Author: Takmazian

Easter: the Day of Saint Resurrection

14:12 – 03.04.10

On April 4, the Armenian Apostolic Church will be celebrating Easter
or The Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Easter is the central religious feast in the Christian liturgical
year. According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the
dead on the third day after his crucifixion. Some Christians celebrate
this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday (also Resurrection
Day or Resurrection Sunday), two days after Good Friday and three days
after Maundy (Holy) Thursday.

The day is also called Zatik in Armenian, which means removal,
separation from sins and return to God. Both in the Old and New
Testaments, Easter is considered one of the most celebrated holidays.

As part of Easter celebrations, people dye boiled eggs with different
colours; red being a dominant colour used in Armenia. The egg stands
for the symbol of resurrection and the beginning of a new life. The
colour red symbolizes crucified Christ’s blood that he shed in order
to save humankind.

On Easter eve, a liturgy is offered in Armenian churches when all
those who have been fasting for Lent receive a sacrament and come out
of fasting. Then the Easter celebrations begin!

At 6 pm today, a liturgy will be offered at Saint Sargis and after
that people will come out of fasting and celebrate the holiday of
Saint Resurrection.

On April 5, Armenians will visit cemeteries and will burn incense in
commemoration of their dead relatives.

Tert.am

Bodies of Azerbaijani Residents Handed Over Under Red Cross Auspices

17:40 – 03.04.10

The bodies of two residents of Azerbaijan have been repatriated today
from Armenia to Nakhchivan under the auspices of the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

According to a release issued by ICRC, the operation took place on the
road between the Armenian village of Eraskhavan and the Azerbaijani
village of Sadarak.

`Acting as a neutral intermediary, at the request of all parties and
in full cooperation with them, the ICRC facilitated the repatriation.
Since 1992, the organization has repeatedly helped authorities arrange
the repatriation of human remains. The ICRC will support any similar
operation in the future if the need arises,’ reads the statement.

Tert.am

Trend, Azerbaijan
April 3 2010

Armenia hands over Azerbaijani citizens’ bodies killed by its armed forces

03.04.2010 13:16
Azerbaijan, Baku, April 3 / Trend K. Zarbaliyeva /

Bodies of Azerbaijani citizens killed by Armenian armed forces have
been brought to Sadarak region in Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic
April 3, at 12:00 a.m, the International Committee of the Red Cross
spokeswoman in Baku Gulnaz Guliyeva said.

Residents of the Gazakh region – Huseynov Hasan Husein oglu and
Namazov Sakit Sharif oglu passed from the Gazakh region to the
territory of Armenia and were killed by Armenian armed forces March
2-3.

Bodies have been handed over with the assistance of the International
Committee of the Red Cross.

Azerbaijani citizen, who is held hostage by the Armenian side, will be
handed over to the Azerbaijani side April 7, Sailov said. He said that
the name of a hostage to be released is still unknown.

At present, the Armenian side holds two Azerbaijani captives and one hostage.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.

APA, Azerbaijan
April 3 2010

One of two Azerbaijani soldiers captured by Armenia expected to be
returned to Azerbaijan on April 7

[ 03 Apr 2010 11:55 ]
Baku. Kamala Guliyeva ` APA. One of the two Azerbaijani soldiers
captured by Armenia is expected to be returned to Azerbaijan on April
7, spokesman for Azerbaijan’s State Commission on Prisoners of War,
Hostages and Missing Persons Shahin Sayilov told APA.

According to him, it is not exactly known which of the captives will
be returned. Sayilov said no agreement had been reached on returning
Eldar Tagiyev, who was taken hostage on December 28.

Soldier of Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s military unit, Rafig Rahman
Hasanov, 21, was captured by Armenian servicemen on the line of
contact in Gazakh region on October 8, 2008.

Anar Khanbaba Hajiyev, 20, was drafted from Goranboy region. He was
captured by Armenian armed forces at 9.45 on May 10, 2009.

GENOCIDE DEBATED IN HOUSE
By Celia Burstein

my.hsj.org
April 1 2010

(April 1, 2010) — When President Barack Obama promised to recognize
the Armenian Genocide during his campaign, senior Lara Kumjian knew
he was just playing political games.

According to The Washington Post, shortly before the 23-22 vote by
the U.S. congressional committee on March 4 that sent the recognition
measure to the House of Representatives, the Obama administration
announced its opposition, just like the prior Bush and Clinton
administrations. "It’s expected from him," Kumjian said. "I knew it
wasn’t going to work out, I knew he was just making things up to get
Armenian people’s votes."

Teacher Lousik Kassakhian says it’s a question of priority between
recognizing the 1.5 million slaughtered Armenians and maintaining
an ally. For Kassakhian, whose grandfather lost his entire family in
the genocide, the implication of another rejected measure is dangerous.

"Sometimes people say ‘oh, history repeats, history repeats" but it
shouldn’t," Kassakhian said. "We’re sending a message that you won’t
be punished."

According to the Post, Turkey withdrew its ambassador shortly after
the vote. But Kassakhian thinks that the threat should not be taken
seriously, as Turkey had taken similar measures before. "They say we
need them, but they need us a lot too," Kassakhian said.

Kumjian believes that Turkey isn’t alone in the blame for the
resolution’s constant failure, as Obama chooses to focus on the near
future of the United States rather than the far-off prospect of future
genocides. "What would he gain from accepting the Armenian Genocide?"

Kumjian said.

For Kassakhian, Obama’s retracted promise to support the recognition
indicates the bigger picture of his presidency. "The thing is,
he knows it has happened, and not recognizing it makes him, in my
opinion, a weak president," she said. "He’s not able to do that minor
thing. How is he going to deliver building a just society?"

The Turkish government claims that the death toll is inflated and
reflects the Armenians who died in battle during World War I. Both
Kassakhian and Kumjian, however, believe that the current political
battle is about admitting the truth.

The truth, they say, is known by both the United States and Turkey.

"It was definitely not inflated because we have pictures, we have
documents, we have many poets, writers, philosophers that died during
that time, so it’s all fact," Kumjian said.

Kassakhian refutes the World War I claim by arguing that Armenians
died well after the end of the war, citing her grandmother’s family,
all of whom died in Smyrna, Turkey in 1922. "As a Muslim country, they
had a policy not to tolerate the Christian minorities," Kassakhian
said. "They cannot justify that because it didn’t happen once."

Kumjian doubts that the resolution will ever be passed. But Kassakhian
is more worried that the memory will die with the survivors, now at
least in their 90s. Legislation, she says, will be a byproduct of
remembering. "It’s about passing and it’s about remembering, and
doing that each time, the whole world knows what’s going on again
and again and again," she said.

00/view/frontpage/articleid/350112/newspaperid/272 6/Genocide_debated_in_House.aspx

ARMENIAN VETERANS TO PARTICIPATE IN PARADE

ran
02:22 pm | March 30, 2010

Social

The state commission in charge of events dedicated to the 65th
anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 held
a session at the RA Government headed by chairman of the commission,
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.

Among issues discussed were the process of implementing events
dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic
War of 1941-1945 and details on organizing events dedicated to Victory
Day on May 9.

The head of the social department of the government staff gave a report
on the implementation of assignments given by the Prime Minister during
the previous session. He informed that the events have launched with a
showing of signs on the topic of the Great Patriotic War by Armenia’s
National Archive today.

Touching upon the organizing of events in May, the festive events
dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic
War of 1941-1945 will be organized in all cities and regional centers
of Armenia.

Among other issues discussed were details on participation of 10
Armenian veterans of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in the military
parade to be held in Moscow.

The Prime Minister assigned the heads of state ministries to organize
the upcoming events accordingly.

SESSION OF THE COMMISSION COORDINATING ARMENIA’S COOPERATION WITH THE EU TAKES PLACE

2/lang/en
2010-03-30

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS: Regular session of the commission
coordinating Armenia’s cooperation with the EU took place today in
the RA government chaired by the Armenian Prime Minister, chairman of
the commission Tigran Sargsyan. The prime minister said that our goal
is to assess the programs, point out issues and the further activity.

Governmental press service told Armenpress that a number of issues
put on the agenda have been discussed at the session.

Referring to the cooperation within the framework of the Eastern
Partnership program members of the government presented to Tigran
Sargsyan the works implemented by them. The works refer to the
effective management, democracy, stability, economic integration and
correspondence to the EU policy, energy security and activation of
cooperation in the cultural sphere.

Deputy foreign minister Karine Ghazinyan said that the government of
Italy presented a suggestion on expansion of bilateral cooperation
with Armenia within the framework of Eastern partnership program.

The participants of the session also approved the 2011-2013 National
Indicative Program.

KARABAKH PEOPLE WILL FURIOUSLY DEFEND EVERY INCH OF THEIR LAND: HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER

ArmInfo
2010-03-31 12:13:00

ArmInfo. "The Georgian-Ossetic war showed the scenario and result of
possible war in our region. It will last maximum 4-6 days. Even in
case of the most favorable conditions for Azerbaijan, that country
will fail to settle the problem by force, because it will face a
furious resistance by the Defense Army and will suffer tangible human
and technical losses within the first 3 days. They in Baku are well
aware that they cannot rely on a blitzkrieg and Azerbaijan will not
risk for a failure may result in change of power," Albert Voskanyan,
Director of the Center of Civil Initiatives NGO, human right defender,
told ArmInfo correspondent to Stepanakert.

"In case of military actions, the NKR Defense Army and the Army of the
Republic of Armenia will come out as a single whole. Since the Armenian
border with Turkey is guarded by the Russian frontier troops and there
is no danger from Iran and Georgia, Armenia can direct significant part
of its army to the NKR in case of necessity. As regards the Karabakh
Defense Army, it comprises also experienced reserve forces. I am sure
that volunteers from Armenia, who fought in the Karabakh War, will also
join the Defense Army. Karabakh had enough time to get prepared for
war during the period of ceasefire. In addition, the Karabakh people
have nowhere to retreat and will furiously defend every inch of their
land," he said. "After all, if Azerbaijan unleashed war despite the
genuine peace efforts by the OSCE MG, i.e. the world community, many
countries will recognize the NKR as an independent state. Nevertheless,
Azerbaijan may start local military actions that are necessary to
Aliyev’s election campaign. As a peacemaker and a man that witnessed
war, I have always said that there are no winners in the war, and all
the parties are defeated. The conflict must be settled by peace. Let
the presidents "war" at the negotiating table and don’t send their
peoples to another slaughter," Albert Voskanyan said.

ACCORDING TO TURKOLOGIST ARTAK SHAKARIAN, RECEP ERDOGAN’S AND PETROS SHIRINOGLU’S MEETING WAS MERELY A BEAUTIFUL PR ACTION

Noyan Tapan
March 31, 2010

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, NOYAN TAPAN. According to Turkologist Artak
Shakarian, Petros Shirinoglu who is considered the head of Turkey’s
Armenian community is one of Turkish Prime Minister’s close friends,
and their recent meeting was a very beautiful PR action. As the
Turkologist mentioned at a March 31 press conference, R. Erdogan
had a problem of raising his image after his statements made in his
interview to BBC, which were criticized by the international community,
as well as by many Turkish figures.

"That meeting was allegedly organized at P. Shirinoglu’s suggestion.

However indeed they tried to show the whole world that Ankara is in
a dialogue with the Armenian community, they have no problems," A.

Shakarian said. In his words, P. Shirinoglu also declared that it
was he who formerly provided wrong information to the Prime Minister
saying that 170 thousand Armenians live in Turkey.

According to A. Shakarian’s observation, indeed Turkish Armenian
community’s leader is not P. Shirinoglu but the Patriarch. According
to him, Agos newspaper’s late editor Hrant Dink was the informal
leader but after his murder there is no one to take his place. "R.

Erdogan wants to himself create Armenian community’s leader as it is
not beneficial for Turkey if there is someone like H. Dink," A.

Shakarian said.

Speaking about the elections of the Armenian Patriarch of
Constantinople the Turkologist said that there are two candidates,
leader of the Gugark Diocese of Armenian Church Bishop Sepuh Chuljian
and Archbishop Aram Ateshian. According to A. Shakarian, A. Ateshian
enjoys Ankara’s confidence. As to Bishop S. Chuljian, according to
the speaker, there is an opinion that the latter can be a uniting
link in case close Armenian-Turkish relations are established.

BAKO SAHAKYAN HAD A MEETING WITH HARUT SASUNYAN

Aysor
March 31 2010
Armenia

On 30 March President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan met
president of the United Armenian Fund, vice-chairman of the Lincy
Foundation Harut Sassounian.

Issues related to developing socio-economic spheres of Artsakh as
well as widening and deepening ties between the Motherland and the
Diaspora were discussed during the meeting.

The Head of the State rated high the role of the United Armenian
Fund in realizing different programs, building social objects and
educational hearths, as well as making Artsakh recognizable to the
outer world.