Azerbaijan: A Report from Baku

by Elise Nakhnikian "Hollywood" may be a code word for glamour worldwide, but to L.A. natives it means something else. At the intersection of Hollywood and Western, two of the area's main streets, the Los Angeles Police Department has logged more than a crime a day for the past two years, most of them drug deals, assaults, thefts or shootings. Gang graffiti reappears as fast as neighborhood groups can paint it out, and burned-out buildings stand witness to the rage and alienation that erupted into rioting last spring.

by Elise Nakhnikian Within view of the mountains to the north of L.A., Glendale is a quiet, pleasant place, full of neat lawns, pretty houses, and meticulously landscaped main avenues. Its residents are overwhelmingly middle-to upper-middle-class and conservative. Up until recently, they were also overwhelmingly Anglo-Saxon Americans.

by Elise Nakhnikian If you need a sign, in any shape or size or for any purpose, Designs by Arpiar, located on Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood, is definitely the place to go. Owner Arpiar Janoyan has added a new line recently to his vast inventory. Flags, bumper stickers, signs, plaques, and pens, all featuring the Armenian flag or logo are available. Traveling to Armenia to witness the independence of Armenia on September 23, 1991, Mr. Janoyan personally manufactured and hung the flags and emblems throughout the Parliament building for the historic occasion.

by David Zenian The so-called Armenian "gangs" are at present nothing but a small and harmless group of mixed up teen-agers who roam the streets of Hollywood in packs after dark, but neglect by the community could turn them into real social misfits or even hard-core criminals. This is the diagnosis of ranking police officers and experts in criminal statistics in the Los Angeles and Glendale areas where the vast majority of southern California's estimated 250,000 to 300,000 Armenians live.

by Elise Nakhnikian

by Elise Nakhnikian

by Elise Nakhnikian

by Elise Nakhnikian

by Guy Chazan Baku - There is a place a short car-ride from the Azerbaijani capital Baku called "Burning Hill." Drop a match on the jets of propane gas that stream from its soil and a plume of fire jumps out at you. It is easy to see how Azerbaijan - Turkish for "country of fires"-got its name. The Caspian state's massive oil and natural gas reserves have shaped its past-and now guarantee it the kind of prosperous future other former Soviet republics can only dream of.

by Guy Chazan At the Shehidler Khiyabani park in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, a huddle of women wail and keen by a graveside. They are grieving over yet another victim of the Karabagh war, a conflict that has claimed over 2,000 lives and decimated many thousands more.

by Elise Nakhnikian

by Guy Chazan Baku - The manat, Azerbaijan's new currency, is graced with a picture of the Virgin's Tower, one of Baku's finest monuments. It is no surprise the Tower found its way onto the national banknote. Yet it could prove to be a bad omen for the new republic and its ardent quest for economic independence.

by Guy Chazan As Azerbaijan steps out of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States, its leaders are making their grand debut on the world stage and relishing the new-found limelight.

by David Zenian

by Elise Nakhnikian It's happened to most of us: you hear or read a news story about Armenians that contains an infuriating error. Maybe it mentions the Genocide but takes the official Turkish point of view that nothing happened; maybe it reports an inexcusably bloody strike against Azeri villagers but, by failing to mention the years of history that lie behind such incidents, paints the Armenians as bloodthirsty aggressors. Whatever it is, you feel a surge of anger followed by a frustrating sense of helplessness.

by Louise Manoogian Simone Archie Dickranian: A Horatio Alger Story Philanthropist, leader, successful businessman and often called the "godfather of the Armenian Community," Archie Dickranian, 87 years young, has lived in California since 1923.

by Elise Nakhnikian

by Elise Nakhnikian In the past, only a handful of Armenians have been major players in L.A.'s movie scene. It's hard to say how many, since for every one like director Rouben Mamoulian, there were others like actors Cher, Mike Connors, David Hedison, Akim Tamiroff and Victor French who changed or abbreviated their names. But Armenians clearly were a minuscule minority both in front of and behind American movie cameras.

by Elise Nakhnikian St. John's Armenian Cathedral and the headquarters of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church are located just a few blocks from historic Hollywood and Vine Streets. Once considered the center of the movie industry, with film studios, the first homes of early actors like Clark Gable and Rudolph Valentino, and cemeteries where noted film stars are buried, the area is a famous tourist attraction.

by Guy Chazan EDITOR'S NOTE: The AGBU quarterly, continuing its coverage of Armenia, communities in the Diaspora and the former republics of the Soviet Union, takes a close look at Azerbaijan - the country most directly effecting day-to-day life in Armenia.