Author: Kajoyan Gevork

ARDA AGHAZARIAN IS ON A MISSION OF PEACE
By Nikki Patrick

Pittsburg Morning Sun
Oct 11 2011

PITTSBURG – Jerusalem seems to be a long way from Pittsburg, but it
came a little closer Saturday when Arda Aghazarian spoke during the
Presbyterian Women of John Calvin Presbytery(JCP) Fall Workshop at
the Pittsburg Presbyterian Church.

She is one of 12 participants in the Presbyterian Church (USA) 2011
International Peacemakers Program, which is intended to broaden a sense
of God’s inclusive family and encourage the building of a culture of
peace and nonviolence in all of God’s children.

An Armenian Palestinian Christian, she was born and raised in the Old
City of Jerusalem and studied at Birzeit University in the West Bank.

“I studied literature and took many courses in media and film and
wanted to be a writer,” Aghazarian said. “I was not interested in
politics, but I live in a part of the world where you can’t not be
interested in politics because everything is politics.”

For a time she worked as a producer and presenter for a radio station
that aimed to build bridges between Palestinians and Israelis.

Agharazarian is now the media and advocacy coordinator at the YWCA
of Palestine in East Jerusalem.

“We had a Presbyterian Group that was using the YWCA, and after I had
been talking with them an hour and a half, one of them said that I
would be perfect for the International Peacemakers Program,” she said.

Interested, Agharazarian applied for and was accepted into
the program. There are 12 peacemakers this year. She represents
Israel/Palestine, and other peacemakers are from Bangladesh, Egypt,
Guatemala, India, Iraq, Jordan, Madagascar, Mexico, Russia, Sudan
and Syria.

Agjarazarian emphasized that she is very careful not to take sides,
and to stress the importance of peaceful methods of addressing issues
and resolving conflicts in Israel/Palestine.

“I got to the United States on Sept. 19 and we had three days of
orientation,” she said. “This is a one-month program, and I’ve been
in New Jersey, New York, Seattle, Missouri and Kansas.”

She has been enlightened, she said, by the diversity she has seen in
this country.

” I visited an Armenian Prebyterian Church where I spoke Armenian,
and an Egyptian Evangelical Church where I spoke in Arabic,” Aghazarian
said. “I thought to myself, am I in the United States?”

It helps that she is fluent in five languages.

“My French is a little rusty, but it’s OK,” she said.

Aghazarian found it interesting that she’s been asked several times
when she converted to Christianity, since she was born and has always
lived in the land where that religion originated.

“I know families who have been Christian from the first century,”
she said.

Aghazarian will be going home a few days early after she has completed
her schedule of speaking engagements.

“There will be a de-briefing for the peacemakers, but I couldn’t stay
for that,” she said. “I have to go back to work.”

NEW RESEARCH AND PRESERVATION BUILDING FOR MATENADARAN IN YEREVAN OFFICIALLY OPENED

World Architecture News
Oct 11 2011

A new building was officially opened yesterday at the Matenadaran
(Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts) in the Armenian capital
of Yerevan. Conceptualised by architect Artur Meshchyan in 1986,
the complex is a grey basalt form sunken into a hillside location in
central Yerevan with an integrated laboratory to preserve, restore and
digitise the 17,000 Armenian manuscripts, 3,000 manuscripts in other
languages and 100,000 other ancient documents in the organisation~Rs
possession.

Siranush Aspaturyan, a guide at the Institute explains: ~SOn the first
floor is the library, where there are approximately 2,000 ancient
books published from the years 1215 to 1800. Readers, scientists and
students who are preparing to defend their theses, all of whom have
come to the Matenadaran, can make use of this library. There are two
reading rooms. The Matenadaran also has a department for restoring
books where 15-18 employees work – the department is replete with
modern equipment. The archives are on the second floor. We also have
a 184-seat hall, which will be used during scientific meetings. We
didn~Rt have a theatre in the old building.~T

ARMENIA’S ARONIAN DEFEATS WORLD CHAMPION

news.am, Armenia
Oct 11 2011

Armenian GM Levon Aronian defeated world champion Viswanathan Anand
playing white at the Chess Masters Final 2011.

In other matches Francisco Vallejo defeated Hikaru Nakamura, while
Vasili Ivanchuk lost his game to Magnus Carlsen.

Ivanchuk and Carlsen top the standings with 14 points each. Aronian
and Nakamura share the third line with 11 points.

IRELAND DEFEAT ARMENIA 2-1 AND QUALIFY FOR A PLAY-OFF SPOT IN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Irish Central
Oct 11 2011

Ireland have qualified for a play-off in the European championships
after defeating Armenia 2-1 in the final game of the qualifying rounds.

Russia claimed the automatic place after easily defeating Andorra.

Ireland’s task was made much easier by the sending off of the Armenian
goalkeeper in the first half and shortly afterwards an own goal.

Richard Dunne, pictured, put Ireland further ahead but Armenia replied
instantly with a goal.

Ireland lost Kevn Doyle to a red card in the 80th minute.

Armenia, despite having only ten men, outplayed Ireland for long
periods but Ireland will not care having got the vital scores that
put them into a playoff.

ARMENIAN TURKISH BORDER MAY BE COMPARED WITH “IRON BORDER”, COUNSELOR OF EU DELEGATION THINKS

Mediamax, Armenia
Oct 11 2011

Yerevan/Mediamax/. The First Counselor of the EU Delegation to Armenia
Onno Simons stated today that “Armenian-Turkish border may be compared
with “iron border” and there is no progress as the historical events
of 1915 are dominant in the relations”.

Onno Simons stated this during the round table organized by the
Caucasus Institute and Foreign Ministry of Finland in Yerevan today,
Mediamax reports.

“Settlement of relations is important for the two sides. It’s important
for Armenia from the economic viewpoint as emigration in the country
has reached considerable sizes”, he noted.

Director of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan stated that
all the experts are of the opinion that the Armenian-Turkish Protocols
may not be ratified in the nearest future. “But this doesn’t mean we
should rule out discussions on this subject as well”, he noted.

Representative of TEPAV Foundation Burchu Gyultekin-Punsman stated
that the ratification of the Protocols is an issue of historical
significance for Turkey. However, Turkey is currently more concerned
about other problems, the unstable situation in the Near East in
particular.

PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN RECEIVED THE NOBLE PRIZE WINNER IN PHYSICS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE RF ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, MEMBER OF THE STATE DUMA JORES ALFEROV

Office of the President of the Republic, Armenia

Oct 11 2011

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Noble Prize winner in
Physics, Vice President of the RF Academy of Science, member of the
State Duma Jores Alferov.

Welcoming the renowned scientist, President Sargsyan stressed the
importance of strengthening scientific ties in the context of the
Armenian-Russian strategic relations. “I hope that the cooperation,
which has a rich history and traditions, will become a base for new
scientific achievements for the benefit of the human kind and our two
friendly peoples,” President Sargsyan said. He also congratulated J.

Alferov on his election as honorary member of the RA Academy of
Sciences.

During the cordial conversation, President Sargsyan and famous
scientist spoke about prospective areas for the development of modern
sciences, discussed issues related to the management of scientific
activities and encouragement of new technologies.

FINANCIAL TIMES: EUROPEAN UNION’S SCORNFUL APPROACH TO TURKEY

Panorama, Armenia
Oct 10 2011

Since 2004 Turkey has been holding at head of state level talks with
the EU to join the family, but the EU implicitly reneged on that
while letting the talks stalemate, mostly driven by Greek Cypriot
obstructionism, “Financial Times” magazine writes in a story titled
“European Union’s scornful approach to Turkey.”

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy
embrace the inconsistency of publicly opposing Turkey’s accession,”
reads the story.

Dr. Kirsty Hyghes has written in the story that Turkey’s threats to
freeze relations with the EU, when the Republic of Cyprus takes over
the EU presidency in July 2012.

That the EU has let the Cyprus problem dominate its relations with
Turkey is a very serious case of the tail wagging the dog. At a
time when both the EU and Turkey – in quite uncoordinated manner –
are imposing sanctions on Syria and when Turkey is indeed adopting
a more strategic, if also grandstanding, approach in response to the
Arab spring than the EU, the EU’s calculated deprioritising of Turkey
looks unwise. If sparks do start to fly between Turkey, Cyprus and
Israel in the gas dispute, the best hope for knocking heads together
will be the US. While the EU’s leaders struggle with the euro crisis,
they may not care much about this major foreign policy failure –
but they should, reads the story.

FRENCH PRESIDENT’S AIM ARMENIA’S NUCLEAR-POWER PLANT – TURKISH DAILY

Tert.am
19:32 ~U 11.10.11

Turkish mass media go on commenting on French President Nicolas
Sarkozy’s visit to Armenia and his statement on the Armenian Genocide.

Both Turkish and French press have until recently held the view that
the main aim of the French leader’s visit to Armenia was winning the
sympathy and votes of France’s Armenian community.

The Turkey-based Vatan daily writes that the main aim of Nicolas
Sarkozy’s visit to Armenia was a new nuclear-power plant to be
constructed in Armenia.

The daily notes that the French president’s Yerevan statement on
the Armenian Genocide should not be viewed as a mere attempt to win
the Armenian community’s votes. France is greatly interested in the
construction of a new nuclear-power plant in Armenia, the cost of
the project totaling US $5bn, the daily writes.

ARMENIAN TROOPS RETALIATE AZERIS, LEAVING ONE SOLDIER DEAD

Tert.am
17:22 ~U 11.10.11

A serviceman of the Azerbaijani army has been killed in a gunfire
opened by the Armenian armed forces, Teymur Abdulaev, a deputy
spokesperson at the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has said.

Reliable sources later told Tert.am that the Mahmoud Mardaliev was shot
dead as a result of the retaliatory operations of the Armenian troops.

Earlier, the Armenian forces’ retaliatory measures in the vicinities
of Chinari village had left two Azerbaijani soldiers dead.

DAVIT HARUTYUNYAN: THE SUB COMMITTEE OF THE PACE CANNOT BRING INTO LIFE THE ISSUES IT HAS PUT IN FRONT OF IT

ARMENPRESS
12:55, 11 October, 2011

The sub committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe cannot bring into life the issues it has put in front of it,
head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Davit Harutyunyan told a news
conference today, adding that the creation of sub-committee was aimed
at creation of atmosphere of trust between the delegations of Armenia
and Azerbaijan as well as between the two countries but it did not
serve its purpose.

“It is already the second sitting we have declared a moratorium
to mutual accusations but no positive response was received from
Azerbaijan,” Davit Harutyunyan said.

He also stressed that the Armenian delegation did not participate in
the sitting of the PACE sub-committee on Nagorno Karabakh affair which
Azerbaijan tried to present as non-implementation of decision of PACE
Bureau. “And how we should understand that Azerbaijan is rejecting
the entrance of the PACE Monitoring mission to its own country,”
head of the Armenian delegation said.

Davit Harutyunyan also expressed opinion that the activity of the
sub-committee fully depends from the political conjecture. “We have
started noticing that PACE stops being an organization of values and
turns into organization of benefits”, Harutyunyan pointed out.