ON THIS DAY – SEPT 22
News24, South Africa
Sept 22 2005
Today is Thursday, September 22, the 265th day of 2005. There are
100 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
1992 – Azerbaijani-armed forces mount an offensive against the disputed
enclave Nagorno-Karabakh.
2001 – Pope John Paul II visits Kazakhstan and Armenia and cautions
against allowing September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States
to create divisions between Muslims and Christians.
——
1499 – Turks ravage Vicenza in Italy.
1550 – Holy Roman Empire fleet captures vessel Port of Africa at
Mehedia in Tunis, naval headquarters of Turkish corsair Dragut.
1609 – The king of Spain orders the deportation of the baptised former
Muslims known as Moriscos.
1711 – Rio de Janeiro is captured by the French.
1792 – French Republic is proclaimed and revolutionary calendar goes
into effect.
1828 – Tshaka, King of the Zulus, is assassinated by his half-brothers,
Dingane and Mhlangana, who stab him to death. Dingane assumes the
throne.
1862 – US President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation
Proclamation, declaring all slaves in the Confederate States free as
of January 1, 1863.
1914 – A German submarine sinks three British cruisers in one hour
off the Dutch coast; The German cruiser Emden shells Madras in India.
1927 – Slavery is abolished in Sierra Leone in Africa.
1940 – The Vichy French governor-general concludes an agreement
that makes Indochina the largest Japanese military staging ground in
southeast Asia.
1943 – The German battleship Tirpitz is disabled by British midget
submarines in a Norwegian fjord.
1949 – The Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb.
1955 – Hurricane Janet, the most violent Caribbean hurricane of the
season, causes almost 600 deaths around the islands.
1960 – A US Marine Corps DC-6 plane en route from Japan to the
Philippines crashes in the ocean 290km south of Okinawa. All 29
passengers are killed.
1965 – A cease-fire is declared in the war between India and Pakistan,
but both sides subsequently violate it.
1970 – Arab chiefs of state send envoys to meet with King Hussein and
Yasser Arafat to persuade them to find a way to contain the fighting
between the Jordanian Army and Palestinian guerrillas.
1974 – Official death toll in hurricane that swept Honduras is put
at 5 000.
1975 – Sara Jane Moore fails in an attempt to shoot US President
Gerald Ford outside a San Francisco hotel.
1980 – Iraqi tanks enter Iran, marking the beginning of the Iran-Iraq
War as a full-scale conflict.
1986 – Two hijackers seize Soviet airliner at Ural Mountains airport
and kill two passengers before security agents recapture plane and
shoot the hijackers.
1987 – The first United States businessman to be convicted under
the Anti-Apartheid Act is sentenced to four months’ imprisonment for
trying to sell military aircraft manuals to the SA Defence Force.
1988 – The government of Canada apologises for the World War 2
internment of Japanese-Canadians and promises compensation.
1989 – FW De Klerk takes over as president of South Africa.
1990 – Jordan’s King Hussein appeals to United States in televised
message to withdraw its troops from Saudi Arabia to avert “death,
destruction and misery.”
1991 – Armed opponents of Georgia’s president seize the republic’s
broadcasting studios and try to forge an anti-government coalition.
1992 – Azerbaijani-armed forces mount an offensive against the disputed
enclave Nagorno-Karabakh.
1993 – Abkhazian rebels in Georgia shoot down second passenger plane
in two days, killing 80.
1994 – Nato aircraft strike at Serbian targets near Sarajevo after
UN troops patrolling the city came under machine-gun and rocket fire.
1995 – America’s Time Warner Inc and Turner Broadcasting System Inc
announce a merger with Time Warner purchasing TBS in a deal valued
at $7.5 billion, creating the world’s largest media company.
1996 – Typhoon Violet veers into the North Pacific after killing seven
and setting off landslides that paralysed transportation in Japan.
1997 – US President Bill Clinton, speaking at the United Nations,
announces he will submit to the Senate a treaty banning all nuclear
explosions.
1998 – Troops from South Africa and Botswana cross into Lesotho and
storm the royal palace, touching off a gunbattle with protesters.
2000 – The Court of Appeals in London rules to separate conjoined
twin girls against the wishes of their Roman Catholic parents. The
operation is certain to cause the death of one of the girls, and is
therefore forbidden by their religion.
2001 – Pope John Paul II visits Kazakhstan and Armenia and cautions
against allowing September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States
to create divisions between Muslims and Christians.
2002 – An appeals court in the Hubei province of China overturns
death sentences imposed on five members of a banned Christian sect
in December 2001, and orders a retrial.
2003 – The UN and UNAIDS, its Aids programme, issues a progress report
on how member nations were adhering to commitments made during a
June 2001 UN special session on HIV/Aids. It finds that the goals
set by the UN will not be met in many countries unless there is a
significant increase in global commitment.
2004 – The US military drops an espionage charge against a Muslim
interpreter accused of spying at the camp for terror detainees at the
US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It is the third Guantanamo
spy case of the year to fall apart.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRAYING FOR A HAPPY ENDING FOR ARMENIAN HELD IN IRAQ
By Leo Leonidou
Cyprus Mail
Sept 22 2005
WITH Saturday’s deadline for the payment of a ransom for the release
of a Cypriot held in Iraq looming, the man’s aunt is anxiously waiting
for developments.
Rita Medzadourian yesterday told the Cyprus Mail: “I’m hopeful that
with expert negotiations, there will be a happy ending. There is
no news at the moment, but fingers crossed, there will be soon. The
government knows what it’s doing.”
Forty-year-old businessman Garabet Jean Jikerjian was kidnapped from
his home in Baghdad on August 21.
A video was released of Jikerjian, who also holds Lebanese nationality,
with a hooded gunman pointing an automatic weapon at him. Jikerjian,
was seen pleading for his life, calling for Jetco Trading, the company
he worked for, to pull out of Iraq.
The company duly pulled out, but the gunmen then demanded $20,000
for his release. The sum was paid, but still the gunmen refused to
release him, raising their demand to $2 million.
The kidnappers have referred to themselves as ‘The Group for the
Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice’ and accused Jikerjian
of working with an alcohol distribution firm that “deals with the
occupiers”.
The group initially announced that they had “captured an importer
of food and liquor in Baghdad who works for a company that deals
directly with the crusader occupiers of Iraq”. They demanded the
company’s “withdrawal from Iraq as soon as possible in order to free
the Lebanese hostage – otherwise woe on him and you”.
Medzadourian added that, “the kidnappers have now reduced their demands
from $2 million to $500,000. I am calling on the governments involved
in this crisis to put pressure on the owner of the company my nephew
is working for.”
Sources close to the family told the Cyprus Mail that Jikerjian started
his Iraqi posting in August 2003. Before his posting, Jikerjian was
working in Nicosia.
The Foreign Ministry in Nicosia issued a statement saying: “Upon
being informed of the kidnapping of Garabet Jikerjian, who has both
Cypriot and Lebanese nationality, the Foreign Ministry has been in
contact with his family that is based in Lebanon as well as with the
Lebanese government that is currently handling the matter via their
Embassy in Baghdad.
“The Cyprus government is also in contact with the authorities of
Greece as well as with the Presidency of the European Union. The aim
of the Cyprus government is to avoid any complications that would
endanger the life of the hostage. The Cyprus government also respects
the position of the hostage’s family at this difficult time and will
do everything possible for Jikerjian’s release.”
Medzadourian made a tearful plea on Armenian television yesterday.
“Garabet has done no harm to anybody in his life,” she said. “He has
been to Iraq many times and this was to be the last trip. We are
a poor family, working hard for a living. We don’t have the kind
of money those people are asking. I beg with all my heart for the
governments of Cyprus and Lebanon to do everything they can, exert
all the pressure in their power to help my Garo come out alive.
“Garebet’s boss promised my sister on her deathbed that he would always
look after her children and now he has to live up to that promise. My
sister used to be his secretary and the backbone of his company and
now he needs to put his hand on his heart and repay his promise to her
son, the son that he sent to Iraq. If anything happens to my nephew,
he will have his blood on his hands.”

RUSSIAN OFFICIAL CALLS UNRECOGNIZED REPUBLICS’ CONFERENCE ‘MEANINGLESS’
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Sept 22 2005
Representatives of separatist entities from Upper Garabagh, Abkhazia,
South Ossetia and Dnestr attended a three-day conference in Moscow
on the invitation of the Russian President’s administration last week.
Member of the Russian Duma (parliament) Konstantin Zatulin said that
unrecognized republics possess many ‘state attributes’, including
armed forces and security councils. “Democratic processes there are
developing more rapidly than those in other CIS countries”, he said.
Head of the department on relations with CIS under the Russian
President said his country considers the interests of South Ossetia
and Abkhazia as its own, ‘as over half of the population there are
Russian citizens’.
Touching upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh,
the Russian representative said that ‘a part of Azerbaijan’s
population is in military mood, which is a bad sign’. Russian charge
d’affaires in Azerbaijan Piotr Burdikin has said that the conference
has no political importance. “It has no political weight. This is a
meaningless event”, he told journalists. Burdikin said that the event
is simply aimed at familiarizing its participants with the current
situation in the unrecognized republics. “Visiting these territories is
not so simple. For instance, one cannot enter Upper Garabagh through
Azerbaijan. But we should know the way people live there.
This conference has no bearing on either recognition of these states
or politics. The attention being paid to this fact in Azerbaijan, I
believe, is aimed at popularizing this event, which may not be worthy
of such attention.” The Russian diplomat added that the conference
should not be seen as an event affecting Azerbaijan’s interests,
as no political decisions could have been made there.

ARMENIA’S GDP GROWS 11.7% IN JAN-AUG
Interfax, Russia
Sept 22 2005
YEREVAN. Sept 22 (Interfax) – Armenia’s gross domestic product expanded
11.7% year-on-year to 1.16 trillion dram in January-August 2005,
the country’s national statistics service told Interfax.
Industrial output was up 6.2% to 417.1 billion dram in the first eight
months of 2005, while agricultural production grew 11.8% year-on-
year to 253.3 billion dram.
Armenia’s foreign trade was up 31.4% at 1.689 billion dram for
January-August.
The country has forecast that GDP will grow 8% in 2005 against 10.1%
in 2004.
The official exchange rate on September 22 was 449.27 dram/$1. tj

ISLAMIC DEFENDERS DENY COVER-UP FOR WOMEN’S GAMES
Middle East Times, Egypt
Sept 22 2005
TEHRAN — Supporters of Iran’s Islamic Women’s Games have dismissed
arguments that the event is a sideshow to gag women competitors denied
access to the Olympic Games.
“We are seeking to empower and encourage Muslim women, who are absent
from the international sports grounds due to their beliefs,” said
Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani,
who started the games in 1993.
French basketball umpire Chantal Julien, who officiated at the 2001
Games, added: “It’s clear some of them would like to compete abroad.
However, they do not believe they’re prisoners.”
Since the Islamic revolution Iranian women have been mostly banned
from international sporting events due to the obligatory headscarf
and long coat that they must wear in front of men.
Under the previous reformist government of the last eight years, Iran
started sending women athletes to competitions abroad in the events
where women are able to compete and wear the veil, such as shooting,
taekwondo, fencing, canoeing, chess and horse riding.
In the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Iran had a sole female
representative – Nassim Hassanpour – in pistol shooting.
An American Muslim runner is to be the first woman to represent the
US in Iran, although photographers will not be allowed to record the
event, which runs from September 22 to 28.
Saira Kureshi, 26, will race in the 800 and 1500 meters in the fourth
all-women games.
Male coaches, referees and spectators are banned from the Games
except for golf, shooting and archery, where participants are modestly
dressed and veiled.
Only these three competitions are open to male spectators and can be
photographed or filmed, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies
since the women appear in Islamic wear.
In order to attract more athletes, this year non-Muslim women have been
allowed to participate as long as they are on the national teams of
their countries and agree to compete under the stipulated conditions.
Sportswomen from 48 countries, many of them Islamic, will compete in
18 sports. Iran’s Christian northern neighbor, Armenia, is sending
17 teams.
Athletics, shooting, table tennis and taekwondo have attracted the
most participants.
The weeklong event has few sponsors and has been allocated a budget of
10 billion Iranian riyals ($1.1 million), which according to Hashemi
“is barely enough” to cover costs.
“The games do not satisfy sponsors as there are no television cameras
to show their advertisements,” she explained.
Although Iran has been approached by other Muslim countries such as
Pakistan and Qatar wanting to host the games, Hashemi sees little
chance of them leaving Iran.
“Other countries have different interpretations of Islam. I am not
sure they would be able to hold the games like us with such observance
of Islamic rules,” she said.
Pakistan blotted its book by sending a woman swimmer to Athens.
And it is difficult to see the likes of a Nawal Al Moutawakel or
Hassiba Boulmerka emerging from these Games.
Morocco’s Moutawakel became the first woman from an Islamic nation to
win an Olympic medal and the first Moroccan athlete of either sex to
win a gold medal when she won the 400-meter hurdles at the 1984 Los
Angeles Olympics.
In 1998 Moutawakel was chosen to be a member of the International
Olympic Committee.
Boulmerka scored a stunning upset victory in the 1,500 meters at the
1991 World Athletics Championships. When she returned to Algiers she
was hailed as a national heroine and as a model for Arab women who
wanted to break away from restrictive roles. But she was also condemned
by Islamic fundamentalists and was forced to move to Europe to train.
She went on to win the 1992 Olympic gold medal.
But International Olympic Committee member Anita De Frantz of the
United States, a 1976 Olympic rowing bronze medal winner, refused to
close the door.
“It’s a step [for Muslim women] toward the Olympic Games,” she said
recently.

WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES ECUMENICAL DELEGATION TO TOUR ETHIOPIA
ChristianToday, UK
Sept 22 2005
An international ecumenical delegation headed by World Council of
Churches’ (WCC) general secretary Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, will gather
in the largest and oldest church on the African continent this month.
An international ecumenical delegation headed by World Council of
Churches’ (WCC) general secretary Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, will gather
in the largest and oldest church on the African continent this month.
The delegation will be held at the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
from 24-30 September.
“Ethiopians have been part of the church from the very beginning,
and Ethiopia is a country with a profound spiritual ancestry,”
emphasised Kobia.
“The ancient church and the culture of Ethiopia continue to offer a
source of identity and dignity for many Africans and to humankind.
Ethiopia is going through challenging and trying times, and the WCC
desires to be with the church and the people in times of difficulty
as well as joy.”
The invitation of the WCC delegation to Ethiopia comes from H.H.,
Patriarch Abune Paulos, who has been the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox
Tewahedo Church since 1992.
The delegation will meet with Ethiopian Orthodox officials, make
visits to church holy sites and social and educational initiatives,
and meet with leaders of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane
Yesus which is the second WCC member church in Ethiopia. They will
also hold talks with political leaders and representatives of regional
organisations in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is one of the largest national
churches in the world, with approximately 38 million members. It is
a founding member of the WCC in 1948.
Along with the WCC general secretary, the delegation will include: : Dr
Agnes Abuom, WCC president from Africa, Kenya; Bishop Nareg Alemezian,
Armenian Apostolic Church (Cilicia), Lebanon; Rev. Ingrid Vad Nilsen,
Norway; Mr Nicholas Otieno, Kenya; Mr Melaku Kifle, and Rev. Dr Andre
Karamaga, WCC staff.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PRESS RELEASE
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Contact: Talin Gregorian
Tel: (818) 500-1918
MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA ANNOUNCES KEY APPOINTMENTS OF ARMENIAN AMERICANS TO
HIS ADMINISTRATION
— Four Armenian American Community Members Named to Los Angeles
Mayor’s Administration
LOS ANGELES, CA – Newly elected Mayor of the City of Los Angeles
Antonio Villaraigosa this week announced appointments of Armenian
Americans to one of the city’s departments and various
commissions. The announcement of Maria Armoudian, Ara Bedrosian, Ed
Ebrahimian, and Raffi Ghazarian to the City of Los Angeles’
administration came during special remarks the Mayor delivered at the
2005 Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region (ANCA-WR)
Annual Banquet.
`There were a great deal of people wanting to be a part of my
administration because we said that it would be an administration that
would reflect every community in Los Angeles,’ said Mayor Villaraigosa
during his remarks.
Most notably, the Mayor appointed Ed Ebrahimian General Manager of the
Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting. Ebrahimian is the Mayor
Villaraigosa’s first appointment as a department head and is the first
Armenian American to head a department in the City of Los
Angeles. Prior to his appointment, Ebrahimian served as the Interim
Director of the department. As General Manager, he will be in charge
of the department which is responsible for providing over 5,000 miles
of street lighting, which includes over 240,000 street lights, within
the city. The Bureau of Street Lighting is one of six bureaus in the
Los Angeles City Department of Public Works and is responsible for the
design, construction, operation, maintenance, and repair of the city’s
street lighting system. Ebrahimian is a longtime member of the
Homenetmen Glendale `Ararat’ Chapter.
Maria Armoudian, a member of the Green Party and an ANC-Burbank
activist, was appointed to the Los Angeles Commission of Environmental
Affairs. She is the Vice President of Programming at KPFK radio and
was an instrumental part of State Senator Richard Alarcon’s staff.
Ara Bedrosian, an ANCA-WR Board member and Chairman of the National
Organization of Republican Armenians (NORA) was appointed to the Los
Angeles Police Permits Review Commission. He is an attorney in a
private practice law firm in downtown Los Angeles.
Raffi Ghazarian, who is a member of the Armenian Youth Federation
(AYF) Camp Management Board, Homenetmen `Masis’ Chapter’s athletic
director, and a former longtime AYF member, was appointed to the Los
Angeles Children, Youth, and Their Families Commission.
Since taking office, Mayor Villaraigosa has honored his pledge to have
Los Angeles’ diverse ethnic communities represented in his
administration. Speaking in front of the over 600 attendees of the
ANCA-WR Annual Banquet, the Mayor emphasized that he made the first
appointments of Armenian Americans because they were the best
candidates for the chosen roles. Mayor Villaraigosa’s appointments are
subject to confirmation by the Los Angeles City Council.
The ANCA is the largest and most influential Armenian American
grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a
network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the United
States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA
actively advances the concerns of the Armenian-American community on a
broad range of issues.
Editor’s Note: Photo attached. Photo caption: Newly appointed General
Manager of the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting, Ed Ebrahimian.

Peter Balakian’s The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s
Response Wins 2005 Raphael Lemkin Prize
Harper Collins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022-5299
Contact: Tim Brazier
Tel. 212-207-7520
Fax. 212-207-7901
Email: [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK: Peter Balakian’s “The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide
and America’s Response” has been awarded the 2005 Raphael Lemkin Prize
for the best scholarly book in the preceding two years on the subject of
genocide, mass killings, gross human rights violations, and the
prevention of such crimes. The award is given by the Institute for the
Study of Genocide at John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY Graduate
Center in New York City. The prize comes with a cash award and
commemorates Raphael Lemkin, the legal scholar who pioneered the
international legal concept of genocide. Helen Fein, Chair of the prize
committee called The Burning Tigris `a book of enduring scholarly value
and of important contemporary meaning.’ Previous winners include
Samantha Power’s “A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide”
(winner of the Pulitzer Prize), and Alison Des Forges “Leave None To
Tell The Story: Genocide In Rwanda.”

The Burning Tigris was a New York Times bestseller and a national
bestseller, and a New York Times Notable Book of 2003. Balakian is the
author of seven other books, including Black Dog of Fate, which won
the 1998 PEN/Albrand Prize for memoir, and June-tree: New and Selected
Poems. He is the recipient of honors and awards including a Guggenheim
fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the Anahit
Literary Prize, and an Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He has appeared
widely on national television and radio. Translations of his work have
been published throughout Europe. He is the Donald M. and Constance H.
Rebar Professor of the Humanities and Professor of English at Colgate
University, where he was the first director of Colgate’s Center For
Ethics and World Societies.

The award ceremony and talk by the author will be held on Friday,
November 11 at 2:15 pm in 1311 North Hall (445 W. 59th St) at John Jay
College of Criminal Justice. Contact Helen Fein, Director, the Institute
for the Study of Genocide, [email protected].
For review copies of THE BURNING TIGRIS or to set up interviews with
Peter Balakian please contact: Tim Brazier, [email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian
September 22, 2005
CATHOLICOS ARAM I BEGINS HIS VISITS
TO CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES
His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, began his
pontifical visits to Canada and the United States. His Holiness arrived in
Canada today, September 22, where he will visit Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto,
and St. Catharines.
From Canada the Catholicos will travel to California where he will
arrive in Los Angeles on October 5. In addition to the Los Angeles area, His
Holiness will visit Fresno and San Francisco.
From California His Holiness will travel eastward to New York where he
will arrive in the evening of October 19 to begin his visit to the Eastern
Prelacy through to November 1. His Holiness will make a number of visits in
the greater New York metropolitan area, as well as visits to Washington,
D.C., Boston, and Chicago.
The main focus of the visit is the 75th anniversary of the establishment
of the Theological Seminary at Antelias, Lebanon, and the 10th anniversary
of His Holiness’s enthronement.
The Prelacy’s web site has detailed information about the Pontiff’s
visit to the Eastern Prelacy.
PRELATE WILL BE IN NORTH ANDOVER THIS SUNDAY
FOR 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF MERRIMACK VALLEY CHURCH
Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan will travel to Massachusetts this weekend
where on Sunday he will be at St. Gregory Church of Merrimack Valley in
North Andover. His Eminence will preside over the Divine Liturgy on Sunday
beginning at 9:30 a.m. and will ordain Stole Bearers (Ouraragirs). A banquet
and program will follow in the afternoon at the Wyndham Andover in
celebration of the 35th anniversary of the parish. The Prelate will preside
over the anniversary banquet and be the main speaker during the program
which will include a musical interlude and recognition of parishioners.
ST. STEPHENS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
COLLECT FUNDS FOR GULF COAST RELIEF
The Eastern Prelacy has been collecting money to help the victims of
Hurricane Katrina. This week a check for $135.00 was forwarded to the
Prelate from St. Stephen Elementary School, Watertown, Massachusetts. The
money was collected by the students of the elementary day school. Archbishop
Oshagan received the donation with gratitude and praised the students for
reaching out and helping those who need help. “The amount is not as
important as the thought these students have put into this effort,” the
Prelate said. “It is a lesson about the responsibilities we all share for
each other.”
The Prelacy is continuing to accept donations for hurricane relief.
Donations may be sent to the Prelacy, 138 E. 39th Street, New York, NY
10016.
CATHOLICOS ARAM I PRESIDES OVER WCC MEETINGS
His Holiness Aram I presided over the meetings of the Executive
Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) held in Switzerland last
week, in preparation for the WCC’s 9th Assembly, which will take place in
Brazil in February 2006. As moderator of the WCC’s Executive and Central
Committees, His Holiness stressed the importance of keeping up with the
modern world and introducing drastic changes to the WCC’s structures and
projects.
The 25-member Executive Committee met at the Bossey Ecumenical
Institute, near Geneva. Some of the topics discussed besides the upcoming
assembly included: Gun violence, situation in Haiti, hurricane Katrina, new
membership, and new global ecumenical platform for development.
At the conclusion of the four-day meeting, the WCC General Secretary,
Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, expressed his thanks to the officers and members of
the executive committee and especially to the moderator, Catholicos Aram I,
for his “wise counsel, theological depth and grasp of global issues,” which
have guided the WCC over the last seven years.
SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASSES WILL BEGIN
AT ST. ILLUMINATOR’S CATHEDRAL THIS SUNDAY
The 2005-2006 Sunday School term will begin this Sunday, September 25,
at St. Illuminator’s Cathedral, 221 East 27th Street, New York City.
Classes, with age appropriate instruction and activities, are available for
children ages 3 to 13. Classes begin each Sunday at 11 a.m. and continue to
12 noon. For information: 212-689-7810, Ext. 21.
ST. GEORGE THE COMMANDER AND
HOLY CROSS OF VARAG
This weekend the Armenian Church commemorates St. George (Kevork) and
the feast of the Holy Cross of Varag.
On Saturday, September 24, we remember St. George the Commander.
Although we do not have extant records about St. George, he remains a
popular hero among all Christian people. He is considered to be the patron
saint of soldiers and boy scouts. As in so many other instances, the
Armenian people have given St. George an Armenian national character. The
name George (Kevork) became popular beginning in the 5th century. There are
many large churches named in his honor. Perhaps the one best known to us
here at the Eastern Prelacy is Sourp Kevork of Moughni, the monastery in
Armenia that the late Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian adopted and restored with
the help of his generous friends in the United States and Canada. The
monastery was founded in the 13th century by the brotherhood at
Hovhannavank, bringing with them the relics of St. George, a third century
Roman general who defied the policy of persecuting Christians and urged
others to follow his example. The dome is visible at a distance because of
its black and orange stripes and the interior murals date back to the 17th
century. It was at this monastery that Simeon the Elder produced a
beautifully decorated Gospel in 1280 that is known as the Moughni Gospel.
Each year on this day the Gospel is brought from the Matenadaran (Manuscript
Museum) to Moughni for a special service. The entire Moughni complex stands
today in tribute to our ancestors and as a living testimony to the
dedication and patronage of the late Archbishop Ashjian.
On Sunday, September 24, we observe the Holy Cross of Varak, a feast
unique to the Armenian Church. The Hripsimiantz Virgins, after coming to
Armenia, lived near Mount Varag. Hripsime always carried a small wooden
cross, believed to be made from a piece of the true cross. One day, in order
to escape persecution, she found refuge on the mountain where she hid the
cross among the rocks before fleeing to Vagharshapat. According to
tradition, in the year 653, a hermit named Todik found the hidden cross. He
followed a brilliant light that illuminated the mountain that guided him
inside the church to the altar where he found a fragment of the cross. The
guiding light shone for twelve days. In memory of this event, Nerses
Catholicos established the Feast of the Cross of Varag.
Mount Varag is located in the southeastern region of Van in historic
Armenia. There, in honor of the Cross, the monastery of Saint Nishan was
built on the site where Hripsime hid her cross. It was a popular destination
for pilgrims. Some of us have been fortunate enough to make that pilgrimage
to Varaga Vank. It is a moving experience regardless of the fact (or perhaps
because of it) that the once thriving monastery today is ruins and stones. A
small stone retrieved from the rubble sits on our desk as a constant
reminder of the faith of our ancestors.
AUTUMN BEGINS TONIGHT
The official beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere is ushered
in tonight, September 22, with the autumnal equinox at 6:23 p.m. (Eastern
daylight time). Today the Sun rose due east and will set due west, with an
equal number of daylight and nighttime hours. Hereafter, our daylight hours
will become increasingly shorter until the winter solstice in December.
‘Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone.
The Last Rose of Summer
by Thomas Moore, 1830
Calendar of Events
September 25-35th anniversary of St. Gregory Armenian Church of North
Andover, Massachusetts, presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan.
For more information, 978-685-5038.
September 26-Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, Worcester,
Massachusetts, will host its second annual golf tournament at the Raceway
Golf Club in Thompson, Connecticut, to benefit the church’s Capital Fund.
For information: 508-872-9629.
October 19-November 1-Visit of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great
House of Cilicia, to the Eastern Prelacy, commemorating the 75th anniversary
of the establishment of the Cilician Seminary in Antelias, Lebanon.
October 28-29-Mashtots Conference celebrating the 1600th anniversary of the
founding of the Armenian alphabet, at Harvard University. Jointly sponsored
by the Eastern Prelacy and Harvard University Mashtots Chair, Department of
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
November 6-St. Stephen Armenian Apostolic Church of Hartford-New Britain,
Connecticut, will celebrate its 80th anniversary. Archbishop Oshagan
Choloyan will be the keynote speaker. The program will include a slide show
presentation two non-Armenian Peace Corps volunteers who recently returned
from serving in Armenia.
November 11-13-Mini-Datev program for the Midwest parishes.
December 31-New Years Eve dinner-dance, Sts. Vartanantz (NJ) and ARF Dro
Gomideh, Parsippany Hilton. Information: 201-943-2950 or 201-945-0011.
March 5-Sts. Vartanantz (NJ) 2006 membership meeting.
March 17-19, 2006-Sunday School Teachers’ Conference at the Wonderland
Conference and Retreat Center in Sharon, MA.
Parishes of the Eastern Prelacy are invited to send information about their
major events to be included in the calendar. Send to:
[email protected]
Visit our website at
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkey event on Armenians blocked
Aljazeera.Net
Thursday 22 September 2005, 21:11 Makka Time, 18:11 GMT
AFP
A Turkish court has blocked an unprecedented conference that was to have
questioned the country’s official line on the massacres of Armenians under
the Ottoman Empire.
The planned university conference, entitled Ottoman Armenians of an Empire
in Decline, was to have opened on Friday. It already had been aborted once
after Justice Minister Cemil Cicek in May branded such discussion as
“treason” and a “stab in the back of the Turkish nation”.
Thursday’s court order followed a complaint by a non-governmental
organisation of lawyers opposing the three-day event.
“We received an order from the court, asking us to supply the court with
information on the case within 30 days and ordering us to suspend our
activities during this period,” Nukhet Sirman, an academic on the organising
committee, told AFP.
EU concerned?
Sirman said the organisers had received a telephone call from the governor
of Istanbul, Muammer Guler, “who apologised but said he had to implement the
law”.
The nature of the complaint against the conference was not immediately
clear.
Cicek’s outburst raised eyebrows in European diplomatic circles about
Ankara’s commitment to democratic reforms, a requirement for the 3 October
negotiations over its adhesion to the European Union.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan then distanced himself from the
minister’s remark, calling it “a personal statement” and said he encouraged
researchers to carry out their work.
The Armenian massacres constitute one of the most controversial periods of
Turkish history.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their people were slaughtered in mass
killings under the Ottoman Empire, forerunner to the present-day Turkish
republic.
Increased importance
Ankara categorically rejects claims of genocide and argues that 300,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife during World War
I, when the Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and
sided with Russian troops invading the crumbling Ottoman Empire.
The issue has taken on increased importance as some European politicans have
pressed Turkey to address the genocide claims in what Ankara sees a
politically motivated campaign to impede its bid to become a member of the
European Union.
Much to Ankara’s anger, the killings have already been acknowledged as
genocide by a number of countries, including France, Canada and Switzerland.
“Our aim is simply to bring together Turkish intellectuals in an appropriate
setting for the discussion of a subject that until now has been carefully
avoided,” said historian Edhem Eldem, who was to have participated in the
conference.
“It is not a question of setting up a tribunal or reaching definitive
conclusions,” he told AFP.
Several nationalist groups expressed outrage over the planned conference.
The Hur party called it a “perfidy” and the small left-wing Workers’ Party
called for demonstrations outside the Bogazici University, where the
conference was to have been held.
The meeting had been expected to bring together about 60 researchers,
including critical intellectuals, to examine events in eastern Anatolia
between 1915 and 1917, as well as genocide denials made by the Turkish state
since that time.
Threats
Any questioning of the official line that a genocide did not occur has
proved dangerous to writers and intellectuals.
Orhan Pamuk, the widely translated author of such internationally renowned
works as The White Castle and Snow, is set to go on trial in December for
telling a Swiss newspaper in February that “one million Armenians were
killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it”.
Pamuk said he subsequently received several death threats and a local
official ordered the seizure and destruction of his works.
In Switzerland, where holocaust denial is a crime, the leader of the
Workers’ Party, Dogu Perincek, is under investigation for calling the
genocide claim “a historical lie”.