Author: Emil Lazarian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH DEFENSE MINISTRY WARNS AGAINST ESCALATION OF TENSION ON BORDER LINE

Armenpress

STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS: The defense ministry of
Nagorno-Karabakh warned in a statement that regular violations of
the truce on Armenian-Azerbaijani border and in the conflict zone
around Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan are fraught with serious and
unpredictable aftereffects.

The statement was prompted by the death of an Armenian servicemen,
Mher Movsisian, killed on the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact
on January 21.

The statement called on Azerbaijani authorities to observe the
ceasefire agreement and refrain from jeopardizing the fragile stability
and peace.

On Mondey another Armenian army soldier was shot dead in violation
of ceasefire by Azerbaijani forces.

An Armenian defense ministry statement said Armen Malkhasian, 18,
was wounded in the head by an Azerbaijani sniper and died on the road
to a hospital in the north-eastern Armenian town of Berd.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Karabakh settlement talks to continue – diplomat

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
January 23, 2007 Tuesday

The talks over the Nagorno Karabakh settlement will continue, a
diplomat told Itar-Tass on Tuesday after talks in Moscow between the
foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"Today, the co-chairpersons of the Minsk group are leaving for Baku,
where they will meet with the Azerbaijani president on Wednesday,
January 24," ambassador at large of the Russian Foreign Ministry for
Karabakh settlement issues Yuri Merzlyakov said.

"Later on Wednesday, the delegation will go to Yerevan," Merzlyakov
added.

Azeri foreign minister says Karabakh talks in Moscow "quite hard"

Turan, Azerbaijan
Jan 23 2007

Moscow, 23 January: "Talks with [Armenian Foreign Minister] Vardan
Oskanian were intensive. They were about the last principle of the
[Karabakh] settlement," Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
told reporters following the talks in Moscow.

Mammadyarov did not elaborate on this principle, but admitted that
the talks were "quite hard".

The sides agreed to carry on the talks, he said.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group are visiting the region today.
They will continue the talks with the Azerbaijani and Armenian
presidents.

Asked if the presidents could also meet, Mammadyarov said that the
presidents themselves might decide on that after meeting the co-chairs.

Armenian reports said that the talks have yielded no tangible
results. The sides have not been able to make progress in the talks,
they said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PROSECUTOR GENERAL OFFICE DEMANDS THAT LEADER OF NATIONAL UNITY PROVE
HIS STATEMENT ABOUT PLANNED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST LEADER OF
PROSPERING ARMENIA

Yerevan, January 23. ArmInfo. Prosecutor General Office of Armenia has
demanded that the leader of National Unity party Artashes Gegamyan
prove his statement that the brother of Armenian DM Serzh Sargsyan
Alexander Sargsyan plotted an assassination attempt against the leader
of Prospering Armenia party Gagik Tsarukyan.

Gegamyan is now taking part in the PACE winter session in Strasbourg
and it is not known if he is going to provide proofs or if he has ones.

To remind, earlier Gegamyan said that Alexander Sargsyan plotted an
assassination attempt against Tsarukyan, but, when Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan learned that, he invited Serzh Sargsyan and Gagik
Tsarukyan for confrontation. It was then that Tsarukyan decided to
form his own party. When Sargsyan’s plans were exposed he fled abroad,
while the chief of the National Security Service Karlos Petrossyan
was dismissed.

Gagik Tsarukyan and Serzh Sargsyan refuted the statement, while the
press secretary of the President Viktor Sogomonyan advised Gegamyan
to go to psychiatrist

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

5 Iranian Churches Put Up for UNESCO Registration

Cultural Heritage News, Iran
Jan 23 2007

Photo: St. Thaddeus Church or Qara Kelisa (Black Church) Iran’s
Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) completed the file
of Qara Kelisa alongside four other Iranian churches to be submitted
to UNESCO for world registration.

Tehran, 23 January 2007 (CHN Foreign Desk) — In an attempt to inscribe
ancient Iranian churches in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in
2008, experts of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization
(ICHTO) have prepared a dossier on St. Thaddeus Cathedral also
known as Qara Kelisa (The Black Church) in West Azarbaijan province,
alongside 4 other churches including Saint Stepanos in Khoy, Zoorzoor
in Chaldoran, Choopan and Mary Darehsham to be submitted to UNEESCO
next week for further studies.

Announcing this news, Mohammad Hassan Khademzadeh, expert of ICHTO and
director of the mega project for documenting the file of Qareh Kelisa
and its adjacent historic monument, said: "The files of these five
churches have been completed and will be submitted to UNESCO’s World
Heritage Committee within two days and the committee will announce
its final decision on these files in April 2007."

If the files win UNESCO’s approval, the International Council on
Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) will dispatch a team of experts to
Iran to make a visit to these monuments and prepare a report on
their conditions.

Qara Kelisa had previously been nominated by Iran for UNESCO world
registration in 2007; however, the file was rejected due to lack of
substantial documents.

If UNESCO agrees with putting Qara Kelisa in its list of World Heritage
Sites, Qara Kelisa would be the ninth Iranian monument in this list
and the four other churches alongside Ziaolmolk Bridge and Khajeh
Caravanserai would be as annexes to St. Thaddeus Cathedral after
its registration.

The St. Thaddeus Church, locally known as Qara Kelisa or the Black
Church, is considered one of the oldest churches in the world, whose
construction began 1700 years ago. Historians believe that the Church
is the tomb of Thaddeus who is said to have been one of Christ’s
disciples who traveled to Armenia, then part of the Persian Empire,
for preaching the teachings of Christ.

This church has a worldwide reputation among the Armenian Christians
of the world and every year a large number of Armenians come to this
church for performing religious rituals.

Soudabeh Sadigh [email protected]

section=2&id=6954

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CLASSES RESUME IN 48 SCHOOLS OF YEREVAN

Panorama.am
18:14 22/01/2007

The classes have resumed in 48 secondary schools in the Armenian
capital, Armine Vardanyan, deputy head of education department at
Yerevan municipality, told Panoarama.am.

In her words, there are 205 schools under the supervision of the
municipality. Only 50 of them have local heating system. The heating
system is tested in two of the schools and will be on in a day or
two, Vardanyan said also saying other schools will start classes
in February.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARREST OF ZHIRAYR SEFILYAN WAS ORDERED BY ARMENIAN DM

Yerevan, January 23. ArmInfo. The arrest of Zhirayr Sefilyan was
ordered by Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sargsyan, says the acting
coordinator of the Union of Armenian Volunteers Armen Agayan.

The arrest of Sefilyan was certainly sanctioned by President Robert
Kocharyan, but some media reports prove that Sargsyan was also privy
to it. At the same time, Agayan notes that he does not have proofs he
could present at court.

Agayan says that he is going to provide all TV channels with the full
text of Zhirayr Sefilyan’s speech where he allegedly called for a
coup. "We perfectly realize that the TV companies controlled by the
authorities will refuse to show the video, but we will try. People
should see it and make their own conclusions." says Agayan.

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, January 22, 2006

AGBU New York Special Events Committee Wraps Up a Successful 2006

AGBU’s New York Special Events Committee (NYSEC) concluded another
productive year in 2006 with a series of benefit events that raised
over $15,000 for AGBU programs.

In support of the AGBU Karabakh Repopulation Project, NYSEC will
donate $10,000 to the construction of a home in the new village of
Nor Jrakn in the Republic of Karabakh. This endeavor is helping to
repopulate previously war-torn and abandoned Armenian villages in the
southeastern Hadrut region, while also providing humanitarian relief
and agricultural support to needy families. To show her appreciation
for NYSEC’s efforts, the First Lady of Karabakh, Inna Ghoukassian,
attended a lecture and lunch hosted by NYSEC during an official visit
to New York in November 2006.

Other NYSEC highlights of 2006 included a backstage tour of New
York’s illustrious Metropolitan Opera House; a visit to the official
residence of the New York City Mayor, Gracie Mansion; lectures by
Dr. George Bournoutian and Dr. Sylvie Der Khorenian; and personal
tours of Chelsea art galleries, the privately-owned Onassis Museum
and the world-renowned Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).

NYSEC’s next event, an Off-Broadway presentation of William Saroyan’s
last play, "Cave Dwellers," will take place on February 28, 2007.

Established in 2003, NYSEC is committed to upholding AGBU’s
mission to preserve and promote the Armenian identity and heritage
through educational, cultural and humanitarian programs. For more
information about NYSEC, please contact the Committee Co-Chairwomen,
Nila Festekjian at [email protected] or Gacia Mangassarian at
[email protected].

For more information about AGBU and its worldwide programs, please
visit

Turks flock to editor’s funeral

Story from BBC NEWS:
europe/6289275.stm

Published: 2007/01/23 16:27:30 GMT

Tens of thousands of people walked silently behind the coffin of murdered
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, in a vast funeral cortege in
Istanbul.
The newspaper editor, 53, was gunned down in the Turkish city on Friday,
metres from his offices.

Dink wrote controversial articles about the mass killing of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks during World War I.

Mourners carrying placards reading "We are all Armenians" paused and
applauded as they passed where he was shot.

>From there they walked five miles (8km) to an Armenian Orthodox church,
where the funeral service was led by the patriarch. Much of the city centre
was closed to traffic.

Hrant Dink was one of Turkey’s most prominent Armenian voices

Priests chanted and doves were released as Dink was buried at Istanbul’s
Armenian cemetery.

He was convicted in October 2005 of "insulting Turkishness" through his
writings on the Armenian "genocide" of 1915.

His widow addressed the crowds before the cortege set off, telling them, "We
are seeing off our brother with a silent walk, without slogans and without
asking how a baby became a murderer."

The BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says those who spilled onto the
streets wished to express their sense of solidarity and horror at the
murder.

Many, she says, are already beginning to consider Dink a martyr.

Suspects held

Turkish prosecutors said a teenage suspect had confessed to the killing.

Ogun Samast was arrested after he was identified by his father from CCTV
images taken near the murder scene.

He was being questioned in Istanbul along with six other suspects.
One of them was named as Yasin Hayal, a friend of Mr Samast, who has spent
11 months in jail for a 2004 bomb attack outside a McDonald’s restaurant in
Trabzon.

Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper reported on Monday that during police
questioning Mr Hayal said that he had given Mr Samast, aged 16 or 17, a gun
and money.

Investigators say that so far they have found no links between Mr Samast and
any known political group.

Armenian government officials and religious leaders, as well as some members
of Turkey’s Armenian diaspora, attended the funeral, despite the fact that
Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations.

‘Genocide’

Journalists and politicians in Turkey have expressed outrage at the killing,
which many described as a political assassination, while the US, EU, France,
and several human rights groups also voiced shock and condemnation.

Dink had received multiple death threats from nationalists because of his
views on the mass killings of Armenians during the final days of the Ottoman
Empire.

The issue is a sensitive subject in both Armenia and Turkey. Many Armenians
have campaigned for the killings to be recognised internationally as
genocide.

Turkey admits that many Armenians were killed but it denies any genocide,
saying the deaths happened during widespread fighting in World War I.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

January 23, 2007

PRESS RELEASE

Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate
6252 Honolulu Avenue
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Tel: (818) 248-7737
Fax: (818) 248-7745
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

DURING THE SERVICE IN MEMORY OF HRANT DINK IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO
SILENCE JUSTICE DECLARED THE PRELATE

The assassination of "Agos" weekly editor Hrant Dink on Friday,
January 19th, shook Armenian communities worldwide, including the
larger family of our Prelacy. Over the weekend, various events were
organized in memory of Hrant Dink, including vigils, requiem service,
and community gatherings.

On Friday, January 19th, on behalf of the Prelacy Religious and
Executive Councils,

H.E. Archbishop Mousegh Mardirossian, Prelate, sent a letter of
condolence to His Beatitude Archbishop Mesrob Mutafian, Patriarch
of Istanbul, expressing sympathy to Hrant Dink’s family and to the
Armenian community of Istanbul.

The Prelate also spoke to Mr. Simon Ajilajoglu, Chair of the
Organization of Istanbul Armenians of Los Angeles, and offered his
condolences for this tragic loss.

By the ordinance of the Prelate, on Friday at 5:30 p.m., a vigil and
candle lighting took place at St. Sarkis Church in Pasadena, at which
Very Rev. Fr. Barthev Gulumian and Rev. Nareg Pehlivanian represented
the Prelate. The Los Angeles Times reported on the event. In addition
to the vigil, on Sunday, January 21st, requiem service took place in
all Prelacy churches for the soul of Hrant Dink

On Sunday, January 21st, Archbishop Mardirossian presided over Holy
Mass and delivered his sermon at Holy Martyrs Church in Encino. In
attendance were representatives of the Prelacy Executive Council,
A.R.F. Central Committee, local Rosdom Gomideh, Organization
of Istanbul Armenians, and other organizations. In his sermon,
the Prelate spoke on John 3:19-21, which states, "And this is the
judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every
one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light,
lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes
to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been
wrought in God." With regards to this passage, the Prelate spoke of
the fact that throughout history there has been constant competition
and confrontation between those who follow the Light and those
who follow Darkness, which still continues today. Dark forces have
always tried to silence the voices of justice and righteousness and
extinguish the Light, however, Light and righteousness will be the
final victors. In speaking of the assassination of Hrant Dink, the
Prelate stated that although it was carried out by one extremist,
it is clear that intolerance towards the Armenian people and denial
of the Genocide was the cause of the attack. "Hrant Dink was the
voice of justice, and even though they tried to silence him with
this ruthless crime, justice cannot be silenced because the voice of
Hrant Dink will continue to resonate through each and every Armenian",
stated the Prelate, and on this solemn occasion once again expressed
his condolences and that of our Prelacy to Hrant Dink’s family and
to the Organization of Istanbul Armenians.

On the evening of Sunday, January 21st, the Prelate, accompanied by
members of clergy, attended a community-wide mourning and condemnation
that took place at the "Armenak Der Bedrossian" hall of St. Mary’s
Church in Glendale, and participated in the closing prayer.

Let us also note that on the morning of Saturday, January 20, Very
Rev. Fr. Muron Aznikian and Rev. Nareg Pehlivanian attended a press
conference organized by the Armenian National Committee in front of
the Turkish consulate.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress