Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

HONORING A LONG LIFE: LUCY MIRIGIAN TURNS 105
By Kristine Keshishian

asbarez
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

The children and many friends of Mrs. Lucy Mirigian, lovingly referred
to as Aunt Lu, celebrated her 105th Birthday at the home of Dr. Garo
and Aida Mirigian, in Fremont, California, on August 6. More than
150 guests, many of them out-of-towners, were delighted to be part
of the celebration. Commendations and good wishes were heaped upon
her. Her birthday invitation appropriately read, “Est. 1906”, “Aged
to perfection”. In lieu of gifts, donations went to the Armenian
Educational Foundation, for the Mirigian School in Armenia.

Garo, her son, who acted as the MC, said lovingly and humorously that
“Lu” was already working on her 110th birthday party, just as at
the centennial, she began to plan this one. After Rev. ArchP. Khoren
Habeshian, Pastor of St. Gregory Arm. Apos. Church of San Francisco
blessed the food and the present company, family and friends enjoyed
a delicious luncheon in a convivial atmosphere.

Lucy’s life begins in Erzeroum, the fifth child of Kevork and Altoun
Sarkissian. Having contracted small pox as a small child, she lost
the vision in her left eye and spent the rest of her life with one
artificial eye. The Sarkissian family escaped Turkey just before the
genocide. They made their home in Fresno where Lucy grew up. As a
teenager she contracted typhoid fever and had to drop out of school.

But Lucy being the fighter that she is worked her way back to school
and completed her education. It is said that what doesn’t kill you,
makes you stronger; and Lucy is a living proof of that adage.

Lucy married Ashod Mirigian in 1936 and they made their home in San
Francisco. They were blessed with two children, Garo and Sonia. Lucy
taught Sunday school and Armenian Saturday school in Fresno and San
Francisco. Armenian GIs in World War II, having learned Armenian
in Lucy’s classes, were able to write home to their parents. Lucy
and Ashod encouraged their children to become active members of the
Armenian community. Garo met Aida in the AYF, and Sonia met Hagop
while she was teaching at the Ferrahian Armenian School. Both of her
children are educators.

Besides being a lifelong member of the ARS, since 1945, (sixteen
years ago, she received her 50-year membership pin), Lucy was also
a member of St. Gregory’s Ladies Auxiliary, the Armenian-American
Citizen League, and the AARP. At any of these functions, you would
see her cheerfully pitching in, helping in the kitchen, serving meals,
giving advice, always cheerful and with a smile.

Her advice to the guests, in her lucid, organized, cogent and
extemporaneous comments was, DO IT. Don’t wait for tomorrow, JUST
DO IT!

From: Baghdasarian

OMBUDSMAN’S LUST FOR BECOMING A HERO
Hayk Grigoryan

Tert.am
18:23 06.09.11

Does our country need a human rights defender who, lured by western
powers, wages a battle with demons who are experienced and powerful
enough to put the young “idealist” into his place.

The term idealist has been used by the incumbent ombudsman himself
to characterize his own personality. Can idle talks be of any use to
a country or at least one person? Maybe our newly-hatched idealist
does not even try to do anything good, and seeks only to create the
image of the hero he is dreaming about? Wasn’t [former Ombudsman]
Armen Harutyunyan better? Being one of the ‘best’ representatives of
the Armenian reality, he knew at least how to behave, without losing
his weighty tone and image.

Within the past month our hero has worked considerably well in
an attempt to cut a hero’s figure. His statement slamming the
municipality’s decision to dismantle the kiosks in capital Yerevan was
his first step in that direction. It looks as though we were unaware
of it. Then, out of the thousands of court proceedings, he targeted
one case, making the names of three judges public to the whole world.

That certainly vexed the judges, but did justice take its course? And
last but not the least, the ridiculous squabble with the Ministry of
Education and Science.

Refraining from any legal assessments on the ombudsman-idealist’s
attacks, let’s simply note that winners are never judged. But we have
never seen victories by the incumbent ombudsman and will never see if
the things go this way. So avoid compromising his own office’s name,
he would better pull himself together or, following his predecessor’s
example, travel to other countries not to pollute the air with
idle talks.

From: Baghdasarian

FORMER TRAFFIC POLICE CHIEF ‘ARRESTED FOR NOT SHARING HIS EMBEZZLEMENTS’

Tert.am
23:11 06.09.11

Former chief of Armenia’s Traffic Police, Margar Ohanyan, is said
to have been arrested because he did no share his embezzlements with
officers in higher position at the police.

Tert.am tried to contact Ohanyan’s son, but his mobile would not
answer.

Ohanyan’s nephew, H. Ohanyan, denied commenting on the issue.

“An investigation is underway, it will find it out,” said he,
confirming that all the phones of Ohanyan’s son are currently shut
down.

Margar Ohanyan was detained on August 30 over large-scale of
embezzlement. Next day Armenia’s Police Chief Alik Sargsyan dismissed
him from his position.

Ohanyan is accused of having embezzled around 156 tones of petrol
meant to be used by various departments of the police.

Stepan Karakhanyan, another high-ranking officer at the Traffic Police,
is also a suspect in the case.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA DECLARES CONTEST FOR “GOOGLE THROUGH MY EYES”

news.am
Sept 5 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Armenian group of Google technology users (GTUG Armenia)
declares contest “Google through my eyes,” together with Google
and NeoMedia Companies. The contest has no limitations for the
participation, moderator of the group Vardan Grigoryan told Armenian
News-NEWS.am.

“The main thing is to have creative mind and bright fantasy. Each
has a virtual image of Google,” Grigoryan said.

Participants of the contest may put graphic compositions, video,
program solution or other compositions in the blog and inform GTUG
Armenia. Alternatively, the work should be sent to [email protected] by
September 27. Online voting will be held from September 28 to October
20. Winners will be selected based on the voting and jury. Winners
will get T-shirts and bags with Google logo.

Groups of Google users unite people and organizations interested in
the Google technologies. Such activities are held in over 60 states
of the world.

From: Baghdasarian

CULTURAL CENTERS FAR AWAY FROM BEING SATISFACTORY IN ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES – DEPUTY PM

news.am
Sept 5 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Cultural centers in many Armenian communities are far away
from being satisfactory, Armenian deputy PM, Minister of Territorial
Administration Armen Gevorgyan told the journalists on Monday.

According to him, state budget allocated AMD 10 billion to the
communities in February, which was mainly directed to culture.

“The issues are not yet solved, buildings’ condition is not appropriate
and there is also lack of equipment,” deputy PM said and added that
the sport culture is still on high levels even in those conditions.

Armenian Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan said that reconstruction
projects of the theatres will be completed by the end of the year. The
next project refers to the reconstruction of museums, community
libraries and houses of culture.

From: Baghdasarian

FM: GEORGIA DOES NOT OPEN ITS AIRSPACE FOR RUSSIA’S MILITARY SUPPLIES TO MILITARY BASES IN ARMENIA

Trend
Sept 5 2011
Azerbaijan

The Georgian Foreign Ministry refuted U.S. Ambassador John Bass’
reports, according to which the country opened its airspace to
transport the Russian military cargo to bases in Armenia.

Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said the report contradicts
the reality.

According to Wikileaks, in his report to Washington sent on Feb 17,
2010, Bass stated that Tbilisi opened its airspace for Russia to
transport military supplies to Armenia.

Russia has repeatedly appealed to Georgia to open the air space,
but the Georgian side did not satisfy the request, Kalandadze said
at traditional Monday briefing.

“This appeal was received from Russia in 2008. We must be wary of
Wikileaks material, since we do not know whether they are authentic.

The report on the opening of the air space is not true,” Kalandadze
said.

However, she pointed out that the Georgian side does not expect such
proposals from Russia, as the Georgian parliament terminated the
earlier ratified Georgia-Russia agreement “On the Use of airspace.”

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA PREPARES FOR NATIONAL UPRISING – POLITICIAN

news.am
Sept 5 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Armenia prepares for national uprising, former member of
the Karabakh committee, politician Ashot Manucharyan told at a press
conference on Monday.

“Some people will claim that the uprising is against an individual or
a certain political power. However, the reality is that life is over
for Armenia and its people. It is high time for the uprising, which
was reflected in other processes,” politician stated. “It is difficult
to say when people will rise, but it will happen in September. The
oppositional Armenian National Congress has to lead the movement.

However, people themselves should lead further.”

From: Baghdasarian

US SUSPENDS ONLY 25% OF FUNDING FOR MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES- ARMENIA

news.am
Sept 5 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN.- Suspension of funding in 2009 did not become an impassable
obstacle to further implementation of the Millennium Challenges
program in Armenia, Millennium Challenge Account CEO Ara Hovsepyan
told journalists on Monday.

Back in 2009 the Millennium Challenges Corporation decided to suspend
funding of rural roads in Armenia explaining it by difficulties with
democratic governance in the country.

Opposition members consider reduction in funding was a reminder of
the human rights violations during the March 1, 2008 events in Yerevan.

“I do not want to talk about the political motives of the decision,
although funds derived from the program accounted for only about 25%
of the total budget. It was initially envisaged to allocate $235
million, but $177 funding was granted finally,” he said.

Speaking about possible negotiations with the United States to approve
a new program for Armenia, Hovsepyan said that the U.S. corporation
takes decisions based on country’s indicators.

“The Corporation publishes them every year, after a review on Armenia
is presented, we will find out whether our country can make a claim
for a new program,” he said.

From: Baghdasarian

CSTO TO BE MADE MORE EFFICIENT

AZG DAILY
06-09-2011

The CIS summit in Dushanbe has demonstrated that this is no longer
the key structure for Moscow, Kommersant believes. It places its
stake on the Customs Union (CU) and the Collective Security Treaty
Organisation (CSTO), which, as the publication has found out, are
facing serious reforms. The documents on their reorganisation are
already being coordinated.

As far as the Customs Union is concerned the plan envisages the
attraction of Ukraine in the union. The CSTO, on the other hand,
will be made more efficient even if this goes along with losing one
of its members – Uzbekistan.

In Dushanbe, the newspaper notes, many talked about the problems
of the organisation and its insufficient integration. The tone of
speech by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was different from the
final summit declaration, which included compliments to the CIS and a
life-affirming ending. Medvedev noted that the statements about the
amorphousness and poor fulfilment of the obligations assumed within
the CIS are often reasonable and correct. And he said that the CU
and CSTO are examples of more successful integration projects.

From: Baghdasarian

ACTIVISTS OF THE MOVEMENT FOR THE RIGHTS OF IRANIAN AZERBAIJANIS HAVE TO LEAVE AZERBAIJAN

arminfo
Monday, September 5, 14:50

Baku. Head of the Baku Office of National Awakening Movement of
Southern Azerbaijan (NAMSA) Agri Garadagly and another activist of
the organization, Rahim Javadbeyli left for Georgia after a 10-year
of stay in Azerbaijan.

They explained this step by the fact that despite numerous appeals,
they have not received any citizenship or refugee status in Azerbaijan.

“Living in Azerbaijan without status is difficult. We have always
felt shadowing by the Iranian secret services. Therefore, we have to
move to Georgia,” said Javadbeyli.

Garadagly said they had appealed to the UN Mission in Georgia. “We
have already got the right to stay in Georgia for four months. We
look forward to travel to a third country,” said Garadagly.

There are many Iranian Azerbaijanis in Azerbaijan who have moved
here because of the persecution of the Tehran regime. Many live in
Azerbaijan for about twenty years or more, and their children born
here and have served in the army. But immigrants themselves do not
have status and live here on temporary cards issued by the immigration
authorities of Azerbaijan.

Only some Iranian Azeris managed to obtain citizenship of the
Azerbaijan Republic.

From: Baghdasarian