Author: admin

CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS PRESENTS IOSIF KOBZON WITH ST SAHAK-ST
MESROP ORDER

ECHMIADZIN, December 4 (Noyan Tapan). On December 3, Catholicos of All
Armenians Karekin II received the Russian political and social figure
Iosif Kobzon in the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin and presented him
with the St Sahak – St Mesrop order and the kondak – official epistly
of the Catholicos on conferring this high award of the Armenian
Apostolic Church upon him for his services to Armenia and the Armenian
people. The kondak was published by His Holiness a year ago. “You have
been to Armenia many times and every time you were a welcome guest in
the Land of biblical Ararat. Our people’s respect and sympathy for you
is great both as a talented singer and artist and as a political and
social figure. In Armenia people remember with love all your visits
and with gratitude – all charitable concerts and programs organized
and implemented by you for our people. During your last visit you also
showed support for our people by going once again to the disaster
regions on Remembrance Day of the December 7, 1988 earthquake victims
and giving new hopes and encouragement to the people there who live in
difficult conditions,” the kondak reads. Iosif Kobzon expressed
gratitude to His Holiness for conferring this high award upon him and
promised to do his best in order to strengthen even more the age-long
friendship between the Russian and Armenian peoples. According to the
Inforamtion System of the Mother See, the the monks and leaders of the
Mother See, as well as guests from Moscow attended the order award
ceremony.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DURING NINE MONTHS OF THIS YEAR NUMBER OF TOURISTS VISITING ARMENIA
INCREASES BY 30% IN COMPARISON WITH LAST YEAR’S INDEX

YEREVAN, December 3 (Noyan Tapan). In Jan-Sept of 2004, the number of
tourists arriving in Armenia increased by 30% in comparison with the
same period of last year and made 181,602 persons. 36% of tourists
arrived from the CIS countries. According to the RA National
Statistical Service, 173,580 persons left the republic during the same
period. It is more by 31.5% than the index of Jan-Sept.

Centre Daily Times, PA
Dec 4 2004

Who will speak for the victims, and what shall be said?

What will we say for them? When there are no more survivors of the
Holocaust, what will we speak in their spirit?

What will we say in their voices through our voices? How will we make
them live, when most of them are dying, now, or have died before
their time? How can we make them live for all time, this generation
that is dying?

Noted historian Howard Zinn says this of the Holocaust: “The greatest
gift the Jews could give the world is not to remember Hitler’s
genocide for exactly what it was, that is, the genocide of Jews, but
to take what that horrible experience was for Jews and then to apply
it to all other things that are going on in the world, where huge
numbers of people are dying for absolutely no reason at all.”

Then we must ask, if given back their life, their health, their
energy, their hunger for understanding and peace, what would the
victims of the Holocaust say of the holocausts of today, of the
anti-Semitism of today, and what would they say, of the words that
are now spoken for them, of the words their memory brings?

Indeed, it is true today that the world is experiencing a new wave of
anti-Semitism, unmatched, some could say, since the Holocaust itself.
This new energy in anti-Semitic feeling has sometimes been attributed
to Holocaust denial, Holocaust forgetting, and it is more than ironic
that along with passionate anti-Semitism, a new wave of Holocaust
interest has emerged, particularly in the United States, where as
many as 140,000 Holocaust survivors immigrated after 1948.

Because a people dead, a generation dead, voices gone or never heard,
are things very easily manipulated.

First, why is the Holocaust unique? And why does it continue to
affect us?

Noted perhaps for its technological thoroughness, it is obviously a
horror of our time, but certainly, not the horror of all times. Have
we not seen such disregard for human life in the Armenian genocide,
in the Cambodian killing fields, in the slaughter in Bosnia and
Rwanda, and most recently, and perhaps most relevantly, in Israel’s
occupation of Palestine?

And to make Americans blush, can we not forget that Hitler’s own
inspiration lay in his knowledge, in what he believed was the
absolute genocide of Native Americans by the growing United States,
and the absolute forgetting of this? Can Americans not see the loss
when something like this is forgotten?

We must imagine what Holocaust survivors would say about any of these
terrors — Holocaust survivors of course meaning more than Jews —
because we know that gypsies, Russians, homosexuals, the disabled and
more perished under the Nazis. But what we are really asking is what
exactly is it that a victim would say to another victim?

Would they not just give knowing glances and wish, wishing very hard,
that maybe that their own personal terror really had been unique?
That with their suffering, perhaps it was the end to all needless
suffering. Perhaps this thought process is naive, but I think some
victims, and all who remember victims well, emerge a bit naive, a bit
idealistic perhaps, a bit wonderfully, idealistic.

Finkelstein speaks firmly of how he believes the Holocaust is
exploited, through political and class interests, along with the
insistence of portraying Jews as the sole victims. And more
importantly, he believes the Holocaust is being generally used today
to rationalize Israel’s subjugation of the Palestinians.

He stipulates further that the Holocaust was met mostly with
indifference in the United States, only until Israel became fully
entrenched as a U.S. ally after the 1967 war when Israel began
occupying Sinai, West Bank, Gaza and Golan Heights.

We must ask then how Holocaust victims themselves would feel about
having the memory of their suffering exploited in such a way, in the
interest of deflecting criticism of Israel. How despite a common
heritage with this nation, we must hope — no, we must have absolute
faith — that these survivors would, have, and will (if there are any
still alive and able) speak out against any atrocity they see.

Albert Camus said that it is the job of the thinking people not to be
on the side of the executioners. If anything, being a victim or being
in any way influenced by the Holocaust, or by any holocaust, should
produce this identity, not necessarily an identity as a victim, but
to have an identity that is based on the ability to identify and act
out against oppressors.

We must continue to insist that the victims and survivors of the
Holocaust, and the victims of any holocaust, would be most pleased,
most honored, most correctly spoken for when and in the day that we
will denounce all violence.

We must apply their voices and their suffering into defending all who
will ever be threatened with such cruelty.

And we must know that the fact that the Jewish people were
slaughtered and oppressed by the Nazis cannot ever be used to
legitimize any violence or hostility toward other nations (for
example, Palestine).

We should restore Holocaust interest to either scholarly or
humanitarian. And we should always remember cases like this — cases
for example, when Israeli Justice Minister Yusef Lapid, a Holocaust
survivor himself, looked upon a picture of an old Palestinian woman
sitting on the rubble of what used to be her home, and Lapid admitted
quite candidly that it reminded him of his own grandmother in the
Holocaust.

We must remember this, and realize where the real connections lie,
not in race or ethnicity, but in bonds of understanding and a belief
in a common good.

Grace Kredell is a student in the State College Area High School
Delta Program. This essay won first place for 11th-grade students in
the recent Voices of the Holocaust Essay Contest sponsored by the
State College Choral Society.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Dec 4 2004

Italian Military Center to Study Nagorno Karabakh Conflict

Resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh,
one of the most serious problems in South Caucasus, is an important
challenge, Director of Italy’s Defense Sciences Center Pietro Ercole
Ago said in a meeting with President Ilham Aliyev on Friday.

Ago is visiting Azerbaijan to hold seminars and discussions dedicated
to local conflicts.

The Italian official said the entity he is leading intends to conduct
research related to the conflict settlement and aspires to provide
assistance in this area. He said that as head of the Council of
Europe Committee of Ministers Ago monitoring group, he is closely
following the peace talks and wants to see a speedy and peaceful
conflict resolution.
President Aliyev said that he continues his efforts at resolving the
conflict based on international legal norms, within Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity and through peace talks. He pointed out that
there is no other alternative and that the conflict settlement is
being hampered only by the non-constructive stance of the Armenian
government.

The mentioned center, a higher educational institution of the Italian
armed forces, is engaged in training local personnel in the area of
military policies. The entity conducts joint conferences and seminars
in various countries throughout the world to discuss ways of settling
local conflicts.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A Definition Crisis: Terror Or Resistance

By Ali Al-Hail

Al-Jazeerah
December 3, 2004

In their statements American officials and to some extent European
Union representatives give the impression that they are fanatically
preoccupied with the concept of `terrorists’ when referring to
Palestinians who get brutally massacred in Gaza almost every day by
Israel.

Though amongst them infants, adolescents and children in general,
those governmental agents don’t seem to make a distinction between an
innocent child or an infant and an adult as long as they all are
Palestinians, persisting on liberating their land and refusing to go
away.

This is sufficiently enough to make those agents lumping all sections
of Palestinians together. How dare these people have the
`luxury’ of such a `wishful thinking’?!

A week or even a day doesn’t pass over without Israel firing missiles
from American-made Apache helicopters on people in Gaza or without
demolishing homes here or there in the Palestinian lands
or… or… etc.

>From the representatives’ point of view that is `all acts of
self defense’ and `they (Israeli soldiers) have to react’ as
Fulbright used to say. Reacting against whom? A group of children
throwing `not grenades’ but stones on tanks and solidly-armed
soldiers occupying their land since 1967, which is the oldest ever
occupation on earth?

And reacting how? By firing live ammunitions and intimidating children
(with every right on earth to resist occupation) with tanks? Isn’t
that view of those politicians at least, sounds odd and incongruous?
How on earth can some one defending herhis land be portrayed as
`terrorist’?

And by whom? By people who are supposed to represent `constitutions’
of `the civilized and modern world’ in which `Resisting the occupying
forces and Liberating the land’ is embedded with triumph and
jubilation. The view of those politicians is emphatically and
definitely inconsistent and paradoxical. Ifthe Palestinians had not
consistently, pursued their cause since the Israeli occupation of
Palestine in 1947, The Palestinian cause would have been faced the
same fate the Armenian cause had.

By this understanding held by those politicians, Israel has the right
to remain in Palestinian and other Arab lands.

Neither is any body amongst the new allies against `terror’has
the guts to categorize Israel’s massacres as `acts of terror’
(up to this minute, Israel killed approximately, 3000 Palestinian
infants, adolescents and children asa whole, about 5000 children,
adolescents and infants casualties, up to 400 children and adolescents
in jail, plus 12,000 murdered adults including women and about 8000
men and women in prison since September 28, 2000), nor are the
Generals in Israel who give the orders with cold nerves to carry out
the massacres described as `terrorists’. What a wonderful New
World Order we have been subjected to?!!!

Having said that however, I am still, (despite the definition crisis
on what is terror and what is resistance) adamant that the USA in
particular and the EU in general have the potential and the capability
to become the impartialand fair leader of a free world–not the killer
of other nations. Either directly as it is the case in Afghanistan and
Iraq or indirectly as it is the daily case in Gaza and West Bank.

Professor Ali Al-Hail

Professor of Mass Communications

Board Member of AUSACE, Member of ASC, IABD, IMDA, AEJMC, BEA, NEBAA

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GIBRAHAYER
e-newsletter
[email protected]
http: //gibrahayer.cyprusnewsletter.com

The largest circulation Armenian
online e-newsletter on the WWW

TURKISH MOB ATTACKS FIVE
YOUNG ARMENIANS IN VALANCE
“Our grandparents massacred you, we will continue”

ADL-France/CCAF/Jean Eckian. Sunday November 28 Valance-France. Five young
French citizens of Armenian origin were attacked by a Turkish mob of 15
Turks at the Town Hall of Valance while they were distributing leaflets
against the Turkish entry to the EU.
After destroying their stand, the Turks started throwing bottles and
later attacked the Armenians injuring them. One was hospitalised. Local
Armenians who went back to clean up the area were later attacked by another
Turkish mob of 50, who were shouting “our grand parents massacred you and we
will continue”.
The French police arrested no one.
Armenians organised a protest gathering on Monday, condemning the
events of last Saturday in the Mediterranean town of Marseilles.
Armenians in France, disappointed by the general climate prior to the
December 17 decision and have been writing to Cyprus President Tassos
Papadopoulos asking him to exercise his veto to Turkey, who is hoping to get
a date for accession to Europe.
ARMENIAN PILOTS GET HEAVY PRISON SENTENCES FOR THEIR PART IN A COUP IN
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Arminfo – Yerevan, 26 November: A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced
Armenian pilots to prison terms ranging from 14 to 24 years.
On 8 March of this year, the authorities in Equatorial Guinea
arrested a large group of which among other foreigners, included six
Armenian pilots who were charged with complicity in the organisation of a
coup d’etat in that country. They are now facing imprisonment for up to 26
years.
The Armenian pilots are flatly denying the accusations.

ARMENIA FUND TELETHON RAISES OVER $ 11 MILLION DOLLARS
Glendale, CA (November 26) Armenia Fund, Inc. (AFI) set a fund-raising
record on Thanksgiving Day by raising over $11 million (final total pending)
during its live, 12-hour international broadcast event – Telethon 2004 Make
It Happen.
Airing Thursday, November 25 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 pm, the telethon
raised funds to complete the crucial North-South “Backbone” Highway and
provide for vital infrastructure projects in Armenia and Karabakh. Telethon
2004 was broadcast to over 45 million households in 24 cities throughout the
United State s and Canada, as well as to major capitols and cities in
Europe, South America, the Middle East, the CIS and Armenia. For more
information visit
Armenia Fund, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation, is
the US West coast affiliate of the “Hayastan” All-Armenia Fund (HAAF).
Established in 1994 to facilitate humanitarian assistance to Armenia and
Karabakh, HAAF has administered over $100 million in humanitarian,
rehabilitation and construction aid through the united efforts of Armenian
communities internationally.

“UNLESS THE CONFLICT IS SETTLED PEACEFULLY, AZERBAIJAN WILL RETURN ITS LANDS
BY MILITARY FORCE”
Gibrahayer 30 November, 2004 “Unless the conflict is settled peacefully
Azerbaijan will return its lands by military force.” This is what Azeri
President Ilham Aliev declared in Baku on Friday regarding the Karabakh
problem in a meeting with Goran Lennmarker, special representative of the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary
Assembly for the Karabakh conflict.
Goran Lennmarker highly commended Azerbaijan who “has created
conditio ns for Armenians to live in its territory even though the Karabakh
conflict is not over.”
According to Azeri newspaper Zerkalo there are 30,000 Armenians in
Baku.

TATIANA’S CORNER This corner is reserved for local artist Tatiana
Ferahian’s comic strips which are amalgamations of Armenian-Cypriot social
commentaries, painted with her usual wry and ironic humour, to stimulate and
encourage awareness and interest toward our community’s everyday happenings.

NEWS IN BRIEF
* Police clashed with protesters in Baku protesting the arrival of Armenian
MPs to attend the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Rose-Roth seminar. Several
were arrested.

* Five soldiers of The Karabakh Republic Defence forces were killed and
several were injured in a road accident in Mardakert region, last Sunday.

* More than three thousand youth marched to Tsitsernakaberd the day the
legal proceedings began of murdered officer Gurgen Margarian by an Azeri
officer in Budapest.

* Construction of an Armenian church in the Russian town of Ivanovo will
begin in 2005 as approved by Garegin II, who will participate in the laying
of the church’s cornerstone.

“The comeback of ex-president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian to big
politics is conditioned by rising public demand,” deputy chairman of the
former ruling party, Pan Armenian National Movement, Aram Manukian told
reporters today.

* The Armenians of the Ukraine condemned the actions of the President of
Armenia who had jumped the gun and had congratulated Victor Yanukovich
early.

THE CD OF THE WEEK
HELEN ZINDARSIAN A heartwarming and tender collection of Armenian lullabies,
including traditional selections as well as original compositions.
A heartwarming and tender collection of Armenian lullabies and night songs,
including traditional selections as well as original compositions.
As night falls, moonlight shimmers upon a world where a mother sings an
“oror” (lullaby) for her little one. Like music, the language of a mother’s
love is universal, and the sentimental themes of this CD speak to the hopes
and dreams of every family, culture, and nation. Featuring songs written by
her parents Annig Zindarsian an d Earl Zindars, the CD offers an interesting
blend of styles with crossover appeal into the genres of folk, jazz, and
classical music. The CD also features many traditional Armenian melodies, as
well as some re-discovered treasures of Armenian music.
Order at:
Donation: AYMA Music Library

g i b r a h a y c a l e n d a r

* The literary group of The Hamazkayin “Oshakan” Cyprus Chapter is
organising a lecture about the great novelist PAULO COELHO tonight at 8:00
p.m. Wednesday 1 December 2004 at the “Vahram Utudjian” Hall of The
Armenian Prelacy of Cyprus. The lecturer will be the translator of Coelho’s
popular novel “The Alchemist”, Khachig Mouradian, who accompanied Coelhoon
his recent visit to Armenia. A very interesting lecture, accompanied by
audiovisual material. After the lecture, those who want to take part in an
informal dinner at AYMA, may ring Yura Simonian on 22499889 by Tuesday 30
November 2004.

* Cyprus Amateur Football League Kakaristri Vs AYMA at Latsia Football
Ground on Saturday December 4, 2004 at 2:30 p.m. New signing!!! Former APOEL
striker Ara Bedrossian makes his debut with the colours of AYMA.
STILL ON 8th Exhibition of Armenian Books, under the auspices of Archbishop
Varoujan Hergelian, organised by the Armenian Prelature of Cyprus, with the
participation of Moufflon Bookstore.&nb sp;You can visit the Exhibition
every day from 9 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. & 5:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m. except weekends.
The exhibition will also travel to Larnaca and Limassol.

* Armenian Relief Society “Sosse” Chapter Fund Raising Tea for the ARS
Armenia Projects on Sunday 28 November, 2004 at The Holiday Inn Hotel at
4:00 p.m. Proceeds to the “Sosse” Kindergarten of Stepanakert – Republic of
Artsakh. Event images at:
;code=3D13242597&mode=3Dinvite&DCMP=3Disc-email-AlbumInvite

* Cyprus Dart Championships. AYMA is participating in the Cyprus Dart League
with matches being played every Thursday at AYMA.

* AYF Badanegan Miaoutian get-togethers take place on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
at AYMA. Contact Vartoog Karageulian on 24-659245.

* AYMA Chicco Football practices take place every Friday from 7:00 – 8:30
p.m for children starting from the age of 7. Contact Krikor Mahdessian on
99650897.

* AYMA Table Tennis practices take place every Saturday from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m
under the expert guidance of ex-Cyprus Champion Sirvart Costanian. Classes
and practice session for all ages.
AYF meeting on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. at AYMA. Will not take place. See you
all at the Hamazkayin’s lecture on Coelho.

* AYMA Football team practices are now taking place every Tuesday at 9:00
p.m

* Marie Louise Kouyoumdjian sings @ Champs every Friday at at 9:30 p.m. For
reservations call 22873888.

* Bible Study Group organised by The Armenian Prelature of Cyprus. The Group
meets at the Sourp Asdvadzadzin Church on Armenia street, Nicosia. To
receive further details please call Father Momik Habeshian on 99 307966 or
at the Prelature office on 22 493560 email [email protected]

* The English School Old Boys and Girls Association is holding its 2004
Annual General Meeting at the ClubHouse on Wednesday December 8 at 7:00 p.m.
A reception will follow. Contact Yiannos Ioannou on 22316861 email
[email protected]

* AYMA Annual Ball at Hilton Park on January 8, 2005 featuring ANDRE.
Reservations a MUST! Book early.

* Armenian Radio Hour on The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation can be heard
via real audio on . Broadcast times 17:00-18:00 local Cyprus
time (14:00-15:00 GMT) New s bulletins at 17:15 local time on Sundays,
Tuesdays, Fridays. Armenian Cypriots can also tune in on the following radio
frequencies 91.1 FM (Mount Olympus – for Nicosia listeners) 94.2 FM
(Paralimni/Protaras/Agia Napa) 92.4 FM (Larnaca) 96.5 FM (Paphos).

* The Armenian Prelature announces that the next permit for the A rmenian
Cemetery visitation at Ayios Dhometios on the Green line, is scheduled for
Sunday 12 December,2004

* Every Wednesday from 7-8 p.m. (Cyprus time +2 GMT) on CyBC’s Trito, Puzant
Nadjarian presents the “History of the Blues”. You can also hear it on Real
Audio from the Internet edition of CyBC on A repeat program
can also be heard seven hours later at 2:00 a.m. local time.

* Listen to Hairenik Association’s online Armenian Radio Station. A variety
of Armenian music online, 24 hours a day, combined with news and other
interesting information about the Armenian community in the US, Armenia,
Artsakh, Javakhk and the Armenian Diaspora.
* 24 Hours of non-stop armenian music and programs on the internet
. . . . . News . . . . . ANC hour . . . . . Song dedications . . . . . Youth
discussions . . . . . Game Shows . . . . . Interviews . . . . . Religious
programs . . . . . Cultural programs . . . . . History . . . . .

Launch Hairenik Radio in your preferred Player,launch Hairenik in your life

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia)
December 4, 2004 Saturday
Final Edition

Religion’s role in violence

by Douglas Todd, CanWest News Service

VANCOUVER

University of B.C. psychology professor Ara Norenzayan grew up in
Beirut, Lebanon, during a savage religion-fuelled war between
Christians and Muslims.

As an altar boy in the Armenian Orthodox Church, he sensed the power
of religion for good and evil.

He also became familiar with death.

Now, 15 years after emigrating to North America at the peak of
Lebanon’s bloody conflict, Norenzayan is returning to his roots to
research the relationship between faith, thoughts of death and
violence.

The soft-spoken social psychologist has received a $105,000
three-year grant from Canada’s National Research Council to deepen
his exploration into why people become religious — and why some of
those who turn to religion also turn to hatred.

Devising unique psychological experiments, Norenzayan has already
discovered that the more people are exposed to the reality of death,
the more likely they are to believe in “supernatural agents,” like
God, angels or ancestral spirits.

He’s also concluded that prominent scientists, such as Richard
Dawkins, are off track when they argue belief in God is, along with
the atomic bomb, the greatest danger to world peace.

Norenzayan’s studies suggest antagonism toward outsiders is not a
result of belief in God. It’s the byproduct of people finding a sense
of identity in a religious group.

To find out if there is a link between thoughts of death and belief
in the supernatural, Norenzayan devised two series of tests, one
involving hundreds of students at UBC and another involving subjects
in Malaysia.

He asked one group to write essays about death, reflect on pain in
the context of mortality and read a short story about a boy who dies.
He asked the control group to think about pain in relation to
visiting a dentist and read a story about a boy who

doesn’t die.

Norenzayan and his team found subjects asked to contemplate death
were much more likely than those who weren’t to report they strongly
believe in supernatural agents.

Norenzayan says his experiments are the first to provide “solid
empirical evidence” to back up theories by Soren Kierkegaard and
Ernest Becker that humans become religious because they’re capable of
recognizing they will die.

“One of the definitions of religion is it’s a way of dealing with
anxiety-provoking thoughts,” Norenzayan says in his tidy third-floor
office overlooking the forest and ocean surrounding UBC.

“All religions say death is not literally death, that mortality is
not the end of our being.”

Norenzayan — who maintains he’s not a “strict” religious believer,
despite maintaining ties to the Armenian Orthodox Church — says it’s
shocking how little research psychologists have done into the origins
and effects of spirituality.

“Most academics are blind to the power of religion.”

A typical psychology textbook, he says, contains virtually no mention
of religion, despite the 19th-century American founder of psychology,
William James, devoting a great deal of energy to the subject.

“Most psychologists have no idea why two people who are probably
equally religious — the Dalai Lama and Osama bin Laden — could end
up being so different, with one teaching peace and one preaching
violence,” he says.

With his grant, Norenzayan plans to make his first trip to Lebanon
since he left at age 18. He’ll explore more deeply the impression he
developed as a young man in the war-torn country that spiritual
beliefs can be exploited by leaders to foment aggression against
outsiders.

And he’ll continue his experiments into why religion can breed both
peace-loving tolerance and intolerant fury, both in the Middle East
and North America.

Norenzayan recognizes religion isn’t the only cause of violence, but
he also believes it “is at the top of the list of ideologies that can
kill.”

Norenzayan and his graduate student, Ian Hansen, have discovered it’s
not spiritual devotion that causes violence.

Norenzayan’s work builds on studies of Palestinian Muslims by his
alma mater, the University of Michigan, where researchers found the
more often Palestinian Muslims attended mosque, the more they
supported suicide terrorism.

There was no link, however, between Palestinians’ support for
violence and how often they prayed at home.

The goal of one of Norenzayan’s experiments was to test North
Americans on their tolerance of religious pluralism. In effect, he
wanted to explore how subjects would respond to someone like the main
character in Yann Martel’s book, The Life of Pi, who claims he’s a
Hindu, a Muslim and a Christian.

Norenzayan’s team discovered Buddhists were most tolerant of
followers of other religions. Christians were less tolerant and
Muslims were the least tolerant.

Norenzayan believes that may be because Christianity and Islam
provide more group cohesion, leading to a belief there’s only one
true religion.

They also found that thinking about death can foster religious
tolerance.

Norenzayan found study participants who were reminded frequently
about death were more likely to believe in supernatural agents from
not only their own religion, but from other religions.

“There’s an old saying: ‘In a storm, voyagers will believe in any god
to rescue them.’ To some extent, it’s hopeful that people facing
death will consider addressing other supernatural agents,” says
Norenzayan.

But his research also led him to a more negative side-effect tied to
when people think often about death: They become less accepting of
people who don’t belong to their culture.

Many Christians, for instance, became less tolerant of Jews.

More intense thoughts about death “seemed to make people draw
stronger cultural boundaries.”

Norenzayan is also wondering what the ramifications of his research
are for North America since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
which made a lot more North Americans anxious about their mortality.

He believes the terrorist attacks created a unique experimental
condition for a study of how increasing consciousness of death
affects religious tolerance.

“Sept. 11,” he says, “was one humongous manipulation of North
Americans’ thoughts about death.”

GRAPHIC: Photo: Glenn Baglo, CanWest News Service; Professor Ara
Norenzayan is a psychology instructor who has just received a grant
to study the relationship between faith, thoughts of death and
violence.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANALYSIS-Ukraine role gives EU a place in Russia’s backyard

By Sebastian Alison

BRUSSELS, Dec 3 (Reuters) – The European Union’s mediation in
Ukraine’s political crisis has made it a foreign policy actor in
territory long regarded by Russia as its own backyard and Moscow has
no choice but to accept it, analysts say.

The EU’s eastward expansion in May to the borders of the former Soviet
Union sharpened tensions between Moscow and Brussels over what role,
if any, the bloc should play in six former Soviet republics.

“The Russians still perceive it as their sphere of influence and would
prefer not to have anyone from the EU,” said Wojciech Saryusz-Wolski,
analyst at the European Policy Centre.

The two giant trade partners have been trying to redefine their
relations on the basis of four “common spaces,” on the economy;
freedom, security and justice; education and research; and external
security.

The latter has been the most contentious, with the EU arguing that it
has a role in what it terms their “common neighbourhood” — Ukraine,
Belarus and Moldova, and the Caucasus republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

Moscow rejects this, striking the term off an EU draft document
outlining the external security “space,” and sees all six as its “near
abroad.”

But apparently without trying, the EU has been swept into a
negotiating role in the aftermath of the Nov. 21 presidential election
runoff which left Ukraine in turmoil and rudderless.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Polish President Aleksander
Kwasniewski and Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus have been
mediating with Russia’s Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the State Duma lower
house of parliament, between Viktor Yanukovich and Viktor Yushchenko,
both of whom claim victory in the poll.

The fact that Gryzlov is talking to the EU team means Russia is
recognising de facto a role for the bloc — and therefore that Ukraine
is indeed in their common neighbourhood.

“They’re forced at this point to this round table which in fact did
not prove itself fruitful. They will pull back from any such move as
soon as they can,” Saryusz-Wolski said.

“THEY’RE THERE, AREN’T THEY”

Russia has not acknowledged a formal EU role, said Michael Emerson,
Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies, but
its presence at the talks speaks for itself.

“They wouldn’t say so, would they, but they’re there, aren’t they,” he
said.

He noted the difference with Moldova, where the EU has long sought a
role in ending a “frozen conflict” in the breakaway Dnestr region.

In Moldova, talks have dragged on to no effect for years among Russia,
Ukraine, Moldova, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, with the EU kept out.

“In Ukraine, hey presto, it just happened,” Emerson said.

Even Solana’s office was vague about how he got involved in the Kiev
talks, saying he received no formal invitation but was suggested by
Kwasniewski, who enjoys wide respect in Ukraine.

Emerson said Russian President Vladimir Putin faced a dilemma once the
EU was involved — sending his own envoy to the talks would recognise
the EU’s role, while staying away would deny Moscow a place at the
table.

“Gryzlov has to be there because not being there would be even worse,”
he said. “On the other hand Putin could not be represented at a higher
level. It’s a major embarrassment.”

He said Putin had scored “one own goal after another” in his policy
towards Russia’s closest neighbours, citing Moldova, a border dispute
with Ukraine over a tiny island in the Kerch strait between the Sea of
Azov and the Black Sea, and support for a breakaway leader in the
Georgian region of Abkhazia.

“At some point the Kremlin may have to think about whether they’ve got
the right concept for near abroad policy,” he said.

The EU acquired a role in Ukraine almost by accident and despite the
fact that most of its members do not want Kiev to become a candidate
for membership of the 25-nation bloc.

“Ever since Ukraine became independent, the EU has shown remarkably
little interest in it,” the London-based Centre for European Reform
said in a briefing note.

But it is an attractive partner for Ukraine as it cares only that the
election should be fair, and not who wins, it said — unlike Moscow,
which wants a leader in line with its interests.

“Whether this leader is elected, appointed or has fallen from space is
immaterial to Moscow,” CER said.

“In contrast, the EU ultimately cares little who is in charge in
Ukraine — or Belarus or Georgia — provided that person gains
legitimacy through fair elections and upholds Western standards of
democracy and human rights.”

12/03/04 08:01 ET

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 1) 517 163
Fax: (374 1) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
December 3, 2004

Armenian Church Participates in Conference of European Churches Working
Group Meeting in Belgium

>From November 26 to 27, a meeting of the “Peace, Security and
Reconciliation” Working Group of the Conference of European Churches (CEC)
was convened at the Ecumenical Centre in Brussels, Belgium. In attendance
was Mrs. Paula Devejian, the representative of the Armenian Church in this
Working Group of the CEC. The Armenian Church is one of ten Churches
represented in this Working Group.

The purpose of the meeting was to identify and discuss current issues for
the Working Group, and also to establish goals and tasks for the committee
members. An overall theme for the group is the development and
understanding of Christian perceptions for peace and reconciliation. The
first undertaking is a review of the Security Strategy approved by the
Commission of the European Union. A theological and practical commentary
will be prepared and recommendations forwarded to the CEC for eventual
distribution to the member Churches. Additionally, with an overall goal of
formulating ways in which reconciliation can become a “mainstream” issue
within Churches, it was decided to start a project of open dialogue between
persons who have been directly affected by regional conflicts to study
methodologies of conflict resolution and the possible participation and
guidance by churches. Participants will be sought from the regions of
Northern Ireland and the Balkans.

The Armenian Church, as a member of the Conference of European Churches, has
representatives in various CEC structures. His Grace Bishop Yeznik
Petrossian, General Secretary for Inter-Church Relations, represents the
Armenian Church in the CEC Central Committee, as well as in the “Churches in
Dialogue” Commission. Rev. Fr. Hovakim Manukian, a member of the
Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin represents the Armenian Church in the
“Church and Society” Commission.

The next meeting of the Working Group will be held in Brussels in May 2005.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 1) 517 163
Fax: (374 1) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
December 4, 2004

His Holiness Karekin II Receives Sandra Roelofs, First Lady of the Republic
of Georgia

On December 3, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of
All Armenians, received the First Lady of the Republic of Georgia, Mrs.
Sandra Roelofs, in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

The Pontiff of All Armenians welcomed the visit of Mrs. Roelofs to Holy
Etchmiadzin, noting the long history of fraternal relations and friendship
between the two neighboring countries. His Holiness also spoke of the
recent visit of the President of Georgia, Mikhael Saakashvili, to the Mother
See earlier this year.

Mrs. Roelofs expressed her gratitude to His Holiness for the audience, and
informed the Catholicos of details of her visit to Armenia. She stressed
her interest in programs devoted to health care, the improvement of social
conditions and aid to “at-risk” segments of society.

His Holiness offered his best wishes and blessings to Mrs. Roelofs, and
prayed for success for her important mission. Accompanying Mrs. Roelofs
during the visit were Mrs. Nani Oskanian, wife of Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian, and Armenian and Georgian physicians.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress