Author: Tigranian Ani

November 9, 2006

PRESS RELEASE
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate
6252 Honolulu Avenue
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Tel: (818) 248-7737
Fax: (818) 248-7745
E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Website: <;

DURING HOLY MASS ON THE NAME DAY OF HOLY MARTYRS CHURCH

`LET US FOLLOW THE PATH OF OUR SAINTS AND MARTYRS AND LIVE ACCORDING
TO THE COMMANDMENTS OF OUR LORD’

DECLARED THE PRELATE

On Sunday, November 5, 2006, the Holy Martyrs Church of Encino
celebrated its name day and 43rd anniversary, with a special Holy Mass that
was conducted by H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate. Very Rev.
Fr. Barthev Gulumian and Rev. Razmig Khatchadourian assisted at the altar.
H.E. Archbishop Yeprem Tabakian also participated in the Mass, along with
the parish deacons, choir, and Sunday School students.
At the start of his sermon, the Prelate gave thanks to God for
granting him the opportunity to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the
founding of the church with the parish community. Being that Saturday,
November 4, was All Saints Day according to our church calendar, and because
our saints were also martyrs, the name day of Holy Martyrs Church was also
celebrated on this day. He reminded the faithful that the saints were
martyred for their faith, the blood they shed became a testament of their
faith, and it was this unyielding faith that established our church. They
remained resolute in their faith and never strayed from their righteous path
and mission, and it is our duty to follow in their path and to live
according to the principles set forth by our Lord. There are many
difficulties and temptations in life; however, we must remain loyal to the
faith and convictions bequeathed to us by our forefathers so that we may
conquer evil. The Prelate then blessed the memories of all those who
contributed to the founding of Holy Martyrs Church and all the past
servants, then beseeched the Lord to guide the path of the current servants
of the church.
Following Holy Mass, the Prelate headed to Avedissian Hall in a
procession, where he blessed the madagh that was prepared by the parish
Ladies Auxiliary. The Prelate then commended the Ladies Auxiliary and Board
of Trustees, after which the service came to a close with the Prelate’s
`Bahbanich’ prayer and the collective singing of `Giligia’ and `Mer Hayrenik’.

MAJORITY OF TURKS OPPOSE CEDING ON MATTER OF CYPRUS

Gulf Times, Qatar
Nov 8 2006

ANKARA: More than two-thirds of Turks say membership talks with the
European Union should be suspended if the bloc maintains demands for
Ankara to give ground in a trade row over Cyprus, a poll released
yesterday showed.

Only one in five of those questioned said Ankara should pursue
accession negotiations despite EU pressure over the divided island,
compared to 70% who said it should not.

Ten per cent were undecided, according to the poll conducted among
1,100 people from October 30 to November 4 by the International
Strategic Research Organisation, an independent think-tank.

The survey was released on the eve of a critical report by the European
Commission on Turkey’s progress in membership talks with the EU that
began in October 2005.

The report is expected to stress that Turkey has still failed to open
its air and sea ports to Cyprus, an EU member it does not recognise,
as part of a customs union with the bloc.

Turkey says it will bar Cyprus from its ports until the EU delivers on
pledges to ease the international isolation of the breakaway Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Ankara.

According to the survey, 63% said they do not believe Turkey and the
EU will reach a compromise on the trade row over Cyprus, compared to
26% who said a compromise was possible.

Opening Turkish ports to Cyprus will not ease relations between Ankara
and Brussels, 74% said, while only 13% believed it would.

The poll also confirmed the downward trend in Turkey’s once-high
enthusiasm for EU membership: only 50% said they support Turkey’s
accession, down from 75% two years ago, while 45% said they are
opposed.

Those who believe the EU is not treating Turkey "sincerely and fairly"
total 81%, compared to only 2.0% who said it is.

Asked which countries most hampered Turkey’s accession to the EU,
39% named France, 21.2% Greece and 14% Cyprus.

Analysts say Turkish public opinion has gradually lost faith in the
EU since the start of accession talks, wearied by a widespread debate
on whether Turkey, a mainly Muslim country of more than 70mn, has a
place in Europe.

The pressure over Cyrpus and European calls for Turkey to recognise
the World War I killings of Armenians as genocide added to the
disillusionment, they say.

GOVERNMENT FORESEES STEEP INCREASE IN SUBSIDIES TO PROTECT FORESTS

Armenpress
Nov 06 2006

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS: The government of Armenia believes
that a steep increase in government subsidies to restoration of
forests and planting new ones will result in dramatic decline of
illegal logging.

Thus, the government’s mid-term expenditure plan calls for a
significant upswing in allocations to protect and raise new forests
across the country. The government plans to release 650 million drams
for 2007 and as much for 2008. The increase is tangible if compared
with 459 million Drams released for 2006. The finance and economy
ministry explained the growth in subsidies by the necessity of proper
care after expanded forest areas. In 2007 the area under forests is
expected to grow by 4,500 and in 2008 by 5,000 hectares.

This project is part of the government Poverty Reduction Strategic
Paper (PRSP) and is supposed to reduce poverty levels in rural
communities close to forests. A massive inventory of forests launched
this year will continue into 2008. Experts estimate that around 22,000
hectares of forests are infected with different diseases.

In early 90-s when Armenia plunged into sever power crisis about 40,000
hectares of forests were logged and besides one third of forests are
no longer able to recover.

THERE IS POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN ARMENIA

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 6 2006

Amalia Kostanyan, director of the regional development center of
Transparency International stated November 6 in Yerevan that by the
level of corruption Armenia is the 93rd among 169 countries, and in
2006 the high level of corruption in Armenia did not change, and the
situation has not improved over the past three years, reports ARKA
News Agency. In the meantime, an anti-corruption strategy has been
implemented in Armenia for three years now, and the UN resolution on
battling corruption has been ratified.

Amalia Kostanyan said her statement is based on the results of the
survey conducted by their organizaiton. Transparency International
classifies the countries by a ten-grade scale, and the countries
which are close to Grade 10 have the lowest level of corruption.

Armenia is lower than Grade 3 together with Argentina, Syria, Bosnia
and Hertzegovina. Unlike Armenia, Transparency International has
reported progress in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Georgia moved
from Grade 2 to 2.8, Azerbaijan from 1.9 to 2.4, Turkey from 3.2 to
3.8. Another painful reality for Armenia, which became known as a
result of Transparency International, is that political corruption
is constantly growing in Armenia. According to Amalia Kostanyan, the
director of the regional development center of this international
organization, in 2005 corruption directed at "seizing power" was
reported in Armenia. This sinister situation is reflected in the
results of the survey of Freedom House. "The results of the survey
of this organization show that the political and democratic rights
and freedoms of the citizens are not protected in this country."

According to the survey of Freedom House, the principles of tolerance
and democratic rights and freedoms are not observed in Armenia unlike
Butan, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Vietnam.

Amalia Kostanyan says such a situation proceeding elections must
be worrying. "Today everyone in the world who develop corruption,
assist the political elite in accumulating and laundering of the
wealth obtained illegally," stated Amalia Kostanyan.

SENATE SPEAKER STARTS VISIT TO ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

PAP Polish Press Agency
November 5, 2006 Sunday

Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz started Sunday a six-day visit to
Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss diversification of energy supplies,
transit connections and bilateral relations.

The visit will have a parliamentary and political nature but it will
include economic talks, Borusewicz told PAP. He recalled that in
January 2006 he paid a visit to Kazakhstan and added that in late
November or early December he will go to Georgia.

While in Armenia Borusewicz will meet with Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan and chairman of the National Assembly Tigran Torosyan.

Planned is also a meeting with Catholicos Garegin II.

While in Azerbaijan Borusewicz will meet with President Ilham Aliyev,
Prime Minister Artur Rasi-Zade, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammmadiarov
and Economic development Minister Geydar Babayev. The senate speaker
will also meet Chairman of Parliament Ogtay Asadov.

He will also attend the opening of a BAKU 2006 Polish National
Exhibition and of a Polish culture and Polish language centre.

ARMENIAN BILL MIGHT BE PASSED IN NEXT US CONGRESS
By Cihan News Agency

Zaman, Turkey
Nov 4 2006

An Armenian bill that will recognize the killings of Armenians during
World War I as genocide is likely to be passed in the U.S. House of
Representatives, said Clyde Wilcox of Georgetown University.

Democrats are expected to have the majority in the in the upcoming
congressional elections in the United States, which are scheduled to
be held next Tuesday.

Wilcox, a political science professor at Georgetown, stated that
Democrats had a chance to take Congress in the elections.

Since the prospective chairman of the House of Representatives pledged
to vote on an Armenian bill, it is likely that such a bill would be
passed in the House, Wilcox told the Turkish press in Ankara, where
he arrived at the invitation of the American Embassy.

Wilcox said even if the House of Representatives adopted a bill
recognizing the so-called the Armenian genocide; America’s foreign
policy would not change. He added that the bill was less likely to
be passed in the U.S. Senate.

Professor Wilcox also noted that the bills passed in the House were
not binding; therefore, they would not reflect the U.S. government’s
polices and opinions

SCANDAL IN MOSCOW INVOLVING ARMENIAN GENERAL

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 3 2006

The Russian web site Grani.ru published information with this
headline. The web site informs that a scandal occurred during the
meeting of the chiefs of army headquarters of the countries of
the Collective Security Pact Organization on November 2 in Moscow
involving the Colonel-General Michael Harutiunyan, the chief of the
headquarters of the armed forces of Armenia, who accused Tajikistan,
which is a member of the Collective Security Pact Organization but
"is setting up military alliance with a country which is a potential
foe of its ally under the Collective Security Pact." He meant the
agreement on military cooperation signed by Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.

One of the participants of the meeting said that Harutiunyan addressed
not only Dushanbey but also Moscow. "It is known to everyone that
Azerbaijan is Armenia’s potential foe, however, certain members of the
Collective Security Pact Organization allow for military cooperation
with Azerbaijan," stated Michael Harutiunyan. The point is that
besides Tajikistan Russia has also set up military cooperation with
Azerbaijan, and according to Grani.ru, Harutiunyan made it clear that
Armenia disapproves this.

TURKISH ACADEMIC, 92, CLEARED IN HEADSCARF TRIAL
by Nicolas Cheviron

Agence France Presse — English
November 1, 2006 Wednesday 12:19 PM GMT

An Istanbul court on Wednesday cleared an eminent Turkish academic
of charges of insulting people over their religious beliefs in a
paper linking the first use of headscarves by women to pre-Islamic
sexual rites.

The judge acquitted 92-year-old Muazzez Ilmiye Cig at the first
hearing of her trial that lasted only about half an hour.

She was the latest in a string of intellectuals to stand trial in
Turkey amid mounting European Union criticism that failure to ensure
freedom of expression is casting a pall on the country’s membership
bid.

Some 30 supporters inside the courtroom and another 200 outside
applauded the diminutive Cig as she emerged smiling from the courtroom.

Cig is an expert on the Sumerians, a Mesopotamian urban civilization
dating back to 5,000 BC and credited with inventing writing.

She drew the anger of Islamists when she wrote in a book published
last year that the headscarf was first worn by Sumerian priestesses
initiating young men to sex, but without prostituting themselves.

She also criticized, in quite a provocative style, a widespread
practice among conservative Turks to marry in a religious ceremony
performed by an imam, or Muslim preacher, which the law does not
recognize.

An Izmir lawyer took offense and filed a complaint, resulting in a
prosecutor charging her and her publisher with "insulting a certain
group of people on the basis of religion" under penal code provisions
carrying up to 18 months in jail.

The judge ruled Wednesday that the offense mentioned in the indictment
had not taken place and stressed that Cig’s remarks had posed no
danger to public order.

Publisher Ismet Ogutucu was also acquitted.

"I never meant to discriminate between people," Cig said at the
hearing.

"I am a child of the Kemalist revolution," she added, referring to
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded modern Turkey on the ashes of the
Ottoman Empire in 1923 and enforced a wave of sweeping reforms to
westernize the mainly Muslim nation.

Cig, a staunch defender of Turkey’s strictly secular system, wrote
recently to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s wife, Emine,
calling on her to avoid wearing her Islamic headcsarf in public to
set an example to young people.

"She can wear whatever she wants at home," Cig said in a newspaper
interview last month. "But as the wife of the prime minister, she
cannot wear a headscarf — or a cross for that matter."

The Muslim headscarf is viewed by secular Turks as a symbol of
political Islam and is banned by law in government offices and
universities.

The issue has polarized Turkish society, particularly since Erdogan’s
Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party came to power in 2002
with an end to the headscarf ban high on its list of electoral promises
— one it has so far been unable to keep.

Despite EU warnings, dozens of Turkish intellectuals, among them 2006
Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk, have been put on trial over
the past year, mostly over remarks contesting the official line on
the controversial massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.

SHAVARSH KOCHARIAN: IMPROVING ELECTORAL CODE IS NECESSARY, BUT NOT SUFFICIENT CONDITION FOR HOLDING FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
Oct 31 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The promises of the authorities
about holding free and fair elections and the process of the Electoral
Code’s amending contradict to each other. RA MP Shavarsh Kocharian,
Chairman of the National Democratic Party, declared this on October
31 at the Pastark club. In his words, the content of the Electoral
Code’s amendments expresses the real intention of the authorities. In
the MP’s words, the newly independent countries that really strive
for democratization use exclusively the model of elections by the
proportional electoral system and those going towards authoritarianism
the majoritarian one. As an example of the last one he mentioned the
last parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan held by 100% majoritarian
electoral system.

Attaching importance to introduction of 100% proportional electoral
system in Armenia, Sh.Kocharian said that such elections should
be held by the rating principle, that is the place taken by a
candidate on the party electoral roll should be decided by an
elector. Sh.Kocharian also attached importance to use of principle
of balance in the process of formation of electoral commissions,
according to which pro-governmental and opposition political forces
should be equally represented in the commissions. The MP also
said that if in early November RA Constitutional Court sustains the
opposition’s lawsuit, according to which judges’ inclusion in electoral
commissions is anti-constitutional, NA will have to touch upon the
issue of commissions’ formation. NDP Chairman also touched upon the
amendments to the Electoral Code, which create "holes" for electoral
violations. In his words, it would be a good idea to put voting-papers
into envelopes, if the law excluded the possibility of marking them. In
Sh.Kocharian’s opinion, for insuring against violations printing and
delivery of voting-papers should be controlled by one body. Besides,
the law should exclude the possibility of nomination of one candidate
at an electoral district. The MP said that the Venice Commission also
expressed the same opinion about the last two points. Sh.Kocharian
gave assurance that improving the Electoral Code is a necessary, but
not sufficient condition for holding free and fair elections. In his
words, even if the parliament rejects the amendments proposed to the
Electoral Code and the acting variant of the law remains in force,
holding of free and fair elections is possible in this case, too,
if the authorities indeed have such an intention.

NKR PRESIDENT SIGNS LAWS

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 30 2006

YEREVAN, October 30. /ARKA/. President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
(NKR) Arkady Ghukasyan signed a number of laws on October 28, 2006.

The NKR President signed the Forest Code and the Law on Primary,
specialized and specialized secondary education."

President Ghukasyan also signed amendments to the NKR Law "On
protection of selection achievements" to the NKR Land Code.