Author: Kanayan Tamar

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

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I TRAVELS TO EGYPT TO CONGRATULATE
HIS HOLINESS POPE TAWADROS II OF THE COPTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH

On Thursday 22 November 2012 Catholicos Aram I went to Cairo for a one-day
visit to congratulate the newly consecrated Pope Tawadros II personally.
Archbishops Sebouh Sarkissian, Prelate of the Diocese of Tehran, Nareg
Alemehian , Ecumenical officer, and staff-bearer Rev. Mesrob Sarkissian
accompanied His Holiness.

Representatives of the Coptic Orthodox Church met His Holiness Aram I at the
airport. After meeting with His Holiness the Pope, Catholicos Aram I said
that the long-standing relationship and cooperation between the two churches
and the Oriental Family should continue with renewed commitment, and the
visible unity among all churches in the Middle East should become more
explicit.

Pope Tawados II then acknowledged the contribution of His Holiness Aram I to
the ecumenical movement and affirmed his commitment to cooperation between
the churches of the Oriental Orthodox Family in the Middle East and the
ecumenical movement.

The visit ended with a lunch offered by the Coptic Pope in honor of
Catholicos Aram I in the presence of the clergy and more than fifty guests.
##
Photos:

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Nov 23 2012

Turkey’s only Armenian village risks losing status

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News
by Vercihan ZiflioÄ?lu

A recent draft law on restructuring municipality borders will affect
the special status of Turkey’s only Armenian-populated village.
Located in the southern province of Hatay, Vakıflı, which consists of
135 residents, will lose its `special’ status with the new law.

Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, Vakıflı community head Cem Çapar
said the survival of the village was very important both for them and
Turkey’s image. `We hope our rights will be preserved in accordance
with the law,’ Çapar said.

`The new law proposes villages in the new metropolitan municipalities
be turned into districts. This means Vakıflı will lose its village
status, so we will no longer be the only Armenian village of Turkey.
We conveyed this subject to Hatay Governor Celalettin Lekesiz, with
Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin also present,’ Çapar said.

Annexed to Turkey

Following a transitional political period that formally existed from
1938 to 1939, Hatay was annexed to Turkey in a 1939 referendum.

`Hatay joined Turkey in 1939. During that time, a law preventing
foreigners from entering Vakıflı came into force. We would be very
pleased if Vakıflı was protected with a similar law today. Otherwise,
the village will not survive very long. It would disappear just like
many Armenian villages and neighborhoods that faded away in Anatolia.
It would also affect us economically as our gardens and vineyards will
be taken away,’ Çapar said.

The Hatay Governor’s speaker, Raif HarputoÄ?lu, told the Hürriyet Daily
News there were no restrictions on non-Armenian people who want to
reside in the village. `No restriction is made in regard to
residence, anyone could settle there as they wish. But so far such an
initiative has not been made. Vakıflı is an important village, since
it is a village of tolerance, despite all the crises between Turkey
and Armenia.’
November/23/2012

Mexico panel rejects Azerbaijan statue, Baku threatens to suspend
diplomatic ties

armradio.am
21:13 23.11.2012

A commission of experts says Mexico City’s government should remove a
life-size statue of Azerbaijan’s former president that was recently
erected along the city’s main boulevard, AP reports.

The bronze, Stalinesque statue of Heydar Aliyev was erected by the
Azerbaijan embassy, which paid for the renovation of part of the city
park where it sits.

Protesters have said they are offended by a monument to an
authoritarian figure like Aliyev, who led Azerbaijan first as
Communist Party boss during Soviet times and then as president from
1993 to his death in 2003.

Azerbaijan officials have said that removal of the statue could affect
diplomatic relations with Mexico.

The committee that reported on Friday had been named by city officials
to seek a solution.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Mexico Ilhar Mukhtarov said in an interview
with La Razon paper that Azerbaijan will close its Embassy in Mexico ,
will suspend the diplomatic ties and will cancel the $4bln investment
deal with the country.

The statue to Heydar Aliyev was unveiled in Mexico on August 22.
Within the framework of the visit to Mexico a month ago, Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian expressed his concern on the
matter.

Nairi Hunanyan’s mother found dead in Evpatoria

07:05 PM | TODAY | SOCIAL

The body of a 64-year-old woman was found bear the beach in Evpatoria
on Thursday night.

The woman identified as Natela Galstyan is reportedly the mother of
Nairi and Karen Hunanyan, who participated in the October 1999
parliament shooting in Armenia, ARMENIA Today reports.

Law enforcement authorities refused to provide further information.

On October 27, 1999 at 5:15 p.m., a group of gunmen led by Nairi
Hunanyan broke into the parliament building, killing Prime Minister
Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchyan and 5 other
high-ranking officials. After the killings, the gunmen announced they
were staging a coup d’état and claimed that they wanted to punish
“corrupt officials.” The gunmen surrendered to the authorities in the
morning of October 28 and freed about 40 hostages after they were
allowed to speak on national television and were promised a fair trial
and safe passage by negotiations with the then President Robert
Kocharyan. Nairi Hunanyan and the five gunmen were found guilty and
sentenced to life imprisonment.

Deputy: In its policy regarding Turkey Yerevan successfully
dissociates from the Kurdish problem

arminfo
Friday, November 23, 17:15

In its policy regarding Turkey, official Yerevan has been
successfully dissociating from the Kurdish problem, a member of the
parliament from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, Artak
Zakaryan, said at today’s press-conference.

To recall, according to Turkish mass media, a member of the Working
Party of Kurdistan, Ahmed Gyunesh, said when bearing testimony, that
the party has got two organizations and a two-storied building in
Armenia. This real estate is chiefly used for treatment of members of
the Working Party of Kurdistan. He also added that the badly wounded
members of the party are taken to Armenia for treatment, all the rest
ones – to the north of Iraq.

Zakaryan thinks that such publications is a provocation and the
attempts of Ankara to link the Kurdish factor with relations with
Yerevan will finally fail. “Turkey put itself in a very hard
situation, as it was aggressive against the Kurds, and today the
actions of the Working Party of Kurdistan are like a born on Ankara’s
throat”, – he said.

AZERBAIJAN APPEARED ON POLITICAL MAP ONLY IN 1918 – ARMENIAN DEPUTY FM

news.am
November 21, 2012 | 17:38

YEREVAN.- Azerbaijani leadership failed to understand the strength of
a modern state is based on love for its people, not hatred towards
indigenous nations of the region, Armenian Deputy Minister told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Shavarsh Kocharyan’s comments came in response to Azerbaijani leader’s
remarks made during the ceremony dedicated to the 20th anniversary of
Yeni Azerbaijan party. Aliyev said Armenia is “a country of no value” ,
“a colony, an outpost run from abroad”, calling Armenian lobby “the
main enemy.”

“With such a racist ideology, with the rampant distortion of history
and ridiculous territorial claims, Azerbaijan could have had a chance
to preserve its existence only in the early Middle Ages. However,
Azerbaijan first appeared on the political map in 1918.

Baku failed to realize that the power of the modern state is based
on the love for its people, not a pathological hatred against the
indigenous peoples of the region and their cultural and historical
heritage,” he emphasized.

SME DEVELOPMENT NATIONAL CENTER READY TO HELP SYRIAN ARMENIANS TO SET UP BUSINESS IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, November 21. /ARKA/.The National center for small and
medium-sized business development is ready to allocate information and
financial assistance to the Syrian Armenians, who are willing to set
up business in Armenia, a director of the Center Varazdat Karapetyan
said Wednesday.

“Our center is implementing a number of programs, and the Syrian
Armenians can get involved,” he said at the meeting between the Syrian
Armenians looking for employment in Armenia and entrepreneurs. The
meeting was initiated by the Ministry of Diaspora.

According to Karapetyan, the Syrian Armenians can participate in ”
Assistance to business beginners” program to pass a 1.5-month training
on Armenian market and business environment.

“At the second stage of the program we offer to the participants
preferential loans of up to 3 million drams at 10% annual interest
rate for setting up business. If we gather 20 people we can summon
a group and start immediately,” he noted.

The Center director also said the existing large enterprises can
also enjoy the supporting program. In the framework of the program,
the organization appears as an up to 15-million-dram loan guarantor.

The National center for small and medium-sized business development
was established in Armenia in 2002 in accordance with the government’s
decision. The main ruling body of the center is a Board of Trustees
headed by Economy Minister of Armenia. Annually, the center serves
nearly 300 entrepreneurs; 5,000 businessmen annually use its
information database.

During the meeting the Economy Ministry representatives presented
to the Syrian Armenians the privileges for setting up business in
Armenia within the free economic zones.

According to Ministry of Diaspora, at present about 3,000 Syrian
Armenians residing in Armenia are looking for a job, of them nearly
160 are already employed.

Syrian Armenian community is among most powerful Armenian communities
in the world. Most of the Syrian Armenians live in Aleppo (more than
60,000 people), Damascus, Latakia and other cities. The aggravated
political and military situation made Armenians start leaving for their
historical homeland. According to the most recent data, at present,
there are nearly 5,000 Syrian Armenians residing in Armenia.

($1 – 407.09 drams). -0-

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

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I RECEIVES HEADS OF CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN THE GULF
COUNTRIES

On Friday 16 November 2012, the Heads of 22 Christian communities,
established in the countries of the Gulf region, visited His Holiness Aram
I. Bishop Shahé Panossian, the Pontifical Delegate of the Catholicosate of
Cilicia for the Gulf countries, accompanied the delegation.

The representatives were in Lebanon upon the invitation of the Middle East
Council of Churches (MECC) to discuss the creation of an Inter-Church
cooperation committee in the Gulf. Mrs. Seta Hadeshian, the director of the
MECC Department, Diakonia and Development, introduced the representatives
and said that the group had come to meet His Holiness, a President of the
MECC, a church leader and experienced ecumenist.

Catholicos Aram I welcomed the project and said that the churches, as the
Body of Christ, are organically linked and should work together because
ecumenism is an essential part of the vocation of the Church. His Holiness
Aram I cautioned the guests to be attentive to local religious, political
and social customs of their new countries because any misunderstanding might
put local churches in a difficult situation.
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photo: p://
*****

NEW ARMENIAN WEEKLY CORRESPONDENT TO REPORT FROM DIYARBAKIR

by Armenian Weekly
November 22, 2012

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey~WThe Armenian Weekly welcomes its new
correspondent, Gulisor Akkum, who will file regular reports from
Diyarbakir/Dikranagerd.

Youth burning tires to prevent the police from approaching
demonstrators in Diyarbakir on Oct. 30. (Photo by Gulisor Akkum, The
Armenian Weekly) Ms. Akkum is a journalist based in Diyarbakir. She
received her sociology degree in 2003 from Dicle University. Her first
article for the Armenian Weekly, titled ~SLet~Rs give Armenians what
we took from them,~T appeared in the paper~Rs April 2009 magazine.

Since October 2012, Akkum has been filing reports and photographs for
the Weekly on the hunger strike of Kurdish prisoners, protests in the
southeast of Turkey, as well as Armenian-related news~Wsuch as the
opening of the bell tower of the Sourp Giragos Church and the launch
of the second installment of an Armenian language course in Diyarbakir.

~SThe Armenian Weekly appreciates Ms. Akkum~Rs dedication to providing
accurate reporting to our readers worldwide, despite the difficult
conditions in the southeast of the country,~T said Weekly editor
Khatchig Mouradian. ~SLast week alone, her camera was confiscated
and the police erased the photos she had taken during a protest in
Diyarbakir,~T he added.

Ms. Akkum will also periodically contribute opinion pieces for
the Weekly.

BRITISH BUSINESSMEN DUE IN ARMENIA TO DISCUS THE PERSPECTIVES OF COOPERATION

armradio.am
17:39 22.11.2012

A delegation of British entrepreneurs will arrive in Armenia on
November 27 to discuss the conditions and opportunities of cooperation
with Armenian counterparts.

The visit has been organized by the British Embassy in Armenia
and the British Expertise with the support of the UK Foreign and
Commonwealth Office.

“The British Embassy prioritizes the reinforcement of Armenian-British
ties and encouragement of bilateral investments. Therefore, we welcome
and support any such initiative,” said Catherine Leach, UK Ambassador
to Armenia.

Within the framework of the visit to Armenia, the British businessmen
will have a meeting with Armenian Minister of Economy Tigran Davtyan.

They will meet with representatives of the business sphere to discuss
the avenues of cooperation.

The British delegation will comprise representatives of the fields of
ecology, innovation technologies, education, construction, jewelry,
engineering and communication.