Armenian News

YEREVAN TAKES OVER AS WORLD'S BOOK CAPITAL

Voice of Russia

April 22 2012

Picked by UNESCO, the Armenian capital Yerevan has formally taken

over from Buenos Aires as the world's book capital. It will hold the

title for the next 12 months.

This year marks five centuries since an Armenian scholar based in

Venice started printing books in Armenian. Book printing in Armenia

started in 1771 in a monastery outside Yerevan.

WELSH CLERGYMAN ISSUES "FROM CARMARTHEN TO KARABAGH" 

BOOK

PanARMENIAN.Net

April 23, 2012 - 16:17 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The mysterious disappearances of King Arthur and

Wales' foremost rebel Owain Glyndwr have a remarkable similarity

with that of one of Armenia's greatest heroes, according to a leading

Welsh clergyman.

Wales Online reports that Canon Patrick Thomas, the Vicar of Christ

Church Carmarthen and Chancellor of St David's Cathedral, is the

author of a highly praised new book which finds numerous similarities

between Wales and Armenia.

On Monday, April 23, From Carmarthen to Karabagh will be launched in

the Temple of Peace and Health in Cardiff.

In recent years close ties have been established between the two

countries, prompting Canon Patrick to visit Armenia for the first

time in 2005. He immediately fell in love with the country and kept

going back, becoming increasingly aware of the parallels and contrasts

between Armenia and Wales.

His book has a unique structure: each chapter has an introduction,

three sections focusing on related themes from Armenia and a final

section that points out relevant similarities with Wales.

In a section about Welsh and Armenian heroes, Canon Patrick writes:

"Some heroes are meant to vanish leaving no known burial place."

"Moses is an obvious Biblical example. In Welsh tradition two of

our greatest warriors similarly disappear: King Arthur and Owain

Glyndwr.The burial place of King Arthur is a mystery, as is that

of Owain Glyndwr. "The legend that haunted the popular imagination

told of an encounter between Owain and the abbot of Vale Crucis,"

writes Canon Patrick.

"The latter had gone out in the early morning mist to say his prayers

when he met the fugitive hero. Owain rebuked the cleric for getting up

too early. The abbot replied that Owain himself had risen too early by

100 years. From this grew the feeling that Owain (like Arthur before

him) would one day return. He too was said to be sleeping with his

warriors in a cave - perhaps one of those in which he had hidden

during his years on the run," he writes.

"In Armenia a similar role was given to Pokr Mher, the last of the

wild heroes of Sassoun, whose exploits form a part of the national

epic. Pokr Mher and his horse disappeared into the Rock of Van and,

so the legend goes, remain there."

Canon Patrick also writes movingly about the murder of more than a

million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during the First World War - an

event recognized officially as a Holocaust by the National Assembly

for Wales, but not by the UK Parliament.

The book has been praised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan

Williams, who writes in a foreword: "Patrick Thomas' distinctive voice

- learned, thoughtful, compassionate and witty - has become more and

more widely known and appreciated through his writings about Wales and

the imaginative legacy of Christian faith in Wales. His love affair

with Armenia began, as he tells us, some six years ago, and it has

worked itself out through many visits, through passionate advocacy and

through a deep immersion in the culture of this extraordinary nation.

Unsurprisingly, he finds analogies with another small and mountainous

country, jealous of its language and its heritage. And in these pages

he introduces us to some of the most poignant and beautiful literature

of the Armenians, shaped as it is by a history of appalling suffering."

Archbishop Vahan Hovhanessian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic

Orthodox Church in Britain and Ireland, writes: "Those of us who know

Canon Patrick well know that through his passion to learn more about

the culture and history of Armenians and pursue the parallel between

the Armenian and Welsh people, he has earned the right to be an

honorary ambassador of the Armenian people to the rest of the world."

>From Carmarthen to Karabagh by Patrick Thomas is published by

Gwasg Carreg Gwalch.

EFFIGY OF ARMENIAN "OLIGARCH" PARADED THROUGH YEREVAN 

IN MOCK FUNERAL

hetq.am

14:52, April 23, 2012

A group of civic activists paraded an effigy of an "oligarch" around

the streets of downtown Yerevan yesterday in a mock funeral procession.

The procession proceeded from Mashtots Park to Opera Square and then

down through Northern Avenue to Republic Square, eventually winding

back at the park.

The coffin' followed by around two hundred "mourners" elicited curious

glances from passersby out for a Sunday afternoon stroll. Many

actually believed that the procession was for real and had to be

convinced otherwise. A few even joined the march in support.

When asked who was being carried on the coffin, held aloft on the

shoulders of the activists, the answer given was "Olik Garkhyan";

a play on the word oligarch.

Anahit Mousheghyan, one of the activists, said that the procession

was symbolically not only burying the oligarchs of Armenia but the

mentality of greed and injustice that they spawn.

The activists said that the high-rise buildings along Northern

Avenue, the cafes that encircle the Opera and the commercial kiosks

now illegally being constructed in Mashtots Park, are all symbols of

the oligarchic system dominant in Armenia today.

LEVON TER-PETROSYAN: THE ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES ARE 

COMMITTING GENOCIDE AGAINST THEIR COUNTRY

APA

April 21 2012

Azerbaijan (please note origin of this article)

Baku - APA. "One million people have left Armenia due to

Kocharian-Sargsyan regime.

This can be compared only with the genocide and deportation of

Armenians in the Ottoman Empire," leader of Armenian National Congress

(ANC), ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan said during the rally in

Yerevan, APA reports quoting Armenia Today.

"The persons, who want the world to recognize the Armenian genocide,

are committing similar genocide in their country. Charles Aznavour,

who was appointed as ambassador by Serzh Sargsyan, says this," first

president of Armenia underlined.

He also said corruption is the negative consequence of the government's

activity. He said according to the results of various international

studies in Armenia, the level of the shadow economy constitutes 2/3

of the real economy.

"Actually, only 1/3 of the revenues are included into the budget,"

he said.

Ter-Petrosyan underlined that if these funds had been included into

the budget, pensions and allowances, could have been doubled, military,

scientific expenses, salaries could have been tripled.

"These persons, who plunder their country, wish to defeat Azerbaijan,"

Ter-Petrosyan said.

Ex-president underlined that police and courts make deals with

criminals and the claimant is found guilty. The soldiers are tortured,

beaten, killed, incited to suicide.

Levon ter-Petrosyan criticized the international proposals (Madrid

principles) put forward for the resolution of Nagorno Karabakh and

underlined that ANC will do its best to change them. He considers

that this is just a "diplomatic trick" to mask the return of Nagorno

Karabakh to Azerbaijan.

"The proposed principles must show who will organize the referendum

on self-determination of Nagorno Karabakh and who will participate

in this referendum. If these issues are not solved, the referendum

will be nothing but a trap to deceive the Armenian people," he said.

RESTORATION OF ST KIRAKOS CHURCH OF DIYARBERKIR STOPPED

tert.am

23.04.12

The reconstruction of historical Armenian Surb Kirakos Church in

Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır has costed more than

expected as a result of which no money has remained for the restoration

of nearby constructions, CNNturk reports.

The 100kg-weight bronze bell prepared in Moscow and the restoration

of the church costed about 2 million Turkish lira.

The dome with 29-meter gold cross built by an Armenian master in 1883

was bombed for being higher from the minarets of surrounding mosques.

The church sank into oblivion after migration of Armenians from

Tigranakert. In 2010 the restoration of the church launched but the

works have stopped for already a month.

Armenian Genocide commemorated in London

April 21, 2012 - 22:42 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - About 300-350 people took to the streets in London

on April 21 to commemorate the 97th anniversary of the Armenian

Genocide and protest Turkey's policy of denial.

The demonstrators carried Armenian and British flags and chanted

`Never Again', `Recognize the Armenian Genocide' and `We Want

Justice.' Some were holding photographs of the slain editor of Agos

weekly, Hrant Dink.

As a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent reported from the scene, officials

from the Armenian embassy in London also joined the protesters, who

demanded inclusion of the story of the Armenian Genocide in the UK

school curriculum.

The march ended at The Glorious Dead Memorial where the participants

laid flowers and offered a prayer.

A liturgy will be served in Surb Eghishe Church on April 22.