Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

HIS HOLINESS KAREKIN II WORK PROJECT 2007 STARTS

ARMENPRESS
Aug 16 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS: General Manager of VivaCell Company
Mr. Ralph Yirikian and a number of staff members of the company, as
well as a volunteer team from the USA led by Reverend Doctor Kenneth
Bensen and Archbishop Viken Aykazian joined today the families of
Haroyans and Sargsyans in Ararat region, village Kor Virap, to help
them to finish their house construction.

On the same day His Holiness Karekin II joined the volunteers and
blessed the construction works of the day.

On April 10th 2007 the second annual "His Holiness Karekin II Work
Project" was launched at the Etchmiadzin Gevorgyan seminary, where His
Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of all Armenians, blessed the opening.

In the framework of the project 37 families in the 10 communities
of Armenia will complete their house and/or improve their housing
conditions by the end of the year.

VivaCell is the largest local corporate donor of HFH Armenia. The
leading mobile operator of Armenia has made an important commitment
to sponsor the houses of 10 low-income families.

"Because we believe in Armenia", said Mr. Ralph Yirikian during the
opening ceremony of His Holiness Karekin II Work Project in Gevorgian
Seminary of Etchmiadzin.

Thanks to the good will of VivaCell these 10 families will move to
their simple and decent homes before the advent of severe Armenian
winter.

Since April a lot of international and local volunteers have
participated in the construction works of these houses. It is the
third day since a team from the USA have been building in Khor Virap
together with the local volunteers, village community and the family
of Haroyans and Sargsyans to complete their house.

The family of Haroyans currently lives in their neighbor’s basement
with a rainbow leaking in because of the absence of a roof. Piruza,
a mother of three children, suffers rheumatism due to the humidity.

"It is not possible to live like this any more, I do not know what
we would do without the help of Habitat, VivaCell and volunteers",
Piruza said. "Soon we will complete our own half-built house and will
meet our eldest son in our own house after he returned from military
service The family of Haroyans is one of the 10 families supported
by VivaCell. On August 18, 2007 the church servants will perform
the Home blessing Ceremony of Haroyans, Misakyans, and Sargsyans`
blessing their entry to their simple and decent homes.

Habitat for Humanity is a nondenominational Christian charity dedicated
to eliminating poverty housing. It has built more than 200,000 houses;
more than one million people are living in Habitat homes they helped
build and own through low-cost, no-profit mortgages.

AUA, ICRC ORGANIZE SUMMER COURSE ON INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

ARMENPRESS
Aug 13 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 13, ARMENPRESS: The American University of Armenia
(AUA) and the delegation of the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) in Armenia have launched today a course on international
humanitarian law (IHL) for 24 students of Armenian universities and
young career lawyers.

The course will last until 17th of August and will provide a
comprehensive introduction to the subject through a combination of
lectures and case studies.

A press release by the ICRC quoted James Reynolds, head of the ICRC
delegation in Armenia, as saying that "The aim of the course is to
familiarize interested students and young specialists with basics of
IHL. It also provides good opportunity for them to exchange views
with IHL experts on contemporary challenges in the field of IHL
implementation in conflict zones."

During the course, leading national and international experts on IHL
will discuss with the participants the history and development of
IHL, protection of persons and objects in armed conflicts, means and
methods of warfare, protection of cultural property during armed
conflicts and implementation of IHL at national level. "This is
the first time we organize such an event in Armenia", said Vahan
Bournazyan, IHL lecturer at the AUA. "We believe the course will
help motivated students and young professionals to implement their
knowledge addressing humanitarian issues in the framework of IHL".

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version: nian.htm

HIS HOLINESS CONTINUES RECEIVING GUESTS

His Holiness received a number of communal and political leaders today in
relation to the atmosphere created following the parliamentary by-elections
in the Metn area on August 5.

During a phone conversation, the Pontiff and Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros
Sfeir of the Maronites stressed the importance of strengthening unity among
the Christians.

His Holiness received in the Bikfaya Monastery the members of the Union of
Christians headed by the former president of the Kataeb Party, Elie Karame,
Member of Parliament (MP) Dr. Farid El-Khazen and Dr. Hendi.

Catholicos Aram I also received MP Mosbah El-Ahdab on behalf of the deputies
of Tripoli. During both meetings discussions focused on the atmosphere
created as a consequence of the elections in Metn. All the visitors
expressed their resentment of the statement made against the Armenian
community.

His Holiness stressed that the Armenian community remains committed to
Lebanon and that inter-Christian unity is a top priority as the guarantor of
political stability in Lebanon.

The Catholicos also received phone calls from former Prime Ministers, as
well as the representatives of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora and Parliament
Speaker Nabih Berri.

##
View the photos here: #2
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
Telephone: +37410. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +37410. 562543
Email: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

312 -06-08-2007

Minister Vartan Oskanian has appointed Vladimir Karapetian as Ministry
Spokesperson and Head of the Press and Information Department. Mr.
Karapetian has been in this position in an acting capacity for the last
year.

Mr. Karapetian, whose last assigned was head of the Press Department’s Media
Relations Division, is a graduate of Yerevan State University’s Department
of Oriental Studies.

Prior to his graduation in 1993, he had served in the Soviet Army.

Mr. Karapetian started his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994
as Attache in the CIS Department. In 1996, he served as Third Secretary at
the Armenian Embassy in Ukraine. From 1997 to 2001, he served as Second
Secretary, then Head, of the CIS Countries Division at the CIS Department.
Later he worked as the Head of the Security Cooperation Division of the
Military-Political Department. In 2001-2004, he was Counselor, Deputy Head
of Mission of the Embassy of Armenia in Georgia.

He has participated in several dozen official and working visits, as well as
international conferences. He has also attended various diplomatic training
courses, notably a five-month course at the NATO Defense College in Rome.

He speaks fluent Armenian, Russian and English. He is married and has three
children.

Press and Information Department
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Armenia
Tel. + 37410 544041. ext. 202
Fax. + 37410 565601
e-mail: [email protected]
web:

Skirball Cultural Center

Music: Program Details
Sunset Concerts: Element Band
Sunset Concerts

Thursday, August 16, 8:00 p.m.
Doors open at 7:00 p.m.

Taper Courtyard
APPROPRIATE FOR: Family
ADMISSION: Free
No reservations necessary
Limited seating available on a first-come, first-served basis

Under the direction of multi-instrumentalist Ara Dabandjian, Element
Band performs traditional Armenian melodies that invoke the warm
sounds of the Mediterranean. The band’s first album, Yev O Phe,
garnered the 2006 Armenian Music Award’s Best Newcomer title. The
sextet features male and female vocals, accordion, guitars, lutes,
violin, bass and percussion.

Element Band "bring[s] a refreshing, and long-awaited sound to
Armenian music." -Armenian Music Awards 2006

PRE-CONCERT TOUR:
Take a thirty-minute "express tour" of the Skirball galleries before
each concert, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Free. No reservation needed.

Thursday, August 16
Synagogue Gallery (in Visions and Values)
Note new parking fees:
$5 for cars carrying three or more people; otherwise $10 per car
Cash only
Carpooling encouraged

om_ccevents&scope=prgm&task=detail&oid =146

Azeri pressure group urges government to resume hostilities against
Armenia

Turan news agency
3 Aug 07

Baku, 3 August: The latest report on arms supplies to Armenia and
Yerevan’s actual refusal to continue the negotiations [on the Karabakh
settlement] show that this country has no desire to sign a peace
agreement. The continuation of the talks against this background only
helps Armenia to arm itself, the Karabakh Liberation Organization [KLO]
has said in a statement.

The KLO blames Russia for supplying Armenia with weapons, which
demonstrates Moscow’s "dark intentions" with regard to the Caucasus.
Official Baku should review its relations with Russia which cannot hold
the post of chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group.

To recap, the KLO urges the Azerbaijani authorities to prevent the
enemy from arming itself and start military operations first.

AZERBAIJAN MAY DEMONSTRATE MORE SEVERE POSITION: DEFENCE MINISTER

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 3 2007

Azerbaijan,Baku / corr. Trend I.Alizade / Releasing its territories
from occupation is the sovereign right of Azerbaijan and as long as
it is not too late, the Armenian side should seriously consider that
point, the Defence Minister of Azerbaijan, Safar Abiyev, said at the
meeting with the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Matthew Bryza,
on 2 August.

"Losing time does not serve Armenia’s interests. Tomorrow, Azerbaijan
may demonstrate a more severe position and nobody will accuse us of
it," Abiyev said.

In addition, the meeting focused on the prospects of bilateral
Azerbaijani-American military cooperation, the military-political
situation in the region, energy security, and issues regarding the
Gabala Radar Station in Azerbaijan.

The US Diplomat said that the US recognizes the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan and shares the position of official Baku in releasing
its occupied territories.

EYE DOCTOR PENS MEMOIR OF WAR
By Kevin Robillard, Correspondent

Watertown TAB & Press, MA
Aug 2 2007

WATERTOWN, MA – As an optometrist, Dr. Jacob Baboian has spent more
than 50 years treating people’s eyes. But as a musician, he – and
his children – have been pleasing people’s ears.

The 82-year-old Baboian, born and raised in Watertown, retired from
his optometry practice in May after 57 years "even though some of my
patients didn’t like the idea," he said.

Before becoming an optometrist, Baboian wanted a career in music,
but decided to go into optometry for the financial security, he said.

Then in the mid-1950s, he joined the Waltham American Legion Band. He
contacted Dot Hill, the band’s director, and he joined the band as
a euphonium player; a euphomium is a valved brass instrument similar
to a tuba.

"He was one of our best musicians," said Bill Eckerson, the band’s
former president.

Baboian shared his love of his music with his children. His son,
John Baboian, is now a professor of jazz guitar at the Berklee School
of Music in Boston who also plays trombone and tuba in the American
Legion Band. His daughter, June Baboian, is also a musician.

While with the Legion Band, the Baboians were able to travel to the
Soviet Union in 1990 and participate in a May Day march. While there,
they met a youth band from Armenia, their ancestral homeland, said the
younger Baboian. Armenian music began to play, and the two Baboians
joined the youths in dancing.

Later, as the band marched through Red Square, playing American music,
Jacob Baboian heard the cheering and had a realization.

"We marched in the streets of Moscow," he said, "They loved it. We
could see the handwriting on the wall that the Cold War would be over."

He graduated from Watertown High in 1943. Before graduation, he
was drafted by the Army to serve in World War II. Initially, he was
selected to serve in the Army Specialized Training Program, meaning
that he would attend college while still in the Army, according to
his World War II memoir, "The Combat Rifleman." After attending both
Rutgers University and the University of Delaware, he was sent off
to war.

"After D-Day, they need more recruits," Baboian said, "and the college
guys turned out to be them."

While in Europe, he served as a scout and a sharpshooter, starting
out as a private, first class. He and his friend, Roy Leach, served
as scouts. Together, they had more than a few close calls. As a reward
for surviving them, the two were treated with a pass to Paris.

"It was unusual. After living in foxholes, we were living in a hotel
between clean sheets," Baboian said of his and Leach’s time in Paris.

Upon returning to their unit, Leach and Baboian discovered that the
two infantrymen who had stood in for them had both been killed. This
allowed Leach to be promoted to squad sergeant, and for Baboian to
become buck sergeant. Shortly thereafter, Leach was killed and Baboian
became squad sergeant.

Three months later, in early March 1945, Baboian’s squad could see
the twin spires of the Cologne Cathedral in the distance, beckoning
them. Baboian would never make it to the spires.

He was hit by German shrapnel, damaging his head, hand, both legs
and chest. Fortunately, a steel mirror that his parents had sent him
for Christmas and that he kept in his pocket prevented one piece of
shrapnel from piercing his lungs.

As a result of his injuries, he had a metal plate inserted into his
head and had surgery on his hand. The surgery on his hand tied all the
nerves in his hand together, allowing them to heal and also giving
Baboian a unique sensation: anything his thumb feels, all the other
fingers also feel, he said.

Baboian was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, following in
the footsteps of his father, Charles Baboian, who served in World
War I and was also awarded a Purple Heart after he was hit by German
bullets five days before the armistice.

After leaving the army, he was able to attend the New England College
of Optometry with the help of the G.I. Bill. He first practiced out of
his father’s house, but was able to move into his own office in 1958,
he said.

But Baboian said his friends from the war are dying off. They used
to meet up in packs of 50 or 60, and their numbers are now down to
the 30s. Baboian himself now has health problems and is in and out
of Massachusetts General Hospital, he said.

Still, John Baboian doesn’t his expect his father to change much in
his old age.

"He is a creature of habit," the son said, noting that when his dad
drives to his condo in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, he takes the same
routes and stops at the same places along the way. "All the waitresses
know him."

Info box ‘The Combat Rifleman’ For information on Dr. Jacob Baboian’s
memoir, "The Combat Rifleman," call 617-923-9182.

ANOTHER WORLD BANK LOAN FOR ARMENIAN IRRIGATION SYSTEM
By Hovannes Shoghikian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 1 2007

The World Bank has approved the release of a fresh $5 million loan
that will be used for upgrading Armenia’s battered irrigation networks.

In a statement issued after a Tuesday meeting in Washington of its
governing board, the World Bank said the money will be disbursed as
part of its Irrigation Development Project (IDP) for Armenia which was
launched in 1994, at the height of the country’s post-Soviet economic
slump. The bank has already provided about $100 million under scheme
designed to improve Armenian farmers’ access to irrigation water.

"Armenia has achieved substantial progress in preventing deterioration
of its irrigation and drainage infrastructure," the statement said. It
cited institutional and structural reforms implemented by the Armenian
government in the management of water resources.

The World Bank said most of the loan will be spent on the
rehabilitation of some 110 kilometers of canals supplying water to
37 communities across Armenia.

According to Adibek Ghazarian, chief of the IDP implementation unit
in Yerevan, the canals cover about 10,000 hectares of agricultural
land. He said they have fallen into disrepair since the Soviet
collapse.

The same is true for much of the country’s entire irrigation system.

Its poor condition means that most Armenian farmers are essentially
at the mercy of weather conditions, regularly suffering losses as a
result of drought.

Speaking to RFE/RL, Ghazarian estimated that at least half of
water supplied through 15,000 kilometer-long networks of canals and
irrigation pipes does not reach farmers. About 200 kilometers of
leaky canals have already been repaired as a result of a previous
World Bank loan provided within the IDP framework, he said.

The agricultural sector will receive a more massive boost if the
United States presses ahead with the disbursement of $235 million in
economic assistance to Armenia under the Millennium Challenge Account
program. Most of the promised aid, $146 million, is due to be used
for rebuilding and expanding the irrigation system. Officials say
that would increase the total area of irrigated land by 40 percent.

ONE MORE AZERI SOLDIER DIES

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 1 2007

Armenian armed forces continue violating ceasefire, Defense Ministry’s
press service told APA. Armenian armed forces violated ceasefire on
July 31-August 1.

It was mainly observed in the villages of Ahmadali, Bashgervend,
Javahirli, Goytepe of Aghdam region and the village of Chayli of
Terter region. The enemy firing by machine and submachine guns was
silenced by response fire, APA’s Karabakh bureau reports.

Armenians fired on Gapanly village from their positions in the village
of Seyidsulan of Terter region and from Agdere on opposite positions
of Azerbaijani armed forces till 01.00 on August 1.

An Azerbaijani soldier died as a result of Armenians’ violating
ceasefire in the territory called Gulchuluk sovkhozu.

The resident of the village of Mikayilli of Jalilabad region, 19-year
old soldier Aslan Aliyev died of bullet wound.

Defense Ministry confirmed the fact. The ministry’s press secretary
Eldar Sabiroglu told APA that Aslan Aliyev was drafted from Jalilabad
region in January, 2007.