Author: Vanyan Gary

AZERI MEMBER OF GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT: "WE ARE READY TO DIE FOR EVERY INCH OF GEORGIA’S TERRITORY"

Azeri Press Agency
Aug 8 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Tamara Grigoryeva – APA. "Mobilization has been announced in
Georgia and anyone who can hold a gun will fight. Georgian Azerbaijanis
are also ready to support Georgians", member of Georgian parliament
Azer Suleymanov told APA. He said they were ready to form a battalion
of Azerbaijanis when necessary.

"We are ready to die for every inch of Georgia’s territory, because
this is our motherland", he said.

Azer Suleymanov expressed his confidence that the processes would
have a successful end.

"We will return our lands. I wish Karabakh to be liberated and we
can celebrate it together", he said.

ARMENIA TO HOST EXPO-RUSSIA

ARKA
Aug 5, 2008

YEREVAN, August 5. /ARKA/. Expo-Russia will be held in Armenia October
31 through November 2. Expo-Russia is the logical continuation of
Armenian-Russian business-forum held in Tsakhkadzor early May.

The goal of these gatherings is to expand trade and economic links
and investment opportunities, and develop joint business programs.

The exhibition was organized by the Zarubezh-Expo and Multi-Group
companies.

Close to 50 Russian companies will participate in the expo classified
under several themes, including transport, construction, ore mining
and machine-building industries, agriculture, energy, metallurgy,
telecommunications, medicine and health.

A conference – Armenia-Russia: Economic Partnership Prospects"-
will be held simultaneously with the exhibition.

THE 2790TH ANNIVERSARY OF YEREVAN CITY WILL BE CELEBRATED WITH SPLENDID FESTIVITIES ON OCTOBER 11

arminfo
2008-08-04 11:08:00

ArmInfo. The 2790th Anniversary of Yerevan city will be celebrated
with large-scale festivities on October 11, Head of the Municipal
Department for Culture, Youth and Sport Affairs Kamo Movsisyan told
media Monday. ‘In conformity with a governmental decision, Yerevan Day
will be celebrated every year on the second Saturday of October. This
year it will be October 11;, he said. ‘We are going to turn that day
into a citywide holiday that will be this year even more splendid
than last year’, he said.

K. Movsisyan underlined that many foreign delegations and tourists will
arrive in Yerevan to attend the festivities. ‘Over 20 foreign cities
have already expressed desire to participate in the event’, he said.

Argishtis I – a son and successor of Menuas, he continued the series of
conquests initiated by his predecessors. Victorious against Assyria, he
conquered the northern part of Syria and made Urartu the most powerful
state in the post-Hittite Near East. He also expanded his kingdom
north to the Lake Sevan conquering much of Diauehi and the Ararat
Valley. Argishtis built the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC, and the
fortress of Argishtikhinili, in 776 BC. The cornerstone with the date
of Yerevan’s foundation engraved on can be found at Yerevan Municipal
Museum. Yerevan was declared the capital of the Republic Armenia on
28 may 1918. Yerevan Day is celebrated every year in mid October.

SHAVARSH KOCHARYAN APPOINTED DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.08.2008 13:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ By a presidential decree, Shavarsh Kocharyan was
appointed as Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, the RA leader’s
press office told PanARMENIAN.Net.

Shavarsh Kocharyan is the chairman of the National Democratic Party
of Armenia and serves on the commission on formation of the Public
Council at RA President.

ARMENIA ENTERING INTO EURASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Interfax News Agency
July 31 2008
Russia

The Armenian government made an official decision to join the Eurasian
Development Bank (EDB) on Thursday.

The government will assign $100,000 from its reserve fund to the
bank’s charter capital, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen
Movsisian said.

Armenia wants to borrow bank money for the development of national
infrastructure, energy, chemical, mining, light and food industries,
communications, transport and agriculture.

Earlier reports said that the accession would be complete this year.

The EDB said that Tajikistan and Belarus might join together with
Armenia in 2008.

The EDB is an international fiscal organization established by
Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 to promote sustainable
economic development of member countries, to broaden trade and
economic cooperation and to promote direct investments, including
public-private partnerships. The bank’s charter capital stands at
$1.5 billion, including $1 billion contributed by Russia and $500
million contributed by Kazakhstan.

The bank’s focus is the funding of investment projects in member
states.

ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
65 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472
Tel: (866) 965-TREE (toll-free)
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
July 30, 2008

Armenia Tree Project Inaugurates Mirak Family Reforestation Nursery in Lori
Region

— Special Program Welcomes Visit by Robert Mirak and St. James Armenian
Church

MARGAHOVIT, Armenia–Armenia Tree Project (ATP) officially inaugurated its
Mirak Family Reforestation Nursery in Margahovit, during a visit by Dr.
Robert Mirak who is the program’s primary benefactor. Dr. Mirak visited the
nursery on July 17 with his sister Muriel Mirak-Weissbach and a group of
Armenian-Americans from the St. James Armenian Apostolic Church of
Watertown, led by Rev. Fr. Arakel Aljalian.

The site of ATP’s large-scale reforestation nursery was blessed by Rev.
Aljalian, and opening remarks were given by ATP Yerevan Director Mher
Sadoyan and ATP Deputy Director Jason Sohigian. "A few years ago, the Mirak
Family contacted ATP looking for a new project to support. I remember
visiting with Dr. Mirak and his daughters Jennifer and Julia, when our
executive director described our goal of establishing our own reforestation
nursery here in northern Armenia, which was hardest hit by deforestation
after independence," recounted Sohigian.

"This nursery has allowed ATP to expand its capacity in reforestation, and
this program has served as a launching pad for our partnership with Yale
University’s school of forestry. Experts from Yale have worked here in the
local forests with Armenian volunteers and professionals to help us prepare
a sustainable forestry manual which will instruct local residents on how to
both use and also protect the resources provided by our forests for use by
future generations," he added.

The event was attended by Margahovit Mayor Seyran Ananyan, as well as the
mayors of Aygut and Aghavnavank, where ATP is working with the local
communities to implement reforestation programs. The 15-acre nursery was
established in 2005 with the support of the John Mirak Foundation, which
also funded a significant portion of its operational costs for five years.
This nursery has the capacity to produce one million tree seedlings per
year, which has greatly expanded ATP’s reforestation programs in northern
Armenia.

Dr. Mirak and his sister Muriel cut a ribbon for a memorial stone at the
site, which is dedicated to the memory of their parents John and Artemis
Mirak who were survivors of the Armenian Genocide from Arapkir. "As a true
Armenian, my father had special love for trees. For that reason he planted
four trees in his backyard garden and named them after his four children. He
nurtured those seedlings with so much love, and his trees gave a bountiful
harvest of fruit," recounted Dr. Mirak. "Besides the trees, my father was
happy when he was in the mountains, surrounded with nature."

"My parents never returned to their homeland, but they always wanted to see
their beautiful native-land. I am sorry they are not here today to see this
marvelous nursery, because it combines everything that they loved so
much-the mountains, trees, and programs in Armenia," continued Dr. Mirak in
his remarks. "I know that they are happy now, as this program is sustainable
and prosperous. Our family hopes this nursery will flourish and that Armenia
will flourish too for thousands and thousands of years."

After the program, ATP staff led the guests on tours of the nursery, which
currently contains over 500,000 seedlings of pine, maple, oak, ash, and
other indigenous trees that will be planted in the surrounding hillsides in
the coming months and years.

While the guests enjoyed a luncheon of locally grown vegetables and fruits,
a group of schoolchildren from the village performed a skit about the
importance of trees and their biological functions as part of the
interconnected natural world. The group participated in ATP’s environmental
education program in Margahovit, which was implemented through the
leadership of a local teacher using ATP’s "Plant an Idea, Plant a Tree"
curriculum.

In the 1930s, John Mirak established the Arlington Center Garage and Service
Corporation. With the involvement of sons Robert, Charles, and Edward, and
now members of the third generation of the family, the businesses have
expanded to include Mirak Chevrolet/Hyundai, Mirak Properties, and Mirak
Leasing. The Mirak Family has contributed to a number of other charitable
and education institutions, including Arlington’s hospital, libraries, and
the preservation of historic structures, and the Armenian Cultural
Foundation in Arlington, MA.

Since 1994, Armenia Tree Project has planted and restored more than
2,000,000 trees and created hundreds of jobs for impoverished Armenians in
tree-regeneration programs. The organization’s three tiered initiatives are
tree planting, community development to reduce poverty and promote
self-sufficiency, and environmental education to protect Armenia’s precious
natural resources. For additional information, visit the web site

PHOTO CAPTIONS

(Mirak Family Dedication.jpg) Dr. Robert Mirak and his sister Muriel
Mirak-Weissbach (center) cut the ribbon to inaugurate Armenia Tree Project’s
Mirak Family Reforestation Nursery in the village of Margahovit; the Miraks
visited the site with a group from the St. James Armenian Apostolic Church
of Watertown led by Rev. Fr. Arakel Aljalian (right)

(Mirak Family Nursery.jpg) Dr. Robert Mirak (second from right) is pictured
at the Armenia Tree Project Mirak Family Reforestation Nursery in Margahovit
with Rev. Fr. Arakel Aljalian, Michael Weissbach, Muriel Mirak-Weissbach,
and ATP Yerevan Director Mher Sadoyan; the nursery was inaugurated in memory
of John and Artemis Mirak

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

Armenian version: nian.htm

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I MEETS WITH OFFICIALS
FROM THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF CYPRUS

His Holiness Aram I received the members of the Diocesan and Executive
Councils of the Diocese of Cyprus in the country’s Armenian Prelacy on July
23. Vartkes Mahdessian, community’s representative in the Cypriot
Parliament, also participated in the meetings.

The Pontifical Vicar to Cyprus, Archbishop Varoujan Hergelian, expressed his
satisfaction that the Pontiff’s meetings with Cypriot government and church
officials were conducted in a highly successful manner. Archbishop Hergelian
then talked about the activities and future plans of the Diocese. The
chairman of the Diocesan Council, Sebouh Tavitian, then laid out the
concerns and challenges the Diocese faces and asked His Holiness for his
counsel.

The Pontiff once again expressed his delight for being in the Diocese of
Cyprus, stressing that it had a special important for the Catholicosate of
Cilicia. He spoke in detail about the positive resonance of his meetings
with officials from Cypriot government and the church. In particular, His
Holiness outlined the details of his meetings with the President of Cyprus
Demetris Christofias, the Speaker of Parliament Marios Karoyan and the
Spiritual Head of the Cypriot Greek Orthodox Church Archbishop Chrysostomos
II. His Holiness assured that all three had talked with great praise about
the Armenian community of Cyprus. He commended the efforts of the Pontifical
Vicar and Diocesan officials in the fields of Christian education, culture
and construction.

His Holiness particularly praised the increasingly visible unity
demonstrated by the Armenian community of Cyprus, emphasizing that while our
differences should be preserved, they should not weaken our unity. Speaking
about the mutual bond between the church and the people, His Holiness
observed that the Church should become a more assertive existence in the
lives of people, who in return should gather around the church and become
actively involved in its life.

Attendants in the meeting spoke about the difficulties the Diocese faces
particularly within the educational and construction fields. Community
officials then organized a luncheon in honor of His Holiness.

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

EIGHTY-SIX PEOPLE ACCUSED OF LINKS WITH ERGENEKON TO STAND TRIAL IN TURKEY OCT. 20

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.07.2008 16:53 GMT+04:00

Eighty-six people, accused of creating an armed terrorist group to
overthrow the government, will go on trial on October 20. A Turkish
court agreed on Friday to hear the controversial Ergenekon case,
accepting the 2455-page indictment.

The first hearing of the case will be held on October 20 at a prison
complex in Silivri town of Istanbul because of the large number
of defendants.

The indictment said the investigation led the officials to a terrorist
organization named Ergenekon, which has not been the subject of
any criminal case previously and which has different objectives and
activities when compared to other terrorist organizations.

"It has been determined that the nearest goal of the organization is
to carry out activities that will cause governmental weakness in the
country and to create a chaotic atmosphere that will spoil the public
order, moreover, as a final goal, the organization aims to make people
approve an unlawful attempt to be carried out against the government
in such a chaotic atmosphere and to take over the government through
an unlawful intervention," the indictment said.

Prosecutors accuse so-called Ergenekon gang of at least two violent
acts initially blamed on Islamists – the 2006 bombing of a secularist
newspaper and an armed attack on a top court the same year in which
a senior judge was killed.

The group is also accused of planning to assassinate some prominent
Turks in the past few years, including the Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan, army chief Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, 2006 Nobel literature
laureate Orhan Pamuk, pro-government journalist Fehmi Koru and some
pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) officials.

The indictment added the gang is not linked to the Turkish armed
forces and National Intelligence Agency (MIT).

The long waited indictment was submitted only two weeks ago, although
the Ergenekon case started 13 months ago with the discovery of grenades
in a house in Istanbul’s Umraniye district.

The lack of the indictment in the operation, and the detainment
of anti-AKP politicians, journalists and intellectuals without any
legal charge raised eyebrows in Turkey, as many questioned whether
the operation is being used to suppress opponents of the ruling party.

Apart from the 86 already indicted, about 20 other people, including
two retired four-star generals, a popular journalist and a prominent
businessman, are awaiting charges, some of them in prison.

An additional indictment would be prepared for those detained in the
sixth wave of the operation in July 1, including Kemalist Thought
Association Chairman Retired Gen. Sener Eruygur, Retired Gen. Hursit
Tolon and Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO).

The film director Halis Yavuz Isiklar, who had been also taken
into custody in the same wave, was released late on Friday by the
Istanbul court.

Turkish public is divided over the issue, even some question whether
such organization exists or it is just a cover to suppress the
opposition.

The extent of the operation had widened since the closure case
against the AKP filed in March. Although the closure case and the
Ergenekon case are separate legal processes, Erdogan had linked the
two cases saying the closure case against the AKP was filed due to
the government’s determination in the Ergenekon case, Hurriyet reports.

ANC PAC
104 N. Belmont St.
Suite 200B
Glendale, CA 91206
Press Release
ANC-PAC Backs Washington State Republican Reichert in Tight Congressional
Race
July 26, 2008
Mercer Island, WA – As he faces a significant challenge for his
congressional seat this fall, Congressman Dave Reichert (R-WA) can count on
Armenian American voters standing by him. The Armenian National Committee –
Political Action Committee (ANC-PAC) endorsed Reichert this week for his
thoughtful attention to the concerns of his Armenian Americans constituents
who live in and around the King County suburbs of Seattle.

Reichert is facing a political rematch this November against Democrat
Darcy Burner. In 2006, he narrowly defeated Burner, a former Microsoft
executive, by a margin of 51% to 49%. Most recently, Burner has gained
national attention after her home burned down and, as a result, her
supporters from across the nation poured money into her campaign account. As
of June 30th, Burner had nearly $2 million in her campaign account, with
Reichert having collected over $1.7 million for his re-election campaign.

On April 16, 2007 Congressman Reichert, at the request of his constituents
in Washington’s 8th Congressional District, became one of over 200 cosponsors
of the Armenian Genocide resolution. Following his co-sponsorship of the
human rights measure, Reichert met with his constituent Ms. Natalie Atamian
Bauge and other community activists to explain his strong support for the
bill.

"Congressman Reichert has been a great friend of the Washington Armenian
American community and we are pleased to support him in his bid for
re-election," explained ANC activist Armen Abrahamian of Bellevue,
Washington. "When the chips are down, the Congressman can rest assured that
we will be supporting him 100 percent," he added.

Washington’s 8th Congressional District is home to an active and growing
Armenian American community. Congressman Reichert’s Armenian American
constituents attend the Armenian Apostolic Church of Seattle and participate
in a number of community organizations, including the Armenian Cultural
Association.

The ANC-PAC is a non-partisan federally registered political action
committee established to support campaign committees for Members of Congress
who share the values of the Armenian American community. The ANC-PAC is at
the forefront of efforts to ensure that the voice of the Armenian American
community is clearly heard in our nation’s capital. The ANC-PAC continues a
century old tradition of Armenian American engagement on the public policy
issues facing national political leaders, both in the U.S. Congress and the
White House. For more information, you may logon to

If you receive this email as "Junk" or "Spam", please make sure to add our
email as a "Safe" or "Trusted" contact.

TURKEY AND ARMENIA EXTENDING OLIVE BRANCH TO EACH OTHER

Turkish Daily News
July 25, 2008 Friday

Political circles and the public in Armenia are quite curious about
Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s response to an invitation extended
by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to watch the Turkey-Armenia
football World Cup qualifier that will take place in Yerevan Sept. 6.

Rumors that Turkish and Armenian diplomats held secret negotiations
over the topic in Switzerland have further increased the level of
curiosity. Contact between the two sides certainly does not take place
only in the meeting rooms of third parties. A group from Turkey also
had contacts in Yerevan last week. Yet both sides, Turkey and Armenia,
prefer to remain silent for now.

On the other hand, top-level Armenian politicians insistently refrain
from being interviewed by journalists from the Turkish media these
days, because they think any interviews they’d have with Turkish
journalists would be manipulated, and therefore, not be reflected
objectively to the Turkish public. So they try to be cautious
about interviews, with the idea that they might spoil the course of
softening relations between Turkey and Armenia. Even though I, as a
Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, was not treated like other
journalists in Yerevan, this did not save a planned interview that
I was going to conduct with a top-level politician from postponement
to an uncertain "next time" due to a last-moment occurrence.

I asked the opinions of many Armenians on the street. Most of them do
not have a positive perspective toward the Sargsyan administration. My
general impression is that the majority of citizens in Armenia want
to see country’s first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, in power again.

By the way, many citizens also think that the last presidential
elections were biased. For them, the government of Sargsyan is the
main source of the internal conflict that occurred in March. That is
actually the reason why Sargsyan has recently been trying hard to
regain the public’s confidence. One of his big goals is to develop
Armenia’s economy, which has had a significant growth rate in
recent years, and in this way, to increase the level of prosperity in
Armenian society. But his priority is to expand the scope of bilateral
relations with neighboring countries, which definitely, and above all,
include Turkey.

Turkey’s addressee Armenia, not the diaspora

Meanwhile, the "genocide" issue is still a taboo in Armenia. Only young
intellectuals have a moderate approach toward possible dialogue with
Turkey. "I believe in the importance of possible dialogue with Turkey,"
said Dr. Hayk Demoyan, the 33-year-old director of the Genocide Museum
in Yerevan. "Turkey’s internal peace is highly important for us. I
lost a large part of my family during the painful event that occurred
in the past decades. I am still a part of those lands. My roots belong
to those lands. That’s why a dialogue with Turkey is important."

University students, too, have an interest in Turkey and the
Turks. This is the impression I got as a result of a number of
interviews I conducted with students in different universities in
Yerevan. Some students even spend their holidays in Turkey. Young
people in Armenia also hold the opinion that the two peoples need to
communicate with each other and talk about the traumas that happened
in the past. And they are quite critical about interferences by
the diaspora and the countries of the West in the problems between
Turkey and Armenia. Young academics, on the other hand, underline
that Armenia is an independent country and the problems between it
and Turkey can be solved only with the cooperation of both.