Author: Chaltikian Arsine

ARMENIAN PARTIES IN LEBANON ISSUE STATEMENT

Yerkir
12.05.2008 15:38

Yerevan (Yerkir) – Armenian political parties, the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation, the Ramkavar Azatakan party and the
Hnchak Social Democratic Party, held a meeting on May 9 in Beirut
in connection with the recent civil unrest, Shahan Gantaharian,
the chief editor of the Armenian-language newspaper Azdak, has said.

Gantaharian told Yerkir by the phone that those parties have called on
the conflicting sides to engage in a dialogue and stop the bloodshed.

The recent events remind of the civil war in Lebanon," Gantaharian
said.

"The clashes are mainly between the pro-government and the opposition
forces. The clashes have resulted in the opposition forces to take
control over the western districts of Beirut. The situation is tense
in the northern and mountainous parts of Lebanon where the opposition
has taken control too.

Clashes occur at the Syrian border as well and the highway to Damascus
often gets blocked." He added that the opposition has blocked the
roads to the airport, and all the flights have been delayed.

Gantaharyan said that the Armenian-populated districts of Beirut are
mainly unharmed. The roads to the Mecca region are blocked but the
Armenian village, Anchar, has been saved since no clashes occurred
there. He said that the Armenian air carrier, Armavia, has stopped
its flights to Beirut.

"The Armenian community has found itself in a new situation since
many were planning to travel to Armenia, and because of this, it was
impossible to celebrate the Shushi liberation anniversary. However,
before those events, the ARF youth organizations and committees managed
to hold several events dedicated to that date. Some cultural events
have been delayed, however," Gantaharian said.

MEDIA ADVISORY

Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America
3325 North Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91504
Contact: Diana Buckhantz, Jewish World Watch, 323-934-0443
Mihran Toumajan, Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North
America, 323-497-1606

Date: May 12, 2008

ARMENIAN COMMUNITY HONORS JEWISH WORLD WATCH
Once Again, Armenian and Jewish Communities Come Together to Recognize
Kinship of Suffering

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOS ANGELES, CA – Last year, in an historic demonstration of support by
a Jewish organization, Jewish World Watch hosted a Jewish Armenian
Shabbat Dinner and Service to observe the 92nd anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide. The goal of the event was to bring the two
communities together in recognition of their mutual experience of
genocide, and, in doing so, have the Jewish community acknowledge and
commemorate the heretofore unacknowledged genocide of the Armenian
people in 1915. It was the first time the Armenian and Jewish
communities had blended their two cultures to commemorate the Armenian
Genocide.

On Thursday evening, May 15, 2008 the two communities will come together
again when the Burbank-based Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of
North America honors Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, Founder of Jewish World
Watch. Specifically, the two communities will join hand-in-hand to
recognize their kinship of suffering and comfort.
-Humanity is subject to genocide and amnesia is dangerous,- said Rabbi
Harold M. Schulweis, Founder, Jewish World Watch. -If you forget or deny
the first genocide of the 20th Century, you waste the experience of the
past. Our experience with the Jewish Holocaust makes it a matter of
conscience for the Jewish people to respond and recognize the grief and
anguish of others. It is incumbent upon us to stand up and recognize the
Armenian genocide of 1915.-

WHO:
Rabbi Harold S. Schulweis, Founder, Jewish World Watch
His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate, Western Diocese of
the Armenian Church of North America
Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug, Executive Director, Jewish World Watch
St. Peter Armenian Apostolic Church Choir
Valley Beth Shalom Choir
Traditional Armenian and Israeli dancing by the Vartan & Siranoush
Gevorkian Dance Ensemble and the Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble

WHEN: Thursday, May 15, 2008
6:30 PM Press Availability, 7:30 PM Event

WHERE:
Sima & Nazareth Kalaydjian Hall
Arshag & Eleanor Dickranian Complex
Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America
3325 North Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91504

WHY: This event embodies the commitment of these two communities to
acknowledge and commemorate past genocides, and the Armenian genocide,
in particular, which has been denied by successive Turkish governments
for nearly a century.

Jewish World Watch is a coalition of almost 60 synagogues working
together to mobilize synagogues, their schools, members, and the
community to combat genocide and other egregious violations of human
rights around the world. In response to the 400,000 civilians that have
been murdered and the nearly 2.5 million people who have been displaced
in the Sudan, Jewish World Watch chose Darfur as its first advocacy
campaign. Since its inception, these synagogues have actively mobilized
to stop the genocide in Darfur, and have allocated more than $600,000 in
direct assistance to the people in Darfur.

Established in 1927, the Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic
Church of North America, based in Burbank, California spans the Western
United States, including Hawaii and Alaska. With the faithful of the
Western Diocese constantly growing and establishing new communities, the
Diocese is ever expanding its parishes and the scope of its various
missions.

Turkish free speech

FT
May 2 2008 03:00

Turkey’s governing Justice and Development party (AKP) carried out a
constitutional revolution after it first came to power in 2002, putting
in place the political and civic freedoms necessary to qualify for
accession talks with the European Union that began in 2005. But then it
stopped, partly because Turks reacted very badly to the hostility to
their membership demonstrated in member states such as France and
Germany, and perhaps because its leader, prime minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, seemed to lose interest in Europe.

It should therefore be welcome – in principle – that the AKP-dominated
parliament has just amended Article 301 of the penal code. This law,
criminalising alleged insults to "Turkishness", has severely damaged
Turkey’s reputation. Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist, was
prosecuted under it; Hrant Dink, the Armenian-Turkish editor shot dead
in Istanbul last year, was convicted under it.

Freedom House, in its annual survey on press freedom out tomorrow,
ranks Turkey as "partly free". That is the same category as recent (and
contested) EU entrants Bulgaria and Romania. But it is also the same
division as Congo-Brazzaville and Egypt, Mauritania and Paraguay –
definitely not where Turkey wants to be.

It is fair to underline that Article 301 was being abused by an
ultra-nationalist cabal to undermine the neo-Islamist AKP and sabotage
EU negotiations. But that is precisely why it must be completely
overhauled or – better still – repealed. The government has instead
tinkered with it. The article now penalises attacks on the "Turkish
state" and its founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, although
prosecutions will now have to be approved by the justice minister and
the penalties have been reduced.

That is simply not good enough.

Leaving aside that Article 301 is modelled on a provision in
Mussolini’s fascist laws, the whole notion of insult to the state is as
archaic and absolutist as lèse majesté . There is no place for it in a
confident, modern and democratic republic like Turkey that sees its
future in the EU. Mr Erdogan must try again.

True, he has problems with a judiciary trying to shut down his party
and ban him and the president from public life. It is just as true he
won a landslide last summer, enabling him to win a similarly bruising
confrontation with the army – a thumping majority made possible because
he received the backing of liberal Turks he is now letting down.

Mr Erdogan has a solid, popular and democratic platform for change. It
is high time he used it.

Arthur Baghdasaryan meets with the Ambassador of Iran

armradio.am
06.05.2008 18:20

The Secertary of the Presidential Council on National security Arthur
Baghdasaryan received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Armenia Seid Ali Saghaian. The
Ambassador congratulated Arthur Baghdasaryan on his appointment to the
high post of the Secretary of the national Security Council at RA
President’s Office and conveyed the greetings of the Secretary of the
Supreme Council of National Security of Iran Sayid Jalal and an
invitation to visit Iran.

Thanking the guest for the greetings and the invitation, Arthur
Baghdasaryan asked to give his regards to his Iranian counterpart,
noting that he is ready to host the latter in Armenia.

The interlocutors turned to the further development of the friendly
Armenian-Iranian cooperation, issues of deepening the relations in the
spheres of regional security, transport, energy and other fields.

Globe and Mail, Canada
May 6 2008

OPERA: INTERVIEW

Has child, will travel – a lot

Colin Eatock talks to Canadian soprano sensation and biomedical
engineering grad Isabel Bayrakdarian about life on the opera circuit
with her five-month-old son
COLIN EATOCK

Special to The Globe and Mail
May 6, 2008

Isabel Bayrakdarian opens the door to her dressing room at Toronto’s
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. On the windowsill is the
long, auburn wig she will wear as Mélisande, in the Canadian Opera
Company’s production of Pelléas et Mélisande opening tonight. Hanging
on the closet door are her radiantly colourful costumes.

The conversation, however, soon turns to babies – a topic of much
interest to Bayrakdarian these days. "It ends with us not knowing
whose baby she has," she says of Debussy’s only opera, "whether it’s
Pélleas’s or Golaud’s – or whether she had conceived before meeting
Golaud. Mélisande is unlike any other role I’ve portrayed, because
musically and dramatically it’s so very ambiguous."

The 34-year-old Toronto-based soprano continues, explaining how the
ending of the work has a personal significance for her, as a new
mother herself. "The first time we rehearsed the final scene – when
Mélisande is too weak to raise her arms to hold her newborn child – I
found it very disturbing." For the performances, she has requested
that the eyes on the theatrical doll be closed, so as not to look so
lifelike.

The birth five months ago of Ari, to Bayrakdarian and her pianist
husband, Serouj Kradjian, hasn’t slowed her down. While she did have
to withdraw from rehearsals for The Marriage of Figaro at New York’s
Metropolitan Opera in the fall as her due date approached, she has
bounced right back into professional life. She has recently appeared
in concerts and recitals in New York; San Francisco; St. Paul, Minn.;
and Kansas City, Mo.; and in a production of Don Pasquale in Denver.

"My baby has been travelling with me ever since he was one month old,"
she says. "He’s been very co-operative – it’s almost as if he knew
what he was getting into! When he’s older, things will change, but
that’s a bridge we’ll cross when we get to it."

It was 10 years ago Bayrakdarian sang her first role with the COC: the
Sandman in Hansel and Gretel. She was just 24, fresh out of the COC’s
Ensemble Studio training program. If her degree in biomedical
engineering didn’t point to a singing career, her win at Placido
Domingo’s Operalia Competition in 2000 certainly did. Since then, her
ascent to the heights of her profession has been swift and sure –
guided by a careful selectivity and a wide-ranging eclecticism.

"Initially," she recalls, "I turned down a lot of engagements, when
other singers were saying, ‘Oh my God, I would love to have that
opportunity.’ When I was 21, I was asked to sing Liu in Turandot, but
said no thank you."

Deciding that Puccini’s big-voiced roles could wait, she turned to
Mozart: to Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro
and Pamina in The Magic Flute.

Critics have been impressed with her Mozart. The New York Times
declared her Pamina "beautiful in every way you can be: in singing, in
comportment, in looks." And the San Diego Union-Tribune recently
credited her with bringing "alluring expertise" to the role of
Susanna.

Yet she willfully resists being pigeonholed. "I’ve always been known
as a Mozart interpreter. I’ve done a lot of Susannas – you could wake
me up a 3 a.m. and I could sing it, and prompt the other performers at
the same time. But sometimes you need the thrill of learning something
new. I don’t understand how some singers can bring freshness and
novelty to a couple of roles that they do all the time. I’m not one of
those singers – I need the stimulation of new excitement."

Even as she built a reputation for Mozart, Bayrakdarian cultivated
other musical interests: 20th-century opera and Italian bel canto
roles. "I’m very fortunate," she notes, "because people who do casting
‘get’ me. I have been offered interesting parts because the people who
make the decisions know that if they ask me to do a role, I’m going to
do it justice."

Also, her skills as a recitalist have won her much praise. "What
impressed me most," reported a critic for Opera News magazine, after a
2005 Carnegie Hall performance, "was that she chose not to take the
audience by storm; instead, she captured it by stealth."

And she has followed pathways that have led her away from the
tried-and-true classical repertoire. She sang on the soundtrack of The
Lord of the Rings movie The Two Towers, and also for Atom Egoyan’s
film Ararat. She has taken an interest in Latin-American music and has
recorded a CD of tango songs for CBC Records.

It was Bayrakdarian’s first journey to Armenia in 2004 that inspired
her current fascination with the music of her ancestral homeland. "In
Armenia," she says, "when you walk on the ground, you feel 1,700 years
of Christianity right in the soil. … it puts in perspective a huge
history you can’t really grasp if you’re not there. I promised myself
I would return, and I have."

In the capital city of Yerevan, she performed with the Armenian
Philharmonic Orchestra and with local folk musicians. The trip was
documented in the film The Long Journey Home, aired on CBC. (She can
also be heard singing in Armenia, accompanied by a group of musicians
playing a flute-like instrument called the duduk, on YouTube.) In the
fall, she will undertake a tour with some of the musicians she worked
with in Armenia; there’s a Toronto performance at Roy Thomson Hall on
Oct. 17.

For the next few months, however, opera is dominating her schedule:
Pelléas et Mélisande in Toronto, followed by The Marriage of Figaro in
Munich (her last Susanna for a while) and the title role in The
Cunning Little Vixen in Japan.

Beyond that, she is deliberately vague. "I don’t believe in having a
five-year or a 10-year plan. I already know my two-year plan – I have
it in my calendar. But how I fill the voids in between my engagements
is something that I like to leave to the unexpected. Who knows?"

Pelléas et Mélisande runs on various dates at Toronto’s Four Seasons
Centre until May 24 (416-363-8231).

US Fed News
May 5, 2008 Monday 12:54 PM EST

Armenian Inventor Develops Upper Jaw Correction Device

Alexandria, Va.

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 5 — Pavel D. Mailyan of Yerevan, Armenia, has
developed a jaw corrector.

According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The invention
relates to the medicine, in particularly, in orthodontics, and can be
used during the correction of the form of upper jaw, namely, dental,
alveolar and basal arches. The task of the group of inventions is to
ensure increased functionalities of the devices for correction of the
form of upper jaw, namely, dental alveolar and basal arches."

An abstract of the invention, released by the Patent Office, said:
"The group of inventions has fastening elements, which are fastened on
teeth of dentition’s lateral segments and executed in the form of
metal wireframes clasping teeth of dentition’s lateral segments, and
connected with two plates located on both sides of median palatine
suture and connected with each other by the metal wire palatal power
element or elements. In a first variant of the group of inventions,
the plates are connected with the fastening elements through
springs. The second and third variants of the group of inventions
additionally have fastening elements, which are mounted on teeth of
dentition’s frontal segment and executed in the form of metal
wireframe too. In the second variant of the group of inventions the
plates are connected with fastening elements of lateral segments
through springs, and a fastening element of frontal segment is
connected with a metal wire palatal power element by springs. In a
third variant of the group of inventions fastening elements are
connected with each other and plates by a palatal arch through
springs."

The inventor was issued U.S. Patent No. 7,357,633 on April 15.

The patent has been assigned to Mayadontics LLC, San Rafael, Calif.

The original application was filed on Jan. 7, 2006, and is available
at:
arser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p =1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&a mp;f=G&l=50&s1=7,357,633.PN.&OS=PN/7,3 57,633&RS=PN/7,357,633.

For more information about US Fed News federal patent awards please
contact: Myron Struck, Managing Editor/US Bureau, US Fed News, Direct:
703/866-4708, Cell: 703/304-1897, [email protected]

POLITICAL COALITION MAKES A JOINT STATEMENT

ARMENPRESS
May 4, 2008

YEREVAN, MAY 4, ARMENPRESS: Armenian political coalition has made
today a statement reconfirming its determination to carry out the
reforms in the country, noting that the suggestions included in 1609
resolution of PACE are corresponding to these reforms and goals of
the political coalition registered in its agreement.

In its statement the political coalition particularly states
that it will continuously carry out the reforms registered in the
pre-electoral programs, agreement of the coalition, government program,
PACE resolution, which particularly refers to the expansion of the
opportunity of activity of the opposition, increase of trust of
the public towards the electoral processes in the country, freedom
of speech and consolidation of independent activity of mass media,
complete relevance of the judicial system to European standards. The
reforms must promote the development of stable democratic institutions
and ensure rule of law.

In its statement the coalition calls on all the political forces for
constructive dialogue and effective cooperation for the solution of
existing issues. In this respect it underscored the initiative of
the President of Armenia who has ordered to set up a task group for
coordinating the activities directed towards the implementation of
suggestions registered in PACE resolution and regrets that the head
of the "Heritage" faction, member of Armenian delegation to PACE
Raffi Hovhanesian refused to participate in the works of the group.

The political coalition expects clear steps from the task group for
the implementation of the suggestions included in the resolution
and particularly in the direction of independent investigation of
post-electoral developments.

The statement has been signed by four forces of the coalition –
Armenian Republican Party, Prosperous Armenia, ARF and Orinats Yerkir

U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER OBAMA CALLS TO ACKNOWLEDGE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ARKA
May 4, 2008

YEREVAN, May 4. /ARKA/. U.S. Presidential contender senator Barack
Obama made a statement in marking the 93rd anniversary of the genocide
of Armenian in Ottoman Empire.

"It is imperative that we recognize the horrific acts carried out
against the Armenian people as genocide and I will continue to stand
with the Armenian American community in calling for the Government
of Turkey to acknowledge it as such," Obama said as quoted by the
Armenian National Committee of America.

The Armenian genocide is a well-documented fact proved by many historic
evidences, he said.

Obama expressed his deep regret over the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
John Evans dismissed in September 2006 after having used the word
"genocide". The post of U.S. Ambassador has been vacant since then.

Obama urged Condoleezza Rice to seriously look into the unstable
stand of the U.S. Government on the matter.

Obama pledged to continue efforts for recognition of the Armenian
genocide and conveyed his condolences to the Armenian people.

Armenian genocide was the first genocide committed in XX
century. Turkey rejects the accusation of massacres and the killing
of one and a half million Armenians during World War I.

The fact of the Armenian genocide is recognized by many countries,
particularly by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, most of the
U.S. states, as well as by the parliaments of Greece, Cyprus,
Argentina, Belgium, Wales, National Council of Switzerland, Common
House of Canada, the Seym of Poland and lower house of Italian
parliament.

"IF COUNTRIES DON’T SOLVE NAGORNO-KARABAKH, THEY’RE GOING TO END UP FALLING BEHIND REGION" – US SECRETARY OF STATE

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
April 30 2008

Azerbaijan, Baku, 30 April /Trend News corr K. Ramazanova/ "If the
countries don’t solve Nagorno-Karabakh, they’re going to end up
falling further and further behind the region because the region
is moving on," Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State, said in the
Peace Corps universal conference in Washington.

"Now, one of the problems has been that because of the situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh, all kinds of bad policies are tolerated, let me
put it that way, or excused by political leaders," she said.

She said there is still an important work to be done there to bring
that part of the Caucasus closer to standards that we thought they
were once meeting.

"I would love to see more volunteers in that part of the world, both
in places that are starting to move up and places that are still
mired in the kinds of problems that you have in Azerbaijan," Rice said.

MHP’S BAHCELI SUGGESTS TAKING 301 AMENDMENT TO REFERENDUM

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 30 2008

Opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli has
suggested that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party)
take a planned amendment to Turkish Penal Code (TCK) Article 301,
which penalizes "insulting Turkishness," to a referendum.

Bahceli, speaking at his party’s parliamentary group meeting yesterday,
hit back at the governing AK Party over attempting to amend the
controversial article and called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan to take the planned 301 amendment to referendum.

"Esteemed Prime Minister, if you have the courage and if you trust the
will of the Turkish nation, why don’t you ask our nation whether it
wants the values of Turkishness and the honorable history of Turkey
to be insulted," asked Bahceli.

After years of foot dragging, the government finally submitted a
proposal to Parliament on April 7 to amend Article 301, which has
been used in the prosecution of several intellectuals, journalists
and activists for "insulting Turkishness."

Under the proposed changed, the approval of the justice minister
will be necessary for a prosecutor to proceed with a 301-related
investigation. Other changes in the draft include making it a crime to
insult the "Turkish nation" instead of the ambiguous term "Turkishness"
and lowering the maximum jail sentence for such an insult to two
years from three.

"If the prime minister refrains from taking the 301 amendment to a
referendum, then I say to him for the last time: Do not pave the path
for insulting the values of the Turkish nation. Keep in mind that a
single wrong step you take will translate to a breaking point for our
nation. Turkish nationalists will never forget what has been done so
far," Bahceli noted.

He also claimed the government will amend a series of articles
enshrined in the TCK and the Counter-terrorism Act after Article
301. "The AK Party is responsible for the insult campaigns begun
against the values of the Turkish nation. Who is disturbed by Article
301? Those who wish to label Turks as perpetrators of genocide against
Armenians," he said.