Author: Emil Lazarian

Dr. Oya AKGONENC: No troops to the Lebanon war zone
Turkish Daily News
Aug 26, 2006
Finally, after long negotiations and delays, a cease-fire was announced
on the Lebanese-Israeli front. There were a number of violations of
the cease-fire soon after its start. The United Nations is calling
for a peacekeeping force to help stabilize the situation in the
region. About 30,000 U.N. soldiers are needed for the operation, of
which 15,000 were expected to be provided by Lebanon and the rest by
the international community.
Israel declared that they will not pull their troops out of southern
Lebanon until the U.N. force is in place on the Lebanese soil. This
force is not ready, and from the delays it won’t be ready for a while.
Many European and Asian states have been indicating their willingness
to send troops to the U.N. peacekeeping force. France was the first
one to show willingness to lead the forces and contribute a relatively
large contingency.
Yet, within a week’s time and after much discussion in France it
reduced its commitment to 200 military engineers. (Author’s note: on
Aug. 24, 2006, President Jacques Chirac again changed his mind and
announced the French contingency as 2,000 troops, after receiving
additional guarantees and further details of the mandate from the
United Nations. A little bit of competition from Italy may also have
been a factor in this quick volte-face). Likewise, Germany was equally
careful about its commitments. Germany was concerned about the memories
of World War II clouding the relations and the peacekeeping efforts
in the region. Thus, Germany clearly refused to send combat troops
but offered some other form of help.
Although at the beginning a number of European states demonstrated
willingness, presently less enthusiasm is forthcoming from these
groups. Israel suggested Italy to lead the U.N. troops. At first,
Italy was enthusiastic about the idea, yet within days Italy began
to ask for clarification of the U.N.
mandate and possibly a new U.N. resolution clearly stating the rights
and obligations of the U.N. force as well as the rules and conditions
of violation of the cease-fire. Other European Union nations showed
hesitancy in sending troops to Lebanon under the present conditions.
Some Middle Eastern and Asian countries such a Malaysia, Indonesia,
Bangladesh and others also indicated willingness but have not committed
themselves so far. There is a lot of pressure on Turkey to send troops
to Lebanon as well.
There was news in the American and Israeli press indicating the
willingness of the Turkish government and even suggesting as many as
5,000 troops to be committed to the cease-fire. Yet so far no official
decision has been made on the issue. Even though this topic was on
the agenda of the National Security Council (MGK), no clear decision
or even a suggested road map came out of this meeting.
Pros and cons of such a commitment for Turkey:
Turkish people were deeply affected by the scenes of war and
destruction and indiscriminate loss of life caused by Israeli
bombing. The public came to dislike very strongly the indiscriminate
and disproportionate use of force by Israel and showed their
protest to such behavior though public rallies, photo exhibitions,
demonstrations and public declaration. Public speakers called for
ending the hostilities and stopping the unlimited destruction of the
cities, towns and the infrastructure in the region.
Turkey has historical and cultural ties with the region and its people.
Turkey cannot be expected to be indifferent to the needs and problems
of the region and tolerate the destruction of the inhabitants of the
region regardless of their sects or religion.
On the other hand Turkey is a strategic partner of Israel and allows
Israel to use the airspace over the Konya plateau for their air
force maneuvers.
Turkey is considered as an important player in Middle Eastern
politics. The United States had encouraged and pressed Turkey into
closer political and military ties with Israel. Thus, under all these
conditions it would be better for Turkey to keep its troops away from
the war zone to keep its neutrality and credibility in the area.
The rules of the U.N. mandate are not so clear in U.N. Resolution 1701.
Articles such as 8 and 11 clearly indicate that only Lebanese and
UNIFIL forces will be allowed to carry arms and that all other armed
forces in Lebanon will be disarmed in accordance with the rules laid
down earlier with Taif implementations and the rules of resolutions
1559 and 1680.
All different parties, be they Shia, Sunni, Druze or others, don’t want
Hezbollah forces to be disarmed for the security of Lebanon. Besides,
Hezbollah is part of the present Lebanese government. So what would be
the clear and precise role and duty of the international peacekeeping
force and how will they implement these rules? Turkey has to know
clearly what the conditions are before deciding on committing itself
to the troop deployment.
There are other considerations to be reckoned with, such as the
opposition of the Armenian Dashnak organization in Lebanon, to the
participation of Turkish troops. There are other local groups that are
uncomfortable with Turkish troops in the Middle East. An open letter to
the prime minister of Turkey has been sent from an important think tank
in Beirut asking him not to sent troops. Lebanon is the host country,
and one has to take into consideration the view of the country where
the troops will be stationed.
On the other hand while being a strategic partner with Israel,
how will Turkey diplomatically win over the confidence of the Arab
states? Turkey has to weigh the results of each step it takes in
regards to the different interest groups and interested parties in
the region.
More important of all, by participating in the peacekeeping force,
would Turkey be trapping itself in an upcoming war with Iran, despite
its desire to keep out of such a struggle? Turkey has to be doubly
careful to see where each step it takes will lead.
On the domestic front there is much opposition from various groups
within the entire spectrum of political parties, from left to right,
from intellectuals and writers, unions and NGOs who oppose the presence
of our military in the Lebanese-Israeli war zone. It is seen by most as
siding and helping Israel and its main supporter, the United States,
to change and damage the region by their declared goal of redrawing
national boundaries. One wonders whether despite such strong internal
opposition the Turkish government should or would still insist on
sending troops to Lebanon.
Their final decision is yet uncertain. Yet there are regional,
international and especially domestic forces at work that will
influence the decision.
Turkey should consider other forms of help and contributions to
peace in the area such as sending help in the reconstruction of
the infrastructure, medical help such as drugs and doctors, food
and clothing, yet stay away from military commitments just as most
European states are presently doing.
Associate Professor Oya Akgonenc is a former deputy of the Saadet
(Happiness or Contentment) Party (SP). She can be contacted at
[email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected])
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian Genocide Memorial to be Erected in Las Vegas
By Anka, Nevada
Zaman Online, Turkey
Aug. 26, 2006
zaman.com
As the Armenian diaspora in the U.S. continues its political efforts
to make the so-called genocide allegations recognized, the Armenian
Genocide Memorial Committee has mobilized to build a genocide memorial
in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Following the meeting between Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and
Armenian representative Lois Tarkanian, Goodman announced the
municipality will allocate land in downtown Las Vegas for the erection
of the memorial.
The committee’s website said Goodman promised Armenian representatives
that the memorial would be erected.
A budget of $150,000 has been allocated for the memorial.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

US, UK Pushing Europe Into the Bog They Created
Robert Fisk, The independent
Arab News, Saudi Arabia
Aug. 26, 2006
First, it was to be a 15,000-strong foreign army to reinforce the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL. Now it is to be
about 7,500. And it will not disarm Hezbollah. And anyway, Hezbollah
refuses to be disarmed.
The French would send 200 men; then they sent 400. Then the
Italians would send 3,000. Then the French would send another 2,000,
making their total contribution 2,600, including the company that
has remained in UNIFIL since the French were hurled out of the
peacekeeping organization back in 1986 after fighting Shiite militias
in the Lebanese village of Marrake (of which no mention will be made,
any more than it is on the BBC). And now the Belgians might send 700.
And the Turks? Well, the Lebanese Armenians are objecting to their
contribution on the grounds – perfectly accurate, though the BBC will
not tell you this – that the Turkish Army perpetrated the genocide
of one and a half million Christian Armenians in 1915. Oh, what a
wondrous plot we weave when first we practice to deceive.
This, of course, applies to everyone in the Lebanese swamp.
Self-deception – or self-delusion – has become a cancer throughout
both the Middle East and the West; and amid the EU countries that
are now bidding to send their young men to sacrifice their lives
in Lebanon. They are going to preserve peace, we are told; they are
going to maintain a cease-fire; they are going to save lives.
So a big Ho-Ho-Ho from the world of reality. The enlarged NATO/UNIFIL
force is not going to preserve “peace.” It is going to maintain a
“buffer” zone to protect Israel after the latter’s dismal failure to
destroy, disarm and liquidate the Iranian-armed Hezbollah guerrilla
army over the past seven weeks. The UN may deny that it is a buffer
zone for the Israelis – but if it was a buffer zone to protect Lebanese
(the numerically higher victims of this latest war), it would be based,
surely, inside the Israeli frontier.
But no, it is there to protect Israel.
Note how the Arabs have accepted this. Note how we have accepted this –
how we have sublimely gone along with the idea that Israel’s security
and happiness are more important than the security and happiness of
the millions of Muslims also living in this region. Our soldiers are
to be deployed to protect Israel.
Do we really think that the Arabs don’t realize this? And do we think
that our Western governments don’t realize this when they huff and
puff over whether to send soldiers to the Middle East? Needless to say,
the Americans and the British want no part of this mess.
After Iraq and Afghanistan, they have no stomach to defend Israel,
let alone Lebanon. Their job is to push the European masses into the
bog they have created by their injustice and cowardice in the Middle
East. President Bush promises “intelligence” assistance to the UNIFIL
force – which means Israeli “intelligence,” and we all know how good
that is – while Lord Blair of Kut Al-Amara offers not a single hero
to give his life, which is as well after his outrageous sacrifice of
British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But while Europe’s other political masters dithered this week, BBC
World Service laid down a familiar narrative for its listeners. “It
seems,” said their man on The World Today, that the Europeans – how
I hate these cheap cliches – “are prepared to talk the talk but not
walk the walk.” In other words, those bloody Wops and Frogs and Boche,
not to mention the Dagos and the ungrateful Finns and Norwegians,
were gutless little chicken shit when it came to standing by their
European principles.
Those principles, it is now clear, are supposed to be the sacrifice of
their soldiers’ lives for the latest UN Security Council Resolution
cooked up by America and France (and, a bit, by Lord Blair) in New
York. But the BBC got it completely wrong. The Europeans are not
nervous about military losses or unclear mandates.
They had plenty of both in Bosnia.
What is happening in Europe is that a growing number of states that
had nothing to do with the Balfour Declaration or the Sykes-Picot
agreement or the 1948 Middle East war or the 1967 Middle East war or
the 1973 Middle East war or the 1982 Middle East war in Lebanon or the
1993 Israeli bombardment of Lebanon or the 1996 Israeli bombardment
of Lebanon or the latest 2006 bombardment and “petit” invasion of
Lebanon (after Hezbollah’s outrageous provocation by crossing the
international frontier) are simply sick and tired of clearing up the
dirt after these filthy Arab-Israeli wars.
Most of Europe had no part in the Balfour Declaration. Much of Europe
had an unforgivable role in the Jewish Holocaust. But the decades pass
by, and the generations now being asked to sail to the Middle East
do not even have parental guilt to absolve for the genocide of the
Jews of Europe, any more than modern Turks can be proclaimed guilty
for their grandparents’ rape and murder of one and a half million
Armenians. The Europeans, to put it mildly, are tired of being asked
to atone for the sins of their grandparents. Maybe it is time, they
are asking, for the Israelis and Arabs to pay for their own sick wars.
There is nothing immoral in this. President Bush claims that
the Israelis won their war against the Hezbollah and humbled the
organization’s supporters in Iran and Syria. Yet not even the Israelis
claim this.
Now the Europeans – and perhaps the Turks, and certainly the poor
old Lebanese Army – are supposed to achieve all Israel’s failed
objectives. And when they fail – as they assuredly will, because
NATO is not going to go to war with Islam – Israel will accuse them
of abandoning poor little Israel.
The French will be reminded – as they were under the first UNIFIL
mandate – that Vichy France handed its Jews to the Nazis, and
the Belgians will be reminded (no doubt) that half their country
was pro-Nazi and the Italians will be reminded that they elected
fascism into power, and the Spaniards will be reminded that Franco
was a fascist.
And the Arabs will sit silently by and watch the Europeans betray
them all over again. And the winners? Syria. Iran. And all those
enraged by the injustice and hypocrisy of our “democracies.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azerbaijan has purchased from Ukraine and Belarus mortars produced
during the Great Patriotic War
Regnum, Russia
Aug. 26, 2006
“The Azerbaijani army has got into very sad situation,” independent
analyst Levon Melik-Shakhnazaryan stated on August 25 during his
press conference in Yerevan.
According to him, Azerbaijan’s statements on its budget’s increase
should not frighten Armenia. “Azerbaijan purchased armaments for
$900mln, which is nothing else but scrap metal. They bought tanks for
$1,200,000, mortars, produced in 1941, cars, which are written of by
Russian army, etc.” the analyst maintains, adding that “according to
some date, 5,000 servicemen die annually in Azerbaijan.” According
to Mr. Melik-Shakhnasaryan, “none of Caucasian Turks is now at power
in Azerbaijan.” “Mainly Kurds, Lezgins govern Azerbaijan now, trying
to maintain the stable situation,” he stressed.
“Azerbaijan has lost hope to settle Karabakh conflict in military
way,” the analyst resumed. However, according to him, Armenia should
use time in its own interests. “Armenia should strengthen its army,
in order to be ready to settle conflict in military way, during the
period of lull,” he stressed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Hamazkayin Cultural Forum
10 Rue Hussein Beyhoum
Beirut, Lebanon
Tel: +961 (1) 37-24-55
Email: [email protected]
Web:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2006 Hamazkayin Student Cultural Forum completes in Armenia.
On July 30, 2006 the Hamazkayin Educational and Cultural Society
successfully completed its 12th annual Forum with the departure of the
participants back to their countries.
The Hamazkayin Cultural Forum is an annual event that started in 1995 with
the aim to unite young Armenians from around the world to learn more about
Armenian art, history, culture, society, and modern life in the homeland. It
is a unique opportunity for people to visit Armenia for the first time?or as
a returning visitor?and meet with fellow Armenians from around the globe who
are interested in learning more about their people?s past as well as where
they are headed.
The 2006 Forum had over 50 participates from Canada, Cyprus France, Lebanon,
Syria, UK and the United States. Although the arrival of the participates
from Lebanon was hampered by the bombing of the Beirut airport, 3 of the 6
registered students managed to find their way to Yerevan and took part in
the event. During the event, former Forum participants who happened to be in
Armenia also took part in the various events hence creating a sense of
continuity between current and former Forum participants.
The Forum kick-started with an opening dinner at a traditional Armenian
restaurant, where the participants ate and danced to Armenian folk music,
creating their first connection with Armenia. Before that during the day the
Forum participants had an opportunity to take a tour of Yerevan to get to
know its major landmarks and get orientated in the city.
During the next two weeks the program included a balanced mix of lectures
and excursions both within and outside of Yerevan. The Forum participants
had an opportunity to visit institutions of higher education such as Yerevan
State University and the American University of Armenia where they were
greeted by top ranking administrators to explain to them about their
respective universities. The excursion portion of the agenda included trips
to Garni, Geghard, Sevan, Ejmiadsin, as well as visits to Genocide museum
and memorial in Dzidzernakaberd and to Sartarapat. Other than sightseeing,
the Forum also aimed at introducing the participants to various aspects of
Armenian life by taking them to visits to an Armenian summer camp for
orphans/needy children in Dzaghkatsor, a visit to a school in the village of
Aramous and a visit to an army barracks.
The museums, galleries and concerts livened up the cultural life of the
Forum by allowing participants to enjoy museums by day and concerts and
other cultural activities by night. During the evenings most participants
spent their time dancing or with evening walks around Yerevan with
occasional relaxation in many of the city?s cafes.
The Forum?s educational component included a variety of lectures on issues
such as pilgrimage to Western Armenia, an introduction to the origins of
Armenian letters?both presented by Dr. Herand Markarian; a lecture on the
Armenian Genocide and the latest ?awakening? of Turkish intellectuals
delivered by Prof. Richard Hovanissian; a round-table discussion on the
issue of Armenian upbringing and identity and many more issues. One of the
highlights of the Forum was the screening of the movie ?The Genocide in Me?
with the presence of the director Araz Artinian who talked about her movie
and participated in a lively discussion with the participants about the
meaning of genocide and its impact on one?s life.
The closing ceremony of the 2006 Forum included a talent show presentation
where the participants?who had been training for 2 weeks in Armenian dance
and theater?presented a very diverse entertaining program to sum up their
experience in Armenia during the Forum.
At the conclusion of the scheduled program of the Forum, many participants
went on a tour to Artsakh while others remained in Yerevan to spend the rest
of their summer vacation.
To learn more about the Forum and how to apply for next year, visit
You can also send an email to
[email protected] with specific questions.
Hamazkayin is a worldwide organization with chapters in many countries that
aims to preserve and promote Armenian art, history, and literature. Its goal
is to educate people about the humanities relating to the Armenian people
and perpetuate Armenian culture.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Once a gamer, always a gamer
Inside SOCAL
Long Beach Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California)
8/16/2006
By Doug Krikorian, Columnist
Haig Kelegian is seated coolly behind the huge desk in his
well-appointed second story office above the sprawling casino at the
Bicycle Club, a picture of practiced calm and self-assurance befitting
a man who owns a majority piece of the famous card emporium in Bell
Gardens and is its CEO and president.
He is 73 even though his unlined face doesn’t betray it, and he got
into the card wagering business in 1982 when he bought a share in a
new establishment called the Commerce Casino.
He had become rich in insurance, but left it all behind when he found
out there was more money to be made in the gambling industry.
He would retain his small interest in the Commerce and would go on
to open Ocean’s Eleven Casino in Oceanside and then with a couple of
partners would take over the Bicycle Club from the U.S. government in
April of 1999 and would triple its business and double its profits
within a year and would even recently with son Mark purchase the
Crystal Casino in Compton.
And during most of this span, as he sold his lucrative insurance
business and retired, as he came out of retirement and quickly began
ascending the gaming ladder, as he became a powerful figure in the
state’s card casino landscape, Haig Kelegian somehow also found time to
attend dozens of boxing matches locally, nationally and internationally
as one of Jose Sulaiman’s top lieutenants in the World Boxing Council.
As a member of the WBC’s executive council, as well as its
international secretary and treasurer, Kelegian was involved in a lot
of high profile matches and even served as the fight supervisor in
promotions involving the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler,
Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, Salvador Sanchez and Oscar De La Hoya.
Between 1982 and 2002, there wasn’t a big fight in Las Vegas that
was sanctioned by the WBC – and most of the big ones were – that Haig
Kelegian missed, as he was always a visible presence at the weigh-ins
and at press conferences and at the various pre-fight instructional
meetings.
“In those days, I was always going to fights,” says Kelegian, who
became involved in the sport after the then California governor,
Jerry Brown, appointed him to the State Athletic Commission in 1979
and who will be honored for his role in it by being inducted Saturday
into the California Boxing Hall of Fame at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in
Studio City. “I’d go to the Forum on Monday evenings and to the Irvine
Marriott on Thursday evenings and Las Vegas on the weekends. It seemed
like in those days there were fights going on all the time.”
Haig Kelegian pauses, as his cell phone rings.
“It never stops,” he says with resignation as he picks it up and
apologizes for the interruption.
He listens patiently for a moment, and says, “I’ll call you back
later on the matter.”
“Who was that?” I ask with curiosity.
“Oh, it was just a credit issue,” he replies matter of factly.
The walls of Kelegian’s office are dominated by large photos of Frank
Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. and Marilyn Monroe and others who were
in their primes when the pictures were taken a long time ago.
“Time passes,” I say. “A lot of the people in those photos are gone.”
Haig Kelegian nods.
“Yeah, they are,” he says. “Sinatra was a huge boxing fan. Used to
attend all the fights in Las Vegas.”
Son of an Armenian immigrant who came to America in 1919 from eastern
Turkey and settled in Milwaukee, Haig Kelegian attended the University
of Wisconsin at Milwaukee for a couple of years where he played
baseball, did a two-year Army hitch, majored in English literature
at Wayne State University, married a George Washington University
graduate named Argine (Jean) Bagramian in 1958, and got started in
insurance during college when he went to work for Prudential.
He would move his family to Southern California in February of 1962 –
he had a young daughter and son at the time and later would have two
more sons – and soon would open his own insurance firm that would
evolve into such a profitable enterprise that he decided to sell it
in 1991 and lapse into leisurely retirement at the modest age of 58.
“I was making very good money from my investment in the Commerce by
this time, and so I decided to take it easy,” says Kelegian.
At the time, he was living in Montebello where he long had been one
of the leaders in the local Armenian community, heavily involved in
its church and school activities.
But in 1997, Haig Kelegian found dabbling in real estate, hitting
golf balls and playing cards – he’s a poker devotee to this day –
didn’t sate his ambitious inclinations and that’s when he and his
partners opened the 47-table Ocean’s Eleven and then a couple of
years later successfully took over the Bicycle Club.
“I just wish I would have gone into the gambling business earlier
in my life because it’s so exciting, as well as quite profitable,”
he says. “I’ve been pretty fortunate.
I have been privileged to attend a lot of great fights all around
the world. And now I’m involved in a business that is equally
entertaining. But what I’m most blessed in his having a great family.”
Haig Kelegian’s face glows when he speaks of his nine grandchildren,
his daughter, Michelle Shrikian, an attorney, and sons Mark,
also an attorney and president of Celebrity Casino Inc., Haig
Jr. vice-president of Celebrity Casino Inc., and Andrew, president
of Pacific Coast Propane.
“You couldn’t ask for better kids, and all are married,” he says
proudly.
Naturally, Kelegian has a litany of notable memories from his lengthy
involvement with boxing, the defining one coming on the evening of
May 18, 1995 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
“Jose Sulaiman had me present Muhammad Ali with certificates honoring
his achievements that were given to him from both the U.S. Congress
and Senate,” says Kelegian. “It was the first time he was officially
honored by those bodies.”
Haig Kelegian and his wife now live in Newport Beach in the same
upscale vicinity where Kobe Bryant resides, and they also have a home
in Incline Village at Lake Tahoe.
He no longer is officially involved in boxing, but has remained
friends with Jose Sulaiman president-for-life of the WBC.
“I’ve made a good living from insurance and gambling,” he says. “But
I’ve met so many unforgettable and famous people from boxing. Boxing
is like the gambling business in one respect. Once it gets into your
blood, it’s there for good. . .”
Doug Krikorian can be reached at [email protected]
telegram.com/sports/ci_4193453?source=email
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NKR applying every effort to maintain the cease-fire
ArmRadio.am
26.08.2006 14:46
NKR Military leadership is applying every effort in the direction of
maintenance and reinforcement of the cease-fire regime at the contact
line, Head of the Press Service of the NKR Defense Ministry Senor
Asratyan told ArmInfo correspondent in Stepanakert.
In his words, the reports of the Azeri media on the truce violation
by the Armenian side are nothing more than the propaganda. “These
steps pursue the aim of misleading the international community,”
Senor Asratyan underlined, reminding about the cease-fire violation
y the Azerbaijani side, in the result of which serviceman of the NKR
Defense Army was wounded.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CanWest News Service, Canada
Aug. 26, 2006
Workplace worship
In office towers across Canada, workers openly exploring spirituality
Richard Foot, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, August 26, 2006
On Tuesday mornings, inside a corporate boardroom at BCE Place in the
heart of Toronto’s financial district, David Ekmekjian and two dozen
other Bay Street businessmen gather to talk — not about portfolios
or profits, but about God.
Amid a panorama of glittering skyscrapers, where millions of dollars
in hard currency is traded each day, a group of smart, confident
people come to pray to a mysterious spirit they cannot touch or see.
“We don’t just meet in that boardroom to talk about money,” says
Ekmekjian, an investment dealer with Blackmont Capital, the Bay Street
firm that hosts the meeting.
“We study the Bible and pray for those that are less fortunate
than ourselves, for the sick and the afflicted. We also pray for
spiritual guidance and wisdom. And somehow, everybody comes out of
there fulfilled and happy. It’s incredible.”
Most unusual about the prayer group is that many of its members,
including Ekmekjian, rarely set foot inside a church. Although their
faith is deep, few attend traditional Sunday services or belong to
a mainstream denomination.
“In our boardroom meetings, some go to church, but many don’t,” says
Ekmekjian, an Egyptian-born Armenian who immigrated to Canada in the
1950s. “I prefer to practise my faith on my own terms, because I find
it infinitely more fulfilling.”
Ekmekjian and many of his Christian colleagues are part of an emerging
cohort of Canadians who lead spiritual lives without any adherence
to an organized, institutional religion.
At the country’s main Christian denominations, attendance is shrinking
and many old church buildings that once boasted thriving congregations
are now being closed for lack of interest.
Yet many Canadians aren’t simply turning away from God, they’re
exploring their faith in unusual ways and unlikely places. One of
those new spiritual frontiers is the office.
“There is a real awakening, where people are being drawn to God in
the workplace,” says Bruce Smith, who leads the King-Bay chaplaincy,
a spiritual gathering place for office workers in downtown Toronto.
King-Bay has been running for several decades, but in recent years
it has been joined by similar downtown chaplaincies from Vancouver
to Montreal to Halifax, and by a burgeoning array of consultancies
and centres catering to spiritual needs in the workplace. All of it
is fuelled, says Smith, by “the growing desire of people who are not
interested in organized religion, but are interested in a relationship
with God.”
The rise of the “office church” cuts across business lines into
government and also the worlds of education and health care.
In Toronto the King-Bay chaplaincy welcomes more than 200 business
people, civil servants, retail clerks and health care workers through
its doors in a typical week.
Sherry Connolly, a King-Bay alumni, once earned a six-figure salary as
a senior manager at the Royal Bank’s head office in Toronto. She gave
that up to open the Centre for Spirituality at Work, which offers
programs and seminars to office workers hungry for metaphysical
meaning in their lives.
Connolly says the Anglican Church of the Redeemer, a large downtown
church, is transformed on weekdays into a noon-time sanctuary for
office workers, not all of them Christian, who use the church as a
quiet place to sit and pray or think during the lunch hour.
“I’ve started a noon-hour meditation on Thursdays at Redeemer,”
says Connolly. “Most of the people who come aren’t even congregation
members of the church.”
In some cases, companies themselves are encouraging employees to get
in touch with their spiritual sides.
At Toronto’s Caldwell Financial Ltd., a securities and investment firm,
chairman Tom Caldwell is organizing an in-house “Alpha” course —
an introduction to Christianity — for any employees or colleagues
who want to come, with lunch included.
While Caldwell is a regular member of a Roman Catholic parish, he
says many of those who’ll attend his company’s Alpha meetings won’t
be regular church-goers.
“There are tons of Bible studies in offices all over Toronto,” he says.
“For many office workers, they’re like an oasis of sanity in a
fast-moving and hard-driving world.”
In Vancouver, Telus Corp. has rooms on its office premises set aside
where workers can pray and meditate.
In Edmonton, the Capital Care Group recently put some of its nursing
home employees through a “spirit at work” program that while not
explicitly religious in nature, taught the same kind of values —
kindness and consideration for fellow human beings — that religions
espouse.
In Halifax, management consultant Martin Rutte recently established
the Centre for Spirituality and the Workplace at the Sobey School of
Business at Saint Mary’s University. Since 2004 the centre has been
hosting conferences and seminars on spiritual matters at work.
“There’s a renaissance of spirituality in business, in the public
sector, and in health care,” says Rutte, a Toronto-based Jew who
decided to start talking about spirituality in business after
experiencing his own religious epiphany about two decades ago.
At first, says Rutte, his colleagues warned him not to bring spiritual
matters into the office. Talking about golf was OK, but God was
off limits.
“Everybody in those days in Toronto said, `Don’t talk about this,
you’re crazy, you’ll lose your reputation.”‘
Today, says Rutte, although some North American workplaces remain
wary of spiritual matters, the stigma is washing away. One reason is
that Baby Boomers have turned to religion as they have grown older.
Rutte also says a decade of lost innocence in the workplace — thanks
to rounds of corporate layoffs as a result of technology advances,
outsourcing and cost-cutting — has shattered employees’ faith in
job security and “driven many people into the arms of spirituality.”
Rutte now lectures on the subject at workplaces around the continent.
“I can’t tell you how many times in talks I’ve given, where working
people have come up to me and said, `I thought I was the only person
in the world having these thoughts.’ Over and over I’ve heard it.
“That hunger for spiritual meaning — to know that your life makes
a difference — is part of the human condition,” he says, “but we’ve
not thought it possible until recently to have that talked about and
nourished in the workplace.”
At Blackmont Capital, David Ekmekjian is convinced that his office
prayer group does far more than nourish only the souls around the
boardroom table. He says his group prayed for many weeks for a little
girl, known to the group, who was born with a hole in her heart.
“About a year ago the hole began to close up, and cardiologists at
the Hospital for Sick Children said they’d never seen anything like it
before,” says Ekmekjian. “Strangely enough, our prayers got answered.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Local man sentenced in Armenia
25-year-old gets 10 years for murder
BY EUGENE TONG, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Aug. 26, 2006
A Glendale man who fled to Armenia in 2005 when he came under suspicion
of strangling his girlfriend was convicted by an Armenian court of
her murder, authorities said Friday.
Artur Khanzadyan, 25, was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison
by an Armenian judge in the death of Odet Tsaturyan, of Glendale.
He was arrested in Armenia last November, about two months after
the body of the 23-year-old woman was found in the trunk of his car,
which was abandoned in Azusa.
The verdict was delivered Friday by Judge Mushegh Harutunyan at a
court in Vanadzor, a city about a three-hour drive from the capital
of Yerevan and Khanzadyan’s hometown, Glendale police spokesman John
Balian said.
“Based on the police report and the evidence provided, Khanzadyan was
found guilty of murder with the act of jealousy,” he said Friday,
citing a report from two Glendale police detectives who assisted
prosecutors and attended the trial.
“We’ll be monitoring to make sure he does the full 10 years.”
Khanzadyan has about two months to appeal the decision. The Tsaturyans
did not immediately return calls for comment Friday.
Glendale police and U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, had hoped
to try Khanzadyan in the United States, where he could have been
sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for murder, compared to the
maximum 12 years in Armenia.
But the two nations do not have a formal extradition treaty, and the
request was denied despite previous cooperation from authorities.
“Under the circumstances that we were faced with – as far as the
challenge of bringing him back over here – this was the best we could
do to bring him to justice,” Balian said.
“There will always be a difference between the two systems. But I
think it’s important the criminal element out there know that if we
have to go to Armenia to prosecute you, we will.”
Schiff, who sent two letters over the past year to Armenian President
Robert Kocharian requesting Khanzadyan’s return, hoped for better
cooperation from authorities next time a fugitive seeks refuge there.
“We are grateful that we apprehended him and that he’s not living
free in Armenia,” he said in an interview Friday. “But we felt that
justice would’ve been best served if he had been prosecuted in the
United States.”
Judge Harutunyan reached the verdict after two days of hearings that
began Tuesday. Reports prepared by Glendale police and the county
coroner’s office were submitted as evidence, and three witnesses –
Odet’s father Shagen Tsaturyan and two of Khanzadyan’s relatives –
testified, Balian said.
As part of a local custom, Tsaturyan confronted the accused about
his daughter’s death.
“At one point, Khanzadyan made disparaging remarks that his daughter
was not the angel he thought she was,” Balian said. “The judge
jumped in and said, `Be careful how you speak in my courtroom. Don’t
disrespect the victim’s father.”‘
Khanzadyan’s attorney Karine Gasparyan said her client did not
intentionally kill Odet Tsaturyan – she had stopped breathing, and
the neck injuries that pointed to strangling came from his attempt
to revive her by CPR.
She also said Khanzadyan suffered a childhood head injury that
prevented rational thinking.
“Khanzadyan apologized to anyone who was affected by the incident,
but he denied he intentionally killed Odet Tsaturyan,” Balian said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE official denies critical Azeri media reports
Turan news agency
26 Aug 06
Baku, 26 August: “I work under an OSCE mandate and agreement reached
between the sides [Azerbaijan and Armenia]. I am not going to resign.
I may only resign if the sides officially say they do not want me
in this post. None of the sides has made a statement to this effect
so far,” Andrzej Kasprzyk, the personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office, has said in a telephone interview with Turan. He
was commenting on recent Azerbaijani media reports critical of him.
Kasprzyk said he does not understand the causes of the scandal
surrounding him in the Azerbaijani media. He said he does not know
who is behind the scandal either.
Kasprzyk dismissed the critical media reports that he is engaged in
carpet trade.
“I cannot file a libel suit as I am a diplomat,” the envoy said. He
expressed regret that the Azerbaijani media quote unreliable sources.
Kasprzyk said he is now in Europe and plans to come to Baku in early
September.
Kasprzyk’s report on monitoring of fires along the Armenian-Azerbaijani
front line angered official Baku. First, representatives of the
Foreign Ministry and the Presidential Executive Staff, and then the
state-controlled media accused Kasprzyk of failing to see “the obvious
truth”, taking a pro-Armenian stance, etc.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress