Category: News

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Communications Officer
Tel: (212) 686-0710; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
September 23, 2004
___________________
Week of September 17 to September 23, 2004
* * *
PRIMATE TO CELEBRATE WITH HARTFORD CHURCH
Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian
Church of America (Eastern), will travel to Hartford, CT, this weekend
to help the St. George Church celebrate its name day and its 51st
anniversary.
Fr. Gomidas Zohrabian, pastor of the St. George Church, will celebrate a
special Divine Liturgy at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, September 25, 2004,
which is the Feast of St. George. That will be followed by the blessing
of the madagh.
The Primate will visit the parish on Sunday, September 26, 2004. He
will celebrate the Divine Liturgy at 10:15 a.m. That will be followed
by a banquet marking the church’s 51st anniversary at the Colonnade
Banquet Center in Glastonbury, CT. The parish’s Armenian School
students will perform Armenian songs and recite poetry, and the guest
speaker will be Jeff Masarjian, executive director of the Armenia Tree
Project.
The St. George Church is located at 22 White St. in Hartford, CT.
(Source: St. George Church, 9/23/04)
* * *
SUNDAY IS THE FEAST OF THE HOLY CROSS OF VARAK
In communion with other churches, the Armenian Church celebrates three
feasts associated with the Holy Cross: the Discovery of the Cross, the
Apparition of the Cross, and the Exaltation of the Cross. But the
Armenian Church has one unique cross celebration, the Feast of the Holy
Cross of Varak, which will be marked on Sunday (9/26).
The feast commemorates the apparition of the Holy Cross near the
historic Armenian city of Van in the mountains of Varak, possibly in the
year 660 A.D. For more, click to our website:
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(Source: Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), 9/23/04)
* * *
KHRIMIAN LYCEUM OPENS SATURDAY IN NYC, BOSTON, CHICAGO
The Diocese’s Khrimian Lyceum, a six-year educational program for parish
Armenian School graduates, begins Saturday (9/25). The program started
in New York City, and this year will be the second year for the
program’s expansion in the Boston and Chicago areas. For more
information on the program, and how to sign up, click to our website:
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(Source: Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), 9/23/04)
* * *
PRIMATE REPRESENTS CHURCH AT INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
On Monday (9/20), Archbishop Barsamian delivered the benediction during
the annual Appeal of Conscience Foundation Awards Dinner. The
international ecumenical organization presented awards to the prime
minister of Sweeden, the chairman of HSBC Holdings, and the chairman of
the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. For more on the Primate’s
role at this event, click to our website:
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This was one of several recent programs the Primate attended as a
representative of the Armenian Church. On September 13, 2004, he and
Fr. Mardiros Chevian, dean of St. Vartan Cathedral, were among the 15
clergymen invited to attend a special prayer service to mark the opening
of the United Nations General Assembly. The prayer service, at the Holy
Family Catholic Church, was organized by Edward Cardinal Egan, the Roman
Catholic Archbishop of New York City. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
spoke during the service, which brought together ambassadors, as well as
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, The Vatican’s Nuncio to the United
Nations.
Fr. Chevian also represented the Primate at the 12th “Path to Peace”
award ceremony on Monday (9/20), which honored Roman Catholic Cardinal
Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s secretary of state.
(Source: Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), 9/23/04)
* * *
FIND SOMETHING TO DO
This weekend, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary and the Diocesan College
Ministry program will both be reaching out to parishes in New Jersey.
The seminary will send its seminarians to the St. Mary Church of
Livingston, NJ; while Jason Demerjian, Diocesan College Ministry
facilitator, will meet with parishioners at the St. Leon Church in Fair
Lawn, NJ.
If you’re not in New Jersey, don’t worry, there’s plenty going on
throughout the Diocese. From a special speaker on the topic of
stewardship in Cambridge, MA, to a performance by the Shushi Dance
Ensemble in Wynnewood, PA, to a gala concert in Providence, RI — find
details on those and many more events throughout the Diocese by clicking
to our website’s Calendar of Events:
If your parish has something to list on the highly viewed Calendar of
Events, e-mail the details to [email protected].
(Source: Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), 9/23/04)
* * *
MAKE PLANS FOR COLUMBUS DAY WEEKEND
Columbus Day Weekend (10/8-10/11) is fast approaching, and there are
three great events to get involved in this year. But you need to make
your plans today to save your spot.
The St. Nersess Seminary will hold a special weekend retreat exploring
the uniquely Armenian “Service of the Oil-Bearing Women,” a beautiful
weekly remembrance of Christ’s resurrection. The weekend is
specifically designed for deacons and altar servers, but is open to
everyone. It will be at the Diocesan Ararat Center in Greenville, NY.
Registration deadline is October 1. For more information, visit the St.
Nersess Seminary website:
The Armenian Church Youth Organization of America (ACYOA) will bring its
Archbishop’s Basketball Tournament to the Holy Trinity Church of
Cambridge, MA, on Columbus Day weekend. With sports, a dance, a Divine
Liturgy, and sightseeing, the weekend is a wonderful chance for 18- to
28-year-old Armenians to make new friends and get together with old
ones. Registration deadline is tomorrow (9/24). For more information
and to register, click to the ACYOA website:
Younger parishioners are invited to attend the ACYOA Jrs. Sports
Weekend, hosted by the Sts. Sahag and Mesrob Church of Providence, RI.
The weekend, for students between the ages of 13 and 18, will feature
games, a dance, an educational session, and a banquet presided over by
Archbishop Barsamian. The official registration deadline is tomorrow
(9/24). For more information, contact your parish priest.
(Source: Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), 9/23/04)
# # #

Armenian president, OSCE envoy discuss ties, Karabakh settlement
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
23 Sep 04

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan received the special envoy of the
OSCE chairman-in-office on the Nagornyy Karabakh issue and the former
prime minister of Bulgaria, Filip Dimitrov, today. An official report
only noted that they discussed relations between Armenia and the OSCE
and the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

Armenian defence minister discusses military ties with German envoy
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
22 Sep 04
Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan received today the
newly-appointed Polish ambassador to Armenia, Tomasz Knothe. They
discussed the implementation of the agreements reached during
Sarkisyan’s recent visit to Warsaw.
Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan and the German ambassador to Armenia,
Heike-Renate Peitsch, discussed today the establishment of the legal
foundations for military cooperation between Armenia and Germany.
We regard ourselves as part of the European fold and view cooperation
with NATO as part of Armenia’s security, Serzh Sarkisyan announced.
The German ambassador also spoke about the possibility of training
Armenian officers at Hamburg’s military school. The ambassador
expressed the hope that beneficial cooperation between Armenia and
Germany will be possible not only in the military sphere but in other
spheres as well.
[Video showed both meetings]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian presidential aide accuses European rapporteur of pro-Azeri stance
Hayots Ashkarh, Yerevan
21 Sep 04
An interview with the Armenian president’s advisor Garnik Isagulyan.
[Hayots Ashkarh correspondent] Mr Isagulyan, [rapporteur of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] Terry Davis’s draft
report on Karabakh has been submitted to the Council of
Europe. According to some officials, it contains statements which
worry both Azerbaijan and Armenia. Do you also think so?
[Garnik Isagulyan] I think there is nothing surprising in the draft
report. The principle according to which the rapporteur on Karabakh
was chosen should be taken into account in the first place. Terry
Davis is an MP from Great Britain, a country which in 1991 recognized
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan including Karabakh. For this
reason, Great Britain, albeit an influential country, did not become a
member of the OSCE Minsk Group [for the settlement of the Karabakh
conflict] because from the very beginning it adopted a pro-Azerbaijani
position.
A new rapporteur has been appointed recently and again an MP from
Great Britain. I do not think that his approaches will differ greatly
from the approaches of Davis. We should be ready for this. On the
whole, it will be better if our delegation in the Council of Europe
does its best to have a representative of a country that has a neutral
position appointed a rapporteur on the Karabakh issue.
[Passage omitted: Baku might want to change format of Karabakh talks]
[Correspondent] Do you think that within the framework of the Minsk
Group a pro-Armenian settlement is becoming more realistic?
[Isagulyan] I would say not pro-Armenian, but a settlement which stems
from the real situation, in case if Azerbaijan stops insisting on
starting the process from scratch. But Baku understands very well that
the minimum to which the Armenian party will agree is Karabakh’s
independence or even reunification with Armenia. Our society,
political forces, on the whole, should get into the habit of not
paying much attention to different discussions and reports regarding
the Karabakh issue in those international structures which have no
significant role in the settlement process. The Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic is in fact an independent state. As for the discussions that
start from time to time as to whether territories should be returned
or not, what compromises can be made, the Megri problem, and so on, in
reality they are raised in Armenia. There are similar hopes in
Azerbaijan and Turkey that if certain forces come to power in Armenia,
the problem could be resolved in their favour.
[Correspondent] What forces do you mean?
[Isagulyan] It is no secret that the whole ideology and approaches of
the Armenian Pan-National Movement worked in this direction. Their
agreement to the settlement option suggested at the end of 1997 and
[Armenian ex-President] Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s known article are the
links of the same chain. Today in Armenia against the background of
the anti-Karabakh propaganda, one can hear from radical opposition
circles expressions like: let Karabakh itself resolve its
problem. This is inadmissible. Although Karabakh is a fully-fledged
country, it still needs Armenia’s support and it will never be within
Azerbaijan. No country or international structure can make such an
illogical claim to Armenia and Karabakh if our domestic moth does not
destroy us.

Azeri paper derides decision to allow Armenian military experts to visit Baku
Zerkalo, Baku
17 Sep 04

Text of Farid report by Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo on 17 September
headlined “Armenians still to come to Baku” and subheaded “Though this
time, they will be wearing plain clothes”
The participation of Armenian representatives in the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly’s [PA] Rose-Roth seminar due in Baku on 26-28
November is still on the agenda, the head of the Azerbaijani
delegation to the NATO PA and deputy speaker of the Azerbaijani
parliament, Ziyafat Asgarov, has told Trend news agency.
He said Armenian specialists are not military officers and since they
are civilian experts, their visit to Baku will not cause serious
protests in Baku.
The seminar, which was postponed in 2003, will be held at Hyatt Park
Hotel which the NATO PA chose itself during a visit to Baku (Trend).
Only one thing remains unclear: who is trying to fool who? Either
Ziyafat Asgarov, who is trying to convince the nation that the
Armenians, who have now slipped into plain clothes, will meet less
resistance in Azerbaijan or our neighbours have decided to set foot on
our soil at all costs.
And while the wish of the Armenians is quite understandable, the
position of the Azerbaijani authorities in this issue is causing
nothing but astonishment. Why did they raise all this hue and cry
over the visit by Armenian officers to Baku and eventually damage
relations with NATO, if only two months later Armenians are to appear
in Baku anyway?
Even stranger is the fact that this has been announced by the deputy
speaker of the parliament, a body whose representatives were almost
kissing each other in jubilation after representatives of the Armenian
military establishment were barred from coming to Azerbaijan.
Whatever the outcome, Azerbaijan has made a rather precipitous
decision, especially if we take into account Asgarov’s statement.

British rep asks Azeri official to allow Armenian presence at NATO event
ANS TV, Baku
22 Sep 04
The executive director of the London Information Network on Conflicts
and State-building, Dennis Sammut, has asked Azerbaijani Deputy
Speaker Ziyafat Asgarov to allow an Armenian delegation to attend the
forthcoming Rose-Roth seminar of NATO in Baku. Mr Asgarov said that
the event will be held and that the Azerbaijani government and the
Milli Maclis are interested in that. Dennis Sammut also said that
Azerbaijan will chair the interparliamentary initiative group of the
South Caucasus countries from 1 January 2005. The meeting also
discussed the Nagornyy Karabakh problem. Sammut said that the conflict
could not be solved by itself and added that international
organizations would inevitably have to make serious efforts.
[Video showed the meeting]

Freed anti-Armenian protester hails court for “principled” stance
ANS TV, Baku
22 Sep 04

An Azerbaijani protester, imprisoned for breaking into the hotel in
Baku which hosted the 21 June NATO meeting over the presence of
Armenian officers, has been set free after three months in prison,
Azerbaijani independent TV station ANS has said.
In an interview with the “Point of View” programme on 22 September
hours after his release from the courtroom along with five other
members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization group, its chairman
Akif Nagi thanked the people for “a single and principled stance on
the issue”. He told the programme that his fellow KLO members were
expecting to be released because of the mounting public pressure.
Asked whether he thought the initial court ruling to sentence them to
up to five years in jail and later replaced with suspended sentences,
was fair, Nagi said the trial had clearly shown that there was no
weighty argument in the hands of the prosecution. “Let’s speak
logically: they have started a criminal case against us. But such
protest actions had repeatedly been held before. Roads have been
blocked, representatives of different groups have entered the
buildings of various government agencies. We ourselves have done that
many times. We have entered state and nongovernmental buildings in
protest. The day before, on 20 June, we entered the Hyatt Regency
hotel because we thought that the Armenians were staying there. In
other words, this had happened before. And when it happened, either
the demands were met in part or in full, or an administrative
punishment was handed down. But there was no criminal offence to
institute criminal proceedings against us,” he said.
In reply to a question whether he was aware of the fact that one of
the protesters was carrying a knife, Akif Nagi said he had no prior
knowledge of that and added that he could not blame the person either
because their “voices weren’t heard”. “But why isn’t anyone listening
to these people’s demands? Why do they resort to terrorist acts?
Because they cannot reach out to certain people. We have been holding
protest actions outside the offices of international organizations
demanding that they recognize Armenia as aggressor-state and reject
the policy of double standards. We hold an action once, twice, three
times, ten times, but no-one listens to us and no-one even bothers to
read what we write after such demonstrations. And then we have to hurl
stones at their windows so that they could at last react to the noise
of their smashed windows. Again, these are forms of protest and have
nothing to do with terror, but demands have to be heard.”
When asked about living conditions in prison, Akif Nagi said prison
life certainly had its drawbacks but added that his group was treated
“with great respect”. He said that despite sharing a cell with people
convicted for different criminal offences, he found that everyone was
very supportive of the organization in general and of its position on
the anti-Armenian protests in particular. Akif Nagi went on to say
that many prisoners even expressed the wish to join the KLO.
Akif Nagi also welcomed NATO decision to cancel the Cooperative Best
Effort-2004 military exercises in Baku and noted that Azerbaijan had
achieved its goal by barring Armenians from Baku. He said the
Azerbaijani authorities had given a due response to the remarks by
senior Armenian officials who suggested earlier that the officers
would attend the Baku drills at all cost.

Released Azeri pressure group member set to continue anti-Armenian protests
ANS TV, Baku
22 Sep 04

[Presenter] The first deputy head of the Karabakh Liberation
Organization [KLO], the first group disabled, Firudin Mammadov, is now
the guest at “Xabarci” [news programme]. [Mammadov was arrested along
with other five members of the organization for protests against
Armenian presence at a NATO conference in Baku.] We are over to the
conference hall of ANS to speak to him. Good evening, Firudin bay
[form of address]. I congratulate you on your being set free.
[Firudin Mammadov from the conference hall] Good evening. Thank you. I
am very pleased.
[Presenter] Firudin bay, did you expect to be released today?
[Mammadov] Yes, we almost expected this. Because the public protest
against our arrest, including the attitude of the state leadership,
allowed us to think so.
[Presenter] Firudin bay, your health caused concern in the first
place. How did they treat you in prison?
[Mammadov] Taking this opportunity, first I want to thank all the
Azerbaijani public, elders, our respected sheikh [Allahsukur
Pasazada], MPs, the union of writers, as well as the mass media, who
supported us. The KLO expresses its satisfaction that they gave their
special support, aired the Azerbaijani people’s will and achieved our
freedom. As for the attitude towards us in prison, let me note that
all employees of the prison, including the inmates, irrespective of
the crimes they had committed, respected us highly. We thank all of
them. They appreciated our deeds more than judge Famil Nasibov and
the prosecutors.
[Passage omitted: the prison’s doctors, leadership did their best to
tackle his health problems]
[Presenter] My last question. Will your imprisonment have an impact on
your next protest actions? Will you be more careful in the future?
[Mammadov] I have been fighting for Azerbaijani lands since I was 18
or 19. I have not retreated a step from this fight over the past 15-16
years. Let me recall that I have lost one of the most valuable gifts
in the world – my sight – during this struggle. Even this fact has not
stopped me. You can assess now how difficult it is for me to serve
one-year suspended sentence. I think that the KLO and I, as a KLO
member, will do our best through public protests, and I can also
participate as a serviceman and a war veteran in a war if the state
leadership wages one. Undoubtedly, I will observe the law to some
extent. But the suspended sentence cannot stop me.
[Presenter] Thank you. I again congratulate you on your freedom.

Azeri opposition leader hails release of anti-Armenian protesters
Azadliq, Baku
23 Sep 04

Text of Aqil report by Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq on 23 September
headlined “‘The KLO members should have been acquitted'” and subheaded
“‘A suspended sentence is an intimidation tool against those
people’. The chairman of the PFAP, Ali Karimli, congratulates the
Azerbaijani people on the release of the KLO members”
The trial of activists of the Karabakh Liberation Organization [KLO]
came to an end yesterday [22 September] in the Court of Appeal. The
activists, who were arrested for protesting against Armenian
servicemen’s visit to Baku [on 22 June], received suspended sentences.
The chairman of the People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party [PFAP], Ali
Karimli, expressed his view on this and congratulated the released KLO
members through Azadliq newspaper. “I also congratulate all the
Azerbaijani people on this,” he said and noted that the release of
those who love Karabakh is definitely a victory for all the people.
Karimli reckons that the KLO members should have been acquitted rather
than given suspended sentences. “First of all, the Azerbaijani
government should have completely corrected the mistake made against
the KLO activists by acquitting them. However, their release in itself
is a major event. I believe this is one of the minor victories of the
Azerbaijani public over the regime because we remember how ruthlessly
the authorities treated the KLO members. If there had been no serious
public resistance in Azerbaijan, and if the Azerbaijani public had not
expressed its attitude unequivocally, perhaps they would have spent
more time in prison.”
In Karimli’s opinion, this example must become a positive message to
the Azerbaijani public. “The public must know that if it shows unity
and defends rights without internal divisions, any government will
eventually concede. The release of the KLO members is one such
example.”
Karimli said there were two reasons for the suspended
sentences. “First, when the government cannot keep someone in prison,
it gives a suspended sentence, so that punishing that person will
become easier next time. A suspended sentence always remains an
intimidation tool against people involved in politics and public
affairs. Second, the government has tried to somehow save its face by
not acquitting them. Because if they were acquitted, the entire world
would know that the judiciary in Azerbaijan is such that it can easily
give five or four-year imprisonment verdicts to innocent people. The
meaning of the suspended sentence is to show that they are guilty, but
not that much.”

Rights activist questions Azeri ombudsman’s activities
Ekho, Baku
23 Sep 04

Prominent Azerbaijani human rights activist Eldar Zeynalov has said
there is “some imbalance” in the activities of ombudsman Elmira
Suleymanova. The imbalance is “connected with protection of state
interests as they are interpreted by the government”, Zeynalov told
Ekho newspaper. The following is the text of R. Orucev’s report by
Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on 23 September headlined “A human rights
activist accuses the ombudsman” and subheaded “Eldar Zeynalov comments
on Elmira Suleymanova’s appeal regarding the arrested KLO members”;
subheadings inserted editorially:
Azerbaijan’s ombudsman Elmira Suleymanova has recently sent a letter
to the chairwoman of the Court of Appeal, Qulzar Rzayeva, asking her
to release the convicted members of the Karabakh Liberation
Organization (KLO).
Her letter said that the protesters who took part in the 22 June
action outside the Europe Hotel against visits to Baku by Armenian
officers [for NATO exercises] were people who have lost their health
while defending Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. They have endured
the Xocali tragedy [during military operations between Armenia and
Azerbaijan in Nagornyy Karabakh] which was accompanied by mass
violations of rights of civilians, and have witnessed the cruelty of
the Armenian aggressors against the civilian population, abuse of
their relatives and compatriots who have turned into refugees,
displaced persons and hostages.
“As a result, they could not control their feelings and under the
power of emotions breached the law. Despite instances of hooliganism
and disruption of public order during the protest, the objective of
the participants was to protest at the visit of Armenian officers to
Azerbaijan,” the letter said.
The ombudsman also noted that at present the destiny of the KLO
members who were sentenced to imprisonment is in the focus of
attention of the public which awaits their release. Heeding the public
opinion, appeals by representatives of various parts of the
population, as well as by parents and family members of the convicted,
Suleymanova asked Rzayeva to assess the punishment for the KLO members
in accordance with the offences that they have committed.
First-ever protection of convicted
Prior to this, ombudsman Suleymanova had never allowed herself to
speak out for any citizen who had already been convicted. That is, as
soon as the ombudsman was asked to protect somebody who had already
been convicted, she would say that the judiciary in Azerbaijan was
independent and that she could not put pressure on the court. What
happened this time when Suleymanova all of a sudden directly addressed
the head of the Court of Appeal?
In the course of two days we could not get in touch with Suleymanova
to clarify this issue, even though the head of the ombudsman’s press
service, Zemfira Maharramli, repeatedly recommended Ekho newspaper to
do so. Finally, Maharramli explained her own stance on her boss’s
move. In her words, the actions of Suleymanova are justified because
“the conviction of the KLO members reverberated widely among the
public and politicians. Many NGOs, MPs, and even President [Ilham
Aliyev] himself said that the verdict was too harsh. Hence, the
ombudsman thought it possible to address the head of the Court of
Appeal.”
Ombudsman refuses to intervene
“In this case journalists are fully entitled to verify to what extent
the actions of Suleymanova correspond to the articles of the law ‘On
ombudsman’,” said the prominent Azerbaijani legal expert and director
of the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan, Eldar Zeynalov. “There are
other trials under way in Azerbaijan. For instance, the case of Elcin
Amiraslanov and members of the OMON [Special Purpose Police
Detachment] has recently passed through the Court of Appeal. Before
that, the court looked into the case of [ex-Defence Minister] Rahim
Qaziyev. The trial of participants in the 2003 October events
[post-election riots in Baku] is under way. And everybody understands
that the ombudsman does not have the right to intervene in the work of
the judges, nor do the ministers, the president or actually anybody
else.”
Zeynalov recalled that the previous responses from Suleymanova were in
the same vein whenever a complaint contained the word “trial”: “Even
if it was not about the trial itself, but about delays in the
proceedings and about foot-dragging. Incidentally, it is the ombudsman
who has the right to intervene in situations when the state bodies are
accused of dragging their feet. But even in those cases Suleymanova
used to always repeat that the judges were independent and she would
not intervene.”
“Imbalance” in ombudsman’s activities
Zeynalov reckons that in general, “there is some imbalance in the
activities of the Azerbaijani ombudsman which is connected with
protection of state interests as they are interpreted by the
government”.
For instance, in the wake of events in Nardaran [in June 2002], when
the village was blockaded and the elders of Nardaran were arrested and
tortured, the villagers officially appealed to Suleymanova and asked
her to influence the situation. But the ombudsman said then that she
did not have the right to intervene and refrained from any
comments. Then there were the October events and Suleymanova allowed
herself to make a political statement condemning the opposition’s
activities. Meanwhile, she did not say a word about the unlawful
actions of the policemen who dispersed the action, Zeynalov said.