| From: | RAG Mamoul (ragmamoul1@gmail.com) | ||||
| Sent: | Wed 1/06/10 10:48 AM | ||||
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| From: | LOUSSAPATZ THE DAWN (loussapatz.s@gmail.com) |
| Sent: | Tue 1/05/10 11:08 PM |
Say NO to the Ratification of the Protocols - January 8, 2010-Toronto.
On January 12th 2010, The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia will discuss the protocols signed between Armenia and Turkey on October 10th, 2009.
We, as Canadian Armenians, as Genocide survivors' descendants, as inheritors of Western Armenia, should have a say in the ratification of these protocols.
As Armenians in the Diaspora, we have struggled for Armenia to gain its power in the region. We have fought for justice, for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide & for the prosperity of Nagorno-Karabakh. We should have a say in the future of Armenia - our homeland - in the future of our children and most importantly in showing respect to our ancestors.
What can you do to show your opposition to the ratification of the protocols?
Attend the mass gathering organized by the 3 Armenian political parties, SDHP (Henchag), ADL (Ramgavar), and ARF (Tashnag), on January 8th, 2010 in order to be more informed and to raise your voice.
Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 8:30pm
Armenian Community Centre of Toronto
45 Hallcrown Place (Victoria Park Ave & Hwy of Heroes)
Alternatively, if you are unable to attend, you can watch this event live online by visiting www.armenian.ca.
| From: | RAG Mamoul (ragmamoul1@gmail.com) | ||||
| Sent: | Mon 1/04/10 9:07 AM | ||||
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| From: | Dikran Abrahamian (dikran@keghart.com) |
| Sent: | Sun 1/03/10 9:55 PM |
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Rant Number 378 31 December 2009
A rich man gave a banquet. Wanting to offer his twelve guests some milk, he despatched a servant to the market to buy it. As this is a tale of old, the woman went along carrying a large, lidless pot on her head. After getting the milk, as she walked back, unbeknownst to her a kite alighted on the pot. Now, the kite held a snake in its claws. Squeezed tight by the bird of prey, the snake vomited its poison into the pot. The servant, noticing nothing, returned home. The guests all drank the milk and they died amidst atrocious pains. Dismayed, the lord of the house summoned seven wise men and begged of them: ‘Tell me, o philosophers, who is responsible for this terrible tragedy? Who is guilty?’
The first replied: ‘You are guilty. You should have got the servant to taste it first and only after that given to the guests.’
Another philosopher disagreed: ‘It is the snake’s fault, surely.’
‘Nonsense’, another said, ‘You can’t reproach the reptile. Grasped as it was in the kite’s claws, the snake was forced to eject its poison. Hence it cannot be blamed.’
A fourth wise man opined: ‘Well, then it follows it is the kite’s fault.’
The fifth philosopher was yet of another opinion: ‘You forget that God has created every animal so that it may feed on what is appropriate to its nature. Hence the kite is driven to eat serpents and the like. How could you blame him?’
That did not convince a sixth thinker: ‘Irrelevant. It all goes back to the careless woman. She should have covered the pot with a lid. Nothing would then have happened.’
Lastly the lord of the house, perplexed, turned to the seventh wise man: ‘And you – who do you say is the guilty one?’
The answer was that each of the previous respondents had grasped a bit of truth but not the whole truth: ‘My fellow philosophers are not wholly wrong, but in reality the tragedy has befallen your guests simply because fate had so ordained – they just had to die the way their did. Too bad.’
Is that right? Fate – is that the lord of us all? Is people’s responsibility for their actions a snare and an illusion? Were the Stoic thinkers correct in seeing all events as the inevitable effects of what has preceded them? Like physicist Laplace, who believed that everything that happens in the physical world is the inevitable result of antecedent causes and circumstances. If so, an omniscient caster of horoscopes could well predict what will happen to you and I and everybody else in 2010, couldn’t he?
Fate is not the same as Providence – God in his protective care of nature and men. ‘God was at work behind the death of the twelve guests’, a naive believer might say. Like some people argued about the horrors of 9/11. Asked how God was involved, the believer could fall back on mystery. A cop out! Mystery is fine, sure, but not in intellectual, rational matters. ‘The twelve guests were sinners’, the naive believer fights back. ‘They deserved to die.’ Well, if sinners qua sinners deserved instant death the world would be a huge graveyard. Mortal sin, the most grave sin, is a different matter. Some of the guests might have been guilty of dreadful crimes but surely not all of them? ‘God knows something you don’t know’, my believer retorts. Absolutely. Could not agree more. Maybe he knew one of the guests was going to father another Stalin or Pol Pot or Tony Blair – Divine Providence wanted to spare us that. But, again, not all twelve of them? Ditto for the victims of 9/11. Never mind how implicated some of them might have been in the criminal worlds of rip-off investment banking and dodgy high finance, they cannot have been all equally guilty.
‘God is the Lord of all life. What he gives, he can take away whenever he wishes.’ Could the priest disagree with that? But what kind of God are we talking about? The dark lord of Zoroastrianism, Ahriman? An evil God? Because only such deity would deliberately kill the innocent. The God of the Christian revelation is love and mercy. And Muslims constantly invoke Allah, ‘the Compassionate, the Merciful’. To act otherwise, to murder the innocent, would be contrary to God’s nature, his goodness – something incoherent, self-contradictory, absurd.
No, the naive theist’s answer won’t do. Nor will it the quantum physicist’s defence of human free will invoked by upholders of man’s freedom versus determinism. The indeterminacy of sub-atomic events. (Old Epicurus tried it, with his atomic ‘swerve’.) Quantum physics abolishes physical determinism all right but it cannot establish human freedom. Sub-atom events may be random but freedom is not randomness.
In fact, the strongest argument for human free will, as Carneades pointed out long ago, lies in introspection. Your subjective experience of freedom. The innate feeling human beings have of being free agents, not robots. Dr Johnson’s answer to Boswell suffices: ‘We know we are free, sir, and that’s the end of that.’ Perfect.
Back to the initial story. The priest’s tentative, imperfect response. The snake and the kite obviously bear no guilt, because beasts are beyond moral responsibility – unlike human beings, who have duties towards animals. The lord of the house should perhaps have taken more care in what he served to his friends. The servant was definitely negligent in not covering the pot but she did not intend anyone’s death, of course. I am glad the Stoic writer Manilius is not a judge in this case – he would have executed the poor woman anyway, not because she bore any substantial guilt but as a warning to all careless people to take more care in future. Tough, but then Stoics were like that.
Fate and Providence are not identical. The nexus, the weaving together of causes that led to the accidental deaths of the guests constitutes what we call fate but God can turn the workings of fate to his own ends. So Fate is subordinate to Providence.
As to 2010 horoscopes. They are all nonsense. The only exceptions are divine horoscopes. Those God would cast. His omniscience assures us of that. True, some misguided people, like the heretical Anglican theologian Keith Ward, hold that God cannot know the outcome of genuinely free action. Stuff and nonsense. Ward’s god is useless. A eunuch’s god. Not the supreme, all-knowing Lord of Scripture and of the best theistic philosophy.
Here is the priest’s own, general horoscope for 2010 - after that excellent woman, Julian of Norwich: ‘All will be well and all will be well and all manner of things will be well.’
Revd Frank Julian Gelli
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| US LAWYER SUES TURKEY IN DC COURT | ||
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| The Associated Press - A U.S. lawyer says he has filed a class-action lawsuit against Turkey for allegedly using U.S.-supplied arms to commit human rights violations on Cyprus. | ||
| ANOTHER STREET IN TURKEY NAMED AFTER ARMENIAN WRITER | ||
| PanArmenian.net - One of the streets in Diarbekir - the biggest town in the south-east of Turkey - has been named after Turkish writer of Armenian decent Mkrtich Markosyan. The decision to rename the street was made by the town's Mayor Abdullah Demirbas, "Agos" Turkish-Armenian newspaper reported. The opening ceremony was attended by the writer himself. Earlier, a street in Istanbul was named after Hrant Dink, the assassinated Editor-in-Chief of Agos. | ||
| ARMENIA WORST AFFECTED BY CRISIS WITHIN THE CIS | ||
| Business New Europe - In 2009, Armenia was the worst affected by the economic crisis of all the CIS countries, with a GDP decrease of more than 15%. In 2010, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts a return to modest growth of 1.2%. The draft national budget for 2010 stipulates a deficit equivalent to 5.7% of GDP, as the country seeks to maintain social spending. Yerevan already raised a $500m stabilisation loan from Russia in 2009, and hopes to secure more funds from international donors to support it through 2010. On a more positive note, Armenia's banking system remained relatively resilient to the crisis due to its low integration with international capital markets. Meanwhile, Russia's RosAtomStroyExport has been selected to work with Armenia to build a new nuclear power unit, between 2012 and 2016. This will lessen Armenia's dependence on energy imports. Construction of the Russia-Armenia-Iran oil pipeline may start in 2010. | ||
| GHALACHYAN APPOINTED ARMENIA'S AMBASSADOR TO CYPRUS | ||
| armradio.am - 28.12.2009 - President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on appointing Armenia's Ambassador to the Republic of Greece Gagik Ghalachyan as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Republic of Cyprus (seat in Athens). | ||
| A Christmas message from Hayasa Shop | ||
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| ARF DASHNAKTSOUTIUN LEADER MEETS WITH CONSTITUTIONAL COURT HEAD AHEAD OF CRITICAL RULING ON PROTOCOLS | ||
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| YEREVAN (RFE/RL) - A leading member of the ARF Dashnaktsoutiun has met with Constitutional Court Chairman Gagik Harutiunian and urged him to block the implementation of Armenia’s controversial agreements with Turkey, the Chairman of the opposition party’s Supreme Council in Armenia told a news conference Friday. | ||
| ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS RATIFICATION IN COMA | ||
| PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish protocols ratification process is in a coma and the fact that Armenia is preparing to recognise them invalid may strike a final blow to the process of normalisation of relations between the two countries, Turkish analyst Omer Tashpınar said. According to him, Ankara may use it as a convenient excuse to persuade the world community that the Armenian side wrecked the process. However, it is not realistic, since the problem has a "Washington-front" as well. "If Serzh Sargsyan withdraws a signature, then in Washington all charges will be brought against the Turkish side. U.S. will conclude that the Turkish authorities have linked the Armenian-Turkish protocols with the Karabakh settlement. In this regard assessments of Washington and Yerevan are identical: opening of the Armenian-Turkish border and establishment of diplomatic relations are in no way connected with the Karabakh settlement. Meanwhile, Ankara use the issue of Karabakh as a precondition for political purposes," Tashpınar wrote. "In order to avoid establishing any connection between Karabakh settlement and the Armenian-Turkish processes, Yerevan even more will stay on his ground. In the U.S. Congress the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide will develop at a greater force, and Obama, in turn, will be in a quandary,” the Turkish expert wrote. “Let Yerevan and Ankara present for ratification to their parliaments only one of the protocols, " Omer Tashpınar concluded, the newspaper Sabah wrote. | ||
| A message from Gibrahayer e-magazine -work by John Guevherian - www.guevherian.com | ||
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| From 7or.am - 2009-նն էլ անցավ… | ||
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| News in Brief by Sevag Devletian | ||
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| Make your Christmas contribution to: | ||
| Community ladies for Cyprus Red Cross | ||
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| Like every year Armenian ladies of our community participated in the Cyprus Red Cross Street collection. They are pictured here with former First Lady Fotini Papadopoulou who is the President of the Cyprus Red Cross. from left to right: Lida Koursoumba (Red Cross Vice President) Alice Geotcherian, Shake Kassparian, Fotini Papadopoulou, Mayda Nshanian, Alice Tofaridou and Aghavni Sarian. | ||
| Letters from the Editor | ||
| Sireli Pot Orig, | ||
| make your Christmas contribution | ||
| NUNE YESAYAN AND HOVIG | ||
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| www.artsakank.com.cy - Դեկտեմբեր 25-ի երեկոյեան տեղի ունեցաւ ՀՄԸՄ-ՀԵՄ-ի աւանդական կաղանդի պարահանդէսը, աւելի քան 350 հոգիի խանդավառ մասնակցութեամբ։ Այս տարի Հիլթըն պանդոկի շքեղ սրահներուն մէջ տեղի ունեցած տօնախմբութեան աստղը Երեւանէն հրաւիրուած հանրածանօթ ու սիրուած երգչուհի Նունէ Եսայեանն էր, որ իր ձայնով ու երգերով հմայեց ու ներկաներուն խանդավառութիւնը գագաթնակէտի հասցուց։ Յայտագրին վրայ իր բաժինը ունեցաւ նաեւ լիբանանահայ երգչուհի Սերա, որ իր եւրոպական սիրուած երգերու ցանկով տարբեր ու հաճելի մթնոլորտ մը ստեղծեց։ Երեկոյի անակնկալը սակայն X-Factor յայտագրի Յովիկն էր, որ առաջին անգամ կը ներկայանար կիպրահայ հանրութեան։ Գեղեցիկ ձայնով ու հաղորդական բնաւորութեամբ, Յովիկ անմիջապէս գրաւեց սրտերը ներկաներուն, որոնք խելայեղ ծափերով ու բացագանչութիւններով ընդունեցին զինք։ Անշուշտ առանց Սեդօ Պաղտասարեանի եւ նուագախումբին ճարտար ընկերակցութեան երգիչները պիտի չկարենային հանդէս գալ։ Իր բազմաթիւ այցելութիւններով Սեդոն այլեւս կիպրահայութեան սիրելի արուեստագէտը դարձած է ու անոր գնահատանքին արժանացած։ Ինչպէս ամէն տարի՝ ՀՄԸՄ-ՀԵՄ-ի վարչութիւնը այս տարի եւս կարելին ըրած էր հանրութեան ներկայանալու փայլուն ու յիշատակելի պարահանդէսով մը, ներկաները դնելու կաղանդը եւ Ս.Ծնունդը դիմաւորելու պատշաճ մթնոլորտին մէջ։ | ||
| for more images of the AYMA-HMEM Ball click here | ||
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| for the Picasa Album on the AYMA - HMEM Ball click here and then click on slide-show on the top left | ||
| GIBRAHAYER CALENDAR | ||
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| every week in our community | ||
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| Sports News from Sevag Devletian | ||
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| From: | Dikran Abrahamian (dikran.a@rogers.com) |
| Sent: | Wed 12/30/09 6:06 AM |
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| AYB EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION PRESENTS | ||
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| hetq.am - December 20 - At a discussion group organised by "Ayb" Educational Foundation, Father Mesrop Aramian - Chairman of the Board of Trustees - declared that the organisation had drafted a business plan to re-open the Melkonian Education Institute in Nicosia - Cyprus. Established in 1926 by the Melkonian Brothers, it was the only remaining boarding school, servicing students from the Armenian Diaspora until the AGBU decided to cut funding in 2005. | ||
| AZAD HYE PORTAL SPECIAL ON NAREG HOKAPARTSUTIUN | ||
| The Armenian Nareg Schools in Cyprus are the only educational establishments that teach Armenian language in Cyprus after the closure of Melkonian Educational Institute in 2005. Nareg schools are available in Nicosia, Larnaca and Limassol (see photo album below about Nareg Limassol). At the end of the 5 year term of the current Armenian Schools Committee, the Armenian Representative in the Cypriot House of Representative Vartkes Mahdessian contacted individuals of experience in the field of education and brought together a balanced team to undertake the mission of resolving the existing problems. The team looked capable of bringing about the long-awaited changes in the educational system in the Nareg schools. Mahdessian recommended individuals from all factions of the society, a policy far from previous practices. The names were given to the Ministry of Education in order to get the final approval from the Council of Ministers. Before the final approval, some behind the scenes activities was noticed and five names were replaced, without consulting with the Armenian Representative. Mahdessian was displeased with this development. In a press release issued on 16 December 2009 he states that caring for Nareg Schools has been his main concern. "One of the major reasons that led to my decision to announce my candidature for the post of Armenian Representative in the House of Representatives was my great desire to be in a position to help the Nareg Armenian schools", he says. "After the necessary meetings at the highest level with Government officials and endeavouring not to complicate matters any further but find a remedy for the situation created, I eventually agreed with the appointments of Rita Kasbarian, Arto Arakelian and Nayiri (Der Arakelian) Merheje at the expense of Vart Alteparmakian, Anita (Boyadjian) Kazandjian and Haig Der Nishanian from my original list", he explains. The final list submitted to the Council of Ministers is now as follows: Vartan Tashdjian (Chairman), Sebouh Tavitian, Yeran Kouyoumdjian, Asadour Devletian, Raffi Mahdessian, Nayiri (Der Arakelian) Merheje, Haro Kassapian, Masis Der Partogh, Rita Kasbarian, Arto Arakelian, Avedis Chouldjian. Mahdessian, in an apparently distressed tone ends his press release with the following comment: "Without any further explanation, I invite all members of our community to derive their own conclusions". Gibrahayer's editor Simon Aynedjian posted an editorial in the recent issue of the electronic magazine, in which he accuses the community's "old guard" of adopting "medieval practices" in the process of appointing the Schools Committee. Aynedjian characterises the intervention as "mob-like" and for the purpose of the "settlement of old scores". He reminds the readers that the Gibrahayer magazine has pointed out, as early as 2005, to the problems facing Nareg Schools. According to him very few of the educational issues touched in the magazine have been addressed in the proper way. The accumulated problems have led to decrease of the number of the students attending the Nareg Schools, although the number of Armenians in Cyprus was maintained high in general. Aynedjian concludes with the following comment: "The Armenian community of Cyprus cannot afford another blow to the only remaining educational fortress", in a reference to the sad story of the closure of Melkonian Educational Institute and the attempts for selling the Melkonian property. "Gibrahayer e-magazine will be watching you", warns Aynedjian. | ||
| ARMENIAN MUSIC AWARDS | ||
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| Asbarez.com - written by Paul Chaderdjian - images by Chris Aghazaryan ... Not only that, but as their ancestors had done, our musicians showed their confidence in holding on to their rich past, performing authentic Armenian music, but also showing off how well they embrace other cultures and how they mastered the classics while mastering the street music of a globalised world. The lush red carpet was unrolled, the black and white limousines stretched back-to-back around an entire block, and there was even a helicopter reporter up above recording the images of the spectacle. Flash bulbs popped, applause and whistles were continuous, TV camera crews grabbed sound-bites, and paparazzi played their parts. On that night, we were all paparazzi and our culture makers were our kings, queens, princes, and princesses. Our kingdoms were alive, and they were back in the full regalia of the fashion makers in glossy fashion magazines. Inside the Nokia were the beautiful people, the most glamorous people in the world – on that night. Donning their gowns and suits, the celebrants of Armenian pop culture smiled, exchanged air kisses, danced in the isles, snapped photos, and expressed their gratitude to each other and to God, the creator, who had given them their musical ears, their golden voices, and the charisma to hold strangers’ attention, even if it was for a mere three-and-a-half minutes at a time. Gathered in one place for one night on Sunday were the offsprings of those who had survived the deserts of Syria and had gone on to survive the foreign lands where they had sought shelter. Applauding and smiling together were a people who had held on to their culture at any cost and were once again free to sing their songs with pride. They had persevered, taking a culture that was kept alive by word of mouth until the invention of recording devices, and they had brought this culture to the Internet age, which ensures Armenian culture will never die. | ||
| click here for the complete article. We strongly recommend you read it in its entirety | ||
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| ²î²Ü²ÚÆ Îàîàð²Ì¾Ü вðÆôð î²ðÆ ºîø | ||
 ԱՍԱՏՈՒՐ ՏԷՎԼԵԹԵԱՆ | ||
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| BYTES ON ARMENIAN ECONOMY | ||
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| From 7or.am | ||
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 NEW SERVICE - With Cyprus Tickets, you can purchase your ticket online. It’s simple - choose the event you wish. Click on the relevant theatre. Click on your chosen seats. You will then register – this is a one time procedure. Pay & print your ticket. www.cyprus-tickets.com | ||
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| Farewell 2009 - Editorial by Jean Ipdjian | ||
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| WE WELCOME VISITOR NUMBER 127,493 | ||
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Finally we are on the threshold of bidding farewell to 2009.
