehovah’s Witnesses , as seen above, has reprinted an information piece from a Georgian [Republic of Georgia] newspaper. The article states New Year’s holiday’s pagan origin, and Watchtower republishes it to show the “evil” roots of New Year celebrations (since Witnesses of Jehovah are not allowed to have any kind of holiday celebrations/parties/birthday parties).

I asked the kid whether he knew the history of the organization. He said “no” and pointed two women sitting across the street for “reference.” I approached these women and said I had some questions.

“Why did you join the organization?” I asked one of them. “Truth,” followed the answer. “Truth?” I repeated. “How do you define truth?” I asked and received a long non-sense lecture.

My next question was again about the history of the “Watchtower,” the central body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The woman, who was basically the one to answer my questions, started to speak about Adam and Abel worshiping Jehovah and I had to interrupt her. I clarified that I was referring to the establishment of “Watchtower.”

The other woman was already becoming skeptical with my questions. “Are you writing a paper for your school?” I said “no,” but I did not say either I might post the conversation at my blog (I am not sure whether Jehovah’s Witnesses are allowed to know what blogs are).

I asked whether they knew that the former leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses had predicted that the end of the world would be the year of 1914 and that many members lost their homes, by selling those and “waiting for the day.” I received an interesting, even a critical response from one of them, “No human is perfect; we can’t know the exact date, but it is very close.”

The other lady did not want to continue the conversation, because she was convinced I was a “student writing a paper,” or simply a “spy.” She even took my picture with her cell phone, but I pretended as though as I did not notice it.

“How do you know so much about the organization?” they asked me. I said I had read opposing views on the organization and that I knew some former and current members.
“Former members???? Oh! Don’t talk to them! They are liars! You need to talk to current members to learn about the truth!”

“Have you ever talked to former members?” I responded with a smile on my face.

“No!”

“Why?” I asked.

“In order to learn how McDonalds operates, would you talk to a person who was fired instead of talking to a current employee?” I was confronted.

“I would not talk to a fired employee, but I would definitely talk to an employee who voluntarily left the job to see what s/he thought about the organization. Would not you do the same?” I asked back.

At this time they were all “convinced” I knew “too much” and I was “writing a paper.” One of them noticed my folder that said “Phi Theta Kappa” on it.

“Do you belong to a sorority?” (The poor “witness” did not even know that sorority is “An association or a society of women,” as described at www.dictionary.com.)

“No, Phi Theta Kappa is the International Honor Society for colleges.” I replied and found a good excuse to ask a few questions about education to the kid who was standing there all the time.

“How old are you?” I asked the kid. “14” he said.

“Why aren’t you at school?” I asked.

“I am home study.”

“How much time do you devote to the organization?”

“70-80 hours per month”

“How much time do you devote to your classes?”

“I do homework on Mondays and Tuesdays only and I devote the rest of the time to do Bible studies and help the organization.”

…They were ready to go, and I had nothing to add but to shake the hand of the brainwashed teen and wish him more time to do homework. “Life is change; you will learn more by growing bigger” I said.

By Simon Maghakyan
www.blogian.hayastan.com
28 February 2006

A recent anti-Armenian demonstration in Iran called for Armenia’s destruction.

Armenians in Canada protest the Azerbaijani destruction of Old Julfa carrying a model of khachkar (stone cross) in front of UNESCO’s building in Ottawa on 25 February 2006. Tens of thousands of khachkars, some as old as the 8th century, were destroyed by the Azerbaijani government from 2000-2005. Aware of the “successful” destruction, Iranian Turks/Azerbaijanis are now calling for Armenia’s destruction. (photo credit: “Life in the Armenian Diaspora” at www.cilicia.com)

As Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi at http://www.regimechangeiran.com/ translates an article from Iran Press News, on 27 February 2006 a group of Iranian Turks (who refer themselves as Azerbaijanis) “gathered for a violent demonstration in front of a local Armenian church [in Tabriz], chanting anti-Armenian and anti-Christian slogans.” The protesters were “commemorating” the deaths of Azerbaijani civilians caused by Armenian army’s takeover of Khojalu in 1992.

The thousand person protesters, according to the Iranian website AFTAB, chanted, “We want the destruction of Armenia.”

Two months before the demonstration the Azerbaijani army had destroyed the last monuments of the ancient Armenian cemetery in Old Julfa (Hin Jugha), close to the Iranian-Azerbaijani border.