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Yaar  2, 6751                     Volume VII                      Issue 9                    May 2, 2001

“A throat slit in Paris is called a murder, 50,000 throats slit in the East and it is a question.”
                                                                                                                                           –Victor Hugo

On the evening of January 26th the Portland Art Museum's “Sultan’s Ball” –a $250 black tie affair celebrating the opening of Khalili’s Ottoman exhibit “Empire of the Sultans”-was treated to hours of demonstrations by local descendants and survivors of Turkey's Genocidal campaign in the Eastern Mediterranean.  Greeks from Cyprus and Pontus in a brotherhood of sorrows with the other maligned and dismembered Ancient peoples of the East the Armenians, the Assyrians and the Kurds chanted and tweaked the faded consciousness of Portland’s elite collaborator exhibit patrons.  “You can afford a conscience” screamed an Armenian American from Salem, Oregon.  “The Legacy of the Turks and the Ottoman Turks is slavery, torture and the race extermination of Greeks and Armenians I hope you enjoy your evening its on the dead Greeks and Armenians” cried a Greek American PSU student.  The exhibit is supported by deep pockets the American Turkish Council, the American Friends of Turkey (a depository of Death Merchants and retired American military officers and CIA operatives), Fred Myer, and Portland State University's Turkish Studies Program-funded directly by the Turkish government.  The exhibit and the brochures and lectures accompanying the exhibit exalt the Ottoman Turkish “multiculturalism” a historical timeline in the published brochure has the gall to caption the American Declaration of Independence directly above a portrait of Turk autocrat Selim the Grim.  The historical record of the true legacy of the Turks and their Sultans is in direct contradiction to this exhibit's attempt to sanitize Turkey's rap sheet of transnational Crimes Against Humanity.  Don't take my word for it simply ask the Kurds, ask the Greeks, ask the Assyrians, ASK THE ARMENIANS!

The Ottoman Empire was commandeered by a nomadic tribe originating from Central Asia whose armies steamrolled, and through forced assimilation of conquered subjects destroyed indigenous cultures and depleted indigenous populations from the mountains of Kurdistan in Eastern Asia Minor to the Greek and Serbian homelands in the Balkans.  For the Turks human slavery was protected until the 20th Century, Christian minorities in the occupied lands lived in enclaves and were subject to a head tax that literally was enforced with the Turkish punishment of decapitation.  Pre-teen boys were basic human commodities that fulfilled the lustful desires of Ottoman tax registers, and taken away from their parents were forced into a life of servitude in the Sultans praetorian guard- (the Janissaries).  The printing press was officially outlawed in Ottoman Turkey until the 19th century and endures brutal official censors to this very day (some recent examples include the arrest and detainment of Turkish author Nadire Mater for”insulting the military” the Kurdish daily Ozgurluk is published in exile and Turkish newspapers are subject to police raids and state terror (see Kurdish intellectual and poet Yasar Kemal’s editorial “Cloud of Lies” published in Der Spiegel.)  By the 19th Century internal revolutions by oppressed enclaves in mainland Greece, Serbia, in Kurdistan, and Bulgaria led to nominal independence from the Ottoman political system.  The Greek revolution of 1821 was dearly won by revolutionary Greek guerrillas –the kephts-who in their mountain steadfasts liberated the Ancient Greek city of Athens and the Greek lands of Peloponessos and Attiki from 400 years of Ottoman political oppression.  The Bulgars paid a heavy price for their independence with thousands of dismembered and mutilated peasants in macabre human hillsides.  British statesman Gladstone noted “I am ashamed to call myself a member of the human race since the Turks are also human” By 1912 and 1913 the whole of the Balkans had won its right to self-determination.  From the Macedonian region, there came two Turks who went on to eliminate forever the pesky minorities and build a Turkey for the Turks.  Talat Pasha and Kemal (later to be named Ataturk) –the founder of the “Republic of Turkey.”

Both Talat and K. Ataturk were instrumental in implementing the part pogrom of the Young Turk Party<Ittihad ve Terrakki>, the so-called party of Union and Progress.  The party was formed in 1908 on the slogan of equality and fraternity but by the dawn of WWI it was transformed into a racist terror network ultimately becoming the undisputed government of Turkey and became bent on creating a "Turkey for the Turks.”  The first step involved the extermination of the indigenous people of the region that traditionally followed the Christian faith-Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians-through the clever use of Islam and collaborator muftis and hodjas to incite hatred among their beleaguered Turks who owed their misfortunes to this ruling Young Turk Party.  Backroom deals sealed with the German government dragged Ottoman Turkey into WWI.  The second phase was implemented during the dictatorship of General Kemal Ataturk, and it involved the slow-motion genocide of the proud Kurdish nation (soon after 'the Republic of Turkey" was formed the Kurds officially became "mountain Turks" and began active revolts, 26 in all with the PKK rebellion as the most recent)

On April 24, 1915 behind the smokescreen of WWI, the Turkish government arrested over 200 Armenian community leaders and intellectuals in Constantinople and speedily deported them into the Turkish interior.  This day marks the Day of Remembrance for the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide, eerily April 24th is also the Day of Remembrance for Shoah (the Jewish Genocide).  In May of 1915 the Allied powers warned Turk leaders that they would be held accountable for "Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization", thus coining a new term in International law (see Vahakn Dadrian' s The History of the Armenian Genocide 1995) The Armenians were deported from the length and breadth of Ottoman Turkey promised that they would be resettled in "a safer place.”  Agents of the Young Turk Party oversaw these death marches which led this sea of humanity, 1.5 million in all, into the ravines and valleys of Anatolia where they were ruthlessly butchered wholesale with blunt instruments by government organized Turkish death squads.  The U.S. ambassador to Ottoman Turkey Henry Morgenthau said in his memoirs"when the deportation order was given it was clear that a death warrant was issued for the Armenian race" (Ambassador Morgenthau's Story 1918) After the war, coded telegrams ordering the genocide sent by Talat to Turkish provincial administrators were read in court and Talat was sentenced to death in absentia (Germany had granted him political asylum) Even more ironic is the fact that immediately after K.Ataturk solidified his rule in Turkey , the denial of the crime of genocide by Turkish officialdom began in order to create the boundaries of the new Turkish boundaries be they real or imaginary. In 1942, Nazi Germany exhumed Talat's remains in a state ceremony and shipped them back to Turkey.  Today, there stands a grand mausoleum in Ankara memorializing Talat and a major thoroughfare named in his honor.  Nazi leadership knew all too well the international impunity granted to the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide.  Adolf Hitler told his SS generals in 1939 before embarking on the Holocaust "Kill without Mercy .After all, who now remembers the annihilation of the Armenians"(Dadrian's Warrant for Genocide 1999)

It may be instructive at this point to refer to Ziya Gokalp, chief propagandist, and ideologue for the Young Turks and the intellectual influence for Talat and K. Ataturk.  Uriel Heyd, Gokalp's British intellectual biographer, has noted, "He laid in his writings the foundation of the national and modern state which was eventually established by General Kemal Ataturk."(Heyd's Foundations of Turkish Nationalism: The Life and Teachings of Ziya Gokalp 1950)  Gokalp glorified a distant and mystical Turkish past when a GREY WOLF led the Turks out of the fogs of Central Asia.  (the Grey Wolves are a racist paramilitary secret society that permeates all levels of Turkish society akin to the influence of the KKK in the U.S.A. during the 1920's)  Ziya Gokalp also claimed for the Turks conquerors such as Attila and Genghis Khan as Turkish cultural heirs.  Following this frame of reference "Greeks, Armenians who lived in Turkey would remain a foreign body in the national Turkish state"(Heyd)

Greeks in the Black Sea littoral of Asia Minor called PONTUS (meaning sea in Greek) were exposed to the worst treatment of Turkey's Genocidal Mentality.  K. Ataturk had a thing for Greeks, he was born in the Greek city of Thessaloniki, and had been commandeer of Turkish military units defeated by Greek guerillas in Macedonia during the Balkan liberation from Ottoman Turk rule.  Kemal hid in the shadows during Talat's reign in 1915-1918, however he proved himself a worthy ghazi (warrior and destroyer of Greeks) in the years following WWI.  His close associates named him Bozkurt (Grey Wolf).  K. Ataturk landed at Pontus in the Black Sea port of Samsun on May 19,1919-a day of mourning that is commemorated as the Pontic Greek Genocide every May 19th.  Pontic Greeks have existed in their native region since the days of Jason and the Argonauts pre-dating the 3rd Century BC K.Ataturk and his Turkish armies systematically destroyed PONTUS.  Some 700,000 Greeks were ousted from their ancestral homes by orders of General Kemal Ataturk and marched into oblivion-their bones litter the mountain pathways of the Pontus mountains.  Greek owned properties were stolen by their Turk murderers and have laid the financial base for at least one contemporary Turkish family of economic power.  After a systematic campaign of race extermination the Greeks were also destroyed in Smyrna (renamed Izmir in 1930) by Turkish armies under the command of K. Ataturk.  Over a hundred thousand Greek civilians were massacred in September 1922 under the watchful eyes of a 27-ship armada from the U.S.A., Britain, Italy, and France.  Smyrna was burned to the ground save for the Standard Oil compound.  Admiral Bristol, the U.S. State Dept. man on the ground in Smyrna, had little regard for the lives of Greeks he had said "the Greeks are the worst race in this part of the world" (Marjorie Housepian Dobkin Smyrna 1922 1998) The international community through its silence has pardoned the perpetrator of this crime.  The classical Pontic Greek city of Trapezounta has been renamed Trabzon and its cultural heritage is thoroughly destroyed.  The Pontic Greek diaspora, which was sent to the four winds, has settled throughout the world and is entering its second and third generation.  Pontic Greeks have begun now after generations of recovery to publish their memoirs-Sanho Halo, a survivor of the Pontic Greek Genocide, is beautifully memorialized by her daughter Thea in the current bestseller "Not Even My Name.”  An old man in Queens, N.Y. where over 40,000 Pontic Greeks now reside told me once" The Turks stole our face, defaced our beautiful Pontic culture, their time will come and they will pay either in money or in blood.”  The despair of poor tattered Pontic Greeks who settled as far from the PONTUS homeland as North America, Australia, and Northern Europe is being answered by their grandchildren who are reacting to the nightmares of their ancestors with calls to action.

The Armenian Genocide is now recognized by the UN, the Europarliament, and the French government.  Despite persistent protests by the State Department, the U.S. Congress was set for a vote of the Armenian Genocide resolution on the House floor only to be shelved by Bill Clinton in the midnight hour through the personal plea of intervention by Israel's Shimon Peres.  The perpetrator of the Jewish genocide has delivered over $60 billion in reparations to Israel, the peoples of the genocide in Asia Minor-Armenians, Assyrians, and the Greeks of Pontus-have gotten a kick in the ass.  The genocide of the Assyrians (some 500,000 who were exterminated in waves that swept away the Armenian nation) is still unknown.  Assyrians were also massacred when Turkey, in a precedent for the later invasion of Cyprus, invaded the province of Hatay Alexandetta in Syria during the 1930's.  The slow-motion genocide of the Kurds is ongoing and steadily aided and covered-up by the U.S.A. and the descendants of another genocide, the Israelis.  Cyprus endures a brutal Turkish military occupation to accommodate Anglo-American bases in northern Turkish occupied Cyprus.  Greek demonstrators are slaughtered by Turkish Grey Wolf terrorist operatives.  This same Grey Wolf organization is responsible for the "disappearances" and outright lynchings of Kurdish activists and intellectuals throughout Turkey.  These same Grey Wolf terrorists are behind acts of arson that devastate the Greek islands every summer.

An International Industry of Denial is being financed by Turkey with the healthy support of Israel and the U.S. State Department.  The services of top-notch K street lobbyists are enlisted including the million dollar arsenals of  Phillip Morris Inc., a long list of arms merchants, and B'nai B'irth.  So far, the Turkish Embassy supported by its front organization Institute of Turkish Studies (I.T.S.) has funded over 20 Turkish Studies programs in various American universities.  The Chair of Turkish Studies in Princeton, Heath Lowry, resigned after being exposed as a ghostwriter for Turkish ambassador Nuzhet Kandemir.  The letter he was busted ghost writing specified verbatim classic genocide denialist propaganda intended for distribution to a New York publisher.  In Portland State University, the current holder of the Chair of Turkish Studies is an active mentor and former trainer for Ahmet Sozen.  Sozen is an insider of Rauf Denktash's cryptic feudal regime in Turkish occupied northern Cyprus.  A source in Cyprus, who I am not at liberty to disclose, tells me that Sozen is the intellectual arm of the Grey Wolves on the island of Cyprus.  Sozen has penned several texts that the regime uses to cover-up for its crimes against the Greeks of Cyprus.  Azmi Suslu fancies himself a protégé of Young Turk ideologue Ziya Gokalp and is considered the modern Joseph Goebbels of Turkey's fascistic society.  Strangely, he made his premier in America in Portland, Oregon and spewed his propaganda to unknowing innocents in Portland State University thanks to the services of PSU's chair of Turkish Studies.  PSU president Dan Bernstine along with other high ranking faculty took a very expensive trip to Turkey in 1999 to visit Turkish head of state Sulexman "the Butcher of Kurds" Demiral, while there Bernstine signed some sort of official agreement with Ataturk Research Center in the Prime Ministry's office.  In a letter which I came across, Nuzhet Kandemir writes to his patron Bernstine "I have been closely following the ill-intending efforts of certain anti-Turkey ethnic lobbies."

The indigenous people of Asia Minor are experiencing a second killing.  Denial and erasure of memory is the final phase of genocide, as genocide scholar Israel Charny has so eloquently expressed in his landmark book Is the Holocaust Unique? (I.Charny 2000) Apo Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdish rebellion, has noted his unnerving anger as a young man when confronted with the physical and spiritual ruins left behind from the previous victims of Turkish criminality-Armenians,Assyrians, Pontic Greeks.  The diaspora of this collective genocide has come back to haunt the Turkish racists.  The State Security Council of Turkey recently issued a 14-page document detailing the grassroots activism of the Assyrian nation in exile.  Assyrian hunger strikes in Sweden and the Netherlands, demonstrations outside Turkish diplomatic posts spanning the globe, in June 2000 Assyrian protesters occupied the Laussane Municipal Building in Switzerland to highlight Turkey's Crimes Against Humanity.  Internet activism, spearheaded by the heroic grassroots American Hellenic Media Project AHMP and the Assyrian International News Agency AINA, have drawn attention to the plight of Father Yusuf Akbulut (an Assyrian priest imprisoned in Turkey for affirming the historical reality of the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Genocide) Thanks to the campaign the courtroom was packed with international observers to Turkey's embarrassment.  AHMP volunteers successfully convinced Actor Antonio Banderas to decline the film role of Ataturk in a $65 million film hagiography of the late ethnic cleanser financed by B'nai B'irth.  Incidentally, B'nai B'irth is also the major Jewish lobby sandbagging the Armenian Genocide resolution and is a major promoter of Ataturkism (the Jewish organization paid for a full page ad in the N.Y. Times congratulating the fascistic Turkish State on the occasion of its 75th anniversary) Genocide is born of racism, bigotry, and absence of the fundamental principles of human rights and civil liberties.  The diaspora created by the Genocidal Mentality of the Turks now begins to confront Turkey head-on to face its past in order to save the present and to create a future of real democratization.  Democracy is not possible when the Turkish state denies the oppression of Greeks in Cyprus, denies the slaughter of Kurds, denies Turkey's genesis in genocide.

Nicholas Tanery
New York

Nicholas Tanery is a Greek-American activist and writer originally from New York City.

GOOD MORNING BET-NAHRAIN

April 23:  A group of Assyrian representatives (political/religious affiliation unknown) attended the the fourth congress of the Kurdistan
Islamic Scholars' Union. The opening ceremony was attended by the Speaker of the Kurdistan National Assembly; secretary and members of KDP political bureau and central committee; deputy head of [KDP-led] Kurdistan regional government; a number of parliamentarians; ministers; and Islamic scholars.

Courtesy of Agence France-Presse (Copyright 2001); April 28

(ZNDA:  Baghdad)  A congress for peace in Iraq and the world will be held in Baghdad from May 15, according to the Chaldean church, the country's leading Christian denomination.  Senior religious figures from abroad, including Muslims and Buddhists, have been invited to the five-day meeting which will hear of "the Church's contribution to bringing peace to the world, and particularly to Iraq," said His Holiness Raphael Bidawid, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church.

"At least 400 personalities have said they will attend," the Chaldean leader said, adding they would also visit Christian sites in northern Iraq.  The Chaldeans want to "remind public opinion of the tragedy Iraq and its people are living through," because of international sanctions in force since Saddam Hussein sent his troops into Kuwait in 1990.  This will be the fifth such congress the Chaldean church has organized. The last took place in 1999.

Over one million Christians live in Iraq among a population of 22 million, a majority of whom are Chaldean Catholics.

Courtesy of Agence France-Presse (Copyright 2001); April 28

(ZNDA:  Baghdad)  His Holiness Mar Raphael Bidawid, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, slammed Israel last Saturday for the repression of the Palestinians, likening it to that of the Jews suffering at the hands of the Nazis.

"The Jews who suffered repression under Hitler, who said force was always right, are today applying the same policy against Palestinians without having learnt their lesson from history," Patriarch of Babylon, Raphael Bidawid, said in Baghdad last Saturday.

The situation in the Palestinian territories was a "great tragedy", Bidawid said, adding that "international public opinion was based on Zionist and American theses."  "Peoples' rights cannot be wiped out by force and the right of the Palestinian people must be recognized and reestablished," he said, saluting the "courage" of Palestinian suicide bombers.

Bidawid, who will travel to Syria for Pope Jean-Paul II's visit from May 5-8, said a papal visit to Iraq was still on the agenda.

"This visit is still on the agenda. It was delayed but not canceled and contacts (between Iraq and the Vatican) are ongoing so it will take place later," he said.

Courtesy of Reuters News Service (Copyright 2001); April 30

(ZNDA:  Baghdad)  An ancient stone head stolen from Iraq is on sale at a London exhibition, an Iraqi official says.  "Interpol has notified Iraq that it found a head made of stone from a statue which dates back to the Babylonian era on sale at an exhibition in London," acting head of Iraq's Antiquities Department, Mahmoud al-Qaissi said in the Al-Ra'i weekly newspaper.  The report gave no further details.

Iraq says 4,000 antiquities went missing in the confusion that followed the 1991 Gulf War. It believes many have already been sold abroad.  Another Iraqi weekly said Iraqi archaeologists have discovered a haul of artifacts dating from the Sumerian period at a site in Wassit province, 170 km (105 miles) south of Baghdad.  The collection ranged from pots to fired clay tablets, head of the excavation team Salim Younis was quoted as saying in the al-ittihad weekly newspaper.

"The clay tablets...show the earlier stages of writing," Younis said. He said they dated from the third Ur dynasty and the Akkadian era, which ended about 4,200 years ago.  Pottery toys, human and animal figures, jars and cups made from pottery and copper, and inscribed cylindrical seals were also discovered.

NEWS DIGEST

Courtesy of Associated Press News Service (Copyright 2001); May 2

(ZNDA:  Beirut)  The leader of one of the Mideast's largest Catholic communities won't go to Syria to greet Pope John Paul II, the Lebanese Maronite church said today, citing the "political nature" the event has assumed in a country where Christians have led an anti-Syria campaign.  "His eminence intended to participate in the events accompanying the visit had it not been for the political nature it has taken in the Lebanese public opinion," said a statement issued after a meeting of the Council of Maronite Bishops.

Maronite Catholic Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir's decision is sure to irritate Syria and deepen the rift caused by his peaceful and very public campaign to persuade Syria to withdraw 30,000 troops from Lebanon and curtail its involvement in Lebanese politics.

A papal visit has in the past been an occasion for Christian leaders from countries throughout the region to gather.  Mar Raphael Bidawid, leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church and residing in Baghdad, will meet the Pope in Syria during his travels.

The Melkite Catholic Church, another major Catholic denomination which is seated in Damascus, invited Sfeir to greet the pope. Syria's Lebanese allies - Christian and Muslim - urged him to travel to Damascus, some even saying he could gain concessions from the Syrians by such a gesture.

In an interview with the French newspaper La Croix, excerpts of which were published by Lebanese newspapers last week, Sfeir expressed concern about the political ramifications of his visiting Syria.

"If my visit had been only pastoral, I would have made it without hesitation ... but this visit has another political dimension. If I went to Damascus, Syria will take advantage of my visit," he told the newspaper.

Sfeir has also been under pressure not to go from his followers, where anti-Syrian sentiment is running high. About 150,000 people who turned out in March to greet him on his return from a five-week North American tour directed their anger against Syria and the pro-Syrian Lebanese government.

The Maronite sect has roots and followers in Syria. It was founded by a monk, St. Maron, in the 5th century. Maronites took refuge and established their church in Lebanon's forbidding northern mountains in the 7th century. They were then considered heretics by other Catholics and only reconciled with the Vatican five centuries later.  Maronites were a majority at independence from France in 1943 and once ruled Lebanon in an overwhelmingly Muslim Arab world. Nowadays, Christians - most of them Maronite - make up an estimated 35-40 percent of Lebanon's 3.5 million people.  Despite the loss of much of its power and clout under an agreement that ended the 1975-90 sectarian civil war, the Maronite Church remains highly regarded even among Muslims.

Maronites are estimated to number about 900,000 in Lebanon. Up to 5 million are scattered elsewhere in the Mideast, the Americas and Australia.

Courtesy of the Hartford Courant (Copyright 2001); April 27

(ZNDA:  New Britain)  The city of New Britain in the state of Connecticut is shaping up to be a contest among serious candidates for this year's mayoral elections. While party nominations are still months away, early announcements signal a campaign that will allow office seekers time to make themselves known to the voters and engage in useful and spirited debate on the issues.

Republican alderman Peter Oshana, an Assyrian, got into contention early by announcing in February his plan to seek his party's nomination. Mr. Oshana has been elected twice to the common council and will draw on that experience during his campaign. Two years ago, the Republicans had ceded the race to incumbent Democrat Mayor Lucian Pawlak until Patrick J. Cloutier took the GOP ballot spot through an eleventh-hour petition process.

The city of New Britian has been home to the earliest Assyrian immigrants to the United States.  Today, there are two Assyrian organizations and one Assyrian church serving this community.   Both organizations remain active members of the Assyrian American National Federation.  Recently, Mr. Johnny and Mrs. Elizabeth Yousefzadeh of New Britain accompanied John Nimrod, Secretary General of the Assyrian Universal Alliance, on a trip to the Republics of Armenia and Georgia.

Other mayoral candidates in New Britain are Peter C. Steele, a city parks commissioner, and Mr. Pawlak, a three-term incumbent.

Courtesy of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Copyright 2001); April 27

(ZNDA:  El Cajon)  They came from all over the neighborhood, young and old, bearing flowers, stuffed animals and cards, to mourn the loss of a friendly liquor store owner who knew them all by their first names.

"My granddaughter thought the world of him," said Bobbi Otterson, 59, who used a cane to walk to Dolour Ibrahim's N&K Liquor on East Main Street yesterday from her home a half-block away.

Ibrahim, 60, was shot to death behind a counter during a robbery just before 8 p.m. last Wednesday. Ibrahim's killing, Otterson and others said, has left a void in the community that will be difficult to fill.

Police are looking for the killer.

"I'd like the scum that did this to be punished to the fullest extent of the law," Otterson said. "He did not deserve this."

At Ibrahim's apartment, a mile from the shop, his widow and several relatives gathered to grieve. "He was an honest man," his wife said. "He would help anybody who needed it."

The neighborhood has had its share of ups and downs. It features apartment complexes and mobile home parks clustered along a long row of shops on Main Street in downtown El Cajon.

Ibrahim's store had been the target of robbers before. Ibrahim carried a handgun tucked into a holster in the back of his pants, his customers said. He used it at least twice within the past two years to stop armed robbers. Once, police said, Ibrahim fired the weapon, but the robber wasn't hit.

Said mechanic Mike Davis, 52, a regular at the store:  "In this neighborhood, you get the good, the bad and the ugly. He knew the ugly, and he got 'em right out."

A friend, Kamal Shaba, 36, said Ibrahim told him just last week he was worried about being killed by a gunman who tried to rob his store but fled when Ibrahim pulled his pistol.

"He was saying: 'Why are they doing this to me?" recalled Shaba, a food supplier who did business with Ibrahim for three years. Ibrahim had said: "I am staying here late at night for people, for my neighborhood."

Shaba said Ibrahim was part of a large local Chaldean community that immigrated from Iraq to escape political unrest. Many own liquor stores, he said, and many have to cope with armed robbers.

"I am deeply sorry," Shaba said. "He has been like my very close friend, my older brother. I don't think that I can serve this store anymore. My boss will have to send somebody else."

Most customers said Ibrahim would freely offer them credit for sodas or cigarettes -- if he felt they were honest.

He also loved to chat.

"We came here three to five times a day," said Davis, a service manager from Precision Tune a half-block away. "We used to joke around about the Jerry Springer show, but he didn't know about it until he met me. He was always helping people. He was very generous. He'd cook dinner in the back and share it with us. He came basically at 9 a.m. each day and stayed late."

Jeremy Felix, a lanky 17-year-old with a marijuana-leaf earring in one ear, said he had come to the store for two years to buy his favorite soda.

"If I didn't have enough money," Felix said, "he'd give it to me and tell me to pay him back later. He was a quiet guy, but friendly."

Jeremy brought a red rose for Ibrahim yesterday, along with a little brown-and-white stuffed puppy dog doll. He laid them down at the front door of the store. On a card above his gift, Jeremy wrote: "An angel is with you and so is my heart."

Courtesy of the Sunday Telegraph (Copyright 2001); April 29

(ZNDA:  Jerusalem)  Pokemon pocket monsters, a children's craze the world over, have been branded "Zionist agents" and banned in the West Bank and Gaza for looking "suspiciously Jewish".  Palestinian Islamic leaders - along with those in Jordan, Qatar and other Arab states - have decreed that the Japanese cartoon monsters be outlawed as part of "an international Zionist conspiracy".

In recent days, rumors have spread that "Pokemon", short for "pocket monsters", means "Jewish" in Japanese and "I am a Jew" in Syriac. As a result, the Syriac Orthodox Church in Jordan has received so many threats that it placed newspaper advertisements in Jordan and the West Bank denying that it had any Pokemon connections.

Last week, Muslim activists handed out leaflets at schools in the West Bank, ordering pupils to stop playing with Pokemon game cards and banning the watching of the Pokemon television series. Pikachu and his pals, said one leaflet, looked "suspiciously Jewish".

Pokemon, invented five years ago by a Japanese businessman and developed by Nintendo, has grown into a 4 billion-British pound industry, with spin-offs in books, comics, toys, television and clothing. Until now, the 250 Pokemon creatures have been as popular among children in the Middle East as elsewhere. Last week, however, representatives of the Muslim Waqf, the chief Islamic authority, told shopkeepers in Arab parts of Jerusalem to stop selling Pokemon products.

The ban spreading across the Arab world began last month, when Saudi Arabia's mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, issued a "supreme fatwa" banning Pokemon games and products because they were a "form of gambling" and the swap cards "feature six-pointed stars, a symbol of international Zionism and the state of Israel".

After the religious decree, the Saudi authorities embarked on a "seize and destroy" mission against all Pokemon games and toys being sold in the Arabian peninsula. Saudi television stations stopped broadcasting the cartoons, and Pokemon merchandise was removed from store shelves. Abdul Aali Al-Abdul Aali, the director general of the Commercial Fraud Combat Department in the Saudi Ministry of Commerce, said anyone found selling or importing Pokemon products would be punished.

Other Arab countries have followed suit. Qatar's mufti, Sheikh Yussef Qardawi, issued a further fatwa against Pokemons, and Dubai's Council of Islamic Teaching ruled that the Pokemon characters also posed a threat because their ability to change characteristics suggested "an acceptance of Darwin's theory of evolution, which religious Muslims reject".

In Palestinian areas and in Jordan, where adherence to Islamic law is less strict, it is the alleged "Jewish connection" that has led to a ban.

In Jordan, Abd al-Man'im Abu Zant, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, stated that the Pokemon games were a Jewish conspiracy designed to lead Muslim children to heresy and idolatry. The distorted Pokemon characters are clearly a contrast to the "purity of Islam and the Koran", he said.

While in Saudi Arabia almost no public figures spoke out in support of the pocket monsters, in Jordan and the West Bank a number of businessmen who had stocked up on Pokemon products objected to their being destroyed. At the businessmen's request, Japan's embassy in Amman, the Jordanian capital, has issued a statement insisting that the Pokemon characters are rooted in Japanese folklore and have no hidden meaning derived from other cultures or religions.

Some Palestinian commentators are angry that the scandal surrounding the children's cartoon characters is diverting attention from "the real struggle against the Zionist enemy". A cartoon in the Jordanian newspaper a-Dustur, which is also read in the West Bank, depicts an Islamic fundamentalist waving a sword and chasing a Pokemon character, screaming: "Beat the Pokemons, a Zionist conspiracy", while the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, sits on a tank in the background laughing.

SURF'S UP!

"On April 29, 2001 my husband and I attended the third Mishael and Lillie Naby Assyrian Lecture at Harvard University. We were accompanied by our daughter Amy and our three grandchildren names Susan, Alexandra and Michael. I was pleased to give my children the opportunity to hear about "Assyrian History, Poetry and Music" which was the theme of the event. We
were treated to recitations in the Assyrian Language of The Lord's Prayer, poems, songs and chants as an oud strummed gently in the background. Professor Michael Abdalla of the University of Agriculture in Pozan, Poland, talked about "Food in the Myth and Legend of Mesopotamia" followed by a period of questions and answers. I am once again grateful to Dr. Michael Hopper and Dr. Eden Naby for keeping the spirit of Assyria alive to members of the diaspora and their American offspring."

Irene Aurahan Kliszus
New Jersey  

A Free & Open to Public Conference on Human Rights in the Middle East
Organized by the Middle East Students Association of DePaul University, Chicago

May 19-20
Lincoln Park Campus
SCHMIDTT ACADEMIC CENTER (SAC)
2320 N. Kenmore Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614

MAY 19

SAC 154
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM     "Revisiting the Past: Assyrian Genocides", Dr. Abdel Massih Saadi
 
SAC 254
6:45 PM - 8:00 PM     "Voices from the Lake" - Documentary on the Armenian Genocide

MAY 20

SAC 254
10:30 - 12:00 PM  Palestinian Human Rights
                                  Not In My Name representative, Cindy Levitt
                                  Charity Crouse & Raed Tayeh of the Washington Reporter on Middle Eastern Affairs
                                  presentation includes short preview of Jerusalem: An Occupation Set in Stone by Marty Rosenbluth

12:00 - 1:00 PM    Lunch Break & Activity Fair

SAC 154
1:00 - 2:20 PM    ZIONISM- Norman Finkelstein
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM    "Turkey: Human Rights in the Past and Present", Dr. Erol Yorulmazoglu / slide show included in presentation

SAC 161
2:30 - 3:30 PM    "Women in the Middle East",  Prof. Leila Farah / presentation will include monologue performance

SAC 254
2:30 - 3:30 PM     "Human Rights in the Biblical Text"

3:45 - 5:00 PM     "Afghanistan: The Forgotten Human Rights Tragedy", Sima Wali of Refugee Women in Development

SAC 254
5:15 - 7:00 PM     Movie: The Milky Way / Palestinian refugees in Egypt

Free educational material will be handed out on a first come first serve basis.

Opinions and viewpoints expressed during the conference do not necessarily represent MESA.
Co-Sponsored by: Women's Studies, Dept. of Political Science & International Studies

For more information contact MESA at mesa@condor.depaul.edu, mesadepaul@aol.com

If you are a University, College, Technical, or High School graduate who graduated between June 2000 through August 2001
Register in the Seventh Annual Assyrian Graduation Ceremony
Hosted by the Assyrian Church of the East under the patronage of His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos Patriarch

Date:  June 17, 2001
Place: Hanging Gardens Banquet
8301 W. Belmont, River Grove, Illinois

Deadline for registration is June 10, 2001
Click here, then print, complete and mail the application
For more information call:   Tina Yousif               847-699-1931
                                         Shmeran Youkhana   773-465-1629
                                         Sarah Royal              773-777-7370
                                         Jenny Soro                847-470-9786

Courtesy of PR Newswire (Copyright 2001); May 2

(ZNDA:  Detroit)   The City of Southfield in Michigan will host the International Cafe Celebration on Sunday, May 6 from 3-6 p.m. at the Southfield Pavilion located at the Civic Center, 26000 Evergreen Road. The event will showcase the diversity of Southfield through a celebration of the food, music and dance of the world.

The International Cafe Celebration will feature samples from some of metro Detroit's finest restaurants, including La Fendi Restaurant.

The event will also feature live music and dance performances from some of metro Detroit's cultural performing groups.

Advance tickets are $12 for adults; $10 for seniors; and $5 for children (ages 5-12). Tickets may be purchased at Southfield City Hall main reception desk weekdays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.; or at the Parks & Recreation Building evenings from 5 until 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Tickets may also be purchased at the door for $15 (adults) and $12 (seniors). For more information, call Community Relations at 248-354-4854.

ASSYRIAN SURFING POSTS

Life was similar in all the villages of Upper and Lower Tyari. There were no rich or poor. They never experienced famine as in other parts of North Iraq when there was drought. In some years when there was drought people from Alqosh, Telkeif and Mosul would come to Tyari to escape from famine. The mountainous farmlands were irrigated by springs all year round and therefore there never was drought.

HOUSES The houses were built with stone and the inside walls were plastered with mud. The houses were two storeys. The ground floor was used during winter and the upper floor in summer. In summer the houses were plastered from inside by red mud. The upper part of the walls were plastered by a stone from the river which was smooth as g lass and bright. The lower part of the walls was plastered by lime or juss. The upper floor was open on all four sides to let air in. In the first floor there were no windows but some holes, CHAVATI, in the walls for ventilation. Glass panes for windows were unknown. All winter fire was lit in the middle of the room for heating, cooking and light. Oil lamps were also used for light. In the same room they cooked, ate and slept. The eating plates were earthen but there were some of bronze and copper. Other plates were of a special wood made by the Kurdish tribe known as Qarachayi (gypsies). This tribe had no permanent residence and used to travel all over the country making and selling their special plates.

SELF-SUFFICIENT: Tyaris needed nothing from outside. They were self-sufficient. They wove and sewed all the clothes they required., except cotton underwear which they bought from outside. The weaving of cloth was a specialty of Bnae Geramus. This clan, though a little different from other Tyari clans was however known as part of Tyari Takhteta.

Mattresses were felt (lumta) made of wool. Bedsheets and bed covers were unknown before 1914. Each family had sheep and the wool and milk was not sold but used for the family only: Each family would butcher one or more sheep fattened in summer according to the number of the family. The meat was salted and hanged on ropes in the upper floor as there there was no dust or flies. in winter. After the meat had dried it would be taken down and placed in large baskets with covers. The meat when cooked was fresh as when butchered.

FOOD. Their diet was white flour bread and wheat bread. The food included: Dukhwa, Jirdu, Chichi, Burani, Khimsa, Chipti, Chotli, Pukhin, Harisa, Khwisa, Riya, Bkhisha and meat cooked in rise and fat. THEFT: The word theft was never heard in Tyari. The doors of the houses were always open even when the family was out and away. During summer months all families used to be out of doors far from their houses and even sleep there near brooks, cool and free from bugs. Theft was the most despised act in Tyari. The mules were left in mountains from April till Autumn and no one would steal them.

MULES. Mules were mainly used for carrying loads to and from grazing lands. Mules were never used for riding. Bnae Ashita used the mules to collect fire wood from mountains which were far from their homes. They also used mules to carry loads to Mosul which took about five d days. Sometimes they used to go to Gulamancy and as far as Van.

DONKEYS. Donkeys were not used in Tyari except in Barwar. They considered keeping of donkeys as undignified. There were no horses there as the mountainous terrain was not suitable for horses. HABITS. The Tyaris had a high and noble spirit and morals. They were simple, innocent, pure and trusting. No one stooped to beg. It was never heard a man had shameful manners.

AID: Tyaris helped each other. No one would betray his friend If a man needed aid he would be readily helped without asking. If a family's sheep were stolen by Kurds each family would take one sheep to the family that had lost its sheep and the number of lost sheeps would be made up. Once a glacier drowned about 400 heads of sheep of a family. All men of the village rushed and dug up the sheep from under the snow and carried one or two to their houses. Next day each took one or two to the family that had lost its sheep.

If a man needed money he would borrow it from his neighbor. There was no need for a receipt or verbal promise to return the loan. Sometimes it took several years for a loan to be returned. The person who loaned the money would never request that the loan be returned. If it was heard that a man had charged interest on the loan people would shun him and would not accept his greetings.

FEASTS. Shara, feasts, holydays and weddings were days of joy and pleasure. All the people of the village would gather near the church. Festivities would commence after church services and each had received qurbana. Participants would bring food for themselves and for visitors from other villages. They would sit on ground as there were no chairs or tablers. The main meals were Jirdu and Harisa.

Easter was the most important day in Tyari. It was observed for three days. All would have fasted 50 days and would go to church to receive Qurbana. Easter usually fell in April. The reason why Easter was considered as most important goes back to ancient times when April First was considered as the New Year. As the sun rose, they received Qurbana and the boys would play with Easter eggs. After Easter came Eida Sliwa, the Feast of the Cross. On September 13 all Tyari would go to Mar Sava Church which was in Tyari Elaeta on the Zab (Zava) River.

"GAZING" : On Shara Eida Sliwa, the young lads and maidens would "gaze" at each other to pickup whom they wanted to marry. There was a special square called "Ar-aa D,Khijja" or dancing floor The handsomest, well dressed and beautiful among the dancing youth and maidens was decorated. A small branch of a tree would be put in his or her headgear. Later the people would say that so and so was decorated at the Feast of the Cross.

There were a number of customs which were similar to those of Greeks. The songs "Rawi" were nearly to Greek songs. Greeks have lived in Hakari for a long time since the time of Alexander the Great. A number of villages have Greek names such as Maronis, Pyanis, Qochanis, Khananis, Tirqunis, etc. August 15 was the Feast of (Dukhrana) of Mart Maryam held in Valtu village also in Tyari Elaeta. All participants in the feast used to have a good time. Each village had its own churches and its own Shara and feasts. Some feasts were observed by all the villages.

GAMES: Sunday was a rest day for all and was passed by games. Each season had its particular games. In winter they wrestled in snow as it was soft. A game called Kori or Baybonta was played in Tyari only. The game was like this: One would stand on one leg with his heel in a hole in the ground. His opponent would come leaping on one leg and try to dislodge him with his other leg. If he would dislodge him, he would take his place in the hole, or goal. It is a difficult game, four or five would try before one could dislodge the goal keeper.

They played ball. The balls were made of string slightly bigger than a tennis ball. The ball games were "Jo Hoshi", "Jutta Dshiqa". The most popular was called Berani. In this game two 12-man teams played. One team stood inside a wide circle. The team outside the circle would try to beat them out of the circle with the ball. Other games were shotput and long jump. Young men of two clans in Ashita would play a deadly game. They would go out of the village up the hills and f fight each other with slings. In the evening they would return home with broken and bloody heads. Another popular game was rifle sharp shooting. Other games were dog fights, Qiqvana fights. These were played in winter.

DRINKS: They made and drank wine in winter only. Wine was drank at weddings only. In Ashita there were few grapevines and grapes were bought from Lizen and Sarispedon. The strong drink, Arak, was rarely seen in Tyari. When a Tyari man went to Sipna he would drink it as in Sipna Arak was only served. Arak was used as medicine in Tyari. Grapes were used for making wine only. Few knew how to make syrup (nepukhta) from grapes. They did not know how to store grapes for winter The grapes were covered with leaves and would be taken out in winter and were given to sheep to eat. Other fruits were also stored by covering them with leaves.

WINTER: In winter there was little work to do. Neighbors would meet in one house to pass the time by telling tales and singing. The stories told would last about two hours and were not written. SOMICHA: During the beginning of the 50-day fasting, boys would dress up in frightening costumes and would go from house to house to frighten children not to ask for food during the fasting. JUSTICE. There were no judges but there was justice. Justice was administered by priests and the laws were based on Sunhadus, the laws of the Assyrian Church of the East. Quarrels between two were brought before the priests whose decision was final. There were no prisons or police to enforce the priests´decision but the punishments were carried out by the people of the village. The wrong party was fined and the proceeds went to the church. The other punishment was banning the person from receiving Qurbana. When that person went to the church to receive Qurbana he would be refused before all the congregation. This was a severe punishment for a wrongdoer. If two persons or a group of persons quarreled, men would immediately interfere to reconcile them.

Sunhadus laws were strictly observed. If a person did not concede to the punishment decreed against him, the case was taken to the Patriarch who after reviewing the case would pass judgment. The sentence decreed by the Patriarch against a person found guilty was the most severe. It was excommunication, MUKHRIMA. A mukhtima would receive no aid from his neighbors or anyone else. He would be totally shunned by the community. No one would speak, greet him and receive his greetings. If someone from his family died no one would go to his funeral services. Children would not play with his children. Women would not speak with his wife. Such a person would then be obliged to go to the priests, apologize and accept the punishment passed against him. Few men dared to disregard the church laws.

DIVORCE. There was almost no divorce in Tyari. If one did divorce his wife he could not marry again as no priest would perform the marriage ceremony. He would be obliged to leave his village and go outside Tyari. CHURCHES. The priests were highly respected. They could read the bible but could not write. There were many churches and were called UMRANI DSHELAN. In addition to regular religious services they had special duties which was to provide food free of church on religious feasts and for visitors and travelers. The churches were administered by a Saoora, a caretaker, and a Kanchaya. The person responsible for this special service was appointed by the Patriarch. Once a year he would go to each village in Tyari to collect wheat and cheese donated to his village church. Families would give each year one measure of wheat and one day`s milk of a sheep as Dukhrana to the church. The milk would be made into cheese and stored in their house until it was collected. The cheese and wheat would be sold and the money would be used for the maintenance of the church and for the needs of the family of Sarooya and Kanchaya in addition for food on religious feasts.

ISOLATED. The Assyrians in Hakkari were isolated from the outside world and did not know what was going on. When oppressed and persecuted by their Kurdish neighbors they had no one to call for help. Despite their numerous difficulties they had firmly kept their faith in Christianity and their churches, upheld their high morale, habits and customs. Their fiercest enemy were the Kurds who wrongly believed that if they killed a Christian they would go to paradise!

VILLAGES IN HAKKARI

TYARI ELAETA: Chanpa DMalich, Bet Samanu, Bet Dalyata, Champa Drora, Champa Djinakh, Ishta Dnahra Bet Kasha, Campa DHozo, Chorkhi, Champa DTuvan, Ma`luta, Choh DChalbi, Dadosh, Mabu´a, Bet Miriju, Khan Dadosh, Dar Ava, Roma Smuqa, Chammi Sore, Bet Mazraju, Zur Ava, Valtu, Mata DMat Mariam, Khidyana, Resha DNahra, Sirta, Mar Sava, Rumta, Bet Nahri, Qalayata, Bet Khiyyu, Bet Budakh, Bet Sosina, Syadore, Sarispeidun, Barzana,Chimichta

TYARI TAKHTEA: Jaliya Malik Barkhu, Salahbachan, Bet Ullata, Bet Ravula, Shurt, Lizen, Zarni, Mata DQasra, Meidan, Bet Zezu, Lagipa, Burirash, Minyanish, Zavita, Ashita. JALYANI. Geramun, Hilmun, Khanachin, Shiva Reezaan, Arush Elaeta, Arush Takhteta, Heror. BARWAR. Iqri, Malikhta,Bet Baluk, Hilva, Sardashti, Chammi Dasteini, Saluta, Khwara, Bet Shmayayi, Duri, Iyyat, Ain Nuni, Dirishchi, Mayi, Hayis, Tuti Shimayi, Darjali, Musakin, Bas, Bilujanki, Chani Balawi, Tasheesh, Bet Qulki, Jedidi, Chaqqala,Chalik

Shamasha Gewargis d'Bet Benyamin d'Ashita
Translated by Patrous Androw
Finland

BRAVO

State of New York
Executive Chamber
George E. Pataki, Governor
Press Office
518-471-8418
212-681-4640

FOR RELEASE IMMEDIATE:

Governor George E. Pataki issued the following proclamation to acknowledge the 86th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23.

P r o c l a m a t i o n

Whereas, the Empire State has a special role in acknowledging events in world history which have had a meaningful impact on our Nation's ethnic, cultural and religious landscape; many of New York's citizens have a learned appreciation for humanitarian causes that comes from their homeland's history or the circumstances of their coming to America in search of opportunities offered only in this great country; and

Whereas, the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 -- a tragedy that took the lives of an estimated 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children -- was one such occurrence; this mass killing was a deliberate act by the Ottoman Turkish Government to eliminate the Armenian people; cruel methods that included outright killings of civilians and food and water deprivation during forced marches across harsh, arid terrain proved successful for the perpetrators of genocide, who harbored a prejudice against their Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Christian subjects; at the time, former President Theodore Roosevelt said the Armenian Genocide was "the greatest crime" of World War I; and Whereas, the Empire State praises the forward-thinking group of international and local legislatures that have acknowledged the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 during this Genocide recognition cycle; various nations in both hemispheres and many localities across our Nation have entered into their public records the details of this tragedy and have done so prior to the U.S. Congress, a body that is rarely reluctant to express its opinion on matters of human rights; and

Whereas, the previous White House Administration, yielding to pressure from opponents of Armenian Genocide recognition, successfully convinced Congressional leaders to deny passage of a House Resolution acknowledging the Genocide to come to a vote last session; that regrettable action and its result are sources of disappointment for all who desire to see the Armenian Genocide recognized as it should be, and only serves to delay its upcoming full acknowledgment amid the Genocide recognition community's ongoing, worthwhile efforts; and Whereas, it is fitting that all New Yorkers of good will join the Armenian-American community in their annual observance of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23, with hopes that many more citizens of our great Nation and the world community become aware of this tragic chapter in the history of mankind;

Now, Therefore, I, George E. Pataki, Governor of the State of New York, do hereby proclaim Tuesday, April 24, 2001 as ARMENIAN REMEMBRANCE DAY in the Empire State.

           To Email The Governor:   gov.pataki@chamber.state.ny.us

           Please include your home address.

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

BC (3000)

Lilies have been cultivated for more than 5,000 years, since the Sumerian culture developed in southern Tigris-Euphrates Valley. One Mesopotamian city was named Susa (Assyrian Shoosh or Shooshan), another name for lily (Assyrian Shooshaneh).

The Cincinnati Enquirer, April 30, 2001

Australia's first military pilot, Lieutenant Merz, is killed by Arabs after his Caudron plane is forced down by engine trouble over Mesopotamia during WWI.

Newscastle Herald, April 20, 2001

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

May 5, 1930:  The Salamas Earthquake in northwestern Iran levels eight Assyrian villages in the Salamas region (north of Urmia) and a number of their inhabitants lost their lives.  The villages which sustained maximum damage were Khosro-Abad, Golizan, Ola, and Patavour.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

 

Share your local events with Zinda readers. Email us or fax to: 408-918-9201 Zinda Magazine 101 San Fernando Street Suite 505 San Jose, CA 95112 U.S.	***   ***    ***                               Concert      Dance Party       Drama        Lecture/Seminar
Sunday May 6	CHICAGO AN ASSYRIAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY LECTURE The Assyrian Academic Society in conjunction with the Assyrian Social Club present:  "Food in the Myth and Legend of Mesopotamia." Guest Speaker:  Dr. Michael Abdalla, University of Agriculture,  Poznan, Poland. Time: 5:00 PM Assyrian Social Club (Eden's Banquet Hall) 6313 N. Pulaski Rd. (773) 478-8808 The lecture will be presented in English with concluding commentary in Western Syriac (Turoyo).
Until May 6	DETROIT TREASURES FROM THE ROYAL TOMBS OF UR Objects from one of the most important archaeological finds The Detroit Institute of Arts 5200 Woodward Avenue Adults $8, Children $5:  includes audio tour and museum admission
Saturday May 12	SAN JOSE CHURCH HALL INAUGURATION DANCE PARTY San Jose Parish is celebrating the opening of its newly renovated hall on Minnesota Street with a dinner-dance party.  Entertainment:  Julie Yoseph (Detroit) & Ramsin Shino (Chicago) 7:00 PM Mar Yosip Parish Church of the East 680 Minnesota Street $40 adults  $20 children Call Shimshon Antar for advance ticket purchase at (650) 697-7488
Sunday-Monday May 13-21	MARBELLA, SPAIN 23rd ASSYRIAN UNIVERSAL ALLIANCE CONGRESS May 14        Human Rights Conference May 15-17   AUA Congress May 17-18   Meeting of the Political Parties May 19        Tours/Free Time
Sunday May 20	CHICAGO AN ASSYRIAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY LECTURE "Standardizing the Modern Assyrian Language: A Linguistic Challenge?" Guest Speaker: Mr. Zaia Kanon, Assyrian Language Editor Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society (JAAS).  Raabi Zaia Kanon's lecture will consist of two parts: Part one: The incorporation of foreign words into conversational Assyrian. Part Two:  The standardization (Showyuta) of modern Assyrian.  Zaia Kanon is a graduate of al-Mustansiriyah University (Baghdad, Iraq). He specializes in Linguistics and Assyrian Literature and has authored several books of poetry in Assyrian. He has written extensively in Arabic and Assyrian and is also proficient in Classical Syriac. He worked with scholars in many capacities to compile research for the Encyclopedia of Syriac Literature, Volume I which was published in Baghdad, Iraq in 1991.  Mr. Kanon’s recent publication entitled, Halaqat fi l’Tarikh al-Mahfootha focuses on the continuity of Assyrian history.  Location: Assyrian National Council Lecture Hall,  2450 W. Peterson Avenue 6:00 PM Refreshments will be served.  If anyone would like to purchase a copy of the video tape, please send an email to: webmaster@aas.net; or call (773) 461-6633.
Thursday May 24	KALU SULAQA :  Bride of the Ascension Festival This year marks the 600th anniversary of the remembrance of the men and women who died in 1401 A.D. when Timurlane attacked the Assyrian villages near Nineveh.  Each year children dress-up as brides and grooms and go to homes in the neighborhood to collect sweets. Nakosha "Assyrian Holidays" Calendar
Fri-Mon,  May 25-28	LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA ASSYRIAN STATE CONVENTION OF CALIFORNIA ------  Click on the photo for more information Hyatt Regency Long Beach & Renaissance Long Beach [Hyatt Regency rooms are SOLD OUT] Rooms at special convention rates Hyatt           (562) 491-1234 or 1-800-233-1234 Renaissance (562) 437-5900 or (800) Hotels1 Single and Double Occupancies      $109.00/night  Triple and Quadruple Occupancies $134.00/night.  PICNIC:  Rainbow Lagoon Park Please mention that you are attending the Assyrian United Organization of California's Convention when making your reservation. For more Info contact Shamriam Tabar at shamiramt@hotmail.com AUOC's 35th Annual Convention Website
Sat-Sun June 2-3	NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT TAKA ARDISHAY WEEKEND Dinner on Saturday - Catered dinner (American) and Middle Eastern music (a mix of Assyrian, Turkish, Greek and Armenian) Picnic on Monday -  Lots of fun, food, and music Tickets $35 for adults (less for students) After 9:30 - 10 PM,  just $15 for dancing. Location:  Church Ballroom of St. Thomas Assyrian Church
Sunday June 17	CHICAGO 7TH ANNUAL GRADUATION CEREMONY Hosted by the Assyrian Church of the East under the patronage of His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV Hanging Gardens Banquet  8301 W. Belmont, River Grove Deadline for registration is June 10, 2001  Click here, then print, complete and mail the application  For more information call:   Tina Yousif               847-699-1931                                           Shmeran Youkhana   773-465-1629                                           Sarah Royal              773-777-7370                                           Jenny Soro                847-470-9786
Mon-Fri, July 2-6	FINLAND XLVIIe RENCONTRE ASSYRIOLOGIQUE INTERNATIONALE International Congress of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology  "Sex and Gender in the Ancient Near East" University of Helsinki Registration Form:  clickhere
July 22	NOOSARDEL A festival celebrating the descent of the god Tammuz to the Underworld and the end of spring in Bet-Nahrain.  It is customary to sprinkle water on friends and family members, wishing for Tammuz' safe return to his beloved Ishtar.
August 7	MARTYRS DAY A day to commemorate the Assyrian martyrs throughout history.
* August 28 - Sept 3	SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA ASSYRIAN AMERICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
Sat-Tue, November 17-20	SAN FRANCISCO MIDDLE EAST STUDIES ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE Middle East Studies Association of North America Panel "The Assyrians of Iran - From Contributions to Diaspora"  co-sponsored by the Assyrian Academic Society & the Society for Iranian Studies Hyatt Regency Hotel, San Francisco Dr. Arian Ishaya - Urmia to Baquba: From the Cradle of Water to Wilderness Dr. Eden Naby -: Zahrira d Bahra - The First Newspaper in Iran Dr. K. Shakeri - Living in Purgatory: The Assyrians of Iran in the Twentieth Century Mr. Ronald Thomaszadeh - Iranian Assyrians in the Azarbaijan Crisis of 1945-46 Discussant:   Prof. Houshang Chahabi - political science - Boston University Zinda Article:  CLICK HERE For more information CLICK HERE

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