Author: Badalian Vardan

CATHOLICOS OF ARMENIA TO BUILD WITH HABITAT FOR HUMANITY IN NEW ORLEANS

Religion News Service, DC
Oct 18 2007

AMERICUS, Ga. (Oct. 17, 2007) -The leader of the Armenian Church,
His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All
Armenians, rolled up his sleeves in New Orleans October 17 to help
build a home in Habitat for Humanity’s Musicians’ Village.

His Holiness visited New Orleans, a place in the hearts and minds of
many in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as a gesture of goodwill
from Armenia. The Catholicos is sympathetic to the suffering caused by
the hurricane because Armenia is still recovering from the devastating
1988 earthquake that left 500,000 people homeless and inspired his
work with Habitat for Humanity.

The relationship between the Catholicos and Habitat for Humanity now
spans across two nations. His Holiness has worked with Habitat for
Humanity in his native Armenia, planting trees, painting walls and
hammering nails while helping build more than 70 homes.

In April 2006, the Armenian Church and Habitat for Humanity signed
an agreement of long- term cooperation. The agreement allowed for
the creation of His Holiness Karekin II Work Project. His Holiness
Karekin II personally spearheaded efforts to construct 37 homes across
Armenia, giving witness to the ancient Armenian tradition of charity,
volunteerism and social concern as part of the His Holiness Karekin
II Work Project in 2007.

In September 2006, Habitat For Humanity Armenia hosted an inaugural
event where more than 300 volunteers from Europe, the United States,
Armenia and other countries came together to help build a 24-unit
condominium building. The events of 2006 took place with the personal
involvement of His Holiness Karekin II.

As Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin II presides
over the Supreme Spiritual Council (the Armenian Church’s governing
college of bishops and lay persons). He is the leader of the world’s
7 million Armenian Christians.

Here in America, the Armenian Church regularly takes part in Habitat
for Humanity projects. Each year, the College Ministry program at the
Armenian Church supports an Alternative Spring Break project where
Armenian Christian college students use their spring breaks to build
homes. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Armenian Church
(Eastern) helps support the project and actively encourages students
to participate.

Musicians’ Village was established as a community for New Orleans’
numerous generations of musicians and other families displaced by
Hurricane Katrina, many whom had lived in inadequate housing prior
to the catastrophe. Conceived by New Orleans natives Harry Connick, Jr.

and Branford Marsalis, Musicians’ Village is being constructed in
the Upper Ninth Ward, where an eight-acre parcel of land was selected
for the construction of 70 single-family homes built by volunteers,
donors, sponsors and low-income families.

Since groundbreaking began in March 2006, 40 homes have been
completed. Among the project’s innovative features are elder-friendly
duplexes for the senior members of the community and the Ellis Marsalis
Center for Music, a 150-seat performance space with state of the art
lighting and sound, a recording studio, classrooms and rehearsal
spaces. The facility will be available to residents of Musician’s
Village as well as to students and artists citywide.

About Habitat for Humanity International Habitat for Humanity
International is an ecumenical Christian ministry that welcomes to
its work all people dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty
housing. Since its founding in 1976, Habitat has built more than
225,000 houses worldwide, providing simple, decent and affordable
shelter for more than 1 million people. For more information, visit

m/press02/PR101707A.html

ANKARA, LONDON TO SIGN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP DOCUMENT

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Oct 19 2007

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan is expected to sign a strategic
partnership document with his British counterpart, Gordon Brown,
during his visit to London later this month, the Prime Ministry
announced on Thursday.

A similar document was signed at the time between Turkey and the United
States, the two NATO allies which have been facing a troubled period
in their bilateral relations. Problems have arisen between the two both
due to Turkey’s intention to launch a military operation into northern
Iraq in order to tackle the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
bases there and the recent approval of a resolution by a US House
committee labeling World War I-era killings of Anatolian Armenians
"genocide." In July 2006 a "shared vision document" was unveiled by
then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, now Turkish president, and US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, which they said would boost what
they described "the two nations’ strategic partnership."

Britain has all along been a firm supporter of Turkey’s bid to become
a full member of the European Union. It has also been a key ally of
the US-led invasion of Iraq. This month, Brown announced plans to cut
Britain’s troops in southern Iraq by more than half by next spring,
to some 2,500, while unidentified officials have suggested all British
forces could be out by the end of 2008.

Earlier this week, while warning that any Turkish incursion into Iraq
would have "grave consequences" for the region, Iraqi Deputy Prime
Minister Barham Salih also said that British troops would be needed
in the violence-scarred country "for some time to come."

"We know that more British troops will withdraw from Basra, in large
measure because there is confidence in the Iraqi forces in the Basra
area to assume the lead in security management in the region. We
still have challenges in Basra and I don’t want to underestimate the
challenges ahead, but at the end of the day there has to be a point
where Iraqi security services assume the lead. We can’t count on
outsiders — our friends — forever. We definitely will need continued
British support for some time to come," Salih said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Prime Ministry also announced that, during his visit
scheduled for Oct. 22-23, Erdoðan will also pay a visit to the British
parliament where he will hold meetings with speakers of both the
House of Lords and the House of Commons.

While in Britain Erdoðan will deliver a speech at the Oxford Union,
a prestigious debating society, and will explain the Turkish foreign
policy’s regional and global vision, goals and priorities.

–Boundary_(ID_85SZq/+8BvOq+T1h3roHPw )–

ASK THE ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER

Los Angeles Times, CA
Oct 19 2007

On Friday, October 19, the editorial board will host a discussion
with Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. Where do you come in,
dear readers? Give us some questions!

Click on the "Comments" button, or send us an e-mail with your
hard-hitting queries. And to see a whole barrel of links related to
the controversial congressional genocide resolution, keep on reading
after the jump.

Here’s the prime minister’s itinerary while in the States. Here’s a
Turkish Press writer warning about the visit. Here is a dense analysis
of the new-to-me "problems of Javakhetia" (having to do with ethnic
Armenians living in bordering Georgia). Here is a totally unrelated
story about an Armenian member of Parliament who was stabbed repeatedly
in a Moscow casino; it was the second time he’d been attacked in the
Metropol Hotel.

More to the point, Washington Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt
heaps scorn on the genocide resolution:

Imagine what the Armenian diaspora might have accomplished had it
worked as hard for democracy in Armenia as it did for congressional
recognition of the genocide Armenians suffered nearly a century ago.

It’s even possible that modern Armenia would be as democratic as
modern Turkey. […]

Things began well [in post-Soviet Armenia], with the honest election
of a former dissident as president. But authoritarian tendencies
soon emerged, the former dissident rigged his reelection in 1996,
and things went downhill from there. As Freedom House noted last year,
"all national elections held in Armenia since independence have been
marred by some degree of ballot stuffing, vote rigging, and similar
irregularities." Meanwhile, opposition politicians have been jailed,
protests have been brutally suppressed, and broadcast media have been
taken under government control. […]

[T]he two main Armenian American lobbying organizations in Washington
have focused more on security questions — opposing arms sales to
Azerbaijan, for example, and opposing Turkey, Azerbaijan’s ally —
than on promoting democracy in Yerevan. Armenia’s rulers have known
that, no matter how they trample on individual rights at home, the
lobbying groups will cover for them here.

Others in the
I-can’t-freaking-believe-they’re-even-talking- about-this-resolution
camp include The Nation’s Nicholas Von Hoffman, The Guardian’s Simon
Tisdall, Time’s Joe Klein and syndicated columnist Thomas Sowell,
who calls it "another effort to sabotage Iraq war." Witnesses for
the resolution include Michael Moodian in the L.A. Daily News and
Salon’s Gary Kamiya, who make an interesting-to-me point about how
this issue is symbolic of a largely unremarked-on flight to Realism
among the foreign-policy Left:

One of the stranger reversals wrought by Bush’s neoconservative foreign
policy has been the rejection by much of the left of a morality-based
foreign policy. Angry at the failure of the neocons’ grand, idealistic
schemes, some on the left have embraced a realism that formerly was
associated with the America-first right. But by throwing out morality
in foreign policy because of the neocon debacle in Iraq, these leftists
are in danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The problem
with Bush’s Middle East policy hasn’t been that it’s too moralistic —
it’s that its morality has been flawed and incoherent.

ARA ABRAHAMIAN ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF YEREVAN SCHOOL N 163

Noyan Tapan
Oct 17 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Ara Abrahamian, the Chairman of the
World Armenian Congress (WAC), was elected the Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of Yerevan school N 163. Karen Shahbazian, school headmaster,
reported at the event organized on October 17 at the school within
the framework of the Days of the World Armenian Congress (WAC) and
Union of Armenians in Russia (UAR) being held in Armenia and Artsakh.

Vladimir Aghayan, the Vice-Chairman of WAC and UAR, said in his
speech that since 2005 they have been implementing a program of giving
computers to organizations of various spheres of Armenia, within the
framework of which more than 1000 computers have been already given,
600 out of which have been given to schools. Five computers with
the necessary equipment were given to the school for the purpose of
founding a computer class at Yerevan’s school N 163.

21 FAMILIES MOVE TO ARMENIA BY "ASSISTANCE FOR RETURN OF RA CITIZENS FROM SWITZERLAND" PROGRAM

Noyan Tapan
Oct 17 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. 21 families, that is, 51 people,
have already moved to Armenia by the "Assistance for the return of
RA citizens from Switzerland" program. This information was provided
to a Noyan Tapan correspondent by Hambardzum Abrahamian, the Chief
specialist of the Department of Migration Programs of the Migration
Agency under the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration. He
mentioned that the program is being implemented due to the
sponsorship of the Swiss side, according to the memorandum signed in
2004. According to Hambardzum Abrahamian, those, who return within
the frameworks of the program, are shown health, social-psychological
assistance, they are provided with jobs and as for children of school
age, special educational courses are organized for them.

Those, who return, are given credits in case of introducing a business
program.

CHINA, TURKEY ANGRY AT US MOVES
By Jennifer Loven

The Associated Press
Oct 17 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Democratic Congress, a thorn in President
Bush’s side from the get-go on Iraq, now is contributing to diplomatic
headaches for the White House in other parts of the world.

A Capitol Hill ceremony on Wednesday was to confer the prestigious
Congressional Gold Medal on the Dalai Lama. The reaction from China,
which reviles the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet’s Buddhists as a
separatist, was swift and angry.

Beijing pulled out of an international strategy session on Iran – a
subtle reminder to the Bush administration that China’s vote will be
the key to winning the new United Nations sanctions on Tehran sought
by the United States.

Turkey, meanwhile, is considering retaliation for a House resolution
labeling as genocide the World War I-era killing of up to 1.5 million
Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey denies
the deaths were a systematic campaign to eliminate Armenians and
considers a committee’s passage of the resolution last week an affront.

Both actions amount to a sharp poke in the eye to countries whose
cooperation is sorely needed by the United States on big issues
including the Iraq war and the fights to contain Iran and North Korea’s
nuclear ambitions. They lessen Bush’s ability to wheel and deal abroad,
where leaders and the people make little or no distinction between
U.S. policy that originates in Congress or at the White House.

And these are only the latest examples of Congress, in Democratic
hands since January, doing what it pleases on foreign policy with
little ability for the White House to change the outcome.

In April, for instance, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a high-profile
visit to Syria, a diplomatic overture that was at odds with White
House policy and sharply criticized by Bush.

The House also this summer passed a resolution that urged Japan to
more clearly and formally apologize for forcing thousands of Asian
women into sex slavery during World War II, increasing tensions with
Tokyo and contributing to a rise in anti-American sentiment in Japan.

And lawmakers are blocking approval of a pending free-trade deal
with South Korea because of barriers erected by Seoul to keep out
U.S. autos and beef.

"It entirely weakens the administration’s leverage in these countries,"
said Mike Green, who worked on Bush’s National Security Council and
is now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a
Washington think tank. "It looks like a gratuitous political attack
on an ally."

The accolades for the Dalai Lama in Washington this week have provoked
an unusually blunt response from Beijing, which particularly resents
Bush’s role. To be sure, Congress had a Republican majority last year
when it approved adding the Dalai Lama to the list of those given its
highest civilian honor. Yet, it wasn’t until Democrats took over that
the decision was made to stage a public presentation ceremony.

But unlike the vote that angered Turkey, Bush supports the move
to honor the Tibetan leader and will deliver brief remarks at the
festivities in the Capitol Rotunda.

He had little choice; he’s only missed other Congressional Gold Medal
ceremonies because of travel. Skipping one for the Dalai Lama could
have produced worse consequences than following precedent.

But Bush also chose to host the spiritual leader for a private
meeting on Tuesday in the White House residence – again following
precedent, but one that mightily displeased China. In one small nod
to Beijing’s concerns, the White House decided against following the
previous practice of publicly releasing a photo of Bush and the Dalai
Lama together.

Bush argued during a Wednesday news conference that "I don’t think
it’s going to damage – severely damage" the Washington-Beijing
relationship. The issue of religious freedom in China, and particularly
Tibet, has long been on the U.S.-China agenda, and Bush informed
Chinese President Hu Jintao in September that he would participate
in Wednesday’s ceremony, at the same time that he promised to attend
the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Turkey, meanwhile, is a full-on ally, a NATO member and a key Muslim
partner for Washington even more critical now because of the many
supply lines to troops in Iraq that go through and over the country.

The United States also is working to keep Turkey from launching an
offensive against Kurdish rebels across the border in northern Iraq,
fearing it would destabilize one of Iraq’s most stable areas.

Turkey’s Parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved such a
military action.

"Congress has more important work to do than antagonizing a democratic
ally in the Muslim world, especially one that’s providing vital
support for our military every day," Bush told reporters Wednesday.

EDITOR’S NOTE _ Jennifer Loven covers the White House for The
Associated Press.

"EDUCATION AND CAREER EXPO-2007" EXHIBITION TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN BETWEEN OCTOBER 16-18

Noyan Tapan
Oct 16 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The 8th international specialized
exhibition titled "Education and Career EXPO-2007" will be held in the
"Moscow house" cultural-business center between October 16 and 18.

According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the Press
Service of the "LOGOS EXPO" exhibition center, the main goal of the
exhibition is to provide schoolchildren and students with information
concerning the whole sphere of modern education, to contribute to the
establishment of practical relations between educational institutions
and enterprises, as well as to inform about specialities, which are
in great demand in the employment market. In addition to this, it
aims at organizing meetings between the unemployed and real employers.

Educational institutions, that is to say, higher educational
institutions, colleges, educational centers and international donor
organizations, operating in Armenia and abroad will take part in this
event organized by the "LOGOS EXPO" exhibition center.

Hernando Today, FL
Oct 13 2007

Turtle instead of an eagle
By JOHN NASH
Published: Oct 12, 2007

The situation involving Turkey and our pork-fed Congress can have
serious impact on U.S. hopes to pacify the Middle East. Although they
have no business doing so, our liberal and feckless Congress is
wasting time, while undermining the security of the world, by
catering to a small-but-active political lobby demanding that the
U.S. officially condemn modern Turkey for alleged atrocities
committed during a war that took place a century ago, when Turkey was
ruled by a significantly different government.
Such a thoughtless and ridiculous act will accomplish little other
than so straining Turkish-American relations that we may lose an
important air force base. Even worse, we could lose the support and
friendship of Turkey, the only bridge between Asia and Europe,
between East and West, between radical Islam and rational secularism.
What is the basis for strident claims that the Ottoman Empire
(predecessor to today’s Turkey) attempted to wipe out Armenians
living in the Empire during the First World War?
Unfortunately, irrefutable details are hard to come by and as a
result, both sides of the argument routinely present grainy photos
and other questionable evidence to support opposing claims.
All that seems clear is that large numbers of Armenians, while
residing in the eastern part of the Ottoman Empire (today’s eastern
Turkey), allied themselves with the Ottoman’s traditional enemy,
Russia. Understandably viewed as an intolerable situation by the
Turks, a campaign was mounted to move them out of Turkey; in that
process perhaps hundreds of thousands of the Armenians perished – so
also did large numbers of Turks.
If we Congress persists in its condemnation of modern Turkey, for
what its distant ancestors are alleged to have done, the U.S. and its
attempts to make the world a safer place will almost surely suffer
penalties with potential for major military and diplomatic setbacks.
Thirty years ago, when the U.S. carelessly chose to publicly side
with Greece in its dispute with Turkey over the island of Cyprus, we
naively cut off military aid to our staunch Turkish ally. The Turks
were quick to retaliate, by essentially closing down some dozen U.S.
military installations in Turkey. In that process, the U.S. lost
vital intelligence being gathered by radio intercept,
over-the-horizon radar to detect missile launches in the Soviet Union
and various other sensors used to detect missile and bomb tests by
the Soviets.
Although we kept those installations open in a caretaker status for
several years, we eventually abandoned them, turning ownership of
small cities of homes and other facilities over to the Turks. During
that period of avoidable tension between the allies, Iranians were
allowed to invade the U.S. Embassy in their capital city. From
November 4, 1979 until Jan 20, 1981, Iran held 62 diplomats hostage,
having no fear that President Jimmy Carter would take effective
action against them for their international crime. At one point, the
Pentagon did, however, plan a major operation to both punish Iran and
rescue the hostages.
A still-operating U.S. airbase at Incirlik in southern Turkey, was
the cornerstone of that massive operation. Without warning Ankara,
the U.S. began gathering the necessary air forces at Incirlik. A
Turkish colonel, who’d taken control of Incirlik during the Cypriot
fiasco, went on television to advise the nation that "No American
aircraft will be allowed to start its engines, except in preparation
for a return trip to where they had come from."
An alternate plan to invade Iran with a helicopter force of special
forces from places other than Turkey met an ignominious end in the
desert. Iran subsequently released the captives one day after a
strong president (Ronald Reagan) took the oath of office]. Incirlik
today has become world famous as the main air base supporting our
military objectives in Iraq and other nations of the region. If
Turkey shuts it down as a result of our silly resolution of
condemnation for some long-distant act of war, the impact will likely
be immediate and tragic.
You’d think that we’d learn from history, but we clearly refuse to do
so. Our Congress is like a tortoise, which when picked up and turned
around, will repeatedly turn itself back to its prior route — even
wandering across a heavily traveled highway. Perhaps we should
replace out national symbol – the fierce and swift eagle – for a
single-minded, lumbering, tortoise.

J. G. Nash is a long-time resident of Florida. He writes regularly
about travel, as well as providing opinion columns. Comments may be
sent to him at [email protected].

olumnists/MGBMP1X2P7F.html

Worcester Telegram, MA
Oct 13 2007

Local Armenians cheer action

House to vote on genocide resolution

By Thomas Caywood TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER – For Armenian-American Van M. Aroian, the brewing
diplomatic crisis over a proposed congressional resolution labeling
the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire a genocide comes
down to expediency versus morality.

He sees the choice like this: Congress can placate the Turkish
government to preserve an important ally in the Iraq war, or it can
take a public stand against genocide, come what may.

`Most Armenians think, as do most Americans, that American foreign
policy has to be based on some moral ideals,’ said Mr. Aroian, whose
mother as a young girl fled the mass killings during and after World
War I in what is now Turkey. `When the genocide is denied, it
continues on a psychological level.’

The Turkish government attributes the deaths and displacement of
Armenians between 1916 and 1923 to civil war and general unrest and
disputes the claim that up to 1.5 million were killed. Turkey has
threatened to cut military ties with the United States over the
resolution, which made it out of committee Wednesday and is expected
to come to a vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives
by Thanksgiving.

Local Armenian-Americans cheered the news that after decades of
trying the resolution is headed for a vote on the House floor, where
it appears to have enough support to pass. Its prospects in the
Senate are less clear.

The Turkish government, meanwhile, has dug in its heels against the
resolution – recalling its ambassador for consultations and yesterday
publicly musing about invading the Kurdish area of northern Iraq.

`I just hope that people understand that it’s still in the best
interest of the United States not to back off human rights because of
threats from any country,’ said Armenian-American Lara R. Kopoyan of
Northboro.

George Aghjayan, chairman of the Armenian National Committee of
Central Massachusetts, said the group’s members are pleased to see
the resolution move forward but are far from declaring victory.

`It was such a difficult vote, and people were very relieved at the
outcome,’ he said. `We’re very, very excited, but there’s still a lot
of work to do.’

Mr. Aghjayan said members of his group have been lighting up the
switchboards in congressional offices all week urging lawmakers not
to be swayed by the Turkish threat to cut off access to their air
bases.

`Are the people treating the issue this way, the ones we really want
to be working with as our allies?’ he said.

Mr. Aroian said he fears the threat of a diplomatic fall out with
Turkey might become an excuse for lukewarm supporters of the
resolution in Congress to `get off the hook,’ he said.

The Pentagon has said roughly 70 percent of air cargo supplies for
American troops in Iraq pass through Turkey, and American forces use
Turkish airspace and airfields to fly missions in Iraq.

Mr. Aroian said he can appreciate the delicate position the Bush
administration is in with the Turks, but he sees no reason why
President Bush can’t throw his weight around too.

`He’s got to say, `Hey, you’re an important ally, but why don’t you
act as a responsible country? Open up that border with Armenia,’ ‘
Mr. Aroian said. `If President Bush is trying to be the leader of a
democracy with some international standing, he’s got to put some
pressure on the Turks to obey international law.’

As the killings raged last century, Mr. Aroian’s mother, who was 8
years old at the time, slipped into the Syrian desert with her
mother. The two were separated there somehow, and his mother ended up
first in Egypt and then with an aunt in Woonsocket, R.I. She later
learned that her mother was still in Syria.

`I can remember coming home from school and looking up to see my
mother in the window,’ he said. `If her head was down, I knew my
mother was crying, and I knew when I walked up the stairs there’d be
a letter from my grandmother.’

0130355/1116

ArmRadio – Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 13 2007

His Holiness Garegin II blesses Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial

13.10.2007 11:26

On a day that started with His Holiness Karekin II delivering the
opening prayer in the House of Representatives and ended with the
favorable vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee which referred
the Armenian Genocide resolution to the floor, the Armenian
Catholicos also stopped at the landmark Washington building which is
being converted into the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial.

In remarks upon the conclusion of the blessing of the house service,
His Holiness said: "I bring my appreciation for your efforts to
memorialize the victims of the Armenian Genocide." Standing with the
Catholicos are Near East Foundation Board of Directors Chairman Shant
Mardirossian, Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial Building and
Operations Committee member Zaven Tachdjian, His Eminence Archbishop
Khajak Barsamian of the Diocese of the Armenian Church, AGMM Board of
Trustees Chairman Hirair Hovnanian, AGMM Committee Chairman Van
Krikorian, former chairwoman of the Armenian Assembly of America
Board of Directors Annie Totah, and former chairman of the Armenian
Assembly of America Board of Directors Peter Vosbikian.