Category: News

Armenian TV programme “indefinitely” taken off air
A1+ web site
15 Oct 04
A new television program created by and featuring news and analysis
from RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, was abruptly pulled from the schedule
of the local Armenian television station “Kentron” on 13 October,
according to service director Hrair Tamrazian. Although the television
station’s management has made no comment on the decision, it is widely
suspected that Kentron was pressured to suspend further broadcasts of
the program, either by official interests or local media competitors.
The television show, a 30-minute long analytical program called
“Azatutyun” (Liberty), debuted to rave reviews on Kentron Sunday, 10
October and was rebroadcast by Kentron the next day on 11 October. Two
days later, Tamrazian was informed by Kentron director (?Petros
Ghazarian) that the show would be “indefinitely suspended”. Kentron
has not commented on the reasons behind his station’s decision.
Tamrazian said: “I am very disappointed that, after tireless efforts
by RFE/RL and Kentron that resulted in a very successful TV show, it
was suspended for as yet unknown reasons. I call on the authorities
to investigate this matter and hope that Kentron and RFE/RL will
continue in a joint project that was eagerly awaited by many viewers
and listeners in Armenia.”
Many viewers called the Armenian Service after the show, to express
their appreciation for the program. Viewers said that the program
was a “breakthrough” for Armenian television, because of RFE/RL’s
objectivity, as well as for featuring a new format with two moderators
(male and female) and the show’s ability to “connect” with its
audience. The first show featured an exclusive report from Strasbourg
on the recent debate about Armenia in the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE), as well as exclusive interviews about
Armenian-Turkish relations with Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan and the new US ambassador, John M. Evans. Passage omitted:
background information

Russia to increase military presence in Central Asia, Caucasus
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow
15 Oct 04
The Russian military has changed its policy on Central Asia and the
Caucasus and is stepping up its presence there in response to increased
US military aid to the region, the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya
Gazeta said on 15 October. Russia is formally opening a military
base in Tajikistan on 17 October, and expects to keep its troops in
Georgia for at least another seven years. The following is the text
of article by Vladimir Mukhin, “The RF Defence Ministry will increase
its influence in the near abroad”, published in the Russian newspaper
Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 15 October; subheadings inserted editorially:
The military is laying stress on bases in Central Asia and the
Trans-Caucasus.
Russia’s military department has recently been looking at decisions
reached earlier on the fate of military contingents stationed
abroad. This is taking place against the background of another series
of troop reductions and reforms. Along with this, it is notable that
the garrisons in the near abroad [republics of the former Soviet Union]
are not being significantly reduced. They are being strengthened with
new aviation and other combat-capable, high-tech subunits (precision
artillery, communications, intelligence, etc) at the same time.
We note that there are aviation subunits in all the Russian troop
contingents stationed abroad.
In the opinion of observers, strengthening the Russian presence in
the CIS countries goes against what has been noted earlier. Thus,
a year ago the chief of General Staff at the time, Gen Army Anatoliy
Kvashnin, signed a directive in which military garrisons on Georgian
territory were to be significantly reduced in 2004. The same directive
proposed reducing the numbers of the 201st Motorized-Rifle Division
in Tajikistan, which on Sunday [17 October] will receive the status of
a military base. The same document proposed reducing the peacekeeping
subunit in the Dniester Region.
Military aid to Georgia
But nothing outlined by Kvashnin has been carried out yet. Because
of problems with removing the munitions of the 14th Soviet Army, the
Russian “blue helmets” will remain in Tiraspol for at least another
year. The new chief of General Staff of the Russian Federation Armed
Forces, Yuriy Baluyevskiy, is preparing another directive which
should cancel Kvashnin’s decision to reduce the Tbilisi garrison,
including the dissolution of the 376th Military Clinical Hospital
of Group of Russian Forces in the Transcaucasus. Troops are being
rotated and special subunits (intelligence, communications, etc)
are being updated in Armenia. Apparently, the military subunits in
Georgia will also be updated and modernized. With all its problems,
Tbilisi is interested in Russia giving help in setting up the Georgian
Army. Of course, relations between Moscow and Tbilisi are now complex,
but the RF Ministry of Defence is certain that the status of the Group
of Russian Forces in the Transcaucasus will allow Russian troops
to remain in Georgia for a minimum of another seven years. We note
that on 7-8 October, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Ground
Troops, Lt-Gen Georgiy Yevnevich, arrived in Tbilisi. In addition
to peacekeeping issues, he discussed with Georgian Defence Minister
Georgiy Baramidze the prospects of the protocol signed in August by
the heads of the military departments of the two countries, in which
Russia is obligated to train military cadres for the Georgian Army
and cooperate in the military-technical sphere.
It is these aspects that will be discussed at the next session
of the committee drawing up a framework agreement between Russia
and Georgia. According to information from military sources, the
committee session will take place at the end of October. The RF
Defence Ministry does not doubt that Tbilisi will make concessions
if Moscow obligates itself to provide military aid not only in
deliveries, but in modernizing the Georgian Army. “There is a certain
understanding about these issues on the Georgian side,” commented
Russian military-diplomatic sources on the upcoming negotiations.
Base in Tajikistan
In regard to the 201st Division, this will receive the status of
a Russian military base on 17 October. For reasons of economy,
the division is currently not manned with contract servicemen, but
with conscripts. The commander of the 5th Army of the RF Air Force,
stationed in the Volga-Urals Military District, Lt-Gen Yevgeniy
Yuryev, said that in addition to transforming the 201st Division
into a military base, the aviation component will be significantly
strengthened. “I hope that at the end of October a final decision
will be made on the place for stationing this grouping,” concluded
Yuryev. In exchange for the military base, Dushanbe wants increases
in Russian investment, military aid, etc. Moscow is still bargaining,
but in the opinion of experts, is ready to make concessions.
A well-known ethno-political analyst, academician of the Academy of
Military Sciences Col Vladimir Popov told NG that the United States
and NATO are presently increasing their military groupings in Central
Asia and also plan to strengthen them in the Caucasus and Middle and
Near East. “The United States plans to spend 500m dollars in 2005 on
military support alone for the regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. The
armed forces of Georgia, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan will receive 20m
dollars each. The other former republics of the USSR will receive a
little less. Moscow must react, and it is doing this by strengthening
its military bases in CIS territory,” the military analyst commented
on the situation.

Open door: The independent pursuit of freedom: The readers’ editor on … a
conference of European press councils in Cyprus
The Guardian – United Kingdom
Oct 16, 2004
IAN MAYES
Last week I went to the annual huddle of the Alliance of Independent
Press Councils of Europe (AIPCE) to speak about the still fairly rare
form of self-regulation that we try to practise at the Guardian. I
was invited by the hosts, the Cyprus Media Complaints Commission,
and we met in the divided city of Nicosia.
Unless you are involved in the self-regulation of the press you are
unlikely to have heard of the AIPCE, a useful and, deliberately,
fairly informal association of self-regulation bodies that began
meeting about six years ago at the joint suggestion of the British
Press Complaints Commission and its counterpart in the Netherlands.
In the relatively short period that it has been in existence, it
has become a major forum for exchanging ideas, sharing experience,
and in particular, most recently, for the support and encouragement
of the press councils that are emerging in eastern Europe – in the
former Soviet Union, in former Yugoslavia, and in countries such as
Bulgaria. Half of the independent press councils in the world have
been formed since 1990, and a third since 2000. The growth among
members of the European alliance reflects that pattern.
The new European members have found among their colleagues in the
older established bodies – such as the PCC in Britain – a ready
response to requests for help and advice. The PCC has, in fact,
provided consultative services since not long after its foundation
in 1991. An assistant director, William Gore, coordinates its work
overseas. He says: “It is important for us to get involved when and
where we are wanted, if our help is sought.” The director of the PCC,
Tim Toulmin, is keen on this work, like his predecessor, Guy Black.
The PCC has had a direct involvement in, for example, the establishment
of a press council in Bosnia- Herzogovina where it went, initially,
at the invitation of a European commission agency there. The former
acting chairman of the PCC, Professor Robert Pinker, having gone
there as a consultant, became the first international chairman of
the Bosnian press council, a post to which he expects a Bosnian to
be elected in May next year.
Prof Pinker told me, “The Bosnian press council could not have started
under more difficult circumstances. Now it is fair to call it one
of the truly national bodies. We are in the process of extending the
range of members to make it even more representative.”
The PCC has also been quick to put its experience, on request, at the
disposal of projects initiated by others. I have personal experience
of one of these, a programme to establish press and media councils in
two pilot schemes in Russia, one in Nizhny Novgorod, to the east of
Moscow, and the other in the south at Rostov-on-Don. I visited both
places with PPC representatives when the project was just beginning.
The guiding hand has been provided by the Programme in Comparative
Media Law and Policy at Oxford University. It has worked with the
Moscow Media Law and Policy Institute and local people over the past
three years and – as the Russian delegates reported at the Cyprus
conference – the scheme is now showing positive signs of success. I
hope to report on that more fully later this year.
The problems faced by the media in this and other areas represented
at the conference are daunting. There is something chastening to
see the dedication and courage being brought to the task of trying
to develop and protect a press free from state interference and
corruption. These efforts are often taking place in a context in
which there is no tradition of the principal elements in society even
meeting and talking, let alone trusting each other.
The key requirement that any press council must fulfil to be worthy
of the name, in the opinion of members of the European alliance,
is independence – it needs great effort in many countries to carry
it beyond aspiration.
Delegates in Cyprus came from, among other places, Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Ukraine, and, as I have
already mentioned, Russia and Bosnia. The struggle they are involved
in provides a reminder that self-regulation, with the long and often
difficult process of agreeing an editorial code that usually precedes
it, promotes and protects a free press against repression. It is easy
to forget this as we pick over the imperfections of our own system.
Ian Mayes is vice president of the Organisation of News
Ombudsmen. Readers may contact the office of the readers’ editor by
calling 0845 451 9589 (UK only, calls are at local rate) or +44 (0)20
7713 4736, 11am to 5pm UK time Monday to Friday excluding UK bank
holidays. Mail to Readers’ editor, The Guardian, 119 Farringdon Road,
London EC1R 3ER, UK. Fax +44 (0)20 7239 9997. [email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Local voters closing in on choice
MLive.com, MI
Oct 17 2004
As he pulls his 2-year-old daughter in a wagon down a quiet Portage
street after dinner, Michael Bank hardly looks like someone who can
predict the winner of the U.S. presidential race.
Neither does Joan Eaton, out walking her golden retriever Abby a
couple of blocks away.
But the voters in Bank’s and Eaton’s neighborhood have picked the top
vote-getter four presidential races in a row, ever since George Bush
“the first” beat Michael Dukakis in 1988.
Now, with the national race in a dead heat just two weeks before the
election, it’s President Bush and U.S. Sen. John Kerry neck-and-neck
at the finish line among a sampling of decided voters in this small
slice of America.
“Definitely Bush and Cheney,” said Bank, 37, an applications engineer
who lives on Sussex Street in an area of new homes.
“Kerry and Edwards,” said Eaton, 75, a retired registered nurse who
lives in an older part of the neighborhood on Date Street.
In the Kalamazoo Gazette’s unscientific door-to-door survey of 106
residents in the neighborhood, 56 in late September and another 50 this
month, Bush gained ground on Kerry between September and October. The
number of undecided voters this month was less than last.
Gazette reporters plan to return to the neighborhood one more time
to gauge the mood just before the election.
Last week, on a cluster of streets that wind behind Southland Mall
between Oakland Drive and Westnedge Avenue, 23 residents said they
planned to vote for Bush, 18 for Kerry. Nine were undecided.
Last month, 21 were for Kerry, 17 for Bush and 18 were undecided.
Its past voting record isn’t the only thing that make this a
representative neighborhood. The issues people say they care about
mirror the country’s as well.
“Bush is doing a good job with the war,” Bank said. “And I definitely
believe we would have gone into deeper recession without Bush.”
“Bush is really for the rich people,” Eaton said. “Economically,
he hasn’t done a good job.”
The race is close enough that currently undecided voters will likely
decide the outcome. In the Portage neighborhood, more of the undecided
voters this month than last said they were beginning to move toward
one candidate.
But there’s not a lot of enthusiasm behind that movement.
“I’m leaning toward Kerry, but I’m not convinced his policies will
work in the real world,” said Kevin Blair, 46.
He’s seen his share lately of that world. A neuroscientist with a
doctorate who lost his job with the former Pharmacia Corp., he tried
to run his own small manufacturing business, only to be swept out by
competition from China and lose money. Now Blair, who lives with his
family on Avon Street, is looking for work.
Worries about the economy shadow supporters of both candidates.
“We’re pretty much Republicans,” said Scott Broberg, 33. He expects
to vote for Bush. But as an information-technology specialist, he
worries about jobs going to India and other countries.
“Whoever wins, he’s going to have to do something about outsourcing,”
said Broberg, who lives on Southland Avenue.
At a house across the street, though, the votes will go to Kerry.
“That other guy is a crook,” said retired Motors Corp. worker Ralph
Van Der Bos, 80, where a wooden sign on the walkway points the way
“To Grandpa and Grandma’s.”
“And I’ll tell you something else,” he said, “I think he’s behind
those gas prices going up.”
But the deepest passion about the election came from a new American.
Nune Ghazarian, 36, will be voting for the first time in November.
She is a native of Armenia whose Armenian-American husband went back to
his homeland to pick her as his wife. She became a citizen last month.
She will be voting for Bush, she said, beaming as she discussed
her choice.
“He’s done a good job with the terrorists,” said Ghazarian, who pushed
her 2-month-old baby girl in a stroller while her 4-year-old daughter
walked alongside on Sussex.
Ghazarian is excited about voting.
“I feel I am blessed,” Ghazarian said. “This is a wonderful country.”

Yeshiva student apologizes to archbishop for spitting
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
Haaretz
17/10/2004 23:34
A yeshiva student who spat at the Armenian archbishop in Israel and
at a 17th-century cross during last week’s procession marking the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem’s Old City has met with
heads of the Armenian community and apologized for his actions,
police said Sunday.
The student, Natan Zvi Rosenthal, explained that he was raised
to see Christianity as idol worship, which is forbidden by the
Torah. Rosenthal’s rabbis from the Har Hamor Yeshiva in Jerusalem –
who, along with his father, were present at the meeting – said they
regretted the incident, and that they educate their students to be
courteous to others. The rabbis said Rosenthal was the first of their
students to be involved in such an incident.
Har Hamor is considered an elite yeshiva, one highly esteemed among
the nationalist ultra-Orthodox population.
The Armenian archbishop, Nourhan Manougian, said he and his
coreligionists accept the apology and that their religion commands
them to forgive Rosenthal.
The police spokesman said the apology will not affect its decision
on whether Rosenthal should be indicted for spitting at the procession.
The meeting took place last Thursday at the police station in the Old
City, but police did not publicize it until Sunday, when the police
commander in charge of holy sites, Chief Superintendent Shlomo Ra’anan,
reported it to the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee.
The committee was holding an emergency meeting to discuss the
harassment of Christian clergymen in Jerusalem. which had been reported
in Haaretz.
Participants in the meeting, including Christian clergymen and
representatives from ministries and the Jerusalem Municipality,
confirmed that the problem was widespread and that incidents of
harassment were not generally reported to the police.
Ra’anan said police have received only three complaints in the last
few years on the issue, saying “no one expects us to have a police
officer protecting every priest.”
But the harassment continues: A few days ago, Stars of David were
spray-painted on the entrance to the Monastery of the Cross, not
far from the Knesset. The Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral,
located near the Jerusalem police headquarters in the Russian Compound,
has suffered similar vandalism.
In addition, officials at a church located near several yeshivas
complained that yeshiva students were watching them through binoculars
and making offensive gestures when they passed by. Churches located
near Jewish areas in Mount Zion, the Jewish Quarter of the Old City
and in Mea She’arim complained that neighbors had thrown garbage into
their yards.
Interior and Environment Committee chairman MK Yuri Stern (National
Union) said these incidents are unacceptable and stem from ignorance
and stupidity. Stern, who heads the Knesset lobby for advancement of
relations with Christian communities, said the content and the tone of
the way in which Christianity is mentioned in schools must be changed.
The committee decided to turn to Education Minister Limor Livnat to
establish a forum for Jewish and Christian clergymen, and called on
police to intensify their watch on Christian sites.

PARIS-NORMANDIE
16 octobre 2004
Aznavour, tout en haut de l’affiche
Ortole Serge
Entre la retraite et le travail, il continue de préférer la scène. A
quatre vingt ans bien sonnés, Jurassic Aznavour est toujours assis au
sommet de son art. Dernier dinosaure du panthéon de la chanson
française.
Le revoilà, comme au bon vieux temps, installé bien en haut de
l’affiche, reparti en tournée. Bourrer les salles, Aznavour sait
faire. Il en a l’habitude. Hier soir, le Zénith était bondé. Lucide,
assez fier de lui, du chemin parcouru depuis toutes ces années, il
continue d’égrener sa nostalgie, tout en allant de l’avant.
Sobre
Son style ne change pas. Des mots justes, des phrases qui coulent
toutes seules au service de belles mélodies mélancoliques. Ses thèmes
sont choisis. L’amour, la vie, l’Arménie son pays, la fuite du temps.
Aznavour, on vient pour l’écouter, pas pour le voir bouger. De jeu de
scène, il n’en a jamais eu. L’important chez lui n’est pas dans la
gestuelle, mais dans bien l’émotion que le personnage véhicule.
Accompagné par un splendide orchestre, dans lequel on remarque une
section de cordes exclusivement féminine, Aznavour délivre un tour de
chant millimétré. Avec une première partie articulée autour des
nouvelles chansons, extraites de son dernier album Je voyage, et une
seconde, bâtie sur les titres d’hier, d’avant hier, et d’avant avant
hier. Sobre, l’artiste ne se permet aucune fantaisie. Et quand il
parle à son public, on sent là encore qu’il a préparé son texte.
Mais pourquoi diable ce petit bonhomme aussi rayonnant, continue-t-il
de s’habiller tout en noir. Léo Ferré disait: c’est une couleur qui
vous habitue à la mort. Dieu merci Aznavour est toujours bien vivant.
Il chante à nouveau ce soir à Rouen.

Games: Chess
The Independent – United Kingdom
Oct 16, 2004
Jon Speelman
The biennial chess Olympiad got underway yesterday at the Gran Casino in
Calvia Majorca and continues until 29 October. With generous sponsorship from the
professional services firm Deloitte and Touche, England has the excellent team
of Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane, myself, Mark Hebden and Peter
Wells and we are one of the top seeds.
However, while we hope to fight for medals, the Olympiads got much tougher
after the break up of the old Soviet Union fractured one immense giant into
separate countries, including the superpowers Russia itself, the Ukraine and
Armenia. Moreover, a huge number of strong ex-Soviets have moved abroad. Indeed, I
believe (though I’m writing before it’s confirmed) that both the USA and
Israel may consist entirely of ex-Soviets!
The annual Israeli Championship took place in Ramat from 19 to 29 September.
Inevitably it was dominated by those of Russian origin though the winner,
21-year-old Sergei Erenburg is relatively unknown as compared to those who came
behind.
Erenburg scored 6.5/9 which put him first on tie-break ahead of Vitaly Golod;
while Konstantin Lerner and Boris Avrukh made 6 and there were eight players
on 5.5. The winner has a nice calm positional style with a drop of poison as
in this efficient victory.
After 8…Ba6!, White always had some problems on the white squares. The
early middlegame was close to equal but the f4 pawn was a weakness. Even after
dissolving it, Deutsch was still under some pressure and the raid with 28.Nd4?
proved disastrous. At the end, .34.Rf4 Qe1+ 35.Kh2 Qg3+ 36.Kh1 Nf3! is equally
fatal.
Eyal Deutsch vs Sergei Erenburg
Israeli Championship 2004 (round 1)
Queen’s Pawn Opening
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Tajik president hails outcome of talks with Putin
Avesta web site, Dushanbe
16 Oct 04
Dushanbe, 16 October: “I would like to thank [Vladimir] Putin
personally for his foresight and extraordinary approach to resolving
the complicated issues that were hampering our cooperation,” the
Tajik president [Emomali Rahmonov] has told a news conference after
Tajik-Russian top-level talks.
He said the [Putin’s] visit would give a fresh impetus to Tajik-Russian
relations.
“We attach great importance to setting up the Russian military base
in Tajikistan and restructuring Tajikistan’s state debt to Russia,”
the president said. “I think this was a great achievement. The
meeting is of historical significance to Tajikistan. The burden of
unsettled problems will no longer be bothering us and we may now work
on specific projects in a business-like atmosphere, for which we have
created a solid basis.”
Discussing economic cooperation, Tajik president called on Russian
business circles to be more active on the Tajik market. He added
that the sides discussed regional and international issues such as
fighting terrorism and drug trafficking, the situation in Afghanistan
and ways to raise the effectiveness of such organizations as the
CIS, the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization; members are
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia],
the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization; members are China,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia], the EAEC
[the Eurasian Economic Community of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia and Tajikistan – the former Customs Union] and others.

Saturday, October 16, 2004
**********************************
One way to have a balanced view of yourself is by trying to see yourself through the eyes of your enemy. If most people hate doing that it may be because they are too infatuated with their own positive image of themselves and they dread the prospect of seeing the negative. What if the enemy makes a good case?
*
To be infatuated with one’s own image is the surest symptom of being a dupe to propaganda.
*
A reader writes: “How do you know there will come a time when churches and mosques will become museums? Are you a prophet?”
No, I am not because I base my assertion on the past, on history and what is commonly known and accepted as fact. After all, is not the future an extension of the past? Consider the fate of Greek and Roman temples. Consider the fate of the 1001 churches of Ani. As recently as last year, 42 churches were closed down in the Detroit area. What happened to the mosques in Spain? And what will happen to the mosques in America when a weapon of mass destruction claims 100,000, perhaps even 1,000,000 victims, and the terrorist responsible for this holocaust is discovered to have found safe harbor in a mosque?
*
If, on the other hand, you assert that our religion, being superior to all others, is destined to shatter all historic precedents, I ask: “Are you saying that because that’s what you were told as a child or is it because you really think so?”
#
Sunday, October 17, 2004
*********************************
On the radio this morning, an interview with Jimmy Breslin, a well-known Irish-Catholic writer and the author of THE CHURCH THAT HAS FORGOTTEN CHRIST. When asked what he thought about good Catholics who believe in the Pope and go to church every Sunday, he replied: “They are sheep.” Next question: “You mean they can’t think for themselves?” “That’s right!”
*
Since I am in the business of exposing prejudices and fallacies, I am sometimes accused of having my share of them. If I do, I hope they are not those of a good Armenian or a good Christian, but those of an honest human being.
*
A good Armenian: Can anyone define him? It is not at all unusual for a good Armenian to be a bad Armenian in the eyes of another self-appointed good Armenian. The same could be said of a good Christian, a good Muslim, a good Protestant or a good Sunni.
*
Religion generates infidels. Where there are orthodoxies there will be heretics. And every ideology will have its share of dissidents, and sometimes the dissidents will be right and the ideologues dead wrong.
*
Where there are top dogs there will be underdogs. As an underdog of underdogs, or a double underdog, I don’t feel the need to identify myself with them. I am one of them.
*
Could an Armenian be a top dog in the Ottoman Empire or the Soviet Union without betraying not only a fraction of his Armenianism (however you care to define that label) but also his humanity?
*
The problem with labels is that they tend to reduce or even dehumanize the other. For an Armenian, the label Turk comes with a heavy burden of history, and we are all creatures of the past. But to be creatures of the past does not necessarily mean being its slaves.
*
When I wrote recently that a man does not need a cathedral in which to pray, a reader wrote: “How do you know? Why do you project your own predilections on others?” This reader may not be aware of the fact that it was the construction of a cathedral in Rome that split the Church into Catholics and Protestants, and this split was the cause of many wars, one of which lasted a hundred years.
*
Sometimes I feel like a Muslim among Christians, and like a giaour among jihadist Muslims. Some readers think what I say is so eccentric and odd that I might as well be an enemy of the people. I have every reason to suspect that these readers confuse spin and propaganda with fact and reality. Or, as Jimmy Breslin says, they think not like men but like sheep. They view the past and present, that is to say, reality, through the eyes of bishops, imams, and politicians. And the world continues to be in an unholy mess because people don’t trust their own judgment and prefer to accept the judgment of spinners and propagandists. But ignoring our judgment is also ignoring that which separates us from animals.
*
Propaganda dehumanizes. Political and religious leaders don’t say that because if they did, they would expose themselves as dehumanizers and the real enemies of mankind, and more precisely, wolves in shepherd’s clothing.
#

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
The Christian presence in Jerusalem
Is in jeopardy
Declared His Holiness Aram I
ANTELIAS, LEBANON – Referring to the recent attack of a Yeshiva student
on Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, the Armenian Orthodox Archbishop in
Jerusalem, His Holiness Aram I made the following statement to the
press. “The news reaching from the Christian quarter of Jerusalem are
worrying and disturbing. The Churches and Christians in Jerusalem are
increasingly witnessing the kind of incidents and situations which
clearly indicate the existence of a well planned Israeli policy of
Judiazation of Jerusalem. In fact, different manifestations of this
policy are forcing the Christians to migration. It is a fact that the
numerical size of Christian communities is very much reduced and the
activities of the churches are getting limited”.
Expressing his deep concern about this situation, His Holiness Aram
I stated. “We cannot remain silent and indifferent in view of these
attempts aimed at de-Christianization of Jerusalem. Jerusalem has
been the birthplace of Christianity. Its Christian identity must be
preserved it. The right and privileges of all religious communities
must be protected. Jerusalem must become a city of dialogue,
tolerance and peace. The Judiazation of Jerusalem will greatly harm
the peace process in the region. Therefore, we urgently appeal to
the international community to take this matter very seriously.
More than at any time, at this critical point of the history of
humanity, mutual respect and tolerance between religions, nations
and communities must constitute the firm bases of all societies”.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about
the history and the mission 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.