| KAREKIN II PRESIDES OVER BLESSING
OF HOLY CHRISM IN ETCHMIADZIN |
| Monday, September 29, 2008 - Etchmiadzin (Combined Sources) - Thousands flocked to the Etchmiadzin Mother See for the ceremonious blessing of the Holy Chrism  presided over by His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians and delegations from Dioceses worldwide.
Catholicos Karekin II led the procession out to the St. Drtad open air altar, surrounded by representatives of the Catholicosate of Cilicia and the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Constantinople, as well as 12 Primates from the various Dioceses and in the presence of the political leaders and the public began the traditional process, which takes place every seven years.
Also present at the ceremony was Ecumenical Patriarch His Holiness Bartholomew I and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, representing Pope Benedict XVI from the Vatican.
The new Chrism is mixed in an ornate cauldron with the old chrism, symbolising the passage of the holy water from generation to generation. A batch of the Chrism blessed in Antelias this June at the Great House of Cilicia was also added to the mixture.
On Monday, President Sargsyan met with the visiting religious delegation, which included Catholicos Karekin II, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Cardinal Sandri.
Greeting the guests, the President said: “The Chrism is of special symbolic importance for us. Every Armenian believes that after spreading it all over the world, the Chrism returns to Holy Etchmiadzin, our religious center and it's the spiritual magnetism of our people.”
Sargsyan stressed the importance of religion in maintaining peace and moral values, fighting against despair, immorality and temptations, since there are many temptations in the contemporary world.
Following the meeting the religious leaders visited the Dzidzernagapert Armenian Memorial Monument and laid a wreath in memory of the victims of the Genocide. |
| LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST UNITED STATES NATIONAL ARCHIVES TO OBTAIN GENOCIDE DOCUMENTATION |
| Los Angeles, California - A civil action against the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States was filed yesterday seeking documents as they relate to the Armenian Genocide (1914 to 1925). (Vartkes Yeghiayan v. National Archives and Records Administration of the United States of America, Case No. CV08-16248, U.S. District Court, Central District of Calif., Sept. 23, 2008).
"Repeated efforts have been made to procure these documents, but the National Archives has been non-responsive," says Mark MacCarley, partner with Glendale, Calif.-based MacCarley & Rosen who is representing plaintiff Vartkes Yeghiayan. "Its actions are in violation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)."
The initial request by Yeghiayan occurred in April 2006. "The National Archives acknowledged receipt of the request, but has not provided the information despite repeated inquiries from my client," says MacCarley. "The National Archives, without explanation, has exceeded the generally applicable 20-day deadline for processing FOIA requests. We simply want the requested documentation."
Yeghiayan is an attorney who has successfully litigated lawsuits in State and Federal courts against U.S. and foreign businesses for Armenian Genocide asset restitution. More than 1.5 million Armenians were killed during the genocide with millions more deported from the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey). Yeghiayan filed the FOIA request because he believes documents are being held by the U.S. government that would identify countries having either direct complicity in the Armenian Genocide or profited by the Ottoman Turks actions against Armenians.
"This lawsuit is on behalf of Armenian-Americans who are seeking documentation and information that could shed light on what happened to their loved ones during the Armenian Genocide,” says Yeghiayan. |
| GUL AIMS TO CREATE A POSITIVE CLIMATE BETWEEN TURKEY AND ARMENIA |
armradio.am - September 29 - Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Thursday his aim was to create a positive climate between Turkey and Armenia. "I am very hopeful about this," he said in a meeting organised by the American-Turkish Society in New York.
He said Turkey and Armenia did not have diplomatic relations, and their borders were closed, although Turkey was one of the first countries recognizing Armenia's independence.
"However, the two countries have had humanitarian activities," Gul said, reminding of Turkey's wheat assistance to Armenia in 1990s.
Gul said thousands of Armenian citizens are working in Turkey due to economic reasons and flights and cultural activities are organised between the two countries.
"My recent visit to Armenia was for a soccer game, but I did not only watch the game with Mr. Sargsyan. We had the opportunity to discuss bilateral relations, the Caucasus and Azerbaijan," he was quoted by Anatolian Agency as saying.
Gul said it is necessary to solve regional problems through dialogue, and added he hoped that everything would normalise in the end.
Gul also said one of the indicators that relations would normalise was the trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia will be held in New York today.
"What leaders should do is to eliminate the problems, not to feed enmities," Gul also said.
Gul said that many projects could be carried out between Turkey and Armenia, like establishing industrial zones at the border, after the problems were solved, daily Hurriyet reported. |
| OPENING OF THE BORDER, PREGNANT WITH SERIOUS DANGERS SAYS LEVON MELIK-SHAHNAZARYAN |
| armradio.am September 26 - The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border is pregnant with serious dangers, including those of economic nature: in particular, it will cause great harm to light industry, political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan told a press conference today. However, according to him, the greatest danger is that Turkey will start accusing Armenia of providing camps to the Kurdish Workers' Party.
According to Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan, Turkey is currently competing with Russia, Iran and the United States to enlarge its influence in the region.
Turning to Turkey's willingness to act as mediator in the Karabakh conflict settlement, the political scientist noted that Armenia does not need such a mediator. In his words, the mediator that considers its people and the people of Azerbaijan different parts of the same nation cannot be unbiased.
Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan is assured that the problem of Armenian-Turkish relations will not be solved either now or in the time of coming generations. "Civilisation lays in the basis of the controversies of those relations, and we need to live many centuries in the same civilisation to overcome it," he said. | BANNED IN TURKEY | By Thomas Grove - Saudi Gazette September 25 - A Turkish court decision to ban the website of a renowned British atheist academic has stirred fresh doubts about the European Union candidate's commitment to freedom of speech.
Approximately 850 Internet websites, including Youtube, have been blocked this year in Turkey, the number swollen by recent laws making it possible to block sites without a court order.
"When you look at Internet regulation Turkey looks to be in the same league as Tunisia or North Korea, and that doesn't bode well for EU requirements," said Cengiz Aktar, professor at Istanbul's Bahcesehir University.
"The Internet is one of the most instrumental means of spreading information, it is an unprecedented instrument, and forbidding the Internet is forbidding freedom of speech," he said.
The website of Oxford professor and evolutionist Richard Dawkins was banned in Turkey earlier this month after the Muslim country's leading creationist advocate, Adnan Oktar, said he had found slanders of himself there.
The website currently carries in its masthead a picture of the Turkish flag and the heading "Banned in Turkey". |
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