ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER GOES ON TWO-WEEKS’ LEAVE
YEREVAN, AUGUST 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian went on a two weeks’ leave from August 7 to August
21. According to the RA Government Information and PR Department,
A. Margarian will spend his holiday outside Armenia. The RA Minister of
Territorial Administration Hovik Abrahamian will temporarily perform
the duties of the prime minister.
Committee puts off action on nominee for ambassador to Armenia
AP Worldstream; Aug 04, 2006
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is putting off until September
consideration of career diplomat Richard Hoagland as ambassador
to Armenia.
The delay signals objections by some senators to the administration’s
refusal to classify the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 as
"genocide."
Hoagland’s nomination was on the committee calendar this past week
but several senators asked that action on the measure be delayed until
after Congress returns from its August recess, which began on Friday.
Among those requesting a delay were Sens. Joseph Biden and John
Kerry. Both are possible presidential contenders in 2008.
At his June 28 confirmation hearing, Hoagland declined to use the
word genocide to describe the 1915 massacre, which occurred during
the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.
The tour of duty of the current ambassador, John Evans, reportedly
is being curtailed because he referred to the massacre as a genocide
in defiance of administration policy. .
Turkey strongly objects to any such
characterization. U.S. policy-makers are wary of antagonizing Turkey,
an important NATO ally.
Armenians say that as many as 1.5 million of their ancestors were
killing in an organized genocidal campaign by Ottoman Turks, and have
pushed for recognition of the killings as genocide around the world.
SENATOR COLEMAN WORRIED ABOUT US POLICY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.08.2006 14:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Daily Comment US newspaper and a number of
others have made public the pledge of member of the Foreign Relations
Committee of the US Senate Norm Coleman that he will vote against
the candidacy of Richard Hoagland, nominated by President Bush as
the Ambassador to Armenia. "I am concerned over our policy over
denial of historical realities. The Bush Administration recognizes
that since 1915 Turkish troops killed and expelled 1.5 million
Armenians, however, avoids word "genocide", when speaking about it,
Norm Coleman said. The editions also remind that Senator Barbara
Boxer, who represents California, agreed to the hearings on Hoagland’s
appointment be delayed, however she did not report whom she would vote
for. "The Administration has to change its policy towards Armenia,"
the Senator noted, reports RFE/RL.
Prayers for peace
Turkish Daily News; Aug 02, 2006
Religious leaders led a congregation of Turkish Armenians at a prayer
ceremony at the Kinaliada Surp Krikor Lusarovic Church, praying for
an end to the violence in the Middle East
The prayers were led by Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II, Syriac Christian
Istanbul and Ankara leader and Assistant Patriarch Yusuf Cetin and
Father Dositeus — the deputy of Fener Patriarch Bartolomeos.
Mesrob II said they were devastated by the innocent blood spilled
in the Middle East, adding: "The people of Lebanon are subjected
to violence and Israeli citizens face death coming from the
sky, while Palestinians and Iraqis are mourning new deaths every
day. Unfortunately, this sorrow seems to have no end in sight. The
world is shaking, people are harmed and all of this is occurring right
before our eyes." He said now was a time when all should pray to God
and provide some hope for the people suffering. "We can all see things
are not going well in the Middle East. We all are frightened of the
dangerous escalation and are disappointed and angry. World leaders
are upset they are unable to do anything to restore peace." Mesrob
II called for an end to violence against innocent civilians and an
immediate cease-fire.
"Leaders are trying to justify violence that goes beyond the
limit of international law. Militant groups are inciting more
violence. No matter what happened, nothing can justify the bombing
of the infrastructure in Israel, Lebanon and Palestine. Terrorist
acts cannot justify a state resorting to terrorism." "We need divine
guidance. That’s what we seek through our prayers. What we can do for
these people who live so far away is limited; however, we can suffer
for them. We can pray to God for future peace."
SKINHEADS ATTEMPT TO SET MUSEUM OF RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN FRIENDSHIP ON FIRE IN ROSTOV
Panorama.am
15:14 01/08/06
At July 31 night, a barbarian act was committed against a monument
of Armenian culture in Rostov-na-Dony. Unknown people, who experts
believe were skinheads, tried to set the Museum of Russian-Armenian
Friendship on fire. The museum is located at temple Surb Khach of
the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The barbarians could not get into the temple but broke and burned
metal-plastic windows. The museum employees noticed the damage when
they came to work in the morning, Yerkramas newspaper, an Armenian
newspaper in Russia, reports. Experts believe that the damage is
caused by skinheads judging by nationalistic signs made on the walls
of the temple, saying "Russia to Russians!" "Time for white judgment
has come!", "Push the pedal, beat Khachiks!". Law officials of Russia
have not come with any verdict yet. /Panorama.am/
Armenian Lobby Won Small Victory
PanARMENIAN.Net
02.08.2006 14:41 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The decision by the Foreign Relations Committee to
delay the vote on Hoagland’s nomination is the result of purposeful
activities of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA),
ARF Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Office Director Kiro Manoian told
a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, the voting of the Senate
once again proved the successful work of the Armenian lobby for the
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
As for the further steps in this direction, Manoian said, the vote
was delayed till September only. "I do not know what will happen next,
but we proceed with activities," he remarked.
To remind, Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), the Ranking Democrat on
the Foreign Relations Committee, was joined by Senator John Kerry
(D-MA) in forcing a month-long delay in the Committee’s vote on the
controversial nomination of Richard Hoagland to replace the current
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans.
NKR DM REFUTES AZERI MEDIA REPORTS ON CEASE FIRE REGIME VIOLATION AND DEATH OF AZERI SOLDIER
Yerevan, July 31. ArmInfo. Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry refutes
one more report by Azeri media about violation of the cease fire
regime and the death of an Azeri soldier.
Referring to the Azeri DM the Azeri media have reported that Azeri
soldier Galib Ismaylov was killed as a result of cease fire violation
in the direction of Terter July 29. The press secretary of the NKR
DM Senor Asratyan says that no single cease-fire violation has been
registered on the Azeri-NK contact line of late.
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:
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW FUND CREATES NEW CULTURAL AND CHARITY PROSPECTS
FOR THE CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA
By Fr. Krikor Chiftjian
It was a pleasure to find out from the media about the establishment of the
"Khatchig Babikian" Fund under the sponsorship of the Catholicosate of
Cilicia. This fund creates new cultural and charity prospects for this Holy
See that fulfills its existence as a mission for serving.
Charity and the fulfillment of the needs of the faithful are the most
sincere and just mission of the Christian Church and particularly our
national church. This is how the Son of God has grasped his earthly mission
and passed it on to his followers.
The church established by Christ is today obliged to achieve the mission it
inherited from its Head, combining to it the essential job of reaching out
to the concerns and difficulties its believers and current times. The
spiritual mission of the church includes the educational, cultural and
social problems of its believers, which, now more than ever, have come to
challenge all churches and nations.
Referring to the Church’s mission, His Holiness Aram I says: "The Church,
the body of Christ, finds its being and achieves its true calling when it
reaches out to people in the life of service. This is the church: service,
not the building, not an authority. It is with this realization that we try
to guide our church towards our people through the service of Catholicosate
of Cilicia."
Established under the sponsorship of our Holy See, this fund was founded by
the name and wish of Khatchig Babikian, Esq., former chairman of the Central
Executive Council. Shortly before his death, the late Babikian held long
discussions with His Holiness Aram I to establish the basis of this fund,
the rightful sponsor of which is the Catholicosate of Cilicia.
A special committee has been formed to manage the income resulting from the
interests of the fund’s capital, a sum of five million US Dollars. This will
be done under the direct supervision of the Pontiff.
In the cultural field, the fund’s income will be dedicated to publishing
works. The publishing work will mostly focus on books related to the
Armenian Cause, political thought and international law. This also rightly
forms part of the church’s mission, because being a spiritual house that
fights for justice and peace, the Church should, in the name of God, raise
its voice bravely defending the violated rights of those abandoned and
deprived. There are individual and collective rights of people and nations,
the defender of which is the church with all its potential and moral
authority.
In the educational field, the fund will support the Armenian National
Schools of Lebanon with annual donations, contributing to the Armenian
education of new generations.
These are charity, educational, cultural and national struggle prospects
that have come to life during the last decades on the Catholicosate of
Cilicia’s path of service. But today, with thus fund, these prospects shine
with new excitement in the minds of people with vision, will and commitment.
When someone donates money earned with his sweat to this Holy See, we return
it to our nation as dedication and service.
##
Visit or website at
AZG Armenian Daily #142, 29/07/2006
Home Politics
FORMATION OF ONE POWERFUL POLITICAL FORCE IS NOT VERY PROMISING FOR
ARMENIA
The formation of one super-strong political force – Republican Party –
that will hold all administrative and economic levers in its hands, is
unpromising for the country, the leader of the National Democratic
Party of Armenia, MP Shavarsh Kocharian said during a discussion in
the Mirror club today. If the society continues to be indifferent to
the processes taking place in the country and fails to realize the
necessity of drastic democratic changes, the country will go on
falling down to semi-authoritarian system. The outcome of the
forthcoming parliamentary elections will depend on the wish of one
person, President Robert Kocharian: if wants to take up the post of
Prime Minister after 2008 he will prefer mosaic majority, but if he
needs personal immunity guarantees he will form a super-centralized
pyramid with reliable person at the head. The second scenario is more
likely for the time being – that’s why Defense Minister Serge Sargsian
was elected the chairman of the board of the Republican Party. His
opponent from RPA Samvel Nikoian does not think that RPA will have
overwhelming advantage during the forthcoming elections. RPA has
strong rivals like ARFD, Prospering Armenia and some opposition
parties. Asked by a journalist about the reported cases of forcible
registration of teachers, office workers and other people as RPA
members, Nikoian said that they are really scandalous and he will
personally inquire into them.
By Gohar Gevorgian
`SKINHEAD’ WAS SCARED, AND NOT ONLY HIM
Lragir.am
28 July 06
A well-known political scientist of Armenia, who is also known as a `devoted
servant’ of the defense minister Serge Sargsyan, recently wonderedwhy his `
boss’ blundered and became united with the Republican Party and took the
corrupt officials and representatives of the criminal business along with him.
Probably, the political scientist thought that Serge Sargsyan was so ingenuous
as to fail to realize that people would get disappointed with him.
Of course, it is difficult to explain to the political scientist that unlike
him Serge Sargsyan and his `team’ know that they are not going to solve
their problems thanks to the sympathy of the society. They have got used to
other preferable technologies, gaining the ability to make the public accept and
not foil their plans. Certainly, we won’t insist that this time they
calculated everything perfectly. More exactly, they made a mistake in their
calculations, as it became clear immediately after the conference of the Republican
Party. It does not mean, however, that their belief in their almightiness has
vanished.
As formerly, we again deal with a rather delicate strategy in Armenia with
underlying confidence (at least), reliance on fear to gain political
influence. In other words, the belief that consistent preaching of fear isthe best
means of affecting public consciousness and consequently ruling the public.
This political practice is typical of the criminalized societies of the
post-Soviet space. Those years of unlawfulness reinforced the false beliefthat
justice is something unattainable in the public consciousness. And in those
years political groups emerged, for whom this public consciousness is excellent
basis to guarantee power for them. These figures realized that they only
need to instill in the public that it is impossible to change anything in this
life because THEY will not allow. In other words, a political methodology
emerged, which was based on having the public accept their fate.
It is absolutely clear that this methodology is the only hope of regimes the
political essence of which is clear to the public. These regimes cannot
speak with the public about national interest, their usefulness, and so on. These
talks are useless and are Pharisaic. Therefore this talk is turned into a`
fair’ dialogue with such a scheme, `We are criminals, but it will not help
you, because we are powerful, so let us get on well with one another.’ In other
words, it is a dialogue, intended to lead to the recognition of their right
to rule. That is to say, the bluff of `almightiness’ is the only hope of the
people who believe that there is no other means of making or persuading the
public to recognize their right. It can be seen with the naked eye that the
peculiarity of preaching of the government forces in Armenia is
self-praising. These forces are reluctant to display other merits, such as
awareness of
the country’s strategic goals, ability to strengthen and develop the state and
so on. It is only said why this force cannot be defeated.
It would be ingenuous to think that someone will give up this strategy in
today’s Armenia. Meanwhile, there is another reason why the plans of these
forces are a failure. The native `heroes’ failed to understand that they have
become too many. In this state of things, the atmosphere of fear imposed on the
public does not produce its effect. The `greatness’ of theRepublicans
encountered the `greatness’ of 210 thousand of Gagik Tsarukyan. The machine of
fear broke down. Now they have to scare each other with the public laughing at
them. Here the imagination of our `heroes’ expired. And the well-known
political scientist perhaps started worrying about his fate. And not only the
political scientist.
It was curious to follow the brave young Republican Armen Ashotyan explain
quite recently to the Armenian public that Bargavach Hayastan (Prosperous
Armenia) Party is a trade office with advertisements, whereas now he denies his
words, accusing the press of having distorted his words. Whereas it happened
so that Gagik Tsarukyan solemnly remembered the name of the poor guy,
promising to give an `appropriate’ answer to everyone likehim. And so on…
Yes, the time of the `bluff of almightiness’ and the policy of struggle for
power based on it is over. Access to the government camp is restricted for
self-declared lords. Forgetting about the public, different types of political
coincidences encountered the problem of frightening each other. For the
Armenian public, all they can do is to gather them in a box and send them where
they should be. For political scientists, all they can do is to mourn for the `
fall of Rome’ and cry, `whereas we told you should not have…’
MELIK AVANYAN