H?Ã?¼rriyet, Turkey
Dec 30 2008
TRT to start broadcasts in Armenian
ISTANBUL – After signing a cooperation agreement with the Armenian
State Television, Turkish state-run Radio and Television Corporation,
or TRT, will start radio broadcasting in Armenian as of February,
daily H?Ã?¼rriyet reported yesterday, quoting TRT General Director
?Ä?°brahim ?Å?ahin.
Moreover an Internet web site in Armenian will be opened and Armenian
television broadcasts will start within a year, said the daily.
ARMENIA: TWO DECADES AFTER DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE, THOUSANDS OF DISPLACED FAMILIES STILL WAITING FOR PERMANENT HOME
By Anush Babajanyan
EurasiaNet
Dec 29 2008
NY
A EurasiaNet Partner Post from Transitions Online
It’s a small structure in the middle of a field, seemingly
deserted. Only when you get close does it become clear that someone
lives here. Harutyun Gevorgyan moved to this makeshift house six
months ago after he married Manik, its owner.
Twenty years ago Gevorgyan lived with his first wife in an apartment
in Gyumri, Armenia’s second-largest city, but it was ruined in the
December 1988 earthquake that devastated the northwest corner of the
then-Soviet republic, killing 25,000 people and leaving hundreds of
thousands homeless.
Gevorgyan lived with a series of relatives until he met Manik, a
fellow street cleaner. Her family had not been offered a new home
after the earthquake. Like many in Gyumri, then called Leninakan,
they found shelter in domiks, small houses provided by the government
or built by the homeless themselves using wood, stones, or pieces
of metal found in the rubble of ruined buildings. These tnaks still
cover many parts of the city.
In the aftermath of the disaster the Soviet government promised that
the homeless would get new apartments within two years. Construction
began, but in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed; Armenia became
independent and lost its main source of aid. Two decades on more than
4,000 families in Gyumri are still waiting their turn to get a home.
"One of the reasons was the fall of the Soviet Union, and another
was the government that came afterwards," City Hall spokesperson
Lilit Aghekyan says to the question of why so many displaced by the
earthquake still do not have permanent new homes. But 20 years after
the disaster, the national government this year launched a construction
effort designed to provide permanent shelter for Gyumri’s remaining
homeless.
The War Hits Home
Aghekyan refers to the "negligence" of independent Armenia’s first
leaders, who, preoccupied with fighting Azerbaijan over the disputed
territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, let restoration of the devastated
quake area languish. Then-President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s government
concentrated the country’s resources on the war, ushering in what
Armenians recall as the "dark years" of little or no electricity,
heat, or running water.
After the 1994 ceasefire, restoring the Armenian economy took
precedence over delayed earthquake relief. By this time still-displaced
families had largely settled into their domiks, and into a routine
of petitioning the local authorities for help.
There are about 300 such households in the Fountain District, a former
park not far from the center of Gyumri that hosts one of the city’s
main concentrations of domiks.
Harutyun and Manik Gevorgyan live in one of the haphazardly sited,
closely spaced structures. Their house is a patchwork of sheets
of steel, heated, like many in the Fountain District, by a stove
Harutyun stokes not just with wood but with anything he can find that
burns. Smoke fills the badly-ventilated structure, mixing with dust
from the items brought in to be burnt. Harutyun cooks on the same
stove while his wife is out on her daily job as a street cleaner.
There are two rooms, a kitchen where the fire fodder is piled and
a bedroom with a narrow, partly broken bed. "Our house is in bad
condition," Harutyun says, "but there are houses in this district
that are much worse off."
Unlike the Gevorgyans’, most of the houses here have electricity,
but none has running water or sewerage. People bring water from
nearby springs and dig holes, screened by walls, outside their houses
for toilets.
"We eat and do laundry in the same room," says Geghetsik Gevorgyan
(no relation to Harutyun), who has moved from one domik to another
since the earthquake ruined her apartment building. With a pension
of $80 a month and a little extra money she earns working in a local
farmer’s fields, she maintains the thin-walled house and takes care
of her ill son.
Chichak Petrosyan lives alone in a one-room house piled with scattered
clothes and cardboard, but family members are always coming by to
help, and as we talk her grandson plays in the heaps on the floor. She
keeps doves in the one-room house, as well as a dog and cat. Outside
her relatives are doing laundry in the open air.
Petrosyan found this onetime ice-cream stand shortly after she lost
her home in the earthquake. She’s been living here ever since. She
has petitioned City Hall for a new home, without success. "I have
applied several times but received no reply," she says. "By now I
have almost lost hope."
Building Blocks
Since the quake an alliance of foundations and organizations headed by
the U.S. government aid agency USAID and including Armenian-American
billionaire Kirk Kerkorian’s Lincy Foundation has helped build 18,000
apartments for homeless families in Gyumri, but nothing has been built
by Armenian authorities since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Last
June, the national government announced an ambitious effort to resolve
the plight of the remaining homeless families within five years.
"Apartments for 3,000 families will be built in accordance with a
government program," City Hall’s Aghekyan says.
The first step was a contract with Yerevan-based developer
Glendale Hills to build at least 2,300 apartments in the Ani and
Mush 2 districts in the suburbs of Gyumri, where the Soviets built
apartments in first few years after the quake . Construction began on
the government-financed, 43 billion dram (100 million euro) project
in October and is slated for completion in 2010, with residents moving
in the following year.
The city received 4,284 applications from homeless families, and may
yet get more if the government agrees to extend the 1 November deadline
for 140 qualified families that were unable to apply "because they
are out of the country or other reasons," Aghekyan says. Those who
do not get one of the newly constructed flats will be eligible for
vouchers to purchase existing apartments on the outskirts of the city.
The help may come too late for Lena Atoyan, who is almost 80. She
does not expect to live long enough to move out of the tnak she has
shared with her daughter, Susanna, since the earthquake. "I am weak
and ill from living in this cold house all these years," says Atoyan,
who has been bedridden for months with a leg problem.
"I hope that at least my daughter gets some help or an apartment from
the government," she says. "It has been 20 years since we moved here,
and there is still no help from anyone."
Editor’s Note: Armenian photojournalist Anush Babayanjan reported
and for this article.
ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL SUPERVISORY SERVICE RECEIVES 10,000 COMPLAINTS IN LATTER HALF 2008
ARKA
Dec 26, 2008
YEREVAN, December 26. /ARKA/. The RA Presidential Supervisory Service
received 10,000 complaints in the latter half of this year – 2.5
times as many as in the latter half of last year.
Head of the Service Hovhannes Hovsepyan said that the reason for a
larger number of complaints is not only the efficiency of the Service,
but also the public confidence in the Armenian President.
About 25% of the complaints concern the Yerevan Municipality, 17%
the judicial system, and about 16% deal with social problems.
Hovsepyan also reported that positive decisions were made on 37.1%
of the complaints, which is a good result. Hovsepyan also said that
some of the complaints are ungrounded ones and no legal decisions
case be made on them.
"As a result of inspections conducted in the latter half of this year
the Service revealed violations to the amount of over 1bln AMD, with
several hundred million drams having been transferred to the budget,"
Hovsepyan said.
He pointed out that the Service will continue serving the law to
ensure the rule of law in Armenia.
Hovsepyan said that the Service reports all the facts of violations
to the President, and all the lawbreakers, including officials,
will be punished.
"We do not feel any pressure. Rather, we are trying to help to all
those filing comp laints top us, including the ones about officials,"
Hovsepyan said.
He pointed out that, as a result of the inspections, the heads of a
number of local departments of the Real Estate Register, as well as
the head of the transport department of the Yerevan Municipality and
a number of school headmasters, were relieved of their posts.
The RA Presidential Press Service exercises supervision over the
execution of the President’s decrees and orders, Government’s
resolutions by officials and local government bodies.
;5AGU0 80&show_article=1
Architects create American-style suburbs overseas
Dec 26 01:01 PM US/Eastern
By DAISY NGUYEN
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Architect Andy Feola keeps running into Southern
California colleagues in some of the world’s most exotic locations –
from the Egyptian desert to China to Azerbaijan.
"We’ll scratch our heads and ask ‘Why are you here?’" said Feola,
president of F+A Architects in Pasadena. "Well, I’m here for the same
reasons you’re here."
A growing number of architects and urban planners are finding work
overseas as the domestic real estate slump persists. An emerging
affluent class abroad is drawn to suburbs with U.S. names that mimic
the American ideal – down to the master bathroom and tree-lined
sidewalk.
A 2006 survey of American Institute of Architects members shows that
large architecture firms with more than 100 employees reported
billings from international work doubled in four years. Meanwhile,
billings in the U.S. this year dropped to the lowest point in the 12
years the survey has been conducted.
While there’s no hard data, more American-made windows, roofing
systems, furnaces and other specialized materials are being shipped
overseas because projects designed by Americans are built to
U.S. construction standards, said Jim Haughey, an economist with Reed
Construction Data, which tracks the construction industry.
"The English concept of a man’s home is his castle is true in most
parts of Asia, the Mideast and Eastern Europe," said Jeff Rossely, a
Bahrain-based developer of shopping malls, resorts and residential
communities in the Middle East. "If you look at how countries are
moving up the socio-economic ladder, some of the things they all want
is a car, a house, a nice view and air conditioning."
The trend started during the early 1990s U.S. housing downturn and has
intensified in recent years. Firms that ventured abroad since that
time say doing so has helped them weather economic slowdowns in
certain markets.
It has also created opportunities to design on a grander and more
creative scale. At times, architects are creating huge master-planned
communities encompassing a mix of single-family homes with high rises,
parks and shopping centers. Feola’s firm is designing a shopping and
entertainment complex for New Cairo, a metropolis built from scratch
for roughly 200,000 residents in Egypt. The idea is to avoid some of
the mistakes of the past and create a mixed-use environment where
people rely less on their car to get to shops and services.
American firms are behind an eco-friendly island connected to Shanghai
by rail, and a new township in northern Indian loaded with luxury
villas, apartments, shops, parks and schools.
Curiously, some of the developments overseas look and sound a lot like
California suburbs marketed to affluent customers who have spent time
living in the U.S. or attracted to an American suburban lifestyle.
Feola’s firm, which does 90 percent of its projects outside the
U.S. and is best known for designing a shopping mall in Dubai with an
indoor ski slope, was responsible for a development outside of Beijing
called Napa Valley that has little resemblance to the winemaking
region.
Grassy front lawns and driveways lead to pastel-colored homes that
mimic French, Italian or Spanish architectural styles. Customized
kitchens, screening rooms and basement wine cellars are very different
from Chairman Mao’s vision of communal living.
"It’s hard to tell you’re not in Southern California," Feola said.
Another Beijing suburb is aptly named Orange County, which sold out
within days of opening in 2002. Chinese developers hired Newport Beach
firm Bassenian Lagoni to make a replica of homes they saw south of Los
Angeles. With the eerie resemblance to the American suburb, critics
derided the homes as "McMansions."
"It’s too bad that we as Americans are turning away from suburban
sprawl as Asia adopts it," said Robert Fishman, a professor of
architecture and urban planning at the University of Michigan.
Architect Aram Bassenian, whose Mediterranean-style homes have come to
define California’s ritzy suburbs, contends that architects shouldn’t
shoulder all the blame. California borrows ideas from elsewhere, and
for centuries cities have been designed or influenced by outsiders.
Many advances in green home design that were developed in the U.S. are
being introduced overseas, including better insulation or ventilation
to rely less on fossil fuels for heating and air conditioning.
To make the homes fit with the local culture, outdoor kitchens are
added in Asia for frying food, and trellises are installed to protect
Mediterranean homes from intense sunlight.
"We don’t create the demand, we respond to people’s needs for shelter,
for housing," Bassenian said.
Despite criticism, suburban communities are sprouting in Latin
America, North Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe. To promote
developments that won’t deplete natural resources, land use experts at
the Urban Land Institute has been taking foreign groups on "study
tours" of U.S. communities and recently opened an education center in
the United Arab Emirates.
Developers say they look to American architects because they have a
track record of designing successful shopping malls, resorts and other
high-end projects.
Bassenian said he doesn’t take lightly the task of creating a built-in
environment for people millions of miles away.
"It is both a daunting responsibility as well as an incredible
privilege to think that what we do here will shape how somebody lives
around the world," Bassenian said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
EMPLOYEES DEMAND THEIR SALARIES
A1+
[07:52 pm] 24 December, 2008
Employees of Nairit Ltd staged a protest action in front of the
government building on December 24. They demanded their salaries of
November. The protesters said they had been paid only 30% but they
needed the whole sum.
"All senior workers have been sent home while others go to work and
get a high salary. Why should we be discriminated against?" complained
chemist Susanna Antonyan.
The Company employs 2742 people but most of them are presently on a
forced leave.
Assistant director Karen Poghosyan ensured they will soon be given the
two thirds of their salaries. He also noted that the global economic
crisis had greatly affected their activities and product circulation.
Protester Alvard Hakobyan says she feeds four underage children with
a 35.000-dram salary but today she is deprived of the ridiculous sum.
The protesters were received by the RA Ministry of Energy and Natural
Resources Armen Movsisyan who promised to tackle the issue by the
end of the week. The Minister promised to visit the factory after
the holidays.
The company administration pledges to pay off the remaining debt of
287 million drams by the turn of the week.
Note that 90% shares of the company belong to Rhinoville Property
Ltd and the other 10% to the Armenian Government.
RA FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVES VICE-SECRETARY OF IRI SUPREME NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
NOYAN TAPAN
Dec 24, 2008
YEREVAN
On December 23, RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received a
delegation led by Vice-Secretary of IRI Supreme National Security
Council Ali Bagheri.
E. Nalbandian expressed satisfaction with the Armenian-Iranian
relations based on mutually beneficial cooperation. Touching upon
expansion of economic relations between the two countries, he highly
estimated the results of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Commission
sitting held on December 15 in Tehran.
As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign Ministry Press and
Information Department, issues regarding implementation of joint
programs between Armenia and Iran in transport and energy spheres
were discussed at the meeting.
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
A NEW BOOK IN FRENCH BY HIS HOLINESS CATHOLICOS ARAM I:
"POUR UN MONDE TRANSFORMÉ" (FOR A TRANSFORMED WORLD)
This new volume written by His Holiness treats issues pertaining to
inter-church and inter-religious dialogue, ecumenism, church and society
relations and human rights. Most of the articles included in the book have
already appeared in Aram I’s previous volume, "For a Church Beyond Its
Walls". The preface of the book is written by Dr. Jean-Arnold de Clermont,
President of the Conference of European Churches. The publication of this
volume is made possible through a generous contribution from the Calouste
Gulbenkian Foundation.
Hereunder some excerpts from the last chapter of the book:
Un autre monde est-il possible?
Un autre monde est possible lorsque les églises articulent concrètement leur
fidélité aux impératifs de l’Évangile en détruisant tous "murs de
séparation" (Eph. 2:14) et en devenant signe et anticipation de l’unité de
l’humanité, au sein de la fragmentation et de la polarisation, lorsqu’ils
deviennent un phare d’espérance dans un monde de désespérance et
d’incertitude; lorsqu’ils se font l’écho, dans leur vie et leur témoignage,
de la voix des sans voix, donnant des moyens aux impuis-sants et incarnant
Jésus Christ comme Lumière et Vie du monde.
Un autre monde est possible lorsque la force ne prime pas le droit, lorsque
les religions s’engagent les unes avec les autres dans un dialogue franc et
une collaboration étroite; lorsqu’elles s’acceptent et se respectent
mutuellement comme partie intégrante d’une seule humanité dans un seul
monde; lorsqu’elles rejettent toutes expressions d’exclusion et tout
fon-damentalisme, et embrassent la tolérance, consolidant la confiance
mutuelle pour btir des communautés de diversités réconciliées; lorsqu’elles
promouvoient la non-violence et les valeurs morales communes pour soutenir
et gouverner la vie de nos sociétés.
Un autre monde est possible, lorsque les nations luttent contre l’injustice,
la pauvreté et le racisme sous toutes leurs formes; lorsqu’elles
investissent dans l’éducation plutôt que dans l’armement, dans les droits de
l’homme plutôt que dans la sécurité nationale, dans le développement
socio-économique plutôt que dans la consommation, dans des politiques de
prévention multilatérales plutôt que dans des interventions militaires
unilatérales; lorsqu’elles développent une gouvernance globale soutenue par
des principes éthiques et par les droits de l’homme; lorsqu’elles
travaillent ensemble pour une paix juste et complète enracinée dans la
justice.
La transformation du monde appelle à la repentance et au pardon; elle
appelle à une réconciliation basée sur l’acceptation de la vérité et
la restauration de la justice.
Aram I
##
View the book cover here:
tos/Photos347.htm#4
AN ORDER OF GETTING BENEFITS HAS BECOME EASY
Svetlana Khachatryan
Azat Artsakh Daily
23 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
At conventional session of NKR National Assembly changes and additions
have been made in NKR law "About NKR invalids’ social protection".
By the information of deputy minister of Social maintenance
S.Arzumanyan, for enjoying privileges established by the law, invalid
children have been paid monthly financial assistance, the size of
which, by the corresponding decision of the government, at present
compiles 6000 drams. By the acting legislation the persons having the
status of invalid child are paid also state benefit, the monthly size
of which compiles 8500 drams. By the first clause of the represented
project it is suggested to stop the nominations and pays of invalid
children’s monthly financial assistance from January 1st 2009, instead
of it increasing the size of benefits. From January 1st,2009 it is
foreseen to establish the monthly size of state benefits of invalid
children 18000 drams instead of today’s 8500 drams benefit and 6000
drams monthly financial assistance, thus, the paying sum will increase
by 3500 drams. By the estimation of NKR NA Speaker A.Ghoulyan, by
adoption of the law an order of enjoying social benefits becomes easy.
CHURCHES CAUSE SANTA CLAUS TO WORK OVERTIME
Hurriyet
Dec 22 2008
Turkey
ISTANBUL – The Christian world celebrates Christmas on different
dates. The cloaks, calpacs and armbands worn by clerics differ because
of doctrine and culture. They also are traces of thousands of years
of mysticism
In the world of Christianity, the cloaks, calpacs, armbands and belts
worn by priests contain traces of thousands of years of mysticism.
The Catholic Church, made an indelible impression in the middle ages
with glorious adornments, followed by a simpler style over time. Long,
white gabardines and black cloaks replaced baroque style dressing. As
the Catholic world became plainer, the Orthodox churches of Christians
living in Anatolia, the Caucasians and the Balkans drew attention with
the alacrity and dynamism of their colours and their adornments. On
Christmas Eve, the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review spoke with
Zakeos Ohanian, a theology expert, graduate of the Vatican Urbanian
University and an Orthodox priest, on church garments and why Christmas
was celebrated on different dates in the Christian world by different
doctrines.
Ohanian, chancellor of the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople in
Kumkapı and a religious functionary from the Surp Asdvazsazsin (Holy
Virgin Mary) church, said, "As is known in history, the churches in
the Christian world divided over disagreements and different doctrines
appeared. The differences in the doctrines was the basis for Christmas
to be celebrated at different times."
Solar Holiday became Christmas Ohanian said that unlike the rest of
the world, Armenian, Syrian, Coptic (Egypt) and Abyssinian (Hindu)
churches celebrated Christmas not on Dec. 24, but on Jan. 6. Another
reason for Christmas being celebrated on different dates goes back
to the second century. "Apostles of Jesus, Saint Peter and Saint
Paul, travelled through Athens and Rome to Portugal and from there
to inner and northern parts of Europe to spread Christianity," said
Ohanian. "Northern Scandinavian countries worshipped the sun before
Christianity and the holiday was celebrated on Dec. 24. With the
acceptance of Christianity, Christmas replaced this holiday. Therefore,
Christmas happened to be celebrated on Dec. 24 in Europe."
The prototype for the cloaks is from the Torah and the Psalms As to
religious garments worn by Christian churches, Ohanyan said despite
differences in doctrine and culture, there was a common tradition
in the garments of clerics. "Starting with preachers and cassocks,
from priests and priestess with the vow of celibacy, to bishops,
all garments were long and loose. The appearance of the garments was
not considered, the purpose was to hide body shape." Ohanian said
the cloaks and calpacs’ prototypes had come from the Torah and the
Psalms. "If we put cultural reflections to the side, the truth is,
all garments worn by clerics of the churches of the world are one to
one with Jewish culture."
Cloaks processed with golden fibres
Ohanian’s area of expertise is the Armenian Church, part of the
Eastern Orthodox Church of which he is a member. Omanyan said until
the 1900s there was over 2,000 Armenian churches and more than 150
monasteries in Anatolia. "Garments of the Anatolian clerics differed
greatly according to the area they were from. The craftsmen used
to process every garment with golden fibres manually. The results
were garments that were lifelike and flamboyant." Ohanian added,
"Unfortunately, we had nothing left from the legacy of Anatolia which
we can use an example."
–Boundary_(ID_mTE4/fxKAaMfwo01Aba 8ZQ)–
LEVON TER-PETROSYAN: "ARMENIA-TURKEY RELATIONS WILL NOT BE NORMALIZED UNTIL THE SOLUTION TO THE NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT"
Azeri Press Agency
Dec 22 2008
Azerbaijan
Yerevan-APA. "Armenia-Turkey relations will not be normalized and
borders will not be opened until the solution to the Nagorno karabakh
conflict", said former Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, APA
reports quoting the News Armenia agency.
He said the Armenia-Turkey relations depended on Ankara’s principal
and constructive position and its impact on Azerbaijan as well. "The
Turkish side considers establishing of Armenia-Turkey historic
commission to research Armenian genocide in the context of the
relations with Armenia. This forgotten idea was brought on agenda as
a result Serj Sargsyan’s unstable policy. Establishing of the joint
commission will be a serious barrier for settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict and normalization of the Armenia-Turkey relations,
because Turkey will not leave the idea of joint commission and on
the other hand, Serj Sargsyan, even if he wants, cannot succeed in
realization of this idea under the pressure of public opinion".