Author: Chilingarian Babken

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

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Watch our latest videos on YouTube here:

"I SEE OUR BRIGHT FUTURE IN THE EYES OF OUR CHILDREN", SAID HIS HOLINESS
ARAM I ON PALM SUNDAY

Upon his election as Catholicos, His Holiness Aram I declared Palm Sunday,
the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, as the Day of Children. Since
then, thousands of children have come to Church every year, with their
parents and with flowers, to pray, rejoice and receive the blessings of the
Catholicos, along with a gift.

This year, again, the Church and the courtyard were filled with happy
children. After the Holy Liturgy, the clergy and the faithful with their
children walked in procession from the church around the Catholicosate
outside its gates, and then came back to the courtyard. His Holiness
addressed the children and their families from the balcony of his residence.
He said: "I see the bright future of our people in the eyes of our children
present with us today." He then addressed the parents, saying: "the Church
is our second home, nurture your children with the faith of the Church that
has been preserved by our ancestors". After the message ended, thousands of
colorful balloons were sent into the air and doves were released as
messengers of peace. To end the Palm Sunday celebrations, His Holiness Aram
I blessed the children, giving each of them a small gift.

On Palm Sunday in the afternoon, the church celebrates ‘Trenpatsek’ (Opening
of the Door), a service reminding the faithful of the Last Judgment. Two
choirs, or, priests, one in front of the altar curtain and the other behind
the curtain, chant in antiphons. The dialogue continues until the priest in
front of the curtain implores: "Open the door of righteousness so that we
confess to the Lord". The curtain opens and everybody sings the hymn of the
day.

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View the photos here:
c/Photos/Photos459.htm
http://www.ArmenianOrthodox Church.org/v04/doc/Photos/Photos460.htm
http://www .ArmenianOrthodoxChurch.org/v04/doc/Photos/Photos4 61.htm
oc/Photos/Photos462.htm
*****
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.

BAKO SAHAKYAN: WITHOUT THE FULL PARTICIPATION OF THE ARTSAKH REPUBLIC IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO REACH FINAL AND COMPREHENSIVE SETTLEMENT OF THE CONFLICT

ArmInfo
2010-03-29 11:36:00

ArmInfo. On 28 March President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan
met co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group Robert Bradtke (USA), Yuri
Merzlyakov (Russian Federation), Bernard Fassier (France) and
accompanying them officials.

As Central Information Department of the NKR president’s office told
ArmInfo, issues related to the current stage and prospects of the
Azerbaijani-Karabagh conflict settlement were discussed during the
meeting. The Head of the State once again underlined that without the
full participation of the Artsakh Republic it would be impossible to
reach final and comprehensive settlement of the conflict.

President Sahakyan noted that unconstructive, militaristic approaches
of Azerbaijan and its denial of mutual confidence initiatives are
the pivotal hindrances on the way of the conflict’s settlement. The
President once again underlined that independence and security of
Artsakh are not subjects to any speculations and any attempt to bring
back the past are pregnant with unpredictable consequences.

The President of the Artsakh Republic reiterated Artsakh’s adherence to
peaceful settlement of the conflict within the frameworks of the Minsk
Group. The co-chairs also underlined that any scenario of military
solution of the conflict is absolutely unacceptable.

Touching upon the Armenian-Turkish relations, the President noted
that this process does not have any relations to the settlement of the
Azerbaijani-Karabagh conflict and attempts to tie up these processes
cast negative impact on both processes leading them to impasse.

Issues related to the situation along the line contact were also
discussed at the meeting. NKR foreign minister Georgy Petrosyan
and personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office Andrzej
Kasprzyk were present at the talks.

TendersInfo
March 26, 2010 Friday

Armenia : World Bank to provide $40 million loan to road construction
projects in Armenia

In a March 23 meeting with Armenia s Minister of Transport and
Communications Manuk Vardanyan, World Bank Country Manager for Armenia
Aristomene Varoudakis elaborated on programs financed by the the World
Bank.

According to Varoudakis, the Road Improvement Program lauched in
Armenia in 2009 will be completed this year.

The preliminary financing of the program is $25 million USD, while
additional financing is $36.6 million USD. The program aims to
reconstruct a total of 240 km roadways in different communities in
Armenia.

According to Varoudakis, this program is very efficient as the roads
from villages will be linked to main adjacent highways. It also
provides additional jobs to the local communities.

Varoudakis also spoke about new programs aimed at reconstructing the
roads to be launched in the future.

By the end of 2010, the World Bank is planning to provide a $35-40
million USD loan to complete the construction of about 171 km of roads
that were previously planned to be reconstructed by the Millenuim
Challanges Armenia Foundaiton.
Ltd.

Legislators request increased assistance to Armenia and Artsakh

armradio.am
26.03.2010 11:12

With Congressional appropriators in the early stages of crafting the
Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) foreign aid bill, Congressional Armenian
Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) was joined by 27 of his U.S.
House colleagues in urging the inclusion of a series of provisions
aimed at strengthening U.S. ties to Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh and
bolstering the prospects for a lasting regional peace, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

"We want to thank Representative Pallone for his leadership and to
express our appreciation to each of his colleagues who joined in this
effort, including, of course, Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Mark Kirk,
for helping to ensure that the foreign aid bill properly reflects
America’s support for Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh," said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "We look forward to working toward
the adoption of the vital foreign aid priorities outlined in this
letter."

In a March 22nd letter to Foreign Operations Subcommittee Chairwoman
Nita Lowey (D-NY), a longstanding supporter of the U.S.-Armenia
relationship, and Ranking Republican Kay Granger (R-TX), lawmakers
cited six key foreign aid priorities, including:

– Increasing U.S. assistance to Armenia to $70 million in Fiscal Year 2011.

– Directing USAID to spend $10 million in Fiscal Year 2011 for
humanitarian and development programs in Nagorno Karabakh.

– Enhancing Section 907 restrictions on U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan
by narrowing presidential waiver authority of themeasure.

– Upholding the Committee’s long-standing tradition of maintaining
parity in military funding between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which
includes $4 million in FMF and $1 million in IMET funding for Armenia
in Fiscal Year 2011.

– Ending restrictions on travel, contacts, and the free exchange of
ideas between U.S. officials and the democratically elected leaders of
Nagorno Karabakh.

– Requesting language urging Azerbaijan to support confidence-building
measures that facilitate interaction among the parties, in order to
address regional security, resource management, infrastructure,
development and people to people programs.

Joining Rep. Pallone in cosigning the letter were Joe Baca (D-CA),
Bruce Braley (D-IA), John Conyers (D-MI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Anna Eshoo
(D-CA), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Barney Frank (D-MA), Elton Gallegly
(R-CA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Mark Kirk (R-IL),
James Langevin (D-FL), Frank Lobiondo (R-NJ), Stephen Lynch (D-MA),
Carolyn Maloney (D-FL), Ed Markey (D-MA), James McGovern (D-MA), Grace
Napolitano (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), George Radanovich (R-CA),
Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Brad Sherman (D-CA),
Jackie Speier (D-CA), Tim Walz (D-MN), Henry Waxman (D-CA), and Lynn
Woolsey (D-CA).

Armenia’s Ministry of Defense refutes Azeri misinformation

armradio.am
26.03.2010 16:45

The Armenian Ministry of Defense refutes the misinformation of Azeri media.

Press Service of the Ministry of Defense informs that the reports of
Azerbaijani media that divisions of the Armed Forces of Armenia
violated the cease fire regime in Tavush marz and opened fire in the
northeast direction of the Azerbaijani positions do not correspond to
reality.

The Calcutta Telegraph, India
March 26 2010

Gutted, her grandfather’s house – Arathoon Stephen’s descendant takes
shelter in home for old Armenians

POULOMI BANERJEE

Irene Martin and husband Jimmy Harris on Park Street the morning after
the fire. (Pabitra Das)
The granddaughter of the man Stephen Court was named after now lives
in one room of an address for old Armenians with nowhere to go, barely
a seven-minute drive away from her home that is burnt, blackened and
out of bounds.

Till Tuesday morning, the day she turned 84, Irene Martin was a
`popular, fun-loving’ resident of Stephen Court, known to most as `a
relative of Arathoon Stephen’, after whom the 18A Park Street building
was named.

On Wednesday morning, the feisty Armenian woman looked `disturbed and
dazed’ as she sat on the Park Street pavement with husband Jimmy
Harris, staring at their flat no. 27 of Stephen Court.

On Thursday morning, the homeless octogenarian woke up `incoherent and
hallucinating’ in the Sir Catchick Paul Chater Home, better known as
Armenian Home, in Park Circus.

`Irene Martin is the granddaughter of Arathoon Stephen, who built
Stephen Court and also founded the Grand hotel. Her husband Jimmy
Harris is an Englishman. They live on the second floor of Stephen
Court and we live on the first. We have been neighbours since 1965,’
Manu Lilaram told Metro.

Her Armenian friends rescued them on Tuesday afternoon. Peter
Hyrapiet, the president of the Armenian Club, recounted: `We were at
the club (at Queens Mansion) when the fire broke out and I told
another member to get Irene Martin and her husband down.’ That was
easier said than done as they did not want to leave their home.

`It was hard persuading them,’ said Cecil Milne, the honorary
treasurer of the club and the caretaker of the Armenian Home. After
getting them down, they were taken to the Home. `Ironically it was
Irene’s 84th birthday that day,’ said Hyrapiet. `We brought a cake to
try and cheer her up.’

But to little avail. The morning after, the couple slipped out and
went back to Park Street. `They are badly shaken and hallucinating,’
said Milne.

This is not the Irene friends have known for decades. `She is like an
institution on Park Street. She often walked into our showroom
(Satramdas Dhalamal at Queens Mansion), holding her trademark
cigarette,’ said couture jeweller Raj Mahtani. `She loved to dance, to
lift up her skirt and do a little hop in sheer fun,’ added Hyrapiet.

Irene would often spend time in the auction houses on Russell Street
and sit down with a coffee at Flurys.

Nora Arathoon was a friend she would spend a lot of time with. `She
was born in Calcutta and baptised in the Armenian Church here. Her
grandparents were so rich she never needed to go to work. She spent
most of her time looking after the house or taking care of her mother
(Anna). She wasn’t very young when she married Jimmy Harris. They
don’t have children.’

The grand old lady of Park Street, whose grandfather was the first
managing director of Stephen Court Ltd, was described by neighbour
Lilaram as being `very nice, very fond of music’. His son, Vijay,
fondly added: `A strong personality, a commanding voice and the gift
of the gab.’

That is something even the Queen got a taste of. `Irene loved to
recount her tea tryst with Queen Elizabeth II when she had visited
Calcutta in 1961,’ said a friend.

‘ WITH MOHUA DAS
utta/story_12262357.jsp

National Assembly of RA , Armenia
March 26 2010

Meeting in RA NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and
Public Affairs

On March 25 the Chairman of RA NA Standing Committee on Protection of
Human Rights and Public Affairs Aram Safaryan received the members of
the European Commission on Fighting Against Racism and Intolerance
Michael Head, Arvidas Virgilius and the executive secretary
coordinating the works of the Commission Stephanos Stavros. The Deputy
Chairman of the Committee Rafik Petrosyan also attended the meeting.

The guests were interested in the committee’s opinion about the second
report on Armenia made by the European Commission on Fighting Against
Racism and Intolerance.

Welcoming the guests the Committee Chairman Aram Safaryan noted that
he got familiarized with that report, and some issues and shortcomings
mentioned there were regulated after the adoption of the amendments of
the Constitution in 2005 and a number of laws.

In the course of the meeting the sides also touched upon issues
concerning racism and religious minorities.

CHILDREN CELEBRATE PALM SUNDAY IN ARMENIA

Tert.am
15:35 ~U 25.03.10

Under the blessing of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, the Center for Christian Upbringing
at the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin, in cooperation with the RA
Ministry of Education and Sciene, initiated a program called Children
are Celebrating Dzaghkazard (also called Palm Sunday).

Among participatants in the program are the Armenian Dioces of the
Armenian Church, local self-governing bodies and several kindergartens
in Yerevan and the marzes (provinces).

During this holiday, from March 25-28, children from different
kindergartens, accompanied by their teachers, will go to churches
where they will be blessed in a religious ceremony.

Celebrations will continue in the yards adjacent to the churches
where the children will draw with chalk on the ground and express
their perception of this holiday.

WORSHIP TO BE ALLOWED AT ARMENIAN CHURCH ONCE A YEAR IN VAN

armradio.am
25.03.2010 15:48

The Culture and Tourism Ministry of Turkey will allow worship once a
year at a church in Van, according to a statement released Thursday,
the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The historical Surp Khach (Holy Cross) Church on Aghtamar Island in
the eastern district of Van was renovated and opened as a museum in
2007 by former Culture Minister Atilla Koc. Since then, debate has
centered on whether the church would once again be opened for prayer.

Buildings designated as museums are not allowed to host religious
services under Turkish law.

The church remained a topic of considerable debate especially around
speculation surrounding whether a cross would be set atop the church.

The decision on the cross is still pending.

ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS BENEFICIAL FOR ANKARA

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.03.2010 13:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The protocols on normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations are beneficial to Ankara, a member of Social Democrat
Hunchakian Party said.

"Turkey has been imposing conditions on Armenia for years. Now,
with the protocols fully complying with its interests, Ankara demands
more and more," Gurgen Yeghiazaryan told a news conference in Yerevan
on Thursday.

"The protocols contain numerous preconditions. Signing them and
acceding to formation of a commission of historians, Armenia agreed
to discuss the fact of the Armenian Genocide," he said.