ATLANTIS PROGRAM TO BE INTRODUCED IN ARMENIAN PRISONS

   YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS: An alcohol addict treatment
program, known as Atlantis, based on Minnesota Model, will be
introduced in Armenia’s penitentiary system. The purpose of this
program, in operation since 1996, is to co-operate and exchange
experience with specialists and organizations from Central and
Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the field of fighting addictions.
It provides a variety of forms of training specialists in the field
of prevention and treatment of alcohol and drug addiction, as well as
of educating families of the addicted.
   Justice minister David Harutunian said the program should be
started at prisons as they offer a set of “positive preconditions” to
properly organize the treatment, meaning addicts’ isolation and the
inaccessibility to strong alcoholic drinks.
   He was speaking at a seminar in Yerevan organized by Armenian
justice ministry and polish Stefan Batory foundation, titled Drug
Addiction and Treatment and Prevention of Alcoholism. For the past 11
years the program has been running with great success in Polish
prisons. According to official figures, there are 35 drug addicts in
Armenian prisons, however, the real number is thought to be by far
higher.

–Boundary_(ID_wTSi2Hre5wodh94hlaiStA)–

EVENT DEVOTED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 90TH ANNIVERSARY TO BE HELD IN CAPITOL HILL APRIL 20

10.03.2005 06:41

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Co-Chairs of the US Congressional Caucus for
Armenian Issues Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
have announced that an event devoted to the 90-th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey will be held in the Capitol
Hill, the Armenian Assembly of America reported. The event will be
held under the aegis of the Congressional Armenian Caucus and the
Armenian Embassy in US April 20. As noted by Congressmen, the measure
will remind the world of the victims of the tragedy and will gather
together 25 large Armenian American organizations.

Armenian Assembly of America
122 C Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:
 
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2005
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
Email: [email protected]
 
FORMER AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA HARRY GILMORE RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Calls for International Recognition of Crimes

Washington, DC – Harry Gilmore, the first American Ambassador to
Armenia, is the latest U.S. official to publicly acknowledge the
Armenian Genocide and call for international recognition of this
crime against humanity. In an interview with Radio Free Europe/ Radio
Liberty (RFE/RL) this week, the retired diplomat said, “There is no
doubt that the Armenian events were genocide.”

Gilmore’s comments follow those of current U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
John Evans, who repeatedly referenced the Armenian Genocide during
his first stateside visit to Armenian communities across the country.
During a series of public exchanges with Armenians late last month,
Evans said “The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the
twentieth century.”

Gilmore told RFE/RL that the crimes against the Armenians fit the
definition of genocide as determined by the U.N. Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

“The key point is that the convention sets up a standard and the
massacres and deportations of the Ottoman Armenians meet that standard
fully,” Gilmore stated.

The Ambassador’s characterization also conforms to the summary
conclusions of the International Center for Transitional Justice
on the use of the term Armenian Genocide, which states that: “The
Events, viewed collectively, can thus be said to include all of the
elements of the crime of genocide as defined in the Convention, and
legal scholars as well as historians, politicians, journalists and
other people would be justified in continuing to so describe them.”

In addition, the remarks are in keeping with the publicly stated
declarations of over 120 renowned Holocaust and Genocide scholars who
signed a statement in 2000 affirming that the Armenian Genocide is
an incontestable historical fact and urging that the governments of
Western democracies likewise recognize it as such. The petitioners,
among whom is Nobel Laureate for Peace Elie Wiesel, also asked Western
democracies to urge the Government and Parliament of Turkey to finally
come to terms with a dark chapter of Ottoman-Turkish history and to
recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The Assembly last week launched an aggressive campaign for
U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide – urging President Bush
to properly characterize the attempted annihilation of the Armenian
people as genocide.

The Assembly additionally sent a “call to action” to thousands of
its members and activists around the country, encouraging their
involvement in the campaign for formal, full and irrevocable U.S
reaffirmation of the Genocide.

For information on how to get involved, log on to the Assembly Web
site at or send an email to the Assembly’s grassroots
branch ARAMAC at [email protected].

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness
of Armenian issues. It is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt membership
organization.

###

NR#2005-023

–Boundary_(ID_Pzqkc/sGCo6jJnJO8j2C5g)–

Azeri church sparks political row

Armenians say the church is part of their heritage

BBC
10 March 05

The restoration of a centuries-old Christian church in predominantly
Muslim Azerbaijan is hanging in the balance amid a row over wall
inscriptions.

The local Udi people, a Christian community, removed lettering they
say was put there by Armenian Christians.

The white-stone building in the northern mountain village of Nij
is undergoing renovation with funding from a Norwegian charity, the
Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise, but the organisation is unhappy
about the alterations.

The Udis say they erased the inscriptions over the entrance to the
church and next to the altar to right a historic wrong.

Armenians, they contend, put the lettering there long after the church
was built so they could lay claim to it.

‘Fake inscriptions’

“If those fake inscriptions are not erased, the renovation will lose
its importance,” the head of the Udi community told Azerbaijan’s
ANS TV.

The Udis, who number around 8,000, are keen to distance themselves
from Azerbaijan’s arch-foe, Armenia.

I regret that they have been erased. This was a chance for Azerbaijan
to set an example to the whole world

Norway’s ambassador Steinar Gil

“We live in Azerbaijan, and when people came into the church and saw
Armenian letters, they automatically associated us with Armenians,”
one of the village elders told the AFP news agency.

The Udis have struggled to separate their heritage from that of their
fellow Christian Armenians, who fought a war with Azerbaijan over
the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in 1988-1994.

The Armenians argue that churches with this type of inscription are
an indication of their long roots in the region.

‘Vandalism’

The Norwegians view the erasing of the inscriptions as “tantamount
to vandalism”, the Azeri newspaper 525 Qazet reported.

The Norwegian ambassador to Azerbaijan, Steinar Gil, said politics
should not play a role.

“Any historical monument should be protected. One should take care
of historical monuments despite political relations,” he said.

“I visited that village in November last year and saw the Armenian
inscriptions. I regret that they have been erased… This was a chance
for Azerbaijan to set an example to the whole world.”

And the head of the Norwegian Humanitarian Office in Azerbaijan,
Alf Henry Rasmussen, told the BBC that the organisation was now
reconsidering the whole restoration project.

Half a Million Gather for Pro-Syrian Rally to Defy Vision of US
by Robert Fisk in Beirut

Wednesday, March 9, 2005 by the
Independent (UK)

It was a warning. They came in their tens of thousands, Lebanese Shia
Muslim families with babies in arms and children in front, walking past
my Beirut home. They reminded me of the tens of thousands of Iraqi
Shia Muslims who walked with their families to the polls in Iraq,
despite the gunfire and the suicide bombers.

And now they came from southern Lebanon and the Bekaa to say they
rejected America’s plans in Lebanon, and wanted – so they claimed –
to know who killed Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister murdered
on 14 February, and to reject UN Security Council Resolution 1559
which demands a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and the disarmament
of the Hizbollah guerrilla movement, and to express their “thanks”
to Syria. This was a tall order in Lebanon.

But only 100 yards from the Lebanese opposition protests, the
half-million – for that was an approachable figure, given Hizbollah’s
extraordinary organisational abilities – stood for an hour with
Lebanese flags, and posed a challenge to President George Bush’s
project in the Middle East. “America is the source of terrorism”,
one poster proclaimed. “All our disasters come from America”.

Many of those tens of thousands were Hizbollah families who had
fought the Israelis during their occupation of southern Lebanon,
been arrested by the Israelis, imprisoned by the Israelis and feared
that American support for Lebanon meant not “democracy” but an imposed
Israeli-Lebanese peace treaty.

There were Syrians in the crowds – indeed, I saw buses with Syrian
registration plates that had brought families from Damascus – but
almost all the half million were Lebanese Shias and they wanted to
reject 1559 because it called for Hizbollah to be disarmed. They
were perfectly happy to see the Syrians leave (who now remembers
the Syrian massacre of Hizbollah members in Beirut in 1987?) but,
bearing in mind Syria’s transit of weapons from Iran to Lebanon,
Hizbollah wanted to be regarded as a resistance movement, not a
“militia” to be disarmed. What the Shia were saying was that they
were a power, just as they said when they voted in Iraq. In Lebanon,
Shia Muslims are the largest religious community.

Syria is run by a clique of Alawis – who are Shia – and Iraq is now
dominated by Shia Muslims who voted themselves into power, and Iran
is a Shia nation So when President Bush said “the Lebanese people
have the right to determine their future free from domination of a
foreign power”, the power the Shias were thinking of was not Syria
but the United States and Israel.

And 100 yards away, the demonstrators who have bravely protested
against the murder of Rafik Hariri have become factionalised,
courtesy of the Syrians. At night, the opposition protesters are
largely Christian. Yesterday’s Hizbollah rally, while it contained
the usual pro-Syrian Christians, was essentially Shia. And their
message was not one of thanks to President Bush.

“The fleets came in the past and were defeated; and they will be
defeated again,” Hizbollah’s leader, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, said in
reference to the Americans. Ironically, President Bush was to refer
within hours to the killing of 241 US Marines in Beirut in October
1982, as if their deaths were the responsibility of al-Qa’ida. To the
Israelis, Nasrallah said: “Let go of your dreams for Lebanon. To the
enemy entrenched on our border, occupying our country and imprisoning
our people, ‘There is no place for you here and there is no life for
you among us: Death to Israel’.”

Nasrallah’s take on the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war was predictable.
The crowds were meeting on the front lines that had separated the
Lebanese during the civil war; indeed, on the very location of
the Christian-Muslim trenches of that conflict. “We meet today to
remind the world and our partners in the country,” Nasrallah said,
“that this arena that joins us, or the other one in Martyrs’ Square,
was destroyed by Israel and civil war and was united by Syria and
the blood of its soldiers and officers.”

This was an inventive piece of history. Israel certainly killed many
thousands of Lebanese – more than the Syrians, although their soldiers
took the lives of many hundreds – but the half million roared their
approval.

So what did all this prove? That there was another voice in Lebanon.
That if the Lebanese “opposition” – pro-Hariri and increasingly
Christian – claim to speak for Lebanon and enjoy the support of
President Bush, there is a pro-Syrian, nationalist voice which does not
go along with their anti-Syrian demands but which has identified what
it believes is the true reason for Washington’s support for Lebanon:
Israel’s plans for the Middle East.

The Beirut demonstration yesterday was handled in the usual Hizbollah
way: maximum security, lots of young men in black shirts with two-way
radios, and frightening discipline. No one was allowed to carry a gun
or a Hizbollah flag. There was no violence. When one man brandished a
Syrian flag, it was immediately taken from him. Law and order, not
“terrorism”, was what Hizbollah wished. Syria had spoken. President
Bashar Assad’s sarcastic remark about the Hariri protesters needing a
“zoom lens” to show their numbers had been answered by a demonstration
of Shia power which needed no “zoom”.

And in the mountains above Beirut, still frozen under their winter
snows, few Syrians moved. There were Syrian military trucks on the
international high way to Damascus but no withdrawal, no retreat, no
redeployment. The Taif agreement of 1989 stipulated that the Syrians
should withdraw to the Mdeirej heights above Beirut, which they have
now agreed to do, 14 years later than they should have done.

The official document released by the Lebanese-Syrian military
delegation in Damascus suggests this is a new redeployment and that
in April the Syrian forces, along with their military intelligence
personnel, will withdraw to the Lebanese-Syrian border.

But the question remains: will they retreat to the Syrian side of
the frontier, or sit in the Lebanese-Armenian town of Aanjar, on the
Lebanese side, where Brigadier General Rustum Gazale, the head of
Syrian military intelligence, still maintains his white-painted villa?

Either way, Lebanon can no longer be taken for granted. The “cedar”
revolution now has a larger dimension, one that does not necessarily
favour America’s plans. If the Shia of Iraq can be painted as
defenders of democracy, the Shias of Lebanon cannot be portrayed
as the defenders of “terrorism”. So what does Washington make of
yesterday’s extraordinary events in Beirut?

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EDUARDO ERNEKIAN INTENDS TO MAKE INVESTMENTS IN ARMENIAN AGRICULTURE

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, NOYAN TAPAN. During the March 10 meeting of the RA
President Robert Kocharian and the Argentine Armenian businessman,
chairman of the company Armenia International Airports Eduardo
Ernekian, the process of the investment programs being implemented by
the company in Zvartnots International Airport was under discussion.
According to the RA Presidential press service, E. Ernekian also
discussed with the President his plans to make investments in the
country’s agriculture.

Azeri magazine staff launch own investigation of editor’s murder

Azadliq, Baku
10 Mar 05

Text of unattributed report by Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq on 10
March headlined “Monitor’s staff are setting up a new magazine” and
subheaded “Eynulla Fatullayev: ‘We have launched our own investigation
besides the official one'”; subheading inserted editorially:

The editor of Monitor magazine, Eynulla Fatullayev, cast light on some
points related to slain journalist Elmar Huseynov during yesterday’s
event held by the local media.

Monitor’s fate

[Fatullayev] First of all, I would like to ask journalists not to
ask Elmar’s father any questions. He is under stress. Some media go
on to distort his statements. Do not ask him questions for the sake
of Elmar’s memory. Understand his plight.

As for Monitor, the magazine will continue to come out, but under
a different name. We buried Monitor together with Elmar. However,
I am saying with full responsibility that Elmar’s colleagues will
continue his activity. All the staff of Monitor will work for the
new publication. Our stance will not be changed. We still believe
that a democratic state should be built in Azerbaijan. And we will
push ahead with our struggle in this area.

[Interviewer] Who will fund the new magazine?

[Fatullayev] Who funded Monitor? Its readers.

[Interviewer] Do you believe that by showing concern opposition
leaders are seeking to benefit from the situation?

[Fatullayev] Not at all. I agree that Monitor has never belonged
to the opposition. I would dare to say that this magazine laid the
foundation of Azerbaijan’s independent press. As to the political
leaders, they represent the part of the population who are protesting
against this barbarism.

[Interviewer] There are reports that Elmar Huseynov was about to get
a grant from the US embassy… [ellipses as published]

[Fatullayev] This is inaccurate information. The embassy can also
confirm that it is untrue. There was neither a grant nor an offer
from the US embassy. We were just planning to publish a Caucasus-wide
newspaper. We applied to the Eurasia Foundation in regard to this
project. The founders of the newspaper would have been Monitor
magazine, Georgia’s Rezonansi and Armenia’s Aravot newspapers. The
Eurasia Foundation asked those two publications to replace Monitor
with another Azerbaijani print media outlet. That is it. Monitor has
never received any grant throughout its publication.

[Interviewer] When will the last issue be published?

[Fatullayev] This Saturday. This will not be Monitor, since we
have already announced its closure. In 10 days we will make another
announcement about the new publication that will supersede Monitor.
The new magazine will be even fiercer than the previous one, because
we are angrier since the killing of our colleague.

[Interviewer] Who do you think ordered the murder of Elmar Huseynov?

[Fatullayev] The causes of Elmar’s killing lie in those whom Monitor
has been fighting. ANS TV believes that we have been fighting the
opposition, but the Azerbaijani public knows very well whom we are
fighting and whom we will fight. The fight has not stopped, it is
continuing. That is why we have launched our own investigation besides
the official one. We have announced the murderers of [Academician]
Ziya Bunyadov, [former investigation chief of Prosecutor General’s
Office] Rovsan Aliyev, [former vice-speaker] Afiyaddin Calilov and
[special presidential department chief] Samsi Rahimov. Will we not
find and announce the killers of our brother, Elmar Huseynov? They
do not have to worry, we will.

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

CROSSROADS E-NEWSLETTER – March 10, 2005

DELEGATIONS OF CATHOLICATE OF ALL ARMENIANS
AND CATHOLICATE OF CILICIA ISSUE COMMON DECLARATION
A meeting of delegations from the Catholicate of All Armenians and the
Catholicate of Cilicia took place in Holy Etchmiadzin on March 4 and 5. The
meeting was held under the patronage of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos
of All Armenians, and His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia, with the
aim of further developing the mission of the Armenian Church and to further
strengthen internal unity. The main purpose of the meeting was to prepare an
outline for discussions around the theme, “The Imperative of Renewal for the
Armenian Church.”
Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Bishop Michael Atchabahian, Mr. Rafayel
Babaian, Mr. James Kaloustian represented the Catholicate of All Armenians.
Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Bishop Nareg Alemezian, Mr. Yervant Pamboukian
and Mr. Arsen Tanielian represented the Catholicate of Cilicia.
On Friday, March 4, His Holiness Karekin II met with the two delegations
and clarified his expectations as well as those of His Holiness Aram I.
The representatives prepared an outline containing nine main
points, as follows:
1. The canonical status of the Armenian Church: Ecclesiological,
administrative and canonical definition.
2. Christian and Armenian education: Mission and protection of
spiritual and cultural values.
3. Liturgical Life.
4. Formation of clergy and revitalization of monastic life.
5. Inter-church and inter-faith relations.
6. Attitudes towards modern social and moral issues.
7. Church-State and Church-Society relations.
8. The Church and the pursuit of the rights of the Armenian people.
9. Use of modern technology.
Each of these main points was divided into sub-categories and general
discussion were held around each, as an initial analyses and future adoption
of relevant approaches.

PLANS FOR COMMEMORATION OF THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CONTINUE IN NEW YORK
New York City will be the site of the joint united commemoration of the
90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The committee and sub-committees
of leading Armenian organizations are meeting weekly to plan commemorative
events at Times Square and St. Patricks Cathedral on Sunday, April 24. For
up-to-date information make regular visits to:

For inquiries send an e-mail to [email protected].

CATHOLICATE OF CILICIA PARTICIPATES
IN WCC ECUMENICAL OFFICERS MEETING
A meeting of the ecumenical officers of the World Council of Churches
took place in the council headquarters in Geneva in February. Bishop Nareg
Alemezian, Ecumenical Officer of the Catholicate of Cilicia participated in
the meeting and was elected as a member of the executive committee. Rev.
Hovagim Manougian represented the Holy See of Etchmiadzin.
Fifty religious and secular representatives from various churches in the
Middle East, Europe, Latin America, North America, Africa and Asia
participated in the meeting. The participants discussed issues concerning
the Ecumenical Movement on local, regional and international levels.

ST. GREGORY CHURCH MEMBERSHIP
APPROVES BUILDING EXPANSION
St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in Philadelphia, approved a motion
adopting the recommendation of the Building Committee, for expansion of
their facilities, during its recent General Membership meeting. The
expansion will provide the church with two new classrooms, a multipurpose
room, additional storage space, and renovations to Terhanian Hall. The
motion approved the start of a fundraising campaign for the addition and
renovation which are estimated to cost $1.4 million.

PRELACY LENTEN BIBLE STUDIES CONTINUE
Last evening the study of the Passion narratives continued under the
leadership of Dn. Shant Kazanjian, Director of the Armenian Religious
Education Council (AREC). Last night the Bible study focused on the Burial.
The final session of the series will take place next Wednesday, March 16
with the Resurrection as the focal point.
The Bible study takes place at St. Illuminators Cathedral, 221 E. 27th
Street, New York City, with a Lenten service at 7:30, Bible study at 8 pm,
and fellowship at 8:45. Co-sponsored by AREC and the Prelacy Ladies Guild, a
faithful group of attendees have followed the six-week program that began
with the prediction and interpretation and the events leading to the
Resurrection.
All are welcome to attend. Whether or not you have attended the previous
evenings, you will gather much from the final lecture next week.

LENTEN PROGRAM IN PHILADELPHIA
All of our parishes have lectures and/or Bible studies during Lent. Our
correspondent from Philly, Jeanette Nazarian, sent us the following:
In keeping with the tradition he initiated a few years ago, Der Nerses
Manoogian, pastor of St. Gregory the Illuminator Church conducted the weekly
Lenten lecture series again this year. Following a meditative Vesper service
that encourages the active participation of the congregation, the faithful,
after being fed spiritually, gather in Terhanian Hall to feed their minds
through the teachings of Der Hayr, and their stomachs through the generous
donation of Lenten meals by the church family.
The theme this year is the Armenian Church Canon. After a general
introduction, Der Hayr presents canons each week pertaining to the sacrament
of baptism, issues of marriage and divorce, sexual morality, the theological
foundation of orthodox Christian ethics, social and moral issues, as well as
religious and ritual practices of our faith.

PARISH ANNUAL MEETINGS
This Sunday St. Stephen Church, New Britain, Connecticut, will convene
its annual general membership meeting:

LAMENTATION & LIBERATION CONCERT
This information came to our attention recently about a concert, which
will take place Tuesday, March 29, at St. Peters Lutheran Church at Citicorp
Center, Lexington Ave. at 54th Street, New York City, at 8 pm. This is part
of a series under the title Lamentation & Liberation.
The program includes the world premiere of a work by Jakoulov entitled
Narek from the Book of Sorrowful Songs by Gregor Narekatsi. There are
several Armenians on the program including Tatyana Vartapetyan-Margulis,
cello; Aram Tchobanian, tenor; Vagharshak Ohanyan, baritone; Rubik
Vartanyan, duduk/zurna. Besides the Nareg piece the program includes works
by Bach, Beethoven, Kohn, Grunfeld, Ledec, Domazlicky.
For information: 212-239-5906.

ARA BERBERIAN, 74
We note with sadness the passing of Ara Berberian, whose beautiful bass
voice enriched the Metropolitan Opera for more than 20 years, in over 300
performances. Mr. Berberian died on February 21 at his home in Boynton
Beach, Florida. He was 74 years old.
Mr. Berberian shared his great talent generously with the Armenian
American community. He participated in a number of concerts and
commemorations sponsored by the Prelacy during the past 30 years. He is
survived by his wife, Ginny, and children Harry Artin, Ara Jon, and Suzanne.

SUNDAY OF THE ADVENT
This Sunday, March 13, the sixth Sunday of Lent, is Sunday of the Advent
(Galstyan Kiraki). We are now more than half way through Lent and Holy Week
is approaching. On Advent Sunday we are asked to ponder on the mystery of
the First Coming of Christ and especially His Second Coming, which is
mentioned in the prayers on this Sunday. Christ came to this world for the
salvation of mankind. He will come again for the judgment of sinners, and
when the righteous will become worthy of entering the Kingdom of God.
Advent Sunday has its own special hymn, which proclaims that the
apostles knew the mystery of the advent of Christ. The story of the
expulsion from paradise is repeated and an appeal is made to Christ to ask
the Heavenly Father to establish peace on earth.

ST. GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR COMMITMENT TO THE PIT
This Saturday, March 12, the Armenian Church commemorates one of three
days in the Armenian liturgical calendar in memory of St. Gregory the
Illuminator, the founder of the Armenian Church and considered to be the
greatest figure of the Armenian Church.
The three remembrances of St. Gregory are: Entrance into the Pit;
Emergence from the Pit, and Discovery of his remains. This Saturday is the
commemoration of his entrance into the pit.
Gregory stood fast to his faith and refused to renounce Christ. He
endured many tortures and his final punishment was banishment into a deep
pit (Khor Virap) where he remained for a period of 13 or more years.
Miraculously he survived the ordeal, thanks in large part to a woman (whose
identity is not known) who secretly lowered food into the pit.

PILGRIMAGE DAY IN ANTELIAS, LEBANON
Consecrated relics of St. Gregory are kept in Holy Etchmiadzin and the
Catholicate of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon. This Saturday is the major day
of pilgrimage at the Holy See of Cilicia. Thousands of pilgrims come to the
Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator to have an opportunity to see the
sacred relic of the saint. It is brought out each year on the occasion of
the entrance into the pit. The golden arm, which contains the relics, is
also used every seven years during the consecration of the Holy Chrism
(Muron).

KHOR VIRAB TODAY
Khor Virab Monastery today is a major destination for tourists and
pilgrims who visit Armenia. The church complex was built on the exact
location where St. Gregory was imprisoned. The pit is still preserved and it
is possible for visitors to climb down on the ladder leading into the pit.
There are 27 steep steps down (yes, we counted them!).
The church of St. Astvatsatsin dates to the 17th century. The area is
one of the most beautiful in Armenia, and those of us who have seen Ararat
from the vantage point of both Turkey and Armenia can attest to the
indisputable fact that the view of Ararat from the Monastery of Khor Virab
situated on a hill near the Arax River is the most spectacular. It is
breathtakingly beautiful and a true spiritual experience.

And there took place a council of many bishops in the city of Caesarea so
that they might ordain Saint Gregory; and they handed on to him the honor of
the humility of Christ’s priesthood, and the highness of the episcopacy of
God’s glory-great honor and glory. Holding the holy gospel the assembled
bishops, of whom the chief was Leontius, placed their hands on him that he
might receive authority in heaven and on earth to receive the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, to bind and loose on earth.
Description of the ordination of Gregory to the episcopacy, as recorded by
Agathangelos

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NEW WORKSHOP OF CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY ON 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Azg/arm
11 March 05

The chair of Modern Armenian History at the California University in
association with the Center for Middle East, European and Eurasian
Studies will organize “Nine Decades Later: Eternal Heritage of the
Armenian Genocide” workshop on April 1-3. The AGBU Manukian Center in
Pasadena will host the first day of the workshop with the participation
of 4 specialists from Yerevan, Damascus, and Wesleyan who will share
with their researches and analysis in Armenian. The workshop will move
to the California University next two days, and around 30 specialists
will lecture in English.

The workshop will host participants from Armenia, Lebanon, France,
USA, Syria and Columbia. Armenian Genocide issue being central in the
workshop will not be the only one (“The Assyrian Genocide in 19-20
centuries”, Anahit Ghosroyan, “The Greek Tragedy in Asia Minor and
Pontos”, Speros Vrionis).

This is the 17th workshop on Genocide organized by the chair
of Modern Armenian History and 4th organized by Prof. Richard
Hovhannisian. Previous 3 workshops by Prof. Hovhannisian were assembled
into 3 volumes.

By Nana Petrosian

OSKANIAN: WE ARE ON FAVORABLE GROUND IN KARABAKH ISSUE

Azg/arm
11 March 05

At the March 9 press conference foreign minister of Armenia, Vartan
Oskanian, called “absolutely non-realistic” last press publications
saying that Baku and Yerevan are going to sign a versatile document
on Karabakh issue in Prague on May 2. “There is no need to delve into
this; there is nothing like that,” Vartan Oskanian cut short.

The so-called Prague process, according to Oskanian, is to discuss
all issues concerning refugees, territories and the status of Nagorno
Karabakh but “it is not true that we reached an agreement”. “No
document was created during the talks to lie as basis for future
negotiation process”, minister said.

Vartan Oskanian disagreed with the idea that the Armenian diplomacy is
losing ground in the conflict settlement process. “We are on favorable
ground in Karabakh issue”, minister said adding that Yerevan and
Stepanakert have no discords in settlement issue.

Oskanian assured that Nagorno Karabakh is not left out of the talk
process. “Though representatives of Stepanakert are not directly
engaged in the talks, they are well aware of their content”, he said.

The foreign minister of Nagorno Karabakh said lately that “the
negotiation format is distorted because of which Baku manages to
present the issue as a result of Armeniaâ~@~Ys aggression”. “I
canâ~@~Yt say that Nagorno Karabakh is left out of the talks but if
you want the issue to be settled then Karabakh and Azerbaijan should
talk to each other”, he said.

Vartan Oskanian said that the issue of Karabakh peopleâ~@~Ys
self-determination is still key for Yerevan. He said that “the
territory where Karabakh people made its choice never was part of
independent Azerbaijan.

Vartan Oskanian noted that the wording “occupied territories”
circulating in last reports on Armenia is not something new as it has
always been there since 1993. Moreover, minister thinks that such
wordings do not mean that Armenia is an occupant. “Cannot Karabakh
army occupy territories?”, Oskanian posed a rhetoric question.

By Tatoul Hakobian

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