Author: Emil Lazarian

HENRI CUNY WISHES ARMENIA ESTABLISHMENT OF NORMAL RELATIONS WITH ALL NEIGHBORS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Noyan Tapan
Oct 24 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. “I have always thought that
peace, economic development and securing a normal future for its
youth are most important for Armenia.” The French Ambassador to
Armenia Henri Cuny, who finishes his diplomatiuc mission in Armenia,
stated this at the Octoberb 24 press conference. In his opinion, all
three directions are closely related, because if there is no peace,
the country’s economic development and therefore the employment of
young people are just out of question. The ambassador dwelt upon
the issue of development of Armenian-French economic relations:
“I am glad that the number of French enterprises, as well as the
amount of French investments has increased in Armenia.” He attached
great importance to the fact that Air France started operating
Yerevan-Paris flights. H. Cuny expressed confidence that Armenia has
much potential for developing the high-tech sector. In his words,
taking into account the demographic aspect and the low purchasing
capacity of the population, “Armenia does not represent a market
in itself.” At the same time, in his view, Armenia opens windows
to other markets – Russian, Middle East, and markets of other Asian
countries. However, according to the ambassador, the arrangement of
forces would be entirely different, if the borders were open. “Leaving
Armenia, I wish it prosperity and establishment of normal relations
with all its neighbors as soon as possible,:” H. Cuny said.
According to some reliable sources, Henri Cuny will continue his
diplomatic mission in Slovakia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN AND FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTERS UNDERLINE IMPORTANCE OF ACTION PLAN TO BE SIGNED AT EU-ARMENIA COOPERATION COUNCIL
Noyan Tapan
Oct 24 2006
PARIS, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. During the meeting of the French
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and the Armenian Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian in Paris on October 24, issues related
to Armenia-France bilateral relations and Year of Armenia in
France were discussed. Speaking about EU-Armenia relations,
the ministers underlined the importance of the Action Plan to be
signed at the EU-Armenia Cooperation Council on November 14, which
will open new opportunities for further deepening of the bilateral
cooperation. According to the RA MFA Press and Information Department,
the ministers exchanged ideas about the peaceful settlement of the
Karabakh conflict and the opportunities of making progress in the
negotiations. Some regional problems and the possible impacts of the
Russian-Georgian relations on the region were addressed as well.

ROBINSON: ARMENIA HAD CONSIDERABLE ECONOMIC PROGRESS RECENTLY
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.10.2006 14:12 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian Speaker Tigran Torosyan met with
Director of the World Bank Yerevan Office Roger Robinson, who is
completing his tenure in Armenia, reports the Press Office of the
Armenian National Assembly. During the meeting Robinson said that
within 4.5 years Armenia made considerable economic progress and that
in sustainable development.
Three factors in his words are crucial for development of any country:
political, economic and social. At that he remarked that those factors
are never displayed simultaneously: economic development almost
always is ahead. The World Bank does not interfere with the policy,
however successful holding of election is crucial for sustaining the
economic development, WB Yerevan Office head said.
In his turn Tigran Torosyan stated that economic development
was highlighted in the post-soviet territory before, however the
development suggested that the social life has to be reformed as well
and a country’s success is conditioned by political-social-economic
reforms. The Speaker noted that Armenia is at an interesting phase. He
was sure that via reforms of the social life within 2-3 years success
can be attained and full opportunities for deserving life of people
can be created.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH PEOPLE DO NOT BELIEVE IN FRIENDSHIP OF NEIGHBORS
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.10.2006 17:43 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Most Turks do not believe in friendship of
neighboring countries, indicate the outcomes of a sociological survey
held in 32 out of 81 Turkish provinces, the Milliyet reports. “The
survey has shown that Turkish people do not believe in friendship
of their neighbors. Most Turks are convinced that European countries
are not friends for Turkey,” Milliyet writes. Turks do not trust US
and Greece most – 78.5% and 78.1% of respondents respectively. These
are followed by France, to which 76.1% of Turks mistrust. At that
sociologists highlight that the survey was conducted before adoption
of the bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the
National Assembly of France on October 12. Right after it Turkish
officials criticized France and the Union of consumers launched
boycott of French goods.
Russia is also among countries, which Turks do not trust. 64.8%
of respondents do not trust it, while only 8.7% call it “friendly,”
reports the Milliyet.
Turks have most sympathies towards Azerbaijan – 71.4%.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BODY REPRESENTING HEIRS OF ARMENIANS WHO ESCAPED GENOCIDE TO CALL ITS SESSION DECEMBER 9-10 IN SEVRES
Armenpress
Oct 24 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, ARMENPRESS: The body that will represent the heirs
of Armenians who escaped the genocide of Armenians in the historical
Western Armenia in the Ottoman Turkey will call its first session on
December 9-10 in the town of Sevres, not far from Paris. The initiative
belongs to about thirty prominent Armenian intellectuals who came out
on October 20 with an initiative to create a body that will represent
the heirs of Armenians who escaped the genocide of Armenians in the
historical Western Armenia in the Ottoman Turkey.
The initiating committee had sent messages to all heirs of Armenians
who escaped the genocide to seek their accord and based on the feedback
has decided to call a meeting on December 9-10. The group’s statement
said the meeting would elect an ad hoc National Council with its
committees which will organize and steer elections of deputies to the
National Assembly in all countries where heirs of the genocide live.
This National Assembly is supposed to elect the National Council of
Western Armenians.
The idea behind this initiative, according to the statement, is to
work out and carry out such all-Armenian projects which will promote
strengthening of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, consolidation of free
democracy and defense of Armenians’ interests globally.
Another goal is to negotiate with Turkish authorities and other
stakeholders to attain the recognition of Armenian genocide, its
condemnation and press for compensations for the property of Western
Armenians and to ensure unobstructed return of the heirs to Western
Armenia where their ancestors lived.
The initiating committee consists of prominent intellectuals Armen
Jigarkhanian, Sos Sargsian, Pertch Zeituntian, distinguished scholar
Vahagn Tatrian, Anushavan Danielian, Hayk Mikaelian, Artyom Tarasov,
Karen Mikaelian and others.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN COMMUNIST PARTY TO COMBAT IN ELECTIONS WITHOUT DISTRIBUTING POTATO
Panorama.am
13:56 24/10/06
“The upcoming parliamentary elections will be far from being free,
fair and transparent,” Ruben Tovmasyan, chairman of the Armenian
Communist Party, told a press conference today.
The chief communist thinks so because of the propaganda and “donations”
made to public under the name of benevolence. “Those parties have
no ideology.
Their ideology is expressed in distributing potatoes and grass package
strings,” the communist said naming Prosperous Armenia and People’s
Party as such.
Tovmasyan is concerned that anticommunist hysteria grows in the
country. He is concerned that the parties engaged in so called
“benevolence” are taking away their voters. Despite of everything,
Tovmasyan said, Armenian Communist party will run for elections
without distributing potato and strings for grass package. Tovmasyan
is sorry that Sanatruk Sahakyan, an ex-communist, joined Orinats
Yerkir Party.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HENRY CUNY SAYS ELECTIONS ARE IMPORTANT EXAMINATIONS IN ARMENIA
Panorama.am
17:39 24/10/06
Asked if France supports Arthur Baghdasaryan, French Ambassador to
Armenia Henry Cuny said he has reportedly said that France does not
interfere into the internal issues of any country. He admits that
Arthur Baghdasaryan is a good friend of France but said French people
are not going to vote in Armenia.
Henry Cuny wishes that the elections in Armenia be free and fair. “It
is an important examination for Armenia and we will be watchful to
elections,” the ambassador stated.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pyunik waltz to Armenian title
Monday, 23 October 2006
by Khachik Chakhoyan
from Yerevan
FC Pyunik coasted to a sixth consecutive Armenian
Premier League title in some style as an overwhelming
12-1 victory against FC Kilikia saw them build an
unassailable 14-point lead atop the table with three
matches remaining.
Blistering start
Samvel Petrosyan’s side went into the weekend’s
fixtures eleven points clear of FC Banants, and as
their nearest rivals were slipping to a 1-0 defeat by
FC MIKA, Pyunik underlined their dominance with an
overwhelming performance. Levon Pachajyan set the tone
as early as the second minute and by the quarter-hour
further strikes from Tigran Gharabaghtsyan, Armen
Tigranyan and Arsen Avetisyan had left the champions
four goals to the good.
Captain’s seal
Avetisyan went on to add another, while Gharabaghtsyan
completed his hat-trick as Kilikia struggled to stem
the flow. Rafael Nazaryan, Agvan Lazarian, Valeri
Aleksanyan and Artur Stepanyan also added their names
to the scoresheet before captain Sargis Hovsepyan made
it 12 with 15 minutes remaining. Kilikia pulled one
back late on but it failed to take the gloss off a
masterful performance as Pyunik claimed their ninth
title since Armenian independence in 1992. It secures
a place in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying
round.
uefa.com
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Father Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
HIS HOLINESS CONGRATULATES ARMENIAN CYPRIOT MP
ON HIS ELECTION AS PARTY LEADER
His Holiness Aram I congratulated Cypriot Armenian Member of Parliament, Mr.
Marios Garoyan, for election as President of the Democratic Party (DIKO).
During a phone conversation with Mr. Garoyan, His Holiness considered him to
be a great honor for the Armenian nation in general and the Cypriot Armenian
community in particular. His Holiness Aram I wished the newly elected party
leader full success in his new mission.
A highly educated man from the Cypriot Armenian community, Mr. Garoyan has
for years been an active member in DIKO and was recently elected as a Member
of Parliament from that party.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Phone: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
Contact: Marc A. Mamigonian
LECTURE AT NAASR ON POST-1915 ARMENIAN DIASPORAN CULTURAL IDENTITY
Zeynep Turan, a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Psychology at the City
University of New York, will give a lecture entitled “Objects of Legacy:
Material Culture and Post-1915 Armenian Cultural Identity in Diaspora”
on Thursday, October 26, at 8:00 p.m., at the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center , 395 Concord Ave.,
Belmont, MA.
The displacement and involuntary resettlement of the Armenians of the
Ottoman Empire from their ancestral lands created the need to rebuild
identities based on lost landscapes, nostalgia, and collective symbols.
Having been displaced from one’s homeland, one might make one’s new
dwelling in language, in stories, or in personal objects. An identity
based on being from “there” but living “here” encourages a sense of
place maintained as much by stories and memories as by the topography of
one’s homeland.
Material Objects Provide a Link To Lost Homeland
Since the experience of forced migration destabilizes a person’s
relationship to the environment, a collection of personal objects may
allow one to form a safe area from which one can reclaim (or disclaim)
personal and cultural identity. For Armenians originally from Asia
Minor, as well as Greeks and displaced Palestinians, the personal
objects brought from their homelands provided a sense of cultural
identity and security that has been taken for granted. These objects
took on the roles that family, friends, and a familiar ancestral
environment would have played had the 1915 genocide, the population
exchange, and the displacements never happened. These material objects
enable their owners – the displaced persons and their descendants – at
least to imagine a security that has been lost.
Turan is in the final year of a doctoral program in Environmental
Psychology at the City University of New York (CUNY). A native of
Izmir, Turkey, she is focusing her research on the effects of
displacement on Armenians, Greeks, and Palestinians, as well as others
forced to flee their homelands, and their descendants. She holds
Masters degrees in Psychology and Architectural History and Theory.
The NAASR Center and Headquarters is located opposite the First Armenian
Church and next to the U.S. Post Office. Ample parking is available
around the building and in adjacent areas. The lecture will begin
promptly at 8:00 p.m. More information about the lecture is available
by calling 617-489-1610, faxing 617-484-1759, e-mailing [email protected], or
writing to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress