Author: Boshkezenian Garik

SW Florida Armenian church invites new parishioners and visitors

Published: Tuesday February 23, 2010
sw-florida-armenian-church-invites-new-parishioner s-and-visitors

The Mission Parish of Southwest Florida looks forward to meeting all
visitors and newcomers to the Southwest area. Services are held at St.
Mary’s Episcopal Church in Bonita Springs, Florida. The following are
some of our past and present Divine Liturgy services and events.

After Divine Liturgy services on January 17, 2010, the Mission Parish
of the Armenian Church of Southwest Florida held its first bake sale.
The Parish Action Committee (PAC) Ladies offered their time and talent
by baking a delicious assortment of Armenian and non-Armenian breads
and pastries.

Divine Liturgy services were held on February 14, 2010 with the Most
Rev. Fr. Haigazoun Najarian, Diocesan Vicar General. A Poon Paregentan
(Trndez or Armenian Mardi Gras) party was attended by seventy five
guests with music for listening and dancing. A 50/50 raffle and Silent
Auction were also held.

The second annual Lenten Luncheon will take place on March 18, 2010 in
the Parish Life Center at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. The PAC Ladies
will once again display their culinary talents with their delicious
Lenten menu. Last year, the Lenten Luncheon was the church’s most
popular event.

On Palm Sunday, March 28th, we will welcome Archbishop Vicken Aykazian
of Washington, DC to celebrate Divine Liturgy. Fellowship will follow
in the Parish Life Center. For further information, please contact
Carole Meghreblian, Parish Council Chairperson at (239) 348-3804 or
email: [email protected]

Armenian youth organizations in LA commemorate Sumgait pogroms

27.02.2010 14:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Unified Young Armenians organized a protest in front
of the Azerbaijani Consulate in Los Angeles, CA, dated to the 22nd
anniversary of Sumgait massacre. The young Armenians gathered in front
of the CNN premises to make their voices heard and let the world know
about the genocidal campaigns committed by the Azeri government.

The massacre of Armenians in Sumgait (a town located a half an hour
drive away from Baku) took place on February 27-29, 1988. The events
were preceded by a wave of anti-Armenian statements and rallies that
swept over Azerbaijan. Almost the entire area of the town with
population of 250 thousand became a site of unhindered mass pogroms.
Armed with iron rods, stones, axes, knives, bottles and canisters full
of petrol, the perpetrators broke in Armenian houses. There were
dozens of casualties, mostly burnt alive after assaults and torture.
Hundreds of innocent people were wounded and disabled. The story of
Sumgait marked the first entry in a long list of crimes against
humanity and ethnic cleansings of the end of the 20th century.

Azeri MPs not expected in Nagorno Karabakh

27.02.2010 13:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As of today, no negotiations concerning the visit of
Azeri MPs to Karabakh are held, head of press service department at
NKR President’s Office David Babayan said. `No one addressed us on the
issue,’ Babayan noted.

According Azeri media-circulated information, Azerbaijani MPs are
expected to visit the Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Presently, negations continue over the expansion of the Azerbaijani
delegation’s staff, which will visit Nagorno-Karabakh. The date of the
visit is still to be coordinated," MP Rovshan Rzayev told Trend News
today.

AMERIABANK PROGRESSIVELY GROWING

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.02.2010 18:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As of 31 January, 2010 Ameriabank maintains a
progressive growth, Tigran Jrbashyan , Development Director of
Ameriabank told a news conference in Yerevan.

"Compared with early 2009 the bank’s assets grew 1.8 times, corporate
loans increased 1.7 times, while the liabilities more than doubled
(2.26 times) compared with early February of last year.

Compared to 2009 there was a 4.7 time increase in retail deposits
in Ameribank. The total loan portfolio reaches about AMD 55 billion
(as of February 1 – AMD 51.6 billion), while the loan portfolio of
medium and small businesses as compared with the beginning of this
year increased by 30 per cent.

According to Tigran Jrbashyan, the bank has comparatively few
non-performing loans (0.17 per cent) and by this indicator is among
the leaders of Armenian banking system.

Ameriabank CJSC is an investment bank offering corporate, investment,
and limited retail services in the form of an integrated package.

Ameriabank’s strategic partner is a group of "Troika Dialog" companies
– one of the largest investment banking companies in Russia.

TURKISH DELEGATION TO URGE US CONGRESS TO VOTE AGAINST ‘GENOCIDE’ BILL

Today’s Zaman
Feb 26 2010
Turkey

A delegation from the Turkish Parliament led by Foreign Affairs
Committee Chairman Murat Mercan will pay a visit to the US this
weekend to discourage the adoption of the so-called "Armenian
genocide" resolution on March 4, the PanARMENIAN news portal reported
on Thursday.

The Turkish delegation will reportedly meet with American congressmen
and other officials to urge them to vote against the Armenian genocide
resolution. The meetings are also intended to warn officials that
US-Turkish relations will be damaged if the resolution passes.

The last such crisis over the House of Representatives voting on
the "Armenian genocide" was in October 2007. Thanks to the Bush
administration and the American-Turkish community, the resolution
was taken off Congress’ agenda.

The resolution affirming "Armenian genocide" claims in the US Congress
now has 138 co-sponsors, and many congressmen support the resolution.

More than 30 states so far have already recognized the so-called
Armenian genocide. Analysts argue that the resolution will greatly
hurt the Turkish-Armenian protocols on normalization of relations
and establishing diplomatic ties.

VALENTINE’S DAY FUNDRAISER GIVES HEARTFELT BOOST TO AYF’S YOUTH CORPS PROGRAM

Asbarez
aiser-gives-heartfelt-boost-to-ayfs-youth-corps-pr ogram/
Feb 26th, 2010

SANTA ANA-Orange County Armenians opened their hearts and wallets
this Valentines Day by sending their love and donations to children
in the Homeland. The February 14 breakfast fundraiser was hosted by
the AYF Ashod Yergat chapter and treated donors to a wonderful early
meal on this international day of love.

The event was titled "I Heart Gyumri," and its goal was to strengthen
the AYF Youth Corps annual mission to organize a summer day camp for
underprivileged kids and teens in Gyumri.

"This wasn’t just any fundraiser," said Nora Injeyan, chairperson of
the AYF chapter in Orange County. "This Valentine’s Day breakfast was
our way to show how much we love Armenia and how much we support the
Youth Corps program."

The breakfast featured an all-you-can-eat buffet of foul (beans),
mamounia (creme of wheat) and a traditional assortment of cheese
and vegetables. Attendees also enjoyed a slideshow chronicling the
program’s activities over the years and heard how Youth Corps also
helps AYF members experience Armenia for the first time.

Those attending also received free copies of the AYF’s quarterly
Haytoug Magazine, which features an article spotlighting Youth Corps’
2009 program.

Sose Thomassian, the Youth Corps Program chairwoman, believes raising
funds for a specific mission is often more rewarding and engaging
for the community. "What’s the point of a fundraiser if there isn’t
something bigger behind it," she said. "Events like these are so
vital to the program as we intend to expand it and look for ways into
establishing other camp sites around Armenia."

The Youth Corps program began in 1994 after the signing of the
cease-fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan that ended the violence in
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

>>From its inception, it has been empowering young Diasporans
to take on a more direct role in the nation-building process in
Armenia. In the past Youth Corps would send Armenian-American youth
to Nagorno-Karabakh to help rebuild many of the newly independent
republic’s war-torn villages.

In 2008, Youth Corp changed its focus from rebuilding shattered
buildings to connecting Armenians in the Diaspora with Armenians
in the Homeland by launching 5-week-long summer day camps for the
children of Gyumri. Last summer, more than 150 young campers took
advantage of Camp Gyumri.

More information about the AYF Youth Corps program is available by
calling (818)507-1933 or e-mailing [email protected]. The current
issue of Haytoug Magazine featuring the Camp Gyumri story is available
online at Haytoug.org.

BAD STATE OF HEALTH

February 25, 2010

A former MP of the RA Parliament, former liberator sentenced to 8
years in jail, Sasoun Michaelyan’s state of health continues to be
bad. Yesterday the coordinator of the Center of Legal Support to
Convicts Armen Khachatryan informed about this. The latter informed
that Michaelyan is currently in the hospital of convicts of the
penitentiary and he is periodically taken to medical examination but
Michaelyan needs a serious and profound examination. Let us remember
that on February 3 Michaelyan was moved to Nork-Marash medical center,
where he was operated on to prevent the possible infarction.

Michaelyan has gone through several complicated operations at the
end of the last year.

AZERBAIJAN WARNS OF "GREAT WAR" IN SOUTH CAUCASUS

Khaleej Times
.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/February/intern ational_February1213.xml&section=international
feb 25 2010
UAE

(Reuters) 25 February 2010, BAKU – Azerbaijan warned on Thursday the
risk of conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh was
rising and that a "great war" in the South Caucasus was inevitable
if Armenian forces do not withdraw.

Ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, backed by Christian Armenia,
threw off rule by Muslim Azerbaijan in fighting that broke out as
the Soviet Union headed towards its 1991 collapse.

An estimated 30,000 people died before a ceasefire was agreed in 1994,
but the threat of fresh conflict is never far away in the strategic
South Caucasus, a region criss-crossed by pipelines taking oil and
gas to the West.

"Diplomats could not achieve concrete results for 15 years, and
Azerbaijan cannot wait another 15 years," an Azeri Defence Ministry
statement cited Minister Safar Abiyev as telling France’s ambassador
in Baku, Gabriel Keller.

"Now it is up to the military, and this danger is gradually
approaching. If the Armenian occupier does not liberate our lands,
the start of a great war in the South Caucasus is inevitable."

Oil-producing Azerbaijan frequently makes threats to take
Nagorno-Karabakh back by force, but tensions have increased in the
past year over moves by Armenia and Azeri ally Turkey to open their
border, which Ankara closed in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan.

A trio of mediators from the United States, France and Russia say they
are making progress in talks between the presidents of Azerbaijan
and Armenia, but diplomats say neither side appears ready to commit
to painful concessions in order to seal a peace accord.

Forces on the frontline frequently trade fire, and last week Azerbaijan
said three of its soldiers had been shot dead by Armenian snipers. The
Nagorno-Karabakh authorities denied any clashes had taken place.

Faced with a backlash from Azerbaijan — a key potential supplier
for Europe’s planned Nabucco gas pipeline — Turkey has backed away
from opening its border with Armenia since signing accords in October
last year, saying Armenian forces should first pull back from lands
captured during the war.

ARTSAKH, ARMENIA DISCUSS ENERGY COOPERATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.02.2010 12:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan met
Wednesday with Karen Karapetyan, chairman of the board of directors
and director general of the ArmRosGazprom CJSC to discuss application
of new technologies in Artsakh as well as cooperation and experience
exchange in the energy sector.

NKR Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan, executive director of the Artsakh
Gas CJSC Maxim Mirzoyan also attended the meeting, reported the
Central Information Department of the Office of the NKR President.

MP ACCUSED OF BETRAYING ASSYRIAN COMMUNITY
by Lauren McMah

Cumberland Courier Newspapers
tory/mp-accused-of-betraying-assyrian-community/
F eb 24 2010
Australia

AUSTRALIAN Business Party president Joseph Adams has slammed a motion
for the NSW Government to formally recognise the Assyrian genocide,
because it failed to mention the group responsible for the slaughter.

Mr Adams said the motion, expected to be put to parliament by
Smithfield State Labor MP Ninos Khoshaba yesterday, made no mention
of the Ottoman Government, who has been accused of the genocide.

Mr Adams, of Canley Heights, said Mr Khoshaba had betrayed the
Assyrian community.

"Ninos Khoshaba should be ashamed of himself for hiding the truth,"
he said.

"He may be more concerned for the safety of his own state seat of
Smithfield, but I can assure him that he has lost the vote of many
Assyrians."

The plaque on an Assyrian genocide monument at Bonnyrigg will also
exclude any reference to the Ottoman Empire.

Mr Adams said true recognition of the Assyrian genocide would not be
possible unless the Ottoman Government was held responsible.

"The Assyrian community of NSW is appalled at the lack of sensitivity
displayed by one of its own on an issue so sacred to the heart of
every member of the Assyrian community," he said.

When the State Government recognised the Armenian genocide in 1997, the
State Government listed the Ottoman Government as being responsible.

Mr Khoshaba said he welcomed debate on the motion.

"The motion recognises all acts of genocide against the Assyrian
people," he said.

"If this motion comes up for debate, then all acts of genocide
against the Assyrian people from the early 1900s will be discussed
and debated."

Adem Cetinay, part of the Turkish community’s opposition to Mr
Khoshaba’s motion, said that such recognition would "divide the
community along ethnic fault lines".

"The allegation of an Assyrian genocide is both hotly debated and
deeply offensive to Australians of Turkish background," he said.

"Surely NSW Parliament has more pressing matters to debate."