Author: Kajoyan Gevork

Owing to Armenian’s initiative, the Maltese’s lives have become lot easier

news.am
July 06, 2012 | 03:51

VALETTA. – The residents of Malta will soon be able to pay their bills
at one go, order a taxi for their next night out, and top up their
phone from the same place.

Some 400 pay-kiosks are being set up across the island by a
Malta-based company that hopes to expand its network to other
¬European countries, the Times of Malta informs.

Through these booths, people will be able to pay their utility bills
and traffic fines, book newspaper adverts, top-up local and foreign
phones, order a taxi, and look up real estate property information
that they can e-mail back to themselves.

The woman behind the idea is 35-year-old Vera Boyajyan from Armenia,
who, like many other Maltese residents, has spent hours on end queuing
to pay her bills, and has finally decided to `make life easier.’

The young woman graduated in medicine, but for the past five years she
has wanted to launch `something innovative’ on the island.

Although she admits the pay-kiosk idea is not a new one, as it had put
roots in Russia some five years ago, she is sure it is not common in
the rest of Europe. This is Mobile Systems’ first project, which the
company has been developing since 2010.

Malta’s Communications Minister Austin Gatt, who was present for the
kiosks’ launch, said Malta not only topped European e-government
benchmarks, but this initiative put the island at the forefront of
technological investment.

Satirist Vardan Petrosyan: “I have to comment on Harsnakar even though
it’s a sensitive subject”
Narek Alexanyan

hetq
13:05, July 5, 2012

Political satirist and comedian Vardan Petrosyan spoke to reporters
today about his upcoming one-man show and had the following comments
regarding the recent Harsnakar Restaurant beating of army doctors.

`If they can raise a hand against officers, then tomorrow, they can do
the same to the president. Of course…not this president. Just
picture it. They could walk into the Presidential Palace, rough him up
a bit, and then leave.’

Petrosyan says he’ll comment on the Harsnakar incident at his shows at
the Hagop Baronian Theater on July 23 and 24, even though it’s a
highly sensitive and sore topic.

`If I didn’t comment about it I’d only be deceiving myself. I don’t
agree that it was a product of a bad upbringing or stupidity.
Something has gone wrong in our system and it’s gotten to a breaking
point. There will certainly be repercussions,’ Petrosyan said.

His upcoming show is entitled Misters 50/50. The satirist says that
artists generally don’t offer solutions but rather give directions
that people can follow.

Petrosyan said that if only 2 or 3 people in the audience of 800 get
the message and decide to make positive changes in their lives, he
will have successfully achieved his function.

Hurriyet, Turkey
July 5 2012

Reaction grows over daily’s hate speech
ISTANBUL – DoÄ?an News Agency

A criminal complaint has been filed against a Turkish daily by some
221 writers, artists, politicians and business people for spreading
hate speech against a columnist, `blaming’ him for being Armenian.

Turkish daily Yeni Akit has been targeting Ali BayramoÄ?lu, a columnist
for daily Yeni Å?afak, for his views on Turkey’s minority issues,
referring to him as an `Armenian-origin columnist’ the group said.

The group filing the complaint condemned Yeni Akit’s stories which
targeted BayramoÄ?lu and said the daily was spreading hate against
minorities in Turkey, an act that should be considered a hate crime.
`We find it dangerous the broadcasting policy which regards ethnic and
religious identities as the enemy. The daily has been acting racist
and encoding writers and intellectuals as `Armenian, Rum (Anatolian
Greek,) or Jewish,” the statement read.

The group also said BayramoÄ?lu was being pointed to as a target
similarly to slain Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink.

The paper also owns a website called habervaktim.com which pursues the
same policy.

Nobel Prize Laureate Orhan Pamuk, businessman Ä°shak Alaton and
Diyarbakır Mayor Osman Baydemir were among the signers.
July/05/2012

Terra.com
July 5 2012

Turkey warms to France as genocide law abandoned
July 05, 2012 – 01:15 PM

Turkey’s foreign minister hailed the opening of a warmer phase in
relations with France on Thursday as a French law on the mass killing
of Armenians in 1915 was abandoned, but he received no support for a
Turkish bid to join the European Union.

Ahmet Davutoglu was visiting France for the first time since the
election in May of President Francois Hollande, who Turkish officials
hoped might be more open to the prospect of Ankara’s EU bid than
predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.

Davutoglu sought to clear the air in the wake of the row over a French
law that would have made it illegal to deny that the killing of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 amounted to genocide.

Ankara canceled all economic, political and military meetings with
Paris in December after France’s lower house of parliament voted in
favor of the draft law.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the law, which was
rejected by France’s highest court in February as contrary to free
speech, was unlikely to be resurrected.

But Fabius skirted the question of Ankara’s bid to join the European
Union, which was launched in 2005 but has virtually ground to a halt
due to a dispute over the island of Cyprus.

“The French government is examining a number of matters inherited from
the previous government,” he said at a joint news conference.

Fabius hinted that EU membership for Turkey would be put to a
referendum, as anticipated by a 2008 constitutional amendment which
can nonetheless be overruled by parliament.

“At the end of the day, things will come down to the decision of the
people,” he said.

Hollande, while running for president this year, answered a question
about Turkey’s accession to the EU by saying: “It will not happen
during the next five-year term.”

Turkey would only enter the EU once it fulfils all 35 membership
criteria, 14 of which are blocked due to Turkey’s refusal to recognize
Greek Cypriot sovereignty on the island.

Cyprus has been divided between the Greek Cypriot south and the
Turkish north since a Greek coup followed by a Turkish army invasion
in 1974. Efforts to reunite the island have so far failed and Turkey
is the only nation that recognizes the self-declared Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus.

Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2005, took over the bloc’s presidency
on July 1, prompting Ankara to say it would suspend relations with the
EU presidency during the six-month term.

(Reporting By Nicholas Vinocur; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Vetsnik Kavkaza, Russia
July 5 2012

EU to insist on activation of Nagorno-Karabakh talks

President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy is visiting
Azerbaijan and met President Ilham Aliyev. The Azerbaijani leader
emphasized that the visit is a significant demonstration of
partnership between Baku and the EU, Trend reports.

Rompuy thanked Aliyev for the invitation and reminded about previous
meetings. They will discuss energy policy and other spheres.

The Eu official offered additional support in the Nagorno-Karabakh
peace process and activation of efforts to reach consensus between
Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Rompuy believes that the Madrid principles are the basis for peace in
the region. Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group are supported by the EU.

The president of the European Council considers Azerbaijan an
important EU partner in oil and gas trade. The EU supports realization
of the Southern Gas Corridor project. Azerbaijan demonstrates devotion
to peace and security. The project would allow diversification of
petroleum supplies, Rompuy emphasizes.

Vetsnik Kavkaza, Russia
July 5 2012

ECHR verdict against Armenia

Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to VK

During June the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has made three
verdicts against Armenia. One of them touched on the action of the
former political prisoner, participant of the Karabakh war,
representative of the opposition Armenian National Congress, Vardan
Malkhasyan. He was arrested in December 2006 and sent to prison for 3
years for committing the crime required by article 301 of Criminal
Code of Armenia – `a public call for violent change of the
constitutional system.’ ECHR stated that Malkhasyan had been kept in
custody from December 9, 2006, to sentencing for 8 months. That is a
violation of the fifth article of the European Human Rights Convention
which requires freedom and personal security. The court charged
Armenia to pay 4.5 thousand euro compestion to Malkhasyan.

The second verdict of ECHR is about the action of Alaverdi’s resident,
Kamo Piruzyan who was kept in custody for suspicion of life attempt
for more than a year and then the court declared him not guilty.
Piruzyan’s claim states that during the nine-month legal procedure he
had been kept in a ward with metal grating which is qualified as
humiliating treatment by the court. The action also mentions violation
of the defendant’s right for going at large against guarantees and
illegal custody. ECHR satisfied the action stating that the fifth
article was violated. The court charged Armenia to pay 8 thousand euro
compensation to Piruzyan,

The third verdict of ECHR relates to the case of Ararat Muradkhanian
who was sentenced for life term and now spends it in the penal
facility of Nubarashen. According to the ECHR verdict, the fifth
article of the convention was violated: the life sentenced prisoner
was illegally kept in custody in 2004-2007. Armenia has to pay 6
thousand euro compensation to Muradkhanyan.

`The authorities of Armenia are working against themselves, against
their state and their people. And it is a fact. We file lawsuits not
against courts, but against the Republic of Armenia. Compensations are
paid from the budget, and the money is our, money of taxpayers. People
suffer from injustice in the country,’ Vardan Malkhasyan says. `Courts
are functioning as power’s adjunct, and political cases are considered
under guidelines of the presidential administration.’ He believes that
judges who made such big mistakes should be brought to responsibility.

The same opinion is shared by members of the Lawyers Chamber of
Armenia. According to its member Lusine Saakian, the verdicts by ECHR
on Piruzyan, Malkhasyan, and Muradkhan cases against Armenia make us
think about the fact that courts do not provide justice.

At the same time, the Minister of Justice, Grair Tovmasian, stated
that these cases relate to 2003-2006, but they have been considered
only now: `The reason for Armenian losing the cases is not judges’
mistakes, but contradictions between the laws operated in our country
at that moment and the European standards. Now some norms of the
European conventions have changed and become stricter.’ Now
responsibility of each judge is under investigation. `We cannot punish
judges only for the fact that their verdicts are being litigated. In
this case we will lose all judges, as almost all cases are litigated,’
the minister noted.

For settlement of these and other problems the Ministry of Justice
developed a complex program on court-legal reforms for 2012-2016 aimed
at establishing clear mechanisms of officials’ responsibility and
elimination of verdicts contradicting each other. The program requires
changing approaches of composing the judiciary.

Nevertheless, every lost case by Armenia damages heavily the country’s
image, not to mention the image of courts in population eyes.

According to the US Agency of International Development, the majority
of Armenia’s population thinks that prosecution is the most corrupted
institute; it is followed by courts, the Central Election Commission,
and law-enforcement bodies. The least corrupted institutes are
non-governmental organizations and civic institutes.

asbarez
Thursday, July 5th, 2012

Ara Khachatourian

Foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Laurent Fabius during a press
conference in Paris on Thursday (AP photo)

PARIS – The new government of President Francoise Hollande indicated
Thursday that it was unlikely that the law criminalizing the denial of
the Armenian Genocide would be `resurrected,’ reported Reuters.

France’s new foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, made the announcement
during a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu who is
in Paris on an official visit.

Last month Turkey indicated that it would remove all sanctions imposed
when the two houses of the French parliament passed a measure to
criminalize the denial of the Armenian Genocide. France’s high court
ultimately ruled against the law, saying it impeded free speech.

During his presidential campaign Hollande vowed that he would
personally draft a similar law and shepherd its passage.

In April, Hollande said he would make sure that a new law is drafted
with `utmost legal security’ in order to ensure its approval by the
country’s highest court. `We can no longer commit an imprecision that
would again leave us with the impossibility of having the text
validated,’ he said.

Davutoglu hailed the opening of what he deemed are warmer relations
with France since the new regime has opted out of pursuing the
Genocide law.

Fabius, however, skirted the question of Ankara’s bid to join the
European Union, which was launched in 2005 but has virtually ground to
a halt due to a dispute over the island of Cyprus.

`The French government is examining a number of matters inherited from
the previous government,’ he said at a joint news conference.

Fabius hinted that EU membership for Turkey would be put to a
referendum, as anticipated by a 2008 constitutional amendment which
can nonetheless be overruled by parliament.

`At the end of the day, things will come down to the decision of the
people,’ he said.

Hollande, while running for president this year, answered a question
about Turkey’s accession to the EU by saying: `It will not happen
during the next five-year term.’

Turkey would only enter the EU once it fulfils all 35 membership
criteria, 14 of which are blocked due to Turkey’s refusal to recognize
Greek Cypriot sovereignty on the island.

Controversial Former Yerevan Mayor Gets Position in New Government

Armenia July 5, 2012 1:46 pm

YEREVAN (RFE/RL) – Gagik Beglarian, the controversial former mayor of
Yerevan, has been appointed to Armenia’s government as minister of
transport and communications, more than 18 months after being forced
to resign because of reportedly violent conduct.

Beglarian stepped down as mayor in December 2010 after President Serge
Sargisian effectively confirmed Beglarian’s involvement in an assault
on an official at the presidential admin- istration’s protocol unit.

According to media reports, an offi- cial, Aram Kandayan, incurred
Beglarian’s ire after asking the latter’s wife not to sit next to the
president dur- ing the November 2010 concert of Spanish tenor Placido
Domingo, in Yerevan. Such seats have traditionally been reserved for
Armenia’s prime min- ister, parliament speaker and the supreme head of
the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Beglarian, who did not attend the concert, allegedly drove Kandayan to
one of his properties in Yerevan and beat up the young official there
the next day. He was never prosecuted for what a presidential
spokesman con- demned as an `unacceptable and intol- erable’ behavior.

Beglarian, who is also a wealthy businessman, remained a senior member
of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). He was reelected to
the HHK’s 20-member executive body during a party congress held in
March.

Sargisian appointed Beglarian as transport minister on Saturday as
part of a cabinet reshuffle resulting from the May 6 parliamentary
elections. Prime Minister Tigran Sargisian introduced him to senior
officials at the Ministry of Transport and Communications on Monday.

`I want to congratulate Mr. Beglarian on his ministerial appointment
and express confidence that he will manage to smoothly ensure
continuity in the [ministry’s] work,’ the premier said. `The projects
that we have launched will be brought to a logical conclusion.’

Beglarian became Yerevan’s first elected mayor in more than a decade
after leading the HHK to a landslide vic- tory in disputed municipal
elections held in May 2009.

Beglarian has long held sway in a largely blue-collar section of the
district notorious for election-related violence against opposition
activists.

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apost. Church of America and Canada
H.E. Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan
Prelate, Easter Prelacy and Canada
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
Web:

July 5, 2012

DATEV INSTITUTE IN FULL SWING;
PRELATE MAKES VISIT ON FOURTH OF JULY

Sixty-five students (ages 13-18) and twenty clergymen and lay leaders
are participating g in the St. Gregory of Datev Institute 26th Summer
Program at the St. Mary of Providence Center in Elverson,
Pennsylvania, in a week-long program of fellowship and Christian
instruction.

Archbishop Oshagan traveled to Pennsylvania yesterday to spend the
July 4th holiday with the Datev students, instructors, and
supervisors, at their annual 4th of July picnic. The picnic has become
an important part of
the Datev Summer Program, a community-building event that all
participants
await eagerly. It is a day full of copious delicious Armenian food and
table fellowship, along with games, music, and dancing g, all made
possible through the generosity of Mrs. Asdghig Kazanjian (owner of
`Armenian Delight’ in Broomall, Pennsylvania).

Sponsored by the Armenian Religious Education Council (AREC) of the
Prelacy, the Summer Program offers a unique opportunity for our
teenagers
to learn some of the basic elements of the Christian faith in general
and how that faith is expressed in the Armenian Apostolic Church in
particular.
Each day, the program begins with Morning Service at 7:15am; classes
are held from 8:30am to 12:30pm. In the afternoons, the students enjoy
recreational activities, such as volleyball, soccer, basketball, and
swimming. In the evenings, the students engage in a panel discussion
7:00 to 8:20, followed by three concurrent Bible studies from
8:00-9:00 for different age groups. The day comes to a close with the
Compline Service (Husgoom) from 9:45-10:30pm.

The Instructors of the Institute this year are: His Grace Bishop
Anoushavan Tanielian (Vicar), Rev. Fr. Khoren Habeshian,
Rev. Fr. Antranig Baljian, Rev. Fr. Gomidas Baghsarian,
Rev. Fr. Sarkis Aktavoukian, Rev. Fr. Nareg Terterian (Dean),
Rev. Fr. Stephan Baljian, Rev. Fr. Karekin Bedourian, Dn. Shant
Kazanjian (AREC Director), Yn. Joanna Baghsarian, Mrs. Maggie
Kouyoumdjian, and Ms. Jeanette Nazarian.

The 2012 Datev Summer Program will come to a close this Sunday, July
8, with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at St. Gregory the
Illuminator Church in Philadelphia.

Bishop Anoushavan with Prelacy clergy, instructors and participants of
the
2012 Datev Institute Summer Program at St. Mary of Providence Center
in Elverson, PA.

Archbishop Oshagan and Bishop Anoushavan bless the picnic table.

PRELATE WILL ATTEND HOMENETMEN GAMES

Archbishop Oshagan will travel to Washington, DC , this weekend where
he will attend the Homenetmen Eastern Regional’s 22nd Annual Athletic
Games. His Eminence will deliver the invocation at the banquet
Saturday evening and the closing ceremonies on Sunday.

BIBLE READINGS

Bible readings for Sunday, July 8, Sixth Sunday after Pentecost,

(Eve of the Fast of Transfiguration), are: Isaiah 3:1-11; Romans
11:13-24;
Matthew 14:13-21.

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a
deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed
him on
foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he
had
compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the
disciples came to him and said, `This is a deserted place, and the
hour is
now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages
and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, `They need not
go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, `We have
nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, =80=9CBring
them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the
grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to
heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the
disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and
were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces,
twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men,
besides women and children. (Matthew 14:13-21)

For a listing of the coming week’s Bible readings click here
().

ELISHA THE PROPHET

Today, Thursday, July 5, the Armenian commemorates Elisha the Prophet,
whose life and works are recorded in 1 and 2 Kings. Elisha (`God is
Salvation’), was a disciple of the Prophet Elijah, who at God’s
command anointed Elisha to be his successor much like Jesus later did
in calling his disciples in Galilee.

Elisha performs miracles, healing the sick and reviving the dead. His
message to his followers was that they should return t6o traditional
religious practices and acknowledge God’s sovereignty over all aspects
of life. When he healed the sick it was to demonstrate God’s power
over life and death; when he helped in battle, it was to demonstrate
God’s power over nations.

TWELVE APOSTLES OF CHRIST AND SAINT PAUL, THE THIRTEENTH APOSTLE

This Saturday, July 7, the Armenian Church commemorates the
=80=9CFeast of the twelve apostles of Christ and Saint Paul, who is
considered the thirteenth apostle.

Jesus selected twelve apostles to carry on His work and instructed
them to preach and to baptize converts all over the world
(Mt. 28:19-20). He gave the title `apostle’ to the twelve (Luke 6:13;
Mark 3:14). The word apostle derives from the Greek word apostellein
(arakyal in Armenian). The apostles dedicated their lives to spreading
the Word and fulfilling the sacred mission entrusted to them. Their
mission was not just to
transmit the message, but to put it into practice.

Paul was initially an enemy of Christians and persecuted them. He had
a vision on the road to Damascus and became a fervent Christian
convert and was subsequently responsible in large measure for the
rapid spread of the new religion. Most of the New Testament (aside
from the four Gospels) is
from the writings of Paul.

The Armenian Church has its roots in the apostolic ministry and
succession (Thaddeus and Bartholomew) and is therefore known as
`apostolic,’ (arakelagan). The apostles and their immediate successors
(including the Armenian Church) defended the Orthodox faith and kept
it pure.

PAREGENTAN OF THE FAST OF TRANSFIGURATION

This Sunday, July 8, the sixth Sunday after Pentecost, is the
Paregentan of the Fast of the Transfiguration-the five-day (Monday to
Friday) period of fasting prior to the Feast of the Transfiguration
(Aylagerboutyan / Vartavar), which is next Sunday, July 16.

THIS WEEK IN ARMENIAN HISTORY

Prepared by the Armenian National Education Committee (ANEC)

The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia (July 5, 1995)

Three years before the American Revolution, in 1773, a book called
Õ=88Ö=80Õ¸Õ£Õ¡ÕµÕ© Ö=83Õ¡Õ¼Õ¡Ö=81 (`Vorokayt paratz,’ The Snare of
Glory) was published in Madras (India). It reflected the thoughts and
projects of a group of intellectuals known as the `Madras Group.’ Its
author was Hagop Shahamirian, who, for the first time in Armenian
history, called for a “constitutional republic” as the best way of
maintaining democracy and equality in
the free Armenia of his dream. He also attached a project of
Constitution for a republican and free Armenia.

The first Republic of Armenia, despite its democratic institutions,
did not have enough time to draft and pass a Constitution. The
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic had two Constitutions, in 1936 and
1978, which logically replicated the Constitution of the Soviet Union.

Independence came in 1991 and with it, the need to have a basic
document that outlined the organization of the new state and the
rights and duties of its citizens. Initially, the Constitution of 1978
remained in effect, except in those cases when legislation had
superseded it. A draft constitution was presented in late 1992 by the
government. A long struggle between the government and the opposition
alternative drafts ensued. The final project of Constitution was voted
in a nationwide referendum and approved on July 5, 1995, which became
Constitution Day in Armenia. A new referendum amended the Constitution
on November 27, 2005.

The Constitution is composed of nine chapter and 117 articles. Its
preamble says:

`The Armenian people – recognizing as a basis the fundamental
principles of the Armenian statehood and the pan-national aspirations
enshrined in the Declaration on the Independence of Armenia, having
fulfilled the sacred behest of its freedom-loving ancestors for the
restoration of the sovereign state, committed to the strengthening and
prosperity of the fatherland, with a view to ensuring the freedom of
generations, general well-being and civic solidarity, assuring the
faithfulness to universal values – hereby adopt the Constitution of
the Republic of Armenia.’

Click here () to view the
Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.

A view of the interior of the Armenian Parliament building during
session.

OUT TO LUNCH

An interesting exhibit just opened at the New York Public Library that
our metro area readers and visitors may want to check out. Entitled
=80=9CLunch Hour NYC,’ the exhibit looks back more than a century and
explores the ways in which New York City reinvented lunch. Those who
live and work in New York know that there is a marked increase in
frenzied activity during the lunch hour in the streets of New York.

Particularly fascinating is the re-creation of a part of the Horn &
Hardart Automat that opened in New York one hundred years ago on July
2, 1912 (the first of the Automats opened in Philadelphia
earlier). The spotless, shining chrome, glass, brass and Italian
marble automated system dispensed fresh food for nickels and
quarters. The Automat’s famous coffee, brewed fresh every 20 minutes
with a new drip-method, and dispensed from shining silver dolphin
spigots, was five cents for a large cup (listening Starbucks?). Way
ahead of its time in another respect: smoking was not permitted.

The Horn & Hardart Automat during lunchtime.

The Public Library is located at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The
hours are from 10 am to 6 pm, with extended evening hours to 7:30 pm
on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; closed on Sundays. As you ascend the front
steps, say
hello to the Library’s majestic marble Lions, Patience and Fortitude,
who have been silently guarding that magnificent place since 1911.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

July 1-8-Datev Summer Program for youth ages 13-18. The 26th annual
St. Gregory of Datev Institute Summer Christian Studies Program will
take
place at the St. Mary of Providence Center in Elverson, Pennsylvania,
sponsored by the Eastern Prelacy’s Armenian Religious Education
Council
(AREC). For information and registration contact the AREC office,
212-689-7810 or [email protected] or click here
(). You can also join the Datev
Institute Facebook page by clicking here
().

July 14-Sts. Vartanantz Church Ladies Guild and ARS Ani Chapter,
Providence, Rhode Island, `A Hye Summer Night VI’ dance, featuring
Hachig Kazarian, Richard Hagopian, Kenneth Kalajian, Jason Naroian, 8
pm to 1 am; $35 adults; $15 children 16 and under. At the Annunciation
Greek Orthodox Church, 175 Oaklawn Avenue, Cranston, Rhode
Island. Mezza will
be served. Limited seating. For tickets and information: 401-434-4467
(Joyce Bagdasarian); 401-354-8770 (Joyce Yeremian).

August 10-12-Armenian Fest and Blessing of the Grapes, All Saints
Church, Glenview, Illinois. For information: 847-998-1989.

August 12-Assumption of the Holy Mother of God, Blessing of the
Grapes, and Indoor Picnic, following the Divine Liturgy at
St. Illuminator’s Cathedral, New York City, under the auspices of
Rev. Fr. Mesrob Lakissian, Pastor. Organized and prepared by the
Ladies Guild. Activities for
kids of all ages; food available for sale. Admission (including raffle
ticket), $5.00; children free. For information: 212-689-5880.

August 12-Holy Trinity Church, 635 Grove Street, Worcester,
Massachusetts, Annual Church Picnic and Blessing of the Grapes, at
noon on the church grounds. Enjoy delicious Armenian food, including
Shish Kebab, Losh Kebab, and Chicken Kebab dinners, along with kheyma
and homemade desserts. Listen and dance to Armenian music by DJ
Shaheen, sign-up for backgammon tournament, or let children play on
bouncy house. Free parking and admission. For information:
508-852-2414.

October 4-31-Pontifical Visit to the Eastern Prelacy by His Holiness
Aram I, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia.

November 10-Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society of
New Jersey and Vanush Khanamiryan Dance Academy of New York, present
Inga
& Anush with performances by Hamazkayin Nayiri Dance Ensemble of New
Jersey, Hamazkayin Meghri Dance Ensemble of Pennsylvania, and Vanush
Khanamiryan
Dance Academy of New York and Connecticut. Felician College, 262 South
Main Street, Lodi, New Jersey, 5 pm. For reservations ($35 – $70) and
information: 201-739-9557, 201-684-1509, or

().

November 11-Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society of
Boston and Vanush Khanamiryan Dance Academy proudly present Inga &
Anush with performance by Erebouni Dance Ensemble of Hamazkayin
Boston. Shaw Auditorium, Watertown High School, Watertown,
Massachusetts, 5 pm. For reservations ($35 – $45) and information:
617-331-0426 or
().

Web pages of the parishes can be accessed through the Prelacy’s web
site.

To ensure the timely arrival of Crossroads in your electronic mailbox,
add
[email protected] to your address book.

Items in Crossroads can be reproduced without permission. Please
credit Crossroads as the source.

Parishes of the Eastern Prelacy are invited to send information about
their major events to be included in the calendar. Send to:
[email protected]

Vardan Petrosyan: Lawlessness has been ruling in Armenia for many years

arminfo
Thursday, July 5, 21:32

Beating the military doctor Vahe Avetyan to death by employees of
the security service of Harsnaqar restaurant, that belongs to the
former member of the parliament from the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia, Ruben Hayrapetyan, was not at all accidental, such is the
Armenian reality, an actor Vardan Petrosyan said at today’s
press-conference when commenting on the incident in Harsnaqar
restaurant.