ANTONINA MAHARI’S BOOK’S ENGLISH TRANSLATION TO BE PRESENTED IN HOLLYWOOD
Noyan tapan
Feb 13, 2009
LOS ANGELES, FEBRUARY 13, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. "My Odyssey"
book’s English translation’s presentation will take place at Hollywood
St. Mary Armenian Church. Antonina Mahari’s memoirs are presented in
the book.
Translation from Russian original was done by Jaklin Ekmekjian and
Gohar Arsenian. The English editing was done by Ruth Bedevian.
PRESIDENT: ARMENIA SHOULD MANAGE TO PROTECT DOMESTIC BUSINESS
ARKA
Feb 13, 2009
YEREVAN, February 13. /ARKA/. Armenia should find all possible ways
to protect domestic business, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said
at the congress of Prospering Armenia party.
The global crisis makes the countries revise the accepted economic
concepts and agree to changes that were considered inadmissible before,
Sargsyan said.
Yet, developed countries have failed to create a respective cooperation
mechanism so far to reduce the threat, whenever it appears, through
joint efforts, Armenian President said adding that a correct solution
so far.
"Such a situation has made Armenian Government take non-standard
solutions too – direct state interference to protect local producers
and promote exports, setting incentives to use organizational skills
and international market experience of Armenian importers for promotion
of exports," Sargsyan said.
Changes that are being made in Armenian tax and customs legislation
are to revive Armenian economy, the President said.
He said he always considered frequent changes in economic legislation
harmful for economic processes and their planning.
"Yet, we need to solve serious problems today, we should protect
domestic business, we should protect ourselves and we should manage
to find all possible means of protecting the domestic business,"
Sargsyan said.
In this respect, Armenian Government is on a right=2 0path, he
said.
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN MET WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE NKR, BAKO SAHAKIAN
President.am
Feb 11 2009
Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan and Bako Sahakian discussed issues related to the
current stage of the NK peace process. President Serzh Sargsyan
informed Bako Sahakian on the results of his meeting with the President
of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev.
At the meeting discussed also were issues pertaining to the joint
measures directed at the mitigation of the consequences of the
global financial and economic crises and matters related to the works
conducted on that direction.
TURKISH PARLIAMENT ADVANCES TO ATTACK TO PREVENT ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN U.S. CONGRESS
Noyan Tapan
Feb 10, 2009
ANKARA, FEBRUARY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The Grand National Assembly of
Turkey advances to the attack to prevent adoption of resolutions on
Armenian Genocide in various countries’ parliaments.
According to Kosal Toptan, Turkish parliament Speaker, the Grand
National Assembly of Turkey should conduct an active dialogue and
be in touch especially with parliaments and parliamentarians of the
states, where Armenian Diaspora’s positions are most influential.
As Kosal Toptan affirmed it, they have invited Nancy Pelosi, the
Speaker of the U.S. Congress House of Representatives, to Turkey,
who accepted the invitation. However, Turkish parliament Speaker did
not mention concrete terms of Pelosi’s possible visit.
"Without waiting for April 24, we work. We have already sent a
parliamentary delegation to the United States. We sent a second one
a little later. We are going to send one more delegation," Toptan said.
According to information in Turkish press, another Turkish delegation
is having meetings in Brussels.
JEWS WON’T BLOCK ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION ANY MORE
PanARMENIAN.Net
10.02.2009 17:28 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Two serious threats are on the horizon to relations
between NATO allies Turkey and the United States during the period
of the new Obama administration in Washington: the Armenian Genocide
resolution and the fallout from the Turkish Prime Minister’s encounter
with Israeli President Shimon Peres at Davos, according to a veteran
U.S. diplomat.
"The style of leadership in Washington now has changed and is quite
different from the Bush style. I am optimistic about the future of
bilateral ties but there are two very serious problems on the horizon,"
retired Ambassador James Holmes, president of the American-Turkish
Council, told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review,
One issue is the negative repercussions in Washington from a public
confrontation between Peres and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan at the now-infamous Davos panel that ended when the latter
walked off stage, he said.
"As popular as that was in Turkey and in much of the Arab world it
was received very negatively in the United States and particularly
in the American-Jewish community, which has always been a supporter
and ally of Turkey," said Holmes. "The American-Jewish community’s
support for Turkey’s position on the Armenian Genocide resolution,
for example, is gone. They will not expend any political energy in
blocking a resolution or a presidential proclamation."
RA PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN TOOK PART IN FESTIVE EVENTS DEDICATED TO THE FEAST OF ST SARKIS
Satur day, 7 February 2009
RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan took part in festive events dedicated
to the Feast of St Sarkis, including the first nationwide exhibition
of young painters, hosted by the Araratian Patriarchal Diocese and the
Painters Union Board of Trustees. On this occasion, the Prime Minister
offered his best wishes to young painters. Later today, Tigran Sargsyan
will be attending a celebration to be held in the Park of Lovers.
ARMENIAN ACADEMIC RETRACTS APOLOGY CAMPAIGN OVER FIERCE REACTIONS
Hurriyet
lish/world/10960881.asp?scr=1
Feb 9 2009
Turkey
An Armenian academic retracted a planned campaign apologizing to
Turks for killings conducted by his countrymen after drawing fierce
reactions from the diaspora, Hurriyet daily reported on Monday.
Dr. Armen Gavakian from the Macquarie University in Sydney, inspired
by a Turkish initiative, decided last month to launch a campaign to
apologize to Turks for murders committed by the Asala organization
in the 1980s.
Gakavian, however, retracted the campaign over fierce criticism from
Armenian diaspora, Hurriyet wrote.
Prof. Baskin Oran, one of the intellectuals who initiated the Turkish
apology campaign, wrote in Agos daily that they were also exposed to
similar reactions from his fellow citizens.
"His (campaign) resembled ours. Attacks from the Workshop for
Armenian/Turkish Scholarship (WATS) started immediately… They asked
whether the Turks made him write this," he wrote.
Around 200 Turkish academics, writers and journalists have launched a
website issuing an apology to Armenians "for ignoring the tragedy that
the Armenians faced in 1915". The efforts of Turkish intellectuals have
also drawn reaction in Turkey and incited counter website campaigns,
and exhibitions containing information and photographs from studies
conducted into the events.
Gavakian’s statement was expected to be opened for signatures
of support this week. "I apologize to the Ottomans and Turks for
murders committed in the name of the Armenian people and I empathize
with the feelings and pain of the Ottomans and Turks," the statement
said according to media reports. He later denied that the statement
included an apology.
Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million
of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915.Turkey
rejects the claims saying that 300,000 Armenians, along with at least
as many Turks, died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took
up arms, backed by Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia.
The issue remains unsolved as Armenia drags its feet on accepting
Turkey’s proposal to form an independent commission to investigate
the claims.
MR. BAYKAL GOES TO BRUSSELS
Feb 9 2009
Turkey
Deniz Baykal, the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s
Party (CHP), which is panic-stricken and does not know what to do as
the municipal elections of March 29 near, is now preparing — after
his chador and Quran course initiatives, which have been viewed with
skepticism by voters as moves to attract votes in the local elections
— for another initiative, i.e., a European Union initiative. If all
goes as planned, Baykal will go to Brussels for talks today.
I must quickly note that Baykal’s visit to Brussels, the center where
EU policies, which serve as an anchor for the improvement of democracy
and fundamental rights and freedoms in Turkey, take shape, after an
interval of six years is a great event per se. The fact that this
visit will take place immediately after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s visit is also meaningful. It seems that Baykal is trying
to reach out to Turkish voters as much as he is seeking to reach out
to EU circles via his Brussels visit.
We can say that having ignored EU circles for years and not having
refrained from acting so as to paralyze the EU membership process
and reform activities whenever it found the opportunity, the CHP
has, after some time, rediscovered the EU. As a natural consequence
of this discovery, the CHP has opened a representation office in
Brussels. However, we know well that instead of explaining its
own policies to EU circles, this office has been conducting a crude
propaganda campaign to defame the Turkish government and some civilian
initiatives in Turkey. We are talking about a CHP whose chador and
Quran course initiatives have been received with skepticism because
of the repressive policies it had pursued until recently. So we are
safe to assume that its Brussels initiative will be viewed with the
same level of skepticism.
Perhaps, the biggest benefit of Mr. Baykal’s Brussels visit is that
it will provide an opportunity for the CHP and its supporters, who
have been causing tremors in the country, to see and understand the
correspondence or lack thereof between what they have done for the last
five years and what the EU acquis, democratic principles and universal
human rights and freedoms propose. As a matter of fact, what triggers
justifiable doubts about Mr. Baykal’s sincerity are the serious issues
that we expect will inevitably be discussed during this confrontation.
I am sure that EU circles know well what I am talking about. How
the CHP has been dragged into anti-democratic discourse, adopting
an extremist, neo-nationalist and occasionally fascist language and
stance, is well known by our European friends. However, I would like
to recall some things for those who memories may be failing. I am
sure that Baykal has very reasonable explanations to give about them
to our European friends.
Baykal, who, I expect, will assure Brussels that the CHP is fully
loyal to the EU criteria and will continue to lend support to Turkey’s
membership process, will, no doubt, have a good explanation for
why the CHP objected to the amendment of the infamous, repressive,
pro-censorship Article 301, under which many writers and intellectuals,
including Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and assassinated Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, have been tried and sentenced.
Baykal should have a reasonable explanation for the objections he
raised about the minority foundations bill, which aims to improve the
property rights of minorities that have been living in this country
to contemporary standards. I think he will also devise an explanation
for his opposition to Kurdish-language broadcasts by the Turkish Radio
and Television Corporation (TRT), through which our Kurdish citizens
have felt for the first time that they are part of this country. I
am sure Baykal’s ideas about how a Kurdish TV station is an unfair
use of public resources and will lead to inequality will be listened
to with interest by his European addressees.
Availing himself of this opportunity, Mr. Baykal should enlighten
Brussels about his role in the republican rallies, which were
organized in close collaboration with retired commanders, most of
whom are now under arrest as part of the Ergenekon investigation,
as well as civilian Ergenekon members, with the aim of blocking the
democratic election of a president. It is obvious that he has some
good reasons that explain why he tried to unlawfully extend the tenure
of former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. He should devise some pretext
for having heartily defended the e-memorandum posted by the military
on its Web site on April 27, 2007 to prevent Parliament from electing
a president and to lend support to the 367 quorum conspiracy at the
expense of the reputation of the law and the top judicial authority,
the Constitutional Court.
It is our great expectation that he will share his mind-blowing idea
that, in a democratic country, a new constitution can only be made
after a military coup with his European addressees, to whom he should
also explain that he affords full support to the 1982 Constitution,
which was drafted under military guardianship. Indeed, this idea may
be inspiring to our European friends, who have failed to draft the
Constitution of the European Union.
There are many things Baykal will have to confront in Brussels,
but finally, I would expect him to explain the logic of a political
party advocating the interests and wishes of the state instead those
of the nation, and prioritizing the military’s influence on politics
over politics itself. Of course, everyone will expect Mr. Baykal
to list his reasons for acting as an advocate for the Ergenekon
terrorist organization, which has played a role in every murder,
massacre, assassination, legal scandal and attempt to create chaos
in Turkey’s recent past, and to describe how he feels about defending
this shadowy network.
I am sure Mr. Baykal, being a good orator and a master of U-turns,
will have convincing explanations for all these points. But, let
me give him a hint as to what he will see during his visit. As an
influential member of the European Parliament whom I met several weeks
ago said, all of Baykal’s ingenious assertions will be as conclusive as
"selling ice cream at the poles."
Do not be misled by the foregoing into thinking that I am against
Mr. Baykal’s Brussels visit. Rather, I heartily support this visit
as I believe that if he makes more frequent visits to Brussels,
he will more easily take his party out of the anti-democratic mud,
where it has been wallowing for some time.
GORAN LENNMARKER: "GOOD POSSIBILITY" FOR SOLUTION ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH"
Today.Az
az/news/politics/50536.html
Feb 6 2009
Azerbaijan
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on
Nagorno-Karabakh and Special Envoy to Georgia, Goran Lennmarker,
said that there is a "good possibility" for the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict to be solved this year, but "time is scarce" and it is now
"critically important to seize the opportunity."
Mr. Lennmarker, President Emeritus of the OSCE PA, will visit
all three countries in the South Caucasus next week. He made the
statement in an interview for the OSCE PA web site published today
(). His trip to the region includes visits to Armenia
9-10 February, Georgia 10-12 February, and Azerbaijan 12-14 February,
where he will hold talks with the leaders in the parliaments,
governments, and with NGOs.
"I hope," Mr. Lennmarker said of his trip, "that it will result in
positive signals that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is on its way to
a peaceful resolution."
In Georgia, Goran Lennmarker said he hopes to learn more about how
the Georgians view the pressing issues on refugees and internally
displaced persons (IDPs) and about their perspective on finding a
dialogue with Russia. He said it is important that the OSCE continue
to play a role in South Ossetia because there is a great need for
impartial mediators and observers such as from the OSCE.
"In South Ossetia, there is now a situation where you have had de
facto ethnic cleansing," Mr. Lennmarker said in the interview.
"Refugees and IDPs, who live outside of South Ossetia, have their homes
there and wish to go back. If they are to go back to a situation where
their houses have been burned down, they need impartial observers —
people they feel can protect them, so they don’t go back to the same
situation they just fled from."
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
THE AMBASSADOR OF CYPRUS VISITS HIS HOLINESS ARAM I
His Holiness Aram I received the Ambassador of Cyprus in Lebanon, Kyriakos
Kouros on February 5. Accompanying the Ambassador was Dr. Jerard Dedeyan, a
Professor at the University of Sorbonne, who is researching on the Armenian
community of Cyprus in the Middle Ages.
His Holiness Aram I provided a brief historical account of the ties between
the Cilician Kingdom and the Island and of the mutual relations during the
reign of the Loucinians.
The Pontiff and his guests also discussed the developments in the Middle
East in general and the political situation in Lebanon in particular.
##
View the photos here:
tos/Photos357.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.