Author: Chatinian Lara

PRESS RELEASE
State Dance Ensemble of Armenia
Contact: Harutyun Azaryan
Tel:+ 37410 58-14-26
Email: [email protected].

State Dance Ensemble of Armenia set for 50th-anniversary performances
worldwide

Series to kick off with gala event in Yerevan,
featuring renowned guest troupes

Yerevan ` The famed State Dance Ensemble of Armenia is turning 50 this
year. To celebrate the milestone, both in Armenia and internationally,
the troupe is planning a series of special performances throughout the
globe, announced Eric Chanchurian, artistic director of the
ensemble. The 50th-anniversary events will kick off with a gala in
Yerevan, slated to take place in early April.

`For five decades, the State Dance Ensemble of Armenia has thrived
here at home and internationally, not only as a world-class dance
troupe, but a cultural institution for all Armenians,’ Chanchurian
said.

`In terms of repertoire, the company has always been at the forefront
of bringing Armenian folk traditions into the modern dance lexicon `
through research, cutting-edge choreography, and fresh musical
arrangements,’ Chanchurian continued. `In the Soviet era, when links
between Armenia and the diaspora were not as abundant as today, the
ensemble functioned as an important cultural bridge, by touring in
Armenian communities throughout the globe. Simultaneously, the company
garnered acclaim from the international press and audiences, as it
performed in many of the world’s most prestigious venues. Today, as we
work in an independent Armenia, and while the bonds between homeland
and diaspora are stronger than ever, the State Dance Ensemble
continues to grow, building on a legacy of artistic excellence.’

Following the April event in Yerevan, the State Dance Ensemble of
Armenia plans to tour in Armenian communities across the
globe. Possible stops include New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Fresno,
San Francisco, and several cities in Europe, the Middle East, and
Australia.

Currently the troupe is seeking corporate and private sponsors to help
offset the costs of the planned performances in 2009. `I think these
events give sponsors the chance to take part in a wonderful cultural
endeavor,’ Chanchurian noted. `Our 50th-anniversary appearances are
sure to enchant diaspora and international audiences, and also help
affirm the Armenian people’s friendship with a multitude of nations,
through the universal language of dance and music.’

Speaking of possible event sponsors, Chanchurian said the State Dance
Ensemble is aiming to collaborate with a variety of supporters
including governments, embassies, international arts agencies, and
corporations, as well as diaspora foundations and individual
benefactors.

For more information about the State Dance Ensemble’s 50th-anniversary
events and sponsorship opportunities, contact Harutyun Azaryan at +
37410 58-14-26 or [email protected].

TURKISH PM SAYS HE CAN MEET WITH ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

TREND
Jan 28 2009
Azerbaijan

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he can meet with
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan, the Cihan news agency reported.

There are no obstacles for a meeting with Sarkisyan, Erdogan told
reporters while leaving for the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Erdogan said he is not pessimistic about the upcoming anniversary of
the so-called "Armenian Genocide" on April 24.

"April 24 is not a doomsday," he said.

Erdogan added that the Armenian lobby acts against Turkey. This
is despite the fact that Turkey constantly makes moves in favor of
Armenia, he said.

Erdogan said regional countries must meet as part of the Caucasus
Platform, and current Turkish-Armenian meetings are only held at a
low level.

Turkey wants to hold meetings between senior officials with Armenia,
he added.

The Caucasus Platform will help address regional problems, Erdogan
said.

CASH REGISTERS ARE BEST INSTRUMENT FOR MAKING ECONOMY CALCULABLE, TATUL MANSERIAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan

Jan 26, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The economy should be made
calculable, and cash registers are the best instrument for it. However,
cash registers should not be imposed on economic entities by law. As
economist Tatul Manaserian said at the January 26 press conference,
today fairs have the largest commodity turnover, which means that
cash registers should be introduced first of all there, while the
owners of fairs will establish "reasonable" lease prices.

In his words, the Armenian government needs to display will and courage
in order to make big business calculable as well. "Large sums are
managed by big business so big business should be obliged to pay the
full amount of taxes and be made calculable. And it should be done at
once and not gradually," the economist said, adding that the Armenian
prime minister "must visit with the same courage not only fairs and
gold markets but also big businesses".

SAVING THE MONASTERY OF MOR GABRIEL, TO GUARANTEE A MULTICULTURAL TURKEY
by Geries Othman

AsiaNews.it
hp?l=en&art=14310&size=A
Jan 26 2009
Italy

Muslim leaders are trying to destroy it, and have sued the monastery
for alleged proselytism. A spiritual and cultural center for the
Syriac Orthodox, it still uses ancient Aramaic, the language spoken
by Jesus. During the 1960’s, at least 130,000 Syriacs lived in Tur
Abdin. Today, there are only 3,000. The minority community hopes that
the European Union will come to its defense with an appeal to Ankara.

Ankara (AsiaNews) – Demonstrations are being held in many European
countries to save the monastery of Mor Gabriel, a spiritual center
for the Syriac Orthodox community in Turkey.

Founded in 397, it is the oldest functioning Christian monastery in
the world. It is located on the plateau of Tur Abdin, "The Mountain
of the Servants of God," on the Turkish border with Iraq. The see of
the metropolitan archbishop of Tur Abdin, Mor Timotheus Samuel Aktas,
with its three monks, 14 nuns, and 35 young people who live and
study there, it is a religious and cultural point of reference for
all Syriac Orthodox Christians, who still preserve ancient Aramaic,
the language of Jesus. Every year it welcomes more than ten thousand
tourists and pilgrims, many of them Syriacs of the diaspora in Germany,
Switzerland, and Sweden.

Now, however, the future of the monastery and the Christian minority
is threatened by a series of lawsuits against the monks and the
prestigious religious institution. In August of 2008, the leaders
of three Muslim villages around the monastery accused the community
of proselytism, for having students to whom they can hand down the
Christian faith and the Aramaic language. Their case has not yet
been accepted by the Turkish court. But the village leaders are also
asking that the monastery’s land be appropriated and divided among
the villages; that a wall be knocked down that was built during the
1990’s (when the monastery was on the front of the conflict between
the Turkish army and the Kurdish communist party (PKK)). According to
the Muslim leaders, there used to be a mosque on the land where the
monastery was built. "The accusation is absurd," says David Gelen,
leader of the Aramaic Foundation, "the monastery dates from 397 A.D.,
about 200 years before the prophet Mohammed and the construction of any
mosque whatsoever. And yet the court has considered hearing the case."

Gelen says that he thinks a "campaign of intimidation" is underway
against the religious of the monastery. "Bishop, monks, and nuns,"
Gelen continues, "are always threatened in the most direct way
possible by the inhabitants of the village, and they do not dare
present themselves at trial or defend themselves in some way. So for
some time, the monks and nuns have not had the courage to leave the
confines of the property."

"In Turkey," Gelen explains, "freedom of religious expression is
guaranteed by the constitution; but those who are not recognized as
a minority do not exist, in practical terms. Now the Syriacs, unlike
the Greeks and Armenians, are not recognized as a religious minority,
although they have been living there for millennia. The purpose of
the threats and the lawsuit seems to be to repress this minority and
expel it from Turkey, as if it were a foreign object."

The Syriac community has high hopes in the European Union, which
on February 11 is supposed to address together with the Turkish
government the question of religious freedom and human rights for
the non-Muslim minorities present in the country. "We hope not only
that our rights will be recognized," David Gelen says, "but we are
convinced that for the Turkish state, the time has come to recognize,
accept, and protect the cultural multiplicity of the country, instead
of fighting it. Turkey must decide whether it wants to preserve a
1,600-year-old culture, or annihilate the last remains of a non-Muslim
tradition. What is at stake is the multiculturalism that has always
characterized this nation, since the time of the Ottoman Empire."

Since 1923, when the Turkish state was created, the Syriac Orthodox
have been dispersed in four countries: Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran. Yasar
Ravi, president of the Syriac Orthodox community of Antioch, notes
that the Treaty of Lausanne guaranteed certain essential freedoms
for this minority, but "things have gone differently."

Since that time, there has been a constant exodus of the community
toward central and northern Europe, especially Germany (where there are
20,000 Syriacs) and Sweden (70-80,000). In the middle of the 1960’s,
there were still about 130,000 of them in Tur Abdin; today there are
just 3,000.

"We have no territory, we are scattered throughout the world, but
we are very united thanks to our linguistic, social, and cultural
identity," Yasar Ravi continues. "As history teaches us, religion has
always had a dominant role in civilization. Ours is without doubt a
very religious people, and we are proud of speaking the language of
Jesus: the language that, in terms of its diffusion, was essentially
the English of the Middle East."

Federation of Armenian Organisations in The Netherlands (FAON)
Address: Weesperstraat 91
2574 VS The Hague, The Netherlands
Telephone: +31704490209
Email: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: M. Hakhverdian

PRESS RELEASE

Just published in Dutch: ³Armenians in the Netherlands²

The Hague, 26 January 2009 – ³Armenians in the Netherlands, An Exploring
Survey² is the title of the book, which has just been published as a result
of recent investigation on the Armenian community of the Netherlands. The
book is published by the Federation of Armenian Organisations in the
Netherlands (FAON).

For the research, which was made possible with financial support of the
Dutch government, a written sample survey has been conducted of hundreds of
Armenians selected from thousands of available addresses of Armenians living
in Holland.

The results of the research give more insight which countries the Armenians
of the Netherlands came from, and the duration of their residence.
Additionally, information has been collected on the education level of
Armenians in the country of birth and in the Netherlands, as well as their
social and economic position, particularly their labour market position.

The social cultural position, like for example language use, social
contacts, mixed marriages, religious orientation, participation to Armenian
activities etc. are also investigated. Much attention has been paid to the
calculation according to scientific methods, of the Armenian population in
the Netherlands.

In addition to the outcome of the survey, the book contains an overview of
the history of Armenia and information on the Armenian community of the
Netherlands since the 17th century.

The FAON thanks everyone, who made this survey possible.

Armenians in The Netherlands, An Exploring Survey (in Dutch)
192 pages, 12.50 euro
ISBN 978-90-9023870-8

SECRETARY OF ARMENIA’S NATIONAL SECURITY SERVICE INTRODUCES INFORMATION SECURITY CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES

ARKA
Jan 22, 2009

YEREVAN, January 22. /ARKA/. Secretary of Armenia’s National Security
Service Artur Baghdasaryan introduced conceptual approaches as to how
to ensure the country’s information security, the Press Secretary
of the National Security Service Gayane Gasparyan told ARKA Agency
Thursday.

The introduction was given at the first meeting of the
intergovernmental target group for development of Armenia’s information
security concept, says the report.

The national security concept and the program of Collective
Security Council for 2009 envisage development of such a concept to
facilitate formation of an information security system in Armenia
and ensure information exchange within the Collective Security Treaty
Organization.

The target group members exchanged views on the document, improvement
of the respective legislation, as well as on the threats to the
country’s information security.

Baghdasaryan assigned to the group members to submit their comments on
the draft concept. After the official views of all involved agencies
are received, the Council will get mass media outlets and the civil
society involved in the concept development process, he said.

MEHTI MEHTIYEV: "SUPPLIES OF RUSSIAN MILITARY HARDWARE TO ARMENIA REALLY TOOK PLACE"

Today.Az
Jan 22 2009
Azerbaijan

"As is known, there is no smoke without fire that the supplies of
Russian military hardware in the amount of $800,000,000 to Armenia,
spoken of by Azerbaijani mass media, really took place", said famous
military expert Mehti Mehtiyev.

He noted that Russia is currently not ready to disavow this
information, basing on the standard Russian "perhaps" and hoping that
this information will not be revealed.

"The information came out that Russia, which is one of the OSCE MG
co-chairs, had to search ways to justify itself. It did not cope with
the task well. First of all, the response took 9 days. Second, the
very form of the response, filled with ultimatum lexicology and such
common phrases as "Russian side considers that the issue, raised in the
mentioned note of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan is exhausted" and
"the said publication is a disinformation of anti-Russian nature",
does not prove the sincerity of Russia’s position and creates an
opinion that we are facing the attempt to hide the reason.

And the current statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry is an obliged
step aimed to help this country preserve its image. In this connection,
it should be reminded that in 1996 Russia also supplied Armenia with
arms in the amount of over $1 bln and at that time official Moscow
also rebutted this information", said Mehtiyev.

In other words, according to the military expert, every time Russia
sees that Azerbaijan allocates funds for strengthening its army,
it also supplies Armenia with arms free of charge.

"But I am confident that even if there were such supplies from Russian
side, Armenia will not be able to reach the level of armed preparedness
of the Azerbaijani army", concluded Mehtiyev.

INSTITUTE FUNDS

Calcutta Telegraph
p/calcutta/story_10422842.jsp
Jan 22 2009
India

Armenian Church Society on Wednesday donated Rs 2 crore to the
Institute of Neuroscience, Calcutta, to come up at Mullickbazar,
following a request for financial help from the Calcutta Municipal
Corporation. Sunil Sobti and Susan Reuben of the society handed over
the money to the municipal commissioner.

ORGANIC SCRAPS HAVE NO "LANDING"

A1+
[12:21 pm] 22 January, 2009

The junkyard of Giumri is making its way to residential areas and it
is full of everything besides daily garbage. The organic scraps are
thrown in the junkyard. The presence of organic scraps in the junkyard
may lead to possible negative consequences. The local correspondents
know about this, but they haven’t paid attention to this for years.

The maternal ward, oncology hospital and morgue of Gyumri are the main
medical institutions where there is organic waste. Hospital workers
weren’t able to say how many scraps are thrown on a daily basis. They
said that it depends on the number and type of operations. It is not
hard to imagine how much waste the three medical institutions throw
away all together. The city has not had any crematories since Soviet
times and the issue remains to date.

There is no state approach or plan. As a result, each hospital is in
charge of the scraps and must eliminate them and hospitals have found
a solution to their problems by throwing the scraps in the junkyard.

Everybody avoids talking about the organic scraps. The head of the
oncology hospital refused to comment. There are a lot of operations
and scraps, but this subject is closed. None of the hospitals knows
how to get rid of the scraps, but they have to be burnt under high
temperature.

Three years ago, it was decided that each hospital must have its
crematory and that it will receive government-funding. When the law
on "Funerals and Exploitation of Cemeteries and Morgues" went into
effect on January 1, 2006, it was decided to save the money based
on the argument that there would be no difference between morgues
and crematories. If we believe the higher and lower instance courts,
the morgue should have been built in Giumri since 2008.

Why was it postponed? What happened to the funds? Perhaps the only
person to answer these and other questions avoids the topic. This
is a closed subject for the head of the health department and the
hospital must think about the issue of scraps.

PUBLIC APOLOGY WILL INEVITABLY LEAD TO TURKEY COMING TO GRIPS WITH ITS GENOCIDAL PAST

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.01.2009 16:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly)
marked the 2nd anniversary of Hrant Dink murder, the Assembly told
PanARMENIAN.Net.

"On the 2nd anniversary of Hrant Dink’s assassination, as we pause
to reflect on his life and untimely death, his legacy lives on in
Turkey," said Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. In December
of last year intellectuals in Turkey asked their fellow citizens to
sign a petition apologizing to their ‘Armenian brothers and sisters’
for the ‘denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians
were subjected to in 1915.

"With this petition, its 27,775 signatures, and the millions
around the world that call for Turkey to lift its ban on truth, an
irrevocable trend continues towards global recognition of the Armenian
Genocide. This public apology is a first step in that direction and
will inevitably lead to Turkey coming to grips with its genocidal
past," added Ardouny.

In the weeks following Dink’s assassination, then-Senator Joseph
Biden, Jr. (D-DE), introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate, which
was passed by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. S.Res. 65
condemned the murder of Hrant Dink as "a shameful act of cowardice
perpetrated with contempt for law, justice and decency" and urged
the Government of Turkey to repeal Article 301 and "work diligently
to foster a more open intellectual environment in the country that
is conducive to the free exchange of ideas."

Biden commented, "Hrant Dink was a man of strong conviction who wanted,
above all, to foster greater understanding and respect between Turks
and Armenians. His assassination is one more tragic reminder of why
Turkey needs to reform its laws and allow for an open discussion of
events surrounding the Armenian Genocide. It should never be a crime
to speak the truth."

In the two years since Dink was murdered by a Turkish ultranationalist,
Turkey has still failed to adopt standards and practices that would
reverse the prevalence of intolerance, repression and prejudice which
led to the assassination. Arat Dink, the son of Hrant Dink, was also
convicted under Article 301 for characterizing the 1915 killings of
Armenians as genocide.