Author: Karabekian Emil

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
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PRESS RELEASE

Monday, November 24, 2008

AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School Student Named National AP Scholar

The College Board has just released the list of students recognized as
AP Scholars for their outstanding achievements in the 2008 Advanced
Placement exams and 38 AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School (MDS) students
have qualified for various awards established by the College Board in
recognition of their outstanding achievement.

Antranig Vasoyan, MDS Class of ’08, has qualified for the top honors of
National AP Scholar, having earned a grade of 4 or higher on a
five-point scale on all AP exams taken, and grades of 4 or higher on
eight or more of these exams.

The following high school students have qualified for the AP Scholar
with Distinction award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on
all AP exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these
exams. They are: Roy Akarakian, Lara Altunian, Vicken Atchabahian, Anita
Barooni, Talin Gharibian, Lucy Hallajian, Talar Kavafyan, Diana
Oganesyan, Masis Parunyan, Arman Shirinian and Philip Yeranosian.

Having achieved an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken,
and grades of 3 or higher on at least four or more AP Exams, the
following students have qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor award.
They are: Arthur Avsharian, Christine Haroutounian, Jacqueline Kademian,
Anna Melkonyan, Natalie Nahabet, Melissa Saracyan, Collette Torunyan,
Shawnt Tosonian and Aleen Yerevanian.

Finally, 16 students qualified for the AP Scholar award by passing three
or more AP exams with grades of 3 or higher. They are: Lara Armani,
Andrew Arpagian, Liana Atallah, Setrag Avakian, Gabriel Duhancioglu,
Taline Gettas, Maro Iskenderian, Colina Jehdian, Yorghos Kageorgis,
Belinda Kesisoglu, Natalie Keusseyan, Micheal Khesvadjian, Ila
Markarian, Sureya Melkonian, Serli Polatoglu and Caroline Zetjian.

Congratulations to all 38 award recipients. It is worth noting that many
of them are freshmen, sophomores and juniors who still have additional
opportunities to enroll in AP courses offered at MDS and qualify for
more AP awards during the coming year(s).

The AP Program at MDS has been in existence since 1992. A cadre of
experienced teachers provides instruction in nine college level classes
taught in high school. During the 2008-2009 academic year, 145 students
representing 59% of all MDS high school students are enrolled in up to
three AP classes.

Established in 1976, AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School ()
is one of AGBU’s largest Armenian schools in the diaspora and to serves
Southern California’s growing Armenian American community.

For more information on AGBU and its schools around the world, please
visit,

Iranian Students News Agency ISNA, Iran
Nov 22 2008

Secretary of Armenian National Security Council to arrive in Tehran

TEHRAN, Nov. 22 (ISNA)-The Secretary of Armenian National Security
Council Arthur Baghdasaryan will arrive in Tehran on Saturday.

During a two-day visit Baghdasaryan along with Armenian Deputy Foreign
Minister Gegham Gharibjanyan, Deputies of the National assembly
Hovhannes Margaryan and Sukias Avetisyan and some other officials will
hold talks with Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Parliament
Speaker Ali Larijani and the top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

ESTONIAN FM TO VISIT ARMENIA IN 2009

armradio.am
22.11.2008 13:22

Within the framework of his visit to Estonia, the Foreign Minister of
Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, had a meeting with his Estonian counterpart
Urmas Paet.

A broad range of issues related to the development of bilateral
relations was discussed. Reference was made to a number of regional
and international questions.

The Ministers attached importance to the regular consultations between
the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two countries as a successful
format for negotiations.

The interlocutors discussed the steps to be taken in the direction
of deepening the cooperation in the fields of economy, education
and culture.

The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Estonia talked about the process
of cooperation between Armenia and the European Union and the steps
to be taken in this direction.

At the request of the Foreign Minister of Estonia, Edward Nalbandian
presented the latest developments in the Karabakh conflict settlement
process and the opportunities of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish
relations.

Accepting Minister Nalbndian’s invitation to visit Armenia, Urmas
Paet said he intends to arrive in Armenia in the first half of 2009.

The meeting of the Foreign Ministers was followed by a joint press
conference.

AN OPEN LETTER TO MR. ERTUGRUL GUNAY, MINISTER OF TOURISM AND CULTURE
By Ara Sarafian

Today’s Zaman
Nov 20 2008
Turkey

Dear Mr. Minister,

I wish to congratulate the Turkish Ministry of Tourism and Culture
for its planned initiative to honor the American-Armenian writer,
William Saroyan, with a museum dedicated to him in his ancestral town
of Bitlis.

Saroyan was born in Fresno, California, but his forefathers came
from Bitlis. The proposed museum will be the first time a diaspora
Armenian — a much-maligned category in some quarters in Turkey —
will be recognized as a fellow "Anatolian" of Turkish citizens today. I
hope your initiative will contribute to a more sympathetic discussion
of the Armenian cultural heritage of Anatolia (and there are many
beautiful examples of this) and the Anatolian roots of Armenians.

You must be aware that your announcement of establishing a Saroyan
museum in Bitlis will lead to some obvious questions: If there were
Armenians in Bitlis, what were they like and what happened to them? If
there are no Armenians left there, why are they not there today?

Allow me to state that on the eve of World War I, the town of Bitlis
had an Armenian population consisting of around 1,140 households,
and there were over 70 Armenian inhabited villages around the
city. Armenians made up over one-third of the population in this
province and lived alongside Kurds and Turks. There were four
monasteries in or immediately around Bitlis, plus four churches in
the city itself. There was also an Armenian Protestant and an Assyrian
church. These churches attested to the typical good relations between
Muslims and Christians in the city.

Unfortunately most of the Armenians churches that were left behind
in 1915, and practically all cemeteries where Christians were buried
(such as Saroyan’s ancestors), have been desecrated or plowed under
the soil. This is also the case outside of the city where grave robbers
still dig around to search for "Armenian gold." While it is true that
many Turks and Kurds have defended the dignity of such locations,
they have not always been successful. I remember reading on a Turkish
Internet site how peasants in the village of Duz, near Bitlis, were
trying to save an Armenian church. Their muhtar’s sentiment was simple
and very moving: "In those days we lived like brothers and sisters with
Armenians. We went to our mosques and they went to their church. We
now do whatever we can to keep the church standing." ("O dönemlerde
Ermeniler’le kardeÅ~_ gibi yaÅ~_ardık. Bizler camilerimize, onlar
da kiliseye giderlerdi. Å~^u anda kilisenin ayakta durması icin ne
gerekiyorsa yapıyoruz.") I have personally heard such remarks from
many ordinary people in Turkey.

I think it is important for Armenians to come and see for themselves
that, whatever the problems Armenians faced in 1915 (it makes no
difference whether one calls it genocide, massacre or deportation),
there is still a lot of good will among ordinary people in Turkey
today.

I am not sure if you will be able to find the Saroyan house in Bitlis
today, but as far as I know, there is at least one Armenian church
remaining in the city. It is abandoned and used to be used for storage
purposes. It is now owned by the British-American Tobacco Company,
hardly befitting a cultural treasure in Turkey. Perhaps as minister
of culture you will be able to come to an agreement with the tobacco
company and save this building from further deterioration and restore
it as a cultural treasure in the name of William Saroyan. The projected
Saroyan museum could thus become an offering for a happy future, when
people love and respect each other and celebrate their differences
as fellow human beings and Anatolians. Such a vision would be fitting
to Saroyan’s memory.

Sincerely,

Ara Sarafian

–Boundary_(ID_KHq7eMOpJ+TQdRuuXgcq9g)–

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: "THE DISTORTED COMMENTS OF AZERBAIJAN ON MOSCOW DECLARATION ARE DESTRUCTIVE"

Today.Az
Nov 19 2008
Azerbaijan

In the framework of the visit of the Foreign Minister to the Baltic
states Edward Nalbandyan visited the Vilnius University, where he
met with rector of the university Benedictas Juodkay.

During the meeting the sides discussed possible ratification of
cooperation between the university of Vilnius and the state university
of Yerevan, reports the department of press and information under
the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

Later at the faculty of international relations and political studies
Minister Nalbandyan delivered a lecture on the topic "Security in
the South Caucasus: Armenian perspective".

Touching upon the steps, taken by Armenia, for establishment of peace
and envisioning security in the region, Nalbandyan informed about the
process of talks on the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, stressing
that "distorted" comments on the Moscow declaration, expressed in
Azerbaijan, does not promote the execution of principles, fixed in
the document, in particular, as means of strengthening trust.

INVESTIGATORS AT YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY HAVE PUBLISHED NEW DATA ON APPLIED PHYSICS

Science Letter
November 18, 2008

According to recent research from Yerevan, Armenia, "The liquid
phase epitaxy technique is used for self-assembled InAsSbP-based
strain-induced islands and quantum dots (QD) formation on InAs(1 0 0)
substrates. The morphology, dimensions (size and shape), distribution
density and composition of these objects are investigated by scanning
electron and atomic force microscopies (SEM and AFM) and found to be
self-organized from pyramids to globes."

"In addition, we perform energy dispersive x-rays analysis measurements
at the top and bottom angles of the InAsSbP quaternary pyramids and
lattice mismatch ratio calculations. They show that the strength
at the top of the pyramids is lower than at the bottom angles,
and that the island size becomes smaller when the lattice mismatch
decreases. The QD average density ranges from 5 to 7 x 10(9) cm(-2),
with height and width dimensions from 0.7 nm to 25 nm and 20 nm to
80 nm, respectively," wrote K.M. Gambaryan and colleagues, Yerevan
State University (see also Applied Physics).

The researchers concluded: "A critical size (similar to 500 nm) for
the transformation of the InAsSbP-based strain-induced pyramid shape
to globe shape is determined."

Gambaryan and colleagues published their study in the Journal of
Physics D – Applied Physics (Strain-induced InAsSbP islands and quantum
dots grown by liquid phase epitaxy on a InAs(100) substrate. Journal
of Physics D – Applied Physics, 2008;41(16):62004).

For additional information, contact K.M. Gambaryan, Yerevan State
University, Dept. of Physics Semicond & Microelect, A Manoukian Str 1,
Yerevan 375025, Armenia.

Publisher contact information for the Journal of Physics D – Applied
Physics is: IOP Publishing Ltd., Dirac House, Temple Back, Bristol
BS1 6BE, England.

IRAN PROTESTS ARMENIA FOR AIRING ‘300’

Mathaba.Net
Nov 18 2008
UK

Iran’s cultural counselor in Yerevan has lodged a protest to the
Armenian TV for broadcasting the film ‘300’ which distorts Iran’s
history.

Mohammad Reza Shakiba in a meeting with the deputy head of the Armenian
TV Network H2, Karen Hacopian, expressed concern over airing the film.

He said that cultural NATO has touched many countries which can get
rid of them by adhering to their original culture.

Armenian officials always insist on the two countries’ common history
and friendly ties and have extensive plans for future, he said, noting
that broadcasting such a film can harm friendship and cooperation
between the two sides.

Hacopian, for his part, said that the airing the film is not worrisome
pointing out that the Armenian people and government are quite keen
on Iran’s friendship. He noted that Iran has been a friend of Armenia
since ancient times.

"The film is not acceptable for Armenian TV," he said, noting that
sometimes sellers impose films on buyers.

RA PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN RECEIVED A DELEGATION HEADED BY HUNGARIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS MADAME KINGA GYONCZ

ntre_8/official_news_en.php?&date=1226865600
N ov 18 2008

Greeting the guests, the Prime Minister conveyed Armenia’s continued
interested in expanding and deepening relations with Hungary in
various spheres. Tigran Sargsyan expressed hope that this visit
will boost bilateral ties. According to the head of RA government,
Hungary has been among Armenia’s foreign policy priorities by virtue
of those interesting reforms implemented in this country since Soviet
era. Today as well, amidst the current global financial and economic
crisis, Hungary’s experience can be extremely useful to our country.

Thanking for a warm welcome, Madame King Gyoncz briefed the Prime
Minister on her country’s current economic status and development
trends, including in particular those measures carried out to
counteract the global crisis.

Tigran Sargsyan said Armenia can largely benefit from Hungarian
know-how in the sphere of euro-integration. "We highly value our
cooperation with Hungary under the European Neighborhood Policy, we
closely follow your achievements in this direction and are ready to use
Hungary’s expertise in implementing broad-band reform in the country,"
he said. In his opinion, the present level of bilateral relations
obliges us to undertake more decisive steps towards developing
interaction in political, economic and other spheres, establishing and
strengthening ties between the representatives of business circles,
revealing opportunities and potentialities for cooperation.

During the meeting, Tigran Sargsyan stressed the need for striking
direct ties between individual administrative units of Armenia and
Hungary by noting that harmonious territorial development will be a
government priority in 2009.

The parties highlighted the role of the not so numerous, but
sufficiently important Armenian community of Hungary as to the further
strengthening of deeply-rooted Armenian-Hungarian ties. Tigran
Sargsyan advised that a new ministry – the Ministry of Diaspora –
is up in Armenia to promote linkages with the Armenian communities
of various countries inclusive of Hungary. He expressed hope that it
will go a long way towards building up all-round relationship between
the two countries.

PRESIDENT OF THE NAGORNO KARABAGH REPUBLIC BAKO SAHAKYAN LEFT…

Azat Artsakh Daily,
18 Nov 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

On 17 November President of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic Bako
Sahakyan left for Yerevan, afterwards – to USA to take part in the
organizational works of the "Hayastan" All-Armenian fund’s annual
telethon.

PREMATURE TO SPEAK OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION PASSAGE IN U.S. CONGRESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.11.2008 16:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ New 111 th U.S. Congress will hold its pioneer
session on January 3. It’s premature to speak about passage of the
Armenian Genocide resolution, Arpi Vartanian, Armenian Assembly of
America regional director for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh told a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

"The resolutions that were not passed by the 110 th Congress should be
introduced in the new convocation’s agenda. The Assembly hopes that
a new resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide will be brought
to the House floor by the end of 2009," she said.