Author: Emil Lazarian

CHESS PLAYERS OF ARMENIA TO LEAVE FOR TURKEY

ArmRadio.am
29.03.2006 13:47

Nine Armenian chess players will participate in the 7th Individual
European Championship to start on April 4 in Aydin Kushadasi city
of Turkey.

Grand Masters Artashes Minasyan, Ashot Anastasyan, Tugran Petrosyan
and International Masters Arman Pashikyan and Tigran Kotanjyan will
participate in men ‘s contest.

Women’s contest will feature Grand Masters Lilit Lazarian, Elina
Danielyan, Nelly Aghinyan and International Master Siranush Andreasyan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI-US SECURITY TALKS START IN WASHINGTON

ANS TV, Baku
29 Mar 06

Prospects for US-Azerbaijani military and political cooperation are
the main subject of the bilateral security talks which have started in
Washington. Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov represents
Azerbaijan in the two-day discussions. The talks attended by senior
US State Department and Pentagon officials cover numerous important
directions. One of them is military and political cooperation between
the two countries and its priorities, and the energy projects which
are being implemented in the South Caucasus.

Another direction of the talks covers the military and political
situation in the South Caucasus, the work done as part of resolving
the Nagornyy Karabakh issue, proposals and efforts by the sides
[to the conflict].

The third direction of the talks focuses on the crisis over Iran’s
nuclear programme, Baku’s efforts to tackle the issue and opportunities
for future cooperation with the USA in this sphere.

[Video showed library picture of Azimov speaking to microphone outside
the Foreign Ministry]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DIVIDED AZERI DIASPORA CALL FOR UNITY IN FACE OF “COMMON GOALS”

ANS TV, Baku
27 Mar 06

The World Azeri Congress and a splinter group have called for unity
in the face of common goals, such as merging Azerbaijan with northern
Iran, and settling the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

Speaking to the commercial ANS TV’s “Point of View” programme on 27
March, heads of the Baku offices of the split World Azeri Congress
Pasa Qalbinur and Yegana Amiraslanova said: “An organization, which has
set itself the goal of unifying Azerbaijan, should not remain divided.”

The WAC, which was set up in the USA in 1997, was divided into two
in 2004.

No further transcribing is planned.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

COMM UNIQUE (? 1)

“Culture of Cilician Armenia”

International Conference in Antelias

“Culture of Cilician Armenia” International Conference will take place
January 18-20, 2007, in Antelias-Lebanon by the initiation and under
patronage of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, in cooperation with the
Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and Yerevan Mashtots
Matenadaran.

The Conference will cover the following areas:
1.. History: History of culture of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia:
geopolitical, inter-political and inter-church relations.

2.. Medieval Armenian Universities: The influence of Cilician scriptoria
in the development of Armenian literature and scripture art. Medieval
universities and their cooperation.

3.. Law: Medieval law and Cilician Constitution. Inter-state and
inter-church relations and the aspect of law. Right to heritage and medieval
social relations.

4.. Art: Miniature, applied arts, architecture: monasteries, fortresses,
secular constructions.

5.. Ethnography: Cilician national ceremonies, holidays, dresses, life and
traditions.

6.. Cilician Holy Relics: Relics of Saints brought to Antelias from
Cilicia.

7.. Economy: Cilician money, Cilician trade relations, scales and measure
units, Cilician marine and soil trade ways.

8.. Summery: Cilician phenomenon after the fall of the Armenian Kingdom of
Cilicia.

For more information about the Conference you may visit the following
sites: and or write to the
following addresses:
Arshak Banuchyan, Yerevan Bishop Nareg Alemezian, Antelias
Tel: (+374 10) 56 27 69 Tel: (+961 4) 410001
Fax: (+374 10) 52 04 20 Fax: (+961 4) 417971
E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]
[email protected]

Organi zing Committee

##
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
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 10) 517 163
Fax: (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
March 29, 2006

35 New Deacons Ordained in Holy Etchmiadzin

This year on the 23rd of February – the Feast of Sts. Vartanants, 35
young graduates of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary were ordained to
the diaconate during the celebration of Divine Liturgy in the Mother
See of All Armenians. His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, presided during the liturgy which was
celebrated by His Eminence Archbishop Nerses Bozabalian.

As has become a tradition, the “Feast of St. Vartan the Commander and
His Companions” is celebrated with great pageantry in Holy Etchmiadzin,
as it is one of the most loved feasts of the Armenian nation. The
highlight of the day is the service of ordination which takes place
in the Mother Cathedral. In some years the ordinations are to the
priesthood, and in others, as in this year, they are to the diaconate.

This year’s celebrations resulted in 35 new deacons who joined
the ranks of the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin as its youngest
members. This was the first time in the modern history of the Armenian
Church that such a large number of young men have been ordained all
at once.

In recent years on this day, Armenians worldwide celebrate the
naming day of the Armenian Pontiff, His Holiness Karekin II. At the
conclusion of Divine Liturgy, a special Pontifical Blessing service
was offered before the Holy Altar of Descent of the Mother Cathedral,
whereby the faithful joined with the class of clergy in raising their
prayers to heaven, wishing His Holiness a long, productive reign,
a healthy and fruitful life, and unshakeable strength and prosperity
for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

Among the countless faithful, were hundreds of soldiers from the Armed
Forces of the Republic of Armenia, who had come with their commanding
officers to participate in the Divine Liturgy. His Holiness blessed
the servicemen, calling them the new “Vartans” of our day, asking
that God grant them faith, willpower and a spirit of victory.

##

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
ARPA Institute
18106 Miranda St.

Tarzana, CA 91356
Contact: Hagop Panossian
Tel: (818) 586-9660
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

ARPA Institute presents the Lecture/Seminar:”Why Genocide: How can
we Understand the Turkish Deportations and Massacres of the Ottoman
Armenians,” by Ronald Grigor Suny, Ph.D., on Friday, April 14, 2006
at 7:30 PM in the Merdinian school auditorium.

The Address is 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.
Directions: on the 101 FWY exit on Woodman, go north and turn right
on Riverside Dr.

Abstract: Genocide is ultimately a crime of hatred initiated by a
few and carried out by the many.

Scholars have tried to explain the causes of the Armenian Genocide by
reference to religious differences between Armenians and Turks or the
racist nationalist ideology of the Young Turks and their ambitions
to create a “Turkey for the Turks.”

Professor Suny looks at the variety of explanations that have been
offered and suggests that in order to understand “why genocide” it
is necessary to supplement ideological and social explanations with
an exploration of the emotions involved.

RONALD GRIGOR SUNY is Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor of Social and
Political History at the University of Michigan, and Professor Emeritus
of Political Science and History at the University of Chicago. A
graduate of Swarthmore College and Columbia University, he taught
at Oberlin College (1968-1981), as visiting professor of history at
the University of California, Irvine (1987), and Stanford University
(1995-1996). He was the first holder of the Alex Manoogian Chair in
Modern Armenian History at the University of Michigan (1981-1995),
where he founded and directed the Armenian Studies Program.

He is the author of 1. The Baku Commune, 1917-1918; 2.

Armenia in the Twentieth Century; 3. The Making of the Georgian Nation;
4. Looking Toward Ararat: 5. Armenia in Modern History; 6. The Revenge
of the Past; and 7.

The Soviet Experiment. Editor of Transcaucasia, Nationalism and Social
Change: and The Structure of Soviet History; and co-editor of Party,
State, and Society in the Russian Civil War; The Russian Revolution
and Bolshevik Victory; Making Workers Soviet; Becoming National;
Intellectuals and the Articulation of the Nation; and A State of
Nations.

Professor Suny has served as chairman of the Society for Armenian
Studies and on the editorial Boards of Slavic Review, International
Labor and Working-Class History, International Journal of Middle East
Studies, The Armenian Review, Journal of the Society for Armenian
Studies, and Armenian Forum. He has appeared numerous times on the
McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, CBS Evening News, CNN, and National Public
Radio, and has written for the New York Times, The Washington Post,
The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, New Left Review, Dissent, and
other newspapers and journals. He was recently elected President of
the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (2006).

For information please call Dr. Hagop Panossian at(818)586-9660

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OUT-OF-TURN SPEECH AGAINST AZERBAIJAN

Panorama.am
14:27 28/03/06

During the session of the Economic Committee of Parliamentary Congress
of Black Sea Economic Cooperation the Azeri delegation put forward its
allegations to return the territory as well as to give the refugees
an opportunity to return to the former dwellings.

All this were the reason why the head of the Armenian delegation
Gagik Minasyan made an out-of-turn speech.

Today at the conference the latter read an extract from that speech:
“There is no basis to call Nagorno Karabakh a dim territory. NK people
build their state system according to all the international law and
democratic principles… The economic blockade of a whole state is
the highest level of economic cooperation realized by Azerbaijan
against Armenia …”

As G. Minasyan informed at the conference today, they were ready to
attacks by Azerbaijan. “We were afraid for the Azeri delegation to
speculate of Karabakh issue,” he noticed. As G. Minasyan said after
his speech the Azeri abstained from further discussion of NK issue.

However, G. Minasyan will perhaps have no more chance to make such
anti-Azeri announcements as he is no longer Deputy of President of
the Economic Committee.

The matter is that as a result of change of the legislation of the
committee the latter is going to have only one deputy. And this time
the Deputy is going to be Vladimir Badalyan representing “National
Deputy” group.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

INTERNATIONAL BANKING CONFERENCE HELD IN YEREVAN

Panorama.am
12:40 28/03/06

Today the three-day international banking conference dedicated
to questions of financing international trade started its work
in Yerevan. The initiators of the conference were European Bank
of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Armeconombank and the
European Union.

As the head of Armenian Central Bank Tigran Sargsyan mentioned in
his speech it is necessary to use the trade financing new instruments
accepted in international practice. “Unfortunately, today most Armenian
banks give only elementary letters of credit and short-term credits
to exporters and importers, which in its turn has a negative influence
on their opportunities,” T. Sargsyan noticed.

In the course of the conference the manager of EBRD in Southern
Caucasus, Byelorussia and Moldova Michael Davy mentioned the dynamic
development of trade financing sector in Armenia. According to the
data of M. Davy last year the EBRD granted 20 million euros to Armenia
to realize programs in the spheres of energy, industry and insurance
business. This year the Eurobank intends to grant 40-50 million euros
which will be allocated to financing 20 programs. In the meantime
Michael Davy noticed that in spite of the political risks present in
the country the Armenian banks succeed in favorably cooperating with
foreign partners.

Representatives of international banking structures such as
“Citibank N.A.”, “Commerzbank AG Frankfurt”, Raiffeisen Zantrallbank,
“Lloyds TSB Bank PLC”, “Deutsche Bank”, “International Financial
Corporation” as well as Russian and Ukrainian banks participate in
the conference.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE MISSION TO CARRY OUT REGULAR MONITORING AT THE CONTACT LINE OF ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI ARMED FORCES

ArmRadio.am
28.03.2006 16:53

On March 29 the OSCE Mission will carry out regular monitoring at
the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

>From the Armenian side the monitoring will be carried out by
Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador
Anjey Kasprchik and his field assistants Alexander Samarski and
Imre Palatinius. From the Azerbaijani side the monitoring will be
accomplished field assistants of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Harry
Erronen and Peter Key.

EXPECTATIONS OF DEMOCRACY ARE NOT GREAT

Lragir.am
28 March 06

“Will there be upward democracy?” Lragir.am offered its readers
this question, which was one of the burning topics in the public
and political life over the past week. The results of our opinion
poll suggest that expectations of democratization, what is more,
of upright democratization, are not great.

Only 29 per cent answered “yes”, thus expressing their confidence
that upward democracy is possible. 33 per cent think that upward
democratization is unlikely to happen. 12 per cent think there are
no preconditions for “upward democratization” in Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress