Author: Kanayan Tamar

VIVACELL-MTS GENERAL MANAGER MEETS ARMENIAN STUDENTS IN LEBANON

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.02.2010 12:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian met
with students of Armenian educational institutions in Lebanon to give
a lecture on how to score success in business.

A draw held between the meeting participants chose 6 students who
will make a tour to Armenia.

VivaCell-MTS will cover the travel expenses and provide accommodation,
the company’s press office told PanARMENIAN.Net. "VivaCell-MTS
opens the door to the homeland for each Armenian living abroad,"
Mr. Yirikian said.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Director
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Watch our latest videos on YouTube here:

"FELLOWSHIP BUILDING RELATIONS CONSTITUTE THE HEART OF THE ECUMENICAL
MOVEMENT"
ARAM I

In a second key-note speech on "Ecumenical relations" delivered in the
context of his formal visit to the Orthodox Church in India, His Holiness
Aram I emphasized the pivotal importance of relations. He said: "Relations
generate mutuality, it deepens fellowship and builds community. Relations is
the second name of ecumenism".

His Holiness identified six dimensions of relations which are closely
inter-vowen: intra-church relations, inter-church relations, church-society
relations, relations with neighbors, relations with environment, and
relations with God.

Aram I then spelled out the significant features of the different dimensions
of church’s relations. Within this context he put the emphasis on the
relations with neighbor and with environment. He said that "relations with
our neighbor today is neither mere relations nor coexistence; it is living
together as a community". Therefore, in his view "we must know how to live
together with our differences, accepting each other and providing space for
each other". Catholicos Aram I believes that the otherness of the other is
not a source of fear but hope".

Speaking about our relations with the environment, Aram I reminded the
public that what is called ecological crises is "essentially a moral crises
pertaining to humanity-God relations". He said, that "the creation is not a
human possession; it belongs to God. We are stewards of God’s creation.
Hence, we are accountable to God; we must use the creation for the glory of
God; the abuse and misuse of creation is a sin".

At the end of his lecture, Aram I said that "all these forms and expressions
of relations must be sustained by our relation with God: God is the source
and converging point of all human relations".

##
View the photos here:
tos444.htm
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities 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.

EXPERT: GOVERNMENT OF ARMENIA SHOULD SUBSIDIZE EXPENSES OF VULNERABLE POPULATION PARTIALLY IN CASE OF GAS PRICE INCREASE

ARKA
Feb 25, 2010

YEREVAN, February 25. /ARKA/. In case of gas price increas, the
system of partial subsidization for vulnerable population should be
introduced, said Tatul Manaseryan, Advisor to the Chairman of Armenian
National Assembly on Thursday.

"It will be a kind of protection for this part of population", he said.

Total increase of prices will follow the increase of gas prices which
will affect competitiveness of economy in general.

"Gas is not the only factor affecting economy and the situation will
stabilize very soon", said Manaseryan.

"ArmRosgasprom" suggests to increase gas prices for the subscribers to
136 thousand drams using up to 10 thousand cubic meters monthly from
April 1, 2010 (all prices are presented including VAT). Regulatory
Commission of Public Services discussed the proposal and suggests to
approve the price of 132 thousand drams instead of 136 thousand drams.

Final review will take place on February 26, 2010. ($1 – 382.41
drams).

VIDEO: DISPLAY COMPARING ABORTION TO GENOCIDE FLARES EMOTIONS AT FGCU
By Leslie Williams Hale

Naples Daily News
cu-genocide-awareness-project-bio-ethical-reform/
Feb 25 2010

LEE COUNTY — Racially-motivated lynchings. The Holocaust. Modern-day
genocide. Abortion.

This week, a traveling display at Florida Gulf Coast University
is drawing a literal connection between all four. The Genocide
Awareness Project, an exhibit by the Center for Bio Ethical Reform,
is spending two days on display on the lawn in front of the FGCU
library, engaging students in debate and seeking to change minds on
the issue of abortion.

"It’s to stimulate a dialogue on bio-ethical issues and to reach the
target audience, which is university students," said Mark Harrington,
executive director of the Center for Bio Ethical Reform Midwest. "They
are our future decision-makers and leaders. They are also more likely
to have abortions."

More than 50 percent of women who get abortions are under the age of
25, Harrington said, making college students a critical group to reach.

On Wednesday afternoon, the first day of the two-day display at FGCU,
hundreds of students listened in on the debate hosted by Stephanie
Gray, executive director of the Canadian Center for Bio-Ethical
Reform. Some students simply passed by the display on their way to
mid-term exams — it was impossible to dismiss with its poster-sized
depictions of aborted fetuses — others camped out on the lawn
to listen.

Joseph Imbruglia, 22, spent four hours on the library lawn listening to
Gray debate students — not in support, but in protest. He encouraged
female students to fight what he said is the politicization of their
reproductive organs, and shouted at Gray when he disagreed or felt
that she was not addressing a student’s question directly.

But for Imbruglia, a junior, the exhibit struck an even more personal
nerve. His mother’s family survived the Armenian genocide of World
War I, and other family members survived the Holocaust in Poland
during World War II.

"I believe it’s morally reprehensible to equate killing a clump of
cells in a woman’s body to making a conscious decision to kill an
entire race of people," Imbruglia said. "Nobody wants (the Center
for Bio Ethical Reform) here."

Organizers of the project were allowed to set up on campus based on
the rules governing other groups, regardless of content, according
to university spokeswoman Susan Evans: With enough advance notice,
the Center for Bio Ethical Reform had the right to be there. The
university does not take a position on the exhibit, nor on other
groups conducting displays on campus, she added.

Kaitlyn Bunn, a junior, said she is a full supporter of free speech.

But, she said, she felt the organizers of the project were "overdoing
it," and that the exhibit, which features photos of dead adults and
fetuses, was "gory."

"I want to hear her point of view," Bunn said of Gray. "I do like
the fact that she’s not preaching. I would not do it personally,
but you can’t take away other people’s rights."

The students expressing opinions on the lawn — either on a microphone
to discuss issues with Gray, or on nearby "free speech" boards —
largely opposed the display and supported abortion rights. Messages
scrawled on the board nearby read "Keep your religion out of my
vagina," "What if Hitler was aborted?" and, written beside a drawing
of a wire clothes hanger, "this used to be a medical instrument."

"I think by this age we’ve all made up our minds on this issue,"
said student Courtney Baker.

But Judy Minahan, a Fort Myers resident, said she thinks the exhibit
still has the power to change minds.

"There are many students who will come by and they have never seen an
aborted child," said Minahan, 69. "This image will stick with them,
and when the time comes, they will think of it."

She called the photos of fetuses — some with the tiny arms ripped off
and laid over U.S. coins reading "In God we trust" — "appropriate."

"I think that college students are very often not aware of
what abortion is," said Minahan, 69. "I think (the exhibit is)
very necessary. People at this age of their life are approaching
parenthood. They’re asking all of the tough questions; this is the
right place."

Minahan got to the university around 1:15 p.m., and planned to stick
around for a while. However, the discussion soon devolved into a
one-sided shouting match as students yelled at Gray when they believed
she was evading questions.

The dialogue ended about a half hour later, when a student asked Gray
a hypothetical question: If she had the option of saving a 5-year-old
girl from a burning building, or 500 frozen, fertilized embryos,
which would she save?

Gray said she would attempt to save both, which led dozens of students
to shout, "You’re not answering the question."

Harrington, who has taken the exhibit to the University of Florida,
the University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida
in recent weeks, said it is generally time to stop discussions when
the shouting becomes an issue and emotions get raw. But, he said,
the display at FGCU was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Most of the places, this is what we look for: an exchange of ideas,"
he said. "Towards the end, there was a little bit of shouting; we
know when to end it. Occasionally, individual students act out in
isolated ways. There is a lot of emotion tied to the issue."

The display continues Thursday on the library lawn at FGCU, from 9
a.m. to 4 p.m.

PRESS RELEASE
Glendale Public Library
222 East Harvard Street
Glendale CA 91205
Tel: 818-548-2030
Web:

Please join us at the Glendale Public Library Auditorium, for the
presentation of

Ravished Armenia: Silent 1919 Film

Film Screening and discussion with film historian Anthony Slide.

At Glendale Public Library Auditorium, 222 East Harvard Street,
On Thursday, March 24, 2010 at 7:30pm. Admission is free.

For more information please check the attachment.

Thanks,
Elizabeth Grigorian
Armenian Outreach/Glendale Public Library
[email protected]
(818)548-3288

AGAINST LIES ABOUT KHOJALU

s16949.html
16:26:13 – 24/02/2010

February 24, the presentation of the project Xocali.net took place
in Yerevan.

Chairman of NGO "Initiative for the Prevention of xenophobia" Armine
Adibekyan and a specialist in information security Samvel Martirosyan
presented a number of Azerbaijanis fabricated materials and facts
concerning the events of February 1992 in Khojalu (Agdam).

The site hosts the researches of Hayk Demoyan and Levon
Melik-Shahnazaryan. The participants of the forum openarmenia.com, as
well as the Center for Public Relations and Information Administration
of the President helped the fulfillment of the project.

IRANIAN PRESIDENT: NOTHING CAN AFFECT TEHRAN-BAKU RELATIONS

Yerkir
22.02.2010 13:45

Yerevan (Yerkir) – Nothing can affect Tehran-Baku relations, which have
a bright future, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated at the
meeting with Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov on February.

He said Iran has always supported Azerbaijan’s prosperity. Significant
steps were taken to expand cooperation between the two neighbor states,
Iran lifted visa requirements for Azeri citizens, he emphasized
calling for closer cooperation on sharing Caspian Sea resources.

Referring to regional issues, Azeri Parliament Speaker Asadov said
if the major powers had really wished to solve regional issues, the
crises must have been resolved by now. "The history proves that they
have only pursued their own interests in the region," he added.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY CALLS TO REFUSE NEOLIBERALISM

s-lrahos16924.html
13:52:41 – 23/02/2010

The Armenian Democratic Party issued a statement on February 19 which
in particular runs that despite some progress on the external front,
the internal policy of the authorities is worrying.

Social justice lacks in the country, no real fight against shadow
economy, corruption and oligopoly is carried out. The party thinks
that the reason of economic failures is in the lack of wish of the
government to renounce from neoliberal system.

According to experts, 40 percent of the economy is in the shadow, about
70 percent in out, the statement says. The foreign debt is 46 percent
of the GDP, only one step separates the country from bankruptcy.

The party calls to renounce from neoliberalism and to take up
democratic socialism.

LANGUAGE BARRIER: JOB PROSPECTS POOR IN NKR FOR RUSSIAN-SPEAKING ARMENIANS
Anahit Danielyan

20 10/02/22 | 16:04

Refugees from Azerbaijan Need "Crash Course" in Armenian to Find Work

Tamara Amirdjanova, an Armenian refugee from Azerbaijan, had the
following to say regarding the issue of refugee return bandied about
in the Karabakh conflict settlement negotiations:

"I will never go back to Baku. I can’t even think about returning
for I remember how we grabbed our kids in our arms and fled that place.

Better I live in poverty in Karabakh, the homeland, than return there."

She cannot even picture the possibility of living with Azerbaijanis
in the same town or village. "I’m also against their return. It’s not
enough that they took the homes of Armenians in Azerbaijan? Let them
live there and we will live here," says Mrs. Amirdjanova.

She constantly reminisces about her home in Baku bit she’s happy
in Shushi, where she lives now. She, her husband and four kids were
forced to leave Baku in 1989.

We wish to stay in Shushi

"We left with the clothes on our back. We took nothing else and left
for Moscow. We were then sent to Armenia. We resided in Sisian for
four years. Working in the local factory and living in a dormitory.

But since we didn’t own a home, we decided to pack and leave for
Karabakh, our native soil. Luckily, when we got here, the government
allocated a house for us," said Mrs. Amirdjanova, who lives with her
husband and daughter in a four room apartment in Shushi.

Her other three children have already married and have kids of their
own. One of her daughters is married and living in the Russian town
of Rostov. The other girl is married and living in Shushi. Her son
is married as well and rents an apartment in Shushi.

Mrs. Amirdjanova says that she can’t afford to buy a house and doesn’t
make enough money to qualify for a home mortgage.

The parents don’t have the means to financially assist their son. Her
sixty year-old husband is the only one with a job working at the
electric utility, making 60,000 AMD monthly. She confesses that they
couldn’t get by without the money her daughter sends from Rostov.

"How could we make it without the cash she sends now and then?" asks
Mrs. Amirdjanova, who can’t find a job but isn’t old enough to start
getting her pension allowance.

My children went to Russian schools in Baku

Their 37 year-old unmarried daughter who lives with them also doesn’t
work. The daughter graduated from an accounting vocational school but
is now attending college courses to get that much-needed diploma. Most
employers now demand it. The other daughter living in Shushi also is
without a job and takes computer courses to improve her work prospects.

Mrs. Amirdjanova points to the language barrier as one of the reasons
for their being unemployed. She says the girls went to a Russian
school in Baku and that in Karabakh one must be fluent in Armenian.

Mrs. Amirdjanova tries not to dwell on this issue too much. Rather,
she’s quick to point out that the family has grown to love Shushi
and that they have no plans to move. It would be convenient though,
she says, if the language issue was somewhat resolved. "We older folk
get by somehow, but it’s really tough on the young people," she says.

What about the kids of those who left Artsakh during the war years?

Many refugees from Azerbaijan now living in Artsakh raise the language
barrier issue. While they don’t want to move, not being fluent in
Armenian is a real hindrance when looking for work.

Sanasar Saryan, who heads the NKR Refugee Social Organization, has
constantly raised the issue. He suggests that Russian also be used
for secretarial and clerical and functions.

Mr. Saryan says such a move just might induce more Armenians to return
to Karabakh. He believes that many have the desire to return but, given
the language barrier, they just can’t picture themselves finding work.

In this category of potential returnees, Mr. Saryan includes not
only Armenians who fled Azerbaijan but Karabakh natives who moved
to Russia during the war years. Their children have also attended
Russian schools, just like Mrs. Amirdjanova’s children.

KARABAKH CONFLICT INCLUDED INTO PROTOCOLS

news.az
1
Feb 22 2010
Azerbaijan

Faruk Logoglu "Armenian lobby and their political supporters intensify
pressure on the Congress."

"In case the Turkish-Armenian protocols enter a deadlock, the processes
in the United States will continue in two directions", former Turkish
ambassador in the United States Faruk Logoglu told in his interview
with Hurriyyet newspaper.

He said the first direction is Obama’s speech on April 24: "This speech
is of a great importance. However, Obama will hardly use the notion of
‘genocide’ as it may endanger the relations with Turkey.

According to Logoglu, the second direction is the US Congress. He
noted that the Armenian lobby and their political supporters intensify
pressure on the Congress for adoption of a bill on recognition of the
mythical "Armenian genocide". The diplomat believes that the chances of
Armenian supporters are high this time because the so-called "Armenian
rapprochement" has entered a deadlock: "Due to the weakened positions
of the Jewish lobby in the United States, there is no effect force
that can resist the adoption of this bill. The United States do not
pay special attention to the fact that in case the bill is adopted,
it may affect the US-Turkish relations. Turkey may close the NATO base
in Injirlik as a protest. However, the adoption of the bill will not
create hindrances for arms trading, in particular, the trade relations
between these two countries".

The Turkish diplomat believes that the Armenians will not stop on
the adoption of the bill on "genocide" in the Congress because the
principles fixed in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence
of Armenia are not limited with the recognition of "genocide". "It
will then be the time of territorial claims, demands for material
compensation and other claims that Armenians will put to Turkey".

Lagoglu also touched upon the links between the Turkish-Armenian
relations and the Karabakh conflict. He considers that this issue is
one of the important moments that were not fixed in the protocols:
"The Karabakh conflict should have been included into the protocols.

The Turkish authorities believed to the US and Russia’s promises,
which was a great mistake. It is further necessary to lay a priority
on the Karabakh conflict and force US to settle this conflict".