Author: Tavakalian Edgar

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WESTERN DIOCESE E-NEWSLETTER
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Diocesan News
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DIOCESAN APRIL 24TH SCHEDULE

The Primate and Diocesan Clergy are 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.
( news/story.php?id=419)

SCHEDULE OF APRIL 24TH ACTIVITES FOR FR. VAZKEN MOVSESIAN

The list of April 24th related events that Fr. Vazken Movsesian,
Pastor of St. Peter Armenian Church, Glendale, is scheduled to
participate in
( ?id=418)

PRIMATE’S SCHEDULE FOR MAY 2007

( .php?id=420)

PRIMATE OFFERS OPENING PRAYER AT ARMENIAN BAR ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING

n April 21, 2007, His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderain offered the
opening prayer at the Annual Meeting of the Armenian Bar Association.
( /story.php?id=421)

PRIMATE ATTENDS AGBU-AYA GENOCIDE COMMEMORATION

On April 21, 2007, His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian attended
the Genocide Commemoration of the AGBY-AYA.
( ory.php?id=422)

PRIMATE CELEBRATES DIVINE LITURGY AT ST. PETER, VAN NUYS
Ordains Sarkis Sekayan To The Diaconate

( story.php?id=423)

PRIMATE INSTRUCTS DIOCESAN PARISHES TO HONOR VIRGINIA TECH VICTIMS

( ory.php?id=424)

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:

News from U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Alex Swartsel

April 24, 2007
(202) 228-6293
PRESS OFFICE
[email protected]

Whitehouse: Armenian Genocide Must Never Be Repeated

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Whitehouse (D-R.I.) today released
the following statement commemorating Armenian Genocide Remembrance
Day:

`The only way to prevent crimes against humanity in the future is to
shine light on the past. I’m proud to support the Senate’s efforts to
recognize the tragedy that befell the Armenians for what it was – a
genocide that must never, ever be repeated.’

Whitehouse is a cosponsor of Senate Resolution 106, which calls on
the President to ensure that U.S. foreign policy acknowledges as
genocide the killings of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire
from 1915 to 1923.

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AZERBAIJANI POLITICIANS COMMENT ON CHANGES TO PROVISIONS REGARDING NAGORNO-KARABAKH IN US DEPARTMENT OF STATE’S REPORT

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
April 26 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend S.Ilhamgizi / New changes have been
made to the provisions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict in the initial 2006 State Department Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices. After the protest of Azerbaijan, the sentence
‘Armenian Armed Forces occupies large part of Azerbaijani territories
surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh’ was replaced with a sentence ‘Armenia
continues to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh
and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories’. The politicians of
Azerbaijan comment on this issue.

Former State Consultant, Politician Vafa Guluzade considers that
irrespective of the expressions in the report, the position of the
United States regarding Nagorno-Karabakh is clear and unanimous. "The
USA wants Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to be resolved in favor of
Armenia. However, the USA recognizes the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan because all gentlemen countries support and respect
the territorial integrity of other countries. At the same time,
the USA and other European countries try that Azerbaijan itself
denies Nagorno-Karabakh. In this case, they will be innocent before
Azerbaijan in this issue," Guluzade said.

According to him, it needs to consider as faults the repeat changes
to the report of the Department of State.

The Chairman of Democratic Reforms Party, Parliamentarian
Asim Mollazade, approaches the issue from the point of view of
US-Azerbaijan strategic partnership. He thinks that the Department
of State’s objective changes to its report result from the issue
that the USA supports the international legal norms and recognizes
the importance of Azerbaijan in the region. "Therefore, I assess
this event as a demonstration of the development prospects of the
US-Azerbaijan partnership and friendship relations. It is already the
second document. Before the US Department of State, the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted documents on
the base of the international law. If all international organizations
demonstrate such fair position, Armenia may be forced to change its
policy and peace may be achieved," Mollazade underlined.

Other politician Rasim Musabeyov assesses the objective changes
in the report as an indicator of Azerbaijan’s strategic importance
for the USA. Musabeyov considers that the issue that American senior
officials and Assistant Secretary of State, Matthew Byrza, refute the
fact that the initial variant of the report has been changed under
the influence of the Armenian lobby testifies his insincerity. "After
this, the Armenians may become more active, but in any cases, the
Department of State will not make changes by getting itself into a
funny situation. On the other hand, unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan has
not financial dependence on the USA," he said.

Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani lands including
Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven Districts of the country surrounding
it. Since 1992 to the present time, these territories have been
under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In 1994, Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a cease-fire agreement at which time the active
hostilities ended.

MORE COMMUNITIES IN SHAHUMYAN AND FEWER COMMUNITIES IN KASHATAGH

KarabakhOpen
26-04-2007 11:28:02

In Shahumyan region one more community added – recently the village
of Knaravan has got the status of a community. It was announced
during the April 25 meeting of the NKR parliament which discussed the
amendments to the law on the administrative and territorial division
of NKR. The village of Knaravan was founded by Karapet Harutiunyan,
an American benefactor, and his family.

By these amendments the number of communities in the region of
Kashatagh was reduced from 71 to 53. Member of Parliament Armen
Sargsyan, ARF Dashnaktsutyun – Movement 88, and Member of Parliament
Arpat Avanesyan, Azat Hayrenik, who studied the state of the region of
Kashatagh, said the population of this region needs special attention,
and a parliament hearing on this issue is already a necessity.

Armen Sargsyan said people leave the region not only because of hard
social conditions. We have already written that arbitrariness in the
region forces people to leave the region.

BUSH ASSURES ERDOGAN THAT HE WILL DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO PREVENT PASSAGE OF RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Noyan Tapan
Apr 23 2007

ANKARA, APRIL 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The US President Bush sent a letter to
the Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he says they
will do everything in order to prevent passage of the resolution on
the Armenian Genocide. "Hurriet" reported that this letter was sent
in response to Erdogan’s letter to Bush, a letter requesting support
of the US administration.

In his letter, the US president indicates the US administration’s
unchanged position on this issue, assuring that they do not consider
such initiatives positive and are not going to give any support
to them.

Turkey’s membership to EU is not problem for Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.04.2007 19:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Turkey’s membership to the European Union is not
a problem for Armenia, even just the opposite. Armenia would benefit
most of all if Turkey fulfilled those preconditions that the EU
demands. It would mean an open border between Armenia and Turkey,
improving protection of the Armenian minority in Turkey and their
property, Turkish intellectuals could freely speak about the Armenian
Genocide and EU’s borders would approach Armenia. What else we would
like to wish?" Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated at
the interview to Austrian newspaper Der Standart.

He expresses concerns saying that, "It looks like Turkey cannot
be transformed," "Obviously the country moves on the wrong way,
after the assassination of Hrant Dink they even did not change the
Penal Code article of "insulting Turkishness". We also fear that
the EU in the issue of Turkey’s membership will compromise and will
accept a country without waiting for final transformations to take
place there. Also we are concerned that the border with Armenia will
continue to be closed. Our hope is the European Union.

The Copenhagen criteria state that candidate-states must open their
borders. Armenia is not mentioned there, instead our neighbor Turkey
is mentioned.

Ankara must open his borders. The EU must point to it as soon
as possible, to improve political and economic situation in our
region. We do not have clear answers for the motives of closing
the borders. What’s the matter, in Azerbaijan, in Nagorno Karabakh,
what else?

The fact is that border is closed and it does not have any
justification," Vartan Oskanian underscored.

OHIO BECOMES THE 40th STATE TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 20 2007

The Armenian National Committee of America- Eastern region welcomes
a proclamation issued by Governor Ted Strickland (D-OH) on April 17,
2007 recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

The "Buckeye State" proclamation brings the number of states to
formally recognize the Armenian Genocide to forty. The proclamation,
the first ever issued by the state of Ohio, comes a week after North
Dakota became the 39th state to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The powerfully worded proclamation calls on "Ohioans to honor those,
who died in the Armenian Genocide, conceived and carried out by the
Ottoman Empire, by recognizing their suffering resulting from the
deportation of nearly 2 million Armenians." It goes on to cite the
"collective responsibility to uphold these values and to focus
the world’s attention on human rights abuses, ethnic cleansing,
and genocide."

Commenting on the proclamation, Governor Strickland stated: "We
have designated April 24 as the Ohio Day of Remembrance for those,
who suffered under the Armenian Genocide 92 years ago. I join Ohioans
in remembering the victims and continuing our commitment to justice
and human dignity across the world."

Ohio’s Congressional delegation has a strong record of support for
Armenian Genocide legislation with Representatives Dennis Kucinich
(D-10), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-11), Betty Sutton (D-13), Steve
LaTourette (R-14), Tim Ryan (D-17), and Zack Space (D-18) having
already cosponsored H. Res. 106. Newly elected Senator Sherrod Brown
(D) is a cosponsor of the Senate version of the initiative, S.Res.106.

The ANC of Ohio worked closely with Gov. Strickland’s office in
support of state recognition of this crime against humanity.

"Armenian-Americans applaud the Governors Proclamation," commented
ANC-OH activists David Krikorian. "His courage in giving voice to
this awful truth exemplifies the kind of leadership that will restore
America’s promise of greatness!"

Krikorian recently traveled to Washington, DC, and visited the
Ohio Congressional delegation as a part of the two-day grassroots
anti-genocide effort titled "End the Cycle of Genocide." Organized by
the ANCA and the Genocide Intervention Network, the campaign attracted
some 100 activists from across the U.S., who advocated passage of
Armenian Genocide legislation and targeted divestment from Sudan as
part of a series of concrete steps to stop the genocide in Darfur.

MANNHEIMER MORGEN: HATRED OF TURKISH NATIONALISTS IS BOUNDLESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.04.2007 17:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Obviously hatred of Turkish nationalists is
boundless. The terrible assassinations in Malatia displayed that
fanatics are capable of committing even such monstrous crimes. Radical
nationalist publicly label Christians as enemies of the country,
recently attacks became more frequent and sometimes with deadly ends,"
German newspaper Mannheimer Morgen writes.

The author of the article says, claims as if Christian missioners
undermine political and religious bases of the Turkish State,
are absurd. There are only about 100 000 Christians in Turkey,
which has 70 million population. "The tiny minority that wishes to
be left alone, at the same time keeps on struggling for the rights
of religious community," the newspaper underlines.

Three evangelic pastors have been assassinated in Malatya – Turkey. The
ecclesiastics were lacerated innumerable blows of knives, so much
that they were unrecognizable. The genitals would have been torn off.

Five principal suspects stopped by the Turkish Police have from 17
to 20 years old.

REFUSAL OF ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO PARTICIPATE IN PACE MEETING IS RESPONSE TO AZERIS’ ACTIVITIES

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.04.2007 15:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Meetings should make sense. Empty and fruitless
meetings are avail and we cannot pretend as if we are holding
talks," Tigran Torosian, the RA NA Speaker and head of the Armenian
parliamentary delegation to the CoE, said when commenting on the
refusal of the Armenian delegation to participate in the sitting
of the PACE subcommittee on Nagorno Karabakh. In his opinion, it’s
a proper response to the activities of the Azeri parliamentarians
who used the absence of the Armenian delegation over the funeral
of PM Andranik Margaryan for an attempt to push forth their own
proposals. "The Azeri delegation misled people by proposing some
wordings on fulfillment of their commitments," Torosian said adding
that such conduct is not only disrespect for moral rules but also
unavailability to any dialogue or cooperation.

Tigran Torosian said that Subcommittee head, Lord Russell Johnston,
was supposed to be informed of the refusal to take part in the
meeting. "Let them clarify why his secretary was not informed of
the refusal," he said adding he is not going to comment on Azeri
deputy Samed Seyidov’s statement on "Armenia’s political weakness",
RFE/RL reports.

TIGRAN TOROSIAN: "EMPTY AND VAIN MEETINGS CAN NOT BE USEFUL"

Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The delegation of Armenia refused to
participate in the sitting of the Sub-Committee on Karabakh Issue of
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) scheduled
for April 17. The sitting did not take place because of it. "Those
sittings must have a meaning, and empty and vain meetings can not be
useful and we can not pretend as if we meet," head of the Armenian
delegation, National Assembly Speaker Tigran Torosian said to Radio
Liberty.

In his words, response of the Armenian side was to be like that after
the fact when during the previous sitting of the monitoring commission,
making use of that circumstance that the Armenian delegation was
absent as Prime Minister Andranik Margarian’s funeral was on that day,
the Azerbaijani delegation led people into error and, with a goal
of self-deception, proposed some expressions for involving in the
resolution on implementing their obligations. "It obviously shows
that Azeris can not keep either elementary moral rules or are ready
to any dialogue and cooperation on any issue," T. Torosian mentioned.