Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 686-0710; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

April 16, 2010
___________________________________

ON PALM SUNDAY, ST. THOMAS CHURCH CELEBRATES ITS 45TH ANNIVERSARY

By Madlen E. Setian

On March 28, St. Thomas Armenian Church of Tenafly, N.J., celebrated the
45th anniversary of its consecration, and was honored by the presence of
Archbishop Khajag Barsamian.

The Primate of the Eastern Diocese celebrated the Divine Liturgy, delivered
an inspiring homily, and presided over the celebratory dinner. The church
overflowed with parishioners for the Palm Sunday service, which celebrated
Christ’s entry into Jerusalem and the beginning of Holy Week.

The banquet opened with remarks by Mistress of Ceremonies Mary Cruickshank.
Seated at the dais were the Primate, St. Thomas pastor the Very Rev. Fr.
Papken Anoushian, and "St. Thomas Award" honorees Haci and Nadya Garipian,
and Karnig and Ipek Garipian.

Fr. Anoushian offered a short prayer for the souls of Penyamin, Arusiag and
Mesrop Hamparsumian, in whose memory the banquet had been donated by Krikor
and Ani Hamparsumian.

Parish Council chair Dr. Levon Capan thanked the Hamparsumians, Nigogos and
Mayreni Araian (who led a cake sale fundraiser), and chef Manuk Camcikyan,
and acknowledged the ACYOA Juniors’ participation throughout the day.

The St. Thomas Girls’ Basketball Team and their coach, Andrew Martaian, were
congratulated for winning the A.C.S.A. championship, and presented their
pastor with the trophy.

The parish’s Akh’Tamar Dance Ensemble beautifully performed several Armenian
folk dances under the direction of Sylva Asadourian.

Palm Sunday is "ACYOA Day" throughout the Eastern Diocese, and the parish
ACYOA Juniors co-chairs Ararat Gocmen and Peter Afarian, along with
treasurer David Gazarian, presented Fr. Anoushian with a $1,000 donation for
the church.

Fr. Anoushian congratulated the performers and honorees, and thanked those
who sponsored and worked on the dinner, before proceeding to the
presentation of the "St. Thomas Awards."

He enthusiastically described the benevolent contributions of the Garipian
family to St. Thomas over many years, and praised their devotion to the
church and Armenian causes. Fr. Anoushian expressed deep gratitude to both
Garipian couples for never turning him down when he appealed to them-he
recalled how Haci and Nadya had even cancelled a trip when asked to chair a
church event.

He praised the faithful service of Karnig Garipian during his six years on
the Parish Council, and described Ipek and Nadya’s help with food
preparations for bazaars, Palm Sundays, and Easters. He commended them all
as "faithful and devoted" pillars of St. Thomas Church-words reflected in
the inscription on the plaques he presented to both couples as this year’s
"St. Thomas Award" recipients.

Lisa Garipian and Robert Garipian each offered endearing remarks on their
respective sets of parents. On behalf of all the award recipients, Karnig
Garipian conveyed his heartfelt thanks to St. Thomas’ pastor and Parish
Council for the distinguished award.

In his remarks, Archbishop Barsamian congratulated the honorees, Fr.
Anoushian, and the parish, and made special note of the participation of the
youth in the life of St. Thomas church. He said he was very proud of the
Armenian youth in the U.S. and their many accomplishments. The Primate
closed the event with a prayer.

###

Photo attached: Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Very Rev. Fr. Papken Anoushian,
Parish Council chair Dr. Levon Capan, and "St. Thomas Award" recipients Haci
and Nadya Garipian and Karnig and Ipek Garipian posed for a group photo at
St. Thomas Church on Palm Sunday.
From: Baghdasarian

UNIVERSITY OF ANKARA ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF ARMENIAN LANGUAGE COURSE

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 15, 2010 – 18:14 AMT 13:14 GMT

The University of Ankara announced it will launch an Armenian language
course toward the end of 2010.

According to a member of the university’s governing board, Dr. Durmus
Gunay, a dwindling number of people in Turkey still speak Armenian.

"Increasingly, the organizers are looking for members of staff who
speak Armenian, and therefore there is a demand for such language
courses," he said.

Dr. Gunay said the understanding of universities has changed over the
past 20 to 30 years. "We are going through a period of globalization.

Therefore it is crucial to train people in as many languages as
possible," he said.

"The focus is on English as a second language at the university," Dr.

Gunay said, adding that the institution is aspired to have many
language courses available for as many students as possible.

The curriculum drawn up by the university for the new language course
has been reviewed and approved by the Higher Education Board, or YOK.
From: Baghdasarian

IRAN AND ARMENIA TOP AGENDA OF DAVUTOGLU’S BILATERAL TALKS IN WASHINGTON D.C.

Today’s Zaman
April 14 2010
Turkey

Iran and Armenia were on top of the agenda of Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu’s talks in Washington, D.C. during Nuclear Security
Summit.

Davutoglu reaffirmed Turkey’s commitment to normalisation process
with Armenia and relayed the message that Turkey disapproved sanctions
on Iran.

Davutoglu relayed the message to Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard
Nalbandian and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that, "Turkey
is committed to the process and works on creative ideas to advance
the process".

Clinton gave information to Davutoglu about the developments regarding
Minsk process and the two discussed normalisation of Turkey-Armenia
relations and reform works in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Davutoglu told Clinton that Azerbaijan should also be invited to
the summit and expressed Turkey’s target that Armenia issue should
be prevented from casting shadow over Turkey’s relations with the
United States every year.

Diplomatic sources said Davutoglu and Clinton would meet again on
Wednesday.

Davutoglu and Nalbandian sat side by side during the lunch hosted by
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Upon a joke that, "you will solve
the problem here", Davutoglu, with a loud voice that could be heard
from the other tables, said, "we will solve if the third parties do
not cast shadow".
From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA REJECTS PRECONDITIONS ON TURKEY DEAL

Tehran Times
April 14 2010
Iran

Armenian President Serge Sarkisian told Turkey’s prime minister
Monday that Yerevan would not accept "preconditions" on reconciliation
efforts between the two countries, his office said.

Sarkisian spoke with Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a U.S.

nuclear summit in Washington, the Armenian presidency said in a
statement, at a meeting arranged last week in a bid to revive the
floundering efforts.

"I met this morning with the prime minister of Turkey. Our position
was and remains clear: Turkey cannot speak to Armenia and Armenians
in the language of preconditions," Sarkisian was quoted as saying in
the statement.

The two neighbors signed a landmark deal in October to establish
diplomatic relations and open their border after decades of hostility.

But parliamentary ratification of the deal has stalled in both
countries over the contentious issue of World War I-era killings
of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey, which Yerevan insists constituted
genocide but Ankara staunchly denies. Another sticking point is
Turkey’s support for Armenia’s foe Azerbaijan in their dispute over
the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"We are not prepared in any way to question the issue of the genocide
or to pretend that Turkey may play any positive role in the negotiating
process for resolving the Karabakh question," Sarkisian said.

The deal has been snagged by disagreements over its terms, with both
sides accusing each other of lacking true commitment to reconciliation.

Ankara is irked by a January ruling of Armenia’s constitutional court
that cleared the deal but said it could not contradict Yerevan’s
official line that Armenians were victims of genocide under the
Ottoman Empire — a label Turkey fiercely rejects.

Yerevan, for its part, has protested that the Turkish Parliament seems
unlikely to ratify the accord without progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a close Turkish ally.

The process has also been marred by resolutions adopted last month by
a U.S. House of Representatives committee and the Swedish parliament
that both branded the massacres of Armenians as genocide, infuriating
Ankara.

Erdogan was to meet U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines
of the summit, just over a week after Turkey decided to return its
ambassador to Washington after a row over the U.S. House vote.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin perished in deportations
and orchestrated killings during World War I.

Turkey counters that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as
many Turks perished in civil strife when Armenians rose up against
their Ottoman rulers and sided with Russian forces invading the
crumbling empire.
From: Baghdasarian

Armavia launches direct communication with India

By Times.am at 14 April, 2010, 2:26 pm
On April 13, Armavia national carrier launched the long-expected
direct flight to Delhi, the capital of India.
`This flight will enable to expand trade and economic relations
between the two countries and will contribute to their deepening,’
Managing Director of the Minar Travels Indian travel agent, Armavia’s
general representative in India, Mr. Duggal told reporters at Delhi
International Airport.
Armavia’s Regional Managing Director on Middle East, Mr. Kolia
Khatchatourian, for his part, added that India is interested in
developing relations with Armenia. `The Indian side proposes operating
the flight twice instead of once a week, given big prospects for
bilateral collaboration,’ he said.
On the eve of the new flight’s official launching, Armavia organized a
meeting at Yerevan Mkhitar Heratsi Medical University during which
Indian students were briefed on the company and its plans, in
particular, the new Yerevan-Delhi-Yerevan route. Five most active
students in the meeting were invited to take part in the pioneer
flight.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
From: Baghdasarian

SARKISIAN REJECTS TURKISH ‘PRE-CONDITIONS,’ RECONNECTS WITH ARMENIAN DIASPORA

Hurriyet
April 13 2010
Turkey

Armenian President Serge Sarkisian (L) as he shakes hands with Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday. AFP photo

Armenian President Serge Sarkisian accused Turkey of trying to split
his country during charged normalization talks, reiterating his stance
on preconditions.

"Turkey can’t speak in the language of preconditions with Armenia
and the people of Armenia. We simply will not allow it," Sarkisian
said late Monday after meeting with representatives of the Armenian
community in the United States.

He also visited the grave of the U.S. President Woodrow Wilson at
the National Cathedral in Washington, who was a vocal supporter of
independent Armenia.

Sarkisian met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines
of a U.S. nuclear summit in Washington earlier Monday and agreed to
carry out the rapprochement process through regular meetings between
their foreign ministers.

However, Sarkisian fiercely rejected any preconditions in talks with
Turkey. "We are not prepared in any way to question the issue of the
genocide or to pretend that Turkey may play any positive role in the
negotiating process for resolving the Karabakh question."

Sarkisian also accused Turkey of trying to split Armenia and the
Armenian Diaspora and said the Ankara government aimed to present
the situation as if there were two different opinions in Armenia and
the diaspora. "Today we deny the false illusions together. There is
no difference in the opinions of the Armenians of Armenia and the
Armenians of the diaspora. There is only a unified Armenian nation
and it will keep remain true to its just demand," he said.

Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark deal in October to establish
diplomatic relations and open their border after decades of hostility.

But parliamentary ratification of the deal has stalled in both
countries over tension surrounding claims of an Armenian genocide
during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. Another sticking point is
Turkey’s support of Armenia’s enemy, Azerbaijan, which is in dispute
with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
From: Baghdasarian

DEFENSE MINISTRY OF AZERBAIJAN AGAIN THREATENS TO START MILITARY ACTIONS AGAINST ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2010-04-13 08:11:00

ArmInfo. Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev again threatens
to start military actions against Armenia.

"Delaying the solution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict by peaceful means creates conditions for the worsening of
the situation", Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel-General Safar
Abiyev said on April 12 in Baku, receiving the delegation headed by
Rainer Stinner, Chairman of the Sub-Committee NATO Partnerships (PCNP).

TREND quotes Abiyev as saying: "Armenia should understand that
Azerbaijan will not accept the occupation of its lands. An
international legal framework exists to resolve this problem
peacefully, and the four resolutions adopted by the UN Security
Council are sufficient to address this issue".
From: Baghdasarian

Polish Embassy in Armenia will be open for commiseration visits

April 11, 2010 – 15:50 AMT 10:50 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net

On April 12-14, Polish Embassy in Armenia will be open for
commiseration visits from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., ambassadorial press
service told PanARMENIAN.Net

The Soviet-made TU-154 carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski hit
the top of trees as it attempted to land at a Smolensk airport in west
Russia at 10:50 a.m. (06:50 GMT) on Saturday. There were no survivors
among 96 people on board of the plane.

Kaczynski’s wife and a delegation of senior Polish officials,
including the chief of the General Staff and the head of the national
bank, were also on board.
From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA, EU SIGN MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

TendersInfo
April 7, 2010 Wednesday

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received today the EU
Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy, tefan Fule,
who is in Armenia on a regional visit. We have had quite detailed
discussion on all our cooperation programs with the EU. We are
satisfied with the successful progress of the programs, at the same
time, we understand there is still much to be done and we could have
done more, PM said.

According to the government s information department, tefan Fule said
the EU is interested in social-economic development in Armenia. He
highlighted that the establishement of EU-Armenia contractual relations
would provide opportunity to review and estimate the programs carried
out so far and discuss further possible ways to intensify EU-Armenia
ties.The interlocutors discussed National Indicative Program 2011-2013
acting within the Eastern Partnership program. Armenian PM assessed
it highly noting the initiative would contribute to the implementation
of reforms.

Tigran Sargsyan stressed the importance of signing a comprehensive
free trade agreement, which assumes condicting the reforms within the
upcoming three years. The interlocutors signified the activity of the
EU consultative group in Armenia. Following the meeting, Armenian
Economy Minister and the EU Commissioner signed a Memorandum of
Understanding on National Indicative Program 2011-2013. Within the
National Indicative Program 2011-2013, Armenia will be provided 157
mln. euros.
From: Baghdasarian

"ORDERS FROM THE DEAD" SONG ABOUT GENOCIDE IN SMYRNA

Assyria Times
April 8 2010

The song Orders from the Dead is out with Rotting Christ concerning
the Genocide of Smyrna and now people can download a high quality
wav file from the Diamanda Galás website

Orders from the Dead receives its second incarnation by Galás’ Greek
brothers Rotting Christ. Sakis Tollis, who is the composer and producer
of the band, is from Epirus, which, like Mani, is a primary home of
the death lament in Greece. Sakis’ orchestration of his powerful band
and the Epirotean female singers he chose takes Orders from the Dead
into a different place than the original and Galas likes that. "It
should be different, rather than the way it was originally."

Galás performs original text and that of the great Anatolian Greek
writer Dora Soteriou–in English and Greek, and collaboration of now
the three different Greeks–Galás, Soteriou, who was the witness in
Smyrna, and Rotting Christ, whose recording illustrates the terror
of war, including genocide, slams back the Smyrnaic Genocide into
the faces of the doubters, revisionists and anti-Greeks in America,
Britain, and Turkey. Greeks have always documented their history
with the zeal of those who know they have only centuries, and now,
decades, left before extinction.

For Galás, Rotting Christ’s request to cover Orders from the Dead
is a further testimony that her efforts and those of all Greek,
Assyrian, and Armenian Genocide activists will not be silenced by
the Turkish/American/British and Israeli power conglomerate. When
Defixiones received its premiere in Los Angeles it was not reviewed,
although there were scores of journalists there. When its completed
version was premiered in the UK and in Australia all major papers
condemned Galás for performing the work in the original languages in
which it was written, Greek, Armenian, Assyrian, and Turkish. About
Rotting Christ, Diamanda has said, "My brothers have come. My brothers
have come." Like the Greek boat her father’s relatives saw while
fleeing the Turks on the shores of Smyrna, Sakis appeared and said,
"May we join you, sister?"

Orders from the Dead by Diamanda Galás, Mute Records 2004 Interpreted
By Rotting Christ, Lead Vocals Diamanda Galás, Accompanying vocals:
Epirotean funeral singers >>From Rotting Christ’s new CD AEALO,
available here: 2010 Drawing: D. Galás,
Graphic: M. Daley Blaise Dupuy, engineering for 2004 Orders from the
Dead, available at
From: Baghdasarian