Author: Zaminian Bedik

Turkish MFA: French Parliament "Wounded Souls of Turkish People"

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.10.2006 18:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Official Ankara is not going to recall Ambassador
from Paris. Turkish MFA Spokesman Namik Tan said the presence of
diplomatic mission is essential to bring Turkey’s position to the
notion of France. "We are adherents to cool and reasonable conduct
and we will proceed with this line," he said.

Tan remarked that although Turkey has calmed down to hear French
government oppose the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial
but it doesn’t solve the problem. In his words, the decision taken by
the upper house of the parliament "wounded souls of Turkish people and
the mistake cannot be corrected by statements." He also said that bill
is being condemned in Europe and the whole world, reports IA Regnum.

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

October 19, 2006
___________________

GALA 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF HOLY TRINITY CHURCH IN CHELTENHAM, PA

By Florence Avakian

It was a celebration not of a church building, but of the effort to see the
sanctuary built. It was a celebration of generations past who gave of their
time and effort to see a church blossom in their neighborhood.

"On this 40th anniversary of the Holy Trinity Church, we celebrate not only
this beautiful place, but more so, its members — those before us and those
yet to come. This church is living and breathing, and is surely eternal,"
said Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian
Church of America (Eastern), during festivities marking the anniversary of
the Church of the Holy Trinity of Cheltenham, PA.

The 40th anniversary of the consecration of the Holy Trinity Armenian Church
began with the Holy Badarak celebrated by the Primate on September 24, 2006.
During his inspiring sermon, in which he addressed the youth directly, he
likened them to Christ’s Disciples, who he had sent into the world to spread
the Gospel.

HONORING THE PAST

As the more than 250 parishioners and guests filed the church auditorium for
the gala banquet, a power point presentation took place detailing the
church’s history and the many individuals who played a crucial role in its
development.

It was in 1966 that the church was consecrated by then-Primate Bishop Torkom
Manoogian. It was the first time that a Primate who had been the former
pastor of a community returned to consecrate a newly built sanctuary.

In remarks during the banquet, the church’s current pastor, Fr. Tateos
Abdalian, poetically paid tribute to the founding fathers of the church,
"the visionaries of 40 years ago, who after facing trial and tribulations,
disappointments and hardship, had the courage to be like a small mountain
stream creating great rivers, like the small grain of corn waiting to sprout
to build again our Holy Trinity Church."

This theme was echoed by the recipient of the Dr. Albert Keshgegian, who was
presented with the St. Vartan Award during the banquet. Dr. Keshgegian has
found time in his busy schedule to serve, with dedication, his church as a
deacon, choir member, chairman of the ACYOA, Diocesan delegate, Sunday
School teacher, and parish council member. A biochemist employed in the
department of pathology at Main Line Hospitals, has also written several
books on meditation and lectured on various religious topics.

"Use your talents for their church, be it in writing, singing, making the
best pilaf, or even fixing a broken window. Listen to God’s voice within
you and follow it," Dr. Keshgegian told those gathered at the anniversary
banquet. "And what you end up accomplishing may be something far greater
than what you had ever though could be."

CELEBRATING THE FUTURE

In his remarks, the Primate recalled the recent Diocesan Assembly and
reiterated the Diocesan theme for the year: "Church and Home: One in
Spirit." He said this focus showed it was necessary to deepen our
understanding of the Armenian Church.

"We cannot be Armenian Christians on Sunday, and something else on Monday,"
he said. "We are obligated to exhibit a constancy of faith before our
children, before our families, before our communities, and even beyond."

"The Gospels remind us that a candle placed under a bushel sheds no light,"
he continued. "The purpose of carrying the Armenian flame is to stand in
its revealing light. My hope and prayer for you is that you find
inspiration in this celebration today, to carry the flame of our faith and
heritage, holding it higher, walking taller, than those who came before us."

It was a fitting message to a community celebrating its 40th anniversary,
urging today’s young Armenians to build upon the successes of those who came
before, those who built the Holy Trinity Church.

And, Fr. Tateos said, being involved in the Armenian Church in America
unites two strong identities, both of which are wonderful to embrace.

"My family was American and proud of everything that this country stood for.
But we were Armenians, and we never forgot our faith, our heritage, our
ancestry, our language, not as a museum curator, but as a living testimony
to the spirit of our people, a spirit that had been passed from generation
to generation for three millennia," he said.

The Primate expressed appreciation for Fr. Abdalian’s devotion and his
"never-ending labor, steadfast leadership, commitment to this church, the
community, and to our faith. This church has every right to be proud for
its accomplishments and successes — your youth, the educational programs,
your outreach ministry, and much more."

— 10/18/06

E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News and
Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,

PHOTO CAPTION (1): Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern
Diocese, celebrates the badarak during on September 24, 2006, marking the
40th anniversary of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Cheltenham, PA.

PHOTO CAPTION (2): Archbishop Barsamian and Fr. Tateos Abdalian, pastor of
the Church of the Holy Trinity, present Dr. Albert Keshgegian with the St.
Vartan Award during the program celebrating the 40th anniversary of the
parish.

PHOTO CAPTION (3): Members of the Akhtamar Dance Group perform during the
40th anniversary celebration of the Church of the Holy Trinity in
Cheltenham, PA, on September 24, 2006.

PHOTO CAPTION (4): Peter Hovnanian, who served as master of ceremonies
during the banquet marking the 40th anniversary of the Church of the Holy
Trinity in Cheltenham, PA, leads a toast to the parish’s future on September
24, 2006.

# # #

GEORGIA CONTRIBUTES TO THE ISOLATION OF ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.10.2006 GMT+04:00

Implementation of Kars-Aqhalqhalak-Tbilisi-Baku project can get under
way, regardless the counteraction of the banking commission of the
USA Senate.

The decision of the banking commission of the USA Senate concerning
the fact that the export and import Bank of the USA will not grant
any insurance arrangements, loan or any other financing for the
railway construction of Kars-Aqhalqhalak-Tbilisi-Baku led Tbilisi into
doubt-Georgian Government has seriously thought over the expediency
of the realization of Kars-Aqhalqhalak-Tbilisi-Baku project.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The explanation to it is a simple one-Mikhail
Saakashvili does not want on any account to do what is against the
will of the USA. Indeed, lately the policy of Georgia more and more
has been evoking the displeasure of the USA. It is not by chance
that President of Georgia has turned for help to GUAM (Georgia,
Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldavia) and Europe in adjustment of
disputes. But these are the particulars. The essential thing is
that Kars-Aqhalqhalak-Tbilisi-Baku railway can become the second
Baku-Tbilisi-Ghehyan (BTG), since Kazakhstan is sure to join in its
construction and, most probably China will as well. The long and the
short of it is that something like Transeastern express will come
out of it. Indeed, as for any grand project implementation, first
of all stability and security of the road sites are needed. But that
is exactly what the countries are yet unable to guarantee. By prior
agreement each country bears the responsibility for its site of the
permanent way and if, God forbid, the rails detonate or if something
gets out of order, Georgia, Azerbaijan, or Turkey will have to pay off
separately. On the whole, maybe nothing like that will ever happen,
but commercial projects of that sort are always calculated to details
and even the most unforeseen consequences are taken into account.

According to Turkish-Azerbaijan calculation the construction will
cost more than 400 million dollars.

The implementation of the construction works should already launch in
January 2007, as all the participants promise. At least Z. Mamedov,
head of Azerbaijan transportation department in Baku and Binali
Iyildirim, the minister of transportation and communication of Turkey
have announced so in Baku.

Besides, it should be particularly underscored that the works will
commence even in case if only Azerbaijan and Turkey are ready to invest
in the project ("Trend"). Projects of three important documents were
considered in the course of the trilateral negotiations that took
place in Baku: framework agreement on the project, obligations of the
Georgian side concerning the taking of the site under construction
of the railway, as well as credit agreement among Azerbaijan, Georgia
and Turkey, and on the whole mutual understanding has been reached.

Turkey is ready to single out its allotment for the construction that
makes 220 million dollars, and Azerbaijan gives 200 million dollars
for the repair of Aqhalqhalak-Baku road site. 200 million dollars are
spent on the maintenance of "parallel’ engineering, of communication
and transport infrastructures, service stations, trans-shipment
junctions, etc. and all that is carried out in a natural way. That
is to say it already makes approximately 500-600 million dollars.

It is quite possible that the cost of the project will reach 1 milliard
dollars. But in Baku and Ankara everybody knows well enough that for
the isolation of Armenia any money can be paid. By the way, that is
what they do not without the help of Georgia.

"PanARMENIAN.Net" analytical department

KOCHARYAN WANTS TO LEAVE WITH LAURELS?

A1+
[06:38 pm] 18 October, 2006

Former member of Justice bloc Viktor Dallakyan does not hurry to
inform us which party he will join.

According to him, he is a politician who says what he wants to say
when he finds it necessary and not when others force him to.

"I have never attempted to become member of any party as I have thrice
been elected in the Vanadzor electoral area N36 without being member
of any party", Viktor Dallakyan said in answer to questions about
his failed attempt to become member of "Prosperous Armenia".

Is it possible for him to be nominated during the coming elections
by the majority system? "It depends on the wish of the voters. As
for the party lists, I do not exclude any possibility", he said.

He does not exclude the possibility of reproduction of the present
authorities either. But he assured that in case of free and fair
elections in Armenia "the present authorities can claim not more than
3-4 chairs".

"I think Kocharyan would not wish to fabricate the 2007 Parliamentary
elections as his authorizations finish a year later. I don’t think
he would like to join criminal groupings. Besides, he would like to
leave with the laurels of a reformer and guarantee of fair elections",
Mr. Dallakyan said.

VITICULTURE REQUIRES SPECIAL ATTENTION
Norair Hovsepian

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Oct 17 2006

Vladimir Zakiyan, the NKR minister of agriculture says restoring
viticulture in Karabakh is already a great achievement. However,
he says planting a vineyard is not the only thing to do. The problem
of problems has not been solved yet. "Wine growers cannot wait, they
have to sell their product as soon as it is ripe," says the deputy
minister. Now, with regard to planting vineyards there is progress.

For instance, in 2000 there was 960 hectares of vineyards, 1322.2
hectares in 2003, and 1546 hectares in 2005. In 2005 7409 tons
of grapes was produced. These are just figures. Let us see what is
hiding behind these figures. The government conducts a loan policy to
develop this sphere. The policy was launched in 1999, and over these
years it has been modified and made more controllable. The government
also provides long-term loans to facilitate viticulture for rural
land owners. Although the outcome of this policy will become clear
later. The approximate comparison of government loans and the cost of
planting a vineyard shows that private capital is also invested. And
this tendency remains dominant. We asked Mr. Zakiyan if there is an
overall program of development of viticulture. He said, it is not
difficult to work out such a program, and there is already one, but
the implementation requires immense costs. There are a great number of
problems, for instance, mechanization. New machines for wine growing
have not been imported since 1990. Another problem is the sorts of
vines. In this connection, the nursery of Khramort is reassuring. At
present, about 20 sorts of vines are grown there, which enables to find
out which sort of grapes is the best to cultivate in Karabakh. Another
problem is chemicals. Fortunately, there is already a laboratory and in
2007 all the chemicals will be tested at the laboratory before going to
consumers. Irrigation and specialists are other core problems. Hence,
despite difficulties there is progress, vineyards grow, production
grows, but the underlying problem is becoming more tangible. Today it
will not sound exaggerated to say that the development of viticulture
depends on processing factories. "In developing viticulture it is
necessary to operate perfectly all the links in this chain, from wine
growing to processors and sale of the final product. If one fails, the
effectiveness of the others will be affected," said Vladimir Zakiyan.

TURKISH PARLIAMENT GIVES UP ALGERIAN GENOCIDE LAW
By Fatih Atik, Ankara

Zaman Online, Turkey
Oct 17 2006

It is not clear just what kind of official retaliatory move Turkey will
take after the French National Assembly adopted a bill on Thursday
that would make it a crime to deny that Turks committed an Armenian
genocide during World War I.

The Turkish Parliament Justice Sub-committee launched studies about a
law proposal that would make it a crime to deny that France committed
genocide in Algeria.

Members of the committee listened to Turkish History Society President
Professor Yusuf Halacoglu and officials from the foreign ministry in
their first meeting yesterday.

Professor Halacoglu provided historical information to the committee
about Armenian violence in Turkey.

Halacoglu claimed that Armenians were freer than Turks during Ottoman
times, recalling that Armenian citizens did not have to perform
compulsory military service until 1876.

The commission will reportedly not accept the proposal that would
make it a crime to deny that France committed genocide in Algeria.

Instead of enacting the law, the Turkish Parliament will prepare a
text in which Turkey’s practices in the field of human rights and
freedoms will be explained.

The commission members decided that the Turkish History Society and
the Foreign Ministry should conduct a detailed study on the Armenian
genocide allegations.

The history of countries that officially recognize an Armenian
genocide will also be examined in this context to see whether such
cases occurred in their own past.

The study will explain the circumstances under which Turkey decided
to deport Armenians in 1915.

The commission members will discuss reports to come from the Turkish
History Society and Foreign Ministry in their second meeting.

ARMENIA AND FINLAND SIGN AGREEMENT ON AVOIDING DOUBLE TAXATION

Armenpress
Oct 16 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, ARMENPRESS: Armenia and Finland signed an
agreement on avoiding double taxation of goods and property.

The foreign ministry said the agreement was signed by minister Vartan
Oskanian and Finnish ambassador to Armenia, Teri Hakkala.

ARMENIAN MIKA-YEREVAN LADIES’ CHESS TEAM THE BEST IN EUROPE

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 16 2006

INNSBRUCK, OCTOBER 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Chess Europe Club Teams
Championship ended late in the evening of October 14 in the Austrian
city of Innsbruck.

Mika-Yerevan Armenian ladies’ team gained 5 victories, ended 2 games
in a draw, gained 12 points and took 1st place among 11 teams winning
the title of the champion. On separate chess-boards Maya Chiburdanidze
gained 5 out of 7 possible points, Elina Danielian 3.5, Nino Khurtsidze
6, Nelly Aghinian 3 points.

The Bank King Armenian team gained 4 victories, drew 2 games, was
defeated in 11 games, gained 10 points and shared 5-12th places in
competition among 56 teams. With its coefficients the Armenian team
took 11th place.

The chess-players’ results on separate chess-boards are the following:

Karen Asrian 3.5 out of 7 possible points

Smbat Lputian 4 – 2

Rafael Vahanian 7 – 4

Artashes Minasian 7 – 4

Ashot Anastasian 7 – 5

Tigran L.Petrosian 7 – 5.5

Arsen Yeghiazarian 3 – 1

TEZIC SENDS BACK FRENCH MERIT MEDAL

Sabah, Turkey
Oct 16 2006

YOK (Higher Education Council) president Tezic has returned back
the merit medal given to him two years ago by the French President
Jacques Chirac.

In a statement made by YOK, it was said that Tezic has sent back the
Commander Merit Medal to Jacques Chirac along with a letter in order
to protest the approved Armenian genocide denial bill.

THE PERILS OF US-AZERBAIJANI STRATEGIC CO-OPERATION
By Justin Burke

Jane’s International Security, UK
Oct 16 2006

In addition to encouraging Azerbaijan to adapt its armed forces to
handle pipeline security, the US wants Baku’s support for a possible
armed response to deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The
five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, have
offered an incentive package to Iran in return for Tehran’s commitment
to suspend uranium enrichment. As those negotiations make halting
progress, US officials continue to view military action as a possible
last resort. As Iran’s northern neighbour, Azerbaijan could serve as
a useful platform for raids against the Iranian nuclear infrastructure.

Azerbaijan’s attention these days is focused on the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue. Long-running peace talks remain in stalemate over Karabakh’s
future status. Ethnic Armenians, who won control of the territory in
the early 1990s, seek international recognition of independence with
an eye toward eventual unification with the Armenian nation.

Meanwhile, Baku insists that the territory remains under Azerbaijani
control. A settlement appeared to be in the offing at the outset of
2006 but summits between President Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart,
Robert Kocharian, failed to produce the much-anticipated breakthrough.

As the chances for a political settlement faded, a variety of
Azerbaijani officials, including Aliyev, raised the possibility of
an attempt to regain Karabakh by force. A ceasefire, which has been
in effect since 1994, seems shaky as firefights and mortar exchanges
in the so-called contact zone are now an almost daily occurrence.

Energy exports give Azerbaijan the ability to upgrade its military,
which suffered a thrashing at the hands of Armenian forces during the
war. Rovnaq Abdullayev, the head of Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company,
has indicated oil extraction will more than double over the next four
years, reaching 65 million tonnes by 2009. Azerbaijani officials
openly say that they will use petro-profits to go on a procurement
binge. The country’s draft budget for 2007, submitted on 25 September
to President Aliyev, is expected to total about USD6 billion, of
which 13 per cent is projected to go to defence spending.

[End of non-subscriber extract]

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