Category: News

Loving hands bake rich tradition
*BY TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA*
FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER
/November 4, 2004/
As her wrinkled hands gently press the triangle of traditional Armenian
cheese turnover dough, Natalie Papazian talks about putting her heart —
and the future of her church — into its creation.
Of course, cheese fills the inside of all 3,636 boregs, the flaky
pastries made for the 42nd year of St. Sarkis Armenian Apostolic
Church’s annual fall festival this weekend in Dearborn.
But the aging ladies of the church began handing down the tradition to
younger members this year, teaching them the technique and love involved
in cooking for their church.
“This is from the bottom of our hearts, to do something to give back to
the Lord,” said Papazian, 70, of Redford Township. “I would do anything
for our church.”
Papazian, about 30 older members and a handful of younger church members
meet every Tuesday and Thursday to make food for the festival. The women
have been cooking and baking since July, preparing baked goods,
meatballs, meat pies and other traditional Armenian food and freezing
them for the festival.
From 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday and 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, St. Sarkis
will serve about 2,000 dinners and sell hundreds of take-home bags.
The festival will also have a gift shop, a children’s craft room and
live traditional Armenian music.
Papazian’s eyes fill with tears and she chokes up as she describes the
joy she feels teaching the young women how to knead choreg, pronounced
CHORE-egg — a sweet, tender yeast roll served as a breakfast pastry or
snack with olives and cheese.
Seena Karapetian, 22, of West Bloomfield, whose grandfather was one of
St. Sarkis’ founding members, is proud to be learning about her
heritage. The senior, who is studying elementary education at Wayne
State University, has joined the elders periodically since summer. She
said the women give her and her friends the gift of Armenian identity
with every kufta — seasoned beef and bulgar-stuffed meatballs — they
teach her how to create.
“We always joke we should dip their hands in gold,” Karapetian said. “We
want to keep going the traditions of our church and our culture any way
we can.”
The festival draws many non-Armenian guests by using the international
language of food, said the Rev. Daron Stepanian, pastor of St. Sarkis
since 2000. He said the outreach creates an appreciation of Armenian
food in the same way everyone enjoys Italian pizza and the traditional
fare of China.
“To show the Armenian ethnic dishes are something to present to others:
It’s a pride,” he said.
The food sale is also the single biggest annual fund-raiser for the
church. By the time the last piece of lahmajoon, commonly referred to as
Armenian pizza, is gone Sunday, the church will have netted between
$40,000 and $50,000.
This year, the church also made an investment in the future, Stepanian
said.
“In this day, little by little, as the elders are going away, it gets
harder for everyone to do the baking,” Stepanian said. “They’re trying
to bake what their mothers, their grandmothers have been baking. Now
that bridge we are trying to build.”
IF YOU GO . . .
*What: *St. Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church’s 42nd annual fall festival.
*When: * Festival hours are 3-10 p.m. Saturday and 12:30-3:30 p.m. Sunday.
*Where: *St. Sarkis is at 19300 Ford Road, between Southfield and
Evergreen, in Dearborn.
*For more information: *Call the church at 313-336-6828.
*Copyright © 2004 Detroit Free Press Inc.*

La Croix
28 octobre 2004
Près d’un siècle après son écriture, un essai sur les atrocités
perpétrées par l’Empire ottoman paraît enfin. Le meurtre de la nation
arménienne. LES MASSACRES DES ARMENIENS d’Arnold J. Toynbee. Payot,
297 p., 23 Euro.
PLOQUIN Jean-Christophe
Dans le tumulte effroyable de la Première Guerre mondiale, un jeune
fonctionnaire anglais de 26 ans assiste à distance, depuis Londres,
aux massacres des Arméniens par le gouvernement de l’Empire ottoman.
Arnold J. Toynbee n’attend pas la publication du rapport officiel –
un Livre bleu – qu’il rédige sous la houlette d’un ancien
ambassadeur, lord James Bryce, et qui ne paraîtra qu’un an plus tard.
En novembre 1915, il publie à Londres un essai court, Les massacres
des Arméniens. Le meurtre d’une nation, qui met en perspective une
entreprise systématique de destruction du peuple arménien qui évoque
irréfutablement aujourd’hui une volonté de génocide. Ce terme
n’existait pas à l’époque mais Arnold J. Toynbee, devenu entre-temps
un des plus célèbres historiens britanniques, l’utilisera quarante
ans plus tard dans son oeuvre majeure, La Grande Histoire de
l’humanité.
Aujourd’hui, Les massacres des Arméniens ne peut être qu’un document
parmi d’autres pour la recherche de la vérité. Ecrit dans l’instant
sur la base de témoignages de première ou de seconde main transmis
oralement ou par écrit, il paraît près d’un siècle plus tard
incomplet et très dépendant de sources américaines, qui semblent en
avoir su davantage.
Ce document court de 140 pages est toutefois un document d’histoire
et la nouvelle édition augmentée, préfacée et annotée par Claire
Mouradian, l’éclaire utilement. Y sont notamment joints des extraits
du Livre bleu , écrit fin 1916 alors que les Britanniques tentent de
faire entrer les Etats-Unis dans la guerre à leur côté, dont
l’approche est à la fois plus argumentée et la conclusion
synthétique. Un dictionnaire biographique apporte en outre un utile
arrière-plan historique.

BRANCH OF ARMSAVINSBANK ROBBED IN YEREVAN
04.11.2004 19:11
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ One of the Yerevan branches of the Armsavingsbank was
robbed, Aravot Armenian newspaper reported. According to the source, on
October 28 at about 11 a.m. local time two men in masks entered the
foyer of the bank and threatening with Kalashnikov gun took away a sum
amounting in almost $1.8 thousand and 18 telephone cards.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
October 29, 2004, Friday
Ajedrez: Oro para Ucrania, delante de Rusia y Armenia
Calvia (Espana), 29 oct
Ucrania, el unico pais imbatido en todo el torneo, se proclamo hoy
campeon olimpico de ajedrez con 39,5 puntos. La medalla de plata fue
para Rusia, defensora del titulo, y la de bronce para Armenia, que
repite su hazana de hace dos anos en Bled.

En la decimocuarta y ultima ronda de la 36 Olimpiada de Calvia,
Ucrania derroto a Francia por 3-1 y aventajo en 3,0 puntos a sus dos
rivales, que terminaron ambos con 36,5 puntos. Rusia se llevo la

plata por una minima diferencia tras aplicarse el sistema de
desempate Buchholz -se suman los puntos obtenidos por los rivales con
los que uno ha jugado y quien tenga mayor numero, gana-.

El ingrato cuarto lugar fue para Estados Unidos (35,0), seguido de
Israel (34,5), India (34,0) y Cuba, en septimo lugar con 33,5,
Holanda (33,0), Bulgaria 32,5 y Espana A, en decimo lugar con 32,5
puntos.

En categoria femenina, China reedito su triunfo de Bled hace dos anos
triunfando con 31,0 puntos, seguida de Estados Unidos (38,0) y Rusia
con 27,5 puntos.

Resultados de la ultima ronda:

Ucrania – Francia 3-1 Espana A – Finlandia 3,5-0,5 Rusia – China 3-1
Armenia – Georgia 3,5-0,5 Israel – Cuba 2-2 India – Bulgaria 2,5-1,5
EEUU – Noruega 3,5-0,5 Azerbeiyan- Grecia 1,5-2,5 Polonia – Alemania
2-2

Argentina – Bielorrusia 1,5-2,5 Espana B – Australia 1,5-2,5 Espana C
– Luxemburgo 2-2 Mexico – Estonia 1-3 Chile – Suecia 2,5-1,5 Ecuador
– Brasil 2-2 Venezuela – Sudafrica 1-3 Colombia – Tailandia 3,5-0,5
Peru – Uruguay 3-1 Andorra – Tunez 2,5-1,5 Nicaragua – Bolivia 1-3
Rep. Dom. – Gales 3,5-0,5 Guatemala – Kirgistan 1,5-2,5 Costa Rica-
Honduras 2,5-1,5 Paraguay – Botswana 2,5-1,5 Jamaica – Irak 1-3 P.
Rico – Libia 2,5-1,5 Panama – Nepal 2-2

Categoria femenina:

China – Eslovaquia 2-1 Rusia – Francia 2-1 EEUU – Vietnam 2,5-0,5
Zsusa Polgar Ucrania – Georgia 2,5-0,5 Holanda – Hungria 2-1 Espana A
– Espana B 1,5-1,5 India – Inglaterra 1-2 Polonia – Rumania 2-1
Bulgaria – Suecia 1,5-1,5 Alemania – Cuba 2-1

Argentina – Bielorrusia 1,5-1,5 Peru – Letonia 0-3 Colombia – Gales
2-1 Brasil – Croacia 1-2 Ecuador – Uzbekistan 0-3 Venezuela – Austria
2-1 Mexico – Sri Lanka 2,5-0,5 Guatemala – Rep. Dom. 2,5-0,5 Bolivia
– Japon 2,5-0,5 Costa Rica- Honduras 2,5-0,5 P. Rico – I.Virgenes
EEUU 3-0

dpa to gs
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KARABAKH TELECOM WON TENDER ON PROVIDING CELLULAR COMMUNICATION IN ARMENIA
04.11.2004 18:05
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Nagorno Karabakh’s telecommunication operator,
Karabakh Telecom Company, has won the tender announced by the Armenian
government and obtained the right to provide cellular communication in
the republic, press service of the Armenian government reported.
According to the source, the Armenian Ministry of Transport and
Communications as well as the Ministry of Justice were given
corresponding instructions on the occasion. To remind, as Armenian
Justice Minister David Harutyunian stated due to the outcomes of
yesterday’s special sitting, the government will deprive Armentel
company of the monopoly of cellular communication.

La Stampa, Italia
Ottobre 27, 2004
SEMINARISTA EBREO AVEVA SPUTATO CONTRO UN ARCIVESCOVO
Incontro a Gerusalemme tra un rabbino capo ed ecclesiastici cristiani
per “”porre fine all’intolleranza””
Storico incontro a Gerusalemme tra un rabbino capo israeliano e
alcuni ecclesiastici cristiani, nel tentativo di porre riparo a un
episodio di intolleranza religiosa accaduto due settimane fa vicino
alla Citta’ Vecchia.
Yona Metzger, attorniato da prelati con croci d’oro, vesti nere e
bastoni d’argento, ha denunciato ogni aggressione a fini religiosi
nel territorio israeliano. “”Come figli di Abramo, siamo fratelli””,
ha dichiarato Metzger, “”Denunciamo ogni azione tesa a svilire le
persone religiose””. L’incontro e’ stato deciso in seguito allo
spiacevole episodio del 10 ottobre a Gerusalemme, dove un seminarista
ebreo ha sputato contro un arcivescovo armeno che aveva al collo una
croce. Ne e’ nata una rissa, in cui il simbolo religioso e’ stato
gravemente danneggiato. Metzger ha promesso che chiedera’ ai rabbini
della Citta’ Vecchia di tenere sermoni sulla tolleranza.

A1 Plus | 17:57:19 | 04-11-2004 | Official |
PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN STARTING ON NOVEMBER 8
Soon Armenian Parliament will get the 131st MP whose candidacy will be
registered on November 5 in District Electoral Commission. It is to
remind that the elections for the vacant seat will be held in N 27
election district since Mushegh Movsisyan, MP from N 27 election
district died of the injuries he had received in a car accident.
It is known that only one MP candidate – non-party man Araqel Movsisyan,
brother of Mushegh Movsisyan will partake in the elections. Under the
order, Araqel Movsisyan has produced the necessary documents to the
Commission, which were checked and approved.

The Messenger
Georgia’s English Language Daily
Thursday, November 4, 2004, #210 (0734)
Georgia’s bargaining chip
On Monday and Tuesday Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze visited
Moscow in an additional attempt to clarify the relationship between the
two countries. She demanded that Russia take “concrete steps” relating
to its oft-stated support of Georgian territorial integrity, but Moscow
officials replied that it was Georgia which had failed to take concrete
steps on previously agreed issues.
Georgian-Russian relations are of vital importance to Georgia, not least
because of the role Russia plays in Georgia’s frozen conflicts in
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Burjanadze stressed that as long as
Georgian-Russian relations do not improve, all attempts to resolve
current problems are pointless.
But despite the speaker’s best attempts to come to an agreement with the
Russian side, there was little progress made during her visit. “The
sides have not advanced yet,” Sakartvelos Respublika quotes Secretary of
the Russian Security Council Igot Ivanov as saying after his meeting
with Burjanadze.
Particularly on the issues of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, there was
little sign that Moscow is about to change its stance. Burjanadze stated
categorically that Russia must fulfill its promises and must deny the
separatist regimes its support, but although Russian Minister of Foreign
Affairs Sergei Lavrov promised that Russia would actively support the
resolution of the conflicts, his statement merely echoed many other
similar declarations over the years – declarations that have rarely been
followed up by “concrete steps.”
Lavrov underlined the importance of dialogue between the sides, saying
“the ‘frozen’ conflicts in Georgia must not be allowed to become ‘hot,'”
but realistically there seems little possibility of productive dialogue
leading to a resolution of the conflicts with Russia as mediator. There
is an ongoing need for a greater internationalization of the peace
process, something to which Moscow remains opposed.
Not only is international mediation required in the negotiation process,
but international peacekeepers on the ground as well. In South Ossetia,
weapons and paramilitaries continue to move freely into the separatist
republic, while shootings towards ethnically Georgian villages have not
diminished. The Russian peacekeepers seem powerless to prevent this,
suggesting the need for the bolstering of its peacekeeping forces with
troops from other countries. However, to achieve this, Georgia must not
only persuade Moscow and Tskhinvali to accept other peacekeepers, but
other countries to provide them.
Abkhazia’s conflict with Georgia has, meanwhile, taken a backseat to
internal conflict following the disputed October 3 presidential
elections, and there is ongoing concern that the situation could further
destabilize, despite the meeting this week in Moscow of the CEC-declared
winner Sergey Baghapshi and Moscow’s favored candidate, former prime
minister Raul Khadjimba.
Burjanadze expressed the Georgian government’s dissatisfaction with the
meeting in Moscow, and stated that Russia should not call any elections
democratic when two-thirds of the electorate have been exiled; but her
complaints went largely unheard.
Instead, Russian officials’ talks with the speaker of Parliament were
focused on the reopening of rail links between Russia and the Caucasus,
via Abkhazia. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan support this initiative, which
would have a positive economic impact on the economy of the whole South
Caucasus, but the Georgian government is unwilling to agree to the
restoration of the Tbilisi-Sokhumi section of the line without agreement
to the return of Georgian refugees to the Abkhaz district of Gali.
The Georgian side remains distinctly displeased that Russia reopened the
Rusisia-Abkhazia leg of the railway in September, arguing that in doing
so it violated the 2002 Sochi agreement signed by Putin and
Shevardnadze, which envisaged the restoration of the railway happening
simultaneously with the return of refugees. Nevertheless, Prime Minister
Zurab Zhvania announced on Monday that he had agreed in principle to the
restoration of the railway, adding however that this is currently
impossible owing to the instability in Abkhazia.
Aside from the issue of refugees, the Georgian government is in a
quandary regarding the railway, because while it would provide a
significant boost to the Georgian economy (it has been calculated that
it could add as much as USD 200 million to the Georgian budget), the
railway could have a corresponding effect on the Abkhaz economy, perhaps
decreasing even further the possibility of Abkhazia’s reintegration with
Georgia. the government fears further that the rail link might create
further problems, similar to those posed by the Roki tunnel connecting
North with South Ossetia.
The railway is an important bargaining chip for Georgia, as its
restoration would benefit both Russia and Russia’s strategic partner
Armenia. The government will be unwilling to play it without a
significant return, not least because other bargaining chips are few and
far between.
—

Next issue of Orer
Azg/Arm
5 Nov 04
Joint 3d and 4th issues of pan-European Armenian Orer (days) magazine
was published in Czech Republic these days. Besides providing
information on film festivals held in Yerevan, Moscow and Karlovy
Vary, on the ecology of Armenia and Czech Republic, the magazine
opened a new column headed “Saroyan in Czech Republic”.
Last time William Saroyan visited Prague was in 1980. “His books were
published and are still being published in Czech, and one has an
impressionthat Saroyan is more Czech than Armenian writer”, a prologue
to an interview with Irzhi Yosek, translator of the great writer’s
books, reads. “I always liked Saroyan immensely. I had difficulties in
translating his puns and his poetic language”, Irzhi Yosek
said. Another article about Saroyan tells about writer’s activities in
cinematography. To prove his capability to the director of Metro
Goldwin Mayer Saroyan shot his “Poor People” in 3 days and it was
awarded an Oscar in 1943.
An interview with father Harutyun Pztikian is also very
interesting. Father Pztikian from the Congregation of Mkhitarians
informed that a cultural center of the Congregation will soon open in
Yerevan.
Articles on Armenia’s inner political life are also included in
themagazine. The Czech part of the magazine presents Charles
Aznavour’s youth poems in Petra Kohutkova’s translation. Orer gives
the Armenians of Europe, mainly of Czech Republic, a chance to get
acquainted with political and cultural goings-on in their motherland.
By Arevik Badalian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia develops relations with NATO and EU
Azg/Arm
5 Nov 04
Though NATO Membership Is not on the Agenda Negotiations Should be
Expected
Minister of foreign affairs of Armenia Vartan Oskanian noted recently
that Armenia doesn’t set a priority to become NATO member but will
deepen relations with the Organization.
Deputy foreign minister Ruben Shugarian informed Azg Daily that NATO
membership is not high on the agenda but there may come a point of
starting negotiations. NATO Secretary General is arriving in Yerevan
on November 5 within the frameworks of the South Caucasian visit.
“NATO is willing to deepen relations with Armenia. Though Armenia was
not as active in cooperation with NATO as its 2 neighbors, today we
see signs signaling of Yerevan’s readiness to maintain deeper
relations”, Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer informed Mediamax
news agency a day before his visit.
“Azerbaijan and Georgia have the NATO membership on their agenda’s.But
if take a closer look we’ll see that our cooperation with NATO does
not differ from those of Azerbaijan and Georgia. But if Azerbaijan and
Georgia have to take administrative, technical steps then Armenia has
too take political ones”, Shugarian said.
Deputy minister Shugarian held a speech recently in Michigan
University where he was invited to participate at a conference on
South Caucasus and Armenian policy. “My speech was mainly about EU’s
new neighborhood, Armenian-Turkish relations and political
perspectives for the 3 Caucasian states and region’s new geo-political
identity. My speech put an accent on the importance of the
Armenian-Turkish border-gate”, he said.
“That is not simply a Turkish border but NATO’s border with
Armeniawhich remains closed up to now. We may even call it the
region’s border with NATO as Georgia’s and Azerbaijan’s borders are
not wide enough to make relations tighter and secondly, it is not a
geographical issue but a geopolitical one”, Shugarian said in his
speech.
Yerevan should not pin hopes on NATO that it will make Turkey put an
end to Armenia’s blockade. On the other hand, Armenian authorities
hope that Turkey in its strive for the EU will open the
border. Shugarian said that at the European-Armenians’ congress in
Brussels last month the EU representative read a sentence from
European Commission’s report concerning Armenia.
“There is the following sentence in the report: â=80=98The perspective
that Turkey may become EU member will make it put relations right with
its neighborsâ=80=99. If the sentence were other way around, i.e. if
it said that the perspective that Turkey will not become EU member
will make it put relations right with its neighbors, that would be
completely a different thing. EU-Turkey talks may last a decade and
the day before the end of the talks Turkey may open the border”,
Shugarian said.
Six Armenian ambassadors from different European states participated
at the congress in Brussels. While the European-Armenians were holding
meetings appealing to European states not to include Turkey in the EU,
foreign minister Vartan Oskanian was speaking for Turkey’s accession
in Rome.
I don’t see any contradiction in what the European-Armenians say and
what the minister said. The issue was discussed in different legal
levels. We want to have a common border with the EU because our
further aim is joining the EU. Armenian communities of Europe may
have their view as regards Turkeyâ=80=99s accession. They may be
concerned about purely Armenian issues such as the blockade and the
Armenian Genocide”, Shugarian said.
Shugarian also notes that the issue of the Armenian Genocide is
mutually important for both the Armenian state and the Diaspora but
has diverse tints. “Firstly, Diaspora is a result of the Genocide. If
Diaspora considers Genocide acknowledgment, primarily by Turkey, a
reinstatement of historic justice then Armenia considers it a
guarantee for safety and prevention of possible recurrence in
future. They say that today’s Turkey is different. There are
differences, of course, but what’s Turkey’s attitude towards Armenians
today? We are in blockade and Turkey carries on an aggressive
policy. Blockade is a war action”.
By Tatoul Hakobian