Author: Emil Lazarian

MARK THOMAS REFUSES TO IGNORE THE PROBLEM OF TURKEY
Columnists
Mark Thomas
Monday 24th April 2006
New Statesman, UK
April 19 2006
There is one EU problem that is resolutely not going away and will
only get worse: that is, Turkey’s membership, writes Mark Thomas
For some in Britain, slagging off the European Union (something I am
about to do for the next 900 words) is an instinctive act of patriotic
faith, akin to not knowing the second verse of the National Anthem. For
many of us, the EU remains a quasi-democratic institution in search of
an electorate. Quite tellingly, we tend to see the EU not so much as a
vehicle for change as a means of registering a protest vote. Remember
Robert Kilroy-Silk? Who can forget a tan like that? Britons loved him
so much that we voted for him to leave the country five days a week,
to spend that time in a place he says he despises.
The EU has become adept at dealing with its many problems and crises.
By which I mean it ignores them and hopes they will go away. The EU
constitution is a case in point. However, there is one problem that
is resolutely not going away and is going to get worse: that is,
Turkey’s membership. The patrician consensus is that Turkey joining
would be a jolly good thing as having a Muslim state in the EU would
bring all sorts of benefits. However, Turkey’s membership is dependent
on the country introducing significant reforms – including many in
the area of minorities’ rights, eradicating the role of the military
in the running of the state and bringing democratic procedures into
the institutions of the country.
So far, Turkey has failed to come up to scratch, but more importantly
the EU has allowed this situation to continue. The deal was this:
Turkey is allowed into the EU but the EU gets to monitor and
investigate human-rights abuses and pressurise Turkey to reform.
Neither side has kept to the deal.
The Kurdish region of Turkey has suffered a steep rise in violence
over the past weeks, with a huge deployment of troops against the
civilian population. The Turkish police and military have attacked
demonstrators using tear gas, batons, tanks and other lethal weapons.
The Kurdish cities have seen a de facto return to state-of-emergency
rule. Significant numbers of Kurdish trade unionists, human-rights
defenders and political activists have been imprisoned, many of them
shot and wounded by troops. Across the Kurdish region, at least 15
people have died, including three children, aged three, six and nine.
Reports from human-rights defenders state that some of those killed
were shot in the head at close range, suggesting execution.
The mayor of Diyarbakir, who tried to mediate between the authorities
and protesters, has been physically attacked by the military, which
has called for his suspension. And democratic Kurdish parties are
being raided and their members imprisoned. How did it return to this
so quickly?
The events that led to this escalation started with the funeral,
on 28 March, of four PKK guerrillas, attended by a crowd of between
20,000 and 30,000 Kurds. After provocation from the local police,
mourners clashed with the authorities and troops were called in.
However, the real motor at work has been the failure of the Turkish
state to work with the Kurds to take advantage of the PKK ceasefire.
Ankara has refused to negotiate. “We will not talk to terrorists,”
the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, declares. And he has done
so with the backing of the EU. Instead of urging dialogue, the EU has
followed the UK and the United States in proscribing the PKK, even
though it announced a ceasefire and formally renounced violence. Just
about every attempt by grass-roots Kurdish groups to form inclusive
democratic movements has been regarded by the EU and the UK as merely
another group to add to the list of terrorist organisations. At the
same time, unemployment, poverty and political stagnation have fuelled
the clashes between Kurds and the Turkish state.
With the region threatening to return to the bad old days of the
mid-1990s, when 3,500 Kurdish villages were destroyed, 30,000 people
killed and over a million Kurds internally displaced, the EU simply has
to intervene. If the deal is that Turkey gets to join if it respects
minority rights and introduces democracy to the institutions of the
state, what happens if it breaks the deal? At the moment, the penalty
is . . . nothing.
The British media tend to regard Turkey through the lens of bird flu
and the occasional bomb, though in tabloid terms Turkey is strictly
sick chickens. Occasionally, the broadsheets will rally round a cause
celèbres, such as the case of the internationally renowned writer
Orhan Pamuk. When he was threatened with prison for mentioning the
Armenian genocide, the literary world rushed to his defence. But
the trouble with causes celèbres is that once the celeb has gone,
little attention remains on the cause.
It is doubtful that Eren Keskin will get the same press attention.
Keskin was the founder of the Legal Aid Office for the Victims of
Sexual Harassment and Rape in Custody. When I met her in 2001, her
Istanbul office was cramped and insalubrious. She talked about how
Kurdish women had to endure sexual harassment and rape at the hands
of the Turkish authorities. In 2002, she gave a lecture in Germany
describing her work and the horrific scale of rape in custody in
Turkey. For daring to speak about this, she was put on trial back
home. This year, she was sentenced to ten months for the crime of
“insulting the moral character of the military”.
er.php3?newTemplate=NSArticle_NS&newDisplayURN =200604240014
–Boundary_(ID_1JLMWI+pwbUls6tuUwGW nw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA AND TURKEY SHOULD NEGOTIATE OPENLY AND FREELY, BAGDASARYAN
Anatolian Times, Turkey
April 19 2006
BERLIN – “Turkey and Armenia should talk to each other ‘openly and
freely’,” Armenian Parliament Speaker Arthur Bagdasaryan said on
Wednesday.
In an exclusive interview with German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
newspaper, Bagdasaryan reiterated allegations regarding the “so-called”
genocide, however indicated that, “nonetheless we should not waste our
future because of the past. Hopes for the future are more important
than the sorrowful memories of the past. Turkey also needs this
dialogue.”
Underscoring that he personally favored a dialogue with Turkey,
Bagdasaryan said, “we should sit around a table and resolve our
problems. Of course not all the Armenians share this view.”
The newspaper said Bagdasaryan is one of the best placed nominees
that may succeed Armenian President Robert Kocharian whose term in
office will expire in 2008.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE NEW YORK TIMES WHITEWASHES THE ISRAELI TAKEOVER OF EAST JERUSALEM
by Patrick O’Connor
April 18, 2006
ZNet, MA
April 19 2006
Despite a practiced guise of objectivity, the US corporate media’s
reporting on Israel/Palestine is dominated by the Israeli narrative.
An April 16, 2006 feature article by Steven
Erlanger, The New York Times’ Jerusalem Bureau Chief,
“Jerusalem, Now” in the Times’ Sunday Travel section
( vel/16jerusalem.html)
exemplifies how seemingly professional journalistic standards
can mask insidious biases and misinform readers. Erlanger, guided
around Jerusalem by Israelis, omits Israeli violence, stereotypes
Palestinians, whitewashes Israeli settlements and covers up Israeli
efforts to take over East Jerusalem. “Jerusalem, Now” is among the most
political and one-sided mainstream US news articles on Israel/Palestine
published in the last year.
In “Jerusalem, Now” Erlanger repeatedly notes his effort to remain
above the fray – “I try to see it through various lenses”, “I try
to see Jerusalem as a place where both armies and souls contend”,
“I try to see the barrier from both the Palestinian and the Israeli
points of view”, etc..
However, Erlanger simultaneously provides clues that Israeli
perspectives will dominate. He notes three times that he was guided
around Jerusalem by Israelis whom he quotes and paraphrases – “Avi
Ben Hur, the American-turned-Israeli-turned-guide”, “Avner Goren,
an archeologist and guide”, “Eilat Mazar, an archaeologist.”
Israelis in Erlanger’s article are human beings holding professional
jobs. In contrast, he never even names a single Palestinian.
Erlanger’s Palestinians are an undifferentiated mass with “ramshackle”
shops on dusty, garbage-strewn streets where they play soccer,
and labor. They are enraged and “hate”, “militants” who carry out
“suicide bombings”, “riot” and open fire on an Israeli kindergarten,
and trudge “through the dust or the mud” at an Israeli checkpoint
designed to “prevent a terrorist” attack.
American journalists frequently rely on Israelis to explain
Palestinian realities. In Erlanger’s March 19 story, Israeli analyst
Yossi Alpher furnishes the article’s misguided thesis that Hamas’
election victory is comparable to the Iranian revolution. Similarly,
in Thomas Friedman’s one-sided April 12 Times column, Friedman quotes
extensively two Israelis’ opinions of Hamas’ electoral victory,
while citing no Palestinian views. Over the past five years, the
Times has published 3.4 op-eds by Israeli writers for every op-ed by
a Palestinian writer. Over the same period, the top five US newspapers
published 2.5 op-eds by Israelis for every op-ed by a Palestinian.
Erlanger’s reliance on Israeli perspectives frames his portrait
of Jerusalem. In his second paragraph Erlanger notes – “a narrow
moral precipice, running between a military checkpoint and suicide
bombing.” His disingenuous moral equation excludes Israeli violence
and seizure of Palestinian land. He follows with a misleading proverb
characterizing both sides, “We shall struggle for peace so hard that
not a tree will be left standing.” But it is Israel that has uprooted
over one million Palestinian-owned trees. He then adds another grossly
distorted parallel -“I try to see Jerusalem as a place where both
armies and souls contend.” But the only army is the well-equipped
Israeli army, the fourth largest army in the world.
Palestinians have only poorly equipped and barely functioning security
forces, and some poorly armed militias.
Erlanger claims, “Today, after a long truce with most Palestinian
militants, Jerusalem is calmer… the level of violence is down.”
Apparently “calm” refers only to reduced Palestinian attacks on Israeli
Jews, because daily Israeli violence against 200,000 Palestinian
residents of Jerusalem continues unabated.
Erlanger mentions Palestinian “suicide bombings” three times in the
first five paragraphs, and later adds Palestinian shooting at an
Israeli kindergarten, and Palestinian “rioting.” He minimizes Israeli
violence, noting only “Israeli troops reinvaded the West Bank”,
“the siege of Bethlehem”, expropriating land from Palestinians, and
“some Jews are plotting to destroy it and Al Aksa mosque.” The near
absence of Israeli violence is remarkable since the Israeli human
rights organization B’Tselem reports that during this five year
uprising Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed 3466 Palestinians,
mostly civilians, and Palestinians have killed 998 Israelis. During
this uprising Israelis have killed five times more children than
those killed by Palestinian armed groups.
Israeli soldiers, settlers and police are almost invisible in the
article. “Israeli troops” are mentioned once and “Israeli police”
materialize once to separate “tussling [Christian] clerics”.
Incongruously, Erlanger associates Christian clerics in Jerusalem with
more violent words than Israelis. There are “furious intra-Christian
battles”, “the Armenians and the Greeks battle”, there is “the war
of the doormat, the battling over chairs” and “the struggle for
the rooftop.”
Readers might therefore be surprised to witness the Israeli military’s
ubiquitous presence and violence in Jerusalem. Israeli soldiers
killed sixteen year old bystander Muhammad Ziad in March, 2006 in
Jerusalem. Israeli police shot in the back and killed 31 year old Samir
Dari in October, 2005. Police frequently assault peaceful Palestinian
protesters. Near the Old City’s Damascus Gate, a major tourist
thoroughfare, Israeli police regularly detain and beat Palestinians,
as they do at other checkpoints. Israeli television viewers recently
watched police assault a Hamas parliamentary candidate near Damascus
Gate. In one of many cases B’Tselem documented, in November, 2005
police in Jerusalem severely beat taxi-driver Iyad Shamasneh, then
released him uncharged.
Erlanger recognizes that “even archaeology is used as a weapon in the
struggle over the land.” Yet when writing about archaeological digs
in Silwan, he avoids mentioning recent Israeli government efforts to
demolish 88 Palestinian homes in Silwan to build a Jewish historical
park, a plan staved off for now by diplomatic appeals. The Israeli
Committee Against House Demolitions recorded the demolition of 94
Palestinian structures in East Jerusalem in 2005. Demolitions are
executed with the large-scale presence of Israeli soldiers and police
who often use violence against Palestinian civilians.
Erlanger also doesn’t prepare travelers to witness extremist,
Uzi-toting Israeli settlers violently expelling Palestinians from
their homes throughout East Jerusalem. He omits the burgeoning settler
take-over in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, with now over 40
Jewish settlements there.
In fact, Erlanger makes the massive, illegal Israeli settlements
and 200,000 settlers in East Jerusalem completely vanish. The words
“settler” and “settlements” simply never appear. Instead, he names
the settlements of Gilo and Har Homa a “Jewish neighborhood”, and
“Israeli neighborhood”.
Not one government has recognized Israel’s 1967 annexation of East
Jerusalem. With East Jerusalem under Israeli military occupation,
the UN, the International Court of Justice, all major human rights
organizations, and all governments clearly state that Israeli
settlements in East Jerusalem violate international law. But Erlanger
turns illegal Israeli settlements into cozy “neighborhoods”.
Even if the Times Travel section claims to avoid politics, by calling
settlements “neighborhoods” the Times takes a political stand against
international law. The Times specifically chose the Jerusalem Bureau
Chief to write about Jerusalem, rather than a travel writer.
Covering up the obvious developments in Jerusalem at this decisive
moment is tantamount to taking a strong political position in
support of Israeli domination of East Jerusalem. Ironically, this
week “The Economist” outlines those developments in a cover story
“The Last Conquest of Jerusalem” noting that “Israel’s plans for
Jerusalem will create a large Jewish city but will have harsh
consequences for the Palestinians, on both sides of the barrier”
( ory.cfm?story_id=6795641).
The massive Israeli construction of the Wall, settlements,
checkpoints and roads transforming East Jerusalem are impossible for
any observer to miss. Yet Erlanger fails to represent their scale
or implications. Commenting on Israel’s Wall, Erlanger only notes
that it scars the landscape, and that Palestinians feel it annexes
their land and cuts off neighborhoods. He says Jerusalem is built on
“struggle and rivalry”, but refuses to state the obvious, that one
side has won the struggle.
In stark contrast, The Economist explains, “Jerusalem, centre of
pilgrimage, crucible of history and the world’s oldest international
melting-pot, is changing hands once more, but with a slow and
quiet finality.” An accompanying Economist editorial notes that,
“in Jerusalem as a whole Israel’s policy has been to entrench its
control and create facts that cannot be reversed. This has entailed
reshaping the physical and demographic geography of the city, settling
Jews on the Arab side of the pre-1967 border and creating vast Jewish
neighbourhoods to the north, east and south… Sealing in and cutting
off the Palestinians of Jerusalem will only make another descent into
violence more likely.”
In a case of “too little, too late” the Times’ Travel
section includes a token secondary article, “In the West
Bank Politics and Tourism Remain Bound Together Inextricably”
( ravel/16westbank.html) by David
Kaufman and Marisa Katz which quotes some Palestinian views on West
Bank tourism. But “Jerusalem, Now”, nearly three times longer than
Kaufman and Katz’s article, is on the front page of the Travel section
and featured on the webpage.
“Jerusalem, Now” reflects either a woeful unconscious bias, striking
ignorance, a blatant political agenda, or a combination of all three.
By again failing to tell its readers what is happening in Jerusalem,
The New York Times has abdicated its journalistic responsibility and
is effectively complicit in Israeli violations of international law.
Patrick O’Connor is an activist with the International Soldarity
Movement () and Palestine Media Watch
().
ent/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=10117
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SCHEDULED TRAINING OF NKR SELF-DEFENSE ARMY FINISHED IN NK
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 19 2006
Scheduled training of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Defense Army with
participation of the army formations and units, as well as mobilization
resource, has finished in the Nagorno Karabakh.
The training’s goal was to determine the level of training education
of the armed forces, to improve management of the fighting arm and
coordination of their actions during defensive and counterattack
operations.
Today, in the course of the final, third stage of the training held
on the military polygon of the NKR Defense Army tactic training with
fighting shooting was conducted, during which tanks and artillery
were used.
The preliminary estimation of the training is positive, Spokesman
of the NKR Defense Ministry Senor Asratyan told De facto agency. He
informed that the final results would be summed up one of these days.
NKR DM Lieutenant-General Seyran Ohanyan was in command of the
training. NKR President and Armed Forces Supreme Commander in Chief
Arkady Ghoukasyan and RA DM Serzh Sargsyan were present at the measure.
Today a military units’ parade has been held under field conditions.
The servicemen distinguished in the course of the training were
awarded with certificates of honor and valuable gifts.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO THE PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL PROPERTY IN NA
National Assembly of RA, Armenia
April 19 2006
On April 18 within the framework of EU-Armenia Parliamentary
Cooperation Committee Eighth Meeting an exhibition dedicated to
preservation of cultural property in the National Assembly was
opened. In the exhibition the Armenian monuments left out of the
Armenian territory after the World War I are mainly presented. Armen
Roustamyan, Committee Co-Chairman highlighted the opening of such
exhibition in the aspect of focusing the society’s attention on
the preservation of the historical monument. Representatives of
EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, NA deputies and others
participated at the opening of the exhibition, which initiated the
NGO Studying the Armenian Architecture.
Armen Hakhnazaryan, Chairman of the NGO studying the Armenian
Architecture, presenting the diamonds of the Armenian architecture,
noted that the goal of the NGO is the preservation and evaluation
of the Armenian architectural values left out of Armenia after World
War I.
Hranush Hakobyan, NA deputy, highlighted the organization of the
exhibition from the viewpoint of presenting our Armenian cultural
property to European deputies. In Mrs. Hakobyan’s opinion the
destruction of the architectural monuments by our neighbours is
unacceptable, reminding that both the UNESCO and the civilized world
have put a task to preserve the cultural property.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJANI LEADER TO MEET BUSH ON IRAN N-CRISIS
IranMania, Iran
April 19 2006
LONDON, April 19 (IranMania) – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will
hold talks next week at the White House with US President George W
Bush on the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program and other strategic
issues in the Caspian region, officials said Tuesday, according to AFP.
The Azerbaijani leader will travel to Washington on Tuesday for an
official visit Wednesday and Thursday, presidential spokesman Tair
Tagizade said.
Aliyev will also meet other US officials to discuss issues including
Iran, construction of oil and gas pipelines through Azerbaijan and
steps toward resolving Azerbaijan’s conflict with Armenia over the
enclave of Nagorno Karabakh, a diplomatic source in the president’s
office told AFP.
The oil-rich former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan sits on the northern
border of Iran and is seen as a potential staging post for a military
attack on the Islamic republic.
In addition to its interest in Azerbaijan’s oil and gas resources,
the United States has quietly provided military assistance to the
country in the form of upgrading naval vessels, training personnel
and building two powerful radar stations there.
US officials have said the assistance is not unusual and comes under
the heading of friendly bilateral US-Azerbaijani ties. Russia however
has kept a wary eye on the evolution of the US presence in Azerbaijan
and officials occasionally cite it as a source of regional tension.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijani authorities announced that Iranian Defense
Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najar was scheduled to travel to Baku on
Wednesday for a three day visit.
The Iranian minister was due to hold talks with his Azerbaijani
counterpart, Safar Abiyev, and other officials, a defense ministry
spokesman said. No agreements were expected to be signed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FAREED ZAKARIA’S FOREIGN EXCHANGE PRGM: THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Source: EurasiaNet.org
Foreign Exchange
April 14 2006
Show 215 Transcript – April 14, 2006
Americans are talking about immigration; we’ll get the international
perspective.
Hundreds of thousands died–was it genocide? Armenia says yes,
Turkey says no; we’ll take a look at a new film that tries to answer
the question.
And finally, will AIDS derail India’s economic future?
All this and more on Foreign Exchange…
[parts omitted]
In Focus: Genocide?
Fareed Zakaria: The word genocide did not exist until World War II
when it was used to describe Nazi atrocities toward the Jews. But
can something that took place well before the Nazis in a different
historical context still be called a genocide? For Armenia and Turkey
use of the word has been a source of deep debate. Historians have
established that hundreds of thousands of Armenians died due to
Turkey’s actions in the events during World War I; however Turkish
officials strongly reject the assertion that this was a genocide.
They argue that it was a tragedy of war in a war with many such
tragedies. A new film explores this complex history. Tune into PBS
stations this week to see more and now here’s a clip.
Speaker: As war broke out in August 1914 between Germany and Russia the
Turkish Empire had to decide what to do and [inaudible] particularly
wanted to join Germany and use the German alliance to expand the Empire
to the East. The major enemy for Turkey at that point was Russia and
their dream was to conquer the caucuses and Russia and Central Asia and
unite all the Turkey peoples of those lands in a grand Turkic Empire.
Speaker: In December 1914 led by their Minister of War, [Inaudible]
the Ottomans attacked Russia at Sarikamish along the Russian Border.
It was a strategic blunder; the Ottomans were overwhelmingly
defeated. Their hopes for a united empire were smashed. A few months
later as over 120,000 Russian troops advanced into the Empire their
ranks included a contingent of between 5,000 and 6,000 Armenian
soldiers; this Armenian contingent consisted of both Russian
Armenian conscripts and a smaller number of Ottoman Armenians who
had defected. Seeing their own Armenian subjects volunteering and
fighting for the enemy enraged the Turkish leaders; fearing that
still more of their subjects might join the enemy, they now saw the
Armenians of the Empire as a threat to the state.
Speaker: It was now in the wake of the disastrous loss at Sarikamish
that the CUP decided to disarm all the Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman
Army. They had decided that the Armenians were an unreliable group;
and Enver was blaming the Armenians for his loss at Sarikamish. And
then from disarming them they were thrown into labor battalions–that
is grunt work forces by which they were building roads, cleaning
latrines, and so forth, and were easily segregated, rounded up and
just massacred on mass.
Speaker: The massacres of the Armenian soldiers were the first stage
of the Armenian genocide but it was still just a beginning. The
International Association of Genocide Scholars affirms that over
1,000,000 Armenians died during the Armenian genocide. Other scholars
put the numbers as high as 1,500,000. The Turkish government today
denies that a genocide took place and has denied this historical fact
for nearly a century.
Speaker: In 1923 a new Turkish state, a new Turkish Republic was
created which really disconnected itself comprehensively from the
young Turks of 1915.
[Video Clip–News Clip] News Anchor: …impatient with former
methods, Anaturk banished ancient ways. Under Anaturk’s 15 year rule,
Constantinople was renamed Istanbul and became a westernized city
of modern well-planned buildings. Under his one-party government,
factories increased as the he industrialized Turkey. The social
revolution he accomplished was widespread. In everyway he emphasized
the change from the old Turkey to the new.
Speaker: What this new Turkish state then did was, it embarked on
an all-out program of westernization, adopting your western style
constitution, adopting secularism, dropping the old Arabic inspired
alphabet in favor of the Latin script, adopting western style
dress–costume, the civil code, everything; as a result Britain,
France, Germany–everybody else, they were now out to court this new
Turkey to try to become friends with it and the great powers did not
have any interest in pursuing the dirty matter of what had happened
in 1915. And all kinds of reasons like this made it undesirable for
the young republic to maintain an–an honest memory of what had been
done in 1915, and as a result you have an enormously constructed,
fabricated, manipulated national memory.
The “Dark Years” Armenians get 40% of their power from the Metsamor
nuclear power plant. The plant shut down for 8 years after a 1988
earthquake.
During this period “residents stripped the capital Yerevan of virtually
everything made of wood” to heat their homes.
;PHPSESSID=e4544675e99a6b12ad234131fef8346c
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
April 18, 2006
___________________
ARMENIAN FAITHFUL FILL CATHEDRAL TO CELEBRATE CHRIST’S RESURRECTION
By Jake Goshert
Some came with sleeping babies in their arms. Others had toddlers
walking alongside. There were families with three generations
attending. All ages of Armenians came Sunday, April 16, 2006, to the
Easter Divine Liturgy at New York City’s St. Vartan Cathedral.
About 1,500 people filled the cathedral, spilling out onto the
sunlit plaza. Among the worshipers were several dignitaries, such
as Ambassador Armen Martirossyan, Armenia’s ambassador to the United
Nations, and his young family.
“There was a tangible sense of spirit and celebration that filled
the entire cathedral,” said Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate
of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), who
celebrated the badarak Easter Sunday. “And there were families and
people from all generations. There were seniors and young parents,
teenagers and newborns. Both the current community leaders and the
future were there to celebrate the victory of Christ’s resurrection.”
The Easter Sunday Divine Liturgy was sung by the St. Vartan Cathedral
Choirs, under the direction of Maestro Khoren Mekanejian with Florence
Avakian accompanying on the organ.
DAY OF CELEBRATION
Following the badarak and the administering of Holy Communion,
the Primate joined the faithful on the plaza for the traditional
“Antasdan” ceremony, or “Blessing of the Fields,” followed by the
release of doves.
The release of 12 doves each Easter represents Jesus sending his 12
disciples to spread the gospel to the world. Joining the Primate in
this ceremony was Diocesan Council Chairman Haig Dadourian, who served
as “godfather.” He was joined by his wife, Astrid, their children and
grandchildren, each helping launch a white dove into the air above
the mass of joyous faithful.
“Not only was Haig Dadourian eager to join this important celebration,
but he wanted the next generation of his family to share in the
experience,” the Primate said. “A true steward of the church, he
is actively working to instill a sense of faith in his children and
grandchildren.”
Following the ceremony on the plaza, 260 Armenians gathered in
the Diocesan Center’s Haik and Alice Kavookjian Auditorium for
a traditional Armenian lamb dinner, organized by Gregory and Ani
Manuelian, and featuring a performance by the Yeraz dance group
directed by Karnik Nercessian.
WEEK OF CELEBRATION
The Easter services were the capstone of a week-long commemoration
of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection. The events and services were
organized by Fr. Mardiros Chevian, dean of St. Vartan Cathedral.
Easter Eve, Saturday, April 15, 2006, featured a Divine Liturgy
celebrated by Archbishop Yeghishe Gizirian, which was preceded by a
Scripture-reading ceremony.
The Divine Liturgy was sung by the St. Vartan Cathedral Youth Choir,
made up of students from the Diocesan Khrimian Lyceum, and Diocesan
Armenian Saturday schools of New York and New Jersey and under the
direction of Maro Partamian. Students of the Diocesan Khrimian Lyceum
also provided the Scripture readings.
EASTER CONTINUES
April 16 did not mark the end of Easter celebrations for all Armenians.
Because they use the Julian calendar, the Armenian Patriarchate of
Jerusalem will celebrate Easter on April 23, 2006.
On Monday, April 17, 2006, a group of 35 people from the Diocese
headed to the Holy Land on a special pilgrimage. They will be in the
Holy Land until April 25.
This is the first of two trips to the region being organized by
the Diocese this year. The Diocese will take another group on an
educational pilgrimage to the Holy Land this August.
“In the Holy Land you see first-hand the sites mentioned in the
Bible’s accounts of Holy Week. And seeing these places enlivens the
hearts of Christians,” the Primate said. “We must also remember that
the spirit of Easter, the hope and renewal it promises, can be found
in the hearts of all believers throughout the year.”
— 4/18/06
E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in
the News and Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,
PHOTO CAPTION (1): Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern
Diocese, delivers his Easter homily to a filled St. Vartan Cathedral
in New York City on Sunday, April 16, 2006.
PHOTO CAPTION (2): The Primate administers communion to a young
Armenian on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006.
PHOTO CAPTION (3): A young child looks at the doves before they are
set loose during the releasing of the doves ceremony on the plaza of
New York City’s St. Vartan Cathedral following the Easter badarak on
Sunday, April 16, 2006.
PHOTO CAPTION (4): Astrid and Haig Dadourian, who served as “godfather”
of the releasing of doves ceremony, kiss the hand-cross of Archbishop
Barsamian prior to the ceremony.
PHOTO CAPTION (5): Dancers from the Yeraz Dance Group perform during
the traditional Armenian lamb lunch at the St. Vartan Cathedral in
New York City following Easter Sunday services. (Photo courtesy of
Jennifer Morris.)
PHOTO CAPTION (6): Armen Akopian, a student from the Diocese’s
Khrimian Lyceum, reads from the Scriptures during the Easter Eve
service on April 15, 2006, in the St. Vartan Cathedral.(Photo courtesy
of Jennifer Morris.)
PHOTO CAPTION (7): Two of the 12 doves released following the Easter
Sunday badarak perch in a corner of the St. Vartan Cathedral in New
York City.
# # #
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

European Premiere Of Maestro Tigran Mansurian’s Choral Masterpiece “Ars Poetica”
The Armenian National Chamber Choir conducted by Robert Mlkeyan, will take
part in the conclusive event of the First International Contemporary Music
Festival “Contaminazioni Contemporanee – Musica Sacra” (Contemporary
Contaminations/Sacred Music) to be held on 21-22-23 April in Bergamo
(Italy).
Mansurian’s masterpiece “Ars Poetica”, based on Yeghishe Charents poetry,
and most of the festival World or European première musical events are part
of Munich based ECM recording productions.
An important part of the festival is dedicated to Armenian authors such as
Gurdjieff, Komitas and Mansurian, performed by the Duo Anja Lechner-Vassilis
Tsabropoulos and the Armenian National Chamber Choir.
Just before the musical evening, there will be a presentation of Mansurian’s
work during a public debate and meeting with Maestro Mansurian, by Franco
Masotti (Artistic Director of Ravenna Festival) and Minas Lourian (Director
of Musical section OEMME Edizioni/MUSICAM of Centro Studi e Documentazione
della Cultura Armena, Venice).
[See program below]
CENTRO STUDI E DOCUMENTAZIONE DELLA CULTURA ARMENA
Corte Zappa, Dorsoduro 1602
I-30123 Venezia (Italy)
Phone/fax: +39 (0)41 5224225
E-mail: [email protected]
_________________________________ _____________________
VERBO ESSERE
Associazione Culturale
per le Arti Contemporanee
in collaborazione con:
COMUNE DI BERGAMO Assessorato alla cultura e spettacolo
DIOCESI DI BERGAMO
MUSEO BERNAREGGI
con il contributo di:
FONDAZIONE delle COMUNITA’ BERGAMASCHE
FONDAZIONE CARIPLO
BANCA POPOLARE DI BERGAMO
CREDITO BERGAMASCO
BANCA DI BERGAMO
ECM Records
DUCALE
SINAPSI
CONTAMINAZIONI CONTEMPORANEE
1° Festival Internazionale di Musica Contemporanea
MUSICA SACRA CONTEMPORANEA
LUOGHI DI SVOLGIMENTO
1) Teatro G.Donizetti
2) Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
3) Centro Congressi Giovanni XXIII
4) Museo Bernareggi
TUTTI GLI EVENTI SARANNO GRATUITI
PRENOTAZIONI
L’INGRESSO agli eventi sarà gratuito sino a esaurimento dei posti.
La PRENOTAZIONE è obbligatoria da effettuarsi presso la segreteria del
festival c/o Centro Congressi Giovanni XXIII tel: 035-236435 oppure
all’indirizzo di posta elettronica [email protected]
PROGRAMMA del FESTIVAL
Il programma preliminare degli incontri pubblicato in questa stampa, potrà
subire delle variazioni
TUTTI GLI EVENTI SONO AD INGRESSO GRATUITO
Venerdì 21 APRILE 2006
ore 18.00
Museo Bernareggi – Città Bassa
INAUGURAZIONE del FESTIVAL
ore 18.30 – 19.30
Museo Bernareggi – Città Bassa
ARVO PART, UN RITRATTO
Inaugurazione della mostra fotografica di Roberto Masotti
ore 21.00
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore – Città Alta
CONCERTO INAUGURALE
THE HILLIARD ENSEMBLE – Omaggio ad ARVO PÄRT
Sabato 22 APRILE 2006
ore 15.30
Centro Congressi Giovanni XXIII – Città Bassa
TARKOVSKIJ: il cinema fra poesia e profezia
interverranno
Manfred Eicher, produttore ECM
François Couturier compositore e musicista
Altro relatore (da confermare)
ore 18.00
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore – Città Alta
ANNUM PER ANNUM – CHRISTOPHER BOWERS-BROADBENT – Organo
Musiche di Arvo Pärt, Olivier Messiaen, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Kevin Volans,
Bowers-Broadbent
ore 21.00
Teatro G.Donizetti – Città Bassa
NOSTALGHIA Song for Tarkovskij
François Couturier Quartet
François Couturier (piano), Jean-Louis Matinier (fisarmonica)
Jean Marc Larché (sax soprano), Anja Lechner (violoncello)
prima assoluta
Domenica 23 APRILE 2006
ore 10.30 – 12.00
Museo Bernareggi – Città Bassa
ECM : panorami sonori del nuovo millennio
Ascolto con Manfred Eicher produttore ECM
ore 15.30
Centro Congressi Giovanni XXIII – Città Bassa
TIGRAN MANSURIAN – Il paese delle pietre che urlano
interverranno
Tigran Mansurian compositore armeno
Franco Masotti musicologo
Minas Lourian Direttore sez. Musica Centro Studi e Documentazione della
cultura Armena
ore 18.00
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore – Città Alta
CHANTS, HYMNS AND DANCES
GURDJIEFF – TSABROPOULOS
CONCERTO di Anja Lechner (violoncello) e Vassilis Tsabropoulos (piano)
ore 21.00
Teatro G.Donizetti – Città Bassa
TIGRAN MANSURIAN – ARS POETICA
Musiche di Tigran Mansurian e Komitas
Concerto per coro misto a cappella
Armenian Chamber Choir (Coro da Camera Armeno)
Robert Mlkeyan direttore
prima europea
Eventi collaterali:
Museo Bernareggi – Città Bassa
“ARVO PART, UN RITRATTO”
Mostra Fotografica di Roberto Masotti
Dal 21 aprile al 06 maggio 2006
Orario di apertura:
dal martedì alla domenica
dalle 9.30 alle 13.00
dalle 15.30 alle 18.30
chiuso lunedì
–Bou ndary_(ID_FWNC+dw4nUWryRSyp08xyA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +37410. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +37410. 562543
Email: [email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
19-04-2006
Minister Oskanian Receives a Delegation of Armenia-EU Parliamentary
Cooperation Committee
A delegation of members of the European Parliament arrived in
Yerevan to participate in the Armenia-EU Parliamentary Cooperation
Committee. Minister Oskanian received the group, led by its co-chair,
French parliamentarian Marie-Ann Isler-Beguin.
During the meeting, the parliamentarians and the Minister discussed
the ongoing cooperation between the European Union and the South
Caucasus countries. They noted that there is increased EU interest
toward the region. The Minister expressed appreciation at the role
of the European Parliament in the engagement of the three countries
in the European Neighbourhood Policy.
At their request, Foreign Minister Oskanian presented the
parliamentarians with the latest developments in the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement process, and Armenia’s approaches to energy
security and regional cooperation issues.