Dutch Armenians

by Lisa Boghosian Papas She can't claim that before her there was no music in Iraq. But concert pianist Beatrice Ohanessian can boast that she was the first professional musician on a performance level in her country. "In Western classical music, I was the first Iraqi to face Europeans professionally," she says modestly.

by Lisa Boghosian Papas It wasn't just the shish kebab that made the St. Paul press after its first introduction to Minnesota at the Festival of Nations: the elaborate exhibit of Oriental rugs, the display of hand made lace, and the show of Armenian dancers awed the crowds as well.

by Lisa Boghosian Papas If you ask anyone from Minnesota to describe what they like about the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, it is hard to get an answer other than "it's a nice place to live." If you ask them to talk about what they don't like-after a slight pause-the answer invariably comes back the same: "it's a nice place to live!"

Minnesota by Lisa Boghosian Papas Between 1890 and 1930, the message across the nation was clear-men were needed in the Dakotas. Construction for the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific and the Soo Line Railroads had begun and laborers were needed to lay track and roadbeds, as well as build bridges, sidings and depot facilities.

by David Zenian Across Holland a small Armenian foundation is making big waves. Its resources are limited, but its mission has no boundaries. "Our objective is very simple," says Ararat Foundation executive director Harout Simonian. "We reach out to people in need of help, and this does not always mean Armenians."

by David Zenian Dikran Sarian was a seven-year-old boy when he left his hometown in a Kurdish village in southeastern Turkey to study at an Armenian seminary in Istanbul. Aram Aykazian was barely 12 when he was sent by his parents to the same school. Neither became clergymen, but the education they received there paved the way for a successful future for both in Holland - one as a district attorney, the other a businessman and industrialist.

by Lisa Boghosian Papas Vartkes Ehramjian is no mountain climber. But he is living proof that getting to the top of any peak not only requires careful footing but also vision, direction and the flexibility to change course when needed.

by David Zenian The life of a new immigrant is never easy, even if the adopted country is one of the most tolerant and liberal in the world. It takes more than just time to adjust. Arriving in Holland from the "old world", Armenian families were - for the first time in their lives -- confronted with a culture of "anything goes" that was alien to their upbringing. Holland is one of the most open societies in Europe. Amsterdam had long been known as "one of the pleasures of the flesh capitals of the world."

by David Zenian There are no Armenians living in Shirnak now, but for decades until the mid-1960's, the remote Kurdish town in the southeastern corner of Turkey near the border with Iraq was home to a community of about 600 Armenians, trapped in a time capsule and effectively cut off from the rest of the Diaspora and the world. They lived in a cloistered community that was at the mercy and under the de-facto control and protection of local Kurdish feudal lords. They were second class citizens with no access to education or contact with the outside world.

by Lisa Boghosian Papas For Arsham Ohanessian, building the Iraq Petroleum Pipeline was an experience tantamount to the Tower of Babylon coming to life again.

by David Zenian The first Armenian book was printed in Venice in 1512, but it was not until mid-1600 when the foundations of Armenian printing were laid with the opening of the first all-Armenian printing house in Amsterdam. But why Amsterdam and not the other European cities like Lvov, Rome, Milan, Paris and Livorno where Armenian books were already being printed.

by Lisa Boghosian Papas From earthquake relief efforts to ACOM, Vahram and Valentine Kardashian's impact has rocked Minnesota's Armenian Community When the news of the 1988 Yerevan earthquake rippled around the world, Vahram and Valentine Kardashian experienced a shock of a far different magnitude.