Category: News

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 8, 2004
___________________
HOLY CROSS CHURCH MARKS 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF CONSECRATION
On Sunday, September 19, 2004, the Holy Cross Church of Armenia in upper
Manhattan marked the 75th anniversary of its consecration.
To mark the occasion, the parish, which has about 90 active
parishioners, welcomed Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), who celebrated a
special Divine Liturgy, and held a banquet which brought out more than
200 people.
The historic church in upper Manhattan has seen its share of joys and
challenges. But the parishioners have always retained their devotion,
said the church’s pastor for the past three years, Archbishop Anania
Arabajyan.
“It is a very faithful parish. They’re strong believers and they help
keep the Armenian tradition alive,” he said. “They’re strongly
dedicated to the church and are always doing the work to keep it alive.”
HONORING THE STEWARD
One long-time parishioner at the Holy Cross Church was honored during
the anniversary celebration. Archbishop Barsamian presented the St.
Nersess Shnorhali Medal and a pontifical encyclical from His Holiness
Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, to Holy Cross parishioner
Deacon Krikor Anoushian.
“He is truly a devout and dedicated steward, not only of his parish but
of the Armenian Church in general,” the Primate said. “A tireless
worker, his passionate service has been an example for his fellow
parishioners.”
A parishioner at Holy Cross for more than three decades, Anoushian
currently serves as a deacon on the altar, is the parish council
treasurer, and a Diocesan delegate. He is also a leader of the Komitas
Choir.
“He is important to the life of our church,” Archbishop Arabajyan said.
“He is originally from Turkey, where the Armenians have the tradition of
being close to their parishes. He came here and brought his dedication
and faith with him to this church.”
— 10/08/04
E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News
and Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,
PHOTO CAPTION (1): During a banquet marking the 75th anniversary of the
consecration of the Holy Cross Church of Armenia in Manhattan,
Archbishop Anania Arabajyan, parish pastor, congratulates Krikor
Anoushian after Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate, presented him with
the St. Nersess Shnorhali Medal and a pontifical encyclical from His
Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, on Sunday, September
19, 2004.

The Xinhua News Agency.
October 9, 2004 Saturday 9:30 AM EST
Finland 0 Armenia 1 – Euro under-21 result
STOCKHOLM
Finland lost to Armenia 0-1 in the European under-21 soccer
championship, Group One qualifier in Helsinki on Saturday.
Scorer: Melkonyan 77
Halftime: 0-0

The Xinhua News Agency.
October 9, 2004 Saturday 9:30 AM EST
Starters for Finland v Armenia World Cup qualifier
STOCKHOLM
Following are the starters for Saturday’s World Cup European zone
Group One qualifier between Finland and Armenia in Helsinki:
Finland: 1-Antti Niemi; 2-Petri Pasanen, 3-Janne Saarinen,4- Sami
Hyypia, 6-Mika Vayrynen, 7-Mika Nurmela, 11-Joonas Kolkka, 14- Toni
Kuivasto, 16-Aki Riihilahti, 18-Shefki Kuqi,20-Aleksei Eremenko.
Armenia: 12-Armen Ambartsumyan; 3-Karen Dokhoyan, 4-Sarkis Hovsepyan,
5-Arutyun Vardanyan, 6-Romik Khachatryan, 8-Rafael Nazaryan, 9-Hamlet
Mkhitaryan, 10-Armen Shakhgeldyan, 11-Andrei Movsesyan, 16-David
Grigoryan, 18-Alexander Tadevosyan.
Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
October 9, 2004 Saturday 11:42 AM Eastern Time
Ukraine has the largest GDP in CIS countries
By Valery Rzhevsky
KIEV, October 9
Ukraine has the largest GDP among the CIS countries. “Ukraine’s GDP
grew by 13.6%, the fastest rate among the CIS countries, in
January-August 2004,” says a report of the CIS Committee for
Statistics that was published in Kiev on Saturday.
The economies of Tajikistan, Belarus and Armenia developed at a rate
of 11.7%, 10.7% and 9.6%, respectively. Then come Azerbaijan (9.5%),
Georgia (9.42%), Russia (7.55%), Kirghizia (7.3%) and Moldova
(6.52%).
The GDP in the CIS countries grew at an average rate of 8% in
January-August 2004. Industrial production also grew at 8%. The
growth of retail trade turnover is estimated at 12%, the report says.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

City News Service
October 7, 2004 Thursday
Man Pleads No Contest to Soliciting Murders
LOS ANGELES
A former pickle factory owner accused of involvement in an Armenian
crime ring pleaded no contest today to seven counts of solicitation
of murder. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bob Bowers Jr.
immediately sentenced 42- year-old Edvard Gyulnazaryan, 42, of
Glendale, to 15 years in state prison, said Jane Robison of the
District Attorney’s Office. None of the intended victims were killed
during the two-year scheme, Robison said. Gyulnazaryan was the last
of six people to be sentenced in connection with the case, which
reportedly constituted one of the largest murder-for-hire cases
investigated by the Glendale Police Department. The FBI also aided in
the probe. Five other defendants were sentenced earlier to terms
ranging from 180 days in county jail with a suspended state prison
term to nine years in state prison, according to Robison. The crime
ring was believed to have been involved in credit card fraud and
extortion, authorities said. The Los Angeles Times reported in June
that investigators learned about the plot when Gyulnazaryan asked an
informant if he knew anyone who would conduct a murder-for-hire. One
of the first discussions took place at the pickle factory in a small
brick storefront on an industrial stretch of San Fernando Road, the
Times reported, citing court documents. Gyulnazaryan allegedly told a
would-be killer that he would pay $5,000 to have a worker shot twice
in the head at the Washington Smoke Shop in Pasadena, according to
court documents. Other intended targets also were discussed in
alleged murder-for-hire plots, according to the documents. “We
believe we thwarted the murders that were planned,” police Sgt. Kirk
Palmer told The Times last year. “The individuals who were targeted
may have been rivals.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SeeNews
October 5, 2004 07:09 PM EEST
Bulgaria Sees Regular Air Flights to Armenia from April 2005
SeeNews
SOFIA (Bulgaria), October 5 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria and Armenia may be
linked by regular air flights from April next year, Bulgaria’s
Transport Ministry said on Tuesday.
Launching direct flights between the capitals of the two countries,
Sofia and Yerevan, was agreed at a meeting of Bulgaria’s Transport
Minister Nikolai Vassilev and his Armenian counterpart Andranik
Manukyan, the ministry said in a statement.
Vassilev is paying a visit to Armenia.
He and Manukyan also discussed boosting the development of transport
links between the two countries following a sharp rise in bilateral
trade in recent years.
Bulgaria was ready to launch a ferry link between its Black Sea port
of Varna and Russia to service trade with landlocked Armenia and was
expecting Russia’s final decision on this project, the statement
said.
Bulgaria’s exports to Armenia increased by over 100% in the last
three years, the statement said.
Bulgaria’s exports to Armenia reached 18.7 million Bulgarian levs
($11.7 million/9.6 million euro) in 2003, while imports totalled 21.2
million levs under official Bulgarian statistics.
(1 euro=1.95583 levs)

A1 Plus | 18:02:44 | 08-10-2004 | Politics |
VAZGEN MANOUKYAN SPECULATING OVER INDEPENDENCE
Armenian Democratic Union leader Vazgen Manoukyan, speaking Friday at a
seminar held in Armenian Center for National and International Studies,
shared his ideas about Armenia’s 13-year independence with the seminar
participants.
In his opinion, Armenians got independence without special efforts from
their side. He thinks Armenian people didn’t want to be independent for the
past century.
In his words, in 1988, a part of nation, predominantly intellectuals, was
opposed to independence fearing aggression from Turkey. They thought Armenia
could get back its lost territories by remaining a part of the Soviet Union.
Manoukyan said he considered national army creation an achievement of a
13-year independent republic.
The seminar participants agreed that Armenia had accomplished a great deal
in forming national army and winning Karabakh back from Azerbaijan.
Poverty, migration and unemployment were mentioned among negative phenomena.

Armenia’s Iraq peacekeeping may damage ties with Iran – paper
Iravunk, Yerevan
9 Oct 04

Text of I. H. report by Armenian newspaper Iravunk on 9 October
headlined “Between two blockades”
Armenia, which is still under the Russian-Georgian blockade, may find
itself under another blockade. A reliable source at the Foreign
Ministry has said that some diplomatic circles of Iran have given a
hint that if Armenia really decides to get involved in the US-Iraq
conflict, Iran might take serious steps.
Naturally, the issue is about the Armenian leadership’s plan to send a
group of 50 Armenian servicemen to Iraq. Although, according to the
Armenian defence minister, they are going to fulfil only a
“humanitarian” mission in Iraq, judging by this information, these
explanations are not convincing to one of our significant and
strategic neighbours.
Also, if we add to this plan the intention of returning [to
Azerbaijan] three of the liberated districts which are close to the
Iranian border and where US military bases will presumably be deployed
in the future, Iran’s concern seems absolutely logical and clear.
Anyway, we hope that the countries which are our strategic partners
will at least reach agreement with each other so that punitive actions
against Armenia in the form of a blockade are taken separately, not
simultaneously.

Azeri official rules Turkey in but Karabakh out of talks on Karabakh
ANS TV, Baku
8 Oct 04

[Presenter] The Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuriy
Merzlyakov, has stressed the importance of Turkey’s involvement in the
settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. At the same time, Yuriy
Merzlyakov insists on the participation of Nagornyy Karabakh as a
party in the talks.
[Correspondent] A lasting solution to the Nagornyy Karabakh problem
cannot be practically found without Turkey’s involvement, the Russian
co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuriy Merzlyakov, said in an
interview with the Armenian Regnum news agency.
[Passage omitted: Merzlyakov on criticism of the Minsk Group]
Merzlyakov said once again that one could not expect the co-chairmen
to come up with a secret settlement formula. In his opinion, the
problem cannot be resolved without agreement in principle between the
parties to the conflict.
Mr Merzlyakov said that the next visit by [OSCE] co-chairmen to the
region would depend on the presidents of the two countries [Azerbaijan
and Armenia]. He did not rule out that the visit could take place
before the end of this year.
In his interview, the Russian co-chairman said once again that
Nagornyy Karabakh should be involved in peace talks as an independent
party. Many issues could not be discussed and resolved without
Nagornyy Karabakh’s participation, end of quote.
Commenting on Yuriy Merzlyakov’s statements, the head of the
international relations department at the presidential administration,
Novruz Mammadov, said that Azerbaijan wanted Turkey to be involved in
the peace talks. This country could play a pivotal role in the
settlement of the conflict. We take this into consideration and we
have said on many occasions that Turkey could join in the
negotiations, end of quote.
However, Mr Mammadov noted that the Russian co-chairman’s opinion that
Nagornyy Karabakh should take part in the talks was not real. Azerbaijan
is not going to talk to separatists.

China backs Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity – official
Trend news agency
9 Oct 04

BAKU
China backs the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, Liu Yunshan, head
of the Publicity Department of the CCP Central Committee, said at a
meeting with Azerbaijani Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov in Baku on 9
October.
Every state has a duty to defend its territorial integrity,
international organizations should therefore support Azerbaijan’s just
position on the Nagornyy Karabakh problem and achieve a speedy
resolution of the conflict, he said.
In turn, Alasgarov accused the international organizations of dragging
out a peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict for
more than 10 years. We think that the [OSCE] Minsk Group has failed to
fulfil its task, he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress