Author: Dabaghian Diana

Daily Review Online, CA
Nov 3 2007

On 100th birthday, woman remembers her struggles

Armenian immigrant celebrates life, mourns lost family members

By Arya Hebbar, CORRESPONDENT
Article Last Updated: 11/03/2007 02:40:22 AM PDT

The Janjigian household in Saratoga is abuzz with preparations and the
arrival of family for a 100th birthday celebration.

Laughter and lively conversation, in voices young and old, flow
through the open door leading to the neat garden where Nevart
Karagozian sits quietly, even though she is the focus of the
excitement.
Karagozian, an Armenian who came to America when she was 12, is
celebrating her 100th birthday the next day.

"Oh my. Big party," she says when her daughter Florence Janjigian
reminds her about the impending celebration. Asked how it feels to be
100 years old, she says in accented English, "Same as yesterday. No
different," and chuckles.

But Karagozian’s early days were quite different from the comfort and
security she has enjoyed in recent decades. And the birthday
celebration is clouded by memories of a ravaged homeland and the
lingering desire for justice.

Karagozian is one of the hundreds of thousands of Armenians who fled
their homeland in the wake of the mass killings of Armenians nearly a
century ago. And she is among those who hope their new country ‘
America ‘ will formally recognize the mass slaughter of their
ancestors as genocide.

Janjigian is sad that the vote on the resolution has been postponed.
There are few survivors of that era remaining and she fears soon there
will be no eyewitnesses left.

When her grand daughter asks Karagozian about Turkey denying the
genocide, Karagozian leans forward on her wheelchair and says
animatedly, "If they say it didn’t exist, where are my mother and
father and brother and sister? I have been in it. Outside I laugh,
inside I am crying."

Seated on a step beside her mother, Janjigian opens a plastic
bag. Inside are framed pictures of her mother’s childhood
days. Karagozian cradles the pictures in her wrinkled hands and points
out her father, mother, older sister and baby brother, who she says
were killed or got lost during the genocide. A tear rolls down her
cheek.

"She just went back 95 years," Janjigian says.

Karagozian’s daughter, grandchildren and great-granddaughter surround
her as she looks at the sepia-toned pictures.

Around them, the garden pool is being cleaned of fallen leaves and
chairs are being arranged for the party next day. And a cake with a
hundred candles is on its way.

Panorama.am

22:17 02/11/2007

Information Technology to receive 332.3 thousand dollars

The field of information technologies, which was rated as of utmost
importance by the government, will receive 108 million dram from the
2008 budget, which is around 332.3 thousand dollars. This was revealed
today during budget discussions by trade and economics development
minister Nerses Yeritsyan.

In his words, this would be directed towards social issues, which will
allow to find out the stage and quality of Internet
accessibility. Besides that, the government intends to raise the level
of competition in the field.

The minister reminded that the government would announce a new system
of progress in Internet technology. This includes a program to
stimulate progress in Internet technologies during the next 10-15
years. Events and a plan of action are also part of the program.

Yeritsyan noted that this is the first time the budget has included a
special article about expenses. `We have to know the results of the
beginning of the program and be convinced it is productive. That way
we can plan for bigger and better things in the future,’ he said.

Source: Panorama.am

GENERAL STAFF SHEDS LIGHT ON ARMENIAN REALITY

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Nov 2 2007

A seventh volume of archival documents has been published by the
Turkish military to shed light on the Armenian reality in the World
War I era, with copies of original documents.

The Turkish General Staff has added another level to the efforts to
bring the realities of the Armenian genocide allegations to public
attention by publishing the seventh volume of the "Armenian Activities
in the Archive Documents (1914-1918)." The new volume, prepared through
the efforts of the Military History Archives and Strategic Studies
Institute (ATASE) and the Supervisory Directorate of the General
Staff, consists of further copies of original documents written
in Ottoman Turkish, modern Turkish and their English translations,
along with relevant pictures. Without the addition of any commentary
about the documents and pictures, the book details Armenian activities
and organizations and demonstrates through official records who the
real perpetrators were of events that took place in eastern Anatolia
in 1914-1918.

Countering allegations of forced Armenian immigration with official
documents and indicating the reasons for their relocation, the book
shows how the Ottoman Empire was forced to struggle against the
Armenians, who had become the "internal economy," at a time when
the country was dragged into World War I. Contrary to the "genocide"
allegations made by the Armenian community, the book proves that the
relocated Armenian families were welcomed by Turkish families. The
documents and pictures also reveal the sufferings of human beings that
were subjected to torture, cruelty and even massacre by Armenian gangs.

ABE FOXMAN CRITICIZES LOCAL APPROACH ON ARMENIAN ISSUE
By Raphael Kohan

Jewish Advocate , MA
Nov 1 2007

ADL national director calls out Boston’s Jewish community leaders

In an interview published on Oct. 26 by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency,
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League,
criticized Boston’s Jewish leadership for its handling of this summer’s
controversy surrounding recognition of the Armenian genocide. Foxman
accused the local community of not giving proper priority to Israeli
interests, singling out Combined Jewish Philanthropies President
Barry Shrage and Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston
Executive Director Nancy K. Kaufman.

In the interview, which was conducted last month, Foxman told the
interviewer that he was "shocked, upset, frightened" that the Boston
Jewish community had rallied so strongly against him, deciding to
side with the local Armenian community rather than with the ADL.

"I got made fun of for it," Foxman said of the ADL’s initial stance
on the Armenian genocide. "[I] said we need unity now because Iran
is a threat, Hamas is a threat, Hezbollah is a threat, anti-Semitism
in Europe and Latin America. The last thing we need now is for Barry
Shrage and Nancy Kaufman to be fighting us."

Kaufman was the driving force on a petition signed by local groups
that urged Foxman to recognize the Armenian massacres as genocide.

"We have nothing to apologize for," said Alan Ronkin, deputy director
of the JCRC. "We have never personally attacked Foxman. The fact that
he personally attacked us is outrageous."

Regional Director Andrew H. Tarsy was not available for comment.

Yet Foxman defended his organization’s original position, saying
that he only yielded to Boston-area Jews like Tarsy and Kaufman to
preserve unity. Foxman maintained that while he has had Israel’s and
Jewish interests in mind for the long-term, Boston leaders chose to
champion current local relations, putting the Armenian issue ahead
of the interests of the State of Israel.

"It was very clear that there are two moral issues, but one trumps
the other. And it was clear to me that I cannot save one Armenian
human being, not one," said Foxman. "We need a strong unified Jewish
community to help Israel … I gave for the greater purpose so that
we can now sit and talk together. It almost destroyed our operation
in Boston."

And what the Boston community revealed about itself during the summer
controversy was disturbing, according to Foxman.

"What I didn’t realize was to what extent the American Jewish community
has reversed Hillel, or at least in Boston and Massachusetts," Foxman
said, referring to Hillel’s famous adage, "If I am not for myself,
who will be for me?"

Foxman attributed the Boston Jewish community’s diminished sense
of self-preservation to the high instance of intermarriage and
assimilation in the Boston area. According to Combined Jewish
Philanthropy’s 2005 Community Study, 29 percent of all Jewish
households in Greater Boston are intermarried.

Locally, CJP has made outreach to interfaith families a priority
in maintaining a strong Jewish community, working closely with
organizations like InterfaithFamily.com.

"I am very proud of our community," said Shrage. "I understand Abe’s
concerns, but he is wrong about the Boston Jewish community. I think
he knows he is. We are allowed to disagree in our community, but he was
wrong to characterize the Boston Jewish community in the way he did."

Foxman and others predicted fallout in U.S. and Israel’s relationship
with Turkey if a congressional resolution recognizing the genocide
were passed. And those fears seemed to be realized when Turkey recalled
its ambassador to the U.S. in October.

"This is simply a conflict between the more narrow or limited local
idealistic interests which focused on local politics and acknowledging
a past genocide, versus the broader and more pragmatic concerns of
the national leadership which focused on support for preventing a
future genocide," said Grand Rabbi Y. A. Korff.

In perhaps his most biting criticism of the local community, Foxman
asserted that area Jews no longer care about the fate of the Jewish
state as much as they once did.

"Israel is no longer as significant," Foxman said. "Some of this stuff
I read and hear about in Boston was, ‘Why do we have to sacrifice our
relationship with our Armenian friends and neighbors for Israel?’ I
heard people say to me if the [Jews in Turkey] are in trouble, let
them leave. That’s what I miscalculated."

But according to Kaufman, Foxman’s information is misguided.

"He got it all wrong," she said. "He does not understand the
Boston Jewish community at all. We are absolutely, unequivocally,
passionately, and universally supportive of Israel. The Boston Jewish
community should be outraged by his comments."

The national ADL office was not available for comment.

When asked if Foxman’s remarks – despite his assertion that unity is
needed among Jews – would widen the divide between himself and the
Boston Jewish community, Kaufman declined to comment.

Kaufman added: "While Abe has been an incredible Jewish leader
nationally, he does not know how to behave locally."

See Weekly Poll

Molly Ritvo and Rachel L. Axelbank contributed to this report.

ks_issue/news/?content_id=3928

r/?id=110010808

Garry Kasparov, Dissident

Running for president in Russia is a dangerous enterprise.

BY DANIEL HENNINGER

Thursday, November 1, 2007 12:01 a.m.

One of the current truisms of the news business is that the Internet
has shrunk the world, and that everyone knows everything from the Web
the moment it happens. Yet sometimes, we know nothing. Last month, the
former world chess champion Garry Kasparov announced his candidacy for
the presidency of Russia, to be decided in March. The world shrugged
at the Kasparov candidacy, and went back to surfing the Web.

Is this because we in the wired world already know all there is to
know about what’s up in 21st century Russia? Or in fact are we
clueless about the place Churchill described as the deepest enigma?
Garry Kasparov believes the latter, and so as leader of a grab-bag
coalition called Other Russia, he has undertaken his doomed effort to
succeed Vladimir Putin. He works hard to get his message out in the
West, but he is given relatively short shrift by the professional
skeptics among the Western media and its intellectuals. Yes, he has no
chance, but the inattention is a mistake.

I believe Garry Kasparov should be regarded as Russia’s first
post-Soviet dissident. Starting in the 1960s, deep in the Cold War,
the world essentially put under its protective custody a generation of
anti-Soviet dissidents. Their names became household names–Sakharov,
Sharansky, Bukovsky, Medvedev, Sinyavsky, Kopelev,
others. Solzhenitsyn, too hot to handle, was exiled in 1974.

The primary reason for analogizing Mr. Kasparov to these dissidents is
not for his opposition to the Putin government and his views on
Mr. Putin, though these are worth listening to. The more relevant
reason is that he believes his life is in danger.

In an interview this past weekend for "The Journal Editorial Report"
on Fox cable news, Mr. Kasparov spoke with his characteristic force
and animation about what he believes are the underlying weaknesses of
a Russia that looks to be thriving under Mr. Putin. Mr. Kasparov was
scheduled to fly back to Russia a few days after the interview, and at
the end he was asked if he feared for his safety. One could not help
but notice that his answer came after a brief but obvious hesitation.

"Yes," he said, "I am. I’m afraid, my family’s afraid. It’s our
greatest concern."

Why? Logic argues against killing Mr. Kasparov. The street
demonstrations in Moscow by his group number in the low thousands
(though they attract truncheon attacks by a small army of police
agents). A murder would make him a martyr in Russia, where he is still
revered as a Soviet and Russian hero. As a political threat, he is a
fly on the back of the Putin rhinoceros.

But this is Russia. For all the same reasons one could have said the
same of the Russian journalists killed or mysteriously dead there in
recent years. Their names are also a "dissident" list: Ivan Safronov
of Kommersant, Iskandar Khatloni of Radio Free Europe, Paul Klebnikov
of Forbes Russia, Anna Politkovskaya of Novaya Gazeta. Freedom House
estimates some two dozen journalists have been killed since Mr. Putin
came to power. Earlier this month, in Prague and Washington, Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty held symposiums on the status of Russian
media, tied to the first anniversary of Ms. Politkovskaya’s
murder. Mr. Kasparov was there. Other than the Washington Times, the
symposiums received virtually no press coverage in the West.

Mr. Kasparov is no political dilettante. His first article on the
status of democracy in Russia appeared on this page in August 1991. He
was 28 years old. He came to our offices near the World Trade Center
for lunch, and one has to say that at first it was hard to set aside
that the fellow discoursing over Chinese food on the West’s unseemly
affection for Mikhail Gorbachev possessed the most mammoth chess brain
in history.

We made him a contributing editor to the Journal editorial page, and
in the years since he has written often for these pages on Russia’s
wild ride to its current state. Across 16 years, Mr. Kasparov’s
commitment to democratic liberty in Russia and in its former republics
has been unstinting. At that September 1991 lunch, Mr. Kasparov
proposed an idea then anathema to elite thinking in Washington and the
capitals of Western Europe: The West should announce support for the
independence of the former Soviet republics–the Baltics, Ukraine,
Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and the rest.

One suspects that Vladimir Putin noticed what the young chess champion
was saying in 1991 about the old Soviet empire. The Russian president
has famously said, "The demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest
geopolitical catastrophe of the century."

Russia today is not what it was. Mr. Kasparov, however, has not
stopped analyzing what it has become. Briefly, he argues that
Mr. Putin’s internal and external politics should be seen almost
wholly as a function of oil prices, the primary source of revenue for
the Russian state and the prop beneath the extended Putin political
family. Mr. Putin’s "unhelpful" policies on Iran and the like,
Mr. Kasparov argues, keep the oil markets boiling–but not boiling
over. Money in the bank, at $94 a barrel. He says Mr. Putin is the
glue that binds this fabulously wealthy family, and if he left
politics in any real sense they would start killing each other.

As to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s argument that the West
needed Mr. Putin inside the G-7 structure so it could "influence" him,
the former chess champion replies: "Occasionally you have to look at
the results of your brilliant theories." Bringing Mr. Putin in as G
No. 8, he says, "jeopardized the whole concept of this club, seven
great industrial democracies."

Arguably these views make Mr. Kasparov a dissident even in the
increasingly cynical, "pragmatic" West. To their credit, the West’s
political elites in the 1970s protected the Soviet Union’s
dreamers. Today Mr. Putin wants Russia to be seen again as
dangerous. It is that. Garry Kasparov deserves protection. He stands
for something important. A word from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would be
a start.

Mr. Henninger is deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial
page. His column appears Thursdays in the Journal and on
OpinionJournal.com.

Copyright © 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ACCORDING TO RELIABLE INFORMATION, ROBERT KOCHARIAN TO OFFER NA VICE-SPEAKER ISHKHAN ZAKARIAN’S CANDIDATURE FOR CONTROL CHAMBER CHAIRMAN’S POST

Noyan Tapan
Oct 31, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 31, NOYAN TAPAN. According to reliable information,
RA President Robert Kocharian is going to offer the candidature of
Ishkhan Zakarian, the NA Vice-Speaker, a member of Bargavach Hayastan
party’s Board, to the post of Chairman of independent Control Chamber,
which will replace RA National Assembly’s Control Chamber soon. Though
the deadline of appointing the Control Chamber Chairman is November 7,
nevertheless, in all probability, that issue will be discussed at the
NA special sitting to be held on November 2. It should be mentioned
that the appointment will be done by a secret ballot.

If I. Zakarian is appointed the Chairman of the Control Chamber,
then, according an intra-coalition agreement, the right to offer a
candidate to the NA Vice-Speaker’s vacant post will be reserved for
the Bargavach Hayastan Party. According to rumors being spread in
the National Assembly, the most probable candidate is Avet Adonts,
the current Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee for
European Integration.

It should be also mentioned that in case of holding the post of the
Control Chamber Chairman, I. Zakarian’s deputy authorities will
be stopped ahead of schedule. As he was elected a deputy by the
proportional system, the vacant deputy mandate will be handed over
to the next candidate registered on BH’s electoral roll.

CHALDEAN PATRIARCH SEEKS TIES TO MUSLIMS
By Kim Gamel

Associated Press
Tuesday October 30, 2007 9:01 PM

BAGHDAD (AP) – The Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, recently named
Iraq’s first cardinal, said Tuesday that rising violence has made
life worse for Iraqi Christians since the U.S.-led invasion, but he
is optimistic that "peace will prevail."

Emmanuel III Delly, who will go to the Vatican next month to collect
his cardinal’s red hat, must balance the dangers facing his small
Catholic community with a mission to reach out to Muslims.

The 80-year-old head of the ancient Chaldean Church in Iraq said the
hopes of freedom in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s ouster in 2003
have given way to widespread fear.

"We had hoped that the situation would be better. In fact it is
worse," he told The Associated Press during an interview at his
guarded compound in western Baghdad.

"Car bombs, roadside bombs, killings, assassinations. All of these
things were not happening in the past. There was stability and
security."

But Delly, who was one of 23 new cardinals named by Pope Benedict XVI
on Oct. 17, blamed the violence on extremists and said it is his job
to reach out to Muslims and followers of other faiths to promote unity.

"I pray every day to God to enlighten the minds of the officials and
guide them to the road of peace and reconciliation," he said.

Often fiddling with the large silver cross on a chain around his neck,
the Chaldean spiritual leader said he visits leaders from Islam’s
Shiite and Sunni sects during their holy days and they do the same
on Christian holidays. He said he received "hundreds of calls from
Sunnis and Shiites" congratulating him on his promotion to cardinal.

"We all want peace," he said, sitting in an ornate reception room
in a building off a courtyard lined with flower bushes and a statue
of the Virgin Mary in the center. "We should accomplish this with
actions and not only with words."

Delly has been outspoken in the past about the need to protect
Christians, who comprise less than 3 percent of Iraq’s 26 million
population.

In May, he issued a joint statement with Patriarch Mar Dinka IV of the
Catholic Assyrian Church of the East saying Christians in a number of
Iraqi regions faced "blackmail, kidnapping and displacement" at the
hands of Sunni Arab insurgents led by al-Qaida in Iraq. They complained
the government "has kept silent and not taken a firm stance."

But Delly had only a message of unity Tuesday, saying that Iraqis
of all sects have suffered from the chaos and that he is optimistic
security is improving.

"We have been living with our Muslim brothers for 14 generations and
we have common interests with each other," he said. "The danger is
hitting everybody without exception. We pray to God that peace will
prevail and every one of us should work for peace."

The toned down remarks came three days after Delly received a promise
from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to protect and support Iraq’s
Christian community, which is particularly vulnerable since it has
little political or military clout to defend itself.

Delly, who speaks Arabic, French, Italian, Latin, English and Aramaic,
said the Shiite Muslim prime minister called his promotion to cardinal
"an honor for all Iraqis" and promised to send a government delegation
to Rome for his Nov. 24 ordination.

"He told me he is doing his best to make Iraqis feel comfortable and
live in peace in Iraq. I told him it is our duty to work for peace,"
Delly said.

"We are working for the sake of all Iraqis."

The country’s Christian population was estimated at more than 800,000
before the war – the majority of them Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians,
with small numbers of Roman Catholics.

They were generally left alone under Saddam’s regime, and many,
including former foreign minister and deputy prime minister Tariq
Aziz, reached the highest levels of power. But after Saddam’s ouster,
Christians became perceived as supporters of the U.S., the Minority
Rights Group says.

Christians were increasingly targeted by the Sunni-led insurgency,
causing tens of thousands to flee, isolating many of those who remained
in barricaded neighborhoods and forcing them to hide their religious
affiliation when venturing out. Up to 50 percent may have left Iraq,
says the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which
advises the U.S. government.

Attacks on Christians peaked with a coordinated bombing campaign in
the summer of 2004 aimed at Baghdad churches and again last September
after the pope made comments perceived to be anti-Islam.

The German-born pontiff later said that his words about Islam were
misunderstood and that he was sorry Muslims were offended, and he
has recently been calling for dialogue between Christianity and Islam.

Delly, who was born in Tel Kaif, north of the northern city of Mosul,
said Benedict asked him to reach out to Iraq’s Muslims.

"He wants the good of everybody, and he asked me to open dialogues
with our Muslim brothers here. This is his message to the Muslims and
the whole world," Delly said. "We should do our best to make them
understand and to make them feel that we love them and they love
us. This is the real dialogue."

IT IS 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF DAILY ZHAMANAK

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today

ISTANBUL, OCTOBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. It is the 100th
anniversary of the publication of the Armenian Daily Zhamanak (Time)
of Turkey on October 28.

The Daily Zhamanak was founded on October 28, 1908 in Constantinople
by Misak and Sargis Gochunian brother. At present, Ara Gochunian is
the editor of the Daily. The All-Armenian Mass Media Association and
the Noyan Tapan News Agency warmly congratulate the personnel of the
Daily Zhamanak (Times) on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary
of the newspaper, wishing it further success and unfailing publication.

The Armenian Library and Museum of America
65 Main Street, Watertown, MA 02742

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Christie Hardiman
Public Relations & Outreach Coordinator
Phone #: (617) 926-2562 ext. 4
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

October 29, 2007

NEWS RELEASE –ALMA OFFERS ANSWERS TO WHO ARE THE ARMENIANS?

The Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) is pleased
to present its long-awaited and highly anticipated exhibit "Who are the
Armenians?" which opened on October 1 in conjunction with the visit of
His Holiness, Catholicos Karekin II, to ALMA. This exhibit consists of
extensive photographs and terse text, further illustrated by companion
exhibits of artifacts from ALMA’s collections. In developing "Who are
the Armenians?" ALMA’s major goal was to create an exhibition that would
acquaint people of any ethnic and racial background, not just Armenians,
with the amazing story of the Armenian people. Their story is a saga of
survival despite trials and tribulations that is simultaneously
juxtaposed with their ability to refine cultural achievements under the
most difficult and tenuous of circumstances. Over two years in the
planning, this exhibit, embodies a concise synopsis of the high and low
points of millenniums of Armenian history and culture. It is
illustrated by photos, enhanced by imaginative but authentically
Armenian borders and accentuated by several pertinent quotations of
leading experts and ancient authors.

We, at ALMA, are unaware of any exhibit, past or present,
which with comprehensiveness and brevity, addresses such sweeping
questions as when and how the Armenians originate as a people, and gives
examples of Armenian hospitality and entrepreneurship in the 5th century
BC. Likewise, we cannot find any exhibit that addresses the erudition
of Armenian scholars during the first century, its conversion as the
first nation to adopt Christianity, the invention of its alphabet and
its consequences and the fight for freedom of religion and for monogamy
in the 5th century. This extensive exhibit also covers the major
Armenian involvement in the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Cilician
Armenia and its interaction with the Crusades, conquest by the Turks,
the literary reawakening of the 18th and 19th centuries, the tragedy of
the Genocide, Armenia’s first Republic that allowed women to vote before
women could vote in the United States, the Sovietization of the Republic
and finally, independence again in 1991. There are separate panels, of
equal or greater importance, recounting and illustrating the astounding
cultural achievements of the Armenian people in church architecture,
miniatures, khatchkars, and relief carvings in stone.

"Who are the Armenians?" originated after the late Ann
Nahigian, one of ALMA’s earliest benefactors and a previous Board
Member, gave a generous grant to initiate this concept conceived by Haig
Der Manuelian. Der Manuelian saw through the completion of the exhibit
along with a committee of volunteers consisting of the late Charles
Kenosian, ALMA Trustees Elisabeth Kenosian and Arakel Almasian, and Berj
Chekijian, a member of the staff.

His Holiness Catholicos Karekin II received an exclusive
tour of the exhibit during His visit to ALMA on October 7. Der
Manuelian, Director Mariam Stepanyan and Curators Gary and Susan
Lind-Sinanian guided Him and His entourage through the exhibit,
answering questions and describing the importance of certain artifacts,
such as the Urartian warrior’s belt of the 8th century B.C. and the 18th
century engraved copper tray. His Holiness graciously perused the
exhibit, taking additional time to closely examine the exhibit’s
religious artifacts and texts. His careful eye and fluency in the
Armenian language enabled Him to find an error regarding the date of the
inscribed memorial Kutahya ceramic tile, which has since been corrected.
After privately relishing through the rest of the exhibit, others in
attendance had the opportunity to browse the exhibit.

During invasions, wars, oppression, and tragedies over the
centuries, not only their survival but somehow their concurrent
development and refinement of church architecture, miniatures,
khatchkars and relief carvings is absolutely miraculous. Visit the
exhibit to learn the story of the Armenian people and discover their
remarkable culture.

The Museum’s hours are Thursday 6 pm to 9 pm, Friday and
Sunday 1 pm to 5 pm and Saturday 10 am to 2 pm.

Armenian Library & Museum of America (ALMA)

Founded in 1971, ALMA’s mission is to present and preserve the culture,
history, art and contributions of the Armenian people to Americans and
Armenians alike. Since its inception, ALMA’s collection has grown to
over 26,000 books and 20,000 artifacts, making it perhaps the largest
and most diverse holding of Armenian cultural artifacts outside of
Armenia. As a repository for heirlooms, the collection now represents a
major resource not only for Armenian studies research, but as well as
for preservation and illustration of the Armenian heritage. ALMA is the
largest ethnic museum in New England and the only independent Armenian
Museum in the Diaspora funded solely through contributions of individual
supporters.

Museum and Gallery Hours: Friday and Sunday 1-5 PM, Saturday 10AM-2PM
and Thursday evenings 6-9 PM. Museum Admission: FREE/ALMA members and
for children under 12; $5/ for non-members. For directions and more
information please visit our website , or call
617.926.ALMA (2562).

ANKARA’S COMMENCING ACTIVE MILITARY OPERATIONS IN IRAQ MAY PROVOKE ENTIRE REGION – HEAD OF FEDERATION COUNCIL’S COMMITTEE

TREND News Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 24 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Òrend corr A. Gasimova / Ankara’s commencing
active military operations in Iraq against Kurdish militants may
provoke a regional conflict and propel the involvement of neighbouring
countries. "If Ankara turns to active military operations in Iraq,
that may provoke an inter-state conflict that covers the entire region
and will affect not only Turkey and Iraq, but also neighbouring Syria
and Iran," Mikhail Margelov, the Chairman of the Russian Federation
Council’s Committee on International Affairs, said.

Official Ankara states that at least 3,000 militants of the Kurdish
Worker Party (PPK) are hiding in the hilly area of northern Iraq and
they regularly commit acts of terror in Turkey. On 17 October, Turkish
Parliament approved the inquiry of the Turkish Government headed by
Prime Minister Receb Tayyip Erdogan about holding an intervention
within Iraq, in order to carry out a trans-border military operation
against Kurdish separatists in the north of Iraq.

Ankara’s intensions to solve the problem through military operations
and de-facto intervention of a sovereign country can be only condemned,
Margelov reported from Moscow by phone on 24 October.

"Moreover, as we can see from the war between Lebanon and Israel, such
measures grant only a temporary respite," the political scientists
said. He believes that there is only one way out of the situation
– establishment of a centralized power in Iraq. "A considerable
improvement of the situation at the Iraqi-Turkish border can be
achieved only when a strong centralized power appears in Iraq,
which will be able to put the country under its control. But
unfortunately, neither official Baghdad nor the United States can
give such guarantees."

According to Margelov, Turkey should take another position – to
assist in every way to the new Iraqi authorities to become firmly
established and to begin restoration of its destroyed infrastructure,
security and control systems, instead of further destabilizing the
situation in the country.

At the beginning of August 2007, Turkey and Iraq agreed to jointly
combat Kurdish militants. Ankara repeatedly threatened the Kurds in the
north of Iraq, which is used by the PPK as bridge-head for attacking
targets in the Turkish territory. Several times Ankara sent troops
to the Kurdish regions in northern Iraq.

Turkey’s preparations for a military campaign against Kurds alarmed
international society, raising fears of the threat of a new regional
conflict when the situation in the Middle East is already strained.

The EU and the United States have already called on Turkey to refrain
from violence and to solve the issue through cooperation with Iraqi
authorities. Meanwhile, the dialogue between Washington and Ankara
on the issue is becoming complicated, as the US Congress is still
considering the resolution that recognizes the mass slaughter of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks at the beginning of the 20th century as
Armenian genocide.

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