National, International, Armenia, and Community News and Opinion

Number 107
March 28, 2009
Armenia
Not your typical Armenian family...
Larissa Hovsepyan, 67, has adopted
15 children from all over the world.
Often featured in the media, Larissa
and her multiethnic family have
become something of a household
name in Armenia. It all started in
1982. After having raised the child
of a relative for several years, Larissa,
who was widowed, decided to
In Armenia very few people know
that they are living alongside one
of the oldest nations in the world,
the Assyrians. The largest Assyrian
community in Armenia is in Verin
Dvin village, which is 40 kilometers
away from Yerevan. When you walk
through the streets of Verin Dvin,
it seems as if you are in Assyria; everyone
speaks Assyrian. In reality,
National
USAPAC offers testimony to House subcommittee
On behalf of the U.S.-Armenia Public
Affairs Committee (USAPAC), Ross
Vartian, Executive Director, provided
testimony to the Appropriations
Subcommittee on State and Foreign
Armenia
Community
Operations for fiscal year 2010 State,
Foreign Operations and Related
Programs Appropriations bill.
adopt a child. From Lithuania, she
adopted her first child, whom she
named Hayrapet, after her father.
Jirayr Hovsepian (no relation) is in
Armenia from LA hoping to prepare
a segment on Larissa’s story for CNN
Heroes. Nyree Abrahamian reports.
Armenia is a homeland for the Assyrians
See story on page 2m
See story on page 17m
the Assyrians lost their statehood
in 605 B.C. Today they are one of
the nations in the world deprived
of a homeland. Until the restoration
of the Assyria of their dreams,
those Assyrians living in Armenia
consider this to be their homeland.
Tatul Hakobyan reports.
See story on page 16m
the armenian
reporter
In Glendale city elections,
Armenians are everywhere
Activists focus on
raising turnout
Seek to avoid
splitting the vote
by Vincent Lima
GLENDALE, Calif. – Voters in Glendale
and other California communities
will go to the polls on Tuesday,
April 7, to elect municipal leaders,
school board members, and other
officials. Armenian-Americans are
among the voters assessing the
platforms and qualifications of
the various candidates, including
numerous Armenian-American incumbents
and hopefuls.
For Elen Asatryan, executive director
of the Armenian National
Committee of Glendale Political
Action Committee, a priority is
to get out the vote. Ms. Asatryan
notes that Glendale has some
200,000 residents, 40 percent of
whom are of Armenian descent. Of
these 80,000 Armenian-Americans,
some 27,000 are registered to vote.
Only 9,200 Armenian-Americans
actually voted last time, she says.
Her goal is to raise that number to
14,000 this year.
With the help of 200 volunteers,
she is reaching out. “Take someone
who registered in 1999, for
example, voted once, and never
voted again. They’re eligible
to vote, registered to vote, but
The offices of the Armenian National Committee of Glendale pac are abuzz with
volunteer activity, while other volunteers are out canvassing voters door to door.
they’re not voting. A lot of the
campaigns just go for people who
are high-propensity voters. But
we’re making an effort to reach
everyone who’s eligible to vote,”
Ms. Asatryan says.
One focus of the volunteers, as
they canvass and phone bank, is to
make sure voters vote successfully.
Some people sign an application for
an absentee ballot and think they
have already voted, Ms. Asatryan
sighs. Others, in the past, have
mailed in their sample ballots instead
of a proper absentee ballot.
Ms. Asatryan’s team is working to
reduce the number of such incidents
among Armenian-American
voters.
It is a familiar American story:
an ethnic group with a high proportion
of recent immigrants is
becoming attuned to the U.S. electoral
system.
“Rafi Manoukian was the reason
I got involved,” says Ms.
Asatryan, looking back 10 years.
Mr. Manoukian was a member of
Glendale City Council for eight
years and served as mayor. He is
now running for city treasurer. “I
was about 15–16 years old,” re-
Continued on page 9
iCON Communications launches nextgeneration
Internet service in Armenia
Talent, dedication at the St. Sahag School of Music
The St. Sahag School of Music is a
blessing for the Armenian-American
community of the twin cities,
Lynne Knadjian Gildensoph writes.
Community
Andre’s Steakhouse exceeds expectations
Community
Its story starts with the journey of
a talented family from Gyumri, Armenia,
to St. Paul, Minn.
See story on page 10m
Scents that would whet even a
vegetarian’s appetite waft through
Andre’s Steakhouse, at the northeast
corner of Tamiami and 28th
Avenue. The front and back parking
lots are full, and there are no
empty parking spots on the street.
It’s the last Saturday night of February,
and Andre’s is packed like it
is every night during “the season,”
when tourists and retirees converge
on Florida’s Paradise Coast,
off the Gulf of Mexico. Paul Chaderjian
reports from Florida.
See story on page 6m
Thousands mourn passing of beloved pastor
Vartan Kassabian
Condolences poured into New England
from across the country and
abroad for a beloved pastor who
served his church for 17 years before
climbing a stairway to paradise,
Tom Vartabedian writes.
See story on page 14m
YEREVAN – iCON Communications
has launched high-speed wireless
broadband Internet services
for residential and corporate customers
in Armenia at competitive
prices. iCON customers can now access
broadband Internet from their
homes, offices and other locations
without needing to be physically
connected to a network via cable or
phone lines.
iCON’s network is based on Alcatel-Lucent’s
industry leading
WiMAX Rev-e solution. WiMAX
stands for Worldwide Interoperability
for Microwave Access and
offers broadband wireless alternative
to cable or DSL-based technologies
for the delivery of Internet
services.
WiMAX is the next generation
of WiFi. While WiFi offers wireless
Internet access, it works only
in small spaces; its signal is not
very strong and so it doesn’t have
broad coverage. WiMAX technology
is more advanced and can carry
a signal for up to 30 kilometers,
making Internet connectivity accessible
to even rural communities.
It operates in much the same
way as cell phone coverage does.
iCON has launched its network in
several districts of Yerevan, and
plans to cover the entire city by
September and other major cities
in Armenia by 2010.
Adam Kablanian.
For Chief Executive Officer of
iCON Communications Adam Kablanian,
bringing WiMAX technology
to Armenia was born out of his
own experience in the country. Mr.
Kablanian began coming to Armenia
in 1999, while he was president
and CEO of Virage Logic, a company
he had founded in 1996 and
subsequently took public in 2000
on NASDAQ (VIRL). Virage Logic
opened a branch office in Armenia
and therefore, “I experienced
this Internet issue for the past ten
years.” After leaving Virage in 2008,
Mr. Kablanian decided to make a
transition in his life. “I didn’t want
to retire, but I wanted to spend
time with my family, and read and
travel, which I did for a year and a
half and in the meantime I wanted
to resolve this [Internet] issue,” he
told the Armenian Reporter. “It became
a personal issue to resolve the
Internet connectivity in Armenia.”
When the seasoned businessperson
began the process, Internet
connectivity was a monopoly in Armenia.
“The whole idea started with
liberating the monopoly and then
we ended up with a business. We
are also businesspeople and we saw
Continued on page 16 m