Armenia Relief

Within a year after a devastating earthquake rocked Armenia in December, 1988, Harut Sassounian's tiny newspaper office on Jackson Street became the epicenter of an ambitious global relief effort to help his beleaguered country.

He is a most unlikely national hero, this foreign-born crusader dressed in wrinkled dress pants, Hush Puppies and an outmoded Member's Only jacket. His eyes blinking against the light, Harut Sassounian walks tentatively down the steps of the U.S. military's C-5 Galaxy cargo plane, the largest airborne transport vehicle on Earth. Once again, the 47-year-old Glendale newspaper publisher has packed a mammoth plane with millions of dollars in aid collected from donors across the United States.

More than seven months after Los Angeles-area Armenians mobilized to help their earthquake-ravaged homeland, the bulk of the more than $6 million in relief money raised has yet to be spent, and Armenian organizations are only now making concrete plans about what to do with it. Last week, the largest single coalition of Southern California Armenian groups formed to coordinate disaster relief--the Glendale-based Earthquake Relief Fund for Armenia--announced that it is allocating $1.

Students at Ari Guiragos Minassian Armenian School are studying computers, fine arts, biology and all the other usual subjects. But they're also learning about the importance of charity--and the harsh realities of life in the former Soviet Union. Four years ago the school "adopted" what was originally called School No. 58 in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, and is now named for writer/poet Mousegh Ishkhan, who was persona non grata during the Communist era.

President-elect George Bush's son and grandson will travel to Soviet Armenia on Christmas Day to help distribute American aid to earthquake victims, Soviet officials said Friday. Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov said that John Ellis Bush and 11-year-old George Prescott Bush "will participate in a ceremony of transferring to Armenia relief aid from the United States." The aid will include medicine, medical equipment and toys for children who survived the Dec.

He is a most unlikely national hero, this foreign-born crusader dressed in wrinkled dress pants, Hush Puppies and an outmoded Member's Only jacket. His eyes blinking against the light, Harut Sassounian walks tentatively down the steps of the U.S. military's C-5 Galaxy cargo plane, the largest airborne transport vehicle on Earth. Once again, the 47-year-old Glendale newspaper publisher has packed a mammoth plane with millions of dollars in aid collected from donors across the United States.

Members of St. Mary Armenian Church are waiting to celebrate Christmas until Jan. 6, the day Armenians traditionally celebrate the birth of Christ, but this year the holiday will be a somber one. The Rev. Moushegh Tashjian, 45, said the congregation will spend the day praying for the Armenian people who still are suffering the effects of an earthquake four years ago that killed 25,000 people and left half a million people homeless. "Armenia right now is in a very, very difficult situation.

Students and staff at Los Angeles city schools who have raised several hundred thousand dollars in recent years for disaster victims in Mexico City and Ethiopia will be doing the same for victims of last week's earthquake in Soviet Armenia. School board members indicated their support Monday for a districtwide relief effort, which will be presented for formal approval next week.

France said Thursday that it has begun airlifting 300 tons of emergency aid into Armenia from Hungary this week after a train carrying the supplies turned back because of fighting between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The train left France last month for Armenia but was forced to stop because of the conflict between the two former Soviet republics over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

For several evenings, hundreds of local Armenians have lined up at an American Red Cross bloodmobile set up at St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church in Glendale. Surprisingly, they have earmarked this charitable gift--not for the Armenian earthquake relief effort--but to the Red Cross, which is extremely low on blood supplies.

France said Thursday that it has begun airlifting 300 tons of emergency aid into Armenia from Hungary this week after a train carrying the supplies turned back because of fighting between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The train left France last month for Armenia but was forced to stop because of the conflict between the two former Soviet republics over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Within a year after a devastating earthquake rocked Armenia in December, 1988, Harut Sassounian's tiny newspaper office on Jackson Street became the epicenter of an ambitious global relief effort to help his beleaguered country.

A Massachusetts congressman praised Turkish President Turgut Ozal on Wednesday for agreeing to keep his nation's borders open to humanitarian aid for embattled Armenia. Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.) met with Ozal late Tuesday in Cambridge. He said Ozal also assured him of Turkey's cooperation in delivering oil to landlocked Armenia.

Members of St. Mary Armenian Church are waiting to celebrate Christmas until Jan. 6, the day Armenians traditionally celebrate the birth of Christ, but this year the holiday will be a somber one. The Rev. Moushegh Tashjian, 45, said the congregation will spend the day praying for the Armenian people who still are suffering the effects of an earthquake four years ago that killed 25,000 people and left half a million people homeless. "Armenia right now is in a very, very difficult situation.

Monrovia-based World Vision has been selected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to administer a food relief program worth $7.5 million in the republic of Armenia, it was announced Thursday. The relief aid includes $5.2 million of powdered milk, beans and vegetable oil earmarked for 300,000 Armenians suffering from severe food and energy shortages, including refugees from the war with neighboring Azerbaijan. Another $2.

Soviet and American military transport planes left the United States on Sunday carrying emergency stores of medicine and other relief supplies to three Soviet republics, the State Department announced as Secretary of State James A. Baker III began meetings in Moscow with leaders of the Kremlin and the republics. Among his missions there is the coordination of American aid efforts. The first two U.S.

For students at the Holy Martyrs Armenian School in Encino, there is no more important current events lesson than the one they are learning now: The violence against Armenians in Soviet Azerbaijan echoes the sad stories passed down through generations. "Even the little kids realize that this is a very serious situation," said Levon Kasparian, vice principal of a school for both elementary and secondary students.

A Soviet military transport plane carrying rescue workers and relief supplies to victims of the devastating earthquake in northern Armenia crashed Sunday, killing all 78 aboard. The aircraft, a wide-bodied, four-engine Ilyushin 76, went down as it approached Leninakan, Armenia's second-largest city and one of the hardest hit by last Wednesday's magnitude 6.9 temblor, during a massive airlift bringing assistance to the stricken region, according to a government announcement.

Stepping up relief efforts to their ancestral homeland, 10 major Armenian groups in Los Angeles on Friday announced the formation of a joint council to provide humanitarian aid for fellow Armenians victimized by strife in Soviet Azerbaijan.

For students at the Holy Martyrs Armenian School in Encino, there is no more important current events lesson than the one they are learning now: The violence against Armenians in Soviet Azerbaijan echoes the sad stories passed down through generations. "Even the little kids realize that this is a very serious situation," said Levon Kasparian, vice principal of a school for both elementary and secondary students.