Author: Emil Lazarian

JUDICIAL REFORMS TO REPLENISH ARMENIA’S JUDICIAL MANPOWER
Arka News Agency, Armenia
July 27, 2006
YEREVAN, July 27. /ARKA/. The first stage pf reforms in Armenia’s
judicial system will replenish Armenia’s judicial manpower with
20-25 judges, RA Minister of Justice David Harutyunyan told a press
conference.
He reported that the reason for the increase in Armenia’s judicial
manpower is the increase in the number of courts. Specifically, besides
common law courts Armenia will have courts of limited jurisdiction –
criminal courts, civil courts, courts for bankruptcy cases.
The Minister noted that similar reforms in other countries’ judicial
systems caused a 2.5-6-time increase in the number of judges.
Armenia’s judicial system currently has common law courts (minor
courts), the Criminal and Military Court of Appeal, Civil Court of
Appeal and Cassation Court of Armenia.
According to the Ministry of Justice, a total of 180 judges currently
work in Armenia. P.T. -0–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azerbaijani President receives World Food Program executive director
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
July 27, 2006
Azerbaijan~Rs President today received the delegation led by the
United Nations World Food Program executive director James Morris.
APA reports quoting the President~Rs press service the head of state
said Azerbaijan is speedily developing in political and economical
spheres. He stressed the main concern is Armenia~Rs aggression
against Azerbaijan, which led to at least 1 million of Azerbaijanis
becoming refugees and internally displaced persons. President Aliyev
said the government is implementing effective measures to improve
living conditions of these refugees and IDPs adding all of the
displaced-persons camps in Azerbaijan will be removed.
The President also thanked to the UN World Food Program for continuous
aid to Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs expressing confidence for further
cooperation with the WFP.
Mr.Morris expressed satisfaction with the high level cooperation
between the WFP and Azerbaijan. He said he met with refugees and IDPs
during his visit in Azerbaijan adding he was deeply impressed by the
measures implemented by the government, especially, President Ilham
Aliyev to improve the conditions of refugees and IDPs. The visitor
expressed confidence for further expansion of cooperation between
the World Food Program and Azerbaijan./APA/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The turbulent march of history past Beirut woman’s window
Agence France Presse — English
July 27, 2006 Thursday 6:48 AM GMT
By Haro Chakmakjian
>From the evacuation of Yasser Arafat in 1982 to the current foreign
exodus, Makrouhie Yerganian has seen the troubled history of Lebanon
unscroll in front of her eyes at her vantage point in front of Beirut
port.
Just last week, two truck drivers having coffee were killed when
their parked and apparently empty vehicles were blown apart in an
Israeli air strike on the edge of the port, just 50 metres (yards)
away from her modest home in a three-storey apartment block.
“It was a very strange noise that rattled our nerves. We thought we
had heard all sorts of explosions but this was something new even for
us,” says the Lebanese Armenian schoolteacher who has lived in the
Mar Mikhael area for more than half a century.
Her 85-year-old mother was just about to water the flowers on the
window ledge, until Yerganian changed her mind. Many of the windows
in her building were shattered, but the women escaped unharmed from
Israel’s latest salvo in its war on Hezbollah.
“I believe it is written on your forehead. If it is written, you can
die wherever you are. But that day, the Lord protected us,” says the
60-year-old woman from her sitting room where sheets cover the
furniture, as the shutters slam from the sea breeze.
A vivid memory still stencilled into her head came in 1976 when
militiamen massacred Shiites, Druze and Palestinian refugees in the
nearby Karantina camp, now closed.
“A boy whose voice had not even broken kept pleading: ‘Don’t kill
me’. They dragged him off to the corner of the street and shot him,”
she says. “I can still hear his voice in my head, begging for his
life, as they dragged him off.”
Two years later, in another of the multiple wars within a war which
devastated Lebanon between 1975 and 1990, the Phalange, a Christian
militia, battled Syrian forces.
“The Syrians were parked right in front of our windows, and the
Phalange behind. They started fighting and we were caught bang in the
middle,” she says.
During the brief deployment of the Multinational Forces sent to
oversee the Palestinian evacuation after Israel’s invasion and
supposedly to protect the refugees, they had new neighbours in the
shape of American, French and Italian troops.
“They were all clean, except the Israelis. The Americans and the
others used metal shacks and they would burn their waste,” she says.
“We would be hanging the washing and they (Israeli troops) would be
doing their dirty business or relieving themselves in full public
view. We had to move away for a while,” says a grimacing Yerganian.
“The Italians were friendly and we even learnt a few words of
Italian. The Americans and the French would hand out chocolates to
the neighbourhood kids,” she says. “People would come from far to see
them from our house. We had a lot of guests in those days.”
But things went sour yet again. President-elect Bashir Gemayel was
assassinated and “the radios tried to reassure the people by saying
he had survived the bomb blast”, Makrouhie recalls.
“At midnight, we heard the marching of boots. We looked out of the
window and saw the Jewish soldiers heading toward west Beirut”, on
the eve of the massacres in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra
and Shatila by Phalangist militiamen.
Before the massacres, French soldiers had been posted with huge guns
on the rooftops, including Yerganian’s, to protect the evacuation of
late Palestinian leader Arafat and his PLO fighters in 1982.
In 1984, west Beirut fell to Muslim militias and the US and European
troops withdrew through the port after their barracks were blown up
by suicide bombers at a cost of some 300 lives.
The Lebanese army posted heavy artillery outside the house to bombard
the mostly Muslim western sector, opening up with 55-mm rounds that
rocked the building to its very foundations.
“I was going mad, with pillows on each ear to muffle the horrific
noise. I was going to go out and tell them to stop, please, please.
My mother told me: ‘Don’t worry, this will pass too’,” says
Yerganian.
Despite everything, “I love Lebanon. I was born here and this is my
country. Anything that happens to our poor Lebanon, it breaks our
heart.
“We were so happy seeing the new bridges and the revival of the
downtown thanks to Hariri after the civil war, but they won’t allow
us to have any joy,” she says, referring to the 2005 murder of former
premier and architect of Lebanon’s revival, Rafiq Hariri.
While the tens of thousands of foreigners were fleeing the Israeli
air strikes across from her window, “at least we had hopes for a
little calm in our area. But after the last US evacuations (on
Wednesday), we fear the worst for Lebanon”, she says.

Turkish Author Cleared Of Turning People Against Military
Easy Bourse (Communiques de presse), France
July 27, 2006
ANKARA (AP)–A court Thursday acquitted a Turkish author of charges she
turned people against military service by defending a conscientious
objector in a weekly magazine column – a decision rights groups
hailed as a victory for freedom of expression. A court in Istanbul
ruled Perihan Magden’s article amounted to “heavy criticism conveyed
within the scope of freedom of expression” and didn’t constitute
a crime. Magden was among a string of writers and journalists
to stand trial for expressing opinions, despite pressure from the
European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, to scrap repressive laws
and improve freedoms. She is the second person to be acquitted in
recent months. In November, a court acquitted Internet journalist
Rahmi Yildirim of charges of insulting the military. In her column,
published in the weekly Yeni Aktuel magazine in December, Magden
defended conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan who was sentenced to
four-years in a military prison for disobedience after he refused to
wear his military uniform. She argued Turkey needed to establish a
civilian service as an alternative to compulsory military conscription.
Conscription in Turkey is obligatory for men over 20, and the country
doesn’t recognize the right to conscientious objection. Objectors
have also been prosecuted on charges of turning people against
the military. Had she been convicted, Magden faced up to three
years in prison. The lack of “press freedoms had become unbearable
in recent months and put Turkey in a humiliating position,” said
Ahmet Abakay, the head of the Contemporary Journalists’ Association.
“I want to congratulate the judge that gave this decision. It should
be an example to other judges and prosecutors.” Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s government has said it has no plans to change such
laws, saying where appropriate the charges are eventually dropped and
defendants are acquitted. E.U. officials argue, however, that even
if the charges are dropped the threat of prosecution deters people
from expressing opinions. Late last year, a court dropped charges
against novelist Orhan Pamuk, who faced trial on charges of insulting
“Turkishness” for commenting on the mass killings of Armenians by
Turks around the time of World War I. The charges were dropped for
technical reasons amid intense international pressure. Earlier this
month a high court confirmed a six-month prison sentence imposed on
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink for attempting to influence
the judiciary after his newspaper criticized the law that makes it
a crime to insult Turkishness. Dink’s sentence, however, was suspended.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Some Russian Citizens Want to Move to Armenia for Permanent Residence
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 16:04 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In 2005 over 400 families of Armenian citizens, who
temporarily lived in the territory of the Southern Federal District of
Russia, returned to the Fatherland, stated Consul General of Armenia
in the Southern Federal District of Russia Ararat Gomtsyan, reports
the Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia. In his words,
these families moved to Russia in different times and lived in the
south of Russia 3-7 years. Ararat Gomtsyan specially stressed that
Russian citizens, willing to move to Armenia for permanent residence,
also address the Consulate General.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KAREN TCHSHMARITIAN: IN 2006 ECONOMIC GROWTH IS FIXED IN ARMENIA
AZG Armenian Daily #141, 28/07/2006
Economy
By end 2006 the growth of the Armenian GDP will surpass 10%. Karen
Tchshmaritian, RA Trade and Economic Development Minister, said this
at today’s press conference. He said that in the first half of 2006,
the economic growth made 11,8%(AMD 809,2 billion), while the index
deflator of GDP totaled to 1,8%. He said that the economic growth in
the second half of the year will surpass that of the January-June. In
particular, this will happen thanks to launching new factories,
the development of minor and medium businesses, the growth of the
food production volumes, the growth of agriculture and construction
spheres. He pointed out the “ArmenAl” plant will issue its production
already in September, securing 3 thousand tones of production by the
end of the year. Besides, the production volume of “Nairit” will make
8 thousand tones, Tchshmaritian said.
Besides, he said that in the first half of this year, the monetary
profits of the population grew by 17,4%, the expenses increased
by 19,2%, including the expenses for purchasing goods and services
that grew by 13,5%. He stated that the retail trade turnover also
grew by 12,1%, while the construction volume grew by 31,8%, he
said. Commenting on the opportunity to purchase the ‘Mars’ factory, he
said that AFK ‘System’ company, Russia, entering the Armenian market
will considerably contribute economy of Armenia. At the same time
the Minister added that there is no official information about AFK
‘System’ intending to purchase the shares of ArmenTel. It~Rs worth
mentioning that ‘Mars’ electronic equipment factory was handed to
Russia in return of the public debt of Armenia. In 2005 the factory
produce rate came to $1 million, 2 times more than in 2004. The
factory is soon to receive license to work for the Russian military.
Transport Minister of Russia Igor Levitin said that AFK ‘System’
must elaborate a program of ‘Mars’ factory development and make it
agree with the Armenian side, so that the Russian Government agree
to consider the proposal to purchase the factory.
Besides, he added that in 2006, the indicator for the foreign
tourists’ visits to Armenia will grow by over 25% in 2006. He said
that RA Government actively elaborates projects for development of the
infrastructures on both the budget sources and the financial sources
allocated by “Millennium Challenges” corporation. The minister stated
that the development of the infrastructures will lead to considerable
growth of the tourists in 2007. He added that in the first half of the
year 46023 foreign tourists visited Armenia and 42675 Armenia tourists
left for foreign countries, this surpasses the same indicator of the
last year by 13,5%.
As for the investments made in Armenia, Minister said that In the
first half of 2006, mainly “investment production” was imported to
Armenia. He said that the growth of the equipment and cars’ import
made about 14,7%. Moreover, only two plants imported equipment costing
over EURO 70 million in the period under review. The import indicator
also influenced the consolidation of AMD against USD by 4,1%, as well
as 18,1% of the custom’s office cost, he said. In this connection,
he said that the custom’s office cost growth is conditioned by the
import of a more quality and expensive production.
By Ara Martirosian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

JAMES MC.KEW: NEXT AGREEMENT BETWEEN ARMENIA AND IMF TO BE SIGNED WITH NO DIFFICULTIES
AZG Armenian Daily #141, 28/07/2006
Meeting
RA PM Andranik Margarian met with James Mc.Kew, Permanent
Representative of the International Monetary Fund in Armenia. The press
service of RA Government informed that RA PM gave positive evaluation
to Armenia’s cooperation with IMF in the course of Mc. Kew’s mission
in Armenia. Margarian said that IMF and Armenia managed to settle a
number of issues in these years thanks to their cooperation.
In his turn, Mc.Kew, pointed out a number of positive changes in the
social-economic sphere. He stated that such problems as the government
debts for salaries and pensions, as well as high level unemployment
existing in 2002, were settled. Mc.Kew also represented the further
programs of IMF, particularly, the monitoring of RA Government’s
implementation of its commitments, the monitoring of the financial
sector, the statistics, as well as rendering technical assistance.
Mc.Kew stated that the next agreement between Armenia and IMF will be
easily signed, as, according to preliminary evaluation, the structural
reforms in Armenia will soon be completed, while the economic growth
surpassed the planned level.
In his turn, Margarian underscored that the IMF programs coincide
with the country’s priorities for development.

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian
JULY 27, 2006
CATHOLICOS ARAM I CONFERS WITH WCC OFFICIALS
ON SITUATION IN LEBANON
His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, and
former moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC), has been conferring
with Dr. Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the WCC, and the office of the
U.S. Conference of the WCC, concerning the situation in Lebanon.
His Holiness discussed proposals for political and humanitarian
initiatives. In the political realm, the Catholicos emphasized the following
three inter-related points: (1) An urgent appeal for an immediate ceasefire
and cessation of all hostilities; (2) Development of a solid framework for a
political solution to the crisis; and (3) Build on this framework for a
permanent settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, with the goals of
justice, peace and prosperity for the region.
In the area of humanitarian initiatives, His Holiness appealed to all
ecumenical churches and organizations to mobilize and reach out and help the
needy in Lebanon through the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC).
PRELATE CALLS FOR PRAYERS FOR PEACE;
CATHOLICOS EXPRESSES THANKS
His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan continues to ask for prayers
for peace in the Middle East and an end to the hostilities that have
disrupted life in Lebanon causing loss of life and destruction.
The Prelate and Vicar are maintaining regular contact with His Holiness
Aram I, to keep informed about the general conditions in Lebanon and the
specific situation and needs of the Armenian community.
In an e-mail message V. Rev. Fr. Krikor Chifjian, Communications
Officers of the Catholicosate, stated today: “His Holiness Aram I instructed
me to convey his deep appreciation and warm thanks to all those, who by
telephone, by fax or e-mail, have expressed their concern and solidarity,
and have included in their prayers Lebanon in general, and the Armenian
Church and people in particular. We pray and hope that with the help of the
international community and people of good will, peace with justice and
reconciliation among nations will prevail in the Middle East.”
V. REV. FR. SHAHE PANOSSIAN IS ASSIGNED
DEAN OF THE CILICIAN SEMINARY
V. Rev. Fr. Shahe Panossian, who has been serving as the pastor of Sts.
Vartanantz Church, Ridgefield, NJ, for the past two years, will become Dean
of the Cilician See’s Theological Seminary. Several months ago His Holiness
Aram I asked Fr. Shahe to return to Lebanon to assume this important post
beginning with the 2006-2007 academic year.
Hayr Shahe will perform his final Badarak as pastor of Sts. Vartanantz
this Sunday, July 30. Next Sunday, August 6, the Board of Trustees is
hosting a reception/luncheon with the dual purpose of saying farewell to
Hayr Shahe and welcoming the parish’s new priest, Rev. Fr. Hovnan Bozoian
and his family. The luncheon will take place immediately after the Divine
Liturgy on August 6 which will be celebrated by Der Hovnan.
For information contact the parish office, 201-943-2950.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WILL TRAVEL TO ARMENIA
Dr. Vazken Ghougassian, Executive Director of the Eastern Prelacy, will
travel to Armenia tomorrow where he will remain for ten days conferring with
the Prelacy’s charitable agency in Armenia, St. Nerses the Great Charitable
Organization. The Prelacy has many charitable projects including the
sponsorship of more than 700 children, aid to orphanages, and the quarterly
distribution of food parcels to the elderly.
ANEC PRESENTS ANNUAL HISTORICAL COIN AWARDS
With the ending of the school year, some lucky (and exceptional)
students at Armenian schools heard an extra jingle in their pockets. The
jingle was not the traditional noise of change, but ancient coins depicting
Armenian royalty, specifically during the reign of King Levon II of Cilicia.
The coins, donated by Mr. Gary Setian of Massachusetts, are awarded each
year by the Armenian National Education Committee (ANEC) during the year-end
ceremonies at Armenian schools. Students are selected on the basis of their
excellence in Armenian studies and their participation in the Armenian
community.
GRADUATION DAY AT SIAMANTO ACADEMY
Five students graduated from the Siamanto Academy in ceremonies that
took place on June 24 in Woodside, New York. This year marks the 25th
anniversary of the establishment of the Siamanto Academy, under the
sponsorship of the Armenian National Education Committee (ANEC).
The Academy is designed for high school students who are graduates of
Armenian schools. It offers accredited, college-level courses in Armenian
studies, with accomplished faculty members including Christian educators,
literature professors, historians, and guests speakers in various
disciplines.
ENCOUNTERING ECUMENISM
The Department for Ecumenical Relations of the Catholicosate of Cilicia
has issued a booklet entitled Encountering Ecumenism: Two Young Armenian
Women’s Experience as Delegates to the 9th Assembly of the World Council of
Churches.
The booklet has two articles, “The Holy See of Cilicia Leaves its Mark
on the WCC 9th Assembly,” by Vanna T. Kitsinian, Esq., and “Encountering
Ecumenism at the 9th Assembly of the WCC,” by Nayiri D. Baljian. Ms.
Kitsinian is an attorney living in Los Angeles and Ms. Baljian is a graduate
student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
Catholicos Aram said: “I was very pleased to see the young delegates of
our church actively and seriously involved in all spheres of the life and
work of the Assembly. The intervention particularly of our two young women
delegates from Los Angeles and Boston in the plenary sessions made me proud.
They reminded me of my first intervention as a young delegate at the 5th
Assembly in Nairobi in 1975. The contribution, the zeal and the seriousness
of our youth give me hope for the future of the ecumenical movement and the
active ecumenical role of our church.”
A limited number of booklets are available. If you would like to have a
copy please contact Crossroads at [email protected]
FEAST OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH
Today, July 27, the Armenian Church marks the Feast of the Prophet
Isaiah, who lived 700 years before the birth of Christ. Isaiah is called the
Messianic Prophet because so many of his prophecies referred to a coming
Messiah and a new world. Matthew makes many references to Isaiah’s
prophecies concerning Jesus’s birth in his gospel and John says, “These
things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him” (John 12:41).
STS. THADDEUS AND SANDOUKHT REMEMBERED
This Saturday, July 29, the Armenian Church celebrates the lives of St.
Thaddeus and St. Sandoukht. According to the historian Movses Khorenatsi,
the apostle Thaddeus came to Edessa where he healed the sick and baptized
King Abgar. Khorenatsi writes that from Eddessa Thaddeus went to Armenia
where he preached and converted the Armenian king, Sanatrouk, and the king’s
daughter, Sandoukht. When faced with the opposition of his governors, the
king recanted his conversion. Sandoukht however refused to renounce the
Christian faith. She was imprisoned and executed by order of her father, and
thus became Armenia’s first martyr. Thaddeus was martyred at Artaz (in
present day northern Iran). The Armenian monastery of St. Thaddeus is built
on the apostles’ tomb. During the early 20th century the monastery was an
important crossroad for the defense of the Armenian population of Van, Daron
and surrounding areas. A popular annual pilgrimage by Armenians from around
the world takes place in July. During the four-day festival thousands gather
in tents pitched on the monastery grounds, attend services, sing and dance
in remembrance of St. Thaddeus, one of two apostles who brought Christianity
to Armenia. St. Thaddeus Monastery and the other famous Armenian monastery
in northern Iran, St. Stephen Monastery on the banks of the Arax River, have
undergone major renovations in recent years. In the late 1970s Armenian
youth throughout the Diaspora spent their summers living and working
together and, under the supervision of experts, helped restore the ancient
monasteries and beautify the surrounding grounds.
“See, some shall come from afar, others from the north and the west, and
some from the land of Syene,” (Isaiah 49:12-13).
IN GOD WE TRUST
Sunday, July 30, is the 50th anniversary of the adoption of “In God We
Trust” as the U.S. national motto. The original motto of the United States
was E Pluribus Unum (Latin, meaning “One from many’). In 1956, at the height
of the cold war, the 84th Congress passed a joint resolution to replace the
existing motto with “In God We Trust.” The president, Dwight Eisenhower,
signed the resolution into law on July 30, 1956. The phrase had been in use
prior to 1956-it is actually taken from one of the stanza of the Star
Spangled Banner-but it became official 50 years ago.
Two weeks ago the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution which
requests all American citizens “To commemorate, celebrate, and reaffirm the
national motto of the United States on the 50th anniversary of its formal
adoption.”
ONE WEEK HIATUS FOR CROSSROADS
Crossroads will not be published next Thursday, August 3. The next issue
will be transmitted on Thursday, August 10.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
August 6-St. Stephen Church picnic at Camp Haiastan. For information
781-326-5764.
August 6-Reception in honor of V. Rev. Fr. Shahe Panossian and Rev. Fr.
Hovnan Bozoian following church services at Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Church,
Ridgefield, New Jersey. All are invited to attend.
August 8-Soorp Asdvadzadzin Armenian Apostolic Church of Whitinsville,
Massachusetts, Annual Golf Tournament, 11:30 am registration. Blackstone
Valley Country Club, Sutton, MA. For details contact David, 508-234-3261.
August 13-Annual Blessing of the Grapes picnic, sponsored by Sts. Vartanantz
Church at Dunkerhook Park (Pavilion D), Paramus, New Jersey, 1 to 5 pm. For
information, 201-943-2950.
August 13-Annual picnic, Holy Cross Church, Troy, New York.
August 13-Sts. Vartanantz Church, Providence, annual picnic at Camp
Haiastan, Franklin, Massachusetts.
August 13-Annual picnic of Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church,
Worcester, Massachusetts, on the church grounds.
August 20-Soorp Asdvadzadzin Armenian Apostolic Church of Whitinsville,
Massachusetts, Annual Church Picnic, 12 noon on the church grounds. For
details: 508-234-3677.
September 10-Annual picnic of St. Stephen Church, New Britain, Connecticut.
September 10-Annual picnic of St. Gregory Armenian Church of Merrimack
Valley, at the American Legion grounds in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
September 15-Family Night at St. Gregory Armenian Church of Merrimack
Valley, North Andover, Massachusetts, 6 pm at Jaffarian Hall.
September 18-11th Annual ACEC/School golf outing at Stow Acres Country Club,
Stow, Massachusetts. For information, 781-326-5764.
September 24-36th Anniversary Luncheon and program, St. Gregory Armenian
Church of Merrimack Valley, North Andover, Massachusetts.
September 25-Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, Worcester,
Massachusetts, 3rd Annual Golf Outing and Award Dinner at Raceway Golf
Course, Thompson, Connecticut. Registration 7:30 a.m. For information
508-872-9629 or church office 508-852-2414.
September 28-4th Annual Golf Outing hosted by Sts. Vartanantz Church,
Ridgefield, New Jersey. Bergen Hills Country Club, River Vale, New Jersey.
For reservations and/or information: 201-943-2950.
October 1-Banquet honoring Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian on the occasion of
his recent elevation, at Terrace in the Park, Flushing, New York, 3 pm.
Details will follow.
October 8-81st anniversary celebration of St. Stephen Church, New Britain,
Connecticut.
October 22-Holy Cross Church, Troy, NY, anniversary celebration.
November 5-Annual bazaar, St. Stephen Church, New Britain, Connecticut.
November 11-12-Sts. Vartanantz Church, Providence, annual “Armenian Fest” at
Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet, Cranston, Rhode Island.
Visit our website at
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkey and free speech
Flying insults
Jul 27th 2006 | ANKARA
>From The Economist print edition
Another writer, another prosecution for insulting Turkey
A WILLOWY blonde, as fluent in Spanish and English as in her native Turkish,
Elif Shafak should be a poster girl for Turkey’s push to join Europe. Yet
most Europeans will become familiar with this award-winning novelist only
when she stands trial (by then heavily pregnant) later this year for
“denigrating Turkishness” in her latest novel, “The Bastard of Istanbul”. A
fictional Armenian character’s musings about the mass slaughter of the
Ottoman Armenians in 1915 may yet land Mrs Shafak in jail for as long as
three years.
If so, she will have lots of company. The Turkish Publishers’ Association
says that 47 writers face prosecution, on charges ranging from insulting the
father of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, to defending conscientious objection
(though Perihan Magden, another woman novelist, was acquitted on this charge
on July 27th). Earlier this month, a high court confirmed a six-month jail
sentence handed down to Hrant Dink, a newspaper publisher, for an article in
which he exhorted fellow Armenians to expunge themselves of their hatred of
Turks. That too was construed as an insult to Turks.
Joost Lagendijk, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, has noted that
the clampdown on free expression, together with Cyprus and the Kurds,
constitute “the biggest obstacle” to Turkey’s hopes of joining the EU.
Ironically, Mr Lagendijk was himself investigated earlier this year for
“insulting Turkey”.
Leading the drive to muzzle free speech is an ultra-nationalist lawyer,
Kemal Kerincsiz. He brought a case against Turkey’s best-known author, Orhan
Pamuk, which was dismissed in January. A rise in nationalist sentiment has
allowed Mr Kerincsiz to keep hounding writers such as Mrs Shafak. Some think
he is an agent of the “deep state”, a shadowy coalition of rogue members of
the security establishment who allegedly oppose Turkey’s EU aspirations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LILIT MKRTCHIAN STILL HAS ONE POINT
KRASNOTURINSK, JULY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. On July 25, the meetings of the
third tour of the ladies chess North Ural Cup international supper
tournament were held in Krasnoturinsk. Lilit Mkrtchian, representative
of Armenia, ended the game with the Lithuanian Victoria Chmilite
in a draw. L.Mkrtchian is in the 8th place with one point in the
competition among 10 participants.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress