Month: June 2005

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
HIS HOLINESS WILL PRESIDE OVER AN INTERNATIONAL
ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE
Antelias, Lebanon – His Holiness Aram I traveled to Geneva on June
4 to preside over a meeting of the chancery of the World Council of
Churches’ (WCC) executive committee and to hold meetings with senior
officials from the WCC.
His Holiness will also deliver the opening remarks of the international
ecumenical conference to be held in Geneva. It is the first time
ever that WCC organizes such a conference. Around 200 senior
representatives of all the world’s religions will participate
in the conference. Primate of the Diocese of Tehran, Archbishop
Sebouh Sarkissian will participate in the meeting on behalf of the
Catholicosate of Cilicia.
His Holiness will both preside over the conference and be the keynote
speaker. Rev.Fr. Masdots Tchobanian, the Christian Education officer
of the Catholicosate of Cilicia accompanies His Holiness to Geneva. The
delegation will return to Antelias in five days.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the
Ecumenical activities 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.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
“MEETING WITH THE GOSPEL” COURSES ARE COMPLETED
Antelias, Lebanon – The last session of “meeting with the Gospel”
course was held on May 31. An initiative of the Sunday Schools of
the Diocese of Lebanon, the session was organized by the Christian
Education department of the Catholicosate of Cilicia.
As done in previous years, Gospel studies were held in the last
six months in the St. Asdvadzadzine Church in Bourj Hammoud. The
attendants had the opportunity to study the letter written by the
apostle Paul to Hebrews, the hymns composed by Nerses Shenorhali on
the occasion of the Great Lent and the letters of the apostle Peter.
Rev.Fr. Mashdots Tchobanian, Christian Education officer of the
Catholicosate of Cilicia, presided over the studies. The course
included recitation of hymns, the study of Psalm and questions and
answers.
Father Mashdots thanked Bishop Kegham Khatcherian, primate of
the Diocese of Lebanon, the committee of Sunday Schools, the
St. Asdvadzadzine Church and its Ladies’ Guild and the attendant,
who gathered around the Word of God, to be strengthened by Him and
to embrace Christian faith.
The last session included the study of the last part of St. Peter’s
second letter, which concerns the second coming of Christ and advises
people to be ready for receiving Him. The session ended with prayers.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about
the jurisdiction and the Christian Education activities in both the
Catholicosate and the dioceses, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate,
the administrative center of the church is located in Antelias,
Lebanon.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
THE SECOND SEMESTER OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES IS COMPLETED
Antelias, Lebanon – The last session of religious studies was held
in the Catholicosate of Cilicia on June 2, under the patronage and
direction of Aram I.
Rev.Fr. Vaghinag Meloian, the director of the courses, praised the
Lord for the successful ending of the two semesters of religious
studies. He also thanked His Holiness Aram I and members of the
Cilician Brotherhood, who delivered lectures on the topics assigned
to them during the two semesters.
The Reverend Father also talked about the importance of the courses
and highlighted their theological and ethnographical aspects. He
affirmed that the courses not only deepened the knowledge of students,
but also prepared them to convey that knowledge to others.
His Holiness blessed and praised the attendants of the session. He
thanked God that the last two semesters have successfully come to an
end. “God made this happen,” His Holiness said.
Aram I also spoke about the aim of the courses: to bring Armenian’s
close to their church’s rites and theology based on the Holy Gospel
and the history of the Armenian Church.
His Holiness also praised the director of the course, its lecturers,
and the students, who attended to the courses with serious and
hard work.
The religious studies courses started last year on the initiative
of the Catholicosate’s Christian Education Department. The director
of the courses is Rev.Fr. Vaghinag Meloian. Its aim is to acquaint
people with the Holy Gospel and the rites of the Armenian Church,
its history and its theology.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about
the jurisdiction and the Christian Education activities in both the
Catholicosate and the dioceses, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

Goal, UK
Soccer Age, Italy
June 4 2005
World Cup Group One Preview
6/4/2005 4:34:00 AM
The Netherlands and the Czech Republic have the chance to pull clear
of the rest of Group One on Saturday as Marco van Basten’s side host
third placed Romania and the Czech’s entertain group minnows Andorra.
Netherlands currently sit one point ahead of the Czechs, while Romania
are a further two points adrift and so really can’t afford to lose
to the group leaders when they meet in Amsterdam.
Two months ago Romania were shocked by a 2-0 home defeat to van
Basten’s troops, but will be encouraged by a string of absentees
from the home side. Experienced midfielder Phillip Cocu suffered an
injury in PSV’s Cup final win and was forced to withdraw from the
squad, while team-mates Wilfred Bouma and Ooijer will also miss out.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst was another absentee, while Mark van Bommel
and Rafael van der Vaart are doubtful.
Romania included Juventus striker Adrian Mutu in their squad, but
he may not start due to being far from match fit having only just
completed his eight month ban for taking cocaine.
The three points should be a mere formality for the Czech Republic
when they host Andorra, who are bottom of the table with four points
to their name. The home team, who won 4-0 away to Andorra earlier
in the campaign, are almost at full strength, although Jiri Jarosik
misses out.
The two teams above them, Armenia and Macedonia, meet in the final
game on Saturday.
On Wednesday the Czech Republic have another home tie, against
Macedonia, while Netherlands must travel to fourth place Finland.
Romania will be expecting victory when they entertain Armenia.

Financial Times Deutschland
3. Juni 2005
Vorbei, aber nicht vergessen;
90 Jahre danach: Rolf Hosfeld fordert die Aufarbeitung des Genozids
an den Armeniern
von Ralf Hanselle
Die Vergangenheit fordert immer ihren Tribut. Die moderne Turkei
hätte diese Beobachtung bereits vor Jahren machen konnen. Doch 90
Jahre danach, ist man in Ankara noch immer nicht bereit, den
Volkermord an den Armeniern als das anzuerkennen, was er war: Ein
staatlich durchgefuhrter Genozid.
Doch die Geschichte lässt nicht locker. Nun hat der deutsche
Journalist Rolf Hosfeld uber die barbarischen Vorkommnisse in
Ostanatolien während des Ersten Weltkriegs ein Buch veroffentlicht.
Gestutzt auf historische Quellen und Augenzeugenberichte erzählt
Hosfeld die Geschichte des Volkermords an den christlichen Armeniern
im osmanisch-russischen Grenzgebiet nach. Zwischen 1915 und 1918
kostete er mindestens 800000 Menschen das Leben.
Hosfelds Buch “Operation Nemesis” lässt keine Zweifel: Die
Vernichtung der Armenier war von langer Hand geplant. Ausfuhrende:
Die seit der Revolution von 1908 herrschenden Jungturken und ihr
“Komitee fur Einheit und Fortschritt”. Sowohl die Regierung des
Großwesirs Said Halim als auch die Talaat Paschas wussten die
Uneinigkeit im “europäischen Konzert” zu nutzen, um die seit dem
Berliner Kongress offene armenische Frage zu entscheiden. Ziel war
es, so Talaats Worte, mit den “inneren Feinden grundlich aufzuräumen,
ohne dabei durch die diplomatischen Interventionen des Auslands
gestort zu werden”.
Dieses “Aufräumen” folgte immer gleichen Mustern. Region fur Region
wurden zunächst die Intellektuellen und Geistlichen inhaftiert,
gefoltert und erschossen. Danach folgte die normale Bevolkerung.
Protagonisten der Vernichtung waren neben einem dem Innenministerium
unterstehenden “Totenkopfverband” auch das Militär und kurdische
Milizen.
Im Gegensatz zu den Progromen gegen die Armenier am Ende des 19.
Jahrhunderts tobte hier nicht der Mob, sondern ein panturkischer
Weltanschauungskrieg. Infiziert von rassistischem Gedankengut und
getrieben von einem Nationalismus, der von der Einheit sämtlicher
Turkvolker fabulierte, nutzten die Jungturken die antiarmenischen
Ressentiments fur eine geplante “Endlosung”. So ist es nicht
verwunderlich, dass auch später der “Vater der Turken”, Mustafa
Kemal, von diesem Genozid nichts wissen wollte. Zu verwurzelt war
sein modernistisches Gedankengut in den Anschauungen des “Komitees
fur Einheit und Fortschritt”; zu abhängig war seine Regierung von den
Befehlshabern des Mordens in Ostanatolien.
“Operation Nemesis” verweist nachdrucklich auf die historische
Verantwortung der Turkei, es macht zudem aufmerksam auf das deutsche
Versagen unter dem damaligen Reichskanzler Bethmann-Hollweg. Es
beeindruckt durch seine akribische Recherche und liefert wichtige
Hintergrundinformationen zur aktuellen Armenien-Debatte. Es ist ein
Lehrstuck daruber, das vergangene Gräuel nicht verdrängt werden
konnen, sondern bewältigt werden mussen. Die Auseinandersetzung mit
dem Volkermord zu fordern ist eine Aufgabe der aufgeklärten
Zivilgesellschaft – darin zeigt sich nicht zuletzt auch ihre Macht.
lllll
Rolf Hosfeld
“Operation Nemesis”, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 288 S., 19,90 Euro
Bild(er):
Präziser Rechercheur:Rolf Hosfeld – Ernst Rudolf Achinger
–Boundary_(ID_9M3f2DFqmqJj8eO0ny7eSw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Surprises galore in Elite round
Wednesday, 1 June 2005
By Andrew Haslam
There will be a new name on the UEFA European Under-19
Championship trophy after this year’s final at
Belfast’s Windsor Park on 29 July following a dramatic
conclusion to the Elite round on Tuesday evening.
Armenian celebrations
With holders Spain already eliminated, 2003 winners
Italy went into their final round of fixtures in Group
4 knowing that victory against Belgium would all but
guarantee a place in the eight-team final tournament,
which will be played in Northern Ireland from 18 to 29
July. However, Paolo Berrettini’s team slumped to a
2-0 defeat, allowing Armenia – who had never before
reached a UEFA finals tournament at any level – to
qualify in style, with a 5-1 win against
mini-tournament hosts Hungary.
New names
The tournament will have an unfamiliar look about it,
with Northern Ireland having never reached a finals
tournament at U19 or U18 level while only Germany of
the sides who were present in Switzerland a year ago
qualified this time round. The Germans clinched their
finals berth with something to spare, emerging
victorious all three Group 2 games to ensure a
six-point winning margin in the section.
English exuberance
The first side to join the hosts this summer were
England, who claimed first place in Group 1 thanks to
three wins on home soil at the end of March. Martin
Hunter’s side were next joined by France – four-time
winners of the old UEFA European-18 Championship, the
last in 2000 – who travelled to Spain for Group 3, and
held firm to end the holders’ reign.
Serbo-Montenegrin success
Group 7 was the next to be decided, and again the
first-placed side won all three games to progress in
style – this time it was Serbia and Montenegro who
made the most of home advantage to claim a finals
berth. Group 6 proved a different story, however, as
mini-tournament hosts Russia were joined by
near-neighbours Ukraine and Lithuania – but it was
Norway who held sway, winning two games and drawing
one to hold off the Ukrainians by a point.
Final-day drama
With the Germans then winning Group 2, that left two
places in Northern Ireland still to be decided. Both
sections went down to the last round of fixtures, with
Armenia prevailing in Group 4 while Greece claimed
their third successive Group 5 victory to secure the
eighth and last place in the finals.
Finals draw
The eight successful teams will discover their final
opponents on Friday when the draw takes place in
Belfast at 14.30CET.
2004/05 UEFA European Under-19 Championship
Elite round final standings
Group 1
1 England*
2 Sweden
3 Denmark
4 Moldova
Group 2
1 Germany
2 Czech Republic*
3 Netherlands
4 Croatia
Group 3
1 France
2 Spain*
3 Israel
4 Portugal
Group 4
1 Armenia
2 Belgium
3 Italy
4 Hungary*
Group 5
1 Greece
2 Scotland
3 Slovakia
4 Austria*
Group 6
1 Norway
2 Ukraine
3 Russia*
4 Lithuania
Group 7
1 Serbia and Montenegro*
2 Poland
3 Republic of Ireland
4 Albania
* – Elite round mini-tournament hosts. Qualifiers in

RF diplomat, EU envoy for S Caucasus discuss Transcaucasia status
By Sergei Bushuyev
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 3, 2005 Friday
MOSCOW, June 3 — Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Valery
Loshchinin and Special Representative of the European Union for
South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie met on Friday to discuss the current
situation in the Transcaucasian region, an official at the Russian
Foreign Ministry said.
The sides exchanged opinions on the situation in the Transcaucasian
region and on settlement of conflicts in Georgia’s much-troubled
region of South Ossetian and the Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorny
Karabakh in Azerbaijan, the official said.
Loshchinin and Heikki Talvitie “confirmed commitment to continuing
cooperation with the countries of the Transcaucasian region and to
peaceful political settlement,” the official added.

Azerbaijan says Russian weapons transfer to Armenia not a tragedy
By Tengiz Pachkoria
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 3, 2005 Friday
TBILISI, June 3 — Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasi-zade said
Friday the Azerbaijani government did not perceive Russia’s transfer
to Armenia of the weapons and equipment from bases in Georgia as a
tragedy of any kind.
“This is an internal prerogative of Russia and Armenia, but we’ll
naturally make conclusions for our own policy, and they’ll be made
shortly,” Rasi-zade said.
Azerbaijani officials said in May they were discontent with proposals
to pull out a part of weaponry and equipment from Russian bases in
Batumi and Akhalkalaki, Georgia, to the Armenian territory.
Russian government took that decision as the two bases are to be
closed in line with a Russian-Georgian agreement.
At the end of May, an echelon of 15 coaches transported military
hardware from Batumi to a Russian base in Gumri, Armenia.

Russia won’t move materiel to Abkhazia – diplomat
By Alexandra Urusova
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 3, 2005 Friday
MOSCOW, June 3 — Abkhazia was not considered as a possible location
for the Russian military bases to be withdrawn from Georgia, the
Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador Igor Savolsky said in Moscow
on Friday.
“We did not discuss Abkhazia,” he said in answer to a question about
the possible transfer of Russian military hardware from Batumi and
Akhalkalaki to Gudauta (Abkhazia) or Gyumri (Armenia).
“We discussed Armenia, because the Akhalkalaki base is only 100
kilometers away from our base in Gyumri,” he said. “The military
hardware can be transferred from one Russian base to another, and
any fears that this transfer may strengthen the Armenian army are
unfounded,” he said.
He said they are not considering the transfer of Russian military
hardware to the Armenian side. “The hardware will be stationed
exclusively on premises of the Russian military base,” he said.

Leaders from ex-Soviet states look for ways to keep CIS afloat
Agence France Presse — English
June 3, 2005 Friday 12:27 PM GMT
TBILISI June 3 — Leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States met
in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Friday to discuss ways to breathe
life into the loose and increasingly divided alliance of Russia and
11 other ex-Soviet republics.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov responded to internal divisions
over the direction of the CIS with a call for unity. “We don’t see
any serious problems in relations with these countries… We are
still aiming for integration,” Fradkov said.
The group’s executive secretary, Russia’s former interior minister
Vladimir Rushailo, said: “It is too early to bury the CIS. It is
necessary to boost its effectiveness, even if there are certain
difficulties.”
“I believe that a new model and strategy for the CIS will be decided
in the very near future,” he said.
The new emphasis would be on economic and security ties, he said,
something which Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulya Timoshenko indicated she
supported. “The future of the CIS is in the economic sphere,” she said.
The CIS, which includes all ex-Soviet republics except for the three
Baltic countries, has struggled since its creation at the fall of
the Soviet Union in December 1991 to establish its priorities.
Many of the former republics chafe at the sense that the
Russian-dominated CIS is a vehicle for Moscow to wield influence
in its backyard. Several of the autocratic regimes in the CIS have
also been unnerved by the revolutions that shook Georgia, Ukraine
and Kyrgyzstan in the last 18 months following rigged elections.
Georgia and Ukraine have expressed strong hopes of joining Western
institutions, further weakening CIS unity.
The split was particulary acute over Ukraine, where Russian
President Vladimir Putin supported the candidate accused of rigging
last year’s presidential election, which was later re-run amid huge
street protests, then won by pro-Western opposition candidate Viktor
Yushchenko.
Timoshenko has yet to visit Russia following a row over the Russian
authorities’ announcement that she is wanted on fraud charges.
Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi are also problematic, although
one major sticking point was recently cleared with a Russian agreement
to pull two military bases out by the end of 2008.
Fradkov said that Moscow is also looking into removing visa
requirements for Georgians, which were imposed in 2000 amid sharply
deteriorating relations.
The premiers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Moldava, Tajikistan Ukraine and Russia attended the meeting, as well
as officials from Kyrygzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress