Author: Karakhanian Suren

OSCE
April 1 2005
OSCE Office organizes discussions on labour migration in Armenia

YEREVAN, 1 April 2005 – The current situation of labour migration in
Armenia was the focus of two meetings that took place this week in
Yerevan. They brought together international experts and
representatives of various Armenian governmental bodies dealing with
international labor migration.
The events were organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan and the
Armenian Ministry of Labour and Social Issues and financially
supported by the United Kingdom.
During the events, the OSCE Office presented the results of its
review of Armenian legislation and administrative framework related
to international migration and examples of best practices from other
countries, as well as preliminary results of a nation-wide
sociological survey of households on labour migration. The Ministry
of Labour and Social Issues presented its labour migration strategy.
“Labour migration in Armenia is an important and challenging issue,”
said Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, the Head of the OSCE Office in
Yerevan. “During the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Armenians left
the country in search of work. At the same time, this migration has
helped to bridge Armenia’s worst economic downturn.”
“The issue of labour migration remains one of the biggest concerns of
the Armenian Government,” said Ashot Yesayan, First Deputy Minister
of Labour and Social Issues. “We welcome the expertise of the OSCE
Office in this area.”
According to the findings of a recent survey, 14 % of households in
Armenia have been involved in labour migration in the past three
years and in more than half of the cases, the length of stay abroad
varied between 5 and 9 months.
“In recent years, Armenia’s economic growth has been robust and there
is a need to develop sound policies that will enable labour mobility
and also ensure conditions in which jobs are created at home,” said
Blanka Hancilova, Democratization Officer at the OSCE Office.
International migration is one of the OSCE priorities this year and
the main theme of the Thirteenth Economic Forum to be held in Prague
in May.

Key links and documents:
ARMENIAN VERSION

For further information, please contact:

Gohar Avagyan
OSCE Office in Yerevan

89 Teryan St.
375009, Yerevan
Armenia
Tel.: +374 1 54 10 62
+374 1 54 58 45

Fax: +374 1 54 10 61

AYF TO ORGANIZE PROTEST IN FRONT OF TURKISH CONSULATE IN LOS ANGELES
ON APRIL 23
GLENDALE, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian Youth Federation Western
United States Garo Madenlian Public Affairs Office announced, that on
Saturday April 23rd the AYF will organize a large-scale protest in
front of the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles. “Our protest will
demand justice from the Turkish government,” said Marie Minassian,
Director of the 2004 Protest. “For 90 years the Turkish Government has
cowardly avoided responsibility for the Genocide,” explained
Minassian. The protest, which has taken place now for close to thirty
years, is where thousands of Armenian-Americans, particularly Armenian
youth converge to demand justice for the Armenian Genocide. “The
Armenian Genocide is not debatable, it is a historical fact,” said
Shant Baboujian, chairman of the AYF Western Region. “This year marks
the 90th anniversary of the genocide and with each passing year we
grow bolder and more adamant in our demands for its proper
recognition, for the return of our lands in Western Armenia, and for
the proper allocation of reparations to the Armenians,” explained
Baboujian.

Pan Armenian News
EVENTS ON 90-TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN OTTOMAN TURKEY CONTINUE
IN POLAND
09.04.2005 04:04
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ April 10 and 17 events on the occasion of the
90-th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey will be
held in Krakow Polish city, Krakow Monastery Archimandrite Tadeush
Isahakian-Zalezsky told PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent. In his words,
the meeting of religious representatives of Poland, as well as the
Armenian Catholics will be held in the Warsaw Old City April 10. As
noted the by Archimandrite, Armenian clergy not only from Poland,
but also Ukraine will be present at the event in St. Mikolaj church in
Krakow April 17. On that day prayers will be read next to the Kharchkar
erected in the churchyard last year. In Isahakian-Zalezsky’s words,
the Association of Armenians of Poland has organized the events.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMAN MELIKIAN AND ANDRZEJ KASPRCZIK DISCUSS SITUATION ON CONTACT LINE OF ARMED FORCES OF NKR AND AZERBAIJAN
STEPANAKERT, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Arman Melikian, the NKR Foreign
Minister and Andrzej Kasprczik, the personal representative of the
OSCE Chairman-in-Office, discussed the situation on the contact line
of armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan and prospects of
settlement of the Karabakh conflict at the meeting taken place in
the NKR Foreign Ministry. As Noyan Tapan was informed from the NKR
Foreign Ministry’s Information and Analytical Department, the two
also discussed a number of other issues of mutual interest.

GEDIMINAS KIRKILAS: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BY LITHUANIA
WOULD HAVE BEEN RIGHT STEP
07.04.2005 07:25
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ «We the politicians should work for the Genocide
not to repeat,» head of the defense department of Lithuania Gedeminas
Kirkilas stated. In his words, everyone should condemn the Genocide.
«We want to contribute to Armenia in accession to the EU for wars
and genocides not to repeat in the future,» he noted. The Lithuanian
Minister informed that no document on acknowledgement of the Armenian
Genocide circulates in Lithuania, however he as a politician considers
that the acknowledgement of the Genocide by Lithuania would have been
a right step, Regnum news agency reported.
–Boundary_(ID_FzCqAqqTWxBbLnn+I361vQ)–

AZERI AND ARMENIAN STUDENTS TO MEET IN FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY
07.04.2005 04:12
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ April 6 a forum devoted to the Azeri culture
will be held in the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy,
Massachusetts. Armenian and Azeri students of the School will take part
in the forum, reported Vugar Mamedov, a student of the School, leader
of West, South, Asian and Caucasian Forum. Political scientists and
conflict specialists will also participate in the meeting. It should be
noted that the Fletcher School has been organizing «events on dialogue
of cultures» between Azeri and Armenian students for a long period
of time. The forum is headed by Fletcher School professor, political
scientist Andrew Hess. A similar event was last held March 10.
–Boundary_(ID_ZHeHr1fVS5FS6VNxKviTeg)–

MULTI-LISTING SYSTEM OF REAL ESTATE SALES INTRODUCED FOR FIRST TIME IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The National Association of Realtors and
Valuers (NARV) introduced for the first time a multi-listing system
(MLS) of real estate sales in Armenia. According to director of the
NARV Realtor Activities Committee Gayane Madatian, MLS is a real
estate database collected by a group of brokers. She explained that
in order to sell or rent real estate through the system, an exclusive
contract has to be signed with the real estate company, which means
that the client temporarily transfers his/her property right to the
given company. The real estate company is obliged to advertize this
real estate and spread a maximum of information about it among buyers
and realtors. If the client does not sign an exclusive contract,
the real estate agency considers the data on property to be its
inner information and does not spread it. According to G. Madatian,
the firm tries to sell the real estate at the highest possible price
which corresponds to market demands. The exclusive contract aslo
determines the brokerage payment to be made to the firm – in the
amount of 2.5-5% of the sale price of the real estate. The average
term of a contract is 3-6 months. It was noted that if the client
rejects the contract prematurely, he/she shall pay 2% of the sale
price. The NARV representative announced that over the last 12 months,
about 180 exclusive contracts have been signed by 28 organizations –
the assocciation members.

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
April 6, 2005
___________________
FR. BEDROS ORDAINED IN NEW YORK CITY
By Jake Goshert
Tears of joy were visible on the faces of Ara Kadehjian’s family as they
approached to kiss his hand. Their joy was understandable, since in the
past few moments they had seen their son, husband, and brother reborn as
Fr. Bedros.
His ordination to the priesthood on Saturday and Sunday, April 2 and 3,
2005, was the culmination of years of work, study, and devotion. But it
was not the end of his responsibility.
“Fr. Bedros, an important responsibility is now given to you. You are
going to be a leader of the Armenian Church in this new era in this
blessed land of America,” said Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, who ordained
Fr. Bedros at New York City’s St. Vartan Cathedral. “This ancient but
living Armenian Church is in your hands, in our hands. Now you are one
of the ones with the responsibility for not only preserving our ancient
heritage, but adding something on top of it.”
The son of Papken and Shaken Kadehjian, Fr. Bedros and his wife, Yn.
Tina, recently had their first child: a daughter, Arev. Charles
Pinajian, a parish leader from the St. Leon Church of Fair Lawn, served
as godfather of Fr. Bedros’ ordination, and Fr. Mardiros Chevian, dean
of St. Vartan Cathedral, was the sponsoring priest. Fr. Bedros’
ordination was praised by his family, ordination godfather, and
sponsoring priest, as well as other leaders of the Armenian Church,
under whom Fr. Bedros studied and grew.
“It’s a great joy whenever a young man comes forward and receives the
sweet yoke of the Lord, to serve His church,” said Fr. Daniel Findikyan,
dean of St. Nersess Seminary. “It must be a great sign of the life that
comes from the Easter season when we see a young man who works and
studies so he could serve our church.”
Fr. Bedros is now in his traditional 40-day seclusion at the seminary.
He will celebrate his first Divine Liturgy at St. Vartan Cathedral on
May 15.
SHARING A PASSION
During the banquet following his ordination, Fr. Bedros spoke about
clergymen as friends and guides, sharing their love of Christ with those
around him. Quoting a passage from the book “Sleepers” by Lorenzo
Carcaterra, he read about a priest in a tough New York City parish who
loved blues music and comic books, and bought pizza for the poor
children he served.
“This priest was able to share his faith with young people. Young
people do look up to priests and there were many priests who were role
models for me,” Fr. Bedros said, citing Fr. Vahan Hovhanessian and Fr.
Nareg Berberian — both of whom knew Fr. Bedros as a young man growing
up at St. Vartan Cathedral and in Queens — as two priests who showed an
interest in growing the next generation of clergy. “They didn’t make us
feel like they were high and above us. They just opened up my eyes more
to see the possibility of going into the priesthood.”
It was their encouragement, and that of then-dean of St. Nersess
Seminary, Dn. Hratch Tchilingirian, that lead Fr. Bedros to the
priesthood after a trip to Armenia.
“Sometimes priests receive ‘the call’ after something tragic or
extraordinary, or after seeing a vision,” Fr. Bedros said. “But I
believe the Holy Spirit works in many different and mysterious ways. He
can even work through other clergy and lay leaders, and that’s how ‘the
call’ occurred with me — by people taking an interest and encouraging
me to pursue the priesthood.”
DOMELESS CHAPEL
Fr. Bedros recognized the importance and power of the church inside a
run-down, dirty, roofless neighborhood chapel in the small Armenian town
of Abaran. He had traveled to the newly-independent Armenia in 1992 as
part of St. Nersess Seminary’s Mission to Armenia. The group traveled
around the country, cleaning, rehabilitating, and holding services in
churches long-shuttered by the communist authorities.
During the trip, the young participants in the program — seminarians
and altar servers — would stay in the homes of locals. In Abaran, Fr.
Bedros and another altar server from St. Vartan Cathedral stayed in the
home of a woman who had keys to a small neighborhood church. The two
visitors asked the woman to take them inside the long-closed church,
whose dome and cross had been torn down by communist atheists to show
that religion was no longer important.
Word quickly spread through the village and the two altar servers
quickly found themselves surrounded by the villagers, eager to have some
sort of worship service. So they began singing the deacon and choir
parts of the Divine Liturgy.
“When you see the somberness in the room, and you see the way little
kids were standing at attention with candles they ran home to get, it
does something to your heart and soul that I can’t describe in words,”
Fr. Bedros said. “These types of events, they just do something to you.
You can really feel the Holy Spirit when you’re there, surrounded by
people and sharing your faith with them.”
UNITING A COMMUNITY
Building a community and sharing his love for the church is what Fr.
Bedros sees as his mission as a priest. His current work as the interim
coordinator of the Diocese’s Mission Parish Project has brought home to
him that parishes serve different types of people: American-born,
Armenians who have settled in America years ago, more recent immigrants,
and non-Armenians.
“The challenge to clergy is that we have to talk and serve and work with
all these people and become one family,” Fr. Bedros said. “We have to
make the Armenian Church talk to us and become a part of our lives.
Priests have to engage people, to help them feel the same love and
devotion we have for our faith.”
E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News
and Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,
PHOTO CAPTION (1): Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese
of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), puts priestly vestments on
newly ordained Fr. Bedros Kadehjian during his ordination on Sunday,
April 3, 2005, at New York City’s St. Vartan Cathedral.
PHOTO CAPTION (2): Charles Pinajian, who served as godfather, and Fr.
Mardiros Chevian, dean of St. Vartan cathedral and the sponsoring
priest, look on during the ordination of Fr. Bedros Kadehjian.
PHOTO CAPTION (3): Archbishop Barsamian anoints Fr. Bedros Kadehjian
during the second day of his two-day ordination service at St. Vartan
Cathedral in New York.
PHOTO CAPTION (4): The newly-ordained Fr. Bedros Kadehjian addresses
the crowd inside New York City’s St. Vartan Cathedral on Sunday, April
3, 2005.
PHOTO CAPTION (5): Family and friends line up to kiss the hand of Fr.
Bedros Kadehjian following his priestly ordination by Archbishop Khajag
Barsamian on Sunday, April 3, 2005.
PHOTO CAPTION (6): Archbishop Barsamian blesses Yn. Tina Kadehjian
during her husband’s priestly ordination at St. Vartan Cathedral on
Sunday, April 3, 2005.
PHOTO CAPTION (7): Yn. Tina Kadehjian and the parents of Fr. Bedros —
Papken and Shaken Kadehjian — watch the ordination ceremony at St.
Vartan Cathedral on Sunday, April 3, 2005.
PHOTO CAPTION (8): Fr. Bedros Kadehjian blesses the crowd at a banquet
honoring him following his ordination to the priesthood by Archbishop
Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese, in New York City’s St.
Vartan Cathedral on Sunday, April 3, 2005.
— 4/6/05
# # #

The Great Unifier
BY JAROSLAV PELIKAN, OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
The New York Times
April 4, 2005
New Haven – On June 3, 1979, a few months after Cardinal Karol
Wojtyla became the first Slavic pope, he set out as the vision of his
pontificate “that this Polish pope, this Slav pope, should at this
precise moment manifest the spiritual unity of Christian Europe,”
even though “there are two great traditions, that of the West and
that of the East,” with roots in Old Rome and “in the New Rome,
at Constantinople.”
He spoke these words at a time when all the Slavic peoples, whether
Orthodox or Catholic (or Protestant) were subject to the atheist
tyranny of Marxism-Leninism, and one of his principal contributions
to the realization of that vision was, in his native Poland but
with ripple effects throughout the Soviet empire, to help set in
motion powerful impulses of the mind and spirit – and of the Spirit
-that would bring down the walls and topple the regimes. The relative
importance of that contribution in comparison with Mikhail Gorbachev’s
glasnost and Ronald Reagan’s defiance will continue to be debated by
historians. But he did manage, by a curious form of divine irony,
to answer the question attributed long before to Stalin: “How many
divisions does the pope command?” The spiritual rebirth of all the
churches of Slavic Europe, which is going on even as we speak, is a
major consequence of that revolution.
With several Eastern churches his vision of spiritual unity has
made significant progress. With the Assyrian Church of the East,
traditionally referred to as the Nestorian Church, he signed a
declaration in 1994 in which it was agreed that “the controversies of
the past led to anathemas” and that “the divisions brought about in
this way were due in large part to misunderstandings.” Two years later,
in 1996, he signed a similar declaration with Catholicos Karekin I of
the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, acknowledging that “linguistic,
cultural and political factors have immensely contributed towards the
theological divergences that have found expression in their terminology
of formulating their doctrines” and expressing the shared “hope for
and commitment to recovery of full communion between them.” There have
been several noteworthy expressions of mutual charity and respectful
visits between this pope and Bartholomew, the ecumenical patriarch of
Constantinople, cordial enough to elicit criticism from isolationist
elements in the various Orthodox churches.
The least progress toward reconciliation has occurred in relations
with the Orthodox Church of Russia. The end of Communist rule has
brought with it a rebirth of the rivalry and mutual recrimination that
have been tearing Slavic Europe apart ever since its conversion to
Christianity more than a millennium ago by St. Cyril and St. Methodius
of Thessalonica. The Venerable Bede gave the Gospel credit for unifying
the peoples of Britain, but we Slavs are the only people to have been
divided by the Gospel: whether to follow Cyril and Methodius in their
affiliation with Constantinople (and therefore a Slavonic liturgy and
autonomous national churches), or to follow them in their appeal to
the authority of the bishop of Rome (and therefore a Latin liturgy
and the centralized authority of the papacy).
The Bulgarians, Russians, Serbs and Ukrainians chose the first
alternative; Croats, Czechs, Poles and Slovaks the second. The most
ambitious attempt to heal that schism came in 1596, with the Union of
Brest, in which several dioceses of the Church of Ukraine accepted
the authority of the papacy while retaining their own liturgy and
canon law. But the adherents of this union (disparagingly named
“Uniats”) have also been a major source of hostility between East
and West. Ruthlessly persecuted by Stalin and forcibly reunited to
the Orthodox patriarchate of Moscow, they regained their freedom and
their properties only after the fall of Communism.
But as a consequence of the latter-day struggle over those properties
and, more broadly, of obstreperous tactics from all directions,
everyone’s old suspicions have been confirmed. After decades of
neglect (and worse), churches were in serious disrepair, but whose
responsibility was it to put them back into shape for worship,
the Orthodox or the Greek Catholics? As in any ancient feud, it is
impossible to roll things back to status quo ante and to fix the blame.
For the old pope, this dispute was a major source of heartbreak. As he
said to me at Castel Gandolfo a few months after I had been received
into the Orthodox Church, he always believed that ever since the schism
of 1054, “Western Christendom has been breathing on one lung.” But,
he was implying, so has Eastern Christendom! When so many of the
historic sources of division between them have proved to be negotiable
(even the central doctrinal question of the source of the Holy Spirit)
and when, in the encyclical “Ut Unum Sint” (“That They May Be One”),
this pope opened the question of papal primacy up for discussion, one
cannot escape the feeling that everyone has missed a great opportunity.
Schisms, like divorces, take a long time to develop – and
reconciliations take even longer. It will be a celebration of the
legacy of Pope John Paul II and an answer to his prayers (and to those
of all Christians, beginning with their Lord himself) if the Eastern
and Western churches can produce the necessary mixture of charity and
sincere effort to continue to work toward the time when they all may
be one.
Jaroslav Pelikan, professor emeritus of history at Yale, is the author
of the five-volume history “The Christian Tradition.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“Strong authorities, week opposition in Azerbaijan” – OSCE chairman
Baku, April 2, AssA-Irada
Ways of settling the Upper Garabagh conflict and parliamentary
elections due in Azerbaijan this November were discussed by the OSCE
chairman-in-office Dimitrij Rupel and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku on Saturday.
Rupel told a news briefing following the meeting that the OSCE would
like for peace talks to intensify. The OSCE chairman said that during
the meeting Mammadyarov expressed “new and interesting views”, which
need to be discussed with Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian.
Touching upon the parliamentary elections, Rupel noted that he has
presented to Mammadyarov several OSCE proposals, but did not elaborate.
“There are very strong authorities and week opposition in Azerbaijan,”
said Rupel, underlining that the OSCE will express equal attitude both
towards the authorities and opposition and try to achieve conduct of
fair and free elections.
The goal of Rupel’s visit to Azerbaijan as part of his tour of
the South Caucasus region is to get familiar with the current
socio-political situation in the country and preparations for the
upcoming parliamentary elections, as well as to discuss the Upper
Garabagh conflict and ceasefire violations.*