Author: Mary Lazarian

Sputnik News Service
 Sunday


Lavrov to Discuss Nagorno-Karabakh Settlement in Armenia on Nov. 20-21
- Ministry


MOSCOW, November 19 (Sputnik) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
will hold meetings with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian during his visit to the country on November
20-21, and will discuss Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, the
Russian Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

"The agenda of bilateral negotiations includes a wide range of issues
of bilateral cooperation, interaction within EAEU [Eurasian Economic
Union], CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization], CIS
[Commonwealth of Independent States], coordination of positions in the
United Nations, OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe], Council of Europe, BSEC [Organization of the Black Sea
Economic Cooperation]. The foreign ministers will discuss the problems
of regional security, including the prospects for Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict resolution," the ministry's statement read.

The conflict in Armenian-dominated Nagorno-Karabakh started in 1988
with the autonomous region announcing its secession from the
Azerbaijan Socialist republic. In 1991, the region proclaimed
independence from Azerbaijan and the creation of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic. This move triggered a military conflict, which led to Baku
losing control over the region.

The warring sides agreed to a cessation of hostilities in 1994. The
violence escalated again in 2016, leading to multiple casualties on
both sides. The sides soon reached a ceasefire but clashes continued.

Palestine News Network (PNN) - English
 Saturday


Jordanian and Palestinian Evangelicals Unite in Amman

by monjed jado


Amman /PNN/ In a moving ceremony held at the Free Evangelical Church
in Amman's Khalda neighbourhood on November 14, members of evangelical
churches in Palestine and Jordan announced the creation of a unified
coordinating alliance, made up of: the Council of Local Evangelical
Churches in The Holy Land, the Council of Evangelical Churches of
Galilee …

Amman /PNN/

In a moving ceremony held at the Free Evangelical Church in Amman's
Khalda neighbourhood on November 14, members of evangelical churches
in Palestine and Jordan announced the creation of a unified
coordinating alliance, made up of: the Council of Local Evangelical
Churches in The Holy Land, the Council of Evangelical Churches of
Galilee and the Jordan Evangelical Council.

Emad Maayah, former MP and retired Jordanian Army Major General who
heads the Jordan Evangelical Council, announced the creation of the
alliance to local dignitaries, Christian clergy of different
denominations, past and present Jordanian MPs, church members from
Jordan, Palestine and Israel, and a large crowd of local worshipers.
Evangelical churches that rose up in response to the turn of the 20th
century American missionary efforts in Jordan today number 10,000,
according to David Rihani, deputy head of the Jordanian Evangelical
Council.

The Jordan council includes Baptists, Nazarenes and members of the
World Evangelical Alliance, Assembly of God and Evangelical Free
Church.

Church leaders from Ramallah, Nazareth and Amman presented the history
of their churches and their many spiritual and community services,
including at schools, seminaries and hospitals, and a host of other
para-church activities.

The New York-based World Evangelical Alliance, established in 1846 and
boasting 600 million members, was the first to send congratulations to
the newly established alliance, Rihani reported to those attending.

The alliance is aimed at advocating by local governments for
recognition. Jordan, Palestine and Israel recognise 13 traditional
churches, but none of the evangelical churches are recognised.

Evangelical churches have been registered since as far back as 1920 as
religious institutions. In Jordan, the five evangelical churches are
registered at the Ministry of Justice.

They can carry out religious, educational, humanitarian and community
services, but are not authorised to deal with any issues regulated
through the personal status laws.

In Jordan, Palestine and Israel, every citizen must have a declared
religion and all family affairs (marriage, divorce, adoption and
inheritance) are administered and resolved through religious courts.

Christians belonging to the Evangelical churches in these countries
attempting to resolve personal disputes can only use a recognised
church court.

The newly established church alliance will be preparing to set up
church courts so as to be ready to use them once they receive official
recognition.

For decades, efforts by local leaders and world Evangelicals to gain
recognition have failed.
It is not clear why smaller churches are recognised and are given
legal status while Evangelical churches with an active presence and a
strong community effort in the region are rejected.

Some argue that the traditional churches (Orthodox, Catholic and
Armenian) are opposed to extending recognition, while others say that
Anglicans and Lutherans are hesitant to open up the gates for other
Protestant churches to receive such recognition.

But the real reason for non-recognition by the government might have
to do with issues of internal governance that the new alliance might
resolve.

Evangelicals are a trans-denominational movement that adhere to a
literal interpretation of the Bible and give high priority to
spreading Christianity. As such, they are opposed to a religious
hierarchy.

There are no bishops and patriarchs among Evangelicals, as in other
churches, which makes it difficult for governments to communicate with
or coordinate activities with them.

Each church is independent, even though in recent years a strong
effort has been made to bring some sort of unified coordinating
structure to their internal and national governance structures.

This unification effort will help resolve one of the obstacles often
used against Evangelicals who do not have a traditional hierarchy.

In the Middle East, strictly spiritual missionary efforts among the
Muslim-majority populations are not allowed and efforts to convert
non-Muslims are officially frowned upon.

Local Evangelical church leaders say that they abide by the laws of
the land and make themselves available to anyone who asks for
spiritual guidance, but are committed to refraining from any public
proselytising.
While Evangelism in Jordan and Palestine has its roots in the times of
foreign missionaries, today's leaders are entirely local, mostly
because of the autonomous and independent nature of Evangelical church
governance.

All church leaders as well as the leaders of the newly established
alliance are patriotic Arabs well respected in their communities.

They would like to practise their faith while holding on to their love
of country and homeland.
The announcement of the church alliance on Tuesday began with the
singing of the national anthem and various presentations and speeches
praising national leaders.

Maayah said that the date of the signing ceremony was meant to
coincide with King Hussein's birth.
Special emphasis was put, in the presentations, on the efforts on
behalf of the Palestinian cause, including holding the "Christ at the
checkpoint" conference by the Bethlehem Bible College, one of the
institutions belonging to the newly established coalition.

Evangelical churches' effort to have a unified coalition is an
important step towards gaining recognition and standing so as to
better serve members of their parishes. But a more important effort is
needed to bring much wider unity within the already tiny Christian
Arab community in Jordan and the Holy Land.

The Collegian: California State University - Fresno
 Thursday


Genocide ripped a family apart. Uncovered letters tell their story

by William Ramirez


Adrienne Alexanian went to clean the closet of her late father not too
long after he died. In the process, she uncovered a new chapter -
personal experiences she hadn't known about -  of the Armenian
Genocide.

Her father, Yervant Alexanian, was an Armenian soldier in the Turkish
army during the Armenian Genocide.

Alexanian said her father never shared this part of his life with his
family. Still, he would write down the experience as a way to cope
with the toll it took on him.

Unlike many soldiers who were conscripted into the Turkish army during
World War I, Yervant Alexanian survived. His records range from
infancy up until his transition to the United States after the
genocide.

"I was going through his papers to archive them, because he was such a
prolific activist in the [Armenian] community," Alexanian said. "When
I got to the bottom of the box, I found all of these booklets and
loose papers and documents in Ottoman Turkish and Armenian, and
pictures that seemed to be very, very important."

Today, the memoirs are being published into a book entitled "Forced
into Genocide" - a kind of book that which has never been published,
making more crucial for Alexanian to tell the story.

Alexanian said she spent 50 hours alongside an Armenian language
teacher translating her father's memoirs. She described this
experience as extremely emotional.

"Both of us were very emotional. She had to leave the room on numerous
occasions," Alexanian said.

She said these findings helped her to understand her father better.
She had known her father would go out of his way to help any and all
Armenians, regardless of whether they were friend or strangers. These
memoirs added context to those actions, she said.

"I never understood why he would do that for strangers. The 'Why' is
because he was unable to save 51 members of his own family," she said.
"So this was his life's work - to save Armenians."

Alexanian said she believes her book gives a more emotional, and
personal, perspective to the Armenian Genocide.

"It's not a history book. History books are kind of cold, they are
just facts," she said. "But when you see an event as horrific as the
Armenian Genocide through the eyes of someone who actually experienced
it, I think it really brings it home."

After the memoirs had all been translated, Alexanian turned to getting
the book published.  Transaction Books quickly picked the book up for
publication.

"The easiest part of this whole process was getting it published," she
said. "The reality is, the first publisher that I called, Transaction,
grabbed the book because they realized there were no other books in
literature on this aspect of the genocide."

The book was published March 3, 2017 and today Alexanian is busy
traveling around the country giving presentations about the book. She
made a stop at Fresno State even, where she presented to a packed
Alice Peters Auditorium on Tuesday.

Sergio La Porta, a professor of Armenian studies at Fresno State and
author of the book's introduction, introduced Alexanian.

"There's so much in that work that has to do with, not just the
genocide, but life before the genocide, as well as dealing with the
effects after the genocide," said La Porte.

The book also contains a foreword written by Israel W. Charny,
executive director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in
Jerusalem. Alexanian is grateful to both men for their contributions
and feels like their great additions to her father's stories.

"The introduction by Sergio La Porte, I've been told by two scholars,
is one of the best, if not the best, introduction to a genocide
memoir," Alexanian said. "Israel Charny wrote a very short foreword,
and a very emotional one for me."

Alexanian's presentation consisted of visuals of her father followed
by readings from the book. She said she did it this way so the
audience would have a better understanding of what she was reading
about.

She went through photographs of her father at 10 and 15 years old, her
father's family - most of which he lost to the genocide - and even
showed a photo of her father as a young man when he had just moved to
the U.S.

She had the most fun with the latter, complimenting her father's
dashing good looks.

"George Clooney has nothing on my father," she joked to a laughing audience.

But aside from the cheerful moments, the presentation consisted of
somber readings of Yervant Alexanian's experiences. The readings
included the reports of watching members of the family escorted to
their death, being unable to ride the deportation train and having to
constrain himself from attacking Turkish officials who showed little
respect for his heritage.

"[Yervant] Alexanian's memoirs contain the views of a highly observant
man, who from a very young age was mentally chronicling the events
around him," Alexanian read.

She showed the audience several rare documents that proved some
Armenian soldiers in the Turkish army were ranked. La Porte read some
writing from Yervant Alexanian as the author's presentation came to
close.

He read from a letter written on May 14, 1953, Mother's Day. Yervant
Alexanian had lost his mother 38 years earlier to the genocide.

"She was taking the road to forced deportation and starvation, and I
had to go back to the barracks to perform my military service for the
regime that was sending my mother to her forced death, with her eyes
wide open," La Porte read. "O, what a contrast."

The floor was then opened up for questions and Adrienne Alexanian
answered several, never revealing too much as she herself continuously
said they would have to read the book to get the full answer to their
questions.

"Forced Into Genocide" is out and available for purchase.

Հաշմանդամություն ունեցողների համար կավելացվի ուղեգրվող առողջարանների քանակը

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__artsakhpress.am_arm_news_76083_hashmandamutyun-2Dunecoxneri-2D-2Dhamar-2Dkavelacvi-2Duxegrvox-2Daroxjaranneri-2Dqanaky.html&d=DwIDaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=5ued_9uabeKHFqht-JokPhmFPL8Hu23m0n4mqgwdlyA&s=c5pUiHIcY2khMUBkhRWHOq8GRbxePcjlsvMFmswC8I0&e=

Քամանչայի վարպետը գուսանական երաժշտություն է ուսուցանում շուշեցի երեխաներին 
(տեսանյութ)

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__artsakhpress.am_arm_news_76130_qamanchayi-2Dvarpety-2Dgusanakan-2Derazhshtutyun-2De-2Dusucanum-2Dshusheci-2Derekhanerin-2Dtesanyut.html&d=DwIDaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=5ued_9uabeKHFqht-JokPhmFPL8Hu23m0n4mqgwdlyA&s=28YIYmfTnef6CeENJNHYJhAiFNmY2u5GGeLbmboq4PY&e=

Ստեփանակերտում ընթանում են փողոցների բարեկարգման աշխատանքներ

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Ստեփանակերտում տեղի է ունեցել «Ռուսական արջուկ. լեզվաբանություն բոլորի համար» 
միջազգային մրցույթը

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