Month: April 2007

Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia)
March 31, 2007 Saturday
Final Edition

Turkey reopens abandoned medieval Armenian church

Mark Bentley, Bloomberg News

ISTANBUL — Turkey opened a medieval church this week abandoned since
the slaughter of the country’s Armenian community almost a century
ago, a move that may help smooth relations with the U.S. and the
European Union.

The inauguration ceremony marked the completion of the Turkish
government-funded $1.9 million US renovation of the church on Akdamar
Island. The project may ease tensions following the January murder of
Hrant Dink, the most prominent member of the Turkish Armenian
community. The assassination by a suspected nationalist sparked
concern in Europe that Turkey wasn’t doing enough to protect its
Armenian minority.

The EU is pushing Turkey to expand religious freedoms for non-Muslims
as the country presses to become the only predominantly Muslim member
of the European Union. Turkey is also fighting against a proposed
resolution in the U.S. recognizing the massacres as a genocide.

"Every step that Turkey takes to look conciliatory and constructive
on the issue of Armenia and others will help the government in the
eyes of Europe’s politicians," said Katinka Barysch, an analyst at
the Centre for European Reform in London. "People in Europe and
elsewhere are concerned that Turkey looks quite hardline."

Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Armenia and the border
between the two countries has been shut since 1993. Gagik Guyurjian,
Armenia’s deputy culture minister, travelled to Turkey through
Georgia to attend the ceremony.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Patriarch Mesrob II, leader of
Turkey’s 60,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, proposed an annual
pilgrimage to the church, which "perhaps could pave the way for the
longed-for dialogue in which both sides have been unsuccessful to
date."

Koc spoke of the need for Turkey to "protect the cultural diversity
and assets of the different cultures and civilizations in our lands"
without directly mentioning Armenia or Armenians. He referred to the
church, adorned with Turkish flags and a poster of Turkey’s founder,
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, as the Van Akdamar Church Memorial Museum. No
Armenian flags were present.

The 300-seat Church of the Holy Cross, located on a small island in
the middle of Lake Van in eastern Turkey, is in many ways a symbol of
the country’s Armenian community.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
March 29, 2007 Thursday 10:32 AM EST

Turkey marks restoration of Armenian church

DPA CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT Turkey Religion Armenians Turkey marks
restoration of Armenian church Ankara
A ceremony was held in eastern Turkey on Thursday
to mark the restoration of an Armenian church in a move by Ankara to
improve ties with its neighbour Armenia and its own Armenian
minority.

Among those in attendance at the opening of the Akdamar church on
an island in Lake Van were Patriarch Mesrob II, head of the Armenian
Orthodox minority in Turkey, Armenian Deputy Culture Minister Gagik
Gyurjyan and Turkish Culture Minister Atilla Koc.

Restoration of the 1,000-year-old church, which will now open as a
museum, took two years.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mesrob said he hoped that the
Armenian community would be able to use the museum as a place of
prayer during a once-a-year festival.

Despite having no diplomatic ties with Armenia and with the two
countries still arguing over events during the First World War when
hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed by Ottoman forces in
what Armenia describes as a genocide, Turkish officials decided to
invite Armenian government ministers to the opening as a goodwill
gesture.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
March 29 2007

Restored ancient Armenian church opened in eastern Turkey

Van/Akdamar, 29 March: Akdamar Church monumental museum that is
restored by Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry was inaugurated with
a ceremony in the eastern city of Van on Thursday [29 March].

Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Atilla Koc, the Armenian deputy
minister of culture, Gagik Gyurdzhyan, the mufti of Van province,
Osman Artan, and the patriarch of Turkish Armenians, Mesrob II, were
among the state officials and foreign guests who participated the
inauguration ceremony.

The director-general of cultural properties and museums, Orhan
Duzgun, informed the participants about the restoration works carried
out in the 10th century Armenian church – now a monumental museum.

Mesrob II, who delivered a speech at the opening ceremony, said the
church building is a very powerful symbol of a culture that has
contributed the Anatolian history for 3,000 years. Mesrob II stated
that this event is considered to be a very positive development in
Turkish-Armenian relations. In his speech, Mesrob II suggested
holding annual religious ceremonies in Akdamar in order to create a
dialogue environment between two societies.

Turkish Minister Atilla Koc opened and toured the museum. Koc
answered questions regarding Mesrob II’s offer about holding
religious ceremonies in the Akdamar Church Monumental Museum, saying
he would communicate the patriarch’s offer to related parties. He
added that his mission, as the culture and tourism minister, is to
restore and prepare such constructs, and continued, "It is the
Ministry of Interior Affairs who will make such a decision."

On the other hand Armenian Deputy Minister Gyurdzhyan said the
restoration works are very well done. He noted that it would be
better for the tourism if the border gates between two countries were
open.

Armenian church

The 10th century Armenian church is located on the small island of
Akdamar, 3 kilometres off coast in Lake Van. Built during the years
915-921 and commissioned by King Gagik I of Vaspurakan Kingdom, the
construct has an interior measuring 14.80 metres by 11.5 metres and
the dome reaching 20.40 metres above ground. The building underwent a
restoration by the Turkish government between May 2005 and October
2006. The restoration works costed 2.6m Turkish liras.

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
March 30, 2007 Friday 04:01 PM EST

There are no reasons to keep Armenia-Turkey border closed – FM

Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian believes that there are no
reasons to keep the Armenian-Turkish border closed.

“An improvement of bilateral relations is possible only if the
border opens,” Oskanian said.

Although they have a common border of 330 kilometers, Armenia and
Turkey still do not have diplomatic relations.

Ankara demands that Yerevan must stop seeking international
recognition of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915
and helping Karabakh in the conflict with Azerbaijan as a term for
the improvement of bilateral relations.

According to international experts, annual Armenia’s damages from the
Turkish blockade are estimated at 500 million U.S. dollars.

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
March 30, 2007 Friday

Russia to pull out military hardware from Akhalkalaki in May

The pullout of military hardware from the Russian base in Akhalkalaki
will resume on April 12 and end in late May, a representative of the
base command told Itar-Tass by phone on Friday.

Six convoys carrying military hardware and property will leave
Akhalkalaki for the Russian base in Gyumri, Armenia, in April-May,
and some military hardware and property will be transported to Russia
by railroad on May 17 and 24.

The pullout schedule has been coordinated with the Georgian Defense
Ministry.

According to the source, Russian servicemen will leave Akhalkalaki
and the base will be transferred to Georgia by July 1. All heavy
machinery and armaments were withdrawn from Georgia to Armenia and
Russia last year.

The pullout of military hardware and property from the Russian base
in Batumi, which started two years ago, will resume within a month
and end next year.

According to the Georgian-Russian agreements, the Batumi base will
close by October 1, 2008.

Anatolia News Agencym Turkey
March 29 2007

Turkish ministry urges US senators to consider facts before adopting
resolution

Ankara, 29 March: "I sincerely hope that the US Senate would not
adopt a bill disregarding the facts on the murder of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink," Turkish MFA [Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
Spokesman Levent Bilman said on Thursday [29 March].

Responding to a question on the matter, Bilman recalled that the
United States Senate committee on foreign relations passed [on]
Wednesday a draft that condemned the killing of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink (in Istanbul on 19 January 2007).

"Although the criminals were arrested almost immediately, such a
resolution was brought to the floor in the US Senate. It is clear
that efforts are under way to exploit this loathsome murder for
political reasons, making references to 1915 incidents. The
government and a large crowd of people attended the funeral of Dink
to condemn the murder," Bilman recalled.

Turkey is closely following the process regarding the resolution.

US Senate committee on foreign relations passed a draft that
condemned the killing of Hrant Dink. The draft also urged Turks to
amend Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code and establish diplomatic,
political and commercial relations with Armenia.

The draft, tabled by Senator Joseph Biden, member of the foreign
relations committee, was sent to Senate general assembly for
approval.

St. Tadevos Temble to be included in UNESCO World Heritage List

ArmRadio.am
02.04.2007 14:10

In 2008 the Armenian St. Tadevos Temble will be included in the UNESCO
World Heritage List.

Iranian media report that the Temple of St. Tadevos is situated in the
northeast of Iran is also famous as a `Black Church.’ According to
the Iranian Minister of Cultural Heritage and Organization of Tourism
Seid Tagha Hashemi, the Iranian side has done everything possible to
provide exhaustive information to UNESCO about the Armenian Church.

The Church was built in memory of Apostle Bartholomew. Every year many
pilgrims attend the Church.

NEW-YORK LOCAL BODY OF "HAYASTAN" ALL-ARMENIAN FUND DONATES TWO-WHEEL
WALKERS TO ARMENIA AND NKR

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The "Hayastan" (Armenia) All-Armenian
Fund New-York local body donated two-wheel walkers for medical
institutions, military hospitals and elderly homes of Armenia and
Nagorno Karabakh. According to the information submitted to Noyan
Tapan by the Public Relations Department of the Fund, the two-wheel
walkers are envisaged for elderly people and those with loco-motor
apparatus problems.

Today, Azerbaijan
April 2 2007

Armenian armed forces violate ceasefire again

02 April 2007 [23:26] – Today.Az

Armenian armed forces violated the ceasefire again.

Armenian armed forces fired on the positions of Azerbaijani Army and
Tapqaraqoyunlu village of Goranboy from occupied Talish village of
Tartar at 20.00 yesterday.

Firstly, the enemy forces fired on the flock of sheep belonging to
Tapqaraqoyunlu residents. 5 sheep were killed. The shepherds hardly
left the place of accident

The Armenian forces fired on the positions of Azerbaijani Army and
Chiragli village by submachine and machine guns from occupied Bash
Garvand village of Aghdam for 15 minutes from 8 a.m today, APA’s
Karabakh bureau reports.

URL:

FIRST VOLUME OF "SELECTED DECISIONS OF RA COURT OF CASSATION"
COLLECTION PUBLISHED

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The presentation of the first volume of
the "Selected Decisions of RA Court of Cassation" collection took
place on April 2. The collection involving 97 decisions made in
September-December, 2006, was published with the USAID financing.

Publication of the collection is attached importance, particularly,
from the viewpoint of introduction of the precedent right in Armenia,
same-type usage of laws. It is envisaged that the next volume will be
published in 3 months. The handbook is not sold, but initiators of
publication of the handbook intend to place the information concerning
the mentioned decisions in the internet.