Author: Andres-Papazian

IL FAUT SAUVER LES CHRETIENS D’ORIENT

Marianne

Par Jacques Julliard

“Il faut sauver les chretiens d’Orient de l’extermination. Ce n’est
pas un problème local. C’est une affaire qui interpelle la conscience
universelle”, nous dit Jacques Julliard dans son editorial de cette
semaine. Et c’est aussi le sens de la petition qu’il cosigne avec
plusieurs personnalites comme Jean d’Ormesson. Son but ? Que le
gouvernement francais intervienne “pour obtenir une reunion speciale
du Conseil de securite de l’ONU, afin que soit mis un terme au genocide
culturel qui est en train d’etre commis”.

Des proches de l’un des 21 coptes enleves et ergoges en Libye – Hassan
Ammar/AP/SIPA Un des enjeux caches des guerres qui ensanglantent le
Proche-Orient depuis des annees, c’est l’eradication du christianisme
des lieux dans lesquels il est ne. Depuis peu, le mouvement s’est
accelere. Le printemps arabe s’est accompagne d’un hiver chretien. Au
regard de la geopolitique, c’est peu de chose, s’agissant ici d’une
religion minoritaire, sans grande influence politique, sauf au Liban.

Au regard de la civilisation, c’est une affaire capitale, que les
Occidentaux se donnent beaucoup de mal pour ignorer. Ils jurent
qu’ils ne sont pas chretiens, mais les islamistes les appellent les >.

Lire la suite, voir lien plus bas

vendredi 6 mars 2015, Jean Eckian (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

DISAPPEARANCE OF ARMENIAN CONTRACT SERVICEMAN FROM RUSSIAN BORDER GUARDS MIGHT BE LINKED TO HIS DEBTS

YEREVAN, March 6. / ARKA /. The disappearance of Artur Afian, a
26-year-old Armenian citizen, who served under a contract with the
Russian border guards in Gyumri, and has been missing since February 21
might be linked to his debt commitments, the head of the Russian border
troops in Armenia, Vyacheslav Biryukov, told a news conference today.

Afian was given permission to leave his unit and visit relatives
in a village near Gyumri but never showed up, Biryukov recalled. He
was unarmed.

Vyacheslav Biryukov said the first report about the serviceman’s
disappearance came from his wife.

“We informed military police, Armenia’s National Security Service
and other law-enforcement bodies about the missing contract serviceman.

Unfortunately, neither his wife nor his parents can provide us with
any information except for the fact that he had debts. We wish he
were alive and save and call on him to return to his unit because
the sooner he does so the softer the justice will be,’ he said.

He said Afian is described as a positive person with no disciplinary
penalties.

Armenia’s border with Turkey (330 kilometers) and Iran (45 kilometers)
are guarded by border troops of the Russian Federal Security Service
(FSB). Armenia looks at the presence of Russian border guards along
with the Russian military base in the country as an important component
of its national security.

The agreement on the deployment of Russian borer guards in Armenia
was signed in 1992.

FSB border guards are deployed in Gyumri, Armavir, Artashat and
Meghri. The cost of their maintenance (about 4.5 thousand people)
is equally divided between the governments of Armenia and Russia.-0-

From: A. Papazian

DEUTSCHE WELLE: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE – GERMAN GUILT?

11:21, 06 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Witness or accomplice? At a congress in Berlin, historians have been
debating Germany’s role in the genocide of Armenians 100 years ago.

New findings show that Germany’s complicity is greater than previously
assumed.

(Deutsche Welle) – In the German Reichstag on September 29, 1916,
the diplomat Gottlieb von Jagow had to give parliament an account of
the terrible events in Turkey, then the Ottoman Empire.

It was about mass displacement and executions taking place in the
eastern region of Anatolia. The German Empire was a colonial power
there at the time and also an ally of the Ottoman government, which
had previously initiated a mass persecution of Christian Armenians
before the onset of World War I. “We did everything we could,” stated
Jagow in defense of Germany’s passivity.

This silent acquiescence toward the mass murders has been the subject
of the International Historians Congress in Berlin.

Historians see the German Empire’s involvement in the deportation
of Armenians as a proven fact. However, the part the Germans played
is still not clear. Were they mere witnesses, or were they actually
accomplices?

Depending on estimates, 300,000 to 1.5 million Armenians were murdered
by the Turks. and refer to it as genocide. Yet in modern-day Turkey,
the state that replaced the Ottoman Empire, the human suffering of
that era is still officially seen as “a war-related dislocation and
security measure.” The number of victims is still a matter of dispute
in Turkey, making reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia difficult.

Germany knew and turned a blind eye

Armenians view the Germans as accomplices, says historian Ashot Hayruni

The 160 historians in Berlin were focused on Germany’s complicity in
the Armenians’ suffering. According to the Armenian historian Ashot
Hayruni from the State University of Yerevan, the Germans are seen
as accomplices because of their silence and cold indifference.

The German government just stood by and watched as the young
Turkish government expelled Armenians from Turkey to the deserts of
Mesopotamia, a region now in modern-day Iraq, Kuwait and Syria. And
Germans claimed that they did not want to interfere, even though they
were very well-informed.

Historian Christin Pschichholz from the University of Potsam has
no doubts. After having read files at the German Foreign Ministry,
she concludes that, “the German government had extensive information
about the destructive policies regarding the Armenian population
in the Ottoman Empire. Death marches, executions and forced labor:
German diplomats painstakingly took note of everything happening
around them at that time.

Historical witnesses were quite aware of the atrocities, as illustrated
by a dispatch sent on July 7, 1915 by the German Ambassador in
Constantinople (now Istanbul) to the Imperial Chancellor. It said,
“it is the declared intention of the government [meaning the Turkish
government] to destroy the Armenian race in the Turkish Empire.”

A German military mission was posted to the Ottoman Empire at the
time of the genocide

Historian Rolf Holsfeld at Lepsiushaus, a highly regarded research
institute in Potsdam, says, “the statement that genocide took place
on Ottoman territory in 1915 and 1916 has been officially known to
the German government for over 100 years. ”

The way Germany handles the subject of the Armenian genocide does
not directly reflect on Germany’s complicity at that time. German
government officials have always avoided using the word genocide when
speaking of Armenia. Instead, they speak of massacre and dislocation.

In February 2015, the Linkspartei, German’s far-left party, asked
parliament about the use of terms regarding the persecuted Armenians
in Turkey and the government decided to continue using the same
terminology. The reason given was that it did not want to jeopardize
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. The German government’s policy:
categorizations should be left to academia.

Armenia, together with more than 20 other countries, and the majority
of the historians at the Berlin convention have classified the events
as genocide, in accordance with the UN Genocide Convention of 1948.

About a year ago, the former Premier and now President of Turkey, Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, broke the decade-old silence of Turkish officials on
this subject. He apologized to the victims and their descendants and
spoke of the “inhuman consequences” of the Armenians’ expulsion. He
did not speak of genocide.

Inglorious role

President Erdogan apologized in the name of present-day Turkey

Former East German civil rights activist and former member of
parliament for the Social Democrats, Markus Meckel, was in the
Bundestag when the Armenian issue was first discussed 10 years ago.

Even then, no resolution regarding Turkey could be adopted if it
contained the word genocide. After a great deal of discussion, an
ensuing paper stated that the Germans apologized for the “inglorious
role” of the German Empire. It was not possible to say more. Even in
communism, said Meckel, history was defined by politics.

Yet Germany could send an important political signal by recognizing
the suffering of the Armenian people as genocide. He says, “Anyone
who does not use this term is basically giving the suffering and the
catastrophe a lesser meaning.”

Historian Ashot Hayruni from the State University of Yerevan thinks
it is the German government’s obligation and says, “It is important
that the German government adopts a decision in which the genocide
is recognized and condemned as such.”

To Yerevan with a small German delegation

Historical photograph of Armenian refugees

According to DW sources, the German parliament plans to remember the
victims of the Armenian genocide with a debate. But there is little
cause to believe that anything will change in an argument about
remembrance culture.

Quite the contrary: now there is a dispute as to who will represent
Germany at the main memorial service in Armenia on the 100th
anniversary of the genocide on April 24 this year. The expulsion of the
ethnic group began at Istanbul’s Haydarpasa station on April 24, 2015.

Until now, the German Foreign Ministry claims that it is still checking
to see who will officially represent Germany in the Armenian capital.

Insiders are expecting that Germany’s reticence on this issue will
be underscored by the absence of high-level politicians. It is
possible that only the German ambassador will attend the service,
whereas France will be represented by the president himself, Francois
Hollande. Historian Jurgen Gottschlich has called this ‘scandalous.’

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN MUSICIANS WEAR “FORGET-ME-NOT” BADGES AT THE AL BUSTAN INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

12:55, 06 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On March 4 the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia performed a concert of
classical music within the framework of the Al Bustan International
Festival. The program included compositions by Rachmaninov and
Tchaikovsky; pianist Khatia Buniatishvili performed as a soloist.

All the performances of the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia at the Al
Bustan International Festival are dedicated to the 100th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide. In this regard, both the musicians of the
Youth Orchestra and Gianluca Marciano, the artistic director of the
festival wear the “Forget-me-not” badges, the symbols of the 100th
anniversary of the Genocide.

Speaking of the Orchestra, the conductor Gianluca Marciano mentioned:
“This Orchestra has far long passed the path of being youth,
establishing its status today as mutual, highly professional
collective”.

The Al Bustan concerts are supported by the State Commission on
Coordination of the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide.

From: A. Papazian

MEETING WITH NKR PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO US IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

16:53 06/03/2015 >> SOCIETY

Armenian Society of Columbia University hosted Robert Avetisyan,
Permanent Representative of Nagorno Karabakh to the United States, with
an aim to discuss the actual questions of international recognition
of NKR, as well as raising the awareness of the youth of the USA
about the process of the conflict settlement.

In the meeting, that aroused lively interest, a few dozens of
representatives of the Armenian youth were present: students from
the Columbia University and other New York-based universities.

Answering the question about the perspectives of the development of
the situation, Avetisyan noted, “In 15-20 years, I would like to look
back and say, ‘we did it, we are an independent country and there are
no threats of war, but for us to get to this point, we must struggle,
knowing that the road to independence will not be easy’.”

The importance and the necessity of that kind of events was
highlighted during the discussion. That would raise the awareness
about the Karabakh conflict, as well as activate the engagement of the
Armenian Diaspora of the US in the process, who are more concentrated
on the problem of recognition of the Genocide of the Armenians in
the Ottoman Empire.

“It is necessary to inspire the youth, and they will feel themselves
a part of Artsakh,” the representative of NKR to US noted.

In an interview with Panorama.am, the head of the Armenian Students
Association Haik Ter-Nersesyan commented on the outcomes of the meeting
highlighting its positive effect for the Armenian young scientists
and specialists in the US.

“The independence of NKR is directly linked with the physical security
of our people. It is vital to realize that the way to victory
presupposes struggle, for the sake of which we need to join,” the
representative of the Armenian students of Columbia University said.

Source: Panorama.am

From: A. Papazian

TREASURY DEMANDS ‘OCCUPATION FINE’ FROM BULGARIAN FOUNDATION FOR ITS OWN BUILDING

Uygar Gultekin 02.26.2015 09:52SOCIETY

The State of Turkey, after having seized a building that belongs to
the Bulgarian Exarchate Orthodox Church Foundation, is now demanding a
fee in return for occupying the building for 3 years -after returning
the building to the foundation. The Treasury has issued a 50 thousand
TL fine to the foundation.

The 166-year old building, used by the religious officials of the St.

Stephen Church, also known as ‘Demir Kilise’ [lit. Iron Church] since
its main skeleton is made of steel and is covered by metal boards,
was seized in 2000 by the Ministry of Finance General Directorate of
Real Estate on the pretext that it was an ‘unused building’ although it
was being used by the Foundation at the time. Its deed was registered
under the Ministry of Finance. However, even after the registration,
permission was issued for it to be used by the Foundation.

Following the new regulation to the Law on Foundations for the return
of properties of minority foundations, the Bulgarian Foundation
applied to the General Directorate of Foundations for the return of
the building. In 2012, the Directorate returned the building and the
land plot of the Church and the Ã…~^iÃ…~_li Vocational High School of
Industry to the Foundation.

However, following the return of the property, the Revenue Office
issued a decision of adequate pay, or in other words, a fine of 50
thousand TL for the period the building was registered under the
Treasury. The Revenue Office demands an occupancy fee for the period
from 1999 to 2012.

Following the decision of the Revenue Office, the bank accounts of
the Foundation have been sequestrated. The Foundation now has to pay
the fine to the State for a building that belongs to it.

The Bulgarian Foundation has reacted to the procedure. Milko Pecatikov,
a member of the Foundation administration pointed out the absurdity
of the decision to issue a fine for a property that belongs to the
foundation. Pecatikov said, “Our property, which is listed in the
1936 Declaration, was seized. We have the records; our deed was for
many years in the hands of the Treasury. We secured its return.

Now we face this bizarre implementation.”

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY-ARMENIA PEACE STATUE CASE: ERDOGAN TO APPEAL RULING ORDERING HIM TO PAY A FINE FOR ‘MONSTROSITY’ INSULT

International Business Times
March 4 2015

By Lora Moftah

Lawyers for Turkey’s president plan to appeal a Turkish court’s
decision to fine him for criticizing a statue meant to promote
peace between Turkey and Armenia, the local news site Today’s Zaman
reported. Recep Tayyip Erdogan had called the sculpture a “monstrosity”
during a 2011 visit to the eastern city of Kars, prompting local
authorities to remove the statue.

The court ruled Erdogan must pay 10,000 Turkish lira ($4,000) in
compensation to sculptor Mehmet Aksoy, who created the 115-foot
work known as either the “Monument to Humanity” or the “Statue of
Humanity.” According to Today’s Zaman, Erdogan, who was prime minister
at the time of the visit, remarked: “They put a monstrosity next
to the tomb of [Muslim scholar] Hasan Harakani. It is impossible to
think that such a thing should exist next to fundamental works of art.”

Aksoy claimed Erdogan’s labeling of the statue in this way was an
“insult” and that its removal had caused him mental anguish, while
Erdogan’s defense lawyers claimed the leader’s comments were a critique
rather than an insult, the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News reported. Aksoy
strongly criticized Erdogan’s assessment of the work depicting two
concrete figures reaching out to each other. The sculptor said it
embodied anti-war themes and messages of friendship.

The statue had been built on a hill about 25 miles from the
Turkish-Armenian border.

Turkish-Armenian relations remain tense after decades of antagonism
over Turkish killings of Armenians in the early 20th century, which
many have called genocide. Turkey’s government has firmly opposed
labeling the mass killings genocide, an issue that has prevented the
two countries from establishing diplomatic ties. Erdogan recently said
Turkey was ready to “pay the price” for the mass killings, but only
if an “impartial board of historians” could agree Turks were guilty of
the crime, the Washington Post reported. The centenary of the start of
the killings will be marked by Armenians around the world next month.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJANI TROOPS KILL ARMENIAN KARABAKH SOLDIER: SEPARATISTS

Agence France Presse
March 3, 2015 Tuesday 9:13 AM GMT

Yerevan, March 3 2015

An ethnic Armenian soldier from the separatist Nagorny Karabakh region
was killed Tuesday by Azerbaijani troops in a fresh clash along the
breakaway region’s frontier, the rebel authorities said.

“Serviceman Arsen Karapetyan, 20, was mortally wounded when Azerbaijani
forces violated the ceasefire at the Karabakh frontline,” Karabakh’s
defence ministry said in a statement.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a decades-long conflict over
Nagorny Karabakh, a breaway ethnic Armenian region.

Despite years of negotiations, the two sides have not signed a
final peace deal, with Karabakh internationally recognised as part
of Azerbaijan.

Clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces intensified again in
January following an unprecedented spiral of violence last year.

At least 15 people from both sides were reported killed and 18 wounded
this year in similar incidents on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,
and along the Karabakh frontline.

Ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of
Karabakh and seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan during a 1990s
war that left some 30,000 dead.

Baku, whose military spending exceeds Armenia’s entire state budget,
has threatened to take back the territories by force if negotiations
fail to yield results.

Armenia, which is heavily armed by Russia, says it could crush any
offensive.

From: A. Papazian

THE AMERICAN HEGEMONY: THE NEOCONSERVATIVE THREAT TO INTERNATIONAL ORDER

CounterPunch
March 4 2015

by PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Last week I was invited to address an important conference of the
Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Scholars from Russia and from
around the world, Russian government officials, and the Russian people
seek an answer as to why Washington destroyed during the past year
the friendly relations between America and Russia that President
Reagan and President Gorbachev succeeded in establishing. All of
Russia is distressed that Washington alone has destroyed the trust
between the two major nuclear powers that had been created during the
Reagan-Gorbachev era, trust that had removed the threat of nuclear
armageddon. Russians at every level are astonished at the virulent
propaganda and lies constantly issuing from Washington and the Western
media. Washington’s gratuitous demonization of the Russian president,
Vladimir Putin, has rallied the Russian people behind him. Putin has
the highest approval rating ever achieved by any leader in my lifetime.

Washington’s reckless and irresponsible destruction of the trust
achieved by Reagan and Gorbachev has resurrected the possibility of
nuclear war from the grave in which Reagan and Gorbachev buried it.

Again, as during the Cold War the specter of nuclear armageddon stalks
the earth.

Why did Washington revive the threat of world annihilation? Why is
this threat to all of humanity supported by the majority of the US
Congress, by the entirety of the presstitute media, and by academics
and think-tank inhabitants in the US, such as Motyl and Weiss, about
whom I wrote recently?

It was my task to answer this question for the conference. You can
read my February 25 and February 26 addresses below. But first
you should understand what nuclear war means. You can gain that
understanding here.

The Threat Posed to International Relations By The Neoconservative
Ideology of American Hegemony,

Address to the 70th Anniversary of the Yalta Conference, Hosted
by Institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Moscow State
Institute of International Relations, Moscow, February 25, 2015, Hon.

Paul Craig Roberts

Colleagues,

What I propose to you is that the current difficulties in the
international order are unrelated to Yalta and its consequences,
but have their origin in the rise of the neoconservative ideology in
the post-Soviet era and its influence on Washington’s foreign policy.

The collapse of the Soviet Union removed the only constraint
on Washington’s power to act unilaterally abroad. At that time
China’s rise was estimated to require a half century. Suddenly the
United States found itself to be the Uni-power, the “world’s only
superpower.” Neoconservatives proclaimed “the end of history.”

By the “end of history” neoconservatives mean that the competition
between socio-economic-political systems is at an end. History
has chosen “American Democratic-Capitalism.” It is Washington’s
responsibility to exercise the hegemony over the world given to
Washington by History and to bring the world in line with History’s
choice of American democratic-capitalism.

In other words, Marx has been proven wrong. The future does not belong
to the proletariat but to Washington.

The neoconservative ideology raises the United States to the unique
status of being “the exceptional country,” and the American people
acquire exalted status as “the indispensable people.”

If a country is “the exceptional country,” it means that all other
countries are unexceptional. If a people are “indispensable,” it means
other peoples are dispensable. We have seen this attitude at work in
Washington’s 14 years of wars of aggression in the Middle East. These
wars have left countries destroyed and millions of people dead, maimed,
and displaced. Yet Washington continues to speak of its commitment to
protect smaller countries from the aggression of larger countries. The
explanation for this hypocrisy is that Washington does not regard
Washington’s aggression as aggression, but as History’s purpose.

We have also seen this attitude at work in Washington’s disdain
for Russia’s national interests and in Washington’s propagandistic
response to Russian diplomacy.

The neoconservative ideology requires that Washington maintain its
Uni-power status, because this status is necessary for Washington’s
hegemony and History’s purpose.

The neoconservative doctrine of US world supremacy is most clearly
and concisely stated by Paul Wolfowitz, a leading neoconservative who
has held many high positions: Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense,
Director of Policy Planning US Department of State, Assistant Secretary
of State, Ambassador to Indonesia, Undersecretary of Defense for
Policy, Deputy Secretary of Defense, President of the World Bank.

In 1992 Paul Wolfowitz stated the neoconservative doctrine of American
world supremacy:

“Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival,
either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere,
that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the
Soviet Union. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new
regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent
any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would,
under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.”

For clarification, a “hostile power” is a country with an independent
policy (Russia, China, Iran, and formerly Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi,
Assad).

This bold statement struck the traditional American foreign policy
establishment as a declaration of American Imperialism. The document
was rewritten in order to soften and disguise the blatant assertion of
supremacy without changing the intent. These documents are available
online, and you can examine them at your convenience.

Softening the language allowed the neoconservatives to rise to
foreign policy dominance. The neoconservatives are responsible for the
Clinton regime’s attacks on Yugoslavia and Serbia. Neoconservatives,
especially Paul Wolfowitz, are responsible for the George W. Bush
regime’s invasion of Iraq. The neoconservatives are responsible for
the overthrow and murder of Gaddafi in Libya, the assault on Syria,
the propaganda against Iran, the drone attacks on Pakistan and Yemen,
the color revolutions in former Soviet Republics, the attempted
“Green Revolution” in Iran, the coup in Ukraine, and the demonization
of Vladimir Putin.

A number of thoughtful Americans suspect that the neoconservatives
are responsible for 9/11, as that event gave the neoconservatives the
“New Pearl Harbor” that their position papers said was necessary in
order to launch their wars for hegemony in the Middle East. 9/11 led
directly and instantly to the invasion of Afghanistan, where Washington
has been fighting since 2001. Neoconservatives controlled all the
important government positions necessary for a “false flag” attack.

Neoconservative Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who
is married to another neoconservative, Robert Kagan, implemented and
oversaw Washington’s coup in Ukraine and chose the new government.

The neoconservatives are highly organized and networked,
well-financed, supported by the print and TV media, and backed by
the US military/security complex and the Israel Lobby. There is no
countervailing power to their influence on US foreign power.

The neoconservative doctrine goes beyond the Brzezinski doctrine,
which dissented from Detente and provocatively supported dissidents
inside the Soviet empire. Despite its provocative character, the
Brzezinski doctrine remained a doctrine of Great Power politics and
containment. It is not a doctrine of US world hegemony.

While the neoconservatives were preoccupied for a decade with their
wars in the Middle East, creating a US Africa Command, organizing
color revolutions, exiting disarmament treaties, surrounding Russia
with military bases, and “pivoting to Asia” to surround China with
new air and naval bases, Vladimir Putin led Russia back to economic
and military competence and successfully asserted an independent
Russian foreign policy.

When Russian diplomacy blocked Washington’s planned invasion of
Syria and Washington’s planned bombing of Iran, the neoconservatives
realized that they had failed the “first objective” of the Wolfowitz
Doctrine and had allowed “the re-emergence of a new rival . . . on
the territory of the former Soviet Union” with the power to block
unilateral action by Washington.

The attack on Russia began. Washington had spent $5 billion over a
decade creating non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Ukraine
and cultivating Ukrainian politicians. The NGOs were called into
the streets. The extreme nationalists or nazi elements were used
to introduce violence, and the elected democratic government was
overthrown. The intercepted conversation between Victoria Nuland and
the US ambassador in Kiev, in which the two Washington operatives
choose the members of the new Ukrainian government, is well known.

If the information that has recently come to me from Armenia and
Kyrgyzstan is correct, Washington has financed NGOs and is cultivating
politicians in Armenia and the former Soviet Central Asian Republics.

If the information is correct, Russia can expect more “color
revolutions” or coups in other former territories of the Soviet Union.

Perhaps China faces a similar threat in Uyghurstan.

The conflict in Ukraine is often called a “civil war.” This is
incorrect. A civil war is when two sides fight for the control of the
government. The break-away republics in eastern and southern Ukraine
are fighting a war of secession.

Washington would have been happy to use its coup in Ukraine to
evict Russia from its Black Sea naval base as this would have been a
strategic military achievement. However, Washington is pleased that
the “Ukraine crisis” that Washington orchestrated has resulted in the
demonization of Vladimir Putin, thus permitting economic sanctions
that have disrupted Russia’s economic and political relations with
Europe. The sanctions have kept Europe in Washington’s orbit.

Washington has no interest in resolving the Ukrainian situation. The
situation can be resolved diplomatically only if Europe can achieve
sufficient sovereignty over its foreign policy to act in Europe’s
interest instead of Washington’s interest.

The neoconservative doctrine of US world hegemony is a threat to the
sovereignty of every country. The doctrine requires subservience to
Washington’s leadership and to Washington’s purposes. Independent
governments are targeted for destabilization. The Obama regime
overthrew the reformist government in Honduras and currently is at
work destabilizing Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Argentina, and
most likely also Armenia and the former Central Asian Soviet Republics.

Yalta and its consequences have to do with Great Power rivalries. But
in the neoconservative doctrine, there is only one Great Power-the
Uni-power. There are no others, and no others are to be permitted.

Therefore, unless a moderate foreign policy arises in Washington and
displaces the neoconservatives, the future is one of conflict.

It would be a strategic error to dismiss the neoconservative ideology
as unrealistic. The doctrine is unrealistic, but it is also the guiding
force of US foreign policy and is capable of producing a world war.

In their conflict with Washington’s hegemony, Russia and China are
disadvantaged. The success of American propaganda during the Cold
War, the large differences between living standards in the US and
those in communist lands, overt communist political oppression, at
times brutal, and the Soviet collapse created in the minds of many
people nonexistent virtues for the United States. As English is the
world language and the Western media is cooperative, Washington is
able to control explanations regardless of the facts. The ability
of Washington to be the aggressor and to blame the victim encourages
Washington’s march to more aggression.

This concludes my remarks. Tomorrow I will address whether there
are domestic political restraints or economic restraints on the
neoconservative ideology.

Paul Craig Roberts, Address to the 70th Anniversary of the Yalta
Conference, Moscow, February 26, 2015

Colleagues,

At the plenary session yesterday I addressed the threat that the
neoconservative ideology poses to international relations. In this
closing session I address whether there are any internal restraints
on this policy from the US population and whether there are economic
restraints.

Just as 9/11 served to launch Washington’s wars for hegemony in the
Middle East, 9/11 served to create the American police state. The
Constitution and the civil liberties it protects quickly fell to
the accumulation of power in the executive branch that a state of
war permitted.

New laws, some clearly pre-prepared such as the PATRIOT Act, executive
orders, presidential directives, and Department of Justice memos
created an executive authority unaccountable to the US Constitution
and to domestic and international law.

Suddenly Americans could be detained indefinitely without cause
presented to a court. Habeas corpus, a constitutional protection
which prohibits any such detention, has been set aside.

Suddenly people could be tortured into confessions in violation of
the right against self-incrimination and in violation of domestic
and international laws against torture.

Suddenly Americans and Washington’s closest allies could be spied on
indiscriminately without the need of warrants demonstrating cause.

The Obama regime added to the Bush regime’s transgressions the
assertion of the right of the executive branch to assassinate US
citizens without due process of law.

The police state was organized under a massive new Department of
Homeland Security. Almost immediately whistleblower protections,
freedom of the press and speech, and protest rights were attacked
and reduced.

It was not long before the director of Homeland Security declared that
the department’s focus has shifted from Muslim terrorists to “domestic
extremists,” an undefined category. Anyone can be swept into this
category. Homes of war protesters were raided and grand juries were
convened to investigate the protesters. Americans of Arab descent who
donated to charities-even charities on the State Department’s approved
list-that aided Palestinian children were arrested and sentenced to
prison for “providing material support to terrorism.”

All of this and more, including police brutality, has had a chilling
effect on protests against the wars and the loss of civil liberty.

The rising protests from the American population and from soldiers
themselves that eventually forced Washington to end the Vietnam War
have been prevented in the 21st century by the erosion of rights,
intimidation, loss of mobility (no-fly list), job dismissal, and other
heavy-handed actions inconsistent with a government accountable to
law and the people.

In an important sense, the US has emerged from the “war on terror”
as an executive branch dictatorship unconstrained by the media and
barely, if at all, constrained by Congress and the federal courts. The
lawlessness of the executive branch has spread into governments
of Washington’s vassal states and into the Federal Reserve, the
International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank, all of
which violate their charters and operate outside their legal powers.

Jobs offshoring destroyed the American industrial and manufacturing
unions. Their demise and the current attack on the public employee
unions has left the Democratic Party financially dependent on the same
organized private interest groups as the Republicans. Both parties now
report to the same interest groups. Wall Street, the military/security
complex, the Israel Lobby, agribusiness, and the extractive industries
(oil, mining, timber) control the government regardless of the party in
power. These powerful interests all have a stake in American hegemony.

The message is that the constellation of forces preclude internal
political change.

Hegemony’s Achilles heel is the US economy. The fairy tale of American
economic recovery supports America’s image as the safe haven, an image
that keeps the dollar’s value up, the stock market up, and interest
rates down. However, there is no economic information that supports
this fairy tale.

Real median household income has not grown for years and is below
the levels of the early 1970s. There has been no growth in real
retail sales for six years. The labor force is shrinking. The labor
force participation rate has declined since 2007 as has the civilian
employment to population ratio. The 5.7 percent reported unemployment
rate is achieved by not counting discouraged workers as part of the
work force. (A discouraged worker is a person who is unable to find
a job and has given up looking.)

A second official unemployment rate, which counts short-term
(less than one year) discouraged workers and is seldom reported,
stands at 11.2 percent. The US government stopped including long-term
discouraged workers (discouraged for more than one year) in 1994. If
the long-term discouraged are counted, the current unemployment rate
in the US stands at 23.2 percent.

The offshoring of American manufacturing and professional service
jobs such as software engineering and Information Technology has
decimated the middle class. The middle class has not found jobs with
incomes comparable to those moved abroad. The labor cost savings
from offshoring the jobs to Asia has boosted corporate profits, the
performance bonuses of executives and capital gains of shareholders.

Thus all income and wealth gains are concentrated in a few hands at
the top of the income distribution. The number of billionaires grows
as destitution reaches from the lower economic class into the middle
class. American university graduates unable to find jobs return to
their childhood rooms in their parents’ homes and work as waitresses
and bartenders in part-time jobs that will not support an independent
existence.

With a large percentage of the young economically unable to form
households, residential construction, home furnishings, and home
appliances suffer economic weakness. Cars can still be sold only
because the purchaser can obtain 100 percent financing in a six-year
loan. The lenders sell the loans, which are securitized and sold
to gullible investors, just as were the mortgage-backed financial
instruments that precipitated the 2007 US financial crash.

None of the problems that created the 2008 recession, and that
were created by the 2008 recession, have been addressed. Instead,
policymakers have used an expansion of debt and money to paper over
the problems. Money and debt have grown much more than US GDP, which
raises questions about the value of the US dollar and the credit
worthiness of the US government. On July 8, 2014, my colleagues and
I pointed out that when correctly measured, US national debt stands
at 185 percent of GDP.

This raises the question: Why was the credit rating of Russia, a
country with an extremely low ratio of debt to GDP, downgraded and not
that of the US? The answer is that the downgrading of Russian credit
worthiness was a political act directed against Russia in behalf of
US hegemony.

How long can fairy tales and political acts keep the US house of
cards standing? A rigged stock market. A rigged interest rate. A
rigged dollar exchange value, a rigged and suppressed gold price. The
current Western financial system rests on world support for the US
dollar and on nothing more.

The problem with neoliberal economics, which pervades all countries,
even Russia and China, is that neoliberal economics is a tool of
American economic imperialism, as is Globalism. As long as countries
targeted by Washington for destabilization support and cling to
the American doctrines that enable the destabilization, the targets
are defenseless.

If Russia, China, and the BRICS Bank were willing to finance Greece,
Italy, and Spain, perhaps those countries could be separated from
the EU and NATO. The unraveling of Washington’s empire would begin.

Paul Craig Roberts is a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury
and Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. Roberts’ How the
Economy Was Lost is now available from CounterPunch in electronic
format. His latest book is How America Was Lost.

From: A. Papazian

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Chris Zakian
Tel: (212) 686-0710 or (973) 943-8697
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

** TOP STORY March 5, 2015
————————————————————
Sunday of the Good Steward
A 17th-century Dutch etching of the Parable of the Unjust Steward.

** Sunday of the Steward
————————————————————
Jesus’ parable about an unjust steward who was accused of cheating his
master (Luke 16:1-17-the reading for Sunday, March 8) is famous for
being difficult to understand. But it gives very concrete clues about
what it means to be a `good steward.’

The steward is a figure who comes up in many of Jesus’ parables=80’a
`stock character,’ we might say, who would have been very recognizable
to Christ’s listeners. What did stewards do, in the time of Jesus?
What made them so interesting to our Lord?

Click here
()
to visit our blog and to read more.

** Scripture of the Week
————————————————————

Is 56:1-57:21
Eph 4:17-5:14
Lk 16:1-31

** Prayer of the Week
————————————————————

Look with love, O merciful Father, on the created works of your hand,
and grant the camps of the angels to be guardians of our feeble
persons. Deliver us from temptation, from the wandering demons of
night, that by day and by night we may give you glory
incessantly. Amen.

** Upcoming Saints & Feasts
————————————————————

7 March: Sts. John of Jerusalem, John of Otzoon, John of Orotni and
Gregory of Datev

8 March: Sunday of the Steward

11 March: Median Day of Lent

** CHURCH NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
————————————————————
Assyrian Christians in prayer
Assyrian Christian refugees in prayer at a church in Lebanon.

** The Plight of Assyrian Christians
————————————————————
Reports emerging from Syria last week described the assault on
Assyrian Christian communities in the country’s northeastern
region. In Iraq, meanwhile, the terror organization calling itself the
Islamic State has begun demolishing monuments and artifacts from the
ancient Assyrian empire.

In a story all too familiar to the Armenian people, Adul Ahad Nissan,
an Assyrian Christian who was forced to flee his village in Syria,
described in the New York Times the pain of separation from friends
and loved ones. `I made a vow,’ he said, `when I return I want to kiss
the soil of my village and pray in the church.’ Click here
()
to read the Times article.

And please continue to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters in
the Middle East.

** DIOCESAN NEWS
————————————————————
Alex Dadourian
Alex Dadourian.

** In Memoriam: Alex Dadourian
————————————————————
The Eastern Diocese mourns the passing of Mr. Alexander Ara Dadourian,
a longtime leader of the Diocese who carried forward a distinguished
family legacy of service to the Armenian Church and heritage. He
passed away on March 2, at the age of 81.

He and his brothers were deeply influenced by the generation of their
parents, especially the figure of their father, Dadour Dadourian. As a
young man Alex Dadourian was a godfather of St. Vartan Cathedral; and
as he advanced in years he became more involved in the leadership of
the Diocese as a whole, serving on the Armenian Church Endowment Fund
board, and being a deeply valued counselor to Diocesan primates for
more than 40 years.

`Alex Dadourian was a kind and pious gentleman, deeply patriotic, and
profoundly devoted to Christ and the church,’ wrote Diocesan Primate
Archbishop Khajag Barsamian in a message this week. `He and his late
brother Haig were the best possible stewards of their father’s vision:
preserving it, building upon it, and passing it on to further
generations.’

Nubar Dorian
Nubar Dorian.

** In Memoriam: Nubar Dorian
————————————————————
The Eastern Diocese mourns the passing of Mr. Nubar Dorian-a
distinguished community activist and a leader of many Armenian
organizations=80’who passed away on February 28. He was 92.

Born in Lebanon, Mr. Dorian came to America in 1947. His professional
life was spent in the business world, but parallel to that, he was
active in Armenian affairs in the full spectrum of community
institutions.

He also enjoyed a wide following as a writer of commentary articles in
the major Armenian newspapers, which touched on every aspect of
Armenian life. Click here
()
to read a personal reflection on Nubar Dorian’s life and
accomplishment.

FAR
Armenia’s National Medical Library dedicated its reading room to the
late Dr. Edgar Housepian. Pictured above are guests at the formal
opening ceremony.

** Armenia’s Medical Library Honors the Late Dr. Housepian
————————————————————
When Armenia’s newly renovated National Medical Library opened its
doors at the end of December, the library’s reading room was dedicated
to the late Dr. Edgar Housepian-the internationally-renowned
neurosurgeon and a founding member of the Fund for Armenian Relief.

At the formal opening, friends, Armenia’s former health ministers, and
Armenia’s current Health Minister Armen Muradyan recalled
Dr. Housepian’s contributions to the development of the country’s
health care system in the aftermath of the 1988 earthquake.

Thanks to Dr. Housepian’s vision and support, FAR has continuously
contributed to the development of the National Medical Library in
Yerevan, ensuring its access to international medical journals and
electronic databases, and helping it to publish Armenian-language
medical abstracts and to launch its website
()
.

Click here
()
to read more on FAR’s blog.

Lucine Amara
This week Lucine Amara reached a remarkable life milestone: her 90th
birthday.

** A Star at 90
————————————————————
For a certain generation of Armenian-Americans, to witness Lucine
Amara on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera-to hear her golden voice,
and watch her captivate an audience-was more than just a splendid
evening’s entertainment.

As a community, we felt a part of her great artistic achievements. And
the pride we feel for her has been magnified by the devotion Miss
Amara has always shown towards our shared Armenian heritage.

This week, her friends and admirers applauded her once more, as Lucine
Amara reached a remarkable life milestone: her 90th birthday. The
Diocesan Center in New York provided the setting for a joyous
gathering of her family and friends; click here
()
to read about it. And click on the following links to read the
congratulatory newspaper accounts of her amazing life
()
and career
()
.

** PARISH NEWS
————————————————————
Minnesota Council of Churches

** Minnesota Churches Adopt Genocide Resolution
————————————————————
On February 17, the Rev. Fr. Tadeos Barseghyan, pastor of St. Sahag
Church of St. Paul, MN, made a presentation on the Armenian Genocide
at a meeting of the Minnesota Council of Churches.

The ecumenical organization unanimously adopted a resolution
officially recognizing 2015 as the centennial year of the Armenian
Genocide; condemning `the failure of the domestic and international
authorities to come to terms with the yet unanswered questions about
this atrocity’; and calling on its member churches to offer a prayer
on April 19, 2015, for the martyrs of 1915 and for all victims of
crimes against humanity.

Click here
()
to read the full text of the resolution.

Celebrating Coptic Martyrs
Fr. Oshagan Gulgulian (left) with church leaders at St. George Coptic
Orthodox Church of Greater Philadelphia.

** An Expression of Solidarity
————————————————————
On Sunday, March 1, the Very Rev. Fr. Oshagan Gulgulian, pastor of
St. Sahag and St. Mesrob Church of Wynnewood, PA, attended a special
service dedicated to the 21 Christian martyrs who were canonized by
the Coptic Church last month.

The service was held at the St. George Coptic Orthodox Church of
Greater Philadelphia. Bishop Karas of the Coptic Church presided.

Fr. Gulgulian offered a prayer during the service, and expressed the
sense of solidarity Armenian Church members feel towards their Coptic
brothers and sisters.

St. George Church, Hartford, CT
Marianne and Ted Hovivian, of the New York Friends of Gavar Special
School, make a presentation at St. George Church.

** Hartford Parish Supports School in Armenia
————————————————————
On Saturday, February 28, the Women’s Guild of St. George Church of
Hartford, CT, organized its annual Lenten dinner.

Guest speakers Ted and Marianne Hovivian, of the New York Friends of
Gavar Special School, described the work of the school and its mission
to educate children with mental and physical disabilities in
Armenia. Artwork made by the students of the Gavar Special School, as
well as photographs of the school and its recent renovation projects,
were on display in the church hall.

Lorina Abalian, vice chair of the Women’s Guild, said the guild made a
donation to the school to help support its programs. Individual
donations were also made after the presentation by the
parishioners. The Rev. Fr. Gomidas Zohrabian, parish pastor, added,
`We hope the donations collected will allow the school to continue to
make building and program improvements and to provide essential
education for these students.’

Click here
()
to view photos.

Marie Epjian
Marie and Charles Ipjian on their wedding day in 1930.

** Life After the Genocide
————————————————————
When one of the last survivors of the Armenian Genocide residing in
Chicago passed away late last year at the age of 99, she left behind a
testimony to her life and experience.

In this 100th year of remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, the family
of Marie Arabanlian Ipjian shared her story with their fellow
parishioners in Evanston, IL-and they in turn wish to share it with
our readership.

Click here
()
to read Mrs. Ipjian’s testimony.

Rev. Fr. Dajad Davidian
Fr. Dajad Davidian speaks about the impact of the Genocide on the
Armenian Church.

** Lenten Series Underway in Chelmsford
————————————————————
Sts. Vartanantz Church of Chelmsford, MA, is focusing its annual
Lenten program on the Armenian Genocide. On Friday, February 27, the
Rev. Fr. Dajad Davidian spoke about the impact of the Genocide on the
Armenian Church.

Fr. Davidian described the status of Armenian communities in the
Ottoman Empire before 1915, and went on to discuss the effect the
Genocide had on Christian life in Historic Armenia, including the
destruction of churches, monasteries and seminaries, and the
persecution of clergy. He also related the challenges the Armenian
Church faced in the aftermath of the Genocide.

On Friday, March 6, the Rev. Fr. Khachatur Kesablyan, pastor of
Sts. Vartanantz Church, will speak about the idea of divine punishment
and redemption in the Christian faith. Click here
()
to view a flyer for information.

Choir Workshop in White Plains
A regional choir workshop was held in White Plains, NY, for leaders of
junior choirs.

** Workshop for Junior Choir Leaders
————————————————————
On Saturday, February 28, a regional choir workshop was held at
St. Gregory the Enlightener Church in White Plains, NY, for leaders of
junior choirs.

Representatives of St. Gregory the Enlightener Church; Holy Martyrs
Church of Bayside, NY; St. Peter Church of Watervliet, NY; St. Leon
Church of Fair Lawn, NJ; St. Stepanos Church of Elberon, NJ; and
St. Thomas Church of Tenafly, NJ, took part in the workshop.

The Very Rev. Fr. Simeon Odabashian, Diocesan Vicar, opened the
program. The committee-comprised of the Rev. Fr. Gomidas Zohrabian,
Dn. Gregory Krikorian, Maestro Khoren Mekanejian, and
Fr. Odabashian=80’gave an overview of the goals of the junior choir
program. Participants shared updates from their parishes and learned
about methods of teaching Armenian Church hymns to young people.

Upcoming events

** Upcoming Parish Events
————————————————————

St. Leon Church | Fair Lawn, NJ
On Wednesday, March 11, St. Leon Church of Fair Lawn, NJ, will host an
evening with author-photographer Matthew Karanian, whose recent book
is the first-ever guide to the cultural sites of Historic
Armenia. Khatchig Mouradian will reflect on the significance of the
new volume. Click here
()
to view a flyer for information.

On Tuesday, March 17, St. Leon Church will host a book presentation by
French journalists Laure Marchand and Guillaume Perrier, authors of
Turkey and the Armenian Ghost: On the Trail of the Genocide. The book
is a portrait of the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide and the
struggle to have it officially recognized. Click here
()
to view a flyer for information.

St. Gregory the Enlightener Church | White Plains, NY
St. Gregory the Enlightener Church of White Plains, NY, will host an
observance of `Saintly Women’s Day’ on Saturday, March 14, beginning
at 10:30 a.m. The day is dedicated to the unnamed women martyrs of the
Armenian Genocide of 1915. A program and luncheon will follow
services. The RSVP deadline for the luncheon has been extended to
March 7. Click here
()
to view a flyer for registration information.

On Friday, March 20, St. Gregory the Enlightener Church will host a
talk by the Very Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan on the canonization of the
martyrs of the Armenian Genocide. The evening begins with a Lenten
service at 6:30, followed by dinner at 7, and the lecture at 7:30. For
information, call the church at (914) 428-2595.

Holy Cross Church | Union City, NJ
The Women’s Guild of Holy Cross Church of Union City, NJ, will host a
`Saintly Women’s Day’ observance on Saturday, March 7, beginning at 11
a.m. Following a service in the church sanctuary, a luncheon and
program will be held, focusing on the women martyrs of 1915. Click
here
()
to view a flyer for information.

St. Sarkis Church | Dallas, TX
Peter Balakian will give a talk titled “Raphael Lemkin, Cultural
Destruction, and the Armenian Genocide” at Southern Methodist
University on Thursday, March 19, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The lecture
will be held at the university’s Dallas Hall (McCord Auditorium),
located at 6425 Boaz Lane in Dallas, TX.

The event is one of several programs organized by St. Sarkis Church of
Dallas as part of the 100th year of remembrance of the Armenian
Genocide. Click here
()
to view a flyer for information, or contact Hamlet Sarokhanian at
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

St. John Church | Southfield, MI
St. John Church of Southfield, MI, will focus its annual Lenten
Retreat Seminar on the upcoming canonization of the martyrs of the
Armenian Genocide. Guest Speaker Dr. Roberta Ervine, professor of
Armenian Studies at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary in New York, will
give a talk titled =80=9CVictors for Christ: Who is a Saint?’ The
event is scheduled for Saturday, March 21, from 9 a.m. to 3:30
p.m. Click here
()
to view a flyer for information.

Holy Martyrs Church | Bayside, NY
The Shnorhali Choir of Holy Martyrs Church of Bayside, NY, will give a
concert on Sunday, March 22, in observance of the 100th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide. The program will feature performances by the
Shnorhali Choir, guest soloists Yn. Karine Malkhasyan and Ruthann
Turekian, and a special appearance by NJ Hamazkayin’s Arekag
children’s chorus.

The concert begins at 3 p.m. It will be held at St. Malachy’s Church
in the Actors’ Chapel (239 West 49th Street, New York City). Click
here
()
to view a flyer for information.

** YOUTH NEWS
————————————————————
ACYOA Seniors Retreat
ACYOA Central Council members Adrienne Ashbahian and Jonathan Pelaez
at Saturday’s retreat.

** New England ACYOA Members Gather for Retreat
————————————————————
ACYOA Seniors from seven parishes gathered for the New England
Regional Lenten Retreat hosted by the Church of the Holy Resurrection
in New Britain, CT, on February 28.

During the day-long retreat, titled `Living the Gospel of Christ:
Legacy of Our Martyrs,’ young adults were led in a Bible study and
discussion on the Crucifixion and Resurrection by the Rev. Fr. Kapriel
Mouradjian, parish pastor. The Rev. Fr. Untzag Nalbandian, pastor of
the Church of the Holy Ascension of Trumbull, CT, led a discussion on
the canonization of the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide.

Lorie Odabashian, the Diocese’s coordinator of Youth and Young Adult
Ministries, and ACYOA Central Council members Adrienne Ashbahian and
Jonathan Pelaez shared their personal family histories and spoke about
how their family legacies helped to shape their own lives.

Click here
()
to view photos.

ACYOA Jrs Retreat
ACYOA Juniors during the recent retreat in Ohio.

** ACYOA Juniors Learn About Martyrdom
————————————————————
Around 30 ACYOA Juniors from the Cleveland and Detroit communities
gathered at a retreat center in Chardon, OH, from February 27 to March
1, for a Lenten retreat. Themed `Living the Gospel of Christ: Legacy
of Our Martyrs,’ this year’s retreat series is designed to help
participants prepare for the upcoming canonization of the martyrs of
the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

The Rev. Fr. Hratch Sargsyan, pastor of St. Gregory of Narek Church of
Richmond Heights, OH, served as the weekend’s chaplain, leading the
participants in morning and evening prayer services and during one of
the sessions on Saturday afternoon. Additional presentations were made
on Saturday by Jennifer Morris, the Diocese’s director of Youth and
Young Adult Ministries, and guest speaker China Darrington, founder of
XIX Recovery Support Services, who shared a personal story of hope.

On Sunday morning, the group took part in the Divine Liturgy at
St. Gregory of Narek Church. Local parishioners hosted a luncheon for
the young people. Click here
()
to view photos.

2015 ACYOA Retreat Schedule
March 7: ACYOA Juniors and Seniors Texas Retreat – Carrollton, TX
March 7-8: ACYOA Juniors NY/NJ/Mid-Atlantic Retreat – White Plains, NY
March 14: ACYOA Juniors and Seniors Florida Retreat – Boca Raton, FL
March 14: ACYOA Seniors Midwest Retreat – Racine, WI
March 20-22: ACYOA Juniors WI/IL Retreat – Camp Hickory, IL
March 21: ACYOA Seniors NY/NJ/Mid-Atlantic Retreat – Bayside, NY

To register for upcoming retreats, contact Jennifer Morris at
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) ,
or Lorie Odabashian at [email protected]
(mailto:[email protected]) .

ASP

** Register for the Armenia Service Program
————————————————————
The ACYOA Central Council has opened registration for this year’s
ACYOA Armenia Service Program, scheduled for July 1 to 20. The program
of travel, service, and worship gives young adults (ages 18 to 30) a
unique opportunity to discover their homeland and to serve its people
in a meaningful way. ACYOA members leave Armenia with a connection to
their faith and heritage that continues to inspire them throughout
their lives.

This year’s trip leader will be the Rev. Fr. Tadeos Barseghyan
()
, pastor of St. Sahag Church of St. Paul, MN. The Dadourian Foundation
is providing generous scholarship funds to help offset costs for the
first 20 applicants to the ASP program. In addition, the ACYOA Central
Council is offering scholarships to participants in need of financial
assistance.

The registration deadline is March 20. Click on the following links to
view a flyer
()
and to download an application
form. ()
For more information on ASP and the scholarships, contact Jennifer
Morris, the Diocese’s director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries, at
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
or (248) 648-0702.

Khrimian Lyceum
Dr. Sylvie Merian with students of the Diocese’s Khrimian Lyceum.

** Khrimian Lyceum Learns About Manuscript Illumination
————————————————————
Dr. Sylvie Merian, noted art historian, scholar, and curator, was the
guest lecturer at the Diocese’s Khrimian Lyceum on February 7.

In a presentation on Armenian manuscripts, she showed students
goatskin parchments, manuscript colophons, papyrus samples, quills and
reed pens, pigment material and other artifacts from the collection of
the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. Dr. Merian also spoke about
vortan garmeer (Armenian red dye), the use of gold leaf, and the work
of Armenian manuscript artists Dzerun, Sarkis Bidzag, and Toros
Roslin.

The Khrimian Lyceum’s daylong program continued with their choral
practice, language classes, and creative arts sessions in the Armenian
tradition. Click here
()
to view photos.

** EVENTS
————————————————————
Times Square

** Genocide Centennial Observance in New York City
————————————————————
Every Armenian in the greater New York region needs to be a part of
the centennial observance of the Armenian Genocide in New York City on
Sunday, April 26. The day will begin with the Divine Liturgy at
St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral, scheduled for 10 a.m. Archbishop Khajag
Barsamian will celebrate the Divine Liturgy; Archbishop Oshagan
Choloyan will deliver the sermon.

A procession to Times Square will depart the cathedral at 12:00
p.m. The program in Times Square will begin at 1:45 p.m. The 2015
Genocide Commemoration in Times Square is organized by the
Mid-Atlantic Knights and Daughters of Vartan, in affiliation with the
Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of America (Eastern Region).

Click here
()
to view a flyer for information.

Zohrab Center Events

** Zohrab Center Book Talks
————————————————————
The March 5 book presentation by photographer Ariane Ateshian
Delacampagne has been
postponed to Thursday, May 21. The event is organized by the Diocese’s
Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center, the Diocese’s Department
of Armenian Studies, and AGBU’s Ararat Magazine. It will be held in
the Guild Hall of the Diocesan Center (630 Second Avenue at 35th
Street).

March 12 Talk on Historic Armenia

The Diocese’s Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center will co-host
a book presentation by Matthew Karanian, author of Historic Armenia:
After 100 Years. Mr. Karanian will speak about his collection of
photos from Armenian cities and villages in Anatolia.

The event will be held at the AGBU office (55 East 59th Street, New
York City) on Thursday, March 12, at 7 p.m. Click here
()
to view a flyer for information.

Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness composed “Holy Mystery of the Martyrs” in 1976.

** A Concert at St. Vartan Cathedral
————————————————————
St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral and St. Illuminator’s Armenian Cathedral
are co-hosting a concert featuring Alan Hovhaness’s symphony `Holy
Mystery of the Martyrs,’ on Friday, March 20. The Rev. Fr. Hovhan
Khoja-Eynatyan, pastor of St. James Church of Evanston, IL, will be
the guest soloist.

`Holy Mystery of the Martyrs’ was commissioned by the Eastern Diocese
of the Armenian Church and composed by Alan Hovhaness in 1976. The
`holy martyrs’ of the title are the Armenian Christians killed on the
field of Avarayr in 451 A.D. In its 17 movements, =80=9CHoly Mystery
of the Martyrs’ presents individual `prayers’ that convey both the
tragedy of loss and the triumph of survival. The March 20 concert is
dedicated to the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

Click here
()
to view a flyer for information.

From: A. Papazian