AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
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PRESS RELEASE

Thursday, November 30, 2006

AGBU Sponsors the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra’s Autumn Tour of
Central Europe

The Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra (APO) embarked on a four-city
concert tour of Central Europe from September 27 to October 6,
2006. The 110-member orchestra was invited to showcase its talent in
music festivals held in Nuremberg, Germany, Bratislava, Slovakia and
the Czech Republic’s two largest cities, Prague and Brno.

While on tour, APO performed alongside some of Europe’s most talented
classical musicians, demonstrating its status as an orchestra of the
highest caliber receiving invitations to perform at the most prominent
music festivals and concert halls in Central Europe.

As the leading symphony of Armenia for the past eighty years, APO
presents weekly concerts in Yerevan’s renowned Aram Khachaturian
Concert Hall. The performance venue of 1,300 is a cultural landmark
and architectural gem in the center of the Armenian capital city.

The Orchestra’s musicians are drawn from the top graduates of
Yerevan’s Komitas Conservatory and Russia’s leading conservatories in
Moscow and St. Petersburg. Since 1990, the Armenian Philharmonic has
produced and released a long list of CD recordings and hosted leading
international figures, including Italian baritone Renato Bruson,
American maestro Alexander Treger and Canadian soprano Isabel
Bayrakdarian.

Headlining APO’s upcoming schedule of events is a six-city tour of
France in February 2007. The tour will be sponsored by AGBU as part of
the organization’s Centennial celebrations and France’s Year of
Armenia festivities.

APO has been primarily subsidized by AGBU since 1992 in recognition of
the importance of the performing arts in Armenia. Annual grants are
allocated for weekly concerts, new instruments, administration, salary
supplements, international guest artists and special festivals. APO
has successfully toured Austria, England, France, Germany, Greece,
Iran, Lebanon, Russia, Turkey, UAE and the United States, and has
produced dozens of CD recordings. For more information on APO, please
visit

For more information on AGBU and its worldwide programs, please visit

Armenia Solidarity
(an independent organisation,formerly known as Wales-Armenia Solidarity)
c/o the Temple of Peace
Cardiff
Tel: 07876561398
[email protected]

Two new Armenian motions in the UK parliament

Two new Armenian related motions have been tabled at the House of
Commons,in the UK parliament, London in response to a request.by
Armenia Solidarity.
They are on the Turkish blockade of Armenia (EDM number 344) and on the
Genocide, EDM number 357 (titled Armenia)
. By now, taken together, 120 of the present MPs have signed one or
more of the past EDMs recognising the Armenian Genocide..
All Welsh and Scotish Nationalists have signed previously(Plaid
Cymru and SNP parties), as well as approximately one third of Liberal
Democrat and Labour MPs. An Armenia Solidarity spokesman said that they
were confident of increasing the numbers of signatories substantially
this year.It is hoped UK Armenians will contact their MPs asking them to
sign, and also make contact with us.
Armenia Solidarity is also lobbying ministers. A representative
presented a book of evidence on the genocide titled "Remember" by John
Torosyan, last week to the Uk Foreign Secretary, Mrs Margaret Beckett.
She promised to study it carefully.

The wording of the motions are as follows

————————————————- ———————–

Nia Griffith(MP for Llanelli, Wales): Blockade of Armenia EDM
number: 344
That this House recognises the incompatibility of Turkey’s ongoing thi
rteen-year blockade of Armenia with the declared UK, NATO, and EU policy
objectives of regional security and prosperity; is appalled by the fact
that Turkey is the only Council of Europe country to engage in a
blockade against a fellow member-state; notes that the blockade has
already had a considerable negative impact on Armenian, Turkish and
regional development and continues to undermine efforts at international
development in the region; further notes that Armenia is in favour of
establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey; and urges the Turkish
Government to lift its blockade and work towards the establishment of
diplomatic relations without any preconditions inconsistent with
international law or the EU accession criteria.

————————————— ———————————

Spink, Bob : (MP for Castle Point, Essex) Recognition of theArmenian
Genocide EDM number : 357

That this House believes that the killing of over a million Armenians in
1915 was an act of genocide; calls upon the UK Government to recognise
it as such;and believes that it would be in Turkey’s long-term
interests to do the same.

EUROPEAN ARMENIAN FEDERATION
for Justice and Democracy
Avenue de la Renaissance 10
B-1000 Bruxelles
Tel: +322 732 70 26
Tel/Fax: +322 732 70 27
Email: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
November 30, 2006
Contact: Vartenie ECHO
Tel: +322 732 70 26

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION RECOMMENDS WEAK RESPONSE TO TURKEY FAILURES

— The Commission suggests only half-measures, consisting in
temporary
suspension of technical chapters of the negotiation process —

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – The European Commission recommended on Wednesday
29th November the suspension of 8 of the 35 tracks, or chapters, of
Turkey’s negotiation process toward joining the European Union.
Moreover, the Commission recommended that no already opened chapter
"be provisionally closed".

The eight tracks suspended by the Commission are largely technical in
nature. The Commission refrained from suspending the remaining 27
tracks. In taking these steps, the Commission alleges to give an
appropriate response to Turkey’s intransigence – particularly its
refusal to ratify the Ankara protocol which would have meant the
implicit recognition of Cyprus.

As a consequence, the suspended chapters are those which are linked
to some extent to Cyprus issues: freedom of movement of goods (§1),
right of establishment and freedom to provide services (§3),
financial services (§9), agriculture and rural development (§11),
fisheries (§13), transport (§14), customs union (§29) and external
relations (§30).

"The Commission has fallen far short of its obligations to enforce
Turkey’s compliance or to punish its flagrant violation of its own
commitments across a broad range of issues. Europeans expect the
Commission to act in a more principled and responsible manners on
this core matter concerning the future of the Union," said the
Chairperson of the European Armenian Federation, Mrs Hilda Tchoboian.

The European Armenian Federation considers these half-measures a
clear retreat from the Council’s own decision in December of 2004,
which firmly established the terms of the negotiation framework.
This understanding stipulated that, in case of serious and persistent
violation of the principles on which the Union is based, the
Commission must fully suspend its negotiations with Turkey.

Seeking to explain its decision, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement
declared that "we have agreed that these negotiations have to move
forward at a less rapid pace. There will be no train wreck, but there
is a clear slowing down of the process."

"European civil society does not understand why the Commission keeps
on acting as the hostage of Ankara’s demands for double standards and
special treatment. Far from demanding Turkey’s compliance, the
Commission is actively ignoring the recent European Parliament
resolution regarding the conditions for the suspension of talks with
Turkey," said Tchoboian. "As such, we call on Member States to
recognize the Commissions moral failure and to enact measures of
their own accord to ensure that the values and the standards of the
Union are respected."

Open Democracy, UK
Dec 1 2006

Exile at home: being Turkish, thinking European
Daria Vaisman
1 – 12 – 2006

The reception of Orhan Pamuk’s Nobel award in Turkey is charged with
the political tensions inside the country and in its relationship
with Europe, says Daria Vaisman.

Turkey’s extraordinary and still unfinished year has appeared often
to put it at the centre of international affairs. Sometimes it can
feel as if all the currents of the modern world – from nationalism to
freedom of speech, militarism to migration, religion to women’s
rights, terrorism to reconciliation with the past – flow through this
country.

This is at once a tribute to Turkey’s richness of experience and
potential, and a challenge to understanding – for modern Turks even
more than for their European and other neighbours. Many countries are
asking questions of Turkey, but it is the Turks above all who need to
find answers to their own predicament.

Daria Vaisman is Caucasus correspondent for the Christian Science
Monitor and a freelance writer based in Tbilisi and Moscow. She has
written for Slate, the International Herald Tribune, Foreign Policy,
the New Republic and other publications

Also by Daria Vaisman in openDemocracy:

"Turkey’s restriction, Europe’s problem"
(29 September 2006)

Each big story in 2006 – from the Danish cartoon crisis to the
recurring Kurdish dispute, from the tense negotiations with the
European Union to the delicate visit of Pope Benedict XVI – has
reinforced the sense of a country in search of itself. This was true
perhaps above all in the circumstances around the award of the Nobel
literature prize to Orhan Pamuk on 12 October 2006.

Pamuk wrote (in his memoir Istanbul: Memories and the City) of a
certain kind of exile: Those who take pleasure in the accidental
beauty of poverty and historical decay, those of us who see the
picturesque in ruins – invariably, we’re people who come from the
outside."

The formulation is suggestive. To be an exile in a foreign country is
one thing, but to be an exile on the street where you grew up takes
something else. Orhan Pamuk (as openDemocracy’s Anthony Barnett
noted) stayed – in the city, even the house, of his childhood – and
embraced the world from there.

Also in openDemocracy on Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul and Turkey’s writers:

Cem Õzdemir, "My mother’s city"
(12 February 2004)

Murat Belge, "Love me, or leave me?" The strange case of Orhan Pamuk"
(October 2005)

Hrant Dink, "The water finds its crack: an Armenian in Turkey"
(December 2005)

Orhan Pamuk (with Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie), "Freedom to
write"
(28 April 2006) – an audio feature from the PEN World Voices festival
in New York

Elif Shafak, "Turkey’s home truths"
(25 July 2006)

Hrant Dink, "Orhan Pamuk’s epic journey"
(16 October 2006)

Two worlds

Such is the strange experience of being Turkish nowadays: it is
possible to be an exile simply by staying put. A Turk is both an
artifact and victim of empire, able to feel connected to the great
Ottoman past yet aware of the impossibility of ever returning to it.
Modern Europe may view the ruins of Greece and Rome via a lens of
triumphalism as much as nostalgia; but in Turkey, Pamuk writes,
"ruins are reminders that the present city [Istanbul] is so poor and
confused that it can never again dream of rising to the same
heights."

Europe’s relationship to its own past is, as a result, less fraught
than Turkey’s. This is one reason why the tensions between the two
cultural and political worlds carry such an electric charge. Nowhere
was this more evident than in the decision by the lower house of the
French parliament (on the very day of Pamuk’s Nobel award) to propose
making it illegal to deny that a genocide of Armenians occurred in
Turkey during the first world war.

At the time, the connection between the legislation and Turkey’s
future choices – between EU membership and a more middle-eastern (and
Islamic) state – may seemed little more than coincidence. But the
symbolic import of the legislation is profound: "Europe" is here
asking Turkey to swallow both its humiliation, and its sense of being
a victim of a double standard, in order to join the European club.
Will this be needed for the Turks to make their country’s ruins into
"museums of history" (Pamuk) and surrender hope for their return?

Pamuk himself is at the centre of the controversy. It was he who he
told the Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeige in February 2005 that "30,000
Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody
but me dares to talk about it" (comments which made Pamuk the most
prominent target of the notorious "insult law" cases, in which
individuals have been charged with "denigrating Turkishness").
Although Pamuk’s case was eventually dismissed on a technicality,
other writers – among them Hrant Dink, Elif Shafak, and Murat Belge –
have since been tried under the same law.

Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, echoed the opinion of many
Turks when he suggested that the timing of the French legislation was
not accidental. It was "unfortunate", he said, "that the first time
Turkey receives a Nobel prize comes with the legislation. The issue
would not have appeared so political had the French not voted on the
legislation the same day the award was given."

For Turkey, this is nothing less than hypocrisy. Europe, Turks say,
demands that the country agree to a freedom of expression which the
European Union itself does not uphold. Turkey is blocked from joining
the EU because of restrictions on freedom of speech if which Europe
itself is guilty.

"We are told to be tolerant of ideas that we don’t like, and it’s
very ironic that we are hearing the contrary from a European
country", said Muge Sokmen of Metis Press (which publishes Elif
Shafak). "Freedom of expression is not a political thing", says
Sokmen. "It is a means to control Turkey with the message they
themselves do not want to be controlled."

>From the Turkish perspective, then, the French law is another form of
condescension – more EU-mandated hoops – much like a country club
with ever-changing, arbitrary, rules designed to deny membership for
every reason but for those stated.

In Turkey, the question of genocide presses a nerve. The combination
of the French law, the Nobel award and Orhan Pamuk’s track-record on
the Armenian issue put him at the centre of the controversy. For all
Turks (the religious, the secular strong-armed military; the liberal,
secular Istanbullu), Pamuk’s prize was double-edged.

The victory of a Turkish writer, writing in Turkish, is cause for
celebration. Turks chafe at the suggestion that Pamuk’s literary
merits were not enough to win him the Nobel; Pamuk is an exquisite
writer, many say, and to see his award as laced with politics (and
anti-Turkey politics at that) is a further insult.

Yet even for his admirers the event was tinged with regret. Pamuk
made himself famous, some say, only by virtue of his comments on
genocide. Several expressed the thought that Pamuk had spoken out on
the fate of the Armenians to achieve international fame.

For those on the conservative side, things are far clearer. Kemal
Kerincsiz, the Turkish nationalist lawyer who helped bring criminal
charges against Pamuk, said that Pamuk had not won the Nobel for his
work, but "because he belittled our national values…As a Turkish
citizen I am ashamed." For both sides if in different ways, suspicion
remains that no matter his literary skill, Pamuk’s prize is Europe’s
way of making a political statement.

The inside outsider

There is no way to resolve this contradiction – yet. If and when it
can be, the route will start and finish in Turkey itself. This is the
deeper significance of Pamuk for Turkey in 2006. As much as there is
Pamuk the political figure or social gadfly, there is the literary
Pamuk, who brought the bestseller to Turkey, selling hundreds of
thousands of copies of his books in a country with a notably small
reading public. His work is sold at shops and on street corners. He
may have rejected the much-coveted position of Turkey’s "state
artist" in 1998 on political grounds, but that is what he has
effectively become.

During his insult-law trial, Pamuk was accused by his critics of a
fetishising orientalism – of seeking to exoticise Turkey to the west,
of selling it (and himself) to the foreigner. It is an accusation
that has been levelled in comparable circumstances (Milan Kundera,
Salman Rushdie and Azar Nafisi are among the targets).

In these cases, the provocation is what is seen as the arrogance of
self-imposed exile. But Orhan Pamuk chose another path: that of an
insider’s outsider – someone who belongs and is attuned to a single,
unique place while retaining the inner distance that enables its
transformation into universal meaning, and thus opens the way to its
renewed self-discovery.

It is in this sense that Orhan Pamuk is emblematic of Turkey’s
convulsive 2006. The Nobel award and all that surrounded it may be a
sign of where Europe wants to see Turkey, but more importantly it is
a sign of where Turkey is coming to see itself. Pamuk, in his
self-imposed exile, committed himself to staying on to continue the
conversation. In doing so, he offers a truth that will outlast the
disputes and tensions of the political year.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

International Herald Tribune, France
Dec 1 2006

Official: Armenia and Azerbaijan discussing terms of Nagorno-Karabakh
referendum

The Associated Press
Published: December 1, 2006

YEREVAN, Armenia: Armenia and Azerbaijan are discussing terms of
holding a referendum on the status of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
region, Armenia’s foreign minister said Friday.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region in Azerbaijan, has been under
control of Armenian and ethnic Armenian Karabakh forces since the
1994 end of a separatist war.

Years of negotiation have produced little visible sign of progress in
resolving the dispute, which prompted Azerbaijan to close its borders
with Armenia. But the presidents of both countries said this week
that significant progress has been made.

Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oksanian said that the question of
whether the region could be autonomous within Azerbaijan was a key
issue in negotiations.

"A resolution to this problem can be found only by a referendum, a
proposal for which is contained in the document that the sides are
discussing."

He said the referendum was proposed to take place "on the territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh, with people who live there and lived there
taking part."

Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Azeri population fled the conflict more
than a decade ago and large numbers of them have lived as internally
displaced people since then.

Asharq Alawsat (The Middle East), UK
Dec 1 2006

Lebanon: Sectarianism & Student Elections

01/12/2006
By Maya Meshlib

Beirut, Asharq Al Awsat – The intense political turmoil in Lebanon is
clearly reflected in the country’s university elections, particularly
in the private universities. During the student council elections,
the extent of the political divisions reached a point that made the
two March dates [March 8 and March 14 were the two dates in which
elections were held to determine the political affiliations, the
former was for the opposition groups while the latter was held
between the pro-government parties] a clear indicator and the most
pronounced symbol that signifies the students’ partisan affiliations
and the political tracks they follow. Alliances are distributed
between the March 8 and March 14 coalitions; the first group
includes: the Future Movement (FM – Tayyar al Mustaqbal), Lebanese
Forces (LF), Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Phalange Party (PP –
al Kataeb Party), among other affiliations; while the second group
includes Hezbollah, Amal Movement, in addition to the Free Patriotic
Movement (FPM), which cannot be precisely classified and which is
affiliated with the March 8 coalition. It is widely known that these
elections are of significance to political parties by virtue of their
indicative nature, albeit slight, still, it helps gauge their
popularity or lack thereof amongst the university student circles.

What is compelling is that the candidates rely on the political
speeches of the leaders they are affiliated to in order to attract
and gain votes, rather than preparing any serious programs to address
student needs and academic concerns – of which none exist except the
FPM’s single request for student ID cards.

Lately, events at universities have been steadily escalating as one
university after another held its elections, events in which great
anticipation and suspense reigned. The latest surprising event in the
series was when the American University of Beirut (AUB) suspended its
vote count for two days, citing `security reasons’ as the cause,
which in turn led to inconclusive results as of yet. With both
alliances, the oppositional March 8 coalition and the pro-government
May 14 coalition, declaring their victory, each group adopted the
representatives from the victorious running `independents’ as a way
to announce their respective conflicting victories. Following the May
14 coalition’s announcement of their victory by 44 votes against the
pro-government’s 32 and 19 independents, the next day saw the March 8
coalition declare its victory by 41 votes against the
pro-government’s 18 and 15 independents.

Parallel to these events was the shift that took place at the small
Anthony University wherein the habitually won seats by the FPM were
taken by the LF [Samir Geagea’s party aka the Lebanese Forces
militia] that gained victory by six votes and four over the FPM [the
Maronite General Michel Awn’s party]. Weeks earlier, the elections at
the Lebanese American University were cancelled and a council of
representatives was formed for the various political parties and
movements with the purpose of considering establishing a new
electoral system for the student council. The administration’s
decision was met by huge protests regarding the distribution of seats
as had been announced in terms of participation and sectarian
distribution, which resulted in canceling out some parties such as
the Armenian Tashnag Party and the independent leftist group.

Weeks earlier, St Joseph University, with a Christian majority in the
student body, saw a number of elections held in the various faculties
at the university in which the FPM scored a sweeping victory despite
results revealing the decline of this popularity in some faculties
such as the school for business administration where the FPM has 10
seats as opposed to the LF’s 10, however the former won the
presidency. General Awn’s victory in the university is an intriguing
one especially amidst allegations about the decline of the movement
following the signing of an agreement of understanding with
Hezbollah.

Head of the Committee of Youth and Student Affairs for the FPM, Fadi
Hanna (26 years old) spoke of the map that indicates the distribution
of the different movements and trends in universities and said,
`Despite purports of our decline in popularity at St Joseph
University, the results reveal the overwhelming victory we have
achieved. We won the presidency of the economics faculty with a 97
majority vote whereas last year we won by 30 votes.’ Responding to
rumors of alliances formed to ensure that Hezbollah doesn’t win the
seat at the business administration faculty, he said, `I dislike
talking about sectarian distribution; however I will not evade your
question. With the majority of Christian students at the faculty of
economics, we were able to gain all 10 seats.’ He added, `We ensure
that our elections are always self-financed and that they have modest
budgets because we depend on our political dialogue, which has
remained unchanged for the past 15 years, to attract the student
voters. We do not approach them to request their votes, they come to
us. We face a problem of people buying votes here at the university,
distributing free textbooks and mobile phone recharge cards. Last
year a student was apprehended while distributing free cards to
students in return for their votes. The action was later justified by
claims that the cards were specifically for the purpose of campaign
related calls.’

Hanna stressed that the movement urges the government to issue free
student ID cards. `The student is king in all countries except
Lebanon. For years now, we have been suffering the migration of minds
… We will prepare a proposal to submit to the parliament that can
enable the formulation of a law that entitles students to acquire
long-term loans so as to resume their studies in private universities
since there are disciplines that are unavailable in Lebanese public
universities. There are also cases of students facing financial
hardships and a loan would enable them to continue their education.
This requirement is essential for everyone. It would also facilitate
entry and enrollment for students in some places, offering discounts
on certain purchases.’ He also believes that, `the present alliances
are formed at the roots, leaders do not impose their inclinations on
us, rather it is the opposite – their alliances crown what is
integrated and woven at the root.’ He also indicated that, `our
closest ally is the independent student.’

On the same subject, Hussein Youssef, head of the educational
department at Hezbollah said, `elections at St Joseph University took
place under sensitive circumstances and some tried to prove the
decline of the movement in the Christian arena, but the results prove
the falsity of such claims. The truth is, allegations about the
movement’s decline in popularity are used to compensate and justify
the defeat of our political opponents.’ Moreover, Youssef adds that,
`the accusation against the March 14th coalition importing Syrian
`guardians’ to help is inaccurate. Figureheads from the coalition
call for foreign support and visit embassies. I think their end is to
instill a fear of us in the public and a fear of forming effective
partnerships with us. There are attempts to create provocative and
wordy headlines to steer people’s attention away from the real
problems related to the government and the Israeli enemy. I do not
claim that student elections can determine status quo, but they can
convey the level of awareness that students have.’ Youssef added,
`the main contributing factor behind attracting student votes is our
clear program and in the mutual and complete confidence that we share
with our acquaintances. Some of our student supporters were martyred
during the Israeli war on Lebanon, they were fighters … Our program
in universities is not based on offering student services; our
campaigns are financed by the students themselves’. Regarding the
party’s popularity in universities, he said: `our largest presence is
focused in the Lebanese University, and of course, our presence in
the American University does not equal it, because the fees are high.
Our popularity is also affected by the demographic distribution of
the population.’

Head official for Youth and Sport at Amal Movement, Dr Hussein Lqais
said, `we have a work team in every university that tries to attract
and recruit students by helping them register and through guiding
them. Our active members hold exhibitions and other types of
activities, or collect membership fees from the affiliated students
in order to raise the necessary funds. But in general, no large sums
of money are allocated, as we do not offer bribes. Regarding
alliances, he said, `partnerships exist in all universities and we
have no problem in dealing with the FM in some cases if it guarantees
our victory. We have affiliations with the March 8 and March 14
coalitions and we have not severed ties with anyone. Pacts and
alliances made by politicians do not indicate the alliances in
universities.’

Speaking from another perspective, Samir al Ashy, the public
relations official for the FM, said, `elections at St Joseph
University, which are a gauge for the Christian street have indicated
a decline in the popularity of the movement, whereas the March 14
coalition has achieved an evident progress that rose by 50 percent.
It is true that the March 8 coalition won the main seats, however the
March 14 coalition won half the seats. The remarkable thing is that
the Christian youth have voted for the rules of the movement, the
only exception that didn’t vote were the Hezbollah candidates, which
indicates the lack of sound alliances in the movement. I do not claim
that they have lost their standing, it just points towards a decrease
in representation.’ Regarding the extent of the prevalence of the FM
in universities, al Ashy said, `We have a presence in 30 universities
between Beirut, Sidon, the north, and in Beqaa. Our presence is not
limited to Islamic universities, but also the Christian ones, our
movement is above sectarianism and is composed of 12 percent Shia, 8
percent Christian, 5 percent Druze, and the rest are Sunnis.’ He
added that, `Those who want to place their bets on the state project
and the Lebanese army must join us in the fight against corruption,
the authority’s rule and regional interferences.’ Addressing their
presence in universities, he said, `In the Lebanese American
University we won all the seats; there are 10 of them in the Beirut
campus. In Jubail, where the majority is Christian, we were still
able to penetrate the majority with one candidate. At Notre Dame
University we have an active cell; and at the University of Balamand
we have a strong base.’ Al Ashy believes it is natural that the
politicians’ alliances reflect on the universities because the latter
are an integral part of the Lebanese society and youth are the
backbone of life who will become part of the political game. He is
quick to mention that, `the crucial matter is that the tension
existing between leaders does not get transferred to the university
students because we believe that they are the future hope, and should
at least be left with a rational outlook, the logic of dialogue, and
an acceptance and tolerance of one another. This is the main problem
we endure.’ On the matter of funding electoral campaigns in
universities, he said, `each work team is self-reliant in terms of
raising funds through organizing activities and competitions,
however, what is being rumored about bribes at universities to buy
votes is part of the propaganda launched by the March 8 coalition,
which is outdated and backwards, as loyalty cannot be bought or sold.
The funds were evident in the large sums paid by Hezbollah after the
12 July wars. This shows that the movement [Hezbollah] has the money
and is using it in the street, which is not the case with us.’

For his part, student leader from the Lebanese Forces, Daniel Spiro,
said, `our results at St Joseph University reflect an important
development and progress, the number of our representatives has risen
from 20 percent to 50 percent, while the movement attained the
presidential seats indicating that its candidates have strong
relationships with the student body – which is what we strive to
achieve. He pointed out that, `the elections in some of the
university’s faculties had adopted an academic approach, while others
were of a purely political inclination, especially in law school
where we won six seats. Overall, in the north we gained seven seats
and in Beqaa we got five and the presidency. These are results that
point to an improvement for the LF over last year.’

The student official at the PSP, Zaffer Nasser, said that the decline
of the movement’s popularity in St Joseph University was, `a clear
message that confirms a miscalculation in its alliance. I do not
claim that those who refrained from voting joined the March 14
coalition, still, we managed a clear improvement.’ He had the same
opinion as al Ashy regarding funding, he said, `There were rumors
about the FM, which is one of the assaults that the March 14
coalition was subjected to. The total outstanding cost of the
electoral campaign at the university was US $120, which was raised by
the student youth. Nasser added that political dialogue is the basis
for attracting the student body, which is a result of the
classification taking place in the country. He said, `Therefore we do
not focus on student services, nor do we believe in it as a method
for running an electoral campaign in universities. It is the student
council’s job to handle this issue and to honor its responsibility
towards the students.’

The head of the students department at the PP, Jan Antnious,
attributes the FPM’s ability to maintain its stature at St Joseph
University to the fact that a portion of the Lebanese people are yet
to understand the nature of the alliances that they made. He said,
`The March 8 coalition is trying to take us back to the time of the
Syrian `guardians’. He expressed surprise at the results achieved,
stressing that his party does not try to tempt people into joining by
offering services, but rather through spreading ideas and principles,
pointing out that the candidate’s personality and character plays a
major role in the outcome of the elections.

tion=3&id=7211

Dowagiac Daily News, Michigan
Dec 1 2006

Wood Fire books Leon Redbone Tuesday, Jan. 23

By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Friday, December 1, 2006 10:20 AM EST

Larry Seurynck is seeing things again.

This time his vision is Leon Redbone in Dowagiac, as in the performer
known for his trademark Panama hat and dark glasses who some
suspected of being Frank Zappa in disguise.

Redbone, the performer of early 20th century jazz and blues featured
in Rolling Stone a year before he landed a recording contract,
appeared as a semi-regular musical guest on NBC’s "Saturday Night
Live" throughout the late 1970s and early ’80s.

More recently, Redbone covered Frank Loesser’s romantic Christmas
song "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" with Zooey Deschanel for the closing
credits of Will Ferrell’s 2003 holiday film, "Elf."

The man the online encyclopedia Wikipedia calls "the most famous
non-famous American musician" is scheduled to appear downtown at Wood
Fire on Tuesday night, Jan. 23, 2007, Seurynck said Thursday.

Tickets are expected to cost $50 for the intimate setting.

Seurynck’s previous insights include obtaining Muhammad Ali’s ring
for Dowagiac Boxing Club, now part of the Police Athletic League
(PAL), and an upscale Italian restaurant downtown that is
increasingly known as a venue for high-caliber live jazz and blues
musicians.

Just ask the two Salt Lake City fellows who trekked cross-country to
the Grand Old City by plane and train to hear Franz Jackson.

Seurynck’s latest vision sees an artist of Redbone’s caliber doing
for the live music scene what a Gwen Brooks poetry reading did to
inspire the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival in the early 1990s.

"We believe it will be a very significant night for the arts in
Dowagiac," Seurynck said. "A performance by Leon would set the stage
for major performers on a quarterly basis. It will be a wonderful
opportunity for town and Wood Fire as a venue."

Redbone, 57, was born Aug. 26, 1949, supposedly in Cyprus to Armenian
parents who named him Dickran Gobalian.

His vague biography cultivates a mysterious air.

He first began performing in public while living in Canada.

Frequent appearances in Toronto clubs and at folk music festivals
built his musical reputation while enhancing his enigmatic persona.

Rumors that he was actually Zappa in disguise faded with the Mothers
of Invention frontman’s cancer death on Dec. 4, 1993.

Rolling Stone profiled Redbone in 1974 as "so authentic you can hear
the surface noise."

He told the magazine he was the love child of Paganini and Jenny
Lind.

Warner Bros. Records released Redbone’s first album, "On the Track,"
in 1975.

So distinctive is Redbone that he has appeared in at least two comic
strips, Mister Boffo and Gary Larson.

He performed the theme song for the 1980s sitcom, "Mr. Belvedere."
Redbone has also appeared regularly on the PBS children’s show,
"Between the Lions."

He has also done music for and appeared in television commercials, of
which his most famous was a spot where he flies over a beach on a
flying carpet singing, "This Bud’s for You" for Budweiser beer.

His 15 albums, including a live album recorded in Paris released in
2005, earned him a cult-like fan following who traipse significant
distances to hear him play.

He reportedly travels to engagements exclusively by car since
surviving the crash of a small plane in the early 1980s.

Recurring gags involve the influence of alcohol and claiming to have
written works well before his time, furthering his mysterious aura.

His concerts are said to blend performance, comedy and instrumentals.
He often wears an ensemble of a white coat and trousers with a black
string tie while sitting stiffly on a stool.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Catholic Online, CA
Dec 1 2006

Walk in harmony with Muslims, pope urges Christians at pilgrimage end

By John Thavis
12/1/2006
Catholic News Service

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNS) – Closing out a four-day pilgrimage of
dialogue in Turkey, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass with the tiny
Christian community in Istanbul and encouraged it to live in harmony
with the Muslim majority.

POPE RELEASES DOVE OUTSIDE TURKISH CATHEDRAL – Pope Benedict XVI
releases a dove Dec. 1 during a visit to the Cathedral of the Holy
Spirit in Istanbul, Turkey, on the final day of his four-day visit to
the Muslim country. (CNS/Reuters)
"Brothers and sisters, your communities walk the humble path of daily
companionship with those who do not share our faith, yet profess to
hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us adore the one,
merciful God," the pope said in a sermon.

"You know well that the church wishes to impose nothing on anyone,
and that she merely asks to live in freedom, in order to reveal the
one whom she cannot hide, Christ Jesus," he said.

About 300 people packed into the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit for the
Dec. 1 Mass. Several hundred more stood in the cathedral’s inner
plaza and in the courtyard of a nearby church, following the liturgy
on a TV screen.

Turkey has only 32,000 Catholics in a population of 72 million. Most
of them live in Istanbul, which has for centuries been a bridge to
the West.

The pope, wearing red vestments to mark the work of the Holy Spirit,
processed into the small church and listened as Armenian Catholics
chanted the entrance song. A Chaldean choir of youths, dressed in
blue tunics, sang a hymn in Aramaic.

The seven languages used in the liturgy were meant to express the
diversity of the Catholic community in Turkey.

The pope paid tribute to this rich variety, asking Turkish Catholics
to continue to live the faith in a humble manner with a sense of
service to others.

"To live by the Spirit is not to live for oneself alone, but to let
oneself be conformed to Christ Jesus by becoming, like him, the
servant of his brothers and sisters," he said.

As a minority in a Muslim country, he said, Catholics should be
attentive to all those who seek justice, peace and dignity.

"Live in harmony, in accordance with the words of the Lord: ‘By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for
one another,’" he said.

To one side of the altar sat Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew of Constantinople, who had hosted the pope the day before
in a liturgy at his Istanbul headquarters, the ecumenical focus of
the pope’s visit.

The pope recalled that his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, in a Mass
26 years earlier in the same cathedral, had urged new efforts for
full Christian unity. Unfortunately, Pope Benedict said, that hope
has not yet been realized, but "the pope still longs to see it
fulfilled."

He urged all Christian leaders to act for the good of all, "putting
ecumenism at the forefront of our ecclesial concerns and not
committing our respective churches and communities to decisions that
could contradict or harm it."

Those words appeared to refer to potential problems not so much with
Orthodox churches as with the Anglican Communion. Several Anglican
member churches have decided to ordain women priests and some to
ordain women bishops, decisions the Vatican says create a serious
barrier to full union with the Catholic Church.

Patriarch Bartholomew joined the pope for the final blessing. Then
the pope processed down the main aisle, smiling broadly and greeting
many of the enthusiastic faithful who reached out from either side.
One man waved a Turkish flag.

Before the Mass, the pope blessed the statues of two popes in the
courtyard of the cathedral: Pope John XXIII, who served for 10 years
as apostolic nuncio in Turkey and was considered a good friend of the
country; and Pope Benedict XV, who during World War I built hospitals
in the region and made diplomatic moves in favor of Turkish
prisoners.

The larger-than-life bronze statue of Pope Benedict XV was unveiled
in 1921, at a ceremony attended by many Muslim Turks. It bears an
inscription hailing the pontiff as "the benefactor of all peoples,
regardless of nationality or religion."

After blessing the statues, the pope released four doves, one at a
time, as a symbol of peace.

The Mass was the final event of a trip that included political and
ecumenical encounters. Before leaving for Rome from Istanbul’s
airport, the pope thanked city authorities and told them, "I am
leaving a part of my heart in Istanbul."

The evening before, several hundred young Catholics paid an
unscheduled visit to the pope’s residence at the apostolic nunciature
in Istanbul. After they prayed and sang outside his window for more
than a half-hour, the pope came to the window and offered a blessing
and words of appreciation, telling the young people he would always
keep them in his prayers.

Earlier Nov. 30, the pope joined Armenian Orthodox Patriarch Mesrob
II at his cathedral in Istanbul for a prayer service. The pope spoke
again of the importance of ecumenism, in view of the "tragic
divisions" among Christians that "give scandal to the world."

"Precisely by the witness of their faith and love, Christians are
called to offer a radiant sign of hope and consolation to this world,
so marked by conflicts and tensions," the pope said.

"We must continue, therefore, to do everything possible to heal the
wounds of separation and to hasten the work of rebuilding Christian
unity," he said.

The pope also appeared to refer indirectly to the Armenian massacre
when he said that the faith of Armenian Catholics has been
transmitted "often in very tragic circumstances, such as those
experienced in the last century."

An estimated 1.5 million Armenians – more than half the Armenian
population at the time – died in a forced evacuation by Ottoman Turks
in 1915-18. Turkey rejects the accusation of genocide, saying the
deaths were due largely to disease and famine.

In private encounters later that evening at the apostolic nunciature,
the pope met with Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan Filuksinos Yusuf Cetin
and with Turkish Chief Rabbi Ishak Haleva.

Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Iran
Dec 1 2006

Iran-Armenia expand agricultural cooperation Service: Economy

ISNA – Tehran
Service: Economy

TEHRAN, Dec. 01 (ISNA)-Iran’s minister of agriculture trip to Yerevan
resulted in various agreement notes between Iran and Armenia.

According to the agreements made producing and growing decorative
plants in Armenia were emphasized on.

Iran also announced readiness to cooperate in the construction of
garden houses in Armenia.

Both sides also agreed to exchange various kinds of cold water and
hot water fishes and holding short term courses for design and
carrying out modern methods of watering in Armenia.

It was also agreed that Armenia exported 2 thousand tones of life
stock sheep and 6 thousand tones of life stock calf annually to Iran
from 2007 to 2009.

Regnum, Russia
Dec 1 2006

Russian prime minister: Russia and Armenia should strengthen
relations within CSTO

Russia and Armenia have a large experience in cooperation in
investments, Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov at a meeting
with an Armenian delegation headed by Armenia’s Prime Minister
Andranik Margaryan in Moscow. The delegation from Armenia arrived in
the Russian capital to hold consultations with the Russian party and
later it will go to St. Petersburg to participate in the ceremony of
closing the Year of Armenia in Russia.

According to the Russian prime minister, activity of ARMENAL Company,
investment program by Vympelkom Company in Armenia worth up to
$500,000, as well as Vneshtorgbank experience in the Armenian banking
investments market are good examples of such experience. `Cooperation
in transport and high technologies is also planned,’ Fradkov added.
Speaking on the problem of exploiting enterprises in Armenia handed
over to Russia for repayment of the public debt, Mikhail Fradkov
noted that interest of business needs to be secured in this issue.
`For example, the Mars enterprise is still provided with orders that
could allow the company develop,’ the Russian prime minister noted.
At the same time he added that there are some problems in this field
concerning privatization.

Answering a question by a REGNUM correspondent, whether it is
possible to suspend gas supplies from Russia via Armenia to Georgia,
if the Georgian party continues unsanctioned pumping out of gas,
Mikhail Fradkov noted that the Russian side is concerned with the
situation in the Russian-Georgian relations, however it hopes for the
best. `We take into account the fact that exacerbation of the
Russian-Georgian relations affects Armenia negatively. The problem is
a subject for discussion,’ Fradkov noted expressing hope that `the
situation will not become worse.’ `If the situation deteriorates, the
Russian party together with operative services will have to undertake
complex measures aimed at preventing from theft, but I hope it will
not go that far,’ the Russian prime minister said. He also stressed
that the current situation makes Russia and Armenia `fulfill their
obligations within the CSTO more actively without overlooking the
current frameworks.’