Author: Tambiyan Samvel

Azeri ombudsman slams Armenian plans to set up similar body in Karabakh
ANS TV, Baku
10 Feb 05
[Presenter] Azerbaijan denounces the separatist regime’s plans to set
up an institution of ombudsman in Nagornyy Karabakh and does not view
as expedient the opening of two similar institutions in one country
[as Nagornyy Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan], Azerbaijani ombudsman
Elmira Suleymanova has said. She was also negative about another
proposal by the Armenian side.
[Correspondent, over archive footage of Armenian ombudsman Larisa
Alaverdyan] Armenian ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan has appealed to
her Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmira Suleymanova. In her appeal, the
Armenian ombudsman demanded compensation for the Armenians that have
left Azerbaijan [in 1990].
[Suleymanova, speaking to microphone] I do not want to discuss the
issue with her. She serves her own policy [as heard, presumably her
country’s policy]. She turned to us over compensation. Alaverdyan
herself has left Azerbaijan for Armenia as well. She knows very
well that Armenians have sold all their houses and property in
Azerbaijan. They turned them into gold and money and took with
themselves. They raise the compensation issue now. The Armenian
ombudsman appealed to me a few days ago, but I am not going to answer
her because she seeks a pretext for a correspondence.
[Correspondent] In fact, Suleymanova is more interested in compensation
than her Armenian counterpart because Suleymanova is more realistic
about the protection of rights of about 1m [Azerbaijani] refugees
and displaced persons given an attitude to Azerbaijan’s just cause
in the international public opinion [as heard].
There is another interesting issue. It has been decided to establish
an institution of ombudsman in the so-called Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic. However, Suleymanova considers there is no need for this.
[Suleymanova] An ombudsman in every country is to protect the rights
of citizens and foreign citizens in their countries. Everybody and
the world know and accept that Nagornyy Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s
integral part and it would be more correct if its people turn to the
Azerbaijani ombudsman with their problems.
[Correspondent] Suleymanova, who described as illegitimate the
establishment of a certain body in the illegitimate republic, is
going to turn to international bodies over the problem.
[Passage omitted: more about institution of ombudsman]
The latest steps taken or to be taken by the Armenians, whose activity
grew after the visit by the OSCE’s fact-finding mission to Nagornyy
Karabakh [to monitor whether ethnic Armenians have been resettled
in Nagornyy Karabakh], promise nothing good for the talks on the
settlement of the conflict.
Eldaniz Valiyev, Ramin Yaqubov for ANS.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Globe and Mail, Canada
Feb 9 2005
Giant slalom championship postponed by television strike
Associated Press E-mail this Article
Bormio, Italy — The men’s giant slalom race scheduled for Wednesday
at the alpine skiing world championships was postponed less than an
hour before it was to start due to a strike by Italian television
workers.
“Due to the lack of TV coverage, the European Broadcasting Union, in
accordance with the International Ski Federation (FIS), decided to
postpone the race,” organizers said in a statement.
The strike was organized by workers for RAI, Italian state TV.
Organizers said the race would be rescheduled for Thursday, which was
previously reserved as an off day, although FIS had not yet issued
its formal decision. The championships are due to end Sunday and
three other races are scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“I’m disappointed, angry and frustrated,” said FIS general secretary
Sarah Lewis. “Everything was ready to go — 156 athletes, fan clubs
had travelled specially to be there. The giant slalom is always one
of the most exciting events.”
Fans in the finish area attacked a RAI truck upon learning of the
strike and police had to intervene.
It appeared that some of the bigger skiing nations were informed of
the strike ahead of time and did not go up to the course. However,
several athletes from nations like Senegal, Armenia and Hungary were
seen skiing down the course in a state of bewilderment.
Strikes are a common occurrence in Italy, although they are usually
confined to domestic issues and events. The alpine world
championships are the biggest event in skiing outside the Olympics
and the protest was not a good sign in view of the next Winter Games
in nearby Turin, scheduled to begin a year from Thursday.
Turin 2006 officials were planning a presentation in Bormio later
Wednesday.
“The biggest loser today is ski racing,” U.S. head coach Phil
McNichol said. “Racing is at an all-time low, we’re trying to get a
stronger foothold in TV and yet we can’t hold a world championships
race because of television. It’s extremely disappointing.”
The last major cancellation at the world championships came when the
1995 edition was postponed until 1996 due to a lack of snow in Sierra
Nevada, Spain.
“It’s typical. It fits the world championships,” said Austrian skier
Benjamin Raich, one of the giant slalom favourites.
Thomas Grandi of Banff, Alta. was also among the contenders for a
podium spot. He has won two World Cup giant slalom races this season
and currently sits second in the GS point standings.
–Boundary_(ID_+1+SBugukp3293Ti6AL+ZA)–

Trade Leads in Armenia’s Agribusiness & Food Processing Sector
BISNIS
February 7, 2005
You are receiving this email because you requested to receive
information regarding the agribusiness and food processing sectors in
Eurasia.
This update contains 2 new trade leads in the agribusiness and food
processing sector as well as numerous agribusiness-related reports
recently posted to the BISNIS website.
Trade leads:
1.) Ale Profil: This Armenian company would like to purchase sunflower
and corn oil in 1 L transparent bottles.
See
2.) Nomad Express: This Armenian company would like to purchase a used
fruit and vegetable processing line (50,000 tons capacity).
For more information, see
********** Sent by: ************************************
Charles Raether, BISNIS Trade Specialist for Agribusiness Sector
U.S. Department of Commerce
Tel: 202/482-2022, Fax: 202/482-2293

PanArmenian News
Feb 4 2005
OSCE FACT-FINDING MISSION TO VISIT KUBATLY
04.02.2005 17:03
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Accompanied by OSCE Minsk Group Russian and French
Co-Chairs Yuri Merzlyakov and Bernard Fassier the OSCE fact-finding
mission for the territories of security belt around Nagorno Karabakh
will visit the Kubatly region to find out the essential data today,
press service of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported. Let us
remind that Foreign Minister Deputy Masis Mailian is also attending
the mission composed of representatives of European states. To note,
the mission members have already visited the Kelbajar, Jebrail,
Fizuli, Aghdam and Zangelan regions.

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Feb 4 2005
Dr. Laciner: `Turkish-Armenian Alliance is not Impossible’
Jan SOYKOK, ANKARA – Dr. Sedat Laciner told JTW that Turkey-Armenia
alliance is possible. Laciner said Armenian state cannot survive in a
hostile region and has to solve its problems with Turkey, Georgia and
Azerbaijan.
Laciner further continued:
`As a matter of fact that neither the Western States nor the Armenian
Diaspora radicals see Armenia’s national interests as their priority.
Armenia’s and Diaspora’s interests are not the same. As Dr. Nilgun
Gulcan pointed out Armenia and Diaspora has contrary interests.
Diaspora needs more dispute between Turks and Armenians, because many
Diaspora Armenian enjoy from the `genocide industry’. If Turkey and
Armenia solve their problem they could not abuse the past for their
individual interests. Many diaspora institutions are dependent on
`genocide donations’. Many Armenian actors, businessmen, politician
etc. in Northern America and Europe see Turkish-Armenian problems as
source of power. When the both side put an end to the historical
misunderstandings many militants will lose their financial and
political power over the ordinary Armenians in diaspora. Similarly
some of the Diaspora institutions argue that the 1915 Legacy is the
most important thing uniting Armenians. According to this approach,
Diaspora Armenians need a uniting cause in order to resist
assimilation. Otherwise, they think, Armenian identity would be
diminished in front of the strong Western cultures.
However Armenian state needs Turkey and other Turkic peoples.
Armenia is surrounded by more than 100 million Turkish people
(Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran Azerbaijan). Georgia is an ally of
Turkey and has good relations with the Western states though Armenia
stayed the only Russian ally in the region.
Armenia is a relatively small and poor country, it is land-locked. If
Armenia can solve its problems with Turkey the life would be easier
for the Armenians.
In my opinion Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan could establish
an economic regional integration in Caucasus. Turkey could be a
European door for the Armenian businessmen and people. Turkish
universities can open their doors to Armenian youth. Armenia cannot
survive in a hostile region. So-called Russian support or relations
with Iran cannot substitute relations with Turkey. A strong
Turkish-Armenian regional ally would change a lot in the region. If
Turkey and Armenia can establish a strong friendship, foreign direct
investment would boom, security problems down, and the region would
become a trade centre for the Central Asia, Black Sea and the Middle
East’.

Karabakh official accuses Azerbaijan of hampering confidence building
Arminfo, Yerevan
2 Feb 05
STEPANAKERT
Three of the four prisoners of war, Aristakes Martirosyan, Gevorg
Khlgatyan and Egiya Unanyan, who were recently handed over to the
Armenian side by Azerbaijan, are contract servicemen of the Nagornyy
Karabakh defence army, not residents of Karabakh, Viktor Kocharyan,
chairman of the state commission of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic
[NKR] for prisoners of war, hostages and missing persons, has told our
Arminfo correspondent in Stepanakert.
Viktor Kocharyan said that they lost their way while on duty on 26
November 2004 and found themselves on enemy territory, where they were
captured by the Azerbaijani army. On the day of the incident, the
state commission asked the head of the Stepanakert office of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, (?Mireille Pinard), to help
find out about the fate of the prisoners of war and take measures to
free them. The verbal reply of the office head showed that she had no
information about this issue. He said this was not the first time that
the Azerbaijani authorities had not informed the representative office
of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Azerbaijan about
Armenian captives.
“As for the NKR state commission for prisoners of war, hostages and
missing persons, in these cases, it immediately notifies the local
representative office of the International Committee of the Red Cross
and takes joint measures to return them home,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry was well aware that the
Armenian servicemen had been taken captive, the chairman of the state
commission stressed. Under a preliminary agreement, it should have
handed them over to the Armenian side in the village of Bas Qarvand
[in Agdam District] on 31 December. He said that representatives of
the Armenian side vainly spent five hours at the appointed place,
waiting for the Azerbaijani side to turn up.
“The prisoners of war were handed over only on 28 January, and there
was no machine gun fire on the positions of the Azerbaijani armed
forces, as the Azerbaijani media reported,” Viktor Kocharyan
said. This is not the only piece of disinformation disseminated by the
Azerbaijani media, he said. He pointed out that the Azerbaijani media
had disseminated information saying that “the Armenian prisoners of
war had allegedly confessed that corruption is reigning in the
Armenian army”. “The NKR state commission for prisoners of war,
hostages and missing persons has reliable information about thriving
corruption in the Azerbaijani army,” Viktor Kocharyan said. He
stressed that the latest defections of Azerbaijani servicemen to the
Armenian side took place, according to the defectors themselves,
because their commanders had been treating them cruelly and the
military conscription offices had been extorting large sums of money
from them.
Viktor Kocharyan stressed that such anti-Armenian reports in the
Azerbaijani media, which are far from reality, do not further the
building of confidence between the conflicting sides and may
complicate cooperation in discovering and handing over prisoners of
war, hostages and missing persons.

Las Vegas Sun
January 31, 2005
The Armenian connection
Sisters, safely back in Las Vegas, work on permanent status
By Timothy Pratt

LAS VEGAS SUN
Mariam Sarkisian, the younger of the two Armenian sisters who were released
from federal custody Friday after two weeks in a Los Angeles holding cell,
was expected to resume her life as a junior at Palo Verde High School today.
Meanwhile, Jeremiah Wolf Stuchiner, one of the lawyers who defended the
Sarkisians, said he would be applying for a permit Tuesday at the Bureau of
Citizenship and Immigration Services that the sisters need to legally return
to work at Tropicana Pizza, the family business their father, Rouben, runs
in Henderson.
Mariam’s first chore today will be studying for final exams she missed while
she and her sister Emma were being held in the headline-grabbing case that
nearly saw them put on a plane to Armenia, their birthplace.
The girls were detained Jan. 14 when immigration authorities acted on a
deportation order dating to 1993.
“I’ve never wanted to go to school so bad,” 17-year-old Mariam said Friday
afternoon amid the hubbub at the pizzeria surrounding their return.
“But it’s going to be hard catching up,” she added.
Mariam’s courses include an elective course in fashion design, which is what
she wants to study at a technical school when she obtains her high school
diploma in 2006. The teenager hopes to become a designer when she is older,
because it is a career where “you can be yourself and do what you want to do
with no limits,” she said.
Emma, 18, said her first order of business on settling back into her life in
Las Vegas was to get permission to work at the pizzeria and then to obtain a
driver’s license.
Work permits are available to both girls as a condition of the so-called
deferred action that immigration authorities took to release the sisters,
Stuchiner said.
That action means the girls still have no legal status in the United States,
but they can remain in the country and are able to work. The work permit
then serves as a means of identification, Stuchiner said, that the girls can
use for such purposes as obtaining a driver’s license.
In the future, Emma wants to go to college, perhaps out of state, she said,
“to have some freedom.”
She said she is “going to take college more seriously than high school.”
Emma graduated from Palo Verde in June and didn’t study very hard, she said.
As for her future, she said she “always wanted to be a singer” when she was
younger, but her experience being detained and threatened with deportation
has made her think of other options.
Now, she said, she is “thinking of being a judge or a lawyer so this doesn’t
happen to anyone else.”
Alternatively, she said, she would like to work in the entertainment
industry.
Both girls said they look forward to becoming citizens, in order to resolve
the problem that led to their detention and separation from their family.
That problem became apparent when Rouben Sarkisian took the girls to local
immigration officials seeking paperwork he thought they should be able to
obtain after years of attempts to gain legal status for them. But he found
instead that a series of events — including him marrying a U.S citizen and
becoming a legal resident, the step below citizenship — had not changed
their status.
The sisters still had a deportation order hanging over their heads.
Stuchiner said “the most logical avenue” for the teens to become citizens,
is for their father to become a citizen and then petition for his daughters.
Sarkisian applied for citizenship in July, Stuchiner said, and should
receive a date for his interview and exam in the next few months. That date
is usually three weeks to a month from whenever the notice arrives in the
mail.
Emma said one thing she would like to do when she becomes a citizen is
travel around the world — including a trip to Armenia.
Though the sisters were born there, neither has ever been back since they
were brought to the United States as pre-schoolers in 1991. They don’t even
speak its language.
“If I was a citizen, I could visit Armenia. I want to know what it’s like
…(and) keep in touch with my roots — but of my own free will,” she said.
Many Las Vegas residents wrote or called their congressmen or the media
while the case of the Sarkisians was unfolding. Many expressed disbelief
that two teenagers who had spent most of their life in the United States
were not already citizens.
On Friday, Marsha Cook, a Henderson resident who had been following the
case, walked into the pizzeria and said, “Are you Emma?”
“I just wanted to say, ‘Welcome home … and I hope you become a citizen
soon,”‘ she said.
Father Phil Carolin, executive director of the Citizenship Project, a
nonprofit organization that has helped about 1,250 people become citizens,
said “the main hurdle is the language” for most immigrants when it comes to
passing the citizenship interview and exam.
Sarkisian said he “speaks English okay and understands,” but has chosen to
speak through Russian interpreters while in the media spotlight in the last
few weeks.
Carolin’s organization offers classes in English as a second language as
well as in history and government, subjects that are covered in the
citizenship exam.
Another hurdle for many immigrants, Carolin said, is that “many of these
people hold down two or three jobs” and never find time to study.
Sarkisian’s job often requires him to work up to 14 hours a day, Emma said.
Looking back not only on the last two weeks, but on his 56 years, he said,
“My life is like an airplane — I don’t see it.”
“Only work, only work.”
Saturday turned out to be Sarkisian’s birthday and the toasts with vodka
were flowing at Tropicana Pizza.
“I already have my biggest gift,” he said of his daughters’ return.

KARABAKH CONFLICT NOT TO BE SETTLED TO ARMENIA’S ADVANTAGE UNDER
PRESENT ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT
YEREVAN, JANUARY 29. ARMINFO. The Karabakh conflict will not be
settled to Armenia’s advantage under the present Armenian government,
says opposition MP, leader of Democratic Party of Armenia Aram
Sargsyan.
He says that PACE’s Jan 25 approval of David Atkinson’s report on
Karabakh was a serious defeat for the Armenian diplomacy and their
statements about some oil factor or even unprecedented diplomatic
success are just baby talk. “The brick has fallen off the roof and is
quickly coming down on our heads,” says Sargsyan noting that Ilham
Aliev whom the Armenian authorities have nicked “an incompetent
playboy” has managed to turn the situation to Azerbaijan’s advantage
in no longer than one year.
Instead of stubbornly playing the same tune a nation’s
self-determination right the Armenian authorities should have worked
hard with PACE delegations. The Armenian FM and president preferred
self-conceit and vanity so they should not be offended now at the US,
or Russia or Iran for not helping them or at Elizabeth Jones for her
statements. They better look at themselves in the mirror.

AT THE NKR GOVERNMENT SESSION
STEPANAKERT, January 28 (Noyan Tapan). On January 26, the first 2005
session of the NKR Government chaired by the republic’s Prime-Minister
Anoushavan Dayelian took place. In his speech, the head of the
Ministers’ Cabinet focused at the achievements of the previous year,
noting that the growth of the domestic gross product had comprised
17,5% or 42 billion drams in comparison with 2003 and this index would
be raised to 48 billion drams this year. According to the Information
and Analytical Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, the document “On the Events Providing
the Execution of the Budget of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic for 2005”
was adopted at the session. The Government adopted also a number of
decrees, in particular, on the creation of the Staff of the NKR
Ministry of Town-building. Bills on making amendments and supplements
in the NKR Law “On State Pensions” and on making supplements in the
NKR Law “On the Repressed”, as well as bills related to culture and
sport were adopted. The members of the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a
number of programs including those of the activity of the NKR
Government and the NKR Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport for
2005. Resolutions related to the authority of a number of stock
societies, privatization of state and municipal property were also
adopted.

PRESS RELEASE
Department of Armenian Studies, Haigazian University
Beirut, Lebanon
Contact: Ara Sanjian
Tel: 961-1-353011
Email: [email protected]
Web:
HAGOP CHOLAKIAN LECTURES AT HAIGAZIAN UNIVERSITY ON THE HISTORY OF
ARMENIANS IN THE ORONTES RIVER MIDDLE VALLEY
BEIRUT, LEBANON, Friday, 28 January 2005 (Haigazian University
Department of Armenian Studies Press Release) – Hagop Cholakian, a
seasoned Armenian educator and author based in Aleppo, Syria, was the
guest of Haigazian University on the evening of Friday, 5 November 2004.
He delivered a public lecture entitled ‘The History of the Armenians in
the Orontes River Middle Valley’. The talk was organized by the
university’s Department of Armenian Studies.
Alongside his distinguished career as a teacher and author of a number
of textbooks of the Armenian language, Cholakian is a poet and has a
number of academic publications in the field of Armenian Studies. He
received his university education in Yerevan. His lecture was the
summary of his doctoral dissertation defended at the Institute of
Archeology and Ethnography in the Armenian National Academy of Sciences
in 2002.
Cholakian told the audience, at the beginning of his lecture, that
classical sources attest that Armenians lived in the city of Antioch, as
well as in nearby villages scattered throughout the Orontes River
Valley, as early as late Roman times. Armenians continued to live in the
area in the Byzantine era, and the Armenian population of the area
actually increased during the period of Arab domination. When the
Byzantine Empire recovered the area as a consequence of decline of Arab
military might, it transferred there new waves of Armenians. Some
governors of Antioch were Armenians in the 10-11th centuries. Philaretus
Varazhnuni, a former Armenian commander in the Byzantine army, briefly
captured Antioch in 1078, before the city passed on to the Seljuks.
Citing mostly contemporary Arab sources, Cholakian spoke in detail about
the assistance rendered to the Crusaders in 1097-98 by the Armenian
population of Antioch and the neighboring villages and fortresses. The
lecturer surmised that these Armenians were probably hoping to establish
an Armenian state with the help of the Crusaders, for, once they
witnessed the confiscation of their fortresses by the Crusaders and
realized that the latter had come to Antioch to stay, the Armenians of
Artah rebelled and got in touch with the Rawan, the Muslim ruler of
Aleppo, as early as 1103, seeking on this occasion the latter’s
assistance against the Crusaders. During the ensuing decades, some
Armenians fought as mercenaries for the Crusader Principality of
Antioch, and when Saladin advanced into the area in 1188, the fortresses
of Kifr Tebbin (modern Hamameh) in the Shughr area, which was controlled
by an Armenian, surrendered without a fight. Some scholars believe that
the present Muslim inhabitants of Hamameh are the descendants of
Islamized Armenians. Armenian sources refer to three separate dioceses
of the Armenian Church in this area in the twelfth century, based
respectively in Laodicea (modern Lattakia), Apamea and Antioch.
Cholakian outlined how the Armenians of the region suffered during the
period of Mamluk and Ottoman dominion. Many villages vanished and their
inhabitants migrated. All Armenian monasteries disappeared during this
period. By the mid-nineteenth century, Armenians of the area had
retreated into five relatively small enclaves: around the town of Beilan
near the Bay of Alexandretta; the region of Musa Dagh; around the
village of Kessab; on the Nusayri mountains east of the town of Lattakia
(including the villages of Aramo and Ghnaymiyyah); and along the Orontes
Valley (including the villages of Qnay and Yaqubiyyah). Armenians in
these clusters shared a common dialect and many similar customs.
Although the Armenians of the Orontes River Middle Valley had adopted
Arabic as their mother tongue by the mid-nineteenth century, they still
used a number of Armenian words in their vocabulary and children’s play
songs.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, said Cholakian, the apathy
of the Armenian Church leaders in Cilicia, Jerusalem and Aleppo made it
relatively easy for Protestant and Catholic missionaries to convert a
significant number of Armenians in the area. The lecturer cited a number
of instances where individuals manipulated the opportunities for
conversion to push for their material interests. Cholakian argued that
these conversions also caused assimilation among many Armenians living
in the area.
The region was heavily affected during the massacres of Armenians in
Cilicia in 1909, said the lecturer. However, the Roman Catholic
missionaries in Yaqubiyyah and Qnay managed to prevent massacres in
those villages by arranging for the arrival of Ottoman troops from
Antioch, an event which encouraged a new wave of Latinization among the
local Armenians.
Cholakian stated that all Armenians in the region were deported during
the genocide of 1915, except a few villages in Musa Dagh, which resisted
until their rescue by Allied ships. The Armenians of Yaqubiyyah and Qnay
were not deported. The exact reason behind their avoiding the sad fate
of their ethnic kin in the region is not known. The local Roman Catholic
priests claim that these Armenians escaped deportation because they were
registered as Christians of the Latin rite. Other Armenians of Latin
rite from Kessab and Beilan were deported, however. The deportees, who
survived the ordeal, returned to their villages after the armistice
signed in late 1918, only to clash with the local Muslims, who made them
scatter into the neighboring Christian villages until 1923.
The last part of Cholakian’s lecture dealt with the attempts of the
Armenian Church to reassert its presence in the area. In 1923, for
example, Catholicos Sahak II of Cilicia, now based in the new state of
Syria, tried to revive the activity of the Armenian Church in Kessab. In
1928, the Armenian Prelacy of Aleppo sent an Arabic-speaking priest to
Yaqubiyyah. He reopened the old Armenian church in the village and
helped the majority of the local Armenians return to the fold of their
old Church. Yaqubiyyah soon got an Armenian school as well, and, in
1954, a new church was built. A number of Armenian students from
Yaqubiyyah studied in Soviet Armenia from the mid-1950s and played an
important role in reviving Armenian cultural life in the village after
their return. Today, speaking the Armenian language has again become the
norm for the Armenians living in Yaqubiyyah. Some Armenian villagers of
Latin rite in Qnay, too, are now sending their children to an Armenian
school nearby, and the speaking of the Armenian language is also on the
increase in Qnay. Past Armenian migrants of Latin rite from these two
villages have not undergone similar re-Armenization, however. Finally,
the Armenians of Beilan and Musa Dagh (except the village of Vakif) all
migrated when the French mandatory authorities ceded the sanjak of
Alexandretta to Turkey in 1939.
During the question-and-answer session that followed, Cholakian surveyed
a number of suggested etymologies regarding the place names Ghnaymiyyah,
Qnay and Yaqubiyyah that are in circulation today. He also pointed out
that Armenians from Yaqubiyyah are active in the cultural life of Syria.
Cholakian commended the role played by Cardinal Gregory Peter Agagianian
in 1946 when he arranged that the Armenians of Latin rite living in
Kessab should join the Armenian Catholic Church, which uses the Armenian
language in its church services. Since the Armenian language is now
taught in Syria as a language of religious rites, Latin rite schools
cannot teach the Armenian language, because the Latin Church does not
use Armenian in church services. Moreover, all Armenians of Latin rite
from Kessab and Musa Dagh who had migrated to South America before 1946,
have not maintained links with the Armenian Catholic churches on that
continent. Cholakian also praised the work of Sister Marie Jeanne
Topalian, an Armenian Catholic nun, who teaches Armenian songs to
children among the Arabic-speaking Armenians in Qnay and encourages
parents to send their children to the nearest Armenian school. He
concluded that the Armenian Church should learn lessons from the fate of
the Armenians of the Orontes River Valley and become more active among
its flock so as to preserve Armenian national unity. Finally, a member
of the audience pointed out that the first ever Armenian Diasporan
student to study in a Soviet Armenian institution of higher learning in
the post-Stalin period was from Yaqubiyyah.
Haigazian University is a liberal arts institution of higher learning,
established in Beirut in 1955. For more information about its activities
you are welcome to visit its web-site at <;. For additional information on the activities of its Department of Armenian Studies, contact Ara Sanjian at