Author: Madatian Greg

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WESTERN DIOCESE E-NEWSLETTER
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Diocesan News
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PRIMATE OFFERS OPENING PRAYER IN THE CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY
Thanks State Leadership for their consistent support; Genocide
Resolution adopted by State Assembly

On Monday April 9th, 2007 His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian,
Primate of the Western Diocese, offered the opening prayer for the
California State Assembly. The Primate was in Sacramento as part of a
delegation that traveled to the state capitol to support the passage
of Assembly Joint Resolution 15 (AJR 15), which declares April 24th,
2007 an Official Day of Remembrance in California.
( story.php?id=407)

PRIMATE OFFERS OPENING PRAYER IN THE CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY
Thanks State Leadership for their consistent support; Genocide
Resolution adopted by State Assembly

On Monday April 9th, 2007 His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian,
Primate of the Western Diocese, offered the opening prayer for the
California State Assembly. The Primate was in Sacramento as part of a
delegation that traveled to the state capitol to support the passage
of Assembly Joint Resolution 15 (AJR 15), which declares April 24th,
2007 an Official Day of Remembrance in California.
( story.php?id=407)

PRIMATE’S OFFICIAL VISIT TO HOLY ETCHMIADZIN
12 Priests Ordained by Abp. Hovnan Derderian

It is with spiritual joy that we convey to our Pastors, Parish
Councils, Diocesan Delegates, and faithful that upon the invitation of
His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, our Primate
visited the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and ordained 12 deacons to
the Priesthood on Sunday April 15th.
( php?id=416)

PRIMATE MEETS WITH YOUTH REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE DIOCESES OF ARMENIA,
ARTSAKH, AND GEORGIA

On April 16th His Eminence Abp. Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the
Western Diocese, presided of a meeting of youth representatives
regarding the ongoing mission to establish an International Armenian
Church Youth Organization.
( s/story.php?id=417)

PRIMATE OF THE WESTERN DIOCESE VISITS TWIN TOWERS CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
Celebrates Divine Liturgy

On April 19th, upon the invitation of Sheriff Leroy D. Baca, His
Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western Diocese,
made a pastoral visitation to the Twin Towers Correctional
Facility. Accompanying the Primate were Fr. Vazken Movsessian, Pastor
of St. Peter Armenian Church Youth Center in Glendale, Mashdots
Chobanian, and Dn. Mkrtich Ksachikyan.
( story.php?id=409)

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATED BY THE LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL

April 20th was a memorable day for the Armenian American community of
the Greater Los Angeles Area. Through the initiative of Los Angeles
Council President, Honorable Eric Garcetti, a great friend of the
Western Diocese, the Armenian Genocide was commemorated by the Los
Angeles City Council.
( ry.php?id=415)

DIOCESE MOURNS THE LOSS OF MR. JAMES ALJIAN

It is with deep sorrow that the Western Diocese informs the faithful
of the passing of Mr. James Aljian.
( y.php?id=413)

DIOCESE MOURNS THE PASSING OF MR. JOHN STEVENS

It is in mourning that the Western Diocese informs the faithful of the
passing of Mr. John Stevens, a well know benefactors of Holy
Etchmiadzin, the Western Diocese, and St. Paul Armenian Church of
Fresno.
( tory.php?id=414)

PRIMATE’S APRIL 24TH SCHEDULE

The Primate is scheduled to participate in events related to the 92nd
Anniversary of the Armenian- Genocide throughout the Los Angeles
area. Please find the schedule below. For more information regarding
these events please visit or contact the
Western Diocese at 818-558-7474.
( s/story.php?id=410)

Upcoming Events
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4/25: Ecumenical Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide
( /detail.php?id=56)
4/27: Armenian Shabbat
( detail.php?id=53)
5/2: 80th Annual Diocesan Assembly
( /detail.php?id=52)
5/11: YerazArt in Concert at the Western Diocese
( detail.php?id=58)

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Th e Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, providing
spiritual guidance and leadership to the Armenian Apostolic community,
is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt organization comprised of 47
churches in 16 western states. It was established in 1898 as the
Diocese of the Armenian Church encompassing the entire United States
and Canada. In 1927 the Western Diocese was formed to exclusivly serve
the western United States.

3325 North Glenoaks Blvd. Burbank, CA 91504
Tel: (818) 558-7474 Fax: (818) 558-6333
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

BUSH COMMEMORATES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

United Press International
Washington Times
April 24 2007

WASHINGTON April 24 (UPI) — U.S. President George W. Bush marked
the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians, calling the mass killings among
"the greatest tragedies of the 20th century."

"All who cherish freedom and value the sanctity of human life look
back on these horrific events in sorrow and disbelief," Bush said in
a statement Tuesday.

The mass deaths occurred in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire,
and Turkey has worked hard to keep the world from labeling the
killings genocide.

"Each year on this day, we pause to remember the victims of one of the
greatest tragedies of the 20th century, when as many as 1.5 million
Armenians lost their lives in the final years of the Ottoman Empire,
many of them victims of mass killings and forced exile," Bush said.

"The world must never forget this painful chapter of its history."

THE POLITICS OF SAYING ‘GENOCIDE’
By Matt Welch, MATT WELCH is The Times’ assistant editorial pages editor

Los Angeles Times, CA
April 22 2007

More than 90 years after the Armenian genocide, the U.S. is deadlocked
in a humiliating linguistic debate.

ON TUESDAY, President Bush will be obliged, by law, to wrap his
double-talking mouth around one of the most curiously persistent
debates in modern geopolitics: Whether to call a 92-year-old genocide a
"genocide."

Every April 24 since 1994, the U.S. president has delivered a
proclamation honoring the people Congress has declared to be "the
victims of genocide, especially the 1 1/2 million people of Armenian
ancestry who were the victims of the genocide perpetrated in Turkey
between 1915 and 1923." And every year since 1994, the U.S. president
has managed to do it without once uttering the G-word. It’s a ritual
of linguistic realpolitik in deference to the massive objections from
Washington’s important NATO ally, Turkey.

But 2007 may be the year that the cop-out finally blows up in a
president’s face. What was once the obscure obsession of marginalized
immigrants from a powerless little Caucasus country has blossomed
in recent years into a force that has grown increasingly difficult
to ignore. In 2000, the Armenian issue helped fuel one of the most
expensive House races in U.S. history; two years ago, it turned a
mild-mannered career U.S. diplomat into an unlikely truth-telling
martyr. Now the question of how to address these long-ago events is
having an impact on next month’s elections in Turkey.

What’s more, Congress appears poised to vote on a resolution urging
the president to say the words "Armenian genocide" when observing
the awkwardly named "National Day of Remembrance of Man’s Inhumanity
to Man" on April 24 – the date in 1915 when the Ottoman predecessors
of modern Turkey launched the genocide by rounding up 250 Armenian
intellectuals for eventual execution.

The resolution won’t take effect on Tuesday. The Bush administration,
ever mindful of its delicate relationship with Turkey (especially with
a war in Iraq next door), takes the bill so seriously that Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M.

Gates warned in a joint letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San
Francisco) that it could "harm American troops in the field." The
lobbying has been successful enough that the House has delayed its
vote until after this year’s April 24 commemoration. But passage
later this year would still be an enormous blow to the White House.

Why is this hairsplitting exercise over a single word – in a nonbinding
resolution, no less – reverberating so strongly more than nine
decades later? The easy answer is that there has been a confluence
of mostly unrelated events. Democrats took control of Congress in
January and are spoiling for a fight, especially one that can paint
Bush’s foreign policy as hypocritical. The president, after all,
used "genocide" as a justification to topple Saddam Hussein before,
during and after the war against his regime, and the United States
has not hesitated to apply the word to the crisis in Darfur, where
more than 200,000 people have died since 2003.

Across the Atlantic, the Armenian question – especially Turkey’s
offensive laws against "insulting Turkishness," which have been
used to prosecute even novelists who create fictional characters
questioning the government’s denialist position – has become one of
the main lines of attack against Turkey’s bid to become the first
majority-Muslim country to join the European Union. Most of the 15
countries that have officially recognized the genocide are European
(with Switzerland and France even going so far as to pass over-the-top
laws making it a crime to deny the genocide).

Then there was the January murder of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink in broad daylight on a busy Istanbul street. Dink’s assassination,
at the hands of a Turkish nationalist, shocked the world and led to
a wave of anxious introspection in Turkey. Yet Ankara quickly – and
disastrously – concluded that the proper response was to redouble its
losing campaign to prevent foreign governments from using the G-word.

High-level Turkish ministers were dispatched to Washington over the
last few months to warn that the resolution in Congress could force
them to close the crucial U.S. Air Force Base at Incirlik and could
imperil relations at a tipping-point moment for the Middle East. (The
exact same argument was used by President Clinton in October 2000
to convince then-House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert to withdraw at
the last moment a similar bill, introduced by then-Rep. James Rogan
(R-Glendale), who was fighting a losing battle against Democratic
challenger Adam Schiff in an $11-million race.)

For Turks, the genocide is taboo for a host of reasons, but perhaps
the most important is that it occurred at the time of the founding of
modern Turkey under Kemal Ataturk, a man so sainted that insulting
his memory is still punishable by jail. So the battle continues,
year after year.

Earlier this month, Turkish lobbyists successfully scotched a United
Nations exhibit on the 13th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide because
it dared refer to the "1 million Armenians murdered in Turkey." "Every
time they try to censor discussion of the Armenian genocide," a New
York Times editorial observed, "they only bring wider attention to
the subject and link today’s democratic Turkey with the now distant
crime." Turks even helped water down a U.S. Senate resolution
condemning Dink’s murder.

Yet this flurry of recent developments doesn’t adequately explain
the enduring potency of the recognition issue.

For that I will defer to the most recent U.S. ambassador to Armenia,
John Marshall Evans: "In the real world," Evans told a packed Beverly
Hilton hall of diaspora Armenians in February, "when an official policy
diverges wildly from what the broad public believes is self-evident,
that policy ceases to command respect."

Evans, a career, keep-your-head-down foreign service type, surveyed
the available literature on the events of 1915-23 before taking the
Armenian post in September 2004 and concluded that the U.S. position
of avoiding the word "genocide" diverged so wildly from the historical
consensus that it undermined Washington’s moral authority.

He attempted to budge the policy from behind the scenes, but when
that failed he took a page from a man he knew well from his pre-
and post-communist postings to Prague – former Czech President Vaclav
Havel and decided to publicly "call things by their proper names."

So in February 2005, while speaking in California, Evans said:
"I will today call it the Armenian genocide. I think we, the U.S.
government, owe you, our fellow citizens, a more frank and honest
way of discussing this problem." For that remark he was recalled from
his post so that Washington could get back to the business of evading
the historical truth.

President Bush won’t say "genocide" on Tuesday. In the words of
Condoleezza Rice, the administration’s position is that Turks and
Armenians both need to "get over their past" without American help.

But this issue won’t go away. Watching Rice’s linguistic contortions
in response to harsh congressional interrogation by Schiff, who has
become the Armenians’ great House champion, is profoundly dispiriting;
it makes one embarrassed to be American. Of all issues subject to
realpolitik compromises, mass slaughter of a national minority surely
should rank at the bottom of the list.

Hitler reportedly said, just before invading Poland, "Who, after
all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" It’s a
chilling reminder that forgetting is the first step in enabling future
genocides. Yet Hitler was eventually proved wrong. No temporal power
is strong enough to erase the eternal resonance of truth.

The Nation, Kenya
April 21 2007

Minister asked for cash from Arturs: MP

Story by ODHIAMBO ORLALE and OWINO OPONDO
Publication Date: 4/21/2007

An MP on Thursday accused Internal Security minister John Michuki of
demanding Sh210 million as protection fees from the Artur brothers.

Mr Orwa Ojodeh (Ndhiwa, Narc) told Parliament that Mr Michuki met Mr
Artur Magaryan and Mr Artur Sagsyan at his Windsor Golf and Country
Club, where a plot to assassinate Baringo Central MP Gideon Moi was
allegedly discussed.

But an attempt by the MP to table a report purportedly withheld from
the public by the Government was rejected on the grounds that it was
not authenticated.

Mr Ojodeh said the Kiruki Commission of Inquiry report, like all
others, were never signed but were usually accompanied by a covering
letter which was signed. He presented a photocopy of a letter that he
said had accompanied the report.

But Deputy Speaker David Musila rejected the document after perusing
it saying parliamentary rules bar members from producing unsigned
documents.

Tabling CD

Mr Ojodeh was undeterred as he kicked off debate on the foreigners by
tabling a CD of the alleged conversation between the Internal
Security minister and the two Armenians. He was applauded by the
Opposition but jeered by the Government side.

Later, two Cabinet ministers rose on points of order to defend their
colleague and demanded that Mr Ojodeh be barred from breaking House
rules by imputing improper motives on their colleague without moving
a substantive motion.

Education minister George Saitoti and his Water counterpart, Mr Mutua
Katuku, were supported by Energy assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri,
who demanded that the rules be upheld.

Responding on behalf of the Government, Internal Security assistant
minister Joseph Kingi said the Kiruki report will not be released to
the public due to security considerations.

In the Arturs’ case, MPs were told, some findings of the Kiruki team
could jeopardise State security.

That is the law

"That is the law, and we must live with it. You can change it if you
so wish," Mr Kingi said.

Reminded by nominated MP Mutula Kilonzo that there was a precedent
through a court ruling that compelled the findings of the Goldenberg
Commission to be made public, Mr Kingi said: "Yes, you may go to
court to get similar orders".

Earlier, Mr Ojodeh had caused uproar when he said he had a copy of
the Kiruki report.

He said: "When you read the report there is no security issue there
to bar it from being made public".

An attempt by Mr Kiunjuri to demand that the MP substantiates his
claim was in vain.

Mr Kiunjuri had also demanded to be told why Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga
(Narc) and his Mwingi North counterpart Kalonzo Musyoka did not give
evidence to the Kiruki Commission "yet the Arturs confessed they had
given them two millions shillings."

His comments invited boos from the Opposition side, and foot-thumping
on the Government benches.

ARMENIAN PREMIER PROMISES CHANGES

Arminfo
19 Apr 07

Yerevan, 19 April: If the Republican Party is given an opportunity
to implement its election platform, in four years the party will
double achievements that had been made in the last seven years. The
Armenian prime minister and chairman of the political council of the
Republican Party of Armenia [RPA], Serzh Sargsyan, said this during
a meeting with voters of Yerevan’s Qanaqer-Zeytun community.

He stressed that these achievements would not resolve all the
problems in the country. "You should run away from those who promise
miracles. Nobody has a magic stick, I haven’t myself either, to solve
all the problems immediately.

However, I promise that if we are elected, you will feel changes
every month," Sargsyan said.

He stressed that the party had always made realistic promises and
kept them.

The proof is the country’s two-digit economic growth. Sargsyan said
that funds owned by Armenians throughout the world amounts to 100bn
dollars, but even one per cent of this money is no being invested in
the country. "To ensure that these funds are invested in Armenia’s
economy, we have to win confidence both of outside forces and of
the Armenian people. Free and fair election will guarantee this. I
promise that the RPA will run in the election without falsifications
and violations of the electoral legislation," he said.

He called on the participants in the meeting to compare the platforms
of all the political forces and make a choice as their conscience
suggests.

Sargsyan said that many political forces had failed to implement
their platforms, pleading that they were not in power. But they could
have implemented their platforms assisting the authorities, Sargsyan
said. He also spoke about the necessity to create new jobs.

Then Sargsyan suddenly called on the participants in the meeting to
keep the city clean and obey traffic rules. "A thief who steals eggs
will steal a horse as well," Sargsyan said.

"ZHARANGUTIUN" IS PLEASED WITH ITS PRE-ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN

Noyan Tapan
Apr 20 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 20, NOYAN TAPAN. Representatives of the Zharangutiun
(Heritage) party are pleased with the visits paid to the marzes
of Syunik and Vayots Dzor as the population’s participation was
satisfying. As Press Secretary of the party Hovsep Khurshudian stated
at the April 20 press conference, it is felt that political interests
of voters gradually grow.

He at the same mentioned that they met some obstacles during the
propaganda mission. Particularly, the Areni village head stated in
the marz of Vayots Dzor that they were to beforehand inform him before
holding a propaganda mission in the village. And in V. Khurshudian’s
words, an atmosphere of fear reigned in Kapan: people were even afraid
of taking pre-electoral booklets. In his opinion, the Syunik Governor
created that atmosphere of fear.

V. Khurshudian stated that "Zharangutiun" was not given territories for
foreign political advertisement, by reasoning that all the territories
are already occupied. Whereas, they addressed on behalf of another
organization to the Nushikian Association which is engaged in giving
stands, and got a positive answer. It was also mentioned that there
are many falsities in the lists of voters.

IRAN, ARMENIA SIGN MEDIA COOPERATION PACT

Press TV, Iran
April 20 2007

Iran and Armenia have signed an agreement to expand media cooperation.

The agreement was signed by Ezzatollah Zarghami, head of the Islamic
Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and Alexan Harutyunyan, the
president of the Council of Public TV and Radio Company of Armenia.

IRIB and Armenia’s Public Television will each open an office in
Yerevan and Tehran, respectively.

Armenia will help pave the way for IRIB’s stronger presence among
broadcasters covering Europe, Harutyunyan said.

Zarghami, for his part, said the media should make every effort in
introducing both countries’ capabilities and capacities, particularly
in economic fields.

He further emphasized that introducing the culture and civilization
of Iran and Armenia "must be on top of our agenda".

Zarghami was on a three-day visit to Armenia which started on
Wednesday.

He met several high-ranking Armenian officials including President
Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister Serge Sarkisyan.

"NATIONAL GALLERY" FESTIVAL OF CLASSIC MUSIC TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN FOR THIRD TIME

Noyan Tapan
Apr 19 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The "National Gallery" festival of
classic music will for the third time be held in Yerevan from April
20 to June 20.

Famous singers-performers of Armenia, creative collectives, including
Barsegh Tumanian, Anna Mayilian, Alexander Chaushian, pianist Svetlana
Navasardian, "Prometheus" string quartet, "Speghani" (consolation)
choir, Artsakh state chamber orchestra will present themselves to
the art-loving society in majestic halls of the National Gallery of
Armenia during two months.

The festival is held with the assistance of the "Hayastan" (Armenia)
All-Armenian Fund and RA Ministry of Culture and Youth Issues.

SUSPECTS OF MURDERING ARMENIAN IMMIGRANT UNDER ARREST

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.04.2007 13:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On suspicion of murdering Armenian immigrant on April
16 in Moscow two students have been arrested, Moscow Prosecutors’
Office reports. "On suspicion of murdering Abramian by hooligan
motives two students from Moscow colleges – Arthur Ryno, a resident
from Khabarovsk born in 1989, and Pavel Skachevski, a Moscow resident
born in 1989, have been arrested," says the official statement of
the Prosecutor’s Office.

Karen Abramian died in hospital in the result of multiple knife wounds.

"On April 18 by Prosecutors’ Office application the Moscow
Cheryomushkinski District Court issued a warranty of taking into
custody the suspects as a preventive punishment," the press release
of Prosecutors; Office says.

KHAZAR IBRAHIM: "ARMENIA’S CONSTRUCTIVE APPROACH IS NEEDED TO REACH REAL SOLUTION TO THE KARABAKH CONFLICT"

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 19 2007

"The real solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict can be reached
if the two parties showed constructive approach and take into
consideration the territorial integrity of states under international
law principles," Foreign Ministry’s press secretary Khazar Ibrahim
said.

"There is a real paper on the table. I suppose Azerbaijan will not
step back. We could be close to a resolution. I can assure you we
have never been this close."

According to the Foreign Ministry press secretary, Azerbaijan
demonstrated such constructive approach.

"To achieve the mentioned ideal settlement of the problem, Armenia
should practically carry out opinions and thesis which is often
uttered by it," he underlined.

The diplomat said in this case, a solution based on realities can
be reached.

Armenian parliament speaker Tigran Torosian called the best solution
to the conflict based on conformation of nations’ self-determination
and territorial integrity principles.