Month: April 2007

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address:  Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact:  Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel:  +374-10-517163
Fax:  +374-10-517301
E-Mail:  [email protected]
Website: 
April 7, 2007

THE MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS KAREKIN II
SUPREME PATRIARCH AND CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS
ON THE FEAST OF THE GLORIOUS RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, 08 April 2007

In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD!
HE DESTROYED DEATH WITH DEATH;
AND THROUGH HIS RESURRECTION, GRANTED US LIFE.

Our dear pious and faithful people,

We once again celebrate the Holy Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ with great joy.  Songs of praise and blessing ascend to heaven today
from within our souls, a prayer of thanksgiving to our Lord, Who through His
triumphal resurrection granted us salvation and life.  Today, we Christians
greet one another in delight with the infinitely desired tiding of `Christ
is Risen from the dead’.

The Glorious Resurrection of Christ is an event which occurred and was
witnessed.  The oil-bearing women were the first, who on Sunday morning
found the tomb of their crucified Teacher empty, and as they stood in awe,
heard the news from the angel, `He is not here, but is Risen’ (Luke 24:6). 
The testimonies of Christ’s Resurrection also are our faith, our churches
dispersed throughout the world filled with faithful praising the
Resurrection, and the witness to the Descent of the Risen Savior – this holy
sanctuary.  Also testimony of Christ’s Resurrection is the miracle-working
strength of our people to walk from the `Golgothas’ toward life with that
same faith and hope of salvation.

Dear brothers and sisters, throughout the passing of centuries, much blood
of man has been spilled on our planet.  However, not one drop of blood which
has flowed on the earth has affected human history, the human mind or
spiritual inner-world, as much as the Holy and Life-Giving Blood which
poured from Christ.  The Son of God gave His life as ransom for the
salvation of the world, and Christ’s sacrifice became the greatest evidence
of Divine love for mankind.  Through His sacrifice and resurrection, Christ
granted mankind liberty from the power of evil, from the bondage of sin and
death.  Christ gave us freedom, which is beyond any comprehendible human
understanding; freedom which is the grace to walk toward reborn life – life
renewed with justice and peace – and the desired and sought after eternity
of life.

This soul-renewing mystery of Eastertide is dispersed throughout the world
today along with the tolls from the belfries of all Christian churches. 
Pontiff, primate and pastor celebrate the Eucharist before the holy altars
of churches, offer prayers to heaven, and convey the tiding of `Christ is
Risen’ to all of Christendom and the message of love and peace to all
humanity.  So that God’s creation be cared for and preserved unspoiled, so
that man be appreciated and valued in the same manner as God loved man.  We
are called by God and bound by the imperatives of the times, to unify our
efforts for the sake of a free and happy life, for the sake of philanthropic
values which are the blessed gifts from God.

Alas, paths leading away from the light of Christ’s Resurrection fill the
world today with anxiety.  In these days as well, Judas’ kisses and
materialism are spreading.  In the example of Pilate, many wash their hands,
trampling justice underfoot for their own personal prosperity.  Today as
well, men follow the example of denying the peace-bestowing Christ and
selecting the thief Barabbas, with their cheating, violence, assassinations
and in their frenzy for stepping on others for their personal gain.  The
Mother of God grieving near the Cross today mourns with all lamenting
mothers who have lost their sons in wars, grieves for those who are
crucifying themselves through their evil acts, and for the many injustices,
pains, poverty and yearnings which fill the world with sorrow.

In this reality of the world, the hardships of our people continue as well. 
We remain obligated to struggle for the God-granted right of the Armenians
of Artsakh to live in liberty and security; for the universal condemnation
of the Armenian Genocide; and for the preservation and salvation of Armenian
spiritual and cultural treasures – our holy shrines and monuments – in our
neighboring countries.

The policy of denying the Genocide is the cause for new physical, cultural
and psychological-moral genocides.  Unpunished crimes unavoidably bear new
ones.  The Genocide of the Armenians was followed by the Holocaust, as well
as Rwanda, Darfur and other genocides.  The destruction of the giant Buddha
statues in Afghanistan was followed by the obliteration of thousands of
ancient Khatchkars (Stone-Crosses) in Nakhijevan by Azeri soldiers.  Only
days ago, while the wound on the soul of our people from Hrant Dink’s
assassination has not yet closed, the Turkish authorities, having completed
the renovation work on the Church of the Holy Cross on Aghtamar Island,
converted the centuries-old Armenian holy shrine into a museum.  From the
time of the Genocide, the church has been standing in silent prayer, yet
today prayer is prohibited in the renovated church.  Truly, in this new
century, this approach cannot be the spirit of dialogue between religions
and cultures, nor the aspirations for peaceful coexistence among peoples.

Relying on God, we have great hope in the triumph of justice, freedom and
peace.  Our faith is alive, through which we shall create the new victories
of our life, we shall erect new Khatchkars which whisper their prayers, new
sanctuaries of illuminated altars, new monuments shall rise with that
strength of the grace of the resurrection, which is granted to us by our
All-Provident Savior and Lord.

Dear faithful sons and daughters, we once again bring the life-giving tiding
to you:  `Christ is Risen from the dead, He destroyed death with death; and
through His Resurrection, granted us life’.  He Who was crucified by men has
Risen, the gravestone has been rolled away by divine power, and our hearts
are filled with the joy of God-granted salvation.  Through the countless
graces of the Savior’s Resurrection, let our souls be strengthened by labors
established on the foundation of faith, to make prosperous and brilliant the
path of renaissance for our homeland, our people and our Church.  Let us
carry out the coming parliamentary elections with this renewed faith, with
diligence, confidence and a sense of responsibility for the future.  May our
homeland, the entire world, and nations and people live free of sorrow and
pain, with love, brotherhood and peace toward one another under the
innumerable mercies of the Risen Christ.

On this celebratory day, with fraternal love and the joyful good news of
Christ’s Resurrection, we extend our greetings to the incumbents of the
hierarchal sees of our Holy Apostolic Church:  His Holiness Aram I,
Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia; His Beatitude Archbishop Torkom
Manoogian, Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem; His Beatitude Archbishop Mesrob
Mutafian, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople; and the spiritual leaders of
our Sister Churches.  We express our Pontifical love and blessings to all
vigilant servants of our Holy Church and to all our children dispersed
throughout the world.

With a joyful and hopeful spirit, we convey our blessings and greetings to
the President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharian, President of the
Republic of Nagorno Karabagh Arkady Ghukasian, all state officials of the
Armenians, and the leaders and representatives of diplomatic missions
accredited to Armenia.

We extend our greetings in this soul-renewing and festive season of Easter
to the benefactors of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the Armenian
General Benevolent Union; to the Central Committee and chapter
representatives of the AGBU, led by its President, who have all gathered in
the Motherland from throughout the world to celebrate the 100th Anniversary
of the AGBU.

On this grace-filled day, dear pious faithful, let us offer our unified
prayer to heaven, asking that the gift of the Lord’s salvation be made
greater and greater abundant, assisting men to progress toward the
beneficent Will of God, toward the bright future of mankind, now and always
and forever.  Amen.

Christ is Risen from the dead.
Blessed is the Resurrection of Christ.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IT IS 15 YEARS SINCE ESTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN
ARMENIA AND CHINA

YEREVAN, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The acting foreign minister of the RA
Vartan Oskanian on April 6 received the Chinese ambassador to Armenia
Tso Syuelian on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of establishment
of diplomatic relations between Armenia and China. During the meeting,
the sides spoke about the achievements of Armenian-Chinese relations
in the past 15 years and discussed issues of mutual interest.

According to a press release of the RA MFA Press and Information
Department, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of establishment
of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the heads of the
foreign ministries of Armenia and China Vartan Oskanian and Li
Zhaoxing sent congratulatory messages to each other.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO EXTENSION OF FRIENDLY
ARMENIAN-CHINESE RELATIONS

YEREVAN, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian president Robert Kocharian
and the Chinese president Hu Jintao sent congratulatory messages to
each other on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of establishment of
diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the People’s
Republic of China. Noting in his message that China was one of the
first countries to recognize independence of Armenia, R. Kocharian
attached importance to extension od depening of friendly relations
with China. He expressed confidence that further development of
comprehensive cooperation between Armenia and China will promote
well-being and prosperity of the peoples of the two countries. The
message of the Chinese president Hu Jintao says that over the past 15
year the bilateral relations of Armenia and China have undergone
steady development, with mutual trust constantly strengthening. He
noted that establishment and development of relations based on
friendship and cooperation of two countries proceeds from vital
interests of the Armenian and Chinese peoples.

RECEPTION HELD IN BEIJING ON OCCASION OF 15th ANNIVERSARY OF
ESTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND CHINA

BEIJING, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN. Within the framework of events held in
Beijing on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of establishment of
diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the People’s
Republic of China, a reception was held on April 4 at the Chinese
People’s Association of Friendship with Foreign Countries, with the
Armenian embassy in China being one of the organizers. According to
the RA MFA Press and Information Department, Deputy Chairman of the
Permanent Committee of the All-Chinese Assembly of People’s
Representatives Ismail Aymat, heads and representatives of other
Chinese ministries and departments attended the reception. Chiarman of
the Chinese People’s Association of Friendship with Foreign Countries
Chen Haosu spoke about the high level of cooperation between the two
friendly countries in trade, economic, cultural, scientific,
educational and other spheres, noting that this cooperation is
developing among state and government organizations, as well as among
NGOs. The Armenian ambassador to China Vasily Ghazarian pointed out
that the friendly Armenian-Chinese relations have a long history,
while today the bilateral relations are based on principles of legal
equality and mutuality, within the framework of which an efficient
political dialog is constantly being extended, and the mutally
beneficial cooperation in trade, economic, cultural, scientific,
educational, technical military assistance and other spheres is being
strengthened. The event was covered by Chinese television, Sinkhua
agency and in press releases of the mass media. The newspaper "Zhenmin
Zhibao" published the congratulatory messages of the presidents and
foreign ministers of the two countries, and the exclusive interview of
the Armenian amassador to China on the occasion of the 15th
anniversary of diplomatic relations.

*58a-tr-te #05 %000 >00 $10 &06 @06 .cn 07/04/07 17:00

AGBU PROGRAMS TO GET GREAT SUPPORT IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian president Robert Kocharian
on April 6 received members of the Central Body of the Armenian
General Benevolent Union (AGBU) and congratulated them on the 100th
anniversary of the union.

He siad that the AGBU with its great traditions has made an undeniable
contribution to the preservation of the Armenian identity. According
to a press release of the RA President’s press service, R. Kocharian
awarded Mkhitar Heratsi medals to members of the board of trustees
Sargis Demirchian, Garnik Yakubian and Nazar Nazarian. The
interlocutors spoke about AGBU programs on strengthening the
Armenia-Diaspora links and preservation of the Armenian identity,
giving prority to the programs aimed at establishing a stable
connection between Diasporan Armenian youth and homeland. R. Kocharian
welcomed these initiatives, noting that they will get great support in
Armenia. He also expressed his satisfaction over the intention to
establish the AGBU Yerevan Office.

PRESIDENT OF NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: FINANCING OF ARMENIAN
SCIENCE CONSIDERABLY DECLINED IN PAST TWO DECADES

YEREVAN, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The system, which existed before the
2006 elections of the Presidency of the RA National Academy of
Sciences (NAS), did not serve its major goal – to solve
scientific-organizational problems.

President of the RA NAS Radik Martirosian stated this at the April 6
annual meeting of the academy. According to him, the large number of
the presidency members was not conducive to solution of problems,
while its numerous units did not help create a healthy scientific
atmosphere and discuss scientific issues. Last year the NAS staff was
reduced by nearly 20%. R. Martirosian said that in the year under
review, elections of corresponding members of the RA NAS were held, as
a result of which the academy staff increased by 36 new corresponding
members. In his words, all of them are worthy and well-known
scientists. The NAS president also addressed the current problems of
the academy. He said that "in the past two decades, financing of
science had considerably declined, due to which the research basis has
become poor, the number of studies has decreased, this being
accompanied by an outflow of experts." "Estonia, whose population is
half our population, allocates 10 million euros for science, Armenia
allocates 12 million, 6 million dollars of which is financing of the
academy. Our neighbors spend for this purpose: Georgia – 4 times as
much, Azerbaijan – 8 times as much," R. Martirosian noted. In his
opinion, in order to stimulate interest of young people in science, it
is necessary to create attractive conditions in this sphere, while the
state should develop a complex program on alternation of scientific
staff generations.

The Standard, Kenya
April 8 2007

Winnie Wangui steals show at cousin’s wedding

By Susan Anyangu

Miss Winnie Wangui Mwai caused a stir when she stepped out in an
elegant wedding attire, three days after she announced her intention
to wed deported Armenian, Mr Artur Margaryan.

But the wedding at All Saints Cathedral was not hers. This
disappointed journalists who had camped at the church after being
duped that the daughter of Narc-Kenya activist, Ms Mary Wambui, was
to wed.

It turned out that Winnie was the maid-of-honour at the wedding of
her cousin, Wangui Mugai. Wambui raised the bride, who is her
brother’s daughter, after her mother died.

When The Sunday Standard called Margaryan who is at an undisclosed
location he confirmed that his would-be bride was at her cousin’s
wedding.

"It is not my wedding today, but I can assure you when mine comes I
will announce it," said Margaryan.

Saturday’s wedding started with a high-speed chase with journalists
following the bridal procession from Lavington Green.

After the wedding cars were decorated at Lavington shopping centre,
they took off for Wambui’s house.

There was commotion at the gate of the house near St Austin’s Academy
when journalists were barred from entering.

Soon after, Winnie stepped out in a pink flowing dress as relatives
informed the media that it was not her wedding.

>From Lavington the motorcade, with Wambui riding in a black Range
Rover, made its way to All Saints Cathedral where the bridegroom Mr
Gathanga Mukira patiently waited for his bride.

As Winne stepped out of the car attention was on her rather than the
bride.

The bride matched down the aisle in the arms of Wambui and the
bride’s father. The nuptials were presided over by Rev Geoffrey
Njenga.

The presence of prominent personalities raised the stature of the
ceremony. Former State House Comptroller, Mr Materi Keriri, his wife,
Laikipia West, Mr MP G G Kariuki, and Mrs Nancy Wettstein were
present.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Mehr News Agency, Iran
April 7 2007

New Armenia-Iran railway to cost $1b

TEHRAN, April 7 (MNA) — The building of the new railway between
Armenia and Iran will cost $1 billion, Armenia’s acting Transport and
Communication Minister Andranik Manukian said, the Persian service of
ISNA news agency reported here on Saturday.

There is a strong desire to carry out the project, said the Armenian
official, adding, `We are trying to find an investor to complete the
project.’

At present, there exists a railroad between Iran and the former
Soviet republic but since it passes through the Nakhichevan – a
controversial area between Armenia and Azerbaijan Republic – it is
not currently in use, the minister added.

Economic experts believe that given the possible resolution of the
dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan Republic over the
Nagorno-Karabakh region, the building of the new railway would be
uneconomical.

Montreal Gazette, Canada
April 7 2007

Tackling a Turkish taboo

JOEL YANOFSKY, Freelance
Published: Saturday, April 07, 2007

Turkish author Elif Shafak’s new novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, is
hard to categorize. It includes recipes and fairy tales, excerpts
from chat lines, pronouncements by soothsayers and meditations on
Johnny Cash. It’s part chick lit, part magic realism – a domestic
comedy with tragic historical overtones.

It is, in other words, a narrative mess. It is also, for all that, a
heartfelt and courageous work of fiction. In her acknowledgments,
Shafak explains rather matter-of-factly that when the novel first
came out, she was put on trial for "denigrating Turkishness," a crime
under the Turkish penal code.

The charge, which carries a sentence of up to three years in prison,
has been levelled at other Turkish writers, including Orhan Pamuk,
last year’s Nobel laureate for literature. And while the charges are
often dropped, as they were in Shafak’s case, the point gets made. In
Turkey, some things are not open to discussion, namely the 1915
Armenian genocide.

Those who forget the past don’t always repeat it; sometimes, it’s bad
enough that they just go on forgetting it. Shafak is very good at
showing how wide and deep the collective amnesia runs in her country.
What happened to Armenians almost a century ago is taboo; it’s also
off the radar screen.

The past is another country for Turks, one of Shafak’s characters
says, and that’s even true for the mostly sympathetic Kazanci family,
most of whom live in one house in Istanbul. That household is made up
entirely of women, including Zeliha, "the youngest of four girls who
could not agree on anything but retained an identical conviction of
always being right, and feeling each had nothing to learn from others
but lots to teach."

A contentious but close-knit clan, they have their own way of coping
with unpleasant realities, past and present: to ignore them. So that
when Zeliha announces in the opening chapter that she’s pregnant, no
one bothers to ask who the father is. It’s left to the teenage Aysa,
Zeliha’s daughter and the bastard in the title, to grow up and
recognize that this nurturing female environment is also "a
nuthouse."

The Kazanci men, meanwhile, are cursed. They either die young or
disappear in order to avoid dying young, as Mustafa, the brother in
the family, has done.

Mustafa is enduring a lonely bachelorhood in the United States when
he meets a divorcee named Rose who marries him, primarily because
he’s Turkish and her ex-husband was Armenian. This is her revenge on
her meddling former in-laws, who disapprove of Turks even more than
they do of her.

One of the points Shafak makes most effectively in The Bastard of
Istanbul, her sixth novel and her second written in English, is that
despite the animosity between Turks and Armenians, the two groups are
more alike than they will admit. This is a premise dramatized when
Armanoush, Rose’s Armenian-American daughter and Mustafa’s
step-daughter, travels to Istanbul to stay with the Kazanci women and
explore her roots.

Aysa and Armanoush are the same age, and after some wariness on both
sides, they become friends. Armanoush’s obsession with the past and
Aysa’s detachment from it connects them and connects Shafak’s
conflicting themes of memory and forgetfulness.

A touching moment in the novel comes when Aysa is introduced, online,
to the members of an Armenian chat group. Aysa is shocked, at first,
by the anger directed at her for being a Turk.

But she also surprises her correspondents by being honest with
herself and them. "If I had a chance to know more about my past, even
if it were sad, would I choose to know it or not?" Aysa asks, adding:
"Tell me, what can I as an ordinary Turk in this day and age do to
ease your pain?"

But simple, poignant moments like this get lost as the story becomes
increasingly cluttered with out-of-the-blue plot twists. For
instance, there’s no warning early on of the pivotal role Mustafa
will play. Flashbacks to the events of 1915, though eloquently
written, also feel forced – more like an obligation than a seamless
part of the narrative.

The Bastard of Istanbul, like the city it so lovingly and candidly
describes, is a hodgepodge of old and new, hope and despair and,
appropriately, delights and misfires. Shafak ends up packing the
novel with more than she probably needs to, but, given Istanbul’s
rich, complicated and often overlooked history, it’s hard to blame
her.

Joel Yanofsky is a Montreal writer.

– – –

The Bastard of Istanbul
By Elif Shafak
Viking, 360 pages, $31
From: Baghdasarian

United Press International
April 7 2007

Security tight for ‘Holy Fire’ ceremony

JERUSALEM, April 7 (UPI) — Heavy security and a ban on cars were the
order of the day Saturday in the Old City of Jerusalem ahead of the
annual "Holy Fire" ceremony.

Thousands of police, assisted by volunteers, were to limit entry to
pilgrims and pedestrians with permits, the Haaretz news agency said.

Orthodox Christians have been marking the "Holy Fire" ceremony at the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre as far back as 1106. It involves the
church’s Greek patriarch praying alone in the tomb of Jesus while the
congregation outside chants. The patriarch emerges with an olive oil
lamp he uses to light candles to be given to the faithful.

The patriarch is examined by Israeli authorities before entering the
tomb to prove he has no means of lighting the lamp. Greek and
Armenian Orthodox officials have argued in recent years over whether
or not Armenian priests can enter the tomb with the Greek patriarch
to observe.

The ceremony is broadcast annually in Greece, Russia and throughout
the Orthodox world.