Author: Emil Lazarian

November 24, 2006
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] <mailto:[email protected]>
Website: <;

PRELATE WELCOMES MR. JIRAYR TANIELIAN, PRINCIPAL OF HOVAGIMIAN-MANOUGIAN
SCHOOL IN LEBANON

On Friday, November 17, H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate,
welcomed Mr. Jirair Tanielian, Principal of Hovagimian-Manougian School in
Lebanon, and alumni committee member Mr. Avo Markarian, at the temporary
Prelacy offices in Encino.
Mr. Tanielian reported to the Prelate about the condition in
Lebanon and specifically in Armenian schools, and expressed his gratitude
for the Lincy Foundation’s recent generous donation. The Prelate then
imparted information about the endeavors of our Prelacy.

FUNDRAISING BANQUET OF FORTY MARTYRS CHURCH
IN ORANGE COUNTY WAS A SUCCESS

On Saturday, November18, the Prelate and Executive Council representatives
attended the fundraising banquet of Forty Martyrs Church in Orange County,
which was held to raise funds for the renovation of the church.
The evening began with the invocation of pastor Rev. Hrant
Yeretsian, followed by welcoming remarks by Board of Trustees Chair Mr.
Nazareth Dishoian. An artistic program also took place with the
participation of Mr. Aram Aghababian, the church choir, Mrs. Anna
Bedrossian, and the dance group of Mrs. Perly Varjabedian.
In his remarks, the Prelate expressed appreciation to all the
donors and friends for their continuous support and devotion to the church.
The event was a success with a sum of over $100,000 being
raised.

ARMENIAN ECCLESIASTICAL BROTHERHOOD
ANNUAL EVENT

On Monday, November 20, the annual event of the Armenian Ecclesiastical
Brotherhood took place at St. Garabed Church in Hollywood. Very Rev. Fr.
Barthev Gulumian represented the Prelate and conveyed his blessings.

PRELATE VISITS CONSUL GENERAL
OF ARMENIA, ARMEN LILOYAN

On the morning of Tuesday, November 21st, the Prelate and members of the
Executive Council paid an official visit to the Consulate General of the
Republic of Armenia to meet with Consul General Armen Liloyan.
Accompanying the Prelate were Rev. Razmig Khatchadourian,
Central Executive Council member Mr. Khajag Dikijian, Executive Council
Chair Dr. Garo Agopian, and secretary Mr. Boghos Sassounian.
At the end of the meeting, the Prelate invited the Consul
General to the Prelacy’s New Year’s and Christmas Dinner.

PRELATE REPRESENTED AT THE
COUNCIL OF ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES MEETING

On Tuesday, November 21st, Prelacy Christian Education Department Directors
Very Reverend Fathers Muron Aznikian and Barthev Gulumian represented the
Prelate at the quarterly meeting of the Council of Oriental Orthodox
Churches of the Western U.S.A. that took place at the Diocese.
At the meeting, the success of the Oriental Orthodox Sunday
School spiritual gathering was discussed, and it was suggested that such a
gathering take place on a yearly basis.
Also discussed was the upcoming youth camping trip, as well as
upcoming one-day seminar to take place by invitation of the Prelate on April
19, 2007 at Holy Cross Cathedral in Montebello.

PRELATE WELCOMES PRESIDENT ARKADY GHOUKASIAN
AT HE PRELACY NEW BUILDING

On Wednesday, November 22nd, the Prelate and Executive Council officially
welcomed H.E. Arkady Ghoukasian, President of the Republic of Nagorno
Karabakh, at the Prelacy new building.
The honorable guest and his entourage arrived at the Prelacy just after
11:30 and were welcomed by the Prelate and Executive Council members.
Accompanying the President were H.E. Archbishop Barkev Mardirossian, Prelate
of Artsakh, Consul General of the Republic of Armenia Armen Lilolyan, and
other officials. The President congratulated the Prelate and Council members
on the completion of the renovation of the new building and wished them
success in their future endeavors.
Later on, the Prelate and the Executive Council had organized a reception in
honor of President Ghoukasian at the Phoenicia restaurant in Glendale.
Among the invited guests were Executive Council members, A.R.F. Central
Committee representatives, Glendale City Council members, members of
community organizations, and Prelacy donors and friends.
During the reception, the Prelate welcomed the President and
offered his blessings for a successful Telethon. Archbishop Barkev
Mardirossan, Consul General Armen Liloyan, ARF Central Executive
representative Mr. Avedik Izmirlian, and representatives of Armenian
organizations also welcomed the president and conveyed their wishes of a
bright future for Artsakh and our homeland.

ON BEHALF OF OUR PRELACY H.E. THE PRELATE PARTICIPATED IN THE 9TH
INTERNATIONAL
ARMENIA FUND TELETHON

On Thanksgiving Day, the 9th international Armenia Fund Telethon took place
on Thursday, November 23rd, with the participation of the Western Prelacy
and its affiliated bodies, along with the government and spiritual leaders
of Artsakh.
The Telethon started with the opening prayer by the spiritual
leaders of the Western United States. On this occasion, the Prelate urged
our community members to fulfill their national duty and participate in the
Telethon to support the rebuilding of Artsakh.
The Thanksgiving Day Telethon raised a total amount of $13.7
million.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

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MURDERED WITH AN AXE
[04:17 pm] 23 November, 2006

On November 22 Hovik Haroutyunyan (born in 1968) was
taken to the Kapan hospital with cerebrum injuries
where he died.

According to the police forces, Mr. Haroutyunyan was
sleeping in the armchair of his acquaintance at 09:00
when Robert Zakharyan (born in 1963) the
brother-in-law of the acquaintance, came in and
noticing Mr. Haroutyunyan in his brother’s house, hit
him with an axe.

Robert Zakharyan is arrested.

The investigation is under way.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Panorama.am

17:02 23/11/06

MORE PEOPLE TO RECEIVE MEDICINE FREE OF CHARGE

Disabled people under 18 and children under 7 as well
as family member of perished military servants are
entitled to medicine free of charge or on privileged
conditions from now on. Until today the disabled under
16 and children up to 3 years old enjoyed this
benefit. The government issued a new decision today
considering invalid the decision of 1999.

Also children under 80 of single mothers will be given
on 50 percent discount instead of previous 30 percent. /Panorama.am/

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Panorama.am

18:51 23/11/06

COMMITTEE HEAD PRAISES NEXT YEAR BUDGET

Gagik Minasyan, chairman of interim committee on
finance and crediting, budgeting and economic issues
at the National Assembly, praised the next year budget
saying it insures 27.3 percent growth in income from
taxes with 9 percent growth in GDP. In his words, no
better fight against shadow economy could be imagined.
`Income taxes have grown by 2.4 time from 2002 to
2007, i.e., 2004 percent,’ he said saying it is a good
assessment of Andranik Margaryan’s administration.
Minasyan said so in a debate with Aram Sargsyan from
Justice Block. Sargsyan pointed out that the pensions
for old age are lower than the minimal consumer
basket. Minasyan contradicted saying the average
pension will go up to 13.500. However, he failed to
indicate how much the minimal consumer basket is. /Panorama.am/

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net

10-15 Million Migrants Work in Russia
24.11.2006 16:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Various estimates put the number of
foreign workers in Russia at between 10 million and 15
million people, but only 500,000 of them are working
legally. This is the root cause of many problems,
including poor working conditions and low pay for
immigrants working illegally, violations of their
rights, and criminalisation of unlawful employment,
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview
with Russkaya Mysl newspaper. `A number of legislative
initiatives have already been passed which, on the one
hand, make it easier for foreign workers to register,
and on the other hand, toughen the penalties for
breaking the immigration rules and unlawfully using
foreign labor. We also intend to encourage immigration
to the parts of the country and the economic sectors
that are important for Russia’s development and that
face labor shortages,’ he said.

AZG Armenian Daily #226, 25/11/2006

Editorial

ARMENIANS ARE THEIR WORST ENEMIES!

Is this headline offensive?

It certainly is. It hurts reading it; it hurts even
more to write it. But it reveals the unpleasant truth.

Most of the times Armenians are bright and successful
individually, but not so collectively. They are
charitable and kind when they meet destitute fellow
Armenians, but try to see if they help each other
professionally.

A true story may illustrate these statements better.
Years ago, the American Armenian International College
honored the celebrated movie director Rouben Mamoulian
by bestowing an honorary doctorate degree upon him. As
the speaker left the podium, after lavishing all kinds
of praise on the honoree, another Armenian, who had
spent a lifetime in Hollywood’s movie industry,
approached him and said: "Why do you honor this man?
He has not helped a single Armenian in the movie
industry."

Another case in point is the Armenian screenplay
writer Steve Zaillian who upon receiving the Oscar for
his "Schindler’s list" screenplay, failed to mention
the Armenian Genocide, in front of billions of
viewers.

Not helping a fellow Armenian may be dismissed as
selfishness, but what to make of an Armenian in a
position of power who denigrates other Armenians or
undermines any Armenian cause, in the name of a higher
noble cause? Unfortunately, there is an abundance of
such cases.

In 2003, Dr. Raymond Damadian, the inventor of MRI,
was bypassed by the Nobel Prize committee, which
awarded the prize to Paul C. Lauterbur and Peter
Mansfield, who had mainly improved the invention. When
Damadian reacted angrily, a New York Times editorial
ridiculed him, while a media debate was raging. One
person, among the Armenians who was the best qualified
as a scientist to defend a fellow Armenian, Dr. Leon
A. Saryan, wrote an article saying why he did not
deserve the Nobel Prize.

The trend continues even today. When the French
Parliament passed a resolution to adopt a law
punishing Genocide deniers, we saw a number of
Armenians opposing or ridiculing it, in the name of
freedom of speech. The opposition to that resolution
may water it down, or even defeat it at the Senate or
presidential level, given the media outcry that
followed its adoption. Unfortunately major news media
in Europe and the US opposed the move and they enjoyed
the benefit of supporting a sacrosanct principle –
that of freedom of expression. That effectively
disguised their main intent of facilitating Turkey’s
accession to the European Union.

No one has yet protested the Loi Gaysot, which the
same French Parliament has adopted to punish the
Holocaust deniers, because Jews have a very strong
antidote or weapon: they label such individuals as
anti-Semites.

It was predictable that many Armenian leaders in
Turkey would oppose it, to save their own skin. Since
already the reverse law (Penal Code 301) exists, in
Turkey and has been used extensively to prosecute
writers like Orhan Pamuk, Elif Shafak, Ragip Zarakolu
and Hrant Dink.

But it is difficult to comprehend the position of some
Armenian writers and scholars in the West who decide
to become more Catholic than the pope in their zeal to
defend freedom of speech. Rather than using that
position of power to defend an Armenian cause, they
join the Turkish chorus, crying wolf in the name of
freedom of speech. The Turks are the worst violators
of human rights and freedom of speech but they seem to
have found a goldmine in the otherwise-unassailable
principle of the freedom of expression and they
believe that the louder they shout about that
principle, the more successful they will become in
denying the Armenian Genocide.

Of course, for academic purposes, it sounds very
healthy to find Armenian dissenters who defend that
principle. However, we have yet to hear one Jew object
to the Loi Gaysot in principle.

One such dissenter seems to be journalist and UCLA’s
Bruin Standard Editor Garin K. Hovannisian, who,
having accessed the forum of the Christian Science
Monitor, signed an article on November 7 titled "The
folly of Genocide deniers." Hovannisian has used his
superb talent to castigate the French, to ridicule the
Armenian supporters of the bill and in the final
analysis, to provide ammunition to the Turks.

He begins his argument with the following statement:
"The bill reminds us that France’s socialist party and
many European elites believe truth is decreed, not
discovered." The writer is not very happy either that
"The news drove Armenian communities into raptures."
Then, he tries to lambaste Hilda Tchoboian, president
of the European Armenian Federation who has welcomed
this "historic step," noting that "The hydra of denial
is a tumor on freedom of expression" and then he
defines that statement as proof "that you can mix
metaphor and talk nonsense in the span of five nouns."
Then he pontificates: "Genocide denial might be a
tumor on the truth, memory or even human dignity, but
it’s not even a pimple on the freedom of expression."

He continues in the same condescending tone: "That
lesson, sadly, is lost on some French parliamentarians
and the Armenians Diaspora, whose notion of politics
ends where Genocide begins." Indeed, Armenians must be
grateful to count amongst them pundits like Mr.
Hovannissian whose bright ideas contribute to the
sophistication of our political maturity, which
otherwise would have been painfully primitive.

The writer uses even catchier phrases to press his
point: "It is easier to shut up the deniers than to
make them stop believing." "Censorship has long been
the tool of people who are threatened by the facts,
who can’t win a debate on equal terms. Censors have
sought to gain through power what they lack in
arguments."

The powerful have always used noble principles to
commit the most atrocious crime; like Turkey today, by
exhorting the principle of freedom of speech in France
– while cynically denying the same principle at home –
is only fighting the recognition of the Genocide.
Additionally, Turkey has been using its state machine
and powerful resources to fight that recognition. The
French law is only a mild reaction to the Turkish
campaign. In the same fashion, our own president tries
to convince us that "democracy is on the march" in
Iraq over the bodies of 655,000 casualties and 2500 US
servicemen. Who can argue that "democracy" is not
worth that kind of carnage? After all it is a noble
idea. Had the Turks recognized the Genocide, there
would be no need to pass a law to punish the deniers.
Therefore, we have to go to the root cause of this
debate, if we really prize the principle of the
freedom of speech.

Armenians have paid the price for noble ideas and
principles as the cost of their survival. Even in our
earliest history, Ara the Handsome was killed and
Assyria’s Semiramis over ran Armenia, because we
upheld family values over survival. By the same token,
Vartan Mamigonian sacrificed his life to uphold the
Christian faith. In more recent times, when in 1918
Armenian volunteers regained Cilicia, we were asked by
the Allies to lay down our arms and we followed their
instructions, but Cilicia was overrun by Kemalists
hordes who challenged the same request.

Also General Antranik was on the verge of conquering
Karabagh, when the British government stopped him,
promising a positive outcome for that enclave at the
Versailles Treaty. He abided by the request and
Karabagh’s fate is still in limbo to this date. Even
today Karabagh Armenians are being named "aggressors"
because they liberated their homeland and they
determined their own destiny. Had they waited for
brownie points from the international community for
"good behavior," 150,000 Karabagh Armenians would be
laying dead next to the Armenian victims of the
Sumgait.

Without being cynical, all noble principles are made
to fit the feet of the powerful like boots to trample
the rights and existence of weaker nations.

The Turks must have rejoiced in finding allies
indirectly contributing to their case as many
Monitor’s editors have rejoiced.

When the blood of 1.5 million martyrs is on the scale,
freedom of speech becomes academic. Let others fight
for that principle when our priority is the survival
of our people.

By Edmond Y. Azadian

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Panorama.am

15:04 24/11/06

ECONOMIC COURT TO HEAR A CASE AGAINST ARARAT GOLD

The Economic Court will continue the hearing of
`Ararat Gold’ enterprise vs. Armenian Nature
Protection State Inspection on December 1. This is not
the first lawsuit between the parties. The last court
hearing ended up with reconciliation.
The Nature Protection State Inspection has unveiled
that the company has misreported on the volume of
gold. The inspection has drawn up a statement. The
company did not agree with the statement and issued a
case at the Economic Court. A special committee was
set up by the court to investigate the case. The
committee supported the statement saying 500 kg gold
was misreported. The inspection has also found out
non-compliances in the reports of the chief accountant
and the geologist.

Figures were misleading small in quarterly reports.
The statement also says the company experts have not
made a re-assessment of mines. The inspection believes
it is profitable to extract gold even in small
quantities at the present reality taken the case of
the gold prices in the world market. They say the
company relies on the assessment of gold made in 80s.

The management of Ararat Gold complained that the gold
processing factory is in Ararat whereas the mines are
in Sevan. The management suggested building a gold
processing factory in Sevan which raised a discontent
by environmentalists, NGOs and mass media. The
government, in its turn, said, `All conditions were
known when they took hold of the mines.’ Experts are
not sure the poisonous water will not run into the
lake. Further, building such a factory in Sevan is
prohibited by law.

Followed this debate, the volumes of gold started to
diminish. Some say the logic is the following: `We
suffer losses, why you shouldn’t?’
Arthur Hambarzumyan, legal department head at the
nature protection ministry said, `Negotiations are
conducted with the company beyond the statement.
Global changes are expected in the relations of the
company and the state. It is not clear yet if the
company and the inspection will find a compromise.’

P.S. The company has not insured its employees despite
of the fact that the insurance money is not a big sum.
The insurance of employees in gold industry is a
priority and that is the policy of all big companies.
Moreover, some say the management does not treat well
the Armenian nationals in the company. /`My Right’
newspaper/

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Panorama.am

15:24 24/11/06

HIGHER EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENT TRY BOLOGNA CONCEPTS

Levon Lazarian, minister of education and science,
will leave for Strasburg soon to report on the process
our higher educational establishments have in
implementing the provision of Bologna Declaration.
Armenia has for the first time included in the
monitoring network of declaration member states. The
minister told a press conference today that rectors
and prorectors have set up boards, working groups and
representative bodies comprising members of their
establishments.

The groups discuss issues on qualification system,
credit accumulation, financial management, quality
education, introduction of three level system. Three
level system supposes PHD program which is not yet
developed here, Lazarian said. /Panorama.am/

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Panorama.am

19:22 24/11/06

ARMENIA NEEDS MORE FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN JEWELRY

For the first 10 months of 2006, the volume of
production in jewelry and gold in Armenia made up 74.4
billion Armenian drams and the volume of sale made up
75 billion Armenian drams. These indicators diminished
by 19.7% and 17.6% as compared with the reporting
period in 2005. Also, 300 less people are employed in
the sector, Gagik Lazarian, head of jewelry
department at the ministry of trade and economic
development, told a press conference today. In his
words, the decline is conditioned, first of all, with
the crises in the international jewelry market which
continues for 2 years. It is also connected with
devaluations of the American dollar.

Lazarian believes jewelry company need better
management and higher technologies. `New foreign
companies must be attracted to the field,’ he said.
/Panorama.am/

A1+

WINTER WILL BE WARM
[01:40 pm] 24 November, 2006

Head of the Russian Hydro meteorological service Roman
Vilfand predicts a warm winter this year. According to
him, the frosts of last year were an exception from
the tendency of warming, as during the last three
years the average temperature in winter has been
rising for 0.9-3 degrees per year. Vilfand mentioned
that this winter the temperature will be higher than
the average, `Gazeta GTZ.ru’ reports.

So, the Russian specialist refutes the investigations
of British and Russian scientists that in a few
decades the climate in Europe will become colder
conditioned by the change of the direction of the
Atlantic ocean streams. The supporters of this view
have revealed that the warm streams of Golfstream are
getting weaker; thus `we should prepare for reduction
in temperature and not warming’. By the way, the
scientists have investigated the Atlantic ocean for 50
years in order to process the theory.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress