Author: Tambiyan Samvel

IRAN INVALIDATES DIPLOMAS OF ARMENIAN MEDICAL UNIVERSITY GRADUATES

Today
56730.html
Oct 20 2009
Azerbaijan

Iran has invalidated diplomas of its citizens, graduating from the
Armenian and Ukrainian medical universities.

Due to the low level of education in medical universities of Armenia
and Ukraine, Iran declared invalid diplomas of educational institutions
in these countries, the Head of the Education Department of the
Iranian Health Ministry Golamreza Hasanzade told Mehr news agency.

Hasanzade said diplomas of graduates of these universities will be
considered invalid in 2010.

The decision was adopted by the Council for Educational Evaluation
of Iran.

At present, about 15,000 Iranian citizens study at the universities
of Armenia, Representative of the Armenian community in the Iranian
parliament, MP George Vartan said earlier.

"ARMENIAN SPORTS AND GYMNASTICS IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE" ALBUM RELEASED

Noyan Tapan
Oct 19, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. In his
album-monography entitled "Armenian Sports and Gymnastics in the
Ottoman Empire", Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute
Hayk Demoyan presents the activities of Armenian sport clubs in
the Ottoman Empire, the history of the organization of pan-Armenian
Olympic Games and the athletic movement in Western Armenia and Cilicia,
as well as the foundation of women’s gymnastic clubs, the start of
Armenian scout movement, and the Armenian sportsmen who fell victim
to the Armenian Genocide.

Addressing the first pages of the history of Armenian sports and
gymnastics in the Ottoman Empire, H. Demoyan writes about the first
Armenian sport clubs and football teams formed in Constantinople and
Smyrna after the Young Turk Revolution. These clubs were represented
by such professionals as Shavarsh Chrisian, Mkrtich Mkrian, Grigor
Hakobian and others.

"On seeing the success of Armenian sportsmen, the Turkish nationalists
tried to struggle against sport achievements of minorities. They had
some cause for concern because the first successful football teams
in both Constantinople and Smyrna were Armenian teams. Besides, it
was Armenians, namely Vahram Papazian and Mkrtich Mkrian, that first
represented Turkey at the V Olympiad held in Stockholm in 1912. The
first sport magazine published in the Ottoman Empire was "Marmnamarz"
periodical in Armenian (1911-1914), so "the Turk nationalists started
to fight in practice: first of all, all the Armenian sport clubs
were closed, then Shavarsh Chrisian, the editor of Marmnamarz who
did a great deal to stir up interest in sports among the Armenian
population, fell victim to their violence," H. Demoyan writes.

On the eve of World War I, there were about 40 Armenian athletic
clubs in Constantinople. Armenian football teams participated in team
and national tournaments, which mostly ended in their wins. The most
famous teams were Balta Liman, Arax and Tork. Armenian sport clubs
were established in other cities as well.

The author dedicated the album to the memory of those pioneers who
initiated the cause of promoting national sports and athletics and
became victims of the Genocide.

94,4 % GAS CONSUMERS SERVICED IN 2009 THIRD QUARTER

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.10.2009 15:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ AEG Service LLC, engaged in domestic gas supply
systems maintenance in Armenia, exercised 898257 test visits since
the beginning of 2009.

In the third quarter of 2009, technical maintenance was conducted at
281194 apartments, comprising 94,4 % of quantity planned, ArmRosGazProm
press service reported.

32188 consumers were not served because they did not open the door
to gas inspectors. As result of violations fixed, 246261 reports were
drawn up.

Lowell Sun (Massachusetts)
October 15, 2009 Thursday

Local Armenians, Turks are split on historic pact

By Prudence Brighton, Sun Correspondent

LOWELL — Leaders of Armenia and Turkey may have signed an historic accord
this past weekend in Switzerland, but much work remains to repair relations,
according to members of local Armenian and Turkish communities.

The key sticking points for the local Armenian diaspora are the failure to
recognize as genocide the mass killings of Armenians beginning in 1915, and
the disposition of territories, including Nagorno Karabakh, considered
historically part of Armenia.

The protocols signed Saturday would open the borders between the two nations
within months of ratification.

Turkey cut ties and closed the border with Armenia in 1993 in support of
Turkish-speaking Azerbaijan, which was fighting a losing battle against
Armenian separatists in Karabakh.

The accord would also create an international commission to study "the
historical dimensions" of the killings.

For UMass Lowell sociology professor Levon Chorbajian, whose expertise is in
the politics of genocide, this clause in the accord is "like having a
medical convention sponsored by the tobacco industry."

Chorbajian considers the killings of more than 1 million Armenians by
Ottoman Turks from 1915 into the 1920s to be well-documented genocide.
Turkey has held that the deaths were a byproduct of World War I and that
Turks also were killed.

Chorbajian explained that last weekend’s accord was reached because the
United States and Russia have trade and security interests in the region.
Both countries put "very intense pressure on Turkey and Armenia to sign," he
said.

The geopolitics of oil and a growing crisis between Turkey and Israel over
the sale of arms provided some of the urgency that brought U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton to Switzerland to salvage the deal.

Chorbajian said Azerbaijan, an ally of Turkey, will be unhappy with the
protocols because the Azeris had been counting on strong Turkish support to
regain Nagorno Karabackh. One of the oil pipelines in the region begins in
Azerbaijan and ends in Turkey. Russia has been involved in some of those
dealings.

Of great concern to Chorbajian is the economic effect on Armenia.

"The Armenian government won’t benefit because it produces little that it
can sell to Turkey," he said. "I’m not sure how aware the leaders are of
this. Armenia had little choice but to sign, but this will be damaging."

But Erkut Gomulu, president of the Turkish American Cultural Society of New
England, is more upbeat.

"Signing the protocols between Armenia and Turkey is a historic moment in
terms of the normalization process of their relations," Gomulu said, adding
that it took "vision and courage" for the leaders of the two countries to
come to the agreement.

And, Gomulu added, "Maybe it is also time for courageous individuals and
opinion leaders in the U.S. to find ways to interact with each other for
open dialogue and empathy, although I am aware that this is not an easy task
to achieve, but better than the alternative — continuing to ignore each
other."

The parliaments of each country must approve the accord. That gives Steve
Dulgarian of Chelmsford reason to hope that the Armenian Parliament will
reject the protocols.

Dulgarian, who has been active in Armenian genocide remembrances, believes
that any accord must recognize the genocide and return "stolen territories
in Turkey" to Armenia.

Dulgarian’s parents each lost family members during the killings. His mother
was the only survivor of a death march, and his father survived a road gang.
Both parents lost siblings and even their first spouses. His parents met and
married in the United States in the 1920s after losing their first spouses.

Lenin in Russia and Attaturk, the founder of modern Turkey, "crushed the
Armenian Republic" while the allies stood by and while Armenia "was
dominated by Moslem Turks," Dulgarian said.

His great fear from this accord is that it will be a new opportunity for
Islam to gain ground in Armenia, which he notes became a Christian nation
decades before Constantine adopted the faith within the Roman Empire.

Concern over the protocols last week caused Congressional Armenian Caucus
co-chairs Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Armenian
Genocide Resolution sponsors Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and George Radanovich,
R-Calif., to raise issues that echo Chorbajian’s concern over the Armenian
Genocide, the Armenian National Committee of America reported.

"As leaders of the Armenia Caucus in the House of Representatives, we share
the concern of the Armenian American community regarding the possibility of
creating a historical commission to review the events of 1915 to 1923," the
legislators said in a joint statement. "This is a thoroughly discredited
idea. Turkey cannot be allowed to re-invent this tragic part of its history
as a price for normal relations with Armenia. To do so means acquiescence in
a charade that demeans the memory of so many victims."

The statement went on to urge President Barack Obama to include the Armenian
American community in the Turkey-Armenia negotiation efforts.

"As Secretary of State Clinton and other senior officials work to maintain
stability in the region," the legislators state, "we urge them to take
advantage of the knowledge and expertise of the Armenian American community,
which maintains strong ties to Armenia and is an invaluable source of
information and counsel."

Interfax, Russia
Oct 14 2009

Armenia likely to send troops to Afghanistan – officials

YEREVAN Oct 14

NATO is in talks with Armenia on a proposal for Armenian troops to
join next year’s mission of the International Security Assistance
Force in Afghanistan (ISAF), a NATO spokesman said.

The Armenian troops would be deployed in Kunduz, in northern
Afghanistan, the spokesman said during a Yerevan-Brussels
teleconference.

The head of the Armenian mission to NATO, Samvel Mkrtchian, said it
had not yet been decided how many Armenian troops would go to
Afghanistan. He said they would not be involved in combat but would
guard Kunduz airport.

ILLEGAL ARMENIANS HOPE TO EMERGE FROM SHADOWS WITH TURKEY DEAL
by Nicolas Cheviron

Agence France Presse
Oct 6 2009
France

Suzan, like many Armenians living clandestinely in Istanbul, came
for the money. But the better life is also one of constant fear as
an illegal alien living amongst the "enemy".

The 51-year-old Suzan’s decision has proved quite profitable. As
a teacher to children of other illegal Armenian immigrants, she
multiplied her monthly wages by seven — from 50 dollars to 350 dollars
(34 to 240 euros).

But she also worries every day about getting caught by Turkish police.

In a basement serving as a make-shift school, she talked about the
unease of thousands of Armenians like herself. Forced to leave their
impoverished country to earn a living, they have settled in Turkey’s
biggest city, facing up to their historical fear of Turks and braving
an illegal existence.

"My relatives who stayed in Armenia do not know Turkey. They have
difficulty accepting what I do here and that adds to my sadness,"
she said.

Suzan is hoping all that may change soon with a rare chance of peace
between the neighbours and foes, at odds over claims of a 1915-1917
Turkish genocide against Armenians.

Then she and others could emerge from the shadows and work freely in
Turkey. Suzan said she could have an even "better life" and, maybe,
set up a "small business" between the two countries.

In a major breakthrough, Turkey and Yerevan announced in August a deal
to establish diplomatic ties for the first time and open their border,
sealed since 1993.

The two countries are expected to ink the deal on Saturday in
Switzerland before submitting it to their respective parliaments
for ratification.

If the process succeeds, it would change the picture for the illegal
Armenians already in Istanbul as well as the five to six busloads
coming in every week from Yerevan after a gruelling 35-hour journey
via Georgia.

They enter Turkey on a one-month tourist visa, but many are looking
to set up a new life here.

Their existence is no secret for Turkish authorities: in April,
President Abdullah Gul said there were more than 70,000 Armenian
citizens working in Turkey.

And in May, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said about 40,000 of
these were illegal and said his government was not sending them back
out of humanitarian concerns.

One of those illegal Armenians tolerated by authorities is Sveta who
arrived in Istanbul, a bustling metropolis of more than 12 million,
seven years ago.

Armed with a huge smile that shows several golden teeth, the
55-year-old recalled how at first she dreaded the idea of living
among Turks, only to discover that her fears were groundless.

"After I arrived, I started working in a shoe factory. I was the
only woman among 40 men and the only Armenian among 40 Turks," she
said. "But, in fact, they always treated me like a big sister. They
never said anything bad to me."

Sveta lives with her two daughters, son-in-law and two grandchildren
in a two-room flat with no heating and her visa expired long ago.

Despite the hardships, she does not regret her choice.

"Coming to Turkey is not expensive at all and there are no problems
here… The police never ask any questions," she said, compared to
Moscow, the main destination for Armenian immigrants, where life is
expensive and the police relentless.

Fabio Salomoni, an Italian sociologist at Istanbul’s Koc University
who has published research on immigration from the Caucasus to Turkey,
estimated the number of illegal Armenian immigrants in Istanbul at
20,000. He said most were women of over 40 employed as nannies or
cleaning ladies as there is greater demand for them.

While most Turkish women in such jobs go home at the end of the
workday, Armenian women often live with their employer and are
available 24 hours a day, the academic said. And since they are in the
country illegally, they tend to work for less money than Turkish women.

According to the Salomoni, the presence of a centuries-old local
Armenian community in Istanbul, numbering around 70,000, plays a role
in the flow of Armenian citizens to the city.

"The existence of the community and the fact that the city is full
of concrete Armenian symbols reinforce the immigrants’ feeling of
security: they feel a bit at home," he said.

Despite hopes for peace, loyalty runs deep. Teacher Suzan, for one,
stressed that she would never make concessions on the World War I
massacres of Armenians under Turkey’s predecessor, the Ottoman Empire,
which Yerevan says constituted a genocide.

"This is not possible, this is our history and we will not be able
to forget it," she added.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically
killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart.

Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000-500,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
Armenians took up arms against their Ottoman rulers and sided with
invading Russian troops.

In 1993, Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in a show of
solidarity with close ally Azerbaijan over the Nagorny Karabakh
conflict, dealing a serious blow to the impoverished former Soviet
republic.

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

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

THE ARMENIAN CHURCH TAKES PART IN THE CONFERENCE ON GREGORY OF NAREG

On 12 October began an international conference on Gregory of Nareg at the
Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon. The conference was organized by
the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate, sponsored by the University, and under
the auspices of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for
Oriental Churches in Vatican.

The Armenian Church was represented by H.G. Bishop Kegham Khatcherian,
Prelate of Lebanon and H.G. Bishop Nareg Alemezian, Ecumenical officer of
the Catholicosate.

The message of His Holiness Aram I was read during the opening ceremony. In
his message His Holiness Aram I welcomed the conference and emphasized the
contribution of this Great Armenian Church Father to the theology and
history of the Universal Church.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission 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.

SERGEY PETROSYAN WINS GOLD AT UNDER 23 WEIGHTLIFTING CHAMPIONSHIP

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.10.2009 11:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian weightlifter, Sergey Petrosyan ,
representing Russia in under 69kg weight category, won a gold medal
at Under 23 Weightlifting Championship in Wladyslawowo, Poland.

The winner lifted a weigh of 318 kg in clean and jerk combination
(143 kg +175 kg). The runner-up is Oleg Chen (Russia), who showed
the same results yet was defeated because of body weigh disadvantage.

Bronze went to Damian Kucinski (Poland)- 309 kg (138+171).

At Weightlifting Championship on October 16, Armenia will be
represented by 2 weightlifters in under 77 kg weight category: Aghasi
Aghasyan and Arayik Mirzoyan.

SARKISIAN ARRIVES IN TURKEY
Karine Simonian, Gevorg Stamboltsian

cle/1851713.html
14.10.2009

President Serzh Sarkisian arrived in the Turkish city of Bursa on
Wednesday on a brief visit that marks a new milestone in Armenia’s
"football diplomacy" with Turkey praised by world powers.

Sarkisian and Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul were due to attend a
return match of their countries’ national soccer teams there later in
the day. The two leaders watched together the first Turkey-Armenia
match in Yerevan in September last year, giving new impetus to
fence-mending negotiations between their governments.

Sarkisian, accompanied by Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian and
other Armenian officials, arrived at Bursa airport late in the
afternoon. He was greeted there by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu in an official ceremony broadcast live by Armenian and
Turkish television. Sarkisian smiled as he watched a brief performance
by Turkish folk dancers.

A statement issued by Sarkisian’s office earlier in the day said the
president will first visit Armenia players and coaching staff to
"encourage" them ahead of the politically charged game. It said
Sarkisian will then go into talks with Gul that will start in a
one-on-one format and continue in the presence of senior government
from both states.

The two presidents will have dinner before heading to Bursa’s Ataturk
Stadium. Gul will give a reception in honor of his Armenian counterpart
after the match. It was not clear if they will make public statements
after the talks as they did in Yerevan last year.

Turkish authorities mounted tight security measures in and around
the stadium hours before the match. Turkish media has reported that
thousands of uniformed and plainclothes security personnel will be
deployed there to avoid possible provocations. Fans will only be
allowed to carry Turkish and Armenian flags. Turkish officials have
banned fans from chanting political slogans and displaying Azerbaijani
flags at the match.

Ticket sales have been restricted, with most distributed to students
of military academies, police and their families, according to
media reports. President Gul has met with leaders of fans groups
to personally ask them not to overshadow the game and return the
"hospitality" with which he himself was greeted in Yerevan.

AFP news agency reported that in a gesture to their Armenian guests,
the Turkish fans were expected to greet them in the stadium by singing
a folk song about a blonde lover, which is popular in both Turkey
and Armenia.

NALBANDIAN SEES POSITIVE DYNAMICS

edward-nalbandyan
05:12 pm | October 12, 2009

Politics

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian doesn’t rule out that
Armenia may witness the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border
by the turn of the year. In an interview with Kommersant daily,
Mr. Nalbandian said: "Nothing can be ruled out. It depends on how
the sides will respect the agreements and move forward.

Armenians have always respected and continue to respect agreements
concluded with other countries."

The Armenian FM underlined that the terms of ratification depend
on the two Parliaments. "It’s up to them to decide. But we hope,
they’ll do it within a reasonable timeframe," he said.

In reply to Kommersant whether the signing of the protocols means
final reconciliation between Yerevan and Ankara, Edward Nalbandian
said they speak of the two Protocols on establishing diplomatic ties
and normalizing bilateral relations.

Speaking about Presidents’ recent meeting in Chisinau and progress
in the talks, Mr. Nalbandian said: "If we take into consideration the
fact that it was the 7th meetings of the leaders there is a dynamics,
and I would say this dynamics is positive. At present the Presidents
are discussing the principles of the Madrid document. Their attention
is fixed on two principles. The parties are trying to bring their
positions closer with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group. The sides
are now negotiating the main issue – the status of Nagorno Karabakh.

Minister Nalbandian refrained from mentioning any concrete dates
of signing of the final peace treaty. "I would not like to state
that there will be a breakthrough tomorrow, in a month or three. The
negotiations on the basis of the Madrid Principles have moved forward
over the past months. The dynamic is positive," the Armenian Foreign
Minister stated.