ROSELLA KURKJIAN, A FONT OF KNOWLEDGE, GOOD CHEER IN NEWSROOM
The Boston Globe
August 02, 2006 Wednesday
THIRD EDITION
BY GLORIA NEGRI, GLOBE STAFF
Rosella (Gureghian) Kurkjian never got bylines or front-page stories
but still loved her job as a newspaper librarian for more than
25 years. In turn, she was beloved by the editors, photographers,
and reporters she assisted in researching stories, not only for her
expertise but for the smile that always greeted them.
“Rosella was really a gem,” Andrew Gully, a former Boston Herald
managing editor, said yesterday. “You could not walk into the library
without her brightening your day. She was always there, always with
a smile. She was an amazing resource for thousands of editors and
reporters. The readers of the Boston Herald never knew Rosella, but
when they put their 50 cents in the box, they saw the result of her
work every day.”
Mrs. Kurkjian, who retired from library work in 1993 but not from
her interest in newspapers and the people who put them together,
died Sunday of lung disease at her Watertown home. She was 89. She
also had a home in Manomet.
“When Rosella retired, a whole era went with her,” said James Mac
Laughlin of Westwood, former Herald deputy managing editor.
Mrs. Kurkjian first worked for the Boston Herald Traveler in the
1960s. She joined the library staff of the Boston Record American in
1968 and stayed on when the Traveler and the Record American became
the Hearst-owned Herald American on Harrison Avenue in 1972. In 1982,
Rupert Murdoch bought the newspaper and renamed it the Boston Herald.
Colleagues recalled Mrs. Kurkjian’s photographic memory for the
stories she clipped and filed daily, work now done by computers. She
could retrieve them in minutes and suggest others on the same subject.
“Rosella was a one-person Factiva before the Internet,” said reporter
Brian Mooney, referring to the Web database used in newspapers across
the country. Mooney, a Globe reporter, used to work at the Herald.
Her former boss, John Cronin, now a librarian at Winthrop Public
Library, recalled her “prodigious memory for news stories.”
“Rosella was very adept at finding nuggets of information that really
enriched a reporter’s story,” he said.
Though she was an ace at her job, she once told her daughter Karolyn
Kurkjian-Jones of Boston she would have liked to be an opera singer,
and failing that, a market investor, a field in which she became
skilled.
“My mother was a human dynamo,” said Kurkjian-Jones.
Mrs. Kurkjian’s motherly caring for co-workers was also legendary the
“petite lady with a big smile and a bigger heart,” Gully called her.
Anyone with a problem could take it to Mrs. Kurkjian. When one reporter
admired a vest she wore, she took it off and insisted the woman take
it. An editor admired her earrings, and she did the same.
Co-workers enjoyed her home-baked Armenian pastries.
Globe reporter Shelley Murphy, who also had worked at the Herald,
recalled “running to the library in a crazy rush, trying to get clips
on deadline. Rosella would always be there, smiling, cheerful, calm.
And, if you looked really frazzled, she’d sit you down with that
look of concern and say, `How are you doing, dear? And how is your
family?’ ”
Globe night editor David Jrolf recalled when he worked on Harrison
Avenue and “in the middle of a wild day in the Herald newsroom with
people yelling and fighting over some forgotten big story, she came
out and brought a plate of warm cookies to me and others. It was
typical Rosella.”
If there was something Mrs. Kurkjian loved more than her work, it
was family, said her daughter, Elizabeth Kurkjian-Henry of Winchester.
“Her family was the most important thing to her, but not the only
thing in her life.”
Her son, Stephen, Boston Globe senior assistant metro editor, said
her own close-knit family and her newspaper family were all one to her.
“She loved her job,” he said. “Not just making the money. She loved
the interaction she had with people, the feeling that she was part
of a team producing something.”
“She would go to the ends of the earth to get information for a
reporter or editor,” he said, sometimes calling him or his sisters
to make certain she hadn’t overlooked a source.
Mrs. Kurkjian was born in Boston to Manoog and Elizabeth (Kasparian)
Gureghian, immigrants from Armenia. She grew up in Dorchester during
the Depression and went to work at age 16 while attending high
school. At the time, her son said, she was the only family member
who held a job.
After high school, Mrs. Kurkjian graduated from Boston Business
School. She also had a title under her belt, from winning a beauty
pageant in Boston’s Armenian community.
She met Anooshavan Kurkjian, who was a noted commercial portrait
artist, at a dance at an Armenian social club in Watertown. They
were married on Sept. 18, 1938, as the Great New England Hurricane
approached the Eastern Seaboard.
Mrs. Kurkjian did not forget the Depression years and remained frugal,
her son said. Once while traveling in a taxi near the Herald, he saw
his mother walking to the T station. He had to coax her to ride with
him because she thought it too extravagant.
Mrs. Kurkjian’s husband picked her up at the office frequently,
however. “Sometimes if there were a breaking news story she would
tell him to go back and sit in his car,” said Cronin. She wouldn’t
leave work until her mission was accomplished.
They were married 66 years when Mr. Kurkjian died in 2004.
After she retired, Mrs. Kurkjian did volunteer work at Mount Auburn
Hospital for eight years.
In addition to her daughters and son, Mrs. Kurkjian leaves a brother,
Richard Gureghian of Florida; a sister, Isabelle Totovian of Watertown;
and six grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Holy Trinity
Armenian Apostolic Church in Cambridge. Burial will be at Mount Auburn
Cemetery in Cambridge.
One of her favorite sayings, her children said, was “Portia Faces
Life,” the name of an early radio show. In it, the heroine faced any
adversity head-on and with aplomb.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GBGD: TO ACQUIRE 100% OF TUKHMANUK MINE IN ARMENIA
Knobias.com
August 2, 2006 Wednesday 4:45 PM Eastern Time
Global Gold Corporation (GBGD) announced the planned acquisition of
the remaining 49% of Mego-Gold, LLC, the company holding the licenses
to the Tukhmanuk mine and exploration areas in Armenia. According
to the August 1, 2005 acquisition agreement, Global Gold Mining,
LLC acquired a 51% interest for $1.5 million and was to pay another
$2 million by August 1, 2007; the agreement, amended as of July 19,
2006, allows for the acquisition of the remaining 49% in exchange
for $1 million and 500,000 shares of Global Gold Corporation’s stock.
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has been delayed by at least 10 minutes. To get all Knobias alerts
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ARMENIA DEFLATION AT 0.7% IN JULY, INFLATION AT 3.6% IN 7 MTHS
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
August 2, 2006 Wednesday 6:47 PM MSK
Armenia posted deflation of 0.7% in July, while inflation was 3.6%
since the beginning of the year, the National Statistics Service
told Interfax.
Foodstuffs, including alcohol and tobacco products, grew 3.9% in prices
in the seven months. Non-foodstuff rose 2.2% and service tariffs were
up 4%.
According to the federal budget, Armenia expects inflation to be 3%
in 2006. Armenia had deflation of 0.2% in 2005.

CONDUCTOR LORIS CHGNAVORIAN SPEAKS FOR KEEPING RA PRESENT HYMN
TEHRAN, AUGUST 2, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Famous conductor
and composer Loris Chgnavorian sent a letter of complaint to Hasmik
Poghosian, the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Armenia, on
the occasion of change of the RA hymn and the competition announced
for a new hymn. The Tehran Armenian “Alik” daily informs about it,
mentioning L.Chganvorian’s great contribution in 1991 in the affair of
proclaiming the “Mer Hayrenik” (Our Fatherland) hymn as the RA national
hymn. To judge from the letter, L.Chgnavorian presented a claim for
participation in the competition, by sending a little changed variant
of the present hymn (“Mer Hayrenik” Our Fatherland). It is particularly
said in the letter dated for July 26: “Dear Mrs.Poghosian, I address to
You on the occasion of a too important issue for our people, the hymn
of the Republic of Armenia. I propose for the announced competition the
acting “Mer Hayrenik” anthem of the Republic of Armenia and present
attached to the letter the notes and the recording. I propose it as
it has a national and historic meaning.
I want to stress that it has never been sung with the “wretched,
ownerless” (“tshvar, anter”) text, but our fighters (fidayi, in
Armenian war of liberation against the Turks) and heros sang it with
the text “everywhere death is one” (amenayn tegh mah mi e) for example
in the 1915 Van heroic war and our May 26 battle, the result of what
is our Armenia of today. It has been the hymn of two republics,
1918 and 1991, and has never been sung with the text “wretched,
ownerless.” I must also stress that “Mer Hayrenik” is national and
revolutionary music and has a wonderful soul and stragers are fond
of it as well. I have a hope that pages of the history will not be
changed by competitions.
Giving preference to “Mer Hayrenik” and taking into account that my
colleagues participate in this competition, I want to participate with
them with the work written on my words and music. I present attached
to the letter the notes and recording of my work as well.”

CBA RAISES REFINANCING RATE BY 0.25 PERCENTAGE POINTS
YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, NOYAN TAPAN. At the July 31 sitting, the Central
Bank of Armenia (CBA) Board made a decision to raise the refinancing
(repo) interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.25%, presenting
this step as a measure aimed at neutralizing the inflation risks. This
is a second change of such a kind this year after the refinancing rate
was raised from 3.5% to 4% in January. According to the CBA Board, the
registration of a two-digit economic growth is entirely realistic under
conditions of the continuing tendencies of the economic development,
however, the risks of deviating from the target index of 3% inflation
remain, and “their manifestation is becoming more likely”.
According to a CBA press release, there are risks that international
prices of raw materials, particularly oil products and metals may
grow above the expected level, which is mainly conditioned by a
possible depreciation of the US dollar and further straining of the
geopolitical situation. A growth in the prices of grain imported into
Armenia is also possible in connection with an expected harvest decline
in Russia and Ukraine. Most proportional growth in the incomes of
the construction and service sectors at a higher rate than envisaged
may also create risks of exceeding the target inflation index. The
anticipated considerable budget expenditures until late 2006 may
contribute to inflation as well, which will become evident in the first
half of 2007. Yet another factor is the increase in the water supply
and sewerage tariffs on July 1, 2006. Therefore, the CBA Board does
not exclude another change in the interest rates in the coming months.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CONSUMER PRICES GROW 3.6% IN ARMENIA IN JANUARY-JUNE
YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, NOYAN TAPAN. Consumer prices grew by 3.6%
in July 2006 on December 2005, including a 4.3% increase in food
commodity prices (including alcoholic drinks and cigarettes), a 2.2%
increase in non-food commodity prices and a 4% increase in service
tariffs. According to the RA National Statistical Service, a 5.6%
inflation in the Armenian consumer market in January-May 2006 was
followed by a 1.9% deflation in June-July (a 1.2% deflation in
June and a 0.7% deflation in July). This was mainly conditioned by
seasonal fluctuations in prices of some food commodities. A 2.6% fall
in food commodity prices (including alcololic drinks and cigarettes)
was registered in July compared with last year, a 2.6% growth in
tariffs was registered in the service sector, while the prices of
non-food commodities declined by 0.1%. The average monthly increase
in consumer prices made 0.5% in January-July 2006 against 0.45%
in the same month of last year.

“PRESENT AUTHORITIES MAKE MONEY AT THE COST OF MEMORY OF MARTYRS OF THE
ARTSAKH FREEDOM FIGHT” “ZHARANGUTYUN” PARTY CHAIRMAN STATES
YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, NOYAN TAPAN. “During officiating of the present
authorities the Karabakh issue entered deadlock.” Raffi Hovannisian,
the Chairman of the “Zharangutyun” (Heritage) party made such a
statement at 4th congress of the party on August 1. According to him,
“the illegal regime became more impudent” and “the authorities make
money not only on the floating exchange rate, but also at the cost
of memory of martyrs of the Artsakh freedom fight.”
Seriously criticizing the government, the “Zharangutyun” Chairman
also mentioned that it “as if wants to help its citizens, but
injures.” R.Hovannisian mentioned as an example of what he said
the fall of the exchange rate of the US dollar, as a result of
what, according to him, “a group of people win at the expense of
the people.” “We have no right to stand aside in the case when the
country is short of breath. The only way out is a united struggle,”
R.Hovannisian stated. He called on the Armenian businessmen,
intellectuals, servicemen and other strata of the society to gather
round the “Zharangutyun” party, mentioning that the national unity
based on the civil consciousness has no alternative. According to
Vardan Khachatrian, a member of the party board, the “Zharangutyun”
party is in a deep confrontation with the country authorities who
have closed all the doors in front of the party.” He mentioned that
the only structure which had “civil courage” to give a hall to the
“Zharangutyun” party for holding the congress was the Writers’
Union of Armenia. Presenting the report of the party board, Anahit
Bakhshian, a member of the board mentioned the decisive intention of
the “Zharangutyun” party to continue the struggle for establishing
legality in the country. Touching upon the electoral processes,
A.Bakhshian mentioned that “if Levon Ter-Petrosian put the basis
of false elections, Robert Kocharian took falsification of the
referendum on the constitutional amendments taken place in 2005 to
a record index.”

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
IMPO RTANT MEETINGS ARE HELD IN ANTELIAS
During the last few days His Holiness Aram I held important meetings in the
Antelias headquarters of the Catholicosate of Cilicia in light of the recent
political developments in Lebanon.
His Holiness received Gerges Saleh, the General Secretary of the Middle East
Council of Churches (MECC), who wanted the Pontiff’s views on the
distribution of humanitarian aid to the refugees from South Lebanon.
The Catholicos advised the general secretary about the importance of
organised committee work through social workers on the local level. He also
outlined the importance of accountability to those charity organisations
that are providing humanitarian aid to Lebanon.
His Holiness called on churches to contribute to the humanitarian aid
efforts through their representatives as a tangible expression of the church
‘s humanitarian mission.
“This is the stage of immediate aid. The next stage should be carefully
studied so that the physical and psychological consequences of the war can
be remedied,” he said.
Dr. Sam Kobia, the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC)
and a number ecumenical committees and spiritual leaders of several churches
contacted the Armenian Catholicos by email, phone and faxes to express their
support in these times of war.
Another important meeting the Catholicos held was with the head of the
Christian-Muslim Committee of Lebanon, Mr. Hares Shehab. The representative
of the Armenian community in that committee, Dr. Jean Salmanian was also
present at the meeting.
Shehab handed to His Holiness the invitation of Maronite Patriarch Mar
Nasrallah Sfeir to a meeting of Lebanese spiritual leaders to be held within
the next 24 hours.
His Holiness Aram I stressed the importance of strengthening the internal
unity of Lebanon: “When one of Lebanon’s communities is hurt, Lebanon as a
whole is hurt. When the lives of people belonging to a certain community are
threatened, the lives of all the Lebanese are threatened. We should,
therefore, be united in the conflict so we can overcome the threat.”
The dioceses of the Catholicosate of Cilicia are trying, within their
capabilities, to bring their contribution to the humanitarian aid efforts to
the refugees of South Lebanon.
##
View photo here: tm
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities 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.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
&quo t;CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM SPIRITUAL LEADERS
APPEAL FOR IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE”
Declared HIS HOLINESS ARAM I
Speaking to the press after the meeting of the spiritual Heads of the
Christian and Muslim communities in Lebanon, His Holiness Aram I, the head
of the Armenian Orthodox Community said: “This is the true Lebanon; this
togetherness of Muslim and Christian Spiritual leaders concretely manifest
the real image of Lebanon. This very meeting by itself is a living message.
It is a message of the crucial importance of coexistence; it is a message of
peace with justice; it is a message of compassion tolerance and mutual
respect. In fact, violence is not the way to solve problems. Dialogue,
mutual understanding and compromise based on justice and peace for all, is
the most efficient way of dealing with complex issues and situations”.
Referring to the meeting of religious Heads, His Holiness Aram I said:
“Together with one voice in our joint declaration we appealed for immediate
ceasefire and cessation of all hostilities. We expressed our full support to
all actions and initiatives taken by the government of Lebanon. We
emphasized the importance of the expansion of the state’s authority over all
the territories of Lebanon. It is our firm expectation that international
community and particularly the United Nations will act decisively to stop
violence and help Lebanon to recover itself”.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities 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.

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:
August 2, 2006
___________________
DIOCESAN LEGATE ACCOMPANIES CATHOLICOS TO INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS’
MEETING IN MOSCOW
Bishop Vicken Aykazian, legate and ecumenical officer of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern), attended an international conference
of religious leaders in Moscow from July 2 to 6, 2006.
The World Religious Summit for Peace involved more than 200 representatives
from 49 countries. Included in the summit were leaders from Oriental
Orthodox churches — including His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch
and Catholicos of All Armenians, and Patriarch Paulos of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church — as well as representatives of other Orthodox churches,
the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant churches, as well as
Jewish, Buddhist, and Islamic community leaders.
The summit was organized by the Russian Orthodox Church and was organized to
coincide with the recent G8 summit in St. Petersburg. Organizers hoped the
forum would offer the political leaders attending the G8 summit with
solutions to global problems.
Bishop Aykazian attended not just as a representative of the Armenian
Church, but as president-elect of the National Council of Churches (NCC).
“We spoke about how can we achieve the peace,” said Bishop Aykazian, who
like Catholicos Karekin II, addressed the delegates during the meeting. “I
spoke about peace and the achievements of the National Council of Churches
in peaceful movements around the world. This is an ongoing process, and we
will always have problems in the world. But we have to continue these
peaceful conferences in order to be able to create a stable world in which
to live.”
In speaking of the NCC, Bishop Aykazian outlined how the group is trying to
help in the Middle East, Africa, and many other countries around the world.
“We are still helping,” he said of the organization’s ongoing efforts. “It
is a process that is continuous and goes on always.”
During the summit, the legate was also a guest of the U.S. Ambassador to
Russia, who invited him to attend a special 4th of July celebration in the
U.S. embassy.
— 8/2/06
E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News and
Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,
PHOTO CAPTION (1): Bishop Vicken Aykazian, legate and ecumenical officer of
the Eastern Diocese, left, with former head of the Soviet Union, Mikhail
Gorbachev, and U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns.
PHOTO CAPTION (2): Bishop Aykazian, right, with Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona
Metzger, left, and Russian-Armenian philanthropist Ara Abrahamyan.