Author: Khondkarian Raffi

AZG Armenian Daily #064, 12/04/2005
Home
TIGRAN TOROSIAN: THERE IS NO GROUND FOR ‘VELVET’ REVOLUTION IN ARMENUIA
Tigran Torosian, deputy chairman of the National Assembly, was yesterday’s
speaker at the National Press Club. He refuted in his speech all statements
of local and international analysts concerning an approaching “velvet”
revolution in Armenia. He assured that there is no ground for revolution in
Armenia and reminded foreign analysts that “velvet” revolutions, as a rule,
are always connected with elections, therefore there is no use waiting for
an upheaval as the next elections in Armenia will be held only in 2007 and
2008. Instead, he suggested not to confuse Armenia with neighboring
Azerbaijan which will go through election this fall.
“A temporary commission for discussing the Karabakh issue is envisaged to be
set within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in April of
2005. It will include parliamentarians from the countries of the OSCE Minsk
group”, Tigran Torosian said and reminded that the January resolution of
PACE has a clause according to which the PACE will return to discussions of
the Karabakh issue in 2006.
The deputy chairman was displeased that some political parties within the
country play on separate articles of the PACE January resolution. He thinks
that the resolution “opens broad perspectives for an efficient settlement of
the conflict”.
By Nana Petrosian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenpress
YEGHISHE CHARENTS MUSEUM TO OPEN ALAN HOVHANNES STUDIES CENTER
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS: The director of Yeghishe Charents Museum
in Yerevan, Henrik Bakhshinian, told Armenpress that after a major repair
the museum, which features the life and the works of prominent Armenian
poet, will open a special center for studying the legacy of
American-Armenian composer Alan Hovhaness.
Alan Hovhannes became acclaimed for his talent to meld Western and Asian
musical styles creating a unique melodic blend of his own. He died in June
2000 at the age 89.
Hovhaness wrote more than 400 pieces, including at least nine operas, two
ballets, more than 60 symphonies, and more than 100 chamber pieces.
He was born Alan Vaness Chamakjian, in Somerville, Massachusetts, in
1911. His mother was Scottish and his father, an Armenian chemistry
professor.
His early compositions were thoroughly Western. But the influences of
Eastern musical styles became more evident after he attended Bohuslav
Martinu’s master class in composition in 1942 at the Berkshire Music Center
at Tanglewood.
Hovhaness was the first Western composer asked to write music for an
orchestra comprised entirely of Indian instruments.

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 1) 517 163
Fax: (374 1) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
April 11, 2005
His Holiness Karekin II Leads Armenian Church Delegation at Funeral of Pope
John Paul II
His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians,
accompanied by an official delegation of the government of the Republic of
Armenia, arrived in Rome on April 7 to participate in the funeral rites for
His Holiness Pope John Paul II, the 264th successor to the Apostolic See of
St. Peter.
At Ciampino Airport, the Pontiff of All Armenians was met by a special
commission of high-ranking Vatican officials and Rev. Fr. Aren Shahinian,
parish priest for the Italian Armenian Apostolic community.
>From the airport, His Holiness was escorted to the Vatican and St. Peter’s
Cathedral, where he offered his prayers up to heaven standing before the
body of John Paul II, lying in state.
On the morning of April 8, Holy Mass commenced in St. Peter’s Cathedral.
According to the traditions of the Catholic Church, 164 cardinals
simultaneously celebrated the three-hour long mass. His Eminence Joseph
Cardinal Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals, presided during the
funeral services for the Roman Pontiff.
Present for the services were 70 heads of state, delegations from nearly 200
countries, and leaders and representatives of sister Churches, including
Ecumenical Patriarch His Holiness Bartholomew II; Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Patriarch His Holiness Abba Paulos; Archbishop of Athens and Greece His
Beatitude Christodoulos; and Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Kyrill, among
others.
Following the funeral services, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger greeted the
Ecumenical delegations which had arrived in the Vatican from throughout the
world.
Representing the Armenian Church at the funeral of His Holiness John Paul II
were: His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All
Armenians; His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia;
His Beatitude Archbishop Mesrob Mutafian, Armenian Patriarch of
Constantinople; His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern); His Grace Bishop Nareg
Alemezian, Director for Inter-Church Relations of the Catholicosate of
Cilicia; Rev. Fr. Aren Shahinian, parish priest of Italy; and Rev. Fr.
Geghard Vahuni, Staff-bearer of the Catholicos of All Armenians.
His Holiness Karekin II returned to the Mother See on April 9.

Glendale News Press
April 11 2005
Newly elected to take office
City and school officials to repeat their oaths tonight; City Council
to select new Glendale mayor.
By Robert Chacon, News-Press and Leader
GLENDALE — Victors of Tuesday’s election will take office tonight,
ending the most hotly contested race for City Council in Glendale’s
history. And a new mayor of Glendale will be chosen.
Newly-elected city and school officials will be ushered into their
seats after they take the oath of office. And the City Council will
choose a new mayor to serve for the next year.
Three Glendale Community College trustees, a city clerk, city
treasurer and four councilmen will deliver their oath of office at 8
p.m. in City Council chambers. And newly-elected members of the
Glendale Unified School District, who will have been sworn in at a
ceremony earlier in the day, will be introduced.
There were many historic components to the race of 43 candidates for
12 offices. It was the first time 19 names have ever appeared on a
City Council ballot and the first in more than half a century that
voters selected four out of five council members. It’s also the first
time that more than two candidates have raised more than $100,000 for
their campaigns. This year, four of them broke the $100,000 barrier.
It’s also the first open race for city clerk since 1929, which led
nine candidates to compete for that spot — the largest clerk field
in the city’s history. Another first encompassed the amounts those
candidates raised.
But tonight the city’s new leaders will look forward as they elect
the city’s next mayor.
Rafi Manoukian, who has been a councilman since 1999, is expected to
be that next mayor. Typically, the chairman of the Redevelopment
Agency is voted into the mayor’s seat, but with the departure of Gus
Gomez, who resigned to take a judgeship earlier this year, that
designation is Manoukian’s, the vice chair of the agency.
Though the mayoral rotation has remained consistent over the years,
Manoukian is not counting his chickens before they hatch.
“Nothing is certain until the votes are cast,” said Manoukian, who
has already served one stint as mayor in 2001-02.
It takes three votes from the council to approve a choice for mayor,
and the council has rarely faltered in approving the next in line.
“It has happened, but I cannot think of the last time that it did
happen,” outgoing Mayor Bob Yousefian said. “It’s a matter of if you
can muster up three votes.”
The process will begin with a nomination from one of the councilmen.
A vote will then be taken and repeated until a new mayor is chosen.
The new mayor will preside over the remainder of the meeting.
Ardashes Kassakhian, who is replacing Doris Twedt as city clerk, will
perform the procedure. Though this will be his first function as city
clerk, it will go smoothly he said, adding that he will prepare by
watching videos of past mayoral selections.
“I have been going to City Hall since the election,” he said. “I have
met with folks in the management office and staff in the clerk’s
office. Doris has been very helpful. I’m crossing my fingers and
hoping there are no kinks.”
The mayor’s role requires considerably more time than being a
councilman, Yousefian said.
“People don’t realize how difficult it is to be mayor,” he said. “It
is extremely time consuming, and by the end of the year, they are
usually ready to hand over the gavel to someone else. I am in exactly
the same position.”
Yousefian will cast his vote in favor of Manoukian becoming the next
mayor, he said, citing his past experience in the position.
“At this point, I would want to be mayor,” Manoukian said. “Who
wouldn’t want to serve their city in this capacity?”
* ROBERT CHACON covers La Cañada Flintridge and La Crescenta. He may
be reached at (818) 637-3239 or by e-mail at
[email protected].

NEW FOREIGN SHAREHOLDER OF INECOBANK TO BE ANNOUNCED IN TWO WEEKS
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Inecobank will make public the name of
its new shareholder in two weeks. NT correspondent was informed from
the bank’s marketing department that this is a large internationally
recognized foreign company. It was also noted that Inecobank will
issue new shares in this connection. According to preliminary
information, sales of new shares worth 1.5 mln USD are envisaged.

ARMENIAN DM CONFIRMS CAPTURE OF ARMENIAN SOLDIER BY AZERI SIDE
Arminfo
YEREVAN, APRIL 7. ARMINFO. Armenia’s Defence Ministry has confirmed
the reported capture of an Armenian soldier by the Azeri side.
DM press secretary Seyran Shahsuvaryan says that the Defence Minister
is making personal effort to have the soldier released.
To remind, the international task group for missing, hostages and
POWs in the zone of the Karabakh conflict reported Wednesday that
an Armenian soldier T.Z., 20, was captured in Noyemberyan district
(Armenia) Apr 1. Shahsuvaryan says that the soldier left his unit
without permission and got lost. He went in the wrong direction and
was captured as a result. The soldier was not armed. “So the Azeri
version of activities by some Armenian subversive group are not true,”
says Shahsuvaryan.

Armenia fails to free Azeri POWs – agency
Trend news agency
8 Apr 05
Baku, 8 April, Trend correspondent E. Huseynov: The planned handover
by the Armenian side of three Azerbaijani servicemen did not take
place, Gulnaz Quliyeva, press secretary of the Baku office of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, has told Trend news agency.
The handover of the three servicemen held by the Armenian side
since 15 February should have taken place on 7 April. To that end,
representatives of the Baku office of the International Committee of
the Red Cross [ICRC], the Azerbaijani state commission for prisoners
of war and missing persons, as well as representatives of the Xankandi
[Stepanakert] office of the ICRC arrived in Barda.
The Baku office of the ICRC has not revealed the reason for the
failure of the handover.
We regret that the handover of Xayal Abdullayev, Hikmat Quliyev and
Ruslan Bakirov did not take place, but we hope that this will happen
soon, Quliyeva pointed out and added that this depends only on the
side that holds the prisoners.
The Baku office of the ICRC declined to comment on the Armenian
media reports that an Armenian serviceman has been in Azerbaijani
captivity since 1 April. The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry and the
state commission for prisoners of war and missing persons have not
confirmed the report about the Armenian prisoner either.

Council newcomer outpolls all; Weaver squeaks in
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Najarian No. 1 in votes
Los Angeles Daily News
Thursday, April 07, 2005
GLENDALE — After ballot-counting that went into the wee hours,
Glendale College trustee Ara Najarian and three incumbents emerged
Wednesday as the winners of four open City Council seats.
Najarian, 44, received more than 10 percent of all votes cast in
the election, which drew higher-than-average turnout — about 26,100
of the city’s 101,200 registered voters. About half the voters used
absentee ballots.
Mayor Bob Yousefian received the second-most votes, followed by
Councilman Frank Quintero. Fourth-place finisher Councilman Dave Weaver
will serve two years, closing out the term of Councilman Gus Gomez,
who left in January after he was elected to the Superior Court bench.
“I never thought I would be the top vote-getter, but the only thing
I can attribute it to is running a positive, clean campaign, just
trying to reach a broad swath across the community,” said Najarian,
an attorney who campaigned on traffic and development issues.
City Clerk candidate Ardashes Kassakhian, who established his lead
during early returns Tuesday night, defeated eight other candidates
to capture a post that has not previously had an open election for
75 years. Current clerk Doris Twedt is retiring.
“The support we’ve gotten has been such a humbling experience,” said
Kassakhian. “There were difficult times and there were good times,
but after today, the real work needs to begin.”
City Treasurer Ron Borucki handily defeated challenger Phillip
Kazanjian.
Voters also approved 21 City Charter amendments that officials said
generally are designed to clean up outdated provisions.
All of the election winners will be sworn in Monday night, when the
council also will elect a new mayor.
In the nine-candidate race for three Glendale Unified School District
board seats, incumbents Greg Krikorian and Chuck Sambar were re-elected
and substitute teacher Joylene Wagner will fill the seat vacated by
Lina Harper.
Glendale Community College trustees Victor King, Armine Hacopian and
Anita Gabrielian all were re-elected, edging out their only competitor,
medical receptionist Linda Sheffield.
This year’s city election distinguished itself from others in city
history with its record number of candidates — 42 — and aggressive
fundraising.
Of the four elected to the council, Najarian and Yousefian were among
the top fundraisers, each collecting more than $100,000.
But money wasn’t the deciding factor for some voters.
Vrej Agajanian, who raised more than $116,000, finished in 10th place.
City clerk candidate Paulette Mardikian, who with the help of a loan
from her husband raised more than $90,000, finished in fourth place.
School board candidate Maria Rochart raised nearly $60,000 — the
most of all the board candidates — and finished sixth.
With the elections, the city of 200,000 residents — about 80,000
of them Armenian — now has a council with three members of Armenian
descent.
“It’s a reflection of the community. It’s no different if there were
80,000 Koreans in Glendale. We’d probably have three Koreans on the
council,” Yousefian said. “But we have to recognize that the ones who
got in were the ones who had votes in all sectors of the community, so
once again it’s been proven that you need the support of all parties,
not just Armenians, to win.”
Naush Boghossian, (818) 546-3306 [email protected]
,1413,200~20946~2802790,00.html

RA PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES ARMENIAN WOMEN
YEREVAN, April 7. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharyan has
congratulated Armenian women on the Day of Motherhood and Beauty.
According to the RA presidential press service, his message the
President said that this holiday is another occasion “to express our
filial gratitude to our mothers.” “I wish you to have strong families,
bring up children worthy of mothers’ feelings and aspirations,” the
President said. According to the RA President, it is the basis of
strength of our society and long existence of the Armenian people. “I
congratulate you on this beautiful spring holiday and wish that love
and warmth reign in our homes,” the President’s message says.

Turks’ EU enthusiasm on the wane: survey
EUbusiness
07/04/2005
The majority of Turks are in favour of their country’s bid to join the
European Union, but the traditionally strong support for membership
has fallen off, according to a public opinion poll published in Turkey
on Thursday.
The survey, conducted last week among 3,302 people by the Pollmark
research company, found that 63.5 percent of the population backed EU
membership, a decline of about 10 percentage points from a similar
survey carried out by Pollmark last June, the Milliyet newspaper
reported.
The Turks’ support for EU membership has been measured between 70
and 80 percent in recent years.
The fall off in support is a result of rising nationalist sentiments,
fuelled by debates over Kurdish rights, the Cyprus conflict and
international pressure on Ankara to recognize as genocide the killings
of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, the coordinator of the Pollmark
survey, Ihsan Dagi, said.
Turkey is set to begin membership talks on October 3.