Month: August 2008

AZERBAIJAN RETURNS FOUR ARMENIAN CAPTIVES: ARMENIAN MEDIA

Trend News Agency
Aug 4 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan returned four Armenian captives to Armenia on 4 August,
ArmInfo reported.

The transfer procedures took place in the Nakhchivan direction of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani border at 12.20PM on 4 August. The transfer
took place as result of the talks of the sides.

Armenian citizens, including Vanik Zmboyan (Gavar), Artem Zograbyan
(Noraduz), Karen Torosyan (Noraduz) and Agasi Yenkoyan (Noraduz)
were caught by Azerbaijan in the early hours of 19 April.

At present the relevant statement is prepared for the media at the
Defense Ministry, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend News. The
Defense Ministry has not revealed details, yet.

The International Committee of the Red Cross did not participate in
the Armenians’ transfer process, because Azerbaijan and Armenia did
not appeal with the request of mediation and held operation themselves.

EMPTY CHURCHES OPEN DOORS TO RENOVATION AND CONDO DEVELOPMENT
By Kathy McCabe

Tuscaloosa News
WS/239087545/0/NIE&title=Empty_churches_open_d oors_to_renovation_and_condo_development
Aug 4 2008
AL

When developer Tony Pace had the chance to turn the 100-year-old former
Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Ipswich, Mass., into a luxury condo,
he sought the blessing of a parish priest.

‘I needed to be sure it was OK,’ said Pace, 45, who was raised
Catholic in Medford. ‘He told me that if I treated it with respect,
there was nothing wrong with it.’

Guilt about turning a house of worship into a high-end home isn’t
limited to crib Catholics.

Karnig Ostayan asked his Armenian pastor to bless the former
St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Church in Watertown, before turning
the church and rectory into 11 upscale condos.

‘I want to sleep at night,’ joked Ostayan, who attends St. James
Armenian Apostolic Church across Mt. Auburn Street. ‘Seriously,
I know how much this church meant to people.’

Many a neighborhood church has gone condo. The Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Boston shuttered 65 parishes since instituting a
sweeping parish consolidation in 2004. At least 30 properties have
since been sold, many to developers eager to turn an old church into
trendy housing, even in a declining real estate market.

Catholic canon law requires that a church be stripped of religious
items, including altars, statues, and crucifixes, before it is
sold. Most are passed on to another parish looking for a new Blessed
Mother statue or stained-glass windows.

‘Our policy is to leave nothing of religious significance behind,’
said Kathleen Heck, who oversees the transition of parishes for
the archdiocese.

And once all the saints have found new homes, what happens to the
building?

‘It’s available for secular use,’ said Brother James Peterson, head
of canonical affairs at the archdiocese.

When selling a church, the archdiocese issues a request for
proposals. The goal is to select a buyer whose plan is consistent
with church teachings and social mission. The archdiocese pulled out
from a deal to turn a Quincy church into a clinic that would have
provided counseling on abortion. The former Blessed Sacrament Church
in Jamaica Plain is being turned into a mix of upscale, market-rate,
and affordable condominiums. The final call on any property sale lies
with Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley.

‘In general, the cardinal likes to hear about things that are here
to help people,’ Peterson said.

Even if that includes luxury condos, some priced at over $1 million.

‘It is providing someone with housing,’ said Peterson.

Once a property is sold, unless a deed restriction is added, a
developer may lay out the new digs to fit their development goals.

In Ipswich, for example, Sacred Heart was divided to make room
for two 5,000-square-foot condos. The back unit, where the altar
and sacristy once stood, was gutted to make room for a mahogany
staircase. A side altar was turned into a kitchen, with a special wine
refrigerator. ‘This was a 100-year-old church with a lot of space,’
said Mike Girouard, a Burlington developer who built the back unit. ‘We
needed to define the space.’

Both developments have a similar ring. In Ipswich, the former Sacred
Heart has been renamed Bell Manor, and the original 1911 bell is
illuminated within the short steeple atop the church. In Watertown,
Bell Tower Place is the name given to the nine condos built in the
church, and to two more in the former rectory.

And one of the Watertown condos — going for $880,000 — includes
the church’s stone bell tower, which has been refurbished with stairs
and landings. The fourth floor has a wet bar, and the fifth commands
views of Cambridge and Watertown.

‘We’re trying to make this feel like a home,’ said Dani Chedid ,
a partner with Ostayan at Phoenix Construction Group Inc. of Watertown.

Converting an old church into condos is neither quick nor easy: zoning,
unique architecture, old wiring, plumbing, and other utilities that
must be brought up to modern code.

‘This is the first church we’ve done, and hopefully the last,’
Ostayan said. ‘There is a lot of space in a church. We worked a lot
on historic restoration.’ Said Girouard, ‘It was a big scope project.’

Some challenges: How to deal with cathedral-like ceilings more than
25 feet high? Where do you carve out space for the living rooms,
bedrooms? Arched windows, and the original floors, must blend into
the design.

Lighting must also be redone. ‘You don’t light up a home, the way you
do a church,’ said Pace as he demonstrated the soft, tract lighting
installed at Bell Manor.

Along with the original church bells, each developer kept other
touches of the churches. At Bell Manor, the corbels on the columns
between the palladium windows have been touched up with a hint of
gold paint. At Bell Tower, the walls in some units still have the
indentations where the Stations of the Cross were once mounted.

The old touches of church stand in marked contrast to the wet bars,
wine cellars, granite counters, crystal door knobs, and other
amenities. ‘We didn’t skimp,’ said Girouard, opening the door of a
small wine refrigerator.

Phoenix Construction worked with Watertown officials to create special
zoning to redevelop St. Theresa, built in 1927. The Victorian-style
rectory next door was converted into two units. The developers also
restored the slate-and-granite exterior of the Gothic style church,
which closed in 1999.

‘It’s very unique,’ said Chedid, a Lebanese Catholic who attends
church in Jamaica Plain. ‘We wanted to keep as much of the original
look as possible.’

Pace took a similar approach to the former Sacred Heart, built
by Polish immigrants in 1908. He kept the stucco exterior and the
original, two-inch-thick oak doors. Owner of Pace Properties, he was
the second developer to own Sacred Heart, which closed in 1997.

He had redeveloped a shoe factory in Lynn and a nursing home in Malden
into trendy condos. But a church just never spoke to him.

‘I said, ‘No way. I’ll never do a church.’ ‘

Assured by a priest he would not risk God’s wrath, Pace changed his
mind. He agreed to develop one of two units at Bell Manor, leaving
the second for Girouard. The matching condos are on the market for
just under $700,000.

‘God knows,’ Pace said, smiling, ‘We’ve tried to do everything right.’

EU REFORMS ARE THE BEST REMEDY FOR POST-CASE ERA

Turkish Daily News
Aug 4 2008

President Abdullah Gul urged the ruling Justice and Development Party,
or AKP, to revive the reform process aimed at aligning the country
with the democratic norms of the European Union, days after the party
narrowly escaped closure by the top court.

"Integration with the EU is state policy and a strategic decision. But
it cannot run at an idle speed. [The process] should be hastened,"
Gul said in an interview with Hasan Cemal, a columnist from daily
Milliyet, over the weekend.

Turkey wasted nearly two years with domestic political turmoil, which
caused a dramatic slowdown in full membership negotiations with the EU.

"We should take on the EU target with determination. The reform
process cannot be in tatters. There is a need to focus Turkey on
the EU target and put it in a comprehensive reform process. A reform
campaign should be launched," Gul told Milliyet.

A former AKP foreign minister, Gul underlined the need for the
contribution of all political parties, nongovernmental organizations
and other important actors of society. "Everybody mentions the same
things, like democracy, the rule of law and freedoms. But when it
comes to meeting the EU criteria and their implementation, some of
them wriggle out … That’s why a whole reform campaign is a must,"
he explained.

Initiative in Cyprus talks

On the subject of the Cyprus talks, Gul was clear that the government
should continue to take the lead in encouraging Turkish and Greek
Cypriots to reach a compromise for a lasting and fair solution. "We
should avoid accumulating problems. We will surely not sacrifice our
interests, but instead of defending the status quo, the right thing to
do is to take initiatives for a settlement just as in 2004," he said.

Cyprus is one of the most important problems Turkey faces on its way
to the EU. Eight negotiation chapters out of 35 were suspended by
the EU Commission in 2006 when Turkey refused to open its ports and
airports to Greek Cypriot ships and aircraft.

A new peace process was launched between the parties in late July,
and direct talks will be resumed Sept. 5.

Gul going to Yerevan?

Speaking on another foreign policy dossier, which includes a potential
landmark visit by the president to Yerevan for a national football
match between Turkey and Armenia, Gul did not disclose his decision
whether to go to the neighboring country.

"We are evaluating this," Gul said, in a separate interview with daily
Sabah over the weekend. "We have no feelings of hostility toward
Armenia … but the problems cannot be settled just by Turkey’s
efforts. They also have responsibilities," Gul said.

According to the president, a peaceful solution to the problem requires
an overall recognition of the territorial integrity of each country
in the region, alluding to Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijan’s
territories since the mid-90s.

Time to engage in self-criticism

In his interview with daily Milliyet, the president also touched
on the recent ruling of the top court on the closure case and gave
recommendations to all political actors.

"Everybody, all of us, needs to engage in self-criticism and show
empathy to others … The country is tired," Gul underlined. But
"while cooling down, we must not forget that there are fences to be
mended," he added. Gul, a former AKP member who is now neutral by law,
said Turkey’s secular democratic system was deep-rooted but called
for more efforts to heal political divisions. "No one must interfere
in the lifestyle of others … We can eradicate the existing concerns
together," he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN DEPARTMENT TO OPEN AT TURKISH UNIVERSITY

Trend News Agency
Aug 4 2008
Azerbaijan

Turkey, Ankara, 4 August / corr. Trend News A.Alasgarov / The Turkish
High Certifying Commission granted permission to the university of
Nevshehir city to open the Armenian Language and Literature Department
after coordinating it with the Turkish Foreign Ministry. The permission
was granted at the appeal by professor Metin Hulagu, the dean of
the Literature faculty of this university, Habertimi information
agency reported.

According to the professor, the establishment of this department
will enable to improve bilateral relations and to cover the country’s
demand in relevant specialists. Taking into consideration the lack of
teachers, the Nevshehir University has appealed for assistance to II
Mesrob, the ecclesiastical head of the Armenian community in Turkey. He
did not exclude the possibility to invite teachers form Armenia.

Earlier, professor Metin Hulagu, visited Armenia, where he established
relations with teachers of the Yerevan University. Admittance of
students to the Armenian Language and Literature Department of the
Nevshehir University will begin in 2009 school-year. At present the
Armenian language is taught in the Bogazichi Istanbul University.

Nevshehir city is located in the central Turkey, where the world-known
Kappadokiya tourist centre is situated. The university in Nevhshehir
city was established on 17 May 2007.

AZERBAIJAN MAY TAKE OTHER WAYS TO LIBERATE ITS OCCUPIED TERRITORY: MINISTER

Trend News Agency
Aug 4 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 August /Тrend News, J.Babayeva/ Azerbaijan’s
Defence Minister Safar Abiyev said should Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
not be settled peacefully, Azerbaijan may take other ways to liberate
its occupied territory. "Azerbaijan will not stand the Armenian
occupation any more," Abiyev said on 4 August, receiving Pakistan’s
newly appointed Ambassador to Azerbaijan Abdul Hamid.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojali, in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and
Nagorno-Karabakh’s seven surrounding regions. In 1994, Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active
hostilities ended. The countries keep on peace negotiating.

OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by USA, Russia, France is engaged in
peace settling of the conflict.

Hamid said Pakistan is one of the countries which were the first to
recognize the independent statehood of Azerbaijan. "Nagorno-Karabakh
is an integral part of Azerbaijan," said Ambassador.

–Boundary_(ID_qVSYZLJAI65/ptk6Gh5cog )–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIA KNOCKED OUT TO LOSE LAST TITLE

Kommersant
Aug 4 2008
Russia

Russia lost the last title in professional boxing yesterday. IBF
bantamweight defending champion Dmitry Kirillov lost to Vic Darchinyan,
the Armenian famous boxer standing for Australia. Darchinyan knocked
out Kirillov in the fifth round to claim the title.

The bout of Dmitry Kirillov in Tacoma, Washington, continued the
losing series of Russia’s boxers in 2008. We had had three belts early
this year, but WBO heavyweight Sultan Ibragimov lost to Ukrainian
Wladimir Klitschko February 23 and WBC king Oleg Maskaev was defeated
by Nigerian Samuel Peter March 8.

In the interval between those two fights, bantamweight Dmitry Kirillov
defended the title in the draw bout vs Cecilio Santos, but only to be
dethroned in half a year by the famous puncher. And the yesterday’s
loss of the Russian wasn’t questionable.

Landing one bone-crunching left hand after another, Darchinyan won
the first round and was better at the second one. He accelerated in
the third round, producing the series of dozen of blows, half of them
reaching the aim. The left-handed challenger was faster than the champ,
always taking the most advantageous position.

The fourth round created an illusion that Kirillov would finally
recover, but it was just a break for Darchinyan. In the fifth round,
the referee recorded the first knockout in Kirillov’s career. At the
same time, he recorded the loss of Russia’s last title in professional
boxing.
From: Baghdasarian

IRON AGAINST GRANITE
By Paul Wood

Barre Montpelier Times Argus
Aug 4 2008
VT

Blacksmiths were essential in conquering the hard stone

This is the latest in a series of monthly articles on the history
of Vermont’s granite industry provided by the Vermont Granite Museum
of Barre.

The Vermont Granite Museum is installing a working blacksmith shop
in its historic Jones Brothers granite shed. The shop will include
a spectrum of blacksmithing tools and machinery, including forges,
tongs to hold granite-working tools, anvils, hammers, quenching tubs,
hardy blocks, trip hammers, grinders, tool racks, and work benches.

The tools and machinery have been donated by Norm Akley and Lauren
LaMorte of the Trow & Holden Co. The shop will be manned by experienced
blacksmiths, who will hold blacksmithing workshops as part of the
Stone Arts School curriculum. Local blacksmiths Jim Fecteau and
Richard Spreda have helped in the planning for both the blacksmith
shop and Stone Arts School workshops.

The use of iron and steel in quarrying, moving and finishing of granite
is almost endless. It is fair to say that without iron and steel,
granite would never have developed into a major industry. By the
early-20th century, granite manufacturers and tool-making companies
in Barre were employing hundreds of blacksmiths and machinists. As
the cost of iron decreased and stronger steels became available, more
of the wooden components of machinery used in the granite industry
were replaced by iron and steel until most machines were devoid of
wooden parts.

Granite manufacture involves the use of iron or steel tools directly
impacting, crushing or abrading the granite. Quarrying depends on
deep hole quarry drills and bits, jackhammers, plug drills, wedges
and shims, boom derricks and hoists, air compressors and compressed
air pipes, chains, cables and hooks. Finishing employs hand hammers
and chisels, gang, circular, tubular and wire saws, surfacing and
polishing machines and lathes.

The power sources that operated this machinery – water turbines,
steam engines, electric generators, electric motors, shafts, pulleys,
and gears – primarily were constructed from iron and steel. In the
late-1800s, iron and steel replaced sand as the primary abrasive used
in granite finishing, including cast, chilled and broken iron shot,
and chilled and broken steel shot. Iron and steel also made possible
the granite-clad building that, in addition to the iron and steel
supporting framework, required iron anchors, clamps and pins to
hold the granite ashlars of the curtain wall to each other and to
the backing brick masonry. Finally, the primary movers of granite –
derricks, cableways, overhead cranes, locomotives, flatcars, and
gondola cars – all have a high content of iron and steel.

Early Egyptians, circa 3300 to 1200 BC, used copper saws and drills
with dry sand abrasive to cut and shape granite sarcophagi and blocks
for pyramids. This relatively soft metal wore out rapidly and required
frequent replacement. Iron was rarely found pure and almost always
was in combination with oxygen and, since the separation of iron
from its ore required smelting at a high temperature, this first
common man’s metal did not become available until much later than
copper. While the smelting of iron appeared early in Africa, China,
and India, knowledge of this process probably came to ancient Greece
from the Armenians and Chalybes of Asia Minor. By 1200 to 600 BC,
the Greeks were using hard iron axes, chisels, drills and saws for
quarrying and working stone. Not only did iron wear longer, it was
much less expensive than copper. Some of the iron tools used to work
stone for the classic Greek and Roman buildings and statuary still
are in use in today’s granite industry, with only minor modifications.

Many American granite-working machines had European and slate and
marble industry antecedents. The Aberdeen region of Scotland is
credited with originating the overhead traveling crane, the cableway
(Blondin) and the stone-cutting lathes that were introduced into and
improved by the American granite industry. Later, America reciprocated
by sending to Scotland the pneumatic carving tool and the "Jenny
Lind" polishing machine. Machinery that had earlier been designed by
such companies as F.R. Patch Co. and the Lincoln Iron Works, both of
Rutland, for slate and marble were redesigned into heavier and more
robust machines for the harder and more difficult to work granite.

The early village blacksmith worked in an agricultural community and
supplied local farmers with horse and ox shoes, with farming tools
such as axes, hoes, and plows, and with building materials, such as
nails, hinges and latches.

As the rapid growth of the Barre granite industry began in the 1880s,
some blacksmiths recognized the business potential and started to
make granite-working tools. For example, in 1885, blacksmith James
Ahern began the manufacture of tools in a shop on Granite Street that
evolved into Granite City Tool Co., Barre’s longest-operating granite
tool supplier. Ahern was the first Barre manufacturer of granite
cutting tools, and produced the first complete line of tools that,
by the 1910s, included striking hammers, bull sets, surface points,
surface bush hammers, bush chisels, hand points, hand chisels, hand
sets, hand chippers, bush hammers, scotia hammers, hand hammers, paving
cutter’s hammers, drills, tracers, and wedges and shims. James Ahern
claimed his tools were "tempered by a secret process in use 25 years."

During the late-1880s and early-1890s, five additional businesses were
established in Barre for the manufacture of granite working tools
– Hobbs & McDonald (1887), Ranney & Vaughn (1890), Brown & Kennedy
(1891), Marr & Thompson (1893) and McKenzie & Charles (1895). All were
short-lived, except for Hobbs & McDonald (renamed Barre Granite Tool
Works) that was purchased in 1891 by Clark Holden and John Trow. They
renamed the company Trow & Holden Co. and moved the operation into the
Stafford, Holden Manufacturing Co. plant on South Main Street. Some of
the machinery that had previously been used to manufacture hay forks
and manure forks was now used to manufacture granite-working tools.

Twenty-one-year-old Joshua Thwing purchased a flour mill in North
Barre in 1805 and added a machine shop and Vermont’s first foundry. The
Thwing Iron Works was enlarged in 1833 and finally sold to J.M. Smith,
W.E. Whitcomb and B.B. Cook in 1868. In the 1870s, Smith, Whitcomb &
Cook Co. started casting derrick irons for the Barre boom derrick
and manufacturing Barre’s first granite polishing machine. Smith,
Whitcomb & Cook later evolved into a manufacturer of a broad range of
granite-working machinery including Carborundum grinders, surfacing
machines and wire saws.

Finally, in the 1950s, the company was owned by a consortium of Barre
granite manufacturers. Vermont had a number of other foundries that
manufactured granite working and handling machinery. Some of the
other major Vermont foundries (with the most notable granite product
listed) were Lane Manufacturing Co. of Montpelier (overhead cranes),
Grearson-Lane Co. of Barre (lathes), Patch-Wegner Co. of Rutland
(polishing machines), Cooley-Wright Co. of Montpelier (polishing
machines), Lincoln Iron Works of Rutland (gang saws), and O.V. Hooker &
Sons of St. Johnsbury (derrick irons).

Jones Brothers had complete facilities for sharpening, tempering and
repairing iron and steel tools and for the design, manufacture and
repair of all but the most complex machinery. A sharpening room alcove,
attached to Shed No. 1 near a majority of the stonecutters, housed
six flat belt-driven five-foot diameter grinding wheels. Stonecutter
chisels and surfacer bush chisel cuts were sharpened on these wheels
under a constant flow of water by three grinder operators. (This alcove
was the site of the Jones Brothers’ blacksmith shop, circa 1900-1920,
and will be the location of the new operating blacksmith mentioned
earlier.) Tool boys shuttled the dulled tools to the sharpening room
and the sharpened tools back to the stonecutters. Jones Brothers also
owned a sharpening machine, manufactured by the Pirie Tool Sharpening
Machine Co. of Montpelier that was housed in Shed No. 3. This
specialized machine, designed by Willis A. Lane of Barre, sharpened
the 8-inch to 18-inch diameter cutting discs for the cutting lathes
and the McDonald mechanical surfacers. After sharpening on the Pirie
machine, the discs needed to be tempered and hardened by a blacksmith
at a forge and quenching tub. This involved heating the discs until
overall white, thereby producing a hard long-lasting cutting edge.

A freestanding Jones Brothers blacksmith shop, built around 1920
north of Shed No. 1, had two forges and anvils with an adjacent
brine tempering pit, pneumatic and belt-driven trip hammers, and an
oil-and-water tempering machine designed by Barre mechanic, Willis
A. Lane.

There were two blacksmiths – one specialized in sharpening, tempering
and repairing hand tools and the other specialized in sharpening
surfacing machine tooth chisels. (Before the era of the powered
grinding wheel for sharpening, stonecutter contracts called for
one blacksmith for every 10 to 15 stonecutters.) The blacksmith
shop could, when necessary, design and fabricate new tools. Jones
Brothers also had a fully equipped machine shop, staffed by two
full-time machinists, with a large lathe, two medium-size lathes,
a small fine work lathe, large and small belt-driven drill presses,
floor and hand-held grinders, welding tools, a steel-top welding
bench, wooden workbenches, and pigeonhole storage bins. The machine
shop could fabricate replacement parts for any of Jones Brothers’
granite-working machinery and pneumatic tools, and often designed and
built specialized custom machines such as suspended polishing machines,
diamond circular saws and machinery to manufacture chocolate rolls.

The Vermont Granite Museum is planning to move the historic
Anderson-Friberg Co. blacksmith shop from Willey Street to the
old Jones Brothers’ blacksmith shop building located south of Shed
No. 1. This second blacksmith shop will recreate an authentic granite
company shop of the early-1900s and will be for display only.

The AFCO shop is the gift of Bob Pope and the Swenson Granite Co. The
shop interior is unchanged from the 1950s, when it went into disuse,
probably due to the introduction of carbide-tip tools which require
only infrequent sharpening.

The shop includes a two-hearth brick forge with electric motor-driven
blower, two anvils, tool rack, quenching tub, post drill, heating
stove, tool crib and coal bin. A belt-driven trip hammer, grinder and
power hacksaw are powered by a single ceiling-mounted electric motor
through overhead shafting and pulleys. The blacksmith’s shirt stills
hangs on a wall hook and his safety glasses lay on a work bench –
as if he had just stepped out of the shop.

HUNDREDS FOLLOW THEIR NOSES TO ARMENIAN PICNIC
Tom Caprood

Troy Record
Aug 4 2008
NY

TROY – More than 400 hungry community members turned out at the
Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church Sunday for an annual picnic and
blessing of the grapes ceremony.

Families from the community, of both Armenian and non-Armenian descent,
lined up through out the afternoon inside the Spring Avenue church
to get a plate full of the parish’s famous shish kebab dinners, which
people enjoyed out behind the church among friends and parish members,
or picked up in takeout orders to feed their families waiting at home.

Rev. Bedros Shetilian, pastor of the church, who is also the conductor
of the recently formed Troy Orchestra, explained that the picnic was
an annual event the parish held to help bring the local community
together to relax with good food and good music while celebrating an
age old tradition of the Armenian people.

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"It is traditional to bless the grapes as a kind of thanksgiving
for the harvest," said Shetilian. "In old times, when the grape
was seasonal, people waited for this ritual to eat them in order to
promote a successful upcoming harvest in September."

The church’s staff was kept busy throughout the early afternoon,
both inside the kitchen and out on the barbecue grills, as dozens of
community members flocked to event, which was so packed with people
that the church was close to running out of property for visitors to
park on just over one hour into the celebration.

"A lot of people come every year because they like our food and we
enjoy having them," said Shetilian.

The church is also actively preparing for its upcoming 50th
anniversary, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the church’s
national congregation establishing itself in the United States.

Founded in 1958, the Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church started out
by renting a Lutheran church in North Troy before purchasing a former
Presbyterian church on Pawling Avenue, which was later damaged by a
fire in 1975.

The current church, which is located at 101 Spring Ave., was built
in 1976.

According to Shetilian, Armenians were some of the first people to
adopt Christianity as an organized religion in approximately 301
AD, with cultural traditions, such as the blessing of the grapes,
and some minor theological difference separating them from other
Christian orders.

Shetilian is expected to conduct the next public performance of the
Troy Orchestra on Aug. 16 at Joe Bruno Stadium during a Tri-City
Valleycats baseball game.

ERGENEKON LINKED TO MUMCU MURDER

Today’s Zaman
Aug 5 2008
Turkey

Evidence included in an indictment on Ergenekon, a shady gang with
links to the media, business, military and bureaucracy which is being
accused of having incited a number of political murders and attacks,
suggests that journalist Ugur Mumcu was assassinated in 1993 because
he was trying to find out what happened to 100,000 firearms that
disappeared from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).

Cumhuriyet daily columnist Mumcu, a leading figure in investigative
journalism, was killed by a remote-controlled bomb placed under his
car on Jan. 24, 1993. He was long believed to have been assassinated
by Islamic extremists. Documents seized from Ergenekon suspect Veli
Kucuk’s house that were included in the evidence section of the
Ergenekon indictment explain in detail that Mumcu was killed while
he was investigating how 100,000 firearms ended up in the hands of
men under Jalal Talabani, one of the Kurdish leaders of northern
Iraq. EÅ~_ref Bitlis, a senior general who was investigating the
same issue, died in a plane accident 25 days after Mumcu. Experts’
reports on the accident indicated that the incident was most likely
caused by sabotage.

The report found in the house of Kucuk — a retired general who
is one of the prime suspects and possibly one of the leaders of
the Ergenekon organization – is now part of the nearly 2,500-page
Ergenekon indictment. Kucuk’s document reads: "In January of 1991, an
interesting message was delivered from the [state weapons manufacturer]
Turkish Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation [MKEK] demanding
that the serial numbers of 100,000 firearms be erased in an operation
that would be conducted ‘very secretly.’ After the operation, which
lasted four nights, a senior ranking official who said, ‘I am a JÄ°TEM
[a shady gendarmerie intelligence unit whose existence is denied by
officials] commander,’ received the guns from me. One day before the
guns were brought to the Iraqi border on Jan. 15, 1991, forces under
the command of gendarmerie Col. CoÅ~_kun Kıvrak brought under siege
nearly 700 Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK] supporters.

However, an order from Ankara at this point demanded the soldiers
be pulled back. The reason for this was the risk that an armed clash
could attract attention to the arms delivery. When Col. Kıvrak and
some other soldiers reviewed the order, which was also sent to MKEK
officials, they were shocked. In a later period, one of the soldiers
there that day photocopied the file and sent it to journalist Mumcu."

Mumcu’s fatal mistake

In the same document, a chapter with the title "Ugur Mumcu’s Mistake"
has a record of a number of phone calls Mumcu made to confirm the
validity of the document that had been sent to him. When the person
who sent the file to Mumcu found out about the phone calls he made,
he called him, saying: "The end of this is very shady. Do you want to
die?" and demanded that he forget about the file. On Jan. 23, Kıvrak
spent an entire day trying to get in contact with Mumcu. However,
he gave up after several attempts. He left a note with Mumcu’s
secretary, which said: "It is a matter of life and death. You have to
see me." Mumcu never had the chance to see Kıvrak as he was killed the
next day by the car bomb planted under his automobile. His death came
exactly two years after the "very secret" message sent to the MKEK.

Gen. EÅ~_ref Bitlis was killed in connection with the same firearms,
the document suggests. In addition to Bitlis, gendarmerie Maj. Cem
Ersever was also allegedly killed for knowing about Ergenekon’s gun
sales to armed Kurdish groups.

—————————————– —————————————
Too many irregularities in records of Ergenekon-linked associations

Associations chaired by individuals detained during the Ergenekon
investigation have been inspected by auditors from the Interior
Ministry upon a request from Prosecutor Zekeriya Oz.

In most of the investigations, associations hid necessary documents
from inspectors, saying the documents were seized during the Ergenekon
operation and that inspectors should request them from the prosecutor’s
office. However, further investigations revealed that the police have
not seized any documents that might be of interest to state auditors
and that the administrators have been trying to hide the documents
from auditors by making false statements. The audit reports on these
associations have been included in the indictment. These associations
include the Ayasofya Association, headed by Ergenekon suspect Sevgi
Erenerol; the Grand Attorneys Association, chaired by Ergenekon
suspect Kemal Kerincsiz; the Nationalist Forces Association and the
Nationalist Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (USÄ°AD).

Grand Attorneys Association Deputy Chairman Mehmet Demirlek did not
share any of his organization’s records with the auditors, citing as
an excuse their chairman being in jail since January of this year. He
said a large number of documents have been seized during the detention
of Kerincsiz. However, a query from the Interior Ministry at the
prosecutor’s office showed that none of the documents the auditors
wanted to see were seized during the investigation.

Irregularities revealed during the investigation include necessary
stamps lacking on the organizations’ records, the first general
assembly meeting of the association was not done in full compliance
with legal procedures, people who are not members were elected to the
association’s branches, and the year-end financial statement includes
false figures. Similar problems were found with the Kuvvacılar
Association, the Grand Force Union Association, the Private Security
Sector Businessmen’s Union Association, the New National Forces
Movement Association, the Association of National Forces Warriors
and the New Protection of Rights Association.

———————————— ——————————————–
Backg round: The Ergenekon indictment in a nutshell

The indictment made public last month claims the Ergenekon network is
behind a series of earth-shattering political assassinations over the
past two decades. The victims include a secularist journalist, Ugur
Mumcu, long believed to have been assassinated by Islamic extremists
in 1993; the head of a business conglomerate, Ozdemir Sabancı, who
was shot dead by militants of the extreme-left Revolutionary People’s
Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) in his high-security office in 1996;
secularist academic Necip Hablemitoglu, who was also believed to have
been killed by Islamic extremists, in 2002; and a 2006 attack on the
Council of State that left a senior judge dead. Alparslan Arslan,
found guilty of the Council of State killing, said he attacked the
court in protest of an anti-headscarf ruling it had made. But the
indictment contains evidence that he was connected with Ergenekon
and that his family received large sums of money from unidentified
sources after the shooting.

The indictment also says Veli Kucuk, believed to be one of the leading
members of the network, had threatened Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian
journalist slain by a teenager in 2007, before his murder — a sign
that Ergenekon could be behind that murder as well.

The Ergenekon indictment accuses a total 86 suspects, 47 of whom
are currently in custody, of links with the gang. Suspects will begin
appearing in court as of Oct. 20 and will face accusations that include
"membership in an armed terrorist group," "attempting to destroy the
government," "inciting people to rebel against the Republic of Turkey"
and other similar crimes.

—————————————– —————————————
Ergenekon evidence supports Ornek’s coup diary claims

A controversial journal allegedly kept by former Adm. Ozden Ornek,
giving a detailed description of a number of generals’ attempts to
stage a coup d’état against the Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) government in 2004, have not made their way into the indictment,
but documents found during raids on the homes and offices of Ergenekon
suspect Muzaffer Tekin, a retired captain, support the allegation
that the generals were indeed seeking to stage a coup.

A file found in Tekin’s archive in which every single word of officers
serving as force commanders at the time has been meticulously noted
includes minutes from a two-day July 2003 meeting of a number of
generals. According to the minutes, the then chief of general staff,
Fleet Commander Ornek and Aegean Army Commander Gen. HurÅ~_it Tolon
(currently in custody as part of an investigation into Ergenekon, a
crime network), the commander of the War Academies and the commanders
of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd armies participated in the meeting. Notes from
the meeting and speeches made by the commanders establish the facts
noted in the journal allegedly belonging to Ozden. The journal was
made public when the March 29, 2007 issue of Nokta magazine published
lengthy excerpts from it, allegedly written by Adm. Ornek. According
to the journal, some former force commanders had planned two separate
coups under in 2003 and 2004.

——————————————- ————————————-
Ergenekon officers promoted

Two officers whose names are included in the indictment of a criminal
network named Ergenekon were promoted during a Supreme Military Council
(YAÅ~^) meeting that concluded yesterday. The National Intelligence
Organization (MÄ°T) prepared a report on Ergenekon in 2002 that
included an organizational chart detailing the hierarchy within
Ergenekon. The report was submitted to the General Staff in July 2003
and then to the Prime Ministry in November 2003. Famous politicians
and journalists as well some members of the military were included in
the chart, a report released by Taraf daily last month showed. Officers
Ramazan Cem Gurdeniz and Serdar Okan Kırcicek were among the military
members in MÄ°T’s Ergenekon report who were promoted. Others members
of the military mentioned in the report but not promoted include
Bekir Kalyoncu, Deniz Kutluk and Ali Feyyaz Ogutcu.

–Boundary_(ID_agqjBhM2k+00OBU5LVx2fQ)–

IN THE ARMED FORCES: MILITARY-ECONOMIC MANEUVERS
by Vladimir Mukhin

WPS Agency
What the Papers Say (Russia)
August 4, 2008 Monday
Russia

Overview of military exercises held in Russia last week; Large-scale
exercises were under way all last week in southern and eastern Russia,
involving over 20,000 personnel. The Southern federal district hosted
the Caucasus 2008 military exercises. The Siberian military district
hosted East 2008: a strategic command-staff exercise.

Large-scale exercises were under way all last week in southern and
eastern Russia. Over 20,000 personnel and 1,500 pieces of military
hardware participated in the maneuvers. Such events have been held
regularly in the Russian Federation in recent years. But this year,
judging by the tasks performed, their goals seemed more pragmatic –
closer to the real situation.

The Southern federal district hosted the Caucasus 2008 military
exercises. The Siberian military district hosted East 2008: a strategic
command-staff exercise for management of groups of troops (forces)
in Eastern Russia. In Moscow, the headquarters of the CIS Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was used from July 30 to August 1
as the base for the second (theoretical) stage of a joint command-staff
exercise, Border 2008, in which questions of applying CSTO troops
to repel aggression against Armenia were worked out using maps (the
field stage of this exercise will be held in Armenia, August 18-22).

To all appearances, the scenario for the exercises in the Caucasus
is related to the actual situation in Georgia, which is making
preparations to use force to resolve the conflicts in South Ossetia
and Abkhazia, where most residents are Russian citizens and our
peacekeepers are present. In the event of an emergency situation, they
would be assisted by troops from the North Caucasus military district.

The maneuvers in Siberia were of a military-economic nature, rather
than purely military. Under the command of Army General Nikolai
Makarov, Chief of the General Staff, they studied and drilled
"a broad range of potential appropriate measures to ensure the
security of hydrocarbon transport across the territory of the Eastern
region." They also worked on training tasks aimed at "neutralizing
the consequences of environmental and industrial disasters, as well
as preventing terrorist attacks on civilian shipping and important
Armed Forces facilities."

Meanwhile, the officers gathered in Moscow were working hard on
exercise objectives in the event of a military conflict breaking out on
the borders of Armenia. This is a relevant topic, since in this region
there is some probability of hostilities aimed against Russia’s chief
ally in the Caucasus. There seem to be some problems with working out
military training objectives here. Exactly who should be viewed as
the aggressor for the purpose of these exercises: Azerbaijan, Turkey,
or someone else? Georgia’s relations with Russia are strained at
present; will Georgia permit transit of troops and forces traveling
from Russia and other CSTO countries to Armenia for the exercises?

Russia has been building up the strength of its armed units
stationed in the North and South Caucasus. Peacekeeping forces in the
unrecognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia have been reinforced. the 102nd
military base in Armenia has received substantial quantities of weapons
and ammunition, transferred there after the withdrawal of Russian
bases from Georgia. However, these forces aren’t providing complete
stability in the region. Terrorist attacks continue in Dagestan,
Chechnya, and Ingushetia (that is, in the very same republics where
exercises are being held); guerrillas have become more active. In
Georgia and Azerbaijan (concerning Nagorno-Karabakh), the likelihood
of large-scale hostilities has increased.