May 28 Grand Victory Fiesta on Sunday

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MAY28 GRAND VICTORY FIESTA ON SUNDAY WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF SINGER KARNIG SARKISSIAN & SAHAG SAHAGIAN & ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE VAHAN HOVHANESSIAN

Gibrahayer 19 May - Nicosia - The ARF Dashnaktsoutiun Cyprus Gomideh has announced a May 28 Grand Fiesta on the occasion of the rebirth of the Armenian nation by marking the 90th anniversary of Armenian independence with the participation of Armenian presidential candidate Vahan Hovhannessian and singers Karnig Sarkissian and his band as well as Sahag Sahagian (composer of Kedashen). The celebrations will begin at PASYDY on Sunday 8 June at 6:30pm and will continue with a Banquet at The Holiday Inn at 8:30 pm with the participation of the Armenian popular singers. The raffle of The Armenian National Committee of Cyprus - giving out three major prizes will take place during the Banquet. The two events on the same day, are being organised by the ARF Dashnaktsoutiun Cyprus Gomideh and sister organisations AYMA/HMEM, Hamazkayin "Oshagan" Cyprus Chapter and The Armenian Relief Society (HOM) "Sosse" Cyprus Chapter.

Georges Karnig der Parthogh (1923 – 2008)

Georges der Parthogh, veteran journalist, international news photographer and a leading member of the Armenian community, died in Nicosia on Monday. He was 84. Born in Harar, Ethiopia on December 18, 1923, Georges came to Cyprus with his family in 1935. He attended the English School in Nicosia after which he served with the Air Ministry. He later joined the Times of Cyprus where he worked from 1955 to 1959 and where he met Lana Matoff, whom he married in 1960. Georges’ career as an international correspondent saw him working for Reuters (1959-1963) and United Press International (1963-1979) covering wars and civil commotion in Cyprus, Malta, Middle East, Iran and East Africa. In 1979 he co-founded The Cyprus Weekly with fellow journalists Andreas Hadjipapas and Alex Efthyvoulou. Also, since 1989 he was a special correspondent for Azg newspaper in Yerevan and the Armenian Mirror-Spectator in Boston. During the catastrophic earthquake in Armenia and the war of liberation of Nagorno Karabakh, Georges led several humanitarian aid delegations, for which he was awarded the Nagorno Karabakh Gold Medal. He was granted an honorary citizenship of the Republic of Armenia and received the Golden Pen Award of the Union of Armenian Journalists for his 50-year career as a journalist, as well as the Intercollege Media Institute Award as a prominent journalist and photo-reporter. He actively supported photography at home and abroad, encouraged young photographers and received several awards as a member of the Cyprus Photographic Society and continued judging competitions until recently. He served his community as spokesman to two Armenian Representatives, a member of the Board of Governors of the Melkonian Educational Institute and as Past President of the Lions Club Nicosia Cosmopolitan. He had two sons and two granddaughters. The funeral will take place at the Sourp Asdvadzadzin Armenian Church, Armenia Str., Nicosia on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 4pm. Lana, Yervant, Masis & Louise, Tatiana and Natalia, Noubar John & Gwynneth der Parthogh

LARNACA MONUMENT SPARKS REACTION IN COMMUNITY

Gibrahayer - Nicosia - The procedures and the decisions leading to last week’s inauguration of the Larnaca monument sparked a strong reaction from MP Vartkes Mahdessian and many members of the Armenian community who strongly feel that certain individuals have taken liberties, tried to bypass and undermine the democratically elected Armenian Representative, the Church, the Temagan/Varchagan bodies and the Armenian Community in general. Vartkes Mahdessian circulated a press release after the inauguration not to affect in any negative way the inauguration ceremony and stressed the following points:- • A much more humble monument could have been built with the help of an Armenian sculptor which would have still given the same message • The amount of over 200,000 Euro spent on the extravagant monument could have been reduced dramatically and the funds used elsewhere for more pressing needs of the community • Some individuals without consulting the Monument Committee nor the Cypriot Armenian Community have undertaken to cover a 16,000 Euro gap in the total expenditure of the monument with the intention of putting up personal plaques • The same individuals have gone even further and taken the liberty of writing in the name of the Armenian Community to the Larnaca Municipality asking to name the area around the monument “Armenian Square”. In comments made to Gibrahayer e-magazine, Mahdessian said that these individuals have also taken the privilege to send to the local press under the name of the Monument Committee a considerable amount of correspondence with their desired text and without any consultation with the committee members. “This monument represents the pain of the whole Armenian Community and no individual has the right to adopt it and take advantage of the generous gesture of the Cyprus government” Mahdessian concluded. On Click Gibros on www dot gibrahayer dot com, you can read the statement by The Kalaydjian Foundation. Souren Sarafyan also writes on the same issue in the same section.

BOOK REVIEW:"My Grandmother: A Memoir" by Fethiye Çetin

Today Zaman June 2, 2008 - As a girl, Turkish lawyer Fethiye Çetin knew her grandmother as an adored Muslim matriarch by the name of Seher. Then she learned that Seher had been born an Armenian Christian, Haranuş, who, several decades before, had been seized from the clasp of her mother by a World War I Turkish gendarmerie corporal officiating over a column of Armenians being marched out of Anatolia. "My Grandmother," now out in a translation by novelist Maureen Freely, is Çetin's compelling account of her gradual discovery of the deep contradiction between her proud nationalist education and the realities buried deep in Turkish society. The bare narrative offers few moral and historical judgements, few dates, no maps, no politics. There is also no discussion of whether the disappearance of the Armenians of Anatolia was the result of a genocide or massacres or civil war. Surprises abound: for instance, Seher came to feel great affection for the corporal as a new father. Asked why it all happened by Çetin, all the grandmother can ask back is, "What should I know?" The fast-selling original of the book is part of a genre in modern Turkish literature that tries to make amends for the gaping hole left by the Armenians in the country's public history. The theme is dominant in both Orhan Pamuk's recent "Snow" and Elif Şafak's "The Bastard of Istanbul." Çetin's book is already required reading for students in progressive Turkish institutions like Sabancı University in İstanbul. Along with occasional recent exhibitions and conferences about the lost Armenians, these are part of a trend in Turkey that is grappling with a history of denial, nationalism and fears of political consequences. Altogether eight Armenian girls ended up as new-minted Muslims in the small Turkish town where Çetin's grandmother found herself. Even her brother Horen survived to become known as a shepherd called Ahmet. Initially working as domestic servants, then as free wives and mothers, they kept alive customs like coloured candy-bread, which they would share at Easter without letting the children know why; they laboured under discrimination enough already. Everyone in town knew they were of Armenian origin. Their official papers registered them as "converts," but they were mocked in the streets as "converts' sperm" or the "leftovers of the sword." The family is convinced this was why one talented relative was unable to take up a place in a good military school. Translator Freely, in a valuable introduction, reckons there could today be 2 million such descendants of Armenians among Turkey's population of 75 million. More than 30 other ethnicities still survive, and this new proof of the impossibility of repressing its inherent multi-ethnicity helps explain the shrillness and sometimes schizophrenia of Turkey's one-nation ideologues. Çetin argues that all in Anatolia are of "impure blood." The pain of the Turkish Armenians is not yet over. As a lawyer, Çetin represents the family of murdered Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink, cut down in January 2007 by a young man inspired by this same deep-rooted nationalism, and hailing from Trabzon, an eastern Turkish city with a history of ethnic trauma. As Çetin's grandmother warns her children, telling them not to be afraid as they pass by a cemetery, "Evil comes from the living, not the dead." "My Grandmother: A Memoir" by Fethiye Çetin , will be available at Moufflon Bookstore by next week and will be sold at 23.24 euros (13.60 pounds). You can email Ruth Keshishian to place your order - moufflon at spidernet dot com dot cy In Gibrahayer calendar take note of the June 19 event about the book in London.

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..there is always something new on Gibrahayer DOT com Click Gibros - Images of the inauguration of the Genocide Monument in the Larnaca front. Letters from the Kalaydjian Foundation and Souren Sarafyan Omphalos tis gis - news from Cyprus Article of the week - Ukrainian revolutionary teaches lessons to Levon Ter -Petrosyan Playboy in Armenia - Part II

Letters to the Editor - on Armenia's linguistic imperialism

Dear Simon, I was initially very pleased to hear about the monument of the Armenian Monument. My pleasure turned to concern when reliable sources informed me that the sculpture itself was “anjorni” and to compound the insult to our forefathers, the inscription on the monument was in Eastern Armenian. Those who suffered the genocide were Western Armenians, they spoke Western Armenian. What is happening to our Diasporan nation? First we lose the Melkonian, and now we have to suffer Armenia's linguistic imperialism? Why of why did we allow a monument to our forefathers to be inscribed in the abomination of the Eastern Armenian spelling? In vain did I visit your website to seek confirmation of what I had been told, but alas there were no images. Were you too embarrassed to put them on your pages? Yours truly, Souren Sarafyan Editor's note: All images have been uploaded on Click Gibros on Gibrahayer dot com

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A STORY FROM THE EASTERN PROVINCE OF MALATYA

A local musician in the eastern province of Malatya applied to court last week to get a name change, declaring that he was really an Armenian. Kazım Akıncı, who lives with his mother and makes a living selling his albums, said his family hid the fact that they were Armenian Christians, but had decided to stop hiding his true identity after Turkish journalist of Armenian decent Hrant Dink was killed early last year. He applied to a Malatya court to change his name to Serkis Nerseyan and went to the local population registry to change the religion section of his identity card from Muslim to Christian. Speaking to the Doğan news agency, he said, "I live in Malatya and neither I nor the society has any problem with me being an Armenian. However, my family hid this fact for years due to a baseless fear." He said his sadness over Dink' murder had made him decide to declare his identity. "I make a living by selling my albums. I am well liked by those around me. They like me not because I am 'Kazım' or 'Serkis.' I am liked because of my personality. There is no reason for fear or hiding." Dink was shot and killed in front of the office of the weekly Armenian newspaper Agos in January 2007 by an ultra-nationalist teenager. Dink was also found guilty of insulting Turkishness by a court. Malatya made the headlines in April last year when five ultra-nationalists raided the offices of a publishing house, murdering two Turkish Christian converts and a German national, all of whom were working as Christian missionaries.

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