Elina Danielian defeats Maya Chiburdanidze in 4th round of Chess Grand Prix
ISTANBUL, MARCH 11, NOYAN TAPAN. In the 4th round of the Women Chess
Grand Prix held in Istanbul, Elina Danielian defeated the former world
champion Maya Chiburdanidze of Georgia and is in 5th place with 2.5
points.
A1+
Legalizing with a 6,000 dram fee
[01:41 pm] 12 March, 2009
Garages in Gyumri have been going through the process of registration
starting from February 1 this year. All residents who have built
garages without permission must register those garages by March 20,
that is, they must pay the fixed amount and received registration;
otherwise, they will lose their garages. The residents must pay an
annual fee of 6,000 drams.
The owners of garages who have a property certificate are exempt from
this fee because they pay property and land taxes.
In 2009, by the decision of the council of elders of Gyumri, the
amount has reduced taking into consideration the fact that many of the
residents simply can’t pay the fixed amount. There are currently 500
garages registered.
As correspondents of the division of illegal construction of the
Gyumri city council informed, the majority of garages in Gyumri are
illegal and 500 is not a huge number.
`Tsaig’ TV of Gyumri
Armenian Exporters and outsourcing providers too long had to cope with
25% handicap
2009-03-13 15:21:00
Aram Gareginyan, ArmInfo, 11.03.09
Interview with chief of party of USAID/CAPS (Competitive Armenian
Private Sector) program, Hayley Alexander
How do you estimate the decision of the government to give addressed
help to business? Are the measures applied effective enough? The
assistance rendered by the Government is giving out loans, temporary
buying of stocks and state credit guarantees. Are they all appropriate,
and is there a need of other mechanisms?
Just last week I was invited to a round table with the US Ambassador,
the IMF, the World Bank, the EBRD, and other USAID projects. The topic
was: The impact of the international financial crisis on Armenia. The
general feeling, which I share, is the government’s response has been
reasonably positive, especially with regard to the speed at which the
stimulus program has thus far been implemented. One thing I like about
the financing programs they have undertaken is they are flexible,
everything from equity investment to loans to guaranteed loans,
depending on the situation with the individual companies they are
trying to support. I think this sort of flexibility is appropriate and
ensures government money will be used more effectively than if a
one-size-fits-all program were to be adopted. On the other hand, the
problem with this sort of government financing is the private sector’s
inability to submit viable proposals for consideration. From the
initial request for proposals, I understand approximately 70 proposals
were received and only about a dozen were adequate to be short-listed.
This is the result of basic lack of capacity on the part of companies
to articulate what they want to do and how the financing will benefit
them ` and the country ` in the longer term. As a result, only a small
number of companies have been able to access the government funding,
and many more surely need it. So in the macro sense, the Armenian
government’s stimulus program has thus far failed to reach enough
companies to have a significant impact on the economy as a whole. My
suggestion is for the government to also offer strategic marketing
(planning) and proposal writing assistance to those who need it ` in
advance of submitting a proposal. This sort of help is normally best
subcontracted to local business services providers. The CAPS program,
for instance, regularly contracts with local consulting firms to do
this sort of work. The EBRD BAS (Business Advisory Services) program
does as well.
Another aspect of the government stimulus program is in need of
improvement as well. The government has yet to clearly define and
communicate an overarching, strategic vision for the financial crisis
avoidance effort and whether or not other programs are planned.. As the
situation stands, the measures undertaken appear somewhat out of
context with any broader objectives, which remain unclear.
It is important to note that one of the most positive steps to
stimulate economic health, which the government has taken recently, has
been the floating of the dram to allow its devaluation. The situation
before, with the dram artificially propped up at 305/dollar, was
absolutely untenable. The overvalued dram has been a major impediment
to cost competitiveness for most producer and service provider sectors
in Armenia. It became crystal clear something needed to be done. The
notional stability in valuation could no longer be supported due to the
sudden and dramatic drop in remittances and exports, both of which
should have weakened the domestic currency. The revaluation of the dram
should go a long way to easing the choking effect the overvalued
currency had on exporters and outsourcing providers, who too long had
to cope with a 25% handicap. Certainly information technology, tourism,
pharmaceuticals, engineering services and many others will stand to
benefit greatly from the re-valued dram. Mining will too, though
international nonferrous metals prices will need to rebound as well.
Give your view of the changes in excise duty, which had been raised in
last December and has been again lowered recently. Does Armenia need to
undertake measures with a flavor of protectionism to enhance the sales
of internal production? What reaction does the situation get from
American entrepreneurs?
Protectionist legislation is all too often viewed as the simplest way
to support domestic industries that are struggling to compete.
Unfortunately, these measures rarely succeed in the long term as
trading nations have a nasty habit of responding in kind, which then
cripple exports more broadly. Moreover, these measures tend to be
applied to industries that are not competitive, for whatever reason,
and the artificial protection simply masks the causes and prolongs the
hard choices to improve domestic company competitiveness. In the mean
time, the sheltered industries fall further behind their worldwide
counterparts who, without such protection, have been forced to become
more productive (and effective marketers). If the local producers are
offering needed goods and services, and the dram is now 20% weaker, why
not let them do their best to compete? The best of them will find a way
which in the end will strengthen each sector.
How do you assess the project of 3-year tax exemption for VAT for the
enterprises, which import equipment, on progressive basis (less than 70
mln AMD ` 1 year, 70 ` 300 mln AMD ` 2 years and more than 300 mln ` 3
years)?
I would not say the same for investment incentives as I said for
protectionist measures. In other words, investment incentives and those
measures which increase productive and value-adding capacity in the
country should be supported. These are necessary because the most
successful economies do provide investment incentives, and even more
importantly, they offer these in transparent one-stop vehicles with
clearly elucidated reasons to invest. As the situation is now,
potential investors to the IT industry, for instance, are told the
government considers IT a strategic industry ` and this is touted as a
reason to buy into Armenia. But what does this mean? How will this
proclamation reduce the investors’ costs? How will they find qualified
labor? What does labor typically cost per month? What government
programs are available for those willing to invest in R&D? What happens
if foreign investors become embroiled in a business dispute? These is
the sorts of information foreign investors need to know.
Will the financial crisis affect the process of occupation of Gyumri
technopark? What benefits will the `tenant’ companies have, and are
they effective? Are there corruption risks for Gyumri to be occupied by
large business only, or, perhaps, a risk of forbidding the SMEs to
start business in Gyumri unless they are backed by large enterprises?
Why, up to now, there hasn’t been any announced participation in the
project by private companies, both from Armenia and abroad?
The Gyumri Technopark is a large and complex program. To succeed, it
requires a public-private partnership to develop on a scale that has
not yet often been witnessed in Armenia. Government needs to seed the
program with a measure of state funding to demonstrate commitment and
incentivize interest among investors and participants. However, the
main financial injection must come from the private sector, which may
not see a return on their investment for some time. This is a
particularly difficult moment to seek such investments from companies
but the program needs to keep moving forward. The question is whether
or not this program has a champion with the time and capacity to ensure
forward motion. The lag in announced companies for participation is, as
far as I can see, simply due to the program being at an early stage in
development ` the international economic situation is not helping
matters either.
Regarding who from the private sector will participate, it is natural
that some of the larger companies will be first to express an interest,
because: 1) they have the resources to do so and 2) a core of larger
companies with the ability to engage in R&D projects is a positive
factor. I have heard nothing to indicate there will be any systemic
barriers to small company participation; moreover, the proposed design
focuses on SMEs as the primary users and beneficiaries.
Thank you
Republican party of Armenia says no need to revise budget expenditures
YEREVAN, March 13. /ARKA/. The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
says there is no need for budget revisions, RPA Press Secretary Eduard
Sharmazanov said at today’s press conference in Nonovosti International
Press Center.
`I believe, there is no need to review this issue now,’ he said, adding
he shares the prime minister’s view on this issue.
`In case on any unconformity, it will be necessary to revise the budget
expenditures,’ the MP said.
Armenia’s Government decided on Thursday to postpone for a while the
elaboration of the mid-term program for budget expenditures for
1010-2012. In this connection, the RA Prime Minister said Armenia
shifts to the quarterly budget planning.
According to Sargsyan, social expenditures, pensions, benefits,
salaries and military expenditures will be economically protected, with
the rest of the expenditures falling to the sector of harsh economy.
`0–
PanARMENIAN.Net
RA National Security Council Secretary and Iranian FM discussed issues
of mutual interest
13.03.2009 16:22 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ RA National Security council secretary Artur
Bagdasaryan had a meeting with the visiting Iranian Minister of
Foreign Affairs Manucher Mottaki. The parties discussed issues of
mutual interest, including strengthening of Armenian-Iranian relations
and regional security promotion.
Arthur Baghdasaryan and Manucher Mottaki focused on Iran-Armenia
railway construction and cooperation in the spheres of transport and
energetic, RA National Security Council press service reported.
A1+
"Soap bubble pricked"
[08:39 pm] 13 March, 2009
The chase, criminal charges and action against Armenia’s ex deputy
Prosecutor General Gagik Jhangiryan are artificial,’ said Jhangiryan’s
lawyers in the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan’s Kentron
district.
Lawyers Lusine Sahakyan and Erwand Varosyan read out their speech for
two hours citing the witnesses, Armenia’s Criminal Code, Constitution
and the European Charter on Human Rights. Relying on the facts they
substantiated that Gagik Jhangiryan was prosecuted
illegally. Moreover, the lawyers say he is tied for his political
stance rather than for an alleged crime.
Lusine Sahakyan cited the Prosecutor’s statement according to which
`Jhangiryan is dangerous for the country in the given political
scene.’ The Lawyers announced that numerous laws have been violated in
view of their client: the force applied against the Jhangiryan
brothers was inadequate and unlawful. Gagik Jhangiryan had been
detained by masked men in accordance with a well-planned scenario.
Their car had been stopped illegally, and the masked men assaulted on
them breaking the car windows with guns. They dragged out the brothers
of the car and threw them to the ground with the butt of automatic
machines. Then shots were fired by the masked policemen which was
later proved during the judicial inquiry. The court was unable to
prove that Jhangiryan had done violence to a government representative,
as the episode is only confirmed by Arman Harutyunyan and Tigran
Aghvanyan `subjected to violence’ Lusine Sahakyan noted in her speech
that the Prosecutor had many times perverted the evidence and
distorted the facts giving arbitrary interpretations. The Lawyer asked
the court to return Gagik Jhangiryan innocent and reach a verdict of
non-guilty.
She also advised the judge not to forget about his oath in the
jury-room. `Let’s wait and see whether you perform the oath,’ Lusine
Sahakyan concluded her speech.
Gagik Jhangiryan thanked his lawyers that they were able `to burst the
soap bubble.’
Gagik Jhangiryan will make a speech at 12, on March 18.
PanARMENIAN.Net
Harut Sassounian: Turkish Foreign Minister should never be welcomed in
Yerevan
10.03.2009 17:14 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The second disturbing development is an invitation
by Armenian officials to Turkey’s Foreign Minister to attend the Black
Sea Economic Conference (BSEC) on April 16-17, just days before the
94th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Armenia’s six-month
rotating chairmanship of BSEC ends on April 30.
While Ankara officials are constantly bombarding Washington with such
fake messages, the Armenian side stays astonishingly silent, giving
credence to Turkish misrepresentations which are intended to undermine
the prospects of any U.S. declaration on the Armenian Genocide.
`It is hard to believe that the Armenian government would invite the
Turkish Foreign Minister to Armenia just one week before April
24. Mr. Babajan, a Genocide denialist and high-ranking official of a
hostile country that is blockading Armenia, should never be welcomed
in Yerevan, unless he intends to place a wreath at the Armenian
Genocide Memorial Monument and offers an apology to the Armenian
people,’ The California Courier editor Harut Sassounian emphasized.
The Peninsula, Qatar
March 10 2009
Doha Garden Tour on March 14
Web posted at: 3/10/2009 1:15:42
Source ::: The PENINSULA/ BY JOYCE C ABAÃ`O
DOHA: The Doha Garden Club said it will have its seventh annual Doha
Garden Tour on March 14, a spokesperson of the club said during the
Doha Garden Club meeting at the Education City’s Recreation Centre
Building.
`The Doha Garden Tour is an annual event hosted by the Doha Garden
Club and sponsored by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines that spotlights
interesting and beautiful private gardens in the Doha area and opens
them to the public for one day. The first tour was organized in the
spring of 2003 when members realized a need to raise money for
operating expense and were able to donate excess funds to
charity. Today all proceeds from this event are given to local
charity,’ said Paula Riebe, president of the Doha Garden Club.
Riebe said the tour will visit six gardens located in the West Bay
area. `Gardeners will be at each location to answer questions, and
visitors may begin and end their self-guided tour at any of the
homes. A brochure containing a brief description of each garden and a
map to show its location will be given together with the tickets,
which are priced at QR100 each.’
The Annual Doha Garden Tour, Riebe said, is the primary fund-raising
event for the Doha Garden Club. `In addition to helping local charity,
it provides opportunity for people in the community to visit private
gardens that otherwise would be closed to public view and presents
ideas and solutions that visitors can apply to their own gardens. The
list of charities for this year’s donation is still being compiled by
our charity liaison. Members will vote to approve the donation, and
funds will go directly to support specific projects that will help
improve Doha’s environment.’
Yesterday’s meeting discussed presentations on the `Palm Trees of
Qatar’ by Gohar Tutunjian, Armenian architect/landscape architect who
has been living here for around 30 years. Joel Olfelt, professor at
the Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar, gave a presentation on
`Exploring the Qatar Mangroves and Brief about the Sidra Tree.’
`The Doha Garden Club has helped me learn of places to visit here that
I’ve never heard of before ‘ beautiful places to visit,’ said Alison
Bandeen, member of the club.
THE PENINSULA
Devaluation of Armenian dram insufficient for activation of Alaverdi
copper deposit
2009-03-09 16:03:00
ArmInfo. Devaluation of the Armenian dram to US dollar will favourably
affect the export activity of Armenian Copper Programme (ACP)
metallurgical company, however, it will not allow to activate Alaverdi
copper deposit and the copper-smelting plant, ACP Director Gagik
Arzumanyan told journalists today. He said, the prices for copper in
2008 were all-time high and reached $9,000 per 1 ton, and now they
reduced to $3,5 thsd. Even under conditions of all-time high prices
Alaverdi mine was not activated in view of running at a loss. "The
dollar should grow three times at least to the Armenian dram to
compensate a fall in the world prices for copper", G. Arzumanyan said.
"We see no prospects of exploration of Alaverdi deposit in the
foreseeable future", he added.
According to the director, in the crisis conditions, ACP does not
reckon on receiving the financial assistance from the government of
Armenia and does not consider this way a right decision for other
enterprises. He recommended the Armenian government not to deal with
the issues of rendering assistance to the specific enterprises as it is
pregnant with corruption risks. "An official should not
assess the business opportunities. The government must improve the
business-climate and the legislative base, especially as the
legislative base in the mining industry of Armenia is incomplete and
conflicting", ACP director said.
PROBLEMS OF THE ARMENIANS OF SYRIA: THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF DAMASCUS
"Noravank" Foundation
09 March 2009
Araks Pashayan
Armenians settled in Syria from ancient times. Armenia had secular
historical and cultural ties with that region. The Armenian community
of Syria widened in 1915 by the emigrants, who had escaped the Armenian
Genocide and then by the refugees from Cilicia. At current moment the
number of Armenians in Syria is about 65-70 thousands. There are large
Armenian communities in Aleppo, Kamishli, Damascus, Latakia, Kesap.
Armenian Apostolic Church has two dioceses in Syria: the diocese of
Beria (with the residence of the head of the diocese in Srb. Qarasun
mankunq (St. Forty chrisoms) church in Aleppo) and the Diocese of
Damascus (with the residence of the head of the dioceses in Srb. Sargis
(St. Sargis) church).
The Armenian community of Damascus, which is one of the traditional and
accomplished communities, takes a special place among the Armenians of
Syria. The number of the Armenians of Damascus does not exceed 5-6
thousands.
The Armenian apostolic community (as well as other Christian
communities) is regarded on behalf of the state as a religious
minority, which is represented by the Armenian Apostolic Diocese of
Damascus belonging to Echmiadzin. In fact, the church represents its
community to the state and the state to the community. The Armenian
community of Damascus has local national authorities, which have worked
basing on the national constitution elaborated in 1853 and ratified in
1863 by the sultan’s government. At present moment the head of the
Armenian Diocese of Damask is His Holiness bishop Arsham Nalbandyan.
The domestic affairs of the community are administered by the Council
of province, the legislative organ, which chooses the City council
playing the role of the executive organ. Armenians gained real scope in
the issue of the arrangement of their national life. They were allowed
to teach Armenian and Christianity in Armenian.
Syrian Armenians have good reputation and recognition in the country.
In different periods of Syrian history Armenians assisted Arabs,
including their struggle for independence. At the second half of the
19th century in the period of national, cultural and political blossom
(Nahda) the people of Armenian descent played a significant role. Among
them one of the founders of professional Arab theatre Adib Ishak
(1856-1882) and Rzkallah Hasun (1823-1880) who is supposed to be the
founder of Arab political journalism. There are a lot of Armenians who
became the officers of Syrian Arab Republic and took part in the
defense of the country and general-lieutenant Aram Karamanukyan, who is
supposed to be one of the founders of Syrian army, took part in
Arab-Israeli war in 1948.
Today Armenians of Syria, including Armenians of Damascus, are also
actively involved in social and economic and cultural spheres. The name
of the conductor of the symphonic orchestra of Syria Misak Baghbudaryan
is rather well-known in Damascus. There are three members of the
writers union of Syria ` Nora Arisyan from Damascus, Alexander
Keshishyan and Hrach Kalsahakyan.
The Armenians of Damascus are mainly involved in trades and private
enterprise. At current moment there are almost no Armenians among
military and state figures. The number of intellectual persons is not
big. There are only some individuals engaged in academic science.
It is characteristic that in Syria, including Damascus, for the last
twenty years the Armenian youth has been showing much more interest in
education and there are even more young people who have gone into
higher education than in 1970-1980th and this mainly due to the
improvement of the wealth of the Armenians.
The activities of the Armenian parties in Syria are prohibited that is
why they work under restrictions in Damascus, i.e. in the frame of
public, cultural and sport organizations and unions (clubs). The
Armenian community of Syria is, in fact, a net structure, because all
the unions and religious trends have their substructures or branches in
almost all the districts inhabited by the Armenians. Various sports and
cultural events are arranged in those clubs. The most well-known in
Damascus is `Knar’ chorus, directed by Shant Keshishyan, which was
established in 1960
th by the Armenian catholic union.
The unions working in Damascus are officially licensed and registered
in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour; they have their own
regulations and they follow the order of the Ministry. The branches of
Hamazkayin Armenian (Pan-Armenian) Educational and cultural
Association, the New Generation cultural Union, Armenian General
Benevolent Union, Tekeyan Cultural Union, and Armenian Catholic Union
work in Damascus. Though belonging to different associations reflects
rather complicated inner mosaic but it does not affect the protection
of Armeniancy.
The Armenians of Damascus belong to different religious trends with
some special peculiarities. The apostolic, catholic and evangelistic
communities are distinguished. The largest is the apostolic community.
Armenian Catholics have residences in Damascus and Aleppo, and Armenian
evangelists in Aleppo. The spiritual leader of Armenian Catholics is
Bishop Hovsep Arnautyan and the leader of Armenian evangelistic church
is Tatev Pasmachyan. There is close cooperation between Armenian
apostolic, catholic and evangelistic churches. By joint efforts they
arrange some all-Armenian events, including those confined to the April
24th.
The Catholic community of Damascus is small, mainly Arab speaking; they
have a residence and church, which is the centre of the community. The
`connecting link’ of the community is Sargis Keshishyan who plays a
significant role in the arranging of the national life of the Armenian
catholic community. As for the Armenian Evangelists then their
community is also small but as compared with the Catholics it is more
Armenian speaking. Armenian Evangelists have their church and school in
Damascus.
Arab speaking (mainly catholic) old Armenians (arman kadim) form the
special stratum among the Armenians of Damascus. Their national
consciousness is almost fully clouded.
The embassy of the RA in Syria plays a great role in the issue of
rallying the Armenian community of Damask. All Armenian unions are
invited to the events arranged by the embassy including the
representatives of catholic and evangelistic communities.
In recent years there has been only one Armenian member of Syrian
parliament due to the demographic factor. The Armenian candidate is
regarded as a candidate from Armenian Diocese of Aleppo (Berio) and is
elected on party list. The last parliamentary elections took place on
April 2007. The present Armenian member of Syrian parliament is S.
Sumbulyan, who became the deputy for the second time. He is a member of
the parliamentary commission on external affairs and the chairman of
the parliamentary commission on Armenian-Syrian friendship. The
Armenians of Damascus are not engaged in politics, though there are
members of ruling party `Baas’ among them.
The issue of the dioceses is one of the most topical issues for the
Armenian community of Damascus1, which has in some sense divided
community into two wings. The first includes the circles oriented on
Echmiadzin, i.e. hnchakyan, beneficial, ramkavar, communist circles,
and the second are the dashnak circles, which has Antiliasian
orientation and they tend to return the Damascus diocese to Cilician
cathalicosat; they consider that the belonging of Damascus diocese to
Ehcmiandzin is illegal. They boycott all the events arranged under the
sponsorship of the leader of the Armenian Diocese of Damascus. That
issue of the Diocese has turned into practically unsolvable problem. It
is supposed that the problem of the diocese brings some activity to the
life of the community but this seeming activity, in fact, is a result
of unhealthy competition, and the new generation in most cases is tired
of old controversies.
The Armenians of Damascus being integrated to the Syrian society at the
same time tend to preserve their national identity. There are national
schools (as well as nurseries) in the community belonging to the
Armenian apostolic community. The following schools are known in
Damascus: Targmanchats (Translators) National School, the first
educational institution established in Damascus (1898), National Joint
School (1929), Kyulpenkyan-Sahakyan School of Kyulap (1929). There are
also three schools of Armenian Catholics and one school of Evangelists.
After graduating from the school Armenian pupils continue their
education either in Arab20or in private (paid) schools. National Joint
school today has 170 Armenian pupils. In the near future the school
will move to a more modern building, which is situated in one of the
suburbs of Damascus. There are 160 pupils in Kyulpenkyan-Sahakyan
School of Kyulap and 350 in Targmanchats School.
The national education goes on both in sports and cultural unions and
in the family. According to the point of view of one part of Armenians
of Damascus Armenian education is most strongly expressed in dashnak
circles.
There are no Armenian newspapers published in Damascus, but they get it
from Beirut. The most widespread newspapers are `Azdak’ and `Zartonk’.
`Gandzasar’ weekly from Armenian Diocese of Aleppo (Berio) and other
periodicals are also delivered to Damascus. Though there are printing
houses, which belong to Armenians in Damascus but no Armenian
literature is published there.
There are also beneficial organizations working in the Armenian
community of Damascus. The poor care commission of Srb. Sargis (St.
Sargis) church, which was established in 1890th, the Cross of help of
Syrian Armenians ` a women’s beneficial organization established in
1929 on the initiative of Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnakcutyun.
Both Syrian authorities and the society take kindly to the Armenians of
Syria. This is conditioned by their merits, their reliable and
law-abiding behavior (in the opinion of the lecturer of Damascus
University Nora Arisyan in certain cases Armenians know their
responsibilities better than their rights), and also by the tolerant
policy of the present authorities towards the religious minorities. At
present the representatives of various ethnic and religious trends
peacefully coexist in Syria. Separate mosques and churches are located
side by side. Armenian spiritual figures from time to time meet not
only Muslim religious figures but also the representatives of other
Christian or religious trends to discuss the issues of collaboration,
the interfaith dialogue and the religious and ethnic tolerance.
In spite of this, there is an internal danger concerning security.
Interethnic and interfaith discrepancies in Iraq spark concern as a
possible precedent in case of the problems of the same kind. The
processes, going on in the neighbour countries also have an economic
impact on Syria. It is not a mere chance that the intensifying
emigration also has economical motives. Armenians mainly emigrate to
the US, Canada, and the Gulf countries. The most part of the emigrants
are young and they go to study (mainly to the US and Europe) and never
return.
Today the Armenians of Damascus faced various problems which are, on
the one hand, connected with the preserving of the Armenian identity
and, on the other hand, with economic issues. The efforts focused on
preserving of Armenian identity are get
ting even more difficult; the
influence of foreign cultures is growing, there is a lot of Arab
speaking families which appetence to stay in Armenian environment is
reducing, the number of mixed marriages is growing at some extent
(mainly with Christian Arabs). According to the leader of the Armenian
diocese of Damascus Bishop Arsham Nalbandyan there is a certain
stratum, which is `lazy’ in national sense and stay away from
everything.
The Armenians of Syria, including the Armenians of Damascus have
certain expectations concerning activation of national life from
Armenia. They want Armenia range itself on the side of all-Armenian
interests and Diaspora. There are some realities in Armenia they regard
negatively. The Armenians of Damascus are first of all concerned about
a number of vicious occurrences such as, e.g. the expansion of the
religious sects. After many of them (including Armenians from Syria in
general) faced on different occasions administrative and social
problems in Armenia, they regard it a country, which is still in the
progress. In accordance with separate points of view the Republic of
Armenia is not a Motherland they were dreaming of. This circumstance
may cause in many cases the crisis of national consciousness.
From the point of view of boosting national life in Damascus the
satellite television, which allows to watch `Õ1′ (Public Armenian
Television H1) programmes, plays great role.
Though the Armenian community of Damascus manages traditional and
efficient mechanisms of self-regulation and has a substantial potential
it needs to modernize the traditional functions of national
organization.
1The Damascus Diocese was formed in the middle of the 15th century by
Jerusalem patriarchy and worked under its management till 1929. In
order to reform the Great Cathalicosat of Cilicia (after the Armenian
Genocide and the exile of the Armenians from Cilicia only Aleppo
Diocese stayed under its protectorate) in 1929 with the blessing of the
Cathalicos of All Armenians Gevorg V Surenyanc the patriarchy of
Jerusalem assigned Damascus Diocese, together with the Diocese of
Beirut and Cyprus to the Cathalicosat of Cilicia. After the church
split in 1956 the administrative belonging of the Diocese has not been
clarified yet. At present the head of the Damascus Diocese is appointed
non-officially froim Echmiadzin.
Other issues of author
PALESTINIAN DRAMA [05.02.2009]
ACTIVATION OF THE ISLAMIC FACTOR IN THE NORTH OF AZERBAIJAN
[20.11.2008]
ISLAMIC FACTOR IN AZERBAIJAN
(In the period of presidential elections) [06.11.2008]
ISLAMIC PROCESSES IN AZERBAIJAN [26.06.2008]
ANTI-IRANIAN MOODS IN ARABIC CIRCLES [09.06.2008]
THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP REPORT ON ISLAM IN AZERBAIJAN
[19.05.2008]
ISLAMIC CONFERENCE ON THE WAY OF MODERNIZATION [15.04.2008]