Author: Varosian Antranik

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
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August 2, 2006
___________________

DIOCESAN LEGATE ACCOMPANIES CATHOLICOS TO INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS’
MEETING IN MOSCOW

Bishop Vicken Aykazian, legate and ecumenical officer of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern), attended an international conference
of religious leaders in Moscow from July 2 to 6, 2006.

The World Religious Summit for Peace involved more than 200 representatives
from 49 countries. Included in the summit were leaders from Oriental
Orthodox churches — including His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch
and Catholicos of All Armenians, and Patriarch Paulos of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church — as well as representatives of other Orthodox churches,
the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant churches, as well as
Jewish, Buddhist, and Islamic community leaders.

The summit was organized by the Russian Orthodox Church and was organized to
coincide with the recent G8 summit in St. Petersburg. Organizers hoped the
forum would offer the political leaders attending the G8 summit with
solutions to global problems.

Bishop Aykazian attended not just as a representative of the Armenian
Church, but as president-elect of the National Council of Churches (NCC).

"We spoke about how can we achieve the peace," said Bishop Aykazian, who
like Catholicos Karekin II, addressed the delegates during the meeting. "I
spoke about peace and the achievements of the National Council of Churches
in peaceful movements around the world. This is an ongoing process, and we
will always have problems in the world. But we have to continue these
peaceful conferences in order to be able to create a stable world in which
to live."

In speaking of the NCC, Bishop Aykazian outlined how the group is trying to
help in the Middle East, Africa, and many other countries around the world.

"We are still helping," he said of the organization’s ongoing efforts. "It
is a process that is continuous and goes on always."

During the summit, the legate was also a guest of the U.S. Ambassador to
Russia, who invited him to attend a special 4th of July celebration in the
U.S. embassy.

— 8/2/06

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

PHOTO CAPTION (1): Bishop Vicken Aykazian, legate and ecumenical officer of
the Eastern Diocese, left, with former head of the Soviet Union, Mikhail
Gorbachev, and U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns.

PHOTO CAPTION (2): Bishop Aykazian, right, with Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona
Metzger, left, and Russian-Armenian philanthropist Ara Abrahamyan.

Bryza Meets Azerbaijani Foreign Minister

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 1 2006

Matthew Bryza, U.S. co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, held talks
today in Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry. First the guest met with Nizami
Bakhmanov, leader of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh,
and then he met with Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov.

After the meeting, Bryza refrained from making comments. He just
stated that he had come to Baku to learn the opinions of the Foreign
Minister and the President. He stressed that he came to Baku as an
OSCE MG co-chairman, to discuss questions related to settlement of
the Karabakh conflict.

Bryza said that on August 2 he will go to Paris to meet with the other
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen, Bernard Fassier and Yurii Merzlyakov.

PanARMENIAN.Net

A-320 Crew Was Extremely Discontent with Flying Control Officer Actions
28.07.2006 16:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The irregularity of the crew actions during the last
17 seconds of the flight caused the crash of A-320 on May 3, chairman
of the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia (GDCA) Artem
Movsesian said at a press conference July 28. At that, he said, he is
not aware why the crew acted that way. `We do not know yet what
caused the irregularity of the crew actions, since the modeling of the
A-320 flight showed that up to the last 17 seconds the flight was
stable,’ GDCA chairman said adding that the decoding of the flight
recorders showed that the crew was extremely discontent and nervous
over the actions of the flying control officer, reported IA Regnum.

This Is Lancashire, UK
July 28, 2006

A tale of love and struggle

By Kat Dibbits

The Last Tango, August 17-18 at The Library Theatre in Manchester.

The Last Tango is a rare chance to experience a musical in creation.

This production, by Manchester Library Theatre, is created as
work-in-progress by people from Young Music Theatre UK.

The stars of the production have been selected from national
auditions and are among the country’s most promising young
performers, both as actors and musicians.

The tale is one of love and struggle, told at a time and in a culture
that is different from that in Manchester today, making it a very
interesting and enlightening piece of theatre.

The story follows Ali, a Muslim boy living in Baku, the capital of
Azerbaijan, in 1919.

He meets and falls in love with a Christian girl, Nino, the daughter
of a rich trader from Armenia.

As the Bolsheviks approach and the Turkish Ottoman Empire retreats,
so Ali and Nino are forced to flee their homelands and seek refuge
from war-torn Europe.

For a short time they find happiness in the desert, but finally
return to the devastated Baku where tragedy overcomes them.

The Last Tango is a fantastically performed musical that shoves
youthful talent into the limelight.

The Last Tango, August 17-18 at The Library Theatre in Manchester.

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Arka News Agency, Armenia
July 28, 2006

IMF: ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT MAKES PROGRESS

YEREVAN, July 28. /ARKA/. During the last four years the Armenian
Government has managed to resolve numerous problems and make
progress, IMF Resident Representative James McHugh stated at his
meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan, the
information department, RA Government, reports.
He pointed out that when he was appointed to IMF Resident
Representative to Armenia in 2002 the Armenian Government encountered
problems such as arrears of wages and pensions, high unemployment
level. Most of the problems have been resolved.
At present, the Armenian Government does not have debts. Rather, it
manages to save funds by the end of year. Progress has been observed
in the implementation of the strategic program of poverty reduction,
the level of abject poverty has been reduced, steady economic growth
has been recorded and employment indicators have been improved,
McHugh said.
He also presented the IMF’s future programs in Armenia, pointing out
that the IMF missions for financial sector, statistics, monitoring
and technical assistance are shortly to visit Armenia.
McHugh stressed that, by preliminary estimates, structural reforms
have almost been completed in Armenia.- the economic growth is more
than was expected, progress has been recorded in other fields as
well. In this context, he expressed the confidence that the results
of the IMF’s program will be summed up without problems.
In his turn, the Armenian Premier stressed the importance of IMF
missions’ visits to Armenia. He pointed out that they meet the
priorities of Armenia’s economic policy and the visists may be rather
effective. P.T. -0—

THERE ARE ALSO CITIZENS OF RF AMONG THOSE WILLING TO MOVE
TO ARMENIA FROM RUSSIA FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE

ROSTOV-ON-DON, JULY 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. In 2005,
more than 400 families of citizens of Armenia temporarily living in
the territory of the South Federal Okrug of Russia returned to the
homeland. Ararat Gomtsian, RA Consul General in the South Federal
Okrug, informed the Yerkramas (Territory) newspaper of Armenians
of Russia about it. In his words, these families had moved to
Russia in different times and lived in the south of the country 3-7
years. Ararat Gomtsian especially mentioned that citizens of Russia
willing to move to Armenia for a permanent residence also apply to
the Consulate General.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY HELPS AMERICAN FAMILY TO FLEE FROM LEBANON

Panorama.am
18:02 27/07/06

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanyan informed reporters
that there are no casualties among Armenians in the Middle East
war. In his words, the Armenian political parties in Lebanon have
issued a joint statement today expressing their concerns about the
war and greeting the care of the Armenian authorities about Armenian
nationals living Lebanon.

The deputy minister also informed the reporters that the Armenian
foreign ministry has helped an American family to leave Lebanon shortly
after the war began. The American family came to Armenia to spend their
holidays and went to Lebanon to continue their vacation. On the 6th day
of their stay, the war started. Their requests to move stayed without
response and only the Armenian foreign ministry helped the family to
leave Lebanon. Today, the American family expressed their sense of
gratitude to the Armenian embassy in Lebanon, Armenian foreign ministry
and Armavia air company, saying they are safely in USA./Panorama.am/

ONE MORE HUMANITARIAN PROGRAM TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN ARTSAKH ON INITIATIVE OF BARONESS COX

YEREVAN, JULY 26, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Baroness Caroline
Cox, Vice-Speaker of the British Parliament’s House of Lords, is
going to again visit Artsakh, this time with a new humanitarian
program. Her partners are Daniel Lillis, representative of The
Children’s Hospital Trust Fund, Kathy Mellor, responsible person
of the Birth Link organization. They will provide humanitarian and
technical assistance to the newborn babies reanimation center to open
in Stepanakert within the framework of the program. This center to
open in Artsakh will become the branch of the center of the same name
of Yerevan University Hospital N 3.

As doctor-anaesthetist Hrant Kalenterian, responsible person of the
Yerevan center, said at the July 25 press conference, the center serves
the maternity hospitals acting in the whole territory of Armenia. The
center of Artsakh will be smaller and will serve the whole territory
of Nagorno Karabakh. The doctors of the center will pass 6-12-month
retraining with the assistance of the international partners soon.

Baroness Cox said that Kathy Mellor, representative of the Birth
Link organization, visited Karabakh six years ago and has implemented
various programs there up to present. "My goal is to bring many people
to Armenia and Karabakh for them to tell the truth about Armenians
and Karabakh in the future," Caroline Cox emphasized. She highlighted
that no propaganda is necessary for this as Azerbaijanis do that,
people should just come to Armenia and Karabakh, see the truth and
tell the world about the Armenian Genocide, Nagorno Karabakh war’s
real picture and Armenian people.

GLENDALE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY TO SUPPORT SMB DEVELOPMENT IN KAPAN

KAPAN, JULY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. On July 24, the delegation of Kapan
returned to the homeland from the U.S. The delegation had visited
Glendale, Los Angeles and Washington at the invitation of the
Glendale-Kapan Sister-Cities Co mmission. As Armen Karapetian,
head of the delegation, Kapan Mayor, said in his interview to NT
correspondent, during the visit they got acquainted with the activity
of Glendale Mayor’s Office, visited educational, health protection,
cultural institutions. In the Mayor’s words, they have reached
agreements of concrete cooperation. In particular, for the purpose
of SMB development in Kapan the Armenian community of Glendale will
provide 80-100 thousand USD, the delivery room of regional center’s
hospital will be repaired.

In September the delegation of Glendale will pay a return visit
to Kapan.

Carpets unite peoples

ArmRadio.am
26.07.2006 13:53

Gita Elibekyan (Yerevan)
Irina Badalova (Stepanakert)
Leila Mirijavadova (Baku)

There is a carpet shop at Sanapino Street in Tbilisi, which belongs
to Ilgar Mamudzadeh, Azerbaijani in origin, who is continuing the
work of his father and grandfather. Ilgar Mamudzadeh says that with
their national peculiarities the Caucasian carpets are both alike
and diverse. The shop owner himself does not discriminate between
Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian or Abkhazian carpets. Moreover,
he sincerely confesses that he likes the Armenian rugs most of all.

"Here I have Azerbaijani, Georgian and Armenian carpets. I like the
Armenian rugs, particularly "Lori-Pambak," which is very beautiful
and therefore rather expensive," Mamudzadeh says.

In Ilgar Mamudzadeh’s shop the Armenian "Karabakh" carpet costs
400 Laris, which makes about US$ 220. The owner says the Azerbaijani
"Shirvan" is cheaper, it costs 350 Laris. Ilgar has thoroughly studied
the history of carpets. He says that having old carpets at home is
a tradition. According to him, Caucasian carpets have the greatest
demand in the world. Generally, carpets comprise an indispensable part
of the dowry of Caucasian girls. For instance, in the past when an
Armenian girl married a Georgian, she started knitting carpets with
Armenian ornaments and in Georgian colors. The specialists call such
rugs "Caucasian carpets. A girls could not marry if she was unable
to knit carpets ot had no rugs in her dowry."

"Girls have been weaving these carpets day and night. I have been to
distant villages of all Caucasian countries, and I can say that this
tradition has been preserved in Azerbaijan only," the Azerbaijani
carpet seller says.

The owner of the carpet shop notes that tourists are most interested
in Caucasian rugs. The carpets brought from motherland are dear
also to Hovik Grigoryan. The latter is Ilgar Mamudzadeh’s friend
and works as salesman in the shop. The Georgian-Armenian says with
regret that at home he has only carpets of factory production. While
Azerbaijani Ilgar’s home is full of different carpets, and not only
Azerbaijani ones.

Carpets unite peoples. "I am an Azerbaijani and I work with an
Armenian. We are friends and nothing prevents us from living in peace,"
Ilgar says.