Author: Badalian Vardan

BLOG WITH INFORMATION ABOUT ARMENIAN CHURCHES OF IRAN OPERATES

NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY
YEREVAN
JULY 27, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A blog which belongs
to the UNESCO’s Dias del Futuro Pasado website took rare photos and
news about several monuments which are favorite historic places for
Armenians and are included in the list of buildings having special
significance, in the World Heritage center, the Azg daily wrote.

These Armenian medieval churches, Saint Thaddeus (Tadei), Saint
Stepanos and the chapel of Dzordzor are situated near the northern
mountain chain of Iran and now they are in uninhabited and deserted
valleys. Kurd and Azeri villagers live in the vicinity. There are no
Armenians. "At first sight it will seem surprising for many people that
such Armenian churches were built on the forign Mahometan places far
away from Armenia, however after getting acquainted with the history
it becomes clear that they were not built far away from Armenia but
it was Armenia that moved away from them", the commentary of the
blog mentioned.

The map next to the pictures shows that the churches were built in the
center of historical Armenia in the cradle of the Armenian people, in
Vaspurakan. Tavriz, which was the trade gate in Marko Polo’s period,
was in its Eastern part and in the upper part, on the side of Araks
was Julfa, the way of Persian silk.

According to the legend, St Thaddeus church was founded in the place
of the former pagan temple in 66 by one of the first preachers of
Christianity, apostle St Thadeus. According to Father of Armenian
history Movses Khorenatsi, the preacher is buried there. After the
earthquake of 1324 the monastry was repaired and for its black and
white stones the natives called it Kara Kilise (a black church).

St Stepanos church dates back to the 7th century but it was built much
earlier by apostle Bardughimeos. The natives called it Kizil Kilisa
(a golden church) for the bright light auburn flashes of its stones. In
several kilometres from the church you can still see the ruins of the
last Armenian village Darashamb. Darashamb was an Armenian-populated
village in Iran’s Maku province. It had 280 inhabitants in 1916 who
were engaged in agriculture and cattle-breeding. The most part of
them immigrated in the Soviet Armenia in 1928 and the rest in 1946.

The chapel of Dzoradzor is the one known least of all, it was built
in the 10th century and was repaired after the earthquake of 1324.

HEAD OF ARMENIA’S REPRESENTATION IN EU, AMBASSADOR AVET ADONTS HANDS HIS CREDENTIALS TO EUROPEAN COMMISSION CHAIRMAN JOSE MANUEL BARROSO

Noyan Tapan
July 24, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. Head of Armenia’s representation
in EU, Ambassador Avet Adonts handed his credentials to European
Commission Chairman Jose Manuel Barroso on July 23. As Noyan Tapan was
informed by the RA Foreign Ministry Press and Information Department,
a talk took place after the ceremony of handing the credentials,
during which the Armenia-EU relations and their development prospects
were touched upon. Issues regarding establishment of Armenia-EU new
contract relations, signing a free trade agreement, simplification
of the entrance visa regime, as well as the positive developments in
Armenia’s home political life were also discussed.

A. Adonts presented the European Commission Chairman with the latest
developments over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the current
condition of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.

J.-M. Barroso reaffirmed EU’s readiness to continue deepened
cooperation with Armenia, for which Eastern Partnership gives
good opportunities. He welcomed Armenia’s efforts aimed at Nagorno
Karabakh peaceful settlement and normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations. J.-M. Barroso also mentioned European Commission’s readiness
to undertake measures to complete OSCE Minsk Group’s work.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT SETS UP INTERNATIONAL EXPERT COMMISSION ON LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT OF YEREVAN PHYSICS INSTITUTE

Noyan Tapan
July 23, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. By the May 20 decision of the RA prime
minister, the Armenian government has set up the International Expert
Commission on the Long-Term Development of Yerevan Physics Institute,
RA Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsian announced at a briefing
held prior to the July 23 discussion. According to him, the expert
commission is composed of internationally known scientists in the field
of physics from Russia, Germany, the UK, the U.S., and France. "They
must conduct serious studies and submit their conclusion to RA Ministry
of Economy within 2-3 days," the minister said. He added that based on
the conclusion, a report on directions of the development of Yerevan
Physics Institute will be drawn up and submitted to the government.

The Director of Yerevan Physics Institute Ashot Chilingarian told
reporters that "the world’s best scientists in in the fields of high
energy and nuclear physics" have been included in the commission. In
his words, they should determine the scientific directions of the
institute’s development and help the Armenian government understand
on what programs it is necessary to make investment.

The Chairman of the newly created International Expert Commission,
Scientific Head of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of the
Joint Institute for Nuclear Resreach (JINR) in Dubna Yuri Hovhannisian
in his turn said Yerevan Physics Institute has hardly survived after
the collapse of the Soviet Union. He underlined that there is much
to be done to make progress in physics.

AZERBAIJAN: NO PROGRESS IN TALKS ON DISPUTE

Associated Press Worldstream
July 20, 2009 Monday 2:49 PM GMT

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister says last week’s meeting between the
presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia brought no progress toward
resolving a long-standing territorial dispute.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Serge Sarkisian met
Friday in Moscow to discuss the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh. The
mountainous region is a part of Azerbaijan that has been under control
of Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire
ended six years of war.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said Monday that
Friday’s talks did not bring progress. But he said a trilateral meeting
Saturday with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev did raise hopes.

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balaian called the meetings
"constructive."

VTB ARMENIA BANK ROBBED

armradio.am
22.07.2009 16:46

VTB Bank Armenia branch was robbed at 9.30 a.m. local time today.

Press Service of RA Police informs that three masked persons entered
the fourth branch of the Bank at Bank at 56, Baghramyan Street,
Yerevan and beat Manager Seda H., born in 1954. The criminal escaped,
taking 3,900 000 AMD, 3,040 USD, 420 Euros and 18,000 Russian rubles.

Seda H. was taken to "St. Grigor Lusavoritch" medical center.

The Police take measures to find the criminals. Investigation is
under way at the Arabkir Police Department.

Yerevan to celebrate Alaverdi City Day on July 22
18.07.2009 19:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On July 22 Yerevan will celebrate Alaverdi City Day
by `Learn about Armenia: Alaverdi’ photo exhibition.
The exhibition is organized by the School of Young Leaders. The event
aims at introducing Alaverdi to Yerevan citizens. The exhibition will
serve as a visual story about people and sights of Alaverdi.

School of Young Leaders program has been implemented since
2006. Number of students at the School of Young Leaders comprises
24000

Today.Az, Azerbaijan
July 18 2009

Meeting between Azerbaijani, Armenian presidents will help co-chairs
to formulate new suggestions: U.S. co-chair

18 July 2009 [09:32] – Today.Az

"Today’s meeting between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia
Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan has provided the co-chairs with more
detailed views of Heads of State on the remaining key issues to settle
the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."

"This in turn will help the co-chairs to formulate suggestions helpful
for the sides to narrow their differences," OSCE Minsk Group
U.S. co-chair Matthew Bryza said on July 17.

"Today’s exchange of views of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia
has provided the co-chairs with more detailed views of the presidents
on the key remaining issues, which will help us formulate proposals to
help the sides narrow their differences," he said.

On July 18, Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian presidents are expected
to meet in a trilateral format.

This is sixth meeting in a format of Aliyev – Sargsian so
far. Previous talks between Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham
Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan took place on June 4 in St. Petersburg. The
summit was the fifth between the heads of two countries on the
Karabakh settlement. Previous meeting was held in Prague on May 7. The
first talks were held June of last year in St. Petersburg and the
second meeting was held in late November 2008 in Moscow, the third –
in Zurich on January 28 this year.

Bryza said the meeting was deep and constructive, and there was
detailed discussion of the difficult elements of the Basic Principles
that remain to be agreed.

"Unfortunately, the presidents did not make any new decisions
today. But, they did build on the progress they made in
St. Petersburg, where did take some decisions," he said.

American co-chair said he hopes that the presidents will make progress
in the trilateral meeting tomorrow.

/Trend News/

URL:

PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN MEET IN MOSCOW
Siranush Muradyan

"Radiolur"
17.07.2009 17:26
Moscow

The seventh meeting between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev started in Moscow a few minutes ago.

The meeting is particularly important, because it follows the statement
the Presidents of the United States, Russia and France issued within
the framework of the Group of Eight summit in Italy and the revealing
of the Madrid Principles.

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan was the first to arrive at the
President Hotel. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan arrived a few
minutes later.

The Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan shook hands and the meeting
started. The Foreign Ministers of the two countries and the co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group participate in the meeting.

IRANIAN PRESIDENT URGES TO LAUNCH AN IMMEDIATE INVESTIGATION INTO THE CRASH

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.07.2009 18:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has expressed
his regret over the plane crash. Ahmadinejad’s office said in a
statement that "the passenger plane crash and the death of many of
our dear citizens have caused a lot of grief and sorrow."

According to the report, the Iranian president instructed his
transportation minister to launch an immediate investigation into the
crash and report to him and to the Iranian people about its findings.

The plane was traveling from Tehran to Yerevan in Armenia when it
came down at 11:33 am (0703 GMT) near the city of Qazvin, the official
IRNA news agency said.

The plane crashed 16 minutes after take-off from the capital’s Imam
Khomeini International airport, it said.

ARMENIANS HOLD ANNUAL CULTURAL FESTIVAL In Laval

Laval News
r171404.html
July 15 2009
Quebec, Canada

Armenians from all over Laval, Montreal and areas even further got
together for one of Quebec’s biggest annual celebrations of Armenian
culture in the days leading up to this past Canada Day.

The Armenian Festival, held on the site of the former Centre 2000
shopping centre on Saint-Martin Boulevard, attracted thousands of
local Armenians who enjoyed traditional foods, midway games, dancing
and live music, to remind them of their Armenian roots and culture. As
many as 9,000 Laval residents are of Armenian descent.

A fundraiser Organized as a fundraiser by members of the Sourp Kevork
Armenian Apostolic Church, it is one of the largest festivals local
Armenians stage. "We organize every year an Armenian festival in
Laval and everyone is welcome," said Sarkis Majarian, one of the
organizers. "It’s to collect money to build a church, and for some
activities for the young generation, such as basketball, hockey." While
the weather was excellent on Canada Day when many of the festival’s
main events were taking place, things weren’t so good on the previous
days when it often rained.

A family reunion "It’s a family reunion with friends," he said. "Friday
night we had about 900 people. Saturday we had an excellent day. We
had more than 1,000 people." One of the main sponsors was the Caisse
Desjardins de Chomedey, which sponsored the children’s inflatable
games. Attendance at this year’s festival was at about 80 per
cent of the norm, due partly to rain, but also the downturn in the
economy." Among the dignitaries who dropped by were the Armenian
Orthodox archbishop from Montreal, Bloc Québécois MP for Laval Nicole
Demers, Chomedey Liberal MNA Guy Ouellette, Laval city councillor
Ginette Bernier and others.

Formula for success For the past three years, the Armenian community
has been able to use the Centre 2000 site for the festival free
of charge thanks to the generosity of the SmartCentres corporation
which is the owner. Part of the festival’s formula for success has
been keeping up with the times — especially in terms of the music,
which is rooted in folk-tradition and focuses on love, hope and
friendship. Some who come to the festival each year do so as a way
of encouraging younger family members to keep Armenian traditions
and values.