Author: Jagharian Tania

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: nian.htm

"THE CULTURE OF CILICIAN ARMENIA" CONFERENCE EXAMINES CILICIAN
PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY

The Conference on Cilician Armenia convening in Antelias continued its
discussions of the various aspects of Cilician culture, focusing on its
third day on the philosophy and theology of Cilician Armenia. Catholicos
Aram I attended all the sessions and made important observations.

Nicholas Koureyas chaired the first session with presentations by Seta
Dadoyan on "Cilicia: the philosophic tradition between East and West" and
Father Levon Zekiyan on "New horizons of pan-Christendom in Cilician
Theology."

Stella Vartanian ran the next session also dedicated to theology. The
speakers were Father Charles Renoux (The Armenian "Djashots" in the Cilician
period), Tamar Dasnabedian (Research on the sources of Saint Nerses
Lampronatsi’s reform) and Peter Kawi (The theology of the Kingdom in 13th
century Cilician Armenia).

The first afternoon session looked at the concept of "rights", examining the
state and understanding of law in Cilician Armenia. John Carswel chaired the
session which featured talks by Azad Bozoyan on "The Catholicosate of
Cilicia and the state in the 12th-14th centuries" and Armen Der Sdepanian on
"The importance of the chronology of the catholicoi and the kings for the
study of Cilician history."

The last two sessions of the day, the discussions focused on the "Holy
Cilician Relics", which had been miraculously rescued from the safe of the
Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia in Sis and had reached Antelias thanks to
the efforts of Catholicos Sahag II Khabayan and a number of brave Cilician
Brotherhood members. Chairwoman of the "Cilicia" Museum’s Committee, Dr.
Silivia Adjemian, chaired the session. Dikran Kouyoumdian talked about the
importance of the museum’s collection for the history of ritual-related
ironsmithing. Anna Balian talked about the ritualistic silver-works of the
Armenian and Greek Orthodox Churches during the Ottoman period.

At the end of the session, the Catholicos said a few words of praise in
honor of Silvia Adjemian, who had played an important role in the efforts to
organize the "Cilicia" museum and display the relics brought from Sis. His
Holiness presented to the chairwoman of the museum committee a copy of the
"Gospel of Partsrapert", identical to the one placed in the museum.

The 15th session was a continuation of the previous one but related more to
modern times. Vahan Der Ghevontian, the Ambassador of Armenia to Lebanon,
convened the session which looked at the efforts to restore the handwritten
manuscript heritage in the "Cilicia" museum and the Diocese of Aleppo, as
well as the old books found in the Catholicosate’s Library. The first topic
was jointly presented by Kayane Elyazian and Suzana Parseghian. Mihran
Minasian delivered the second topic.

At the end of each session the Pontiff shared his viewpoints with the
experts in light of the findings presented during the talks.

As in the previous two days, the conference participants attended the
evening service in the Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral.

##
View the photos here:
c/Photos/Photos82.htm
http://www.armenianorthodoxc hurch.org/v04/doc/Photos/Photos83.htm
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the 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.

Mediamax, Azerbaijan
Jan 14 2008

Over 2,000 babies born in Karabakh in 2007

Yerevan, January 14: A total of 2,145 babies were born in the
Nagornyy Karabakh republic (NKR) in 2007 which is 2 per cent more as
compared to the figure of the same period of 2006.

As Mediamax was told at the National Statistics Service of the NKR,
40,3 per cent of the new-born babies were born in Stepanakert. Last
year the death rate as compared with 2006 reduced for 0.7 per cent.
The fatality in 2007 was 918 people increasing for 5.9 per cent as
against the same period of 2006. The high birth rate was registered
in Stepanakert, Kashatagh and Martuni districts correspondingly 475,
118 and 100 people.

The Verve latest EMI artist to go on strike

Jazz-Hands summit to be convened to resolve dispute. Elsewhere, Pete
Doherty floods the bathroom, and will.i.am discovers his Armenian roots

Paul MacInnes
Tuesday January 15, 2008
Guardian Unlimited

Writing about the business pages is fun. More fun than writing about
the gossip pages, that’s for sure. Business writers are numerate, for
starters, don’t finish every story with a pun and – unlike Bizarre’s
Smart Gordon – aren’t hell-bent on casting themselves as some kind of
journalistic Kray twin set on imposing his own code of morals on the
whole of showbiz.
Sorry, that was an aside.

What we meant to say was that there’s lots of stuff about EMI in
today’s business pages. Some of it has already been redundified by this
morning’s announcement of up to 2,000 job losses at the "troubled music
group" (like troubled Britney Spears, only with slightly greater
overheads), but the Telegraph remains ahead of the crowd with a story
suggesting the Verve could be the next artist from the label to go on
strike.

Here’s their introductory paragraph for your consideration: "The Verve
are to join Robbie Williams and Coldplay in threatening to withhold
their next album from EMI until they receive assurances about marketing
and the company’s financial health."
The paper goes on to quote the reformed Wiganites’ manager, one Jazz
Summers, as saying: "Why would we deliver a record when EMI is cutting
back on the marketing and is in financial difficulty? I am going to
tell Guy Hands I want assurances."

Tell him he shall indeed, as Summers and a delegation of pop managers
(with perhaps the highest ratio of sunglasses per capita outside of the
Austrian Snowboard Polishers Union – aka ASPU) are scheduled to meet
with Guy Hands later today. May we be the first to christen this
meeting the Jazz Hands faceoff. We thank you.

It’s a faceoff that looks set to be heated too, if Jazz’s
Hands-smacking is anything to go by: "He has got not a clue [note
dramatic inversion] of what this business is about." Ouch. More
tomorrow no doubt.

Peter Doherty. Those two words used to stand for a whole host of
disreputable activities, from wearing the same hat for weeks on end to
failing to clean weeping sores adequately. These days, now that he’s
clean of the drugs (copyright every credulous showbiz hack in the
land), those habits are a thing of the past. And, instead, he’s
watching Watership Down.

3am have been reading Pete’s blog and have cribbed the following tidbit
about Pete’s current stay in Barcelona for their readers’ amusement
this morning.

"I was in bed by 3, watching Watership Down and working on some new
songs."

There then follows a brief period in which Pete writes about buying
trinkets from a market.

"Shit, pesky internet. Forgot about my bath and just flooded the
bathroom.

"Oh dear. Oh dear oh deary lordy be. Ankle deep."

Let this anecdote stand as refutation of all those jokers who believe
blogging to be nothing more than intimate revelation of inconsequential
experience. Let that final line also stand as a reasonable marker as to
what you might expect from Pete’s new solo album, as discussed this
morning by Kim Dawson in Kim Dawson’s playlist.

"Pete Doherty insists that his forthcoming solo project doesn’t spell
the end of Babyshambles.

"The former Libertines member has completed half of his
highly-anticipated debut solo album, but has vowed to continue making
music with his bandmates too.

"Pete, 28, said: ‘It doesn’t conflict with Babyshambles at all. It’s
just a continuation of what I do.

"’I’ve always done solo recording, but instead of just knocking it out
on the internet like I used to I’m getting a little album together.’"

Obviously, by the time the album’s finally released, knocking it out on
the internet is likely to be the only viable business model remaining.
But videos of him running a bath, they’ll be worth a fortune!

And finally, mainly because we can’t be bothered to re-run all the
coverage of the Brits nominations from today’s pages seeing as they’ve
all dutifully trotted out the "return of pop’ line the organisers have
been putting out for a few weeks, an observation.

If you use Google chat, and type the word(s?) will.i.am, the software
instantly turns it into a link. It’s a process which works on no other
pop star, at least none of the names we’ve tried.

Here is why: In the News has exclusively learned that will.i.am looks
like a URL to computers, who our production team tells us are
programmed with tragically little knowledge of hip-pop luminaries.
Also, .am is the suffix for websites in Armenia (officially, the
Republic of Armenia).

Every day’s for learning.

MATTHEW BRYZA: BLACK SEA REGION MAY BECOME CENTER OF TRANSPORTATION OF
POWER-BEARING SUBSTANCES

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The U.S. is interested in
strengthening security in the Black Sea region, U.S Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State, co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza
stated at the January 15 conference "Enlarged Black Sea Region:
International and Regional Security Prospects". According to him, it
does not mean that the U.S. strives to increase the NATO’s role in the
region, it presupposes cooperation of regional countries in security
issues. M. Bryza attached importance to the fight of countries of the
"enlarged Black Sea region" against international crime. He said that
in the opinion of the U.S, the notion of "enlarged Black Sea region" in
particular presupposes the territory of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation.

The second group of strategic interests of the U.S. in the Black Sea
region is related to energy security. According to M. Bryza, the Black
Sea region may become a center of transportation of energy resources,
which proceeds from interests of Russia, Turkey and the countries using
these resources.

Expressing confidence that Russian companies will continue being
reliable partners in the issue of supplying natural gas to the European
market, M. Bryza at the same time attached special importance to the
existence of competition in this field. He assured those present that
the purpose of the U.S. is not a conflict with Russia or Gazprom
company, and he expressed a hope that the infrastructures of this
Russian company will expand even more and reach the Caspian Sea and
Siberia. M. Bryza said that in about 6-10 year the export of
considerable amounts of oil will start from Iraq as well. We believe
that the supplier of any commodity becomes more reliable when
competition is greater, he said. In his words, the U.S. is also seeking
ways of cooperation with Gazprom, it simply does not like a monopoly in
the energy sector. The U.S. is also in favor of alternative ways of oil
transportation. M. Bryza expressed a hope that the Black Sea region,
through which several oil pipelines pass, will also become a junction
of various projects on gas transportation.

AZG Armenian Daily #005, 12/01/2008

Regional

BLACK SEA REGION EXPANDED.

Science Conference in Yerevan

January 14-15 a science conference on expansion of the
Black Sea region and regional and international
security cooperation is to be held in Yerevan,
Armenia. The event is being organized by the Armenian
Union of Swedish Graduates and the Armenian
International Studies Group. Vice-Chairman of the
Russian Diplomats’ Union Vladimir Kazimirov and
Assistant to US Vice-Secretary of State Matthew Bryza
are expected to take part in the science conference.

The idea of expansion of the Black Sea region, the
Armenian point of view of the problem, and the
institutional role of the region in resolution of
conflicts, as well as a number of other regional and
international issues are to be discussed on the
conference.

Political and social figures, representatives of mass
media from CIS states, as well as from Bulgaria,
Romania, Greece, Turkey, Slovenia, Germany, Great
Britain and Portugal are to be present to the
discussions.

By A. Haroutiunian

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Jan 12 2008

Chingiz Asgarov accuses those who against list of Azeri judges to the
ECHR of favoring Armenians

[ 12 Jan 2008 15:30 ]

Heads of a group of NGOs have made an appeal to the PACE Committee of
Ministers about winter session discussions on appointment of Azeri
judges to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Law Awareness Society told APA that the appeal was undersigned by
lawyers Intigam Aliyev, Annaghi Hajibayli, Alovsat Aliyev, Rashid
Hajili, Hafiz Hasanov, right defenders Leyla Yunus and Avaz Hasanov.
The appeal says that two of the judges in the list submitted by
Azerbaijan are not famous persons in the public and compared to the
current judge Khanlar Hajiyev, they have no chance to do anything.
The appeal calls for sending back the list to Azerbaijan for
reconsideration.
Chingiz Asgarov, Azerbaijan’s representative to the European Court,
told APA that the undersigned are against the national interests of
Azerbaijan.
`So called lawyers and right defenders appealed to the Council of
Europe when Azerbaijan submitted the list last time. They then
claimed that the selection process had not been transparent in
Azerbaijan. So, the PACE sent the list back.
Azerbaijan Judicial Council, under recommendation of the PACE, posted
notices and held procedures to select candidates. All the NGOs,
lawyers and law organizations were invited to nominate candidates. I
think they are against the national interest of Azerbaijan. This is
an order made by Armenia. The European Court is about to consider
complaints of Azeri IDPs against Armenia. So, we need strong lawyers
in hearings. Some pro-Armenian forces want to obstruct this. They
don’t want to see strong judges in the European Court,’ he added.
He noted that three judges nominated by the Azerbaijan government are
stronger.
`Three of all them are judges who speak English fluently. They know
European Human Rights Convention and they know precedent law of the
European Court. Each of them can represent Azerbaijan,’ he noted.
Azerbaijan nominated Khanlar Hajiyev, the current judge to the
European Court, Rashad hasanov, Judge of Azizbayov District Court and
Aygun Abdullayeva, Judge of Nasimi District Court. /APA/

ONE FOURTH OF SCALES CHECKED IN TRADE ORGANIZATIONS OF ARMENIA IN 2007

ARKA News Agency
Jan 10 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, January 10. /ARKA/. One fourth of scales of Armenia’s trade
organizations were checked in 2007, said Chairman of "Protection of
Consumers’ Rights" NGO Abgar Yegoyan. He said that 6ths scales out
of 25ths registered in Armenia were checked in 2007.

He pointed out that according to Armenia’s Law "On providing unity
of measurement" all scales in the territory of Armenia should be
checked minimum once a year according to the application of the
economic entity, and in case if they are not checked a fine of AMD
50-100ths is envisaged.

"It is a small fine, because this sum can be earned in a week by
short-weighing consumers," he said.

Yegoyan pointed out that the problem of short-weight is intensified
on New Year eve, and it serves a serious factor forming pricing.

"If during the New Year holidays the price for bananas increased
up to AMD 1200, and the oranges – AMD 800, when short-weighing the
product the price will increase by 15-30% more," he said.

Yegoyan pointed out that mostly it concerns the street trade despite
the practice of using electronic scales.

"Today the practice of interfering in inner structure of scales is
largely used, as a result of which the short-weight may reach 200-500
grams," he said.

Yegoyan said that the organization that he heads intends to make
some proposals for the solution to these problems, in particular,
to create firm mechanism of information exchange between the state
structures, reconsider the types of scales allowed and used in trade,
provide full transfer to easily checked electronic scales and establish
certain seals that are prohibited to break.

According to Yegoyan, in order to except short-weight it is necessary
to introduce the practice of control scales, which would be placed in
trading centers. "Moreover, the weights of control scales should be
checked, which will give consumers a possibility to check the weight
of the purchased products," he said.

He also proposed to increase the fine for not checking the scales up
to AMD 200-300ths, "which is a more significant sum and can become a
stimulus for introducing legal activity of the economic entities in
the field of trade."

Yegoyan pointed out that the organization is going to make all these
proposals to the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development.

"Protection of Consumers’ Rights" NGO was founded in 1997, the sphere
of its activity includes the provision of safe consumer environment and
protection of the impaired right of consumers. ($1 – AMD 307.09).

OVER 74,000 ARD CASES RECORDED IN ARMENIA IN JAN-NOV 2007

ARKA News Agency
Jan 8 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, January 8. /ARKA/. 74,081 cases of acute respiratory diseases
(ARD) were recorded in Armenia in January-November 2007 against 74,568
in the corresponding period in 2006.

Òhe RA Statistical Service reports that 49,800 ARD cases were recorded
among children under 14 against 48,300 in the corresponding period
in 2006.

On average, 2,299.9 ARD cases per 100,000 people were recorded in
Armenia, with 7,675 ARD cases per 100,000 children recorded.

–Boundary_(ID_nPmnq5ueo9VpkR1CasPD5w)- –

OSCE CIO ILKKA KANERVA PLANS TO VISIT ARMENIA

armradio.am
07.01.2008 17:01

Assuming the presidency of the OSCE on January 1st, 2008 OSCE
Chairman-in-Office, Foreign Minister of Finland Ilkka Kanerva described
the structure as a "unique forum between 56 participating states,
the strength of which is the solidarity in decision-making." According
to Mr. Kanerva, the OSCE will continue the activity in the direction
of prevention of conflicts, crisis management and post-conflict
rehabilitation.

Spokesman for RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Karapetyan told
Armenpress that the OSCE Chairman-in-Office plans to visit Armenia
in the first quarter of the current year.

EDGAR SEDRAKIAN APPOINTED RA CEC MEMBER

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. By the December 25 decree, RA
President Robert Kocharian made a change in the RA Central Electoral
Commission’s staff. According to the report provided to Noyan Tapan by
the RA President’s Press Office, the commissions of CEC member Ashot
Abovian were stopped ahead of the schedule. Edgar Sedrakian was
included in the CEC as a representative of the RA Judicial Department.