The Countless, Unforgettable Victims Of Disaster

Washington Post
Dec 28 2004

The Countless, Unforgettable Victims Of Disaster

By Neely Tucker
Washington Post Staff Writer

The dead are never as quiet as they seem.

More than 20,000 people died in a matter of hours in half a dozen
countries in South Asia in one of the most catastrophic tsunamis of
recent times, and the death toll is only going to climb. Although the
world quickly forgets such natural disasters — the body count in
Bam, Iran, was 30,000 and it was just last year; hadn’t forgotten,
had you? — the memory of the dead always lingers for those who meet
them.

Ten years ago, an American relief worker named Rich Moseanko found
himself in eastern Africa during a humanitarian crisis. That wasn’t
odd. Moseanko has spent the better part of two decades working in
areas most people are desperate to leave.

What was unforgettable was that when he got out of his organization’s
truck near the city of Goma in eastern Zaire (since renamed Congo),
he stepped into a Rwandan refugee tide of nearly a million people.
The dead, felled by cholera and other diseases, were lying along the
roadside by the score. Within days, more than 1,500 people would be
dying every day. More than 25,000 are thought to have died in all,
though no one really knows.

You know what Moseanko’s most difficult job was?

Finding enough trucks to haul away the corpses.

“Going to bed every night with the smell of death in your nostrils,
walking around all day with it, you just don’t forget that,” says
Moseanko, the Los Angeles-based director of disaster relief for the
nonprofit group World Vision. “The soil around Goma was volcanic
rock, which meant there was nowhere to bury the bodies. We finally
convinced the French [soldiers] to dynamite some holes for mass
graves. I don’t know that anybody was even keeping track. It went on
for weeks.”

Mass death isn’t hard-wired in the brain as something that it is
supposed to see, like thunderstorms or rain showers. People are
supposed to die alone, perhaps in ones and twos, and those are the
deaths that are personally meaningful. Human scale is intact.

But the exposure to huge numbers of the recently and unnaturally dead
is not a category that the brain keeps on file. The image — or the
smell; anybody who has worked around large numbers of the dead will
tell you it’s the smell that’s the most disturbing — entwines itself
in the long whipcord of memory, and there it remains, never to leave.

“Anyone who tells you that it doesn’t affect you when it’s all over
just isn’t being truthful,” says Dewey Perks, chief of Fairfax
County’s Urban Search & Rescue Department, which has been sent by the
federal government to work in some of the worst disaster zones in the
world. Perks has worked earthquakes in Armenia, Turkey and Iran that
killed tens of thousands, whose corpses were dropped in mass graves
to prevent disease.

The mind does try, though. Aid workers, journalists and soldiers who
have worked around mass death and misery will tell you the only way
to keep working is to personally block out what one’s eyes are seeing
and focus on tasks at hand. It’s a key tool of survival, and it isn’t
new.

To cite but one relevant example from the scrapbook of history: On
Aug. 27, 1883, the volcano Krakatoa erupted off the coast of Java —
not far from the current disaster — setting off a series of
tsunamis. More than 36,000 people died.

A single sheet of water destroyed the entire town of Telok Betong in
seconds. As recounted in Simon Winchester’s recent bestseller
“Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded,” an engineer named R.A. van
Sandick, sitting on a steamer in the bay, had a front-row seat to the
wall of water. He still couldn’t tell friends what he saw.

“The tremendous dimensions of the destruction, in front of one’s
eyes, make it difficult to describe,” he wrote, as if being an
eyewitness were a hindrance to an accurate description of the event.
The best comparison, he judged, was the wave of a magic wand “on a
colossal scale and with the conscious knowledge that thousands of
people have perished in an indivisible moment.”

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1) Armenia to Deploy 46 Troops to Iraq
2) Mountainous Karabagh Republic President Appoints New Foreign Minister
3) Armenian Parliament Approves 2005 Budget
4) Government Sticks to Christmas Tree Ban

1) Armenia to Deploy 46 Troops to Iraq

YEREVAN (AP)–Armenia’s parliament voted Friday to send 46 non-combat
troops to
Iraq, a move that was backed by President Robert Kocharian but drew sharp
criticism from many Armenians and opposition groups.
After more than seven hours of debate behind closed doors, lawmakers in the
National Assembly voted 91-23, with one abstention, to send the contingent,
which will include bomb-disposal experts, doctors, and transport specialists.
Only two parliamentary factions, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(ARF), a
member of the government coalition, and the opposition Artarutyun (Justice)
alliance voted against it.
The troops could be deployed to Iraq as early as next month and could
serve in
Iraq for up to a year, said Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian, adding that the
contingent would only conduct humanitarian operations.
“There is not, and will not be an Armenian military presence in Iraq,”
Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian said. “In the humanitarian aspect, it is preferable
for Armenia to contribute to the postwar reconstruction of Iraq, in
establishing democracy in this country which has important significance for
the
region and which could have an impact on the Caucasus.”
The troops would serve as part of the Polish-led multinational force,
officials said. That force operates in a belt of territory south of Baghdad,
though Armenia has not specified where its troops will deploy.
The Constitutional Court ruled earlier this month that Kocharian’s plan to
send non-combat troops to Iraq did not violate the country’s constitution.
But the proposal had been widely criticized by opposition parties, many
Armenians and even the 30,000-strong Armenian community in Iraq, which feared
being targeted for attacks if the troops were sent.
In August, an Armenian Apostolic church in Baghdad was hit in a wave of
attacks on Iraq’s minority Christians that that killed 11 people and injured
more than 50.
Other former Soviet republics that have also sent troops to Iraq are
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, and the three Baltic countries.

2) Mountainous Karabagh Republic President Appoints New Foreign Minister

STEPANAKERT (Combined Sources)–Mountainous Karabagh Republic’s Permanent
Representative in Armenia Arman Melikian, was appointed the republic’s foreign
minister on Friday in order to accelerate foreign policy activities, according
to MKR president Arkady Ghukasian.
Melikian, who has served as Armenia’s ambassador to Kazakhstan in the past,
will retain his previous job for the time being.
Ghukasian also explained that, in response to recent international
developments, certain foreign ministry operations must be transferred to
Armenia in order to gain access to embassies and international organizations.
Melikian’s predecessor Ashot Gulian was appointed the minister of education
and culture minister.
Ghukasian also filled the vacant position of deputy prime minister by
appointing Ararat Danielian.

3) Armenian Parliament Approves 2005 Budget

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)–The Armenian parliament overwhelmingly passed the
government’s budget for next year that calls for an almost 25 increase in
public spending.
Deputy Finance and Economy Minister Pavel Safarian said that certain changes
were made in the 2005 budget, adding that an overwhelming majority of the 315
proposals and amendments put forward by officials are reflected in the final
draft.
The government expects to collect a record-high 345.3 billion drams ($712
million) in revenues and spend 394.6 billion drams. This is roughly 5 percent
more than was envisaged in the initial version of the bill unveiled by
ministers in late October.
The government also plans sizable rises in health care and social
expenditures. Officials are keen to stress that the 2005 budget has a “social
orientation.”
The budgetary parameters, endorsed by the International Monetary Fund
and
the World Bank, are based on government expectations of continued economic
growth and improved tax collection.

4) Government Sticks to Christmas Tree Ban

YEREVAN (RFE-RL)–Environment Minister Vartan Ayvazian said on Friday that the
Armenian government is successfully enforcing a three-year ban on the use of
natural Christmas trees which is aimed at shoring up the country’s endangered
forests.
Ayvazian cited anecdotal evidence to claim that hardly any tree has been
felled and sold in Armenia for the upcoming New Year and Christmas
celebrations. “Only last night a small batch of trees was imported from
Russia,” he told reporters. “But otherwise, as you can see, there are no trees
cut and sold in the Republic of Armenia.”
Armenian spruces and other pine trees were widely available for sale in
Yerevan and other parts of the country until the introduction of the ban in
2002. They have since given way to imported artificial trees.
The Christmas tree ban has done little to stop the continuing shrinkage
of the country’s already scarce wooded areas. Environment protection groups
warn that if the current trends continue, Armenia could be left without any
forests by 2024.

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U.S. experts say Indonesia quake one of five largest in a century

journalstar.com
Monday Dec. 27, 2004

U.S. experts say Indonesia quake one of five largest in a century BY
The Associated Press

NEW YORK – The magnitude-8.9 earthquake that struck Indonesia Sunday
was the world’s fifth most powerful since 1900 and the strongest since
a 9.2 temblor slammed Alaska 40 years ago, U.S. earthquake experts
said.

The globe’s most potent quake since 1900 struck with a 9.5 magnitude
in Chile in 1960. The quake in Prince William Sound Alaska occurred in
1964, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Web site said.

A magnitude 9.1 quake hit Alaska’s Andreanof Islands in 1957, and a
9.0 temblor rumbled on Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka peninsula 1952.

Other major quakes and their magnitudes were: Ecuador, 8.8 in 1906;
Alaska, 8.7 1965; Tibet, 8.6 1950; Kamchatka, 8.5 1923; Indonesia, 8.5
1938; and the Kuril Islands, 8.5 1963.

Other major earthquakes around in the world since early last century:

– Dec. 26, 2003: Southeastern Iran, Bam, magnitude 6.5; More than
41,000 killed.

– May 21, 2003: Northern Algeria, magnitude 6.8; Nearly 2,300 killed.

– March 25, 2002: Northern Afghanistan, magnitude 5.8; up to 1,000
killed.

– Jan. 26, 2001: India, magnitude 7.9; at least 2,500
killed. Estimates put death toll as high as 13,000.

– Sept. 21, 1999: Taiwan, magnitude 7.6; 2,400 killed.

– Aug. 17, 1999: Western Turkey, magnitude 7.4; 17,000 killed.

– Jan. 25, 1999: Western Colombia, magnitude 6; 1,171 killed.

– May 30, 1998: Northern Afghanistan and Tajikistan, magnitude 6.9;
as many as 5,000 killed.

– Jan. 17, 1995: Kobe, Japan, magnitude 7.2; more than 6,000 killed.

– Sept. 30, 1993: Latur, India, magnitude 6.0; as many as 10,000
killed.

– June 21, 1990: Northwest Iran, magnitude 7.3-7.7; 50,000 killed.

– Dec. 7, 1988: Northwest Armenia, magnitude 6.9; 25,000 killed.

– Sept. 19, 1985: Central Mexico, magnitude 8.1; more than 9,500
killed.

– Sept. 16, 1978: Northeast Iran, magnitude 7.7; 25,000 killed.

– July 28, 1976: Tangshan, China; magnitude 7.8-8.2; 240,000 killed.

– Feb. 4, 1976: Guatemala, magnitude 7.5; 22,778 killed.

– Feb. 29, 1960: Southwest Atlantic coast in Morocco; magnitude 5.7;
some 12,000 killed, town of Agadir destroyed.

– Dec. 26, 1939: Erzincan province, Turkey, magnitude 7.9; 33,000
killed.

– Jan. 24, 1939: Chillan, Chile, magnitude 8.3; 28,000 killed.

– May 31, 1935: Quetta, India, magnitude 7.5; 50,000 killed.

– Sept. 1, 1923: Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan, magnitude 8.3; at least
140,000 killed.

UAE chairman of OPEC development fund board announces loans worthUSD

UAE chairman of OPEC development fund board announces loans worth USD160 million

AME Info, United Arab Emirates
Dec 21 2004

The UAE-chaired OPEC Fund for International Development today announced
it approved loans worth a total of USD 157.4million at a recent board
of governors meeting in the Fund’s Vienna offices.

Jamal Nasser Lutah, the board’s chairman and assistant undersecretary
of Industry at the UAE Ministry of Finance and Industry (MOFI),
unveiled the details of the loans. He said: ‘The board has approved
17 loans totaling $157.4 million to offer credit finance for projects
in Angola, Armenia, Bosnia, Congo, Jordan, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

‘The loans are for as long as 20 years. The first five years offer a
grace period and the interest payable varies from 1 per cent to 1.75
per cent.’

The board also set aside $4.325 million to be split between combating
polio in Africa, providing assistance to inhabitants of Maya in
Nicaragua, and supporting a number of Palestinian NGOs. An amount
of $2.25 million was allocated to support the AIDS epidemic combat
program.

The board also considered a report by Salman bin Jaber Al Harbash,
its General Director, about the Fund’s 2004 activities. The total
value of loans approved by the Fund to the end of October this year
stands at $5126 million offered to 111 developing countries to finance
950 projects.

‘The Fund has supported 60 private sector projects worth $299 million,’
said Mr. Lutah. ‘We have also approved about $316 million in grants
to finance 684 projects in many poor and developing countries.

‘The UAE is one of the principal founders of the Fund and is one of the
biggest contributors to it. This is in line with the UAE’ commitment
to play an active role in the field of international development.’

At 100, man has bounty of fond memories

The Journal News.com, NY
Dec 19 2004

At 100, man has bounty of fond memories
By BOB BAIRD
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: December 19, 2004)

With about 160 residents, birthdays come frequently at the Nyack
Manor Nursing Home in Valley Cottage.

While each is a celebration of longevity, some like one the other
afternoon for Sam Frattarelli, take on special meaning.

Frattarelli, joined by about two dozen relatives and friends and
almost 100 other residents, was celebrating his 100th birthday, which
actually comes tomorrow.

Making the event, coordinated by activities director Melly
Resurreccion, all the more special is the fact that Frattarelli was
surrounded by five other centenarians who live at Nyack Manor.

Like Frattarelli, who worked long enough to have several careers, the
other centenarians have had fulfilling lives, with careers, family
and enriching involvement in their communities.

Frattarelli, whose first name is actually Severino, was born near
Rome on Dec. 20, 1904, and came to the United States when he was 18.
He worked in construction and then for a railroad. By the time he
retired after a career with Con Edison, he and his wife, Sylvia, had
opened a diner in the Bronx and built it into a restaurant and
catering business.

Now married for 75 years, Frattarelli met Sylvia when he was a border
with her extended family. They married when she was just 15. Together
they had three children who have given them seven grandchildren, 18
great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. Their
great-granddaughter, Bethea Davis, watched with her son, Joshua
Davis, 6, as her other son, Christopher Torres, just seven months
old, bounced on Frattarelli’s knee.

There were many family celebrations over the years at Sylvia’s, the
restaurant in the Bronx, and at the 220-acre property they owned in
upstate Livingston Manor. But in 2001, Sam moved to Nyack Manor and
Sylvia to the Pearl River home of their daughter, Margaret Ferrusi.

While a Livingston Manor resident, Frattarelli was active in local
politics, which also is a passion for Mary Grace Devlin. When I first
interviewed her in December 1999, she was 100 and still living on her
own in West Haverstraw. She said then that she believed a lack of
faith and respect was at the root of society’s problems and blamed
liberal politicians from Fiorello LaGuardia right up into the 1960s
for what she saw as New York City’s decline. Five years later,
remembering our earlier conversation, she announced, “I’m still very
political.” A bit after we spoke that first time, she lived for a
couple of years with her daughter, Jerry Reynolds of Haverstraw,
before moving to Nyack Manor.

Anthony Cavallo and Sarah Tancer both turned 100 earlier this year.
He retired a half-century ago as a driver for the New York City
Department of Sanitation. He and his wife of more than 70 years,
Rose, raised two sons, Ernie and Gerry. Together, they traveled to
Europe, Puerto Rico and Bermuda. Tancer was born and raised in
Brooklyn and lived there until a move to Florida about 30 years ago.
She lived there on her own until about two years ago, when she came
to Nyack Manor. She had two children, seven grandchildren, two
great-grandchildren and a great-great-granddaughter, Angelica
Pagnozzi of Nanuet. She was visiting along with her grandmother,
Berna Maloney of Nanuet, who drops in on Tancer two or three times a
week.

Mary Tukdarian, 103, lived in the Bronx and then New City. She raised
two sons with her husband, Haig, who had fought in World War I. He
also had been a member of the Armenian Legion of the French Foreign
Legion and at the time of his death in 1992, was believed to have
been the group’s last living member.

Alice Haagensen, 104, has spent much of her adult life studying and
writing the history of Palisades and Snedens Landing. As recently as
2002, Haagensen combined with mystery writer Dorothy Salisbury Davis
on “Historic Houses of the Palisades,” published by the Palisades
Historical Committee and the Palisades Free Library. A year earlier,
Haagensen was honored with the Margaret B. and John R. Zehner Award
for information she provided when Palisades was designated
Orangetown’s second historic district in 1967.

According to Rosita Manzano, director of nursing at Nyack Manor, part
of the Northwoods Rehabilitation and Extended Care Facilities,
longevity of residents is steadily going up and changing the nature
of nursing homes.

It’s brought more aggressive patient management, she says, with a
veteran staff responding more vigorously to any change in a
resident’s health.

Except for some hearing difficulty, Frattarelli is in good shape — a
testament to years of hard work in Livingston Manor, where he
renovated the house, barns and garage and built a greenhouse. He grew
his own vegetables and fished trout from his own pond.

Holding his great-great-grandson, Frattarelli looks like he could
live out what Margaret Ferrusi says has always been her father’s
motto: “Another 50 years.”

–Boundary_(ID_s+1B8Lc8I8GGSmC6Org3nA)–

Notable quotables

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
Dec 18 2004

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

“The issue needs to be recognized unconditionally as a violation
against humanity, regardless of whether Turkey is an enemy or an
ally.”

— Armen Carapetian, government relations director of the Armenian
National Committee Western Region on federal recognition of the
Armenian Genocide.

–Boundary_(ID_cx6SoyBzlhfMvPEFSQsfMw)–

Armenian Christmas Services At St. Vartan Cathedral To Take Place On

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (E.)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Chris Zakian
Tel: (212) 686-0710; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

December 17, 2004
__________________

ARMENIAN CHRISTMAS SERVICES AT ST. VARTAN CATHEDRAL TO TAKE PLACE ON
THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 2005

In accordance with the earliest Christian traditions concerning the
Nativity of Jesus Christ, the Armenian Church celebrates Christmas on
January 6. This holy occasion will be observed at the St. Vartan
Armenian Cathedral in Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Services. A
special liturgical schedule will be in effect on Wednesday and Thursday,
January 5 and 6, 2005. Please make a note of the times.

On ARMENIAN CHRISTMAS EVE–Wednesday, January 5– there will be an
Evening Service with Scripture Readings (by students from the Diocese’s
Khrimian Lyceum) at 6:30 p.m. The Divine Liturgy will immediately
follow, beginning at 7:30 p.m., celebrated by Fr. Mardiros Chevian, the
cathedral dean.

The St. Vartan Cathedral Youth Choir–with the participation of students
from the Diocese’s Khrimian Lyceum, and from area Diocesan Armenian
Saturday schools–will sing the Divine Liturgy, under the direction of
the Maro Partamian. A reception will take place following the services.

On ARMENIAN CHRISTMAS MORNING–Thursday, January 6–His Eminence
Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America, will celebrate the Divine Liturgy. The
Morning Service begins at 9:30 a.m., and the Divine Liturgy follows at
10:30 a.m.

This year, the sacred music will be sung by both the Gomidas Choir and
the St. Vartan Cathedral Choir, under the direction of Kris Kalfayan and
Maestro Khoren Mekanejian.

According to Armenian tradition, this feast day commemorates not only
the birth of Christ, but also His baptism by John the Baptist. The
latter is remembered through the “BLESSING OF WATER” ceremony, which
will follow the Divine Liturgy. Mr. Mark Gabrellian, of Wyckoff, NJ,
will serve as “godfather” of the Blessing of Water service.

After the cathedral January 6 church services, a HOME BLESSING SERVICE
AND CHRISTMAS RECEPTION will take place in Haik and Alice Kavookjian
Auditorium, featuring a dance presentation by the Akhtamar Dance
Ensemble. The reception is open to all; admission is free.

Armenian Christmas will also be observed at local parishes across the
Eastern Diocese. Please contact your local parish to ascertain the date
and time of its celebration.

St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral is located at 630 Second Avenue (corner of
34th Street and Second Avenue), in New York City. Armenian Christmas
Eve services begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 5. The Armenian
Christmas Morning Service on Thursday, January 6 will begin at 9:30
a.m., with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy beginning at 10:30
a.m., followed by the traditional Blessing of Water ceremony.

–12/17/04

E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News
and Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,

PHOTO CAPTION (1): Mark Gabrellian, of Wyckoff, NJ, will serve as
“godfather” of the Blessing of Water service at New York City’s St.
Vartan Cathedral on January 6, 2004.

# # #

www.armenianchurch.org
www.armenianchurch.org.

`100 Days’ Press Conference of The Mayor

`100 DAYS’ PRESS CONFERENCE OF THE MAYOR

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
15 Dec 04

On the hundredth day of his office the mayor of Stepanakert Edward
Aghabekian gave a press conference during which he stated that his
activities are directed at a more rational solution of the social
problems of the members of the community and accomplishment of the
municipal governments. According to the mayor, though there is a
legislative basis for the activity of the municipal governments in
Karabakh, there is no clear-cut distinction between the community
property and the state property. Presently the inventory record of the
property of the town community is taken, after which the City Hall
will use its right on the inventory. According to the mayor, the
development of the communities will be favoured by the fact that since
2005 the communities will direct the taxes on property and land. This
will allow increasing the town budget. Edward Aghabekian mentioned the
necessity of solving the question under whose jurisdiction a number of
town companies will pass; these are in the town but seem not to have
any connections with the City Hall. In the context of the growing role
of the municipalities in the government structure Edward Aghabekian
noticed that the mayor of the Azerbaijani town of Yevlakh, for
example, is in the governmental delegation in the Council of
Europe. In our country the municipalities do not have an essential
role in the government. HOUSING PROBLEM. Accordingto Edward
Aghabekian, during the hundred days of his office he received more
than 500 town-dwellers. The problem of most of them was connected with
housing. 154 families of killed azatamartiks and 123 families of
disabled persons need flats. According to the mayor, in the upcoming
two years it is planned to build houses in the streets Toumanian,
Azatamartikneri and Tigran Mets. As to the high-rise blocks in
Azatamartikneri Street, the idea of building flats for sale is not
successful; only 6 or seven of the 28 flats were sold. HEADS OF
DEPARTMENTS OF THE CITY HALL FINED. During the past 100 days the City
Hall received about 900 letters and complaints and answered to all of
them. `If answers to any letter were delayed, then by the department
of architecture. By the way, the heads of several departments were
fined for disrespectful attitude towards the townspeople.’ He was
surprised at the fact that the demands of the people are
minimal. `They demanded elementary things without which we cannot
live. Can you imagine that there are houses in Stepanakert which do
not have electricity supply and people still have to use oil lamps. It
is not known why the problems of these people were not
solved. Although it should also be mentioned that there are people who
do not mind to snatch away one more piece of bread,â=80=9D said the
mayor. E. Aghabekian told that the City Hall applies sanctions against
the owners of illegal buildings. `Although the parliament granted
apeculiar economic amnesty for the owners of illegal buildings, fines
totaling 860 thousand drams was paid to the treasury of the town for
illegal building.’ The mayor of Stepanakert mentioned that after
taking his office he had been surprisedto know that the City Hall owes
salary debts since 2000. The salary of 14 thousand drams for the
doorkeeper is not paid. `’I saw the woman sweeping the streets at
night with her little child standing beside her. It is owing to this
woman that our capital is known as a clean town whereas we do not pay
her these wretched 14 thousand drams,’ said Edward Aghabekian. IS IT
RIGHT TOMOVE THE STATION TO THE OUTSKIRTS? `The project of the station
is not bad but the time chosen for moving it was bad,’ said Edward
Aghabekian in reference to the fact of moving the town station to the
place of the former tarmac factory. Besides the problems typical of
wintertime, roadworks are going on in Baghramian Street blocking the
traffic in that direction. Speaking about the convenience of this
change the mayor noticed that it would be better to ask the opinion
ofthe town inhabitants beforehand. `In general, I am for introducing
the institute of local referendums and I think that any step must be
preceded by the survey of public opinion,’ said Edward
Aghabekian. THERE IS WATER BUTâ=80¦ In 2005 significant sums will be
provided for the improvement of the water supply system of the
town. The sluice, filters, pipes will be repaired. According to the
mayor, the pipelines of the town pass through the cemetery, which is
dangerous. The situation is aggravating, as the pipelines are very
old. `In three years the tarmac of the street near the agricultural
college was dug and pipes were repaired for 123 times. It turns out
that this part of the pipes which was changed only four years ago were
probably replaced by old ones. Therefore, Damages are so frequent,’
said E. Aghabekian. THE MAYOR IS NOT IN ADVERSARIAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH
THE GOVERNMENT. `The heads of the branches of power admit that I was
elected by the people and my activity is legal. I state that I am not
in contradiction with the top officials within the framework of my
authority. I was not elected for struggling against the
government. Sailing in the same ship we must lead it together not to
crash against the rocks,’ said the mayor. At he same time Edward
Aghabekian mentioned that during these three months he had not
received the documents on the reconstruction of the Victory Square
from the government.

NAIRA HAYRUMIAN.
15-12-2004

Armenia hails interparliamentary coop with Russia – Speaker

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
December 15, 2004 Wednesday 5:47 AM Eastern Time

Armenia hails interparliamentary coop with Russia – Speaker

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

Armenia attaches great attention to interparliamentary cooperation
with Russia and to the entire set of interstate relations in
different spheres, Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Artur
Bagdasaryan said during his meeting with Russian State Duma Speaker
Boris Gryzlov on Wednesday.

Taking part in the meeting were the heads of the standing
commissions, factions and groups of deputies of the Armenian National
Assembly, including opposition members. “It shows that all the
political forces of Armenia pay special attention to cooperation with
Russia,” Bagdasaryan said.

“Russian-Armenian inter-parliamentary relations are actively
developing,” Bagdasaryan said. He recalled, “The joint Commission on
inter-parliamentary cooperation of the Armenian National Assembly and
Russian Federal Assembly is also working dynamically.” Certain
agreements are being successfully fulfilled, he said.

“Armenia together with other CIS countries makes efforts to intensify
the activity of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly,” the Armenian
speaker said. “We will participate actively in drafting model laws”
within the framework of the Assembly, he added.

Antelias: Interview with HH Aram I conducted by a European Agency

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V. Rev. Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer

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Antelias-Lebanon

“HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO ACCEPT TURKEY IN EUROPEAN COMMUNITY WHEN IT STILL
IGNORES THE GENOCIDE COMMITTED AGAINST THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE”

Declared His Holiness Aram I

Antelias, Lebanon – In a context of a telephone interview with a European
press agency, and in answering to a question concerning the membership of
Turkey in European community, His Holiness Aram I expressed his concern and
said: “European community was not established only on economic interests and
political collaboration. It is fundamentally a community of human values
which ensure the identity, integrity and unity of Europe, and give a
particular place and role to Europe in international community. Among these
values human rights occupy an important place”.

His Holiness Aram I raised a great doubt and concern about the way the human
rights are respected in Turkey. He said: “To what degree and in what way the
human rights values are accepted, respected and practiced in and by Turkey?
Turkey still ignores its immediate past; it still rejects to recognize the
Genocide which was planned and executed by the Ottoman Turkey in 1915. I
believe that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey is not only
an “Armenian problem”; it is a problem that pertains to the entire
international community, since it is a problem of justice and human rights.
The recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey must be taken very
seriously by Europe as Turkey is trying by all means to become a full member
of Europe”.

Then concluding his remarks, said: “In this globalized world of ours
nations, religions, cultures and civilizations must live together on the
basis of peaceful coexistence. But living together as good neighbors and as
part of broader community implies to accept our fault, to affirm the truth
and recognize the rights of the others. In fact, the real community is built
on the basis of mutual trust and by doing justice. Therefore, it is my firm
expectation that beyond economic and political interests Europe will
continue to remain firmly attached to basic human values. It is the
expectation and hope of Armenians all over the world that the present Turkey
reaffirm the truth, accepting the historical reality by recognizing the
Armenian Genocide”.

In answering to a question related to the recent pressures and difficulties
surrounding the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in Turkey, His Holiness Aram I
said: “Here is another concrete example of the way the human rights are
respected in Turkey. The World Council of Churches and the Conference of the
Churches in Europe have publicly expressed their concern on this matter
expressing their solidarity with the Ecumenical Patriarch”.

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The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

http://www.cathcil.org/
http://www.cathcil.org/